Visual Argument / Rhetorical Collage: final reflections

[benmiller314]

This is a space where you'll be able to post your final-for-now thoughts on your visual unit projects, your rhetorical collages. We've talked in class about what that should include, but the main goals are to give a sense of what you've learned from doing this project, the work you put into it, and whether it accomplishes what you wanted it to.

At a minimum, please include:

• At least 500 words
• Your own assessment of how you met the baseline criteria and goals for the unit, as well as any aspirational criteria or self-assigned stretch goals, as appropriate
• At least one screenshot of feedback you used (and please say how)
• At least one or two screenshots of your work in progress (ideally, related to the discussion in the previous two bullets)

NB: After using the formatting buttons and drag/drop tools to add images here in the Issue queue, you can optionally copy the source code and paste it into a new reflections.md file in your repository: it should then have the same formatting there!

[kaitlynmchugh]

Reflection

When deciding what to create for my visual argument, I was pretty overwhelmed with my options and felt that I had a lot of different concepts that I could’ve base dmy argument on, but no concrete ideas. Because of this, I decided to keep it simple and use the parachute prompt, which was to create an advertisement for a class. I had the perfect class for this, called “Atoms, Molecules, and Materials.” I thought that the name itself invoked various visuals, even when simply thinking about it (more than a class like “Organic Chemistry 2”). I knew I would definitely enjoy finding visuals and taking my own pictures for this project, as well as having a lot of material to work with, so I decided to go with this theme.

I think I definitely met the minimum criteria for this assignment, along with some of the aspirational criteria. My argument tells the viewer to take this super fun chemistry class at Pitt, by showing them what they could be doing in the lab and learning about in books. I intended the focus of the flyer to be the text, which is the title of the course, and the background to reveal itself as the things you may do/learn about in the class. I am guiding the viewer to see what the course is, before diving into what it is about, and finally showing them how to get more information and enroll using the QR code. I think the fonts definitely match the tone, as they are sleek, bold, and scientific. Credit is given on the ad through a link to the assets file, which contains a full assets list. In this file, I have included citations for all the resources used, links, and licenses. I have used more than 3 layers, as well as more than one tool beyond select, move, and text. I altered the opacity on multiple images to create a color block effect, and I also used drop shadow to make the text stand out more.

I knew I wanted to include some pops of color on the flyer, but I also figured having these contrasting colors so close together could be distracting. In my first draft, I simply lowered the opacity of the class images (the textbooks, the lab, and materials) but left the color blocks at their full brightness, as shown below:

After receiving the feedback shown below, I decided that lowering the opacity on the color blocks themselves could make it easier on the eyes.

I included a white background behind the color blocks, so the white would show through when the color block opacity was lowered. As shown below, this helped to reduce the contrast between each color block, making it easier to read the text overall.

I incorporated another aspect of the feedback above into my final draft, shown here. I decided to add a drop shadow effect to the text to make it more bold on the colorful background. I think this really helps the flyer to stand out more and adds an interesting 3D aspect to it.

Lastly, I used non-default commit messages to help keep track of my work.

I think some of the aspirational criteria were also met in my visual argument. I found GIMP much easier to work with after labeling my layers and grouping them into larger folders for each word in the ad. I also used 3 distinct overlapping layers. The base of my argument is the four different color blocks, covered in the images representing the class material with reduced opacity so that the color shows through, and the top layer of the text. Furthermore, I was able to use my own photography in this project. I took images from textbooks relating to the course, as well as images of one of my group members in my research lab hard at work! Lastly, I included a QR code so the viewers can get more information than can be obtained from the flyer.

In conclusion, I feel that I successfully satisfied the baseline criteria, along with some of the aspirational goals. Coming into this project, I felt a lot less prepared in terms of ideas and skills with photoediting. As I learned more about GIMP, I was inspired to try new things and add new dimensions to my argument.

[mknuth5]

For my visual argument, I wanted to make an argument warning against the dangers of going to college. As someone who is currently in their 8th semester of college and about to graduate, I felt like the dangers and issues related to attending college were not properly addressed when I was in high school. I feel like most young people are pushed into college without any concrete plan or understanding of why they are going. As a society, we have failed to question whether higher education is necessary in its current form and whether the cost of college, which can at some times be over $100,000, is truly worth it.

In my visual argument, I set out to address three main points that encapsulate the main problems with higher education: useless degrees, crippling debt, and indoctrination. Of course, there are many issues with the current system of education we currently have, but I identified and defined these as the three largest:

• Useless Degrees
  • For me, the term "useless degrees" symbolizes the pointless classes and degrees that are required to enter the ever-increasingly difficult entry-level job market. It seems to me, at least in my experience, that most entry-level positions require only a baseline level amount of skills and knowledge in any area and that most of the knowledge is learned "on the job" once you are hired. This brings to question whether most of the classes required by universities in the form of gen-eds or even major-specific classes are truly necessary to begin your career.
  • And while I love a good history class, should I consider a history class to be useful for my career in Computer Science, or any field unrelated to history? Would I, or anyone, have paid thousands of dollars to take said history class given that is unaffiliated with any degree that was being pursued? Probably not.
• Crippling Debt
  • This one is pretty straightforward: college is absurdly expensive for no good reason. Most of the things that are taught in college you can teach yourself for free online or with a library card. Textbooks prices only go up, despite the fact that the information never really changes in them. Most of our tuition money is used to maintain their ever-increasingly opulent buildings in order to attract the next generation of high schools students and repeat the debt-fueled cycle.

