I Think Therefore I Blog

(source: http://marksinthemargin.blogspot.sg)

Process of creating the weblog

Headline

A number of considerations were made along the process of creating the weblog. The title Design Media & Publishings came from the three main words for the issues involved. The idea behind the title was looking into Design Media Issues and Publishing issues. The two main topics of the weblog.

The topic of Design Media will then be broken down into two parts – design principles and media issues.

Tagline

I was considering the tagline and could hardly find any inspiration until the Bible verses came to my mind.

• Proverbs 1:31 (NIV) – ‘They will eat the fruits of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.’
• Psalm 149:8 (NIV) – ‘to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,’

The idea behind the tagline was for audience to consider if blogging is good or bad, “fruits”. Or will it be a shackle upon bloggers, that ‘I think therefore I blog’, or should the media issues examples have “thought before they blog”?

Challenges

The main challenges, I faced was to arrange the contents that it flows correctly according to the tagline, the weblog design was according to the template chosen from WordPress. Consideration for colour schemes were made, for easy and light for the eyes. I usually will pen down my thoughts in a weblog, and usually will include Bible verses to help me with my thoughts. I enjoyed doing up this weblog.

Thank you for your time in reading.

References:

Katzev, R 2012, ‘On Blogging’, viewed on 23rd Feb 2013, <http://marksinthemargin.blogspot.sg/2012/11/on-blogging.html&gt;.

Media Issues: Politician elite apologizes for Facebook comments

(source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com)

Authoritative figures whereby their words have more “weight” and impact to the public, a single comment may cost his position if portrayed incorrectly. On the 19 Feb 2013, Mr George Yeo, former foreign affairs minister, asked on Facebook “Whither Singapore?” According to B N Balji (2013), ‘the by-election blow-out and the White Paper wash-out have left many, not just Yeo, wondering where this country is headed.’

Facebook is a good platform to use to get into communication with the public to establish relationship. For it has the sense of immediacy, whereby we can get the latest information or news directly from the user. This is however, false, unless used wisely.

The comments which George Yeo has made, has contributed to the following diminishing morale of the political party, he was previously in. Media is powerful, but the public is still the one to make a choice to choose between what they think is right in their eyes.

References:

Balji, P.N 2013, ‘Whither PAP, whither the elite, whither Singapore?’, viewed on 23 Feb 2013, <http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/whither-pap-whither-elite-whither-singapore-103928226.html&gt;.

Media Issues: Erotic Expressions on Weblog

(source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com)

Is publishing erotic pictures or videos in personal blog a right way to express themselves? On the 17 Feb 2013, a scholar from University of Singapore (NUS) was called up to face disciplinary action for blogging erotic pictures in his personal blog. The public’s outcry for him to remove his blog succeeded despite his declaration in the following video.

(source: youtube.com)

His expression on his weblog is beyond the expectations of the general public, which Alvin Tan follow up with free media usage such as Youtube, to declare his point of view as to why he and his girlfriend, Vivian, will continue to upkeep the posts.

Following is an update on the 19 Feb 2013, on an exclusive interview with Alvin Tan and Vivian,

(source: youtube.com)

Alvin and Vivian was invited to join one of Malaysia’s broadcasting talk show, and Alvin follows to reply that he will look into the entertainment industry as part of his future plans. From this incident, the thought of expressing themselves, has caused the public to feel uncomfortable and using the power of Youtube, to reinforce his stand.

Publishing and Media has become so easily reachable that anyone has the freedom to post their expressions, as when they deemed right.

References:

Chai, G 2012, ‘NUS law scholar faces disciplinary inquiry for explicit blog posts’, viewed on 21 Feb 2013, <http://sg.news.yahoo.com/nus-student-posts-shockingly-erotic–gross-photos-.html>.

Media Issues: Facebook Racism Critique

 

(source: fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net)

Singapore, a multiracial country, where more than 5 nationalities and races live together as one nations. The mixture of differences from various cultures coming together to form one unique Singapore culture. A country like Singapore has to be very particular about racial & religious comments, whereby comments in public is strictly monitored by the public audience, themselves.

Amy Cheong, an assistant director of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), made a racist comment which sparked a public outcry of her criticism. The use of social media has enabled convenience for us to reach out to our friends, but our comments do not impact ourselves or just our social circle. Our conduct and ethics on the virtually shared world has implications on our shared neighbors.

‘We freely like or dislike anything and everything, provide an array of details and images from our private lives, and overshare a variety of information that was once unthinkable for public consumption.’ (Cain, K 2012) We share things so freely now that information seems to flow faster than we thought it has been.

