Chapter 6

This chapter was a good lesson in crisis communication. I was really impressed with the example of Flckrs problem and the contest they ran. I’m sure whatever intern or whoever came up with that idea got a big fat raise. Running a constest got people thinking about how to win rather than how mad they were the site was down.

The idea of emotional design is pretty abstract to me. I always feel that I struggle to be creative. I can make you something very technical and I can do it well but new ideas or out of the box thinking is not my strong point. They make a very good point though that this can buy you some leeway.

One portion that really impressed me in this chapter is when they talked about designing for human emotion but that human emotion is not perfect and that eventually something bad will happen. How you respond to that is what makes the difference, just like in real life. Flickr did a great job because they were able to ease bad emotions and they already had built up a lot of trust with their design and how much people liked it.

This is another example of how design can be just as important as content. Even in a crisis situation, a good design can buy you more leeway.

Chapter 7

The idea of starting small really appeals to me. Designing for emotion doesn’t always seem to fit. For the athletic department I feel like it would be very difficult to convince someone to do something like the Easter Egg hunt on our site. They are always concerned with traditional and professionalism. At the same time, they always tell us that recruits look at the site and they we need to be mindful of that. Finding a way to appeal to that audiences emotions would have a great impact on the university.

I wonder if I could convince someone to take a chance on something similar to the examples in this book. The book seems to conclude that while it may be risky (although not very) the benefits could be huge. As an intern My opinion doesn’t matter but if they tried it I bet it would lead to a job.

I thought the book was pretty good overall. It gave me a better sense of how to design for humans and how to get the best response from an audience. I def want to use some of the principle I’ve learned whenever I start my career. So many athletic department websites are the same boring stuff. There is so much room for improvement, particularly when these sites say that they are aimed at high school recruits. That younger demographic would love emotional design.

Originally posted at Wes Moody

So something that people probably don’t know about me is that I volunteer with a local Boy Scout troop. I was a Scout growing up and I got my Eagle Award. I really valued the knowledge and skills that Scouting taught me and I want to give some of that back.

I think in today’s world that it is a good thing to teach young men outdoor skills and to teach them a love nature and the outdoors. That way they can grow up to responsible stewards of our natural resources. I also think that Scouting teaching values unlike any other organization. You can’t just send you kid to school and trust that they will learn how to be a good person. SCouting teaches honor, integrity, citizenship, the value of serving others, honesty and independence. THings that are lacking in our society. DOing all this in a setting of fun and outdoorsmanship is a great experience for young kids.

I am really passionate about SCouting and I am glad that I can be part of it. I hope that the knowledge I give to those kids is valuable to them and it can be something that will shape them as people and help them to lead better lives.

Originally posted at Wes Moody

I have always had an interest in sports and have followed most of the popular ones pretty closely. When the whole Donald Sterling fiasco happened earlier this week it caught my eye. On the one hand it shocked me how someone so privileged and hard working could be so ignorant. On the other hand it got me thinking from a PR stand point. The fact that I think about things from a public relations stand point means that I am putting my education to good use and I am grateful for that. Looking at this situation from a public relations standpoint there doesn’t seem to be a good way out for Mr. Sterling. It will be very hard to save face and he is most likely going to be known for not all of his abundant accomplishments but for the racist comments that went public that one year. If I was his public relations representative I would make sure the public knows that he really doesn’t think that way. Mr. Sterling has to be put back into a good light for people to start looking favorably about him again. The goal should be for him to make the public aware of all the good he actually does for the community in hopes they believe his remarks were a mistake.

Originally posted at Spenser Hicks's Blog

This chapter summed everything up perfectly for me. It got the overall message that was book is trying to convey summarized down into a couple pages to reiterate the main points. Like anything else in life there are risks when people design things. Some people won’t accept it and some won’t even give it the time of day. I have always thought of this as a bad thing as I think many people would. This may even lead some people to have reservations about designing something that a lot of people will see.

The chapter made me look at some people nor understanding or rejecting your design in a positive light. It makes sense really.The people that reject the design are not the people you want looking at it in the first place. A good design helps narrow the public down and helps you find out who is really interested. This book has taught me that we have to put our own personalities in the design for it to be effective. This helps the designer develop a connection with the public and accomplishes whatever it is that needs accomplishing.

Originally posted at Spenser Hicks's Blog

In high school, I was a typical high school girl. I played volleyball for the school and on a club team, I played soccer, and I cheered on a competition team. I also competed for Miss Texas Teen after I was crowned Miss Teen Amarillo. Eventually, I realized that I was too short to play volleyball, too slow to play soccer, not limber enough to cheer, and definitely not dedicated enough to compete in pageants while in college. With college right around the corner, you can imagine how panicked I was considering all my passions were drawing to a close…

I decided to attend the University of Oklahoma to make my real dreams come true. Not volleyball, soccer, cheerleading or pageants, but my real dream. I have forever wanted to become a wedding planner. I decided to go into public relations and expand my knowledge of how to brand and convey yourself to a wide audience. Event planning isn’t as easy as it sounds. You have to be one of the most dedicated, design savvy people in the world to get a bride to hire you to plan the big extravaganza. I’ve never had problems with people, actually I have always been great with people. But public relations just seemed like a good fit.

I am probably the most spunky, outgoing and crazy girl you will ever meet. I have never met a stranger, I could make friends with a brick wall if I wanted to (but I don’t.) People make me smile. I enjoy being able to interact with happy people, sad people, fun people, boring people, and trying to make their day one thousand times better. By interacting with a variety of people, I get to hear views that I may not hear every day. This broadens my horizons and makes me realize that everyone has a voice, and it deserves to be heard. This is what drove me to want to become a wedding planner. This day is one, if not the most important day in someones life. Two hearts are combined into one, and I want to be a part of that. Everyone has different desires, dreams and expectations for their weddings and I get to be the lucky one to put those dreams into action.

I was able to intern for the lovely Parie Villyard at Parie Designs this past summer and was a part of the most amazing weddings I have ever seen in my life. 

Photo courtesy of Parie Villyard. Photo taken by Davy Knapp.

Photo courtesy of Parie Villyard. Photo taken by Davy Knapp

Weddings have always been my passion. Making sure someone else’s day is flawless, drives me through school because I know that one day, I will be able to put a smile on someones face that I couldn’t have before.

 

 

Originally posted at Claire White