#ulysserhe

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FontStruct. Build, Share, Download Fonts

This is my final project and I thought it would be interesting to share it here in its latest form.

As presented in class, minimalu is a TrueType font that you can download for free and install on your Mac or PC by clicking on the link above.

I made it so it uses thin lines and simple shapes to create a typeface looking up to date and readable both on print and screen. 

Thanks to research, tests and different version that showed evolution and improvement, I am happy to present a font you all can use, with Caps characters, lower case letters, and symbols.

I think it meets its goals by looking minimal and readable, and I am convinced it uses less ink that more classic fonts.

I hope you will try it out, and maybe use it on a daily besis and share it. As it is its biggest chance of becoming widespread.

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Comic Neue fixes the shortcomings of Comic Sans. It's the casual script choice for everyone, including the typographically savvy.

After today’s talk about Comic Sans MS, and as part of the bitter few that care about Comic Sans, I’d like to invite you to visit the Comic Neue website presenting the free Comic Neue font which was designed to be similar looking to Comic Sans, while remaining somewhat less eye bleeding.

As the creators describe it: “It's perfect as a display face, for marking up comments, and writing passive aggressive office memos.”

The project was initiated in May 2014, successfully backed on Kickstarter for a total of $10,507. The font was released on August, 1 2014 and recieves updates with new sets of typefaces (oblique, light, book, etc.) since then.

It’s all free, and available for download and install through the Comic Neue website.

Oddly enough, the new typeface changes little from the original one, it is generally lighter and straighter, still feels casual but not necessarily childish and definitely more modern. The only drawback of Coic Neue is that unlike Comic Sans, it is not preinstalled on all computers. However, I have hope that with Operating Systems updates and development of this font, Comic Neue will develop to be the evolution, spiritual son and eventual replacement of Comic Sans. All in all a font that tastes the same, has the same use, but looks a little more up to date.

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SPOILERS: Final Scene - Do the right thing

After the Ferguson debates, I thought it would be interesting to mention Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. The movie came out in 1989 and tells the story of a neighborhood's simmering racial tension, which comes to a head and culminates in tragedy on the hottest day of summer. The year of its release after public and critical acclaim, it was deemed to be "culturally significant" by the U.S. Library of Congress.

The final breakdown illustrated in the video, the destruction of the Italian pizzeria in the black neighborhood is triggered by the death of a black man by a police officer.

Police killing black people has precedent and it was more often than not followed by violent protests highlighting social inequalities. When the police intervened in Ferguson, they entered a vicious circle where their heavy armory prepared officers for violent protests and the protesters, feeling threatened by the military equipment, responded with chaos.

Even if the movie came out 25 years ago, it still feels very up to date and after Ferguson, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Walter Scott, we are to wonder if our summer is very different from the one depicted in this movie from two decades ago.

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© lolsalad.com - 2015

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Visual Argument 1.2

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Is VR really going to be a thing?

The oculus rift has ben around for three years now, a developper kit sells for about $400 and even if the public release gets constantly pushed back, it feels like the device could eventually end up in a Best Buy soon.

Yes, the technology is not revolutionary (think Nintendo Virtual Boy in 95) and the graphics could be improved, but anyone who actually tried a virtual reality device will attest that the experience really is immersive and new.

So is the price going to be a problem? Probably not. Let’s assume that an Oculus Rift will sell between $400 and $700, i bet numerous amount of people will still ready to buy it. When a playstation is released at $500, it quickly runs ou of stock and the oculus promises more than videogames, it offers virtual tours of museums, planets, etc. 

The price really shouldn’t be a problem, especially when we look at Google’s project cardboard, a virtual reality headset made literally out of cardboard you can buy for $25 (or download a free template), slip your android smartphone in and get to a virtual world. The screen resolution of most smartphones is superior to an oculus and the right application, combined to the phone sensors, makes it a perfectly functioning DIY VR device.

I believe the only thing that really stops VR devices from being popular is its impossibility to really be “social”. What we witness now whenever the device is on display is a line of people waiting to trying it out, impatiently lurking at the guy in a chair, silent, with headphones on and swiveling his head around like an ostrich.

When people go to the movies, or play videogames or watching TV, they are all sharing the screen, sharing the space and can turn their head to see the people they are enjoying the moment with. When you are wearing a VR device, you are in such a bubble that sharing the moment with people around you is made much more difficult. If they do not have the headset on, impossible to share, and show the amazing world you are experiencing. 

For the oculus to really be successful, it should be social, everyone should have one, and for everyone to have one, we all should be able to see how cool it is in the first place without having to try it out. There is some sort of paradox and I wonder if such a personal experience as VR will ever be something easy to share.

http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/A_Bicyclops_Built_for_Two

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Annotated Bibliography

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I redid my CV this week.

Having to apply for masters, I had to submit a cover letter and a CV and thought it was the right time for an update in the piece fo paper that says who I am and what I have done so far.

It is a masters in communication. I think they are looking for good students and creative people, capable of getting a job and using internships efficiently during and after their studies. 

A CV is often read very quickly and I think its visuals are of the utmost importance. This is why I tried to reduce it (from two pages to one, while doing a good job at keeping all the same info, I just used less words and more images) and something that looks modern and good. I bought an InDesign CV template online from a Graphic Designer, as I knew he would already have put a lot of thoughts into his own CV and made some corrections so that the page really fits my personality and renders who I am.

The picture was essential too. I first thought of not having any picture, but I am convinced knowing what a person looks like influences the employer profoundly (in a good or bad way) and that might just speed up the selection process. In the old one, I wore a tie and looked straight at the camera, as if it was a passport picture, in the second one, I used a picture a friend of mine took during a RTF shoot, where I was busy with cameras and not posing. I am satisfied with it as it looks like me in real life and looks vivid, more natural and friendlier than a posed picture. 

I am quite satisfied with the result, as I was able to reduce length while keeping information and how the final products looks more "fun", "creative" and up to date than the old word version. Hopefully the people I am submitting this too will be affected by the looks and the formatting of the page and those elemnts will play in my favor in the next months. We will see of the tools of visual rhetoric used on this document will have an impact.