What's Next?

Now that daunting question looms overhead as the guidelines of class are lifted and you are set free into the unpredictable world. What path will you take? It is a bit scary to step into the unknown all alone. Fortunately, life is not about how many mistakes you make, but how you use those mistakes to your advantage. So you ask, "Will I have the drive to bypass obstacles? Will I be creative enough to turn an unfavorable situation into an asset? Is this really what I want to do with my life?" The decision is tough. Most of the adult American population can testify to that. You just have to believe in yourself, your abilities, and make as many connections as possible. Get hands-on experience while you're young to help you fine-tune exactly what kind of career you want.

It's My Turn

Currently, I am taking the initiative to get as much experience in communication and public relations as possible, because who knows what I'll do after graduation. But in the long run, I wouldn't mind ending up here in Louisiana, using my creative juices for a local orgainzation and enjoying good-old Southern hospitality. As of now, I hope to begin working on a new lifetime goal to help people realize how much this state has to offer through visual communication and public relations, and do my best to make Louisiana even better.

Check out these sites and you'll be well on your way to falling in love with the unique culture and styles of Louisiana!

• Inside Northside Magazine
  
• Louisiana Travel
  
• NOLA:Everything about New Orleans
  
• Louisiana.Gov
  
• Louisiana State University
  

Becoming a Critical Consumer

As I look back at my expectations for this visual communication class, I am quite pleased with how things have turned out. After a bit of stress and many hours spent staring at a computer screen, I understand the world of HTML and web design a lot better than I ever imagined I would. I have fine-tuned my layout-designing skills by creating a newletter, and I even learned a bit about photojournalism. I have developed an eye for good design, and understand why some things work and others just don't. Now that I know most of the rules of visual communication, I can enjoy the help they provide, but also have a bit of extra fun discovering creative ways to bend those rules. Instead of just buying into advertisements and layouts, I am able to look at them more objectively and understand some of the tactics the creaters used in the designing process. Most importantly, I have learned to be a critical consumer, a skill I will use for the rest of my life.

The stress is almost over as the semester comes to a close, but I'd like to highlight a few key points that I have discovered are crutial elements in effective visual communication.

Tips to Live By:
• Be clear and consice - Whether you're designing navigation for a web page, writing copy for a brochure, or creating a catchy ad, clarity is key to get your message across quickly and efficiently.
• Don't lead people off the page - Create leading lines that draw the viewer in. Make sure photographs always lead toward the text.
  
• Perservearance is gold! - Things don't always come out the way you want them to so just keep trying and playing around until you find something that really works. Then the most important part: stick with it!
• Last but not least...SAVE every time you make a change!!! - I just happened to be extremely lucky and was able to salvage my lost material, but unfortunately for most people, they have to learn this lesson the hard way!

P.S. Here are the links to a few websites that I found helpful during this class. You might find them just as valuable!

• HTML Goodies
  
• Digital Storyteller
• New York Institute of Photography
• Ron Reason: Newspaper Designing and Creativity

Print Me a Piece

In print, there are various methods businesses and companies use to communicate their products and services to employees and the general public. Three of the most basic methods are advertisements, brochures, and newsletters.

Ad Enticements

First of all, advertisements are everywhere. This is because they are usually not as expensive to produce as newsletters and brochures and also do not take as much time to produce. Advertisements provide a way for companies to spread word about their product quickly to a wide audience. This is crutial to the success of businesses because if people don't know about their product, they can't buy it! But because there are so many advertisements out there, a good ad must catch people's attention. The average person does not spend much more than a few seconds looking at an advertisement; therefore, ads must be very clean and consice! A good way to make your ads more effective is to make sure they are fresh, bold and innovative.

