Introducing Texture

In my last blog post I discussed zine culture and how I want to instill a sense of community while referring to the look of old-school printed materials in my design scheme. In my side navigation bar I have reinforced my site's color scheme while creating a three-dimensional, hand-printed appearance.

My sidebar navigation directs viewers to the main content areas of my site. Below I have described how I created this effect.

1. I tore off a strip of paper from my sketchbook, considering the size and shape of the "buttons" I wanted for my side navigation.
2. I scanned in the torn piece of paper and refined the image in Photoshop to create a JPEG file suitable for the web.
3. I chose a font from dafont.com that reminded me of an old letterpress or news bulletin typeface.
3. I downloaded this image of a horned frog from the TCU Image Library and resized it to fit on my tabs.
4. I found this free watercolor background from Sad Monkey Design and altered its coloration in Photoshop. Sad Monkey offers a variety of backgrounds to complement any design scheme. They are free to use with no obligation; just consider crediting the designer somewhere on your webpage. (I really wanted to make my own watercolor background, but we're quickly running out of time and I don't have transportation on campus to pick up adequate supplies. If you have the time and supplies, you can also create your own watercolor background in about 10 minutes--just mix the colors you want, get some watercolor or sketchpad paper and splatter away!)
5. I added the watercolor background to my CSS style sheet, inserted the tab images, and linked to the appropriate page for each.

My only question about the whole background-in-sidebar thing: when I try to create a line break in my text, a blank white line appears between the lines of content. Does anyone know how I can prevent this from happening?

The whole process of creating the sidebar took about an hour to perfect the torn paper images, insert the text and horned frog logo, and adjust the watercolor background to fit my design. It was a bit frustrating at times but I believe it's well worth the time to add personal touches that will distinguish your site and capture the viewer's attention. How are you incorporating texture into your site design? How have you referenced your content and reform idea in your site's imagery?

Processing: white space and thematic design elements

From the beginning I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of white space in my site design. I dislike when a site's design is so cluttered that it obscures the content--the most important feature! Definatalie.com comes to mind as one site that uses white space to its advantage to highlight content--plenty of full color photos to catch the viewer's eye, detailed, whimsical illustrations, and social justice-minded essay and personal narrative.

White space helps draw attention to content while creating a clean, understated, modern look. Another reason I started with white space is that being a Dreamweaver novice, I'm not yet comfortable with complex patterns and fancy features. As I began to piece together my site design in Dreamweaver, however, I started to consider how my site's design could go beyond simple organization to reflect the topic and feel of my campaign. I was inspired by the way Natalie of definatalie.com incorporates her own illustrations into the naviagational scheme of her site, such as the intricate banner heading and the hand-drawn elements on the "about the author" panel at the bottom. My goal is to draw the viewer's attention to site navigation and key content in a way that creates an overall theme and frames my content appropriately.

The definatalie.com header prominently displays the artist's talent for illustration and helps establish a theme for the site's content.

In arguing for scholarship reform at TCU I want to focus on the idea of accessibility--making a TCU education more easily available and affordable to every qualified student. To reinforce the idea of inclusivity, I wanted to reference aspects of zine culture to create a feeling of community surrounding my campaign. Zines, or self-published magazines, were instrumental in social reform movements of the 90's--way back when printed materials were considered the most efficient way to circulate content. Zines integrated marginalized communities and helped to make resources and knowledge accessible to everyone.

As social media and blogging became more popular methods of communication, zines began to decrease in popularity. However, this medium has enjoyed a digital comeback over the past few years as free downloadable zines appear throughout the blogosphere. Sharable is a popular platform for comic artists, writers, and creatives of any stripe to self-publish zines and other works. "Share or Die: Youth in Recession," a collection of comics highlighting the injustice of post-graduate life in today's economy, is a great example of how zine culture has evolved from the printed page to the digital age.  "Who Needs an Ivory Tower?" by Jenna Brager is a must see.

A screencap of "Who Needs an Ivory Tower?" by Jenna Brager.

How are you referencing your site's content through your choice of design elements? How do your content and design work together to build a theme?

My TCU reform site...now with interactivity!

