A Brave New World!

Well, I have finished my Media Authoring class, so that means this blog is now unchained! It will either fade into nothingness, or I may revisit this blog frequently and turn it in to something amazing!

For Now, just check out www.brotherlydove.com.

That is also a work in progress, but it may be interesting soon.

So uh, keep checking back here like once a year and there may be some hidden little gems!

Sincerely,

Will Dove

DTC 355 Post 11 Usability Testing

So I redesigned my webpage into more of a web portfolio. The Website can be found here.

I also conducted usability testing on my classmates and asked the following Questions, and I have followed each with the responses of the participants.

1. What do you think of the color? Is it complementary? (I am partially colorblind so feel free to correct me) The testers liked the bright colors, and felt like it would make people  happy, and they also agreed that the colors were complimentary.

2. What do you think of the arrangement of the pages? Where do your eyes tend to focus? 
The testers greed that it is well organized and easy to find the vital info of the pages. The three testers seemed to agree that their eyes first land in the center of the page and then move to the top left towards the logo, and then move along the storm cloud background to the right and then back to the center of the page 

3. Was there anything particularly difficult about navigating through the pages? Did you find what you were looking for?
All three testers agreed that they were able to find links to my pages, as well as outer links to my twitter, blog, and youtube channel. The only bit of criticism was that I needed to add a link to my drawings page and my video page to the list of links at the bottom of the page.

4. What type of audience would you say this website is directed towards?
This question lead to a little disagreement. One person said it was directed to people who might want to hire me, while the other two said it was directed towards someone who wants to know more about me, and for silly people.

5. What is the purpose of this page? 
They agreed that it was to showcase my work.



6.Do you have any suggestions for my portfolio? 
The testers agreed that I should add a few more drawings and add subtitles or descriptions to them as well. They said it would make it more interesting. Additionally they put forth the idea of having someway to view the images from a thumbnail and expand them into a full sized image. They also agreed that I should add some more info about me and my brother on the about me page.

  

DTC 355 Blog Post 10

This blog is back with a vengeance from Thanksgiving!

So in response to 10 Steps to the Perfect Portfolio Website I think this is a great set of tips for anyone who is building a portfolio website.  I really can't see any reason to ignore any of the tips, because they all make perfect sense if your website is designed with the purpose of being a portfolio and showcasing your work.

I think I will definitely make a flashy logo in the top right corner of the screen, with a link to the homepage, a catchy tagline, large high quality pictures of my work, a list of what I do (services), an about me, a link to my blog, a call to action, and friendly yet concise language.

Of the "40 beautiful portfolio websites" the ones I enjoyed the most were those for Nine Lion, Miki Mottes, Pedro Lamin. The first oe by Nine Lions, I enjoyed because it had a very nice, smooth, clean cut visual style. Plus it had a huge picture of a lion, and a very nice cut out logo of a lion, which all caught my attention, it made it stand out in my mind because the logo was very memorable.
I enjoyed Miki Mottes website mainly for the fun cartoon characters that covered the pages. I enjoyed it because the author used a fairly creative layout, but dressed everything up very nicely with a little animation, and fun characters. It probably wasn't a lot of work, but it really paid off.
 Pedro Lamin used cartoons and animations as well, but in a more cinematic style, the author made a great use of the aural mode and made the whole website almost like it was part of a larger flash movie.

While I will not be able to create a website with so many flash animations, I know that I can create an attractive and memorable logo for Brotherly Dove, and I am sure I could add in a few cartoon doodles to spruce up a  simple layout, and make it much more fun to view.

DTC 355 Storyboards! Better Late then never...

And there they are!

DTC 355 Post 8 (or 9) Project 3 proposal

I think my literacy narrative will be about the visual mode, and more specifically how I learned to draw.From a young age I have always loved doodling and drawing cartoon characters. I have actually kept a lot of my old drawings, so I am thinking of making a video that sort of shows the evolution of my drawings, and maybe even animate them in flash or some other program, and have them literally evolving from like a fish coming out of the ocean and growing leg, then turning into a lizard and so and so, while I narrate and describe the stories I was trying to tell with my drawings. However the evolution sequence may not be the greatest idea, so another idea I have is putting my drawings into an animated story book, and show the progress from my early drawings to my later ones, and have the pages turn as I tell the story of each drawing, and maybe even weave them into an overarching story.

I am looking forward to hearing feedback!

DTC 355 Post 7

I actually did not have time to have anyone look at my webtext because just before class I decided to make what I thought would be two minor, quick fixes to my project, but ended up almost ruining the whole thing. Thankfully by the end of class I was able to get it functioning properly again with a little help from Arola.

