SCMAker

Description

For this project, I decided to combine one of my assignments for my internship with Digressions with the last assignment for Dr. Mason’s Editing, Layout, and Design course. Because this project focused on creating a multi-page text, and because one of the suggestions for the assignment was to work with an NSU organization, working on this website seemed the most straightforward approach. For my last assignment at my internship this semester, my instructor (Dr. D’Agostino) asked me to make a website in which I combined two things: a portfolio showcasing my work for Digressions, and a page that “immortalized?” this year’s launch of volume 21. I did exactly this, making the website a digital portfolio with multiple pages and several blog posts. Among these multiple pages are: an introduction to the website and summary of my internship, a page for the promotional work I designed for Digressions which leads to blog posts displaying each design, a page for other non-design work, a page with photos and videos from the launch, and a page for a reflective essay about my time working for the student-run NSU publication.

Reflection

Although several of the pages made for this website included written introductions, descriptions, and even one essay, the design process for a website is significantly different from your typical writing assignment. I found myself spending a lot of time thinking through how best to display the content I needed to put on the website, which took longer than I initially expected. Some of that might have had to do with my lack of experience with WordPress (the platform I decided to work with after issues with Wix) and having to learn the ways of a new site-builder, but a lot of it was aesthetic reasoning and considering the audience for the website.

In writing, when considering your audience, you choose your words wisely for said audience, hoping the reading experience is as smooth and comprehensible as possible. When you build a website you aim to make the navigation aspects as easy as the written context, which I found to be challenging. In the end, I considered the site’s main purpose as a digital portfolio and organized everything as such — meaning, neatly organized tabs, sections, and blog posts for each category of work as well as the option to visit each work post directly with no need to visit the introductory pages.

Another thing I struggled with were titles and subtitles, as well as where to place them in the context of each page. This is something Jan and Alex White touch on in Editing by Design, chapter 9. One of the sections in the chapter focuses on heads and subheads specifically, which I appreciated. When beginning to fill out each of my website’s pages and posts, I referenced some points that particular chapter makes, like the fact that curiosity at the headline’s message pulls in the reader (p. 376). Later in the chapter, there is a section on captions, which helped me with the “Gallery” of the launch. “Pretend that the first phrase of a caption is a title,” according to the Whites (394). I kept that and other things from this chapter in mind when working on this website. While I assume the authors meant for this advice to be applied to journalism or other more story-driven content, I found it helpful nonetheless.

Source

White, Jan. V and Alex W. White. “Chapter 9: Type.” Editing by Design, Allworth Press, 2020, pp. 353-402.