The digital age has transformed the field of design and the elements that are used to create compositions in print and for the web. In order to fully analyze the visual rhetoric and design of a piece, one must take into consideration the layout, color, shape, focal point, theme,balance and contrast to name a few.
I chose to take a look at a commercial created by the CIA as a recruitment advertisement for a younger audience. It aired on the Discovery Channel and was intended to persuade a younger audience to consider careers with the CIA. The surface area of the composition is a television screen and it uses many cartoon elements to appeal to the younger audience rather than adults who are looking to start their careers after college or switch jobs.
The focal point of the video is an interactive "bug"which moves throughout the different screens guiding the viewer in and out of the various places described by the narrator. These involve screens where mock CIA employees are shown solving problems and designing devices. There is also an employee shown drawing a fictitious gadget which is shown to exhibit the type of projects that are created by scientists and engineers. The bug acts as a tour guide around the different images in the ad.
There is a scientific theme to the advertisement evoking emotions of creativity, imagination, and design.
The juxtaposition of colors in the piece promotes contrast and contribute to the changing layout of elements in the space. There is a shape in the video that has shades of light and dark purple together and another of a yellow square with black polka dots.
The fly is the main focal point in the beginning of the video, but while the fly is in motion, it is the foreground elements are scaled down. These elements are scaled down to place emphasis on the fly and then the space alternates where the scientists take center stage and fly fades into the background.
The bodies of the scientists and engineers in the video are dis-proportioned to resemble cartoon characters with large heads, smaller torsos, and really thin arms. There are various portions of the video that resemble the inner workings of a machine which are displayed with great texture. Some of the screens resemble paintings from the Bauhaus. There are a lot of elements displayed in the space giving the eye many options to look at. This video is very interesting in the use of colors and I think it was a great idea to appeal to kids about considering the CIA as a career option.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Typography
Typography is an aspect of visual communication design that can positively influence the message of document when done correctly. During undergrad, I learned about typography and how to create logos and nice headings for documents and projects. Typography is the balance of text and image on a page. The personality of a typeface can affect the mood of a document, thus it is important to choose fitting fonts for your documents and media presentations. If you are preparing a professional document it would be in your best interest to steer away from using decorative fonts with curves, balloons,fireworks etc.
To support my analysis of typography, I found a group of videos on YouTube created my students and designers alike that all convey different messages. Some of the videos are pretty interesting and exhibit a great amount of detail and use of typographical techniques. I particularly enjoyed this video entitled Typography:sky , where the user took an excerpt and set it to music. There was a modern typeface used, but it was an appropriate font for the content of the poem and the music that accompanied it. To place emphasis on certain words, the type changed in point sizes and often the opacity of color of the type changed as well, creating a grayscale effect. The most appealing portion of the video was the effect of the word "screamed" which resembled the image of an echo, if one could see sound traveling. When the music changed in form, the type followed suit, showing continuity in the design of the video.
Organic Letters is a very creative video where the designer made an animation of a tree that was growing; with lines of text appearing and fading as its branches.
One of the most interesting videos I watched was one set a scene from the movie Pulp Fiction. There were two typefaces used for each of the characters which were very different from one another. The character with the authoritative voice was given a large font and all of the narration appeared large on the screen and bold, while the other character's font was significantly smaller coinciding with the character's voice and role in the scene. The type was timed perfectly with the narration creating an interactive document that was very entertaining. The creator used the space well with words appearing horizontally, vertically and diagonally to keep the reader active in viewing the video. There are a number of typography videos set to scenes from a movie on YouTube.
At first, typography was a specialized occupation and would only be done by typesetters, but with all of the technology, people can easily create new fonts and use programs such Photoshop and Illustrator to manipulate type any way they can imagine.
To support my analysis of typography, I found a group of videos on YouTube created my students and designers alike that all convey different messages. Some of the videos are pretty interesting and exhibit a great amount of detail and use of typographical techniques. I particularly enjoyed this video entitled Typography:sky , where the user took an excerpt and set it to music. There was a modern typeface used, but it was an appropriate font for the content of the poem and the music that accompanied it. To place emphasis on certain words, the type changed in point sizes and often the opacity of color of the type changed as well, creating a grayscale effect. The most appealing portion of the video was the effect of the word "screamed" which resembled the image of an echo, if one could see sound traveling. When the music changed in form, the type followed suit, showing continuity in the design of the video.
