What I've done so far, and possible future steps

On advising day when I spoke with John Colan about how seminar is going, and I mentioned that I felt a little stuck, he suggested making a list of everything I've looked at and done so far this semester, because it might guide me a little in what I want to do more of, or new directions to go in. I continue to index the photo albums and I'm planning to (hopefully) have a more fleshed out/designed index from at least a couple of the albums for Wednesday. But here is my list of things I've done and explored so far, and how I felt about them. (in no particular order)

Family Photo Albums - Looking through and indexing the family photo albums that seemed most relevant to me(because they contained family members I know/knew personally.) The indexing has sucked away some of the magic of these albums for me even though it does force me to look at them super carefully. I think it is going to be a good outcome when I finally get through it but it's a long dry process for now. I want to begin going through the albums with my family members to get more stories, memories, etc. from them. Make them fun again.

Reading about/looking at data visualizations - This was because I initially wanted to make some sort of data visualization that could show both data and stories/memories. I haven't abandoned this idea yet but I need more material for it.

Psychology Articles about Intergenerational Narratives - This was really interesting for me, I found out a lot of really interesting information about why telling family stories and history is actually important to kids' growth and development and how they function as adults as a result of it. I think one of these articles will be my reading for the class.

Articles about surprising implications of genetics/DNA - I did some reading and research about how phobias may be based on DNA because of trauma that has been passed down in genetic codes, rather than actual stories. Another article was about how traumatic memories can be passed to infants through smell from their mothers, even if the infants did not experience the trauma firsthand. I also learned about certain traits that are at least partially heritable including stress reactions, imagination, social closeness, and intro/extroversion.

DNA Test - I got a DNA test, just to have more data about my own genetics. I didn't find out anything too crazy or interesting but it was still a cool thing to do.

Pedigree charts/other charts that organize ancestry - I made a pedigree chart and made my own adjustments to it so that it was better organized for my own family. I plan to expand this to further back generations as well. It may serve as a sort of index eventually.

Collages about things important to my parents - For the hallway show I made collages about cultural sources that were important to my parents. This isn't directly related to my other work but it was an interesting process and allowed me to actually make something, which felt good.

Next, I plan to start going through the albums with my family members and gather more story/memory information. I will expand the ancestry chart, possibly making notations about interesting/confusing things that have happened along the way to make it look that way. Think about the whole families as collages thing, (what would this mean for my work? do more actual collages, write about it? etc.) Actually read some of the books John has given me that relate to what I'm doing since I still haven't done that. Look more at Maya Lin's work/writings. I think I want to figure out a way to incorporate some of the research I've done about why family history is important. So it won't just be people learning about my family and myself, they'll be able to draw parallels with their own families; and maybe learn things about families/ancestry in general.

finally, including wall plan

reading for Wednesday 9 November

Katie has asked that we read an interview with designer Iris van Herpen, and look at images related to that, both from
Andrew Bolton, Manus x Machina : Fashion in an Age of Technology
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016)

I have put photocopies of the interview and images on the Seminar Room table.
Take one of each.
The images (on tabloid paper) are upside down on the back sides, but shouldn't present a problem.

Katie will lead a discussion of the readings in class on Wednesday 9 November.

more on Iris van Herpen /

more on Manus x Machina

—

image from Met exhibition website, here.

Pitch

Readings for Class (wip)

Just jotting down some ideas for what I'd like to present to the class and have them read. I've haven't really narrowed anything down to a science yet, and there's still some readings that I haven't added to this list yet. Ultimately, this list so far is a synopsis of the written language- its visual elements and rhetoric, the significance of structure, the lack of variety, the beauty of vocabulary, the generational gaps and change in style, the basic principals of George Orwell's Newspeak, a brief history of basic English, and also just examples of poetry and other writings that have aided me in the seminar process thus far. THIS IS NOT THE FINAL LIST.

Sounding East Volume 37 Spring 2015
    Jim Daniels “The Statue of Limitations”
    Jim Daniels “Painting The Political Landscape”
    Ken Haas “Piccadilly”
    Mike James “Poem With Iron And Asphalt” **
    Bob Sykora “Philosophy 101: Being Human” **
        -boring old teacher full of marvelous stories that nobody knew about until he died
    Clay Ventre “Muriel’s Goodbye”
        -interesting approach to writing poetry with all those dashes
    Jacqueline Kolosov “Song For The Coming Of Spring”

Five Conversations on Graphic Design and Creative Writing by Maura Frana, Leigh Mignogna, Liz Seibert
    “How Do Words And Language Influence Design Work?”

A Short Guide To Basic English by C. K. Ogden **

1984 by George Orwell
    Chapter 5, in which Winston meets with his “friends” Syme and Parsons and they discuss Newspeak and Duckspeak. This chapter highlights on the notion of elimination and speaking without even thinking 

Page 1: Great Expectations / Seventy Graphic Solutions
    Jonathan Barnbrook pg. 118-121
    Cartlidge Levene pg. 122-125
    Susanne Dechant pg. 126-129**
    Experimental Jetset pg. 142-145**

Under Cover (Cont.)

Updated versions of the Under Cover movie poster. Edited the title text to be more bright white (before it was faded in to the background) Also, added more "hidden" elements. See if you can find them all. Also tried putting the credits all throughout as well in the bottom one. Might experiment more with that as I'm still missing a few elements usually found on movie posters. 

typewritings

I know I showed these in class on Monday but I just wanted to post them on here as well.
I eventually want to make glyphs out of these typewritten patterns.