kinetic typography

The speech I chose is a spoken word poem entitled, "Totally Like Whatever, You Know?" by Taylor Mali. I chose to do a spoken word poem over the previous speech i had, Robert F. Kennedy's Presidential Campaign 
_ Who is speaking?
Taylor Mali
_ Why was/is the speech important to society?
Mali discusses the way in which Americans today interact and speak. He claims that there is no longer any conviction in the way people speak, rather apathy and a general sense of underwhelming.
_ Why do you feel it is important or interesting? 
I think this speech is interesting because it is a funny approach to considering an issue that really is prevalent in American culture. It is also interesting because I think it's something that people don't consider, but are faced with daily.
_ What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?
The overall mood of the speech is light hearted, funny, and sarcastic.
_ What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses... 
The overall speech is very varied in regards to emphasis, as that is a large part of spoken word. He used pauses to accentuate certain things and to create humor.
_ What do you FEEL should be loud or soft, long pause or rushed?
I feel as though there could be more more pausing in the latter part of the speech because it feels a bit crammed.
_ Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words? 
The call to action is to be more assertive, to openly say what you feel. The emphasized words are "like" and "you know", the things that make speech casual and passive.
_ How does it make you feel? 
The speech makes me laugh and feel a little silly as I use the word "like" quite often..
_ How do imagine that the audience felt? 
I think the audience felt similarly, as the purpose of the speech is to be humorous and thought provoking.
_ Could there be another interpretation of the speech?
I don't think so, maybe condescending?
_ Write/find a short bio, of the person giving the speech. 

As a slam poetry performer, Taylor Mali has been on seven National Poetry Slam teams; six appeared on the finals stage and four won the competition (1996 with Team Providence; 1997, 2000 and 2002 with Team NYC-Urbana). Mali is the author of What Learning Leaves and the Last Time as We Are (Write Bloody Publishing), has recorded four CDs, and is included in various anthologies. Poets who have influenced him include Billy Collins, Saul Williams, Walt Whitman, Rives, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. He is perhaps best known for the poem "What Teachers Make."

He appeared in Taylor Mali & Friends Live at the Bowery Poetry Club and the documentaries "SlamNation" (1997) and "Slam Planet" (2006). He was also in the HBO production, "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which won a Peabody Award in 2003. Taylor Mali is the former president of Poetry Slam Incorporated, and he has performed with such renowned poets as Billy Collins and Allen Ginsberg. Although he retired from the National Poetry Slam competition in 2005,^[6] he still helps curate NYC-Urbana Poetry Series, held weekly at the Bowery Poetry Club.

typography journal 08

Exploring the Design Observer website, I read two articles. Here are some thoughts.

"Type Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry"

    I think some similar, yet better alternatives to Futura are News Gothic (less pointy, and a little less aggressive, though similar x-heights), Avenir (geometric and same width, but switches the single-story "a" to a two-story), and Neutraface (just as quirky as Futura, pointy capital "A" with a low crossbar).

"Ten Graphic Design Paradoxes"
    This article by Adrian Shaughnessy explores ten paradoxes that can be found in graphic design. Some discuss weird ways that you could learn to be a better designer, and others break down the ego that every designer has at one point or another. My favorite paradox is "Ideas usually fail not because they're bad ideas, but because they're badly presented". As a student, I feel as though I can particularly relate to this one, as many of the others speak to a more professional level. I often feel discouraged when working on a project and the amazing design thoughts that are in my head do not translate to the paper well-enough to convince my professors that they are good ideas. I usually end up tossing out these ideas with the belief that they are impossible to convey, or just bad ideas. This article helped me to realize that in fact, I need to just stick with the idea, and show to the best of my ability at that time what the idea could develop into, rather than rely on verbal description, or imagination.
   I also found another paradox to be quite revealing of the world I will soon be a part of upon finishing school: "When a client says the words – "You have complete creative freedom," they never mean complete creative freedom". Schughnessy says it how it is, "Whatever you show them, they will have a problem with. Happens every time."

APRIL FOOL'S

For April Fool's Day, Google has pulled several tricks, but this one so far has been my favorite.

Searching 'Helvetica' on Google changes the font on the search page to everyone's favorite font: Comic Sans.

NOT OKAY, GOOGLE.

typography journal 07

Though I didn't venture far from the Kansas City and Lawrence areas over Spring Break, I did observe some interesting typography around the city. Here are a few examples of various signage and others that I observed while on a walk around town. Some of the photos are of graffiti, as I find it to be a unique, interesting form of typography that many people are exposed to, but neglect to acknowledge.

typography journal 06

Thirty Conversations on Design:
Thirty influential people were asked to answer these two questions: "What single example of design inspires you most?" and "What problem should design solve next?" There answers were documented via video responses.

Though most of the answers involved transportation, water, and education, I would say that I found Daniel Pink's and Jessica Hische's responses to be most inspiring. Both had very different answers, but as a student I was able to relate to both. Pink said the most inspirational example of design is the eraser. The ability to go back and change, in turn, allowing one the freedom to create. I also likes Hische's response, her students. I thought it was really interesting to hear how the work of students like me changes over the course of just a couple years after leaving school. In terms of what design should solve next, I think Tony Hawk had an interesting answer. It was strange to see the business side of him, but I think he was really onto something. Hawk said that the next problem for design to solve would be to take the existing technology and design it so it becomes more simple and more fun. This would make technology more accessible, allowing more creative minds to use it.

If I were to answer these questions, I would definitely have some trouble. I think the combination of being a young student and a relatively inexperienced designer make the questions a bit more challenging because I have not experimented with as much as maybe some of the others have. Regardless, I think I would say that I am inspired by too many things to choose just one. Or, perhaps I am inspired by things that don't seem to go together. I think handwritten and hand drawn things are really beautiful, but I also think that well-calculated, digital works can be equally stunning. In terms of what I think design should solve next, I think it should be getting young minds to continue to think creatively. From my experience, I found that elementary school was pretty creative, but as I moved into middle school and high school, I either did not have the opportunity for creativity, or I lacked time due to other commitments. I think using design to incorporate creativity into education could be really interesting and beneficial for young minds.

Summerfest Concerts, INC : Final Brand

I had a blast coming up with and carrying out my idea for Summerfest Concerts', a Kansas City-based chamber music group, new identity. After much trial and error, the end result is something fun, fresh, and appealing to several different audiences and age groups. Here is my final identity system and set of "wild cards". To see each piece in detail, check out MY BEHANCE. And a big thanks to Summerfest for allowing us students the chance to design for a real company!

The Lovely Bones: Final Book Jackets

better late than never, here are my final three book jackets. One is typography-based, one is image-based, and one achieves a sense of "nirvana" between the two. images of the end papers and the title and chapter pages can be seen on MY BEHANCE.

type-based jacket

"nirvana" jacket

image-based jacket