Final Project

For the final project I decided to redo the map assignment.  What I learned from doing the previous map assignment and what to do differently is try to exert and show a meaning.  So I wanted to do something that shows a meaning and has a story that comes with it.  I did a map on the places my dad has been throughout his life in the military.  I did not want to simply be a map showing the places that he’s been, but convey the struggle of trying to find a place for him to call “home”.  So I used the color green to show illustrate the different places that he has been including his birthplace at Mississippi.  I do a gradual change in the color green from light to dark to show a change on how throughout his journey he got closer and closer to finding his place to call home.  Then in red is Virginia to illustrate that it is different and that is the place he resides now.  I think the figure I place at the bottom conveys the emotional/message of being disoriented.  That there is so many possible routes to go but only one true way.  I believe that this map I did is much stronger than my previous map depicted the place’s Jesus went.  The reason is because I have much more detail within my map than in the last one.  I was really focused to do the best I could to trace every state and to get it to look exactly like the United States and the other countries of Germany and South Korea.  I am big person for color and I think that color is an important aspect to an art piece.  I believe my color choices on this map really compliment each other.  Everything piece within the map stands out and has its own “identity” and where nothing is hidden.  I truly enjoyed doing this project. 

Final Project

Final Project

Map Project Write-Up

My project for this map project I decided to follow and retrace the places Jesus went during his ministry.  There’s tours called “Jesus Trail” that I have always wanted to do so this assignment was very interesting to do.  It starts out at Nazareth where he grew up there circles are the Israeli area and end in Jerusalem where he was crucified.  Instead of using lines to trace where Jesus had been I used footprints.  My reasoning behind this is because Jesus had walked on foot to all these places.  With a few exceptions when he used a boat to go to a few places.  I depicted this by having a boat at the Sea of Galilee to show the use of a boat sometimes.  I placed footprints ending at the boat then starting again when it is on the land.  It was difficult to place the different cities at their exact locations because some of the places do not exist any more and boundaries have change.  It required me to do some research to pinpoint the best I could.  One thing about my project that I love is the color scheme.  I used my resources from my film editing skills to put together colors that give an “old map feel”.  I believe it does in my map.  Not an old map with just black and white, but like when color was used in printing. To me it provides a vintage look.  I found doing this project very bittersweet.  I enjoyed the researching and learning more about the places that Jesus went.  Yet Illustrator was a frustrating program and it is my first time interacting with it.  I believe that I did a good job as a first-time user.  I have interacted with many programs before, but Illustrator has been the most challenging…so far.  This was an overall good assignment that I can stand behind proudly.  

Chapter 3 Reading Post

I was interested in the article about Will Self.  Just like Will Self, I enjoy walking around as a way to clear my mind.  Will Self used it as a way to help with his drug habits, and I use walking as a method to distress and exercise.  I walk around various roads and trails within my gated community, Lake Manassas.  I have never thought about to learn about the places that I am walking in.  Within the article about Self and his interests in psychogeopgraphy, he mentions about never fully noticing the Thames River.  I looked back at myself and how I never looked at the lake that I live by.  So I walked along the bank and noticed like little ponds around the bank.  It did not flow to the lake, but had its own water source and everything.  I just noticed the different plants that surrounded the bank of the lake that I pass every day.  I believe this is what Self was discussing as he explains what psychogeography is.  He makes a reference to Guy Debord, and how it is an awakening to the world around us.  To take into account the things we see every day.  I believe not just noticing the environment physically, but looking how things are arranged and even the historical background behind it.  However, when reading the article, An Atlas of Radical Cartography, I learned about how maps can be tools for social change.  At first I did not see how that could be possible from just a simple map.  But as I began to think about it, and the different elements that go into the map it became more clear.  Radical Cartography is a tool used to compare how different locations are responding to a certain issue.  Whether it is something like racism, poverty, etc. it shows a comparison of how different locations are responding to an issue and how intense it is.  For example, I have seen maps used to show how much poverty is in the United States.  The use of color is to represent poverty in that location.  Also the darker it is the higher the poverty rates and numbers are in that location.  When a person sees it, they can see how the issue is by locating and discovering the possible central cause for it.  From there implementing needed changes.  I think using maps as a tool for social change to be very effective.  The reason is because it shows the audience the particular issue on a grander scale.  It is a more effective message on the issue of poverty, for example, when the audience can see the rates and numbers across the entire country of the United States instead of just one state alone.  What I take from these readings for my project is to have a purpose for my map.  People just assume maps can show were certain locations are, but I have learned that it can be used for something else.   Having a purpose for my map with give it more depth and meaning whether or not it is prompting for social change.  But having a purpose for my map to show something that the audience will take away from is something that I get from the different readings.  

