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Cassian Iordache U1560725, BA (Hons) Animation & Motion Graphics - Year 2 University of Huddersfield
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C Y B E R N E T I C
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PAINTING ON A MIRROR As we all know, at it’s roots, the term “Cybernetic” means to steer; to control. And I cannot think of a better word to hint at the depth of social media and online interaction. It is a truth that the internet is emerging as a culture of cultures, and is seen as a network of people, but how much of the portraits that are constructed online mirror their creators, and how does presenting yourself in a different light affects your interactions?
In this fast paced world, relationships are sought after in the same manner: easily accessible and rushed, more often than not. We tend to see the profile picture more than the person within, and we easily perceive individuals as being what they share, post or how they interact with other people online. This lead to a fundamental concern about what your own image is saying about you starting a trend of editing and curating your online persona, trying to present yourself as being what you would like to be.
My take on this project revolvs around how individuals are percieved by the society based on the amount and truth of their online presence. The prime candidat for the case of study is none other than the former president of the US, Barack Obama.
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Obama’s election campain relied heavily on his social media presence, trying to argue that he was well in tune with the nation’s needs by understanding the social media’s actuality, accepting it’s importance and partaking in it. This meant in the eyes of the US citizens that he was one of them, responding to their unrests and fears for the future on the same platform, while also taking the time to answer sport related questions and indulge other small talk inquiries. Doing this, he allowed the people who voted to get to know him personally thus creating a deeper connection with the nation than his opponent.
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We now know that his favourite meal is Michelle’s shrimp linguini, that he worked in an ice cream shop as a teenager, he collects comics, he read Harry Potter, he can speak Spanish, while on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead, he enjoys playing Scrabble and poker, as a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine, he was nicknamed “Bar” by his late grandmother and many more things. (telegraph.co.uk)
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Through the internet, he instantly became relatable to a vast majority of the voters who percieved him as what he wanted to be percieved as. An individual with a regular past that will right the wrongs he saw in his country if he ever took a power position in society. Which might not necessarily be the case.
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PAINTING ON MY MIRROR In contrast with my earliest example, I am a person that doesn’t care very much about my online presence, and I don’t pay attention to what other people think about me, especially in the social media environment. I share things very rarely and only those that I find to be useful to people in the same circumstances as myself, and I don’t really post facts about my private life online.
So, if I were to reinvent the selfie, as the brief said, I would be constrained to emphasize the contrast between my attitude and his, as well as the difference in image and perception. People that do not know me personally have very little to go on when trying to form an opinion, and the quality of patience is becoming more scarce as we continue to worship high speed bandwidth over humans.
I developed this project into three posters, each challenging the viewer to think deeper about the way we percieve other individuals and the authenticity of their online personas.
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THE CONCEPT The entire concepts revolves around the way we percieve people in this interconnected society, and how we think about them. We all know that we usually don’t pay attention to individuals that don’t have their life online, and hardly remember the ones that are not all that internet popular. With the use of polygons, this series of posters tries to create a realistic representation of what happens in our minds.
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POSTER OBAMA The first poster portrais Barack Obama, the former US President. He based his relationship with the population in social media and was very open with his private life. We know more about him than some of our friends, so I represented his portrait as being the most defined out of the three, being formed by many polygons. When we hear ‘Obama’, we can instantly picture his face, his origin, some of his speeches, some of his likes, dislikes and we have a clear understanding of what his online image stands for.
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POSTER ME Following the same concept as the Obama poster, this one has a lot fewer polygons (or sides) to it. I don’t like to make my life public on social media platforms, I don’t have a lot of pictures online and I hardly share things. In consequence, there is a lot less information about me on these platforms and if a person wants to know more about me, the only way to do so would be to speak to me in person. Someone who doesn’t do that will not be able to picture a more clear and detailed image of me.
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POSTER JOHN This poster stands for a person that does not have an online social life. In today’s world, if you don’t engage in social media, you will most likely be reduced to this portrait in the minds of the population.
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THE INSPIRATION The idea for this project pretty much came in a single package, so there is no sketching involved. I did study about polygons, however, and I followed some tutorials in this regard.
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YCN AWARDS P
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P E A R S O N
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PEARSON DELIVERABLES I have chosen to approach the brief with the purpose of raising awareness through a cleverly designed poster and flyer that have an easy time delivering the message.
P E A R S O N
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PEARSON POSTER A poster is the fastest way to deliver a targeted message, by placing it around points of interest for the audience you’re targeting. In this particular case, the poster is made to be placed around universities, schools, subway stations and other freqvently visited places by today’s learners, containing the appropriate amount of contrast while maintaining the brand identity. The headline is emphasized by the beautiful font and it’s scale, while challenging the viewer to explore and understand the rest of the artwork.
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PEARSON FLYER Flyers are the second fastest way to deliver a targeted message, by placing them around points of interest for the audience you’re targeting. In this particular case, the flyer is made to be placed around campus, inside high schools, theatres or handed out at points of interest for the young adults. It’s size is that of a business card, to be easily carried around. When the flyer is received, the fact that the door tags are covered will create curiosity, increasing the chances that the flyer will create a memorable impression and motivating the viewer to understand the concept behind it as it scratches away the surface. The fact that the career choices are initially covered is also hinting at the fact that we’re not exactly sure of the future work choices and we have to develop broad and unconventional skill sets.
