ROUND III: final

Round III

this image takes on a negative presentation. From phase I, the image has been rendered with pen and ink, and the composition has not been changed a whole lot. There is much more finite texture in this piece, which is accomplished through the illustration style.

In terms of a message, the visual style of this illustrative image has a code. The rendering method carries a definite aesthetic. The naive linework and organic forms suggest that it has a negative connotation, but not overly so. The way the linework starts to deconstruct the image suggests an element of disarray, or lack of confidence. I dont feel like the image carries as much negative weight as i anticipated. The grid paper in the background, coupled with the color choices lead me to interpreting the style as almost trivializing the negative aspects of this piece, making it just a touch less negative. As for a channel, the image is derived from an image i supplied, which is effective.

Postcard 1: Final

Postcard 1: sketches

Crit Information

As for my formal approach, i felt that in both instances the audience would benefit from imagery that is a little bit more tactile to them. for this reason i chose to render my posters using a combination of illustration and photography, overlayed with digital type. This approach helps to make the posters a little more personal, which i believe helps the message come through better.

These posters use a couple of rhetorical tropes to make their message clear. it is a mix of metaphor, pun, and hyperbole. My audience was carefully researched and i concluded that the hand generated approach, along with a coupling with the economy topic was effective.

for the drop poster, i used metaphor (the comet representing the economy and general outlook) and hyperbole (by implying that not only is it dropping, but it is crashing on our heads)

the empty poster utilizes the metaphor trope for the gas gauge representing the economy, and pun with the use of the word "fill"

>empty.pdf
>drop.pdf
>process.pdf

Demographic research

Chosen Demographic: African American citizens

1) Predominantly shared values:

Strong family bonds
Strong work orientation
Strong religious orientation
Adaptable family roles
Church and Community orientated, their support network
Distrust of government an social services: feel the government doesnt care about them
Strong sense of pride. Don't like to ask for help
Use prayer and other non-physical means of healing
Poverty impacts education, self-esteem, quality of life, and lifestyle across the lifespan
Seniors are very highly respected
Family matters often stay within the family, for fear of being disgraced
Most prefer the term "African American"
African American women are often assertive
Children can often be the center of attention (in terms of life focus)


2) Political issues that are important to them:

Racially related issues are at the top of the list.
Black on Black crime
Economy. Recession is worrysome
Education
Election tampering (they want to be heard!)
Community issues and funding for those
Social programs
Government aide

3) Cultural references

Cultural references for African American citizens stem mostly from racism. Because of their heritage, the racial tension between blacks and whites has been excessive an well documented. The face of that racism has certainly changed over the last 100 years dramatically. But some of those historic references show through today. Work related opportunities, and things that affect the community have always been a uniting aspect of the culture.


4) Visual Audit

Generally speaking, the graphic landscape for this demographic is not very subtle. Image and appearance is usually a consideration. The type of car a person has, for example, is often used as a status symbol in the culture. Often associate with mainstream media, such as new music, movies, an art. Individualism is sought after, and generally having a unique personal style is appealing.

5) Reasons cited for not voting:

Too busy or conflicting schedule
Illness or disability
Not interested
Voter registration problems
Did not like candidates or campaign issues
Feel unheard
Feel like they are not cared about

VL: 4 applications

MX: Final Newsletter

Completed.

VL: final selections, and matrix

VL: Symbols

Symbols:

PSI

MX: Newsletter rough draft

For my 'final' considerations, i have chosen the aesthetic of one of my previous sketches, but added more the functionality of some of the others. A major component of this newsletter is in giving the user the ability to form a list of their own tags, and rate them according to the person's own significance. It can be updated on the fly according to your mood, or changing cultural interests.

My newsletter (Personal News Feed) will assimilate the news for the day (constantly updating) and by using their tags, will give each story a rating according to the user's tag list hierarchy. Posts/stories are rated, and are displayed story by story, giving the appropriate ratings respectively, as well as by date: giving the user the ability to gauge the "importance" of the news, per their interests.

when the user chooses a story to read, they are presented with a brief paragraph from that story. There will be a dropdown menu of sorts that will allow the user to visually scroll through the top tags from the story, and select one that grabs their interest. when they do so, the paragraph displayed will quickly change to reflect the passage where the tag they selected is located, giving the user more control over how their results are displayed, and letting them 'skim' their results not only visually, but efficiently as well. From that same dropdown menu, the user will have the ability to share the article with a variety of web 2.0 sources like digg or blogger.

Multimedia Experience | Post 1: Sketches and Info

I chose to base my designs around an urban professional user, whose interests include fantasy football, and home brewing. Both of these interests involve a large time investment, careful planning, and a near flawless execution in order to be successful.

home brewers are generally pretty meticulous people. often their interest in beers is very fine tuned, which is shown by their brewing choices. no one home brewer (or, "craft brewer") will ever just tell you that they're brewing 'Beer'. it will always be very specific, and often times, plentiful. these people love to talk about their beers, and some don't even consume much of the brew they make. it is very much a social thing. Beer competitions and festivals are also a must. Craft brewers keep an eye on the competitions quite closely, and are big supporters of the Beer Competition economy.

Fantasy football players are often just as consumed with their game as the brewers their beer. owning a successful fantasy team in a competitive league requires lots of reading, and watching. since player inter league transactions take place on a regular basis, it is important to keep yourself apprised of NFL happenings, and make adjustments to your team as needed. These gamers spend a lot of time on the internet reading articles and trolling through the forums. Major news sites such as NYtimes, and CNN are visited quite frequently when browsing for this information.

MY SKETCHES:


This design would enable the user to have a number (two, for this class) of feed themes, or tags that are collected and rated by the website. users would manage their feed ratings through a navigation panel and the line graph formed by the feeds would represent how much 'interest' the user has in the current feeds for the day. A small quick view of the feed line would be displayed on the bottom left, beneath the navigation panel. Each story would be rated by number.


This design would allow the user to quickly take a broad look at what each article is about. A collapsible panel would be extended from the image associated with each story. From there, the user would be presented with a number (3) of images that represent the top tags in that story. Here again, the user can adjust the priority of all their tags. An icon will also be placed in the top left corner of every story, indicating what category it is in (home brewing, FFootball, etc)




This design offers a mix of the two previous designs. it still allows the user to have their feeds rated for them, while allowing more information about the feeds, as well as a larger picture to draw them into the story more. Thematically, i tried to have it play simply, and comfortably, off of the NYTimes logo.

VL: Indexes

Indexes: