Julia Martell

[jmartell]

522 Reading 08

Right at the beginning of Silvo Lorusso’s ‘Learn to Code vs. Code to Learn’ he pointed out that most of his students that dislike coding at the beginning of his courses are women, and that possibly this has to do with “women’s internalized estrangement from the so-called STEM.” Being a woman, who got an undergraduate degree in a STEM field, I wouldn’t say that I agree with this assessment. Especially with how recently this was written, women are now more involved in STEM fields than they have ever been before, and more and more losing that ‘internalized estrangement,’ but continue to feel the oppressive, discriminatory nature that men bring to the STEM fields, including coding.

Lorusso seemed to continue the conversation of community in coding that we saw Zach Lieberman talk about earlier. Lorusso wrote, “Coding does not just manifest as a relationship between a user and a computer, but also between users through computers.” and goes on to describe chats and forums about coding, adding, “The input of this process of patience and a capacity of listening; the output is fun and a sense of belonging.” Both of these men are seeing and experiencing these community spaces as…men. Especially online, women continue to experience discrimination and hate in online community spaces, specifically related to the STEM fields. While women are breaking boundaries in these fields in the outside world, they are still being targeted and harassed in the same spaces online. Of course, not all online communities treat women negatively, but still, not all of them are as welcoming and kind as Lorusso and Lieberman suggest, especially to new-comers, especially to women.

Beyond just gendered experiences of the online world, some of Lorusso’s discussion of ‘Coding as Craft’ brings to mind the conversations we have had about the elitism and classism of tech, and coding. He wrote, “The craftsperson enters their own physical or digital workshop […]. This is where they code and learn, learn and code. This is where they can forget, for a while at least, if they are lucky, the pressures and economic necessities of daily life.” In this section, Lorusso points out that a person has to be lucky to be able to experience that forgetting of pressures, but nowhere does he seem to point out that the majority of Americans are not lucky enough to experience that. This idea of everyone coding and finding solace in the code before them is unrealistic given the unrelenting ‘economic necessities’ that the working class feels in modern-day America. An amazing goal? Perhaps, but not one that the majority of people have time or money to achieve.

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520 Journal Entry 10

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520 Journal Entry 9

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Reading 7

Several instances in Muriel Cooper’s ‘Computers and design’ made me think further about past conversation we have had in class about design, coding, and previous readings. At the very beginning of the writing, she says, “Today’s personal computer is a functional tool that mimics old tools.” then goes on further to say, “ Each new medium has extended out sense of reality and each has looked to its predecessor for language and conventions, referencing and adapting its characteristics until its unique capabilities can be explored and codified.” This brought to mind the Jacquard Loom that is on our Canvas page and was an early form of computer technology. It also brought to mind the conversations we have had about the relationship between coding and programs like Illustrator or Photoshop. Illustrator and Photoshop are the new tools that are mimicking the old tools, they look to the predecessor, coding, for their conventions and so follow them, but now they are the standard expectation for designing instead of coding.

Another section in Cooper’s writing reminded me of conversation in class, “Communication with large audiences could only be accomplished through expensive, complex media channels, traditionally controlled by the few, […] At this scale, the filtering and editing of information become a consequence of economic control.” This section made me think further about the discussions we had about our last reading, Demian Conrad’s interview of Zach Lieberman in Graphic Design in the Post-Digital Age. Specifically about technology being a political statement. We did discuss how a lot of technology in professional fields and academia is classist and ableist, but we didn’t really touch much on how privilege can also impact the information that is being shared or received. Especially in today’s political climate and rapid pace of news and media, there is a privilege that goes along with consuming the media and a privilege that allows space within the media. Large corporations can afford to take up more time with commercials or more space with advertisements, while smaller companies or individuals have a harder time competing to be seen. Even on the news, tragedies will only be covered for a short period of time before being replaced by other news, and tragedies covered by the news are often focused more on certain groups than others, leaving people feeling unseen and unsupported by their communities.

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520 Journal Entry 8: Wine Maps

I was walking around Cyclone Liquors the other day to pick up a specific import wine and noticed that there were actually maps on the different end caps to show where the wines would’ve been imported from. Although, I didn’t stop to take a picture, this did make me stop and think about how many maps I see on a regular basis and just think nothing of. Although the maps in Cyclone Liquors might not be 100% accurate in representing all of the import wines that they carry, it is a fun and interesting detail to have included in the store. Just like these the maps that I come across regularly seem to be an interesting mix of fantastical, functional, unknown to me, and decorative. For example, CyRide bus route maps are very functional, by also somewhat useless to me once I learn which stops I use on a regular basis, and maps used in games, like DnD are very fantastical, but also functional in their context.

Still on the topic of wine, I have always enjoyed looking at wine labels and been more interested in the labels than the technicalities of the wine inside the bottles. Even though I went to Cyclone Liquors with the intent of getting a specific German import, I ended up spending extra time there, just looking at all of the labels and picking up the more interesting looking ones. I think it’s interesting how it seems like a lot of wine/beer/spirit labels don’t seem to have anything to do with the actual drink inside, especially if they are more illustrative and detailed. But even just the name of region in which the wine is produced gives the consumer (assuming they have wine knowledge) an understanding already of what to expect from the taste and quality. And the very illustrated labels and branding give the person drinking it even more of an appreciation and experience, and really tell the story of the drink as well.

Images are wine labels I have currently, with a variety of decoration and information.

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520 Journal Entry 7: Queer Icons

During our previous discussions of icons in class, I was inspired to think of “gay icons” in popular culture. “Gay icons” are people and celebrities that are considered iconic by and for the queer community specifically. While in class, we discussed icons like Beyonce, Elvis, Bob Marley, these celebrities are not typically the leading icons for queer communities. In my perception, gay icons tend to represent more than an iconic lifestyle or career (not that those are the things that non-queer icons represent), and the things about them that are valued are often things that set them apart from the more heteronormative mainstream.

Although the queer community is growing in terms of acceptance and awareness, it still remains a subculture of sorts, in that it contains a lot of artifacts that are separate from the mainstream. It hold its own history that isn’t taught, its own media and music, its own art, and its own system of communicating and jargon. The queer community by nature is inclusive and accepting of new members, despite this subculture status, but is often viewed and depicted in a way that is exclusive by the mainstream.

It seems to me that a lot of straight- or cis-presenting celebrities that have become sort of ostracized by the mainstream media have become or have the potential of becoming a gay icon. For example, Lady Gaga is a very popular gay icon, even taking part in shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, and openly talking about the fluidity of sexuality and identity. Right now Lady Gaga is portrayed in a very positive light by mainstream media, but earlier in her career, she was very much judged and painted negatively for her bold and experimental style that didn’t fit the so-called ‘normal’ expectations for a pretty girl with a good voice. The title of gay icon can also be awarded to celebrities like Elton John, Mariah Carey, RuPaul, and Miley Cyrus. Not all of the celebrities coined gay icons identify as a member of the queer community, but are sometimes an icon simply for their activism, political views, ‘weird’ behavior that is not favored by the mainstream, and supporting of the community. Oftentimes, daring to have a voice and daring to be different is a good start for the queer community, who is in danger everyday for being different, to identify with a celebrity.

In class, we also mentioned Che Guevara as an icon, but in a slightly different way than other celebrities. Che was and remains a political icon for the people who followed him and now his image itself has become a literal icon representing revolution. The queer community also has icons like this that are historical figures whose images have gained icon status for their deeds. Marsha P. Johnson was a black trans woman and gay rights activist who played an important role in the Stonewall uprising that occurred in New York in 1969. That event is an important one in queer history and is often not known about or discussed in mainstream media and history teachings. Now, her image is synonymous with strength, speaking out, standing up for each other, standing up for queer rights, and resistance.

With all of the current discourse and political strife around queer and transgender people and their rights, it is important to think of the queer community and the icons and history that come along with it. Icons that often represent standing up for oneself and accepting differences, and history that is filled to the brim with the fight for rights to live and love in peace. Marsha P. Johnson stood up for her rights and for the rights of her community, without knowing she would live on in history for it. Now, 50-some years later, we are still fighting for those same rights and she remains an icon to guide us.

(photo of Marsha P. Johnson)

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Reading 6

Demien Conrad’s interview of Zach Lieberman in Graphic Design in the Post-Digital Age was very interesting to read, since it was such a different format from other readings we have had this semester.

There were several areas of the interview that interested me, specifically conversation around AR and technological advancements. Lieberman mentioned the growth of technology that he has seen in his professional career and mentions how, “you’ll see a lot of students use technologies that are kind of magnetically related to what’s popular at the moment,” and he specifically mention a currently technology being AR. I found this statement really interesting from a student perspective, especially having been a student in classes where AR was a big factor in discussions.

