Blast Log

In response to McClouds writing about comics and the future I believe he points out some good things. I really like how he explains that with technology advancing, comic writers will be able to be more creative or free when coming up with their stories. As he says it, “gradually, comics creators will stretch their limbs and start to explore the design opportunities of an infinite canvas”(McCloud 222). I couldn’t agree with this statement more. Although many people like to have the hard copy of books or comics, the new technology will bring in more creativity and freedom for people to use.

Throughout this course we have read many readings. The three that I believe have been of most use are Williams non-designers design book, Goffman, and Arnheim.

Beginning with Williams, I believe this was the most beneficial reading because it was packed with useful information regarding design principles. Obviously the C.R.A.P principles are very helpful when designing anything. You can use these for any type of project weather it is an advertisement, video, or a paper. Not only have I referenced this book many times throughout this semester, I am sure it is a book that I will use many times throughout my lifetime.

Next I will talk about how Goffman was of use. He makes me look at pictures in a different way now. If you look closely you can almost always point out the “feminine touch” or “relative size” included in pictures. I like how it taught me to indicate different aspects of pictures. I also agreed with him that gender differences in pictures have not changed much over time.

Last but not least I want to mention Arnheim. Although he was difficult to comprehend I do believe he has good points. I like how he teaches the differences between signs, symbols, and pictures. Many people would not be able to point out the differences between them but overall Arnheim has a pretty good theory behind each of them.

Although these are the three readings that I believe I learned the most from all of the readings had useful information that will help in the future of design. I really liked Birdsell and Goarke also. What they taught about immediate verbal and visual context comes into play with just about anything you look at so that is clearly helpful to understand.

 

Works Cited

 

McCloud, Scott. Reinventing Comics. 4-8-2008.

Blog #8

1. Freedom from Reality:

Hook’s art class assignment let him be free from political realities. The assignment was to create your dream house. Nothing had to be accepted by the “real world.” He could create anything he wanted without being judged by others. With this freedom nothing was impossible, anything he could imagine could happen. As hooks brings up, “ if we had been encouraged to think critically about the actual spaces we inhabited, the neighborhoods and houses that were our world, we would have learned to think about space politically, about who controls and shapes environments”(Hooks 396). An example would be if someone in Pullman dreamed to have a house that looked like a husky and had University of Washington colors painted on it, they probably would not end up building that house here. But with an assignment like this you have no social or outside expectations, it can be whatever you want without the pressure. No matter where you are from, what class your considered, race, or ethnicity, anything could be created.

 

2. Architecture:

Architecture is a cultural practice in many ways. A few examples of buildings that represent different cultures are the Pullman Islamic Center and many buildings in the east coast. The Islamic Center’s architecture strongly represents the Muslim culture. Because of how they chose to create the building with golden color and big cylinders on top, this building has a strong representation.  My other example is buildings on the east coast are often built with brick. In many places in the east it seems as if an older style is more common as well. Usually when you move or travel to new places, one of the first things you recognize is how the architecture differs from what you are used to.

 

3. New Racism:

New racism according to Van Dijk is old racism transformed to sound less sever. It is presented in everyday conversations, seen on television, and used among many people. Although it is common use among some people, many either do not know they are using racist terms or deny that they are racist terms or actions at all.  Van Dijk mentions that “they may hurt even more than old racism, especially when they seem to be so ‘normal’, so ‘natural’, and so ‘commonsensical’ to those who engage in such discourse and interaction”(Van Dijk 34). Instead of using common racist terms, new racism appears more discrete. Van Dijk says that “this unique control of the majority over the prevalent forms of public discourse, policies and social conduct makes minority resistance against such racism even more difficult and precarious”(Van Dijk 34) Because new racism does not result in forceful and violent actions and old racism is usually considered so “normal,” it is difficult to convince people that many terms and actions used are actually racist.

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell. Art on my Mind: Visual Politics. New York: The New Press, 1995.

 

Van Dijk, Teun A.. "New(s) Racism: A Discourse Analytical Approach." Ethnic Minorities and the Media p. 33-49.

