GSR Social Media

Choose your platform, and explain why you think this platform would be effective for the GSR and your submission. Consider choosing the platform that you are familiar with, but that will also address a specific audience of the Greenspring Review. Who might be interested in reading your piece, and what platforms do they interact with most?

I chose to use Twitter because everyone knows there is a word limit so when there is an advertisement people will be more likely to click and explore the website to know more. I just would need to figure out what to say that will spark interest in students who love to read poems and short stories or take photography.

2. Craft a pitch that fits the constraints of the platform. Consider the common conventions for that site. Will you use text as a caption or an overlay? Do you have a character or space limit? Can you manipulate the font or color of the text? Should you include emojis and punctuation?

There is a word limit that I had to maneuver around by using symbols like “&”, however twitter’s special feature is the ability to use hashtags and tag people. So I decided to hashtag key words in order for the post to be seen by people in the specified group. For example COVID19 is trending on twitter so anything with #COVID19 will be included in the feed whenever someone is searching for it.

3. Craft media for your post. Should you use an image? A video? A screenshot? A GIF? What works best for this platform?

I used a screenshot image of my submission to make sure viewers will be able to easily read and reply back to the answer I asked. Then if they are still curious they will be able to search greenspringreview.org themselves.

4. Consider when and how often to post. What time of day does your audience use this platform? How can you increase likes and comments? How can you get more views?

If I was in charge of the social media post for GSR I would think to post everyday around 7am and 5pm because, as a student, the first thing I do when I wake up is check social media for news or anything interesting before I start my day. Then around 5pm is usually when students are finished with classes or work so they may have down time to read. In order to get more views I would have to make use of the hashtags and watch what is trending on the website to include myself in the mainstream.

https://t.co/L93eIzWWco is a literary & media magazine published and staffed by @StevensonU #students. Check out my submission "Phoenix" & share your own #creative works! Some issues were created with inspiration from #COVID19 (& some from dreams). How do you interpret Phoenix? pic.twitter.com/9vjm1Ny88r

— Akira (@LunaEsti) April 27, 2020

PHOENIX

Where am I?

What is this place?

I know I’m here,

But why do I see my face?

There is a suffocating smog of despair approaching.

I look over my shoulder and see a fire encroaching.

Suddenly I know,

I must go.

My home is just beyond me,

Where my family lies oblivious.

One by one I convince them to leave.

We escape with time to spare,

Yet to my horror there were more.

I turn back for them as my home explodes

And I am greeted with my unharmed grandparents.

Rising out the fire,

Like a phoenix.

Style Sheet Reflection

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BDz7UNV-LVQjWg00EcYuvGCsHcYyHFMU/view?usp=sharing

This assignment was more like a review for me. I re-learned some things about microsoft word that will help me in future classes. When editing I almost never use track changes but using it this time I can see how it makes the editing process smoother. I also made use of the compare option in word. I compared the original document to the edited version I was working on to help me proofread my edits. I liked how it showed my revision and made me accept if I wanted to keep the changes because it’s another layer to help proofread.

HTML Reflection

https://docs.google.com/document/d/130yiOgczzLHsor86LB3MUyDhSKYpxF7PkYAAUY8Z4hw/edit?usp=sharing

These lessons were familiar to me since I regularly used them for independent study and for various other classes from Stevenson and CCBC. So instead of following through each lesson thoroughly, I just read what each lessons topic was and started coding examples in the google document. Since I am familiar with the basics, I finished the required lessons all at once in one day. Html and coding in general are best learned from seeing examples and by trial and error for me, so the ‘try it yourself’ option on each lesson is always helpful. Whenever I needed to refresh my memory and see how the coding works on a working website, I looked at past projects as mentioned in the document.

Even though I say I am familiar, I am never too confident that I can apply these skills to a real website. I always feel it may not be enough to be confident in just the basics since there are others far beyond that, but I have placed HTML on my resume so I could explain that to employers who ask.

Designing for Students with Depression

Poster link: https://bit.ly/2vr4vNJ (bit.ly is a url shortener)

Justification:

I chose to represent do’s/don’ts for students that have depression, and though it is not a physical disability it is a mental one that can sometimes affect users physically by simply being uninterested. In an article i’ve read, “Attempting to Make an App for Depressed People and Failing,” Amit Shukla attempted to make an app for depressed people and details his failings. In a poll he asks users if they were interested in an App that would help them fight depression. Only 10% answer yes in their depressive state while 60% answer yes in a happy state. So this small poll shows us how difficult this audience can be to design for.

