BCSC 102 Visual Journal

By Logan Edgelow

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Contemporary Propaganda

Google added a black censor bar over their logo to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) bills that were introduced into the United States House of Representatives and the Senate in 2011. The bills were introduced as a response to the issue of U.S. law enforcement against websites outside of their jurisdiction. 

The censor bar placed over Google’s logo is an example of contemporary Transfer propaganda. Google was able to expose it’s vast audience to a possible repercussion of the SOPA and PIPA bills by placing a black censor bar over their renowned logo. In taking away a symbol we respect and revere, Google effectively cast authority over its audience to take a stand on a political issue. They even provided a direct link to take action and send the United States Congress a message. It is yet to be proven that Google’s attempt to persuade its audience against the efforts of the United States government actually worked, but it’s difficult to imagine it didn’t effect the movement in one way or another. 

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Photo Restoration

I practiced restoring a damaged old photograph in this Photoshop assignment. The most relevant techniques I’ll be able to take away from this assignment is how to use Photoshop’s ‘Clone Stamp’ and ‘Spot Healing Brush’ to restore damaged photographs. I believe I now have the tools necessary to restore an old photograph effectively, and a better understanding for how much time it takes to restore a photo well. I absolutely could have been more dilligent and could have spent hours fixing all the minor specks and spots on the old picture, but I believe that, given the time restraints of the assingment, I was able to clean it up and make a significant improvement in comparison to the first version of the photograph. 

This Photoshop assignment has been the most useful assignment in this class so far. I’ll actually be able to use some of the information I learned in class in real world situations, and I look forward to continuing to practice photo editing and restoration with the Adobe suite of products. I only hope that there are more assignments involving the vast amount of software we have at our disposal in class that I have yet to try out. 

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Own Choice - Event Photography

This is a picture I took during Vacancy Hall’s Season Opener party. I enjoy this picture because I find that there are different layers that all add depth to the moment captured. The focus isn’t on any one person or any one object, and the bright ambience adds to the perspective of the space as a whole. 

The two people in the centre of the image with similar hairstyles are a bit of a focal point, and I chose to crop the picture to make it that way. With their backs turned toward the camera, it allows the viewer to trace their sightline and explore the space as they did. 

There’s a lot of activity going on in this visual, and I believe I captured everyone in a sincere moment. When looking at the individual faces in the image, all seem to be doing something that adds to the atmosphere of the space and the party. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, drinking and smiling and participating. I look forward to using this as a promotional image for future events! 

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Helvetica: Good and Bad

Helvetica is far and away one of the most widely known and popular fonts in the entire world. Brands have used it for advertising and branding purposes for decades, and advertisers and designers love how clean, universal, and easily applicable it is. However, with popularity comes natural dissent. Designers have also rebelled against the uniformity Helvetica presents and have labelled it as one of the laziest fonts available on the open market. There are several examples of how Helvetica is used in the real-world, both good and bad. Above are two such examples. 

The first visual from American Apparel was the first experience I remember having with Helvetica. I remember seeing those hugely popular letter shirts throughout high school and did some research to find out what font it was. When I found they were from American Apparel, I immediately made the connection to the brand’s logo. To me personally, this was an effective example of how Helvetica can be used to affirm a brand’s ideology. 

The second image from MTV Jams is what I perceive to be an ineffective use of Helvetica. It so clearly contrasts with the MTV logo and uses negative space to emphasise the contrasting styles so much that the more I look at it, the more frustrated I get. It feels like a lazy attempt to appeal to a younger millennial audience. 

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Compelling Use of Typography

I think the typography used in this promotional poster for Bernie Sanders is an interesting attempt at showcasing the support Bernie has from young people. The graffiti-esque text used in the slang phrase, “Ya Boy Bernie” clearly embodies the relatability felt for Bernie in the millennials of America (and abroad). The flowing, youthful text demonstrates the approachability of Bernie Sanders and is reinforced in the text itself by referring to the presidential candidate by his first name. 

The secondary text reading “Bernie 2016″ and the campaign hashtag, “#feelthebern” also serve to compliment the bold primary text. The clear block lettering, even spacing, and lighter shade of blue allow the emphasis to be placed on the primary “Ya Boy Bernie” text while still having clear reference back to the official Bernie Sanders campaign. The minimal text in the image emphasizes the central focal point that is the image of Bernie Sanders and the graffiti-stylized “Ya Boy Bernie” text. 

