Mini Art School

1.    Website and Design Rules That Were Followed:

New York Times Magazine

This is the website for the New York Times Magazine.  Some of the design rules they have followed are:

Design Grid – They basically have a two column layout throughout the page in which they align their pictures, text, and advertisements which provides a framework for the site.  The columns are unequal and appear to follow the Golden Section and Phi rule with one of the columns being slightly larger than the other.

Audience – The site knows its audience which would be educated adults who are looking for news information. 

Purpose – The purpose of the website would be to inform (as well as help their advertisers sell products).  The first thing you see is the visual of the blinking picture at eye level for the advertisement. 

Use of photo/visual – The photograph for the story is the largest object on the page and your eye is drawn to it and then the flow goes towards the text from left to right and top of the page to bottom.  The visual is positioned at the top of the page.

Font  - The text is Georgia, 11.5.  The title is larger and The New York Times is a different font based on its logo which stands out.

Text - It is justified on the left with a ragged right.

Color – The color is predominantly black and white for reading with blue to highlight certain areas to take you to other information.

Grouping – Extra information is in groups – advertisement, tags, related information, extra photos.

Emphasis – The emphasis when you first look at the site is the advertisement at the top and the picture that brings your eye to the topic of the page.

Flow – After seeing the picture your eye flows down to the text which brings your eyes from top to bottom of the story.

Words per line – The story for most of the page reaches 11-14 words per line with it only getting larger once you have read quite a bit and as you continue to read the lines are longer from up to 15-16 words per line.

Title – The title is not centered but flush with the left.  It is the same font as the article Georgia but size 18.

Margins – There are generous margins on all sides.

Blinking – The ad at the top blinks through its advertisement but then stops – it does not keep on blinking.

While there is a lot going on in the page and a lot of information, that is the purpose of this particular website.  It is not an advertisement but a portal of information although it does contain advertisements within the page.

 #2  Mini Art School - Change something previously designed

I designed a class wiki page for parents and students this summer.  This is an ongoing project.  There were three pages I changed based on the readings.  The first was my introduction page which follows.

Introduction Wix Page

The change I made to this page was to have the song play once and then stop not keep going which was mentioned in the readings.

The second change I made was to change my picture page.  My pictures were warped which I thought of as I was reading about warped pictures.  I refigured all of my pictures so that they were not warped.  I tried to show you an example here but the blog automatically reconfigures it.  I took pictures that were not the same length and width as the original so that it looked warped.  I changed all the students' pictures to be fr original sizing and of the same size.  For instance, the following picture has the right length and width correspondence. Most of my pictures were widened so they looked warped but I put them back to appropriate dimensions.

The third change I made to the wiki were in the Parent Pages.  Below is an idea of the changes I made - basically to the font - I tried to make the font more readable.  I changed colors so that titles were in a different hue for better readability.  I also made it more consistent and I added a picture for a better visual.  I still will do more with this page.  I have deleted some specific school information.

Class Syllabus

Link to class syllabus 
Homework
Mon. Sept. 19 - C Day, Math, SS worksheet - bring in 4 artifacts in a bag and complete worksheet 
- due on Wednesday
Tues., Sept. 20 - D Day, Math, Study WW Lesson 1 - We will take the test on Wednesday together.
Wed., Sept. 21 - E Day, Math, Study spelling (Test on Thursday - Lesson 2)
Thurs., Sept. 22 - F Day, Math, WW2B
Friday - Dress down in Blue and White gym clothes, Fun Run for those who have signed up, Pep Rally

Read for 20 minutes each night and study multiplication facts.


Tests:
Spelling List 2 - Thurs., Sept. 22
S.S. - Chapter 1 - Wed., Sept. 28


Upcoming Events
Friday, Sept. 23 - Dress Down Day in PE clothes, Pep Rally, Fun Run
Saturday, Sept. 24 - Fall Festival
Thursday, Sept. 29 - No School, Rosh Hashanah

Our Schedule
A Day - P.E. and Science (Strings Elective)
B Day - World Language (Graphic Arts Elective) (Chorus Elective)
C Day - Swim and Science
D Day - Art and Music
E Day - P.E. and World Language (Chorus Elective)
F Day - Technology and Library (Strings Elective) (Band Elective)

It was great to see everyone at Back to School Night! If you have any questions

please e-mail me at jrobinson@school.org.