I have chosen some do’s and don’ts that may help when designing and I will go through each one to explain my reasoning. Starting with Do’s, the avoidance of grey and loud colors Is something I know from experience as anyone would that grey colors can be dreary and give off a tired and sad vibe. The loud colors I mention have the opposite effect. Really bright colors can be annoying and unpleasing to the eye, So I decided to go with something in the middle and made my poster out of light and cool colors that have a synergy with each other. Keeping the website simple and organized is something that a designer designing for any audience should follow, but especially for someone with depression because it can help encourage the user to stay on the website and not get lost. Creating a sense of community is important because it can help eliminate feelings of loneliness and isolation. Building trust and familiarity can increase the benefits users gain from your design even if a forum or chat group isn’t part of your digital product(How to Design for Users Struggling with Mental Health | Clutch.Co). Next is choosing your words wisely. It is important that designers watch out for trigger words that map be on their website and give warnings for them. An empathy map can help with this process. Using the empathy map to work with users will help designers understand the language they use to describe their experiences and be able to integrate it into their design.

The last thing I mentioned under ‘ Do’ is Display realistic images of the users that are neutral and non-exaggerated. This is better explained when knowing the reason of not displaying realistic or neutral images. Images that represent sadness or exaggerated happiness can be stress inducing or, in the case of an exaggerated happy photo, can be seen as fake to users. The next point, ‘Don’t make navigation too complex,’ is a direct comment to the navigation bar on the Greenspring Review that has a long drop down menu for the Issues tab that branches off into 3 other categories. By eliminating some of the redundancy designers can avoid cognitive overload (John Sweller and Howard Soloman). Excluding mobile design is something I thought designers should not do, and though Greenspring review doesn’t do that, their mobile design is lacking compared to the webpage. I believe both designs should be up to date to maximize the possible encounters and keep users coming back. The information on both mobile and the webpage tend to have walls of text and that can push users away. Finding walls to space information out and use some white space can help the page look less condensed and more inviting to read. Lastly, similar to the first ‘don’t’ the constant reminder of positive/get help messages or hotline numbers can also either annoy or hurt some users with depression. 7/10 people that commented on Amit’s poll when asked about how they felt about seeing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at the top of the homepage said, it
“made them feel like a loser”(Shukla).

Aesthetically I chose to have the poster look soft and light. The shapes I chose are used to give off a natural handmade and artsy look. Art therapy is a great way to express emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief (Cohen). I tried not to include too many pictures to clutter the poster because it is already full. I also did not want to include images that broke the rule I was describing like showing sad images or over exaggerated happy images.

Shukla, Amit. “Attempting to Make an App for Depressed People and Failing.” Medium, 6 Dec. 2018, https://uxplanet.org/attempting-to-make-an-app-for-depressed-people-and-failing-cbad3ea9263.
Experience, World Leaders in Research-Based User. “Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking.” Nielsen Norman Group, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/empathy-mapping/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

How to Design for Users Struggling with Mental Health | Clutch.Co. https://clutch.co/web-designers/resources/how-to-design-for-users-struggling-with-mental-health. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

November 30th, Last Updated, and 2018 06:56 Pm. “Cognitive Load Theory (John Sweller).” InstructionalDesign.Org, https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/cognitive-load/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.
Cohen, Mary Ann. Creativity and Recovery: The Mental Health Benefits of Art Therapy. 10 July 2018, https://www.rtor.org/2018/07/10/benefits-of-art-therapy/.

Empathy Map Summary

This article talks about how to deeply understand our users and how to help our colleagues understand them through empathy maps. Empathy maps are described as a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in order to 1) create a shared understanding of users needs, and aid in decision making. Traditionally, the empathy maps are split into 4 quadrants: Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels. The user or persona is in the middle.