Organic Letters is a very creative video where the designer made an animation of a tree that was growing; with lines of text appearing and fading as its branches.
One of the most interesting videos I watched was one set a scene from the movie Pulp Fiction. There were two typefaces used for each of the characters which were very different from one another. The character with the authoritative voice was given a large font and all of the narration appeared large on the screen and bold, while the other character's font was significantly smaller coinciding with the character's voice and role in the scene. The type was timed perfectly with the narration creating an interactive document that was very entertaining. The creator used the space well with words appearing horizontally, vertically and diagonally to keep the reader active in viewing the video. There are a number of typography videos set to scenes from a movie on YouTube.
At first, typography was a specialized occupation and would only be done by typesetters, but with all of the technology, people can easily create new fonts and use programs such Photoshop and Illustrator to manipulate type any way they can imagine.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Roles of a Blogger- An Amateur's Perspective
There are many people involved in maintaining a website for a huge company, and each person's role is important to the specific area of the site they work on. Corporate blogs have involvement from many of their employees, but for personal bloggers, the individual is responsible for fulfilling the duties of all the positions rolled into one.
After viewing and analyzing a few personal and corporate blogs, I have identified some roles I believe that the blogger must hold.
Writer~ First and foremost a blogger must be a writer. Bloggers may use their space to write about their thoughts and ideas about life in general or in relation to a topic of their interest. There is a debate on whether bloggers are considered journalists and I believe they are journalists. Some people have used their blogs to bring attention to their writing in an effort to get published. For those writers who have been denied by publishers or editors, blogs give them the opportunity to reach a wider audience, stress-free and at no-cost to them.
Reader~ A blogger must be a reader, whether they read articles and websites to get substance for their posts or visit other blogs in the same interest area.
Researcher~ A smart blogger will conduct research on topics and trends to stay current with what is happening on the web. There are tools and programs that can be used to enhance one's blog and a blogger must do research to retrieve this information. There are sites or other blogs that offer tips for maintaining a blog.
Designer~Blogs are web pages and should exhibit proper design elements. A blogger's page should have a design that is reflective of their personality or related to the content that is on the page. Images, video and other media elements should be added to make the page look unique. It is easy for a blog to be setup and sites offer templates. However, not all blogs should look alike and with everyone using the templates given by their providers, this will most likely happen. As a side note, I am currently using a template, but I am working on learning CSS so that I can differentiate my site from others and use colors and images I like.
Information Architect~ A blogger holds the role of the information architect because they are responsible for the organization of the content of their page(s). Thought should be put into the structure of the site and where page elements are placed. Bloggers must design with their target audience in mind and make important information apparent to the reader. An information architect must re-organize content depending on user responses and actions, if any.
Editor~ A blogger must be a writer, editor and proofreader. It is the sole responsibility of the author of the blog to make sure their writing is clear and error-free. Taking advantage of spell-check is the key. Otherwise, people will probably stray away from your blog or post bad comments for all to see.
Usability Specialist~It is important that a blog is easy to use. A blogger's site should be easy to navigate through and the process of reading posts and writing comments should be simple.
Web Master~ Overall,a blogger wears the hat of a webmaster. In personal blogs, they are solely responsible for the maintenance of the blog and they oversee the direction of the site and make sure that the goals of the site are accomplished.
Not all bloggers populate their site with original content, although it would be more useful if they did. There are bloggers who have created "unofficial" blogs for their favorite companies where they will post information regarding new projects or events that are occurring. While researching corporate blogs, I stumbled upon many blogs which resembled fan sites. There is nothing wrong with this especially if an official company blog does not exist. Bloggers and readers who share a common interest can interact over the web and discuss different topics related to the company. The most interesting "unofficial" blog that I discovered was for Disney. The blogger's site is highly populated with content about various Disney happenings with links and ads for Disney as well. Until reading the About section, I thought that this was the official blog for Disney. This particular blog is a great example of usage of various page elements including Blogads, Sponsors, Links, RSS Feeds etc.