New:

Homework: 

Mon., Sept. 26   B Day, Math, WW 2E 1-8

Tue.,  Sept. 27   C Day, Math, Study SS Ch. 1 for test
Wed., Sept. 28   D Day, Math, WW 2E 9-15, Study spelling
Thu.,  Sept. 29   No School
Fri.,    Sept. 30   E Day

Read for 20 minutes each night and study multiplication facts.

Tests:

S.S. Ch. 1         Wed., Sept. 28
Spelling #3    Fri.,    Sept. 30
WW #2              Tue.,   Oct. 4

Upcoming Events:

After school activities begin Sept. 26
Thursday, Sept. 29 - No School, Rosh Hashanah
Friday, Sept. 30 - Pep Rally

Our Schedule:

A Day - P.E. and Science (Strings Elective)
B Day - World Language (Graphic Arts Elective) 
                (Chorus Elective)
C Day - Swim and Science
D Day - Art and Music
E Day - P.E. and World Language (Chorus Elective)
F Day - Technology and Library (Strings Elective)
                (Band Elective)

It was great to see everyone at Back to School Night! If you have any questions please e-mail me at jrobinson@school.org.



#3.  Harmony Workshop Exercise, Visual Echo

Design #1 - This one was done with the title entering the picture and the picture enlarged to be the focal point.

Design #2 - This one was done with the complementary colors of blue-violet and yellow-orange.  I also softened the edges of the picture.

Design #3:  With this one I changed the color.  I changed the font to match the feeling of the picture.

Multimedia Montage Project

As I was looking for another group to join in Thinkfinity I actually found several that I joined – all for different reasons.  I joined Integrating Technology into the Classroom specifically for this project.  There are many members and I think I will be able to get and give ideas relevant to using still, audio, and video mixing into a presentation in my classroom.  The same reasoning was behind joining Online Tools for Educators where there are many ideas of practical uses for digital tools in the classroom.  I already belong to Web Based Multimedia Design for Educators for this class and Teaching with Digital Tools for the summer class.

I also joined Reading and Language Arts where there are good discussions on integrating technology into those areas which is what I am probably going to do my project on.  I am including a link to what I would like to do in my classroom.  We study poetry in October in my class and I usually put together a print book with all of their poems and black and white drawings.   I would like to do something similar to this on Voice Thread where the students would type their poems and add a painting illustrating their poems.  The students could record themselves reading the poems.  This VoiceThread could be added to the class wiki for parents to see.  Students would also comment on each other’s poems.  I will need to review and work with Voice Thread as some of the first steps of working on this project.  Another idea is to use Voice Thread in Reading Workshop for discussions on books.

VoiceThread Example

Two other groups I joined while looking for this project were Blogging with Elementary Students because I am going to start a current events and reading workshop blog with my students and there are several questions I have in the implementation of it and I’m sure I’ll have more as I am using them.  I also joined New Jersey Thinkfinity as inclusion in a state group of how teachers are using technology.

Geographic Education Interest Group was another group I joined.  I was looking for a social studies group but there wasn’t anything exactly for what I was looking for.  My second idea for a project is to do state reports or state posters on Glogster.  I've also added the Geo-Literacy Page to my Facebook page.

Multimedia Design is a mixture of technology, art, and the content areas so looking into each of those areas benefits the end result.  I will follow the steps of the Addie Model, talked about in both the Wikipedia Instructional Design article and  the Addie Model article (Hodel, 2011) – analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate to design the multimedia montage.  The first step will be analyzing needs for the project, gathering data, and resources (which includes the Thinkfinity groups and the evaluation of the tools we are doing in the Mixed Media Digital Critique project), and evolving strategies (Hodel, 2011).  The goal is to have students become “produsers” which is an “active” and “productive” user of content created, developed, modified, and shared by a community (Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C., 2010).  They will also be able to attain 21^st century skills with meaningful participation in the project including play (as problem solving), and performance, etc. (Knobel, M. & Lankshear, C., 2010).

