The New Media Institute (NMI) is part of the University of Georgia and is dedicated to exploring critical, creative, and commercial dimensions of emerging technologies. This institute focuses on development skills of building digital and commercial products, innovation, finding new media solutions, and more. I was on the one-year track pursuing an M.A. in Emerging Media and graduated May 2022. The Emerging Media program is centered around web and app development, project management, and learning other elements and programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Spark, Figma, XCode, JavaScript, and more.
I like learning about technology and would like to improve my design and coding skills. This program has been a perfect fit for me because it is essentially an extension of what I already learned at UGA during my undergrad. The classes I took during this program have taught me how to use different programs and softwares, coding, prototyping, group collaboration, and pushes me to be creative and work through emerging media solutions.
One of the main deliverables during this program was launching an Emerging Media Capstone that would consist of ideating, developing a digital product, strategizing, testing, and more. I worked with a team throughout the program to create our Capstone project, NewsNow. We found there is a lack of trust and lots of misinformation when it comes to news broadcasting and other traditional news media which made us want to go forth with developing NewsNow. NewsNow is an iOS mobile app that will transform the way news is told with quick 60-second news reels. Our goal is to encourage others, especially the younger generation, to want to be more engaged and involved and create a platform that could be tailored to the user experience. We looked at our competitors like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram and pulled inspiration from their UI and how we could make our project unique. Throughout the program, we developed the NewsNow brand, created demos, did UX-testings, and made improvements to the app. NewsNow has been an amazing project to work on, and my group and I are so proud to represent an app we developed together to create real stories that can be real fun.
Overall, this program has been a journey and I have become more confident in my UX / UI abilities by creating new and innovated products. Coding has always been my downfall, but these courses have allowed me to find a new interest and love for it. This program has also taught me the importance of group collaboration and project management which has resulted in me having better communication and time management skills. I want to thank the NMI faculty, peers, and team members that have helped me throughout this journey.
Check out my course work and projects below!
Summer 2021
During my first semester in this program, I have developed valuable skills that would be helpful to me as a designer. The courses below gave me an introduction of what the Emerging Media entails and how important project management, design, and coding is to finding emerging media solutions.
Overall skills and topics learned:
- Ideation
- Accessibility
- Prototyping
- Persona development
- SCRUM + Sprints
- UX/UI Design
- Domain + Hosting
- HTML5 + CSS
- Bootstrap
- WordPress
- JavaScript
- Adobe XD
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Spark
- Responsive websites
- Agile Methodologies
- Project management
JRMC 7010E: Digital Media Design & Aesthetics
This was my first course during the EM program. This class was a good introduction to the digital customer and user experience. I learned different techniques, ethics, principles, and other tools that would help me become a better designer. I also learned and developed customer personas, journeys, and prototyping an app. As a designer, I found this class incredibly beneficial especially with the reading discussions. This class emphasized that our jobs as a designer is to not only to create work for clients, but to educate them on the design purposes and how to improve the user’s experience.
For this class, we had a project where we must design or redesign an app and its digital customer experience. I chose Instagram as my app. I created a comprehensive user experience journey map, constructed a prototype using Figma, and presented the information through a Medium blog post and filmed a 3 minute YouTube video explaining the redesign. This project allowed me to improve the app with the tools and skills I learned.
NMIX 6110E: New Media Production
During this class, I learned how to code and build websites. I already had previous experience from Tumblr back in the day, but I had very little knowledge about coding and only changed a few lines throughout the themes. This course taught us how to hand-code websites using HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, BootStrap and WordPress. With the help of FreeCodeCamp, it was easy to learn and practice coding which would help me through the exercises and projects. These skills that I have learned will definitely help me become a better designer and web developer and understand why certain codes are needed.
This was the first project we were introduced to in this course. We had to create a three-page website that had a variety of content on it with links properly working. Our newly developed HTML and CSS skills were being challenged during this project. I chose to create a Must Watch List on Netflix website that listed and gave reviews on what to watch.
