Post #20 User-Centered Design

-http://infohost.nmt.edu/~mentor/Peer_Mentoring_Handbook.pdf

For the document that is user friendly I choose the NMT Peer Mentoring Program Handbook. The handbook is used for both mentors and mentees as a guideline. The handbook is very comprehensive with clear distinctions between the different sections in the book. The screenshot above is the table of content, which is also nicely labeled and indented to make the handbook easier to look through if there was a specific question that needed to be asked. The main colors, aside from the title page, are blue and black. All the main sections are in blue and boldfaced. If there is a lot of information about a specific topic all the relevant information is in bullet points which makes it easier to follow along then if there was just a wall of text. The handbook also uses different fonts consistently thought the document to highlight curtain points in the text. The use of different fonts is important in a user-friendly document because it allows people to follow along a lot easier. There are also no awkwardly placed spaces in the document unlike the government document previously discussed. All the text is neatly put together so the rhythm in the text is kept through the handbook. 

Post #19 Document Design

-http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201207_cfpb_Reports_Private-Student-Loans.pdf

I choose the Private Student Loan by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau government PDF as a document that has obscured information because of poor design. All of the documents text is placed awkwardly to the left while the right side has a lot of free space. This misuse of white space creates cramped text in the overall design. The top screenshot is from the PDF and it has a green and purple bar graph, which has a lot of problems from the design point of view. From the design point of view the color choice for the bar graph is just horrible. The dark green and purple blend in with each other and it is very hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. There is very little contrast between the two colors and therefore the graph is unable to show the separation between “school certified” and “direct to consumer” loans. Looking at the bar graph also hurts the eyes because of how the two colors effect each other and our perception of depth. The second screenshot has another infographic, but this one is a diagram with symbolic schools, that at first look like churches. The way that the designers did the percentages on the schools is very weird in that the 5% is barely visible. If they had simply added a little more to the whole and proportioned it through out the other symbols, it would look a lot better. 

Post #18 Color Theory

-http://tgcx555.wordpress.com/2010/05/31/burger-king-ribs/

A fast food restaurant that follows the color theory closely would have to be Burger King. The logo depicts a yellow burger with the red title in the middle of the burger and a blue circular background around the burger. The logo uses color and symbolism to attract attention to itself. The symbol can be considered iconic, indexical and symbolic at the same time. The logo represents a burger with the title “Burger King” being in the middle of the buns. The color theory plays a big part in the logo of Burger King since the three colors that the log uses are blue, red and yellow, which are the primary colors that all other colors come from. By using all the primary colors the logo achieves a curtain level of harmony in that the color contrast each other. By using all three primary colors there is a curtain level of urgency in the logo that come from the three primary colors. The sweeping blue line that runs around the logo creates motion in the logo that adds to the sense of urgency. The logo also uses white space throughout the logo to add to the depth and perspective of the logo. The billboards that have the Burger King logo are usually either white squares or the same shape as the logo. The white space used in the logo blends in with the sign and creates a uniform image. 

Post #17 Remediation

-http://uywvker.servebbs.com/amazon-kindle-fire-hd-scroll-right-scroll-left.html

A new media form that refreshes older media is the Kindle. The Kindle is an electronic device that allows us to reed hundreds of books from a single source. The Kindle tries to take the place of the book that everyone has grown so accustomed to. Instead of creating a device that has a wall of text going on forever like on a web page, the Kindle breaks it down into a book format. Ironically enough the Kindle is trying to replace the book by creating an interface much like reading a book. When using the Kindle, you move from page to page by making a sweeping motion much like turning the page in a book. You can also place bookmarks to which you can come back later if for example you really liked a quote or a line. Kindle also saves your spot much like in the book and it has page numbers like it would in an actual hard cover book. The Kindle also adds a few features that transcend the regular old book. Now you are connected to multimedia where you can share how far in the book you have already read and share quotes from the book with your friends. The introduction of multimedia into the realm of books is probably the biggest innovation that Kindle added in its remediation of books. 

Post #16 Website Ethos

-http://www.foxnews.com/

I choose Fox News website as the website whose credibility might be questioned because of poor design choice. Fox News can be considered at least somewhat credible (sometimes) so it naturally follows that their website would have to have good ethos to uphold their credibility. The two images are form Fox News homepage and at first glance seem normal. The very top picture has some problems that might just undermine Fox News credibility. They have the picture of the burned car and the story about Benghazi whistle-blowers being threatened by the White House. The issue is quite important and serious but right to the left of the picture is an advertisement for a new segment called Constitution USA. I believe that the website is undermined by such advertisement because they are suppose to be a nonbiased news organization and instead it appears that they believe that the government is corrupt and the constitution can save us. The picture right under undermines the website further because this is the quick link to the top stories. When you have heading like “Brosnan Relives Wife’s Death” right next to “Lack of Sleep May Harm Sperm” something is seriously wrong with the websites ethos. One has to wonder what would Brosnan say when he sees his story right next to “Oops! Teigen Has Dress Mess” or “Sheep That Glow in Dark.”

