When it comes to internet banner ads…simple is best.

When looking at the two internet banner ads below, it is really not hard to decide which one you would rather look at. Although internet banner ads are relatively small and seem to be everywhere on the internet these days, it is very important they are designed correctly if you want them to have impact.

The mattress company banner ad has SO much information on it, I really can’t believe a company would publish this. The reader’s eye does not know where to look first, and most of the writing is so small, it is impossible to read. All of the different colors combined with different sections, overlapping images and variety of fonts makes the banner ad unreadable and very unattractive.

“Contrast is indeed fundamental to good design, and without white space, good contrast cannot be achieved. The leading cause of the lack of contrast is clutter. Too many layers of visual complication make contrast weak, if it even exits” (Reynolds, 2010, p 159). Because banner ads are small, it is important that they include white space so contrast is created and clutter is reduced. The mattress company banner ad has no contrast and is full of clutter, and I would have to believe that most readers just skip right over it when it appears.

I really like the organic life book banner ad and I think it does a good job using space to create contrast. Only one or two fonts are used, and I like the way the chicken heads at the bottom bring your eye to the “Buy it now”. It is a simple design, yet is very well done and I think if I saw this banner on an internet page I would definitely like to more about it. I like the imagery, colors and font used and I think it is a good example of how simplicity is best when it comes to banner ads.

Good banner ad:

Bad banner ad:

Good website design.

With the number of websites that are currently out there, it is important for companies and businesses to have well designed websites if they want customers to come back. A good website is one that is clean, has personality, stands out among its competitors, is extremely effective and is well thought out and usable.

A website might look nice, but if it doesn't contain the information people are looking for, and it does not come up when key words are typed in search engines, the site is useless. A few years ago, a friend of mine had a website built for his company, and his site looked great. The only problem was, the site was built as either a .jpeg or pdf (I can't remember which), so it never came up in a search.

Sites designed with the user in mind are ones that work best. The designer and content manager needs to think like a user and ask themselves, "What am I looking for and where would I look?" everytime they place content on a page.

Below is an image of the home page of the company Wake Interactive's website. I believe this website, http://www.wakeinteractive.com/, is very well designed and easy to use. These are both good things since the company is a creative web design company that builds websites for clients. I really like everything about this website and I think it hits all of the "good website" marks listed above. If I were looking for a company to build my website, I would pick this company based on their own site.

Below is an image of

Infographics gone bad.

Link to infographic:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/radiation-dosage-chart/

The more time I spend looking at the infographic above, the more it does not make sense. This radiation dosage chart starts off by giving radiation levels and what people can do or eat to receive those levels of radiation. By the time you get to the bottom of the chart, however, the information on the right switches to how fast that specific dose of radiation will kill you. It doesn’t tell you what you could be doing or where you would have to be to receive that amount of radiation. The infographic is really not helpful in any way to providing people with useful information.

The infographic starts off using cool colors to represent the small amounts of radiation, and then moves to warm colors to emphasize the intensity of large amounts of radiation. I believe the designer did keep restraint and reduction in mind when designing this infographic, because it includes simple text, a simple shape and nothing is really over the top or unnecessary. I just think in general this infographic doesn’t make sense so overall it is very ineffective.  Once the information was corrected, I think this would have been better represented as a chart or graph.

I really like infographics when they are done correctly. I think they can be very interesting and sometimes it is neat to see information represented visually instead of just looking at a chart or graph. I believe with the right information, right visuals and a good design, infographics can be effective and useful.

"Good" Girl, "Bad" Design

I think a lot went wrong with the design of this poster. Although the movie wasn’t that great to begin with, I think they lost their opportunity to market it correctly by designing a poster that has so much copy on it.

Jennifer Aniston is very well known and liked by so many people – I feel that they should have picked one or two main photos of her and used them on a majority the poster. I don’t think the reviews at the top add a lot to the poster – I think they take up too much room and personally, I don’t know what a movie with “range and depth” and “winning delicacy” really means. If I were designing the poster, I would have kept the one review that says “Sly, comic and touching” and then used a photo of Jennifer as the focal point.

