Wednesday, September 20, 2017

My Personal Brand

When reading the two Forbes articles about personal branding it really made me start to think about my own personal brand and what I can do to improve it and make it unique. In the article called How to Conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis, the author explains that SWOT is an effective process that companies use to assess themselves and their competitors. SWOT stands for Strengths (internal), Weaknessess (internal), Opportunities (external), and Threats (external). Reading this article made me start to think about my own SWOT. My strengths would be my ability to communicate with all types of people, and being able to form relationships with people easily, along with being a decent presenter and being able to confidently speak in from of crowds. My weaknesses are that at times ai doubt myself, and get intimidated by challenges put in front of me, when really I just need to face them head on. On a personal note, I want to move to England after college and try and start my career internationally, so another weakness for me is that I am not from England, therefore it could be harder for me to get a job. My threats are other students my age from bigger, more prestigious universities trying to get the same job I am. However, my opportunity is being a student athlete and being able to say I have stuck out four years being a student athlete. SWOT was a really helpful tool that I will remember when working on my personal brand.

The other article we read called Personal Branding 101, was just about what a personal brand is and how you can improve your own. You have to think of yourself as a "product" and you need to stand out from others. The article gave some steps on how to achieve a successful personal brand. You must define your overall aspirations, meaning know what your goals are. My goal is to move to England after college and work in a different country. You also need to do research and see how successful people have made it to where they are today. You also need to determine your brand attributes, what do you want to convey to others? I would say since I enjoy public relations and marketing my personal brand should show that I am a good communicator, and can form relationships with others easily. Along with your attribute you must know what your current state is, they see how large is the gap between who you want to be and who you are. You also need to create and game plan and manage your brand. My game plan is to keep active on my LinkedIn and other forms of social media, and also to start sending out my resume early.

Both the articles were filled with valuable information about personal branding, and I will look back at them for advice when creating my personal brand in Digital Literacies.

Tips of the trade: Sav's pictures

This is my first picture out of the six we had to take. This is showing people in their natural habitat (the quad on Limestone College's campus). I took a few and this was my favorite one of the group because it shows what the average day looks like at Limestone.















This picture shows the rule of thirds that photographer Wright explained. The picture is split into thirds and the MBA sign is in the middle third.











This picture took into consideration the sunlight because you can see a trees shadow in the lower left corner of the photo. It could also represent rule of thirds.
















I took this picture because it reminded me of the actual rule of thirds grid. I thought it was funny because I walk past this everyday and never thought about it, but after listening to Mr. Wright I realized it resembles the grid.















I took this picture from a lower angle. I was on my knees in the grass while taking this picture. After taking a few from different angles this was my favorite because we never really think about how things look from a lower angle.
















This picture was what Mr. Wright called a "tight shot", it has limited white space and is close up. I think this is my favorite picture out of all the ones that I took because you really are focused on those red flowers. After looking at it for awhile I also noticed it does show the rule of thirds, the red flowers being in the bottom of the grid.

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Tips of the Trade

Tips of the trade as told by professional photographer Pat Wright:

Composition can be the process of which something is made, how they are arranged, or how they combine as a whole. Great photographers recognize a pattern and movement. They use trial and error and talk to other photographers to exchange ideas.

He explained to us some rules to follow:


  • 1. incorporate where people live when shooting people make it look natural
  • filling the frame be aware of the sun
  • 2.shoot tight and keep empty space to a minimum
  • 3. shoot sharp, hold the camera still to eliminate fuzzy shots
  • 4. use different angles, lower, higher, vertical, horizontal, bend your knees, turn camera both ways
  • 5. use different camera lenses
  • 6. be aware of light and how it affects composition
  • 7. use the rule of Thirds, divide into thirds
  • 8. Take more than one shot
  • 9. carry media cards (more than one)
  • 10. carry batteries
  • 11. keep image resolution high
  • 12. experiment with light settings
  • 13. carry lens tissue
  • 14. carry notepad to make notes

Stay tuned to see how I follow these rules! 



Monday, September 18, 2017

People presents: Life of Sav

We were asked to create a magazine cover using free images. When brainstorming for what I would create, I decided to stay with my theme over the past few posts: what Sav likes. I went onto Pinterest and found Dr. Nichols free image sites and started searching. I used Pexels, PhotoPin, Foter, and Pixabay. I want this cover to show who I am and what I am interested in. I had fun creating this cover, but if I had to do it again I would use InDesign instead of Illustrator!

