Adventures in Web Design

I've been avoiding learning web design since the beginning of time. Okay, maybe not that long. But it kind of feels that way. In my final year at Wits I could choose between Web Design, Design and Drawing (which is essentially more Fine Art) or nothing. I chose nothing. Then last year when I had the choice between dropping out of Graphic Design school or going back for my second year and learn web design I chose (you guessed it) dropping out. Well, not exactly dropping out, just not going back at all, ever.

So now that I'm gainfully employed by a lovely company called Delivery Xtreme, I thought my learning to design websites days were over. I could just sit back, relax and enjoy being an exclusively print designer. The Universe had other plans.

A few weeks ago my boss called me into his office and asked if I had any interest in learning web design and I said (quite convincingly) "Sure I am!". So, I designed a mock up of the company site and to my surprise, everyone liked it. Thankfully no-one expected me to learn everything overnight, and used an actual web developer for the coding and stuff.

I likened learning HTML and CSS to learning to see through the Matrix.

"I know how to make that button go a little bit more to the left!"

It was hard, I'm not going to lie. At times I was so frustrated I wanted to cry. But when I stopped crying and tried again, it all eventually came together. I did a course called 30 Days to Learn HTML and CSS. It was awesome: clear, concise and easy to follow. And also free! I had absolutely no programming knowledge or ability before I started, so I was really worried, but it's targeted to total beginners. Here is my final project for the course:

This is the Home page, it's very pretty and yellow, but also coded quite beautifully too

This is the Work Examples page, super simple to code after setting up all the CSS from  the Home page

I'm a designer, so I know what looks good. But now I know and understand how to take my design and transfer it onto the web. Here are some snapshots of the finished Delivery Xtreme Website. I made all the design decisions (Layout, pictures, buttons) but the actual development was done by Gert Swanepoel over at Jabulani Design Studio. To see the live site click here.

About Us
The idea was that if you go full-screen, you wouldn't have to scroll to see the rest of the site.

Contact Us
We wanted it to be clear that we deliver food, hence all the lovely food pics

My baby, the Home page
Little snippets of information that inform the visitor, with links to the rest of the site

Home
Another panel of the Home page, soon you'll be able to order online from this site and a mobile app

Branch pages
Every area has a page with all it's info like the trading hours, delivery areas and charges, a list of restaurants and a link to the e-book

So now I can officially add web design to my list of skills! My next mission is to create a website proper for myself. And then my mom's business. I've actually designed her website already using Yahoo's WYSIWYG web design tool (but that doesn't count, it's just like a template format that you add stuff to) but I think it could stand to be improved. Check out the Simply Art Website.

If anyone needs a simple website design done (no e-commerce or blogs just yest I'm afraid), then feel free to contact me.