• Indoctrination

  • The negative use of the word "Indoctrination" when it comes to American universities can be interpreted in many ways, mostly related to the issue of colleges indoctrinating students to believe certain ideologies. While I do believe this to be a major issue as well, the use of "indoctrination" in the context of my visual argument relates to the indoctrination of young people believing they need to go to college in the first place. Like I mentioned above, the vast majority of the information that is taught at universities can be self-taught so our society has to be indoctrinated into the idea that a diploma is the be-all-end-all for a perceived knowledge of skills. Even jobs that historically did not require a college degree are beginning to require one. Why is this? The universities are partially to blame for their role in indoctrinating society to believe that a diploma is the peak of intellectual ability.

  I hope this message comes across in the piece, but as with all visual arguments, it is up to interpretation for the viewer to draw their own conclusions on what the message is. I believe the visual argument that I created meets the baseline criteria and a few of the aspirational goals.

Baseline Criteria

• "Use arrangement, size, color, visual rhythm, positive/negative space, and/or contrast to focus and guide viewers' attention."
  • One specific thing that I added was a "radioactive" green glow around the university building with the effort of drawing the viewer to that building first. I did this, so that the viewer knew they were looking at an "American University" and that the message would be quickly picked up on.
• "Have a clear message or intervention that you can articulate"
  • The articulated message is outlined above.
• "If including words, choose a font that matches the style/tone of your piece"
  • I used a smoke-like font to hide the message in the smoke cloud. I also used a font for the "American Universities" that would be used on a college building.
• "Credit all assets correctly, including attribution (creator names) where required"
  • This is in the assets.md file
• "Use at least 3 layers"
  • I used 35 layers
• "Use at least 1 tool beyond select, move, and text"
  • Transform was used frequently. I used the magic wand and magnetic selection to remove unwanted backgrounds.
• "Use the reflection to clarify your compositional choices and goals (e.g. design hierarchy)"
  • This reflection.md file
• "Use non-default commit messages that say what's changing (and maybe even why)
  • Described changes

Aspirational Inspirations

• "Organize your files through layer labeling, layer groups, repo structure"
  • I used a layer group to group similar objects. For instance, I grouped the people on the conveyor belt.
• "Use more than 3 distinct overlapping layers"
  • This occurs many times in my visual argument. For instance, the cloud is made up of multiple smaller clouds overlapping.
• "Use more than 3 tools beyond select, move, and text that are new to you"
  • Outer glow, fading (cloud fades so text can appear), color overlay on layer
• "Alter part of a source image by compositing it with another image to change its meaning"
  • Added the smokestacks to the college building, merged background buildings to make one long background, merged clouds to form one large cloud
• "Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately articulate your message/argument"
  • I included a little description box at the bottom that explains the meaning slightly. This was from feedback from Professor Miller.
• "Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately describe your intended audience"
  • I think anyone can be the true intended audience of this piece because it's a criticism of society, but I did include the term "high schoolers" to show who the victims are.
• "Be bright and bold to make your work pop and draw the eye"
  • I added the green glow for two reasons: to pop and draw the eye to specific elements and further the message that the institution of "American universities" is toxic/radioactive.
• "Be subtle and crafty to make your work reveal itself only gradually"
  • A few people noticed that the graduates have a ball and chain on their feet. This was a subtle inclusion to further drive the point.

This was the first preview draft that I presented for feedback. Some of the feedback that I addressed from this preview was adding a bar at the bottom of the piece to include a small description and credits section. Some of the other feedback related to my haphazardly put-together asset file that I updated. One suggestion that I couldn't do was include a shadow behind the truck. It looked really off, because the truck is not 3d, so any shadow coming from it would look weird to any observer. I'm pretty happy with how the green glow adds to the piece. It not only attracts the viewer's eye to the desired design hierarchy, but it adds to the message that this system is toxic/radioactive. It also addresses some of the feedback that I got that the ball and chain was hard to notice, so now it glows too!

[ellagrant]

My visual argument is titled “Beyond the Glass Ceiling.” It aims to critique modern day feminism, corporatism, and capitalism by encouraging the viewer to be skeptical of positions of power, regardless of who is in that position. Essentially, I am arguing that people from marginalized groups- in this case, women- assuming positions of power that were previously reserved for white, straight men, is not true equality.

I believe that I fulfilled all of the baseline criteria, as well as the unit goals. I definitely learned how to ethically obtain and use images (I did a lot of reading on the Fair Use doctrine, as many of my images are used under it). I also feel that through the readings, and especially through the creation of visual, digital media, I have a much broader understanding of how the still image works and what the possibilities are, as well as the setbacks, when it comes to working with still images. The one baseline criterion I was nervous about was whether or not my message was clear. When we shared our drafts, the feedback I received indicated that the audience understood my message, but I was still unsure. Unfortunately, I don’t have a screenshot of my draft, but had an image of the word “Boss” on one of the men, like a name-tag, the female symbol on the pink chair, and a different, more generic text found in GIMP. I also had not yet changed the image’s perspective. My goal going forward was to make my message clearer.

My classmates’ feedback helped me a lot here. I specifically stated in my write-up that I was having trouble with this, and they offered very helpful advice. For example:

Kaitlyn’s suggestion of getting rid of some of the images I had used like the “boss” and the female symbol and instead focusing on style was something I decided to incorporate. I originally felt that I needed to add more, but I found that getting rid of stuff actually helped my argument by making it more organized and emphasizing what I already had. The advice to use a more fitting font was also something that came up a lot in the feedback I received:

In fact, I think all three of my classmates reviewing my piece suggested this. I figured that this was a good way to set the mood of my piece and make the setting seem daunting, corrupt, and uninviting to the woman in the corner. A lot of the fonts that came up when I looked up “scary” and “ominous” were very cheesy and did not fit the vibe of my piece, but I settled on CarbonType, which I found on Squirrel Font. The screenshot below displays it:

After changing the font, I really decided to rely on style, specifically color, sizing, and perspective to communicate my message. For example, I darkened the image of the men at the table. I also made the chair and the woman both brighter and smaller, representing that they are outsiders, as well as inferior to the men. I made the money stacks a lot bigger than I had it before, greater emphasizing the wealth of the man at the table. I also played around with perspective to create the effect that the men at the table are towering over/closing in on the woman to highlight their power over not only the woman but the power and corruption of large corporations in general. I also tried to rely on using lots of pinks and blues to emphasize themes of gender, as there is nothing that gets at this explicitly. The image below is from when I first decided to change the perspective. At first, I wasn’t sure about it because I was so accustomed to having the different layers be very linear and geometric. However, I came to like how it seems to throw the piece off-balance and makes it a bit disorienting. Also, like I noted above, it helps communicate my message.