Photo credit: m01229 via Foter.com / CC BY

Taste is the True Test

This is the ad that I came across while looking in the Wired Magazine. It caught my eye because of the large, all caps font starting on the left side of the page. I took a closer look and analyzed the ad.
Proximity: The bottle of Goose Island is in close proximity to the reader. I think that it would have a greater effect on the reader if it was just the bottle, not the hand holding the pint. I think that the creator could move the beer bottle over to the middle of the page to give it a bigger effect.
Alignment: I think that the ad visual connects the elements. I like the three long lines at the bottom of the page and the larger block text at the top. I think that the hand holding the beer throws off the alignment in the ad and should be done away with.
Repetition: This ad has the repetition of the word "Goose." I think that it reassures the viewer about the brand.
Contrast: The contract of the big white font on the all black background catches the viewers attention. Along with the big letters on the beer bottle saying "GOOSE IPA."



We were assigned to recreate the ad in our own way. I decided to keep the same type of ad, but make a few minor changes. I found images off google, but then went to investigate where they were really form. The larger beer image I used was off a european website called saver-biere.com, it is an site online where customers all over the world can order all types of beer for a discounted price. The Goose Island emblem was pulled off google, but google found it from a  website called elkindistributing.com which is another website that sells craft beer that functions out of West Virginia.


Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Free pictures!

In my last post I talked about blogs that had to do with what I am interested in...travel, food, and fashion. This week we had to go onto free picture websites to find some images and then explain what their licensing was according to the website. I decided to stick with the theme of travel, food and fashion.



This first picture is of the clocktower in London, one of my favorite places to visit! I found this image off of pixabay. The image is a JPG that was uploaded in November 17th 2012 and it is free for commercial use, no attribution required.
















This is a picture of my all time favorite food, doughnuts! I found this image off of morguefile. Under this pictures license the user is free to adapt the work (or remix), use for commercial purposes, and accompany photos with similar content. However, you cannot own this image or sell this image.









This is a picture of my favorite aspect of fashion-shoes! I got this image off of foter. The license allows for the user to share this picture, however, the user must give appropriate credit, indicate if changes were made, cannot use for commercial use, and has to give credit.
Photo credit: Shaun Bascara via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Friday, September 8, 2017

Best Blogs (according to sav)

When doing research about the best blogs online I took into consideration the websites Dr. Nichols gave us, but also wanted to look up blogs that pertained to what I am interested in. I did some searching and found three blogs that represent things that I am interested in. It was interesting seeing all the different blogs online, these are the three that I enjoyed most.

Travel: I love to travel, and it is my dream to move to the UK after I graduate, so I decided to find a travel blog that I thought was interesting and helpful. One Mile at a Time is a travel blog created by a man called "Lucky." He travels around the world using travel rewards, and I found his blog really interesting. Visually he had a clean layout, using gray, blue, and black as his primary colors, and an easy to read font. His links were at the top of the page, making it really easy for the reader to navigate where they wanted to go. He also included some pictures that could benefit the user, but it is mostly useful travel information. Verbally he spoke to the reader in a tone that was helpful. He knows his information and he is willing to share it with the reader. The content on the blog is all about travel but it varies from topic to topic, you can learn what the best travel credit card is, to what the best airport lounge is, and everything in between. He also allows his readers to comment and ask questions on his posts, and he is pretty good about responding. Digital User Experience, he has a "forum" created for dedicated readers where they can privately message him and ask him questions. Along with that, he has a huge social media presence, having over 50,000 likes on Facebook. The blog also has numerous links that take the readers to other pages and give them information about what they are looking for. All in all, I really enjoyed looking at this blog and it stuck out to me because of all the information within it.

Food: I love to try all different types of food, particularly vegetarian foods. So, I did some research on google and found this really cool vegetarian food blog called Naturally Ella. Visually, the layout of this website is so clean and neat, it really attracts the eye. It uses green, white, and gray colors which is calming. Along with neat fonts and colors it also has beautiful pictures of all the recipes she has to share with her readers, the pictures are so appealing to the eye I want to try them all! Verbally the blog informs the readers about different recipes they can make, and how they can make them. The blog will ask the readers questions and then allow them a link to click on to "stock their pantry" which shows them ingredients they will need. When it came to digital user experience this blog was really cool. It has a "make your own recipe" section where the reader can click on different categories to see what they are interested in eating or making. It also has a "plan your meals" sections that I think it a great link for readers to use when planning meals. Naturally Ella also allows the readers to share they posts on Facebook so it is reaching out to a bigger audience.

Fashion: I love clothes, even if I can't afford them, I still love to look! When I was looking for a cool fashion blog I saw Elle Magazine posted an article about different blogs. I looked at some of them and found one that I thought was really cool. Gary Pepper Girl is a fashion blog. Visually it is different from a lot of them because it has large images with short captions, and if the reader is interested they can click to read more. Similar to other blogs she uses a neat layout that is appealing to the readers eye. This blog is not as verbal as others, it has mostly large images and short explanations. It was interesting though because it was about fashion, but she also mentions travel and some of her social life which I think is interesting (people love to know other peoples business!) Although when the blog did speak to the readers it was in a friendly manor, and there wasn't many posts that were longer than two paragraphs. This blogs digital user experience is good, it has links to different categories such as beauty, travel, outfits, etc. Also, this is a blog that has a worldwide presence, you can even click a link and see the activity in different countries! 

