The Digital Me (A/C BP #1)

In the following post I’ll be assessing the actual appearance of my blog. This ranges from what my title is to what colors I chose for fonts, and everything in between. The ultimate goal to address, something referred to in class as the “rhetorical question”, is “Does this make an effective argument?” Now, surely it isn’t phrased like that or referred to as such all the time, but I want to be sure this blog is a proper reflection of me on blogger. Wait no longer; behold a look behind the design of Contemplations of a Clueless College Kid.  

Neat title, right? When I was thinking of a title, as I always do, the idea of alliteration caught my mind. The repetition is usually catchy. The second thought was addressing purpose of this blog and me. What are blog posts but our thoughts in the digital media? Hence you have contemplations. Now for the fun part, the description of me in a short three word phrase. “Clueless college kid,” I do myself such justice. Honestly though, I’m just a new kid on campus. Oh the pains of being a freshman again… Oh, and that clueless part. Truth is I’m still pretty confused and lost on a lot of what’s going on around me. I’m eighteen years old now and have no idea what’s going on with the news, politics, etc., let alone my own college and education. Well, I have some idea, but the path before me is very…dark and lacking in definition. This worries me. I like having a plan. Hopefully my time in DUS and this course will help my filter through some ideas (that argument of pros and cons of a career path) and work my way towards a decision for a major even. 

How’s my layout? I was a member of a literary arts magazine staff for three years (that being we pick submitted works of visual and written art and put them into magazines each year), so I should know a thing or two. I tried to keep my posts big without devouring the screen. The idea is to bring as much focus to the text as possible. I tried to further enhance this with the black and white contrast, as well as the general contrast from the colored background. It stands out a little bit more. I tried to take away focus from all other gadgets as well by making background transparent. Those annoying little ads in gray blend in so well, no? Still there’s a distinction in text in the gadgets should a reader find need to navigate the blog from there. Therefore, mission accomplished. The font (the name of which I cannot find at the moment) is very basic, clear, and easy to read. Clarity was the goal here. This carried in title fonts as well (like the Gruppo title font and the Syncopate title header font). They’re large and draw attention to the text again while maintaining a clean appearance. In all, it’s just a clean and simple text and layout. The attention will hopefully be on my writing. It is a blog after all, right? 

That still doesn’t mean I couldn’t make it look nice. :) The funny thought is that I started off with a very poor beach like layout (I love the beach and would live on one if ever given the chance. The ocean breeze, scent of salt, sun…all of it, love it. I digress.). I found a background with the ocean and palm trees and such, and tried to work with blues, greens, and tans, but it just started to change. The colors became shades of gray, and the blue sky darkened into black and this abstract background took over my blog. I like it. I’m still not sure what is says about me, but I can delve into that philosophy a little bit later on.  

In all, it’s basic. Again it’s clean (now that there’s little to no text on it… :) We’ll see how long that lasts…) and just strives to display focus on content. As much as I did fiddle with the options, this is something that is suitable for now, but I have a thought that maybe it will change throughout the semester, or not. Before that can be determined, I can spin my threads of imagination or theoretical thought on my own choices…<evil laughter here; why evil? because it’s fun>!

 The fonts and colors hold the same idea of just being to the point. I used a lot of gray though. I like gray, and black, and white. While some think it’s an absence of color, and there’s no real depth to it, I look at the “gray scale” a bit differently. I see all colors, much like how white light is a combination of all colors. In contrast, black (more often brown) is a mixture of all pigments. So in fact there is a bit of color about me in the choice, but it’s left as more of an open ended question as to what those colors really represent.  You might even say I’m masking something about me by stripping the colors away. The background really fit well, for whichever reason I can’t really explain in fact. I lack the blackness to it because it adds a sense of boundlessness. This blog, the internet, writing, are all realms of infinite creativity to fill up. And look down there; you’ll see an array of colors. I think they’re a good representation of human emotion, although they still can have a duality to them. Red can be anger or passion, blue sorrow or calm, and so on. I think we all have our own interpretation of colors, so I’m not even going to bother with that. There’s also an ambiguity with the shapes in the colors. It’s like squinting at street lights at night, with the rays bending and forming circles that form lines (crosses I think) and twist when you turn your head. Yea, it’s neat stuff, or at least to me it is. In all, think of this blog as a place where all those clueless thoughts just fall into. By the end of the semester that blackness in the back might seem a little fuller as I fill this blog with my thoughts, and the different appeals they possess. “Might seem,” keep in mind that boundless idea. I’m going to need some help filling all this space up too, so share your thoughts!

I hereby formally welcome you the reader to my blog, Contemplation of a Clueless College Kid. I hope you find some of my thoughts on the subjects discussed her engaging. Otherwise, happy blogging! J