Post #5 (9/27/12)

1. The Dove Campaign
LIKES:

• The cute, non-traditional blue background is feminine but not cliche (ex. pink would have made it so); it caters towards a specific audience, specifically younger women.
• The layout is simple, easy to access and easy to navigate without being boring
• The font is big enough for younger (and older) eyes and is easy to read (and I imagine, basic enough to show up on most browsers)
• Navigating through the pictures is easy thanks to the links

DISLIKES:

• The only thing is that if I didn't know what the assignment for this webtext was, I would be confused if I clicked on the picture links at the top of the page before reading the text. Just putting the picture links at the bottom may have cleared up any confusion.

2. Life-based  Web Comics
LIKES:

• The main-page scroll bar is a neat idea for navigation
• The cartoon characters are an inventive way to keep the audience's attention while presenting information; they also provide the minimal structure of the scroll bar's content
• The simplistic design is refreshing and lets the cartoons stand out

DISLIKES:

• The scroll bar is a good idea for the content, but I wish it could have been placed on a separate page, and no the home page. "About" should have come first, with links to the scroll bar.
• The content should have been more clearly labelled; it seems to ramble a bit. The topics were hard to follow, although they changed from slide to slide; the visuals helped in this.

Organizing My Own Webtext
NAVIGATION
Based on what I've seen and feel works the best, I'm going to have the Home page describe the project and what I plan to do. I will have links to another page that will, in turn, be broken down into the 2 categories "Editorials" and "Websites". Each of these pages will compare/contrast their respective resources.
CONTENT
I want to be upbeat and slightly witty with my content to make it more interesting for the audience and get them truly interested. I also want to keep the text as short as possible so it does not drag on.
STYLE
For my style, because my topic is on marijuana, I will incorporate lots of green. Also, I plan to use a couple graphics to spice up my homepage, as well as link to the other information. My font will be pretty basic; most likely I will use sans-serif headings and sub-headings, and a basic serif for the body content.
I want my rhetorical analysis to be clear, easy to navigate, and visually appealing too! I will cater the layout towards a younger audience to make the site more fun.

Post #4: Pitch for Project 2

For Project 2, I will be looking at Initiative 502. 502 would require the legislature to change current law related to the possession, sale and use of marijuana. If passed, the initiative would license and regulate marijuana production, distribution, and possession for people over twenty-one; remove state-law criminal and civil penalties for activities that it [the initiative] authorizes; tax marijuana sales; and reserve marijuana-related revenues. 

What intrigued me most about this topic when I researched it was the surplus of medial support for one side. There is a lack of media attempting to persuade the public against voting for 502. That being said, I did find 2 websites devoted to 502 opposition.These can be found at http://www.choicewellnesswa.com/resources/vote-no-on-prop-502 and http://www.nooni502.com/wordpress/. I also will examine an editorial from the Seattle Times,http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2019226547_edit502thelawxml.html.  The first webpage has links to other pages that might help one decide against this initiative; the second is an informative blog that, upon first glance, appears to make valid (backed by research) arguments against 502. The editorial contains opinion, and hopefully some research.

The supportive media was easier to find. Included in this category are a Seattle Times Editorial, http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2019087007_edit07marijuanalegalization502xml.html; an official-looking website,http://www.newapproachwa.org/; and an article from the Daily Evergreen, http://dailyevergreen.wsu.edu/read/If-Initiative-502-on-marijuana-passes,-legal-battle-in-Washington-state-will-ensue. I chose these resources because they seem to present their views in a clear fashion, with both opinion and research. I also particularly included the Evergreen editorial because it expresses a fellow students' view on the issue.

My project will be a webpage, or a series of pages, that will rhetorically analyze the opposing sides of the issue and the effectiveness of each resource. I will group the three newspaper articles close together and compare/contrast them. Next I will compare/contrast the 2 pro-502 sites with the against-502 website. Perhaps examining these texts will show that Washington is getting close to legalizing Marijuana, which could possibly explain the imbalance of support versus opposition. 

Post 3 (Tues. 9/4)

 ix Tutorial Responses

Emphasis
 1. My attention is drawn to the notepad. The clutter around the notepad is a bit distracting, though, and the camera could've been more zoomed up on the sketchpad. However, the text, dark on a blank canvas, is effective because it stands out from the clutter.

 2. This is "emphasis" because the moment of stillness allows the audience time to digest the first page. It effectively emphasizes the content and thus the theme of the project.

3. A.) The choppy, upbeat tempo emphasizes the choppiness of the stop-motion.
B.) The techno sound lends the clip a robotic feel that ties into the sketch on the 2nd page.

Contrast
 1. The brighter text contrasts with the dark background; the dark, static background contrasts with the moving, colorful cartoon; the narration contrasts with the background music. This creates a choppy effect that grabs the viewers attention. If they did not contrast, the message would be lost/ignored.

2.  The music and narrator still contrast, and the text contrasts with the background, but now the main focus is the message represented linguistically. I think the cartoon was deleted to emphasize the text and make it more important and impossible to miss.

3.  My flyer would have a figure (or 2) from the cartoon on a black background, with the text in lighter color. This would make both the cartoon and the text stand out, while putting the most emphasis on the message so people could clearly understand it.


Organization
1.       
In the beginning of our lives, we are born alone into society/the world, shown by the bar code on the man's foot. The woman exiting through the door signifies how humans embark on their life journeys alone, and struggles are perceived and overcome individually. The picture of the cake toppers signifies how society allows humans to find each other, to join up with someone and experience the journey together. The picture of the crowd exemplifies the joy found in sharing life with others. But in the end, the cemetery reminds us that the journey ends as it began: alone. (Sorry if that's depressing, it isn't to me :D)

2. There are many different arguments! I could have talked about society taking away our individuality, for example.

3. To make my piece stronger I could use sad, classical music for the slideshow. I could also use text to enhance the meaning; captions would help, and including my story would make the message clear.

Alignment 
1. 'Murmuring' is aligned left and 'insects' is aligned right. The unusual alignment gives the whole piece a strong feel of being outside, by a lake, at twilight. It makes the message clearer as well as more interesting.

2.  The words are now aligned middle and right, but still reflected in the same way. I can tell that these scenes are linked because of the alignment and this helps conveys one message. If the scenes shared nothing, I would be confused and probably lose interest in the text.

3. The alignment enhances the effect of each element represented: earth, horizontal like the horizon and flat like the ground, air, coming out of the sky as air does. The words are falling like the 'debris' mentioned in the audio.

4. The curvature of the words is like a tear, which aligns with what the man says (something about a tear, I couldn't quite hear everything in the audio).

5. I think the three menus are not aligned because it does not matter which one is viewed first. They are all separate but together. They form one piece commemorating the 9/11 disaster.


Proximity
1. I grouped them by placing them closer together.

2. The most important pieces are the title and the picture; both give information about the novel. I made the title bigger and bolder than the rest of the text. I also placed the image in the center of the blank space to separate the title/subtitle and the author's name and to showcase the seagull in flight.

3. I would like to have the seagull flying off the page, but that makes the whole thing off-balanced, which is not traditional. I find that, although visually balanced, traditional layouts can be boring. I would like to spice up the cover by placing things in odd places, like perhaps having the title tilted to create the illusion that the words are flying with the bird, etc.