I teach beginner and intermediary web design and coding at Johnson & Wales University as an Adjunct Professor. We teach the students the full range of design process from research and discovery all the way to final designs and, in some cases, coding the website. Each term, I design an example website for each project for the students using the requirements laid out in the project. The goals we aim to show the students are: 1. They can still be creative while adhering to a set of requirements and that different designers can create totally different designs within the same set of requirements. 2. The color palette, typography and overall branding need to be appropriate for the client and business. I talk with the students about my design choices and how they may fit into design and UX best practices and help them learn to present and vocalize their design choices as well. In the end, I really liked how some of the designs turned out and I think they show a different range of ability than the rest of my professional work.
Restaurant Website
For the first project of the beginner web design class, we start with something simple, a restaurant website. For the example website for this project, I created a fictional small chain of upscale pub-style restaurants located in major cities on the east coast. The restaurant serves mostly young adults and business professionals or groups celebrating an event. The restaurant is an upscale pub atmosphere where business professionals, groups and couples will come to the restaurant for dinner for the cool atmosphere and upscale, delicious food.
Research, Wireframes and Additional Screens
E-Commerce Website
The second project the students complete is an e-commerce website for a small business. For this example website, I purposely chose a business that would allow me to create a completely different, yet appropriate, design for this website. I wanted to demonstrate to the students that the color palette, typography and overall aesthetic should be determined by the client, business, or subject of the website and the same designer can create wholly different designs for different clients.
Research, Wireframes & Additional Screens
