I’m a student at the International Academy of Design and Technology, going after my Associate’s in Web Design and Development. It’s kind of backward, seeing as I already have a Bachelor’s in English, but obviously, those are two completely different areas of study. An Associate’s is all I can afford at this time, but I think what I am learning now is enough to really advance myself in the field. I’m definitely a better coder than a designer, but I think (hope!) that my design skills are good enough to get me somewhere.
I recently finished designing the new layout for my zine distro, Things You Say. I was happy with the way it turned out, and I was even happier that this was the first website I completely coded myself – and I think it looks better than anything I’ve done in a while. One thing I need to work on is my graphic design skills – actually, more like my overall design skills. I think what I do is really great, until I look at other websites and I see I’m not as good as those. But I know learning these things takes time, and I’m not going to be a design/coding genius overnight. I need to get my feet wet a bit more before I feel comfortable and confident enough in my work to go out and seek freelance jobs.
There’s something about when you finish a website and then upload it to the web and you can see that it works that really makes me excited about life. That is probably the dorkiest statement you have ever read ( when my friends need some code who do they call, I do HTML for them all, yo!), but it’s true. I get that same feeling when I finish creating my zine and hold the first stapled copy in my hand. I love making things, and I love sharing those things – that’s why I gravitate toward zines and writing and web design.
My next design venture is making my dad’s guitar website. Like me, he designs and makes things – for work (he’s an engineer) and for a hobby (making/designing guitars). I guess that’s who I get my artistic passion and technonerdity from, although my mom is pretty crafty herself. My brother is very artistic, too. So I guess we’re just creatin’ fiends at the Hawley house. Hopefully, my niece acquired this trait – her mom is a florist, too, so it’s definitely in her genes. We’re all thinking she’s going to be a musician because she loves listening to Rod Stewart and Phantom of the Opera.
What have you created or designed lately?
She's a Bibliophile 