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Own Choice - Leo Meme

This meme started circulating around the Internet after Leonardo Dicaprio’s Oscar win for Best Actor this past Sunday. This is a clever use of imagery in that it combines two popular memes (Dicaprio’s Cheers meme from The Great Gatsby and the Sad Bear meme) to reference the movie the actor won his Oscar for and his acceptance speech. The joke here is that the bear who mauled Leonardo Dicaprio’s character in the film, The Revenant, feels as though he was snubbed out of the actor’s acceptance speech and deserves more credit.

The execution of the meme is simple and humorous and is thus an effective example. The text is concise and clear, and the two images are very recognizable despite the minor alteration to add the Oscar statue instead of the glass used in the original image. 

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Example of Photojournalism

This is an image of Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, burning himself to death on a Saigon street on June 11, 1963. This visceral demonstration of self-mutilation was a part of a series of protests against alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. 

The photograph was captured by Malcolm Browne who was working on assignment for Associated Press when he photographed this iconic image. Browne is the only western reporter to have photographed this first and most famous act of the Buddhist monk sitting lotus style as he doused himself with gasoline and quietly meditated as he burned to death. The images Browne captured quickly distributed throughout the world, spreading shock waves and raising the awareness of the persecution against Buddhist monks. Browne went on to win the World Press Photo of the Year award in 1963 and the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 1964.

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James Nachtwey Photography

This is a photograph of a survivor of the Hutu death camps in Rwanda in 1994. The intensity of the photograph is immediate and overwhelming - what could possibly cause a human to do this to another human? To inflict the kind of suffering that would produce scars like this? This photograph is the stuff of nightmares, which reflects the environment of the Rwandan genocide of the early 1990′s. This image captures the extensive suffering of this victim and thousands like him in an exceedingly simple black and white photograph with Natchtwey’s signature poignancy. 

Nachtwey had access to parts of Rwanda that hosted Hutu death camp survivors and was able to capture the excessive brutality of the camps in one clear black and white picture. In this image, he makes the man’s deformed ear the central focal point that the viewer uses to measure perspective and emphasize the jarring facial scarring. It’s as though you can see through a brief window of this man’s experience and share a bit of his pain. This photograph is a chilling view of the Rwandan genocide and the immensity of suffering the nation experienced in 1994 when an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed.   

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Own Choice - Graffiti in Inglewood, Calgary

I took this photo last year when I was exploring downtown Calgary with a photographer friend of mine, Barnabas Siwila. We were exploring the Inglewood neighbourhood and wandered behind an old vinyl record store that was closed to find this abandoned garage covered in a beautiful street art mural. This neighbourhood in Calgary is flourishing with unique local businesses and a young, hip population. I wouldn’t be surprised if pieces like this were found throughout the neighbourhood - this just happened to be one we found in isolation. 

I’m unfamiliar with this particular street artist and therefore, can’t give him or her credit for this piece or point out any particular signature motifs in the mural. However, I can describe my personal impression and interpretation after discovering this piece on the back side of an old abandoned garage in downtown Calgary. The first piece that stood out to me was the spread wings of the owl over the door and the vibrancy of the colour extending out from the door. There was visible flow to the piece converging in the centre and extending out to the sides of the building, similar to the way the owl spreads its wings. The street art had very technical minor details and geometrical outlines, possibly implying that there may have been stencil work involved. I really enjoyed the composition and how well the piece fit the context of the neighbourhood. I discovered it in a way that felt very natural, and the piece reflected my experience in that part of Calgary. This is one of my favourite pictures from that trip, and it was even featured in the online version of the Calgary Herald.

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Own Choice - Map

The first image is a picture of a map I have up beside my bed. I think it’s an important perspective to keep in mind as I go to sleep. I’m reminded not of my minuscule impact in this enormous world, but how North-American centric my perspective on life is. Everything around me is influenced by my privilege to live in North America and feeds into the ethnocentric culture around me. My news sources are dominantly American; I bet I knew more about the American election than the Canadian election at the time I voted. As North-Americans, we think of ourselves as elevated, bigger and more important than the rest of the world. I myself am guilty of this feeling on a regular basis. This is an ignorance I like to keep in check with this map, and the knowledge that its perspective is off entirely. There are few times I get to use the random bits of information I picked up in the sporadic university courses I took before I got into the communications program. This map phenomenon is one I enjoy regularly thanks to my Intro to Human Geography and Planning course I took at the University of Alberta last winter. I don’t think I could list anything else I learned in that course. 

