#wk6

Idea Development 

When it comes to chocolate it can cover many different areas. It is such a popular food product that has been around for so long that it can be a tradition for some events. Along with being included in events and traditions there is also a lot of science behind chocolate, about it’s chemical and physiological effects. 

Chemical and physiological effects of chocolate could be an idea to show the positive and negatives of eating chocolate to both your mental and physical health, what it does to you, how, and how it may effect you in your present and future. 

Another idea is chocolate and holidays, showing how chocolate is used in different celebrations and whether it is a tradition or not. Chocolate is involved in religious and non-religious celebrations, such as Hanukkah and Diwali contrasting against Halloween and Valentine’s Day. 

I decided to choose “chocolate and holidays” due to the possibilities I could create visually for the infographic. 

Chocolate and Holidays

Chocolate is very commonly used in a number of holidays so I had to find the most relevant to myself and most popular. I came out with Easter, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali and Day of the Dead. Each of these celebrations chocolate has a significant role. 

Easter is largely celebrated by gifting chocolate eggs or by finding hidden eggs, often done by children. 

Valentine’s Day was originally a religious day honouring early saints, but later has become known as a day to spend with romantically loved ones with little to no religious attachments. Chocolates along with flowers are a common gift.

Christmas is largely celebrated around the world but can be different for every country. Some countries might celebrate with large roast dinners and turkeys whilst others will keep it simple with soups. However, chocolate is a common occurrence whether as a gift, ornament or dessert. 

The Day of the Dead celebrated in Mexico families will leave out their favourite foods on the altars to honour their family and often times this includes chocolate.

Sketches

To make the process easier and that I create something I’m happy with I sketched out each holiday visual with some of the information I may include. 

Easter and Valentine’s Day are fairly self explanatory. Eggs and rabbits are most commonly associated with the holiday due to their association with rebirth and fertility as well as being a common chocolate gift among friends and family. They are usually hollow and wrapped in bright coloured foil, hence why I made different versions with the wrapping on, off and broken to showcase the hollow inside. 

Valentine’s Day is all about gifting your loved ones. Flowers, cards, jewellery, etc. are other gifts one might give to a partner but as this is chocolate and holidays, I kept it minimal. Chocolates on Valentine’s are usually designed to look romantic, wrapped in brightly coloured packaging using pinks and reds due to their significance.  

Christmas doesn’t so naturally have a significance with chocolate, more so roast dinners, turkeys and christmas puddings. However, chocolate desserts such as yule logs and other various chocolate sweets are usually gifted and eaten at Christmas. 

Hanukkah is a little different. Over the years Jewish families would gift children money to celebrate their freedom. Once the chocolate industry got a hold of this tradition they soon came up with an alternative and created chocolate coins. 

Whilst not traditionally chocolate Halloween is still a celebration that includes the chocolatey treats. It’s most commonly known for trick-or-treating and candy, but in that selection is often chocolate. 

Colour Palette

Considering the topic of this infographic I wanted to go for something ‘chocolate themed’ which would likely be browns and creams. Unfortunately brown can be quite a boring colour, such as in the first colour palette I found. It has relevant colours but I didn’t like how dull it was.

Looking again I found another that includes both browns and some lighter colours. The browns work well for the chocolate theme whilst the lighter colours stand out and bring more attention to it. After some different attempts I decided on this palette. 

Layout and Scale

The layout for this infographic had to be something that would draw in the viewers eye but also not be overly complicated. As I want it to have around equal visual and text I had to come up with a layout and scale that would work well. I tried to do something more appealing but in the end it still looked better in a ‘list’ layout, from top to bottom. 

An idea I had in mind was creating a personalised background OR a gradient with light/day at the top and working down towards dark/night. Parallel to this could be holidays celebrated at the beginning of the year such as Easter declining towards Halloween and Christmas. 

Production

For the creation of my infographic I used a drawing tablet and the pen tool due to the detailed style that I wanted. The objects were all free handed and would be somewhat tricky to replicate with only shape tools, but for some such as the easter eggs and christmas calendar I used the ellipse and rectangle tool. 