In the context of classes where we are frequently pushed to be better thinkers, designers, humans, and innovators, of course the topics of machine learning and AR will come up. My experience with fellow students has been that the majority of us do not feel strongly about those topics or using those technologies, but feel pushed into them by professors pioneering for the future of technology, and by the necessity for a well-paying job in the ever technological world.

Later in the interview, when Lieberman is discussing poetry and code, he also talks about the need to make computers more accessible, visible, and comprehensive. This is something we have previously discussed in class and I think it is an interesting discussion to pair with the idea of AR and machine learning. I am someone I would consider a lay-person when it comes to understanding the computers I use everyday, and for me, AR and all of the similar channels (AI, VR, etc.) feel increasingly inaccessible and hidden. This seems to be in contradiction with the idea of increasing the visibility of computer systems, so I am interested in examining how those two can go hand-in-hand as all of it continues to develop and infiltrate the mainstream.

Another area of the interview that was interesting to read, was at the beginning when Lieberman describes how he got involved in creative coding and described being in a printmaking studio and how learning to code felt similar. This area was particularly interesting to me, because that is often how I have felt in my coding journey so far. Doing all of our demos in class, looking for resources online, watching Daniel Schiffman, and going through code with classmates have all really helped my learning and interest in the code we’ve done in class and the idea of coding beyond that as well. Coding, including languages beyond those we’ve learned, feels generally more accessible to me, now that I’m more aware of communities and resources around them.

[jmartell]

Reading 5

Knowing a little bit about Anni Albers, but having never read her writing, it was very interesting and enlightening for me to read her ‘Designing as Visual Organization’ in On Weaving. I have several experiences with textile projects, so it was very neat to read her thorough example of making a fabric for a museum wall, and to see the images that she included in the book as well.

Throughout her writing, one message or idea that stood out to me was her discussion on the interconnectedness of art and design. My undergraduate degree was in Biological Pre-Medical Illustration, and their sort of slogan is about ‘communicating science through art.’ So in the entirety of those 4 years, I never really was pushed very far in our works to think from a graphic designer’s perspective, and it is only coming to the MFA program that I now have become aware of the discourse on the subject of art versus design and find it very interesting.

Since coming to the program, I have heard people saying things along the lines of “designers wouldn’t consider themselves artists and vice versa,” so I really appreciated Anni Albers’s writing about the topic and how interwoven they can be. Towards the beginning of the reading, she wrote, “designing is or should be methodical planning, whether of simple or intricately organized forms; and if done imaginatively and sensitively, designing can become art.” I think this idea that she has presented, almost that design and art are separate entities that can become one if applied cohesively, is really compelling and felt very validating to read. At the end of the reading, she also wrote, “At the beginning we spoke here of the comprehensible orderliness which underlies all our doing and whose ultimate form is also that of art. Material form becomes meaningful form through design, that is, through considered relationships….But an orderliness that is too obvious cannot become meaningful in this superior sense that is art.” This bit of writing felt like a good summation of her writing and how she explored the detailed planning and organizing that comes with design, but also how meaning and intention have to be applied for it to extend past just a functioning design. It also continued to illustrate how the two concepts, of art and design, can be interwoven and effective.

Overall, Albers’s writing was interesting and an insightful read for me to learn more about how she views design and art. Coming back to coding and our class, I have been thinking so far this semester about which way that I feel the class falls. Does it fall more into the feeling of a fine arts studio course, or a graphic design studio course? And what really makes it one or the other? Personally, I think the Critical Media course feels more like a fine arts studio, as opposed to a graphic design one, especially when compared with philosophies that I encountered with professors outside of the graphic design department. Even though we are applying the methodical planning, ideation, and organization that is required of design that Anni Albers discusses, I feel that the exploration, experimentation, and subtle chaos elevate the experience to where “designing can become art.”

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520 Journal Entry 6: Let's Discuss Context

One topic that I found compelling in the Pater reading, but we have not yet discussed in class is the history and ethnic association that accompany specific typefaces or imagery. In Pater’s writing he specifically references the historic origins of the Blackletter typeface, associating it with Nazi Germany. He also has a section titled, “Ethnic Typography,” which addresses typography that seem to support stereotyping with a specific ethnic association, like typefaces used for branding or advertising of ethnic or minority-specific content.

I think this topic would be especially relevant in today’s political and cultural climate, where we are pushed more at odds with one another, but also trying to embrace each other. Being aware of more historical ties between specific images and their sacred cultural or important historical links would be helpful and important for our future as designers and consumers of design. One example that would be good knowledge for designers to have is the context behind the Japanese Rising Sun Flag imagery. This flag and image carry very serious and heavy history with it, and it is still used today in a lot of design contexts, that are not connected to or cognizant of that very real and important history.

