Monday, September 27, 2010

WEEK 3


During week 3, we were introduced to a current employee at Mosaic, Meg Kerr. Her job occupation title is a "Social Media Integration Manager." Her job includes many meetings, especially with the Mosaic creative team. Her meetings mostly focus on event planning's for various companies/clients, including Stella Artois. She tries promoting companies by attending their events abroad and by updating her followers online through social media networks accounts. Her social media accounts include, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, YouTube, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp.

What is Mosaic?

"Mosaic is an industry leader in Experiential Marketing and Selling & Merchandising. We bring some of North America’s top brands to life through sampling, merchandising, special events, and promotions in retail and bar environments."


You can visit them at: http://www.mosaicjobs.com/





 Meg Kerr made me question where social media is headed. Will it stop or will it be stronger than ever? The question is still hard to answer. 1st and second generations were open to experiencing new social media, very open to the world. However, third generation is slowly closing it down creating invitation websites only. Facebook, for example, statistically speaking is dropping down because 5 out of 7 countries are stopping usage. Plus, websites such as www.suicidemachine.org allows the individual to cancel all social media accounts by a click of a bottom.

In today’s world, people turn to online websites more than news on the television itself. Why is this? It is because; the Internet is a fast growing and relying source of information that is frequently updated. Journalism/reporters before were always first to tell the story, however, they now are delaying because of the fast paced environment of the Internet. What is bad about it? Speed versus accuracy is important as well, therefore, you should always analyze whether what you see online is falsely stated or not.

What I found interesting was http://foursquare.com/. This can provide you with good immediate feedback when needed. Eg. You ask everyone on the website, where you can find a good restaurant in a specific location, people will give you immediate information. You can even receive free coffee when stating you are at a specific coffee shop location.

When it comes to social media websites like twitter, Facebook, etc. we want privacy settings. Although, twitter does not contain this, which means, we should be very alert as to what we write on the wall, who knows, someone can rob you if you state on your status, “Away from home for the weekend.”
I personally believe social media is good but to a certain extent. Individuals these days are ambiguous when seating at the same table, not knowing how to chat with one another face to face. They instead turn to technology, by playing/browsing on their phones. In addition, it may cause you to become more self-conscious in the real world when being face to face. Avatar is a good example of this, creating your own personal avatar and communicating with other online avatars is not healthy. Some people become obsessed with the game. It becomes their only world where they feel important digitally.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Week 2

During our week 2 class, we were introduced to a senior interactive designer at Henderson Bas, Jay Shacher. His job occupation mainly focuses on web experiences, online ads and other interactive designs related to various media projects.



Because he is a senior designer, when beginning his new assigned project, he first brainstorms, then creates concept(s), then designs it, then oversees it while still meeting a deadline for his final project.

When he finishes his assignment, he then immediately introduces it to his creative director, then it gets transferred to the account manager. After both improve it, the client then states its input, which commonly causes a redesign or design adjustments. When all this is finished, it creates one satisfied client.


His current portfolio website is:
www.jayshack.com




What is Henderson Bas?

Henderson Bas is located at 479 Wellington St. W, Toronto, ON, M5V 1E7.

It is Canada's most awarded digital agency. They combine remarkable creativity and strategies for exceptional results.

This studio currently has 80 talented people working  who share ideas and then create successful projects.
                                                                             
                                                                               Their current website is www.theniceagency.com


I was very impressed with his portfolio at this company because he deals with many recognizable companies around the world. LG Shine Plus website (lgshineplus.com) was one of his main projects, containing google maps as the companies website feature for interactivity.

What amazed me with this project was his step by step designs he took on a simple header. He made me learn that being a designer is not important, instead, the client is. Even if you disagree with their ideas and suggestions for a particular design, you have to fulfill it for the client(s). In other words, because clients like being powerful and important they take charge by approving designs. Because a non-designer likes taking charge, also explains the reason as to why there are bad designs being exposed publicly at big companies in today's world.

Moreover, he stated the LG website being fairly slow because of the google maps. They still are in the process of it trying to make it run faster. This made me realize that, even when you are really creative, you still can't achieve a 100% successful project due to technology barriers (data taking up too much space, causing the website to run slower than usual).

Finally, he stressed on becoming friends with your class mates. This is because, there is a high chance of them helping you out in finding a job position. This is very true because the majority of online job postings are only a third of what really is out there. The reason for this is because companies first ask their current employees before they publicly post it due to trust and less training.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Week 1

Today, many students exposed their portfolio artwork to the class for the first time. It was exciting to see peoples unique and personal artwork styles that we all can build upon and learn from.

I also learned about a new company. Sheila personally introduced me to a company called Ecentricarts Inc. You can find them at http://www.ecentricarts.com/

As for the Web Design orientation week...we were introduced to our course outlines. After reading through and being introduced to our instructors, I now am very excited, yet stressful for this coming school year.