Jumping for joy

http://images.dpchallenge.com/images_challenge/0-999/998/800/767241.jpg

So the year’s almost over, scratch that, it is over – seven days don’t really count. I must say freshman year went by really fast, its weird thinking I’ll soon be a sophomore. Regardless, its time to reminisce over my ezine experience.  So reminisce I will.

Ezine was a great class, and I had lots of fun. So to capture my ezine experience I have a picture of kids “jumping for joy” at the beach. Therefore ezine= kids jumping and posing ridiculously with sand spraying everywhere. (: For real though. Ezine was a really enjoyable class, and a place I could always count on for some entertainment…good ‘ol ezine.

All of you incoming freshman – you are gonna like this class. I know I sure did. The nice thing is that you’re given a lot of freedom. Because you’re making a magazine you can’t have lessons everyday or have your teacher tell you exactly what to do. You have to be creative and innovative and come up with original ideas for stories and designs, and that’s what makes it so fun.

Yup, so that’s it. HAVE FUN FRESHMAN!!!! And ezine - I’ll miss you! And for the last time singaholic’s signing out. Later, blogworld.

Helvetica or Hell-vetica?

Heylo again. It’s blogtime yet again, and this time its time to talk typeface, AKA fonts. So in class this week we watched this video, Helvetica, about the font Helvetica and how its changed the face of typefaces (or so the video claims). We also read this article about how this group of people are trying to get the font Comic Sans banned, pretty funny, right?

So, why are fonts important? Typefaces can portray a certain mood to the reader through the font’s shape, angularity, whether its a serif or sans serif font and other details like that. Personally, I think typefaces should be unique in each context.

In Helvetica, the impact typefaces have on their context was shown in the example of advertising jeans. If you are selling jeans, the font you have on the advertisement gives the viewer an idea of what the product is going to be like. If the font looks grungy or beat-up then the product is probably worn-out jeans with tears and holes in them. If the font it clean and simplistic though, the the jeans are probably also simplistic, clean-cut jeans.

In Helvetica, the designers talk about how overuse of a font makes it undesirable and cliche. Many of the designers believe that Helvetica is the classic example of this. They think that even though Helvetica was a really good font when it was created and embodied the demands for typefaces for that time period of design, it has become so overused that whenever it is used now it just looks bad.

In the article this point is also brought up. They say that overuse of a font or the use of a font in a wrong situation can deeply hurt your design. When Holly Sliger was studying typography and graphic design in 1999, she had to design a museum gallery guide and her boss made her print it in a font that didn’t fit. “She was horrified when her bosses told her to use Comic Sans. She told them it was a cliche, and printed out a list of other typefaces she thought better suited the project. They insisted on Comic Sans.” Such inappropriate uses of fonts can make your design portray a mood that is not was the design is supposed to be portraying.

One of the best examples that the article gives of this is of the Black Sabbath website. A fansite of the Black Sabbath used the font Comic Sans. I doubt I need to clarify how badly this font goes with the band, despite this the fan site proudly wore this font. This all just goes to show that we have to be really careful when we are choosing fonts for our designs and make sure that they actually match.

So, this is all good, but how does this connect back to our own designing? When my group was working on our designs we had to decide several things about the fonts we were using. For our body text for our stories we wanted to use a font that was simple and did not distract from the design. For these reasons we chose the font Palatino Linotype. For the pull-quotes we wanted something that would pop from the page, and so we chose a San Serif font to contrast the Serif font used for the body text. We then decided that our titles was where we were going to go wild with fonts. Each title would use several unique fonts that would catch the attention of the reader. It’s now pretty easy to see that fonts are important to the design.

That’s all I’ve got for this week. So, later fellow bloggers, and go fonts!

