Rationale + Final Poster

In today's society, we are constantly dependent on social media. It is slowly consuming our daily lives and becoming an addiction that we can't free our selves from. I illustrated this idea through metaphoric imagery, including a computer mouse and hands (Ihi). The computer mouse works as a visual metaphor, representing the whole of social media in general. The cord also relates to the top social media that our society use on a daily basis. I tried to show this through a selective of colours that the audience can immediately associate with social media. This includes Facebook, Snap Chat, Twitter and Youtube. The composition with the hands wrapped tightly with the mouse cord creates a feeling of constraint when we are constantly on social media. We use our hands everyday to do our daily task, but with it tied back emotionally from social media, we restrict ourselves from doing anything else (Wehi). I also used a vignette effect to guide the viewer’s eyes towards the center of the poster and further suggest this feeling of containment. The audience for this poster is aimed at anyone who is constantly addicted to social media while drawing themselves away from society.

Poster Wall

Final Critique

In today's session we had our final critique. We formed a group and put our posters on the wall to give and receive feedback. It was a useful lesson to get some final feedback before hand in and it was also interesting to see what other people has done. As for my poster, I was suggested to remove the plug as the poster is easier to read without it. The plug made the image seem un-balanced to others. I was also ask to play with proportion and scale with the hands and text as it seem like the poster is split in half. Too much white space? Some also commented on the cords being a little too big and suggested that I make them smaller so it looks more constraining on the wrist. The mouse also was blending in with the background, so they suggested maybe I could move it ever so slightly to the left so it is contrasting with the wrist. As for the cords, I could play around with colours of social media since social media is more than just Facebook. 

Typography & Catch Phrase Refinements

I decided to post my poster on the Facebook group to get some opinions from people in the other streams. Some suggested to play around with my text and catch phrase as it wasn't working well with my imagery. I try to come up with some catch phrases that relates to my imagery better. Most students suggest I should remove the soccer ball as it looks out of place and doesn't fit well with the poster.

After further refinements, I posted them on the Facebook page again and the one that most people thought worked well with my image is "SOCIAL MEDIA don't let it tie you down"

Image Refinements

Week 5 - Session 2 (Interim 2)

In today's session we had a look at the spatial students assignment regarding ihi and wihi. Although our assignments are different, ihi and wehi is applied to both assignments, and it was interesting to see how they approached the idea. It was interesting to see how they incorporated and expressed ihi and wehi in a different way to us. After the presentation I was able to have a deeper understanding of the term ihi and wehi. 

Week 5 - Session 1 (Developments)

I began developing my 2 strongest posters that was suggested by my peers on critique week.
For poster 1, I wanted to incorporate shadows and texture-(related to social network) to my poster so it doesn't appear too flat as some people had told me the hands looked a bit awkward. However I didn't want to over-complicate it either since I originally wanted to go with a simplistic approach. I also played with text, trying out different fonts and position. I decided to change my catch phrase from "don't let your computer live your life" to "don't let social media live your life" as social media also includes cellphones, games etc. Also experimented with vignette effect to create an illusion of close space. - Links back to the idea of containment with social media addiction. It also draws the viewer's eyes to the centre of the page, focusing on the imagery. I also explored with negative and positive space however the outcome did not turn out as well as I had imagined.

Week 4 - Session 1 (Class Critique)

Working with my peers, we gave a brief presentation of our poster and the idea that we were trying to convey within it. As a group, we gave each other feedback using the de bono hats. I found this session to be extremely helpful as I was a bit stuck on developments. I also didn't have a final phrase on my poster so I left it empty, however I wrote the list of phrases that could be potentially used and with the help of my group, I was able to pick some phrases that they found the most appropriate with my posters. Other that text, I was given feedback on my composition and how it can be improved. There was a suggestion that I can play around with the scale and composition of the football to intensify the struggle of wanting to play football (representing social activities) but couldn't as they were tied down by social media. My group also found that poster 1 and poster 2 were the strongest in terms of conveying my ideas. As independent studies, I began working towards my final poster with the feedback I got in mind.

Poster 1 

Poster 2 

Poster 3 

Poster 4

Week 3 - Session 2 (Concepts)

In today's studio, we had a look at metaphors and had a discussion on how the use of imagery can convey a message without the use of context. We looked at some simple dingbats, while figuring out the possible meanings that they carry. The meaning can be altered by adding other dingbats into the composition or playing with scale and layout. I tried out the similar exercise by showing my concepts to my peers and asking them to figure out my idea without looking at any text. With their feedback, I was able to improve my posters. We were also given de bono hats to have a better understand on what I wanted to convey with my poster. It also helped me find some missing elements that I soon added to my poster to create a stronger meaning. For my posters I decided to mainly focus on illustrator as I wanted to have a clean cut and simple imagery just like the internet. I wanted my image and text to have some relation to the internet so it can be more successful in terms of drawing the attention of my target audience.

Week 3 - Session 1 (Type)

In today's lecture session, we had a brief discussion about type and how it can hold different meanings depending on its historical background. It can be used to convey a particular message on a poster/image. We also worked with our peers and brainstormed various phrases/sentences that might work with our imagery within our concepts. I was able to come up a few phrases during studio class but was still reluctant to decide on a final phrase as I wanted to do more research and consider one after my digital concepts. As independent work, I continue to finish my concepts and did some further research and brainstorm on type that may create a bigger impact when communicating the message of my poster to the audience.

 I also looked at some social media type faces:

http://fontsinuse.com/in/1/industries/29/social-media

http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2012/08/21/good-typeface-the-font-behind-facebook/

 

A video I found interesting regarding to my posters - Use of social media, partically Facebook is "sucking" up the user's time and it further comments how social media is killing productivity. I was able to get further ideas after watching this.

Week 2 - Session 2 (Thumbnail Development)

In studio, we were able to share our current thumbnails with our peers and get feedback on what is working and what can be improved. My thumbnail appeared to be too literal so I was given the advice to find symbols or substitution images to convey my idea in a more metaphoric approach. I looked into the three forms of rhetoric and found some inspirational posters and imagery to help give me some idea on how I can develop my thumbnails. In my thumbnails I looked into several negative aspects of social media such as addiction, strangers lurking on the net, distractions and being isolated from society. I originally wanted to go for the "stranger-danger" idea but as I developed my thumbnails more further, I got intrigued in the idea that addiction to social media creates isolation. I began to look at metaphoric images that could possibly portray isolation and addiction, and then choosing a few that I like so I can move on to creating my poster digitally and getting feedback next lesson. 

Some of the images I found for addiction are: 
pills, 
cigarette, 
syringes, 
hook,
plugs,
cables

Some of the images I found to represent the outside (social) world:
sunny day, 
windows and doors to act as a barrier
photographs
sport - football
keys


Looked into some more poster ideas that uses substitution/addition.