How We Make the Media of the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association
By Meredith Ammons
My first assignment
My first project with NCSMA was making an entirely new website on the Web dot UNC platform. I had never had an opportunity to attend any NCSMA-sanctioned events when I was in high school. However, my sister was a Chuck Stone Scholar in 2011. My only experience with designing the website before was my introduction to web design here in the Hussman School. My professor recommended me for the job! At first, I was very apprehensive in taking the job due to my lack of experience. However, it turned out to be a more perfect fit than I could imagine.
The Research
The first part of redesigning any website is to do research. The NCSMA website had not been redesigned since the late 00s. So, we were looking to get a more modern look. Before I had even started, Monica Hill and José Valle had already pulled some websites for inspiration. One of the main inspirations was the NY Philharmonic because of its modern and simplistic look.
The other part of the research is finding out how to create the desired look with limited means. UNC’s version of WordPress only allows for a few themes and plugins. This meant we had to be extremely creative in how we could create our vision. I even met with one of the UNC Librarians in the Undergraduate Library with a wide variety of questions.
Implementation
The overhaul of the website took over three months, from March 2019 to May 2019. We used a temporary weblink to keep all of the coding and copy without messing with the website. It gave us the ability to start from scratch annd prevented accidental glitches if someone were to go to the website during construction. After the completion, all of the pages were transferred to the main domain. I am still incredibly proud of the work the entire NCSMA team put into the website creation!
My Most Recent Project
Since my joining of the NCSMA team full time, I have found a variety of new loves in the world of media and journalism. The biggest of those loves has to be graphic design and illustration. In my second semester of sophomore year, I was able to take a graphic design class and learn how to use the Adobe Suite basics, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Eventually, I would teach myself a few more such as AfterEffects, Lightroom and Character Animator. Also, during the pandemic, I bought myself an iPad Pro and learned to draw on that.
As a result, I have been in charge of creating branding and art for NCSMA. Recently, I have created all of the Zoom backgrounds for every camp and meeting.
My favorite graphic design project so far has been this year’s logo for the NCSMI. It was quite the process to make. However, I could not be prouder of the final result.
The Initial Meeting
The most influential group in the design process of the NCSMI logo is the student officers. We had an initial meeting at the end of the last year, through Zoom, to talk about their ideas for the theme of the 2021 institute. I am there to help fuel the conversations and offer up possible logo ideas.
The Multitude of Drafts
The first drafts were created right after the meeting. These are a series of rough sketches used to convey a very basic idea of what the logo will look like. They are very basic to avoid spending too much time on something that is going to be thrown out. Also, it allows you to illustrate more ideas in a shorter period of time.
After one sketch was chosen, we moved on to have a few more detailed designs. I took pictures of my hands and traced them to get realistic-looking outlines. After that, I made a few designs with small changes. One example has the hands colored in. Also, I played around with the color of the text. The final design is, by far, my favorite!
Conclusion
I am forever grateful for the NCSMA team. Without them, I would have not become the well-rounded designer I am today. They have given me the freedom to create work I would have never thought of doing. As a senior, I am truly going to miss my NCSMA family.