I frequent the blog Katherine posted called ICanHasCheezburger just because I find pictures of animals in weird situations quite comical. Another blog I go to quite often is failblog.org. Failblog contains tons of hysterical pictures of things that go horribly wrong (resulting to failure).
After reading over Meredith Badger's assertion in Visualblogs I wondered if there were more Visualblogs than regular text blogs. Because let's face it, the generation we live in now is always moving. Not everyone wants to spend their time reading someones thoughts on politics or the latest movie review, but if it's a picture of a pickup truck with flames painted on it that is ironically on fire then the person will take time to look at it, laugh at it, and possibly even "forward it like it's hot".
I made an assumption today about Visualblogs as I was on my way home from work. I was driving from Chandler to Tempe and on the loop of the 101 from the new San Tan Freeway I noticed a car that was pulled off the road as if it broke down. Standing next to the car was what appeared to be a Mother, a daughter, and an infant in his car seat. That all seemed normal to me, this is where it got strange. The mother was holding a camera and taking pictures of not the car, but the girl as traffic passed a mere 6 feet away at 65 miles per hour. All I could think after that was, why are you taking pictures of this young girl next to the broken down car while you could be calling a tow truck or someone for help.
After I thought that I quickly assumed that maybe this was an epic event for these people so they wanted to document it and put it in their blogs for all of their friends to see.
I normally don't make such broad assumptions like that, but the visualblogging idea was fresh in my mind and instantly it jumped to that idea. I actually began laughing quite a bit after the thought when through my mind.
I agree with you about visualblogs. It is much easier to look at visuals instead of reading a bunch of text. I also love hyperlinks in someone's blogs. It's easier to get your points across with images and links than just plain, old text.
ReplyDeleteWith your saying off to the side of your picture, I can tell from your blog that "simplicity is the key" for you. Easy text to read with readable layout seems to work for you. Even your picture is simple, but the orange makes it bold. Even with simplicity, I think it makes you stand out.
Interesting discussion on visuals. I'd like to add that I think that- Yeah many people are too lazy to read novel-like blogs - so I agree that imagery helps keep the reader interested, but I also think it can be distracting- that is why I also think you are correct when saying, "Simplicity is key" I personally am not a simplistic kind of guy but I know that simplicity is appealing to many.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is like you said - simplistic. . . I'm going out on a limb and guessing that you are a simple person.
"forward it like it's hot..."....aren't you clever.
ReplyDeleteThat is just bizzare...but I can't say I've never done anything like that. In fact...I'm guilty as charged: I once had a car that I LOVED. But I was in high school and didn't always have money to keep up maintanence...and I let the oil change go for a while...like, 9 months. And so one day I was driving along and driving along and my car seemed to just stop running...on the freeway. So I moved to the side of the road, as quick as the car would go...until flames shot out from under the hood. So needless to say, the car quit then...and at first I got out...but then I remembered my camera was in the car. And while in there, I grabbed my soda. Turned the radio off (still working). And sat back down again and tried to start the car. By now the fire was pretty tall...so I got out. And took pictures with my camera phone. And then with my regular camera. Some guy pulled over with his little portable fire extinguisher...poor fool...and quickly gave up. Though it should have been this traumatic event, I was removed enough to think about how cool it would look on my myspace. Where the pictures of my flaming 280Z still stand.
I wouldn't go to plain old boring old blogs unless I had to trade my lack of engagement for information, like how to write a report or change my oil...he he. I need to be engaged, or else I would just pick up a book and read. There's so many of us out there--so many of us who aren't authorities on any subject except ourselves--that are just wildly authoring information that may or may not be factual and may or may not be interesting. The internet used to be a place where you sort of stood out--you were a little unique and interesting on paper. But there's so much out there now that we can't always pull up our own profile on facebook without having more information than just our first and last name. It's becoming as anonymous as walking down the street can be. Even with pictures and video, who can say that you really know what the site or the person who made it or the subject that it's about is really all about.
When you talked about the mother taking pictures of her daughter, it reminded me when I was 21 y.o. I think it's so funny when people of 21 and younger don't stop taking pictures. They prefer to spend a lot of time taking pictures to later get home and post them on their blogs. It's funny how they make such a big time and prefer to take pictures instead of spending quality time with their friends, such as chatting and gossiping. I was one of those, but not anymore. Now I'm 22 y.o. and I think back at how patient I was last year when all I wanted to do is to let the world know what I was doing with my friends through My Space and how well dressed up I appeared on the pictures. I remember I wanted to give the impression I was happy all the time, the same as, 24/7 happy. It's the kind of satisfaction that when you look at a picture of a person smiling and say "she must be happy doing, wearing or visiting such a place...” but in reality pictures are just an impression of what you see and not the whole concept of a person. Today, I spend lots of time with my family, pet, church, boyfriend and quality time with friends without a camera taking all of its enchantment.
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