One aspect of this sort of thing that would be interesting and useful to discuss could be dog-whistles, or coded language. The term ‘dogwhistle’ refers to coded language and uses the concept of an actual dogwhistle to illustrate this, by referencing whistles that are too hight of a frequency for humans to hear, but are heard clearly by dogs. This connects to the the language it identifies, because often coded language is meant to be understood by a specific group, but not the overall population. An article I found on this subject, titled, “Dogwhistles, Political Manipulation, and Philosophy of Language” written by Jennifer Saul, talks more about this subject. (https://academic.oup.com/book/9256/chapter/155975503?login=true)

She talks about the important ties between dogwhistles and hate speech, politics, and propaganda, all of which are relevant to graphic designers today. She also gives examples of dogwhistles that have been previously used in political campaigns or examples that might be heard today in most media.

Dogwhistles, have become more and more prevalent on social media as a form or political signaling, but also as a form or intimidation or hate speech, often being commented on minority creators’ content. Being aware of these words, phrases, images, and their history would be insightful and helpful knowledge to have as designers going forward.

(Saul, Jennifer, 'Dogwhistles, Political Manipulation, and Philosophy of Language', in Daniel Fogal, Daniel W. Harris, and Matt Moss (eds), New Work on Speech Acts (Oxford, 2018; online edn, Oxford Academic, 23 Aug. 2018), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198738831.003.0013 , accessed 20 Mar. 2023.)

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Reading 4

I was really interested by the conversations around art, form, and creation in Tim Ingold’s “The Textility of Making.” He started with a quote from Paul Klee, “Form is the end, death. Form-giving is life,” and he references it later in his writing as well. I thought this quote paired well the term he used, hylomorphic, about bringing together form and matter. These two ideas did resonate with me a lot about the process of creating an art piece, and the process of creating in general. For example, I have heard metalsmiths speak about letting the metal guide them as they formed it into the end product, and how through the act of hammering, heating, and quenching the metal, they are able to partake in the journey of creating something.

He also uses quotes from Deleuze and Guattari to talk more about this, one of them being, “It is a question of surrendering to the wood, and following where it leads, and Ingold later went on to share a rule of thumb, “follow the materials.” These ideas continued to help me reflect on projects I have worked on and artists I have worked with, specifically with ceramics. Ceramics work is a great example of Ingold’s discussion of allowing the material and the energy to guide your journey to the outcome. When firing clay or glaze, there is always a sense of mystery and a risk of something not going ‘according to plan,’ but that is also the exact process that makes it so magical and authentic.

I also felt really connected to his writing about drawing, how the act of drawing is dynamic, similar to carpentry, that it requires continuous correction and response, and that a drawing never really arrives at completion. I think these ideas also really connect with coding, or at least my experience with coding so far. Like drawing, or sawing, when I’m coding there is a constant push and pull of making a change, seeing the outcome, and reacting accordingly. And even if you go into coding with an idea of a desired outcome, the process of how you get there really is the most important part, since it will change and weave itself together as you figure out each piece of the puzzle. In the sense of coding being hylomorphic, I think the matter could be seen as the pixels, that are manipulated and given form by the code as it is written.

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520 Journal Entry 5

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Reading 3

I enjoyed reading Rob Giampietro’s I AM A HANDLE, I found it to be very poetic in its structure and rhythm. One connection I found is when he wrote about skeumorphs and specifically used the examples of maple syrup bottles and wheel spokes on cars. I just, a couple of days ago, saw a video of an educator on the internet talking about those same two examples of skeumorphism. He also added in digital examples like the ‘trash can’ icon on computers or how your phone camera makes a shutter noise without actually shuttering. Here is a link to that video: https://www.tiktok.com/@hankgreen1/video/7203787115862248710?_r=1&_t=8aGwclMcLX9

I think this connection to the past or the preserving of these ‘historic’ elements of design in certain things is very interesting, especially when I think about Giampietro’s question of “Did we distinguish between “real” and “virtual” things before the computer came along?” Living in our increasingly digital world, it almost feels like an attempt to hold on to the physical reality outside of our virtual ones, or a way to give context to the immense computing power at our disposal. It’s approachable for the trash icon to look like a wastebasket, instead of an endless void where nothing can return from. Similarly, it’s approachable for the ‘save’ icon to be commonly depicted as a floppy disk, instead of a conceptual safe of information. The floppy disk and earlier computers were already revolutionary in their abilities, and we continue to build upon that everyday at alarming speeds, so it makes sense to me why we would need to keep these skeumorphs, because maybe we haven’t been truly distinguishing the real vs virtual all this time.