I think I took a lot of risks with my visual argument, and whether or not they paid off, I had lots of fun trying out different things. Some of the aspirational criteria I feel that I met include creating my own virtual assets (the woman, which happens to be me, and the background image), combining different design styles (the surrealism of the painting paired with the realism of the other images), and using lots of different tools that were new for me to recolor and transform perspective. For example, the bottom-right text panel is from an image of fire that I cropped and edited to be pink. While this in itself is not a difficult task, the subtle inclusion of flame imagery further suggests corruption and the evils of corporatism, which is juxtaposed by the image’s bright colors. I also verified through other people that my final draft communicates a clear argument, which is what I was most concerned about.

[19jinjinwu]

https://github.com/19jinjinwu/visual-argument-2022spring/blob/master/Reflection.md

[aej37]

My visual argument to bring to light how about how fast food industry uses factory farming and tries to hide it. This is why I named my visual argument "Quality is in our Food" which is similar to one of a Fast Food slogan. It is supposed to be ironic because how can they care about the quality of their food when they don’t even care about the quality of the living conditions that they get their food from. I also wanted bring some light to the cruelty of factory farming and the conditions that the animals live in.

Baseline Criteria

Use arrangement, size, color, visual rhythm, positive/negative space, and/or contrast to focus and guide viewers' attention. For the background I used an image of a chicken farm to show the reality of where fast food industry gets their meat from. The image shows how dirty these farms are and how bad the conditions are for these animals. I put a blur over it to show how this industry blurs over the fact that they get their meat from these places. Then, in front I put images of hands holding chicken nuggets. These layers are brighter and clearer, this contrast was created to show that the fast food industry tries to put all the attention on their food and how delicious it looks. The hands are also in front of the factory farming image to once again show that the industry tries to hide the fact that they use these practices. I also used negative space in between the bright hands to draw the viewer’s eyes to the dead chicken on the dirty ground. In the article assigned in class it said negative space is used to allow the viewer’s eyes to rest but for my argument when the viewer’s eyes think they found some place to rest they actually discovered something horrible.

If including words, choose a font that matches the style/tone of your piece I used the same font Wendy’s (a fast food restaurant) uses to once again go with that theme of irony. It is to mimic how in their (and other fast food restaurants) ads they display these nice, welcoming fonts to get customers to look at the food and then buy it. However, I wanted to use the font and text to welcome the viewer in by a familiar font and slogan of familiar fast food restaurants and be shocked by the reality of how that food is made.

Credit all assets correctly, including attribution (creator names) where required This is in the assets.md file.

Use at least 3 layers I used 7 layers.

Use at least 1 tool beyond select, move, and text I used the Gaussain blur filter on one of my layers. Also I used the erase and blur tools to clear up lines around my layers.

Use non-default commit messages that say what's changing (and maybe even why) I always made sure to explain what I changed and (sometimes) I explained why I made those changes. For example I explained that some of the edits were because of the peer reviews.

Aspirational Inspirations

Organize your files through layer labeling, layer groups, repo structure I organized my layers by layer labeling

Use more than 3 distinct overlapping layers 4 out of 7 of my layers are overlapping

Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately articulate your message/argument Through all the feedbacks provided by my peers, they understood my argument.

Demonstrate through feedback that someone looking at your piece can accurately describe your intended audience Through the feedback Kaitlyn provided, she got that my ideal audience were people who eat chicken / meat.

Feedback and Work in Progress

My original draft was this image

But after receiving some feedback (thank you Kaitlyn, Isabelle, and Alex!) I was able to change a few parts. First I fixed the blurriness of my text based off of Alex's suggestion. Then, I tried to clean up the lines around the chicken nuggets and separated the “Top Quality Chicken” into two rows based off of Isabelle's suggestion. Finally, I realized I did want to add something else to my project to emphasize my argument more.

So I added a black background around my original image and added a fact at the bottom.

However, I realized I didn't like the fact at the bottom so I thought it would be better to add an action message at the bottom to hopefully motivate people.

The message at the bottom says, "Do Your Research" because I didn't want to tell the viewer to stop eating fast food meat. They could just ignore me or rebel against me. So this action message is better because it tells people to educate themselves and be more aware of where their chicken / meat comes from, especially from fast food restaurants. Also to be wary of the fast food industry and how they glamorize their food. So, rather me telling them what to do, it is up to them after they view the collage and do their research to decide what they want to do with this new information.

Overall, this project was new experience for me because I had never used GIMP before. I really enjoyed making this collage, but my favorite part was getting feedback from my peers and seeing that they understood what my argument was. There were times that I struggled, for example, not knowing that I had to resize the canvas size to get rid of the white space. Yet I could see myself using this program again as I am interested in graphic design. This project has been a great eye-opening experience for me and I'm glad I was able to gain this type of skill.

