Matunuck Surf Shop Web Redesign

The Matunuck Surf Shop desperately needed change. After reading the Basic Design Principles for non-designers, I understood how certain changes can make all the difference.

For instance, alignment can make a huge difference. Having the right alignment can make a site more functional and easier to navigate. So our group left aligned everything and once the alignment of the site was finished, your eye naturally sees organization which was clearly lacking in the original site.

Contrast is a very important concept of basic design principles.  The way our group used contrast was with color. We used blue and orange as the background theme for the new site. These two colors work very well together because they are contrasting colors. Contrasting colors like green and red, purple and yellow and blue and orange really pop when used together.

The same goes for proximity,on the original site information was never linked together, it was all over the web page. Our group organized everything together on a contact page. Having information in close proximity together just makes sense. Proximity can help create a brand and an identity.

Another concept of design principles is repetition. Repetition means that you use the same elements over again. On each page of the new site left alignment is carried over. Just like the orange and blue theme that we chose for the Matunuck Surf Shop.

Blogging Professional

Maybe I over exaggerated. I am not a blogging professional, but I'm getting there. I am more comfortable and familiar with the writing online process. I am a bit delinquent in my writing and the blogging five times for each project. In that respect, I have no rhythm or schedule that I follow. In a perfect world I would be blogging periodically during each project, but I didn't or haven't.

Even though this is a 200 level class, this course is tough work. I underestimated the amount of time I would have to put into this class and the writing that corresponded with each project.

During this last project a social media project, I will stay on top of my writing and remember to blog five times about the progress my group and I have made. So far, I have posted twice. Took me long enough, but better late than never.

Working with Spruz.com on Animal Cruelty

I cannot say it enough, I do not like spruz.com. The site is way to slow and I know it was explained to me that because it's a free site means more users which means the site slows down. I get it.

The site is also a little difficult to navigate and can be confusing with members and the log in process. Our group came across an issue today with the way spruz is set up. Our group needed a songs tab and we couldn't add songs because we would have had to pay for the upgrade. so we adapted and used YouTube videos that played music. However, it's things like this that deter me from every using the site outside of class for a future social media project.

Animal Cruelty my Social Networking Cause

Our last writing in an electronic environment project is social networking. The purpose of this project is to become active on social media sites about a cause that we're passionate about. My group members and I chose Animal cruelty as a platform to voice our opinions and outrage(or disgust rather). Ideally this site would inform people, if they don't know already about the horrible mistreatment of animals, and how laws against animal cruelty are not what they should be.

Through this project, we as a group must come together with one voice and speak out against animal cruelty.

Let the project begin.

Website Redesign

I was so surprised by the amount of websites that are horribly designed. Whether it's aesthetics or actual content websites need a lot of work. As a group, we all have a basic understanding that simple is key. The Matunuck Surf Shop had no cohesion to it, color choice made no sense and some pages had dead links.

Our group made more simplistic design choices without compromising the feel of the surf shop. We're going for this orange and blue contrasting color feel. These contrasting colors work well together and instill a calm feeling when browsing the new site.

Wordpress

Our next project required groups of students to use wordpress.com to redesign a website. That sounded complicated to me. To get familiar with wordpress.com, we had to watch some tutorials on lynda.com. They were very helpful, however when it came to actually redesigning a website I found more help on YouTube.

In the process of redesigning, our group decided that our website a matunuck surf shop needed drop down menus. So initially I went on Lynda and there were so many videos to sift thru. So I went to Google and was directed to a simple video on YouTube. That clip on YouTube made it very easy for me to create drop down menus.

Once I created drop down menus on word press, it became really fun. Word press is a great tool that anyone can use for free.

Learning how to post on Wikitravel

This project of editing a page on Wikitravel is awesome. I have a voice, and someone might take my advice on a particular destination. I am going to do my Wikitravel project on Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It is a wonderful place for families, great food and has an old timey feel to it.

I was surprised from all the readings on Wikipedia how they have their own style and the way they talk about destinations. They strongly advise you not to advertise or write like a brochure for someplace. This is not a cheesy commercial, but giving plain facts to travelers. It's an insider experience and that experience enables me to dish out pertinent information. For someone whose been to OOB many many times, I believe I have the authority to guide people to find good, decent sleeping arrangements and awesome food, considering OOB is on the coast of Maine. Hello Lobster!