Reflection
While creating this website, it really made me think about how I used to be a pro at this in middle school when Tumblr was popular. I would spend hours fixing up my blog and its theme — adding sparkles to my mouse every time it moved, having faded images in the navigation bar, I even had a music player on my page that would play the playlist I picked. Unfortunately, after years of not practicing I have lost the knowledge to do all of that. This project has allowed me to revive that passion and learn/relearn elements that I should know and would be helpful for future designs. I was struggling with formatting and the styles sheet, but after reading a few websites I got the hang of it, and it became easy to find the issues I was having (usually due to a misplaced letter or punctuation). I am very proud of this website. It might not look as I wanted, but it is definitely something I am happy I got to do. In the future, I would like to learn more about how to edit the images (fades, hover, etc.) to make them look more aesthetically pleasing on the site.
During this unit, we had to create a responsive website by using BootStrap templates. I created a single-page website that talked about Drake and his best popular albums. I customized the theme to my liking used custom HTML and CSS.
Reflection
I found this project much more easier than the first project. Mainly because we already had bootstrap themes available and already made this project so much easier to do. All I had to do was make edits on the specific elements I wanted to see. I gathered some of the color palette from a picture of Drake and input it into the theme. I also found fonts I wanted to use on Google Fonts, and it already had the links and whatnot that I could easily copy and paste into the theme. I did have trouble with the logo because I realized I needed a picture with a transparent background. It also couldn’t be too big, because then it would shift the navigation bar. Overall, this was an easy project and I liked learning how to inspect specific elements to see what I could change and add to my own theme. I would like to explore more possibilities with editing bootstrap themes.
For this project, we had to create an e-commerce website by using WooCommerce through WordPress. This project allowed me to explore the use of plugins, widgets, custom CSS, and more. I was able to create a fully developed and functioning website for a fictional bar, Bad Moon.
Reflection
I enjoyed this unit and project. Having this theme, Storefront, readily available and editing it to my liking was fun. Using WordPress made making a website so much easier. I created a logo from Canva and used pictures I found on Unsplash and icons from Freepngimg. Before this class, I had played around with creating a blog on WordPress but never got far enough because I did not really know how to use it. Thanks to the walk-throughs and easy navigation, I was able to figure out the ins-and-outs and got better at keeping it organized. The previous units came hand-in-hand with creating this project. I learned how to use plugins like Stackable to create the homepage. It was really interesting to see how helpful installing plugins can be because using Stackable allowed me to make my homepage more interesting. I did have a hard time getting my CSS to work because the code within the blocks would not work properly, especially while I was in editing mode. I changed ended up changing the font color of the footer within the Advanced CSS. The hardest part was trying to get fonts installed because it would not show up on my page or it would not save right. However, instead of putting in CSS, I ended up finding a Free Google Fonts plugin that gave me access to a lot of fonts to choose from. I also struggled with the products not aligning right, but after some research I figured out I had to put a flex and align code within the CSS page. I hope to explore more widgets and plugins I can download to make websites more interesting.
For this final project, we had to combine our skills from what we have learned throughout this course and create a website of our choice. I used WordPress to create a eCommerce shop for a client of mine. I used a custom theme, plugins, widgets, CSS and HTML to make the website not only aesthetically pleasing, but as an easy-navigated site for users to shop.
Reflection
I created this website for my friend’s mom. She has a small business called Cat’s Closet where she sells personalized and customized items. She has been looking at creating a website for her business so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to show my skills and hopefully create a website she will like. As someone who is still experimenting with web design, I am rather please with the things I was able to accomplish. Firstly, I installed a WordPress theme, Storefront, under the final-project domain. I then proceeded to add plugins that could be good for her business and help create an aesthetic look such as:
- WooCommerce – An eCommerce toolkit that helps me sell anything.
- Easy Google Fonts – A simple and easy way to add Google fonts to my WordPress theme.
- OptinMonster – A popup plugin to help grow the email list and sales. I created a bottom bar pop-up that allowed customers to put in their emails for a free coupon.
- Stackable – Block library with different options in Block Editor.
