Ryan Lopano Blog

When starting a long-term project, I believe the most important thing to do is to have a solid plan and create a well-written proposal. Preparation is the base layer of any project, and with structure in place, the base needs to be secure. This is the time when you do base research, come up with a plan, and figure out all the great details of the project.

The first, and personally most important, reason preparation is so important is that it helps you stay on track. When laying out a long-term project, it is very important to have a plan. When you prep in advance, you are able to do so. In addition, it also helps when things don’t go to plan. According to the University of Central Florida, “Preparation allows for strategic instead of reactionary thinking. By committing to strategic thinking, one can anticipate speed bumps and canyons and look for alternate routes and solutions before needing them. This type of planning allows you to react quicker than if your time were spent in reaction mode.” This is a very important point because there will always be speed bumps and being prepared will help you maneuver around them smoothly.

Another benefit of preparing ahead of time is being able to have more time to do the more enjoyable parts of the project. When you get all the preparation done in beginning, you have more time to do creative aspects later on. This is better than doing everything all at once, where you aren’t giving it 100%. Black House Creative talks about this, saying, “When you take the time to plan what needs to be done and how you will do it, you are able to approach tasks with more clarity and purpose. This inevitably saves time and ensures that you are taking the right steps to achieve your goals.” This creative agency is really looking at it from a design perspective, which I really appreciate as a fellow graphic designer. It also just reassures the importance of this process.

All this preparation comes together when you are creating your proposal. The proposal is the place where you lay out what you are doing and how you are doing it. This is very important for getting other people to see the vision you have in your head. Duquesne University Small Business Development Center says, “a good business plan not only helps entrepreneurs focus on the specific steps necessary for them to make business ideas succeed, but it also helps them to achieve short-term and long-term objectives.” This is very important when it comes to long-term projects that need all of this preparation.

This leads back to my proposal for a content creation journey I plan on going on for the next seven weeks. I plan on creating content about the safety of hockey and this history of the gear, and how it affected protection. The proposal is attached below, but the process itself really thought me about the importance of preparation and how a good proposal and a good structure overall can build a great project.

The New York Rangers are a professional hockey team that competes in the National Hockey League (NHL). They have four Stanley Cup Championships, including their most recent one in 1994, and have been in the league for over 100 years. As a huge hockey fan and a New York native, the Rangers have been a very important part of my life. Because of this, I want to help elevate their social media presents.
The Rangers have a great opportunity to improve their branding and capitalize on the recent success of the Knicks. Sports pride is at an all-time high near Madison Square Garden, and around the entire city, and it would be very smart for the Rangers to take advantage of it. With New York being one of the biggest sports markets in the world, having high quality photography, videography, and graphics would be a great way to achieve this. While doing research for this campaign, I found some excellent work from the Carolina Hurricanes, showing some top notch graphic design and social media work. One of my favorite creatives from the Hurricanes, is Jack Ridenour, who has create some excellent graphics for the playoffs and other special events. Some of his work is shown bellow.

Now that we’ve seen some high quality work, now it is important to see the strategy behind the New York Rangers 2026-27 social media campaign. As seen in the Knicks playoff run, New York had ridiculously large following. Now that New York sports are at an all time high, I think it is very important to the Rangers to capitalize on these fans. Regardless of if they care about hockey, these fans care about New York. If you are able to show them what is so cool about hockey, such as the high quality goals and the physical fights, you could get them hooked onto both hockey and the Rangers. When creating this campaign, the goals were to increase the Rangers’ Instagram engagement rate by over 15% over a three-month time period and increase the percentage of New York City based followers by 10%. Both of these relate back to the message of the campaign and show how important it is to relate back to New Yorkers.

Links in a social media post are a very difficult subject when it comes to advertising online. Social media platforms actively discourage you from sharing links. This is something that they do very intentionally. The goal of their platform is to keep you there, so by encouraging links, you are jeopardising that. The Science of Social Media Podcast did a study on this, and it showed that tweets with links had 7.2% fewer retweets and 28% less reach than tweets without links. In addition, LinkedIn impressions decrease by 3 times, and the engagement rate is increased by 70% when you don’t have a link.

Despite these statistics, it is very important to move social media followers to other avenues, including websites or other social platforms. There are some tricks to share links, such as putting them in your bio, where social media platforms intend you to put them, and using features like Instagram stories to share links. These methods are statistically better when trying to share links on social media. It is smart to do it with tricks like these, as it limits the social media platform from hiding your post.

I personally think that this dilemma is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it makes total sense why the social media platforms do not want you to leave their platform; it makes them more money the longer you stay. Despite this, links are important for business, and these social platforms know this. If you weren’t able to share links, many businesses wouldn’t use that platform to advertise. Because of this, it seems like the platforms allow users to use these links but don’t encourage it.

Overall, it is important to know how links work on social media. After seeing statistics and learning tricks like these, you can more efficiently use links in a way that still promotes your posts.