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PEARSON CONCEPT The artwork is created to make the audience realize that they have no idea what tomorrow’s jobs and opportunities will be. To do so, I illustrated the career choices in the form of doors placed on three different levels. The bottom one is populated by some of the career choices we now have, while also representating some of the limitations each have. The artworker door for example has no handle, to show that to be an artwork, the door has to open itself - you must have artistic talent. On the same note, Sewing Machine Operating is one of the fastest dying jobs - thus the door even though it does nothing to keep you from pursuing that career, leads to a dead end.
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PEARSON CONCEPT The middle level is populated by career choices that are now known and are being developed for use in the near future. Some of them are already feasable in special cases with the use of actual technology, like remote surgery and mass use of drones. The grey door is to show that there will be jobs that we just don’t forsee, and we’ll have to be ready for that. The top level represents the far future that will take place during the young adults’s lifetime. Here we find several career choices that we can forsee, each of them closed and some that will use technology that will be developed during this time - represented by the fact that the doors are being formed. There’s also the interesting fact of space travel - the Space Travel Guide door being unveiled brick by brick as we conquest the issues that are making it impossible at this time.
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PEARSON COLOURS Throughout the project I have used only the brand colour scheme and brand feel to further connect the poster and flyer to the brand.
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PEARSON FONTS Throughout the project I have only used the Playfair Display and Open Sans fonts for the brand identity.
Playfair Display + Open Sans
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SKETCHES
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HYPER REALITIES M I L L E N N I A L S
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M I L L E N N I A L S
SECONDARY RESEARCH One of the biggest thinkers who approached the Millennial issue is Simon Sinek. Born on the 9th of October 1973, Simon Sinek is a British/American author, motivational speaker and marketing consultant. He is the author of three books: “Together Is Better”, “Leaders Eat Last” and the 2009 best seller “Start With Why”. In an interview with the cofounder of Quest Nutrition, Tom Bilyeu, Sinek adresses “the millennial question”, offering a slightly controversed analysis of the generation as a whole.
During an interview, he pointed out a few of the issues the millennials are accused of, like being tough to manage, being entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused and being raised believing they are a “special snowflake”. He came up with 4 damaging factors: failed parenting strategies, misuse and abuse of technology, impatience and environment. Simon named this the age of Facebook and the generation of low self esteem, finding a corelation between the addictive dopamine released by the brain and the use of social media.
The biggest issues concerning Millennials today are found, however, in the workforce. He spoke about the ones he met, who were either unprepared for the industry’s rithm or they did not have the required skillsets. Millennials feel like they ‘have to make an impact’ but fall short when asked to explain what their impact should be. They also feel not understood by the environment that surrounds them at the workplace. My brief intends to fix some of this issues when it comes to young adults working for the first time.
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M I L L E N N I A L S
SHARE & DEVELOP THE BRIEF Artquod is a project in development started by me and another designer named Alphagraphx, and has at it’s core the thirst for knowledge and skill aquiring. The intended result is a website with it’s own brand, that has both a theoretical side and a practical one with design theory and tutorials. The target audience are the people who wish to improve on their designing skill and keep up with the technology and softwares, pick up graphic design or find inspiration.
For the actual brief I choose to develop an extension for the Artquod project that will target the millennial designers and will offer them a haven through their first years of work in the industry. I will create a platform on which groups of 3 people will be paired up depending on their skillsets and will work on projects that will have an impact - like awareness campaigns - while at the same time honing their skills and having a place to ask about issues they might be having at the start of their careers. It will also enable designers to talk and socialize with people with similar interests.
I took inspiration from already existing work platforms like Asana and made use of the ArtQuod brand to get the look and feel it has. To keep the people engaged, I added RPG elements as well as Achievements, Certificates and renowned store discounts to be used as periodic rewards for the charity work, while the personal development side is blended in this fun mix.
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IDEATION & SKETCHES Due to my good imagination, most of the ideation process is happening before I start playing around with sketches, which makes it very difficult to present it in the way I am usually required to. Having said that, here are the sketches and the places of inspiration for the final result.
M I L L E N N I A L S
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FRONT
M I L L E N N I A L S The front page is made to present the ArtQuod feel and to deliver an overview of the site’s features. In order for the designers to not bite more than they can chew, the limit is 2 projects they can work on at a time, which are listed on the front page with discreet deadlines. The left task list is created from the most recent project.
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WORKSPACE
M I L L E N N I A L S This page is the place where 3 designers become a team, working on a charity project. Each of them share the files they are working on, while also having access to an expanding sketching area and a chat group.
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PROJECTS
M I L L E N N I A L S This is the page where the designers select the projects they want to take on. They can either select a fresh one and create a new team, or they can help out - for a speical reward - another team that either has a drop-out, or they have trouble with a certain deliverable.
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BRIEF
M I L L E N N I A L S Once you select a project you’d like to sharpen your skills on, this is the brief. In here, you can check out the details of the project and the rewards involved - XP, Achievements, Discounts, Certificates, Event Invitations or Placements.
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PROFILE
M I L L E N N I A L S On the profile page you have access to both the rewards you earned and the gallery with the projects you worked on. You also have displayed your current Level, the skills you showcased through the work you’ve done so far and the BIO you complete when you sign up.
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GALLERY
M I L L E N N I A L S The Gallery is the place where you or other people can take a look at what you’ve done on the platform so far and the projects you’ve worked on.