Hi!
This post is simply here to reflect on what's been going on with this blog thus far.....particularly the last few "things" related to communicating visually.
As part of that process, I used some images from sources that contain copyright free images, such as Google Images and Pixabay, and that I could, therefore, use on my blog quite freely.
I also played around with Photofunia, which allows you to edit images for re-use, and finally I created a slide presentation on Powtoon.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, but having completed these tasks I would have to say that my biggest feeling at the end of the process was just how much better visual material can make a blog (or whatever medium one is using) look. It might seem like quite a shallow thing, but in an age when bloggers are competing with so much else online, marketing your wares and grabbing people's attention has fast become just as important as ensuring the quality of the written content you want to share. When your customer base is quite often made up of people who might describe themselves as "browsers" or "clickers" - moving from one screen/blog/webpage to the next and only stopping when something really grabs their attention - that moment is key. The thing that "grabs" their attention and reels them in. I really felt that with a little bit of effort and thought, it's possible to increase the chances of that "grab" by using some very convenient visual communicator tools.
During Thing 3, I was really bowled over by the amount of images that are available under the Creative Commons Licence. There is a literally an image available for every scenario you might find yourself in and I think they are quite useful for giving a nice visual cue to readers as to what content they might expect to find underneath, or even as something vague and thought provoking that might arouse enough curiosity in them to want to look deeper - I tried to play with that idea by using the image of the open road and getting people to guess the title of the book - just the idea of using a visual aid that might give people pause, so that they don't just click past your content. I found the image sources very easy and straight-forward to use and they integrate well with blog platforms.
Using Photofunia was a little different - it's something that probably requires a little bit more time to get maximum benefit from. If you look at the two images I used, the text "Halloween is coming" looks far better in one image than the other, so experimenting is definitely key. Being able to edit to your own personal message is great though - it really allows you to create a look and feel to your blog that is all your own, whilst maximising the visual cues to the message you are trying to portray.
The last resources I used was Powtoon. I found it a little trickier to use, not as intuitive as the image resources and so it is definitely something that I would need to play around with a bit more before feeling comfortable. I ignored Rudai23's advice to watch the intro tutorial video - perhaps that was my first mistake but it has got me thinking....what was their (Powtoon's" mistake that I didn't feel that "grab" when it came to looking at their video.......anyway!
I also think that this resource would benefit from a more collaborative team effort - if you are going to create something that could be quite lengthy for people to watch, ie demands an attentions span of longer than a few seconds! , it would be important that it is edited well. Stick to your message, don't stray off point, follow a direct line or storyboard and make sure all your key ideas or points are covered.
If I was to do this task again, I think I would spend more time on each of the resources until I was comfortable with them, and then I would be in a better place to evaluate which one is the best one to use for any particular post or task that I am working on. Without being completely au fait with each one, I was basically shooting in the dark in terms of wondering how it was going to turn out on the blog. I was happy to run with that, as part of the learning curve, but in a working environment when one has quick turn around requirements, it would really help to be able to dive right in to the best option, rather than playing around and hoping for the best. I enjoyed discovering these resources over the last few weeks anyway, and look forward to getting to know them better!