- YITH WooCommerce Product Slider Carousel – Allows me to create responsive product sliders.
- YITH WooCommerce Wishlist – Gives customers the possibility to create, fill, manage, and share Wishlist.
JRMC 7011E: Project Management and Innovation
In this class, I learned about a variety of techniques of innovative brainstorming. I was able to work out emerging media solutions while collaborating with my peers in different assignments by using agile methodologies and sprint techniques. This course emphasized the importance of project management and how to maximize our productivity. We used programs such as Mural, Trello, Adobe XD and Figma throughout this course. The important take away from this course was to be flexible and be comfortable pivoting when needed. There is no right or wrong way to go about finding a solution, as long as there is proper communication between the different roles that make up the team. The skills I have learned throughout this course will be useful when creating our Emerging Media Capstone Project.
For our first project, we had to pair up and were assigned one of the agile methodologies to research. We were given Kanban, a method that helps with categorizing ideas so it is simple and easy to understand, flexibility, improving flow and management, and encouraging ideation. We then came up with exercises that would help others understand the method.
During our reading of Jake Knapp’s Sprint book, I had to work with my peers and create an emerging media solution to a problem. My group chose to do Food Finder, a mobile app that helps locate, donate, and deliver food within the community. We noticed there was a food insecurity problem in Athens, GA, our college town which helped inspire the creation of Food Finder. While following Knapp’s steps, we used different sprint techniques to come up with this idea and improve it. We used Mural for the ideation process and Figma to create the Food Finder prototype. We then proceeded to test out the prototype by selecting 5 individuals that would provide feedback and insight.
The One Project was our final project for this course. As a team, we came up with 3 emerging media ideas that we could possibly use for our capstone project at the end of our Emerging Media journey. Together, we came up with:
- Sunny and Ranney: a non-profit mobile app activation
- NewsNow: an extension to the TikTok mobile app for news
- PlantPals: a plant community mobile app
Using the agile methodologies from unit 1, we used Trello to create an agile board to ideate and stay organized. We also used Figma and AdobeXD to prototype the app ideas. The video below showcases our 3 innovate ideas that we found was needed in the digital market.
NMIX 6111E: New Media Design
In this course, we explored traditional graphic design topics and elements. The assignments helped build a foundation using Adobe Creative Cloud products such as Photoshop, XD, and Spark. We were able to explore and further develop our knowledge of UX design by watching tutorials and reading helpful articles. Personally, I found this class to be very enjoyable due to the amount of creative work we had to do. Using the different programs, I learned how to prototype, develop logos using Adobe Illustrator, websites, and how to make them responsive, creating color palettes and style guides, photography and editing it in Adobe Photoshop, and creating graphics in Adobe Spark. This course will be beneficial in my Emerging Media Capstone Project when we further develop our ideas.
For our first project, we were assigned a partner that would act as our client. We had to interview each other, sketch out a website layout, logo, and come up with a color palette and develop a style guide. We used Adobe XD to create a website prototype and made it responsive to other devices like the iPad and iPhone. I created a website for a photography business that would allow users to be able to view her portfolio, look at the photo session packages she has to offer, and be able to schedule a session.
In the 2nd module, we learned about the different components to photography such as simplicity, symmetry, asymmetry, point of view, and eye-lines. We also learned about typography and how to add textures onto our photos. For our assignment, we had to take photos and create a vintage postcard. We utilized Adobe Photoshop and Spark to create the postcard. Using bright, fun typography, it helped contrast against the colors and tone of the post card images.
As for our final project for this course, we were assigned a team and had to create a brand for a product or service of our choice. Then, we had to design and create a website, personas, logo, style guide, promotional elements, and a supporting application all while using the Adobe Creative Cloud products. My team and I came up with Flowerfull, a floral service that provides fresh flowers for any occasion. The supporting mobile app, Flowerfull Plus, would allow users to explore our services and create a custom order or purchase a subscription. The video below is our team’s presentation about the app and the images are the promotional elements I helped create.
