Mandy J Watson | Portfolio | Web Site Design

PORTFOLIO

WEB SITE DESIGN

Singapore Computer Magazine Online
http://www.scmags.net/
Version 1. Online since March 2001.

This site started out as a demo design for a possible redesign and redevelopment of the SA Computer Magazine web site. However, soon after I had finished the demo the company launched Singapore Computer Magazine, and we needed a site for that, so I reworked the demo slightly and it became the Singapore site. We still intend relaunching the SA Computer Magazine site, and will be utilising this design there as well.

In developing this site (the initial SA Computer Magazine demo) I reworked the general look and feel of the SA Computer Magazine site (I just updated it slightly - my intention was not to divert too much from the original site, to make the transition to the new site easier for regular visitors), and added certain things that we'd been wanting to implement, but had been unable to.

The major difference actually lies in the backend. I restructured everything to a simpler, but far more powerful, format and the site is much more flexible from a management point of view.

As Singapore Computer Magazine is still a relatively new publication, this site has given me the opportunity to test out the design more comfortably than if I had first implemented it for SA Computer Magazine. I am happy to say that since going live we haven't had a single crisis that has been caused by what I have developed, and I am very confident that the design (both frontend and backend) will hold up admirably when it is implemented for SA Computer Magazine.

I am exceptionally proud of this site, especially the coding, user interface, and information architecture. The entire site was handcoded (and still is, although, obviously, I now use templates as well). I must also say that I couldn't manage this site the way I've been able to without the help of a little (but extremely powerful) text editor called NoteTab - I can't recommend this program highly enough.

I currently manage both the SA Computer Magazine and Singapore Computer Magazine web sites.

Screenshots:
Singapore Computer Magazine home page (1024x744, 139 KB)
The December 2000 issue page (1024x744, 136 KB)
A feature page (1024x744, 139 KB)
A review page (1024x744, 135 KB)

Mandy J Watson | Digital Portfolio
http://www.brainwavez.org/watman/
Version 2. Online since 2 November 1998.

In case you're confused, this is the site you're viewing at the moment.

I developed this site during the course of 1998 while studying the last year of my Multimedia Design diploma. We had originally created little home pages for ourselves as a web design project in 1997, but I quickly became dissatisfied with mine and set about developing something better.

The entire site started on paper. I designed all the navigational graphics and the "MJW" symbol over many nights and iterations using a pencil, compass, ruler, and light box. I then scanned everything in and worked on the graphics in Adobe Photoshop, adding colour, texture, and a bit of a third dimension. After that I chopped up all the graphics and saved them individually. Finally I handcoded all the pages (except the main page navigational thing (don't know what else to call it), which was done in Dreamweaver, which, thankfully, saved my sanity), and the result was this site.

In 1999 Jeff E. Firnhaber kindly offered me space at his brainwavez.org domain, and I have been here ever since. In 2001 I bought the domain from him, and will be developing it into a full site at some point.

My site is starting to look a little dated, perhaps (although I've found this depends on people's tastes and interest in web design), but I'm still very happy with it and think I could get a few more years out of it if necessary. However, I have been thinking that maybe it's time for a redesign, so we'll see what happens.

Screenshots:
The main page (800x600, 60 KB)
The portfolio index page (800x600, 62 KB)
Multimedia Authoring | William Kentridge (800x600, 70 KB)

CityVarsity Film & Television & Multimedia School
http://www.cvarsity.co.za/
This version launched 1998. This version of the site is no longer online.

The Film & Television and Multimedia School at CityVarsity was established to promote the development of design and production in film, television and multimedia.

CityVarsity is situated in Cape Town, South Africa.

I co-created this site with Doane Smuts. We started from scratch, designing an entirely new interface and a highly-interactive navigational system for the site. We designed and created all the graphics (the navigation bar and buttons on the information pages were designed by me), and coded the entire site. Almost all the pages were coded by hand.

Unfortunately, this site design didn't remain online very long, due entirely to internal politics that, to be honest, I don't really understand. Anyway, they have had some other design on the site for quite a while now, and I have to say that it is inferior to this site that Doane and I developed.

But hey, what can you do?

Screenshots:
The CityVarsity home page (800x600, 65 KB)
The Multimedia Design course page (800x600, 69 KB)