This week was a bit better than the last. I missed the daily creates this week, but I got pretty much everything else. Time and balance have been the issues for me. Figuring out how to get everything done for this class while also staying on top of my psych and English classes and vice vice versa. I felt the amount of assignments for this week was more manageable than last week for sure.
This week, a running theme for me was color. My design thoughts and Corpse Bride color analysis especially focused on how color is used and the impact it can have; the Corpse Bride analysis was my favorite assignment I’ve done so far. I also introduced my course character, Lenore Glaphyra by creating a business card and showcasing her favorite song lyric; I felt decent about these creations. Similar to last week, if I had more time in my schedule, they would’ve been much more intricate.
My photoblitz was the last thing I completed, mainly because I was hoping my flareup would ease by the end of the week, but it didn’t. Nevertheless, I powered through. It took me longer than 20 minutes as a result, but I felt happy with the results.
I was a bit concerned about the Photoblitz challenge at first because while I thought the creative aspect sounded intriguing, the time limit was my worry due to the fact that to find everything I needed for my prompts, I had to walk around campus and move quite a bit. I have some physical disabilities that have been flaring up this week, so I did end up taking longer than 20 minutes because I had to take breaks to regulate my heartrate and stabilize my joints. However, I was very pleased with my prompts and think the final product turned out well.
Something RustedUnique Texture and PatternStone, Water, and CloudsForced PerspectiveConstruction1:1 RatioContrast (Life and Death)
I felt like all of these prompts were a perfect opportunity to highlight some of my favorite natural spots on campus like the amphitheatre and the bridge to Seacobeck. I loved getting to walk around, hang out, and really analyze what was around me. It did take me longer than 20 minutes, but I needed to make sure I was accommodating myself and not stressing my POTS flareup too much. I think this is definitely something I would do again, though!
For my third choice assignment, I felt inspired by the favorite song lyric assignment, especially with my course character, Lenore, in mind. She works in a music based subculture, so music is something holds very dear and close to heart. I went on a deep dive through all my playlists in search of the perfect lyric for her that would work as her favorite. I ended up settling on a ” ‘Come, devil, come’ she sang, ‘Call out my name’ ” from the song “Farewell Wanderlust” by The Amazing Devil. I felt like this lyric symbolized the way she battles and faces her inner demons and her past on a daily basis as it’s something that lives with her and always will, so instead of trying to push it away, she confronts them head on.
The next part of the assignment was to superimpose the lyrics over a background that represents the lyric. I chose a photo I took of the aurora we saw over campus last autumn. On the surface, it may seem like the background has no connection with the lyrics, but I used it very metaphorically. The thought process was that the aurora is something that is always happening somewhere in the world, it doesn’t often happen here, but it is always in existence. Sometimes it lasts in the sky for a long time, sometimes it stays for the blink of an eye. You may not know when you’ll see it again, but you know you probably will in one context or another at some point. I felt like that fit with the idea of Lenore’s inner demons and the confrontation of them. Sometimes the internal struggles lay dormant. They still exist, they just aren’t making an appearance. And sometimes they shine bright at the surface.
With the background and lyrics selected, I hopped onto Canva and put it all together. I chose a font that was sophisticated and elegant, but with a text effect that showed layers to symbolize all the different parts of Lenore under the surface. I also used some little elements like emphasis markers and devil horns to add character to the lyric and to attempt to visualize the way Lenore perceives the lyric in her mind, with extra emphasis on the “Call out my name” to show her unwavering demeanor towards confrontation.
I had fun thinking about all the little details and putting this together. It’s not the most intricate creation, but I think what really rings through is the symbolism and meaning behind each creative choice and how it relates to Lenore.
There were a lot of topics regarding design that were covered in these articles and videos, but the elements that stuck with me the most were color and typography. As someone who has done my fair share of graphic design as an event runner and social media manager for all sorts of organizations, color and typography are always something I’m very conscious about, however, I could never synthesize and summarize my thoughts to describe why. These articles and videos really helped me understand my own mind and thoughts, specifically the videos of the movie poster expert and the Stranger Things font, and the article about Chip Kidd’s book.
I’ve always been a bit more in tune with my understanding and perception of colors in my design as I’ve always found that to be one of the key context clues in media to relay messages and tones. In fact, I dove into this in my Corpse Bride color analysis. Despite this being something I consider myself to be pretty in tune with, there were certain themes I had never really thought about. For example, how often blue is used for thriller movie posters or how different uses of negative space can convey entirely different messages.
Typography is the one I’ve always struggled to describe. I’ve always been aware of the influence it can have, I can understand that the tone and mood can change with a font, but up until now I haven’t been able to articulate why. I found the Stranger Things video particularly interesting as I always felt like I recognized the font, but couldn’t place it. It always had a retro feel, but after watching the video and seeing some of the other uses of that font that inspired the creation of the title sequence completely shifted my perspective and provided a much deeper nuance to the whole vibe especially knowing what the show is about.
