Web-design for Portfolio
The goal of this project was to design a portfolio website. I defined the following before setting forth on the project:
DESIGN GOAL: The objective of this project is to create a portfolio website that showcases my best works and give an introduction to my personal brand - Layasthana. The website must appear approachable and must contain a brief about me. The portfolio will contain images of my artwork, photographs and design works I have done in the past. The website will SEO optimised, searchable on Google and will have a domain name.
SCOPE: The scope of this project is to develop a portfolio website that will behave like a virtual resume, whose goals are defined above.
STRATEGY: The portfolio will be a responsive design, developed in a desktop-first approach using a CMS platform (WIX) and will be activity-centric.
Before I began the project, I developed a user flow diagram that shows what the basic navigation will be like:
Then I began working on my wireframe:
Meanwhile, I also designed a logo for "Layasthana". Being a poet, most of my inspiration is drawn from the Moon that I find so mysterious and mystical. The word "Laya" actually means "rhythm" in Sanskrit, which certainly resonates with the journey of the Moon around our planet. And therefore, the blue circle represents the Moon and "La" stands for Layasthana, my brand and of course, the initials of my name. I thought to keep the text very organic and hand-drawn like, giving it a personal signature touch.
I added a transparent video of a rotating moon to bring emphasis to the ideation behind my logo.
The basic colours of the website are Black and Teal (from the logo). The handwritten typeface of logo is paired with a sans-serif typeface Futura, that is used throughout the website.
I also optimised the website for mobile, connected the purchased domain www.layasthana.com to the website and I was good to go. Further, SEO optimisation was done and ensured the website was now findable on Google.
With this project, I learnt the entire process of website designing starting from defining the design goal, scope, strategy, followed by designing the sitemap, the user flow, developing wireframes to designing the final website using a CMS platform from scratch. I also had great fun designing a logo for my very own brand.