The second image is the first picture I found on the Internet that illustrated this misconception. The size of Russia in most common maps is largely out of scale, as well as the size of Greenland (as illustrated in a second image on the site). 

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Life at Macewan

These three photos show the progression of my average day at MacEwan University. I’m enrolled in two classes and currently work downtown in the Mercer Warehouse, so part-time studies are convenient and keep me busy in a similar way that a part-time job would. I enjoy being enrolled in only two classes as it allows me to live in the best of both worlds; where I can still be considered a student while earning practical, real-world work experience simultaneously. 

The first image is of the parking payment machine in the lot just outside of the 105th street building. The image represents one of the most significant financial influences in my life right now, as parking and transportation costs add up to be a major monthly expense. 

The second image is the next visual I experience on a daily basis once I pay for parking, which is the entrance to the 105th street building where my only two classes take place. I quite enjoy the symmetry within the lines present in the entranceway, and it’s something I notice each time I come to class. 

The third image is the visual I see when I get into class and set up my laptop. Sitting at the back of class is a recurring motif for my educational experience, and I enjoy the freedom that comes with it. If I have a project that I need to work on, I’ll work on it. If I have emails I need to respond to, I’ll respond to them. I’ve enjoyed the freedom university courses offer in that I am able to dictate exactly what I get out of each class depending on my priorities for the day. 

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Iconic Photo

This image taken by Marc Riboud in 1967 is one of the most well-known anti-war images from the Vietnam War, arguably one of the most widely protested wars of the 20th Century. This photo helped turn public opinion against the war by displaying how an ordinary citizen can combat the senseless violence of war with a simple act of compassion using a flower as a symbol of peace. The picture shows Jan Rose Kasmir searching for a glimmer of hope in the faces of the National Guard troops during a protest march outside of the Pentagon. 

As Riboud recalled in an interview with the April 2004 Smithsonian magazine, “she was just talking, trying to catch the eye of the soldiers, maybe try to have a dialogue with them. I had the feeling the soldiers were more scared of her than she was of the bayonets.” 

This simple demonstration of humanity amidst wartime fervour was enough to cause a domino effect in the form of an anti-war movement. The power of photography is on full display in this image by Marc Riboud, and in turn, it effected the history of our modern world. 

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A Story in 5 Photos - The History of the Mercer Warehouse

John B. Mercer (pictured in the middle of the second photograph) built his warehouse in 1911 at 10355-63 104th Street to sell liquor and cigars. 11 years after it opened, Mercer’s warehouse was severely damaged by fire, then extensively rebuilt and continued serving as a shipping and receiving post crucial to the growth of a thriving and growing city. The first picture in the series above is one of the first and only remaining pictures of the original Mercer Warehouse (sourced by the City of Edmonton archives).

Other structures in the neighbourhood, however, weren’t as lucky. The fire claimed three lives and ravaged neighbouring buildings, which were announced in an article in the Edmonton Journal (found in the third picture above) under the headline “Business Block Destroyed By Flames”. The building was built with upgrades and additions after gutting and restoring the top two floors that received the most damage, illustrated in the last two pictures of the series above. 

Mercer’s building and the other warehouses constructed on the streets running north from Jasper Ave between 102nd and 109th, along with the close proximity to downtown stores and the Canadian North Railway, made the area attractive for warehousing goods. By 1914, more than 25 warehouses were built in the area that then became the city’s warehouse district. Many of the warehouses in the district survived as the city grew and were left for other uses, like loft apartments and artists’ studios. 

Mercer became the local representative of beer for the Calgary Brewing Company, and the agent for many imported spirits from the United Kingdom. The current Mercer Warehouse abides by John B. Mercer’s affinity for alcohol with the Mercer Tavern, a gastropub on the ground floor. The entreprenurial spirit is alive and well in one of downtown Edmonton’s thriving creative communities.

