I’ve been developing an online portfolio to showcase my work for internship applications, so I knew this logo project would be an excellent opportunity for my website and me. I added the logo to the navigation bar to serve as a link back to the home screen and to use as the website’s favicon. My hope for this logo is that it demonstrates my skills to potential hiring managers.
I’m not very good with graphic design software so for this assignment, I used Canva, which I don’t know if that’s classified as a graphic design software, but I wanted to show that I at least have an eye for aesthetics. Typically, I prefer bright colors and bubble letters, as those better reflect my personality. However, this logo is different because I want to convey a sense of professionalism and class. I incorporated my initials and intersected it with my first and last name, so that viewers can easily identify who I am. Adding my role title was a difficult decision because I didn’t want to limit myself. However, I realized that I currently manage social media to market events, and the internships I’m applying for are in social media marketing. So, I figured if the shoe fits, wear it. I’m pleased with how this design came out because I think it is versatile and I will be able to use it for years to come.
I love well thought out and amazingly executed graphic design. As a double major in marketing and digital studies, it combines the two things I love: Art & Advertising. I have known that posters from different genres tend to follow a theme, many studios run with whatever’s successful. However, I thought it was so interesting to see and understand why they follow those trends, especially with color schemes. It’s cool how each genre followed a color scheme, for comedies it was white to make the main characters and their silly antics pop, for Indie films it was yellow because they have a low budget for advertising and yellow is a great way to capture attention. What was even more interesting, was when films with mixed genres would mix and so would their elements. For example, Little Miss Sunshine used the negative space that was common in comedies and the yellow coloring that was common in Indie films, and that movie has one of the most iconic posters to date! It was also interesting to see different videos reference similar things. For example, the TED talk explains how design and storytelling have to be connected, and then in the Stranger Things video they talk about how they landed on their iconic font by researching fonts from thriller books in the 80’s which is the genre and time period of Stranger Things! Adam Brody said in an interview “I probably like movie trailers better than movies, and I probably like posters better than trailers.” and he is so right. Movie Posters are their own art that are able to capture customer’s attention and leave them wanting more.
I chose to do a design assignment for my character Krissy Ryan. I don’t know why, but I always pictured Krissy as a movie character and less of a video game character. However, I thought the prompt of making a video game home screen was really cool, and I have been inspired by other people doing this prompt so I wanted to take a swing at it. This prompt was challenging for me because I don’t play a lot of video games, and the ones I do don’t have that classic “Game Over, Play Again” screen, so I needed to look for inspiration. My goal for this assignment was to get a very basic sense of Krissy’s story (to really boil it down, she has a very dramatic change in scnery) from the home screen, while still keeping the video game look.
*****Flash Warning*****
I used Canva to create the screen, and I was messing around with the different elements they offered. I love Canva, but I often forget that you don’t have the most freedom when it comes to designing your image. If I had the skills, I would use Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, but I don’t so I have to settle for Canva and whatever it has. Like I said, my goal was to show the general sense of the story from the home page, so I did a split screen of Krissy in front of her normal life and Krissy in front of the future. The image I used for the Cyberpunk future was inspired by one of the readings we did from the first week where it says the vision for Cyberpunk is “Tokyo on a bad day.” I added some glitch effects to add to the cyberpunk theme. Other than coming up with an initial concept for my home screen, the hardest part was the play button. I wanted the A to be in the symbol of a triangle, but the spacing was really hard to get just right.
I like how my home screen came out and although I still picture Krissy as a movie character, maybe this can be a video game made to market the movie. I’m not a video game fan, other than the classic Dress to Impress, but I think I would play this game!
Coming up with the setting for where my character lives is a central part of crafting their personality. For Krissy, I wrote about her background, stating that she grew up and lived on the farm her parents worked on and that she would one day take over. I had Krissy live in a big farmhouse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I chose Pennsylvania for her home state because I know many people in Lancaster have very traditional values, and my thought for Krissy was that although she may have some traditional beliefs, she believes she is meant for bigger and better things than what her fellow Lancastrians believe. Additionally, it’s essential to be distinct in what area of Pennsylvania she lives in because Lancaster is so dramatically different than the big cities of PA like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Typically, there aren’t many farms in those cities. This particular house perfectly depicts Krissy and her family. The house has four bedrooms, perfect for her, her parents, her sibling, and a spare guest room. It only has two bathrooms, but the house is amazing in every other way. There is also a large plot of land in the backyard, perfect for crops, animals, equipment, etc. The house is unassuming, but the inside is gorgeous, rustic, colorful, and well-decorated. This is similar to Krissy, who should seem destined to continue her life as a farmer, but will get to one day save the world. The house was built in 1971, but it looks like it was built in the 1900s. The furniture looks like it was pulled from the movie For Richer or For Poorer. It shows Krissy’s taste for the old-fashioned aesthetic. This house is the perfect fit for Krissy, and I know Krissy would consider it her dream home!
