Reading Reflection: Chapter 4

We live in a world full of poor design.  I am no design expert by any means, but following the HATS rule and other basic rules can makes our world visually more appealing and more accessible.

I use design techniques on my personal website.  This website is for future employers to see my work as a reporter.  I'll focus on how I used HATS effectively or ineffectively on it and how I can change my design to enhance visual appeal.

Headings

On my website, I use this heading (seen below) consistently.  No matter what page you click on, you can always see my name, the other tabs, my contact information, and my social media information.  This allows future employers to navigate my website quickly and effectively, without getting lost in the muddle.  They have several ways to find the same information, which decreases frustration and also gives me more opportunities to prove myself.

Art

The art on my website is limited to pictures and videos.  There was really no need for charts and graphs, because I'm not depicting numbers or data.  I only put photographs on my website that have good lighting, follow the rule of thirds, and have high resolution.  These rules help the photos focus on the subject (which is me) and not get distracted.  I also blurred the background image so it would not take away from the words.

Typography

Sans serif fonts are great for headlines because, as the book says, they have a thicket stroke and are easier to read in larger sizes.  Serif fonts are easier to read for blocks of text.  On my website, I exclusively use sans serif fonts.  This was a stylized choice, because I wanted it to look clean and modern, although I think I could adjust the bigger bodies of text to be serif fonts so it's easier to read.

Spacing

Unfortunately, I am using a website maker for my site that doesn't always make it easy to use space effectively.  In the picture below, you can see how my text extends far below the video and pictures.  It would look better if I shortened the text so there's not as much negative white space beneath the video and pictures.  White space can be used effectively, like above the text and art, but too much of it looks empty.

To visit my website, go to katiejryan.weebly.com.