Hodell, Chuck. (2011). Chapter 3: Instructional systems development and the ADDIE model. In ISD From the Ground Up: A No-Nonsense Approach to Instructional Design (3rd ed.). American Society for Training and Development: Alexandria, VA.
Knobel, M., & Lankshear, C. (2010). DIY Media: Creating, Sharing and Learning with New Technologies. Peter Lang: New York, NY.

Eminem and Motor City Super Bowl Commercial

I chose the Chrysler/Eminem video to analyze because I remember when I first saw it during the Super Bowl and thinking and saying at the time – wow, what a good commercial.  (Although Madge and the Palmolive commercial were ubiquitous when I was growing up and I looked in the kitchen and I have Palmolive so that may be a testament to it being a good commercial at the time.)

The purpose of this video I think is twofold – to sell a car and to promote the city of Detroit which is known as Motor City – it’s synonymous with car makers.  Detroit has been especially hard hit in recent years with the economy doing poorly.  I think the commercial is selling cars and selling an improved image of Detroit as the headquarters of Chrysler.  It was put on during the Super Bowl which has a huge audience.  The version of reality it is selling is that Detroit isn’t the down and out city that it is portrayed as and that a great car can come from this tough, resilient city.

The intended audience is American adults who have the purchasing power to buy a new car.  In particular, the Super Bowl audience was the original target which is a huge audience.  It is through Eminem’s perspective that we see Detroit, as well as the narrator.  We go on a journey with flashes and slow motion and very powerful, purposeful images shown to the audience of the city of Detroit.  Eminem is chosen because he is  also the face of Detroit and is a popular musical figure.

The people and figures in the video are all tough, strong – a huge fist, statues, steel.  They are All American images - the American flag, Detroit sign, factories, churches, athletes (skaters and runners).  Again, this is shown during the All American football game.  Americans are resilient, Detroit is resilient.  The images connect with patriotic themes – indvididualism, hardiness – hard work, conviction, and knowhow are terms used.  “It is the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.”  It is those that have gone through hardship that know how to make tough cars.  I think each frame is thought of through that lens – tough, American.  You don’t want to buy that car from a different country.  You want to buy a car from here, from American hands.  “This is what we do.”  The commercial starts with a picture of the factories and through slow motion and flashes of images shows powerful images of Detroit – the car being the most powerful as it takes us through Detroit.  There is only a confident voice in this text – there is nothing that represents failure or unsureness – it is all confidence – this is what we do well.  It shows successful photos that has come from hard work.

The reason this video resonated with me was the music, first and foremost.  The music is what drives the video.  It is what made me like the commercial in the first place and remember it – the most important thing for a commercial.  The beat corresponded with the flashes of pictures we see – the beat matches the toughness of strength of the pictures and of the message.  I think even above the pictures it is the music connected to the message that sells the product and the message that Detroit is this tough, resilient city that is great at making cars.  Along with Eminem’s song, a choir joins in towards the end I think to have this inclusive atmosphere – the sound of many voices and to build a crescendo - again with the music adding to the message.  I remember the video because of the beat and the music and the powerful pictures flashing.  The message is - Detroit is not some haphazard city that is dying, but it is tough and hardworking like all other Americans and it survives and the car companies survive and you should buy a Chrysler car because it is the thing to do. 

Besides the music, the powerful images shown through flashes of pictures – the statue of the fist, the factory, the workers etc. and also the slow motion of the images creates a more powerful video which is their intention – it’s not fast – it takes its time.  The build up with the choir at the end and Eminem's proclamation - "This is the Motor City - this is what we do" continues the powerful message.

This design was used because music works on every age group.  They use a music video format to advertise and reach people and get the message and images into people’s brains.  They first show the commercial at the Super Bowl because that is the intended audience and there is no other time that as many people as that will watch that commercial and also to create a buzz so that people will go online to watch it again.  The end slide shows "Imported from Detroit" - their message - buy American.  I thought this was a really well done commercial at the time and still do.