[jennakupferschmid]

My visual argument is entitled "A Like Isn't Love" and aims to warn social media users of the dangers of media consumption. Specifically, I decided to focus on how large amounts of social media consumption may lead to feelings of isolation and create a void caused my fake validation. In order to accomplish this I put a sad boy consuming social media on a bed in space to create the feeling of a never ending void. Baseline Criteria: I feel I met the baseline criteria for a multitude of reasons. First, I used color and positive/negative space very strategically. With color, I wanted all the colors to be mute besides the phone and "like" notification. This was done so viewers would immediately be drawn to these objects, therefore allowing the message of the image to be more easily determined. Consequently, using the background as a vast negative space within the image was done to not only draw attention to the sad boy on the bed, but also allowed for the image to flow better and create that feeling of a void. Also, I was very intentional about the size of each of my objects. I made the bed 3D so that it popped out on the screen and felt bigger even though it was a smaller image originally. Also, I intentionally made the phone in the image smaller in order to draw more attention to the "like" notification therefore allowing the feeling of fake validation to be portrayed. My font for my text was also used intentionally. By using a more playful and less professional font, the text is more integrated within my message pertaining to the uses of social media and allows the image to flow better. This was also my first time using any type of image manipulation software and I successfully layered multiple images, mirrored the bed image so that it was symmetrical, and played with color to create a light to dark gradient as well. Aspirational Criteria: As stated previously, this was my first time using GIMP and I feel I successfully accomplished the aspirational criteria as well. Within my image, every layer on the bed overlaps one another. Also, I used many tools that were new to me including lighting effects, cutting images, making images 3D, gradient flare, and stacking images. I also feel that my message was very clear due to my use of color and text specifically to guide viewers through the image itself. Feedback: The aspect of this feedback I focused on was how the boy was blending into the dark background. I chose to correct this so that he could stand out more and therefore my message would be clearer. To do so, I copied the color of the bed and created a gradient flare around the boy in order to border this image with the lighter color. I also moved the boy on top of part of the "like" notification so that the dark image of the boy contrasted the bright red notification image. All of this allowed the image of the boy to be more detectable within my image and allowed for my message to be clearer as well. Work In Progress: The above image was my first draft of this project. As you can see, I had not cut the bed out of the room yet and therefore the effect of floating in space (or into a void) was not accomplished. Also, the images had not been blended correctly either and overall it looks very choppy. The above image is the final version of my project. As you can see, I successfully learned to blend the images together in order to form a more cohesive visual argument.

[glittaua]

For my visual argument, I wanted to create something that would motivate and inspire. Mine is titled "Never Stop Dreaming." Many times people feel like they are counted down or out. Other times people are overlooked completely. I am a firm believer that anyone can do anything; you just have to put the effort in. This concept of hard work and accomplishment is embodied by the one of the NFL's best wide receiver Cooper Kupp. He was a barely looked at recruit out of high school who is now considered one of the NFL's brightest stars and had one of the best seasons a wide receiver has ever had. With this in mind I used him as an example of "It doesn't matter what your circumstances are. It's what you're made of."

I believe I hit on all the baseline criteria. I did a good job at guiding the audience's eyes from bottom to top. It is a different pattern of viewing but the glow around the college Cooper Kupp really helps draw the attention to the bottom. The message that is being portrayed is very easy to follow. I used both images and text to really emphasize the message. I credited every single one of my sources and I for sure used more than three layers. As for tools I used clone and heal to swap the number on college Cooper Kupp's jersey. As for aspirational criteria, while I do think I hit some of them, I was not really aiming for any. I let my creative process flow. When I saw too much negative space, I wanted to fill it and I did this by layering, e.g the lombardi trophy, NFL Cooper Kupp, and college Cooper Kupp. Particularly when choosing fonts and remaking images I think I did well on. One part that the feedback helped me with was the overall flow and message. This message I can see was not clear enough on the first go around. Through the feedback, it helped me edit the image to the point where even people who have never watched football can understand what I have created.

I can see that my message sort of confused people so I made the effort to make it clearer by adding more text and fixing Kupp's jersey. The feedback also helped me focus on the text more as that was what people said I needed to improve on. The fonts is what I had the most trouble with because I needed something that was more athletic and sports-related than the basic fonts we have. Font pairing and theme sort of brought the image together, especially the Athletic font of the accolade titles.

The feedback I got was very helpful in bringing together the final product down below:

[andres-trujillo7]

Reflection Link: https://github.com/andres-trujillo7/visual-argument-2022spring/blob/master/reflection.md I incorporated parts of my peers' comments! They were all very helpful!

I added a larger glowing effect to the world cup trophy to further emphasize that it is the objective of the El Salvador national team, and made the last "o" have that empty space, using the eraser tool, to make my text more readable. There was solid blue behind it before, making the "o" look weird compared to the other letters.

I realized my argument was not clear before incorporating these suggestions. That seemed to be a common theme among the suggestions my peers made. So with that, I added more text to make my argument as clear as possible. Also, I ended up adding color to the Salvadoran flag to make it more noticeable.

[jsw64]

