Internet Access in Different Countries Infograph

Magazine Cover

Who is the publisher?

Who is the intended audience; what do you (author) hope the audience will do?

What is appealing in the cover?

How are headlines, colors, and font styles and sizes used?

What are two adjectives that could describe how you look on the cover?

What are you trying to communicate?      

Representation, Bias, and Stereotype

Representation

For representation I chose a photograph of a political campaign.  The photo tells the audience how the Green Party is proposing free medicine for everyone.  How will they achieve this? Then the ad tells you to turn the page and a picture of the presidential candidate is shown.   Representation plays a huge roll in the sense that what we see is a picture of a sad, worried woman because she can not afford the medicine in contrast to the pharmacist that shows no remorse in denying the woman of her medicins.  This shows only one aspect of how things are. It is depicting a situation that has no context and therefore pushes the reader to believe what they want the audience to believe.

Stereotype

I chose this TV show ad to show stereotype.  The ad shows how a mexican man falls in love with a woman and married a country.  It shows stereotype intentionally.  There are maracas, a donkey piñata, and a sombrero.  This is already a preconceived idea of what a mexican would look like, or what you would expect from Mexico.  It is obviously a comic show, therefore the audience takes the stereotype and accepts that it is intended for a good laugh and not to offend the audience.

Bias

This picture shows bias in the sense that it is portraying both spas and washing dishes as a woman's job/activity.  It is a printed ad found in a woman's magazine therefore the ad is aimed at women.  It is directed towards women but secluding the male sector of the population who wash dishes and who enjoy spas.  I wonder what effect it would have on the consumer/reader if it was a man instead.  :)

Critically Analyzing Media

Media is filled up with symbols and for that matter these symbols have direct/indirect, explicit/implicit meanings.  One is often "fed"messages we are not aware of, this is why it is imperative not only for us as individuals, but as educators, to identify these messages and to critically analyze media.   Specially in this era, where there is an overload of information, one must have this skills to weed out what is important and to know what it is what the producer/creators are trying to make you think.

As a group we created a lesson plan for our kindergarten students.  We believe it is important from this early age to have children thinking about the ads and symbols that are around them so that they can later critically analyze this information to their benefit.

LESSON PLAN: CRITICAL THINKERS

Objectives:
Students will learn what ads are.
Students will recognize content of commercial ads.

Students will be encouraged to be critical thinkers when viewing ads.
Preparation:
Before going out on the next field trip, (TURIBUS),  teachers will show several pictures of ads to students.

Teachers will initiate inquiry through questions such as:
Do you see pictures? Which?
Do you see animals? Which? Do they look real? Are  they cartoons?
Do you see colors? Which?
Do you see letters? Big? Small?
How does this ad make you feel?
What do you think they are advertising?

Activity:
The day of the field trip, around the city, children will take pictures of ads they like.
Will discuss and reflect back in the classroom.

Culmination:
Class will be divided in three groups. Each group will create a collage with pictures they took during their field trip.
Each group will share with other two groups.

Judging a book by its cover

I have always heard the saying: Don't choose a book by its cover, however I always end up doing it, at least to some degree.  This is why I believe in the importance on having a strong book cover design.  The cover should complement the book itself.  It should speak to the reader, and give an idea of what he will find inside.  It should be creative, attractive, witty.  Chip Kidd mentions in his Ted talk : http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/chip_kidd_designing_books_is_no_laughing_matter_ok_it_is.html

many examples and how he came up and the reasons behind coming up with his book covers.  I found the talk both funny and inspiring.  

Keeping Chip Kidd's principles of book cover design in mind,  I took a look at the following book covers from this website: http://bookcoverarchive.com/

These are the three book covers I chose to analyze: 

                                

The first one attracted me because of the graphic design element.   It resembles motion and there is certain depth to it.

The second one attracted my attention with its use of colors.  Bright, lively colors do remind me of India and for me it is an inviting cover.

The third one looks interesting because of the clock and more specifically because the time it is portraying.  The time is tenen to three, and the title is Wide Awake so it really makes me go back to those times where insomnia does happen.  What is it that you do at ten to three, when you can't manage to fall to sleep?  

In the end, my conclusion is that cover pages are an essential element to a book.  Even though one must not judge a book by its cover, it is undoubtedly the first element one sees.  If you do not know anything about the book, such as the author or heard nothing about the title, then the cover will attract or detract you from looking into the book further.  I love art, and the book cover has the potential of being the book's representation in a few images, fonts, colors and design.