Posts

Final Project- Southeast Columbus’s Environment

Southeast Columbus Environment


I chose to do my final project on southeast Columbus’s environment because I had just written a research paper on it for my history class. I have done extensive research on it and by the end of the research and paper I realized that I was very invested in that particular environment and the businesses in it. I was not so much invested because it was an assignment or because I wanted a good grade, I realized that I was actually really interested in what I had found and I want other people to know about it, especially those living in that area. It tied in perfectly with this project because I could make a website on my findings and that way, if anyone were to type anything in google pertaining to it my website may pop up and they can learn more than just the basic environment.

I also think my topic worked out perfectly for this project because a lot of what I talk about includes visualizations. When people think of environment, they often think of grass or tress or water right away. Which is part of the things I included in my website but definitely not everything. I think being able to split up my paragraphs and topics within my research into separate pages and making them “pretty” really adds to the effect. It is a lot easier to digest dense research when they are separated with image and colors.

However, it was not easy to come up with how I wanted to convey my research. They did not have an exact design for the type of information I was publishing. The free website base Wix allowed me to “customize” my website by answering certain questions. The format they suggested was very similar to a city business one but instead of trying to find one that would go with the environment, which I knew would be hard, I decided to work with it. I chose to do that because I wanted the website to be visually appealing and fun in a way and not super boring with just tons of research information and a couple pictures here and there.

I have three main sections included in my research and they are major environmental impacts from businesses, major environmental issues and environmental initiatives. With these three sections, I made each into a separate page. Each section or page includes a variety of businesses, issues, or initiatives that I touched on so I decided to make each one a subpage so that it is very easy to navigate, looks clean and concise, and is not overwhelming.

For the design, I included a lot of different visualizations because a lot of the things that I mentioned in my research were places or areas that people should know what they look like if they are reading about it. For such visualizations, I either created the images, used one image of the actual place or I included a video that I either made or found.

For the images I created, the main “header” image is the one of the black and white Columbus with the southeast section left colored. I really like this image because it relays exactly what I wanted to show. That is the exact region that all my research is on so when people see that, they know the borders and what is included within it. It’s also a screenshot of a map so if they are not familiar with that region they can look at everything that is included. The other two images I think really describe the region are the two I put next to that map image. Whitehall and Bexley are the two main cities in this area so I found a map image with the each city labeled and then filled in the state with images that represent the city. For the other images I created, I made a collage of the business that I talked about. I used their logos and “highlighted”, or painted, the area in the clip I used of an article about the Superfund Site. The last image I made was of the issues. I blended them all together and put text over them so it was clear which one was which. I made this image so it was a dramatic and clear example of what I was talking about so people could be aware of how much harm they cause.

The video I made was designed to give an overview of that region. I wanted to replicate those short clips that give you a “tour” of the city from the point of a helicopter or something similar. I wanted it to have music and inviting images that are often an intro to a city or similar to travel video that makes you want to learn more or go to that city and explore. I included almost everything I talked about in the video as well as all the other scenic places there and cool building the region includes.

 

Movie Making Story Telling


For this short movie, we decided to demonstrate instructions for how to bake a cake using videos, pictures, and audio. We tried to add some humor to it so it was not boring and people became uninterested. We did this by animating our ingredients through keyframes. We got ideas for the faces off of google images and then recreated them on Photoshop and inserted them as a PNG. We also found some audio of screams off of Youtube that we recorded and then inserted into iMovie. This short movie shows our identity because it is fun, silly, and I personally love to bake. I think baking can be fun but you have to make it fun like we did. Adding faces and screams to the ingredients essentially gave all of them an identity.  How they were being added to the mix was how we determined which screams to use, personalizing each item. It was also very clear what we used and that we were doing it in a kitchen which added to the over all feel to the movie. It would not have had the same effect if we had not filmed this in a kitchen or did not show all of the ingredients. A movie makes things come to life and you can actually feel the emotions of the film. Using extra elements and special effects keeps the movie fun and interesting, or whatever feel you are trying to go for. All the extra additions to the film keep it engaging.