This week had a large to-do list, and unlike last week, the tasks were not short and sweet. With doing the assignment banks, creating a course character, reading 6 chapter, and having everything accompanied by a blog reflection, I was overwhelmed. However, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the work that I did. In fact, I am really proud of some of the assignments I turned in.
The Daily Creates
When I first saw that we were doing Daily Creates, I thought it would be a chore. The first Daily Create, art about unexpected coincidences, confused me and I really struggled to come up with an idea. I landed on making a graphic with lyrics to Sabrina Carpenter’s Coincidence.
Lyrics to Sabrina Carpenter’s Coincidence
After seeing other posts, I realized that the Daily Creates didn’t have to be revolutionary. This took a lot of the pressure off and I ended up having a lot of fun with them. The next day was “Make bad art.” That was perfect for me! I decided to make the Devil and the Goat, and as you can see. I nailed the prompt.
Devil & Goat
The next prompt was my favorite, make your shadow as long as possible. I waited until the last possible second to take the picture, which made me nervous because if I waited too long I would miss the sun all together. I made it though, and I was very happy with how long my shadow was.
Longest shadow ever!
The prompt after that was, “Say Happy Birthday to DS106 radio.” For that, I just made a quick image on Canva. This prompt was one of the easiest from the week.
Happy Birthday DS106 Radio! To many more
The last prompt of the week was “Make a poem out of emojis,” so I turned the “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song into an emoji poem. I thought the idea was clever, and thankfully most of the emojis already existed. I admit doing the shrugs for shoulders, was a little bit of a reach, but I was committed to my idea.
Translation: Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes And eyes and ears and mouth and nose Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes
Overall, I had a lot of fun with the daily creates and I’m excited to continue doing them!
Assignment Bank
The assignment banks were very time consuming, but I am happy with how they came out. My favorite one to do was the Compilation of Chidi and Eleanor. I love their relationship, I love that show, and I love that song. Working on it was really fun, and felt more like a hobby than something I was doing for class. I also had a lot of fun with the “That’s Not It” prompt where I edited together scenes from Mean Girls & Clueless. Both movies are so iconic. In the scene, Cher is trashing Regina, but if they were actually in the same universe, I can’t decide if they’d be best friends or enemies. Lastly, the third assignment I did was “My Dream Life” where I showed my ideal life through Pinterest. This one was the hardest assignment because I could not figure out how to effectively embed the link. The assignment was relatively easy but the embedment took so long that I wnted to throw my computer away. I did the best that I could, but even still I feel like I didn’t fully figure it out. Still, completing my assignments helped me advance towards completing my D106 goals, and for that I am happy. Here are the links.
Comments
I enjoyed getting to read about a lot of people’s perspectives and creative choices. It was so interesting to see everyone’s creative takes. I loved the course character from Liv It Up With Liv . I could tell that they put a lot of time and effort into their character. She felt very fleshed out and was giving me Veronica Mars/Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes. I commented: “This is great! The thought and care you put into your character really helped me envision her. I love that you tried to break the norm when you created your character. I also thought what you said about her liking flawed characters was very interesting. I wonder why she likes them. Maybe because she relates to them or because she knows they make for a good story? Either way, it was a great detail. I’m curious to know if you drew inspiration from other characters when you were creating Veronica. She reminds me of Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Again, great job crafting this character!” I also read Rylie’s goals from Rylie’s Riveting Region for this class, and what they said about lighting design, I completely agreed with. Lighting is one of my favorite aspects of theatre, so to see another fan was very cool. I also told them how I felt that lighting may subconsciously tell the audience how to feel which is so crazy that it can have that kind of effect on people. Lastly, I read ‘One thought on “Black Mirror: We Love Women Working Together!”‘ from Bloog. We coincidentally watched the same episode of Black Mirror so it was interesting to compare and contrast our thoughts. Additionally, because we watched the same episode, I was able to share my theory from the episode. I just left the comment this morning, but I’m eager to see if they respond and whether or not they will agree with me.
