World Clock

It's a little disturbing,

But it's an interesting use of flash.

Reflections on DM

We covered a lot in digital media this semester, but I didn't feel particularly challenged. Considering it was a 101 course, I understand why we don't go into these things in depth, but I'm excited to do so in second year RTA.

Showing examples in lecture helped inspire me and give me an idea of what can be done through different media. The tutorials were helpful but seemed pretty redundant at times.

This course should offer more instructions and possibilities when it comes to programs. More importantly, programs like Fireworks which aren't used by professionals should not be bothered with. There is no reason not to start with Photoshop, as this course should be an introduction anyway. I think this was the most frustrating part of the course, since Fireworks is rather crippled software and you would never use it again outside of class.

I have always been interested in digital media, and am definitely considering a career in the field. However, I wish we had a better idea of what these careers would be, specifically. This isn't covered in the course and would introduce ideas student previously hadn't thought of in occupations related to digital media.

The most important thing I learned in this course is how to use Flash and all the information about the web. We're on the internet everyday, but we generally don't spend time analysing it or thinking about its effects. It's important to think critically in this digital age and this digital media course helped me do just that.

See you next year!

The Importance of Getting on the Web

In these technology and web-saturated days, it is absolutely crucial for businesses and individual persons to have a presence on the web. With out fingers practically connected to our keyboards, cell phones, and PDAs, we want information fast, and if we can't get it fast, we move on to different topics of interest.

So what is a perfect example of individuals with a web presence? I believe the answer to that is the authors of popular webcomics. They draw something, we laugh, and we keep coming back for more.

Personal favourites:
1. xkcd - Randall Monroe
2. Sinfest - Tatsuya Ishida
3. Perry Bible Fellowship - Nicholas Gurewitch

Web 2.0

According to O'Reilly Media, Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.

Here are some sites that exemplify the main characteristics of Web 2.0:

Dynamic Content
Example: Google Maps
Combining real life mapping data for use on the internet is a mashup, creating dynamic content viewable on multiply platforms.

User Contribution
Example: Reddit
Users generate post or generate headlines and stories, popular ones get upvoted and sent to the top of the page for everyone's internet surfing convenience.

Social Media
Example: Youmeo
A social networking site that lets the user import data from MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc and control it from one interface. Created by a 15 year old genius who makes me feel rather unaccomplished.

Online Applications
Example: Google Documents
Word processing and data spreadsheets programs available online. They allow for group collaboration and chat, giving everyone control and access to the same document at the same time.

Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Example: Delicious
Social bookmarking and tagging uses individual efforts to contribute to a larger database that may help everyone else.

Political Satire At Its Best

After stumbling upon Blurb, a bookmaking site, I found the illustrations of Zina Saunders. She does political commentary through vivid illustrations with incredible detail.

WORKS: Flash Assignment

If you would like to view my flash assignment, please click here. It's hosted from an external website.

Artist's Statement
"Pandora & Her Box"

Pandora & Her Box was inspired by Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies. In Gorey’s (rather morbid) chidren’s book, he goes through the alphabet in rhyming couplets about how 26 children meet their fate. This is the reason why most of the drawings are in greyscale, I wanted to embody the same feeling Gorey gives off in his work. My basic concept was to create a story with a girl and her mishaps with a mysterious box. The title, Pandora & Her Box, came as an afterthought, alluding to Pandora’s box of evil. In this interactive, a stranger leaves a box at the girl’s doorstep. She opens the door, bring the box into her home, and tries to open it. However, the box reacts very unusually, but she is persistent in her attempts. Eventually she opens the box, which contains a whirling vortex, in which she is sucked into. She falls empty space and finds herself face to face with the box once again.

The target audience for my work is children 10 or under. The interactive is filled with buttons and goofy sound effects. I believe children would enjoy this interactive because of its cartoonish nature and simplicity. The humour used is understandable on a low level, which means an audience of any age could understand.

The program used for this assignment was Adobe Flash CS3. This program was used for all the motion and interactivity. To draw the objects in the piece, I used a Wacom tablet. This helped achieve the handdrawn effect with accuracy and without being incredibly time consuming. All sound effects are from the royalty free library at RCC.

