Semester Project Proposal

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am designing a webpage for the Economics department as my semester project in Visual Communication. The site focuses on South Carolina's economic history during the Civil War era. This is the subject of an ongoing creative inquiry course offered in the department, which I have taken over the past three semesters. Students have gathered a great deal of data and written analyses of the data's significance, but it is not in a format that is easily presentable to an outside audience. For this reason, the department has designated me to be the webmaster of the South Carolina Economic History site.

So far, I have gathered all the materials from my previous semesters in the course, and I am regularly meeting with my economics advisor (who also teaches the course) to keep him informed of my progress. He also will be providing me with new material generated during this semester. I have spoken with the department chair about obtaining rights to a public folder linked to the Economics website, and I should have access to this soon. I have several ideas for the layout and design of the site itself. My second drafted rough layout can be seen below, although I plan to make the site more professional-looking, attempting to keep it consistent with the general layout and theme of the university homepage and the departmental page for Economics.

Creating a SecondLife Avatar

For this assignment, I created an avatar for the interactive computer environment known as SecondLife. As a computer-illustrated character that represents me in this digital world, I created my avatar to look similar to myself.

The first thing I noticed when creating my avatar was the many different options available to customize his appearance. I tried my best to represent my own image, giving him short, dark blonde hair, and adjusting facial features such as the eyes, chin, and lips. Admittedly, I designed the character somewhat idealistically, giving him a bigger build and probably some additional height. I changed the fabric and color of his clothing as well.

SecondLife gives users the ability to create characters from reality or fantasy. Even though my avatar may not look exactly like me, he is personally identifiable. I created him in my own image because I wanted to be somewhat realistic in this virtual environment.

Visual Communication Semester Project

My major visual project this semester will involve producing a webpage for the Economics department. In a three semester course on South Carolina Economic History, I and several other students gathered a great deal of information concerning the economy of South Carolina leading up to and following the Civil War era. I believe this is a good example of a real-world application involving visual communication.

The reason why I chose this particular project is because I have a large collection of data, charts, and written analyses that are not organized in a format that is easily presentable to an outside audience. My economics professor had intended to develop a website as part of the course, but due to time constraints this objective was never initiated. Since I am interested in visual design, as well as economics and South Carolina history, this is a good opportunity for me to integrate my knowledge in other areas into a visually appealing, easily accessible format.

I would like to approach this project with the objective of creating a website that is easy to use, yet detailed in explanation and relevance of the material. I will include old photos taken during the Civil War, as well as charts, maps, and data sets. The color scheme will be predominantly grey, blue, and red, since these are the major colors associated with the War. I would also like to have a focus on Clemson and Thomas Green Clemson's vision of "nothing to buy, nothing left to sell." His foundation of Clemson University helped lead the state towards a long economic recovery, and this is a very relevant factor in the creation of my website for the Economics department.



*This is my first rough sketch of what the website may look like.*
(The background image is a photo of Columbia after it was burned during Sherman's march.)

Designing a MySpace Page

If I were to design a MySpace page for a friend, I would have to choose my roommate Brian. He just moved in, and I don't know him very well yet, but I think I could represent his interests fairly accurately based on my impressions of him over the past month.

The first visual image that comes to mine when I think of Brian is a saltwater aquarium. He loves his fish. I would likely use an image of an aquarium or underwater reef as the background for the page. Brian also loves to watch television, falling asleep and snoring loudly on the couch. It might be funny to include a video clip of this, since he likes to deny this annoying habbit. Other images that would be appropriate might be a picture of the inside of our refrigerator, since Brian is very particular about his food and how it is arranged, or perhaps a picture of his favorite actress (some older chick from Stargate Atlatis). I might also include a couple links to his favorite pornograhy sites, since that is another of his favorite hobbies.

Admittedly, my impression of Brian thus far is not the most favorable, but I am stuck with him as a roommate and I do consider him a friend (however awkward). I would be careful not to offend him with the MySpace page, while at the same time visually conveying to him the impressions he has given me over the past month we have known each other. I would also ask for his input, of course; perhaps listing quotes or personal information that he might want to include. Such an activity might actually help us get to know each other better, possibly easing tension and contributing to a less annoying living environment for all our roommates.