Web Design

The last 4 weeks of my student career have been with filled with learning experiences in the field of Web Design. I was instructed in HTML code and CSS style sheets, and it all seemed to just be a lot of technical coding, and that layout elements on a page would be simple. Boy was I wrong! Not only did coding seem to prove more difficult then anticipated but the layout and design of my pages never seemed to go exactly as planned. Positioning was, by far, my hardest obstacle. I would decide on my concept, and thumb nail out different possibilities. Then when I sat down to begin placing all the elements into the page caos insued. Text would begin to float, pretty much, whereve it wanted. Pictures would line-up in positions that ruined the entire format and flow of page, not to mention wouldn't make sense. Even links and buttons would chose to move around the page however they wanted.
I began to get frantic and panic with these free-willing elements moving across my page without my permission. Typing code, then changing the code, then changing it again would only make matters worse, and the inconsiderate images and text still refused to sit in their place. After I calmed down, and took the time to read through what I was trying to do, I was able to learn and understand different tags and commands and what their purpose was. Patience is a virtue. An invaluable one when it comes to web design. Only after I was patient and clear-minded was I able to create willingly and successfully. To view my first projects go to
Web Accessibility or Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla Tactics

I have recently been inspired, thanks to my last project for my web design class. In researching different forms of advertising and marketing, I came across the term Guerrilla Marketing. Guerrilla marketing is type of advertising, that is low in budget, yet creative and unique, and engages the consumer to create a buzz. This buzz spreads the word about a product or causes awareness for different events. How some of these guerrilla marketers come up with this stuff is absolute brilliance.
The bubble gum company Hubba Bubba, simply placed pink balloons on the mouths of models posing in already existing advertisements. The balloon looked just like these billboards were blowing a Hubba Bubba bubble. When target audiences looked at these advertisements, I bet they didn't even know what the original billboard was supose to be promoting. All they could think about is blowing their own Hubba Bubba buble.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force's (popular cartoon on AdultSwim/Cartoon Network) ad agency placed dozens of neo-brite style signs composed of a Mooninite, a character seen on the show, in urban cities and highly visible locations around the United States. This led to the 2007 Boston Mooninite scare and attracted different kinds of reactions from Boston city officials. Many thought that the kind of attention gained from the stunt would be negative, but the ratings that were recieved were a lot more then, I believe, anyone expected.
The research I did on the guerrillas of advertising was not only interesting, but also consuming. I caught myself just staring at viral videos on youtube, and googling pictures of unique ad campaigns. No wonder this form of marketing has been so successful! Just trying to research it forces you to look at the advertisements. Infact, I think I'm gonna go see how big I can get my Hubba Bubba bubble as I watch Adultswim right now.

Advancing Past the Advanced

It is quite amazing how quickly a person can go from not knowing a thing about particular subjects, to in a short time have enough knowledge to hold their own. I spent a long weekend recently attending my sisters wedding. Just introducing and catching up with family members whom I haven't seen or even met since I was a young child. In passing, casual, conversation I began telling my long college career story. It started with graduating high school, and continued to the several college and universities I attended, and ended with my current education process at Keiser University. A few of my cousins and uncles began to heckle me with a few questions regarding graphic design and I suppose a few of my responses surprised them. As it turns out, another distant relative of mine was dating a recent graduate of a design school in Texas. We were introduced and as the conversation carried on, we began debating on fonts, designs, and all sorts of different topics. To my surprise I not only kept up with the conversation, but I feel as though I took over. Quoting different graphic artists and even discussing the documentary "Helvetica" dominated the differences in open and showed that even though I was merely a current student, persuing a 2 year degree, I knew enough to compare myself with a 4 year degree graduate. My family seemed fairly impressed, but not as much as my debater.
Even more recently, I was catching up with a fraternity brother of mine from years back, when we began discussing web design. As it turns out, he had graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in computer sciences, and has been working repairing computer hardware, updating software, and even designing websites from time to time. He told me of the hardships he had experienced in learning HTML and PHP and all the fun internet languages of yesterday and today. I kept up with him pretty decently, and when I told him I have never even read a HTML text page before 3 weeks ago, he was astonished. A profesional, working in the industry, could not believe that only after less then a month of education, that I was at a point of knowing and understanding a few basics in his world.
Sitting back and looking at how far I have advanced in such a short amount of time only makes me more excited to find out what is to come for me. If I can do this much, so quickly, what can more time and experience bring?

Typography

An aspect of every day design that no one notices are typefaces, and they are everywhere. Labels, signs, flyers, name tags, and packages are all loaded with Font types, and are all chosen with purpose. Fonts have the ability to make you feel certain emotions, and react with certain sentiments. Everything a graphic designer creates, there is a message that is being portrayed, and in these messages the designer wants the consumer to feel a specific way. Typefaces evoke those emotions and force a consumer to want, to understand, or even to act. 

My world of Design

I spent most of my life trying to find myself, and trying to find something that I was good at. As luck would have it, it would take a second try at college, and a random chance meeting to discover that graphic design might just be for me. 2 months after I entered the world of Keiser University, I've found myself exploring the world around me in a light I had never seen before. Text, and fonts, and colors, and designs, all made by famous and infamous alike. People spent countless hours and days to create what drives others to buy and to want. Graphic Design plays such an intricate roll in the everyday lives of Americans, as well as the world. To be able to not only just see these strategies play out in front of my eyes, but to also be able to judge and critique these works, I feel I am an informed citizen. I am a citizen with the power to not fall prey to propaganda. A citizen who may one day make the propaganda.