Concept and Coding

CONCEPT 

I plan to use this website to display my experience in multiple branches of Public Communications. I wanted to include my most important and most professional pieces I have done over the past three years at Buffalo State College. I am very proud of the work I have done and I think that all of the experience I have from the classes I have taken thus far will definitely help me in the future. I really hope what I have designed so far really brings out my personality and portrays me as a fun, creative, yet professional individual.

Last semester I created an entire portfolio for my Public Relations Writing class. In my portfolio, I have completed many different types of things a Public Relations professional would do on a regular basis throughout their career. This whole portfolio is based on an event planning business that is based in
Buffalo, NY. I plan to eventually land an internship with this business in the future but none of my work has been presented to the actually organization, yet. I would love to be a wedding planner when I grow up and I think that this portfolio shows that with my public relations background, I could be successful in the wedding planning field. I think this portfolio is an extremely important element for my webpage because it displays well written work I have done as well as some design pieces.

Last semester I also took a graphic design class. I created a few different types of  graphic design pieces from magazine layouts, to posters, as well as story books. This class was very important to me because I learned how to use Adobe Creative Suite, which is great experience to have when applying for a job or a internship. I was always afraid of creative suite, but now I feel like I pick up new things extremely easily and I have perfected the magnetic lasso tool in InDesign which is shown throughout all of my work I hoped to publish to this site. I think all of these pieces prove that I have a good eye for design, even in the future if I do not design something myself, I will be able to critique other designs and help out the graphic designer.


For social media, I used it in a few different ways throughout my website. Instead of having a contact page, I created a footer with my contact information and my social media accounts that I created in this class. Then I created a social media page separately to explain each social media page I have ever created. I separated the sites into academic projects as well as volunteer projects.

Academic Projects

BLOGS:
http://buffstate-com-336-erinlovelyy.blogspot.com
http://erinlovelyy.blogspot.com

I have had the chance to use blogs over the past year for my communications classes. A lot of blogs I have written are very casual, some are a little more structured and journalistic. The blog really helps promote me via my writing. I think this is a great thing to display on my site because a lot of people now a days have poor writing skills and it might make me shine above the rest. It shows that my writing is versatile. I can be creative, opinionated or journalistic.

TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/ErinMLackie

This helped me learn how to send a very precise message to many followers all at once. I also learned how twitter can be used for organizations and businesses and not just for socializing. This is important to show on my website because it shows that I am up to date with the social media generation.

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/erin.meredith.77

This is a project I worked on in class that taught me how to use Facebook to create pages for businesses that do not have a Facebook presence. With this I learned how to create events and promote business via this social networking outlet. I think this is important to display in my website because it shows I know how to administer a Facebook and help promote a company or organization .

Volunteer Projects
https://twitter.com/WNYGlidingStars

This is the first twitter account that I have actually created myself for a real organization. My friend, Shelby, and I are helping the Gliding Stars of Western New York step into the 21st century and expanding their horizons into social media. This twitter account is slowly but surely flourishing and the organizations leaders, as well as Shelby and I, will be updating it constantly with events that are happening, recognizing the skaters and volunteers, and also notifying participants about cancellations for practices. I have learned a lot about Twitter and organizations from our in class twitter project and I think this is important to display in my website because it shows that I am a quick learner and that I can work with social media.

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 CODING 

The closest I have ever gotten to CSS code is when I had a MySpace. I used to change my background and my layouts all the time. From doing that I knew how to change colors, add images, and change fonts for the most part. I was familiar with those code so that was pretty easy for me. Unfortunately, I have never used Dreamweaver before. Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy to understand the basic things. I just wish I was more advanced because I wanted to do so much I did not know how to do.

As for organizing my content, I felt that I had a very clear idea in my head when I began in Dreamweaver. The most difficult thing was figuring our how to code that vision. I also really wanted my JPEG files of my projects to show up on the right side of the text that you would be able to click to display that image. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I could not even insert those images to my pages. Hopefully, if  get time next semester I can work on it and learn more about it.

Developing the look was a little difficult. I wanted my site to look prettier. I wanted my body content fill to have scalloped edges instead of straight boxy edges, I wanted different colors that I could not get, and also more font types that I would be able to use. I wanted it to look more modern, but it ended up looking almost out dated. It is cute, but not as pretty and professional as I would have liked.

I am really sad we did not get time to finish the project completely. Hopefully, I can work on this at another time so I can actually use this page to promote myself when looking into new job opportunities and internship opportunities.

Interviewer and Interviewee

Christopher Davis was my interviewer. I think he did a great job interviewing me. Like he wrote on his post, we actually take a lot of classes together. It was nice working with him because he is very laid back and he did not make me feel nervous. I think it was a little different than a normal interview because everyone was interviewing each other all at once and the room was a little hectic. Aside from that, I think it was a fun learning experience. After reading through his notes and his constructive criticism, I think that I can definitely work on how fast I talk. If I slow down, then I think people will understand me better and I will communicate more effectively. 

These are the notes that Christopher recorded while interviewing me

How do you plan on self promoting yourself?

Facebook, blogs and schoolwork say a lot about personality.

Name three goals you have between now and graduation.

To have a full-time internship, to network with people in my field, and to have a full-time job

What employment goals do you have after graduation? Name three of them

To have a full-time job, to own my own business, and working at a Public Relations field.

Name three best case scenario jobs you would like to have and why.

To be a full-time bridal stylist because I love weddings, to open my own business and working at a not-for-profit to help people.

Do you prefer to work professionally with a group or on your own and why?

I prefer to be a group leader or leader.

What contributions can you make to a group dynamic? Name three things

Being a leader, organizational skills, and very driven.

What contributions can you make working independently? Name three things.

Very good focus, friendly manner, very organized, and a very cohesive work.

What are your pet peeves in a work environment?

Unfriendly people, people who slack.

Name three things you feel passionate about professionally - this could be school related, current job related, group or organizationally related - and outline why you feel passionate towards them.

Weddings, true love, and helping people.

How do you handle stress and pressure?

By relaxing and talking to people.

Name the last three jobs you had, and the best success and the worst failure you experienced at each of these jobs.

Target mobile and the best success was that I had the highest sales for my quarter, and my worst failiur was that I let a sale get away from me. Gap Creativity, my best success was customers commented on my friendliness and my worst failiur was a incident on the phone.

How do you handle criticism?

By learning from criticism and trying to accept it.

Outline three strengths you have in school.

Being creative, can work independently and in a group and being personable.

Outline three strengths you have in your workplace.

Being professonal, being interactive, and being friendly.

How has creating a WikiPage strengthened your communication skills? Name and elaborate on three things:

By helping me become a better writer, being descriptive and helpinh me organize my thoughts more.

How will Facebook be used to promote yourself? Name and elaborate on three things:

By showing my skills with graphic design.

How would you promote an organization on Facebook?

Name and elaborate on three things:

By creating events, giving detailed descriptions, and giving weekly updates.