I don't want to be watched!

It feels comforting for many people to fit in, to be part of the crowd and consequently not have attention drawn to themselves. They are happy to be anonymous. They go with the flow while still seeking their personal goals, working hard each day to make our world a better place, but there isn't the need to constantly be the center of attention while others are focused on their successes. Below, here is a simple animation I created from this idea.

a day in the life...

Many times people are interacting with others they have never met before: hailing a cab, arriving at an airport, leaving the subway, walking to school, sitting in the waiting area, waiting in line to get food at a restaurant. They are given a number; so they are one person amongst a huge crowd of hundreds of others. Some people get lost in the shuffle, but you need to stick to your plan, even if you are anonymous.

IDENTITY process

I'm interested in including animation as part of my final product despite having limited experience with animation. This is a short rotoscope animation I created, which relates to the theme of being anonymous and revealing one's identity.

IDENTITY

website notes:

-looking at cultural identity—at Australia in specific and how the population and culture’s mix while incorporating Flash, and the Adobe Suite.
-as the dots roll over the image will show a person’s face
-the images move aft a couple of dots are shown
-explore culture in Sydney and the population
-fade in and out of faces and juxtaposed into other faces
-include daily populated places such as train stations

Anu’s comment:

A great start to the “identity” theme. Develop it further and can’t wait to see. Just be too careful not to get too inspired by too many sites. We only have couple of weeks and you can’t have too many “stray” thoughts. The idea has great potential to grow and develop further and the concept had a good deep meaning. Have a lot of fun doing it.

Marian Bantjes

One of our new favorite up and coming graphic designer/artist is Marian Bantjes. Born in Canada she has many years of experience in design and typesetting. She is very accomplished artist and designer by speaking at events across the United States and internationally. She has even written a book, which includes how her work has evolved. What attracted us to her work was her attention to detail and her intricacy of her work which contrasts the simplicity of her website. Her portfolio site, http://www.bantjes.com, is clean and organized with a simple white background. There are no frills or animation, just showing the facts: her art. Based on the website which is comparable to a blog format, her personality is vibrant and outgoing, she welcomes people to ask questions and is possible to purchase her art on the website. She is making the effort to connect with the public. The website is consistent with a minimalist tone, her section headings resemble doodles that can have similar qualities to her portfolio. Simple colors are used slightly to identify the different sections.

One of the strongest pieces we believe is her Valentine’s Day card. Made from found objects and old Christmas cards. The colors and texture of the cards makes the art stunningly pleasing. From the 500 Valentine’s Day cards she created for her 2010 collection not two are identical. Even though she has given the cards as gifts, the cards could easily be in an exhibit in a major gallery. The composition looks strong when the cards are in a collage randomly overlapping one another. The assortment of colors look intentional and it would be great to see if all of the cards were framed together.

Bantjes has also worked for some big name clients such as Saks Fifth Avenue. Starting from pen and pencil drawings of snowflakes displayed on a poster, the design or work of art was transformed across many mediums including shopping bags, hats, wrapping paper, gift cards and even jewelry. Again, like the Valentine’s Day cards the snowflakes are very unique and by the different drawing techniques it seems as if the snowflakes have their own personality.

We would argue that the work on the website falls under both art and design. Under the understanding that art is something you look at and it triggers an emotion or reaction by the viewer. Design can do the same thing, but often has a function as well, when relating to furniture, books or magazines. Many of the artists work are designed for a specific cause, which is why we believe it falls under design, for example magazine covers and department store posters. This is an argument that Bantjes’s craft can fall under design. At the same time the pieces are beautiful and interesting to look at which in our opinion makes the pieces art. The fact that the artist has had many exhibitions of her artwork makes the argument that it is art even stronger. Overall, Marian Bantjes’s work displayed between art and design in quite strong considering this website.

This website can relate to other art and/or design forms on the web through its illustrations and the use of print and color in the works. It can also relate to other form with the diversity of mediums the artist uses: oil painting, vector art, illustration, pencil, and crayon. Bantjes’s portfolio is similar to other artists or designer’s portfolio that can be viewed on the web. The site is user-friendly and easy to navigate. On the site the section headings have graphics and illustrations, which is a similar component to other artists or designer’s websites.

Studio Egret West

The website that really caught my attention is http://www.egretwest.com/ since I felt it was eye catching with its use of movement as each dot bounces it way across the screen and the way these dots then represented the links. I was also intrigued by the way animation was incorporated without even using the mouse to activate it. The first thought I had when I viewed this site and saw the many colored dots on the page was abundance. Then when I clicked on the multitude of dots, each dot came to life and I felt this website was a definite collaboration showcasing many different talents. These distinct qualities of this website made it totally different from other websites; it has its own unique personality, not just a typical template feel. There was an abundance of information packed into the website, but it was easy to identify one link at a time thus it didn't overwhelm the viewer since they are able to pick the links at their own pace and able to rearrange the dots in a few different categories. The colors used are wisely thought of, since there were 3 different shade of red, with the font in a contrasting grey, making it very eye-pleasing.

I believe this website is an example of web art and web design. This site is very practical and easy to use similar to concepts of design. I would also consider the website to be art due to the animation throughout the website. These are qualities I would love to achieve when creating my personal website.