THE FOURTH Junior Form Function and Class (JFFC), the Philippine’s only web design conference for students, was launched at the Escaler Hall in Ateneo de Manila University last Sept. 27.
TomasinoWeb, in collaboration with the Philippine Web Designers Organization (PWDO), invited several professionals in the field to share their knowledge and expertise to students from different schools and universities in numerous talks and workshops.
The JFFC conference convenes students around the country who want to expand their knowledge and discover further potentials in the field of web design by learning from professionals and interacting with web design enthusiasts, according to the JFFC website.
From student to “professional”
Ronnie Morales, CEO and founder of digital marketing company RMDC, opened the conference by discussing career opportunities for aspiring web designers and developers. Fields such as marketing and freelancing were cited as professional prospects for graduates.
“[Find] any opportunity that can grow your talent,” said Morales.
He further urged the delegates to join organizations and to participate in contests to gain mentorship and experience.
“You should be working [in] something that you are very interested in and not something you are not sure about,” he continued.
In transition from students to professionals, however, Morales stressed the need to “clean-up” one’s profile – especially in social media platforms.
“One must look professional,” Morales emphasized, “build your portfolio, build your network; [a] team you can collaborate with […] and never stop learning.”
Parallax and trends in Web Design
Potatocodes Inc. co-founder Mhariell Mosqueriola discussed the evolution of parallaxes from Mario to websites, and further continuing with the advantages of adapting parallax scrolling to boost site traffic.
“Parallax, actually, is one of the website trends of today […] and has three compositions. It has: foreground, middleground and background. Itong tatlong compositions na ito it moves in a way na magkakaiba yung paces nila – in short magkakaiba yung speed,” explained Mosqueriola.
Mosqueriola reiterated that the parallax provides a unique experience for the viewers as well as simplifies re-directing the visitors to different sections of a website.
The concept was met with criticism, however, regarding the country’s slow internet speed caused by the heaviness in excessive usage of parallax.
“Hindi po ba mas babagal mag-load yung site kapag gumamit ng parallax?” asked one delegate.
Mosqueriola acknowledged this problem, and further advised that web designers would still have to choose between aesthetic and content accessibility for the effective usage of parallax.
Going solo
Angela Chua, a freelance designer from Toffeenut Design, elaborated her talk with eight points on design entrepreneurship and on how to “become your own boss.”
Preparing to fail was highlighted by Chua, however, telling that “failing does not become the finish line.” She encouraged them to “make mistakes” and take them as learning experiences. Chua also advised following routines for effective work management.
“When your body clock is off, you work is off,” she said.
To have a successful career in web design, Chua said that “the key [to success] is to not be afraid to say no.” She emphasized taking on passion projects and that entrepreneurs should be picky to avoid dull or underpaid projects, as well as knowing when to pass work opportunity to others.
The delegates attended two of their chosen workshops during the latter half of the conference where they engaged in a series of activities managed by their mentors. Workshops were held simultaneously.
Hands-on workshops
Juan Miguel Alvarez, founder of Potatocodes Inc., taught HTML5 basics and showed examples of web elements that can be created solely through HTML5. He later challenged the delegates to code in HTML5, and create their own concepts using basic shapes and other elements.
PWDO’s Design Lead Aceler Chua gave insights on principles and application of typography in the web. Aside from refuting the concept of web typography, he also cleared up common misconceptions posed by the delegates. One of the activities during the workshop included the sorting and pairing of typefaces.
Leonid Lintag discussed on using WordPress as an open-source Content Management System and later gave a demonstration on installing and creating a WordPress account alongside the delegates through a step-by-step process.
User experience (UX) Designers Mica Diaz de Rivera and Sam Chan started their workshop by making critiques on the UX elements of different websites – including the JFFC website. Their workshop tackled the analysis and building of user experience design through prototypes. The delegates were then asked to create application prototypes based on given user profiles, and present their designs after.
JFFC was co-presented by Zalora, KimStore and John Robert Powers and sponsored by WRIST and Birkenstock in partnership with Computer Science Society, Society of Information Technology Enthusiasts, Junior Philippine Computer Society, Information Systems Society, Computer Business Association, and Grids.
Photo by Agatha Charlotte M. Imbao
Text by Ysabel Hilado and Philip Jamilla
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