I believe the photos break up the text and readers’ eyes don’t know where to look first. I know that movie posters must have all of the credit information that is at the bottom of this poster, but overall I believe this poster would have been more effective with less text. I do like the sans serif font they chose because it gives the poster a soft look and is a good font to represent “a good girl.” Although the cool colors match Jennifer’s shirt in the photo, I am surprised they chose blues because usually warmer colors such as red or pink are associated with females. Maybe since because in the movie it is ironic that she is called “a good girl” they chose blue to play on that? I think a lot can be done with a movie poster to make the film look good, and I believe the designer was off the mark with this one.

Tiger Woods Accenture Print Ad

I have to say I really like this ad for Accenture that features Tiger Woods looking for his golf ball in very tall grass. I like how they relate the photo to economic “realities” and how they have the quote “It’s not a setback. It’s a test.” stand out amongst the other text. As suggested by Reynolds, text can set a tone for an ad and I think their choice of a sans serif font was a good one because it gives the ad a relaxed feel. “A large, bold version of a classic sans serif may suggest power, assertiveness, or confidence, whereas the same type in a smaller and lighter version will be more subtle and suggest a quieter confidence, humility, or calm” (Reynolds, 2010, p 48).

One thing Reynolds also suggests is adding a transparent box or screen between text and an image with little empty space to increase readability. I think that this is something that could have been done in this ad, but when printed, I am not sure how hard the text is to read. I think the colors in the photo used in this ad combine warm and cool colors to catch readers’ attention. “Artists use warm and cool colors to create depth and volume in paintings, and we can do the same by observing the relationship between warm and cool colors in a design” (Reynolds, 2010, p 81). I think the yellowish grass combined with the green grass in the background gives the ad a cool, yet dimensional look that helps readers understand that the company Accenture can help them with any business needs they have – Accenture has everything under control. I do think the ad is a little bit wordy and I wonder how many readers actually read all of the ad copy?

I believe this ad was run a few years ago, which was when Tiger Woods had everything in control in his life. Everything has been turned upside down for him now, and Accenture has ended their six-year sponsorship of him so it makes the ad that much more interesting!

References:

Reynolds, Gary . Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations. Berkeley , CA : New Riders, 2010.

Ad:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/AOSqiYx2mtP/Accenture+Drops+Tiger+Woods+Advertising+Campaigns

Billboard Design

I think one of the most difficult advertising mediums to design for is billboards. You want to get an important message out to consumers, but your space is limited and people only see them for seconds at a time. The “less is more” rule definitely applies to billboards, and unfortunately in the Utica area, most designers don’t follow this rule.

The first example is my idea of a bad billboard design. There are almost 30 words, a phone number, website, etc. and viewers just don’t know where to look first. The colors, along with the capitalized font and the crying child really make for a stressful design, and it is not a billboard that I would even try to read or understand.

Our Communications and Marketing Department at the hospital works hard to try and make our billboards stand out from others in our area. We try to limit our billboards to seven words or less and below is an example of a billboard we did for our PET/CT scanner. After we ran a media campaign for the scanner, we have performed 30% more scans consistently each month. Although I don’t think this billboard is the best design in the world, I do think it sets our hospital apart from other advertisements that are out in the community. The colors are vibrant, the text is designed in a way that is easy to read and understand, and it is simple.

Following Your Passion

It is important we follow our passions in life if we want to find happiness. Think about how much time people spend at work – and if you don’t like what you are doing – it is very hard to be content with how you spend your time. This is where taking chances come in – following your passion may not be the easier route, but in the end it will be the most rewarding. So we should all really think about what our passions are – and I challenge you to incorporate this as much as possible into your life so you can wake up every day and be excited for the day ahead of you.

 

I often look back on moments like this and think – how did I do that? But I am just thankful that at these points in my life, I made these decisions and took the more difficult route. We all go through life facing our external limitations, but it is really the limitations we give ourselves that are most difficult to break free of. But once you do it, it is so much easier to face all that is put on your plate.

I believe Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios said it best when he gave his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005:

 

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal

One thing I have learned through my experiences is that life is about choices.

As Marilyn Grey once said – “Why wait? Life is not a dress rehearsal. Quit practicing what you are going to do, and just do it.”

It is never too late in anyone’s life to “live on the edge” and take chances. Our lives really do come down to the choices we make. We can either sit back and take the easy route – or we can step up to the plate – and even if we aren’t put in challenging situations – we can seek out those challenges. No one sent me an invitation to study in England – but I went out of my way to walk to the International Studies building to get more information. I didn’t get an e-mail about the golf internship I was part of, but I went down to our career center and flipped through hundreds and hundreds of pages of internships and job openings. I had to pay for my plane ticket to fly down to Atlanta and spent my weekend going through rigorous interviews and tests – but I had the self confidence that I knew it was worth taking the chance and I succeeded.