www.flickr.com

Handling Brochures

A brochure is a quick pamphlet that should not bog a viewer down with information. Still, it should explain just enough that the reader is inticed to want to learn more. Brochures are like in-depth advertisements, often double-sided and have a pleasant blend of pictures and words. People spend more time looking at a brochure than an ad, but it is still best to present information consicely. Use bulleted lists to give quick facts or answers to commonly asked questions. Brochures are handed out frequently, but cost a lot of money to make, especially when they are printed in full color. So when designing a brochure, make sure the information it presents will be current for at least a year or two if not longer.

www.riversidemediagroup.com

Mini Newspapers

Finally, newsletters, are used to give much more in-depth information to people. For example, companies distribute newsletters to their employees to let them know what's going on in the company. Newsletters can also help document a company's progress through the years. Unfortunately, because they are not as essential as advertisements or brochures, newsletters sometimes fall into a trap of becoming very boring and dull. Keep your readers awake by designing layouts that are interesting. Also, try to incorporate pictures other than the typical "hold your award and smile for the camera" shot.

www.flickr.com

The Gritty and the Glossy

Newspapers vs. Magazines

Newspapers are meant to give people the most current news and information in a format that is quick and simple. Because so many copies are distributed daily, newspapers also seem to be easily dispensable. They are printed on very thin paper and only cost $0.50-$1.00. Newspapers are meant for a very general audience, but many incorporate special sections to attract readers who aren't interested in hard news stories.

www.flickr.com

Magazines, on the other hand, take much longer to design, and are generally read for leisure. They are printed on higher-quality paper with a glossy finish. Also, magazines are printed monthly or quarterly instead of daily. They range in price from $2.50-$5.00. Magazines contain feature-oriented stories. Unlike newspapers, who set aside sections for special topics, magazines cater entirely to a certain audience. For example, Car and Driver is geared toward males interested in automotives. Teen Magazine is marketed toward young teenage girls. Southern Living is produced for home and garden-lovers.

Advertisements

Both newspapers and magazines use advertisements as a way to make money, but they have two different approaches when it comes to placing ads in layouts. Ads in newspapers can sometimes take up an entire page, but more often, they are small and are placed right next to stories. Contrarily, magazine ads usually take up an entire page or even a double page spread. Also, magazines often have a section for smaller ads in the back.

Within a Layout - In the image below, notice how advertisements for the Grand Cherokee Golf Course and Attorney Greg Williams are incorporated into the layout of the newspaper page.

www.flickr.com

A Page of Its Own - This magazine ad for Walnut Hill dance academy takes up an entire page, is printed in full color, and is more design-oriented.

www.flickr.com

Color and Size

Yet another difference between newspapers and magazines involves color and size. Magazines are printed in full color, can have hundreds of pages, and rely heavily on their creative layouts to attract readers. On the other hand, newspapers only print special pages in color. They also have fewer pages, but those pages are triple the size of a magazine's. Besides front page spreads, newspaper layouts are generally filled with a lot of copy in the form of several stories. Both mediums are consistent in their use of fonts and headline treatments to make sure that an entire work fits together smoothly. In the end, the most important thing for both newspapers and magazines is that readers can easily understand the content and enjoy the design.

Watch Out For Your Audience

Designers often get so caught up in their work that they forget who they’re designing for. But this mistake can be easily prevented if you just keep the general public in mind when creating your innovative designs.

Designing for Teens

It’s no big secret that the younger your audience is, the more fun you can have and need to have when designing material. Layouts should be creative, fresh and full of color. Lots of graphics are very appropriate, and not too much text attracts young readers who don’t want to get bogged down by information or are intimidated by very long stories. Also, when designing for this audience, make sure that pages are not boring! Otherwise, young adults and teens will take one glance and move on to something more exciting. This means all you really have are a couple seconds to make an impression and capture their attention. Try using bold headlines and content that not only relates to their age group, but also seems like it’s coming from their point of view.

parentstv.org

Designing for Adults

Unfortunately, not all projects can be fun-loving and rule-bending. When designing for adult audiences and the professional world, you must learn to tone down your creative juices and focus more on organizing content in a clear and efficient way. But even though your layouts will be more organized, and the colors more subtle, it is still important to add a bit of flare to them. Remember that adults were once children too, and the inner attraction to creativity still tugs at their emotions. Headlines should still be bold, but try not to add too many random graphics. More text is appropriate for this audience. Concentrate on facts and make sure the elements you use guide the viewer smoothly across the layout.

september11news.com

Designing for Different Mediums

Visual communication is about speaking to viewers through words and pictures. Separately, these elements don’t make much of a show, but when combined in just the right ways, they can persuade, influence, make people laugh or even make them cry.

