Visual Communication

I choose to use Cosmo as my website because i have dreams of working there when I get older and graduate. Overall the website is very intricate, with many links to different articles that touch on almost every woman’s issue you can think of. It is very cluttered. The fonts used on the website is sans serif, it is simple and legible and its used throughout the entire website. Italics are only used to introduce the author of the article. There is a use of all caps at the beginning of the website but as you scroll down the words are in regular lowercase. It is obvious it was intended so readers can get to the links easily. There are also a lot of pictures and girly colors on the website that obviously attract a certain group of people which is why Cosmo is one of my favorite magazines. The navigation is confusing because there is a lot going on but i believe the website is intended to just search at your own leisure instead of going to look for one specific thing. As i stated earlier, the website is very girly and the pictures have to do with relationship, make up or women issues which establishes a hierarchy because it is a theme throughout the entire website. There is also a sense of direction because the website wants you to read the most recent articles at the top then it goes down to the older ones. All of the categories the magazine is known for are at the top for easy access so if you don’t want to scroll it is not necessary. This means they are keeping navigation at the top. Lastly they are using their logo at the top that you see every where Cosmo is mentioned. Overall i think this website is a good website even though it is cluttered i visit it frequently because the content is high quality and entertaining. 

Overall, I believe our photos had good composition, there wasn't one that had bad lighting and the composition was clear in all 5 of the pictures for them to be taken on an iPhone. my favorite picture was the wide shot because the floor had a lot of character. The black and white squares added a lot of variety to the picture. The meaning behind all five of the pictures was essentially Fell Hall and what goes on there. Each picture signified a different area of Fell Hall from the entrance, to the studios down stairs to students just doing work. What I believe we could of done well was find a better close up shot than the one we did which was very general. Maybe a close up of something else in the building would of been more effective. For our first time and the amount of time we had I think we did a good job.

#isucampuslife #com240 @lakenaridley @isuviscom

This info graphic is from the United States Census. The overall aim of the info graphic is to inform citizens how they can help our government create a better America by conducting feedback and suggestions on various topics. I believe that the info graphic is very colorful and interesting to look at but it is very wordy and can loose a persons attention quick. I also think that it does serve its purposes and get the message across, i just do not think that people will sit there and read everything it is said. Maybe a graph would be better effective than just a chart with a lot of words. With every topic that is mentioned there is a visual attached to it which goes along with the the topic and i think that they ate visually appealing and creative. It is cool that the pictures to the right of the info graphic all correlate with each other and connect. I believe there is chart junk it is just too wordy. Overall, if it was less wordy then it will be an effective info graphic. 

I chose to use this photo because it interested me the most with the use of the colors and the overall vintage aspect of it. The colors bright but are dark and old-style looking at the same time, there is a huge vintage aspect to it. In the photo, there is a nice use of lines which are very sharp and crisp. Everything in the photo is geometrical and aligned evenly. Also, there is a rhythm/ pattern on the floor which mimics a checkered board. This photo expresses asymmetry as well because it is very complex and has a huge amount of variety due to the amount of objects. The object that stands out to me the most is the paper with the music on it which is perfectly aligned. The text fits well with the overall message because it is modern looking and simple San serif to give off the message which is celebrating the performing arts at Brooklyn college.

This type of font is what I believe to be decorative. I don’t think it is effective because even though I understand the message the font looks very close together and messy like someone hand wrote it. There are many other fonts that could have worked for this flyer to get the message across more effectively. “The Coffee House in Uptown” could have been in a different font and “Open Mic” could have stayed the same because that part of the flyer is appealing. I believe that the created over did the font and used it too much.

Gestalt Law: with the law of proximity, you can tell that every item in this ad from the way the font is to the items to Marylyn's outfit and background all flow together nicely and the elements all belong together with a central theme which is make up. Design principle: Everything has a nice balance, there is not too many things going on at once and nothing is overlapping or has harsh tones to it.

Everything is smack in the middle of the layout. There are also a lot of different fonts as well. @isuviscom @lakenaridley

Busy background photo, there are a lot of pictures and your eyes go all over the place, there is no balance in the flyer. It has no white space. @isuviscom @lakenaridley

This picture by Kevin Carter has been one of the most ethically challenging photos of the 21st century in my opinion. In my time here at ISU, when my politics or communications teachers speak on ethics, this picture is always a key example. To most people this photo is ethically wrong and visually disturbing. Carter got so much backlash from this photo that he gained depression and eventually killed himself. Personally I think this photo is ethically wrong and i don’t see the purpose of it in the first place. Looking at it i am disturbed and i cant imagine why a photographer would take this and think it is okay to make public. Regardless that he won an award for it, the amount of backlash to me was not worth it. However, ethics has to do with what you believe is morally subjective and in this case Carter did not believe what he was photographing was wrong. But the real question is even though he believes it is ethical to release this picture, do the general masses agree with his assumptions? 

Synecdoche: Childhood obesity is a problem all Americans should be aware of. 

This meme has simple visual literacy. It is clear what the message it is trying to convey and has humor as well. It is also relatable to college students who would understand this before someone who maybe didn’t go to college. 

Before I begun this class i didn’t really think about what i saw.  When I think of Visual Literacy, I think of the ability to see something and create an understanding and opinion on whatever you are viewing. For example, there are thousands of memes on Facebook, funny, serious, extremely inappropriate, etc. Everyone, without knowing creates a opinion on the post and create their own visual literacy. Everyone interprets things differently.  This quote from the reading stands out the most to me: “Visual literacy also involves making judgement of the accuracy, validity and worth of images.” Which means the same thing i stated earlier with the meaning of visual literacy.