So, while I’ve created my course character, I haven’t been able to get the writeup posted yet. Nevertheless, I thought that since this week’s theme is visuals and trying to relate them to our course characters that a business card would be a great way to introduce my character, Lenore Glaphyra, a femme fatale self-made gothic event promoter. Networking and connection are basically her whole thing as an event runner and promoter and she’s incredibly skilled with it as well.
I created her business card to showcase her personality and add in some slight subliminal messaging. The colors and fonts keep with the gothic theme, but I wanted to incorporate spiderwebs surrounding the border to symbolize the schtick of creative, charismatic networking. In old myths and stories, spiders are cunning, persuasive, and ingenious. Their webs are literally made to catch anything and everything the spider needs and that’s exactly what Lenore does with her networking skills. I also used the splice text effect on Canva to show depth as well as something lying below the surface. This symbolizes Lenore’s past which haunts her (also shown with the addition of the ghosts); she’s more than meets the eye and she wasn’t always the person she is now.
Business card for Lenore Glaphyra, femme fatale
This design was pretty simple, but it took quite a bit of planning and thought to make sure the messages I wanted to use were shown in a way I felt fit in with Lenore’s aesthetic as well as her internal character traits. It wasn’t very difficult, I know Canva well, but it did consume quite a bit of time.
After going through multiple pages of visual assignments, I was struck with a bolt of inspiration when I saw the rainbow showcase assignment. I immediately thought of my favorite movie, The Corpse Bride, which is so important to me that I have a tattoo dedicated to it and paraphernalia of it can be found throughout my room at home and my dorm. Tim Burton has always been known for his stylistic and aesthetic choices and it rings true with The Corpse Bride especially as Victor and Emily go between the land of the living and the land of the dead. Burton has used color in this film to showcase levels of societal structure and independence and the feelings associated with it. There are three main settings throughout the movie: the land of the living, the land of the dead, and the land of the living when the dead rise and walk the earth. Each of these settings have their own unique color schemes that reflect the feelings and atmosphere with the characters.
The movie begins in the land of the living where everything is monochromatic desaturated blues and greys. This reflects the boring, mundane routine of daily life especially with the constraints of society on everyone. We see this repetition in the opening credits where there is the sound of a ticking clock and visuals of the townspeople engaging in their jobs. One person is just sweeping the ground back and forth in the same spot, another is just chopping off fish head after fish head, and so on. Everything is dull, emotionless, tedious and it must go “according to plan” as the Everglots and Van Dorts sing in the opening song about Victor and Victoria’s arranged marriage that is being held to fit with the standards of marrying for status rather than love which implies strict levels of rigidity and no freewill.
Assorted stills in the land of the living in Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride (2005)
After Victor meets Emily and they travel down to the land of the dead after the misunderstanding of their accidental marriage, the viewer is met with a shocking vibrancy. The land of the dead is incredibly saturated and colorful and everyone is doing their own thing and having fun. There’s no real rules, no structure, no routine, everyone is just “living life” and enjoying themselves out of the constraints of the land of the living. Everyone is joyful that Emily finally found a husband and they celebrate upon her arrival with Victor much to his immense confusion. Bright greens, blues, and purples dominate with other colors throughout. The transition from the land of the living to the land of the dead can be compared to the technicolor shift in The Wizard of Oz where everything in Kansas is greyscale, but Oz an explosion of color. In the case of The Corpse Bride, this is to showcase freedom from the monotony of life.
Stills from the land of the dead in Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride (2005)
After Victor and Emily hatch a plan to bring the dead to the land of the living for them to actually wed, they all crash Victoria and Lord Barkis’s wedding and chaos ensues; the living meets the dead, social constraint meets independent freewill. The results in the colors of the land of the dead to leech into the land of the living to showcase a clash of the two worlds. However, towards the end when Barkis’s plan is uncovered and subsequently foiled, peace is achieved. The color reverts to a palette similar to the beginning in the land of the living, however, the colors are a bit more saturated to showcase an acceptance and an embrace of life rather than an apathy towards it.
Top 3: Stills from when the inhabitants of the land of the dead rising to the land of the living (Burton, 2005). Bottom 3: Stills of the end of the movie when balance is restored (Burton, 2005).
I had so much fun with this assignment. This movie means the world to me and I love to talk about it and analyze it. I’ve been wanting to sit down and do a color analysis for a while now, and this gave me the perfect excuse to do it and write all my thoughts down. It’s really fascinating to see the impact that color has on our views and the message that is being relayed and this movie in particular uses color palette so well. I used the description of the assignment loosely as the original description was to just pick examples of colors in the film or show of my choosing and explain why those examples were chosen, but I felt like a color analysis was more appropriate as color is used for a reason not just for viewing pleasure.
