In relation to the article “Damnit, Jim, I’m a Writer…”

I read the “Damnit, Jim, I’m a Writer, Not a Graphic Designer! (Or, Who Gives a CRAP?)” article. Let me start off by saying that this website is sassy, and I love it. It is straight to the point while offering links and telling you several other websites that can help you. One of the big things that I learned was CRAP:

• Contrast
  Elements that aren’t the same should be very different so they stand out, making them “slightly different” confuses the user into seeing a relation that doesn’t exist. Strong contrast between page elements allows the user’s eye to flow from one to another down the page instead of creating a sea of similarity that’s boring and not communicative.
• Repetition
  Repeat styles down the page for a cohesive feel as if you style related elements the same way in one area, continue that trend for other areas for consistency.
• Alignment
  Everything on the page needs to be visually connected to something else, nothing should be out of place or distinct from all other design elements.
• Proximity
  Proximity creates related meaning: elements that are related should be grouped together, whereas separate design elements should have enough space in between to communicate they are different.

(Read more at: How C.R.A.P is Your Site Design? – Treehouse Blog http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/how-crap-is-your-site-design#ixzz2JzKVwoIt)

I think that this falls under critical literacy because it is knowing the subject extensively, being able to explain simply to someone else, and then practicing it and perfecting it for your own devices.

Then I learnt somethings that I will most likely use in my life more than the CRAP fundamentals  I found some free online photo editing site that I hadn’t known before, and they’re a lot better than just using an Instagram filter. I actually downloaded the Aviary photo editing app for the iPhone, and I plan on trying it out. I also downloaded Gimp to try out for a bit. As you can tell, I really like to edit photos, so finding good software that will allow me to do that is like a really awesome birthday present when it’s not my birthday.

The page about fonts was also very interesting to read. I love finding fonts and using them to spice up documents so learning what certain fonts mean was really helpful. The main thing was about the difference between serif and sans serif which I had never heard off.

Serif: A serif is the extra little stroke, those little curves, at the ends of letters:

Sans Serif: “Sans” literally means “without,” so a sans serif font does not include any extra stroke at the ends of the letters:

I believe that knowing fonts can be a functional digital literacy because they are simple to learn and see the difference between, as well as easy to use.

These are the few things I learned that had the biggest impact on me, and I may go back and read some other articles on the Web Writing Style Guide because they were extremely easy to read and they kept my attention.