FOUND
FOUND is a magazine created solely by collections of random and obscure objects from all over the world and submitted by fans. The creators, Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner, came up with FOUND's concept after finding a note on their car's windshield that was meant for someone else. They said that this note contained an "amazing mixture of anger and hopefulness", which they wanted to share with all of their friends. After a year of collecting things that most people would consider trash the magazine's first issue was published in June 2001. FOUND now consists of magazines, websites, a line of merchandise, and multiple books each containing unique material that "gives a glimpse into someone else's life".
PostSecret Blog
PostSecret is "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard". Created by Frank Warren after having a lucid dream in December 2003 while on vacation in Paris, France. In his dream he read three post cards, each with messages written on their backs. He created Postsecret as an art project, encouraging others to participate with the message that "You will find your answers in the secrets of strangers". Each Sunday morning the blog is updated with new secrets and throughout the week user emails that respond to individual secrets are posted alongside their inspiration. The website's layout is very minimalistic, the vibrant postcards are displayed on a black background with few links and no advertisements. Each postcard is vertically aligned with equal divisions between them. This layout emphasizes the site's main content and delivers no distractions for the reader. The absence of advertisements is rare, especially for a website that displays a visitor counter that increases exponentially on Sunday mornings. Similar to Airbag Industries' website, to let the user know that they have reached the end of the content on the blog, there is a image of a barcode which aligns vertically with the blog's title (Clarke 204).
World of Coca-Cola
The World of Coca-Cola's website operates through the use of flash animation. The home page has navigation links in a divided right-hand column and also within the main content through the use of three images. The destination of the links in the main content show the site's main goal, making money. The images lead to visitor information, a virtual tour, and where to purchase tickets. Each animated aspect of the site reverts back to the theme of coca-cola. The images on the home page fill in a way that is reminiscent of pouring a coca-cola into a cup and throughout the site there are bubbles in the background, representing the carbonation in their product. Butterflies are also frequently present within the site, possible echoing Coca-Cola's achievement of "official 'green' status as an environmentally friendly building". The color palate sticks to bright colors (red, white, blues, and greens) which makes it appear more inviting and exciting, making the user believe that if the site is this enjoyable - the World of Coca-cola building must be the same.
Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs
The book Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs is a book that contains a collection of memoirs, written in only six words, submitted by unknown people and very well-known people. SMITH magazine decided to begin this project and cites their inspiration as a story about Ernest Hemmingway being challenged to write a story using only six words. The book's layout is very simple, with the most complex and interesting variations coming from the typography (Clarke 243). Each page contains anywhere from one to five memoirs, each one varying in font and size, with no discernable pattern. There is not a theme of organization to the memoirs, they appear to be placed by chance. Initially I expected the memoirs to be organized by their theme but by placing them randomly, the reader is allowed to place their own meaning on the memoir rather than knowing what they are about based on their categorization. There is an index containing themes and page numbers where they can be found but not the actual memoir, and the theme with the most pages is appropriately named readin' and writin'. I found this book inspirational because it is simple and still meaningful, I think that it is very easy to describe something with an endless number of words - but to write a memoir in only six takes talent.
JPG Magazine Issue 17: Street Fashion
JPG is a magazine created by user submitted photographs and stories. The magazine is published six times a year but their website is always available for users to submit their photography and writing samples. Each printed issue has a specific theme, and the one that I happened upon at Barnes and Nobel is dedicated to street fashion. Users not only supply the magazine's content but they also vote for what images are published in the magazine, editors get the final approval of images but allowing total user involvement makes this magazine truly unique. I am inspired by JPG's graphic layout because it is very clean and neat. Many pages display only one photo taking up half of the page with a short description to follow, while other pages (like the one pictured here) uses vertically aligned grids and backgrounds made of white pages that provide a great contrast for the action captured in the photographs. The layout of this magazine is very precise, and unlike in many art magazines who focus on the quirkiness of a layout to add interest JPG relies on its content to attract attention.
New Orleans Convention Center
This photograph represents my real life visual representation. It was taken at the New Orleans Convention Center only months before Hurrican Katrina. The photographer describes the image by saying, "the fire hydrant is normal fire hydrant size, while the sculptural forms are nearly seven feet tall; a super-wide lens and deep depth of field played the trick". This image is inspirational because it takes something ordinary and transforms it into a work of art. When I first saw this photograph I just assumed that the artist that created the large spheres in the background also created a large fire hydrant and gave it a distressed finish. When I read the description I was suprised that the hydrant is normal size and part of the natural environment, but the photographer seamlessly turned it into a work of art.
Digital Camera World Magazine
Digital Camera World is a magazine that describes itself as a "resource for digital camera owners". It covers a wide range of topics dealing with digital cameras and photography, ranging from comparisons of the latest technology to tutorials on how to edit images in photoshop. I chose the main content page as a visual representation of this magazines' graphic layout because it depicts the simplicity and the beauty that this magazine represents. The black and white text echoes the black and white images featured in the magazine and the addition of the mint green color gives the highlighted text contrast while keeping with the subdued theme. Digital Camera World's layout is reminiscent of the gardening magazine that Clarke dissects (Clarke 89). Specific articles are highlighted with images that correspond to their subject matter and emphasized, but not overpowered, with the page numbers in the mint green color. Although this layout is not as symmetrical as my other layout inspirations I still like the simplistic style.