1. ARTS 73 Documentary Portfolio Website Assignment

This page will give you an overview of the Documentary Portfolio requirements and resource links on how to accomplish them. You will need to go to these resource links for detailed steps, tips and tutorials. The specific assignments for each week are listed on the Canvas Assignments Page. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE LINKS:

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You will need to open an account (free) with WIX and choose a template design to begin. It is important to know that we are NOT creating a blog. It is also important to know that there are basically two different, but related types of portfolios that artists and designers use:

  • A Documentary Portfolio
  • A Presentation Portfolio

You will be creating a DOCUMENTARY PORTFOLIO Website in this class. (To see how to create a PRESENTATION Portfolio website, scroll to the very bottom of this page.) 

If you have previous web design experience, you may use any development program you wish. Otherwise, we will be using WIX in class. If you choose not to use WIX, you must still complete all of the course requirements. Please be aware, I will not necessarily know how to accomplish these requirements in programs other than WIX, so if you do not use WIX it will be up to you to figure out how to do so.

WIX

How To Start Basics

  1. Go to WIX
  2. Click the “Get Started” button
  3. Fill in your information
  4. Click the “Sign Up” button
  5. Find and Choose a WIX website template

Your theme based template determines the overall design and appearance of your site, including things like page layout, widget locations, and default font and color choices. When you select a theme template, ask yourself: how do you want your portfolio to be perceived? What words would you use to describe it? Would it be professional yet friendly, or sophisticated and exclusive? Perhaps something else entirely. (Do not make your choice of template because of the pictures/images that you see there initially. Those images are for demonstration/example purposes only. You will replace them with images of your own.)

  1. Look in the artist, designer, or portfolio theme template categories:
    WIX>>What Kind of Website?>>Designer>>Artist or Graphic Designer or Portfolio
  2. Open a template of your choice, Save it and Publish it
  • Publish the site by clicking the blue PUBLISH button in the upper FAR right-hand corner 
    • Alternatively, you can publish the site from the “Overview” option funder your “Dashboard”. Click the “Learn More” button on the right hand side opposite “Publish Status” and select “Publish”)
    • If the Publish button is not blue or not there. It may mean that you have not yet confirmed your email address in your account. Do so first.
  • Then click the View My Site button.
  • Copy the URL address from the address bar at the top of the next screen which is the home screen of your site. 
  • Email me that URL address. Be sure to type the words “Portfolio Website” in the subject line of your email.

The information listed below will describe each of the requirements that
you MUST have on your portfolio website.
Links accompany each requirement to either show you examples
or descriptive “how to” information or both.
Please read this information from these links thoroughly!

DocumentaryPortfolio Website—This is what we are creating in class. It is essentially a digital, online archive of ALL your art/design work from ALL your classes (not just Freshman Seminar) + written examples of your Art/Design philosophy, underlying goals as an artist/designer and main inspiration/influences.

  • Example how to organize your site: documentary portfolio outline
  • A DOCUMENTARY Portfolio (what we are creating in class) differs from a PRESENTATION Portfolio. The Documentary Portfolio contains ALL of your art and designwork, plus additional information such as artist statement, résumé, etc. The Presentation Portfolio contains a much smaller number of works, only the very best showcasing a specific medium or for a specific purpose (job hunting, internship or scholarship  application, specific project consideration, etc.) At the end of the semester you will duplicate your documentary site and rename the duplicate “Presentation Portfolio”. On that version you can delete and customize it’s contents for specific purposes (scholarship applications, gallery shows, job interviews, etc.)
  • Your site must be titled using your complete real name, (not a nickname). The thematic look or style of your website must be one that you can replicate on your business card and résumé (see below). So choose carefully. 

Portfolio Website Requirements:

  • Use the website requirement checklist to see a list of what you will be responsible for by the end of the semester. Below is that same list but also with descriptions or details of each requirement. At a MINIMUM, your Documentary Portfolio website must contain the information from the list below:

PAGES

  • It is expected that you will spell and grammar check all your writing.
  • It is expected that you will use correct punctuation including quotation marks and dashes in all your writing.

1. HOME PAGE contains the following

  • This page is like the cover to a book. It should not be the page where your written responses to the essay questions; What is Art, etc. are located.  Instead it should contain the following:
    • Your name
    • A few words like “Welcome to My Portfolio.”
    • It might also contain a cropped version or thumbnail version of one of your art works (but not the entire artwork)
    • Personal artist/designer logo or identity mark
      • This is a visual symbol that represents you as an artist. It is not a picture. Personal Logo must also be used on your site, résumé, and business card.
      • To bring your logo from Illustrator into your WIX website you will need to save/export it from Illustrator as as JPEG file. To do this go to File>>Export As>>JPEG
    • Artist Tagline
      • This is a short phrase capturing an aspirational goal for you as an artist/designer, this is much shorter than your artist statement. It could be a complete sentence or just a few words. Locate this on the tagline part of the homepage.
    • A menu of the main Pages or Tabs.