Blog #7

I am sure just about everyone has either heard or said the phrase "get to the point." This message is very similar to what Lanham's standard model for human communication is trying to convey.  He calls it the CBS model, which stands for Clarity-Brevity-Sincerity. The point of this model is that messages should be clear and brief. There should be no persuasion involved in messages, only truthfulness. He mentions that "plain language is thus nearly allied to plain living. No fancy clothes. No cosmetics. No fancy food. No fancy cars. Thoreau's cabin on Walden Pond"(Lanham 139). This quote helped me understand the CBS model more clearly.

For some situations this model may be helpful, but for most I would say it has a more negative impact. An example of when it could be of use is for traffic signs or menus at a restaurants. They should be clear and precise to what they are describing for an easy understanding. An example of when it can have a more negative influence is when people are communicating with close family or friends. If everything said was shortened and to the point, people would lose their personality. The way people communicate with each-other gives us our own characteristics. I feel like it would make things more boring if everyone followed this model.

Works Cited

Lanham. "An Alphabet That Thinks” pp 130-157.

Blog #6

Links are made to conceal and reveal certain information. After thinking for exactly sixty seconds about how links conceal and reveal information, I have thought of a few good examples that fit this particular question. Although there are an infinite amount of examples on the web I chose to use an example in this paper.

Links can conceal information by making a user click on a word such as "enter here." This is concealing information because in order to access what you are trying to get to, you have to go through that particular link. A link can be used either to make things more organized on a page or to hide content that a user may or may not want to see. The reason this is an example of how links reveal information is because when a user clicks on a particular link, a new page of information is then revealed. 

This is my example of a link that reveals and conceals "cla clik." Without actually clicking on my link, you will have no clue where it leads you. This is concealing information from you. If you do decide to click on it and enter into the unknown it will reveal a new page of information. Another example is once you enter the link I provided, you have another choice of whether to enter the links on the next page. Those links also hide and provide information to users. Whether you decide to let the links reveal information to you or keep it concealed is up to you.

Blog #4

Solomon-

Capital letters can be considered a form of punctuation.  Solomon writes that "most punctuation marks are composed to be seen but not heard" (solomon 282). If capital letters are included as a form of punctuation, they would be apart from that statement.  In many cases capital letters are very loud and sometimes they are silent.  For example when you start each sentence you begin with a capital letter.  In this case it would be considered silent because it does not change the pitch of the words, it is more to show the beginning of a sentence.  If I was writing on an instant messenger or a blog and wrote something like "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING," this symbolizes someone yelling or being louder than normal. These two examples represent how punctuation and capital letters are both similar in a way and different from each-other.

Goffman-

Goffman's analysis on the role of men and women in advertisement has held-up very well today. Both are categorized and different from each other. He implies that men play the "executive role" and women tend to use there hands more in advertisement. Although not every advertisement fits this generalization, most in fact do. An example that follows these rules is a FedEx super bowl commercial. It is of a man that tells you the ten items needed to have a successful commercial. This part of the commercial represents the executive role for the men.  At the end of the commercial two attractive women are shown to flaunt there bodies.  Although this does not depict the hands that Goffman says are usually used with women, it does show how men and women have different roles in advertisements. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NMvB7jTG6oQ

A better example of the female role can be seen in a perfume commercial which a girl is showing off a bottle of perfume. This short clip illustrates how women use there hands. 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G-teUO2Cy4U&feature=related

Although these are only two examples, most commercials today do have different gender roles. 

Blog #3

Blair's main argument is that visual arguments exist and do not differ much from verbal arguments. He thoroughly explains what the definition of an argument he is using consists of. He writes about the similarities between arguments and assertions. Blair also gives a lot of examples of visual arguments throughout the chapter in different categories including television commercials, cartoons, magazines and a few others.

Blairs reasoning of a visual argument is based upon the assertion that an argument include reasons be overtly expressed, and that reasons and claim be linguistically explicable (Blair 346). He gives several examples of how visual arguments can exist. The one that stood out the most to me is the pictures on pages 352 through 354. The reason this caught my eye is because without reading anything i could interpret the picture into an argument in my head. I knew it was arguing for justice and equality for all races. It is saying visually that racism needs to be stopped (Blair 353-354). 

