Bibi Cards

Here's one of the bibi cards that I had to re-create for my Electronic Communications class. My professor gave me a bibi card from a Scientific American magazine, and I had to create duplicates of it in QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. These images are of my Adobe InDesign card.

Something that worked really well in these bibi cards was the images. I think they look almost identical to the images in the original version of the bibi card. I was really glad that I was able to find the exact same pictures online, and then put them in the bibi card in the same positions--the angles and the sizes are both the same as the hard copy.

Something that did not work as well as I would've liked was the fonts. Actually, a lot of the fonts look nearly identical to the original, but others are a little off. The "40%" on the backside, for example, is a little different than the one on the real copy of the bibi card. I spent a lot of time looking through all the fonts, going through the Suitcase Fusion, and experimenting with different techniques and I was never able to match it perfectly. The one that I used in the end seemed to be the most similar to the real copy.

I am most proud of how the area where the reader (or potential subscriber) would fill in his/her information. In both InDesign and QuarkXPress this area looked very similar to the original. At first it was a little bit daunting, but after doing all the measurements and figuring out the spacing, it wasn't too difficult and it looked really good.

However, that was also the most difficult aspect of this project. I had to measure all of the lines, look for the closest-fitting font, and then do all of the spacing. It took a lot of time and it was really tedious. It was extremely frustrating trying to make everything in this section look like the original.

Finally, if I had more time, I think I would've gone through even more fonts in an attempt to get the perfect match. There were just so many different fonts, and so many different techniques that I could apply to them, that it would've taken several days to go through them all. Doing so would've been unrealistic, but it would've been nice if I could've found the exact match. Still, I'm really happy with the fonts and the overall look of my bibicards.

Personal Essay

Personal Essay Design Rationale

The post above this one contains my final project for my Electronic Communcations course. We had to create either a Soundslide or a video that showcased the majority of the techniques we've learned this semester. This project also had to explain one of our passions. For mine, I decided to do a Soundslide about my family's vacation home in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Our beach house is in Breakwater Village, a small trailer park in Pt. Judith. I went through childhood and current photographs and identified 12-15 that I thought would be appropriate for this Soundslide. Most of them had to do with my sisters and me, surfing, and the location itself.

I then wrote a script for my Soundslide, which I recorded into GarageBand. Since I have a Mac with a built-in microphone, it was really convenient to record my voice in GarageBand. I then recorded some ambient sound of water lapping to serve as background audio. The sound of the water is not very loud, but that was my intention. I didn't want the water to overpower my voice, I just wanted it to be really subtle and relaxing, and I think I accomplished that.

After I had compiled all of my pictures and exported my audio into iTunes, I was able to create my Soundslide (which can be seen in the previous post). I wanted the pictures to correspond with what I was saying, and I think for the most part, they do.

My favorite part of this presentation is the pictures. I was really glad that I was able to find pictures from my childhood that matched my script, particularly the ones with my sisters and me. Since one of my main points about memories from Breakwater Village concerned my sisters, I thought it was really appropriate that I could include this pictures into my presentation.

Something that didn't work quite as well as I would've liked was the audio. Though I intentionally made the lapping water quiet, I think it could've been a little bit louder. Also, I was not very happy with the sound of my voice in this project. I don't know what it is about my voice-- I guess I'm just not accustomed to listening to my voice on recordings.

I'm most proud of how the audio and the images work together. I think the pictures correspond to what I'm saying in the audio, and this helps tell a story and makes my presentation more effective. Although I had some difficulty trying to figure out the timing, it ended up working fairly well.

The most difficult aspect of this project was, without a doubt, the audio. I had such a hard time recording my voice, I had to start over a million times. When I messed up I would still keep going, but I usually had to do it over again because my timing was always off. Once I finally did a good run through, I had to go through and edit out all the mistakes and make it sound like one fluid story, which was difficult as well. Then things only got more complicated when I had to add in the ambient background audio. In the end, however, I was pretty happy with the result.

If I had more time, I think I would've liked to elaborate on this project. I have so many pictures from Breakwater Village, and so many more things to say, that it would've been nice to be able to include them. I know that I could've made it five minutes long, but I didn't want to bore my viewers. I think I made it a good length; it's long enough to give people insight into my childhood and summer traditions, but not long enough to make them lose interest.

Though this project could get a little frustrating and overwhelming at times (like a lot of the projects in this class), I was really happy with the final product (also like a lot of the projects in this class!) I was really excited that I was able to use all the skills I've gained this semester in Electronic Communications to create a Soundslide about one of my passions.

Soundslide script

Here's the script for my final project in Electronic Communication.

Some of my earliest memories include running up and down a small, secluded beach with my three sisters. Tanned to a golden brown from the summer sun, we would wake up early to go boogie-boarding, skip lunch to build sandcastles and search for crabs, and play wiffle-ball until well after the sun had set.

