Creating a website
With no web knowledge, I’m currently trying to create a website until I receive my invite from an professional portfolio site I applied to. With no money to spare (Hey, I’m a college student, remember? That’s my excuse.), I’m currently working with Moonfruit and their free service offer. For a free service, one can’t complain. I am unable to upload my own template for my site but they have a lot of opinions (some good, some bad) to create a template with.
I hope to have enough web knowledge and my own domain by the end of the school year (hopefully way before graduation). This is just a temporary solution. Since this is such, I’m going for a very simple and plain look as I mix and match the options Moonfruit offers since I can’t really showcase my own idea of what my website would look like if I had full control.
This website isn’t about the website itself but more about the work I’ve been creating for school and myself. It’s about having an online location for my portfolio for others to view and give me feed back on so I can grow as a designer.
I can’t stress enough that I realize my lack of personal design towards the website template is hurting me, but I know this is a temporary situation and hope I will be forgiven. If I don’t take this risk for feedback so I can grow…well, I’m not going any feedback with my work sitting in folders and on my hard drive.
Filed under: Personal Projects | 2 Comments
Tags: design, moonfruit, portfolio, student, student work, web, web design, website, work
Is the internet a need?
Yesterday, I spent the day with the internet down. Since I haven’t been home today, I’m assuming it’s still down because no one is home to let in the internet guy. I could check my social media accounts and email on my phone and look to see the weather and if the Yankees won (they didn’t) but that was about it.
I wasn’t able to check any research I needed, email files between computers or do my math homework (which insists on all done online, part of my grade and done every night). Of course, I could have driven back to school (only 10-15 minutes away) and by the time I had given up waiting for the internet to come back on, I could have found a computer. Then again, that’s gas money to get to school and back (wait, didn’t I just pay to use my own internet?) and do I really want to be walking around campus at 10:30 at night? It’ll be that time or later if I have to return to campus after work to complete homework. Even later if I actually want to provide myself with dinner that night.
I started wondering….
Every day, more and more of the world is going online. Online shopping, bill pay, account checking (and not just social media), research, homework, businesses (large and small), the news, and even applying for colleges and jobs. Can we afford to be without the internet? I’m sure most people can. My teacher will be annoyed I didn’t do the homework the night it was assigned (it’s not due until Sunday night anyway) and I’ll continue to think she’s a good teacher but still a witch, so no harm there, and she’ll just continue to think I’m lazy (even though I’m a full time student who works part time with little spare time in-between, and I don’t even party.)
How much do we pay to have the internet? $50? $100? (once that special is over) That might not seem to be a lot to some people (but to others like me who have to decided which not to pay this month: the student loan or the credit card) it’s a hardship. I need the internet to do my homework and research so I can pass my classes, graduate and begin a career. But I guess I could just quite school, work in a low wage job and not have to worry about having the internet or not.
What does the internet do besides tweet and follow around celebrities? It provides us with vast amounts of information (duh), the news, connections, shopping, applying to things/places etc. Shouldn’t that be free if we need that to function in society? Well, newspapers aren’t free. Neither is TV or a magazine. But wait, you can get some of that free at the library. Well, free sort of; your taxes paid for it.
If more of our world goes online, will the internet become a need? And if it becomes a need, is it a right?
Shelter, food, water, and clothing are needs and we have the right to them -if we can pay.
So what’s going to happen? Are we going to go Wall-E and have computer screens in front of our faces all day or will be back away from the computer at some point? Will the internet stop going down?
All I know is I have about an hour to do that math homework.
Filed under: Life | Leave a Comment
Tags: internet, opinions
The Font Ninja + Zombie
Here’s the illustrations of the Font Ninja (can his codename be Johnny?) and his pal, the Zombie, that Beth and I are working on. I think there needs to be a pirate too but I’ll get to that later. I swear I did these in Illustrator and not MS Paint, I have no idea why they aren’t exporting out pretty.
Filed under: Personal Projects | 1 Comment
Tags: design, fonts, illustration, ninja, zombie
Senior Thesis | Words
I haven’t mentioned this on my blog but my senior thesis is based on propaganda or “I’m exploring control in mass media.”
An important part of my project deals with words. Below are several short phrases I may or may not use. I would greatly appreciate any comments and feelings towards the phrases. Which ones scare you the most? Which confuse you? Which have no effect?
Are you one?
Are you with us?
Are you them?
Do you know?
Do you trust them?
What are you doing?
Have you had contact?
Do you really know them?
Are you one of them?
Can you become one of them.
They are here.
They are coming.
Do you know who to trust?
Do you know what they are doing?
How can you stop them?
Can you stop them?
Can we stop them?
Do you know one of them?
Can you trust your neighbor?
Have you made contact?
Are you safe?
Are we safe?
Is your family safe?
