Emoji, the genius mobile marketing tool

Really interesting (and scary) article from Wired about the mass appeal and allure of emoji when it comes to mobile advertising: link

curly hair...and darker skin -- a recent development in the available selection (DOVE/WIRED)

The idea here is pretty simple: Mobile advertising is really hard. Grabbing your attention inside your mobile messages is even harder. So instead of creating, say, a series of pop-up shampoo ads that drive you crazy, Dove wants to give you the chance to share a curly-haired smiling face if you want to. And, if you do, you may think of Dove and its products when you share that emoji.

Brands, celebrities, and marketers know that we spend so much of our time on our phones. But traditional pop-ups and banner ads don’t work well on those small screens. Emoji, however, increasingly rule our digital interactions. Sure, we, the people, have to choose to download and use a corporation or celebrity’s emoji, stickers, or GIF keyboards. But once we do, brands have a direct connection into our private messages, the place on our phones where we pay the most attention.

These kinds of emoji keyboards could actually capture our attention in a way that we want—and in a place that could become central to the future of advertising. And yet, for it to work, we have to want to play along.

To me, all of this is pretty terrifying. Emoji is an emerging language, much like how bitcoin is now a legitimate currency. I'm not going to deny its importance and dominance in the current digital (and social) landscape. Emojis have a way of heightening and enhancing typical conversations (a well-placed smiley face in a heated text convo could make or break a friendship, depending on the context.) But what this article predicts is the increasing length that corporations will take to intrude in our inner lives. Not even the smiley poop emoji is safe, after all...you can find its pillow counterpart in Walmart. Verdict: No me gusta.
 

3D print project - toy weapon

My toy weapon was a bunny switchblade. However, when I printed it out, I realized I modeled it incorrectly in Blender. I was so disappointed...mostly because I'm THAT person who had to pay a total of $9 at the Poe parking garage in Downtown because I'm an idiot and lost the yellow ticket AFTER I PAID IT (my fee: $1.20, in there for 5 minutes? Lost ticket fee: $7). That made me so pissed that I vowed to never go back. I still think about it sometimes and I fume with rage. The Breaking Bad spin-off, Better Call Saul, captures the scene perfectly:

My bunny switchblade mock-up; it printed out too thin: 

paper airplane

For the paper airplane project, I decided to take two paper airplane designs on the internet that were very popular. I'm not very gifted with paper crafts, so I blame my airplane's mediocre performance on my poor folding abilities. I also think the quality of paper used matters a lot, and I don't see that discussed in any tutorials.

I think I was feeling particularly grumpy that day, and was debating whether or not to use a paper ball for my 'airplane.' Cheeky. But I decided against that...too predictable, even for me (maybe not for the class though).

Clip Art MAKEOVER

As a (soon-to-be-retired) slave to the office, I'm ABSOLUTELY ELATED (yes) about this news. Yes! I hated everything about Microsoft Office, but I think the one thing I hated the most was the shitty clip art. That's the only worthy adjective, honestly. Also, let's not even mention Bing's image search.

The images on Pickit are uploaded by individual photographers and stock image banks, which get 60 percent of revenues made, meaning they should be sharing things that beat the old Clip Art catalog.

Since Clip Art closed, Microsoft users have been directed to open Bing image search, but there’s no telling how many of those images are actually free to use – Pickit reckons 85 percent of all pictures used in presentations are just stolen from the internet.

Now, rather than pinching pictures from the Web, there’s a database of images right in the Microsoft dropdown. Just like the heady days of Clip Art, but better. - link

Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology - MET Gala 2016

 

I thought the theme of this year's MET Gala fit in well with the course content...my favorite looks:

Lea Seydoux

Claire Danes in Zac Posen (cameo by the adorable Hugh Dancy)



Solange ...biased, I love latex.

from one of my favorite subreddits - r/shittyrobots

Oh, to live a life like Agnes does...so simple and pure. 

I like to think
       (it has to be!)
   of a cybernetic ecology
   where we are free of our labors
   and joined back to nature,
   returned to our mammal
   brothers and sisters,
   and all watched over
   by machines of loving grace.

Richard Brautigan, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (1967)

3D printed vases by DesignLibero that screw into empty water bottles to reuse.

I need to garden more and have plants fill my entire house. I never thought of making a vase with a 3D printer...this seems like a fun and relatively easy project. 

interesting project made from plastic bottles

I love how this piece takes advantage of nonrenewable resources and its environment (looks like it's staged in a coastal town.) The projected neon lights make the mammoth fish stand out even more, and coupled with the similar slope of the mountains behind them...it's a nice treat for the eyes.

the fine details in a bleep bloop

Women + synthesizers = swooon. Very cool video. I think the hallmark of good sound design and composition is for it to be completely unnoticeable, yet still present. It's organic. It makes sense.

le squelette joyeaux

I've never seen this Lumiere Brothers stop-motion film -- I feel like this should be the worthy replacement for that infamous train clip shown in every film class. It's entertaining...(and spooooky).

One of the most famous films from The Lumière Brothers, who are often credited as the Fathers of All Cinema, "Le Squelette Joyeaux" (also known as "The Dancing Skeleton") is arguably the first stop-motion film but surely the best known of its time, packing in the viewers for this witty short comedy film.

red boy

This is one of my favorite paintings because I see myself as that little boy in red. Goya is one of my inspirations (his progression as an artist, coupled with his dark wit, is simultaneously captivating and horrific) and I wanted to be a lil' goofy, like him. Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, meet Susie. 