I've wanted to add an interactive element to my site from the beginning but found it difficult to choose something that complemented the main site content. Flashy music or videos would overwhelm my reform idea and wouldn't relate well to the cause. Today I had the idea of inviting visitors to sign a petition to show their support for my campaign. While reading through the QuickProject book I found instructions for creating a form in Dreamweaver and voila!

Creating a form might not seem like much to Dreamweaver experts, but for a novice like me, every small victory matters! Having a visible way for people to show their support will encourage more people to visit the site and spread the word about my scholarship reform campaign. How are you planning to include interactive elements in your design?

Dreamweaver resources

This Unit 2 project has been my very first experience using Dreamweaver and I have to say I'm a bit frustrated! I'm starting to miss the collage project right about now. While working on our Unit 1 project I had the advantage of a few graphic design related classes under my belt--I knew how to navigate Photoshop and could immediately harness that knowledge to make the project my own. With this unit, however, I'm forced to plunge into completely unfamiliar territory with Dreamweaver.

I signed up for Multimedia Authoring expecting a crash course in basic web design, and that's definitely what we've got--but I didn't expect to do this much learning on my own through trial and error. Making a website from scratch is a daunting task! At this point I have at least settled on the basic design of my site, but much of the HTML and CSS behind the design panel admittedly remains a mystery to me.

At the end of class today I mentioned that I've downloaded the 30 day free trial of Dreamweaver so I can work on my laptop. Here's the trial download for you to "enjoy." In my experience with graphic design coursework it's nearly impossible to finish my projects during open studio time and I love the convenience of being able to work from my room when inspiration strikes at 3 am.

I also found some basic Dreamweaver tutorials from About.com. Some of these are still over my head, but they do help to fill in the gaps between the incredibly basic level of the QuickProject guide book and the level of content we are being asked to produce. Hope this helps!

My Financial Aid Experience, continued

In my meetings with financial aid advisors, the ill-defined "requirements" for transfer scholarships seemed to shift depending on the situation and the person you're talking to. Sometimes I was told I would be able to apply for a full scholarship at TCU; sometimes I was told I could not receive any aid at all.

Fortunately for me, after speaking with several financial aid advisors, I managed to convince TCU to reinstate the Dean's Scholarship I had been offered as a first-time freshman. Without this support I would not have been able to enroll at TCU.

But here's the part that made me incredibly frustrated: after receiving the Dean's Scholarship, I was told by the financial aid office that if I performed well in my first semester at TCU, I would be able to apply for a full tuition scholarship in May. If you're a TCU student, you know that TCU has no provision for scholarships for currently enrolled students, outside of departmental awards. Being a naive freshman, however, I was blissfully unaware that this was the case. I trusted in the promise of a potential full scholarship and contacted financial aid again at the semester's end.

Of course, I was told that I was now a “current student” and therefore ineligible for any additional merit scholarships. The financial advisor was nice enough to call and break this news to me over the phone. He encouraged me to apply for a loan. I was seething and had a hard time holding back tears. I was essentially stuck—I had burned my bridge to my former college, fallen for TCU, and couldn't stand the thought of moving and transferring again. I would now have to take out thousands of dollars worth of government money to continue my education.

I’m not telling this story to complain—after all, I did receive the highest scholarship TCU offers to transfer students, and without it I would never have been able to make this important change in my life. Transferring after one semester of college was a huge risk, but the scholarship support I did receive from TCU softened the blow.

Instead, I’m telling my story to point out an area where TCU could improve. By offering scholarships to students outside of the incoming freshman class, TCU has the opportunity to make a private education available to a wider range of talented, high-achieving individuals—some of whom may not have the financial ability to pay anything higher than the application fee. Despite my struggles with financial aid, I’m so thankful I made the decision to come to TCU. The academic opportunities I’ve already experienced here are a world away from the limited options at my previous school. I believe increasing the merit scholarships available to transfer students AND currently enrolled upperclassmen will help ensure that everyone has that chance to reach for a better college experience and pursue their academic goals.

Scholarship Reform at TCU: My Story

So here's the story that inspired my campaign for scholarship reform at TCU.