So what do we need to do to be self-confident?

We all need to make the conscious effort to continually want to grow intellectually, morally, and professionally every day through our entire work and family lives. We need to always be asking ourselves in the back of our minds – Do I really know as much as I should? Am I still learning? Is there more I can be doing? And also, we should ask ourselves – Am I a good person? Do people want to be around me?

A few months ago I was reading Real Simple magazine and in it were people’s New Year resolutions and one woman’s resolution really stuck with me. She said – she tries so hard to be a good employee, co-worker and volunteer – that she goes home at the end of the day and is exhausted. The people that she loves the most are the people who get to spend time with her at this point in her day and her resolution was to give her loved ones the best of her – not was left over when all of her other life “duties” were done. To truly be successful – we need to succeed at work and at home – this is what will create the ultimate happiness that so many people strive for.

And even if you fail at any of these tasks – we are still building self confidence. By reaching out and looking for challenges that others may be too afraid to try – we are already a step ahead of the rest. We need to seek to find a purpose in life and we need to seek to make a difference.

Defining True Happiness

I wonder if this person asking me why I live in Utica ever had these opportunities?

So, after I asked this person all these questions, and tell them about all the things I have had over the past 28 years, I think my biggest question for them would be “Are you happy? Because I am.”

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my life and I think I was able to do all of these because I took chances. We all know now it is not safe to sit on a killer whale, but I did it. Traveling around the world and leaving home can be a bit scary, but I took the chance and loved every minute of it. Moving to Saratoga where I knew no one and lived out of a hotel for a month while I found a place to live, is not something a lot of people would do, but I decided it was a chance of a lifetime so I left my comfort zone and moved away.

It is these life experiences that I have had that have allowed me to be happy and content and to be ready to settle down in Sauquoit. It also makes me smile when all these great memories flash through my mind when someone asks me why I chose to live in the Utica area. And I think next someone asks me this question – I am going to ask them how they have gotten so lucky to live in such a beautiful place like Utica, New York.

Have You Ever Stayed at a Ritz-Carlton?

So if this person asking me why I lived in Central New York said they would never want to drive around the country in a van, I would ask them, “Have you ever gotten paid to travel around the country to stay at five-star hotels?”

Before I started working at Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare, I lived in Saratoga Springs and worked for a medical education company. We planned meetings for pharmaceutical companies and they only wanted the best for their physicians so every other weekend for two years, I traveled to different cities staying at beautiful hotels.

We stayed everywhere from the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole to the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, the Hotel Majestic in Barcelona, Spain, to the Ritz Carlton’s in Dallas, Atlanta, and Naples, Florida, and to about twelve other amazing cities. It was quite the change from traveling the country in a van to flying first class and staying at stunning hotels, all while getting paid for it.

When I went to my first meeting, I expected to have to share a room with a co-worker, like we did for our golf internship with the AJGA. We flew across the country to San Francisco and finally arrived at our hotel. We checked in – and I was shocked when I got my own room! My room was beautiful and we were allowed to order room service. The first thing I did was put on my bathrobe and ordered pancakes and ate breakfast in bed!

When we went to Beverly Hills for a meeting, we got the opportunity to rub elbows with the stars at a charity event sponsored by Tommy Hillfiger. The event was called “Race to Erase MS” and was a benefit to raise money for a cure for multiple sclerosis. My co-workers and I only got to attend the event if there were extra tickets after all the meeting attendees and our clients had tickets, so we had our fingers crossed as our client started to hand out the tickets. My heart was beating as he passed tickets out to about 30 people and I counted every last one as he put them in the hands of each person. Finally he came to us, and he looked like he had enough for us to go, and he did! The event was amazing and we saw lots of famous people including Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton. We got to experience the Red Carpet and it was amazing to me how many camera flashes were going off – it was almost blinding. Earth Wind and Fire played live at the event and we danced the night away.

I wonder if the person asking me why I live in Central New York ever got the chance to go to a celebrity event in Beverly Hills? Although I have had the opportunity to visit so many beautiful choices, I still prefer to live in Central New York. It is a wonderful place to live and my family and friends make it home!

