Skills Used: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, WordPress and Photoshop

URL: http://katiescaninekitchen.co.uk/ http://katiescaninekitchen.co.uk/shop/

Anyway, I will be updating the portfolio accordingly – once I have done the site / page. Just thought you’d all like to know….

thanks all at Kerrang and all the people involved! I look forward to doing the page now

Smokefree West Midlands has teamed up with Kerrang! radio to invite 17 – 24 year olds to enter in the ‘Clear The Smoke’ design project, entries can be made by individuals into either category or indeed into both, a winner will be chosen from each category and prizes awarded as below.

My inspiration was from my own personal childhood (both my parents and siblings smoked). I not only had lacking health (not solely down to them smoking but it was a contributing factor) but I got bullied a lot due to the way I smelt at school (note to parents… stale cigarette smoke is not something that smells nice!)

The Competition

(read more about the competition here)

I decided to take it upon myself to design an entry for Brief 2 – Web Competition.

Find my entry below:

Click to view

Facebook, twitter, myspace… these are now household names. Just last night at dinner, my fiancée’s family and I were discussing Facebook status updates (from my fiancée’s mum through to her 14 year old cousin). It is a wonderful tool enabling us keep in contact with friends, colleagues and family (both near and far) and to share our opinion with the world (even if it doesn’t want to hear it) but, it also has its bad side.

The news has been full of stories where university students have faced consequences for what has been posted on Facebook, and people posting slander about their bosses and colleagues…

Just Google “slander boss facebook” and the results just come flooding in…
Google “oxford facebook students” for the other prime examples…

I use Twitter, Facebook (updated mostly via my twitter and a Facebook app) and I have a MySpace (yet it is really not used) and because of that, I have a lot of “following, friends and followers” but the other day, one of the people I follow posted what I would term “questionable content”. It featured swear words and their employer’s name within the same tweet, and this provoked the following question:

As we are all individuals we have a right to say what we like, but should companies monitor / regulate what their employees say about (or involve) their company?

Creating a strong corporate identity is about creating an identity for your company that reflects every aspect of what it does, from the first point of contact with the customer to how employees feel about the organisation / company. As a freelancer, I am very aware of what I do online under the alias “vivilanco” (as well in my full time employment) and I have taken extra care not to post obscenities or discrimination on any of my social networking sites.

I know as the owner of vivilanco.com that I would never want any employees denting the identity that I have taken time, effort and love to build up but should employers regulate how their employees use social media?

I choose to leave this question open and I welcome your comments…

Skills used: Photoshop (web will incorperate HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and a JQuery based shop)

Skills Used: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, Joomla and Photoshop

URL: http://www.telecarecentre.com/

Credits: Designed by me whilst working at Change this Limited. Used in this portfolio as an example of my work.

Skills Used: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, CMS (Silverstripe) and Photoshop

URL: http://www.healthcareestate.co.uk/

Credits: Designed by me whilst working at Change this Limited. Used in this portfolio as an example of my work.

Skills Used: XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX and Photoshop

URL: http://www.changethislimited.co.uk

Now I feel I should pass my “design bible” on to the masses…

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

http://twitter.com/smashingmag

Smashing Magazine covers a multitude of design elements and is top of my list! It blogs about all elements from; Graphics (Wallpapers, Icons), Inspiration (Photos, Showcases) Coding (CSS, JS, WordPress), Design (Photoshop, Fonts, Freebies), Work (Software, Tutorials) and occasionally other treats.

I find it useful for not only keeping up with the latest in web software but the latest trends in design. With well over 89,000 followers on twitter and over 179,300 RSS readers, Smashing Magazine has a lot of credibility on the web and is a good lead to follow.

My Tip to anyone reading this, +1Fav to smashingmagazine and check back daily as there is nearly always new stuff being published!

FYI - The rest follow no particular order.

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/

http://twitter.com/nickla

Webdesignerwall, “A wall of design ideas, web trends, and tutorials”. I discovered this site whilst i was at my first design job. Nick La, who runs and maintains webdesignerwall.com does a wonderful job in keeping us upto date with a more illustrative approach to design (as well as other trends and mediums around).
Whilst its not a daily update like some of the others, its ALWAYS a wonderful read and filled with informative snippets of gold in the web design world. Nick La also somehow finds time to get the latest freebies and competitions for all sorts of brilliant products; from passes to web design conferences to designer beanbags and muffins! webdesignerwall.com also hosts “design jobs on the wall” where companies and freelancers can post paid jobs.

Check it out!

http://www.andrewsellick.com/

Andy Sellick is a “Lead Interactive Developer”, his website has but one purpose, and that is to show us what he has discovered / seen that happens in his day job and tell us about it. Its not updated all that often but there are some really good articles on their and real diamonds of scripts and software, all you need to do is look!

http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/

http://twitter.com/umutm

webresourcesdepot.com, “free web resources everyday”. As the title says, this daily updated site offers a selection of the “best of the web” on all aspects of design, development and geek!

It offers many resources… (

)… and is very much my first port of call when I know what I need quickly that is open source.
Umut Muhaddisoglu is one of the bloggers from the site and offers more tantalising titbits that don’t appear on webresourcesdepot.com via his personal twitter http://twitter.com/umutm he is well worth the follow.

http://www.hotscripts.com/

hotscripts.com, “46,133 Resources Listed in Over 1,000 Categories”. Well as the title says, there is more resources here than you could ever imagine needing… but every time I have needed something in the past, Hotscripts has had a version of it and helped me tremendously. I check back to Hotscripts a little less than I should really, but I have never been left wanting when I have returned (occasionally it’s a little more advanced than I need but it always has something along the lines of what I need!).

http://www.dynamicdrive.com/

dynamicdrive.com, “dhtml scripts for the real world”. DynamicDrive is a wonderful place filled with magic and pixie dust… it may not look it but, once you go searching you can get lost in there for hours! With working editable versions of the scripts on the page (side by side with the source code) you can end up playing with everything, changing and altering… it’s definitely both noob and pro friendly! Any aspiring designer or developer should have this on their favourites and check back regularly!

Script Categories

Again, whenever I visit DynamicDrive I am not found left wanting!

I do hope that this list is able to help you no matter what level designer / developer you are.

thanks