A BLOG

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Tumblr Homework Week 14

1. My goal in having a portfolio website is so people can see my work without me having to send it to them with the intention of finding work, and in a visually attractive way. I have the about page so someone interested in my work can see what else I do, or find out general information about me that wouldn’t fit in a Twitter or LinkedIn bio. The contact page makes it neater and easier to contact me than looking for my email through social media, it also makes me look more professional for that. The portfolio website also organizes my portfolio into genres, which is easier and can keep a potential employers attention better than emailing an entire folder of work. My problem though, is that I couldn’t figure out how to make the actual portfolio page (what comes up when you click portfolio) include everything I post in the tags under the parent portfolio pages. Everything I post in the Design tag only shows up in the Design page, instead of the Portfolio page including all my recent posts in that section. I think it’s because it’s a static page and not a custom link like the home page is, so I’ll have to figure out how to make that work how I want it to. 

2. I wanted to have something mainly black and white because I felt like having a lot of colors might distract from the actual content on the website. I tried to keep FADER in mind a little with this website, because the design of their site is really plain to allow the content to be the main attraction, and I wanted to sort of do the same. I decided to change the theme to my current one because it looks more sleek and had a nice amount of space for the header image. I made the header image a black and white photo of a skyline that they already included with the theme, because I thought the black and white would go nicely with the rest of the website. The theme also made everything easy to locate and had a nice search icon already there that was highlighted with the green, which helped differentiate it from the rest of the sections and highlight the importance. My only problem with the theme was that it didn't have a place where I could put my icon/logo. I did more research on the theme and I think I can add the logo if I also add another sidebar on the left. I made 4 tags under my portfolio, because they could be separated into 4 different kinds of media (writing, photos, graphic design, and audio). This also helps showcase that I’m capable of doing all those kinds of things.

3. Final Logo (I wanted to keep the simple white background but I changed the color scheme according to my new theme. I added a microphone to go with the journalist/podcast theme, since that image kind of encompasses both those themes.)

4. https://almondmilkmanwrites.wordpress.com/

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Tumblr Homework - Week 12

1. 

I made this in Canva but I’m not sure I like it. It gets the whole media specialization thing across, but its not very simply and replicable which is what a lot of logos are good for. It might benefit from a sans serif font, a different image in the background, or a different font dynamic. Though I’ll keep the yellow, because it matches the yellow found on my Wordpress page. 

2. https://almondmilkmanwrites.wordpress.com/

3. https://wordpress.com/theme/radcliffe-2/almondmilkmanwrites.wordpress.com

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Homework Week 11

1. Fader Magazine is a music and culture magazine that concentrates on genres and styles popular among the youth. They recently published multiple articles about Frank Ocean giving away free merch to voters in select cities. The cities were chosen specifically in support of a few popular democratic senate candidates in usually red states. The merchandise had some references and symbols that one might not know about it in terms of recent election topics or Frank Ocean’s discography. Ocean’s requirement of showing proof that you voted also prompted people to ask about the legality of this whole promotion.

2. I tried to create an experience similar to interactive articles on the NYTimes website. I started off with a homepage that just had the title of the article and a next button, so it would pique interest but not give away all the information. I used a font similar to the font used on Frank Ocean’s most recent album, which is also the background of the homepage, with a really low opacity. The next page is a picture of flyer for the merch giveaway. The major symbols are clickable and make text boxes with explanations pop up. I made the text box pop up a dissolve, but originally I wanted it to be a slide. The “Dallas” and “Houston” clickable links were connected because they were about the same topic and I wasn’t able to make them individually slide from the left and right respectively at the same time. Then once, you finish looking through the pop up text boxes, the next page button leads you to the page about the legal issues which is in the form of a regular article. The subtitle “Is This Legal?” takes up the entire page, to kind of convince you to scroll. The subtitle is also clickable which makes a smaller textbox slide in that gives you the short answer to that question. I put the line under the subtitle because that usually implies something can be clicked to get to more content. My only problem with that is that you have to click it again to make the textbox go away and only then can you scroll on the page, which is kind of a hassle if you didn’t know you’d have to do that to get to the rest of the page. The rest of the last page is information about the story against a square the same color of the background on the Blonde album cover I used on the home page. I made sure to put a back button on the last page instead of just a homepage button, so you could go to the previous page if you want to, instead of the home page and then to the second page. I tried to make mobility between the pages quicker and easier that way. I used Avenir to go with the Blonde replica font because they’re both sans serif, and the replica font is very decorative. I didn’t want to overload the design with stylized font, which might make it look cluttered and unattractive or hard/annoying to read, so I used to straightforward font thats good for web like Avenir to accompany it and italicized it on certain parts of the texts. 

3. https://xd.adobe.com/view/55ebb9fb-34d4-423e-48ad-175d5f7e9ea9-23da/

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Homework Week 10

Experience Prototype Link: https://xd.adobe.com/view/507edd8e-929f-4991-4271-57761a795f94-264f/

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Homework Week 9

1. Fader Magazine

2. Topic: Frank Ocean recently announced he would be giving away free merchandise to people who voted in certain states. The merchandise featured some interesting symbols for relevant political ideas. 

3. I wanted start with a page that just has the title of this story with a background picture of Frank Ocean. Then the subtitle could be a link to a page explaining the symbols on the merchandise. The pictures of the merchandise would have overlay text boxes explaining what the symbols on the different pieces of merchandise represent, which would appear when you hover the mouse over the shirts. Then there could be a third page that explains more about this story, like if it was legal, as that was a detail the articles about this topic really emphasized. 

4.

5. Colors

6. Font: I found a font that looks like the one used for the title of a Frank Ocean album cover. I would also use Avenir for other things on the page, like the text boxes, so it doesn’t look the “Blonde” font is being used too much. 

7. 

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1. This social media graphic is based off of my previous infographic about Basquiat’s life. FADER magazine had published an article about the musical being produced about his life, so the infographic was inspired by that. This concentrates more on his work. There was a section at the bottom of the infographic about his most famous pieces, so I made this snackable about his most expensive pieces. These aren’t the top three most expensive, just some of the top priced ones. He’d actually made news early last year because the first painting featured in the infographic had been sold for over $100 million, making it the most expensive American painting ever sold. I also mentioned this in my infographic. 

2. I tried to concentrate on color relationships in my snackable. Basquiat paintings are so colorful and chaotic that I wanted to have some simplicity so it’s not overwhelming to look at and it would be good for social media consumption. The 3 paintings aren’t chronologically his most expensive pieces, but they are in the top 10. I picked them because I thought the first one being predominantly blue, the second being predominantly red, and the last being predominantly yellow, I’d created a good example of triadic relationship with primary colors. I made the background black to highlight that and so as to not distract from or add to everything that’s already going on in the graphic. I used the Basquiat handwriting font and the paintbrush stroke line because I wanted to graphics to look similar and those details seemed very characteristic of Basquiat paintings or any art based graphic. I used Avenir font for any text apart from the title so I could have a good contrasting relationship between fonts. I didn’t get to use as much of the shade of red in the last infographic so I used it for this title in this graphic, but it could use more of the teal. 

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1. FADER recently reported that a play about the life of artist Jean Michel Basquiat was in production. I decided to make a timeline about his life and career. I focused on were the years in which the most important events occurred in Basquiat’s life. His art career was fairly brief in comparison to many other artists or in comparison to timeline’s of other topics, so some events were centered more around his life than his art. That’s why I included the bottom section about his most famous pieces so I could concentrate on his life within the timeline section. I started off with his birth in 1960, then the beginning of his career in 1975, and the beginning of his friendship with Andy Warhol in 1980. Then I mentioned the creation of his two most famous pieces: Irony of the Negro Policeman, 1981 and Untitled, 1982. I added more events leading up to the end of his life, specifically his NYT magazine cover, the death of his friend Warhol and it’s impact on his health, and his subsequent death in 1988. The bottom section then chronologically displays more of his most recognizable pieces. 

2. My font choices were based around trying to get a good balance of script font and sans serif font. I knew I wanted to use the font that replicates Basquiat’s handwriting, so I made sure to complement it with a basic, easy to read sans serif font to get a good contrasting relationship between the two. I made his name in red to highlight it’s importance and because that shade of red is seen in many of his paintings. I chose the background color of the timeline section and the color of the timeline arrow for the same reason. I chose the paintbrush style of the arrow because Basquiat was a painter, and the arrow so the viewer would know the timeline is organized top to bottom. I organized the timeline with alternating text boxes on the left and right so it would be easier to read. I tried to include some pictures so the unused space next to certain text boxes wouldn’t be so obvious. I liked how a lot of infographics use color blocks to differentiate sections of data so I used that when separating the top works section from the timeline from the title. 

