No Snow Snakes

I tried to go for a simple layout with dominant images where appropriate. I wanted a simple black and white color scheme that allowed the images to stand out and kept a simple design. After experimenting with a bunch of fonts I chose to stick to just 3 simple similar fonts. The images I chose convey my passion and familiarity with the outdoors and mountain lifestyles. I think my audience will assume I am another crusty ski bum trying to get by without getting a real job. I based my inspiration for website design based on people who strive to achieve a similar lifestyles.

2. Describe the choices you made in picking and displaying images on your site. How would you describe the emotional and aesthetic qualities of the images you are using? Address the sizing, composition, and general color palette of your images, as well as the content of the images themselves.
The majority of images on my site are ones I took myself. I hope to show that I am at least somewhat proficient with a camera in addition to the writing portfolio I am displaying. I chose to display large photos that show as much of a variety of outdoor adventure as I can.

3. Describe your choices in picking fonts, color palettes, and layout. What were the choices you made in each of these areas, and why? How do they relate to the sorts of design choices you see in websites from "genres" that are similar to yours? Pick a competitor website, and compare and contrast the design choices your competitor made.

I chose to stick to less than 4 colors and fonts for the layout of my website. I kept it simple so as to make the actual content stand out. I feel that many of my "competitor" websites tend to keep a simple color and font design,  but many of them choose one stand out color or font for accent. I may consider doing something similar in the future to keep my site from being boring. I feel that as I create more content to store on the site, I will somehow decide on what design changes need to be made. 

4. Pick two major problems you solved over the course of designing your website - they can be technical problems, content problems, or design problems. In each case, how did you identify the problem, what was the solution to the problem, and how did you figure out that solution? Feel free to re-purpose material from your problem log for this. 

My first problem was an unorganized mess of fonts and colors that I had to narrow down to a simple easy layout that was easy to focus on. The solution was not technical so much as just coming up with a focused theme. The second problem involved the layout on my "About" page.... for some dang reason I thought that an html table would be an excellent way to display my resume. It is... kind of... but it's also a pain in the ass when I have to make any changes to the page. The solution to this problem has been to make all my edits in the text view and not the "visual" box... otherwise Wordpress inserts some weird coding and screws up the formatting. Another problem I encountered was in how to display photos. I don't know if I'm happy with what I have yet. I also had a problem with my video that has nothing to do with my site so much as just figuring out how I was going to edit the spelling.

5. What is your plan for getting visitors to your site? Please research how sites in your "genre" have generated audiences for themselves

I think the most obvious way to generate visitors for this genre is to create interesting content and then share it via social media. It's important to create a network of people who are also interested in that kind of content and willing to pass it on.I have been following similar blogs and watching how they publicize their content. Another way to generate traffic is through figuring out how to work SEO to ensure that your site pops up when people search for that kind of content.