“Three Decafs and a Paper, Please”

Page layout and design depends largely on the medium you are designing for. Newspapers, for example, have become almost as essential to the average adult American’s diet as a cup of coffee every morning. Through the years, they have also adapted to fit into our hectic lifestyles. Newspapers are typically several columns wide, and contain mostly text. This is because readers of newspapers want facts, and they want them fast. Rules and boxes are used to set stories apart and give pages an organized feel.

english.glendale.cc.ca.us

Magazine Street

Magazines, on the other hand, are meant to be read at a more relaxed pace. This is why they often have more pictures in their layouts and fewer columns of text. For this medium, designers often incorporate a dominant photo on a page to develop a strong focal point. Then, the rest of the layout is set around that photo. This helps a reader's eyes move throughout the entire page, keeping him interested. Designers also place captions and text on the outside of a layout. Otherwise, the flow of the layout is disrupted and it becomes weak. Another trick designers have found is to leave a little white space on a page. This often ties a layout together and prevents the viewer from being overwhelmed by a monsoon of information.

nestarchitects.com.au

A Lazy Man’s Surfboard

Surfing the Internet is becoming a world-wide pastime. But unlike newspapers and magazines, web pages have an unlimited amount of space to display information. Text is often displayed in a single column that is much wider than that of newspapers and magazines. But people read slower on the Internet than they do on paper, so paragraphs tend to be shorter. When pictures are added to a web page, thumbnails are used instead of giant photos. This is a courtesy to viewers who have slow Internet connections.

www.csee.wvu.edu

For all mediums:
• Your goal is to keep a viewer’s eyes on the page, not to lead them off. Make sure your photographs don’t let viewers stray.
• Use Serif fonts (fonts that have "feet"), like Times New Roman, so that your text is a bit more easy to read.
• Think organized. Make sure your elements connect with each other so that the flow from one element to the next seems effortless.

Displaying Your Photos Online

Professional photographers use online galleries to sell their artwork. The galleries are carefully designed to accentuate photographs and gain feedback from other professionals. Many galleries also list exactly how the photos were created.

Pbase.com is a site that hosts professional photography galleries. The images in these galleries are of high quality, and many of them can be purchased from the photographer. One particular gallery, Colorblind Gardener, displays pictures of flowers in an unconventional way. All the photos are in black and white. But because color does not get in the way, we are able to see the elegant curves of petals and the depth created by the contrasting black, white and gray tones in the photos. It is artistically compelling. The site even has a black background so that the photos seem to blend in with their surroundings.

membrane.com
To see a larger version of a photograph, you can click on the thumbnail. Beneath the image, you see the type of camera used for the shot, the shutter speed, aperture, and date the picture was taken. Various comments from viewers are displayed at the bottom of the page.

Candids

But if you're not quite ready for the artistic approach, you just like pictures that are a bit more realistic, or you don’t think anyone would want to actually buy your photos just yet, check out www.flickr.com. This site allows ordinary people to create simple online galleries for their photos. Pictures here are not usually of the highest quality, but they are just as meaningful and perhaps more memorable to their owners than professional artistic shots are. The site allows you to upload photos, title them, and also give a brief description. Because many photographs people upload to their page are of themselves, family and friends, flickr.com allows you to set privacy settings to ensure that your pictures can be kept private if you choose so. And of course, like any good photo gallery, flickr.com allows viewers to leave comments about your photographs. The site also displays thumbnails so pages don’t take forever to load.

www.flickr.com

Many people use photo galleries like flickr.com to share pictures with family and friends. Whether you're proud of your shots, or you just want to be on the web, feel free to display all your candids in a relaxed gallery atmosphere.

Photographing for Fun!

People love pictures. Whether they are of themselves, family, friends, or just random things, good photographs have a habit of capturing our hearts. Photojournalists use this to their advantage in order to persuade, soothe, and excite viewers.

The best pictures are self-explanatory. They don't need a caption or a cut line for the viewer to understand what is going on. They also convey a certain mood that allows the viewer to not only see a photograph and its contents, but to feel the emotion of the time the picture was taken.

Many professional photographers confess that they almost always take more than one shot of each picture. But if you are cringing at the thought of spending extra money and wasting a lot of film, think about going digital. Digital cameras are becoming more and more affordable, compact, and have much better quality than when they first appeared on the market. Digital cameras are also relatively simple to operate, but their best feature of all is instant gratification! In our fast-paced world, we no longer have to wait until we get home to discover that the great shots we took while on vacation didn't turn out quite as good as we hoped.

When composing a photograph, keep these key points in mind:

• Try to frame your picture – Don't try to frame EVERY picture you take, but be aware of your surroundings and if you find a nice frame, shoot it. You'll be surprised at how much stronger a good frame can make your focal point.
• Use the Rule of Thirds – A classic guideline, this rule involves dividing an image into thirds both horizontally and vertically with imaginary lines. Then, you place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect.
• Shoot from a different perspective – It’s not a surprise that pictures of ordinary things can get a bit dull after a while. So if you have to photograph a tired object or event, remember to give it a new twist by capturing a different angle than what is normally portrayed.

Frame Your Picture
This window provides a simple, natural frame that draws your attention inward to the real focus of the picture, the beautiful background landscape.

www.digital-photography-school.com

The Rule of Thirds

If the insect in this picture were placed in the center of the frame, this would look like an average photograph. Because the subject has been offset to one of the intersections of the photo, the picture has become more interesting, but still seems balanced.

ericasworld.logic.net

Get a Different Perspective
In this shot, the photographer focused on the light, darkness and shadows of the tunnel rather than a child's happy smiling face. Because this perspective is a bit unconventional, it catches viewers' attention.

laurelpankratz.moonfruit.com.

Digital Images Challenges

In an age of technology, almost everything is being “digitalized”. This sometimes presents a problem, however, when photographs and images are placed on the Web, because many people don’t know or understand what steps they need to take to ensure their pictures are viewed correctly.

Dithering

Most computer monitors display at least 8-bit color (256 colors), but only about 216 of those colors can be found on all browsers and computers. Because of this, computers must make up or “dither” images by mixing colors they have in order to create the odd colors. Unfortunately, this process often results in a banded effect on the images. When creating graphics for the Web, make sure you reduce the pixels per inch to 72 ppi, and always use browser-safe colors. By doing these things, you will ensure that the widest range of viewers will see your images as you intended.

www.opaque.net

The color in this image does not transition smoothly because it has been dithered. You can see the long band-like lines that run across the photo.

Pixelation

Digital images also face the problem of becoming pixelated. According to Imaging-toolkit.com, “Pixelation occurs when a low-resolution image is enlarged more than it should be, giving the effect where the individual pixels are apparent to a viewer." This effect occurs when a low-resolution image is projected on a large monitor or screen. To prevent blurry pixelated photos, save your graphics at a high resolution so they are more flexible if you need to change them later on. Also, save full color photographs as JPGs, and less complex graphics as GIFs. This will help reduce file size by cutting down on wasted space. Here is an example from www.robinsblog.com.

Notice how the entire picture is blurry and strains your eyes if you look at it for too long.

Visual Elements in "Lessons of the Trash Gang"

So much of theatre depends on visual communication. “Lessons of the Trash Gang” is no exception. This very serious play sets its tone with the modest set of a kitchen. The onstage colors are very subdued. This is the first visual clue for the audience. As the story progresses, viewers become acquainted with a 12-year-old girl named Millie and her impatient struggle to become a woman. Unfortunately, in the end she discovers womanhood is not as glorious as she thought it would be.

