At First I Though Visual Literacies Wasn't My Thing

Upon starting the class I thought to myself, "Why am I in here and how can this help me?"  I soon came to find out that there were many valuable lessons I was able to learn and that have real life applications.  I enjoyed learning how to blog and express myself through words, pictures and videos.
Learning about the importance of layout and design helped me appreciate how meticulous advertising and marketing individuals work to creating the perfect brand.  I never realized how much advertising and marketing was focused on evoking emotion.  This common theme was referenced in the preface, chapter 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 16.

There is so much thought that goes into creating a poster and at first glance or to an untrained eye the poster may look simple.  Professional posters are not a simple process and the poster pointers powerpoint explained the process and details extremely well.  From the grid, to the colors, to the font, it explains that every aspect of the poster has a meaning and a purpose.

The most profound moment I had in this class definitely has to be the moment I learned that there is only 1 space required after a punctuation.  For me this was mind blowing.  I couldn't believe that working in a school for four years I had never heard of this.  It disturbed me even more when I questioned a english teacher at the school I worked about the new rule and she was totally oblivious.  It made me further realize the poor quality of education that are children are receiving and how terribly unprepared our at-risk youth are for a college education.

Thanks to this class I have a new found appreciation for the visual arts and the constant change that happens all around us.  Most of us would never take the time to notice, but I sure will from now on!

The first thing I found interesting upon comparing my answers with the majority was that the majority of people said silver for technology.  The reason for this was because when I did a google search for "technology color" most of the images that came up were blue.  I had to change my search to "technology color silver" in order to gain access to more images that had silver in it.

Even this picture contained blue in it!  The second similarity was "dependable."  I found myself being curious about this because of the saying "feeling blue" which normally means sad or depressed.  To me this would not be the kind of person I myself would depend on.  I mean who would want someone sad and depressed to depend on, yet the majority chose this color for dependable.

When I think about "good tasting," I associated this color with golden brown.  In almost every recipe you will see the words "cook until golden brown."  That is when you know the food is done and ready to eat.  There are delicious foods that taste just right when they are golden brown like; fried chicken, cookies and my favorite caramel sauce, Smucker's Simple Delight Salted Caramel Sauce!

I am telling you if you haven't tried it yet, you are not living!

When it came to referring to the reading in "White Space Is Not Your Enemy," I struggled to find the correlation between the assignment and the reading material.  I could not understand what Chapter 8 which was about font type and Chapter 14 fit to print.  I kept going back to the moodle page to make sure that it said Chapter 8.  I finally noticed that the title in moodle for chapter 8 was color basics, which was actually Chapter 9 and upon realizing the error I was a little more clear and was able to find the correlation.  On page 113 and page 200 the book speaks about evoking emotion.  Color most definitely evokes emotion.  If this wasn't true then we wouldn't have sayings like "feeling blue," "a black day," or "red-hot."  With color having so much power to evoke emotion it is understandable why Angelica and other graphic designers work so hard to get the perfect color in their advertisement.  It makes sense that the PMS numbers are the same all around the world to create uniformity among printers who have a very valuable component to a businesses success.

My favorite color has always been purple and I am sure that has something to do with the fact that my birthstone is "amethyst!"  Among talking to people I find that purple is a common favorite color, even though the majority on the color survey would suggest otherwise.

I want to be at the beach somewhere in paradise!

I chose this image of San Pellegrino Chinotto.  I for one had no idea what a Chinotto was until I found this image and did some research.  For the San Pellegrino brand they use the fruit, similar to an orange but with a distinctive bittersweet taste, which is grown at the foot of Etna Volcano in Sicily, Italy.  By the looks of this image it took a lot of preparation and experimentation before they got the “signature shot,” as talked about in the David Lund behind the scenes video at this website http://blog.topazlabs.com/liquid-commercial-photography-david-lund/.  David Lund shows that it takes multiple people and a very intricate set up to get the perfect liquid shot.  In this image, the oranges, which are much more orange than the actual chinotto fruit, seem to be being dropped in to water.  The ensuing bubbles are a product of dropping oranges at different precise times to get the right angle and depth in order to surround the actual item that is being advertised.  The trajectory of the oranges seem to be floating towards the bottle and glass that are sitting firmly on a table which has the eye put focus on the actual product.   A quick glance of this image would have you thinking that this is a refreshing drink that could quickly quench your thirst on a warm summer day.  Upon closer review one would have to ask themselves is the bottle and glass sitting in the water too and if so why is it not floating and the liquid in the cup not moving out of the glass.  A trained eye knows that this is multiple different shots put together in one.  As Jim talked about in his presentation commercial photographers often use glycerin to mimic condensation on a bottle or glass.  The ice cubes are not real so that they do not melt during the time it takes to get the perfect image.  The shoot can take days to prepare for and hours to shoot.  In David Lund’s whiskey photo shoot he talked about the fact that they used 20 bottles of whiskey to produce all the splashes and waterfall cascade.  Jim talked about the gold card that is put behind a bottle to give a golden reflective glow in to the product.  All of these tricks were clearly used to get this awesome image that invokes movement and bright color.  In my research I found that there is a high demand for liquid shots and it is not just used for liquid products.  I myself do not like sparkling water or sparkling drinks in general but this picture is making me want to try it while sitting on a balcony of a beautiful hotel set on the ocean front while enjoying some crumpets.  I haven’t ever had a crumpet in my life either!

Please click the link below:

https://animoto.com/play/RyotB9k16h0bqaaAayTiow#

I have found in my 38 years that there are good birthdays to remember and then there are ones that you would prefer to forget.  I must say that my 38th birthday was a memorable one for sure.  Spending time with family and friends is one of the most valuable times one can have in their lives.  I was surprised by the amount of family and friends that showed up and showed out for my birthday celebration.  From a relaxing day to an intimate dinner to a surprise party to a night of fun and laughs, I must say that I enjoyed every minute of it.

The creative process was a time of reflection on all the different facets of my life and which facet I wanted to highlight.  The process also involved the capability to find all the necessary photos to show the facet that I would like to show.  At first I thought about highlighting my career, then I thought about doing a photo montage of all the things that are wrong with the world.  After long thought, I decided on my birthday.  I had all the pictures from the beginning, middle and end.  What made the process difficult was not having access to internet other than my phone.  I downloaded the app to my iphone and began to create from there.  I wasn't able to finish because it became too daunting to do it all from my phone.  So I decided to wait to blog about it until I got back home from Ohio where I would have access to internet and I could finish it from my laptop.

What I learned from the process was to take your time, envision the message you would like to relay, make sure you have all the necessary components, have patience, have more patience, and put in the work.  Make sure to ask for other's opinions on your finished product and get constructive feedback.

I enjoyed reliving my birthday and basked in all the support I truly have surrounding me!