Reading 3

All three of the readings we had to review were different in many ways. The only one i was drawn to was the Rhythm Science. Obviously the layout is supposed to resemble a record with the hole in the middle and the music theme of the layout was interesting and brought you more to the point to what it was about. As i was reading it I found that as i was going through the pdf file that as I went to the next page it was almost like a beat was going with me. The pages went from an awesome colored design to print then from print to the awesome design. It had a beat as i turned the page. There is a phrase that became apparent to me as I was just typing that last sentence "Is it live or is it a sample?" and to me the beat felt live.
Moving on to the other readings... I don't even know how Matthew Fuller could stand working and writing with every application open in word. The work was hard to read, however the more that I read it I felt like I knew what he was trying to say. There are too many options for the average computer user and they can be taken way out of proportion to the person who doesn't know any better. He was proving a point with his obnoxious typing.
As for Professor VJ's blog, I have a feeling mine looks the same way almost. Type that is a little too boring to care to read and set up in a way to make you uninterested in the topic.

Critique

Having a critique in an art class is possibly the most essential part in finalizing your work. You could have all of these ideas floating in your head about how you think other people will perceive your work and you think you know how they will feel when they see it. From my experience that never happens the way you want it to. Unless you have an outside opinion telling you how they feel or what they think of your work you would never know. It's always helpful to hear the teacher give you the most feedback on your work because they are the ones grading it. Obviously since we all would like to get good grades you might focus your work on more of what the instructor says. The instructors opinion is just one opinion. If there is even one more person who comments on what they think, that might influence the graders perception. You have to take into account everyone's opinions because everyone could have a great idea that makes your work complete.

I find that when it comes to me to give an opinion in a critique I don't have much to say because I don't know more about the work. I would like to know more behind what the artist is going for so I could give an opinion on what I first reacted to when I didn't know anything about it, then again on what I think after they explain it. Critiques are essential in a class setting and a good idea for when you're stumped.

Just My Type

Reading an excerpt from Just My Type had me reflect on our upcoming projects. From the little bit we read I realize that text really is everywhere and influential on our lives. Each text for any product or advertisement has an influential effect on that product. The creator of these ads and logos has to decipher what kind of image they want to give out to the public. Since text has been around for so long some fonts have very different meanings to them. Steve Jobs created fonts that meant different things to the cities he was in and reflected his feelings into text. Jobs said that the fonts he created, especially the ones based off of cities reflect that cities personality. If you take a font that is meant to reflect New York and apply it to something that is supposed to have a calm relaxing meaning, the feeling is going to be awkward. Putting text into an art form will clearly have this same effect. Font choice is just about as important as the original message you are trying to give with your idea. Now as I reflect on my projects and try to decide which font to use I'll put into thought what kind of reflection I would like my text to make.

Garden of Forking Paths

As I was reading Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges I found it to be confusing and random as to why this reading was assigned. As I continued through the work I discovered that the person I was reading about was some sort of spy or agent with information and was trying to escape the capture of another man. Through series of events to get him there, the character ends up at a garden/labyrinth and is led to a book. Told to be written by his ancestors he is told that this book in infinite. He tries to figure out on his own how a book can be infinite and cannot come up with the correct response. He is guided to find out that what makes this book infinite is a riddle. Different paths taken in the book provide different outcomes. After finishing the reading I was unsure still how this was related to class in any way. After looking it up on the internet I finally realized that the book written can take you one way then another, just like the internet. If you read the book one way you can be shown beauty, if read another, horror. If you click on a hyperlink it can take you to a website about education, if you click on another it can take you to a website about world destruction. This The Garden of Forking paths represents the choices we have and make every day.