https://woodsophie11.wixsite.com/mysite
The purpose of my website is to show others a part of my identity that they may not know looking at me first glance. Yes, I am a woman, a pre-med student, and an American, but I also have a love for art that I do not always showcase and this project allowed me to explore that. I hope my readers enjoy my take on a ‘photo essay’ and the qualities that I think should be an important part of everyone’s life: travel, creativity, and movement.
Let’s just say the photo essay was bittersweet for me. Navigating wix.com was difficult for me as I have never done something like or used this format. I think the biggest challenge for me was to find a template that was most similar with my vision for my site. I played around with a few different styles but ended up choosing a photography-based template, as my project of course was picture-focused. I also had many issues with the internet aspect of the project as I moved somewhere for quarantine with unstable Wi-Fi. Once I got past the internet and formatting issues, I actually loved the nontraditional design of this essay. I have always loved photography; I never really kept a journal or a diary, but instead have always documented my life through pictures. This project was really fun for me to design and allow my creative side to come through. I definitely enjoyed making this type of project more than a typical essay because it was so different than anything I’ve ever done.
It was very hard for me to narrow down my photos and videos/gifs so that my page did not seem overwhelming but still got my point across to my audience. I tried to choose a wide variety of images that represented every aspect of the topic. So for example: for my traveling section I wanted to show pictures from most of the places I have been, as well as images that represented different sides of traveling. I wanted to include variety, not just have the focus be myself, but also my photography and my point of view on life.
I wanted my audience to get to know me first, therefore I had my introduction on the first page to describe my purpose and thought process. I then wanted the layout to be logical, as it sent the readers to a table of contents essentially so they could browse freely. This allows for an independent experience while navigating my site, which was my goal. I wanted my audience to be able to pick and choose where they spend their time based on what resonates with them.
I wanted to be transparent with my audience, and I tried to portray that in my writing. I wanted my writing to be the last thing that the readers saw on each page so that they did not feel forced to read my excerpts to be able to understand my identity, but instead it could add more detail after they had browsed already. I hope my writing came across as genuine as I expressed who I am and why, while also inviting my readers in to relate to travel, creativity, and movement as well with phrases like “dive in” and “go explore.”
sophie's blog 