Little Cathedral Blog: Web Design
Little Cathedral is a personal art blog where I talk about merch reviews, art/business tips, highlight some aspects of my life and on occasion, fun places I visit. It is a sacred place where I can share my vulnerabilities and knowledge using storytelling and the documentation of the creative process from my pieces.
ORIGINS
INSPIRATIONS
When I started college, I used to play with pixel art and read Ice Pandora’s blog; an art teacher that used to do pixel art, travel around the world, and cook desserts. I admired her palette colors, cute art, DIY projects, and story posts. I wanted to explore my art more using storytelling and research techniques I learned in graphic design in college.
LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Before 2010, I learned some basic knowledge about web design using HTML and CSS, thanks to James Lynn and his summer boot camp of web design. Weebly became my first blog platform, with a drag-and-drop system, and later on, I learned about WordPress.org and its flexible system using PHP code with Bootstrap. I fell in love with web design due to how challenging and relaxing it is, including the constant improvements for the media ports.
MISSION
The purpose of this art blog, it’s to create valuable information that can be accessible and objective for people who lack resources or get overwhelmed with endless results. I use extensive research from other sources, explain breakdowns and describe in detail the protocols I use in my works to achieve a desirable result. Additionally, I identify the pros and cons of certain subjects and provide alternatives. It is all about trial and error, with prototypes.
VISUAL ELEMENTS
I decide to go as simple as I could using a flat design, with a few pixel art illustrations (so it doesn’t compete with regular photos), and limited colors and fonts with their respective hierarchy or functions. All elements that have a hyperlink integrated will display a particularly smooth animation to attract the viewer’s attention and increment the interaction on the page (clicking pages). Additionally, the use of icons is important for fast visual identification without using repetitive words. On the left, you can see an old artwork with a repetitive pattern applied to the blog.
DESIGN BRIEF
Not many were willing to share their knowledge due to not feeling comfortable “having a competition” or being bombarded with lazy users. This also includes unreliable information or research that probably didn’t have the appropriate documentation, a lack of resources, and barely any images.
I provided valuable information by contacting manufacturers, exchanging information with specific people inside the art industry, buying products from companies, testing items while documenting the process, and creating comparisons by providing alternatives.
My target audience became (digital or traditional) artists that struggled to find answers, didn’t know where to begin, were shy to ask for help, had a language barrier, and so forth. I wanted to serve people who are beginning in the art industry or who have expertise already in the field but still need help.
I wanted my blog to position itself with authority and expertise with the proper information documented with research, protocols, prototypes, and methodology. That provides clear, transparent, and reliable information that can be understood, and easily replicated by others.
Final Product
