I hope I'm doing this right! For my first blog post, I am choosing three political campaign websites for the upcoming presidential election. I thought this would be relevant to us because all we seem to hear about is who we should vote for, and if you're like me, you're getting tired of it all! Up first, Donald Trump:
www.donaldjtrump.com
I am assuming the author of this site is the campaign team for Mr. Trump. Obviously the purpose of this site is to convince the American people to vote for Trump for president. The content on the site is intended to change the hearts and minds of voters by convincing them this particular person would be the best nominee. I believe the audience is the American voter while the genre is a website. The context trips me up just a little bit but I think the authors put this information into a website because it is an easy way for people to get a lot of information at any place and time. The design choices in this example include a large picture of Trump with his slogan written next to it. The word America is in large lettering so it really stands out to the reader. Also, the information on the site is user-friendly and includes media and press release sections. The site colors are red and blue, which are patriotic colors. On to the next one:
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/
Again, I have to assume the authors of this website touting Hilary Clinton for president are a campaign team. The purpose, yet again, is to convince the voting public that Mrs. Clinton is the absolute best person for the job! The audience is any American who is registered to vote, and the genre is a website. The context is probably similar to the above example in that the authors wanted to put together a site that is user-friendly and allows the reader information about Clinton and why we should vote for her over any other candidate. The great thing about a website is its convenience for readers; they can see the information on their desktops, tablets or smartphones. Clinton's site is a little different in that it first asks the reader to sign something and give their zip code. I didn't do this and I'm not sure why this information was asked for. I proceeded straight to the site where I was immediately asked to donate money. The "Donate" button was bright red to catch the attention of the visitor. The site consisted of blue and red colors just like Trump's, and had an Issues and Newsfeed tab. There was also a large picture of Mrs. Clinton on the homepage.
www.2016election.com
I decided to go a slightly different route with my third example. This site gives information about all the candidates and does not lean left or right. I'm actually not certain who authored this page as I was unable to find that information. The purpose is to give the public information about each voter, and includes things like poling and prediction charts. The audience is the American public but not just registered voters. I think this site is for anyone who just wants to be better informed about the candidates. The genre is, again, a website. The context is somewhat different from the first two. Of course, the fact it is a website means it is highly accessible but I did notice there were advertisements on the site for things like tax preparation services. The setup was also different. The site had rectangular boxes with pictures that the reader could click on for information. All in all, this site contained quite a bit of info and was not as user friendly as the other two.
