RISE Self Evaluation

Fictitious Project Revision

For this assignment, we were to revise our fictitious clients website based on the feedback we gathered from our instructor. Listening to everyone's feedback, not just mine, really helped me hone in on the revisions I made. 

This is an image of the front page of my old site: 

This is an image of the front page of my new site: 

The link to the new site is here: Reel Deal Tacos

I made multiple changes to the site based on the feedback I received. First, I tried my hand at Photoshop and found a new image for the homepage. Instead of just plopping the logo on top of the truck, I used a new truck, changed the colors of the truck to match the colors of the logo, changed the png logo to white and added it to the image. I think it looks much better than the old one. Then, I changed the fonts on the entire website to match the fonts on the menu bar. I also changed the colors so that they are consistent with the menu bar. The title fonts, I also changed to match the rest of the pages in size. The only page that didn't quite work out was the Where are We page as it looked way too big on the page. I also took the suggestion of making the Menu page and Where Are We page and used columns for the text instead of just scrolling to make it easier to read. I then fixed the social media icons to direct to the actual Reel Deal Taco sites. 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my final result. I definitely paid more attention to the details that I didn't quite have during the first attempt. Time and experience definitely pays off. 

Progress Presentation

This is my Progress Presentation for Portfolio 3. 

Rise Portfolio Feedback

This is my RISE Portfolio video feedback for my classmate, Ekaterina Sverchkova.

Portfolio Site

Creating this portfolio was very difficult for me, not technically (although I'm sure I could do better), but emotionally. Although I have been a professional actor for over 17 years, focusing on myself is something I am not quite comfortable with just yet. My future YouTube channel is something I want to do yet I'm struggling with marketing myself as a brand. I will get there eventually. Baby steps. 

I am proud of what I have created. I believe that the aesthetics of my portfolio are very much in line with my brand. It is clean, simple, and easy to navigate. It tells the story of who I am, what my goals are with my channel, and hopefully directs my audience to my YouTube channel. It also gives my audience an insight into who I am and why they should trust me in giving them the information I am sharing. Moving forward, I believe that this site will give my audience insight into who I am and why I'm doing what I'm doing. 

My portfolio is a work in progress. At this moment, I think the strongest part about my portfolio is my experience page. I have worked in the entertainment industry for a very long time and I think it shows. I am trying to show my audience that I am insanely busy yet I'm still living life and am not handcuffed to my work. I definitely think that once I have my YouTube videos published it will help my site tremendously. Right now I have everything about who I am and why I do what I do but nothing to show off when it comes to the actual brand. My goal is to publish my first video on September 1st and once that happens, I believe it will complete my portfolio. 

As I move forward and I launch my channel, hopefully I will be able to focus this portfolio more on just the brand Extremely Organized and Slightly OCD and get away from Tracy Wiu as a product. I want this brand to stand on it's own under the Tracy Wiu brand umbrella. I will be able to achieve this once I get a following and loyal audience.

My Portfolio

Portfolio Inspiration

For this weeks assignment, we had to analyze three different portfolio's to help us create our own. For this I analyzed:

Kayla Hollatz
Alejandra.TV
At Home with Nikki

My analysis is in this video below:

Diigo Exploration

6 Portfolio Design Mistakes That Drive Me Nuts

I chose this site because the title intrigued me. We are constantly surrounded by content creators who always assume they know the best ways to do things - I find this to be ironic because usually those that assume they know are the ones that make the simplest mistakes. I chose this because I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be that person who makes rookie mistakes that I wasn't aware were wrong. 

There were multiple things about this article that were interesting to me. The thing I found most interesting was part 5 which talks about Blog Neglect. It basically covers blogging and how you must be consistent with blogging or your audience will assume that your site is outdated. Although I've never thought about this, I have made that judgment when I've visited a blog / website. This resonated with me with my YouTube channel that I am hoping to launch. I better have consistent content or my viewers will assume that I am not keeping up. In part 6, Showcasing Where you Suck, I found fascinating. I think that depending on who see's the portfolio, one would definitely get judged based on their weaknesses and not just their strengths. I've seen this in multiple resumes recently and find that interesting. Also, the thing that I learned the most from this article is that portfolio's are the modern day resume. All the topics in this article are pieces of advice that I would give someone on a regular pdf resume. At the end of the day, it's about putting your best foot forward, having confidence, and spending the time and effort making sure that whatever is being put out to the public should be the best representation of yourself. 

As I build my portfolio, I will definitely spend a lot of time working on the details. I will write / speak in a confident tone, believe and trust in my talents, and if I decide to link my YouTube channel to my portfolio (which I should), I will make sure I have enough content prior to launching. 

Best Free Blogging Sites 2017

Although my goals are to launch a YouTube channel, I'm interested in learning about combining my YouTube content with a blog.  I chose this article to see if this was something that I could handle, manage, and benefit from. 