Lines

The lineart was done with the pen tool and creating an outer layer in black. Then, I would add the details on the object and change the brush settings to one with pointed ends, giving the lines more flow and movement. Along with the line style I changed the inside line colour to a slighter darker shade of the base colour, so that it blends in more with the object. 

Shading

I decided to add minimal shading to the visuals to give them some depth. It consisted of only one shading layer which I did by choosing a slightly darker colour than what I was shading and finding a point of light. In the example the light source would be the top left so the shade would be in the bottom right. 

For the heading and rest of the text I chose one of the dark brown colours to contrast against the light backgrounds colours. I made sure that the top header spread across the entire length of the page with no empty space, along with spread out and easy to read letters. It catches your attention and is easy to read from afar. 

 I decided on two different colours for the panels used with each holiday to make it less boring. If I had used only one colour all the way down it wouldn’t have been very pleasing to look at. The colours stand out against the cream/beige background but don’t contrast too much with it or the visuals that it becomes too bland. 

Final

 Evaluation

The infographic is effective as it is sharing information in a visual way. The visuals are neat with a pleasing appearance due to the simplistic shading and is easy to tell what holiday the visuals are about even if there were no headers.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this infographic. I wanted the design to be welcoming with soft tones and neat illustrations which I believe I achieved. The colours contrast well without being too striking or harsh. Whilst I originally wanted dark browns similar to the colour of chocolate the light, soft colours work much better against the bright coloured images. 

Plot Summary: 

Yagate Kimi ni Naru, or Blooming into You, is a Yuri anime (girls love anime) that explores the relationship between first-year high school student Yuu Koito, and second-year student council member Touko Nanami. After receiving a love confession from a middle-school classmate and turning him down, Yuu Koito begins to reflect on her lack of romantic feelings, and her inability to return her classmate’s feelings. While helping out with her school’s student council, Yuu later accidentally stumbles upon second-year student council member Touko Nanami turning down a confession herself, and stating she doesn't intend to go out with anyone. Yuu becomes convinced that Touko's situation might be similar to her own, leading her to wanting to find out more about Touko Nanami. After speaking to Touko, the two begin to bond over their similarities. Soon after, Yuu confides in Touko about witnessing her reject a love confession, and shares how Yuu also seemed to lack the romantic feelings to reciprocate someone else’s feelings, like Touko. To Yuu's surprise, Touko responds by suddenly confessing her feelings to her. Yuu is uncertain how to respond, but Touko brushes this aside, telling Yuu that she would be very happy if Yuu were to not fall in love with her in return. Yuu agrees, and the story then follows Yuu Koito exploring and discovering her romantic feelings for Touko.

Characters: Sayaka Saeki

Sayaka Saeki is a second-year high school student, Touko Nanami’s best friend, and the student council Vice President. She is also secretly in love with Touko Nanami, but is unwilling to confess her feelings because she's familiar with Touko Nanami’s track record of turning all confessions down, and Sayaka is unwilling to jeopardize their existing relationship. Sayaka is content with their relationship because she is convinced that Touko Nanami will never be in a relationship, stating even that “Touko won’t belong to anyone,” making Sayaka the closest person who can get to Touko. However, after seeing Yuu Koito’s and Touko Nanami’s new budding friendship growing at a fast pace, Sayaka begins to grow both suspicious and jealous. Despite her negative feelings towards Yuu Koito, she decides to help Yuu on many occasions understand and grow closer to Touko. 

Backstory:

In episode seven of Blooming into You, entitled “Secrets Galore/Spark,” we get to see a glimpse into Sayaka Saeki’s backstory before she met Touko Nanami. Before she met Touko, Sayaka attended Tomosumi Girls' School, an exclusive all-girls school with integrated middle and high school divisions. While in middle school, Sayaka met an older girl who confessed her love to her. Sayaka was at first unsure about the relationship, however, the two began dating and Sayaka eventually fell in love. However, after the older girl progressed to the high school division, the two started seeing each other less and less. Eventually the older girl broke off the relationship, diminishing it as childish and “Just a phase.” This leaves Sayaka both heartbroken and angry. She even recalls thinking to herself during the breakup, “You’re the one who made me like this,” in regards to the older girl claiming their relationship was just a phase, as she was the one who opened up Sayaka to the queer possibility of liking girls. 