Cries of Anguish

Hey guys! It’s blogtime again and we’ve finally got to that point where we’re adding other elements to our magazine, which leads us to (ba ba bum)PHOTOGRAPHY!!!! So, yesterday we watched this really cool video about National Geographic Photographers, their lives, stories they’ve done, and journalistic photography in general. It was really interesting and showed how their lives aren’t all that glamorous, and suprisingly involve getting malaria at least once (at least it seems that way).

Anyways, today we’re looking at some pictures that have won photographers a Pulitzer prize. So I was given this picture (under this blog) about Rwanda in 1995. So take a look. Wow. A child that can’t be any older than 2 or 3 is trying to wake up his mother, who is probably dying from one of the many epidemics spreading across refugee camps in Rwanda at this time. This picture is so sad, so depressing, yet so truthful. I think this picture gives a snapshot of what life what like for people living in Rwandan refugee camps at this time.

So, now that I’ve taken a look at the picture I need to figure out what the story behind the photo is. It turns out the the photograph shows a young Hutu child trying to get his mother to stand up. In all likelihood, the mother was too weak to do so. The mother and child were living in a refugee camp near Goma in Zaire because of the Tutsi/Hutu conflict. The Tutsi people had started a genocide of the Hutus since the deaths of both the Burundi and Rwandan presdients by April 6, 1994.

Refugee camps were created for the Hutus to protect them but soon enough the camps were overcrowded and had a lack of clean water. By July of 1994, 1,000 Hutus had died because of either lack of water or water contamination. On the day that the picture was taken, the UN had 46,000 gallons of water at hand, but were not able to deliver them to the refugees because they did not have enough trucks to carry the water. By week before this picture was taken 18,000 people had died in Hutu refugee camps, raising the death poll once again.

I think that this picture embodies the story because it shows how rundown and illprovided the camps are. This is shown through the mother’s weakness and the others lying around her in tatters of cloth. This picture just makes me sad and want to help these people in any way I can.

After viewing this picture it is easy to see how photography can portray emotions and stories just as well as words can. Well, thats all for now! Toodles. (:

from http://www.pulitzer.org/imported-data/year/1995/feature-photography/works/AP3.gif

“Rules that are”

Hello again. It’s blogtime and this week we’re reading other blogs. That’s right, I took a trip to the blog spot. I was flipping through several blogs until I found one that I liked – ‘And don’t call me on my cell.’ It’s a blog about how we shouldn’t abbrievate words like ‘laptop computer’ to just ‘laptop.’

Personally, I think that Bill Walsh is being a bit too nitpicky. I mean yes you’re supposed to call it a laptop computer, but if you call it a laptop it’s not like the world is going to explode with confusion. Despite this, I do find the picture to define laptop (a cat sitting on a guy’s lap) was pretty cute/funny.

Another one of Walsh’s blogs, “Rules that are” talks about dangler sentences and how they are grammatically bad. Dangler sentences are essentially sentences that the verbs and nouns just don’t match up. Walsh gave some examples to help the explanation: “Unable to renew his unrenewable youth, Ali’s skills had declined during his enforced layoff.”

OK, hmm, wow, funny. This quote = BAD writing. I liked how Walsh used a couple quotes to make dangler sentences seem even more ridiculous – it definently worked. Walsh also mentioned some “rules that aren’t” in this blog such as ending sentences with prepositions, or beginning sentences with conjunctions – both cool by him.

Even though Walsh’s blog can seem over the top nitpicky at times, it can also be really funny and enjoyable. All in all, I think I like Blogspot. So, thats all for this week. Later gater.

Pop-Project!

Hey there! It’s me again. It’s blogtime and today we’re talking design. In Wired’s most recent issue, one of their featured stories is about design itself. What does it mean to design? Why do you design things the way we do? And so on.

The article was actually pretty interesting. Wired went on to analyze the design of a couple things in our world, such as the water bottle and cover art. One of the things the article talked about was how in order to make a good design, you have to have restrictions. One quote that really shows Wired’s opinion is, “…the imposition of limits doesn’t stifle creativity–it enables it.”

The first couple times I read this quote it didn’t make sense. I mean, how can giving restrictions make you more creative? It almost seems like an oxymoron. But then I thought about it more deeply, and it started to make sense. I realized that without restrictions its really hard to find inspiration and the design that you end up creating isn’t as great as what you imagined.

Let me set up a hypothetical story to help explain myself – say your English teacher came in one day and said that you had a project due in tomorrow and he is giving you a class day to work on it so you better get to work. After an awkward silence you speak up and say, “Um, OK… what type of project?” Your teacher answers, “Anything. It could be a story, a poem, a painting, a sketch, a song, a dance. Anything. Oh, and it doesn’t matter what’s its about, but it better be good.” Alright let’s pause. Wow, that’s a lot to do in one day. Not only do you have to figure out what the heck you’re doing, but then you have to make it amazing? The whole thing’s kinda overwhelming. This scenario is essentially equal to designing with no limitations. It’s overwhelming and often results in designs that aren’t as creative as you hoped.

Let’s set up the other side of the story – your English teacher comes in and assigns you a two-page story based on the style of John Steinbeck’s writing in “Of Mice and Men”, once again due tomorrow. Doesn’t this make you feel more comfortable with the project? It sure makes me feel better. Because you have limitations and guidelines you know what to do and what the teacher expects of you, and thus you can individualize your story, without feeling overwhelmed. This is equivalent to designing with limitations. Despite the fact that it technically constricts us, it actually makes us feel more comfortable thus allowing us to be more creative and create a better design.

The whole English project thing is basically the concept that I think Wired is trying to portray. And despite it’s paradoxity, if you think about it, it makes sense!

So we’ve figured out what it means, but how is this going to help me and my group with our ezine? If we follow Wired’s advice by imposing limitations, we will be able to be more creative in our designs. In our ezine there will be several ‘limitations’ to help us along, such as a color theme, a designed folio and page number, a certain way that we’ll format our text, and so on. So you can see by making these guidelines our ezine will not only be more cohesive, but (hopefully) more creative!                                                                                                     Alrighty, I’m all done. So, toodles. And see you next time.

too much pi?

So, I go to a nerd school. Not just any nerd school, but an uber nerd school.  The type of school where almost everyone is obsessed with grades. A place where all the ‘math people’ know way too many digits of pi to be good for them (I know a few myself). Its almost funny how much we pride ourselves in our ability to discuss the philosophies in Gilgamesh or 3-D vectors - but believe me, we are proud.

And me? Lets just say I fit the equation all too well. I, unlike many teenagers, actually enjoy math. And yes, I read books on my spare time (the horrors!!).

Enough about me though – lets talk school, specifically my school. The place that I spend eight hours a day five days a week, that is if I’m not doing any extracurriculars. Then, heaven forbid, I might spend something more like ten hours a day in that place. But that’s not even that bad, I kinda like it.

The nice thing about going to a nerd school is that everyone else is a nerd too (well, almost everyone). So you don’t feel like the odd ball out anymore. You’re not the only one to get mad about not doing anything in a class, or to stand up about the new GPA system being proposed (that one sure got LASA on its feet). You’re not the only one excited by reading the Odyssey because it actually sounds like a good book. You’re not the only nerd.

So pull out those TI-84s and start memorizing pi – it seems to be the new thing to do. After all, what can be better than a nerd among nerds? Nothing, I say. But then again, maybe thats just my nerd school pride.

FREAK OUT!!!!!!

http://www.reversingibs.com/images/Stressed_Out.jpg

Hey-lo. It’s me again. This week we have to write about how we feel about our feature story/the entire writing experience. Well, as clearly demonstrated in the picture above I am STRESSED. It’s not that I don’t like writing the story, it’s just I’m having a lot of trouble deciding what direction to take my story and picking out good quotes - all the stuff you really need to write a good feature story. I guess it’ll all work out with time, eventually I’ll come up with an idea for how to organize my story that I like. Well, that’s all for now. Bye-bye.

numero tres

And here we are again, at my weekly blog. This week has been a good week – we started working with our groups: getting to know each other, brainstorming, all that jazz. My group has decided that the theme of our ezine is going to be contemporary music and art. And we’ve even started brainstorming names. Things are going well, and I’m really looking forward to making our ezine.

