Franz Kafka

PA State Computer Fair: 9th grade submission

April 2011

Freshman year of high school was another year for me to enter the Pennsylvania State Computer Fair. In my English class that year, we were reading Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, and I found myself fascinated by his surreal visions. I decided to use Kafka and his works as the central theme for my competition entry.

Evolution of Style

The transition from 8th grade to 9th grade saw a major shift in how I approached web design. Instead of just using the default templates and drag-and-drop features of Dreamweaver, I was starting to delve into the actual code. I wanted to go for a realistic look, with scanned papers, journals, and pens on a desk to create a more immersive experience for the visitor.

I selected a moody, dark color palette and tried to integrate more interactive elements that were popular at the time. My goal was to move away from the static, informational websites I had seen in previous years and towards something that felt more like a piece of digital art.

While the project was much more technically ambitious than my 8th-grade fractal geometry site, I found that the competition was also much fiercer at the high school level. I didn’t place as highly as I had the year before and unfortunately I did not make it to states.

However, this experience taught me a valuable lesson: high-level design requires more than just having good ideas; it requires a deep understanding of the medium and the user experience. This realization pushed me to study more advanced HTML and CSS outside of my school’s curriculum, preparing me for my next attempt at the state fair.