Final Portfolio

This was my favorite project that I created this semester. The idea was creative and unique and visually communicated the message of the assignment before reading the text. 

The resume was clean and refined but did not necessarily show my personality or tell very much about myself. If I were to go back and edit it for this assignment I would change the background color and add some sort of graphic.

This brochure succeeded in giving a professional look and feel, but did not encompass all that the Northtowns has to offer. It was difficult to decide what to add and what not to add to the brochure.

The logo and postcard effectively communicate my personality and future career in their presentation. I love the color and the picture of myself is fitting to give it a more professional feel.

These thumbnails are meant to represent my future career in the public relations and communications field. Ideally I would like to work in social media marketing and these thumbnails are meant to represent the communication that might take place in this career field. 

Tour de Western New York

For the topic of these brochures, we will highlight towns and cities across Buffalo, including Downtown Buffalo, Orchard Park and Hamburg. This topic will show highlights of each place, a sort of travel guide to places to visit in each area. We will include restaurants, bars, parks, events, and other notable things in each area.

We will visually communicate the topic by each making a guide to the towns, and then make our group guide a comprehensive guide of Western New York. There is also the possibility to highlight only one of the listed parts of the guides, such as only restaurants. We will include images of food and the places and use the same font against each of the brochures to make them a cohesive guide. We will also include the same format for all the brochures. 

These brochures will serve as a travel guide of sorts. Different areas of Buffalo have different perks and attractions. The list of all the best restraunts in Buffalo for example might be too long in comparison to a single cohesive guide of the best places in each area.

This post is not clickbait

Clickbait, propaganda and misleading information or “fake news” may present false information in a way that the reader may believe it is true. Fake news on social media can be easily shared with just a click or two and leave impressions on millions of people in just hours through the internet. Fake news is more likely to be shared due to the catchy titles and shock value. Twitter and Facebook are the most common social media sites for this type of content to be shared. As users of these platforms, we should be wary as to if the information we are passing along comes from a credible source or has any fact-checking within it. 

            Sharing an article without reading the full story or further investigation is not wise. This reduces the sharer's credibility, can promote the spread of false information, and misinform the general public. 

With the coronavirus pandemic, we are bombarded with news stories and a large portion of them are fake. With this crisis having such a large media influence it is more important now than ever to filter out false news which can lead to unnecessary panic and fear. With modern technology, we are more connected than ever, but that has its downsides as well. Lies and false information can spread faster than ever before. 

It starts with the platform. Twitter for example filters out untrustworthy sources from their news pages. Facebook takes a similar approach by using an algorithm to ban links selling high demand items or falsely advertising cures for the coronavirus. 

Here are some more ways to spot fake news, according to Forbes and Facebook. 

1.    Use verified sources as news sources, such as accounts with verified badges on twitter.

2.    Be skeptical of headlines.

3.    Investigate the source 

4.    Watch for poor formatting or spelling errors.

5.    Check the dates

6.    Look at other news sources for the same story

7.    Check for sources and citations within the article

8.    Make sure the story is not a joke or intentionally false story.

9.    Flag or report any news you believe to be false

Lets get Visual

Visual communication and audio communication cause a large emotional response. In comparison to other modes of communication, such as written communication, visual communication is far more interesting. A painting or photograph really does say a thousand words. Within a visual image, you can tell so much about a scene, from the location to the emotion in a persons’ face, to the time of day, and the list goes on. With other forms of communication, you really cannot get the full picture. 

In visual communication, the images we view can say so much more than any words. Within an image, you can get a far better understanding of the full picture than with any other medium. Think how that we can associate something like the Nike swoosh with everything that they stand for in an instant. While images are the most powerful tool, it should not go without saying that other forms of communication such as font and color can strengthen a brand. When all of these tools work together, you can really see the complete package and set the tone for the type of communication you are trying to have. We can see from this ad here, Nike uses the same font, logo and similar minimalistic ad style in this old print ad that they use today. They also stay very on-brand with their motivational message in the ad, “Who said woman was not meant to fly?”

Starbucks is a brand that is very hard to ignore. Just by the color of the straw, you know what brand of coffee someone is drinking. Starbucks logo and colors, like Nike, have not wavered for decades. The employees can still be seen wearing the same green aprons, and the mermaid on the cup is synonymous for the brand’s name.
Tyler the Creator has strong visual communication as an artist, in materials related to his music and his personal brand Golf Wang. His style is very out there and loud, but it screams Tyler the Creator if you know him and his music.
Even though his brand is not as recognizable as Nike or Starbucks, he does an amazing job at expressing his personal brand as an artist. It’s hard to put yourself in a box with your style, color choices, and font choices, but for Tyler it is authentically him being himself. From his store, to his music videos, to his Instagram posts, Tyler’s personal brand has incredibly strong visual communication that is fun, bright, and loud.