So, this is all good, but what is a magazine without stories? After we got our groups, we started talking about the stories that we’re going to include. The first type of story that each of us has to write is a feature, which I’m pretty pumped about. A feature is a story that introduces someone or something. Generally speaking, a feature gives a snapshot of a person’s life. Sounds pretty awesome, right?

When we first started brainstorming for feature ideas, I knew I wanted to do something with music. I immediately thought of my friend, Ruby Jane. Since the age of 8, Ruby Jane has performed nationally as a fiddler with groups such as Asleep at the Wheel. She plays a total of 10 instruments as well as singing, and has even started writing some of her own songs. The feature would focus on how Ruby’s music career has changed her lifestyle and childhood, kind of “a day in the life of” type of thing.

I think this would be a really cool feature to do for our ezine, and it fits perfectly with the theme! Since I know Ruby personally, I’m not nervous about contacting her or interviewing her. She’s really sweet and easy to talk to, and I hope she’ll let me interview her!

Wow. It’s almost sad how much I’m looking forward to this, just goes to show how much of a nerd I am. At least I’m not that only one….right?

Finally Writing

I’m back! It’s good to be writing again. I’m really liking this whole online diary thing, and because its for a class, I know I’ll keep it up. I’ve tried keeping written diaries in the past, but I’m always really bad about it. I’ll write entries for a couple of weeks - maybe a month – and then I loose track. So now I have about five diaries with like ten entries in them from over the years, which I find kind of funny.

Anyways, I’m glad to actually be writing, because so far my high-school experience has excluded all writing. Sci Tech, of course, was only technical writing, and even English has been writing-free, which has been quite a disappointment. On top of writing I’m really looking forward to learning to design, and getting to use photoshop again (yeah!).

Unlike in Sci Tech, I don’t think I’ll too much trouble staying on task in Ezine because it’s a class that embodies things I enjoy: writing, and design. I’m excited about starting an ezine, whereas in Sci Tech I was just scared out of my mind, no excitement whatsoever. Over this semester I hope my group can create an ezine that we’re all proud of and have fun while doing it.

That’s all I’ve got to say, so Ezine – here I come!

Hello blogworld

So, this is the first blog I’ve ever written. I’m blogging for this class I’m taking: ezine. Over the semester, I’ll get to try a lot of new things on the internet, like blogging, and eventually making an online magazine, which I’m really excited about.

Blogging can be used for a lot of different things – some people blog to get questions answered, others blog to get their work out in the world, like photographs or sketches or writing, and some people blog to reflect, like an online journal. I think that reflection will be the key use of a blog while taking ezine. The nice thing about a blog is that its easy to access, and you can write anything you want! I’ll be able to write whatever pops in my head - my progress, thoughts, or frustrations about that day or week in ezine.

By the end of the semester I’m going to have a supply of entries I’ve made, essentially a chronicle of my experience in ezine. Thinking about it now, I’m looking forward to re-reading all of my future entries. It’ll be cool to see my ezine experience as an outsider.

So this is all good, but how is blogging going to be of any use to making an ezine? I think that this ties back into reflection. Whenever I need it, my blog can be my place to vent if I’m stressed about the magazine or deadlines. Having a place to get my emotions out will allow me to be more productive during class and hopefully make a better ezine.

The nice thing about this blog is it doesn’t need an audience. A blog whose key purpose is to reflect doesn’t require other people to comment or read – it’s just like a diary, a place to put down your thoughts for the day, so you don’t forget them.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say, so tata for now blog, see you next entry.