visual advocacy reading responses

visualizing a revolution: emory douglas and the black panther newspaper
   
in the very first paragraph, author colette gaiter writes that the black panthers can be looked at in a variety of ways, "One extreme: the Panthers were a bunch of charismatic, grandstanding violent thugs, exploiting oppressive conditions to promote their own pathological agendas, and the United States is fortunate that the FBI and police stopped them before they started a bloody civil war. The other extreme: the Black Panthers were brilliant revolutionary visionaries who tried to expand the African American civil rights struggle into an opportunity to end Western imperialism, global racism and capitalist exploitation of working people."

throughout this text, there are distinct word choices that soften or mold the content.
ex: "became receptive to the idea of armed retaliation", "harshest images simultaneously elicited revulsion at the graphic violence and attraction to the idea of effective self-defense"

in what way are the words in this article used to direct the reader? in what ways are our visual communications subject to similar bias? should there be, as we discussed in class, ethical considerations given to these things, beyond their effectiveness?


design of dissent

tony kushner (playwright of the incredible angels in america) wonders "is there a dismal history to be written of embryonic political movements aborted for want of a great graphic designer?"

we love to believe in a meritocracy, being americans, growing up with the american dream, and fed by the internet; that the best and most important things will become visible and be rewarded with success and action, but is that true? will good ideas always find their way out, or, without the guiding hands of a mythmaker/an identity-crafter/a designer, do some just fail to make?

if it's the collective recognizance of truth that makes visual dissent so effective, can the first person to observe something have that power? or must the atrocity go on long enough to be well known before dissent can emerge, given that dissent is most basically the powerless vs. the powerful?

for instance, if "every phenomenon, including language, including the language of oppression, carries within itself the seeds of its own unraveling", must those phenomena reach a certain height before they have enough weight to fall?

glaser believes that "dissent when it's at its best is fueled by empathy, and it's fueled by the idea that other people matter, and that if somebody is hurt or victimized, we are all hurt or victimized." is it true that shock often results in withdrawal, while empathy draws people into action?

community psychology

i have always loved the study of social interaction and this article on the psychology of a "community" is a stellar example, right down to the mathematical simplification of the feelings and hopes of any number of people to the following equations for community cohesiveness:

shared emotional connection is equal to contact AND high quality interaction, which is itself equal to (events with successful closure WITHOUT ambiguity) MULTIPLIED by (event valence MULTIPLIED by sharedness of the event) AND the amount of honor given to members WITHOUT humiliation.

the amount of sense this makes is amazing considering how initially incomprehensible it seems to be. throughout reading, the community to which i can best relate in my life to this setup is, conveniently, the kcai graphic designers.

our shared emotional connection (studio culture!) equals the fact that we all spend time together in studio AND give good, solid critiques and conversations (which run the course of class periods and allow for feedback to ensure understanding) MULTIPLIED by (how much we enjoy what we're doing and talking about it, MULTIPLIED by the fact that we have these classes always together, following along through every step of the processes) AND the amount of rewarding feedback and good critiques and advice WITHOUT being a jerk and tearing into people's work and making people feel bad.

the sense of "all-in-this-together"ness; that we are stronger and cleverer through our support and collaboration than we could be "designing in the dark," all by our lonesomes; and that we know this, (and find joy in the fact,) is what makes our studio a solid community.

that fits absolutely perfectly, does it not? and having established how much sense it makes in one community, it's easy to see how people who cooperate or connect in any capacity run through a similar set of experiences resulting in their consistently increasing closeness and cohesion.

senior year begins: the first mx post

first of all, let's just say that starting the first school day of the year with a girl showing us how to look nice for school even when we're running late: spot on. we're all gonna be using that eyeshadow trick from now on, and everyone will know we're exhausted by the white highlights in the inside of our eyes.

the 8 multiple intelligences are something with which i'm very familiar because the junior high i went to structured its teaching methods around them. if i remember correctly, back then, i ranked very highly in verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, and interpersonal. i don't think those things have changed; that's definitely still how i work best. in my school, a public charter school which never failed to baffle the rest of the school district, students sat 4 around each round table, and rather than exams or papers to test our learning, we had what were known as "inquiries," which could take the form of any of a collection of different options dreamed up by the teachers, based around the different intelligences, whether it turned out to be a something written, a poster/brochure, a skit, or any number of other things to be done alone or with a group. this was designed to ensure that everybody got to demonstrate their learning on equal footing, as they felt they could work most strongly.

according to this absolutely puzzling 4 learning style questionnaire, i am a type one learner, with which i identify fairly well, seeking meaning, bringing unity and cooperation, fixating on people and culture, and looking at things from all the way around. the way the axes of the coordinate grid work, though, is a bit absurd... there's no reason they couldn't have run negative and positive numbers in their normal directions and labeled the quadrants to fit. this also read a bit like those experiments wherein everybody agrees with a fake personality assessment because it is just vague enough to apply to anyone who reads it, while having just enough specificity to feel personal.

i had seen this absolutely gorgeously animated presentation before, and was similarly blown away this time. i find it to be a very hard line to walk between the optimism and trust it takes to believe in these improvements being possible, and the cynicism to know that the overhaul necessary for such a change would be massive and devastatingly unlikely. in small ways, though, we're making progress, and this project, i think, will end up opening our eyes to that progress and allowing us to see where else it can go.

as for my own research, i've unearthed this documentary on unschooling. 

unschooling is a philosophy that dates all the way back to rousseau musing that the best way for children to learn is for adults to set the environment and get out of the way. unschooling is based around the notion that the most productive and truest learning comes from people's own pursuit of their interests and passions rather than being forced into a stilted social scenario and having information banked into them. obviously with the development of today's interactive technology, we're in a better position than ever before to facilitate but ultimately not interfere with independent learning.

ux reflection

user experience has been a great class for me because it goes so deep. i really struggle along the surface of design, but i am enthralled by the deep and the broad: the research and the planning. the amount of behind-the-scenes and background work in this class was very rewarding for me, and i feel like i've learned well how to use those methods in my future work. we must never forget that we're not designing in a vacuum, nor are we designing for other designers. we're designing for people, with needs and wants other than simple aesthetics. we're solving problems, and in order to solve problems, we must first identify them, and not only that: we have to see how people are already trying to solve those problems themselves, so that we can move organically into that space and support them, rather than pretending we can jump in as outsiders and impose our thoughts on other people.

hand built final presentation

Hand Built Play Clay

adobe design achievement awards entry

this packaging redesign was intended to add some delight to the experience of purchasing a fairly un-delightful product. in order to do that, i generated a character to personify the math kit, and worked to create beautiful typographic relationships. to overcome the limitations of the way the product was packaged to begin with, i ended up prototyping a new structure as well as designing the aesthetic.

the purpose of this project was to redesign a consumer package while presenting it through a different rhetorical mode of appeal. this "geometry math kit" was using a thoroughly uninspiring "logos" appeal and i worked to introduce more "pathos" to the equation.

this work was created entirely of vectors in adobe illustrator for a sharp, geometric feeling even within an illustrative character.

closeknit app presentation

closeknit is designed to help you find and connect with other knitters in your area. whether you’re just looking for a friend or two, a quick meet-up while you’re already out working, or a formally organized circle, closeknit can help you find companions so you can chat, teach, get advice, or anything in between.