The photos that ensue are a compilation of people I love, things I know, events I attend and instances I capture. They are the result of smiling, squatting, snuggling, and snapping. These are, in their best-represented form, my people.

My people are creators. They are activists, artists, historians, environmentalists, critics and more, but above all, they create. From stir-fry dinners to activist campaigns, from dish-washing procedures to engaging events, from kitchen dance-offs to trips around the world, they will be creating the spaces in between and the ends at which they meet. Their most redeeming quality is their warmth; their love and their affection, their radiance and strength. In knowing all this, in representing them in the light they deserve, I give you their spirit.

One of the most important things I decided about this project was that I wanted to make it warm. Upon hearing the prompt, I knew that I wanted to take pictures of the people most important to me, because they are, indeed, mypeople. The second important aspect of my project is the bedroom. What is a better way to represent and express yourself than through your room? Room arrangements and designs are the most important, communicative and raw expressions of individuality. Rooms are where we spend some of the most important time in the world – sleeping. In capturing my people in their most uninhibited states, I was able to show these feelings and hopefully communicate with the audience an inside look at my people.

I loved taking pictures of the various people you see. I tried to have no overhead lighting in any of my shots. I wanted each photo to have warm reds, oranges and yellows, because I felt that represented the theme very well. For this reason, I only wanted small desktop lights to light the rooms of my housemates (my people, if you will). It ended up working pretty well, and every shot (with the right adjustments) turned out just about how I wanted it. Taking the pictures wasn’t exactly the hard part. After learning about the rule of thirds in class, as well as negative space and composition choices like conflict within a frame, I felt I was pretty prepared to take on the challenge of capturing “my people”.

Here's a macro picture I took using my acquired knowledge:

So that's about it. Macro photography is really cool! I always like how macro pictures turn out, and learning how to compose them in a better way was really great. Cheers.

flickr user riekhavoc

So this story was pretty interesting to read. Interesting meaning...I didn't really know what was going on, but I'll give you my take on the story:

So there's all these kids/young adults (the age was never really specified) in this sort of camp where they are told to masturbate, test products, and fill out assessments for them – the products, not the masturbation. Apparently they test a whole range of products from medicine (Aurabon?) to children's toys when they were younger – it seems like they have been here their whole lives. So anyways they go through all these trials like having kids and getting married other shenanigans, and once a day they need to be "plugged in". Into what, we don't really know. In the end the main character eventually makes it out of the camp (I think) and faxes his "wife", who I believe is still in the camp, and they talk about their future lives together, and then it's over.

What struck me about this story wasn't necessarily the plot line, but more so the writing style. While it was a little confusing at times, I thought it had a strong voice and was full of character. I hesitated when discussing the age of the characters because the way the story was written, one would think (or at least I did) that the voice was from a younger person, probably a child. The simple, plain speech with inconsistencies in verb tense and confusing descriptions made me think of a toddler trying to tell a story. Since the characters were probably older than a toddler (they were having kids), this maybe means that they were all suffering some sort of mental disorder? I couldn't really tell. Either way, this story was pretty unusual and interesting, however hard to keep up with and fully understand.

This week went by much too fast. With finals sneaking around the corner, I've had a lot of preparation to do as well as basic everyday life obligations that always keep me on my toes. This section of the class has been my favorite thus far – I love working with, talking about, creating and discussing design. I've really enjoyed all of the media we've been working with as well as using photoshop (NOT Gimp). I think it's great that we can create completely new designs just from one image, which is exactly what photoshop allows us to do. In opening new doors to the world of design we can add to the never-ending field of creativity that we each individually contribute to.

I really like the picture that was chosen – I think it was called "A Soldier's Goodbye" or something like that. I especially like the cat because I love cats. The typeface works well with the image because it is rather simple and futuristic, while the actual photo is grainy and vintage. In contrasting these two themes I think I ended up with an album cover that really works.

The assignment for the fourth design create was to create a minimalist travel poster of your favorite or least favorite place. The Rackham building is my favorite building on campus, so I thought I would make a poster in it's honor. 

This was actually a little bit difficult to make mostly because, again, Gimp is so so hard to figure out – there isn't even a tool to make a triangle shape! Some of my corners are uneven and I think the last window on the right is placed a little bit off, but this is only because I could not figure out how to fix a lot of things, even after looking at gimp for so long. Anyways, my process was fairly simple:

Allard One on Flickr

airows on Tumblr

artssake on Tumblr

Let's start with the first image. There isn't a lot going on here, but the contrast of the blue and red definitely defines the image. Though it is pretty simple, the bold colors show a perfect example of how contrast can help a minimalist image. This image is compelling because we don't exactly know what is going on - where are these chairs, who previously sat in them, why are they here? From the dark edges and bright colors, we get almost an eerie feeling from this photo - again exemplified from the contrast. The two red chairs also help this image because they gives us one of the main design elements discussed from Williams: repetition. This repetition helps the image by giving it a bold blast of color and, as discussed by Williams, an element of recognition.

The next image doesn't contain much content, but I really enjoy it. Again, this is a prefect representation of Williams' discussion of both contrast and repetition. The same circles, same frame around the words, same font – repetition is a main theme of this image and ties it all together. The contrast is also very obvious. Like Williams discusses, "don't be a wimp about it"; either go big or go home. Don't contrast navy blue with royal blue, but instead contrast red with black, which is perfectly portrayed in this image.

This last image is probably one of my favorites. While there are plenty of different colors in this picture, they are all fairly similar and are repeated throughout the image – each square has (more or less) the same color scheme as the next. There is obviously repetition throughout the image, and this consistency helps bring the image together, once again bringing a sense of recognition to its viewers. The contrast is once again obviously by comparing each square to the next, since the colors contrast and compliment each other nicely.

All of these images are great representations of Williams' discussion of design through repetition and contrast. Each have repetition, or stick to a certain theme that evokes a feeling within the viewer, as well as a contrast that helps keep the image interesting, unique and beautiful.

When it comes to design, I'm what you might call a "geometric minimalist" – a term I just invented. I really like shapes, lines, patterns, small details, curves...you get the idea. First of all, I think the colors in this cover are spot on. Complimentary colors (yellow and blue) obviously work really well together, so I really love how the artist chose to match these colors together (I don't know if he altered the image or not, but either way they work really well). 

The typeface is also very interesting. I love unconventional fonts, but really don't like when they're tacky, hard to read, and unoriginal. This font is exactly the opposite: the triangles being used to make up the letters end up forming an intricate, interesting pattern to look at, the words are not hard to read, and the transparency of the letters makes them look light, pleasant and almost fragile. The triangles also work well with the large yellow one , and the smaller one reflecting in. I really love the pattern inside the large yellow triangle – it reminds me of a corner of a building in Chicago that I really like.

I could definitely see this as a working album cover. It's pleasant to look at and beautifully simple, and I even think the artist name and album name sound completely legitimate. The relationship between the two also works really well, especially since "Yvonne Rudelatt" is an actual name that could definitely be an artist's name. 

Great cover filled with shapes, lines, and nice, complimentary colors; the perfect recipe for a perfect design.