visual art – Window of Technology

This blog was created in coordination with GVSU CAP 105’s Scavenger Hunt Final Project

TEAM NAME: CAPtain 105

Use these hashtags to access our Twitter live tweets to see what we did for this scavenger hunt!:

#CAP105GVSU
#CAPtion105

The hashtag was supposed to be CAPtain 105 but we made a mistake! CAPtion105 works for the class too!

1. CAPtain105 Logo

This logo was inspired by common superhero symbols/logos. The logo was created using Adobe Photoshop

2. Check out the locations that the CAPtains went to in GVSU!

Heaven and Earth @ Lake Plaza

Erected right in the center of the Lake Plaza, this structure artfully represents all the Grand Valley State University students reaching sky-high for the stars in their academics.

The Bifilar Pendulum @ North Campus

Also known to students as “The Wrecking Ball”, this GVSU staple is located right outside the Lotus Lecture Halls. It creates a beautiful pattern when it sways with the wind. It didn’t always have the fence around it. It was fenced up after some students tried to ride it (some said naked) like Miley Cyrus in her famous music video, “Wrecking Ball”.

The Cook Carillon Tower

This clock tower is in the center of Grand Valley State University campus. Located outside the library and Kirkhof, this clock tower is not only pleasing for the eyes, but it rings every 15 minutes to help students be on time! It even plays Christmas song in December! The Cook Carillon Clock Tower is the most iconic symbol of the Allendale Campus.

The Traditional Link @ Lake Plaza

This structure, located right outside of Au Sable Hall, is known as Traditional Link. When walking to class, make sure to NEVER walk under it. Legend has it that if students were to walk under the Traditional Link, their grades will surely plummet!
Don’t believe us? Try it out yourself!

*Did you notice how the CAPtains posed with “1,” “0,” and “5” in the pictures?*

3. The CAPtains are checking in!

The CAPtains know where to go to ask questions! — 2020 Information Desk!

The CAPtains are social media savvy indeed!

4. Tour the Mary Idema Library with the CAPtains!

Click HERE to take the virtual tour!

5. Let the CAPtains tell you what the Presidents’ Ball is all about!

6. SEO Research

Program: Grand Valley State University Advertising and Public Relations

Screen Shot 2018-12-14 at 10.36.53 PM.png

Picture from: https://www.gvsu.edu/soc/advertising-public-relations-major-47.htm

Keywords:

Advertising
Public Relations
Communications
Grand Valley State University
Technology
Social Media
Research
Grand Rapids
Multimedia
College

We chose these keywords because they all related to either Grand Valley State University, or to the Advertising and Public Relations program. We believe prospective students, parents of students, or high school teachers will be searching for these keywords when they want to find information on programs that suit the student’s needs. By having these keywords included in our online content, it allows our page to show up more frequently in people’s search results, so long as they include those keywords in their online searches.

7. Content Research

Program: Grand Valley State University Advertising and Public Relations

Picture from: https://twitter.com/gvsuapr

Type of Content:

We suggest using a blog to help promote the Advertising and Public Relations program. For this blog, students of the Ad and PR program could blog about what they are learning in their classes. This will not only help students to learn how to write blog posts; it can also help promote the program in a positive way. It can show people the knowledge that the students are gaining from their classes, and to showcase their writing and communication skills that they have acquired through attending Grand Valley State University.

The blog posts will include topics likes:

5 Important Technology Tools I Learned From CAP105
How To Do Research With Social Media, As Shown In CAP115
This Is What The PESO Model Is All About, My CAP 220 Reflection

I thought I was hopeless. By seeing my high school art project next to my classmate’s, it was apparent that I was no art prodigy. When I decided to go into the media field, I knew that I would have to eventually face my fears. It was not that I had no taste in graphics, I just felt incompetent in translating my ideas into concrete, visually-appealing products.

My belief was, however, shifted when I started my first internship. I started to realized how visuals are better than words, the emotional impact they had. During my internship, I was given an access to the Adobe Creative Cloud Tools and was instructed about ways that I could use the power of technology to make my ideas into actual designs.

Here, I compiled my findings on some of the best digital visual designing tools. Through online research, I found these four tools to be the most mentioned.

Canva, mentioned in CreativeBloq and Zapier
Inkscape, mentioned in TechRadar and CreativeBloq
GIMP, mentioned in TechRadar and CreativeBloq
Photoshop, mentioned twice on 99design.com, have the highest rating on PCMag.

I have coincidentally experienced working with all these tools, but I am only familiar with two. So, I looked up more information to find some key differences between them.

Costs:

Amongst the four tools, GIMP and Inkscape are free to use. Canva is slightly different, Canva can be used for free unlimitedly, but one can also opt-in to upgrade to Canva for Work to access all the features. Canva for Work would cost 12.95/month, or 119.4/year. Lastly, Adobe Photoshop has a 7-day free trial, but after that, the cheapest plan would be 9.99/month, this plan comes with Adobe Lightroom, a photo editing tool. Other more expensive plans grant access to more Adobe Creative Cloud tools.

User-Friendliness:

Canva’s drag-and-insert way of designing is very easy to be learned. Users can choose templates that are best suited for the purpose of the graphic, and then add images by either uploading or selecting from Canva’s large selection of images. Adobe Photoshop, GIMP, and Inkscape are not as easy to use. Their function tools are represented by symbols which would take time to get used to. More time needs to be put into learning the features before one can fully utilize these three tools.

Features:

Here are some of the most attractive features these tools have. Photoshop and Canva support multiple-page editing, while GIMP and Inkscape cannot. Every tool but Canva is able to used to manipulate images freely, while Canva can only transform proportionally or disproportionally, which is a big limitation. GIMP has a volunteer-run community and it is easier for users to contact leadership, this enhances the customer experience.

All these tools have their pros and cons, but we should choose the one that best fits our needs. For me, I use Canva to create simple social media posts as it is quick and easy. For more intricate designs, I will use Photoshop. I tried designing a logo with both these tools, I found Photoshop more competent in designing complex images but it is slower than Canva.

Logo designed with Canva.

Logo designed with Adobe Photoshop.

Now, let us talk about some best practices in social media’s visuals!

Colors

Go for striking colors in your graphic, but refrain from using too many colors as it can be overwhelming. Pick a few colors that fit your brand and colors that would stand out amongst other posts. CoSchedule.com described the different emotional connotations that colors have. According to them, blue brings trust and helps in relationship building, I believe it is the reason why Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-in all use the color blue for their brand.

Messages and typography

Elaine Cunningham from West Michigan Whitecaps adviced that when it comes to messaging, always use typefaces that have many fonts to have the freedom to use different ones to highlight important messages. Using font size to draw emphasis and leaving white space to not overwhelm readers is also important, Canva’s templates shows good examples of this practice.

Visual types and attributes

Firstly, it is important to choose the right image size for the right social media platform to make sure none of the design goes unseen. Other than still images, we can also venture into other visuals such as videos and GIFs.