Black MIrror, Social Media, and the Future

You viewed a "fictional" account of the possible future of social media interactions in an episode of Black Mirror titled "Nosedive." 

Read the two articles below and note specific instances (quote the articles) of how the "fictional future" is the "actual present." Give at least three examples - THEN write a short reflection of the implications of your findings and post before Tuesday's class: 

• What does it mean? 
• What will you think or do differently?
• How do you feel about this information in relation to your current project of Personal Branding your Social Media?
  

The UK's Daily Mail Article

WIRED Magazine

 

Surprise: make sure you are logged into Google or Gmail and click this link: https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity 

Brand Guides of the Stars

Well, Brand Guides of some famous and successful enterprises, at least...

In class, students will be assigned one or more Brand Guide to examine and analyze. They will observe 

• key elements of the brand guide's content
• overarching design components of the guide itself
• stated requirements for use of branded materials
• the VSION statement or PHILOSOPHY statement
•  COMPONENTS the student wishes to incorporate in their own brand guide or style sheet

They will post their findings in their blog for class discussion, and will incorporate useful discoveries into their personal brand style sheet assignment.

Sample Brand Guides to review

• Nike Football
• I Love NY 
• Skype 
• University of Cambridge (website)
• or one of these 36 GREAT BRAND GUIDES  

You.com - Your Online Personal Brand

 Students will work through the interactive article "Personal Branding 101" by Lisa Quast (interactivity layers by Dr. Nichols) via the InsertLearning Link below. First, sign up with the following info:

 (Keep in mind that the "discussion questions" are shared among all colleagues for collaborative learning benefits.) USE THIS LINK to access the interactive article: https://insertlearning.com/v1/lesson/5d94dcc56dde50763df6e083

After completing the interactive article assignment, students will reflect on their findings, and will apply their design skills to creating a composite image in the tradition of Robert Weingarten's "Portrait Unbound" (see videos below) - using original photos and other images to create a collage/montage that reflects their own "brand." They will post these images on their blogs with reflections on the process.

 

 

Students may use design programs like PhotoShop, Illustrator, Indesign, etc. to create their "Portraits unbound."
AFTER completing the project, students will use web-based collage makers from Adobe Spark or Canva to make a representative collage.

Ad and Cover Analysis & Redesign Projects

 Two Great Projects:

1. Students will complete a Design Analysis of several print ads for discussion and evaluation in Tuesday's class. Here are some sample ads (from BestAds) they will work from:

 

2. Students will use "Freegal" image sources and the graphics program of their choice to recreate a similar display ad (and ad for a product (real or fictitious) of their choice) plus a WIRED Magazine Cover!

Here are samples of recreating a cover and ad...

  

The ad on the left appeared on the back of the May 2016 issue of WIRED Magazine. The mock-up ad on the right was created in just a few minutes using the CC 1.0 photo "Male Beard Guy" (CC 1.0)
Photo via VisualHunt.com

 The cover on the left is from the March 2016 issue of WIRED Magazine. The mock up on the right was (sorta) done using the Public Domain (dedication) image "Cosmonautics Space Suit"
Photo via VisualHunt.com

 
Image resources can be found here on Dr. Nick's "Images for Multimedia Composition" Pinterest Board.