WHITNEY SIMMONS

The Creative Process

When I first read through this LEAP assignment, it initially brought on a blanket of stress because I am not very confident in either my design or video making skills, pretty much the two skills needed to successfully complete this project. However, that is not a feeling I am unfamiliar with. Most projects in college seem overwhelming at first glance and seem out of reach but as with anything, after I read through the instructions multiple times and took a few deep breaths, I knew I could make my LEAP assignment great. Being given the freedom to choose a social media influencer I am a long-time fan of, truly made this project enjoyable and interesting to construct. A lot of thought, time, and effort went into creating this project and building a well-constructed, concise video with a visually appealing web page.

First, I knew I wanted to choose an influencer whom I felt a connection with and someone I knew I would be eager to learn more about, take a deep dive into analyzing her craft, and then create a really great analysis about. For me, that was Whitney Simmons, a fitness and lifestyle influencer most prevalent in the Instagram and YouTube communities. She is someone that I feel embodies many of the qualities and values I find that align with my own and so choosing to create various displays about her was honestly something I enjoyed doing. After I selected who I wanted to work on, I then went to Whitney's YouTube page to find what video I thought really displayed who Whitney is and what she stands for which was one of her recent “Question and Answer” videos. Once I selected what work I wanted to evaluate, I began to look more in depth at the video and answer questions such as, what audience is she trying to cater to?, and what values does she hold closest to her and use in her daily life? It was very interesting to look into deeper questions when watching one of Whitney’s videos to find a deeper meaning to the work she puts out.

Next, after answering the basic questions I then went on to designing the web page, which like I said...not one of my strong suits. I consistently recognize my weakness in this area and so I truly do value projects such as this, that push me to go outside my comfort zone and force me to fine tune such a vital skills that are necessary in today’s society. I started by finding pictures of Whitney that portrayed her fitness side and strength, which is what she is best known for, and then for my icon I chose a more laid back and upbeat photo of her that is from her clothing line launch with Gymshark. After choosing what photos I wanted to use, I then thought about how I wanted to lay out and design my page. Knowing I wanted my creative process front and center, that is what I chose to put first, followed by all of Whitney’s social media platforms so my audience could get a closer look into what she does and what she is about. Following that, I included my screencast video analyzing and displaying even more about Whitney's art, but zeroing in on one specific video.

Now that the easy part is over, I can go into explaining the struggles I faced throughout the creation of this project...and I hate to say it but there’s a couple! I would say the aspect of this project I found the most challenging was the screencast, mostly due to the fact I had never used the tool before and so I didn’t have much experience prior. However, after experimenting a little with how to use and make a screencast I felt much more comfortable using the website when it was time for the real take. Next, I ran into somewhat of a creative block when designing my page because there are so many different ways to design a page, especially one to your own liking. Similar to how I familiarized myself with screencasting, all it took was a little trial and error of using various page layouts and seeing which one fit my vision best. This project helped push me outside of my comfort zone and helped get me more accustomed to how to use certain websites and web tools that I know will help me in the future!

Whitney's Social Medias

Twitter: @WhitneyySimmons

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/def6612b-4c68-4d9e-9cd4-72e541908efa/whit_twitter.png

Instagram: @WhitneyySimmons

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/842d71e5-5807-4315-8854-af2b98159e89/whit_insta.png

YouTube: Whitney Simmons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmSXVPApUfg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iQkwcqLo34&t=298s

Fitness App: ALIVE by Whitney Simmons

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/0f75f7fa-ea23-434a-8f07-9eb545802d06/alive_whit_2.jpg

My YouTube Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_b0HgsyD5M