My current task is to compare my mock-ups for my blog, which you obviously are at. These mock ups consist of the different ideas for the blog I have thought up. Making
the mock-ups for my blog in Blogger was kind of sad for me, since I had
a beautiful blog beforehand, and had to remake it since the design did
not fit the design specifications and there was no way that I could make
it so. I chose a combination of gadgets that make it easier for me to
project my interests onto the blog.
From my designs, a theme focusing on information and the ways it is
distributed has seemed to emerge on my blog, partially without my
intention. This theme relates to me in that I am extremely interested in
information and knowledge, and the power of the internet in
distributing that to all. I wish to use my blog as an outlet for the
knowledge I wish to share and a receptacle for what I want to learn. My specifications include a clear theme, which means the blog is obvious to all what it is about; attractiveness, meaning people can look at my blog without burning their eyes it is so ugly; organization, just making sure that people can see where things are; and finally ease of access, which means people can find things relatively easily on my blog.My first (sketched) blog mock up showed the gadgets I wanted to use. It is not exactly the prettiest thing, since my art skills are not very strong. I also lost the paper and had to go search through most of the devices in my classroom to find this picture. The gadgets I am using include a search bar, for, well, searching; a page view counter, because I like people seeing how popular I am; and a RSS subscription bar, because I really want my blog to be easy to access. I also made a different design choice than many have on their blogs. I put the gadgets on the left side and the posts on the right side, contrary to most of the defaults of blogger. I did this because since I have so many gadgets, this design balances it out a bit more. I chose these gadgets because they all help in the accessibility and easy access in my blog. This mock up does not show much of the character that I aim to put into my blog, but the title does show a little of the information focus.
My second mock up used two complementary colours, purple and green. This did not really reflect much about the blogs intent, but I really do not see how the colour of a blog can show information, unless somhow the code for that colour spells out something. I mostly chose that colour scheme because I thought I would like the way it looks. Needless to say, this mock up fails the attractiveness portion of the test by default, since it truly looks horrendous. It also shows nothing of the theme, meaning that it is horrible and has no place in the archives of my work.
My
third blog mock up used a number and letter based computer code-like
background to show the flow of information. It keeps the gadgets which I mentioned in the second paragraph, so it passes those requirements. It need to have the colour of the title, because right now it is nigh-invisible, blending in with the background. I have to say, this is my
favorite mock-up aesthetically. This mock-up also includes the
accessibility gadgets mentioned in mock up one, meaning it passes those
tests. I also really enjoy the look of this mock up.
My
fourth and last blog mock up was not really necessary but was helpful
for me in that I saw that I did not have to focus on the information
only, I could branch out. Good thing about it: You can see the title! Bad news: It has nothing to do with the theme. That said though, it did not really represent
my ideas at all.