We were at Breakwater Village in Point Judith, Rhode Island. The park where, decades earlier, our dad had spent his days in the same manner. It’s a small trailer park located on an even smaller beach, and it’s the place where my family has spent weekends in the summer since my great aunt and uncle bought the park in the 1950s.

I can remember my sisters and I would anxiously anticipate the three-hour car drive from our permanent home in Buxton, Maine to southern Rhode Island. Come Friday afternoon, we would have our bags packed and our snacks prepared as we frantically rushed our parents to do the same. Once they finally had, we’d all pile into our blue Town & Country van with our dog and commence our journey. After about an hour all the kids would be asleep, dreaming of the ocean and the warm sun that awaited our arrival.

Sadly, those days gradually ended as we got older and my sisters left for college. As the baby of the family I was the only one still available to accompany my parents to the beach. I started spending more time with my Breakwater friends, staying up late to play manhunt and huddle around bonfires on the beach.

It was around this time when I discovered another passion apart from Breakwater Village: surfing. Though I’d been introduced to it before, it wasn’t until this time that I became obsessed with it. Whenever there were waves, my friends and I would paddle out to a spot called the “K”. There, I collected many scars as a result of the hard rock bottom. But at the same time I also collected a lot of memories and formed a love for and a deeper connection with the ocean.

Nowadays, I still spend my summers in Breakwater village, though there have been some significant changes. Our once TV-free trailer has been replaced with a wi-fi accessible park model. Careless days spent splashing in the water have been taken over by long shifts in hot restaurants, serving clam cakes and chowder to visiting tourists. But that doesn’t mean my feelings for Breakwater have changed.

It’s still where my family gathers for functions. Sisters who have long since relocated to New Jersey, Florida, and northern Maine still find time to celebrate the 4th of July and birthdays in Pt. Judith. Our parents still make us hotdogs and potato salad for lunch, and we still spend some afternoons lazing on the beach, barefoot, tanned, and loving where we are.

Pitbull Soundslide

Here's the Soundslide I made using the slides from my Pitbull presentation. It was a fairly simple process, only requiring me to change the format of my music and create pictures out of my slides.

What worked about this presentation is the same thing that worked during my Pitbull PowerPoint presentation, since it is practically identical. My favorite aspect was the backgrounds on the slides. Since I got to make my own slides, they were really appropriate for my musical artist, as well as creative and fun. I also liked how the Soundslide had a movie like quality. I think this works well with the music.

Something that didn't work quite as well with this project was the music. Though I was able edit a 30 second clip of a Pitbull song, I wish that I incorporated lyrics. I didn't realize that we were allowed to actually use voices in our music, and by the time I found out it was too late :(. The beat that I did use still sounds pretty good though.

The hardest thing I faced during this Soundslide was the music editing. I had never worked with any audio programs before, so it took me a long time to figure everything out. I ended up having to edit the same thing several times because I would forget to make them on a stereo track, or I would mess one thing up and have to start from scratch. It was frustrating but I'm glad that I now have a basic understanding of how to edit audio.

My favorite part, even though it was the hardest, was making a 30 second clip of a Pitbull song. Like I just mentioned, I think it's really cool that I now know how to work with audio.

If I had more time I would have tried to use Pitbull's voice in the 30 second loop. I know that it would've taken a long time to get everything to match up well, but it would've sounded really cool if I had enough time to do it.

Current Topic: Twitter

For my current topic project I researched Twitter, a fairly new social networking web site. The sources I used include the Twitter web site, Wikipedia, The New York Times, and first person interviews. The information each of these sources contained allowed me to better understand what Twitter is and how people use it. I've used what I now know about Twitter to write an article on what exactly it is. But before I post my article, here's some preliminary information on the web site:

Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging website created in March 2006. It currently has about 12 million users who logged into the website upwards of 99 million times in March of 2009. People who have Twitter accounts use them to create 140 character or less posts or updates. They can also follow their friends or anyone who they are interested in to stay up-to-date on their posts.

The technology Twitter uses is a Ruby Red framework, which is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language. The posts also use hashtags (#) and at symbols (@) to help aid in searches or signify one person's direct update response to another.

As for finances, Fifty-seven million dollars of the business is owned by venture capitalists. CEO Evan Williams raised $22 million in venture capital. It's backed by business such as Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital, and Bezos Expeditions. Also, Insitutional Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital just began backing Twitter this year, investing an addition $35 million into the web site. Williams said that the majority of this money will be kept in the bank in order to ensure the longevity of Twitter.