Fall 2021
As for my second semester in this program, I found this to be the hardest. I really had to stay organize and manage my time if I wanted to succeed. These classes went hand-in-hand with each other and helped me with the next stage of my Capstone project. I worked with a team throughout and learned the fundamentals of creating an app and testing the user-experience. I had to really overcome my dislike for coding during this semester and I’m glad I got the experience to create websites, play with JavaScript and learn XCode to create iOS apps.
Overall skills and topics learned:
- HTML5
- XCode
- JavaScript
- Vue Mastery
- API’s
- Wireframes
- Prototyping
- Project Brief
- Google Analytics
- Figma
- UX-Testing
- JSON Feed
- User Research
- Laws of UX
- Design Systems
JRMC 8016E: Interaction Design
This course went more in depth about the fundamentals of UX design and how to create and test our prototypes. We learned different terms and topics that will be useful when our group goes into testing our Capstone project, NewsNow, for next semester. During this course, we have watched TED-Talk videos, did some readings, such as The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman and Content Design by Sarah Richards, and eventually developed a Design System and UX Testing Plan for our Capstone that will help gauge usability and allow us to gather insights about the user’s experience while using our beta app.
Below is a PDF file of the entire Design System and branding of our Capstone project, NewsNow, that we created as a group. It includes our style guide that entails colors, fonts, visuals, a pattern and component library, who the audience is, etc.. Also linked, is our Beta + Design Systems presentation where my group and I go in depth about the Design System and how we used it throughout the app.
Below is a PDF file of our entire User Testing Plan for the NewsNow iOS app. It includes information like our goals, testing script, pre and post surveys, and our methods of going about it. We will utilize this testing plan next semester, where we bring in participants to try out our app so we can gather information of how else to improve the UI design. Linked below, you can view our Beta + UX-RP presentation that we submitted for Mini-merge.
This class required us to get certified for Figma and Google Analytics for Beginners through LinkedIn Learning. I was already certified in Google Analytics because it was required for my Advertising Insights course during my undergrad, but it was a nice and needed refresher. I got to relearn about how to use the program and what the terms mean. For Figma, the video tutorials went more in depth about using the program and the tools, which was necessary since we used Figma a lot in the beginning of the program.
NMIX 7005E: Graduate Student Seminar
Throughout this course, my fellow teammates, Ereina Plunkett and Mamie Johnson, and I worked together for our Capstone project. We created deliverables to complete by each Alpha and Beta checkpoint for our iOS app, NewsNow.
Our product concept and team below:
An iOS app called NewsNow serves as an addicting news platform, delivering users with relevant news that aims to entertain. Ultimately, informing our audience of the news that matters and affects them. Our goal is simple: to make news fun! The primary purpose and function is to create a platform (in this case, a mobile app) that solves the growing threat of misinformation and the message fatigue that can come from reading the news by delivering timely news content that entertains. NewsNow will show users that staying informed can be entertaining.
Meet the Team
Ereina Plunkett
Content creator, co-designer and copywriter
Mamie Johnson
Co-designer, copywriter and website designer
Briana Griffiths
Lead software developer and co-designer
This course really challenged my team and me. We had to work strategically and with our busy schedules, it was sort of hard to meet quite often. After countless of all-nighters and a few stressful breakdowns, we were able to complete the NewsNow app. We utilized XCode, the Mastering Swift UI Textbook, lessons from Emuel’s Rich Media Production class and online tutorials to build our iOS app. Throughout, we would film and upload what we completed for each checkpoint on our NewsNow Capstone YouTube Playlist and would receive feedback from our instructor, Megan.
Before we could really dig into developing our app, we were first instructed to create a Project Brief which can be seen below. This is a cohesive brief that will act as our guide during our product development from start to finish. This file houses our research about the product, competitors, audience, and deliverables for each Alpha and Beta checkpoint.
The alpha stage was just building the rudimentary framework of the iOS app. As close as possible, I followed Ereina’s prototype she made in Figma from our One Project assignment last semester during JRMC 7011E: Project Management and Innovation. We had to make a few pivots of the app as we continued to develop our Design Systems for NewsNow.
The beta stage was the most challenging. Since I just had to work on building most of the framework during the Alpha stage, the Beta stage was making sure I got the features to function. The hardest feature to create was the camera. Creating a camera app is very complex and I had to go through countless of tutorials online to find one that finally worked.
Below, you can find links to our NewsNow medium journal and the product website that we created as a team. These links house information about our overall Emerging Media journey and how the NewsNow iOS app came to be.
Overall, I really appreciated this course because it allowed my incredible teammates and I to use our brains and work together. Even though we had faced some challenges, we were able to make this product that was originally just an idea come to life.
NMIX 4310E: Rich Media Production
Rich Media Production has been one of my favorite classes. As much as I complain about coding, I really enjoyed learning about app development and getting to see my ideas and work come to life. We used the program XCode to build our iOS apps. It really challenged my thinking abilities and my skills. I was even able to use everything I learned towards building my NewsNow Capstone project. With the help of Emuel and my awesome classmates in the #support Slack group, I was able to create these cool projects you see below!
Every week we were assigned 1 – 3 assignments. It started off easy and then the assignments definitely became more challenging. We followed the lessons in the Mastering Swift UI textbook and replicated or created our own masterpieces. This course really taught us the fundamentals of creating an iOS app in XCode and it made me really think about having a possible career in app development.
Overall skills and topics learned:
- Creating lists
- Navigations
- Animations + Transitions
- Swift UI Buttons + Button Styles
- Gradients
- Gestures
- State + Binding Variables
- Arc Sliders
- Loading a JSON feed
- Maps
- Creating a jukebox
- Slideshows
For our midterm project, we were told to create our own app by using knowledge from the lessons we learned. I decided to create an app for my Foodie Instagram, itsFoodieDay.
I used navigation links to direct the user to the proper pages, had a list for the restaurants I visited that would then open to their individual reviews that I wrote, used VStacks throughout to format the app, added a newsletter sign-up form, and had a link to my itsFoodieDay Instagram. This assignment was really fun to do because I got to create something personal. I plan to extend this project for my final assignment, as you will see further below.
For my final project, I wanted to elaborate more on my midterm project. I added modal views to fix a few navigation issues, created a favorites list where the user can favorite, delete, or check-in to the restaurants, added a photo gallery and a map view of their locations.
I combined my knowledge from previous lessons in the Mastering Swift UI textbook with a few tutorials from online. The most challenging part about this project was definitely the map view. There were few tutorials online about adding multiple annotations to a map. After countless of hours and trials and errors, I finally found one that worked! I was able to create an array that would pull their latitudes and longitudes to display each location and highlight them by putting a rounded rectangle around them.
I faced many challenges in this class (especially when it came to accidentally leaving out a closed bracket). Everything was so new to me, and sometimes I would have to look at online tutorials for it. Luckily, there are so many resources and ways to do things and I was overall excited to do these assignments. HTML and JS is not my strong suit, but this type of coding was really up my alley.
NMIX 5110E: Advanced New Media Production
This was personally one of my hardest classes of the semester. If you accidentally leave out a bracket or parenthesis, it will ruin the whole code. It took a lot of time and patience to get through some of these assignments. I am personally not a fan of coding but this class did challenge me to think out of the box. I had no clue that I could make some of these cool features on these websites using HTML5 and JavaScript! With the help of Emuel, online forms, and our #support Slack group chat, I was able to accomplish these assignments. I had to be very detailed oriented and organized because it is so easy to mess up and overlook mistakes.
We each created an HTML index page that would house all of our assignments and projects for this course. You can check all of them out by clicking the button below.
Overall skills and topics learned:
- Vue Components
- Links
- Lists
- JavaScript
- HTML5
- CSS Styling
- Slideshows
- Animations
- JSON Feed
- API’s
- Building a calculator
- Flex-box
- Forms
Some examples of our assignments below:
This was part of the last few projects we had during this course. It was basically an extension of our Cat API assignment. I created Vue Components in JavaScript and pulled information from Emuel’s Cat API to load a slideshow and display information of each breed of cat. I even added a top navigation bar and a Back to the Top button!