Stop Motion Moving Picture

 


For this project, I used my roommate doing homework as the story. I really struggled to come up with something to find but then it came to me, we spend almost all of our time throughout the day studying which makes up a huge part of our identity. Whenever my roommate and I are in the room we are doing school work, or at least trying to. However, throughout that time we are often snacking, talking, or doing anything else that may be a distraction. As I came up with this idea, I realized that it represents exactly how our time is spent but in one compressed time frame, which is what the project is supposed to be. I used several images, each .5 seconds long and iMovie audio of clock ticking and then a buzzer to exemplify how much time we waste from distractions and how eventually we often just give up for the day. This moving picture is much different than one single image. I could have used a single image of her just staring at her homework but it definitely would not have gotten the same effect. You could maybe see that she is not super interested in her work from an image but through this moving picture, you see that she is really not motivated, not focused, and the time is just passing by without anything productive being done.

Midterm- Self Portrait


For this self-portrait, I combined a variety of methods. I did a mosaic for the girl’s skin using my pictures because the skin is the closest thing to the body and represents the person, which my pictures represent me and I am in each one of them. After I positioned and blended the photos how I wanted them, I merged the layers and erased any parts outside of the body. For any other part of the girl, the coffee cup, hair, and clothes, I made a collage of the brands that I love relating to the item. Similarly, I blended, merged, and erased the layers. I then found a background that really defines me. Not only to a love the look/shape of the map, but to me a map means traveling. Traveling is a big part of my life, I travel with my family a lot and I have gone on mission trips, etc. to see other cultures and ways of life. Most of my best memories have been on trips and I realized doing these art projects how much my travels have impacted me. However, the girl was getting lost in the map so I took the brush tool and created a background for the girl with my favorite color blush. I also really love the wrapped text but I thought that would be too much in the picture so instead I just added word text. I spaced the words out and made them all different sizes. Each word either described me as a person or things that I love or value.

This piece is meaningful to me because it encompasses everything about me. It shows the people I love most in my life, the things that make me happy (coffee, clothes, makeup, etc.) and my biggest desire, traveling. When I first started making this project, I thought that I was just putting things that I liked into a picture. But once I started to get close to completing it, I realized that these aren’t just things that I like, these are all things that make me who I am and what my life is today. I realized how much I really do value the people in my life and how much I value the opportunities that I have been given and how much more I eventually want to do in life.

Graphic Design- Marketing


For this project I chose to make the home page of a website for the business fraternity I am currently pledging. For this design, I used many different tools. I used rectangles with different opacities, 3D rectangles, images, and different texts. I used these tools to make the tabs seem like buttons you can click on (to make it as realistic as possible) and to incorporate everything that encompasses DSP. The design I was going for is professional yet it also has a little bit of fun to it which is what pledging is about. With all of the text, the idea is less ambiguous- which is what I wanted. Websites are there to make people more informed therefor I used text wherever possible. But just text would be boring, dry and uninteresting. The use of color, images, and different effects is what gives identity. The colors I used are the colors of the fraternity and the the several images give the page life. It shows the reader what the fraternity and pledging the fraternity is all about, professional yet fun and welcoming. Each member is very proud and passionate of what they are involved in and that is exactly what the page shows.

Long Exposure/Filters


On the long exposure pictures, I did not use any tools because I really liked the way the pictures looked already and did not think they needed any editing otherwise it would take away from the natural light effects. I used several different tools on the filtered and layered photographs. I used the filter gallery to put a filter on just the subject and then I used a different filter on the entire city in the second image. I used different opacities and the eraser tool to blend the images. I think both of the filters I used makes the image look softer and more friendly/welcoming. I also used layering in both images to add effects to both. In the portrait, I added prism lighting in the background that really adds to the photo and makes it unique. I added a map and the skyline to the photo of Columbus creating unity and I distorted the skyline image to fit the sidewalk. The photo includes it all, the name of the city, where it is on the map, downtown and the skyline which gives it a touristy feel trying to get people to come to the city. I really like all of the edits I did to the photos as they give it a stronger feeling and identity.