2. WRITINGS tab contains the following:

3. ABOUT ME PAGE contains the following:

      • Unify the look of your logo, business card, résumé and website—give them all a common theme or style. They should look like they represent the same person. Do this by using your logo, same color, same typefaces, and other visual elements on all four pieces.
      • Artist Biography (About You) page
        • Includes your artist objective and logo
        • An Artist Objective/Goal
          • This is different from your longer artist statement and tagline. An artist objective is just one sentence or short phrase in length and appears at the top of the résumé and is specifically intended to tell someone what kind of art/design work you are looking for or to do. (examples might include: “To study the California coastline as a landscaper painter.” or, “To develop sustainable design solutions as a package designer.” etc.)
      • Brief Auto-Biography (About You) page
        • This is your personal story (your background, where are you from, what are your interests, hobbies, what are your goals, at least a half page in length). THIS IS NOT WHERE YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR INTEREST IN ART/DESIGN.
      • Personal/artist Statement (About You) page
        • Apply the ideas from your essay questions (What is Art, etc) to this statement. What do you want to create with your personal artistic work? This should also be at least a half-page, single spaced in length. This is different from your personal bio. THIS IS WHERE YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR INTEREST IN ART/DESIGN.
      • Influential designer/artist. (About You) page
        • A professional artist/designer who inspires you.
        • Your own work does not necessarily have to look like theirs.
        • They do not have to necessarily be a famous artist/designer
        • Must Include:
          • images of their work
          • link to their website
          • descriptions about HOW they work or WHY they do what they do that is meaningful to you as an artist/designer.
      •  

    • 4. ARTWORK tab contains the following:

      • First photographing your work and Image Correct in Photoshop before posting on your site. Do a minimum of the following;
      • This main tab has submenu tabs of media such as those below. Save all images at a size of 100 ppi with 10 inches at the largest dimension. Each artwork must be accompanied by both a caption or name and also a short description.
        • At a minimum, these descriptions need to include the following information:
          • media,
          • size,
          • titles,
          • “back story”, what the assignment was about, what you learned or what you were trying to achieve, etc. describe what you learned by creating it, what your process was, what the assignment goals/objectives were, what your intention was, etc
      • Examples of your art/design work should be located under tabs organized by media or theme
      • sketchbook
        • These are from the weekly sketchbook assignments
        • They are sketches from direct observation not from your imagination. (with the exception of the animated assignment)
      • drawings (with descriptions + caption)
      • paintings (with descriptions + caption)
      • 2D & Color (with descriptions + caption)
      • photography (with descriptions + caption)
      • design (with descriptions + caption)
      • sculpture/3D (with descriptions + caption)
      • example of your Process on something
        • Pick any single artwork of yours and take pictures or video your various stages of working on that piece or you doing that technique.
        • This series of images, or video, should document your artistic process or stages of development of a drawing, design, sculpture, etc.
        • These are not finished works, but meant to show HOW you work.

The following are not pages by themselves. Instead they are requirements you must have on your website, but you can determine where to use them.

1. EXTERNAL HYPERLINKS (a link to some site that is not a part of your website) examples of where you might use them could be:

    • to your artistic influences,
    • other websites,
    • other artists,
    • references,
    • definitions, etc.)
      copy the URL of the site you want to be able to go to from your site. Then return to the edit page of your site, highlight the word that refers to the external site, click the chain link icon at the top of the page, paste in the URL, click the add link button

2. INTERNAL HYPERLINKS (a link between similar topics on your site)

(the words colored in blue on this page are examples of where you might use these)
for an internal like, you simply highlight the word, click the chain link, and in the search box type the name of the page that you have already created on your site, it will show up in the menu, select it, click the add link button

      • A good place to do this is to link a specific work of yours to the spot in your artist statement where you wrote about an idea or technique or media that the artwork would be an example of.

This is how to create a hyperlink:

  • First add text, click the “+” button,
  • then select Heading or Paragraph in the typeface style you want,
  • then and drag and drop that style choice from the window and drop it on your page

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  • Begin typing or paste copy from another source into the text box you just created

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  • Highlight a word that you want to make into a hyperlink.Then select the chainlink icon.

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  • In the next window select either Web Address to create an external link or Page to create an internal link.

