"BE REAL"

Honestly, I am not much of a blogger. I don’t even really like to read most blogs. The idea of a blog I do find interesting and I enjoy looking at people’s blogs that are of interest to me… But, most blogs in the world, I could care less about. This blog is for class, which makes sense because of the subject matter. The class is about design, tools, networking, etc. Still, as far as blogging personally, what would it look like if I made my own blog just the way I wanted and not because it had to be a certain way for class…? Honestly, I don’t really know, which is a little scary and interesting to me. As part of my experience and thinking critically about this topic, I have been trying to make my own personal blog.

So… What are interesting blogs and what makes them unique? I have been discussing this idea with my friend for some time now and I think we hashed it out the best we can. Of course there will be a certain amount of subjectivity when it comes to what people ‘like’ and ‘don’t like’ but it is a lie to think everything is totally subjective and how good a blog is is likewise not entirely just an opinion. There is ONE underlying theme that all good blogs have in common. THEY CARE ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE BLOGGING ABOUT.

Passion. It’s a pretty essential part of life, in fact it completely directs an individual. If you think about it at all your passions or your lack of passions have completely governed where you are today. Actually your lack of passion has made up all the parts of your life that you are not content with and your passion has made up all the parts of your life you are content with. So, be passionate. Right? SIMPLE… not really. Passion is probably one of the hardest things to attain, control, direct, and govern. Building and mastering “It” is really what will be critical in the pursuit of living a full life.

About blogging though, you cannot fake passion. If you try to you will fail, because people are more perceptive than even they know they are. You will fail because passion is contagious, it is life giving, even our subconscious is attracted to it and wants to be a part of it. If you fake it, people might not even know you are faking it, however, they will not be interested in it nonetheless.

Consumers vs. Producers, gives us a clear picture as to who should blog and who should not. If you are not producing anything chances are you are just consuming. Chances also are you are lacking in passion, which is why you aren’t producing and is why you should not be blogging. It’s hard to blog when there is nothing there… This seems like common sense but the majority of blogs on the internet are not passionate, they are boring and in general just weak.

My last point is, why say you are something that you don’t believe you are? Honestly, we are taught to do this from childhood, even if it is completely contradictory to what else we are taught from childhood. The focus is so easily put on how we are perceived and what we should look like. This is important. However, what is much more important is how we in fact are! Who you are should dictate how you act, which in turn should dictate how people see you. Why would you ever want upon meeting you someone to think, “wow, this guy is less awesome than I thought he would be…” Of course, no one wants that, and really that would never be the case because it’s pretty easy to tell when someone is truly awesome through there blogging. They blog because they want to share, they want to share who they are, they want to share what they have done, pictures, work, they are sharing their passion. They are not feeling lonely and bored and blogging because it seems like a way to spend time and maybe get some attention.

So, BE REAL, a little cliché I know. Now, of course you filter yourself, and of course you don’t have to be completely explicit with the entire world all the time, that is not what I am trying to say at all. Being real with people is filtering yourself, a lot of what I think at any given moment is not actually who I am it’s just what stupid thing I might have been thinking about at that moment. What I talk to people about, and what I get passionate about is who I am. So be honest with yourself and real with other people, everyone will respect it and be drawn to it.

Where do we draw the line?

Sparked by some of our discussion in class, one of the things I was considering we as designers may have a difficult time with is the balance of exploitation and what sells. Where do we draw the line? This is not just a religious question, or even just a moral question, but when do we decide we have taken something too far or sold out.

To build an affective design and something that will make an impact you want the affect to be seen on a large group of people. That means at times doing your research as to what is on peoples mind, what’s trendy, or even how the human mind works. Understanding social norms and the way we operate as a culture is even scarier when it comes to exploitation of others for money or popularity.