References:

The New Paper 2012,’NTUC sacks woman who made racist post on Facebook’, viewed on 20th Feb 2013, <http://www.tnp.sg/content/ntuc-sacks-woman-who-made-racist-post-facebook&gt;.

Cain, K 2012,’The Negative Effects of Facebook on Communication’,viewed on 21 Feb 2013, <http://socialmediatoday.com/kcain/568836/negative-effects-facebook-communication&gt;.

Media Issues: Magazine Cover Photoshop gone wrong

(source: my.entertainment.yahoo.com)

iWeekly is a weekly Chinese magazine published by MediaCorp. iWeekly was published, on the 17 Feb 2013, and a photoshop mistake was found on the cover page. This is a print publication where design may have been well-intended, but due to the mistake made, could cost MediaCorp a little on their reputation.

The picture here shows that the arm of Fann Wong, a 42 year-old actress, has an “exceptionally long arm”. The neck due to the photoshop, has also been “lengthened”. ‘The picture quickly went viral with over 400 shares within an hour of it being published.’ (Oon, J 2013)

‘Photoshop is the magic wand that comes to everyone’s rescue when they want to chop off certain elements from a picture or change the background of an image or retouch facial elements.’ (Sindhu 2013, flashuser.net), but if handled incorrectly if could become a mockery or “entertainment” for others.

References:

Sindhu 2013,’5 Common Photoshop Mistakes Beginners Must Avoid’, viewed on 20th Feb 2013, <http://www.flashuser.net/5-common-photoshop-mistakes-beginners-must-avoid&gt;.

The Rapid Technological Advancement

(source: hammer.net)

The constant rise of technologies from mobile hardwares to Internet to blogging and now, social media dominion. From the previous years, mobile phones were used mainly for basic calls and simple text messaging. Later on after the introduction of Internet, technologies have advanced rapidly from computer desktop to laptop. Following the improvement of smart phones, to e-readers such as Kindles and iPads. For blogs and various social media platforms such as Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube has proved to be very useful in our global virtual converged market.

(source:socialmaximizer.com)

These technological advancement has definitely changed the way we communicate with each other. Our social circles were generally our families and friends before the introduction of Internet. Marketing and sales were within countries unless traded across the continents through the skies or the seas. Information can only be obtained from traditional libraries, with limited number of books on the shelves.

Internet, weblogs, social media platforms and online chat tools now enables us to communicate across continents in seconds, and also enables us to seek more information from an “unlimited” amount of resources shared among the virtual communities. Marketing and sales of products and services are much accessible than the past.

The result of having multiple platforms gives people more choices to choose from. For this reason, designers will have to start considering the possible platforms clients will be using and cater to each category of users. This probably will result in more efforts to target the same previous group of audience.

Web Design Theories

(source: toonpool.com)

1. Defining the web elements

A web layout has many elements to it, before a layout is laid out. Elements such as amount of texts needed, pictures and white spacing in between can help visitors to better scan and read your website. Define such elements, before moving on to the placement and positioning of most important details such as Company Logo, navigations, pictures and texts.

2. Defining your page goal

Every page should have its specific goal it wants to achieve. For example, homepage should be a page where it gives an overview of the latest news of a company. An objective for that specific page can help determine your navigations correctly and effectively.

3. Setting the Navigations

Navigations are ways in which users can use them to reach another page or resource. An effective webpage should at least have a main navigation bar where across the webpages, it is part of being consistent and helpful to visitors, as to where they are currently in. After these 3 steps are defined, your webpages should no longer have any  isolated page, also known as orphan page.

4. Typography

Typographic fonts are very important for readability, there is no best way of using serif or sans serif fonts. In general, Scribe Consulting (2013), suggests that ‘Serif fonts are usually easier to read in printed works than sans-serif fonts’ and use sans serif typography for online work. Below is a picture to differentiate serif and sans serif fonts.

 (source: scribe.com.au)

sans serif font /   serif font

It depends on who is your audience, and what the intended audience want to see. According to Gregory, A (2009), a few considerations in mind for the typography to work.

1. It’s the client’s preference.
2. It suits the company’s services
3. It may work well with the design.

References:

Kyrnin, J 2013, ‘Basics of Web Layout’, viewed on 14 Feb 2013, <http://webdesign.about.com/od/layout/a/aa062104.htm&gt;.

