I couldn’t help but think “is this forreal???” when I found this flyer advertising studying abroad as a STEM major. UCSB’s Education Abroad Program (also the organization I work for) is prestigious and professional and I feel it is my duty to fix this atrocity.

CONTRAST: Essentially, there is none. There is obviously a contrast with between the photos and type but that’s about it. These differences do not help direct the audience’s attention at all.

ALIGNMENT: There is TERRIBLE alignment in the flyer. Some of the text is centered, some is bulleted with alignment to the left. It is very difficult for the reader to follow.

REPETITION: The repetition is not bad; it uses a consistent font throughout.

PROXIMITY: Proximity is okay as well. It keeps common information together, but there is way too much white space separating the groups.

“Self(ie)-Portrait”

January 7, 2015January 12, 2015 / micahgebreyes / Leave a comment

There were quite a few reasons for my choice in this “sorta selfie.” I mainly wanted to depict who I am, while providing a twist on the standard selfie. My first thought was to let my personality shine. Seeing as I am a huge Beyoncé fan, I could not do so without including the queen in this project. (But seriously, I even had a Beyoncé themed birthday party and managed to incoroprate her into every single one of my short story compositions in my Italian class). The inclusion of Beyoncé and Jay-Z also reflects my taste in music and interest in hip hop culture.

I have specifically chosen to work with the picture of the power couple standing in front of the Mona Lisa. I photoshopped myself into the frame where the world famous portrait once stood in order to make a bit of social commentary on the genre of the selfie. Now with the front facing camera, one can easily create a digital self portrait with the click of a button. And with filters, anything is possible (I’ve used filters on my photo for it to resemble Da Vinci’s oil painting style). With selfies now becoming the most popular genre of photography, and people seeiming to care increasingly more about them, I thought it would be interesting to envision the future, where a selfie might be considered a masterpiece. Who knows? One might one day be a work of art on display in the Louvre, being gazed upon by Beyoncé and Jay-Z.