For my final project, I wanted to create a website for the holiday season. Behold, my Christmas website! The features include:
- Snow animation
- A Santa gif
- A Santa cursor
- Embedded Spotify playlist
- Countdown to Christmas
- Make-your-own Christmas wishlist
- Whack-the-Grinch game
I used CSS styling and JavaScript to create this website. I looked up tutorials from W3 Schools and from random sites to find some cool JavaScript codes to make this happen. For the countdown, I am able to change the date and time for it to countdown to and when it is midnight on Christmas day, it will display a “Merry Christmas! Ho, Ho, Ho!” message. As for the Christmas wishlist, I found a To-Do List JavaScript tutorial to create it. For the Whack-the-Grinch game, I used some of my knowledge from Kyla’s New Media Production class from the Summer when we created a JavaScript Arcade. I changed it up to be the Grinch instead! As you enjoy the website I created, I figured I should add my Happy Holla Days Spotify playlist to listen to in order to get into the Christmas spirit!
Overall, this course has taught me a lot about web development. Although I still don’t like coding as much, I really appreciated the opportunity to relearn, gain new knowledge, and put my skills to the test. While most of these websites that I created are not the prettiest, they were challenging to create and showed the skills I developed over the course.
Spring 2022
As far as the variety of my classes go, my third semester was very interesting. Not only did I have to continue my capstone project for NewsNow, I learned more about creating a decent portfolio, storytelling, climate change, social media marketing, and prototyping. Throughout this semester, I worked with a few teams for projects and had to hone in on my project management skills in order to complete deadlines.
Overall skills and topics learned:
- Prototyping
- Project Mangement
- XCode / SwiftUI
- Storytelling
- STAR Techniques
- Social Media Marketing
- User-Research
- UX-Testing
- Presentations
JRMC 6000E: Environmental Communication
This course was very different from the other courses we have taken throughout this program. Although most of the classes focused solely on UX / UI, this course taught us more about climate change. We watched many films, read articles, and discussed how climate change affects us and how it is perceived throughout mass media. At first, I wasn’t sure about this class and thought it would be very doom and gloom about climate change and the environment, but it was really eye-opening to see how much impact it has on our society. At the end of the semester, we were assigned to present one of the drawdown tactics and create a digital product for it. My team’s topic was mass transit, and we created a mobile app that will promote mass transit around Atlanta and reduce CO2 emissions. Overall, this class was a nice change of pace and allowed us to explore a topic I wasn’t very interested in at first.
Connect ATL App
I worked with a team to create the Connect ATL mobile app that promotes mass transit within the Atlanta community to reduce CO2 emissions. Our goal is to create a user friendly mobile app that acts as a one-stop shop for those who need to get around the city of Atlanta.
JRMC 7012E: Emerging Media Storytelling
This course focused on storytelling for different platforms and media such as written letters, music videos, films, documentaries, YouTube and social media platforms, video games, and smartphones. We were assigned to self-reflect after reading articles related to the topics and apply different methods to it. It has been a very long time since I’ve written an essay so this course was nice to get back into copy-write and analyze. The topics assigned were a great way to explore creative writing. The diversified content I have read and skills I have learned would help me write and narrate for my Capstone project.
Music Video Analysis: ‘All for Us’
For this assignment, we were tasked to pick a music video we could analyze within a 7-10 page paper. We were provided an example of a music video and a paper analysis that would act as guide. I chose the music video ‘All for Us’ from HBO’s show, Euphoria. It covered concepts such as: continuity, lighting and color, symbolism, lyrics, rhythm and harmony, and narrative.
For this assignment, we were tasked to pick any American film and analyze it based on politics and/or esthetics. I chose one of my favorite films, Hidden Figures, and covered topics such as: the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board of Education, classism, sexism, and intersectionality.
Creative Project: Smartphone Posters
For our final assignment, we were allowed to get a bit more creative and reflect on how our smartphones and social media have an impact on us. I chose to create graphics that would represent my relationship to my phone.