Man's Best Friend

Another reason I love Central New York - we bought our dog from a breeder in our area and he makes us so happy. As the saying goes, "My goal in life is to be the person my dog thinks I am."

He is never mad, always happy to see me and never complains! We love to go for walks and enjoy the four seasons Central New York has to offer.

Below is a link of a picture video I made of him....

http://animoto.com/play/0lG5rvJbu7xj4EPGFMiRVQ?utm_content=challenger

Getting Paid to Drive Cross Country

And now that I was on the topic of traveling with this person who asks me why I live in Central New York, I would ask them, “Have you ever driven a van and trailer 13,000 miles across the United States?”

After I graduated from college, I decided I was not ready to enter the working world and instead took advantage of an internship that was with the American Junior Golf Association. I went through a few rounds of intense interviews and I was very lucky to get accepted because more than 600 people applied. I flew down to Atlanta a week after graduation, not knowing what to expect, met five other people that I would be traveling with, learned how to back up the van and trailer we would be driving and of course change a tire, and they sent us on our way.

For this internship and with the five other people who I still keep in touch with today, we were in charge of running golf tournaments for junior golfers throughout the country. Ralph Lauren was the sponsor so they gave us an entire new wardrobe, we got paid $200 a week and we ate out at restaurants three meals a day. Our longest trip was 40 hours, and we drove from Wisconsin to Arizona and made enough memories to last a lifetime. The only bad thing was I gained 10 pounds from eating out all the time and had to cut slits in the new wardrobe that Ralph Lauren gave me, but it was still worth it. :)

We worked 100 hour weeks, and as soon as we were done with a tournament, we would hop into the van and drive to the next tournament. Riding in the van was my favorite part of the internship because we all got along so well and experienced so many funny things together. Our journey took us from Atlanta to Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona and California. If you asked anyone in the group what their favorite memory was of the entire experience, they would probably tell you it was when I drove away from the gas station in New Mexico with the gas nozzle still in the tank! Lucky nothing bad happened, but it still something we laugh about to this day!

My favorite golf tournament was in Colorado and we got to stay with this couple who belonged to the golf course where we were holding the tournament. They lived in a mansion on top of a mountain and it was one of the nicest houses I have ever been in! When we arrived, they brought us to their garage and let us pick out whatever one of their ten cars that we wanted to drive for the week. We thought carefully and decided on the white Lincoln Navigator. They had a friendly Golden Retriever that would sleep with me in my bed at night and they had a maid who would do our laundry for us. They set the bar very high since it was the first tournament we had been to, but no matter where we were or where we slept, we had an amazing time.

I wonder if the person asking me why I live in Sauquoit ever got paid to drive across the country…

Taking the plunge...

So once I got on the topic of whales with this person, the next question I would ask them is…Have you ever jumped off a cliff into the ocean in the middle of winter in Wales?

When I was studying at Syracuse University, I had the opportunity during my junior year to study for a semester in London, England. Once again, I had no interest in this second “life changing experience” but I had the college mentality that all my friends were doing it so I should go too.

I filled out all of the necessary paperwork, got my passport, said goodbye to my parents and I was on my way. I went to London with a suitcase and backpack, found a place to live when I got there, and spent four of the best months of my life wandering through the amazing streets of London and traveling to different countries. I spent St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland, I saw the Mona Lisa in Paris, I went for a boat ride on a search for the Lochness monster in Scotland, I saw the Pope on Palm Sunday in Italy, and I went cliff jumping in Wales.

Seeing that I am probably the worst swimmer in the world, I sometimes wonder myself what possessed me to go “cliff jumping,” whatever this term may mean. I signed up for an “Adventure Weekend” with my friends, and the only instructions were to bring a pair of sneakers with you. It sounded pretty easy to me, so I thought what could possibly go wrong?

In February of 2004, we flew from London to Wales and stayed in a small cabin with ten other international students. I shared a room with five of my friends and we slept in bunk beds. There was barely enough space in our room to move and you can imagine how the room smelled after we all took off our soaking wet clothing and sneakers in the middle of winter. I think the heat thermostat may have been broken too because you could feel and hear the heat blasting into our tiny room the entire night while we tried to sleep.