To be completely honest, this week was tough. Trying to find my rhythm and patterns between this class and my others has proved to be a challenge as I was not anticipating quite this much to do in this class alone. I wasn’t able to complete everything for this class on top of all of the other assignments and readings for my other classes. I was able to do some daily creates, my course character, and my three assignment bank assignments, but I had to keep them pretty simple to try and get as much done for this course as I could along with all my Psych and Disability Studies classes. I had the most fun working on my playlist assignment as it was the most emotionally meaningful and I really felt like I was telling a story with it. I also enjoyed writing about non-conformity and how the world we are currently living in is already a cyberpunk dystopia essentially. My noir-style book cover was simple and easy, but I’m not the proudest of how it turned out, but I just unfortunately didn’t have much time to dedicate to it since my time was running out and I had a bunch of other assignments all due tonight at 11:59pm. At the end of the week, I decided it was better to do as much as I could and at least be decently proud of it than to either turn nothing in or turn in very few things. Some points are better than no points. Here’s hoping I’ve found my rhythm and that my time commitments start to level out.
This week has been insanely busy, so trying to figure out which assignments would fit into my schedule was quite the challenge, especially figuring out how to incorporate the theme. However, when I saw the opportunity to design a Noir book cover, it was perfect. I felt comfortable in my Canva abilities, I know book covers, I could incorporate it into the theme, and it wasn’t a large time commitment. I decided to keep it simple and to the point. It’s not very involved and if I had more time during the week outside of my other classes and my job, I probably could’ve produced something more detailed and showcasing more of my abilities, however it unfortunately was not in the cards this week for me. I thought it best to create something I felt just okay about than to not create anything at all.
Fictional book cover titled, “Modern Dystopia”
I chose to use Canva because it was a software I use regularly, so I didn’t need to set aside time to learn how to use it. Not to mention, it’s good at getting the job done with design projects of this nature; very user friendly and accessible. Again, I don’t feel super great about the finished product, but I feel good enough about it matching the theme and vibe of the class and it shows a little bit of something I’m able to do.
When the concept of cyberpunk is thought about, it’s often envisioned in a highly futuristic dystopian setting much like that of Cyberpunk 2077 and Bladerunner, but the truth of the matter is that we live in a cyberpunk world currently in 2025. High-tech low life discrimination, heavy emphasis on transactional trickle down capitalism, post-industrial dystopia, and a flawed emphasis on individualism where individualism is encouraged as long as you’re a rich white man. With the newly inaugurated office beginning to put their plans into place, it’s become evident to many that these changes will further the dystopian capitalist high-tech consequences of non-conformity for those outside the favor of our country’s current regime. Those who fall outside of the preferential of office, especially queer individuals, non-white individuals, those of lower socioeconomic classes, essentially anyone who isn’t a rich cis-het white man, will be subject to a violent, fearmongering style of glorified peer pressure to conform and go into hiding. ICE is already on the streets and even those who are documented are in danger, anti-abortion laws have already cost the lives of countless women, book and subject banning legislation in schools is cancelling out essential historical and scientific knowledge and putting careers at risk, etc.
As a queer, agender, disabled person who was assigned female at birth who is pursuing a degree in psychology focused in human sexuality with the end goal to be a sex therapist focusing in personal sexuality and sexual deviances, my health, safety, accessibility, and career are all at risk with this new government. The people in office are attempting to scare people into conforming, but the issue is that while, yes, it’s terrifying, it is impossible to conform. Physical anatomy cannot be changed (especially with the laws banning gender affirming care), disability cannot be magically cured, my bisexuality cannot be prayed away, and while I could alter my career choice, I will continue to fight for it because it’s more important now than ever even if I create the risk of losing it all to the hands of this fascist regime. It’s a dark time we live in and this is only the beginning.
Music is something that I’ve always been heavily immersed in; it was rare that I was ever in the silence from a very young age. My parents always had music on in the cars when they drove, the kitchen while they cooked, the living room while they lounged, and not to mention that I grew up steeped in the goth scene and its associated club nights and culture which is highly music oriented. This constant inundation of music combined with my debilitating lack of social skills and struggles growing up autistic with many other psychological issues paved the way for music and media to be my biggest coping mechanism.
Due to my autism, I’ve had to, in turn, battle alexithymia, which is the inability or immense struggle to identify, understand, and express emotions. I may not have always been able to say “this is how I’m feeling and why”, but music was my voice. I spent so much time listening to music and identifying songs and lyrics that could describe what was happening in my mind, so when I saw the option to create a playlist of songs that played a significant role in my life, I immediately thought of all the songs over the years that helped me voice how I felt on the inside and helped me describe my struggles. I have so many playlists that I’ve made over the years that are all highly categorized and organized by emotion, genre, memory, and more as this has been my primary way of processing my own emotions, but for this assignment, I narrowed it down to some of the most quintessential songs that had the most profound impact on my ability to understand myself, my emotions, and my experiences.
I used Spotify to create my playlist as this is my default music service and, as a result, the one I am most familiar with when it comes to playlist construction. Then, I began the search. I scoured all 20 of my current published playlists that range from 30 minutes to nearly 21 hours in length. The goal was to condense my alexithymic coping journey to a single hour by selecting 15 songs that gave me the biggest revelations, reliefs, and self-understandings. It was difficult to pick and choose, but in the end, I feel like I ended with a myriad of genres, emotions, and memories that one could listen to and understand the closest digital things to raw emotions of my 20 years of life in one playlist.