Google Maps

Jesus Trail

Illustrator Tutotorial

My advertisement is about the promotion of reading within our society while down playing the emphasis of television.  Being entertained through television has crippled people to not think for themselves and find other forms of entertainment.  And I believe reading to one the most important things that every individual should invest time in because it opens our minds and puts our imagination to a better use.  The way I designed this advertisement was to have a person reading a book and looking amazed and/or entertained by what they are reading. From the book I wanted a bluish glow glowing from the book to mimic that of a television glow. The purpose behind this is mock the television industry and how it sucks our minds in to.  In my advertisement I flipped it to represent that books have the ability to capture our minds but in a positive manner.  Unlike television, reading enhances our minds.  In the background I have television snow while having an old-fashioned television boarder.  The purpose of the television snow is to provide texture to advertisement.  My original plan of a black background was not working properly.  It felt plain and very flat.  Having this snow background helped to bring my main focus of the subject reading the book stand out.  Everything is in black and white except the subject reading the book.  The purpose behind this is to show how reading brings about “life” in a person and opens up their imagination, and while television is boring and requires no mental work and viewers only get out of television what producers want them to.  I have a slogan spread throughout my advertisement “Television Deprives The Mind, Reading Releases The Mind”.  This slogan is the basis for my entire advertisement.  I separated the slogan into 2 parts.  I had “Television Deprives The Mind” in the top left corner in black and white blending into the snow.  I wanted it to kind of blend in the background of the television snow.  The reason is the effects that television has upon a person is subtle and not too many people notice it, and I wanted to give that same message by placing the text in that manner.  Also by having it in a “boring” format it helps to emphasize the message that television has no “life” with in it.  However I placed on the book “Reading Releases The Mind” in bright colors and a unique font.  I used the colors yellow, pink, and blue.  The reason I used these color is because these colors usually means something alongside “freedom”, “spiritual-awakening” , and freeing one’s mind.  Inside the text is a fantasy design and I used that because it emphasizes on the power that books have to open a person’s imagination.  Lastly I have signals coming from the subject’s head.  I had problem trying to display in a creative way the meaning of how reading opens a person’s mind and draws new opportunities and ideas to a person’s life.  Then I thought about television signals, I that is what I have coming from the subject’s head.  And I love this aspect within in my advertisement because it helps convey the message.  I placed my advertisement at my job at a local television studio in Fairfax.  The reactions varied.  One person said how he thought the poster was “awkward” to place at a television station.  It seemed as though more elderly adults ranging from 45 years old and above would agree with the advertisement and its message.  People under that age range seemed to only view it and walk away.  Only a few I would say showed signs of pondering on it.  I would say this was an interesting assignment.  I believe I completed my task in effectively standing for a certain value or truth.  The hardest part for me was to creative criticism the opposite side.  In my case criticize television proved to have been the hardest part of the assignment.  I wanted to show it more visually rather than using text.  However, I do believe that my advertisement helps to promote the message that I wanted from the beginning.

 

Interventionist Response

I like the picture by the artist  Valerie Tevere(pg 62).  The picture has her conducting an interview with a subject while in the bathroom.  It takes place in a bathroom in Amsterdam.  I liked it because when it first caught my eye I found it funny.  After reading the project overview of how the artist sought to how public and private space is defined.  And the differences in behavior and different encounters that happen in both private and public spaces.  I thought this to be a real interesting concept/idea for the artist to look at.  Especially in Amsterdam.  The reason is because of the reputation that Amsterdam has of being really free in sexuality and even drugs.  So exploring what is considered private and public space is a great idea.  The interviewee in the picture looks to be uncomfortable and out of place.  Obviously, a bathroom is a private place.  You can see and even in someways feel the uncomfortable and awkwardness that is depicted in the picture.  I don’t know if the picture shown in the entire picture. However, I would loved to have seen more obvious features to show it’s in the bathroom, to expose a greater emphasis on an invasion on private space.  By showing the toilet seat more, having another person using the bathroom at the same time.  Maybe also show camera lights and everything surround the interviewee.  I see how this invasion of private space shows the concept of interventionism and how it gets between the status quo standards and suggests something new.  I know especially in America, people are very discreet in discussing such topics as bodily functions.  I know inside a men’s bathroom there is absolutely no talking.  I see how the picture is getting between a private time and space that a person is normally used to.  I do believe it did complete the task of an interventionist.  I just wished it could have been pushed a little bit to take more of a risk. 

Proposal Presentation

Power Point Presentation

Advertisement Photos Response

The advertisement that I liked the most is the first photograph with the “Wawa” sign on it.  I took this picture at the local Wawa gas station where I live in Gainesville.  This advertisement is about the gas pump where people go to fill up their tanks.  The advertisements is promoting the half gallon drinks that the gas station sells inside.  Alongside promoting a burrito for a person to eat and enjoy.  The advertisement is for anyone that comes by.  Both male and female. For any race.  However it is only geared towards people who are driving their cars.  I think the gas station was smart in placing the advertisement at the gas pump where people will see it while they are getting gas for their cars.  While customers are waiting for the gas to be pumped in their cars, they see the advertisement for food and drink.  During this period of waiting, it makes a customer reflect and think about what they see in the promotion picture.  At this particular gas station there are speakers playing audio advertisements that encouraging the customers to go in the gas station to buy some drinks and food.  And while hearing the audio and seeing the picture promoting the sale item, it reinforces and helps to convince the customer to get the item.  I also began to see that the items being sold fits are specific for a driver.  Having a small drink and/or burrito for a little snack for the drivers while they’re drivers.  The drivers on the road are not only people going to the street down the road, but some people could be traveling on vacation.  And the advertisement of a half gallon drink and a small burrito is a good snack to have for the road.  It’s a plan that serves to be easier for the customer to get food their than to drive extra miles to another place for food.  It helps to have everything in one place.