I made my visual argument with the goal of encouraging the public to participate in voting. The goal of my visual argument was to make voting look like a personal responsibility, one that would benefit us all if we all used our vote as a say in who we elect. My initial idea was to have a map of the United States broken up into pieces, and to represent voting as putting the pieces together and thus our nation together. I also had the thought of overlaying a United States flag over the outline of our country to fill in empty space, and also helped further iterate the message. While in theory this seemed easy, it turned out to be rather difficult. My idea was to find a translucent image of the United States border with all of the state borders, and then just put that layer over a United States flag and then use scissor tool to cut out the difference. But it unfortunately was not so easy, as it was difficult to find a true translucent United States border image, and even working with the non-translucent images was tough because using the Select By Color tool to remove the whiteness almost never worked cleanly. Eventually, I caved in and had to manually erase all extra white pixels that were left behind and then overlay that over the flag. Then, to remove the rest of the flag outside of the United States outline edges, I could not use the scissors select tool because it would always make the wrong selection, so I had to use the Free select Tool and click points individually to capture the outline, then invert to delete the outside flag. After I finished, I successfully saved that and copy-pasted over to my original GIMP project which had the yellow background, and I could continue. Luckily, cutting out the individual state pieces with the select tool was easy. Off of that idea, I wanted to add some hands to show people holding the states and putting the pieces together. But to implement this was more complicated than I thought, especially the challenge of finding a good image for the peoples’ hands, so I decided to simply draw them myself on Paint and then upload them to GIMP and remove the white background to make it translucent so that I could overlay it on my project. The hands ended up being a nice complement to the United States flag/map object, with the same kind of simple design and black outline. After that, I moved the removed state shapes to the hands to make it appear as if they were holding them, and consequently putting them into the flag/map to fill the holes. Once I finished that, I noticed some extra negative space at the bottom, so I added an envelope there, because envelopes are associated with voting by mail-in ballot. Now that I had the basic idea of my visual argument implemented, I wanted to read the feedback to see where I could improve upon. After reading the feedback I received, what was made apparent to me was that I should choose the background color to be less bright and more complimentary, and also add a more cohesive message using text. I adjusted the background color to be a lighter shade of yellow, which I felt would be easier on the eyes and make the red and blue colors stand out more. I also added subtext below “VOTE!” to give context to what was happening in the image, as well as extra text on the envelope as a fun play-on-words. I also added a black outline to all of the text, to make it pop more and look more distinguishable from the background.

Baseline Criteria I think that I covered all of the baseline criteria. I used arrangement, size, color, and positive/negative space to draw the viewer’s attention to the United States flag/map first in the center by making it the biggest and most colorful object. The message seems pretty straightforward and I chose the fonts Arial and Segoe UI specifically for their readability and legibility, as well as to match the elegance of the objects in the image. As for extra tools, I used several such as Eraser, Color Picker, Flip, Rotate, Select by Color, Scale, Bucket Fill, Invert, Grow, and some others. As for aspirational criteria, I used more than 3 distinct overlapping layers.

[KatelynKunzmann]

My Visual Argument was for cryptocurrency adoption and I used the influence of current hyperinflation to help with that argument. Sound and secure money is a human right and cyrptocurrency embodies this. I learned quite a few skills during this rhetorical collage project. I have never actually photoshopped or manipulated an image before, so everything was completely new to me. The LinkedIn Learning videos were an enormous help and I will definitely reference those in the future if need be. While learning my way around GIMP, I realized there are an astonishing amount of ways to manipulate an image that I had never even thought of. For my preview, I was still new and a little overwhelmed with GIMP so I ended up only using basic tools such as select, move, text, resize, fonts, and colorfill. This got me a sense of what I wanted to represent in my image and how to arrange text around it appropriately. After long, careful thought for a weekend, I finally came up with an idea of how I wanted my collage to look like. I knew I wanted it simple, clear, not overwhelming to the eye, and creative so I could meet some aspirational criteria. I didn’t like my text arrangement in the preview so I changed that along with the orientation of the whole collage (from landscape to portrait). I felt that this gave a better sense of rhythm that helped guide the viewer’s attention (Baseline criteria no. 1).

I believe this rough draft showcases how I clearly articulated my message (Baseline criteria no. 2). My compositional choices (Baseline criteria no. 8) include the fonts, background, crypto coin image, balloon image, and the colors. I chose a very neutral background so as to act as negative space, unimportant to the eye to better emphasize the message. I chose a basic font for the top half of the photo so as to contrast the unique font for the bottom half that includes the crypto portion of the message in order to make this part more pleasing to the eye (Aspirational criteria no. 11).The Dited font gives an electronic/computer look that I felt was appropriate for relating to my message (Baseline criteria no. 3).

At the end of the following comment on my rough draft, a classmate suggested to modify the text of the attribution and I agreed and proceeded to make all attributions clearly readable in the final (Baseline criteria no. 5).

When improving upon the rough draft, I used the alignment tool to make sure all the text and images were aligned to each other in their respective portions of the collage (Baseline criteria no. 7). I also decided to implement some more feedback.

The second to last sentence they mention to incorporate another color such as green. This sparked an idea in me to utilize what Julie Thompson talked about in the dominance/hierarchy section of Graphic Design 101. “Any item that is in stark color contrast to the rest of the design will easily be the first thing to grab attention.” I wanted viewers’ attention to be grabbed by the crypto coin in order to make that part the most memorable. Therefore, I made the coin gold along with its associated text (Aspirational criteria no. 10 and 11). Most of my thoughts about my visual argument centered around how to alter part of an image by compositing it with another image to change its meaning (Aspirational criteria no. 4). After much thought, I came up with the INFLATION text to become inflated inside a balloon. This puts emphasis on inflation, which is the driver that I chose to help deliver my argument. Having this text become larger like it is being inflated inside a balloon and could also easily be popped, like a bubble in financial terms, is how I attempted this part of the aspirational criteria. This part also demonstrates Scale/Size from Graphic Design 101 (Aspirational criteria no. 10).

My rhetorical collage accomplishes what I intended, arguing for the adoption of cryptocurrency. It is even reflected in some of the feedback that I was given.

[kfm24]

For this project I used Photoshop. I wanted to see what more I could learn about this application I was already familiar with from other courses and internships. I learned how to manipulate graphics but using the fill tool to change the color of a certain section of the piece. This aspect I learned seemed very simple once I figured it out, however it was not something I knew from my past experience. I actually ended up using this newly learned skill for a visual for another course.

