Finally Network & Critday Collaboration [The Design - Steem-based Portfolio for Architecture Students]

This article by @critday is part of a blockchain collaboration series. Learn more about the Sndbox #cryptocollab initiative, here.

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It all starts with an idea

Like many creatives I am always coming up with new ideas. These may be; questions to answer, problems to solve or gaps to fill. I think this character trait is amplified by being an Architect, we are inherently problem solvers.

The problem (which is not as easy to solve) is making those ideas become a reality. The barrier for most ideas coming to fruition is the doing. Perhaps you don’t have the necessary skills or means to realise an idea, this is where collaboration comes in.

A Steem-based Portfolio

Every year graduating architecture students compile their best work into a portfolio, beit for a final assessment or a job interview. They filter the best images, renders and drawings in an effort to produce the highest quality representation of their work.

Although hard copy portfolios are still commonplace, over the last decade there has been a rise in the digital portfolio. Platforms such as Wordpress, Squarespace and Behance have all been utilised by architecture students to showcase their best work.

In a previous post Why all architecture students should be using Steemit, I discuss the benefit of using Steem (specifically Steemit) as a journal to document the creative process. So what about a portfolio service which runs off the Steem blockchain too...

Coder x Architect x Student

Dialogue soon started with fellow Sndboxer and coder @sambillingham. He has created Finally, a Steem app to allow users to present their posts in a more visually appealing way with different themes. It quickly became apparent the portfolio idea could be a feature on Finally.

After several conversations, we agreed our responsibilities and set about the task. With no real coding experience, I sketched out the initial ideas, including the type of content that an architecture student would be likely to include on the portfolio. Sam then turned the sketches into code and pixels (I’ll leave him to explain that more, he has started to here: Finally - New Theme Collboration.

Another contributor who should be mentioned is David Baldock. He kindly gave approval for his recent project to be used as part of the testing. Although he is not yet a Steem user hopefully his work being used as the example project may incentivise him joining the platform.

Finally - CritDay

The CritDay portfolio theme on Finally allows users to showcase four of their best projects. The projects are created through posts on Steem, which can then be selected through Finally. All other information such as the project name, university, tutor etc. can be input directly through Finally itself. There is also space for a bio, about the student and their work.

 

 

Finally - CritDay theme features

The example portfolio can be found here.  

What Steem (or other) applications did you use during collaboration?

The collaboration itself was centered around Finally. Created by Sam, Finally allows users to quickly turn their Steem blogs into a website, utilising several different themes.

My part of the collaboration started off as most of my ideas do, in a sketchbook. These ideas were then taken into photoshop to produce various options and test layouts. This set the principles for the colours and composition of the page.

The idea behind the theme was to keep things minimal so it wouldn’t distract from the work itself. Colours were kept simple, this was to allow the theme to compliment a variety of images.

 

Sketch Design 1

 

Sketch Design 2

 

Sketch Design 3

From here Sam took over with his coding wizardry.

Round-up

I hope through the creation of tools like this portfolio, architecture students will see the benefit of using Steem, not only to document their process but to showcase the finished projects in a new way. By using Steem and Finally students can share their work across a decentralised network, without the need to use established large organisations to host their content. This changes to dynamic of sharing work, bringing power back into the hands of the producer.

Please take the time to check out the example portfolio here and more great work from Sam here.

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This post was authored by @critday, a member of the sndbox incubator. Learn more, follow @critday or begin a conversation in the comment section below.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://sndbox.blog/finally-network-critday-collaboration-the-design-steem-based-portfolio-for-architecture-students/

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