Of all the social media platforms, Instagram seems to be the most widespread. The platform has been around since 2010 and has about three billion monthly active users globally. With a combination of their longevity, widespread features, and range of users, it seems to be the best program for a brand to use to advertise.

Something I believe is very strong with Instagram is the different types of content that can be posted. On the app, you have the ability to post reels, posts, and stories. On top of this, you can edit straight in the app, post highlights, start livestreams, and create funrasiers. All of these features make Instagram perfect for creating and releasing a wide range of content. Having posts is great for sharing graphics and photos with your audience; reels are perfect for sharing short-form video content, and stories are images or videos that disappear from the profile after 24 hours. These three are the main ways to post content on Instagram and grow an audience. Having a variety of content is benifical, and Instagram makes it very easy to do so.

In addition, Instagram is perfect for business or content creators because of their algorithim. Instagram has a built-in algorithm that is made to push content out to people who would be interested. According to Instagram itself, “Each part of the app – Feed, Explore, Reels – uses its own algorithm tailored to how people use it. People tend to look for their closest friends in Stories, but they want to discover something entirely new in Explore. We rank things differently in different parts of the app, based on how people use them.” These custom algorithms are made specifically to show both followers and non-followers content that relates to their interests. This is the main way to spread your content on the platform, and it seems to work well.

Overall, I believe that the features of Instagram are very beneficial to content creators, and it is crucial to post content on there when advertising a business or non-profit.

As a graphic designer who loves sports, it really sucks to see so many people and teams use artificial intelligence to create graphics. I work for two junior hockey teams, and it seems like half the teams in those leagues are using some sort of AI when creating logos or graphics. It’s really disappointing to see s it takes away opportunities from real creatives. In addition to this, it is quite obvious when teams use it as all of the work looks the same.

For example, I’ve attached four graphics below from four separate teams. Despite them being from different organizations entirely, they all basically look the same. AI can only (try to) recreate things that already exist and can’t come up with their own original ideas. In addition, it messes up simple things like logos and letters. Something I’ve noticed is the style of graphic that AI produces is virtually identcal. It always has this handwritten (ironic I know) font with a darker background.

Even though these examples are coming from minor league and youth organizations, it still can and unfortunately does happen with professional teams. For example, the Colorado Avalanche recently used AI to create goal videos for their current 2026 playoff campaign. As seen in the tweet below, the Avalanche’s logo, a player, and their name are all AI-generated with snow and icicles on them. This was received very poorly by fans, with them still commenting three weeks after the first AI video was posted. Some quotes from that tweet show, “avsmin pls stop using the ai :/” and “Lazy pig team has to use AI for goal graphics LMAO.” In addition to that, many comments on actually design graphics claim that it makes it difficult for them to trust what is real and what is fske. That is obviously a problem and a terrible look on the organization.

MAKE IT 4️⃣ IN GAME FOUR pic.twitter.com/4WypgRoYdF

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 26, 2026

Overall, these AI graphics are very lazy and are really taking over the sports world. I really hope that people keep fighting back against this so teams don’t take the easy road and use them.

Do you know how important music is? It really isn’t anything we think about often, but it is so ridiculously in our lives. For example, I’m listening to music while writing this, and I wouldn’t have even realized if I wasn’t talking about music itself. I find myself listening to music when doing anything really: walking to class, doing work, eating, cleaning, legit anything. And from talking to my peers and the people around me, they feel the exact same way.

For my final article, I intend to talk about this exactly. Going into detail on why and how music is so important. In addition to this, I intend on learning about how the music we listened to growing up impacts what we currently listening too. This is something I’ve been very intrested just based on the music my friends and I listen to. For example, my mom listens to 70s and 80s pop-rock, and my dad listens to more 90s rock and roll and hip hop. I am very cruious on how this alignes to what I listen to and how it relates to my peers.

Marketing is very important when it comes to online articles. I know I constantly scroll through LinkedIn and see advertising for articles, businesses, and other professional ventures. Talking about LinkedIn, I plan on using the article image photo as my main marketing piece. I want to do so in order to build brand equity and build familiarity with it. Shown below is an image that can and might be used in my final article.

For Instagram and X, it is important to have more eye-catching images and graphics. For Instagram, I would make a sliding photo album showing many artists, which eventually leads to the article advertisement. I would also take advantage of the music feature on Instagram and add a few songs to the photo album. This would tie it back to the article with the music theme. For X, I would do something very similar but only using one photo. I find that one photo is more effective and generally looks better than the limited four that X allows you to use. Examples of both of these are below.

When you are writing, there is a clear difference between writing for a quick skim through from the eye versus reading it outloud for many to hear. Personally, when I am writing for reading internally, it is filled with much more context and details, as you don’t have the verbal inflections to go off of. Zinser mentions that, “Verbs are the most important of all your tools. in Chapter 10.” Giving this context, through verbs and other ways of speech, is important because it isn’t always obvious, and you need to let the writing do the heavy lifting.