3. LINK TO A PDF O YOUR Résumé
Place this link on your (About You) page
To link a PDF on Wix, you can follow these steps1:

  1. Click Edit Text.
  2. Highlight the relevant text.
  3. Click the Link icon.
  4. Select Documents as the link type.
  5. Click Choose file and select your résumé pdf from your computer. (you will need to have made the pdf file first).
    • a link to the résumé only, not the actual résumé itself. The résumé itself will not be visible on your website, only the link to download it.
      • It is to your advantage to create your résumé in illustrator (not in Google Docs or Word or Photoshop)
      • An Artist Objective/Goal on the résumé
        • This is different from your longer artist statement and tagline. An artist objective is just one sentence or short phrase in length and appears at the top of the résumé and is specifically intended to tell someone what kind of art/design work you are looking for or to do. (examples might include: “To study the California coastline as a landscaper painter.” or, “To develop sustainable design solutions as a package designer.” etc.) 
        • Your artist objective and logo need to be on both the résumé and your business card
  •  

3. VIDEO At least one embedded video  that you find on uTube or one your create yourself. YOU CAN PLACE THE VIDEO AS A PART OF ANY ONE OF YOUR ABOVE TABS. Your video could show any one of the following:

    • shows an artistic process
    • a method of working
    • an interview
    • an example of site specific work
    • 3-D work or sculpture
    • a part of your influential artist page
  • EXAMPLE:

4. COMMENT app, This will allow me to comment on your progress directly on your website pages. At the end of the semester you can delete this if you would like.

How to add the Comments App to your WIX site: 

  • Select the ADD APPS Icon from your Dashboard
  • Do a Search (in the what do you want to add to your website box) for the Comments by Uri Shaked

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  • Click the blue +Add to Site button

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  • Double-Click the Comments For Wix window to complete setup

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  • In the Main Comments window select Settings
  • turn on the Email Notifications slider
  • add your email address
  • move Comments per Page to the maximum setting (100)

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Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see all options for customizing the settings for the Comments Input. For sure you will want to:

  • add the input field,  
  • activate the email notification button,
  • and raise the slider on the number of comments to the maximum of 100.

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  • Thats it. After the semester is over you can delete this app from your website if you want or further modify the settings if you wish to keep it.
  • Do remember that your Documentary Portfolio will be used for your portfolio review at the end of the spring semester. At that time you will need to show all the work you have completed during your first year at Pacific (not work from another college or transfer school). So, stay up to date by adding the work you do in all your art, design and mediaX courses so that it will be an easy review process for yourself.

The following are assignment REQUIREMENTS for class but they are NOT uploaded to the website. Instead, go to your ABOUT ME Page and place separate links to a PDF of each of them 

You will not have your résumé on your website. Instead, you will have a link to a PDF file of your résumé.

  • To add a PDF link on Wix, you can follow these steps12345:
    1. Upload your PDF file to a service like Google Drive or Dropbox.
    2. Copy the generated link.
    3. Go to your Wix site and select the “Add” menu at the top of the editor.
    4. From here, select “HTML Code” and paste in the following code: Alternatively, you can upload the PDF to your Wix account and then link to it. To do this, go to the Files section of your Wix account and upload the PDF. Once it’s uploaded, you’ll see a URL for the PDF. Copy this URL and then go to the page on your website where you want to add the link. Add a link element and paste in the URL for the PDF.
  • Additionally, To Add a PDF of your  Personal Résumé, click HERE.

    You also do not have your business card on your website. Instead you will need to print it out and turn in to me.

  • Personal artist Business card.
    • Standard business cards are 3 1/2 ” x 2″ in size. They may be vertical or horizontal, one or two-sided, folded, die-cut, etc. However, they must look like they go with the look of the résumé and website, that is most important.

The Résumé, Business Card and your Website are the three main pieces of your personal Artist/Designer Brand. Because of this, they should all have a similar look. They should appear that they are about or from the same person. Since you are branding your business card, résumé and website all with a similar design look or style, it should be obvious that you cannot use a template to create either your business card or your résumé. To do so would create a different look not similar to the other 2 designs.

To accomplish this consistent brand identity or visual look you should do the following:

    • use the same typeface on all three
    • use the same colors on all three
    • create the same style on all three
    • use your logo on all three
    • use your artist slogan/tagline on all three

Congratulations you have successfully created your DOCUMENTARY PORTFOLIO WEBSITE!! Think of this as your personal digital archive of all things pertaining to you as an artist or designer. After all this hard work you don’t want to stop there. You will want to continue to add images of all the work you create next semester and beyond as you continue to add to the content on this site. It will be a very good record of your development as a professional and be an easy source for you to pull specific images or other information from.

The next step of creating a PRESENTATION PORTFOLIO WEBSITE is now very easy. You simply do the following:

  • duplicate this site
  • give it a new name
  • save/publish it
  • delete any information or images leaving only select ones. This is perhaps the most important step. Your goal is to customize it because you want to use it for a very specific and singular purpose such as apply for a scholarship, apply for a job, make a proposal for an art commission, entrance to a gallery or information to accompany a gallery show or project. So, at that point you are being very critical about what images are most relevant to any one of those specific uses. You keep or add what is relevant and delete those that are less so. You decisions are now based on quality and relevance. You decisions for the Documentary Portfolio were not based on the goals but instead on documentation of everything. Remember that what is meaningful to show one person or persons is not necessarily the same for a different group. So you are constantly rearranging/regrouping this PRESENTATION PORTFOLIO for that purpose. The good thing is that it is relatively easy now because you can easily copy from your Documentary Portfolio site at any time.

To do this in WIX, locate the DUPLICATE SITE option found under SITE in the top menu