Do you know how to protect yourself?
Can you protect your family?
They want you.
Who are you for?
This is your home. Will you let them take?
Filed under: Senior Thesis | 1 Comment
Tags: control, graphic design, help, mass media, opinions, power of words, propaganda, Senior Thesis, words
Things I would like to do..
…career wise that is. Just a few things off the top of my head that I’ve been thinking about lately.
- Design cards and wrapping paper for Hallmark.
- Create/edit/design an opening sequence for a Hollywood movie and a television show.
- Be a Creative Director.
- Be part of a marketing team.
- Design stationary to be sold at Target.
- Own a Hallmark store…
- …or a Hallmark type/Coffee shop store
- Be an adjunct professor in my field
Filed under: Life | Leave a Comment
Tags: career, graphic design, hallmark, ideas, Life, random, Self, thoughts
On Tuesday night I had to attend a lecture arranged by the Hunter Art Museum as an assignment for my biodiversity course. Since I haven’t posted anything in depth in awhile I thought I would share this. Many designers are going green and have been living green. Apple strives to create eco friendly computers with other companies following close behind.
The lecture was given by Majora Carter, a women who lives in the Bronx and is an environmental justice advocate and economic consultant.
Having grown up across the river from where Majora Carter did, I knew everything she referred to. I never really thought the highways were the cause of the ghettos and the awful parts of New York City, my home. To me, they had always been there. I thought, if anything, it was the fault of the companies and the people who lived in the areas for not caring. They allowed their places to be slums. I think Ms. Carter almost proves that now –to an extent. Though, in the beginning it was, and is, not the fault of the community for the highways and the roads built in New York City. Maybe they could have gone to the town meetings, if there were any, and fought against the purposed construction but they didn’t know what the outcome would be when there was no model to go by. Robert Moses and those who hired him, probably only showed the benefits of their work. What was the downfall? Destroyed land and communities.
What Ms. Carter proves is, at this point, the communities can stand up and create a better enviroment. You don’t go to the Bronx for anything. It’s the ghetto. It’s where bad things happen. Ms. Carter decided to change that. She stood up for her community, her home.
I praise Ms. Carter greatly for educating unskilled people in her community, helping to employ them and sending some to college. One can preach about changing light bulbs, walking instead of driving, and going green as much as they want but if people don’t care about their own lives and the place they see everyday nothing can change. She didn’t just save the environment: she saved lives.
I grew up with a park down the street from where I lived that was old and uncared for. It wasn’t a safe park: drug dealings at night, finding the aftermath in the day. One of our communities’ representatives wanted the park changed into a parking lot and convinced the community that was the best road. It wasn’t until one person discovered the park’s history as a cemetery and only because they had an old relative buried there did that person care. He began a fight to have the park made into an historical landmark. This took place fairly recently.
After her lecture, I spoke with Ms. Carter briefly and told her the story. I told her it was sad that the only reason one person cared was because their relative was buried there. I never got to play in a safe clean park. I told her what she was doing was amazing because she did it for everyone, not herself.
Ms. Carter spoke about her passion and work with Green the Ghetto. She shared a brief history about her home and the cause of the destruction of the land. Her work has 85% of people helping her employed and 10% went to college. She had helped her local economy and the crime rate.
I throughly enjoyed the lecture. Ms. Carter is doing an amazing thing. She didn’t preach that I need to buy a hybrid car, and to be frank: that’s not happening happening anytime soon being a student. (I’m pretty sure the walk to class would take an hour to two hours.) Ms. Carter has stood up and helped in so many ways.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: biodiversity, bronx, eco, enviroment, green, hunter, majora carter, new york city
Donald Duck Propaganda
No matter your feelings on Disney, and my dislike of their current pre-teen programing, they will always hold a special place in my heart.
This video was created during WWII to support the income tax. Whether you agree with the cartoon, the production of the cartoon or the issue itself does not matter. The effect of the cartoon is the real matter. Did it work? Did people rally themselves to pay their taxes?
This cartoon just makes me smile. Smile because it supports my senior thesis. Smile because it’s awesomely bad. Smile because it’s so many wonderful and awful things.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Tags: cartoon, disney, donald duck, history, propaganda, world war 2, wwii
Owls on Etsy
I thought I post something different and interesting…I love owls and I’ve been obsessing over a piece of owl related art I found on Etsy. I also thought posting a few of my favorites would be a nice change of pace.
My favorite….
The Enamored Owl
Brown Stewart the Owl Vintage Inspired Wool Felt Applique Decorative Doll Pillow
I would cuddle with him all the time. If only he was pink or a snow owl.
A Shy Owl Pendant Necklace
Too cute.
Owl on Branches (Blue) – glass tile pendant
Filed under: Coffee Breaks, Inspiration | Leave a Comment
Tags: art, etsy, owls
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