"Unemployment"

Uneasy

Diverse

Irritated

Worried

Nervous

Anxious
In a rush.
Annoyed

Body language, above anything else in this image, is extremely evident. First off, the first lady seems extremely frazzled with balancing a telephone conversation and filled out paperwork simultaneously. The following person portrays himself as prepared for whatever he is about to do, but is still somewhat nervous for the task ahead. His look of uncertainty on his face explains his situation accurately. For the remainder of the picture, each of the individuals have particular looks on their faces that explain their emotional response to their environment.

By taking one glance at this photo, one could quickly understand that the people shown are definitely uneasy. While you wouldn't know that the explanation of this image was for unemployment, due to the upscale outfits and business attire, the individuals all look irritated and troubled. Verbally, this image says "Unless you want to be in the same position of uneasiness and annoyance, then get a job". Furthermore, from judging the levels of irritation in each of the people's faces, I can accurately understand what message this image is trying to convey. The emotional component of this image helps the viewer to realize just how important employment is. Also, I was thoroughly impressed with the image in the sense that it highlighted not only the minority's obstacles, but the working/middle class struggle to attain a job today. Since the people in the image happen to be wearing nice quality clothes and having business images, this picture also strays away from the image of "homeless people standing in an unemployment line''. Unemployment happens to affect people of all backgrounds and situations, which is why this image can properly showcase the problems our society faces. In simple terms, this image is described as the diverse working/middle class all dealing with unemployment (and expressing their mood through facial expression) while standing in line.

http://newsmagz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Unemployment-in-Ohio.jpg

Puzzle Project

For me and my roommate (who attempted the puzzles), we both used the process of deduction and slowly using trial and error. While we both were attempting the puzzles, I was trying to rotate the paper and see (for the first puzzle with the shapes) which direction and formations matched with others. For the most part, once both puzzles were finished, me and my roommate looked over the strategies and realized we both used "matching and categorizing" in our heads while completing the tasks. Interestingly enough, when attempting the second puzzle with completing the pattern, we used the process of "pattern completion" to be able to determine what we believed was the correct answer. And lastly, while we both began getting stuck at particular points during the process, we discussed afterward how important thinking outside of the box was and approaching the same work at different angles mentally. From what I've learned in class and while attempting these puzzles, I've truly realized that attempting the same task with the same process will ultimately equal the same results. In conclusion, the operations of visual thinking subconsciously played a role in being able to complete as much of the task successfully as possible.

The Inspirations for my interest in Design: Bill Bowerman & Tinker Hatfield

 

Bill Bowerman at work on the first generation Nike Waffle Shoes.

 

Tinker Hatfield, designer of air jordan sneakers, showcasing sneakers at a convention.

The reason that I'm so interested in these designers is because not only were they pioneers to a huge shoe culture nowadays, but they have amazing attention to detail for not only style but aesthetics. Both of these designers paved the way for a career I see myself in in the future, nike shoe development. While I am an industrial design and product development major, I hope to at one point fill the same shoes that they have. These two designers, while they may not have purposely tried to do so, have a strong eye for concepts within shoes. In terms of Bill Bowerman, (the top picture) he was the first developer of the "Nike Waffle" which was one of the first running shoes created by nike. His first design was created from his kitchen using an actual waffle maker to develop the track shoes that are now popular today. I personally, admire his ingenuity with the equipment he had and the fact that his designs were way ahead of his time. Tinker Hatfield is just as famous due to his brilliant design and material implementation, his shoes have been worn by Jordan and have led nike to the next level of street/athletic wear. While both of these designers have a keen eye for visual patterns and features, I feel as if they also have a strong sense of what the masses preffered.

http://www.projectbluefoot.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/erinpatton-tinker3.jpg
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/waffle_shoes_responding_to_a_need.html

Top-Down Visual Processing.

This particular image is a screenshot of one of my most visited sites daily. As you can see, there's a great deal of news and graphics going on in the homepage, however the organization of the site is actually extremely user friendly to the trained eye. While we as humans have natural active vision whenever we observe something for a long period of time, this site's set up is easy for any visitor to follow. I feel like this website is relevant to my intended study because of the different design elements demonstrated on this website and the website in general being an excellent source for numerous design principles. While this site is for selling/buying of sneakers, it is also a forum for common collectors to discuss a variety of issues while socially networking. I noticed when I was looking at this screen that they place the tabs and links at the top of the home page to make sections easily accessible. Furthermore, while I enjoy the layout of the website since I've seen past models, I can understand how elements are too spread out with too much information possibly skewing people's scan paths.

www.solecollector.com