Kismet Arts Tangent

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  • My Information Diet

    information diet social media facebook
    A photoshop version of my information-stomach.

    My boss, Terry, handed me a copy of this last week’s Adweek magazine. I was surprised at how relevant I felt its content is. Some of the articles covered how generating and manipulating memes plays a huge role in today’s advertising world. What I loved was the piece at the end of the magazine called “Information Diet” where they feature celebrities and their information technology habits. I thought I’d share mine. I don’t claim to have particularly good habits, but you have to start somewhere and then feel secure enough to branch out a little.

    Here’s my information diet profile. (It’s based completely on Adweek’s, but paraphrased the questions.—I may be a copycat, but I am not a plagiarist.) I’m very interested in how this will change a year from now, five years from now.

    Name Katarina Countiss

    Demographic female, mid-20s, urban, student

    Topics of Interest graphic design, communication, art

    Base Seattle

    1. Before anything else, what information are you absorbing?
 My Facebook feed. But, that isn’t very informative until you know who I’m subscribed to. I get daily posts from Seattle advertising agencies, my favorite blogs Boing Boing and Laughing Squid, my favorite magazines, Juxtapoz and Hi Fructose, Jen Graves (an art critic from the local alternative newspaper, the Stranger), some “Pic-spawners” (facebook pages that deem it their sole function to share stunning or funny pictures which may or may not have sentimental quotes on them) and my friends, graphic design classmates and old high school acquaintances who seem to be procreating at a faster rate than I am. (Yes, I come from a town like that.) I’ve recently subscribed to some web design blogs that produce links to interesting (and sometimes not) responsive design tips or photoshop techniques.

    2. a: During breakfast?
 Colbert Report and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It doesn’t really matter what order they’re in. Sometimes I groan a little because they run the same story, though Colbert’s theatrics are funnier.

    2. b: During lunch? After spending so much time looking at a screen and to the fact I  have no web capable portable devices, I am reading a book. It’s usually a nonfiction book related to graphic design, psychology, advertising, linguistics or communication or it’s written by Haruki Murakami.

    3. During your commute?
 If I am in a car, it’s the radio. I can’t read in a moving vehicle.

    4. Any TV shows? TV, laptop or tablet?
 I’m actually a recovering television addict. I used to watch a lot. I find that any show that I watch one episode and it’s either all or nothing. If I like it,  I feel compelled to watch everything that ever existed for that show. It’s a huge time sink. So, I’m reluctant to watch any shows for that reason. I’m currently on Star Trek: The Next Generation. There’s a bunch. It takes up so much space in my brain. It’s a weird thing when I am reminiscing about a childhood memory, I realize all of the people in my memory are Klingons and I think, no… that can’t be right.

    5. Before bed?
 See #1

    6. What would you recommend, Web or Print?
 I saw a piece of advice that said “If you are young. Read a nonfiction book a week. Considering that your peers are gaming or facebooking, you’ll be a genius in comparison.” or something to that effect. I agree. It’s due to the level of focus on the internet (or lack thereof) that I think it’s difficult to retain web content (because the way it’s usually absorbed: slightly distracted). I exclude TEDtalks and other similar presentations. They’ve done their research on what’s engaging to make a lasting impression.

    7. What’s your favorite app and why? I haven’t really delved into the App world. I am still hoping that responsive web design will evolve to the point where people wonder why apps evolved in the first place. But, I like Evernote. It helps me index my links when I am in a hurry. But, I’ll probably find a better system soon.

    8. What’s your current digital addiction?
 I’m currently into failblogs. Mostly Failbook. It really gets me when people are being smartasses to Walmart on Facebook, but then they turn it around so fast, your browser gets whiplash. (I will never know about the times that Walmart, or other social media involved corporations, are mediocre.)

    9. How do you combat information overload? When, how do you “skim off the top”? That moment when I am looking at a feed (facebook, twitter, whatever) and I think to myself: did I feel annoyed? That feeling usually comes up when I see a link to a facebook app or a status about breakfast or something trivial like that.

  • Crush Crew: It’s an Art Club

    hallway abstract
    The studios in the Armory are accessed by a long (nicknamed: the shining) hallway.

    Through Facebook, I found out about Crush Crew. They had an application process, but ultimately everyone who applied were accepted. The application involved submitting the story of “my first art crush.” Of course, I told them about how I was an impressionable young girl when Titanic came out and I adored his charcoal drawings. He was pretty easy on the eyes, too.

    So, yesterday was the first meeting. It was held at the Armory (Read: Seattle Center Theatre/food court place) on the fourth floor. It was funny because everyone that I passed on the way up that looked lost were also going to the meeting. It was the first public function I’ve attended that offered free beer. The coordinators, Sam and Courtney, briefed us. There were about 25 of us youngins there– half of the total number accepted as part of Crush Crew.

