The Countdown Begins
Alright so here we go, I haven't been active on here for months but I am going to give it a try one last time. Usually I just post pictures on here but I am changing that. I am 2 months away from graduating with my Bachelors of Science in Web Development from Full Sail University and I thought it would be fun to do a production diary as I work on my final project. I am going to try and keep my Tumblr updated as I work with my accomplishments, failures and what I have learned throughout the process.
Since I am already 1 month into final project there is a little catching up I need to do on here. First off, I can't believe I am even in final project. I feel like just yesterday I was starting my first day on campus and now I am about to have my last. Everyone told me to enjoy Full Sail while I can because it will be over before you know it, and man were they right. So, final project started a month ago and first month is all about preproduction. Our first week we created our project proposal and did a formal pitch to our instructors and the students in front of us. That was one of the most terrifying days of my life. I have never been conformable speaking in front of the class and here I was in a huge conference room pitching my ideas. Once I got through it I was so relieved but praying I would never have to do that again, that didn't happen. Throughout the month we were asked to create detailed documents about our project including budgets, timelines, role and all of our sites requirements. I think one of mine ended up being close to 30 pages! Along with documentation I created countless wireframes and design comps. I was actually really happy with the outcome of my designs, I was nervous about them because I feel like I haven't fully designed a site out since WSP (Web Standards Project) over a year ago. This past Friday we had out kick off meeting, and it went great. Once again, I had to stand up in front of everyone and go over my project one more time but this included my designs and everything was for fleshed out. I got amazing feedback from my instructors and my friends who are about to graduate. I felt great after the meeting and immediately went home and drove into the code.
It felt so great to get out of InDesign and Photoshop. I felt a little lost this past month note working in Sublime or Coda. Over the weekend I made a lot of progress on the landing page, register, login and user dashboard. I have decided to build a static site out to get all of the styles completed before moving on the functionality. Since I am so conformable with CodeIgnitor I decided to challenge myself a bit and learn a different PHP framework, Fuel.
So here we go, I have heard the next two months are going to be tough but I am up for the challenge. Keep checking back and I will keep you updated on the build.
Also, you can follow my progress on Twitter on either my personal account @kmills006 or the project's @study2sided