The argument I pushed to make though this visual is that education can change the toxic prison system. It is a pattern in the US that once someone is arrested they tend to return after being released. If inmates are not taught new skills there is no way for them to lead a successful like as a parolee. It is important to rehabilitate these people to help them return to the outside world and continue their life. With the help of higher ups in the legal system and education professionals there is a possibility to change the stigma that comes with being an ex-convict.

This was one of my first drafts: (yikes)

Within my final draft, I think I was able to guide my viewer's attention and thought process much better than the first few drafts I made for this assignment. I took the feedback from others to realize that I needed to do thing differently to get my vision across. My first draft was confusing and lacking in color and design. At first I thought that simple icons would be a clear way to present my message however my feedback said otherwise. Here is the feedback I received from my first draft:

I believe that my final arrangement was much more superior to my initial drafts. I realized that it is important to take feedback especially when it is something you do not want to hear. Your friends and peers are there to help and my first drafts definitely needed a lot of help. When it comes to color in my piece I made the word "Education" a light yellow color that was similar in color to the white book and light glow effect coming from the book. Through this coloring I tried to make the argument that "Education = Break in the cycle." Also, I used a cursive, fancy font for the word "education" to make the viewer think professional, important, and elegant. For the "ends the cycle" I used a more intense font that is rough around the edges. I wanted the tones of the font to contrast just like education and imprisonment are currently so separate from each other. Since the background is somewhat dark I added a glow behind each circle icon to create a contrast between the deep blue I used for the prison related aspects of the visual. I believe that the rhyme of my piece is dictated by the cycle/arrows visual. In my more recent draft I believe the message is much more clear than what it was before. I added some text and more visuals to guide the audience's thought process. In my piece I used about 18 layers and labeled certain layer that I needed to keep moving around and adjusting. When creating my assets chart I found it easy to place the link and website name next to each visual I used. This way if I needed the name of the creator or another copy of the visual I would have easy access to the original page where I found it.

My final draft:

[isabellebautista]

For my final project, I wanted to draw attention to something that I personally tend to pay attention to, which was the importance of understanding the harmful effects of fast fashion. Sustainability is something I feel as though people are being more attentive to, especially our generation, and it can really come from any purchase of product. Specifically, I wanted to emphasize the carbon emissions, harmful materials, lack of pay, and issues with workers that are going into clothing. I started with this: I was adding the components I wanted to highlight following the background of the photo. I chose this background because it contained a nice flow. The box spring and texture allowed for the viewer to easily look from left to right, which is typical for us as an English speaking country. As I added more icons, I again wanted to emphasize the flow of the materials, so I was able to add in arrows which helped guide the attention even more. I wanted it to look like the supply chain, every step that this pair of jeans or this shirt went through to get there. We can see that here: This screenshot is the ultimate result of my final project. In terms of the question/wording, I wanted to use a phrase that was sort of ambiguous, hence the "What do your clothes cost?". This could refer to the amount of money you spent, or what had been sacrificed to get that clothes to you. Here is a screenshot of some feedback I received:

I followed this by adding some more arrows to help guide the attention even more. I did not change out the "no money" symbol, but I think if I had more time to work on this, then I would. I was having trouble representing this in my image, so I would consider changing this in the future, given more time to work on the project.

In terms of hitting the baseline criteria, I believe I have hit all the baseline criteria. I used size, color and rhythm to guide the viewer's attention, reading from left to right. I also believe I had a clear message, as my peer editors said the cost came across as having a double meaning which is exactly what I intended. I believe I credited the creators correctly, but I may have to double check this one. I used multiple layers and used beyond just the select, move and text tools. In addition, I had sent commit messages explaining what's changing rather than just the ordinary default ones. In regards to aspirational criteria, I used the crop tool, rotate tool, and erase tools, which helped me to better define my message through my image. I also think I made my design very cohesive, within a color scheme that helped guide the viewer's attention across the screen. Overall, I think this was my favorite of the two we have done so far, and I think I would definitely work further on this to clean it up a little more and finalize the entire image.

[ellsimm]

My initial idea came when we did the reflection and the question was asked, “Is there something you’ve noticed that you want to bring to the attention of others?” When I was in high school, there was a puppy shop which was locally famous for its white picket fence enclosures where you could go play with puppies for free. I always wished I could tell people that supporting that business was at the expense of dogs they would never see. I love puppies as much as the next guy, if not more, but I grew up in a household that was constantly adopting and fostering dogs - some who were victim to the “puppy mill” system. I wanted to create and image that showed a dog looking trapped while also highlighting the picket fence aspect. I think that the white picket fence has dual meaning. It represents the store, but also the quest for “perfection” or the perfect family unit with the perfect pure-bred puppy. If I were to spend more time on this (and maybe I could come back at the end of the semester), I would want to find a way to incorporate the picket fence more seamlessly into the cage.

The first snag I hit was finding the right puppy image. I couldn’t find any that I liked with the correct or legal licensing, so I ended up purchasing this one form Getty. I thought the style matched what I was going for and the emotion portrayed was just right. I knew I wanted to incorporate the words into the bars for two reasons: 1. It was a way to get more persuasive information on the page without it getting too crowded or busy and 2. They represent the kinds of facts that create the metaphorical cage and danger puppy breeders cause dogs. Below was my first draft submitted for peer commenting.

Side note - I didn’t know how to layer in indesign before this. I’m very happy I learned how to do it in this unit as I think it will be super helpful in my work with keeping different designs organized and being able to lock/unluck groups for editing.

(As I am writing this reflection I cannot find where my peer’s comments went and I will be asking Ben for help locating those BUT I did read them in class and remember some/incorporated them)

Some things my classmates brought up were that the bar text was a bit difficult to read. It was sort of my intention to have that text be a bonus aspect that the audience noticed, so I didn’t want to make it too dark/easy to read. However, on the puppy’s right ear, it was particularly difficult to see, so I moved him to the left a bit which I think worked well.

