Capstone Project: melaniediaz.com
Opening Comments:
This project was so fun and rewarding to work on, and I'm so proud of what I was able to do in just a few months! I learned so much from this project: from building a brand foundation to web design in Webflow. I'm excited to use this knowledge to take on professional projects in the future.
"An online storefront and portfolio that provides quality digital art prints to purchase, and allows businesses and individuals to commission custom art straight from the website. Additionally, visitors can search through a professional portfolio and engage directly with the artist."
My Process:
Most of my time working on the site was spent on the behind-the-scenes planning and creating my brand identity! The writing and planning stage was definitely the hardest for me, since it meant I actually had to commit to a singular idea, but it was worth it once I started working on the website as it reduced a lot of confusion.
Once I got the idea for my brand sorted out, we started planning out how exactly we wanted our websites to look.
Using the program Balsamiq Wireframes, I planned out how my website would be structured before going into Webflow.
I wanted my brand and website to be creative, lighthearted, and friendly. Because of this, I made sure to add a couple of fun shapes, a bright color palette, and a playful sans serif font.
My main goal was to get visitors to want to browse my art and buy the art packs, so I made sure to make those elements stand out (bigger size, mentions on almost every page, etc.)
I initially wanted to add a bit more to the website, but I chose to keep it simple for now and only include the online store elements.
One of the biggest challenges I faced on this project was navigating through Webflow's vast set of tools, settings, assets, and stuff I didn't even know was possible to do on a website! However, Webflow University was very helpful, and of course hands on practice with a sample website got me accustomed to the interface. I still haven't figured everything out, but I know enough to get by!
I do appreciate how Webflow lets you customize a lot of different things, and soon enough I was super excited to be adding the finishing touches to the website!
Closing Comments:
I really enjoyed my experience learning brand building and design, more than I can say with words. I'll definitely continue to work on my own passion projects, and I hope I get the opportunity to officially launch the site soon.