We can put this question to the media (journalists and news broadcasts) pretty easily because they operate on the concept of exploiting “the news.” Anything and everything that will get the general public’s attention gets to make headlines in today’s world. No sensor, no care, just out, out, out, and faster than ever. Even the thought, that the media is a sellout is slightly humorous because quintessentially that is exactly what they are. That’s what’s expected of them, they will give us everything, all the info, even they exciting bits, because that is what we want to see.

Does that leave the question of selling out on the general public then or do the media get to carry that trophy around with them. I feel like people are afraid of giving any real responsibility to the media these days but is the general public a better person to place that responsibility?

Back to design though, what does this all imply for a designer? Well we work in information and more importantly we work in communication. Communication by definition is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. So, we have a voice and a loud voice gets heard while a quiet voice doesn’t. Is facebook a success because it is so popular, or is it a success because it is very well designed and programmed. Has it been a good thing for our society? Is it beneficial to have social networking like facebook so available? Is exploiting people’s desires to be connected and feel important in there society wrong or just smart…? Is natural separation between classes and people types made and or enhanced through a medium such as myspace or facebook?

If I went to work designing pop-up advertisements for Viagra I could probably make some decent money. I could probably get my work noticed by a large number of people too. That’s maybe a bit drastic a comparison but my point society actually does look down on exploiting things whether or not they in turn support the exploitation. I don’t think there is an easy answer to the question though important nonetheless, ignoring it or acting like what we say and do doesn’t matter is a copout, as designers it is not just a copout its completely contrary to what we do.

Goodbye bright colors... and something to think about.

To start off right and dive vehemently into conversation about a rapidly changing world I'd like to say a few goodbyes to things recently retired. Goodbye Kodachrome, you will be missed, and sadly by others more than myself. Its funny that even though Kodachrome film has been as completely not a part of my life as black and white TV, I can still feel a bit of remorse in the last roll of film being developed in December of 2010. After a century of use and appreciation from thousands of photographers many of which never would have been photographers had it not been for George Eastman and his creative edge, all things come to an end. Sometimes a bitter end, but I suppose it all depends in the way you look at it. Still, its hard not to feel like print is on its way out in the sense. We've already seen huge declines in printed material in the media... newspapers switching to being fully online, magazines doing the same, and books that you can download to a electronic panel at your convenience. What can you really say to it though, the old makes way for the new, this does have big implications for anyone alive and interested in the futuristic world we are living in and even bigger implications for those of us who want to be an active part of it!

As a designer what does this mean? It means we either hop on board whole heartily or figure something out that no one else has, that is to say, if you want to be recognized. Recognition is sadly a necessity for most artists because their lively hood generally hinges on it. The Internet as a tool is one of the greatest things an artist has for gaining this recognition. From a design perspective the part about this that is a little frustrating is that it seems a lot of the time the only thing that is important anymore is getting recognized be that recognition good or bad. A popular street artist named Banksy actually made a film called Exit Through the Gift Shop that had this idea of publicity and media as a theme for the film. He proved that hype was the selling factor in media and even the art world could be lead around by the nose. He brings a lot of ideas to question about how we think of art and who judges it, and more than that, who puts a price tag on it. This is kind of scary for artists that want to be true to themselves and make "good art." Facebook, Blogs, personal websites, e-mail, and all other forms of networking open up countless possibilities for anyone trying to get their name out there. But, if we are really being true to yourself, getting face time is not enough at all and can actually be a bit of a hindrance if we aren't ready for where it might take us.

All things considered though, I think we should embrace the time we live in and make use of the resources that are available to us. That means we have quite a bit of responsibility, since these resources can be so easily abused. But, this is our decision and we have to make it consciously, its childish to think that we can go through our life and pick up the things we like and use them when we choose and then when they become a burden to blame them and toss them aside, or worse just complain about them. Its important to keep a wider perspective on things, because its so easy for us to get buried in the mess. Network as a tool, we get that opportunity, we can now communicate faster and more freely than ever before. So, what we say and do is very important, its easy to forget that and get caught in the drama.