The says quadrant contains verbatim and direct quotes from usability study. The thinks quadrant has the users thoughts during a usability study. It is possible to have the same info as the says quadrant but thinks focuses on figuring out what the user may be reluctant to say. The does quadrant looks at how the user goes about doing things physically. Empathy can capture one user or many and when combined with other mapping methods they can:

Remove bias from our designs and align the team on a single, shared understanding of the user
Discover weaknesses in research
Uncover user needs that the user themselves may not even be aware of.
Understand what drives users’ behaviors
Guide us towards meaningful innovation

Experience, World Leaders in Research-Based User. “Empathy Mapping: The First Step in Design Thinking.” Nielsen Norman Group, https://www.nngroup.com/articles/empathy-mapping/. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

Weigh of Showing

https://jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/weigh-of-showing/
Weigh of Showing is an Interesting article that shows readers a research paper doesn’t have to be the typical ten-pages. Jenna Freedman writes in the form of a ‘zine’, so it is written to look like a magazine. She does this to drive in the point that there are different ways to show knowledge than by writing a research paper. Jenna focuses on the readers attention to the interactivity of having feelings and how the same old ways of learning, and teaching do not benefit the complex lives of humans. People are different and have much going on in their lives. The formulaic teaching process is shown through Jenna’s life growing up. This shows readers how often she would have to read about ” A lot of white guys, some of them dead” (pg. 2) and how dry it is to learn about them. It also shows how her personal experiences helped her learn differently from others. For example she mentions how one of her most memorable things she learned came from acting. It taught her about emotional intelligence, specifically how to pay attention to what was in front of her and to answer questions when being asked. Jenna doesn’t really answer much in this paper but she questions what it means to learn and teach and leaves it open for discussion.

GSR Redesign Pros and Cons

Team 1

-The header is stylized and has its own unique logo along with the color themes that match the clients(Stevenson)

-The latest Issue is on the front page for easy access.

-The background image scrolls with the page. It isn’t noticeable with the amount of info now but inspecting the pages code will show the background-attachment.
– The layout follows the Z-Pattern mentioned in the article, “What Newspapers Can Teach Us About Web Design.” The navigation bar starts in the top left-hand corner and as you follow the pattern it gives the reader all the information they need.
– There are a good amount of tabs in the navigation bar.

Needs Improvement

– I think the header should be stretched across the whole page and not cut off awkwardly.
– The background clashes with the white and green color scheme.
– The search bar on the Issues page seems unnecessary since there is a constant search bar on the right side bar.
– On the Issues page there is an oversized dropdown that overlaps with the Spring and Fall 2020 Issues.
– The Information written on the Submission Guidelines page could be arranged better. The words are too spaced out.
– The white background on top of the book background makes the page look amateur because of the white clashing with the colored books then those books clashing with the green color scheme on the white. I just think it would benefit if the whole page had the grey color background that can be found in the banner.
– Also, I think it would be better to categorize the Issues by the types of literature and then date them by the season and year. Similar to what Team 2 does.

Team 2

Effective UX/UI

– This team does what Team 1 didn’t and had a drop down with the different categories for the Issues.
– There are unique and Interesting images related to each topic on the page.
– It is a good idea that each Issue category ( Creative Writing, Journalistic, and Visual Art) has its own unique layout.
– The page is simple and clean. There aren’t any color clashes. The website seems to have a clear theme they stuck with.
– There is an actual form to submit original work and clear guidelines and reminders for the people that choose to send.

Needs Improvement

– I personally think the huge header takes away from the website. users will immediately scroll down which will bring them to a bland listing of categories that doesn’t interests them because there wasn’t anything that gave them a reason to.
– After clicking on the the Creative Writing Issue topic, I see there isn’t a clear separation between one writing and the next. So, when scrolling each entry kind of flow together.
– The homepage is basically the Issue page.
– The title of the page is EST.2016 in the HTML code when it should be something like ‘The Greenspring Review’. Now the websites tab title is Est. 2016.
– There is a lot of white space that maybe some borders could fix. All the white space makes the page feel empty.

Team 3

Effective UX/UI

– The homepage has a section that updates with the most recent upcoming events.
– Social media is present on the right sidebar and it also shows the latest posts.
– The creators do not deviate from the layout. Each page has 2 columns. Columns and grid systems are effective techniques used by news design (“What Newspapers Can Teach Us About Web Design”).
– There is a way for visitors to subscribe. This is a good way to get people to come back.
– This page also allows submissions with the help of a form.

