Project Proposal

This year, I resolved to start making collages. A lot of my existing creative pursuits are very cerebral (writing, media review, tabletop gaming) and I found myself craving a kinetic hobby, something tactile and meditative, with a result that is both something visual and something I can hold in my hands. On this website, I will document my experience doing collage.

Strategically, this site will present my exploration of a hobby. In scope, I will compile an annotated portfolio of my early work, augmented with research I have done about collage as an art medium and examples of collage from experienced artists. Structurally, the site will consist of pictures of collages I have made, the reflections of an inexperienced collage artist (myself), and information about collage as an art medium. The skeleton of the site will be a clear, interconnected navigational framework. Accessible navigation and a minimal, museum-inspired surface design will encourage nonlinear user exploration of the site.

My primary audience consists of people also engaging in a creative hobby for the first time, whether that hobby is collage or a different artistic pursuit. My secondary audience consists of people with an interest in collage as a medium, either recreationally, for research purposes, or because they are artists and collage is their primary practice. Though an interactive response form is not within the initial scope of my project, I envision the site having some way to invite engagement, either from the primary or secondary audiences. Eventually, some sort of live forum could provide a space for discussion among beginning hobbyists. In the meantime, I will solicit feedback from peers in this class and acquaintances in my own creative circles. I will keep in mind a stretch goal of interactivity while structuring my site and developing site content, but the final product will not include an interactive element.

The content for my “exploration of a hobby” can be thought of in two categories: my own work with collage, and research I’ve done on collage as a medium. Each category has its own content requirements. The portion of the site showcasing my own work with collage will include images of my collages, individual artwork descriptions, process reflections, analysis of repetitive features in my collages, and detail on the materials I used to create my collages. Content featuring research on collage as a medium will include a detailed “what is collage?” explainer, images of collages done by professional artists, profiles on prominent collage artists, video explainers from established collage artists, and links to existing collage resources. Functionally, this content will be sectioned accordingly, with a clear, interconnected navigational framework of visible, accessible pathing and fixed navigational headers/footers. The index page will introduce, organize, and invite users to explore each content category. The site will be intentionally multimedia; thumbnail images will allow for high resolution viewing of collages while smaller resolution images will coincide with textual content to maintain a visual experience across the site. Links to external resources will be annotated for ease of use, and citations will have embedded links. The site will adhere to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Rather than hobbyist blog sites, I have drawn a lot of inspiration as well as research for my project from museum and artistry websites and how they present collage. Some of these sites include the MoMA and Tate Modern entries on collage, The Art Story definition of collage, and the Britannica Encyclopedia entry on collage. These sites feature the minimal design and appropriate breadth of description about the medium I strive for on my site.

This project will be completed and turned in per the due dates required by the course. As I have been creating collages since January of this year, I have a functional portfolio of work. Content acquisition for this site (referenced below) will consist of digitizing my collages, writing reflection and analysis text for each collage, and collating research.

My weekly progress goals are as follows:

• March 2: Submit Final Project Proposal
• March 9/Spring Break: Draft sitemap and content checklist
• March 16: HTML outline for index and content pages
• March 23: Complete acquisition of content, graphic editing
• March 30: Markup content in HTML; content review
• April 6: HTML review; CSS for index page
• April 13: CSS for pages featuring my own work
• April 20: CSS for pages featuring research
• April 27: Site review, WCAG compliance
• May 4: Final touches, test and turn in!