Social Media and College Admission

Hey guys, I hope you are having a great day wherever you may be in the world. I recently read an article that had to do with social media and how it can affect the chance of getting into college. It was interesting to hear about different scenarios where kids weren't admitted because of what they said on Facebook and Twitter. It really made me sit back and reassess what I have posted on Twitter and Facebook in the past couple years.

After I have looked back on the social media sites and the video games I play, there isn't much that I can change about what I post because nothing is bad. My parents both monitor my Facebook and Twitter accounts, so I always have to ask myself, "Would my parents like it if they were to see this post?" I have been asked on a view occasions why I post some of the things that I do and once I realize how something could be taken the wrong way, then I take it down so it doesn't hurt my chance of getting into college.

As far as playing video games goes and interacting that way, it's hard to sometimes control what we say because most of the time it comes out of anger. Now just because colleges don't monitor video games as tightly as they do social media, it doesn't mean that people, myself included, should use abusive and hurtful remarks. This usually happens without us thinking and it can start to intertwine with social media and even real world interactions. I've always lived by the saying, "You can't hide behind the words," because eventually those harsh words are going to turn around and bite you.

After reading this article, I had two great discussion questions that popped into my mind and maybe it will give you something to thing about:

1. Could people fight this (colleges looking at your social media) as a violation of privacy?

2. Is there a trend of not admitting students because of offensive material? For example, does it happen more at public colleges or private schools?

I hope my insight was helpful and gave you guys something to think about. I challenge you to go and check your Facebook and Twitter because who knows, one post can be the difference between being admitted and not being admitted.

Thanks,

Alex K.

Click here to view the article

Opinion on the new Kansas City Logo

Happy Friday everybody! We made it through another busy week and I'm here to make your Friday even better. In this post, I will be talking about how I feel about the new Kansas City logo that was just recently created by Emily Elmore of Single Wing Creative.

First off, the reason that the city of Kansas City decided to change its logo was because some city officials thought that the logo before was a little complex and won't reduce that well when put on a smart phone screen. This new logo allows for a simpler design that will look good on a big screen as well as a small one.

The colors are a little interesting and I am still curious why she picked this color scheme. Kansas City is known for being very vibrant at night, with place like the Plaza and Crown Center displaying huge arrays of lights around the holidays. The city is also known for having a bunch of fountains, which could explain the teal color of the C. The grey is a nice contrast to the teal but I feel like more blue should be involved or at least one that includes one of the sports teams' colors. As far as the typeface goes, I like it a lot. It seems to capture a little more "Midwestern feel" with the C kind of looking like a horseshoe.

Overall, I like the idea of the logo, but it just needs to be executed a little better. I feel like the logo needs to reflect more of our city as a whole rather than just two letters. This can be accomplished in multiple ways, whether that's by changing the color scheme or changing the design completely. If I had to add something, I would add something to do with the fountains. It is one of our best features and it needs to be exemplified.

Hope you have a wonderful Friday and I'll leave you with the new logo for Kansas City. Let me know what you think in the comments below! Love it? Hate it?

Thanks,

Alex K.

Link to an article about the logo and designer: Here

My Personality Type

After taking Myers-Briggs personality test, I was told that my personality was ESFJ; which stands for Extrovert Sensing Feeling and Judging. Being an extrovert means that I love to be around people and I get joy from interacting in large groups. Sensing has to do with how I do things, which is very hands-on and practical. I like to follow the rules and just go with the flow. When I was given Feeling, it meant that I am very caring and that I can see when people are down and I try my best to help them get back up. The last one, judging, isn't what people would associate it to be. It has to do with me being loyal to people and  trusting, but also being very organized in the work I do. Some famous people that have the same personality as me include Harry S. Truman, Colin Powell, Selena Gomez, Larry King, Elton John and Jessica Alba.

The scary part about this assignment is that it is very true! I feel like I do my best to go out of the way and care for people when they are down. This was one of the "right on" moments that I noticed was a part of my evaluation. I notice when people seem upset and these people really love it when I notice that and try to help them out. The thing that was more of a "not so much" was how high I was on the extrovert scale. I love to be around people and interact with them, but I also love to have my alone team and this really helps me reflect on the day's events.

Seeing that I am more of a caring person that goes out of my way to help people, I start to appreciate why I gravitate more towards people who are similar to me. If I am willing to go out of my way to help people, then I honestly except the same in return. That is why I rely on sports to guide me and baseball especially. When I am struggling and it's not my day, I know that my teammates have my back and will do anything to help me get through the tough situation. My personality also allows me to fill in for a lot of different spots because of how open I am to people's feelings. Like I said before, I have a great ability to work on a team.

I feel like when some one saw the word "Judging" they would immediately turn away from me. They need to understand that it really means that I will be loyal to you if I can trust you. I am definitely willing to open up to a different personality type because of my personality but they would have to be able to open up to me as well. For the most part, however, different personalities like to be around me.

As a conclusion, I have learned that I am a good person, not only to myself but to others as well. I understand that I care about people and I am willing to stop and talk things through in order to figure them out. Along with my extrovert attitude, I can fully acknowledge how things need to get done and I am willing to go out of my way to make things happen.

Design Case Study Summary

Here is the article that I researched and what the blog post is about: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/06/28/how-to-launch-anything/

I chose to focus on this article because it encompasses everything that has to do with selling a product, not just an app. This was big because I might not be able to sell an app but I can use these hints to promote a website or help sell a friend's project. I am looking to major communications so it will be a big advantage to know some of the tips by pros to help promote a certain item.

This list below really gives a good idea of the article and something I would love to share with all of you!

1. Figure out what you can teach potential customers.
2. Announce your product, with a landing page, as early as possible. 
3. Ask visitors to subscribe to an email list to stay up to date.
4. Share the landing page everywhere possible online.
5. Write an excellent blog post, and ask people to subscribe to hear about your product.
6. Send this blog post to your email list, along with a product update.
7. Share the post everywhere and with anyone who would find it relevant.
8. Repeat steps 5 to 7 with two more blog posts, each time sending the latest post to the larger email list.
9. Announce the launch date and other details as early as possible.
10. Send an email the day before telling all subscribers to expect the launch the next day and telling them everything they need to know to make their decision.
11. Send a simple announcement email.
12. Work like crazy to promote your newly launched product.
13. Send a follow-up email near the end of launch day telling your subscribers that the sale is ending and that they should purchase right away.

As you can see there are various steps that need to be taken in order to promote a product. Once again, I found great tips that I can carry with me into the work field that will give me the best out of my job; even if it doesn't consist of selling apps. 

Here are some of the other articles that I observed and felt like they would be worth sharing! Keep checking back for more great stuff!

The Art of Storytelling Around An App: http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2013/03/19/art-of-storytelling-around-app/

Visual Design Exploration: http://clearleft.com/thinks/visualdesignexplorations/

Responsive Design Case: http://builtbyboon.com/blog/responsive-design-case-study

Find Your Way to Oz: http://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/casestudies/oz/

Logo

Hey everyone,

I just finished a Photoshop project that was neat to do, even though it didn't turn out the way I thought! It involved using multiple layers and masking circles that were affected by gradients. It gave me a kind of 3D logo that seems to be very useful for future projects.

Keep checking back for more great stuff!

Douglas C. Engelbart Legacy

This past summer, the technology world lost a great man who helped create a device that would help advance computers into a new era. He was best know for creating the NLS, which consisted of one of the earliest versions of a computer mouse. NLS also contained video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia, object addressing, dynamic file linking and revision control. This system was presented at The Mother of All Demos, which was the name given to the 1968 convention that demonstrated all of these tools. This achievement was so remarkable because it came before the computer, which allowed for the computer to be more advanced faster than if the NLS wouldn't have been invented.

Blogger vs. Google Sites

Blogger is definitely simpler than Google Sites, as the site is pretty much made to your liking and your don't have to add a lot or remove a lot to get it the way you want. This is good and bad because there are some features that aren't available on Blogger that are available on Google Sites. I feel like Google Sites is also a little more cleaner than Blogger, but I feel like once I start messing around more on this Blogger, I will be able to clean things up.

If you want to compare the two sites for yourself, here is a link of my Google Sites blog: Google Sites Blog