You need to make sure that when a reader is going over your work, it is easy to tell the context. According to Zinser, “Writing that will endure tends to consist of words that are short and strong.” These strong words are really important when you aren’t audibly reading work. The words need to have an important meaning as they are the only thing the reader has to go off of. That is why it is important to include these when writing for internal reading.

Reading outloud doesn’t have this issue. You have the ability to hear and see what the reader wants you to see, so this gives you all the information you need to know. One disadvantage of listening to work out loud is that you don’t have the ability to go back. Because of this, it is important to absorb all the important information and try to understand everything that is being said. When giving speeches, you want to make sure you speak strongly so the listeners understand everything you are talking about and take it as intended.

Both reading and listening have their positives and negatives. It is really based on personal preference, but both are important. Knowing how to write both is very useful, and adding extra details based on which one you are writing for is very useful.

Context is the invisible force that shapes how readers understand information. Words do not exist in isolation; they arrive surrounded by tone, timing, framing, and expectation. A sentence that feels neutral in one setting can feel persuasive, misleading, or even dangerous in another. This is why context matters just as much as content.

In media and writing, context is built through selection. What comes first, what is emphasized, and what is left out all guide interpretation. A statistic placed after an emotional anecdote feels different than the same statistic presented alone. A headline can prime a reader to feel anger or trust before they even reach the body of an article. These choices are rarely accidental. They are tools writers use—consciously or not—to steer understanding.

Context also relies heavily on audience assumptions. Writers often anticipate what a reader already believes and build around it. When an article aligns with a reader’s expectations, it feels “obvious” or “true,” even if opposing information exists elsewhere. This is how framing works: by narrowing the lens, writers can make one interpretation seem natural and others seem unreasonable.

Timing plays a role as well. Information released during a crisis is read differently from the same information shared during calm conditions. Urgency compresses critical thinking, while familiarity breeds acceptance. Over time, repeated framing becomes normalized, and readers stop questioning it altogether. At that point, context stops feeling like context and starts feeling like reality.

None of this means context is inherently unethical. Context is necessary for clarity. Without it, information becomes fragmented and meaningless. The ethical line appears when context is used to conceal complexity rather than explain it—when framing replaces truth instead of supporting it.

For readers, understanding context is a form of literacy. Asking what is missing, why something is emphasized, and who benefits from a particular framing restores agency. For writers, being aware of context is a responsibility. Meaning is not just written; it is constructed. And often, what surrounds the message matters more than the message itself.

Context is the most important thing in writing. If you do not give the reader context, they will not understand what is going on. Giving context is like giving vision to someone who can’t see; it’s ridiculously important. According to American painter Kenneth Noland, “Context is the key; from that comes the understanding of everything.” This shows how important context is. Without it, no one understands what you are talking about.

Context is ridiculously important when it comes to blog posts. When you are writing blogs, you have zero idea who is reading them. That is why it is so imporant why you add context to your writing. Adding quotes and other sources helps give context to the people who don’t fully understand what is going on. I have used hyperlinks and other sources plenty of times to understand what writting is talking about and to give more understanding than the original reading has.

Without context, you can really manipulate the perspective of the reader. Famous writer, Mark Twain, talks about how “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.” I think this is very telling, as it shows that misinformation can lead to widespread manipulation of people. When reading articles and other publications, it is very easy to find misinformation or platform who are trying to twist the truth. That is why it is super important when reading things like that to fact-check and make sure all the information is correct, and to make sure everything you are reading is factual. Going back and using common sense is ridiculously important.

All in all, using context is super important when reading an article you are unfimiliar about. You want to make sure that the article is factual and that you use all your sources to look back and make sure all the information is correct. According to Rudyard Kipling, “Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

When going through different articles, you can definitly seem a divide between the people who are actual writers and people who aren’t. Even as someone who doesn’t consider himself a writer, it still seems pretty clear who knows their stuff. A big part of this is who the writing is actually targeted to. I find that more experienced writers tend to gear their articles towards the reader themselves. I compare this to less experienced writers who sometimes lack detail and don’t give context to their articles.

Someone who doesn’t agree with my philosophy is William Zinsser. He talks about how important it is to write for yourself. He specifically says, “There is no such audience; every reader is a different person,” in Chapter 5. I don’t fully disagree with this, but I do find more value in writing towards the writer. I think it leads to a better overall experience.

Going deeper into Zinsser’s philosophy, he talks about how “Editors and readers don’t know what they want to read until they read it. Besides, they’re always looking for something new.” I definitely understand what he is getting at. I think a good analogy to this is when people say they have trouble picking something to watch on Netflix or other streaming services due to there being so many options. I believe Zinsser would think that would be the same thing when it comes to writing. It is difficult to pick an article with the number of options that are out there. In addition, the audience isn’t experts and doesn’t truly know what they want.

I feel like this brings me back to my point of the difference between writing for your audience versus yourself. When you are writing to a smaller audience or to yourself, you leave out details and don’t need to deal with people “not knowing what they want.” This definitely isn’t the case when you expand the audience. In addition to an increase in audience, you increase the reach. With this, you need to adjust your writing to match and fit what is expected.