This poster relates to how connected and reliant we are to our devices. It portrays how we are constantly on our phones and intaking so much content that we can’t stop scrolling for hours upon hours that our movements basically become robotic.
This poster represents a breakup between our phones and us because we need to cut down on our screen times and connect withe the world outside of our devices. As tempting as it is to constantly be on our phones, every now and then a break is necessary for our mental, emotional, and physical health.
JRMC 7015E: Emerging Media Capstone
This class has allowed us to work as a team and create an innovative digital product throughout the EM program. We continued to develop our capstone project, NewsNow, and did final touches to the product to showcase for Emerge. As a group, we conducted UX testing of our Beta app and created a UX research report that included all our user-findings. Then, we took those findings into consideration as we made final iterations to the NewsNow app. This course has allowed us to adapt and get feedback as we create a compelling final presentation.
This course has challenged us to meeting deadlines and deliverables in a timely manner, as well improving the user-experience and my coding skills. It has also showed us what it’s like to work as a team for a long-term and project managing. We have come a long way since the beginning of NewsNow and I am so excited to show our process. I couldn’t have done it without my team members, Ereina Plunkett and Mamie Johnson, who I depended on throughout the Emerging Media program.
Capstone Narrative
Gone are the days where we depend on traditional news. NewsNow is a mobile iOS app that aims to challenge the way we receive the news and get the younger generation into becoming news lovers. NewsNow was developed using XCode and SwiftUi that allowed us to create a user-friendly app that distributes short 60-second news stories at the tap of your finger. The NewsNow app has various features including a scrollable feed, profile verification, messaging, and a way to browse through content based on categories. NewsNow prides itself on transforming the way we tell the news with real stories that are told in a real fun way. We prioritized the user-experience and conducted series of user-testing of our beta app. After more research and consideration of how else we could improve, we began creating our final product and presentation. There were many bugs in our beta, inconsistent formatting, and our project kept breaking which led to many setbacks. However, after restarting in a new project, we were able to create a much-improved version of the NewsNow app. Throughout this program, we learned to adapt, move forward when we faced any problems, and to have consistent communication within our team. Overall, we want NewsNow to become a trustworthy news source that people can rely on and enjoy as they cut the cords on cable news. NewsNow is the future of storytelling with real stories, real fun.
JRMC 8130E: Emerging Digital Audiences
This class is broken up into three modules: polished portfolios, social media strategy, and powerful presentations. It has prepared us for the real world and has expanded our professional skills and resources as we get closer to graduation. We looked at crafty portfolios and polished up our own, practiced analyzing and creating social media strategies as well as getting certified in Social Media Marketing, and created a compelling and powerful professional final presentation through group workshops. We also were assigned weekly journal prompts that would expand on the topics that we learned that week.
Overall, this course has made me think more about my future career aspirations, how to showcase my skills and projects, and going more in depth with the user-experience which would come in handy with packaging my Capstone project. I am really glad I was able to take this class because before I was still feeling a little lost with my next steps after graduation but this course has allowed me to grow confident and prepare my portfolio and resume for the real world.
Building a Portfolio
For this assignment, we were tasked to watch a series of LinkedIn Learning courses that would guide us in developing our own portfolios. Throughout the lesson, we filled our different worksheets that would be key to building our portfolio. It includes topics such as creating a mission statement, dream jobs and locations, and important projects. This has allowed me to really think about my future plans and what I want someone to experience as they go through my portfolio.
Social Media Marketing Certification
We watched a series of lessons through HubSpot Academy and took a few quizzes that would allow us to become Social Media certified. We learned about the best practices and strategies of social media.
CFA Headquarters Site Trip
As part of this course, we were able to attend a site trip to the Chick-fil-A HQ! We were able to tour the grounds and get the behind-the-scenes look at the test kitchens, as well as learning the history of the company and how it became a global brand that it is known for today. We spoke to a few Chick-fil-A team members under the customer support department that went over the iOS development, UX, work culture, tech, and more. It was a great way to see and hear the process behind the CFA app which I use on a daily basis.