Charles Duoto

To be completely honest, I’ve felt as though I’ve drawn a blank when it comes to this final.

My first idea of course was to do what I do on my FDOM blog and cover the local indie scene. I’d probably have to go to a few shows and stuff of course, but I already do that whether I have a project on it or not.

My next idea, after I took a look at some other posts, was to do a website to cover my friend Josh’s tattoo business and history. The man has over 25 years of tattooing experience. His style is definitely what you would call biker style, although occasionally have delved into watercolor and more psychedelic forms of the art work.

Lastly, you told me after class I could work with Jarrett. I know he wants to cover some sort of games, although I don’t know if you see that as a legitimate topic.

Tech news is all around us. Experts are constantly shoving the next big thing down our throat. So what is the next big thing?

Personally, right now I think it’s wearable gear. While it’s not technically a new idea it’s definitely catching on a big way. Google Glass and the Apple Watch are great examples. When they were first introduced, you could hardly visit a tech site without them being the leading article. Now obviously, we know Google Glass kind of failed and went back to the drawing board, but it’s not the death of wearable electronics. Apple’s watch has really caught on lately. While, the reviews might say it’s not there yet, it will be soon since the greatest minds in the industry are hard at work on that type of technology right now. So why is wearable gear getting so much attention?

My answer is mass integration. Having to constantly dig through your pocket for your phone is annoying. So are the constant smudges that you have to wipe off the screen. Then there’s the fact it can be dropped and broken. Right now in the industry, they’re trying to rework designs to fix these flaws. They want technology to be so integrated into your life it’s no longer a separate device from you, it is you. It’s almost like they want us to be turned into cyborgs or something. It’s supposed to be so seamless you don’t even realize you’re using it anymore. That’s why wearable tech is the future.

I selected Gawker Media as my favorite website. I frequently visit their site, almost every day. Gawker is what you would call a new media site. Everything Gawker does is in the usual blog format, but they present all their articles as news. They’ve drawn a lot of criticism in the past, and also get compared to BuzzFeed often. Personally I think they’re a lot funnier than BuzzFeed, and much more credible as well. They don’t really do the clickbait stuff BuzzFeed does, or the annoying “LOL” and “WTF” tags.

Personally what I like most about Gawker is their sarcasm and satirical worth. Unlike the Onion, everything on Gawker is legitimate news and not just made up stories, but they still make it very funny. You could say they put a fun spin on current events.

Now does Gawker properly follow the 10 principles of effective web design? I’d say yes, mostly anyway. They definitely manage to focus users’ attention by having catchy headlines and clever photos. You see an article, and really want to see what it’s about. Their content is laid out in a simplistic manner, with article preview after article preview. Their visible language makes sense. The website is laid out in a straight up linear fashion. Gawker isn’t afraid of white space, that’s for sure, as there is plenty of it in between posts. Obviously as a new media site, they have to focus a significant amount of energy on clever writing. I’d say my favorite part about Gawker is the writing. It’s funny, yet it’s satirical and accurate. If I wanted to read reposts and boring lists of “how to be emo,” I’d visit BuzzFeed instead.

I do see several areas for improvement however. First and foremost, I think Gawker might not do enough early testing. When I had my old phone, and I would try to click on specific links, sometimes those links would literally dance around on the screen, impossible for me to click properly on a mobile device. I also found myself on other affiliated sites like Gizmodo or Lifehacker, and thought to myself, are these sites copying Gawker. No they weren’t, they’re affiliated, more niche specific sites. I think Gawker could have made that more clear when I first became a visitor. In other words, I spent too much time thinking about these auxiliary sites. I also think they’ve done a bad job at not squander users’ patience. I found myself in a pickle trying to sign up after they redesigned their website. It was just too annoying and difficult to sign up until they fixed the issues. Lastly, while they strive to make their new features known, like selecting areas on photos, I don’t see anyone using those features. Those features seem to have taken a backseat to what they could’ve been.