Reflection
How Do I Feel About this Project, as the Author?
Overall, I'm very proud of this project! I was successful in incorporating multiple media types of primary and secondary sources from various centuries and cultures. I feel like each media type was able to be incorporated well, no matter if it was strictly visual, audio, text, or a mixed media source. I believe that this also worked well in showcasing the project's theme, since age-related cognitive decline was showcased in different forms, as well as supporting the idea that dementia may be an "ancient disease." I am also pleased with the variety and depth of information I was able to put forth in regards to the history of age-related cognitive decline and probable dementia's. However, I must admit that I had previously planned for a much more in-depth and accessible site before I realized just how much time and man-power site-creation takes. For instance, I wanted to include some resources like traditional folksongs, however it was a lot harder to find examples that could be used within Copyright law. Similarly, I had planned for the final version of my site to be completely accessible for those with visual impairments, hearing impairments, colorblindness (of all types), and language processing disorders. However, I also didn't realize how long creating/adding all of these features would be for every item and page; therefore, only certain accessibility features were able to be incorporated into a majority of the items. If I had (or in the future have) a much longer deadline or had multiple individuals helping to create this site, then I'm sure that it would fully surpass the goals I had originally set out with.
During class and outside research, I paid a lot of attention to how different exhibits have previously been set up in order to get a feel of how I wanted mine to look. Specifically, I wanted to keep in mind that my project revolves around a very sensitive, and though historical, current aspect of modern day life. With this in mind, I always liked examples of exhibits that structurally and aesthetic-wise reminded me of museums and felt as if this would be a great framework for my topic. I tried to arrange the tabs on my site in a way that felt as if everything can be viewed in any order, and sorted the items accordingly. Personally, I really love reading plaques and listening to informational audio made for an item(s) while I'm at museums; I also typically enjoy learning some of the more in depth history behind the item, to a point that makes me appreciate it even more. I intended that not every viewer would witness each item/aspect of the overall exhibit, so I felt that adding a deeper background for each item wouldn't overwhelm someone who may not have the same preferences as me. Further, I wrote on two separate pages that this exhibit is intended to be viewed in order of personal interest. I felt as if this overall structure made it very easy to do so, while also providing a lot of historical information no matter where you look.
Though I chose a more simple looking style for my project, based on various museum sites, I will be the first to admit that this aspect of the project needs the most improvement. Even though almost everything to do with creating this exhibit is completely new to me, I struggled the most with the "aesthetics" portion. Personally, I have a very hard time making digital creations that balance being professional, visually appealing, and unique. This became a big struggle when visually creating this site, even though I had all of the information and plan for what to do. Further, I didn't want the exhibit to come across like it was treating the topic in a joking or blasé way, especially because of how sensitive it is. After many trial and errors, including on my WordPress, I came up with a very simple design. I didn't want a colored or image-based background, as this took too much away from items I was featuring. I also couldn't figure out how to incorporate heading or linked word-colors well , other than very muted ones, as I was only making it look very tacky; similarly, almost all of the fonts I chose kept looking as if they may convey the wrong meaning (i.e. most cursive and skinny fonts would be much too hard to read for accessibility, and others are associated with unrelated topics or genres like poetry or movies). Therefore, the aesthetics I chose to ultimately change the most were image and file sizes, for emphasis, font size changes, and a few accessibility features. However, within many of the maps and the timeline I included, I felt that I was able to have more specifically designed visual choices, like bold color and font, without it taking away from the information and items I was displaying.