STA Blog

Week 12 and 13 – Thang

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Week 12 and 13

Project: Master of Arts in Eco

Started on: Nov 7, 2022

Completed on: Nov 10, 2022

Staff Guidance: Maddy, Stacy and Marianne

Description: During the winter break, I have completed a Figma design for the master of arts in eco website. For the past week, I have translated the Figma design into a WordPress site. The actual website looks really close to the Figma including centering the icon in the features section on top of the rectangle, adding fancy corners to the testimonials post and including the news and events section with the events updating whenever the clients input a new event. This project really taught me how to design a website in Figma and how to implement my design into a working WordPress site. I felt grateful to learn so much about designing and coding with WordPress especially utilizing CSS to make changes.

Each day of last week, I worked slowly to build up a site from the Figma design with coding the header first and slowly touch upon the why UT and the feature section. I consider the feature section to be challenging to implement since it involves the use of position: relative and position absolute as well as understanding of transformation of different components in the X and Y direction. But at the end, I know how to search and ask the right question and how to implement what I learn and research into making the logo stays at the center on top of the rectangle div. After that, I work on the important dates and why MA program. From this point, it was much easier although at various points in coding, I felt a little bit challenged in order to implement like the news and events section with implementing a post list that the events can be updated whenever the clients added into the database. But WordPress made it easy with the code block.

This is the design from Figma.

https://www.figma.com/file/gg8inqItjNLN7MHnkUENgx/Master-of-Arts-in-Eco?node-id=23%3A35&t=SinifvajixFtYuf3-1

This is the website for Master of Arts in Eco. (Pretty similar to the design, right? 😁)

https://ma-eco.development.la.utexas.edu/

Because I did not update my blog since the winter break, I also want to update a few things regarding the learning and implementing of Figma design. Figma is a powerful and convenient tool that can help designers quickly produce mesmerizing templates from scratch. I learn so much about doing different sections and experimenting with different colors and typographies. I also research on the branding of UT including the signature color, fonts, logo and heading styles. During the designing process, I want to go all out as a designer; therefore, there are a lot of periods where I do not know how to implement those designs into code. I want to bring forward the best design without sacrificing any parts to the implementation of the coding. I think I did well in order to bring out the aesthetic, clean and UT vibe website design. However, with both roles, there are some coding insights that I can take while I design so that I can know if it is viably possible to implement.

I want to thank you Maddy for the amazing mentorship regarding the designing process and Stacy for this opportunity to work on both designing and coding.

 

 

Orientation: Welcome Daniela Caballero

Started on: Jan 10, 2022

Completed on: Jan 10, 2022

Description: I become Orientation buddy for Daniela Caballero. I walk her around Basecamp, Slack and Harvest. I talk with her about her interests and show her different projects that LAITS team worked on and different tools that LAITS will use for web dev projects.

Training: React JS 

Started on: Nov 7, 2022

Completed on: Nov 10, 2022

Staff Guidance: Maddy, Stacy and Marianne

Description: For this training, I followed a tutorial on Youtube about creating React JS website from scratch. From this tutorial, I learnt how to implement React to build and run the website. I know how to use React in order to import and create  different components so that I can reuse it later on. I know how to insert a variable into HTML so that I can customize even more.

A little bit history for React JS:

Facebook created React JS in 2011 for their own use, and then they made it open-sourced. More people started to use it and liked the component-centric approach. Now, it is used by many Fortune companies.

Benefits for React JS:

  1. Flexible
  2. Broader Community Support
  3. Great Developer Experience

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week LVIII

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Week LVIII

This week, settling back in, was a lot of small stuff. I helped onboard a new STA, gave a tour, and troubleshooted my Box issues in terminal, between tiny course graphics edits and exports for old projects. Coming up for the spring, I have 2 big things.

Save the DATE!

