For this project I made the argument that mobile apps have drawn potential consumer’s attention, in addition to their physical locations, and influenced their choices based on technological conveniences. Rheingold’s principle of attention applies to this project. There are signs and symbols everywhere that we see everyday that try to grab our attention, fast food places especially. People use their phones all day and eat every day, so when they see an application on their phone for one of their favorite fast food places, they are more likely to order from that place than others. In a way, applications act like ads that are constantly visible and we do not even recognize it. Apps are also even more convenient when people can order online and simply pick up their food without the wait.

During this project I really got into Adobe photo-shop and learned that YouTube videos are my best friend in achieving the desired effects that I wanted. Photo-shop is not nearly as difficult or complicated as I used to think now that I have had some more practice on this project. In fact, I am proud of the effects I added to a few choice images. They remind me of the type of picture I would see in a real advertisement. The addition of text on this project made it a bit easier for me to drive my point home and hopefully make my story clearer than with just images.

In the future, I will be able to more confidently use photo-shop and would feel comfortable including it as a skill on my resume. Photo-shop is typically a crucial skill for people working in communications or advertising to have so I am grateful that I was able to learn how to use it. I have further developed my storytelling skills with images after my less successful project before. I tested a few people by showing them the images in order and they were all able to understand the argument I was making this time compared to last time. This assignment has definitely improved my skills as a visual storyteller.

We chose to use “Act” out of Renee Hobb’s five components of media literacy to argue that packing effectively and in advance for a trip can save people from the stress of traveling. A variety of photos were taken and strung together to provide visual references and steps that people should take before leaving home. The act of spreading these tips using images over media can help people in the Furman community to remember what they need to do before they head out for spring break.

Through this project, I learned that collaborating with others is helpful but can also be more complicated. For example, three heads are better than one because we were able to produce more ideas and complete more work. However, getting together to combine our ideas and choosing which styles should go into the final product can create difficult decisions and compromise becomes important.

Trying to get a specific argument across using only images is more complicated than I thought. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what happens when I don’t need 1000? I need a picture that delivers a clear, concise message. Images become very literal and universal symbols are useful in their simplicity when conveying a specific message rather than an artsy photo. I additionally learned how to use Google Slides which will probably help me in the future.

With this new experience, I am ready to go out into the world and find images that best represent the message I am trying to communicate. I am interested to see if my own “weird” style will emerge more so while working on my own and if that will impact how well I can express my ideas. I think images have the potential to become more effective in presenting an idea if they are edited in a certain way. We did not majorly edit our photos, but I am curious to see what I could do to emphasize the meaning in an image through editing. h

Visual Essay #1 from RachelBrady2

Here’s where to see our final product: PackingBagsProject