My Website Reflection

link: https://u.osu.edu/evolutionoftreatmentformentallydisabled/

I made my website an informative website about the Evolution of Treatment for the Mentally Disabled. I chose this topic because it is something that has always been important to me. I did extensive research on this topic last year and discovered a lot of shocking facts. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I was completely taken aback to learn that the treatment for the mentally disabled has a lot of major flaws and has a lot of work that needs to be done. Everyone just assumes that the system has gotten better throughout time, but its only really improved for 40% of the population with a mental disability. The other 60% are school drop-outs, homeless, unemployed, and thrown into jails. 90% of the suicides committed are because of a mental illness. Suicide prevention is also something that I am passionate about because it has largely affected my life. I am now a Gatekeeper for Suicide Prevention, and I make it my personal goal to make a difference. By creating this website and video, my goal is that people will view them and become more informed on the facts, and hopefully try to make a difference like I am.

For the design choices of my website, I tried to keep the over all feeling more dark and sad, to get across the point of how serious this topic is. Most of the pictures I used on my website are in black and white, and all of the images I used in the video I created are in black and white with sad music playing in the background. I also included a lot of text to make the website as informative as possible. For the pictures themselves, I tried to make them capture the viewer’s attention, or maybe even trigger a memory or make them feel connected in some way.

The making process was quite fun. I photoshopped five of the pictures on my website. The first one is the banner on the home page. I found a picture of sad man which I then edited to more of what I wanted. I made the black and whites contrast more, and added more detail to his face and blurred out everything else. I also added the text, “From skull drills to happy pills” because my website is about the evolution of treatment for the mentally disabled, and I think that this quote captures it well. For the next edited picture, I chose one of a boy. I increased the contrasts and made the picture seem more dark and sad. I also added the text “79% of children with mental disorders never receive treatment”. I wanted to make this picture send a message and I think it is very effective. For the next picture I edited, it says, “Over criminalized”. The picture originally was only gray and slightly red. I thought this one should be a little more colorful, so I added a lot of different colors to make it grab people’s attention. I then increased the saturation to make things brighter and bolder. I wanted this image to stand out to get across the importance of the message. The last two images that I edited are of two men. I chose them to represent the homeless population. I made their faces more detailed, added more contrast, and changed the colors of their eyes, one with blue and one with brown. I think all of these images are really powerful and help to inform viewers. To make my video, I just included a lot of surprising statistics with the combination of images of people, to make a strong statement that change needs to be made.

Movie Making Story Telling

The setting of the movie I made is at the pizza place Adriatico’s. For the costumes, I wanted her to just be wearing her regular clothes because I was trying to depict the average trip to get pizza, but with a comedic element that was portrayed through special effects. For example, I used special effects to make her just “appear” in front of the door. I also used special effects when she was verifying she was at the right place by underlining the name with a trail of glitter, and making her pizza explode when they gave her the wrong order. I also used sound effects to add to the comedic element. For example, when she received the bill, all of the playful music came to a halt and a “shocked” sound effect came in. Elements like this really helped to add to the movie. The first few seconds of the movie were told in pictures, but then I transferred to using video clips. Video clips differ from photographs when storytelling because there is more detailed motion and the viewer can get a better of idea of the emotions being portrayed in the video than the photograph. Special effects really enhanced my video because they changed the video from something boring to something comedic and interesting. They help to captivate the audience’s attention, and that’s why I enjoyed using them to enhance my movie.

Stop Motion – Skittles Dancing Across a Tabletop

For my stop motion project, I decided to go for a more abstract video. Instead of a person being the subject, the focus is on the designs and patterns made by the candy. The concept I was trying to achieve was to get people to see the beauty in the little things, even where you may not be expecting it, for example, in skittles dancing across a tabletop. To make it appear as though the skittles were “dancing” I took approximately 253 pictures. Each picture that I took, I moved the skittles ever so slightly from the position that they were in the previous frame. After I would move them just a little, I would take the next picture. I then uploaded all of my pictures on iMovie and made them each 0.1 seconds long, so the video wouldn’t linger on each picture. After all of that, you have a “video” made with pictures! A stop motion movie differs from a single photograph because you are able to see the process and steps that it took in order to come up with the end result in stop motion videos, and that is an incredible thing to not only see, but to create.