In episode eight of Blooming into You, entitled “Intersection/Rained In,” eventually the two meet again years later in the present. While Sayaka is waiting for Touko to arrive at Toomi Station, she has a brief run-in with the older girl. The older girl claims to be happy the two ran into each other, stating to Sayaka that she, “meant to apologize when we met in high school, but you went to a different school without any notice.” When Sayaka asks her to elaborate on what she is apologizing for, the older girl states, “You were just a normal girl, but because I made you go along with me, well...If you’re still the type of person who likes girls, it’s my fault. I just hope you’ve gone back to being a normal girl...” Here we see the older girl apologizing to Sayaka for potentially acting like Pandora’s box, changing her from a “normal girl,” by awakening Sayaka’s feelings towards girls. Sayaka responds by scuffing that she doesn’t even know why she ever liked the older girl, and catches up to Touko who had just arrived at the station. She clings to Touko’s arm in a flirty manner in front of the older girl before bidding farewell. Here Sayaka rejects the older girl’s ignorant comments, embraces her sexuality, and says farewell to their past in favor of the future, which is represented by Sayaka choosing to run and cling to Touko.

Conclusion:

Plot Summary:

Kuzu no Honkai, or Scum’s Wish centers around two high school students Hanabi Yasuraoka, and Mugi Awaya. Hanabi Yasuraoka has been in love with Narumi Kanai, her older childhood friend who is now her homeroom teacher, for a long time. Mugi Awaya is in love with Akane Minagawa, the new music teacher who was his tutor when he was in middle school. Soon after becoming Hanabi’s homeroom teacher, Hanabi notices that Narumi is in love with the new music teacher, Akane, and not her. Soon after, Hanabi meets Mugi and the two decide to make a pact and begin a fake relationship to satisfy each other's loneliness from their respective unrequited loves, both sexually and emotionally, by becoming replacements of their crushes. Their pact ends either if one of them falls in love with the other, or if their unrequited love is returned from the people they are in love with. 

Characters: Hanabi Yasuraoka

Hanabi Yasuraoka is a high school student who has a crush on her homeroom teacher, neighbor, and childhood friend Narumi Kanai. She begins an unhealthy relationship with another high school student, Mugi Awaya, where both parties play the role of replacement for the other’s object of affection. Throughout the series, we see Hanabi use other people’s affection as a coping mechanism to fill the loneliness she has inside from being unable to confess and have her feelings reciprocated by Narumi. For example, outside of her relationship with Mugi, in several moments of weakness, she crosses the line of friendship with her friend Ecchan despite not having feelings for her in order to cope with heartbreak. 

Sanae Ebato

Sanae Ebato, also referred to as “Ecchan” by Hanabi, is a fellow high school student, classmate, and friend to Hanabi. Sanae Ebato also has feelings for her friend Hanabi, even after having formed a relationship with Mugi Awaya. 

Relationship:

In episode three, entitled “Show Me Love (Not A Dream),” we learn the backstory of how the two met and started their friendship. While on the same train heading to their entrance exams, Sanae was being harassed by a man. Noticing Sanae’s discomfort, Hanabi took a photo of the man harassing Sanae, successfully saving Sanae from the man who was trying to sexually assault her. After the incident and off the train. Hanabi refused to let go of Sanae’s hand. Hanabi comforted Sanae, telling her she didn’t have to be strong when she said, “Don’t hold back. It was scary, wasn’t it?” Soon after, the two realized they attended the same school and became close friends ever since. Their meeting was also the same moment in which Sanae developed a crush for Hanabi. Sanae previously believed that she hated men, as she never had a crush before, but after meeting Hanabi, she developed a crush for the first time and stated that Hanabi gave her world color. 

