January 4th, 2020: Types of Blog Posts and Layouts
Blogs can, and do, exist in many different formats and styles which each helps to better convey what the author is trying to say. Some of the more common formats are lists, short paragraphs, personal blogs, and argument based blogs and hobby. A list blog usually contains a central focus and has a list about that focus. An example of this type can be seen on Seth’s Blog which shows tips to increase how many views you get on your blog. A blog which consists of a short paragraph is the most common type of blog post with an example being Fast Company’s post on a new type of design. A personal blog consists of the author talking about something that happened in their life. An example of this blog can be seen in a post by Boing Boing which features the author talking about a book he read as a child. Finally, a hobby blog usually consists of the author talking about one or more of his hobbies in a blog format. An example of this blog can be found on Cookie and Kate which features guide to make cream cheese frosting in a paragraph based blog. Links https://seths.blog/2006/06/ https://www.fastcompany.com/90444793 https://boingboing.net/2013/01/04 https://designobserver.com/feature/bad-design-great-signs/39491 https://cookieandkate.com/cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/
Assignment 2: Digital Design PowerPoint
Assignment 3: Manipulated Images
Assignment A
Today I will be reviewing the following blog (https://pcastillo.design.blog) and I will be comparing it to the following article (https://seths.blog/2006/06/how_to_get_traf/) that discuss how to design one effectively, how they designed their blog, and how you ‘should’ design a blog in order to increase traffic flow. The first thing that appears when you log on to their blog is a 2D picture, followed by the name of the author of the blog. According to the website, the use of the photo is a form of good design, while the use of the authors name is an example of bad design, whereas the author of the article says to remain anonymous. Although the blog doesn’t feature any articles on the homepage, it does review posts from other blogs and their content, which according to the article is an example of a good design.
Assignment 4
Assignment B
The three photos that Anna Tamura created in the latest assignment at first glance are well designed and the theme she selected for this topic is adequately shown in all three of her combined images with her last one being the most obvious; the use of the blurry background as well as the use of the dog alongside the woman helps to show how a disability, (in this case blindness). Unfortunately, the use of the same person in every photo as well as the use of relatively basic backgrounds doesn’t help to show the theme of “Discrimination and Stigma Toward Disability”. According to https://www.thoughtco.com/ however, multiple aspects of Anna’s design, like her use of two objects which don’t ‘compete’ for attention actually increases the effectiveness of her manipulated images’ ability to convey her theme more effectively without overloading the photos.
Assignment 5
Assignment C
Blogging has changed quite dramatically in the last 20 years. Now you can find a blog about almost anything from common topics like cooking or hobbies, to more specific ones like book reviews and collections. One topic that people tend to blog about is design, but it’s harder than it sounds. Like any blog, you will have to determine just what content you plan on posting as well as what your target audience is going to be. To get your blog to grow, you will need to get traffic to your blog and in order to do that you will need to think about some other things like including social media support on your blog. Unfortunately, everybody else is doing the same thing so in order to attract the most people, you will also have to be innovative, which can be even harder than designing your blog if you don’t know how to be innovative. Innovation stems from your client’s (in this case, your customer’s) needs but the hard part isn’t coming up with an idea for a new design, it’s choosing which idea to implement. Most Ideas often fail because they don’t fit with the theme of the company but the plans that could work are actually disregarded early on for one reason or another, resulting in the good ideas not being used. Along with blogs, graphic designers also create covers for books. Book covers are a little harder to design than books due the fact that books have a wider audience than blogs, along with countless other reasons. Books can also feature a wide range of designs and design choices which can lead to very unique and interesting covers. Like all other occupations, there are certain graphic designers that are extremely well known and popular with Michal Bierut is one of them. Michael Bierut is part of Pentagram and one of the most influential graphic designers of our time. He has been designing logos and the likes for over 30 years and is responsible for some of the most well-known logos we see every day. According to him, graphic design not only has the ability to impact the success of a business, but it can even influence a consumer’s opinions about the company. Another graphic design, who is even more well known than Bierut is Paul Rand. Rand’s work mostly consisted of designing corporate logos, and is the man behind the logos of ABC, IBM, and even UPS. Even after his death in 1996, few designers can claim to have the same impact that Rand has both when he was alive, and after his death. Jerry Uelsmann is another graphic designer who focuses on creating works of art instead of creating logos for companies with most, if not all, of his work being monochromatic or black and white. With more that 30 years of experience and over 10 published books of his work, Uelsmann certainly isone of the most well-known surreal designers of our time. Last but certainly not least is Paula Scher. Scher works along side with Bierut in Pentagram who primarily works with typographic logos. Scher is responsible for creating logos for some of the most elite corporations including, Yale University, Cooper Union, Coca-cola, and the Museum of Modern Art.
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