I think I did okay?

Susan Cannarella

March 12^th, 2013

DTC 355

Self Reflection

This project overall was very fun and I enjoyed learning how to make a website through dreamweaver. Though I didn’t have any experience with the program itself I surprised how intricate and thoughtful designers have to be when it comes to making a website based on the client, the audience, the choices in layout, color, images, and how a page flows with the rest of the topic. Choosing the Animal Rights topic, I came in knowing what I didn’t want. The ethos that I was not trying to carry was the idea that animals should be a guilt trip to make the audience feel the need to adopt or involve their time with helping these animals. I wanted the ethos to be a soft and caring look, which tied into the colors. I didn’t want to use the color black because the color evoked a dark and seriousness to the layout of the page. I wanted to colors to be warm and inviting. Not to mention I was trying to make the page more approachable. The ethos that I wanted to create was making the audience/viewer feel empowered and see the good in humanity when people help one another and those in need. That’s why I wanted to put the videos in the “News” page because it helped visually, emotionally, and use audio to sway the viewer.

The videos that I used to capture the audiences attention was videos of an organization that goes around answering calls of abandoned lost animals that need rescuing and show the rescue and the recovery. It’s a warm touching feeling that makes the viewer feel redeemed in humanity and their acts of kindness. This is pathos I used to help pull on the heart strings of the viewer because audio of the soft sad music sets the tone of the story and watching the animals with their sad faces and shaking body makes the viewer sympathetic.

The reason I put so many images of animals, pictures of people with animals, videos of animal rescues because it breaks up the page layout. If I had no images or videos, the website would be very text heavy. People in this day and age are visual learners and look for compressing information into smaller ways of communicating. Images are universal and they can be communicated by assumption of the viewer recognizing the image. It’s colorful and allows the viewer to get a break of reading through text. This is also the reason why I chose to do an Infograph style explanation of the “No Kill Mission” page. It breaks up the information to get the same message across, but through a new way. I added videos into the pages because it makes the site more engaging and interactive with the viewer so they just have to sit and listen to the story unfold with Hope for Paws.

As for the spatial mode, I tried keep the text to the left hand side and made images and videos centered in the front of the page so the audience knew that that was the most important part of the page. I would’ve tried fitting the image of the dog and owner from the success story onto the side of the text like a news article, but I decided against it mostly because I didn’t know how to change the placing of the text. The pages were all driven vertically since you can only move so far horizontally across the page. But I made “----“ lines to break up the topics in each page.

The only different shape that I messed around with was the logo. It is in the top corner of the front page and I realize now that I should’ve had that image on every page in the corner to create cohesion and unison to connect all the pages together. The logo itself is the symbolize dogs and cats as being opposites, but both needing the equal amount of care and attention to help them achieve a safe home where they won’t be put down in a shelter. I kept the color scheme of blue and orange consistent in the image when the heart was place in the center, focusing on love. I tried keeping the links to the pages in the same spot and keeping the home page always at the top.

            My site is mainly linked to Bestfriends.org and Whitman County Humane Society. The reason I chose these two sites to link my site with it is because they share the same mission: No Kill, which states that animals that come to the shelter in need of help will not be put down if they can’t find a home. The organization strives to find alternative homes for the animals to live in and nurse them back to health if they are injured or abandoned. Specifically I added Whitman County Humane Society to the list because it is local and there is a sense of community awareness for the audience to recognize when they can be personally involved in the organizations events when it is so close to home. The reason I chose Best Friends because they showcase the different options of being involved and what the money the community donates to them will be used for. In the Best Friends website, they have built sanctuaries and publically announce different events and success stories of animals that have been part of the program. By tying these sites into my site, it enhances the message of No Kill Mission by allowing the viewer to see that there are more and more organizations that are switching to the No Kill Mission and that they can possibly get involved with their local Humane Society if they look around.

            One of the more unique ways that I used my website to become more interactive and involved with the user is that when I was adding the donation page, the drop down menu can actually come down and the user can actually page down through the states and type in their information to donate money to the cause. I didn’t actually intend for the links to continue to work, but it was a more of happy accident that came around. The use of the interactive button helps enhance the page because even though this is just a test page that isn’t meant for the public, this stood out the most to the audience because the three people that reviewed my site all mentioned the donation button and how it was really cool that they could donate to the cause using those options.

            I didn’t realize until now, but one of the comments had mentioned that the pages become really long and I should’ve added hyperlinks, so the user can scroll back up to the top of the page, I would have done that if I had saw it before I turned in the paper. I wish the video links had shown up on the site, but having the hyperlinks to the videos on the page was about as good as it gets and it still elevates the element of interaction with the user.

            The most effective part of my site that used rhetorically was through visuals and the different types of visuals I used. I tried including color to the text so it didn’t become boring. The orange color was supposed to be noticed and read. The images that break up the page versus the videos that have sound and animation added to them to make the piece more engaging helped bring more of the visual quality and simplicity to the page. The use of the “donation” page also allowed the user to become more interactive with the piece and engage in the site fully so they can actually participate in the cause. The only thing I could add would the use of audio perhaps.

            I really enjoyed the website building, but I just wish that I knew more about the program to make my site look more professional and appealing to the eye. I feel strong in the content that I produced, but I know that there are elements that I can improve on.