Target Audience
The target audience of this site are people who are interested in the Digital Arts program at NWTC. Some of these people will be relatives or friends of students in these programs. They may be interested to see what the student is creating and learning. Other site visitors may just have an interest in what types of things students in this program are learning. This visitor may have an interest in trying one of these programs. And a final group would be people who like to see what's happening on campus and are determining if this is an event they would like to come see. In the end, all of the visitors have an interest in learning more about what the Portfolio Showcase is, and what is being shown there.
Site Message
The message of the site is to inform people about the details of the Portfolio Showcase. It gives them the date, time, and location details as well as a way to contact the event organizers with furthur questions. It also shows them what programs will be in the showcase as well as some examples of the work that will be shown. Additionally, it gives them a glimpse at past showcases.
The design supports this message by give clear navigation throughout the site so that the site visitor can easily access information about the event. The event date, time, and location are shown throughout the site for easy reference. Accessing information about each of the programs is easily available both on the home page and the Programs page.
Site Goal
The goal of this site is to get the user information on the Portfolio Showcase event, and to show them the types of things they will see at this event. The design of this site supports this goal by giving date, time, and location on all pages for quick reference. It has a clear menu structure that allows the user to navigate between the different programs, images, and location information.
CTA
The main call to action for this page is to get the visitor to come to the Portfolio Showcase event. This action is supported by the date, time, & location being easy to find as well as having an easy to access Contact page with a map and option to get directions.
A secondary call to action might be to have the visitor contact for more information. This is also easy to find under the Contact menu option with a simple form.
Design Summary
For this site, I chose to go off of the brand colors of NWTC. I pulled the main blue color and then used a lighter version of that color in various places as well. This, along with the neutral grey background, provided a simple yet beautiful color design that is easy to look at.
I chose a 2 column layout so that I could easily display the event information near the top (on desktop) on all pages as well as show the page contents. This made the information easy to access at all times. I added a descriptive header on each page so the user would easily see what page they were on. Additionally, the menu is easy to see at all times since it quickly comes back when you scroll up.
For the typography, I chose 2 fonts that go well together. I personally like pairing a serif with a sans-serif font. I like the Merriweather font for a serif font because I find it overall easy to read and I love the shape of the letters. For the sans-serif, I chose Montserrat. I love this font as a title font because it's simple and not too overwhelming. I tend to graviatate towards the lighter weight versions of this (300-400). I find it a very easy to read font, especially with larger headings. In addition, I used letter spacing with the headers (and a bit with the body text too) to give a little white space and breathing room to these bigger titles. I also gave the body fonts a bit of line-height for easier reading.