I will be working on infogram for my project 2, and I’m quite excited about it! I was immediately drawn to this tool because I adore infographics. My favorite project as a Professional Writing student is a Pokemon infographic I created in Designing Documents for Print. I enjoy this type of document because of its multifaceted nature. It combines research, design, and writing to create a product that is perceived as more readable and interesting than a standard block of text. When I made my infographic for class, I used InDesign. I’m really interested in infogram because it is a lot more accessible. Most people (myself included) do not want to spend hundreds of dollars on the Adobe suite, despite how fabulous it is. Having free tools online means that I can create these documents on my own computer as opposed to those in Shanks 360 or InnovationSpace. I truly believe that this kind of document is the most effective way to transmit large quantities of information to the masses, and I’m excited to get to know this system.

When I started looking through the different tools, I wanted to find something that could be used in various ways or for various purposes, rather than something that could only produce one outcome. Dipity was one of my choices because I thought was a novel idea for a way to bring together different sources to create one project.

Dipity is a free online timeline generator, which organizes web content by date and time. I think it’s interesting because you can take it multiple directions. Users can create a timeline that shows up as an addition to another multimedia piece, or you can create a timeline that is a multimedia piece in itself. People can click on each entry in the timeline to find out more information, see a photo, or visit another site. According to the we site, you can “integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, location and timestamps.”

Working as the Multimedia Editor at the Collegiate Times and as an aspiring journalist, I think that this tool could be very helpful in the future for articles, stories, projects, etc. I would hope that utilizing this tool could generate more visits to the CT website through this interactive type of visual.

For this project, I chose Slipp. Slipp is a website and app for smartphones. It is focused on creating an easy to use and understand format on smartphones. Slipp was created because everyone is on their phones all the time, but no site is designed for this reality. Slipp uses images, text, and navigation strategically to engage smartphone users.

I chose Slipp because it is an engaging and unique tool. I was drawn to this tool because of its simplicity. After viewing the website and looking at a few Slipps, I was engaged. The Slipps are easy to navigate, easy to understand, and are not overwhelming. They provide are simple but comprehensive. I want to explore it because I have only viewed in on my laptop in a web browser. Since Slipp’s target is smartphone users, I want to download the app and explore how the app functions compared to the website and if Slipp works best on the app.

I decided to pick Storybird as my interrogate an interface because it looked interesting to me. In Storybird the author creates their own story using photos available on the website adn adding text. The author can create a multi-chapter book, a picture book, or a poem. I thought this would be a great interface to interrogate because it looked like it could serve good use to me when it comes time to do project three. Project three we have to remix a story and I thought this would be a useful tool to remix my story in eventually. I look forward to working with Storybird for this project and can’t wait to see what it allows me to do and its constraints.

For my Project 2 I chose to analyze Canva, an online graphic design tool. I was drawn to Canva because it advertises itself as an easy graphic design program that allows anyone to become a designer. It has a library of stock photos, fonts, and other free graphic design tools. Users can choose a layout and background, then drag and drop photos and text to make and publish their own infographics, banners, and more. I was drawn to Canva because I’ve heard of it in a visual marketing context, but I’ve never actually used it. Because my major is public relations, I’m always open to learning about new tools I could use in my internship or future jobs.

What I did

For the finishing touches on my blog, I went through all my pages to make sure I hadn’t missed any glaring mistakes. I also read through everything I had written to correct any grammatical or linguistic errors; I spent most of my time refining my blog until it felt clean and complete. I took out any unnecessary elements, such as my Professional Experience page, because it didn’t really have a place with the rest of my portfolio and blog.

Why I did 

I want my site to be as professional as possible. This blog is also great practice for any future blogging I may do. It is also important to be sure I have no embarrassing grammatical mistakes, since accurate writing is very important in the field I want to go in. Any mistakes could lead to a lack of credibility. Overall, I’m pleased with how much my site has grown.

What I Did 

For this last blog post, I’ll talk about the final touches I made on the web portal. I added some “fluff” to make the site more interesting. This included adding a quote to my “About Me” page and adding an “Experience” page that includes some video, photo, and text work that I have done recently.

I also edited some of my links and headers.

Why I Did It

The quote I added to my “About Me” page really goes with my theme of reflection after study abroad. It talks about thinking big and doing big things, which is what my study abroad trip really taught me. I thought it would be a nice way to enter the page that describes myself, so that people can get a good feel for where I stand right now.

My “Experience” page includes several different parts. I attached a video that I made for the Collegiate Times in the past couple of weeks to add a new mode as well as show my video skills. I also included work from my study abroad trip, including a link to my article and a scroll of several photos that I took for my article while in Italy.

The editing that I did to my links was to make them all open in a new page, so that readers will not be navigated away from my page. I also changed some of my headers to make them stand out more.