Final Thoughts
I’m grateful that I got to flex my creative muscle this week. I love creating and it’s to get in the habit of practicing. This was also a great reminder that the work doesn’t need to be perfect. My ‘That’s Not It’ edit wasn’t flawless but I still liked the way it came out. Other people must agree with me because I posted it on YouTube so I could embed it into the blog, and it got a couple hundred views. While I did have fun with the assignments this week, I’m glad that the digital bootcamp is coming to an end. I’m excited to focus on one project for the week
Tech Noir and Cyberpunk intrigued me because I had never heard of those genres. While I’ve come across some content within the categories, I was unfamiliar with the terms themselves. On top of being unfamiliar with the names of the genre, I have seen very, very few Tech Noir/Cyberpunk shows, movies, video games, etc. That being said, from what I read, the content sounds interesting, and after watching an episode of Black Mirror, I am definitely open to learning more. I enjoyed reading the Wikipedia article on Cyberpunk, which explained the mood and the setting of Cyberpunk. The way they talked about their location and wanting to emulate “Hong Kong on a bad day” was a great way to describe the setting and gave me a good visualization. Learning about how the term Cyberpunk was coined was also interesting. The name perfectly fits the vibe of the genre. When I first read about Cyberpunk, I thought movies like The Hunger Games or Divergent were also in this genre. I then learned that Tech Noir and Cyberpunk are different from Dystopia. Tech Noir/Cyberpunk may have a dystopian feel, but overall, Dystopia can refer to any society with great injustice, while Cyberpunk and Tech Noir must have themes of technology and corporate power tied in. After the readings, I chose to watch Black Mirror from the list of Tech Noir/Cyberpunk Media. I’ve always wanted to check it out, and I chose the episode “Joan is Awful.” The episode follows a woman named Joan, and she discovers a TV show has been made about her, where Selma Hayek plays her, and they make her look identical to Joan. Joan has made some not-great choices, but the show takes creative liberties to make her look awful. The worst part is that everyone in her life can see the show, causing her to lose her job and her fiancée. I was immediately captivated by the epepisode’s concept and how the story played out. Eventually, we discover that Joan subscribes to the streaming service’s terms and agreements, stating that the service reserves the right to use her life as content. Now, Joan has to fight the service to stop them from making a show out of her and others’ lives. This episode fits into the Cyberpunk/Tech noir genre so well because it explores the darker side of technological advancements. While technology has become more advanced, corporations have become more greedy, leading to humanity’s downfall. Thankfully “Joan is Awful” concludes with a happy ending, allowing Joan to regain control over her story. Still, it’s a cautionary tale of what can happen if we become too obsessed with whatever the new shiny tech has to offer. When I finished the episode, I immediately recommended it to my friends. Now, I am immensely interested in the genre, and I plan on watching more content in the category!
I thought the reading was very enlightening. Just like anything, leaning too much to one side is bad. Embracing technology is dangerous by letting it consume your thoughts and actions, while refusing technology will have you fall being while everyone moves ahead. You need to keep somewhat of a balance. Chapter one dives into why embracing technological change is good, but being wary of how it can take over your life. For example, A good thing about technology is the development of portable computers allows students to easily take notes. While some may still opt to write their notes, typing is more beneficial to students with learning disabilities like dyslexia or dysgraphia. However, technology like AI has been really negative for a lot of students. While students may think it’s helping them, it’s actually negatively effecting their critical thinking and literacy. On top if that, it has a terrible effect on the environment. Cooling system in data system require large amounts of water which puts pressure on areas in droughts like California. Chapter 2 explains how tools were invented to address the issues in society but they could also unintentionally transform societies. Chapter 3 dives into how the rise of technocracy which then evolves into technopoly. Postman says that America’s focus on unrestrained growth and freedom is what started the shift. Traditional beliefs were sidelined, and technology became the dominant ideology. This next chapter i found particularly interesting. It examines the history of information revolutions. Technology like the printer had slow growth so it had a positive contribution on society, while technology like electric cars prioritizing technological speed and volume over coherence. This leads to a decrease in technological productivity. Finally, Chapter 5 explains why keeping morality in technology development is important. The flood of information created by modern technologies has overwhelmed society’s traditional systems of control. Families, schools, religions, and government once provided moral, social, and cultural frameworks have been eroded and replaced by technical methods. Postman explains that there is a chance to recover society if the right steps are taken.
Relating to Black Mirror
The readings gave me a new perspective on Black Mirror. The streaming service, Streamberry, in ‘Joan is Awful’ is all too quick to utilize the latest and greatest technology. Meanwhile the consequences of the technology negatively effect all kinds of people. Streamberry uses a quamputer to make the ‘Joan is Awful’ show which “creates a multiverse of characters” according to the CEO of Streamberry. After the show causes to Joan lose her job, her fiancee, and airs out all her business, while simultaneously ruining Selma Hayek’s reputation, Joan and Salma go to destroy the quamputer. To try and stop Joan, the CEO says “We don’t know what it’s capable of, it’s basically magic.” This parrallels well with what Postman says about technopoly, when all developers focus on is improving technology, it eventually loses what makes it a quality product. Sure, the quamputer is an amazing advancement in technology but it adds nothing beneficial to society.
What Does Dr. Oblivion Have to Say?