Project: Course Graphics – 2023 STA Presentation
Client /Prof: LAITS
completion status: WIP
staff guidance: Maddy K
STA team members: Leilani, Louisa, et al
description/plans: TBA
To be completed: TBA

So, we have our first official STA presentation since… 2019? The theme is sports, and I’ll be in charge of a lot of prep and graphics, but for starters I’m just drafting a promotional ticket stub. Most of the text isn’t done yet, but I spent a lot of time getting the shape perfect.

Basic Training: Create your own 8-bit Animated GIF

With most of our After Effects human capital departed, I’ve been suggested to start some animation trainings. This one was short and simple, and I’ve done similar stuff before.

Something that did come up was our organization system for STA trainings, and the forgotten training spreadsheet… Valerie, Maddy and I are meeting this week to draft up some better organization systems.

Intermediate Training: Animate Simple Course Graphics

This is where the actual Ae skills come in. I haven’t gotten past the drafting stage, with Save the DATE! taking precedence, but my idea is making an intro for Introduction to Greek Archaeology, one of my favorite electives I’ve taken at UT.

See You Later

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See You Later

Wow! I can’t believe I am leaving such an amazing team!! This semester went by way too fast and I’m going to miss every single one of y’all!!

Even though I am leaving, I don’t want to say goodbye because I feel like our paths might cross again in the future. I’m sad to be leaving but I have grown so much from working for LAITS for the past 2 years and I’m truly blessed to call myself a design STA. When I first started this job, I was filled with ambition and dedication but very little technical skills. But Valerie, Maddy, and Suloni believed in me and saw the potential I had to grow into a level 4 STA. I cherish all the projects I got to work on and all the AMAZING designers I got to meet. Y’all are superstars and I saw that when y’all created those beautiful posters. I couldn’t be prouder and I’m so thankful I got to see it.

Rules for Success

  1. Always be true to yourself! Embrace your unique qualities and never stop shining!
  2. See the potential in yourself! Don’t be afraid to try new things!
  3. Use college as a learning opportunity. Learn about yourself and others.
  4. “Can’t” is your motivation. If you don’t achieve something at the beginning but you are truly passionate about it, keep trying!! See failure as an opportunity to grow.

Letters:

 

Adrian:

You are a powerhouse! From creating a new intake system for Photo IDs to creating so many visually appealing course graphics! You always take a fun and unique approach to your creations that I know all the clients love. I also love how knowledgable you are on so many animal creatures. I know you are going to do amazing things and you are going to lead your fellow STAs well.

 

Thang:

Wow!! I am always so speechless after your present in our weekly check-in meetings. You are sooooooo passionate about learning new things and the way you share that information to your peers is amazing! You are such a great web developer and presenter. I also know you want to start designing as well and I have full confidence you can. By knowing how to develop an easily accessible website, you will be unstoppable when you began adding design elements.

 

Carrie:

Your attention to detail and design is amazing!! When you created the design STA poster I was shocked at how fast you were able to create such a beautiful design that captured our team so well! You also create such amazing website designs that are thought out and really capture what the client wants. Continue being amazing and creating beautiful work!

 

Lorena:

Wow! For the past couple of months your designs have grown so much. I appreciate your attention to details and unique style. You are such as sweet person and I absolutely loved working with you. Continue asking questions and learning new ways to create effective designs.

 

Marissa:

Your illustrations are soooo beautiful! I absolutely loved seeing your voting illustrations! I love how passionate you are for design and I see you doing big things in the future. Don’t be afraid to explore new approaches and gain as much knowledge from your fellow designer and managers.

 

Luisa:

First, you have such an amazing style!! I love your leather coat and boats that you wear!! Absolutely beautiful!! You are so kind and caring to everyone you meet. You are also an amazing designer!! From the postcards to the brochure, I’m blown away with your attention to detail to create such amazing physical designs.

 

Leilani:

Wow!!! You have grown so much from when you first started as an STA! You are such a strong leader and have so many great ideas for art direction. I know you are going to do amazing things for the STA team! You are going to manage the the UTFC project and find new approaches I couldn’t think of. You are so smart and talented!! Also, I hope your online print business is extremely successful! Your artwork is so beautiful and I know everyone will enjoy it.

 

Valerie:

You are such an amazing manager. You create such as welcoming and inviting environment for all the designers. I love how you play lo-fi and engage in fun conversations with everyone. Thank you for having the confidence on me to take on the UTFC project and help the STAs in anyway possible. I know that the Design team will continue to reach new goals because your passion for this team really shines!!! Thank you for being you!! Also, please start making art again!! You are such as talented illustrator and the world deserve to see your work!!

 

Maddy:

First, the mural is going to be sooo beautiful! I think it will truly create a peaceful environment for the designers to create freely. You are such an amazing art director and I love how you encourage the designers to go for new unique approaches to their projects. You inspired me so much with your leadership style and your dedication to the team. Thank you so much for encouraging me to take new risks with my animations and allowing my to take the lead on the STA posters. I’m truly thankful to have had a manager like you in my work career!!

 

Suloni:

Thank you for everything!! You have created such as strong foundation for the design STAs and I’m truly blessed that I was a part of it. Your wisdom and encouragement is so beautiful and the love you have for all the STAs shows. I know the design team will continue to be strong because they had you!! I hope you have a fun, relaxing, and adventurous retirement. You absolutely deserve it. Thank you for sharing a piece of you with your beautiful presentation of your work. I don’t know if I would have believed in myself to take on art direction without you putting me in those roles and believing in my abilities. I honestly can’t thank you enough.

 

New Beginnings

Y’all keep being amazing and creating wonderful designs that will be showcased all throughout UT. I’m so happy that I was a part of this team and always remember, y’all are LOVED <3

 

Week 11

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GOV 336M Course Materials

Client /Prof: Rob Moser
Completion Status: Started on Nov 3
Staff Guidance: Suloni
Completed on: TBD

Continuing to work on the GOV 336M course materials, I’m closing in to a final design. This is what I have so far:

And this is the lecture background in action:

UTFC 8.4B: Spices and Seasonings

Client /Prof: Yazz
Completion Status: Started on Nov 14
STA team members: De’Sha
Completed on: TBD

I’ve been working on a new UTFC slideshow, this time on spices and seasonings! Attached below is only a draft 1, hasn’t yet been approved. I had trouble finding a few images, one of which was for the elusive “la vinaigrette”, so I just have a placeholder picture in for that one.

Week 10 – Thang

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Week 10

Project: Exposure Therapy Lab 

Started on: Nov 7, 2022

Completed on: Nov 10, 2022

Staff Guidance: Ruben, Marianne

Description: For this project, I wrapped up the project with updating all of the changes.

  1. Update search bar: The user can click and filter through the research posts.
  2. Display different words for the button
  3. Update the tags in clinical resources page. The users can click the tags and the clinical resources page will display accordingly with the updated tag in the search url parameter.
  4. Sending email to the clients to ask for feedback

 

 

 

Training: WordPress 

Started on: Nov 18, 2022

Staff Guidance: Ruben, Marianne

Description: For this training, I try to learn more about WordPress regarding update the design layout and change of the content. I looked around the Internet for a good tutorial, and I find the common pattern for it is that they all use Elementor Plugin in order to help with customizing the content. Some of the trainings with the help of Elementor are very beautifully designed without going deep into the coding or the backend of the software. Elementor is a plugin that helps the users can drag and drop different features into the website as they want. They can put on icons, google maps, and videos into the position they want on the website. But I wonder if we will ever use Elementor in our STA project. Regardless, it is good tutorial to let me know about customizing WordPress and changing different components of the websites. 

So for this tutorial, I follow each different steps in order to customize the design with Elementor. I am also doing another tutorials with Elementor right now that lets you to create your own theme with pHp that I will update in our next meeting. 

  1. From the tutorial, I know how to use the plugin to download a Starter Template which helps with installing different templates that makes the process of editing it extremely easy. The tutorial chooses Elementor to be the theme.
  2. I edited the home page the same design with one of the website I have before.
  3. I also edited the Testimonial section with the background as a video and change the overlay of the background to be darker in contrast with the white letter.