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Tumblr Homework - Week 6

Infographic Rough Draft

(I decided to go with a recent article on FADER about a play being developed about the life of famous contemporary artist, Jean Michel Basquiat. I found it was really hard to find good pictures of Lil Wayne and the band Chic for either of my original infographic ideas, but finding legal, free use pictures and color schemes based around Basquiat was much easier. I even found a font based on his handwriting. I’ve included the font I found and the color scheme I’m using. The colors look really unharmonious and random, but I think once I add images of Basquiat’s work, it will make much more sense. I also plan on tracing his crown icon so I can use that to fill up a lot of the empty space that might be left.) 

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Tumblr Homework - Week 5

1. I’m currently deciding between 2 topics recently published on FADER. The magazine recently published a series of articles about Lil Wayne and his most recent album release, as this is his first long form piece released in a number of years due to legal issues with his record company. FADER also recently published an article about the popular 70′s disco band, Chic recently releasing an album after disbanding in 90′s and the death of the band’s co-creator and bassist, Bernard Edwards. The infographic would be a brief history of either the musical career of Lil Wayne or Chic and their role in the disco era. 

2. For the Lil Wayne idea: born in 1982 in New Orleans --> wrote his first rap at 8 --> was mentored by owner of Cash Money records in 1991 --> attempted suicide at 12 and survived --> joined a rap group and released a debut album that reached #5 on the Billboard 200 --> released solo debut album at 17 and reached #3 on Billboard 200, named best new artist --> released “Tha Carter” in 2004, gained widespread critical acclaim, cover first featured signature dreadlocks --> named president of Cash Money Records and founded Young Money Entertainment and stepped down as head of both soon after --> nominated for Grammy award for feature on “Make it Rain” --> released “Tha Carter III” in 2008, won 4 Grammy awards, nominated for 8 --> re-signed with Cash Money Records for multi album deal in 2008 --> was set to release “Tha Carter IV” in 2009, delayed due to conflict with label-boss Birdman, finally released in 2011 --> “Tha Carter V” set to be released in 2014, delayed due to displeasure with Cash Money Records label-boss Birdman --> Li Wayne sues Birdman and Cash Money Records for $51 million --> featured on Grammy winning album, “A Seat at the Table” by Solange --> released from Cash Money Records in June 2018, finally released “Tha Carter V” in September 2018

For Chic idea: Guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards meet in 1970 New York --> formed rock band named The Boys later called The Big Apple Band --> Rodgers became inspired by glam bands, added drummer Tony Thompson, keyboardist Raymond Jones and singer Norma Jean Wright --> wrote and released “Dance, Dance, Dance” then “Everybody Dance” --> signed by Atlantic Records, then released self titled debut “Chic” --> added another female singer, Wright leaves band --> released the album “C’est Chic” in 1978 containing best known song “Le Freak” meant as a diss to Studio 54 doormen, reached #1 on U.S. charts --> released album “Risqué” in ‘79 with lead track “Goof Times” which inspired songs like Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”, Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”, Blondie’s “Rapture” and Daft Punk’s “Around the World” --> Edwards and Rodgers help with may influential disco records throughout late ‘70′s and early 80′s --> anti disco reaction in late 70′s cut down on bands sales and popularity, band breaks up by early 80′s --> Edwards and Rodgers continue to work on records like Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out”, Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” album, and David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” album --> Rodgers and Edwards organize reunion in 1989, new material recorded and released as “Chic-Ism” album, garnered audience and critical acclaim --> Edwards died of pneumonia in 1996 in Japan, Thompson died of kidney cancer in 2003 --> Chic released 3 compilation albums and 1 live album throughout early 2000′s --> Rodgers co-wrote 3 songs on Daft Punk’s Album of the Year award winning “Random Access Memory” and features on their Record of the Year award winning song “Get Lucky” in 2013 --> the band announced a new album “It’s About Time” in June 2018, released in September 2018 featuring current artists like Lady Gaga, Mura Masa, Vic Mensa, and Elton John --> Rodgers confirmed future album set to be released in 2019 featuring Bruno Mars, Daft Punk, Janelle Monae, Pharrell, HAIM, Disclosure, and more. 