They also commented that the white text got a bit lost in the blue background. I didn’t want to change the blue as I chose the color to represent both sadness and child-like innocence (baby blue color often used to represent baby boys). I thought a good solution was increasing the stroke on both the top and bottom texts, while keeping the bottom text bolder and making it italicized for emphasis.

I believe I met all the baseline criteria. My peers noted that that eye was drawn to the center and that they understood the message of the piece. I tried to be “crafty” in the bars being informative text for the argument, but I wish I had been able to create more of an illusion which could be surprising to the audience. I think the sans-serif fonts used were accessible and appropriate for the argument as I was attempting to be extremely blunt with the message.

[amo104]

"Eat Scallions" is a visual argument marketing to the audience exactly what it seems: they should eat scallions. The argument utilizes bright colors and movement that brings the viewer down the page, ending in a punchy, to-the-point slogan at the bottom right. The content itself is intended to be a little absurd—who puts green onions on ice cream, especially at that amount?—to keep the idea playing around inside the mind of the viewer.

In terms of creating this project, I already have a lot of experience creating digital imagery. I've never used GIMP before (opting for Krita for my own work and using Photoshop for other courses), but ultimately I'm fairly familiar with the process of designing and creating things online. As such, I wanted my project to let me practice technical skills within GIMP, focusing on the craft of composition more so than the content of composition itself. My visual argument, therefore, took on a rather simplistic look with a plain background and a lot of negative space to allow me to dive deep into making the primary visuals the best they could be.

I believe that I satisfy all the baseline criteria. First off, I certainly use more than 3 layers. Part of the process was taking a picture of cut green onions and individually isolating each slice into its own layer. Technically, I could have merged all these layers together at the end, however, I valued the opportunity to go in and precisely position and reposition each slice as I made the falling column take form.

(Not pictured in above image: 70 more layers of scallions!)

Next, I certainly used tools other than select, move, and text, such as gradients, color picking, unified transform, airbrushing, and healing. The ice cream cone shown in the final product is actually a mix of three pictures: one for the scoop, one for the cone, and one for the hand. Again, as my priority in this project was to explore technical skills, I made this decision to Frankenstein together three images for the ice cream cone so that I could create the best version of it for my piece. Finally in terms of the technical, I credited all assets in a file titled assets.md, and used specific commit messages to portray what's changing (usually due to deadlines, but also for some specific changes in content).

In terms of compositional choices, I believe that my visual argument aptly uses negative space, visual rhythm, size, and color. I positioned the bulk of the content to the left of the page—leaving a lot of empty space at the right—to give "breathing room" around the image and naturally make the audience's eyes move toward it. My colors are vibrant and contrastive: by using the opposites of light pink and bright green, I make the scallions pop out. The ice cream itself mostly uses neutral colors so as to not contrast but create cohesion with the scallions. I also add slightly transparent stalks of scallions to the background to create more color cohesion and make the overall shape on the page more interesting. Lastly, I use visual rhythm through flow and repetition to draw the viewers' eyes to the falling scallions, and consequently come down the page to the ice cream and text.

Below is what my project looked like by the time of peer review:

At this point, I was still in the repetitive process of isolating slices of green onion. As such, all of the advice from my peers involved making some way to clearly tell the reader the point of the piece. Namely, through text:

(Comments are from Ella, Kaitlyn McHugh, and Isabelle respectively. Thank you!)

As such, my next step was to position and write up the text I used for the piece. The subheading "Why not have a taste?" is something I quickly wrote as an update to my README, but as recommended by my peers, I thought it was a fun slogan to add to the piece. The text itself is using sleek and modern fonts—reminding me of the style of the "got milk" campaign—as a bold and clear call to action on the audience.

I fulfill several aspirational criteria. As seen in the .xcf file, I organized every layer into an appropriate layer group to keep everything together. I also renamed every layer (with the exception of the 90 layers that are literally just one slice of scallion each). As mentioned before, I used more than three tools, and used filters like gradients and xach-effect that work with the machine. I might argue that I "alter part of a source image by compositing it with another image to change its meaning" by juxtaposing green onions as sprinkles. I did create my own visual assets, since every scallion in this project was a real scallion photographed by me. It's bright and bold, and uses multiple design strategies (repetition, flow, color, etc.) to create dominance in the piece.

To view the final piece, please go to my repo: https://github.com/alocampo/visual-argument-2022spring

[elisewebb6]

While I was searching for images to use for my project I found it very difficult to find free images to use. I then got the idea to find a way to creatively use a bunch of my own photographs instead. Looking over all of my pictures I a found a very common theme and noticed that they all consisted of places I traveled. I decided to create a visual project that encourages others to travel and see the world for themselves.

I found an image of an eye online and wanted to blend a collection of my photographs into the iris of the eye. While I was layering my many photos into the iris I lightened the opacity to allow the photographs to blend together more and allow some of the iris to still show through. I originally wanted to find a way to blend all the images together but liked how digitalized the photo ended up looking. As a result each place is distinct and different from one another but still come together and make something beautiful. Similarly, there are many different and unique places we can visit and see in the world but all these things combined together create the memories and adventure in our life. As I added more images over the iris I cut the images with layer masks so they fit exactly into the iris to take on its exact shape. I also arranged the photographs based the colors in them. The lighter colored photos I had at the top of the iris and the darker colored at the bottom. This gave the eye a sort of shaded/blended look to it.

As I continued my project I decided I also wanted to add a quote to better articulate my message. Since my image lacked empty space I decided to make the quote color white to make it stand out more. It is also placed in the center of the eye to make it more symmetrically appealing and visible. I wrote it in a short and simple font to take away from how busy the rest of the visual project is.