The biggest challenge of this project was dealing with errors in Flash. On more than one occasion, the program “unexpectedly quit” and all progress was lost. Another difficulty was trying to figure out what was wrong with the action script which disallowed the buttons from working properly. This was the most frustrating and time consuming above all other tasks.

By doing this project, I learned how to use a new program and I now have a stronger appreciation for those involved in animation. One must have a lot of patience and strong logic skills to piece together a successful interactive animation. Although I feel like I could’ve improved on my original concept, I believe my piece is successful in portraying my original concept. The project was a challenge but seeing the end result is rewarding.

Contemporary Comparison

Album cover for Kate Nash's Made of Bricks

Album cover for Puccini's La Boheme (by Alex Steinweiss)

Work like Steinweiss' first album covers ever are hard to come by in contemporary work. They may use simpler methods in creation (such as an outline drawing of a figure), but the cut out styles are rarely found. Contemporary album covers seem to either be much more complicated or a mass of good looking scribbles. The similarities in these two covers are found through content, rather than design, but I feel they are both eyecatching pieces of work.

Maverick

The creator of PalinAsPresident.com what I would describe as a maverick. This flash piece roared through Digg and Reddit and became much adored by those who didn't quite support what Sarah Palin stands for. Although the piece is, of course, greatly exaggerrated (I think), it's use all the labels Palin has aquired in a mashup provides a good deal of entertainment. This is a perfect example of a flash piece that doesn't have to be a video going from start to finish, but rather a interactive. Although the piece doesn't have a completely finished feeling like any story arc does, the subtleties tied into the piece are gold and provide a reasonable sense of satisfaction.

On Inspiration

Flash has been around for a long time, and it's power lies in simplicity. Flash video is at the core of viral internet memes and websites that have been viewed by millions of people. The End of the World was an absolutely huge success and I know people who still quote the phrase "But I am le tired."

Inspiration can come from any medium, the main inspiration for my piece is Edward Gorey. Often called the dark Dr. Seuss, his simple but whimsical drawings and storylines say a lot with very little.

My goal for the flash interactive is to create a simple piece that feels complete. You don't need a lot of colour or fancy images, you just need a good story.

WORKS: Poster Assignment

Artist's Statement
"DMBC Softball Tournament"

The objective of this piece was to create an eye-catching poster that effectively displays information to an event. In this case, the event is a charity softball tournament hosted by a church. My concept was to use silhouettes of softball players to make a modern impression, like the ones in Apple iPod advertisements. The silhouettes represent the idea that anyone can play in this tournament. Anyone can be those people those silhouettes are of. The typeface used is called Coverse Allstars, undoubtedly a play off Converse, the popular sneaker brand. This helps appeal to the younger demographic whom may be familiar with this brand.

This poster targets a demographic from 14 years of age to late 20s who are interested in a light game of softball. Since the tournament is said to be hosted by a church and for a hospital’s charity foundation, one can assume the games will not be taken too seriously. This poster could also potentially target a middle-aged demographic. An older demographic may like to watch the tournament, especially if their children will be playing.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 was used to create this poster. The silhouettes are cutouts of photographs from softball games I took over the summer. I used the magnetic lasso tool to create the general outline of the figures and the pen tool to smooth some edges out. A colour overlay was placed on all the figures create the silhouette effect. To create perspective, I warped the text by increasing the height on one side of the text. This created contrast with the enlarging silhouettes as they created perspective in opposite directions.

My main challenge was creating an appropriate colour scheme. I used a light beige background to get the feel of a retro baseball team. The colours used for the text are triadic variations of the three main primary colours. Choosing the colours of text was difficult, I wasn’t sure what would be an appropriate and whether it would be too much but since it is meant to be a bold poster with a slight vintage edge, I used a darker variation of the primary colours.

The final product was successful as it recreated what I originally visualized. I believe it successfully addresses the target audience and would generate interest in this softball tournament.

For The Love Of Type (& Politics)

Being President of the United States is a big task, but first you have to convince people you're fit for the job of being their leader. Candidates spend millions on their presidential campaigns, and a very important part of it are their signs. Although it won't even pass through the minds of most voters, the typefaces the candidates use to display their name and slogans suggest something about the candidates themselves. Let's take a look at the typefaces used by the top 3 candidates and how effective (or ineffective) they are.

Senator Hillary Clinton
Typeface: New Baskerville
Designed in 1757 by John Baskerville, the typeface for Clinton's campaign is one commonly used by book publishers, law firms and universities. It doesn't make much of a statement, and comes off old.


