Monday, May 22, 2006

Portfolio ideas: Flash and HTML layered

I'm considering creating a new portfolio that will allow a Flash presentation of thumbnails of my work along with the actual HTML of the work within the same browser window (no popup, that is). The idea is to show the interactivity of my work without opening a new window. Most sites that I visit that showcase interactive Flash websites, open new windows to display each entry. Well, it's a slight pain to close them. This idea would eliminate that.

But does it matter? Am I just wasting my time creating something I've never seen before just to be creating something I've never seen before? Is that worth it? Do creative directors really care if the idea is new (as far as I know), especially if they are graphic designers and not programmers of any sort.

My last portfolio took more than 150 hours, since it was all dynamic and is controlled by a text file of XML. Have I changed the text file since I started working full-time at my current job?

Nope.

It did display over 50 items that would have taken many tedious (and boring!) hours to create if I hadn't dynamically created the current site at smjdesign.com, but viewers don't know this. Only painters know how hard it is to paint. At the current site, my goal was to have minmal navigation on the screen, yet, be able to navigate almost instantly to the over 50 pieces. I achieved that, but some people said it was confusing, since I hid the navigation.


--Stephen M. James
www.smjdesign.com

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