I took an entire year of photography in high school. I learned how to use manual 35mm camera, form a composition, develop film and mat photos. Developing my own film was a new experience for me. I would be stuck in a dark little closet feeding film into its canister by touch only,Then taking it out into the light and mixed with the proper solution, all the while praying that I had done everything correctly. I would never know if my film turned until the next day or if it was a waste of all of my hard work. It was a real process of time and creation. Afterwards, holding the finished results always left me with a sense of fulfillment that I have rarely experienced since.
Working with web design brought some of that feeling back. Even though I know I am not great with working in the medium and my finished product could be improved on, it is something that I have created that I am proud of. It came from nothing but notepad, little buttons on my keyboard and my own imagination. Even though I cannot hold it in my hands I still have that sense of fulfillment that usually only comes to me when creating some form of art. I can show people something that I did and whether they smash my work to bits or tell me I did a good job, it doesn’t really matter. I did it and that is what counts.
I was really looking to design a website with the some basic rules in mind. The first was to make something that I think that others would find easy to use. The second was that everything should be visually similar, in some regards, and the third was to create a design that people would enjoy looking at. My philosophy on this point was that if I could stare at it for hours on end and not get sick of it then it wasn’t too bad. Nevertheless, I must admit that I have never lamented my lack of computer graphics skills or the ability to draw or paint more than I have during this project.
The website moved on without the artistic skills I so desperately craved and specifically became a website for a small public library. This library will probably never use this design, though I will possibly show the director based on classroom feedback. I wanted something to have a warmer feel than what the library currently has and I was looking to put an inviting feel to the site. It began by making a storyboard of the layout design. I had decided to make a homepage, a teen page and a video game page. With those pages decided on I then started to determine what would go where style-wise. I specifically wanted photos on the site as the current libraries web design lacked these. The teen page was something that the library needs on its own website and so I geared the page towards the technologies and influences that teens are trying out right now.
Working with the code was difficult at times. In my mind I can see web creation as musical in a way. It reminded me of a pianist getting to know a new piece of music, if it’s not worked with consistently it gets forgotten. After long stretches of time that I did not work with the site I was rusty, especially with the tables. They were almost my undoing. With a little bit of review and some help I was able to get back into the flow of things though. On another note, I was poking all around the internet looking for material that I could use for the site. One of my eureka moments was when I found a website called Custom Sign Generator. For me it solved my most immediate problem; my banners. I wanted something that would make my pages have a certain quality and look to them and this site did just that. From there I used basic html coding and relied heavily on tables and font styles. The finished project will probably never be on the web but that’s ok, I still have a feeling of accomplishment. That’s what really matters.
After an exhausting five days in Washington D.C. I return with many spoils from the great librarian migration of summer 2007 (aka ALA annual conference) . With the amount of stuff I brought back I feel as though I have covered a lot of ground these past five days, armloads of books, tons of free bags and a new knowledge of many aspects of librarianship. Of course I also returned with a few things that I could have done without, such as sore feet, a lighter wallet and a pesky cold.
I went to some great programs and I would be remiss if I did not mention them here. That is what a blog is for right? The two that I learned the most from were Midlly Delirious Libraries: Transforming Your Library from Top to Bottom, and Using Technology to Market to Young Adults. The Mildly Delirious Libraries program was presented by the West Palm Beach Public Library and their librarians, graphic designer and interior designer were all there ready to share their story about how much a new outlook and a facelift to the library changed them for the better. Their full power point and presentation can be found here. Overall I was really impressed with their presentation and the ideas that were brought to the library profession.
The second program that I really appreciated was Marketing Technology to Young Adults by Dr. Michael Stephens and Kimberly Bolan. Kimberly presented intregal aspects of marketing that are so critical to accomplishing successful programs. She even has a blog and I must say I am a big fan. Dr. Stephens took over the rest of the program full of high energy and humor. His part of the presentation focused on aspects of technology that teens are using and then presented other ideas of how to connect with the teen presence or lack thereof in the library. If you have some time you should read Dr. Stephens’ blog Tame the Web, just to warn you though there’s a lot of information here so take it slow.