I first applied to TCU as a "first-time freshman" (that's the financial aid terminology for someone who has never attended college before) entering college in Fall 2009. I was offered the Dean's Scholarship ($13,000 per year) and seriously considered attending TCU. However, one of my other top choices, Austin College, offered me a full-tuition scholarship. I don't come from a wealthy family and full tuition was an offer I couldn't refuse. I can't deny that the extra scholarship support was a huge factor in my decision to attend AC.

Fast forward through my first semester of college, and I'm beginning to realize that Austin College is just not the school for me. Having grown up with the convience and culture of a big city, I found adjusting to the small town atmosphere of Sherman (10 minutes from the Oklahoma border), along with its lack of medical resources and public transit, hard to get used to. With just 1800 students AC was just too small for me and didn't have the academic resources I needed to pursue my career goals. I decided I couldn't wait until the end of my freshman year to transfer (AC credits typically only count as elective hours at other colleges, so the longer you wait to transfer, the longer it'll take to graduate). I began the process of reapplying to TCU, hoping I could at least get my Dean's Scholarship back and then apply for other awards to try to make up the difference.

I had to sift through about a dozen pages on TCU's website to find the list of scholarships available to transfer students (a list that hasn't changed since I came to TCU in January 2010). The first thing you'll notice is the absence of a Chancellor's Scholarship equivalent; the highest award transfer students can receive directly from TCU Financial Aid is the half-tuition Dean's Scholarship.

Look a little closer and you'll see a seemingly insignificant restriction that could have prevented me from coming to TCU, had it been enforced:

As a freshman transfer student, I had not yet reached that 27 hour threshhold when I applied to TCU for the Spring 2010 semester. This means that technically, I was not eligible for ANY merit scholarship from TCU...despite the fact that I was on full scholarship at my previous college.

To be continued...

Unit 2 Project: How do scholarships impact your TCU experience?

In choosing a topic for my university reform site, I've considered all the usual suspects. Our relatively small campus is bursting at the seams. Parking is, of course, a huge problem, and it would have been nearly impossible for me to find an on-campus apartment as a junior had I not signed up for honors housing in January. In the end, I think it's best for me to address the issue that has a huge impact on my TCU education and my options after graduation.

I plan to argue for financial aid reform. Through my website, I want to challenge the TCU community to change the way we think about merit scholarships and to consider ways we can make a TCU education more accessible to potential students of diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. More specifically, I'll propose a campaign to increase scholarship funding for transfer students and upperclassmen who have excelled in the classroom, demonstrated exceptional talent in their major field, or made wide-ranging contributions to their college community.

My experience in navigating TCU's financial aid system as a transfer student has inspired me to argue for improvement in this aspect of the university experience. As I continue to develop my site ideas, I'll share my story here. But first, I want to hear from you. Are you satisfied with the scholarship opportunities available at TCU? As a scholarship applicant, did you feel the requirements/selection criteria for each scholarship were expressed clearly? How did merit scholarships influence your decision to come to TCU? How do scholarships or financial aid impact the quality of your TCU experience?

Web design examples: the good...and the ugly

Among my favorite well-designed websites are:
http://www.esmewang.com/
http://www.biorequiem.com/

If you're a writer (like novelist Esme Wang) or a visual artist (like Zoetica Ebb of Biorequiem) in today's global market, it's important to establish a vocal presence within your community of fellow artists and potential supporters. A well-designed professional portfolio and personal blog is the first step to marketing yourself and your talents. These blogs present original content in a way that's visually appealing, succinct, well-organized, and easy to follow.

Now on to the websites that give me a headache:

http://my.tcu.edu

OK, so I've always hated the navigational structure of myTCU! First, you have to click through at least five times to reach the page you're looking for. And the site can be nearly impossible to access from some mobile phones (making it impossible to check for deadlines or submit documents at the last minute before class!) Even more upsetting, important financial and scheduling notifications don't show up on the site's front page--instead, they're often buried beneath a mound of useless-to-me information. The links don't always work, the layout of information is confusing and the topics are poorly organized.

http://www.msaisonmartinmargiela.com/

This retail site appeared on Vincent Flanders' annual Worst Websites list for 2010. Flanders wrote, "In the last 15 years, I've seen plenty of stupid navigation. This may be the worst." All I know is, this guessing-game of a navigational scheme makes me dizzy! If I came to this site to buy, I'd quickly put away my wallet and move on to the next Google search result. Click through to see why.