Self Portrait

psd files:

 self portrait (1)-1hj77gn self portrait2 (1)-20ybn7a

The first step I took for my self-portrait was to cut out a portion of my face, and make the background fill color black. Then I took the portion of my face that I cut out and adjusted it to appear as though it is floating over my face. I then created a shadow effect to make the floating portion of my cheek more realistic. I then found an image of my favorite kind of flowers and inserted them into a layer underneath my cut-out cheek, to make it appear as if the flowers are growing from inside of me. After that, I changed the coloring of multiple assets on my body, such as yellowing my skin color and hair color, as well as making my eyes, lips, and flowers bluer to fit in with the color scheme. Next, I inserted a layer of the Starry Night painting behind me. Then I realized that I wanted to make it look like I was painted in with the background. I found a texture image that contained blue brush strokes and added that as a layer in front of my face, decreasing the opacity so I could see through to my body layer. Then I took the eraser tool around a 40%  opacity and erased over my face to make it pop out a little more. I was starting to have the effect that I wanted, however it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. I decided to try something else, and found the oil painting filter. I adjusted the paint to how I wanted it, and finally I was happy with the texture of my painting. This portrait is very meaningful to me because it portrays what I consider to be one of my greatest characteristics. I think the use of the flowers, painting and color scheme truly shows how creative and artistic that I am. Throughout the design process of this project, I learned that I am a very detail-orientated person. When it came to making selections and deciding on the colors and textures, I had to make sure that every little detail was just right and that they all complimented each other. During the entire process, I changed each of them at least ten times before I found something that I was happy with. Overall, I am very proud of my work because I feel that it represents me and the lifestyle that I choose to live.

 

Graphic Design

For the graphic design project, I decided to go with the marketing option since I am a business major. I designed a Dior perfume ad for a magazine. In order to make this, I had to combine two different images by putting them on different layers and blending them together. I also played with the lighting affects to make the perfume appear to be glowing, and I made a light source coming from the “i” in “Dior”, to make it pop more. I think the addition of “Christian Dior” really helps with the identity of the advertisement, not only because it is the name of the brand, but it gives the ad a more classy, refined, and beautiful feel. It is then perceived that the image of the lady in the ad is of upper class and comes across as having a higher level of elegance because of the association with the perfume brand, as well as the classy font style.

Long Exposure

All of these pictures were taken using long exposure. The first one of the street was edited in photoshop. I darkened the background  and brightened the headlights in order to make them pop out more. I also saturated the picture so the colors were more vibrant. In the second photo with the three heads, I didn’t edit it because I thought it worked well as is. In the third photo of the light circling the girl, I darkened the edges of the photo to make her the center of the picture. I then turned the photo into a mosaic. In the last photo that says “Britt”, I have three versions of it. The first one starts with it being confined and clear, but then it gradually gets more messy and out of control. I think this last set of photos is a good representation of me, because sometimes I feel like I have everything together, and sometimes nothing makes sense. This shows my personal identity.

Portrait Photography

 

A portrait is an image that is captured of an individual or a few people together using many different forms of media, such as painting or photography. As I explained for each portrait, the way I changed or enhanced the lighting makes it so the person is the main focus of each photo. I also gave some a warmer feeling by applying colors such as pink and yellow. It just depends on the feeling I am trying to portray. Each portrait is given meaning through the subject in the photo because I tried to capture what they were feeling, whether that may be pride, curiosity, happiness and so many other emotions. The feeling within the photo is what gives it life.

Composition

With these photos, I am able to portray my identity without physically being present, but rather by capturing moments at Ohio State that embody my presence. All of these photos have a common theme. They are all vibrant, warm and optimistic. These are photos of everyday things, but they are portrayed in the best and brightest light possible. That describes me pretty well, as I always try to see the silver lining. I modified all of these photos by saturating them to make the brighter colors stand out more. By doing this, not only am I able to show people how the world is seen through my eyes, but also what embodies my soul.

Photo Basics

 

The first set of photos portraying the windows are shown in color and black and white. The black and white photo has a more calming feeling and is much more mellow. The original one shown in color is a lot more vibrant and exciting. In the second set of photos, the edited one has a more fun feeling than the original, because of its resemblance to a cartoon. The colors are also brighter and more defined. In the third set of photos, there is an extremely obvious difference. The color scale is changed, causing the color of the sky and the buildings to be different than what they were originally. This set is my favorite because the difference in coloring gives the photo a completely different feeling for each. The second one looks almost like something you would see in a movie, comic book, or cartoon. In the next set of photos, I have displayed the original, and then one with warmer colors and one with cooler colors. The difference in temperature really changes the photo. The cooler photo has a more futuristic feeling, while the warmer photo looks more antique. I think the warm colors really work well with this particular photo, since is an older looking building. In the last set of photos, I have displayed the original, an underexposure, and an overexposure. The underexposure almost makes the photo appear as though it was taken in the evening, even though it was taken in the morning. In the overexposed photo, everything is very flushed out, while in the underexposed photo, it is hard to even see all the details due to the darkness. I don’t particularly like either of the exposures because neither capture the detail of the photo like the original does. Our shared collective identity at OSU gives me a really powerful sense of community and belonging. The Ohio State University’s community has greatly impacted my personal identity. I am now a more optimistic, hardworking student, and I am more involved in the community with which I live.

Website Critique


Fashion Nova is a very visually pleasing website. There are several vibrant images that are displayed on the home page. The menu bar is well organized, and includes several drop down menus that are easy to follow and locate. The color scheme consists of hot pink, black, and white. Overall, the page is a successful website, and is highly recommended for fashionistas.


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