Throughout the story, facial expressions, body language, and how the characters interact with one another gives the play depth. Their jagged movements and physical emotions are a sign of inner turmoil.
Millie’s mother creates strong emotional imagery by trying to beat her unwanted baby out of her belly. When Grandma goes into her trance-like state, the lights dim to reveal a smoky blue stage. The set remains a relatively modern kitchen throughout the play. It becomes the only constant in a changing world.

The strongest point in the play is when Millie finally realizes what she faces ahead. As she raises a pair of scissors to cut her treasured hair, the lights blackout, signaling the end of the play.

Don't Let Your Site Fall Through the Cracks

So many new Internet sites are being created every day that no one can keep up with all of the latest designing trends. But here are some constant guidelines for those who want to create a good site on the World Wide Web.

A few things every good site should contain:
• easy navigation and clear content
• strong alignment of text and graphics
• consistency

Here are two sites that live up to these standards. First, the Pearl Harbor Memorial site, pearlharbormemorial.com, is an example of easy navigation and concise content. Viewers find themselves able to quickly skim the material and facts listed. Next, Tiffany and Company's web site portrays how a site should reflect the style of a business. Like the company, tiffany.com is simple, yet very elegant and sophisticated. It uses only a black and white color scheme with one accent color to add contrast. The site is clear and has a consistent layout.

Now it would be great if every web page was as eye-catching and as organized as the previous examples. Unfortunately, the Internet is far from perfect.

Things to watch out for:
• cluttered layouts and bad or boring color combinations
  (ex. gray backgrounds)
• too many large pictures
• annoying animations and side scrolls

Here are a couple of sites that didn't quite make the good list. At first glance, http://m.nu/eirinn/ceol is just a massive paragraph of Irish songs and lyrics. This page would be much more pleasing to the eye and a bit more organized if its links were separated and aligned properly. Next, windfieldcavaliers.com is a site that demonstrates annoying animations. It also contains too many big pictures which only add to the download time of the site and create frustration among viewers. Instead, thumbnails should be added so viewers have the option to see larger versions of pictures. Last but not least, side scrolls sneak in once again at howstuffworks.com. I'm sure you know how aggravating they are when you're surfing the Web, so when designing your page, please be courteous and leave side scrolling out of the picture.

Now you're a pro at designing award-winning layouts for the Web, right? Okay, maybe not yet. But at least you're a bit closer to making sure your website doesn't fall through the cracks!

Are Billboards Too Much?

We have all driven down endless interstates, passing plenty of eye-catching billboards along the way. But it seems the longer we drive, the more frequent and outrageous the giant advertisements become. In some places, particularly near casinos, billboards can be found almost every 600 feet. This appalling number of distractions leads some people to question, "Are advertisers being a bit excessive?" Sure some of their slogans are funny and give readers a heartfelt laugh, but with so many billboards floating in front of our faces, we never see them all. Many people are aggravated because they just cannot seem to get away from the sales pitches and slogans.

Could billboards soon become as annoying as telemarketers? No one can tell for sure, but in the meantime, Americans will continue to drive highways full of advertisements. And unfortunately for us, there seems to be no end to the incessant slogans in sight.

www.statesman.com.

Goals for Visual Communications

People are bombarded with millions of sights, sounds, colors and textures every day. These observations are so familiar by the time they are adults that most people barely think about them anymore. I am one of these people.

From this visual communications class, I will rediscover the world I have neglected to notice. I will begin to understand how we as humans react to specific layouts. As an observer, I realize how important it is that journalists and advertisers understand people in order to communicate messages and products effectively. I look forward to learning new computer programs that will help me create my own website, design professional layouts in the form of a newsletter, and understand the key elements of what makes a good design great. This class will broaden my skills and, most importantly, prepare me for the future.