Diigo Exploration

The purpose of this assignment is explore Diigo, a resource provided by Full Sail University. I am trying to find articles that are relevant to media communications and what I want to do, and anything that is useful for current and future classes.

Article 1: 6 Non-design Skill You Need as a Designer

This article gave me and insight into a few skills, that are often overlooked, while being or considering being a designer. It talked about how having good communication skills makes carrying out your visual ideas easier, if you can't convey them out loud, then it would be hard to convey them on paper. This was about the only skill that I had considered heavily with having to do with being a designer, on this list. I learned that marketing is a lot more important that I would have thought. The article said that designers tend to think of themselves more as 'artists' then 'marketers' and I would totally agree, but after reading this I realized that you have to be able to fend for yourself, and being able to actually sell what you are designing. I chose this article because it can be applied to many different artistic areas, such as website designing. I need to be more concerned with my website working correctly, my client getting what they want, and understanding what they need versus being solely concerned with 'how good it looks'.

Article 2: Why Every Job Seeker Should Have a Personal Website

This article was very helpful because it provided me with some new and useful information about why I should have a personal website, and what it should have. Almost everything that I learned reading this was something new to me, I had never considered having an website for myself for when I am searching for a professional job. I never really considered that having your own personal website is an easy way for employers to see your personality, it makes a lot of sense now that I think about it but it seems like such an easy way to get then to think about you more than the others. One of the most interesting statistics I found in this article was about new companies and how they view applications, 56% of hiring managers are more impressed by a personal website than any other type of personal branding. This is such an important statistic because I feel that a lot of the job market I, and most of the people my age are going to be going into, are new companies and companies that want their employees to have a great deal of understanding with the internet and webpages. I apply this to what we are doing now because I want to make sure that this site is a good representation of me and what I can do, even though it is not my personal site.

Article 3: 7 Psychological Secrets for Impactful Web Design

This article gave me some insight into the psychology into make web sites, which I think could be applied to any other type of web content. I learned that creating trust with your target audience, using faces, target specific colors and themes, gives the feeling of safety and familiarity to your site or design. I also learned a little more about how keeping your site minimal, keeps visitors from getting overwhelmed with the amount of information or areas of the site. By using some of these tips, I can make my website much better and seem more attractive to the target audience.

For my recommendation, there is one site that I have been using for a while that I think would be really useful for other students. Pexels.com is a great resource for free photos to use for any of the projects through this program.