    Crush Crew is the young brigade of artlovers that will be attending Art Crush events and hopefully promoting the events on their respective blogs and twitters. They had a clipboard going around as an attendance sheet, with spaces to put names, blog urls and twitnames. I felt like I had found my own kind –which is funny because Crush Crew was invented so that the public (especially young people) could feel that art is an accessible thing and here I am feeling like part of an elite group. It was incredible though. Dangling earrings, loud print dresses and thick-rimmed glasses abound in the room. 8:1 Girl to Guy ratio (if that says anything about the current state of art and young people.) One of the guys joked about his reason for attending, nodding to his friend, “I’m just here to be his chaperone.”

    We went around the room saying a little bit about ourselves. I am a painter, blogger and graphic design student. Others attending were event coordinators, dancers, actors and writers. We collectively addressed the problem of art: this culture puts art on a pedestal. People feel like they can’t understand it, relegating art “duties” to a specific class of people. Perhaps, one of the most basic human instincts is to create. Sam wanted to bring that “Improv Everywhere” spirit to the group and encourage us to self-assemble into a tight-knit art support group where we can feel comfortable if not inspired to explore local art of all kinds (and then talk–read: social media– about it afterwards).

    So, in September and October, I will be going to Crush events and bars (apparently, a bit part of socializing as a young adult is bonding over beers) and blogging (and maybe, video-blogging) about art. Stay Tuned.

  • Web Design Process: My First Linked Page

    mike's tutoring site version 2
    Mike’s tutoring site version 2

    Mike’s Tutoring Website. Today’s fun: writing copy and adding the contact page. This site is a simple one. I kept the layout the same. Maybe, too much the same. I’m going to get some input on it and possibly change it tomorrow. In my coding today, the footer somehow flew up to my nav bar, which made a lot of sense considering I didn’t have anything else going on up there, so I kept it there. I added a background (very subtle) and linked a page. I called it “page 1” but I noticced that whatever I called it is in the url so, I’m going to go back and change that tomorrow. There was a funny moment when I tested the website in the browser. I clicked “contact” which led to my new page and then I tried to get back to my home page and kept clicking on the logo until I realized there was no link there! (It was funny. You’d have to be me.) So, I had to go back and add that and then I saw that “index.html” at the url. Now, I know why that pops up!

    There’s some difference in styling I’ll have to smooth over tomorrow, too. There’s a thing they say about creativity. If you want to foster it, leave some stuff to do the next day. That keeps your momentum.

     

    (Earlier Post Relating to This Project)

  • Adventures in Coding (the beginning of a most boring series of posts)

    adventures in coding mike's website
    adventures in coding mike’s website

    I was coding Mike’s Tutoring Website trying to control the container so my second column would float to the right of my first column… anyways, I made an extra wrapper for my slideshow (I put it in yellow for the time being, so I could see it) and most of my website went yellow and there were parts of my navigation bar and footer that were affected by the yellow block. I looked everywhere for the yellow hex code hoping to get rid of the problem once and for all. But, I couldn’t find the code after looking in my style sheet and my source code. I decided to upload my website to the internet and try to edit it in the browser when the pop-up that said “reset.css” has been changed. Want to upload  changes? Or something to that effect. And I immediately knew that in my flurry of edits that I somehow wrote code in the reset.css and there it was! I deleted it and my site and my floating second column is in place. #smallcodingvictory

    The Trick: This is a newb trick. There are better ways to do this, I’m sure. If you are looking for code and can’t find it and haven’t been making a lot of changes to different files. Upload your site and all of those “are you sure” pop-ups might help you find  that your code has been going to the wrong place.

     

    (Earlier Post Relating to This Project)

  • Mike’s Tutoring Website Version 1

    mike's tutoring site version 1
    mike’s tutoring site version 1

    Mike’s Tutoring Website. I spent most of today trying to make my jquery slideshow work. How it actually did, I am not sure. (What a tangled web of files, I did weave.) I tried to download some files from the internet, but it didn’t seem to work. I kept seeing my slideshow as a static image and you can imagine how annoying that is. I ended up making a copy of my last project and cleaning out all of the styling but leaving the linked up js, css, etc. in tact. This morning I designed the slides for the jquery slide show. My client (Mike of Mike’s Tutoring) did not want his photo on the internet during the design phase. I am pleased to be working with up and coming model Dan H. There’s still some reworking to be done. I’m going to add more copy on the right where that whitespace is now. This site also has CSS sprites which gave me considerably less problems. I validated my site and had a couple of errors. The source: unclosed tags and the like. I will be working on adding more pages, styling the mobile versions and finessing the design.

