week 08. spring break, my memory.

I took Spring Break to step away from the project + focus on my own creation of memories. I explored Colorado out by myself, often taking to the road, blasting music + driving without a purpose, without knowledge of where I was going—I let go + drove.

I left the MO later than I wanted on Saturday, but drove with the windows down through the eerily flat state of Kansas. It was the first time in my short history of driving that I wanted to stop + questioned if I would make it there.

The second night I was there I checked into my hotel + settled in, hopped into my car and drove as the sun set and I was left with these vividly blue visuals.

After that night, if I went traveling by daylight I saw beautiful mountains and nature.

The last AnnaSights of the trip. The last bits of nature in its raw form and 9+ hours of solo thinking driving.

I thought a lot more about the way that I was sharing my trip experience with different ages and background of people in different formats. 

I was: 

texting my mom every time I stopped to gas up the car or I got hungry.

posting images to Instagram.

sending images via text.

verbally telling my classmates.

digitally writing/sending messages via email or online chat.

snap chatting images or small video clips that would disappear after 24 hrs either to people or to "my story."

tweeting snippets of thoughts or overheard statements.
uploaded an album of images to Facebook.

and of course the whole mental keeping of it all.

And I started to question what the truest way to represent that trip, that memory, that event was. Or did I really want to create something that felt like what I experienced + not focus on the set facts, order of images, videos, etc. What is more important in an event? The specific set up of the day and how it works out? How you felt or what it seemed like, via comparisons? Or both? Or something completely different?

THEN.

I thought what if we could bring in all of that content from other accounts, as well as upload new information. Also, I found this article Your memory is no video camera: It edits the past with present experiences and I further pondered on memory, experience + connection.

making connections.

I apparently never looked at the blog this afternoon, so my apologies for this being late.

Communication as the overall topic is what most schools have as a major; graphic design is a specific way of formatting communication. Visual communication is the method of using art/images/photographs/props/things + typography to express an overall topic, subject, idea + message. And, we actually were in two parts of that class that focused on the way in which we create messages as designers. The main use of graphic design, to appeal, inform or provoke a specific audience to do or think a certain way which is where visual communication comes into play to help us organize and illustrate information into easy to digest pieces of information. Due to the connotations connected to everything from colors to countries to words to hierarchy, designers are given the task of researching a particular audience for their project to understand how the particular audience thinks, interacts and plays.

For my degree project, visual communication is the method in which I will entice people to create + share memories, then turn around and connect with others. This includes website name, phrases + wording, as well as colors, attributes, site navigation, site design and really everything else that is any form of graphic or web design. We create + organize content and provide directions that can be easily understood and followed by a specific audience. Specifically for the sharing of memories I will be creating an easy to navigate website that will allow users to select different layouts to save their memories as well as share with others online. I will be using easy to understand/relate icons to actions that will be expressed on the website. For the potential printed or digital pieces, I will utilize a clear hierarchy that keeps the focus for each of those products where they should be. I will also be looking at how + what users of this website would really want to use it for and how it would be used.