Explore how to harness the power of social media to grow your creative business.

This hands-on course will walk you through the fundamentals of establishing a presence on social media, using these tools to effectively market yourself and inte- grating social media into your overall creative business plan. This workshop will encompass both class discussion and work on individual projects. 

Registration & Information.

In this introductory Web Design course students will be introduced to the fundamentals of creating a personal or professional website.

We will explore various content management systems, strategies for designing a website, examine the process for determining the best web solution for your needs and begin work on a personal project of each student’s choice. By completing this course, students will achieve a basic understanding of the language of working with websites, designing and organizing content, and will be able to create a site using a content management system.

SCHEDULE

Jan 29, 2013 - Mar 21, 2013
Thursdays, 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Registration & More Information.

Create your online portfolio in just a weekend!

This hands-on workshop encompasses basic site creation (no prior web experience required), writing about your work, marketing and maintenance of your online portfolio. Students completing this workshop should leave with a basic professional online portfolio, and the necessary skills to keep the site fresh and updated. This three-day, collaborative workshop is ideal for designers, writers, artists and freelancers.

SCHEDULE

Jan. 11, 2013 - Jan. 13, 2013
Fri. - 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Sat., Sun. - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Registration & More Information

Marti Brandtner’s Project from Summer 2012

I have never felt so empowered on the internet. :)

—Early Summer 2012 Digital Portfolio Workshop Student

This is by far the most popular class I teach. We create an organizational stucture for your online portfolio, draft content and help you get organized and get started on a design. We’ve had some awesome work come out of this course, and it’s always fun to see everyone’s artwork, writing and photography as well. We use the Squarespace platform, which is also the content management system I do a lot of client portfolios on as well—because it’s so easy for completely non-technical users to keep up-to-date and fresh (even more so than ever-popular Wordpress.org). 

three days
Meets: F-Su
Hours: 4:30pm-7:00pm (Fri); 10am-2pm (Sat. & Sun.)
Date: Jul 13, 2012 - Jul 15, 2012

Create your online portfolio. This hands-on workshop encompasses basic site creation (no prior web experience required), writing about your work, marketing and maintenance of your online portfolio. Students completing this workshop should leave with a basic professional online portfolio, and the necessary skills to keep the site fresh and updated. This three-day, collaborative workshop is ideal for designers, writers, artists and freelancers.

This section has limited enrollment.

Register here!

Don’t forget that if you can’t take a class or need a bit more help, I do offer one-on-one training in both Squarespace and Wordpress, as well as custom online portfolio design services in both platforms. (I’m currently scheduling new projects in mid-June.) Get in touch if you’d like to talk!

(Really!)

This is by far the most popular class I teach. We create an organizational stucture for your online portfolio, draft content and help you get organized and get started on a design. We’ve had some awesome work come out of this course, and it’s always fun to see everyone’s artwork, writing and photography as well. We use the Squarespace platform, which is also the content management system I do a lot of client portfolios on as well—because it’s so easy for completely non-technical users to keep up-to-date and fresh (even more so than ever-popular Wordpress.org). 

three days
Meets: F-Su
Hours: 4:30pm-7:00pm (Fri); 10am-2pm (Sat. & Sun.)
Date: 06/01/12 - 06/03/12

Create your online portfolio. This hands-on workshop encompasses basic site creation (no prior web experience required), writing about your work, marketing and maintenance of your online portfolio. Students completing this workshop should leave with a basic professional online portfolio, and the necessary skills to keep the site fresh and updated. This three-day, collaborative workshop is ideal for designers, writers, artists and freelancers.

This section has limited enrollment.

Register here!

Don’t forget that if you can’t take a class or need a bit more help, I do offer one-on-one training in both Squarespace and Wordpress, as well as custom online portfolio design services in both platforms. (I’m currently scheduling new projects in mid-June.) Get in touch if you’d like to talk!

Almost three years ago I taught my first class at PNCA. That class was an intro to blogging course. We haven’t offered it since, as I’ve been in the thick of teaching other course at the college, but I’ve re-tooled it and I’m so excited to start this last later this month. 

I deeply believe that blogging is an important marketing tool for businesses and creative folks—so many people have eshewed blogging in favor of social media, which is a big mistake. I love social media, but a blog offers you the opportunity to tell your story, your way. And, a great blog can serve a a catch-all website too!

Here are all the details:

three weeks
Meets every: Sat.
Hours: 10:00am-2:00pm
Date: 4/28/12 - 5/12/12

Create your own online publishing platform. In this workshop, you?ll learn how to start, maintain and grow your presence on the web though a blog or online journal. Students will develop their online identity, discover techniques for engaging readers, learn how to integrate social media and create the basic architecture of their blog or online journal. This collaborative workshop is ideal for ideal for writers, small businesspeople, designers and artists.

Register here! (Space is limited.)

I'm back teaching at PNCA this Winter, with a couple of my regular classes on the schedule. 

Web Tools

Days: M Date: Jan 23-Mar 12 Times: 6:30pm-9:00pm

In a nutshell, this class will give you the basic knowledge to set up a website and will help you understand web terminology, decision making and the basics of HTML, CSS and Content Management Systems. Most students leave this class with a simple site developed (this is a requirement for certificate students). Here's the official description.

In this introductory Web Design course students will be introduced to the fundamentals of creating a personal or professional website. We will explore various content management systems, strategies for designing a website, examine the process for determining the best web solution for your needs and begin work on a personal project of each student's choice. By completing this course, students will achieve a basic understanding of the language of working with websites, designing and organizing content, and will be able to create a site using a content management system.

Register here. 

Social Media for Creative Businesses

This is a nice introduction to the basics of social media in a business context. In the past, I've taught it as a six- or eight-week course, but we're restructuring it into a weekend workshop this term so that folks who can't commit to a weekly class can take it. The fancy-schmancy description.

Explore how to harness the power of social media to grow your creative business. This hands-on course will walk you through the fundamentals of establishing a presence on social media, using these tools to effectively market yourself and integrating social media into your overall creative business plan.This workshop will encompass both class discussion and work on individual projects.

Registration info. 

It doesn't look like I'll be teaching my popular Online Portfolio Workshop course until June, unfortunately. It fills up quickly because of limited space, so if you're interested in that class, you'd be advised to sign up soon. Also, if you can't wait, I am currently taking on selected clients for smaller web projects, such as artist portfolios. If you're interested in this type of help, please drop me a line. 

Well, Spring and Summers terms came and went, with classes filling before I had a chance to post them here. (And, a big thank you to my students and the staff at PNCA for continuing to be awesome). I'm teaching two classes in the fall, both of which can be taken as profession development/general interest classes or as part of PNCA's fabulous certificate program. 

Web Tools

Mondays, 6:30pm-9:00pm, 9/19/11 - 11/7/11

In a nutshell, this class will give you the basic knowledge to set up a website and will help you understand web terminology, decision making and the basics of HTML, CSS and Content Management Systems. Most students leave this class with a simple site developed (this is a requirement for certificate students). Here's the official description.

In this introductory Web Design course students will be introduced to the fundamentals of creating a personal or professional website. We will explore various content management systems, strategies for designing a website, examine the process for determining the best web solution for your needs and begin work on a personal project of each student's choice. By completing this course, students will achieve a basic understanding of the language of working with websites, designing and organizing content, and will be able to create a site using a content management system.

Register here. 

Online Portfolio Workshop

4:30pm-7:00pm (Fri) & 10:00-4:00 (Sat & Sun), 12/16/11 - 12/18/11

My portfolio workshop has suddenly become very popular and fills quickly. This is a basic workshop for non-technical folks to get a sharp, professional portfolio up on the Web. It's also a lot of work for each student--and you get far more out of it if you come prepared with work you want to showcase. Space is extremely limited, as the class needs to be small for it to be most successful. Here's the official description. 

Create your online portfolio. This hands-on workshop encompasses basic site creation (no prior web experience required), writing about your work, marketing and maintenance of your online portfolio. Students completing this workshop should leave with a basic professional online portfolio, and the necessary skills to keep the site fresh and updated. This three-day, collaborative workshop is ideal for designers, writers, artists and freelancers.

Register here. 

If you have any questions about either of these classes, please contact me or the CE office--we're happy to help!

Also, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm now offering one-on-one tutoring and instruction in both these subjects (and a couple more), if neither of these classes meets your needs. A new section of my website is pending, but in the meantime, please contact me for rates and additional information. 

Enjoy your summer!

Image credit: screenshot of cecilysakrison.com, a Winter 2010 student in the Online Portfolio Workshop

Creative Marketing Tools

Hours: 6:30pm-9:00pm 
Dates: 1/26/11 - 3/16/11 (Wednesdays)

Explore how to harness the power of online marketing to grow your personal brand or creative business. This hands-on course will walk you through the fundamentals of creating a social media and online marketing strategy that meets your overall communications goals. Each class meeting will encompass both class discussion and work on individual projects. Additionally- the class will collaborate online in between class meetings. Platforms examined will include- Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and others, depending on class interest.

Register and learn more.

Web Tools I

Hours: 6:30pm-9:00pm
Dates: 1/24/11 - 3/14/11 (Mondays)

In this introductory Web Design course students will be introduced to the fundamentals of creating a personal or professional website. We will explore various content management systems, strategies for designing a website, examine the process for determining the best web solution for your needs and begin work on a personal project of each student's choice. By completing this course, students will achieve a basic understanding of the language of working with websites, designing and organizing content, and will be able to create a site using a content management system.

Register and learn more. 

In addition, there are still a few seats left in my December class at PNCA, Digital Portfolio Workshop. This is a weekend-long class, designed for non-technical folks such as writers, artists, designers and freelancers. This workshop will not only teach you how to get an online portfolio up and running, but will work hands-on to fine-tune your message, create a personal statement, market yourself and more. You can sign up for that course, which takes place December 3 through 5 on PNCA's website.  

My class is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., the last session of the day--so stop by before Sample Spree.