Personal Favorites

I am so excited about this post, because . . . it's all about me!  My favorite aspects of websites, my favorite designs, even my favorite colors - all are important features of any website of mine.

I checked out wix.com and felt like I was planning a party!  So of course, what is the first step to planning a party?  The guest list!

There are tons of important decisions to make when it comes to designing a website.  Who is my audience?  Who am I catering it to?  Why?  And most importantly, what decisions do I need to make in order to cater to my intended audience?

In my case, my intended audience is targeted to interest graduate school committees, future or potential employers, and internship opportunities.  So, my website needs to be polished and professional, to attract such an established audience.

The next step is to figure out the party (read: website) objective.  Simply put, my objective is to impress each of the above audiences.

So what's the strategy?  What is my party's entertainment going to be?  How can I establish and successfully complete my objective?

There are a lot of contributing elements to interesting these audiences.  First, I think a strong resume is essential.  It builds the argument for my experience (another very important element.)  I also think it would be really helpful to have my work, writing, etc. easily available for review on the website.  That way, with the click of a mouse, my audience can see the pieces that I want them to look at.

However, I don't think it's all about content (though I definitely think content is THE most important element!  It gives the audience the most to work with). I think the site needs to be easy to navigate, clean, clear, attractive, and organized.  I think it needs to have tabs to allow the audience to find the information they want to - maybe separate tabs for my experience, resume, example pieces, links to my videos, my contact information, links to my social media, etc.  I want my website to put everything out there - to show my audience my very best, and even more.

One element that I didn't think about until Professor Price mentioned it is "applicable life experience."  What a great idea to put on my website!  For example, I am hoping to attend a 3 week long Study Away in New Zealand this May.  The trip is all about media and culture in New Zealand - so my experience on the trip would likely apply to my future career.  That is definitely something that I want to be able to bring to the table on my website, so a tab for "applicable life experience" is a fantastic contribution to the site.

For my website design inspirations, I had so much fun checking out websites that I thought communicated effectively.  Here are some of my favorite elements!

I really appreciate how clean and simple the tabs are - really articulate.

I love the little blurbs about each person, and how readily available the contact information is!  Both of the above examples come from Melbourne Promotions - the site is available at this link!

In this example, I really appreciate that the title is BOLD and stands out, and I love the organization of the tabs across the top line.  Very accessible and organized!  Click to view the full blog 

I love the tabs, and the picture is beautiful and striking.  It definitely makes the website standout.  I also like the links to social media that this provides!  Check out the entire site here!

All of this "party planning" also caused me to become obsessed with logos . . . Here are some of my favorites!

I found all these logos through webdesignledger.com.  Check out more through this link!

So. Much. Fun!  This definitely made me want to design a logo for myself - kind of to brand myself!  I will have to get going!

What are your suggestions for branding yourself?  For attracting these types of audiences?  What else should I aim to add to my website?

The Story of Editing

The variety of steps involved in producing film is amazing to me.  I mean, think about it.  There are so many steps involved that don't get their fair share of credit.  Take editing for example.

Editing has the opportunity to take a film that is good to something great.  Editing allows for manipulation of the film, to switch up timing, scenes, and transitions, to cover up cinematography mishaps or poor acting.  Different camera angles and shots are crucial to the success of a film, but without the talent and work of an editor, they make no difference.

Although I certainly recognized the importance of editing with regard to movie and filmmaking, it wasn't until I learned more about the inside steps of editing that I began to understand just how great an impact it has.

In "The Aesthetics of Editing," an article by Osgood and Hinshaw, the authors describe the vital role editing plays, particularly with regard to television commercials.

Think about it.  Advertising companies get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce very short - even twenty or thirty second long commercials.  

Now let's take this a step further.  What about Super Bowl ads?  What about Olympic sponsor ads?  Those advertisements are worth millions of dollars, and last less than half a minute!  And it's not so much the idea behind the ad, although that is important.  It is about the editing, the put together of footage, that counts in the end.

Take the Best Buy commercial from the 2013 Super Bowl for example:

How many different times did Amy Poehler really say those lines?  How many extra shots were filmed?  Probably a significant amount.

Because the reality of filmmaking is, most of what is shot doesn't get used without being manipulated.  Audio is enhanced, order is switched around, soundtracks are put in, mistakes are eliminated.  Without editing, videos would not look like they do.  They would be much longer, much more heavily laden with mistakes, and much more unprofessional looking.

So my question for discussion is, why is editing so overlooked?  Why aren't the roles of editors more recognized?  Why aren't they more glamorized?  Editors may not be in the spotlight, but their jobs are integral to the success of video footage.

Blogging Brands

Rettberg’s article, “Blogging Brands” offers insight regarding different forms of advertising utilized by bloggers, and the positive and negative aspects of each.

Until my Digital Communications class, I honestly did not know that some people blogged professionally.  Blogging as a career, with a salary was a completely foreign concept to be.  For someone to “bring home the bacon” just by writing for free online was confusing to me.  If anyone may blog, then how can people possibly make a living off it?  Then of course, it came to me – everything made sense – these bloggers use advertising.

Blogs that get a lot of traffic, naturally, can be supported by advertising.  It is up to the bloggers themselves to determine what types of ads they are comfortable with – some prefer small ads on the sidebar of the blog, some like banner ads, and some, use sponsored ads.

If we’re being completely honest (and I promise to always be honest on my blog!) I am not completely on board with the idea of blogger using advertisements.  Rettberg puts my perspective perfectly in her assertion on page 138:

Blogging is an unregulated area, and this is the sort of question that shows that blogging is not simply a form of journalism.  It is not clear whether blogging should follow the rules of mainstream media about separating editorial content from sponsored content, and even if there were an agreement about this, there would be no way to make bloggers follow it.  J.D. Lasica argues straight out that a blogger who wishes to be thought of as a journalist cannot post sponsored entries.

I am of the feeling that bloggers who post about specific products or companies for payment, are not necessarily being true to themselves, to their blogs, or to their audiences.  It would frustrate me to follow a blog that suddenly gained significant-enough traffic to where the author decided to start posting about random products.  I don’t choose to read blogs to be made to feel like a consumer.  I read blogs because I like what the author posts.  Once the author begins posting sponsored ads, it may not be the blog it used to be, and I may not like it as much as I did before.

I have less of a problem with sponsored ads if the authors completely disclose that they are paid to write reviews of particular products, etc.  After all, “truth and integrity are at the core of both the success stories and the failures of commercial blogging,” so if the author of a blog does not disclose this information to his or her readers and then is later found out, it is extremely likely that the author will have lost all credibility (Rettberg 153).  In fact, they definitely lose credibility for me.

So my questions are, do blog authors lose credibility for you when they start allowing advertisements on their pages?  What about when they participate in sponsored blogging?  At what point would an author lose your interest because of advertising on his or her blog page?