Bloggers wear any hats, but not everyone does it well. I will be sure to live up to the goals that I outlined for the roles above.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Inside the Google blog
The Google blogs are geared to the users of their products. Google has created a separate blog for almost all of their applications and services that are available for download. It is often hard to keep up with all of their latest products and the blog entries serve as useful items for people who use a particular application regularly to stay informed on updates or new features. For example, the Gmail blog includes tips for using the application more effectively and provides information to make a user’s Google gadget of choice that much more convenient.
The goals of the blogs are to provide more information on the purpose of their products and give instructions on how to use the products. The site allows and encourages readers to give feedback on posts, but only through email and discussion boards. I did not see an area beneath posts to leave comments which would make a smoother line of communication.
The average entries are 4-5 paragraphs long incorporating graphs, videos, and other images to supplement the text. The screenshots that appears in some of the posts are especially helpful to people who are first time users to certain products. The blogs all have the same layout which gives continuity to the site design and the color choices are aesthetically pleasing. The blogs present an image of dedication to improving the online search experience. They also show that the employees are not only developers of the product but users as well.
Although there was not enough time to read every single blog that Google maintains, it is great they offer focused blogs for the many applications they have developed. Aside from the blogs related to products, there are also blogs on technology, policy, and ones for the developers, webmasters, and other technical professionals at Google. Just from browsing the different entries on the site, I downloaded a new Google gadget for my computer, the Google Notebook. Although I am not sure how to use it properly just yet, I am sure that I will be able to learn through their tutorials and posts. With a useful blog in hand, there’s one more thing that the search guru can put under its belt as successful. G0-Go-Google gadgets!
The goals of the blogs are to provide more information on the purpose of their products and give instructions on how to use the products. The site allows and encourages readers to give feedback on posts, but only through email and discussion boards. I did not see an area beneath posts to leave comments which would make a smoother line of communication.
The average entries are 4-5 paragraphs long incorporating graphs, videos, and other images to supplement the text. The screenshots that appears in some of the posts are especially helpful to people who are first time users to certain products. The blogs all have the same layout which gives continuity to the site design and the color choices are aesthetically pleasing. The blogs present an image of dedication to improving the online search experience. They also show that the employees are not only developers of the product but users as well.
Although there was not enough time to read every single blog that Google maintains, it is great they offer focused blogs for the many applications they have developed. Aside from the blogs related to products, there are also blogs on technology, policy, and ones for the developers, webmasters, and other technical professionals at Google. Just from browsing the different entries on the site, I downloaded a new Google gadget for my computer, the Google Notebook. Although I am not sure how to use it properly just yet, I am sure that I will be able to learn through their tutorials and posts. With a useful blog in hand, there’s one more thing that the search guru can put under its belt as successful. G0-Go-Google gadgets!
Chatting it up with Ebay
The intended audience of the Ebay Chatter blog is people who are buyers/sellers on ebay or people who are interested in finding out the latest hot items on Ebay and new features of the site. Unlike Walmart, the employees of Ebay are focusing more on the products and posting news items that cater to specific groups. For example, one ebay employee posted about items related to Barry Bonds for avid baseball fans. Another post was related to Fantasy Football, a topic very popular at this time of the year. The goal of the blog is to provide the latest news on ebay products and community events and they are doing it well.
The site allows, encourages, and receives comments very well. There is a separate discussion board where people can comments on posts or start new topics. Rather than replying on the board, the employees will often comment on the chatter website. Ebay also has a space for people to create their own blog, many which are about their experiences on the site or items they are looking to sell.
The average entries are approximately four paragraphs long, depending on the topic of the post. Entries on the site usually consist of text and photo of the blogger. Many of the posts also include videos (imbedded from YouTube) and other images to support the content of the post. The posts are reader-friendly providing brief detailed information about their current events.