Reading this, I learned a lot. I learned that the difference in choosing a blogging platform can depend highly on what type of content I want to have on my blog. I have used Blogger before and find it super easy to use. I want to use WordPress but find it less user friendly than the article states. I never thought about Tumblr but after reading this article, it seems like Tumblr is more focused on imagery than words. I also learned that having a blog also means hosting your blog. I never considered this before and didn't realize that I had to worry about servers. I also learned that if my goal is to monetize my blog, WordPress is the best choice. I am still quite confused on the difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. I have to do more research on the topic and consider this if I do decide to monetize on a blog. 

As I build my portfolio, I do have to take into consideration the pro's and con's of having a blog to accompany my YouTube channel. I am starting to think that it would be beneficial although I am not sure I will have the time or the resources to keep it consistent. I don't want to start a blog and feel overwhelmed. My strengths are in front of the camera and adding another piece to my media strategy might overload me and my schedule. 

11 Inspiring Minimalistic Web Designs

I am a huge minimalist. These courses in MCBS are forcing me to be creative and I tend to doubt my design abilities a lot. Seeing this article was refreshing because I tend to keep my designs very simple and minimalistic. I loved seeing apps / websites that I'm familiar with that fall into this category and work. Yes! I might have some ground to stand on!

Although this article was mainly images of the apps / website and no written explanation, it was pretty self explanatory. For example, the Square Cash app - it went right to the point. Send and request money for free. That's it. The app has one main color (green representing money) and text. Simple, to the point, and it works! What I've learned from this is depending on what you are selling / brand you're representing, sometimes to the point works. In the last website for Octopus Creative, I love that a blanket statement is at the front page of the site "We specialize in crafting unique designs and engaging experiences for startups." After reading that, that's it. There are no questions, we know exactly what this company has to offer. The website for Involvio is almost identical. There is a statement on the front page and it tells you exactly what their brand is about.

Looking at these sites, I am relieved and inspired. I hope to make my portfolio minimalistic and simple. I want someone to be able to see it and within the first few seconds, understand what my brand is about. I will get out of my head and the expectations that I think the world has of me, and stick to my gut, my style, and get right to the point.

Since my goals are to launch a YouTube channel and become a successful YouTuber, I am hoping to add this article to the Diigo site: 10 Things You Need to Do When Getting Started on YouTube.  Although the information is basic, I wish I had read this article when I first got started a couple years ago. These are 10 steps that someone can use to start and later dig in more if they need to learn more about a certain topic. 

Fictitious Site Launch

Creating this website was both more challenging than I expected when it came to content. I have gone back and forth to make sure I have achieved everything I wanted to achieve and am still a bit nervous that I have missed a detail or two. When it came to design, I was really thankful that I chose to use Wix as it is easy to use, very intuitive, and simple.

Having created the wireframes from last weeks assignment really helped me design the pages on the site. The only thing I couldn't achieve that I had proposed was a live link to the company's twitter feed. I wasn't sure if I should just add my own twitter feed for the purpose of the assignment and I also couldn't quite figure out how to do that.

The most challenging part for me was trusting my decisions. I am not a very visual person so the I can make decisions on principals we have learned, such as alignment and contrast, but I have a tough time seeing the aesthetic of the page and knowing if it's visually appealing or not.

I'd love to be able to tap into my creative side. I've never been a creative person and I make decisions based on facts. In this project, I would love to go deeper into design and learn to find my creative side.

Here is a link to my fictitious client's website: Reel Deal Fish Taco Trucks

Content Management System (CMS)

I chose to use Wix for my website platform as it seemed to be the easiest one to use. I am not very code savvy. I once tried to use WordPress and it was disastrous. I figured this assignment is about creating the best content for a website and not necessarily about being the best web developer - so that's why I chose Wix. I've never used Wix before but I watched a couple YouTube tutorials and it seemed manageable. The little that I played with it, it seemed quite easy and simple so that's why I went that route. 

The template I chose is called Fresh Juices. I chose this template because it was clean and simple. Our fictitious client is about fresh food and it seemed like a good fit. I really want to emphasize the freshness in the clients food and this template made me think of something clean and fresh the second I saw it. 

The features I will leverage will be the simplicity of navigation of the site. I will also focus on the simple design and clean colors. The customer wants something simple. They want to be able to find the truck quickly, understand the menu offerings, and know what the brand is about. With this template, I believe I can achieve all this and keep the budget low for the client. 

I have not used any other CMS. I did try WordPress, like I mentioned, and definitely do not recommend it for an amateur designer. I have used Blogger in the past and I think it's great, but something more focused on blogging. I did create a website on Blogger years ago but it took a lot of effort for it to look more like a website than a blog. 

