and now for the hard part

in tutorial group today, I pitched the idea of getting some web designers that I've known on an online forum that I'm on to present and showcase the designs that they have. The evidence is on the new frontpage that they've designed for the forum. The news section is always up to date and they clearly have a passion for what they love.

The only part now is convincing.

The problem is that I've left most of my admin duties to a good friend of mine on the forum. I left the forum late last year when I was busy preparing to come to Melbourne. Thus, I wasn't exactly on deck to see the progress and the hard work these web designers have done over the past months. Even though I know these web designers, I haven't had any form of communication nor rapport with either of them. I guess I count myself lucky as I am still in good contact with my 'stand-in' admin.. but that's when the luck ends. The hard part now is reaching out to these web designers and trying to convince them to showcase their work and talents.

I'll probably sell them the idea that photographers, videographers and guitarists/singers are the ones claiming fame on youtube and other social media. Web designers are essentially 'the ones who do the dirty work and no one really appreciates them'. So this is a great opportunity for them to show the online community on POOL with a mytribe theme what they can do. Blogs or someone's fancy blogshop are always on the lookout for decorative designs... and I think this is where the web designers can step in and be counted. Like I've reiterated during tutorial last week, the future of media is online. What captures the attention of us online surfers is simply the stunning visual arts and effects that we constantly see on many sites. The point is to leave a good impression, because that counts alot. One of the many factors why Obama became president was that he had a very basic yet powerful design on his 'support' web page. People were lured to it more than McKain's messy page, with tons of links and adverts all over the place (I wish I could show it, but the links have long been removed. If you followed that campaign, you'll know what I'm talking about)

As for the content producer concept, I think my group is onto something good. We just need to have a concrete idea and flesh it out, which I'm quite confident we'll be able to in the coming weeks.