There were also several parts of Giampietro’s writing that I felt spoke to our work in coding. That same section on real vs virtual also wrote, “some method of making a world where one was not,” and this reminded me of the actual act of coding and creating, and how often coder’s first output is “Hello world.” We spent our first section finding unique patterns and then virtualizing them, in a sense creating these little new worlds for our creations to exist in. Another part of the writing was “the “I” that speaks is not Shakespeare himself - he is Shakespeare’s construction, his program,” and another being, “we handles facilitate manipulation, asking the manipulator to operate at a distance.” These sections specifically remind me of Rene Magritte’s The Treachery of Images, and thus the conjuring that is coding and visualization. We are designers making designs that are representations of things, even the coding programs we use are only handles facilitating our use of the coding languages, but still somewhat distanced from the actual code itself.

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520 Journal 4: Compare and Contrast Project A

When comparing and contrasting my map (top) with Ernest’s (bottom), the most apparent thing to me is that I chose to make mine digitally, using procreate, and he chose to make his non-digitally on physical paper. This difference is enough to give a difference in feeling between the two, and combined with the difference in symbols and topics it goes even further.

One similarity between the two is that we both used color to illustrate different items in our maps, but the colors themselves are different and represent different things. The color is mine is used to show the different sense, while Ernest uses it to color-code the different airport locations.

One major difference between them is that Ernest used text in his map to tell the viewer the title, the places, and even in a key to explain the map, but I didn’t include text at all. Even though the colors represent different senses, I also didn’t include a key or legend to explain that to the viewer either. The text with the symbols and icons that Ernest used really help to ground his map and make it almost educational in the way the subject matter is presented. I think this is a very different feeling from the one a viewer of my map would probably get. Since it doesn’t share those same text and icon details, it is much more abstract and conceptual, and it lacks boundaries or lines to give it a set plan, which Ernest included in his airports.

While our two maps are very different, they still share details, like color, and they are both interesting concepts to come from our assignment of ‘learn the rules and then break them.’

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520 Project A: Encoding

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Inspiration: #53 from Ben Barry’s One Hundred Patterns

Iteration #3

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Inspiration: #53 from Ben Barry’s One Hundred Patterns

Iteration #2

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520 Journal Entry 3: Women and Advertising Icons

This week, I found the rest of the Ways of Seeing videos really interesting, especially with our discussions last week surrounding “icons.” 

In Part 2, I was really intrigued by the video’s conversation of women and their depiction in paintings and art throughout history, how it reflects in more modern advertising, and how it impacts women’s views of themselves. Even just recently, on social media, I have seen women talking about the ways that the “male gaze” has impacted their self perception throughout their lives, to the point of being alone with only themselves and still feeling a need to perform as if still being perceived by the male gaze. This idea is almost perfectly illustrated in the paintings shown in Ways of Seeing and how the women are sometimes portrayed by themselves, but still on display in a way.

I also found it interesting how John Berger discussed the women in the paintings often being blamed for their own nudity or appeal that was framed specifically to be appealing. That point stuck out to me because of the similar, modern conversation around women engaging in sex work. Men are typically the main audience and consumers for sex work, creating the demand for women to be the suppliers of, but then the same men are often the first to shame and guilt the women that engage in it. Similar to the comparison between oil paintings and advertisements in parts 3 and 4, it’s as if older oil paintings depicting desirable women have also somehow morphed into modern imagery of desirable women along with the same conversations as well. 

In Parts 3 and 4, I found the connection between historic oil paintings and modern-day advertisements interesting. I had never thought about that connection between the two and how similar they are in their means of influence and symbology. One connection that I made was between modern advertisements and last week’s discussion of icons. In advertising, oftentimes people are displayed alongside products to further influence the possible consumers. In these cases, the models displayed themselves become icons for the messaging of the overall advertisements. The models are used to say things like, “if you purchase this cologne, you will be a handsome man surrounded by beautiful women,” or, “if you buy this purse, you too will be a pretty, fashionable woman.” Even though the advertisements are focused around the product, often our gaze as consumers is meant to fall more on the models and the things they look like and represent, to enhance the persuasion to buy the product. The models are meant to look like and represent cleanliness, luxury, wealth, beauty, health, and thus influence our perception of ourselves in relation.