3. Layout Sketch

4. Color Themes

For Lil Wayne idea:

For Chic idea: 

5. For the Lil Wayne idea, I would use the same fonts he uses for most of his album covers, which appears to be Helvetica Neue. 

For the Chic idea, I want to use a 70′s disco themed font for just the title, and everything else would be in Avenir font with different weights according to the information. 

6. 

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Animated GIF Assignment 

Most of the design choices I made were based around movement, symmetry and focal points. The hand on top moves in a line that implies it’s giving something, while the hand on the bottom stay stationary which implies its receiving something. This stays true to the FADER story that this GIF is based on, which was about Travis Scott receiving a cease and desist order from Frank Ocean about a song they worked on on Scott’s most recent album, Astroworld. I used that shade of orange for the question and exclamation marks because they’re the same color of Frank Ocean’s debut album, Channel Orange, and I thought it was a nice allusion and appeals to past experience, if you closely follow Frank Ocean news. The marks fade out to in because I though just having them appear would be too abrasive and I wanted the GIF to appear smooth; fading them in gradually kind of gives them an introduction rather than just appear. The image of cease and desist letter (symbolized by the envelope) shows figure and ground, in a stable way. I didn’t use a background color because I thought it would be too much for this gif, but I did want to use some color that connects to the story, which is where the exclamation and question marks come in. 

I think this GIF could’ve benefitted from a little closer attention to the movement and how moving around my jpegs within the layers affected that. 

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GIF Storyboard 

1. Story link: https://www.thefader.com/2018/09/14/frank-ocean-travis-scott-astroworld-cease-desist

2.  I’m going to try to animate a gif of one hand (Frank Ocean’s) dropping a letter (the cease and desist letter) into another hand (Travis Scott’s). I wanted to have some straight diagonal lines or questions marks appear around the open hand in the last few frames of the gif to indicate surprise. 

3. I included a few different and orientations of hand because I’m not sure which will work best for the GIF I want to make. 

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1. The FADER is a music based magazine that achieves the coolness of youth and pop culture without the unapproachability. The design decisions that are repeated throughout all the different sections of the publication are so minimalistic and don’t seem to try too hard to attract their audience of young music lovers. It’s so different from a magazine geared towards young people like Seventeen or one geared towards music like Rolling Stone. Within just the homepage, the website is in black and white. The only color comes from their iconic cover page features which often display a rising music star in bright monochrome hues. The website uses mainly straight lines and thick borders around text and images to organize the different articles and sections of the publication. It’s all very uncomplicated; nothing can really be confused. It forces the star of the show to be the publications actual content. 

2. I tried to recreate the straightforwardness of the website design while maintaining the color and liveliness of the photography featured within the publication. I didn’t want to focus too much on the black and white, thick border, minimalist design of the site or too much on the really colorful, interesting lo-fi photos. So, I tried to balance the two by using a very straightforward minimalist template for the pictures, and using a mix of black and white photos with more vibrant photos. The photos I used are mainly of people, specifically musicians and a few candids from music festivals, because this is what one commonly sees on FADER. I thought the best choice for this combination of photos would be to group them somewhat, so the black and white pictures are usually close, and the pictures similar in color are also usually close. I tried to apply invariance and parallelism, like with the bottom left pictures of Playboi Carti and King Krule. I specifically put them on top of each other because I wanted the viewer to recognize that both images are close shots of musicians in the middle of performing. I think in the future, I’d like to try overlapping the pictures more. There’s a way to keep the straightforward, minimalist, organized aesthetic of the publication, while adding some dynamic and thought provoking design choices, like uniform connectedness or asymmetry. 

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FADER Mood Board Template Draft 

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Images for FADER Mood Board Pt. 2

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Images for FADER Mood Board Pt. 1

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Mood board concepts based on FADER Magazine

8 words that best describe FADER:

Monochrome

Contemporary

Organized

Straightforward

Youthful

Lo-fi

Angular

Unserious

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Hi, my first name is too hard to pronounce so everyone calls me by my middle name, Shaunice. I’m a sophomore journalism major, an English tutor, and a freelance writer. I’d like to work for a magazine in the future. I like interviewing people in the arts. I think Björk is neat.