Elektra

This opera (Elektra) is hardcore and raw in its intensity. Honestly, I didn't even care for the music -- I was more entranced by the performers gestures and stage presence. The title actress succumbed to the depths of abjection and horror for this role, and it's mesmerizing to watch. I wish I could see a live adaption of this play, especially since the narrative is one of my favorite classic stories (of revenge, family and womanly anger).

oR-Lan-Do

Orlando (1992; Sally Potter) is one of my favorite films. And it definitely fits into the topic of "time-based media"...a synopsis:

In 1600, nobleman Orlando (Tilda Swinton) inherits his parents' house, thanks to Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp), who commands the young man to never change. After a disastrous affair with Russian princess Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey), Orlando looks for solace in the arts before being appointed ambassador to Constantinople in 1700, where war is raging. One morning, Orlando is shocked to wake up as a woman and returns home, struggling as a female to retain her property as the centuries roll by.

Also: TILDA SWINTON, doing what she does best ...gender-bending and making me weep from her otherworldly presence. She has my heart.

2D art

A simple illustration I did in Illustrator to figure out how it works. I actually prefer what I can produce in this program compared to Photoshop; I'm kind of tired of digital paintings, so this serves as a welcome break. I love Japanese folklore, so I decided to play with some existing imagery and iconography.

clay, radiohead style

I don't really listen to Radiohead anymore (meanwhile, Blur is eternal)...but this caught my eye. They're currently preparing to release their ninth album, and a day or two ago they mysteriously wiped any trace of the band on social media. Then this popped up. I like it--they always had a penchant for lo-fi designs and sketches. Their art direction served as a great contrast when coupled with their future-facing tunes, so this fits in well with their existing catalog. I'm thinking this album could be a companion piece to Hail to the Thief (judging from the themes I see), which was one of my favorite albums...(I always forget that I've seen them live. Oops).

I'm #TeamKimChi

I'm a HUGE fan of Rupaul's Drag Race. I've watched several seasons live and have even seen a few queens in the flesh (I was not disappointed, unlike my experience with Hamburger Mary's nasty guacamole. What a disgrace!) Every Monday night, like a junkie who needs a fix, I stay glued to my seat as I await a new episode. I bet, I predict, I holler at the screen. It's my humble participation in sports...or the Olympics...or whatever.

LET'S TALK ABOUT SEASON 8 (current season) AND KIM CHI, THE KOREAN AVANT GARDE PRINCESS.



Kim Chi often spoke about drag's diversity problem (where are all the Asian drag queens?) and embracing your flaws (she immigrated to this country as a child and still faces language constraints, much like myself) during the competition. The visibility she represented week after week meant a lot to me, and her talent and success on the show (her makeup is simply art, coupled with her looks) made me an instant fan. I hope she wins in two weeks! Also...fried chicken buttholes. That's all.

I discussed with a friend that I think she has the potential to really catapult drag into a new direction with her emphasis on high fashion, experimental #looks and her strong cultural background. It's very rare to see anyone with this amount of attention who is Asian and in  the LGBTQ community, so I'm VERY glad she's being celebrated (and recognized) for her talents.

AMADEUS

I love this film so much. I was immensely grateful to see it at the Tampa Theater a few months ago (the director's cut, too!) I felt like the theater's architecture and setup (the organ player that rises to the stage! that old world statuary and gargoyles galore!) created the perfect ambience and heightened my viewing experience.

Part of the mass appeal of this film, of course, is the amount of excess involved in its production and story line. From the amount of detail in the set design, costumes and even dialogue (it's all very silly, especially the rivalry between Mozart and Salieri)--it never ends. The universe the film creates is both effortless and endless, and a treat for the eyes.

baroque theater and spectacle

I'm not much of a theater or opera fan-- I never gravitated toward it, mostly because of a lack of knowledge on the subject. Also, I find opera intolerable, much like how I can't stand death metal (unlike most of my peers.) It comes down to a question of taste, which I believe is innate and cannot really be grown.

However, I can appreciate (and understand) the aesthetics that make opera, specifically the mechanics of set design in Renaissance and Baroque theatre (see this link on the exhibition at Museum of Jurassic Technology, completed May 2004: http://rachelmayeri.com/blog/2004/10/14/miracles-and-disasters-in-renaissance-and-baroque-theater-mechanics/).

In our first class discussions, we spoke of a society controlled and dominated by spectacle. Spectacle, art and technology all intertwine and transform over the years, and in a way, reflect the anxieties, moods and temperament of our times. In the retrospective I linked, the author speaks of how seventeenth-century Venice was an "apex point" in the history of special effects when it came to scenic and set design. Patrons and visitors of the stage were awed by the realistic and incredibly life-like structures, which changed and transformed before their eyes with each set change.

A quote:

Baroque opera, scholars have argued, reflected the vanities and anxieties of the European court. Texts on opera and court life in Venetian society underscore the power of theater through special effects to convey messages on the dangers and rewards of social performance. However, it seems, that special effects, like art and social expression in general, change with new technology, representing new events, economic forces and information. This poses the question of how special effects in popular entertainment reflect the anxieties of our society today. Yet the exhibition embodies the idea that special effects signify more than ideology: they create a vocabulary for the marvelous.