Although I believe Blairs example above is a good representation of a visual argument, I could also see how it may be interpreted as an assertion instead of an argument. The pictures could be making a point that people of different races should be treated equally. If this is the case it would not be classified as an argument.

Overall I agree with Blair that visual arguments exist. There is a fine line to be considered though when one is determining if a visual piece is an argument or an assertion. In the end it depends on the audience and how they interpret the image.

Works Cited

Blair, J. Anthony."The Possibility and Actuality of Cisual Arguments." Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's 2004. 

blog #2

The time had come, I just became what you could call “buds” with a fellow I met not too long ago.  Sitting in his basement playing “vids” or video games like most guys my age do, we both decided it was time to pre-funk and get ready to go out for the night.  After a few minutes of pounding shots of booze I catch a glimpse of something in the corner of my eye; another one of his buddies is over on a bench press machine!  Of course I have to go take a closer look at this gear that makes your muscles bulge and pecks show through your shirt.  I see that “the dude” is struggling trying to lift this bar with round weights on it up in the air so I figure maybe I should give it a try.  Although it may seem I was trying to look impressive by lifting this massive load of weights, I assure you it was for pure self-satisfaction. 

I laid down on the sweaty padded bench, put my hands on the bar, took deep breaths in and out like I knew what I was doing, and prayed I could lift it.  At this point I really felt like I could lift it, like I could take it and throw it through the ceiling, probably because it didn’t look like it weighed much though, or maybe it was the alcohol making me a bit delusional. All I was missing in my pre-lifting routine was the gallon of water sitting next to my bench.  Other than that I felt I was as prepared as a professional weight lifter.

This is where my thought and confidence changed, one hundred percent. I cannot back out now; I would look like a fool.  I start to lift the weight off the hook.  So far, so good. I bring the bar down to my chest just like I have seen at the rec center.  I start to push upward, almost fully extending my arms, and realize I cannot throw the bar through ceiling. Instead I have decided to lower the bar back down, but this time it did not smoothly come down to meet my chest. My chin takes control. It is my superhero! It jumped in front of the bar and took one for the team.  If it had not been there the bar probably would have landed right on my jugular. 

So my new “bud” lifts the bar off my chin and I get up and feel around my mouth not knowing it had been badly split.  All I was hoping was I still had all my teeth.  Realizing blood was coming out of my “chlip”(area in-between lip and chin) I ran to the bathroom, rinsed it off, put Neosporin on it, and bandaged it right up.  I know, it sounds like I know what I am doing and you want to ask if I work at a hospital, but I clearly do not since a firefighter at the big festivity we later attended inspected my “chlip” and came to a conclusion it should surely get stitches. My delusion of being a great weight lifter and my bad choice to not go to the hospital for stitches is why I have the scar on my “chlip” today.

And that’s why you don’t try to lift more weight than your muscles allow.

 

blog #1

a.)  Foss defines rhetoric as “an art and a discipline that facilitates our understanding of the nature and function of symbols in our lives. How we perceive, what we know, what we experience, and how we act are the results of our own symbol use and that of those around us; rhetoric is a term that captures all of these processes.  Rhetoric is the human use of symbols to communicate”(Foss 1).  Foss’s definition of rhetoric to me means that it is an understanding of everything that has to do with communication.  It is how one recognizes communication.  An example of rhetoric can be used in this blog I am writing.  It is what makes this writing interesting or boring.  It is how you write or get your point across. 

 

b.) “Rhetoric is the art of conveying a point in a convincing, eloquent, and effective way. Rhetoric is what makes some writing beautiful and other writing bland”(Flemming 1).

 

     “Rhetoric is generally understood to be the art or technique of persuasion through the use of oral, visual, or written language. However, this definition has expanded greatly since rhetoric emerged as a field of study in universities”(www.wikipedia.org).

 

Works Cited

 

Flemming, Grace.  “What is Rhetoric?” 8 Jan 2008

     <http://homeworktips.about.com/od/englishhomework/qt/rhetoric.htm> 

Foss, Sonja, et al. Contemporary Perspectives on Rhetoric

 www.wikipedia.org.  Rhetoric.  8 Jan 2008.

      <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric>