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Hello there! My name is Kate Giugno. I think the sky's the limit for front-end development, and so I made this punny webpage to prove it!

My Work

Rathaus Press

Rathaus Studio is a queer-run art collective, based in Rochester, NY. I redesigned its Squarespace site to better reflect their aims, and incorporated an artsy old-web aesthetic.
Check out Rathaus Studio here!

Image of Video Game, in which main character is in the middle of the screen, surrounded by NPCs.

A Rat Game

A Rat Game is a short RPG, about being turned into a rat by your next door neighbor. The game was made in React, yet it fetches dialogue from OpenAI (the creator of ChatGPT!).
Check out A Rat Game here!

Portfolio

This portfolio for my short stories and art—now over two years old—was one of the first websites I developed. Looking back, there are both parts that I'm proud of and parts I would change.
Check out the portfolio here!

SAPIEN

SAPIEN is a tech start-up company, that offers virtual avatars for conversations and skills training. The company needed a sharp, professional front-end within a week to match the back-end they had created.
Check out SAPIEN's site here!

Image of Rathaus Press Landing Page including Interactive Studio Navigation Element

Rathaus Press

Tools Used: Squarespace, Custom CSS, HTML and JavaScript for the Interactive Components

Knowledge Gained: the inner workings of Squarespace, balancing artistic expression with usability, imposter syndrome is fake.

Rathaus Studio is a queer-run art collective, based in Rochester, NY, that specializes in risograph printing. The organization's Squarespace site is redesigned to better reflect that mission, and the materiality of its primary medium: paper and ink.

The studio layout on the landing page allows newcomers a means intuitive exploration of what the site has to offer, while the hamburger menu at the top of the page provides quick access to important links.

Potted Plant used in point-and-click video game element.

Rat Video Game

Tools Used: React, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML

Knowledge Gained: Fetching content via API, organizing a complicated program into self-contained modules.

A Rat Game is a short RPG, developed out of morbid curiosity as both an author and programmer on how close AI is to taking writing jobs. The game was developed in React, yet it fetches narrative content from OpenAI (that’s the creator of ChatGPT).

The player character speaks with a spider non-player character. There is a dialogue box at the bottom, with two branching choices.

The player character inspects a gargoyle spout that feeds water into a small basin. Descriptive text is in the dialogue box below.

The main villain of the video game, a witch who is holding her staff.

As for my findings?
The task of setting up data fetching from a Large Language Model is not prohibitively hard, and the pricing is relatively low for a single app.

However, for large projects, such as video games, because that cost is multiplied by every user who fetches dialogue through the app, because the response is unpredictable, and because a writer remains necessary to create the prompts, that the option is not sustainable.
For now, at least, LLMs cannot replace writers.

Portfolio

Tools Used: Flask, Bootstrap, CSS, HTML

Knowledge Gained: how to use small visual details to tie a site together thematically, keeping the unique feel of a site, with tighter constraints than other projects.

This portfolio for my short stories and art—now over two years old—was one of the first websites I developed. Because my experience at the time was still limited, I decided to develop a relatively simple site and direct my efforts on perfecting the UI details.

Portfolio Page that showcases digital artwork, including designs for deity characters in the video game Divine Judgement and other fan works.

Landing Page for the Portfolio that shows the authors's image and several short story titles.

Digital Artwork of General Grievous from Star Wars playing the drums with his lightsabers.

What's Next:

Though I’m satisfied with the visuals—this still was one of my first projects. So, what would I do better next time?

1. Mobile Responsiveness: The portfolio technically is mobile responsive, but the landing page and game development pages especially don’t measure up to my personal standards. In a redesign, I would focus on this, since I know that most use mobile devices to visit a portfolio.

2. Image and Text Modals: Clicking on my work takes a visitor to a tab that displays it as a PDF/PNG file. It’s functional but a less disruptive technique would be to use a modal to allow a visitor to examine the work without leaving the portfolio page.

3. More Excitement! As much as I do like the color palette, any redesign of the portfolio should communicate the passion that went into it. That would mean using brighter colors, and energetic, even bouncy CSS animations. I'd also develop a interactive layout that brings visitors brings users into the creative environment with me (ex. navigating through a crowded desk).

SAPIEN tech start-up landing page, including hero video of virtual avatars, about text and introductory video.

SAPIEN

Tools Used: Flask, CSS, HTML, JavaScript

Knowledge Gained: Incorporating front-end changes to an already-developed backend app, designing for mobile users, working under tight deadlines.

SAPIEN is a tech start-up company, based on designing virtual avatars for conversations and skills training. The company needed a sharp, professional front-end within a week to match the back-end they were in the process of creating.

The site’s front-end was developed in a sleek black and white, while the rounded corners on elements prevented it from feeling too intimidating. Filtering elements were also incorporated in the avatar gallery and for the feedback page responses.