Thursday 13 June 2013

Looking back

This post will mainly be about my experience and the knowledge I have needed and learned in creating this weblog. Over the time in this course I have gained many useful writing, designing and media skills which I can now carry on into my other courses.

First, was the skills in writing to an audience, we learnt how to write appropriately to reach our target audience, how to format our text what forms of fonts to use and such. We learnt that overcomplicating a theme is not beneficial but instead the opposite. What we should be aiming for is simplicity and not creating a look that is cluttered with text. Recalling back to earlier classes where we were learning how to effectively form a presentation, what could be brought forward from that was we need to have adequate white spacing, header space, know how to use quotes and dot points to better illustrate something. In relations, this can be said with design as well. We learnt that in designing almost anything, we should apply the same principles of simplicity, we have seen first hand that pieces that involve to much design and colour schemes tend to be very ineffective whereas those that were of one more basic colour scheme with appropriate spacing and text tend to come across better. We also learnt what fonts give what impression and what colours go together with background and text.

Moving on, I thought the process of learning all of this was in short interesting and entertaining at the same time. The things we learnt were not so much academic but instead skills which could benefit us in the future for whatever presentations we may have. Finally, my view on blogging is that is has evolved it to something of awesome power in society. Like technology, there is an outlet for it everywhere and most recent on our mobile phones. In relations, we can read and learn about almost anything on blogs because of the fact that there are many types of blogs with many different topics. Also, blogs are not just blogs they are a community where people can promote information and other blogs. In summary, my view on blogging is that it will continue to influence society and is a very powerful medium of information and design.

Controversial US rapper possibly denied access into Australia?

For this week's media issue we will be looking into how an American rapper has got himself into a bit of an issue.



Tyler Gregory Okonma also known as Tyler for short, has been caught in a controversy because of his lyrics which most people have reported as offensive, racist, homophobic, and almost every negative thing there is under the sun you can think of. Most think he does not appreciate and deserve the fame he is receiving because of this, probably because they think he is famous for the wrong reasons. However, Tyler is very proud of this and has gone on to state that this is part of his musical persona. Furthermore, he also stated that people should not take his lyrics too seriously. Also, in a piece by Talitha Stone published in The Guardian, she storied on her negative experience with the rapper and his fans. In conclusion, she wished for his visa to be revoked on the grounds that the rapper was "inciting violence/ hatred".

In my opinion, this shows how corrupted people have become. To a point where they will do anything to attain fame. According to Tyler he is aware and proud that his music has this sort of effect. I cannot seem to wrap my head around that idea. Maybe I might just have a biased opinion but I am pretty sure it is highly unprofessional in any field to involve offensive material. However, I do not feel his music has influenced society negatively as much as the media have portrayed it too and I say that in relations to the fact that if that were so then Hollywood movies should be one of the biggest influence out there.

Monday 10 June 2013

Week four, blog classification and The Big Issue heading online

First off, we will discuss on how blogs vary in terms of classification. Similar to the social media platforms that we are used to. Blogs too have many varieties and communities. There are different types of blogs for people with different interests, and whatever you are interested in you will mostly be able to find a blog on that. Now, logically the more readers the more effective the blog is communicating with the readers. The common misconception by blog owners is that after they set up a blog, as long as they post frequently then they will reel in more readers but this may not be the case. The key to more publicity online is actually through more connections. Below are examples of two blogging communities.



  • Blog Her
Blog Her is an online community and media organisation founded in 2005 that grants mainly female users the opportunity to submit post to create publicity. Like every blog community online, there are discussions boards, and a community to provide feedback on your posts and writing skills. In 2006, Blog Her formed a blog within the community that is made up of 60 women and since then have spread worldwide.


  • Next, is one of the most popular online blogging community. Xanga was formerly functioning the same way as other blogging mediums like blogger and wordpress. Today, xanga is a online community that hosts blogs, photoblogs and is a modern form of social networking. Once registering, users will get an individual Xanga site which is made up of weblogs, photoblogs, videoblogs and etc.

