{Interactive Web Design Blog}

As a student of the Interactive Design program at Capilano University in my last term of the program, I have the exciting opportunity to participate in a 6 week practicum. I decided to do things a little bit differently. I hose the No Code Nicole way…

My number one motivating factor in my decision to  leave the hospitality industry and jump headlong into the world of web design was my love of travel. I had visions of sitting on the beach somewhere far away from Vancouver and the ominous rain, my trusty laptop in front of me as I worked away on web design contracts. When the practicum opportunity came up I decided to test my theory.

I searched my network of contacts and landed on the opportunity to go and do some work with Mobimap, an international company based in Victoria that designs customized tourist maps. I had contacts with the creative director and the head of IT and I knew that they were in the process of working on an iPhone app as well as several other interactive media initiatives. I got in touch with them and was accepted for the practicum position.

As an interactive designer, I have honed my skills in several areas. For my practicum I will be taking a multi faceted approach to my work for Mobimaps. I will be doing some information architecture and general R&D for interactive features that the company is interested in developing as well as working towards effectively applying usability research to marketing solutions for their targeted users.

These are all rather regular tasks for an intern to undertake, but with one exciting twist, I will be doing all of this from Taveuni, an island in Fiji!

Rather than taking a bus to Gas Town to work everyday, I embarked on an exciting journey to Fiji. As a traveling web designer, I of course had to lug all my nerd gear along with me in my carry on. It was epic. I had to bring my lap top, external hard drives, all my cords and external accessories like a mouse, keyboard, camera, iPod touch etc. I wanted to ensure that I was all set up to work as soon as I arrived.

Working in an office set up by the head of IT has many perks.  He has worked long and hard to get Internet service here on the Island that can support online workers that need to upload and download large files, as well as spend all day online corresponding with people in the US, Mexico and Canada. Within 3 hours of landing on the island I had my own desk and was wired into the Internet. We run on a wired system here for a few reasons – speed being the number one consideration – as well as networking between our team - file sharing is simplified and sped up this way – but an ethernet cable is one thing that I did not pack… living in the wireless world at home in Vancouver it’s been a while since I needed one!

I have learned a few valuable lessons already that anyone should consider when thinking about becoming a traveling web designer.

We all know that tech gear should really be carried on in your carry on luggage – as you never know what may happen to your stowed luggage as it goes through varying customs adventures. I decided to pack my external keyboard in with my checked luggage as it was a bit large for my carry on. Big mistake! My luggage was dug through by customs somewhere along the way and they ripped keys off my key board! Next time it goes in the carry on…

The second lesson to consider is the power situation in whatever country you will be working in. I have all of the correct adapters on my power cords and they are plugged into surge protected power bars, but my poor keyboard has continued to suffer on this adventure. The entire center line of keys no longer works. This according to out IT manager could be the result of the generator that we are drawing all out power from not being grounded… I am out of my element when it comes to understanding power and all it’s mysterious ways, all I can do is hope that my Macbook Pro will be safe!

I will now have to take my laptop down off of my handy elevator stand and do all of my designing with only my mouse and my laptop keyboard as I somehow also made the decision to leave my tablet behind…

That is all for now folks. Keep posted for more musings from this traveling web designer

If you dream of traveling the world and working along the way check out the program that I have been attending

Interactive Design Program at Capilano University

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