Gregory, A 2009, ‘Serif Fonts Vs. Sans Serif Fonts: A Working Case Study’, viewed on 13 Feb 2013, <http://www.sitepoint.com/serif-fonts-vs-sans-serif-fonts-a-working-case-study/&gt;.

Scribe Consulting 2013, ‘Serif and sans-serif fonts’, viewed on 14 Feb 2013, <http://www.scribe.com.au/tip-w017.html&gt;.

Basic Design Principles

A good design should best complement what you want to convey to your intended audience. Steve Jobs once said ‘Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.’ Thus, it is important to first know your audience before choosing the colors and how you want your design to look.

Harmonies between colors composite with each other to create schemes which can be used in many different situations. One of the most common type of color scheme is Complementary colors. Below are the complementary colors from a color wheel (Green and Red).

(source: desktoppub.about.com)

The principles of emphasis, white space, alignment, pictures and texts can affect symmetry balance. The image below explains what is symmetrical and asymmetrical.

(source:http://en.wikipedia.org)

Readability is very dependent on typography, color contrast and alignment, below is an image on different type of alignments.

• Left alignment are usually used for better readability
• Right alignment when used correctly can create better dynamism.
• Center alignment are generally used only for formal certificates such as plaque and wedding certificates.
• Justified allows the text to appear in blocks, than to have a jagged right or left feel.
• Forced Justification are generally bad and can potentially create ‘River Effects’ – creating too much white space and awkward to read.

(source: http://desktoppub.about.com)

References

Bear, J.C 2013,’The Principles of Design’, viewed on 10 Feb 2013, <http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/tp/Principles_of_Design.htm&gt;.

Bear, J.C 2013, ‘Alignment’, viewed on 10 Feb 2013, <http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/g/alignment.htm&gt;.

Tiger Color 2012, ‘Color Harmonies’, viewed on 12 Feb 2013, <http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm#color_harmonies&gt;.

Foresman, P.S 2007, ‘Symmetry’, viewed on 12 Feb 2013, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry&gt;.

The Foundation of Blogs

(source: blog.glacier-digital.com)

‘Blogs have a relatively short history’, the first blog was ‘generally recognized in the 1994’ as a personal homepage. It was until the year 1997 that the word ‘weblog’ was attributed to John Barger. ‘The term was created to reflect the process of “logging the web” as he browsed.’ Following the year 1999, the platform Blogger is ‘largely responsible for bringing blogging to the mainstream.’ Until the ‘advent of social media and social networking in the past five years’, blogging was the ‘primary point of communication’. (Chapman, C 2011)

Blogging can be used in many ways as the ‘primary point of communication’. According to Rafid.org (2013), some of the uses are:

• Leisure: Whereby many individuals can choose blogging as a hobby by posting their photographs and keeping these blogs to keep in touch with their friends.
• Journalism: Blogging can also be used as a tool to skip the ‘filter of censorship’.
• Political propaganda
• Collection of customer feedback
• Commercial purposes: Can be used to advertise products and services, pay per click advertisement programs.

References

Chapman, C 2011, ‘A Brief History of Blogging’, viewed on 8th Feb 2013, <http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/03/a-brief-history-of-blogging/&gt;.

Rafid.org 2009-2013, ‘Different uses of Blogging’, viewed on 8th Feb 2013, <http://www.rafid.org/different-uses-of-blogging.php&gt;.

Glacial Digital 2010, ‘Blogging 101 – A Beginners Guide’, viewed on 7th Feb 2013,<http://blog.glacier-digital.com/2012/07/blogging-101-beginners-guide/&gt;.

Introduction

This weblog is created to comment and critique on media, design and publishing issues. There will be posts which discuss on the topics on design theories, concepts of media and types publishing usage in various situations, and examples of weblogs, online media publishings used either, in good way, or not suitably expressed.

My target audience will be new bloggers who need to know the basic social implications of their post, and to use these proposed theories and examples in help to reinforce their social responsibilities online.

Below is an outline on the post topics:

1. The Foundation of Blogs

2. Basic Design Principles

3. Web Design Theories

4. The Rapid Technological Advancement

5. Media Issues: Magazine Cover Photoshop gone wrong

6. Media Issues: Facebook Racism Critique

7. Media Issues: Erotic Expressions on Weblog

8. Media Issues: Politician elite apologizes for Facebook comments

9. ‘I Think Therefore I Blog’ – Richard Katzev (2012)

 

References:

Katzev, R (2012), ‘On Blogging’, viewed on 5th Feb 2013,<http://marksinthemargin.blogspot.sg/2012/11/on-blogging.html>.