Project 3: Online Reputation

online accounts:

Although it’s a short list, below are the online accounts that I can think of that are visible:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Myspace (I think there’s one out there somewhere)

after conducting a search:

As mentioned in the homework I was asked to search my name in two different search engines.  The first search engine that I used was Google and this is because Google is the “main” search engine as far as I’m concerned.  The second search engine I used was Bing.  Both searches produced results when I searched for “Meaghan Barnes,” but the results were not accurate.  Most of the results from both search engines were not related to me in any way.  The only search engine that did produce something was Google and it listed my Pinterest account as the second result.  Honestly I found these results to be comforting because it seems that I’ve done an “okay” job at keeping my life private when it comes to the internet.

Rhetoric on the Town: Alignment

Subaru Impreza Advertisement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

rhetorical analysis:

The main purpose for this advertisement is to sell the car Impreza which is made by the automobile maker Subaru.  Due to the wintery environment of the advertisement some of the targeted audience may live up North or in places that receive high amounts of snowfall.  The fact that it’s a car and driving in snowy icy conditions may attract the audience of people who are looking for safe cars who have lots of traction.  Since the ad actually states the base price of the Impreza it shows that the target audience would not be the upper class, but would in fact include the middle class or people who are just starting off in careers that may not be making the big bucks yet.

design element analysis:

This advertisement’s main design element is alignment.  The car, description of the car, “headline,” and price are all left aligned.  The only item on the advertisement that is right aligned is the company’s name which is “Subaru” and the Subaru symbol.  The alignment element works because since the majority of the advertisement is aligned to the left and leaving only the company’s name right aligned the reader’s name is naturally drawn that way.

Rhetoric on the Town: Contrast

Vintage Toyota Tundra Advertisement

rhetorical analysis:

The main purpose of this ad is to sell and promote the Tundra from the automobile makers Toyota.  The audience for this advertisement is most likely men, and the audience could be narrowed down even further to upper class men.  One way you know this is aimed at men is because of the statement “Power and efficiency. Like steak and eggs.” which can be viewed as a meal common for most men.  Another indicator that the advertisement is aimed at men is because of the color scheme used for the advertisement.  Black, yellow, and white can be considered masculine colors.

design element analysis:

The main design element seen in the advertisement is contrast.  The bulk of the ad is black lettering on yellow background which allows the text to stand out.  The black tundra placed on the yellow background also stands out to the viewer.  The actual name of the truck which is Tundra is seen down at the bottom placed in a black box with white lettering which makes it stand out from the rest of the ad.

Project 3: First Glance

When i grow up:

What do you want to do when you grow up?  When I was younger this question seemed so simple, but as I got older the question became much more complicated.  During my time in school I’ve been able to assess my strengths and weaknesses and also see what I enjoy doing.  Now that I’m a semester away from graduating I’ve finally decided what I want to be when I grow up.  I want to be a Technical Writer.

Technical writing, really?:

Although it’s not a very common profession the technical writing field fits best with my writing style.  Throughout my time in school I’ve discovered that I’m not a strong creative writer.  Instead I prefer to deal with straight facts and numbers to develop a piece which will inform the reader.  It really struck me that this was my style of writing when I was assigned my first argumentative piece during my sophomore year.  The assignment required research, articles, and use of quotes to argue a point.  While working on the assignment the information came together so smoothly and it was easy for me to take the information and put it into a piece which was easy for the average reader to follow and understand.  This assignment helped me realize that this type of writing was something that I enjoyed and could see myself working in a technical writing field in the future.

Project 2: Tutorials

After watching a few tutorials and doing some reading I’ve decided to use another form of Photoshop which is Adobe Photoshop Elements because it offers a few more options for photo editing.

adjusting colors/effects:

The below YouTube video is a quick tutorial on adjusting colors in Photoshop Express.  This tutorial was beneficial because I plan on adjusting the colors in my photo to make them brighter and make them ‘pop’ to the viewer.

The below tutorial talks about how to apply the different filters to photos and gives a quick overview of each filter.

 adding text:

The below video is perfect for the text that I want to add on the image.  I had the idea of using a ‘circular’ feel for text and this video describes how to modify and insert the text.

 

Rhetoric on the Town: Balance

Finding Nemo movie poster

rhetorical analysis:

The main purpose for the movie poster is to advertise and build hype for the release of Finding Nemo into theaters.  The audience for this advertisement varies.  The main audience would of course be younger children maybe 5 and up and parents of children that fall into this age group because it is an animated movie.  Another audience would be for people who saw Monsters Inc because it is mentioned that the creators of Monster Inc also created Finding Nemo.

design element analysis:

The main design element seen in this advertisement is balance, symmetrical balance to be exact.  If the poster were to be folded in half the sharks face would be divided equally.  Another balance feature seen is that everything is centered and flows toward the bottom.  These elements work because they draw the viewers eyes towards the bottom where the poster displays the release date.

Project 2: Images

Image 1: (Main choice)

This image really caught my eye which is why it’s my first choice.  I’d first like to crop out the black edges and then adjust the brightness.  Somewhere on the image I’d like to incorporate the phrase “Digital Writing” in a text that has a ‘circular’ feel to it.

*I have minimal experience with photo editing with includes some minor cropping and adjusting an image’s color to black and white with a few accented color.  For this photo editing I’d like to use PhotoShop Express Editor since my experience with photo editing was with Adobe PhotoShop.  Some adjustments I’d like to make to the image is cropping out the black border and adding some text which will have a “circular” feel to it keeping with the circular theme.  I’d also like to adjust the colors hopefully obtaining brighter colors to attract the viewer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

image 2:

This image is perfect for the audiocard since most people participate in digital writing when they are participating on an online social media site.  The phrase “Digital World” should be incorporated once more but will be placed diagonally across the entire photo.  I’d also like to crop the ‘advertisement’ out of the image if possible in order to keep from confusing the viewer.

Project 2: Script

In today’s digital world it would only make sense for people to participate in something called digital writing.  Digital writing is any form of writing that takes place digitally.  Some common examples include, but are not limited to, online magazines or newspapers, comments on a website, and photo editing.  Believe it or not many people participate in some form of digital writing daily without even noticing it when they post statuses on Facebook, send text messages, or tweets on the Internet.

Rhetoric on the Town: Repetition

An advertisement for Kmart

Purpose: The purpose of this advertisement is actually for Kmart and shows some of the products that Kmart has to offer.  In a way this advertisement can be for more than one product, but it is mainly for Kmart and that products that can be found in the store.

Audience: The audience for this advertisement would have to be a younger, outgoing going crowd and could be male or female.  This conclusion is drawn because all of the people depicted in the advertisement are young and even two of them have brightly colored hair.  Also the products depicted, Sunkist, Slim Jims, and Tide are most likely things you’d find in a house with younger or college aged people.

After viewing the advertisement: Once the viewer has seen the advertisement it may make them want to go to Kmart and buy all of the products depicted in hopes that they will be as outgoing as the people in the advertisement.

Design element: The design element seen most is repetition.  Throughout the entire ad there is only the same basic colors, red, orange, and yellow with very few other colors mixed in.  The ad also repeats the stacking of products, stacked soda boxes, washing machines, Tide boxes, and Slim Jims in the shopping cart.  Repetition works for this ad because the products all have the same basic colors which makes the ad stand out.

“A picture is worth a thousand words” | Images

summary

When working on a page it is important not to bombard your reader with walls of text, but to be sure to include images.  Photographs can be extremely useful when used correctly.  They can help to establish a tone and help communicate information that you may not be able to do through text.  Photographs may also be edited to point to a certain area of text or to lead the reader to the next section.  When it’s come to credibility photographs carry more than illustrations or clipart because people assume that a camera can not lie.  Although not as credible illustrations can benefit a page as well.  Illustrations such as diagrams, maps, charts, or drawings helpful when displaying detailed or complex information.  Another form of images that can convey a meaning are clipart which can be a timesaver if you’re in a crunch.  The last type of images is text.  Text can be modified or special fonts can be used which can help enhance the page.  No matter what you choose to use, photographs, illustrations, clipart, or special fonts images help enhance the page and get the message across to the reader.

key terms

Cropping – removal of some of the horizontal or vertical edges of a photo.  Cropping can help the photo fit into a certain space, or by cropping a photo it draws attention to the remaining amount of photo

Flopping – changes the direction of the image in a photo from side to side.  Flopping allows you to use the photo to point to a certain piece of text that may relate to the photo.

Silhouetting – when portions of an image are selectively removed.  Another option when silhouetting is a vignette, which changes the shape of the original photo.

Photo-imaging programs – programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint are programs which can aid with photo editing.  Some special effects that these programs offer are:

  • Distorting images
  • Colorizing parts of an image
  • Outlining edges
  • Adding a drop shadow
  • Posterizing an image
  • Lightening an image
  • Applying a filter
  • Inverting a positive picture to a negative
  • Collaging many images
  • Adding a border

Illustrations – include diagrams, maps, charts, cartoons, or drawing.  They are used to reinforce a point mentioned in the text.

Clipart – are predrawn artwork that is sold in books, on a disk, CD, or found online.  Many clipart pieces are free to use, but some hold certain licenses which do not allow them to be displayed in some places.

Dingbats – are small ornamental pictures.  They can be used as bullets or icons instead of letters.

CONNECTIONS

This chapter was very beneficial in many ways and I feel that I benefited greatly from it.  The idea of learning when and where to use images, also what images are appropriate where will be something that I can use in many of my other courses.  This chapter may also come in handy when analyzing advertisements for the Rhetoric on the town assignment because now I’ll be able to understand a little more why they choose to put that image or use that font there.  In the end having a good understanding of appropriate image use is something everyone needs.