After a restless night we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast and then were told to go outside where we were given our wetsuits. There is nothing more uncomfortable in the world than trying to put on a wetsuit, but it was so cold out so I knew we had no other choice! We rode in a small bus along the bumpy roads of Wales to the ocean. Our instructor gave us brief instructions on how to stay safe and he sent us on our way. We climbed along the rocky coast of the ocean (this is where the sneakers came into play) until we got to an opening in the rocks. We climbed to the top, and we all took our turns jumping into the freezing cold, sparkling water. I was so scared and the only reason I jumped was because if I didn’t jump, everyone else I was with wasn’t allowed to take their second turn until I went.

A lot went through my mind while I was standing on the edge of the cliff before it was my turn to jump. Did I remember how to jump correctly so I didn’t do a belly flop? Was I about to die? Why did I sign up for this trip again? Finally, I just opened my eyes, pushed off with my feet and jumped into the ocean. It was an exhilarating feeling as I was deep in the water swimming furiously so I could get to the top and breathe again. The feeling of accomplishment and the feeling of the cold air blowing against my face as I made it to the top is something I will always remember. I bet the people who continue to ask me why I live in Sauquoit never jumped off a cliff in Wales before….

Another reason I love Central New York....

My huband and I met when we were in high school working our summer jobs at a local golf course. I worked in the restaurant and he worked on the grounds crew. We both love Central New York - our families live close by, we love the four seasons, and almost all of our friends still live in the area as well.


We got married on September 11, 2010 and we will probably continue to live in Central New York for the rest of our lives. Here is the link to an Animoto video I did about our wedding - which also took place in Central New York on a beautiful, sunny day!

My Animoto URL:

http://animoto.com/play/hItRlQSFPGN9dMMcdPc9Aw?utm_content=challenger

Have You Ever Sat on a Killer Whale?

I grew up in Sauquoit, New York, with my mom, dad and older brother, and now, at the age of 28, I live in Sauquoit again. I find it funny when I run in to people – usually family friends who I haven’t seen in a while – that always ask me: “Why did you decide to live here?” or, “Why don’t you move away and live somewhere fun?” or say “You must be crazy if you want to live and work in this area!”.

These people never seem to ask me if I am happy – which I am and in today’s world, is a question that I think people often forget to ask. I have a good job, a great family, a wonderful husband, a cute dog, I’m almost done with my master’s degree, and I own a house. What else could a 28-year-old ask for? 

I’ve always wanted to turn the question around on them, although I haven’t yet had the guts to, and say “oh yeah, well why do you live here?” OR, “you must be crazy for still working around this area – you should be retired living on a golf course in Florida!” OR, BETTER YET, I could ask them:

Have you ever sat on a killer whale?

When I was five, I went to Sea World with my family and we went to see the Baby Shamu show. Walking into Sea World as a five-year-old can be very overwhelming – I still remember all the people and families walking around and the scent of fish that lingered in the air. I held on to my mom’s hand tight so I wouldn’t get lost.

We were just in time for the Baby Shamu show and the audience was packed. I was sitting with my mom, dad and brother in the hot, metal bleachers and we were sitting on the end near an aisle. A Sea World staff member walked up the stairs and stopped and talked to a family in front of us. We saw them shake their heads no and then the staff members came up to my parents. He asked them if they would be interested in having me be part of the show. He would take me down to the front and when it was time, he would hand me to the whale trainer and I would sit on Baby Shamu.

I had no interest in getting my favorite pair of pink, corduroy overalls all wet, but my parents told me they would buy me a stuffed animal if I did it so I agreed. I remember them signing a bunch of papers – which now looking back I realized were insurance papers saying that Sea World would not be held responsible if something happened to me. I walked down the stairs with the trainer and the next thing I remember was looking into the audience and seeing a million camera flashes going off. I don’t remember what the whale felt like or if I was scared – but my one memory is being blinded by flashes. My next memory was going to the gift shop when it was all over with – and being very uncomfortable because my overalls were all wet. I picked out a stuffed killer whale and my brother got one too. I remember wondering why my brother got one – he didn’t have to do anything and he got a stuffed animal too!

They don’t let audience members sit on killer whales anymore because it is too dangerous. And I’m pretty sure kids these days are having nightmares about killer whales from Sea World instead of sleeping and cuddling with their killer whale stuffed animals. But when I go to my parent’s house and go in my old room and see my whale sitting on my shelf, I don’t remember what it was like to sit on Baby Shamu, I remember all of the cameras going off and wonder what all those people did with my picture. I bet the person asking me why I live in Central New York never sat on a killer whale....