Website project

The website I created is used to promote myself by having contact information readily available for the viewer to access. I created this website in Dreamweaver. I didn’t get far into the design aspect of the picture in the background. The purpose of the website gives employers a portal to view my resume and portfolio of the work I have accomplished. This website concept has a simple and clean flow for the viewer look for exactly what it needs. The intended purpose of this website would be to help promote myself in the eyes of an employer. Capturing attention and delivering information is what this website should do because I want it to propel myself into a career after I graduate this May.

The social media projects that I have created in COM 322 set up and prepared me for the final project of the website.  Getting use to the programs of adobe indesgin, illustrator and photoshop completes the major steps in creating an actual website. Custom graphics, designs and layout can be easily understood by understanding the steps it takes to create a website. The amount of time our class took on the social media projects I think was painful at times but the amount of time we actually spent on them prepared us well for the website.  I learned the most I believe from these specific projects of the postcard and the business card. Especially because the concept has to have a visual message tie into or represent something is extremely difficult to all tie in and make sense. Going through these projects helped me adapt into seeing visual designs and decoding them into a meaning and representation of whatever brand it does.

The necessary tie-ins of my personal social media accounts are implemented in my website to show employers more examples of work I have. Blogger is the social media account I thought was the most appropriate to use in my website. My Blogger site that is accessible on the website which has examples of COM 322 work employers I am trying to impress would like to see. The intention behind the website I created is shown when anybody reaches it. I am really looking forward to start my career this summer and my intention is to land a newer job in a field I truly enjoy. This class and project has made my communication degree well rounded with knowledge of how communication is used on the web. I believe this skill is essential in knowing and getting ahead of the game in the PR/ Advertising world.

Uploading JPEG images and converting files to PDF format for the viewer to read was obviously important to know for the website. However I believe the knowledge of knowing the picture formats and alteration that occurs in photoshop before is equally important. Organizing content on the website is a skill you develop when completing the social media projects to correctly display information and messages. Placement of the content is crucial.

Does this logo make sense?

 

Logos are designs that need to display a visual message to its intended audience. That message should explain or mean something pertaining to its product. Logos with the strongest message representing its product with interesting and identifiable visual concepts with capture the attention of its audience effectively. These 5 logos below I believe are strong in message that relate well to its product.

 

Green is a fresh color, and everyone loves fresh coffee. That gives this logo a message that it represents something fresh and the logo of queen represents high standard. Fresh and high standard coffee is the message Starbucks is aiming at.

 

 

CAT is a company that sells heavy machinery and out door work clothing. The pyramid represents a gold standard in my eyes and is extremely recognizable to people that work in the industry.

 

 

 

Pantagonia has moutains in the background trying to sell the image that it is clothing you can wear in conditions when climbing a mountain.  This reminds me of a comfy warm sweater that can endure extreme cold climates.

Dove’s logo is a symbol that resembles elegance. An elegant soap will obviously smell good .The message is displayed well with the gold dove and clean font.

 

Xbox is a game counsel that has extremely good custom graphics of video games. The symbol to the left of the words Xbox is a symbol that is found on the controllers of Xbox. I would imagine just like myself, anyone who plays Xbox is immediately reminded of the euphoria of starting a game with pressing that button which is to start a game.

These logos are selling the product well with getting right to the point on what it is and how it ties into the visual concept. The concept matches the images, which is extremely important. When you have them matching in concept it is easier to recognize with a brand. It is something that us humans do naturally and that is to interpret signs with meanings.

Learning Visual Concepts

      This project pertaining to the postcard we each individually made ourselves was very fun and entertaining to work on. This was an essential exercise to get me to visually think about concepts and about what visuals apply to it. I feel like it trained me to think like a graphic designer and to understand the significance of being able to coherently display an image that makes sense and which ties into one concept. A lot of the problems that I have when doing an assignment like that is how to have my graphics tell a story. I usually can think of many ideas but have a hard time trying to connect it to an overall image. The colors I used were in replication of a ticket with a font called Superclardeon. It is a font that resembles one you would see on a ticket stub. 

    I used the hierarchy with making a logo with the event time’s stand out more than the bio of the postcard about myself. The blue and red lines that are essentially the boarders of my postcard give my postcard a sense of balance. That was with the intention that that information was more important because it gives a stronger visual display of it being an actual ticket to a Bills game. Then I believe the font is coherently tied into the theme of the postcard with it being alongside of a playful photo. I believe visually it all ties in or in other words fit. The requirement of using all three applications is pretty simple. 

   Some people used professional photos or half upper body “selfies” to portray their message. However I used a photo of me kissing a trophy which I was thought would exemplify positive emotions of having a good time. The bio should be irrelevant, having the graphic designs tell your story. This picture highlights what is written in the bio about working hard and having a good time. This photo and postcard is intended to show how I like to enjoy myself doing specific things.     

  For photo work/alteration we use Photoshop, for custom illustration work we used Illustrator and to design the concept we used InDesign. These three applications are used to professionally create your own (custom) flier, postcard, business card, brochure and website. All three applications are used for the intended purpose, which allows you to skillfully work on each aspect of whatever you are working on and to bring all aspects of the project together to effectively design and make what you want. Illustrator is where I feel like I made the biggest improvement on throughout this project. It takes many meticulous hours to get good at creating custom illustrations of your choice. The pen tool exercise earlier in the semester enlightened me when doing it and then ending up being extremely beneficial when trying to create the bar code and boarders of my postcard.

  Photoshop was used to alter my photo to the levels of brightness in the picture. This added to the contrast of the photo making it appear better after tweaking.  The third application was InDesign that was used. This was the application that I brought my illustrations made in Illustrator and where I imported the enhanced photo from Photoshop. I created the template of the postcard with exact measurements that would replicate the side of a postcard. Once I had all of my information, pictures and graphics in InDesign, was where I assembled and aligned the making of a Buffalo Bills ticket stub to the 2016 home opener. Spacing took time to get perfect; also matching to have equal balance throughout the postcard did too. I enjoyed this project once I fully understood how to construct something like this using the three different programs to assemble and design this custom postcard.

  This project turned my knowledge of these applications and made them tangible. I am much more comfortable when using these applications to construct something like this. The time and meticulous work were two things I could take away from this. The tasks aren’t hard, but require a lot of mental thought. The key throughout this project was to get down to one consistent image to portray the message you are trying to send. Everything that is involved and implemented in this postcard holds some sort of significance in the meaning of the message that is portrayed. The text wrap boarders are only one example where little meticulous advancements provide much better visual imagery. The postcard project tested my knowledge and then solidified them.  


     

Issues At Hand: Brochure Topics

  

I have chosen three issues at hand right now that could change the landscape of America and its views. I firmly believe each issue deserves attention because it is affecting America as we speak. Justice for the citizens in Flint and justice for single low income mothers too, need to be backed by us citizens that make up this country. Justice for the occasional pot smoker is needed as well. These three issues are pressing topics coming from a Millennial. Here is some insight on these issues and why they are important.

Flint, Michigan- Recently this city has made national headlines after residents reported undrinkable water.  Lead contamination had been reported since April 2014. This created a serious public health danger to anybody that would drink the water.  10 people contracted an irreversible disease stemming from heavy lead poisoning, along with approximately 6,000 to 12,000 kids also being affected by lead exposure.  Four government officials and another person in the EPA have resigned over this tragedy. It has been reported that people in Flint were paying on average more for water than most other US cities in the country.  Emails have leaked out showing the Environmental Protection’s Agency knew of these problems months previous. However this agency did not act in time and major lead exposure decimated people’s health in Flint. People all across the country have sent fresh water bottles along with the federal government funneling millions of dollars to fix this problem.  The real problems at hand lay with the people that are sick and the people that willingly let this happen. As Flint Michigan is a low income and impoverished city, there is no room to let this happen in the United States of America. Clean water is a basic function our country has been able to provide citizens for hundreds of years.  Our government fell asleep at the wheel and it is important for us citizens to know about it.

Planned Parenthood: As our 2016 Presidential race has continued throughout the winter and into the spring, a handful of issues have been in the center for discussion amongst the candidates.  Planned Parenthood is a government funded program that reaches far beyond abortions and saves lives through cancer screening, prenatal services and adoption referrals.  This program is not only intended to help females as it also does provide free STD testing for males and females. This provides better access to a health program that encourages safe sex. Hundreds of thousands of single mothers use this program to help them in the process of conceiving a child and offer options to improve the quality of life for them and their child. The GOP candidates plus other right wingers, claim that this is infringing on their religious views and that it is a program that does not deserve federal funding. This is important because the next President of the United States is going to have final decision on this along with the senate to keep this funding. If GOP candidates win the election, this program has most likely seen its last days. But this is America and living above substandard conditions is what we pride ourselves on every day. Keeping pregnant woman and unborn children safe should be our biggest priority. This program “Planned Parenthood” provides support for young mothers that aim to keep them healthy with all of the options it provides with safe sex and everything else. So why would we NOT fund it?

Legalization of Marijuana:  The legalization of marijuana as an issue is simple, it should be recreationally legal. “Pot” has been around for thousands of years and is a naturally grown planet within the earth and specific demographics. Pot has also been sold on the black market for at least 50 years. It is extremely accessible to people, but when people buy it, they are doing so illegally. When they conduct this type of behavior it could land them in jail for it. A few other states such as Colorado, California and Oregon have already passed legislature law and have it legally enacted a few years ago.  Millions of dollars have been collected through taxation of legal purchasing, from pot industry owners. This is a government tax that has helped recoup millions of dollars in tax revenue for its state. Marijuana is  scientifically  proven to be less likely to be as dangerous as legal tobacco and alcohol. So why is it illegal? This is important now because this issue has only gained mounting support from citizens all across the country. This has accumulated through a millennial movement on this issue. This is a huge issue considering it has jailed hundreds of thousands of people for petty crimes. Should a pot conviction of a 19 year old with bad judgment once, be crucified for it along with tarnishing the rest of his future? I think not. We are the future so we need to pass legislature that will be enacted when we take over. Will our government hear our concerns? 

These issues deserve real attention because the opposition’s solutions to them are not legitimate. The people that have views against these issues need to realize that none of the backlash against it has made any progress. Views that shut down these issues are not progressive, instead they are only regressing our country. The young people in this world need to start stepping up and supporting what is right that include our views.  Old and out of touch people in power, need to step back and let the young guns handle these issues. This will reflect the views of the younger generations that are growing older. They are our future.  

Do you get the picture or not?

As I dove into the investigation of good and bad visual designs, it took time to visually comprehend these images. My references are to brochures, flyers and business cards. I was looking at all of the elements that portray a design such as fonts, colors, images and layout. My Results are as followed:

Good Designs- 

This brochure is a success; it uses distinct photos on the front of it. The man jumping in the picture is symbolic in nature and usually coined as achieving some sort of success. The globe and piggy bank of the front are universal signs we can all understand visually. As the brochure is opened it uses the three rings that are interconnected that are showing the message of the brochure, in so to speak the big picture of what it is communicating. The visual lay out is appealing along with the other universal symbols it uses with the business man, trophy and globe above the palm of the hand. This is a brochure in a language I don’t speak and I still understand the concept of it.

The Victory Creative Idea business card is visually appealing with its colors of dark blue and black color. The contrast of colors make is visually easy to read. Also the layout of the information is easy to comprehend with the systematic flow of it. The universal images of a home, phone and internet make the information easier to process. The front of it is basic enough to make the reader flip over to view the information of the person on the back.

This flyer shows good visual design using not only symbols in text but also with a picture. The flyer starts off in red font which is generally know to readers as being something important or dangerous. That is automatically appealing from the start. But it also does have a break in sentences with black font that helps the flow of the design. The flow of the design leads it to a picture of a speaker. This symbol communicates effectively the content that is in it pertaining to sexual assault. The flow of the content meets the middle of the speaker that then transitions to the information on the flyer. This flyer is a success.

Bad Designs-

This brochure has a strong visual display with easy to understand images on the front and is appealing; however when you open the brochure up to its entirety the image that streaks through the middle of the page is too much. The design is bad. It captures too much attention that takes away from the content inside the brochure.  The font blends in with the background color as well and is hard to read. It’s hard to see what the highlighted is message within the compact text that is disruption through the middle of it. Colors and design are confusing.

The layout of this business card is simple and boring. The reason why it is a bad visual design is because it is see through. Even though this picture shows it in a dark setting with a light illuminating it, in real life in the palm of anyone’s hand it is not going to look nearly as appealing as it does in this photo. The information on it could be very hard to read in many circumstances that contribute it to being a bad design in general.

This bad design has a good concept. The overall concept of it is intriguing and appealing. However the words thought the body of this child is too hard to read with text. It starts of small and ends up big. This is visually taxing when ready because the spacing between the words and letter are not proportionate. The visual design of the contents color and the background are too similar and its font does not stick out enough for it to be easy to read. In this flower the dots in the middle of the paper that outline the child stick out first rather than the content that makes this hard to read and a bad design

Animation and visual imagery impose permanent conceptual messages

The type of communication I respond to the most is visual communication. It captures my attention more than verbal, audio or written communication. This is because I feel it is the first to spark my recollection, equating to myself having a stronger connection to a message I am intended to receive. Those visual concepts engineer my thoughts when I see a visual concept. Visual communication and its tactful imagery help remove myself from the present world for a moment. It captures my attention enough to have my mind block out the outside noise, allowing myself to process and conclude the messages I ingest. Even if that moment is only a few seconds their effects are enduring and become a piece of my conceptual thoughts. Visual communication promotes deeper thought in my mind.

     A necessary tool for visual communication would be a type of simplistic imagery that can be understood quickly. I believe first impressions hold more value than other impressions because the impact of them is longer lasting. A first impression determines on how you start to perceive the second. Another necessary tool for visual communication in my opinion would be color. Color associates and further interprets the setting and context in a message. The importance of colors in visual communication also boils down to it being able to excite and provoke emotions within you. Connection is usually felt with more than one emotion that evokes a resonating feeling within your mind.

 One company that has strong visual communication is Warner Brother productions. It’s more than ironic that the business they provide is visual communication. It has represented their entity after every movie it has produced ever. This logo promotes millions of movie viewers with strong visual communication. This provides a connective tie people can recall and reminisce in previous memories of favorite movies they watched produced by Warner Brothers.

Another symbol that is widely known is used by SnapChat. This is an application that provides visual communication. It allows people to send and receive picture messages on your phone. Recently this application has evolved with options to add written, visual, audio and verbal messages via picture or video. This is a company that has mastered the art of visual communication has close to a billion interactive everyday users in today’s society.

 
 

 

This logo is the first logo I remember when accessing the internet when I was a young. The FireFox logo stimulated the animation imagery that plays sporadically in my mind. The fox and a globe represent surfing the internet swiftly like a fox. I still felt those emotions even though every time before the last time I used it, it was extremely slow to upload the internet. The power of visual communication can be profound.






These symbols are easily recognizable with the entity it represents. The simplistic imagery used are icons that are icon for the function it produces. This establishes product criteria within the consumer. Each symbol does its purpose as a logo for its respected function.