Dr. Oblivion essentially said that the transformation from technology to technopoly was foreseeable. He also explained that people are quick to raise concerns about fast changing technology but still fall into its allures. He said it’s important to find balance between embracing and being cautious of technology is important. Dr Oblivion says that Postman’s exploration from technology to technopoly showcases America’s priority for growth instead of traditional values. Overall, I agree with a lot of what Dr. Oblivion said and he had some very good insights.
The prompt for this assignment was to mix two movie scenes together, to change the meaning of the conversation. The original Clueless scene had Tai and Cher talking about Amber dancing with Tai’s crush. To make Tai feel better, Cher starts trashing Amber’s appearance. To change the scene, I made the subject of the conversation Regina George. While the meaning of the original conversation didn’t change, it was fun to put Regina George and Cher Horowitz, two iconic characters, together. I picked this assignment because I thought it was cool that just a little bit of editing can transform a whole scene.
Making the video involved downloading the scene of Cher and Tai at the party as well as the scene of Aaron and Regina at their Halloween party. I ran into a slight bit of trouble when downloading the scenes because the only version of the Clueless scene that didn’t have a huge watermark was without background music. I remedied this by downloading a song from the YouTube audio library and mixing it into the video and adjusting the volume. After that, the video was very easy to make. All I had to do was cut out the scenes with Amber and use the Mean Girls scene. Lastly I exported the video and uploaded it to YouTube. This was definetly one of the easier assignments, the only thing I really struggled with was coming up with an idea. I couldn’t find any scenes where there was an opportunity to change the context of the conversation. Once I thought of this idea I was very excited and got to work. Overall, I’m proud of this edit, I hope you guys like it.
Edits are very popular these days, and I LOVE a good edit. I have seen some really amazing ones for Barbie, WandaVision, and Community. I really wanted to take a crack at it, since I’ve had some experience using Adobe Premiere Pro, which meant I wouldn’t be starting from square one. For this edit, I took one of my favorite shows The Good Place and put it with one of my favorite songs “Love is Embarrasing” by Olivia Rodrigo.
Eleanor Shellstrop has a significant arc over the course of The Good Place’s run. She starts as this loner who is very selfish, self asorbed character and ends the show surrounded by her chosen family whom she loves and would do anything for. These characteristics have been inside Eleanor all along but the people who were around her put down those traits, so she has to learn how to be okay with taking care of others and being a good person. This especially comes through when she stars to catch feelings for Chidi. At first Eleanor thinks he’s a nerd and doesn’t want anything to do with him. Eventually, however, she realizes she has feelings for Chidi even though she doesn’t want to. This song is the perfect choice to capture how Eleanor feels about Chidi because she is almost repulsed by how she feels towards Chidi, given that she has never felt like that towards a person before. She finds love to be embarrasing.
This video was relatively easy to make. First, I looked for and downloaded an Eleanor and Chidi scene pack which compiles clips of the two. Then I added the scenes into Adobe Premiere Pro and sorted through which clips I wanted to use. Once I had my clips picked out, I added Olivia Rodrigo’s Love is Embarrassing. After that I rearranged the clips, trimmed them to keep each clip short. I also tried to sync the clip transitions to the beat of the song. I feel like this makes edits more satisfying to watch. Finally, the last thing I did was export the video and uploaded it to YouTube.
My character’s name is Krissy Ryan. Her character archetype is The Innocent Bystander. When crafting her, I took inspiration from Cole Turner, played by Chris Evans in the movie Ghosted. Chris Evans’s character does not want to help out or be a part of the story, and I thought that would be a fun take to put on my character. I also wanted Krissy to transform into a character. At the start of her arc, she’s naive and doesn’t believe in herself, but she’s a confident hero by the end.
Krissy is your quintessential small-town girl. She works on her parents’ farm and is being trained to take it over when they retire one day. She has a muscular build with tan skin. Krissy also has medium-long blonde hair, green eyes, and freckles from working in the sun every day. Her birthday is February 20, 1999 which makes her a Pisces. Being a Pisces makes her sensitive but also loyal to her cause. Krissy has two sides: sweet and kind as well as sarcastic and sharp; if she likes you, she’ll be nice, but she has no tolerance for people she doesn’t. She is single because she just got out of a relationship with her ex-boyfriend. Krissy is happy with her life, but deep down, she has always related to characters like Moana or Belle, who feel that they were possibly meant for something bigger. Still, Krissy is content despite some underlying restless feelings. That is until she gets dragged into a mission by her ex-boyfriend.
After a long day of working, Krissy’s favorite meal is a bacon cheeseburger with a Cherry Coke 0. Her favorite color is pink because she loves the pop of color it adds. Krissy’s favorite book is Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, but her all-time favorite book is one she read in high school: As Good As Dead from The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Series. Her prized possession is a ring her ex gave her while they were dating, although she’d never tell him that. Lastly, Krissy’s motto is “You don’t have to be ready, you just have to be brave,” which will be helpful to her on her mission.