Portraits


To edit the soft lighting portrait I used the Gaussian blur filter go get a bokeh effect. I also used the soft healing brush tool and tried using the dodge and burn tools but they were not as effective. I really like the edits that worked, I think they enhance the subject and the few touch ups give her face a smoother, cleaner look. The eye does not go to anywhere specific, just to her. For the edited golden hour portrait I used a variety of edits to try something fun, clearly giving it a very unrealistic feel. It was hard to keep the girls in the picture because the area below the sky is so dark so I did something fun and made them black and white. I think the sky looks cool but I am not a fan of unrealistic edits on pictures if they are going to be used for anything. To me, a portrait is capturing a person in a specific place or in a specific way. Usually you can tell a lot about the subject by how comfortable they look in the pose and environment they are in. You can give more meaning and life in a portrait by capturing the subject in their favorable setting. A portrait is so much more effective when the subject enjoys where they are/how they are posing. The lighting also plays into effect, soft lighting is less dramatic and almost friendlier and harsh lighting or dramatic lighting can either make the subject disappear or it can enhance the entire portrait an immeasurable amount.

Compositions


Three out of the four pictures involve nature however each picture gives a different message. They each tell that the I love nature and the outdoors, especially the beach. However, the open composition captures the ocean, the beach and the forest all in equal amounts providing unity. The fact that all elements are leading off the page shows how the beach is never ending nor is my love for the beach. The thirds composition photo is still a beach but it is strait on and puts most of the focus on the “Costa Rica” written in the sand making it known that I am not home and enjoy traveling. The symmetrical photo has so many different things in it but the focus is all on the waterfall as that is what I wanted to capture. I love waterfalls and the water is so contrasting from the rest that is what the eye goes to especially having taken it strait on. The two coffee pictures suggest I love coffee no matter where it is. I love trying coffee in different places to experiment the different tastes and it is clear from the surroundings of the coffee. The edited one looks much more dramatic with a black and white background and the way it is set up. The way a picture is taken, strait on, angled, equal elements, etc., tells a lot about what the photographer is trying to capture and focus on or what they like best personally.

OSU Identity with Photo Basics

The picture with the different exposure was taken from the top of the Thompson library. It shows the oval in two different lights. The overexposed copy gives it more of a friendly and welcoming feel as it gives the idea that it was really sunny that day. The underexposed copy makes it feel dark and gloomy and definitely not as welcoming of a place. One lighting makes people want to be there in that setting and the darker lighting does not have that appealing feel.

The picture of the stadium has two different temperature edits to it. Personally, I like the original picture the best as it feels more real but I do like warmer temperature pictures more than a cooler temperature. A warmer look to the picture makes it feel cozy and comforting while the cool colored edit to it makes it feel distant. Both completely change the feel of the photograph.


The shared collective identity at OSU means family to me. Everyone here has something in common and that something is such a big part of our lives. Being a buckeye is something that changes everyones’ lives. I chose these specific pictures because everyone part of this family and identity knows what the oval or the horseshoe is. Even if someone were to mention it off campus a Buckeye would know exactly what they were talking about.

The OSU community has made me realize that I can be whoever I want to be and still feel connected with everyone else and a part of a family. It has encouraged me to be more of who I am and inspired me to be outgoing and passionate about whatever I am individually interested in.

Amazon Website Critique

Amazon Website


Don’t get me wrong, I love Amazon. I think the whole idea of it is amazing- it offers pretty much anything and everything you can think of in all sorts of colors, sizes, brands. They are a great company but I think their website could be improved. I do like how the items you are shopping for are in an area with a lot of white space. That makes it very easy to see each option. However, all of the space around the items is very cluttered and busy. There are so many words, options, links, ads, tabs, and more. It is very overwhelming, especially to someone who is new to the site. While most of the information may be helpful, it is distracting and sometimes exhausting to look at. There are ratings of each item, a “customers who viewed this item also viewed…” section, a suggested items section, a sponsored links section and more. It is very easy to get lost on that website and hard to get back to something you found before you accidentally clicked on something else.

I think Amazon is a great company and because it is such a big company, I am sure that is why their website has so much content. There really is no way around it but their website could definitely have less stuff.