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.