Twitter

Stalkers everywhere rejoice! A new means for keeping tabs on your subjects has surfaced, and it's called Twitter. All you have to do is create an account and sit back while your homepage constantly refreshes with the latest updates from the people you've chosen to monitor.

Say, for example, you've decided to follow RWU sophomore Meagan Amylon. As of 11:07 p.m., on April 7th, you'd know that she "Went out to eat tonight. Ended up with food poisoning. Also, got a phone number from a man on the RIPTA and a new piercing."

Let's hope that no stalkers are actually obsessing over Amylon's, or anyone's, Twitter accounts. But with more than 14 million users, who logged into Twitter 99 million times just last month, it's safe to say that people are definitely interested in what this site and its users have to offer.

According to its web site, Twitter began in March of 2006 and is quickly gaining prominence in the online community. Similar to Facebook's status updates, this social-networking site allows its members to post updates containing up to 140 characters. These updates, referred to as tweets, appear to all of a particular users' followers, or people who subscribe to their account. According to the "About Twitter" web site, tweets can be sent via the web, instant messaging, or mobile texting.

Tweets usually detail someone's current activity, but there's no limit placed on their content or frequency.

"I probably update my status once a day," says Amylon. "I write about what I'm doing or some deep thought I've had… It's fun to come up with random witty comments as well."

Although average people constitute the majority of Twitter's users, they're not the only ones. Schools, clothing stores, politician and celebrities have Twitter accounts, too. Even RWU has its own account. The school uses it to, amongst other things, publicize upcoming speakers, summarize sporting events and share general news.

RWU followers could read that on March 11, at 11:16 a.m., the school updated that "Students raised $695 at Hunger Banquet which was sent to Oxfam International and the Bristol Good Neighbors Soup Kitchen. Good Job!!"

Tropical Gangsta, a women's boutique located in Newport, is just one of the many clothing stores that has its own site. This store uses its Twitter as a marketing tool, offering special sales and coupons to its followers.

Several politicians and celebrities have Twitter accounts as well. They're able to use it as a means to interact with their supporters, keeping them updated on their daily activities. President Barack Obama, blogger Mario Lavandeira, better known as Perez Hilton, actor Seth Rogen and rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs all stay in close contact with their fan followers.

Anyone following Obama knows that on Jan. 19, he was updating his Twitter account, "asking you to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by volunteering in your area. Visit http://USAservice.org or text SERVE to 56333 for info."

Twitter also has a feature that allows people to directly respond to others' tweets. A link to the right of the tweet automatically redirects users to their own update boxes, where they're prompted to type their responses.

For example, when Combs wrote on the evening of April 13th, "im tryin to stay off of twitter today because im sick but it keeps calling ME!!!!! lol," Rogen posted a direct response tweet.

"Diddy is off so should you.... Today is Twitter in 3D day," wrote Rogen. "Go to a bar shout what your doing you'll meet lots of people that way. LOCK IN!"

This site's popularity continues to increase. Amylon joined just a few weeks ago, in order to follow one of her favorite bands, and she's noticed the website's growth.

"When I first made a Twitter I couldn't find any friends on it," says Amylon. "But now it's getting more popular and I'm getting new follows everyday."

Why is this site growing so rapidly? The Twitter team believes that "simplicity has played an important role in Twitter's success. People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, 'What are you doing?'"

For Amylon, it's even simpler. "It's fun, and another way to procrastinate."

Newsletter

Here's the newsletter that I created for Electronic Communications; I did it on the restaurant that I featured in my brochure, Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder House. For this project we had to take an Adobe InDesign newsletter template and replace its information with our own.

I think the color scheme of this newsletter worked really well. I was going to just leave the colors as they were in the template, but I took advantage of our ability to change them. I decided to use browns, sea-greens, and blues. These are the colors that I associate with sea glass, and since this is a restaurant on the beach I thought they'd be appropriate. I love these colors, and they really do look like sea glass!

Something that did not work as well as I would've liked was the title. After a lot of trying different fonts, I finally settled on a large bold one for the title, and then Impact for the address and phone number. It looks all right, but I think it could've looked better. I wish that InDesign allowed more freedom with text boxes, like QuarkXPress does.

The most difficult thing I encountered during this project was getting all of the fonts and colors to be consistent throughout the newsletter. I constantly had to click on all of the fonts to ensure that they were the same size, same style, and same type. It seemed like every time I thought I was done, I'd find ten more things that I'd have to fix. This is the same for the colors, as well. I had to go through and check all of the RGB measurements, so I could be sure that all of the browns, blues, and greens were the same throughout.

My favorite part of this project is probably the colors, as I mentioned before. I love how they look like sea glass... they're just really pretty and work really well for a restaurant on the beach!

If I had more time, I would've played around with the title more. I would've gone through more fonts and sizes to see if I could make the title tie in better with the address and phone number.