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Own Choice

I enjoy this visual in two different ways, as I was introduced to it in two different forms: the first as a still image without the “The Artist” text underneath, and the second in the .gif form seen above.

When I first came across the still image that reads “the problem with art is” unanswered, I didn’t understand it until I realized that I wasn’t supposed to. I think that the intention of the visual is to place the viewer in a mental space where they naturally fill in the rest of the sentence themselves, or peer around the wall, as the image suggests. The placement of the text in relation to the wall on the right side of the image implies that there is an answer out there - you just have to put in the work to find it out yourself. 

I found the second interactive .gif when trying to find the original picture I found online and thought the applied answer was as interesting as the original question. The idea that the artist is the problem with art on a general level is very intriguing, as the artist is the producer and the downfall within his or her product. 

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Colour

This poster used by Color Me Rad is an effective example of how colour can add depth and brand character to an advertisement. Color Me Rad ties together simple text and splatters of colour to create a cognitive association within the mind of the viewer to their annual colorful 5k fun-run. The text provides a very minimal amount of information within the amount of space available, and the colour variation and splatter effect serves to accent the text and add to the bright, fun, and colorful brand Color Me Rad has created. 

Using bright shades of blue, green, yellow, and purple, Color Me Rad directly ties this advertisement to the eight colour stations they have at their event that coat runners with colourful powder or gel. Even if you aren’t familiar with the fun-run event or know anyone who has done it before, the use of color in the advertisement gives the impression that it’s a focal point of the run. Using a variety of color-splattering effects keeps this poster within the context of the very visual-heavy social media presence Color Me Rad has. If you’re even remotely familiar with Color Me Rad, this advertisement will remind likely you of the photos you’ve seen on Facebook of friends and family covered in paint and smiling at Color Me Rad.  

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Unsuccessful Advertisement

This advertisement from IHOP’s certified Twitter account was taken down within hours of posting, and the company released an apology within two hours that read:

“Earlier today we tweeted something dumb and immature that does not reflect what IHOP stands for. We're sorry.”

Referring to pancakes as flat is a perfectly normal claim. Applying personification to food is also commonplace in the social media marketing industry, as it lends a humorous personality to an otherwise boring corporate marketing campaign. The copywriter behind the post likely had innocent intentions and came up with this post using the same process he or she used for hundreds of other posts before it. However, this is a perfect example of a tasteless social media faux pas that created a severe backlash that did more harm than good to the brand’s public image.  

The post itself personifies tastelessness more than anything else. By pairing a highly suggestive image with incredibly offensive copy, IHOP effectively told the world that they find misogyny humourous. The brand received the negative backlash of the highly sensitive collective voice of the Internet within minutes and business likely suffered accordingly. As far as I’m concerned, they deserved every inch of animosity they had thrown at them because of this blatant display of idiocy. And as a social media marketer myself, I’m offended that someone allowed this to be posted on an account as large as IHOP’s.  

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Appropriation

This image of Beyonce from the new music video she’s featured in with Coldplay entitled ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ has come under fire for appropriating Indian culture. The video uses India as the backdrop for Coldplay and Bey to glamorize the same tired stereotypes Americans have exploited for decades. Beyonce sported a variety of costumes that dressed her up in traditional garments worn by Desi women while she herself doesn’t come from Indian heritage. Beyonce channels her inner Bollywood star while dawning henna and a bejeweled sari - stylistic choices with deeply rooted cultural symbolism. Defining cultural appropriation as ‘the adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture’, this image definitely fits. 

The video features Coldplay taking a trip to Mumbai, where they appear to be appreciating all of the stereotypes Indian culture has to offer. The bandmates roam the streets, seeing Sadhus, half-naked dancing children, and people playing Holi, which is a spring festival of colours and love that was originally an ancient Hindu religious festival that has recently become popular with non-Hindus the world over. Given that Holi features a colour palette that’s on trend with Coldplay’s repetitive motif, and that issues of cultural appropriation clearly aren’t a concern for the British pop band, the festival seems to fit right in with the themes present in the video. Desi feedback in response to the video has been mixed between the blurred lines of cultural appropriation and appreciation, but I personally find that ‘Hymn For The Weekend’ uses all the negative Indian stereotypes for the musicians’ own personal gain.