Kristin Becker's DTC Classes at WSU

Small Nerf Basketball Hoop, taken on 8/31, Pullman, WA

I chose to take a picture of the mini basketball hoop that hangs from my freezer in my apartment. I believe it relates to Barry’s image because even though I’m in college and practically a adult, I still make time to play around like I’m a twelve year old kid again. When I was a child, I would always play basketball by myself and I would imagine that I was the youngest kid to play in the NBA, and I was exceptionally good too! For hours at a time, I would daydream about dunking the ball over 3 defenders and draining three pointer after three pointer. Now that I’m just about 21 years old, every time I walk past the hoop on my fridge, I can’t help but to grab the nearest small nerf ball and “practice” shooting. It proves to myself that the creativity I had as a child is still apparent in my “adult” years. There is no limit to where your imagination can you, just as there is no age limit for a little daydream on your off time.

Lynda Barry “What It Is” Pg 51 Crop

The section from Lynda Berry’s book that I decided to crop is a small passage on page 51. The passage read “Or looked like we were playing by ourselves. I believe a kid who is playing is not alone. There is something brought alive during play, and this something, when played with, seems to play back”. Barry is saying that when a child uses their imagination, anything is possible, there is absolutely no limit to the extent of imagination used. A child can be just as creative, if not more, when alone. When I child is alone with only their creativity to play with, imagination is the appropriate getaway. Around the passage, there appears to be hand-drawn images that essentially border the passage. I believe these small doodles simply highlight how many different forms imagination can take. It can be in the form of a child playing cops and robbers with their imaginary friend, or it can even be in the form of little doodle cats floating on a boat in the ocean (as shown in my selected image).
I believe that Barry created the pages that make up her book in an extremely patient manner. To me, it seems like she hand drew all of the images in the book. In some cases, it appears that she hand wrote the passages as well. It’s clear that she spent a substantial amount of time on each page and every aspect of every page is a conscious choice. This relates to her message because she let her imagination format the book. Her original and creative vision is what makes her book so unique. It is essentially of piece of her mind.

This menu is quite interesting. Not only is the food served in planks (as seen in the picture) but the menu is also bolted on a similar plank. The difference is that the food in picture is being served on wood planks while the menu is on a leather plank. And the plank itself helps contrast itself from the menu in that the menu is using a wood texture. The whole theme of this menu is very consistent and that’s what makes it appealing. The colors of the foods like the sausage , egg and bread (in the far left picture on the menu) are complementary colors or colors that when together are strongly contrasted making that particular food stand out. The texture in the background also as I said before really compliments the whole theme of the menu and the restaurant. The wood texture used in this menu is taken from a photograph and it helps add more contrast between the plates the whole the food and the background/texture. Overall the whole menu design from the texture/background and the color of the food items and even the plates and planks that hold the food really help the eye distinguish between what the background and foreground. In the menu your eyes immediately divert to the food items and from there your eyes naturally divert to the black text boxes that show what the food item is and the cost.

Ted Cruz is an interesting candidate, according to a couple articles his personality type is ENTP which means his personality type is Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving. This type of personality type gains energy through interaction, they also tend to focus on the bigger picture and leave the minor details behind while valuing criteria over their own preference. This personality type also likes to not rush through big decisions , they prefer to keep their options open. Ted Cruz is much like this in fact , he is very outspoken and he is very firm on his points of view. For example, since 2012 when Ted was running to be US Senate he was against obamacare and he even ran a campaign then to try to appeal it and to this day he holds those same values. His republican rhetoric however is turning quite negative for the opposing democratic party anyway, he once mentioned the opposing party’s debate as “more socialism, more pacifism, more weakness, and less Constitution” and “a recipe to destroy a country.” I think if he continues to use this rhetoric he might not get the republican nomination. But if he did I feel as though his actions will be bold to the point. He believes in what he believes in and he will make sure he gets just that. If Ted Cruz were to redesign his logo I feel like the only thing he would need would be a little handle for the flame. The flame in his logo , even though it draws similarities to other already established logos, I think it fits him very well. See below comments. You do need to completely redesign the logo, even if you think it is already effective. How could it be better?

Based on the Ted Cruz’s rhetoric on the opposing party, the democratic party: I would say that his overall general way of convincing the crowd of what he believes is in through Pathos, by creating an emotional response throughout the audience through Cruz’s words. Ethos and logos are also used but not as much as Pathos. Ethos is used because Ted Cruz has a history with politics, he has been in the US senate before and now he is a republican presidential candidate. Logos comes through his arguments depending on what Ted Cruz says he can convince the crowd through logic. You explain what ethos (credibility) is by using a specific example: Cruz’s history as a politician. Do the same with your argument for logos and pathos. Also, can you connect his rhetoric in these areas to your description above about what Cruz stands for and how that may (or may not) be enforced visually in his logo? How to the relative organic or geometric qualities of shapes and/or fonts connect to his rhetoric? How can you improve on this in a complete redesign?

Ted Cruz appeals an older crowd so I feel like his natural , curvy logo fits what crowd he appeals in quite well. I feel like even though the abstract shape that is the flame is a little difficult to point out at first , one can tell what it is after awhile and it fits with Ted Cruz’s campaign overall. You could argue that the flame is BOTH organic (curvy, based on a natural phenomenon: fire) and geometric (the rendition is very regularized with smooth, crisp lines). Also, you could argue that though it has representational qualities, it is fairly abstract and therefore open to interpretation: It is flame but perhaps also a droplet. How can this ambiguity inform your redesign?