Here is a link to my Reel Deal Tacos Site for now. Hoping to make it great for the client sooner than later. Reel Deel Tacos Website. 

Personal Brand Logo and Business Card

For my portfolio and personal brand, I am taking advantage of these courses to launch my YouTube channel titled Extremely Organized and Slightly OCD. This has been a goal of mine for over two years and am grateful for the portfolio model to really focus on launching this channel properly taking advantage of my new skill sets.

My brand is focused on organization; from paying bills on time, time management, packing efficiently, and more. I look as my channel as an outlet to those who follow brands like Martha Stewart and HGTV. For my branding, I decided to study three companies whose brands are similar to the one I'm hoping to launch. These companies are Martha Stewart, Real Simple, and The Container Store.

What I love about these three logo's is that they are all simple, text driven, and clean. Like my brand, I want to convey the feeling of simplicity. They are all visually appealing to me as they are easy to read. Because of the simplicity, I believe that they are a brand I can trust, mostly because of what their brand is conveying. I am hoping that my brand identity can convey that same feeling of trust that these brands do. I connect with them because I feel like they are the authority of what their message.

With the design, I love how how the Martha Stewart brand used the circle. Although it is different than the other two logos, her brand shows repetition within the text. The Martha is almost mirroring Stewart. In the Container Store brand, it is just text but the proximity of the words is pretty tight. I have never noticed this before. It works because the upper case of the C in container and the S in store makes you see them as separate words although they are tight. With the Real Simple logo, I love that it is just one font, all uppercase, but the separation between Real and Simple with the contrasting colors is brilliant. I also have noticed that depending on their magazine cover, they change up the colors but the brand is consistent.

For my brand, I have created this logo and have worked on it for months. I went through multiple passes and finalized this logo a couple months ago. I love it because it is simple, clean, and to the point. I also like that it has a bit of fun to it. The colors really represent what I'm trying to convey which is simplicity and a bit of personality.

I have also worked on an animated version of this brand for the opening of my videos. I hired a motion graphics artist to animate it since I have no idea how to do that. Although this wasn't part of the assignment, I wanted to add this here so you can see where I am going with this channel. I am currently working with a team to create music for my opening animation and hopefully I'll have that done before the end of this course. 

The design represents my personal brand because it showcases a bit of personality, fun, yet is also very simple. I think blue is a color that showcases calm and peace, which is what I'm trying to represent with my channel. I also like that the font in Extremely Organized is a bit bigger than the Slightly OCD part. The focus of the channel is organization so that part is emphasized more than the other. The Slightly OCD part is more of the personality that I'm trying to convey yet not as important. I have this under black but can tweak the image to use as a bug on my channel. I also have decided to possibly use the & symbol to incorporate into lower thirds or motion graphic transitions on my channel, if I ever get to that point.

For my business card, I stayed in the same color palette and really emphasized the logo. I want the logo to be easily recognizable. My brand is more about my channel that it is about me. Because of that, I only have my name, my title, and my social media links on the card. Since it's about a YouTube channel, they can contact me via social media and not via phone or email. Honestly, I doubt I will ever use my business card as I try to market my channel - although if I get popular enough, maybe I'll get invited to YouTube conventions and then having a business card would be beneficial.

These portfolio courses have really helped me focus on this goal of mine. It has been in progress for so long and having these classes helps me zone in on my goals, my future, and now I can actually see this goal come to fruition. Thank you for the opportunity! 

Writing for the Web

March 10, 2017

It's finally here! Reel Deal Tacos is bringing it's delicious tacos to the masses!

For years Brenda Bueno spent her summers enjoying the shores of Florida with her father, Captain David Bueno. Not only did they love the Florida weather, they also embraced fresh Florida cuisine. Now they are bringing their love for tacos and more to California and you get to be a part of it!

Reel Deal Tacos will be serving their delicious food all around the San Diego area. We will also be partnering with various events around town to make sure you get a chance to enjoy our tasty cuisine!

Check out our website and find us on social media so you can keep track of the truck everyday. We will be giving away free samples of our food during our grand opening event.

Follow us on instagram and we'll give you a free soda! 

See you then!

Make sure to visit us on May 7, 2017 

during the 15th Annual Gaslamp Quarter Fresh Art Event

2640 Historic Decantur St, San Diego

9:00 AM - 8:00 PM

www.reeldealsd.com
www.instagram.com/reeldealsd

Proposal Presentation

In this assignment, we have been tasked to create a proposal presentation for our fictitious client, Reel Deal Tacos. This client is in need of a website and we had to figure out our goals, our strategy, our implementation plan, wireframe our website pages, and more. This process was very detailed, focused, and through it I believe I will be able to give the client what they are looking for in a website and in a marketing plan.