I want you to know that this portfolio goes against many of my principles, while at the same time embracing one of my favorite qualities: minimalism.

So I thought: "Why not try something different for a change?"
Here goes nothing.

some minutes later

Ough, looks kinda edgy all of this, doesn't it?
Well, you'll have to put up with it now.

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end of prologue

goal(s)

1. reflection
2. imperfection
3. improvisation

reflection

I want this to be a place for myself to reflect on why I'm doing certain things the way I do. Or why I concern myself with topic X, or enjoy spending time doing Y. It'll be a process of learning along the way, not just for my readers, but also for me, as the writer. And hey, maybe there's something new for you to learn every now and then :)

imperfection

I am, and have always been, a perfectionist. I tend to spend way more time on doing things right than actually getting things done. Mostly, it's because I enjoy doing that – but sometimes I don't.

Here, I want to create 80% of what's possible (and not 100% of it) by spending something like 20% of what I could've invested. We'll see how that goes haha.

improvisation

So then, what's next? Well that's exactly the point – there's no plan.
No structure laid out before me. Just an open space for me to populate with articles, images, videos or whatever content I feel like.

Maybe I'll write about UX, since that's something I want to learn more about. Or how about tech? some random thoughts on credit cards and insurance companies? travelling? music? the London Underground? Oh, and cars!

creation/creativity

Because most importantly, this is about creating something creative. I like to write, but I hardly ever do it just for fun. I don't care whether anyone will read this or not – as long as I can enjoy making it.

And I especially enjoy the English language, but often end up trying too hard to find the right words, to make my text sound sophisticated and special. I focus on not using the same word multiple times on the same page, and end up with structures that are unnecessarily difficult to read. I want to refrain from doing that here.

Perhaps now is a good time to note that I haven't used AI to create any of this, and I don't plan to use it either. Sure, every now and then I might ask ChatGPT to help me out with an individual issue I have concerning CSS, or the deployment configuration of the site, or whatever. But definitely nothing mayor/nothing more than a few lines of code here or there.

how'd it go so far?

okay-ish, I guess? As I said, I'm new to this style of better done than perfect, so it's tough.

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but despite being a software engineer with a knack for web development, I used a template for this project. Looks cool, right? I hope so! Anyway, I like it.

What else... well, I love the feeling of creating something. While I don't consider myself to be a creative person (I can't draw for sh*t), I do think that making a piece of software (or in this case, a website) can be very satisfying.

However, one thing I'm noticing already is the limited scalability of these articles within a modal-dialog. Let's see what I can do about that in the future. See you there 👋

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This "first article" might never be truly done. I'll come back to and update it whenever I see fit, so that it contains new ideas and goals for this portfolio as they come to my mind.

I meant to publish one of these articles every month, preferably always on the first. Well, I guess I'm changing my schedule now, since this one is already late. But hey, this way, at least others will be early!

seeing my portfolio for the second time only

Yup, still edgy.
But I'm not here to overhaul the design now.

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end of prologue

content analysis project

1. so, about that semester project
2. what went well
3. things to improve upon

so, about that semester project

I performed a competetive audit of the STUDY EXPLORER for Graz University of Technology (my employer) under the supervision of Doris Eichmeier. Here's a brief summary of what that website even does:

The STUDY EXPLORER is an interactive guide for choosing a bachelor's degree at Graz University of Technology. To get a recommendation and reach a decision, the user rates questions based on their personal preferences, on a scale of 1 to 5. These questions are divided into 4 categories, and concern some or all of the 21 bachelor study programs. In the end, all of those studies are listed in descending order by preference, starting with the most relevant one (believed to fit the user's needs the most, based on their inputs).

what went well

I liked the topic. While the STUDY EXPLORER started out as a website that I was supposed to create for my work, it quickly turned into a sort of passion project of mine. I strongly identify with its mission and purpose, which helps me genuinely enjoy developing it further.

I liked putting my recent experience in doing competitive audits to use, thereby expanding my knowledge in this discipline. It made my participation in the Content Strategy master's degree at FH JOANNEUM feel actually meaningful.

And I also liked my supervisor, Doris Eichmeier. Giving me and my colleagues just the right combination of enough space to work at our own pace, make mistakes, find out what sticks and what doesn't. Yet simultaneously also helping us pull through, giving pointers and direction when needed, and seeming involved and fascinated by our ideas and projects at the same time.

things to improve upon

I've already reflected on a couple of factors within my written work, so go ahead and find it buried somewhere in Zotero in case you're interested in that. But here's a new insight which I didn't include there:

Procrastination is a ****. I keep wondering again and again how it can be so difficult to just do it. Take some time, sit down, and start researching/writing/working. It's not like this was my first attempt at (scientific) writing/working on a large written project. But getting it done always seems hard. When in reality, it really isn't. Once you compose yourself and simply get to it.

How do I plan to do this right the next time around? Well, I believe I need some "external pressure". Someone who's waiting for progress. Someone who frequently asks for updates or results. Someone to remind me of the deadline. Stuff like that.

Sounds horrible, I know. Spelling it out like that makes me not want it either. However, I do think that kind of guidance would enable me to do even better. Or maybe, that's not even necessary.

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Will I manage to learn from these past mistakes? The second semester's content design project will show that, I suppose!