Portfolio Notes

·       Putting more thought into what I want to display in myself, I have sort of mapped out some of my objectives:

• My main targeted audience would be potential employers and other Public Relation professionals, as I think I want my focus to be on that work. I don’t have specific organizations in mind yet because I’m not sure where I want to work. Chicago, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Boston are my top choice so far. I’d also try to appeal to anyone else in my field looking for my kind of examples or if they want to see how I’m moving towards the career I want. This could be anyone between the ages of 18 and 30.
• The three pieces that I have decided to use thus far:

·       Interactive Narrative: I think my Company of Wolves project would be a great project to polish up and build upon for this portfolio. It’s a project that doesn’t have to be static and is of course, interactive. I think this is a good sample of work to use for my portfolio because it shows experience with flipbook, different media, and writing, all qualities useful to PR.

·        Infographic: For my internship, I developed a year in review infographic to send to our general followers to show what happened with us/what we did in 2015. It is in online format and I think it is a good example of writing, graphics (obviously), and creativity.

·       Flyers: For UPJ Backroads, I developed several flyers and am currently working on a large poster. I think the flyers really show off some of my abilities on Sketchbook, layouts, etc.

• I plan to create another website to display my portfolio for the ease of organizing it from scratch rather than catering my current blog. I think it will be able to display my ideal self the best (that identity being a PR/writing professional)
• For my final essay, I think a hyperlinked text essay would work well with my medium for the portfolio. I think it will be effective as sort of an introduction to my portfolio.

What Happens When I Experiment with Locative Writing...

I am determined to create the project I had originally intended: using typography at different locations. Unfortunately, these are some not so pretty surfaces. I'll have to wait for more ideal locations and conditions.

I don't want to take every note from Shirley Jackson's "Snow" and only use snow for words, but it's surprisingly difficult to find mud without rocks on this campus.

I'll return to this project some day soon I hope.

Something New

After my last post about blog envy, I realized I needed a new look. Cold starts early here at UPJ and I cannot wait for the snow. So I decided why not some cute pine trees, one of my favorite smells. This just to hold me over before I get down to some real blog revamping.

Before:

After:

Blog Envy

As I've been searing for inspiration on how to present work and blogs, I've come across some favorites. I follow a lot of beauty blogs (Carli Bybel's blog and Youtube channel are addictions of mine), but the blogs I love the most for content and style are actually PR and  blogs. Here you can find descriptions of two PR blogs and a Chicago fashion blog that I am taking style points from.

Millennial Marketing

This is one of my holy grail websites that appeals to a wide range of my interests like food, fashion, digital trends, and social media. I love following it for it's informative and understandable articles on media and public relations. The writing isn't the same marketing jargon you see on a lot of marketing/PR blogs. It's something relatable while also giving expert advice on topics that I would encounter in my desired career path.

Style wise, it's clean and bright and often uses single pictures to articulate article topics. If I were to use aspects from this blog on my own blog or portfolio, I would definitely use the straight forward pictures, the nice use of space, and the blue and white palette.

The Suburban Poppy

Suburban Poppy could be considered "life goals" for this girl. I love everything this blogger covers: art shows, food, projects, fashion/retail, and city life. I am dying to move to a city, so this blog makes me green with envy at every post about urban life and a modern take on PR professionalism.

This site is actually already one of my muses for blog style. I love the pink and white palette mixed with cute graphics and great pictures. IF I were to continue to use this as style inspiration alone, I would change my blog from dark to bright and white, much like Suburban Poppy's and play with creating more of my own media like gifs and graphics.

Taking hints from a writing and content perspective, this is my first choice in conveying myself through a professional but personal website. She is relatable and comes off as knowledgable in her writing, so I would strive for that same persona.

The CHICago Life Blog

As mentioned, I can't wait to move to a city. Chicago in particular is my top choice! This blog may not appeal to as much of my career path as the other two I mentioned but it still appeals to lifestyles and hobbies I enjoy. I love design of all kinds: fashion, interior, makeup, typography, print making, the list goes on. So I love this mix of design and life in Chicago the blog presents.

Like the other blogs mentioned, this blog uses a bright and white layout with smart photo choices. I adore the fonts used on this website and would definitely be snagging them where I can. What I hate is some of the overbearing advertising, so this is a good example of what I don't want on my websites and portfolios. But outside of that, the articles appeal to my interests and I would love to mirror some of its writing.

"Sit With Me" Locative Project

As cliche as it can seem, campus has been the most important location to my life. Despite the traveling I've done, this has been a home I've made. So I decided to celebrate the location and the two and a  half years I've been here. I wanted to demonstrate what it means to me that I met my best friend at this location. 

I originally wanted to make a Locative Narrative that resembled "Snow" by Shelley Jackson, but if I wanted to make typography, I could only find a few sights on campus with a soft, flat surface. If only it had rained more. 

I chose to use Google Maps as my tool to demonstrate this narrative. I actually really enjoy how this turned out and have put below the full text, though it is short. While I have listed in a chronological timeline, you can view them in whatever order you feel. The locations of the events are what matter to me more so than the order.

I didn't want to pick out every single location that demonstrated how our relationship grew, just the ones that are the most important to me. Hence why it is in first person primarily. After walking around campus, I realized that my favorite thing to do with my favorite person is to just be still, sit a while. So I tried to capture some locations on campus that meant something to me when I sat there with him.



I was new and unprepared. All I had to do was turn to see the laugh that I knew would belong to someone important. We were sitting, he and I. I was sitting one row ahead with only him in my sights when I turned around. He wore the same shirt I had: light blue, white text. I couldn't hide my smile. 
Down the hall. He was just around the corner from me. Walk with me. Talk with me. 
Sit with me. "Sit with me," he called across the room. English Composition I. I was taken.
Hours and hours. Fog in front of our faces in the cold air. Hours of us on this bench. He took the time to know me. He gave me his coat to sit longer. Hours before he kissed me. He kissed me until morning.
"You're my favorite person." his shoulder being my familiar lounge for almost two years now. Rain dances under the lights and I'm wrapped in him. His hoodie, his arms, his smell. I couldn't be warmer. I sit with him for hours.
Home. This blanket, this wall, and this nook in an otherwise shitty dorm is home. Sit with me. Stay with me.