Post #15 Photographic Portrayals of Violence

-http://www.alexiafoundation.org/blog/2012/08/02/donna-ferrato-how-images-matter/

The image above does a good job in their ethical reserve of violence. Donna Ferrato took the image in 1988, in Minneapolis. Photograph portrays a black man being handcuffed by policeman with a child standing in front and pointing and yelling at the man. The child’s anger appears to be directed strait at the man being handcuffed and one of the policeman looks surprised at the child. There appears to be a black woman standing behind the policeman crying while the television is also playing right next to the man. They all seem to be standing in quite a poor house with books scattered next to the TV. The man being handcuffed pointedly doesn’t look at the camera or the child and is staring at the books on the ground. I think the photograph does a good job in its ethical reserve of violence. The story goes that the man was betting his wife and the child is yelling, “I hate you for hitting my mom, I hope you don’t come back to the house.” The photographer could have instead taken a picture of the woman and her injuries, but instead decided to take a picture of the man being arrested. In this picture the victim of violence is not clearly defined. The man could be considered to be one since he is the one being arrested and is the center of the photo. The photo also doesn’t appear to have been manipulated in any way.

Post #14 Your Favorite Animated TV Show

-http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/819130/Banksy-produces-seething-social-commentary-on-The-Simpsons

My favorite cartoon show of all time is The Simpsons. The Simpsons follow the life of an “average” American family through their daily lives with hilarious mishaps and events happening to them thought the episodes. The show has quite a bit of both social and political satire in it and isn’t afraid to pull any punches. The screenshot that I choose is part of one of the episodes intros. It depicts Chinese women who appear almost identical working on the drawing of The Simpsons cartoon. The screenshot symbolizes the injustice that are happening out there with companies using both cheap and forced labor to make their products. A lot of people know about this but no one has done anything so The Simpsons show their own cartoon being made, making the statement that unless something is done then this injustice will continue and maybe even evolve into other areas like cartoon making, although doubtful. The cartoon show has a very distinctive artistic style that is very unique. All the people are drawn very simply and the normal skin color for white people is yellow. Color plays a very distinct role since you can’t tell what nationality the cartoon is presenting to you unless they divert from the color yellow. The animation goes further into the social commentary as can be seen in the screenshot. All the workers are frowning and unhappy to show that this is not the work they want to be doing. Some of the workers also have injuries and one even has an eye patch. This could mean ether the conditions where they make The Simpsons is so bad or they are mistreated. 

Post #13 Informational Graphics

-http://www.vizworld.com/2009/07/health-care-reform-obfuscated-by-infographics/

A good example of an infographic that, in my opinion, obfuscates the information is the Health Care Reform bill graph. House Republican John Boehner released the graph on July 31, 2009. The graph could be one of the worst infographics out there because it doesn’t make the bill or the process any easier to understand. The infographic is flowchart with so many arrows leading in so many different directions that it is easy to simply get lost in the multitude of it all.  A flowchart usually has a clear starting point from which the viewer can then move to the next point and so forth and so forth. On this infographic there doesn’t appear to be any sort of starting point and if there is then it is so covered up by all the other stuff that it is easy to miss. The graph also uses a multitude of colors and usually that wouldn’t have been a bad idea. Colors help us distinct different elements in the same graph. In this graph there are so many different colors and they don’t appear to follow any set rules. Some boxes that are colored have the same colored arrows leading from them but then at the same time there are colored boxes that have totally different colors coming from them. Apparently in an effort to make the graph more understandably the makers also included some cultural symbols but there are only three of them and the symbolism doesn’t appear to follow any rules either since there are red and white lines that come from the symbols. 

Post #12 Film titles/credits

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJUJxKQegR8

I choose Austin Powers the Spy Who Shagged Me title sequence that best suits the film. In the screen shot we see Austin Powers looking directly at the camera butt naked with the title of the film covering his private area. There are women, on the stairwell staring at him as if he was completely insane, which he might be. Around the title there are different colored flowers that in the title sequence spin in place. The title sequence is such a great fit for this movie because it doesn’t take itself very seriously, just like the movie. From the very beginning Austin Powers is ridiculous and funny and does the most absurd things like walking through the hotel lobby naked and dancing. Through out the title sequence there are sexual innuendos that are reappearing throughout the film, but they never go too far. The different colored flowers also go well with the film since it is a throwback to the 60’s from which Austin Powers is from. The colors and the flowers remind me of the hippies and Austin Powers can be considered to be one. The colors and the font of the title also creates contrast to the Austin Powers and his dancing in the hotel lobby in that every time we are about to see something inappropriate the letters or the flowers cover it up. The title sequence is basically a situation comedy that is happening right inform of our eyes. The rhythm in the sequence is also very memorable since Austin Powers seem to be dancing to the same music that we are hearing and therefore the camera follows him in a very fluid motion. The title sequence plays on the viewer’s imagination by having very suggestive objects all around Austin as he is walking around.

Post #11 Typography

-http://www.luckymanpress.com/teach/pages/Links/Guide2Fonts.html

My favorite computer font that I use almost exclusively is Times New Roman. The modern Times New Roman is a typeface that has its roots in the old Latin lettering. The excepted font size for Times New Roman is 12 points because it is the easiest to read at this size. The reason why I like Times New Roman so much is because of the ease with which it is to read. The letters are all spaced out accordingly and there is enough of a curvature in every letter to distinct them from each other. The numbers also show up very well in Times New Roman. The curves are probably the most distinctive aspect of the font and it almost seams like somebody hand wrote the letters. With the letters put together there is a flow to the text that that not many other fonts can follow and that is without using the italic function on Word. Its easy to see why Times New Roman is used in books and newspapers, it has such a distinctive style that is very familiar to us all, even to those who have never seen it. I can almost relate my handwriting, if I was writing neatly of course, to the font of Times New Roman.

Post #10 Technical Perspective

-http://robsmovievault.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/robin_batman1966.jpg

An example of an image with low production value comes from a 1966 film Batman the Movie. The image depicts Batman and his sidekick Robin running down a street in New York City. There are a number of clues that show the low production quality compared to what we are used to seeing. The background is probably the biggest indicator of the production quality. The background is of the City of New York and is quite blurry. In fact the background appears to just be a picture of the street that was made into a poster and then put behind Batman and Robin. The background is painfully obvious to be a fake and the whole running seen was probably done on a green screen in some studio. Another sign of low production value are Batman and Robin’s costumes. The costumes appear to be made of spandex or some sort of very cheep material. Robin’s mask also seems to be poking him in the eyes and sliding off his face. Batman’s utility belt appears to be just a plastic belt with some blocky yellow things, which look like bags, glued to it. The whole image appears to be fake, which is understandable since the movie was made over forty years ago. Today with tools such as Photoshop average people can easily make a more believable image that what a studio could have done back in the 1960’s. But that’s advances in technology for you.

Post #9 Stereotype persistence in the media

http://static.emedco.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/Smoking-Signs--Smoke-Free-Workplace-Law-79719BBVPLYALU-lg.jpg

I choose the “Smoking is not permitted” sign as the stereotypical piece of media that can be found just about anywhere. The “Smoking is not permitted” sign is designed to show areas of public or private places where smoking is prohibited by the inhabitants. The sign depicts a cigarette with smoke coming from it with a red slash mark across it, and a white background. I believe that the sign was made to be very stereotypical and we don’t even realize it since we have seen the sign for most of our lives. The sign has become iconic, indexical and symbolic. It is such a successful sign because it can be viewed in many different perspectives. It can be viewed from personal, ethical, cultural or critical perspective. The sign is stereotypical because cigarettes are not the only form of implement that people can use to smoke from, yet for some reason the sign specifically targets them. I have never seen the same “Smoking is not permitted” sign, but with a big fat cigar or pipe on it. Apparently the media has shown that all the smokers simply smoke cigarettes and therefore there is no reason to put other products on the sign. I don’t think the stereotype is fare to the companies that produce cigarettes or the smokers, since it makes them seem like one trick ponies. 
     

Post #8 Advertising of Social Causes

-https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW3ef_QG4MJsia3Jqqrl2fIWqaB1NRF1O5fW96wb-jEOAbz1qnnM1BO7VvgKJV7LTy2-XBePlhsSj4zdBYo4hH8ekFv779-fX8oGo_xBuVSMnYxDnsmWYjwg9V7utbcTf9kofrT-CGpCZr/s400/India-Ads.jpg

An advertisement for a social issue that I choose is an Indian advertisement about talking on the phone while driving. The image is quite striking. It depicts an Indian woman who is talking on the phone and all of the sudden a huge splatter of blood shoots out of the phone. Right next to the phone is the message, “Don’t talk while driving.” This is obviously an advertisement that wants people to stop talking on their phones while driving and make them concentrate on the road instead. The advertisement uses a pathos or emotional appeal to its advantage to capture our attention. The huge amount of blood that comes out of the phone defiantly shocks us as well as drawn our attention. The underlining story behind the picture is that somebody was driving and talking on the phone and wasn’t paying attention. The blood coming from the phone is the driver who wasn’t keeping his eyes on the road and got into an accident. Fear is another tactic used by the advertisement. The image makes the viewer consider that the blood coming out of the phone could be theirs, and makes them afraid to drive and talk on the phone. It also makes a logos or logical appeal as well with the argument of since you are driving shouldn’t you concentrate on that so “this” doesn’t happen? The designers also made the focus point of their advertisement to be the blood. They did this by making the background lack a lot of colors and then making the blood so huge and dark red that the viewer immediately recognizes it.

Post #7 Visual Cues

- http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMjMyOTM4MDMxNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjIyNzExOA@@._V1_SX214_.jpg

For an example of an image that uses one visual cue above all others I chose the poster for The Amazing Spider-Man movie. The poster depicts Spider-man surrounded by his webs with the city of New York in the background. He has two diagonal cuts on his chest that seems to have been done by something with claws. Spider-man also seems to be staring at the viewer although it is hard to tell because his eyepieces are reflective. In his eyes we see the reflection of the rest of New York City. The poster uses all the visual cues but the one that is most dominant, in my opinion, is color. Spider-man is wearing his trademark blue and red costume, which simply captures our eyes because blue and red are some of the most eye drawing colors out there. There also seems to be some sort of blue light right behind Spider-man, which illuminates him further and punctuates the blue side of his costume. The blue tint of his webbing all around him also make a kind of frame around Spider-man, further making him the focus of the poster. By making the background darker our eyes are instantly drawn to Spider-man. The white letters at the bottom of the poster also catch our eyes. The designers made the poster so that our eyes lock on to Spider-man and then down to the white letters and only then do we focus on the city behind him. 

Post #6 Media representations of sight

-http://thecia.com.au/reviews/d/daredevil/

For an image of a visually impaired person I choose a seen from the movie Daredevil. The movie takes a new approach to what many people consider as impairment. The main protagonist Daredevil or Matt Murdock is a blind action hero who, thanks to his loss of sight, is completely fearless. Since his sight is gone, Daredevil’s other senses developed to almost superhuman proportion. He uses his other senses to live quite a normal life, except for taking bad guys down of course. In the image Matt is standing next to Electra, talking to her. Matt is wearing black sunglasses, which is an iconic sign that symbolize shim being blind, and is staring a little over Electra’s head. Matt seams relaxed and at ease talking while Electra seams to be taken back a little and seems to have a little bit of a pity look on her face. Matt is also holding Electra’s hand, utilizing his sense of touch so that he knows where she is. Matt is also holding a cane, which he uses to find his way and as a weapon. There is an interesting contrast between Matt and Electra with Matt wearing a darker and soothing colors while Electra is wearing an eye-catching red dress. The image really captures what we believe visually impaired people do and act. 

Post #5 Symbolic nature of light

- http://www.dst-corp.com/james/PaintingsOfJesus/NoJS.htm

A good example of an image or painting that uses light symbolically is a painting by Greg Olson of Jesus Christ reading from the prophet Isaiah in his hometown of Nazareth. Humans have always been awed and curious about the nature of light. Clarence John Laughlin once said, “One of my basic feelings is that the mind, and the heart alike… must be dedicated to the glory, the magic, and the mystery of light.” Scientifically light is made up of partials called photons that could act individually or could be combined to form energy waves. In the western culture light has been depicted as pure and even holy. That is why most often priests wear white, or saints are depicted as having halos made of light surround them. This symbolism can be seen through the image as Jesus is glowing in light compared to his surrounding. But light does not simply represent only purity, different spectrum of light can convey different feelings to us. An example of this could be the torches that are burning overhead. Even though they are giving off light it is of a different sort that Jesus is producing. The light of the torches seems somehow darker and has more colors such as read and orange mixed in. These added colors dilutes the light and further reinforces the image of pure Jesus. The fact that the light seems to be flowing through him could be the artist’s interpretation of us needing Jesus so that he could bring Gods light to us through him. 

Post # 4 An image that has shaped Western culture

- http://spinalcolumnradio.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/911-twin-towers-fire.jpg

I choose the fall of the World Trade Center as an image that has changed western culture. The image was taken September 11, 2001 in New York City. Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center. With fire spreading on the top levels of the towers, weakening the supports, the image of the explosion of the second plane was taken, and is perhaps the most widely known image today. At the same time just because a large number of people know and understand what the image is, it still doesn’t explain how the image could possibly have influenced at entire culture. The attack shocked not only America but many of her western allies as well. They saw first hand what Al-Qaeda was capable of. The image of the burning towers became a relying cry of outrage of thousands of Americans. The destruction of the World Trade Center roused feeling of revenge and retribution. The image also presented us with a feeling of fear and insecurity. The giant explosion and the knowledge that this is the original image and there is no special effects, makes the image truly terrifying. After the 9/11 bombing, Congress was able to pass bills that would have previously been seen as “violation” of American constitutional rights. But thanks to the hunting image of the explosion of the World Trade Center there was little to no objection in giving up some of our privileges just to bring back some of the feeling of security. The American culture, before 9/11, changed almost overnight to paranoia and perceiving constant dangers in every corner, all thanks to one simple image. 

Post #3 Gestalt Principles Images

- http://www.gestalt-institute.com/fun.html

The above images display Gestalt principals quite well. The first image, at first glance, appears to be a painting of a brown rocky mountainside covered with snow. But as you look harder at the painting you see white horses with brown spots. The image directly correlates with one of Gestalts principals, which is camouflage in which there is little or no separation between the foreground and the background. Another principal of Gestalts that the picture represents is that the brain does not prefer sudden or unusual changes in the movement of a line. The pictures of the camouflaged horses on the mountain don’t create much tension to our eyes so that at a first glance we don’t see the horses. The second image depicts a deer standing in a snow-covered forest full of trees. If you just focus on the deer then there is not much more to this picture, but as our eyes move away then we can see that there is an even bigger deer. This deer is made of the trees in the background. The deer that we see once we move our focus out to the whole picture can be attested to the camouflage principal as well as common fate. Camouflage of course since we can’t see the huge deer unless we focus on it. The common fate principal is that a viewer mentally groups parts of the image together and any discrepancy in the image creates tension. We grouped the forest as one, but then the fact that the trees created a giant deer created tension in our vision, which then made it possible for use to group that particular clump of trees into an image of a deer.

Post #2 Ways of Seeing

- http://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaizdas:AACHEN,_Hans_von_-_Bacchus,_Ceres_and_Cupid_-_WGA.jpg

-http://cdn.idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/11/rihanna-side-effects-album-cover-artwork-400x400.jpg

I believe that the relationship between man and woman has staid in stasis and that we have not moved on, which can be easily seen through the two pictures above. The first image is “Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid” by Von Aachein. The image right under it is Rihanna’s new cover photo for he album. The first image depicts a nude woman with her male lover staring suggestively at the viewer. This hits on one of Berger’s essential arguments on human condition. In his argument women are born into the world always surveyed by men. Women therefore become the surveyors and the surveyed, believing these to be two distinct elements of them being women. In “Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid” the woman in the painting distinctly looks at the viewer and away from her lover. The underlying suggestion in this painting is that the viewer is male and therefore she is appealing to him. John Berger goes further by arguing that in paintings men act while woman appear. This relationship is displayed even further in our society with the image of Rihanna. In the image Rihanna is completely naked with words covering her body and incidentally her face as well. The image depicts Rihanna as a sexual object and not the talented artist that she is. You would be hard pressed to find a cover photo of a male singer so suggestively displayed. Burgers view that women watch themselves being watched by men is found in the two images. Both images obviously speak loudest to the men and are intended for their eyes.

Post #1 Ways of Seeing

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mona_Lisa.jpg

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107942647411517970940/albums/5834562899449634033/5836383626094814738

               There are a number of consequences associated with taking pictures of art. The top picture is of Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The bottom picture is the original Mona Lisa in a museum. By looking at the top picture one can’t tell the scope or the size of the actual painting which in my opinion can take away a lot from the experience of appreciating a particular artwork. John Berger, in his book “Ways of Seeing,” argues that all the reproductions of images more or less distort and therefore the original painting is very much unique. One could also argue that with so many different reproductions of a painting that mystification occurred in which the original no longer is unique in what it says, but in what it is. This is the case with Mona Lisa, which is perhaps one of the most famous painting out there. Even though Mona Lisa is quite a beautiful painting, what has made it to be priceless is the fact that there is only one Mona Lisa that has been painted by Leonardo de Vinci. John Berger goes on to say that the “bogus religiosity” which now surrounds the original works of art has become the substitute for what they lost since the cameras made the paintings accessible to just about anyone. If the originals were no longer unique and exclusive as they used to be then the astonishing price tags on them must make them mysteriously so.