Communities like this are crucial for the rise in publicity of other blogs today. It also provides a window for other bloggers to access other blogs about other topics. Furthermore, it has opened windows of opportunities for other bloggers to further improve their writing skills with the help of criticism of others. Plus, within the community where users are giving feedback to other or users it creates a very helpful community that can spark the birth of potential writers and etc.

Moving on, today's media issue is about Apple (yes, again) releasing their new MacPro and iOS7.

Apple unveils music streaming, updates operating systems



I am certain most of society are familiar with Apple's innovative tendencies. Just when we thought they could not shock us more, here they are at their annual developers conference where they unveiled:

  • New Mobile Operating System
  • New Mac Operating System
  • Music streaming service
  • Updated MacBook Air
  • Redesigned MacPro
With the release of their new iPhones and iPads being months away. Apple had to do something to raise their stocks. It seems that the focus on is on Macbook Air laptops and new operating systems for both computers and mobile devices. Although it does not seem like a radical change, the company has done something and they stand by their promise that they have a 97% customer satisfaction rate.

I personally feel this would be a good move for them. Obviously because of the fact that the world is becoming more modern and Apple has always been at the front of the movement. Although it seems the progress is slowly dying down as we are not as amazed as we used to be maybe because of the fact the world is so engulfed in technological advancement that we have failed to appreciate it. Non the less I feel a step forward is better than being stagnant. 

Saturday 1 June 2013

Designing for print vs online and social media FAILS

This week we will firstly cover how designing for print and designing online vary, then we will see about a particular online business use social media improperly and then failing miserably.

First of today we will see how designing for print and online are different. These days there are many individuals who have shifted over to a more modern way of reading, which could be on their computers, phones, tablets, kindles and etc. There still are however a segment of society that prefers a good old printed book because it could be for reasons like it feels more tangible and it is something you can own in general. Also, it is far easier to read a book than an online one, on-screen reading is significantly more difficult than reading through print as on-screen reading involves projected light which essentially is staring right into a projector lens. As opposed to print which only involves reflected light, on-screen involve many other aspects like different contrasts and brightness which can be a real eye sore...literally.

In print, there is relatively shallow indents whereas in online publication you can control and edit the line spacings to make the reading experience more comfortable. Also, in on-screen reading you can add white space which will greatly impact the appearance positively.

Another difference is that in print subheads are there to make it easier for a reader to identify and skim through what the book is about as it is far more difficult in print to flip through the pages and figure out what is happening. Online however, you could add in hyperlinks at the beginning of each chapter so that readers could have a preview of the topics they will be reading. This is much simpler because they can just click on it and get what they want instantly, rather than flipping through the pages of a book which would take much longer.

Lastly, designing for print is straight forward as it does not involve many animations and such. However, in online designing you would want to keep in mind not to over complicate things and just keep it as simple as possible instead. This is so the online version will not appear too cluttered and it would be much simpler to find information that way.

Moving on, now we will talk to business and how they mess up with the power of social media. Not many things are funnier than watching companies use social media and make terrible judgement calls on when they should promote and when they SHOULD NOT be promoting their brand. Here's a tip, a terribly devastating tragedy is a good sign of when you should NOT be promoting your brand. One brand guilty of this fail is online boutique Celeb Boutique, who following the aurora shooting in Denver, Colorado tweeted "#Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress ;) Shop: celebboutique.com/aurora-white-pleated-v-neck-strong-shoulder-dress-en.html". 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/celebboutique-tweet-colorado-batman-shooting_n_1690308.html

This is why why it is wise choice to check WHY exactly something is trending first before trying to use it to market something. I mean really, as an established company you would think they would make better decisions about something like this. These days it is common to see celebrities or business use social media in all the wrong ways, mainly to gain attention by any means necessary for whatever reasons they may have. There's clearly been an abuse of social media power in this story and in my opinion this is mistake that should never have happened with a big company like this. Now this leaves me wondering,  has social media made individuals so selfish that they act before they think or is it merely a 'bad day' for them.