I imagine a person looking at my webtext analysis would notice that I did not have any part of my written analysis included in the rough draft, so to calm that fear I will in fact be adding a rhetorical analysis to these pages, and not just have the links youtube videos. 

Right now everything could use a little work.It is getting there, but everything needs some polish. It definitely looks like a rough draft. I plan on updating the header picture with the names of the candidates: Rob Mckenna and Jay Inslee with a big "versus" in the middle so the people will know who the candidates are. I also plan on changing the colors of the template a bit into a more, green and yellow, Washington state colors that would match with the picture of mount rainier. Additionally I plan on adjusting the background image, although I do enjoy using the Washington state flag as a backdrop. 

I also would like to change my intro and conclusion tabs into drawings of the state of Washington, the intro would be on the left hand side of the page under Jay Inslee's name, and would have the west side of the state highlighted in green, while the east side of the state would be left dark gray. I would do the same for the east side of the state, under Mckenna's name having the east side of the link highlighted as green, while the west is left a dark gray. 

This project is a lot of work but I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out! 

DTC 355 Project 2 Sources

Hello!

I am going to talk about my sources for Project 2 in my DTC 355 class.

Part 1: Asset List

1. Rob Mckenna (or his staff), "Family" TV Advertisement found on Youtube
This video is meant for TV audiences, but also Youtube viewers, shows Rob Mckenna interacting with every member of his family, telling them about how he is going to fix Washington state. This video uses the same argument as Jay Inslee's "Get to Work" ad, which shows him as being a family man, but also shows that he intends to work for Washington.

2. Jay Inslee (or his staff), "Get to Work" TV Advertisement found on Youtube
This video is also intended for TV viewers and Youtube users, but generally anyone who lives in Washington. It is basically the Jay Inslee flip of Rob Mckenna's "Family" Ad. It starts off by showing his family, and then shows how he plans to lead Washington state. It will provide a good

3. Rob Mckenna (or staff), "Job Creation" TV Ad on Youtube 
This video is intended for Washington voters watching TV or on Youtube. Literally talks about what the title says, it shows Rob talking about job creation in the private sector. Then it shows images of him walking around in what look like different factories and company spaces. This video basically outlines Rob Mckenna's plan to create new jobs in Washington state.


4.Jay Inslee (staff), "Built" TV Ad on Youtube
In this video advertisement directed at Washington voters on TV or on Youtube, Jay Inslee talks about how Washington State has a history of creating large companies like Boeing and Microsoft. He then goes on to say that he will focus on creating "green" jobs in a "new energy economy". So it sounds like he will be focusing on creating jobs that are more energy efficient.This video is a good contrast to Rob Mckenna's "Job Creation" Ad, because they both outline their approaches for creating jobs in Washington.

Part 2: Rights

1.Rob Mckenna (or his staff), "Family" TV Advertisement found on Youtube
Rights: Existing. Falls under Fair use because it is being used in both a non-profit and educational analysis. It is basically just being analyzed, and the link will lead the viewer right to the Youtube page it is posted on by the original creator. It would basically be the same as me writing my analysis in the comment section on the Youtube page.

2.Jay Inslee (or his staff), "Get to Work" TV Advertisement found on Youtube
Rights: Existing.  Same as before, Falls under Fair use because it is being used in both a non-profit and educational analysis. It is basically just being analyzed, and the link will lead the viewer right to the Youtube page it is posted on by the original creator. It would basically be the same as me writing my analysis in the comment section on the Youtube page.

3. Rob Mckenna (or staff), "Job Creation" TV Ad on Youtube 
Rights: Existing, Same as Previous

4.Jay Inslee (staff), "Built" TV Ad on Youtube
Rights: Existing, Same as Previous

Part 3: References

I think since I am only using Youtube videos, the videos themselves act as a link to the Youtube page, so I don't need to add a link. I think I will just introduce the video and tell which candidate this ad is representing. Any other sort of reference seems a little strange for this medium.

1. This Advertisement for Rob Mckenna entitled "Family"...(And then go on with y analysis)
2. This Ad by the Jay Inslee campaign entitled "Get to Work"...
3. In this advertisement by Rob Mckenna called "Job Creation"...
4. In this advertisement by Jay Inslee called "Built" ....

They maybe wont follow that exact wording, but it will probably be something along those lines. I'll try to mix up the wording a little bit, but this should be sufficient, because they can find the source easily just by cicking on the Youtube video.

Have a nice day!