     

    (Earlier Post Relating to This Project)

  • Web Design Process: Mike’s Tutoring, Part 1

    mike's tutoring style tile web design adjectives textures photographic styles
    Version 1 of Mike’s Tutoring style tile

    I wanted to expand my web design portfolio, so I hit up one of my friends who has been making low efforts at marketing his tutoring services. I sent Mike an email with a list of discovery questions like “What is the company personality – what tone is appropriate for your organization?” His visual brand is completely undeveloped, giving me an opportunity to shape his brand through designing the website. (I originally offered to design a poster, but I felt the first step for a company/business these days is to have a functional source of information about itself.) Using what I know about Mike, his interests and design aesthetics, I assembled a  series of photographs (a mini-moodboard) and then I created the rest of the Style Tile. I used Subtle Patterns for my texture choices. I will present it to him and begin the next stage: revising the style tile to get the go-ahead from the client to start  the layout.

    Update: I received Mike’s imput. A strong “okay” on most of it. (You’ll find that many clients have no idea what they are looking at.) Style Tiles are far from the final product and it’s hard to imagine the stylings with better copy and usuable images. I’m going to change the display font on the logo (where it says “mike’s tutoring” in a font called “Dead History”) and present him with the site map.

    site map for mike's tutoring website home contact info

  • Day 3 and 4: Sushi and Paris

    Paris and Sushi PPaintingDay 3 of the 30 day challenge. The prompt: Draw Your Favorite Food.

    Day 4 of the 30 day challenge. The prompt: Draw Your Favorite Place.

  • The Future of Advertising: Part 2, The Message

    Banner Ads are not the future

    Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the first ever Square Tomato’s first Brown Bag Lunch. Larry Asher (Owner at School of Visual Concepts and Creative Director at Worker Bees, Inc.) was to speak about his app, an versatile multi-media, interactive book (App-book, Do or Die) and the future of digital advertising.

    From my previous blog post: “Larry Asher and Clark Kokich answer the question: How will we, as advertisers, survive in this unfamiliar terrain?”

    I will tell you the answer, but first a little backstory. Who is Clark Kokich and why should we listen to him?

    Business is a tough story to follow. What I understood is that Avenue A becomes the company aQuantive that became (post-writeoff) Razorfish. (this is the article  talking about the acquisition, and this is the one talking about the write-down, the first quarter of loss for Microsoft, if you’re into the business side of it. If you just want to know whos and whats: wikipedia article) Larry Asher’s presentation was an eye-opener for me. I hadn’t heard of these big players in advertising are and now I realize what a big tide is rolling in. Clark Kokich is the chair of Razorfish, now, one of the world’s largest interactive agencies. And he knows that advertising is changing in big way.

    People are not reading newspapers, magazines, listening to radio, or watching television as much as they are plugging in to online content. The interactive nature of the medium changes how people relate to advertising. They don’t passively soak it up. Now, they can ignore it. Adblockers are creating an ad-free world for users. How will we, as advertisers, survive in this unfamiliar terrain?

    the square tomato office building
    the Square Tomato office building

    The Do or Die mantra: it’s not enough to say something. You have to do something. In the age of Social Media, what companies have to say about their product is usually the last thing people turn toward when finding about the product. Recommendations come first, even if it’s from a stranger. It’s more easy to trust a lone stranger on the internet than a corporation. It’s important to demonstrate quality, community, and consideration. It’s not enough to say that you are a great company. You have to be one.

    Larry Asher presented the Do or Die ideas with case examples. From the GTI car model’s game to Nike’s “Write the Future” campaign, Asher emphasized that technology will allow us as advertisers to target our demographics in a way never before realized, accomplishing more and for less money. Creating an interactive way to relate to customers and encourage them to tweet, facebook, and youtube, advertising is beginning to transform into a world where experiences are king and sharing them, its queen.

    Our portfolios as creatives will rapidly change.  It was brought up at the Lunch that we are in advertising. We make art and words, how can that be enough? Firstly, we are creatives and we sell thinking. Advertising is about words and pictures, but it’s also about compelling stories.

    The disciplines of advertising and public relations will merge. We are not just flyer-makers; we are brand diplomats. Asher encourages his clients to brainstorm about how to improve their companies. We, as diplomats, can help facilitate changes. It takes a few hours and a committed team to generate ideas on how to create remarkable experiences. It can be small things like improving the building’s appearance (he gave the example of a hospital façade that needed a good spraying down) or handing out complimentary flowers, the kind of stuff that sticks with a person after a blur of similar experiences. Or making great videos that everyone wants to share with their friends.

    The interactive world that media is becoming will change how advertising works. to the point where we can’t really call it advertising. Take the Wikipedia definition: Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. In the future, advertisers won’t be the persuaders. It will be your friends.