Needs Improvement

– Almost greyscale color scheme, the bright blue title doesn’t really fit in with everything else.
– The Issue page uses the images as a link to the next page but it is not noticeable. The cursor does change when it is hovered over the image, but it would help if said image was highlighted to indicate it is clickable.
– The images are also too big, they should utilize more of the page.
– The page feels static. There is a lot of reused info especially on the sidebar.
– The subscription sign up does not check to see if the email is real. It goes though as long as there is an ‘@’ sign and ‘.com’

“What Newspapers Can Teach Us About Web Design.” Smashing Magazine, 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/11/newspapers-teach-web-design/.

Newspapers Teach UX Design

“What Newspapers Can Teach Us About Web Design.” Smashing Magazine, 8 Nov. 2019, https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/11/newspapers-teach-web-design/.

Technology is constantly changing every day and web designers must keep up with it to take advantage of the many features that can be used to develop a great website. However, it is easy to get caught up in the latest trends in web design and sometimes old techniques are all you need. This article looks back at news design and shows their connection to best practice online. A popular newspaper phrase ‘above the fold’ can be compared to a web designers job to make an impression on their visitors when they see the homepage of a website. After grabbing attention, a good principle to follow when thinking about how people engage with a page of content is the Z pattern, or The Gutenburg Principle. It is the theory that, when faced with a lot of content, people tend to read at the top left hand corner and finish at the bottom right hand corner, flicking from right to left as they go. Due to newpapers being packed with pure content, the arrangement and layout is very important. Newspapers us grid systems and content blocks to help with organization. Columns are the most important in order to help the text flow down the page. Newspapers follow more techniques than I realize and each can be used for the redesign of The Villager.

TinHouse Rhetorical Analysis

Screen Recording

My thesis is that TinHouse is a decent website with a clear target audience and a strong purpose. However, the context can be confusing at first glance and there are a few poor UX design choices.

The reason I say Tinhouse is an okay website is because it does a few things well. For example, I mentioned it has a strong audience. If you scroll to the bottom of the page you can find the About Us and Contact Us pages. From my experience, these pages are usually located at the bottom of the main page or within the Menu or navigation bar. Clicking on the About Us page we can get an idea on who the owner wanted to target. (and it shows that) Win McCormack said, “I wanted to create a literary magazine for the many passionate readers who are not necessarily literary academics or publishing professionals” (“About Tin House”). I believe this statement lines up to what you can find on the website. Clicking back to the main page you can see TinHouse has a lot of content that covers simple topics like Taxi Driving or “My Baby First Birthday.” Most of these books and poems are about the little things in life we often take for granted.

As mentioned in the thesis, Tin house has a strong purpose, and that is to sell. Immediately upon entering the website there is an emphasis on Magazines, Books, the Workshop, and the Shop. Someone new to the website will assume this is where things can be bought. Their assumption will be correct after clicking due to the 3 links being connected to the shop. There are other things that the TinHouse website does that keeps it looking functional and that is its use of font and the color palette. The font is simple and neat, and the colors don’t stand out much. I do think TinHouse could benefit more if they had a more focused theme of the black and red because most of the colors on the website comes from the images. Context is the main issue of the website due to the 4 images that take up half the page. These images weren’t that obvious to me, so it was a little confusing trying to figure out that it is an advertisement. With further exploration it is apparent that users will interact with the website through the shop. The other issue was the UX design choices, mainly the layout and arrangement of the website. The layout of TinHouse is reminiscent of a tablet or mobile layout. The stacked lines in the top left corner opens a hidden side bar. These are usually only needed on a mobile website to conserve space. Since this is present on the main computer website it may be easily missed and other features the Tinhouse has could be ignored. Other than that, the most important information, which is the shop, is displayed on the center of the page. The arrangement of the website could be better. Right now, it is arranged in a top down order so visitors would have to scroll to see the blog posts since the 4 images at the top of the page take up most of the screen. There is also the position of the menu button in the top-left corner that, I think, should be replaced by the full sidebar that pops up when clicked. It would help visitors find their way around more easily. In conclusion, there are a couple things that can be improved, such as the arrangement and layout design, but TinHouse is a website that knows its audience and gives them exactly what they’re looking for.

Works Cited

“About Tin House.” Tin House, https://tinhouse.com/about-tin-house/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2020.

Cheryl E Ball, et al. Writer/Designer: A Guide to Making Multimodal Projects. 2018.