Senator John McCain
Typeface: Optima
Described by Microsoft as "classic, quirky, elite and just a bit old-fashioned", the description seems fitting for McCain's maverick status. This typeface was designed in 1958 by Hermann Zapf, who was once a POW. The typeface is commonly used in pharmaceutical packaging and hospital signage, and is also the one used to engrave the names into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Senator Barack Obama
Typeface: Gotham, Requiem
From Hoefler & Frere-Jones and designed in 2001, Gotham is described as the hot font of 2008 by John D. Berry, author of a series of books on typography. Requiem is from the same typography group, garnering them a lot of press for this presidential campaign. Gotham is praised for it's classy and clean look and a favourite of many bloggers, including myself.

Moving Picture Blocks

In exploring color palettes in various mediums, I've broken up images into main color blocks to show the differences in colour palettes for television, print advertisement, and paintings.

Television
uses colour palettes that correlate to the mood of the show. Animated shows use bright palettes with many colours. In contrast, dramas use less saturated colours.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law

Grey's Anatomy

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uses simple palettes with few colours to grab the eye. Monochrome palettes with a contrasting or complementary colour are popular.

Vespa

Maybelline

Paintings
use earthly and natural tones, as high saturation capable in light systems are not available in paint.

Botticelli's Birth of Venus
Dali's Persistence of Time

The Joshua Tree

In the Non-Designer's Type Book, author Robin William mentions how she once received a book on how to identify trees. In the book, the first tree she stumbled upon was a Joshua tree; it was simple to identify as it only took too clues. Although at first she thought the Joshua tree was weird-looking and that she'd never seen it before, after seeing the book she realised that 80% of the trees in her neighbourhood were Joshua trees.

This awareness applies just as well to designs. Or, more specifically, the principles of design:
Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity

Once you're aware of the principles, you notice their relevance in design everywhere.


For example, all 4 principles are effectively applied in this poster:

Contrast is found with the obvious visual difference in colours (black/white), bold handdrawn shapes versus thin lines neat background, and the changing thickness of the type to emphasize text.

Repetition is found in using the same typeface throughout the poster and the repetition of the handdrawn yellow arrows and shapes.

Alignment is found in the text, justified center.

Proximity is found in the groupings of text, where relevant information is close to eachother.

Although the principles of design are a good place to start for any piece of design work, it takes much more than just these four principles to become a great designer. Additionally, not all pieces of work will involve all these four principles of design but may still look brilliant and amazing.

Warning: This Advertisement May Cause Seizures

Or at least that's what the video advertisements lining subway tunnels should say. The first time I came across this form of advertising was riding the train in Beijing, China this summer. It was just like any other subway ride in Toronto (or almost, the TTC subway system has always been subpar compared to other major cities) but all of a sudden flashing lights and pictures bombard you from the dark tunnel outside the car. A long line of video screens all displaying the same clips are shown practically like a stop motion. They placed in a way where the speed of the train is calculated and the screens practically look like they're stationary with respect to the train's windows. Except when the train isn't at the right speed they seem like strobe lights.

Goes to show that digital media can truly insert itself absolutely anywhere.

But seriously, I would not go on the subway with these ads if I were epileptic. Instant seizure.

In This Information Age

According to Wikipedia, the term digital media refers to "electronic media that work on digital codes".

To tell you the truth, I never thought about what digital media meant to me before the first lecture. It just seemed like another strand tacked onto this whole Radio & Television Arts major thing. I wasn't sure how it related to the idea of broadcasting, but then I realized how obviously relevant digital media is.

Digital media is ubiquitous. From the World Wide Web to the cable box to the billboards on Dundas St., digital media is present everywhere. This form of media is an important part of out lives as a means for mass communication, especially in this information age. There is a need for us to receive constant updates and only the latest up-to-the-minute news. Digital media delivers this.

An RTA student should take a digital media course because as our society advances, it becomes more and more dependent on technology. Students trust the internet for information, whether it be Facebook or YouTube or Perez Hilton. In an increasingly digital world, it would only make sense for an RTA student to understand and learn about the effects of digital media and how to take advantage. Digital media is connected to all forms of broadcasting, and without knowledge of digital media, success will be hard to come by.