In the same episode, after Hanabi tells Sanae that she is dating Mugi, Sanae becomes suspicious of the two’s relationship. She overhears on campus in a conversation with Hanabi, Mugi, and another female character named Moca, Moca claiming that Hanabi is using Mugi. This makes Sanae question the authenticity of Hanabi and Mugi’s relationship, and also makes Sanae wonder if Hanabi is actually the one who is being used. One day after school, Hanabi asks if Sanae has a crush on anyone. Sanae doesn’t share who, but Hanabi deduces that Sanae does in fact have a crush on someone. Hanabi then suddenly invites Sanae over for a sleepover, partially to spite an earlier conversation with Mugi who claimed Hanabi didn’t have many friends who were girls. While at the sleepover, Hanabi and Sanae share a bed for the night and Hanabi asks Sanae again about who she has a crush on. Sanae, unable to hide her feelings any longer, responds by kissing Hanabi, nonverbally confessing her feelings for Hanabi. Sanae then proceeds to brings up her suspicions of Hanabi and Mugi’s relationship, having a hunch that the two’s relationships isn’t authentic, and also hoping it gives Sanae an opportunity with Hanabi romantically. Hanabi affirms Sanae’s suspicions were correct by sharing the truth of her and Mugi’s relationship, that she is only with Mugi because the person she likes doesn’t like her back. Sanae presses forward, asking Hanabi why she can’t be her replacement instead of Mugi, and asking if it is because Sanae is a girl. Hanabi almost gives in to Sanae, before denying Sanae’s earlier claim and further stating she can’t allow Sanae to be her replacement because she can’t use her friend. Now grounded back into reality, Hanabi decides to end their sleepover early. 

As the series progresses, their relationship only continues to blur more and more. For example, in episode four, “Bad Apple,” after witnessing her crush Narumi confess to Akane, Hanabi is distraught and heartbroken. Unable to break the news to Mugi, and seeking a distraction from her pain, Hanabi runs into Sanae and the two end up back at Sanae’s house, paralleling their earlier sleepover, but this time following through. On her way home, Hanabi envisions her younger self scolding her for having manipulated and used Sanae’s love for comfort.

The two’s relationship eventually ends on a shared vacation. Sanae invites Hanabi on a solo vacation to a villa. However, upon arriving to the villa, Sanae’s cousin Atsuya is already there. He confronts Sanae one-on-one about her relationship with Hanabi, stating that Sanae knows Hanabi doesn’t have feelings for her aside from as a friend, and continuing things as they are is just preventing the inevitable deterioration of their relationship, as Atsuya points out, he knows Sanae is trying to just preserve their last moments as being more than friends. Atsuya also has a one-on-one conversation with Hanabi, asking her who she really likes, and elaborating that Hanabi needs to decide on her feelings for Sanae before the end of the trip.

Eventually the two have a conversation in the rain at the villa. Sanae confesses that she already made up her mind before the vacation occurred, that if Hanabi didn’t look at her in a romantic way by the end of the trip, Sanae would decide to end their friendship. Hanabi refuses, claiming to still want to be friends, and that she doesn’t want Sanae to end up alone. Sanae initially snaps at Hanabi, claiming that it’s impossible to continue on as friends after what they’ve done. However, Sanae eventually compromises, stating that it will take time for her to go back to being just friends again with Hanabi. The two seal their conversation with one final kiss, both not wanting the moment to end, however both knowing it’s best to end their relationship as being more than friends here.  

At the end of the series, after some time has passed, Sanae and Hanabi meet again. This time, Sanae has cut her hair to a short length, signifying the passing of time, end to their past non-platonic relationship, and the start of something new for the two. It is implied at the end of the series, that the two do in fact become friends again and remain as so.

Conclusion:

Blooming into You denies the sanctity of straightness, especially homophobic straightness, through the past relationship of Sayaka Saeki and an older girl from middle school. The two’s relationship depicts the struggles queer individuals face, such as their sexuality being dismissed as being “just a phase,” and serving as an experiment for straight-baiting individuals. Many of whom turn around and use homophobia, out of fear, to minimize their queer experience and preserve their straightness, just as the older girl does to Sayaka and their past relationship through claims such as they can’t be in a relationship because, “They aren’t kids anymore.”