The blog presents an image of community and it shows that the employees are interested in providing assistance to their users to ensure they have positive experiences on Ebay. The team responsible for posting to the blog is part of Community Development at Ebay and they are friendly and dedicated to interacting with members of the community. The postings about member spotlights are sincere and show they care about the people who buy and sell items on their site. Before reading this blog, I thought that Ebay was devoted to the booming business of e-commerce, barely doing dealings with the world offline. Overall, Ebay does a good job of presenting themselves online and putting a face to their name.
Associates that LOVE their Walmart...
With their blog back on the market, associates from far and wide are blogging praises about how much they love their Walmart. The blog is titled Life At Walmart. Although the content of the postings are interesting to read, though this may vary among readers, the Walmart blog is truly one-sided. The primary audience of the blog appears to be other prospective employees and current employees of the corporation. The goals of the blog are to provide a space where associates can share their stories about their relationships with their managers and fellow employees and show the world how great it is to work for Walmart.
This blog is strictly for associates and does not allow or encourage comments from readers. There is probably an internal space for associates to log in to post stories to the blog. The average entries on the blog are 3-4 paragraphs in length, consisting of text only. After browsing through the archives, there was only one blog that included a photo, which I found very surprising . With the details in their posts, I assumed that more of them would have photos of their family members or even co-workers that were mentioned in the post. No use of colors or anything to spruce it up and make aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The overall image presented by the associates is that Walmart has many employees who are satisfied with their careers and have solid relationships with their co-workers. Many associates posts’ consists of praising Walmart for their efforts as a company and attempting to contradict the views of the corporation presented by the media. The bloggers range from associates who have been employees of Walmart for months to over 20 years. It shows longevity and the caring qualities of management. The stories are heartfelt, but I believe that if it wants to truly connect with the community as it states, Walmart should include a section where customers can respond to posts or even share their own stories. There has to be other people out there who would like to spread love to the nation's largest employer that always has low prices, right?
Side-bar-I came across a blog called Walmart Watch, which has a massive amount of content related to concerns that communities have about Walmart's business practices. At first, I thought it was the official blog for the company until I took a closer look.
Examining Corporate Blogs
Since I am a new member of the blog phenomenon, I decided to look at a few blogs over the weekend to get a better sense of what's floating out there in cyberspace. While an undergrad, the admissions office selected a few individuals to create blogs about their life at RPI to give prospective students an inside look on what students really go through on campus and those were pretty interesting and well done, if I may say so myself.
I also researched a few of my favorites stores/companies to see if they had blogs as well. I was not surprised to find a lot of "unofficial" blogs for major corporations especially Disney. There are three in particular that I chose to examine to figure out the goals of the blogs and see if their posts were helping or hurting their images. If a company opts to have a blog, I believe it's important that the people who post to the blog are able to connect with the community since it is a non-traditional outlet to build a relationship with consumers and prospective customers as well. My top-picks vary in content and style and are Walmart, Google and Ebay.
I also researched a few of my favorites stores/companies to see if they had blogs as well. I was not surprised to find a lot of "unofficial" blogs for major corporations especially Disney. There are three in particular that I chose to examine to figure out the goals of the blogs and see if their posts were helping or hurting their images. If a company opts to have a blog, I believe it's important that the people who post to the blog are able to connect with the community since it is a non-traditional outlet to build a relationship with consumers and prospective customers as well. My top-picks vary in content and style and are Walmart, Google and Ebay.
"Hello, World!"
It seems appropriate to borrow that phrase from the first program usually written by computer science students since this is my first weblog and my intro post. I've kept many journals, but I am interested in maintaining this blog to take my writing to a new level and get feedback from others as well, not just professors. I recently graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and now I am graduate student at NJIT studying technical communication. The field of technical communication is misunderstood by many and I often receive puzzled looks from people who I talk to about my work and what I would like to do in the future. For those who are not in the loop, the IA in my heading stands for "Information Architect". I have a passion for writing, I am addicted to books and my ultimate pet peeve is spelling errors, especially on common words. It would be ideal to be able to be a consultant, helping companies and organizations produce websites and other materials that communicate their message effectively. This blog will have comments related to professional and technical communication and other items as I take this journey to find myself, so feel free to check back often. That's all :)
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