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

We Used to Wait- Arcade Fire

We Used to Wait is a song by Arcade Fire, a band from the UK. in 2010 Rolling Stones named it the fifth best song. The lyrics to this song talks about the past, but it does not stay there, it also speaks to the future. Times are always changing, everyday there is something new, We Used to Wait talks to this concept, they sing "now our lives are changing fast." When researching the history of the song, I came to a really interesting and insightful website called Shmoop. Reading this website gave me some information about where the song is coming from. It talks about the rise of the atom bomb in the 1950's and how that sparked fear in people, and it touches on the guided age, modernism and post modernism times- all moments when the world was evolving and advancing past us before our eye. This is what this song is showing to us, "now our lives are changing fast." 
I used to write
I used to write letters
I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain- talking about how society used to sleep and now we constantly have flashing lights (phones, computers, etc) in our heads. 

But by the time we met
By the time we met
The times had already changed
So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart
I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was lost standing in the wilderness downtown
Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last
It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive
We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walkin' around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I wanna walk again
Gonna move through the pain
Now our lives are changing fast
Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last
Hope that something pure can last
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came (we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again
We used to wait for it
We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again
I used to wait for it
I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming
Sing the chorus again
Wait for it
Wait for it
Wait for it



The album that this song is on is called The Suburbs. The album is a modern album that speaks to the new "speed" of everything in the world around us. "I used to wait for it, hear my voice screaming sing the chorus again" he is talking about how he will talk about the issue and criticize it, but also ask for more. A great point that was mentioned online is that this is the song for the Wilderness Downtown which is where you can put in your address and an interactive website will take you to where you grew up (using google maps). It was funny to me that this was the song chosen, when it is about how the world is advancing and this very website is proof of that! 

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Connecting Through YouTube

According to this video, in 2008 YouTube consists of 200,000 3 minute videos. That is an incredible statistic. He says, "it is not mass media" because most videos are meant for less than 100 viewers. If you think about it, YouTube has matured since this video was made. Today, so many people watch YouTube for almost anything, and videos are longer, and becoming viral. When the video talks about Soulja Boy become a viral sensation, he talks about how the producers were confused as to how this become huge with out their help, and that shows in the music video, they kind of play fun with it and show how the song become big. That is another investing  thing about YouTube- no one needs a producer or camera crew or anything of that sort, all you need is a webcam and yourself! I liked when the video talks about how YouTube and how it is a network of people who are individuals, but also people who are speaking out to a community. I agree with this because YouTube is its own source of community that can make people feel like they are part of something. With YouTube can come great things, like the "Free Hug" man, all he did we offer free hugs and it went viral and the idea traveled to different countries, which I think it a great thing about YouTube, it can connect people from all around the world. The video also talks about the "drama" of YouTube and it talks about Lonely Girl who we have talked about in class.  All in all, I think that YouTube is a great way for the world to connect and for people to be entertained, and I believe that in the future it will only grow.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Is Google Making us Stupid?

Is google making us stupid? A great question/topic addressed by Nicholas Carr. This article talked about how the internet is changing the way our brains think. Carr says "over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory." Carr explains how this is because of the internet. An interesting thing he points out is that in todays age of the internet everyone wants to just skim past an article and no one wants to read a lengthly article anymore. We just want to surf the internet skimming through articles not taking time. Carr makes another interesting point that the New York Times even has a page dedicated to abstracts because they realize that people want to multitask and read things quickly. The line in the article that sticks out most to me is when Carr says " once I was a scuba diver in a sea of words, now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski." I think we can all relate to this saying because when you are sitting down reading a book you are engulfed with the words on the page and in your own world, where as on the internet our eyes just skim through the page. He then talks about how in todays age we do read more than the average person did in the past, but it is just a new kind of reading, and we read it in a different way. I thought it was really interesting when Carr talked about Freidrich Neitzche, how his eyes were slowly dwindling and he bought a type writer to help him continue writing, but the machine was altering his work and his thoughts- similar to how the computer and internet can alter ours. This article was really interesting and kept my attention throughout. I liked how towards the end Carr talks about the creators of Google and how eventually they want the search engine to be smarter than people. He also touches on the subject of artificial intelligence and how when we log onto Google we are in "Google's"world and our brains need to be rewired.
This article really opens up the readers eyes to how powerful the internet is, and how it has already effected people. Before reading this I never really thought about how I can find myself skimming an article online, or getting distracted by adds, whereas now I can defiantly see how the internet has groomed us into being this way.

Field House VR Tour

Suz and I worked on this practice VR tour together. We went to the field house and took 360 pictures of areas we were familiar with.