This images show my progress of learning how I wanted to organize my photos in the eye. I originally was just placing them on the iris until I learned how to use the ellipse and mask layer tools. I also learned how to change the opacity in-between these two photos.

Attached above was some of the feedback that I received. Although my draft was no where near how I wanted it to look they still roughly got the theme or argument of my project. They also were able to get my audience as they said I was trying to reach out to younger people who have time to travel. I also added a travel quote like all of them suggested in order to make my message more clearer and my project more impactful for my audience. Another comment was to add my assests list which I also completed. Another big comment was blending and shaping my pictures which was my intention all along I just was not able to get to it before I had them review my draft. Overall they all agreed I had met the baseline criteria and even a few aspirationals.

I used more than 3 layers as incorporated many of my own photographs/visual assets. I also altered a source image by taking the iris of an eye and changing it to different places instead.

[evankozierok]

Visual Argument - Reflection

Going into this project, I had much less of a clean-cut idea for what I wanted than I had for the audio narrative. And perhaps to be expected, my end result changed more throughout the process than my audio narrative did, with me even completely abandoning multiple hours of work for something much simpler and more effective (see below). My original proposal was for a visual argument about gerrymandering and the negative impacts it has on democracy and politics. I started out with a number of possibilities, most of which involved some sort of play on irregularly shaped congressional districts along with some sort of striking call to action. That... is sort of what happened.

Among my possibilities was a glass fracture - the idea being that each little fragment of "glass" would be a district and they would combine to look like a gerrymandered map. As such, I started coloring in bits and pieces of my glass shatter image, then realizing that I had to clean up the image a lot because of how intricate it was, then realizing that my glass shatter didnt have any properly defined borders and not being sure where to cut it out... I eventually came to the conclusion that this just wasn't working. I decided to swap it with a similar idea where the glass shatter was a larger overlay onto the PA map rather than a feature inside it (this isn't an amazing description, but it makes more sense with pictures :) ). This came out a lot cleaner, but wasn't exactly the effect I had originally planned where each fragment was colored individually - the fragments spanned across county borders and so some were not uniformly colored. See below: where I was going vs where I ended up.

This leads into a more broad conclusion I reached, which is that I think this particular composition would have worked better in a vector graphics program over a raster graphics program. As it turns out, both of the assets I imported were vector files, and in general I liked the clean appearance they gave. Because I didn't import any detailed photos, going instead for simpler graphics and well defined shapes, I think using more dedicated vector software probably would have reduced some friction - but, I can't really be sure either way since I've never used vector graphics (I had used GIMP a little bit before this class). Nonetheless, GIMP did get the job done.

Feedback

Last before I talk about criteria, I'll talk about the impact that the workshop feedback had on my project. In general, the feedback was quite positive regarding the visual layout and impact, but I think the text I chose combined with the draft I had told a different message than gerrymandering, one that was more generally about the current faults in U.S. democracy. At the time, I chose to embrace that pivot somewhat, but in retrospect I think I would have preferred to refine my argument to more clearly convey the specific message about gerrymandering, the general idea here being specific over generic can be more effective. In terms of other feedback, I worked off of Ellie and Ben's suggestions to make PA's shape more visible by cutting off the shatter effect at the state border. I also increased the saturation of the red/blue to make PA more visible overall. In terms of font, I had a couple suggestions to make it "harsher" - this was something I tried hard to find, but most of the fonts that felt harsh also in some way felt embellished or overly stylized, so I instead went for a very simple, but bold and to-the-point choice of Montserrat. It wasn't an ideal "Wow, this is the perfect match!" scenario but I felt it was slightly more professional looking and effective. I also took Jenna's suggestion to make the QR code less blatant - I shrunk it enough that it was outside PA's border in the pale brown/yellow, which made it less of an immediate eye-catcher and allowed viewers to focus on the main message a bit more.

Feedback (click to expand)

[ellsimm](https://github.com/ellsimm) replied [8 days ago](https://github.com/evankozierok/visual-argument-2022spring/commit/fb58b91fa4fc5b4e4db536c0df3defd9e1c97534#commitcomment-67247977)[](https://github.com/elisewebb6) Describe: The first thing I see is the text which reads very well over the multi-colored background. Next I saw the QR code. I notice the "shattered" effect of the image. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was the state of PA as the background of the image, but I see it broken up into blue vs red areas, presumably representing which "way" the voters went in each county. Evaluate: There are definitely more than 3 layers to the project. There is a clear message speaking to how the rules of democracy are broken and flawed in come way. I believe the font matches the message; it is bold and clear. It appears that a tool was used to make the fracture effect transparent over the state. Suggest: I'm not sure why, but I feel as if they font could be "harsher" to match the intensity of the topic. Overall I think the visual argument is very strong and the addition of the QR code was a great idea. [elisewebb6](https://github.com/elisewebb6) replied [8 days ago](https://github.com/evankozierok/visual-argument-2022spring/commit/fb58b91fa4fc5b4e4db536c0df3defd9e1c97534#commitcomment-67248255)[](https://github.com/jennakupferschmid) In this project I see the state of Pennsylvania which looks shattered by the statement "the rules of democracy are broken". The distinct blue and red coloring of Pennsylvania gives it a political feel. The statement argument is also capitalized and written in white which is very appealing to the eye and is where my attention is immediately drawn. The project completes all the components if the criteria. I think one suggestion would be maybe making the shattered lines a little thinner if you can. They are quite bold and almost too overpowering as it takes away from your statement a little bit. Overall I really liked this visual presentation. [jennakupferschmid](https://github.com/jennakupferschmid) replied [8 days ago](https://github.com/evankozierok/visual-argument-2022spring/commit/fb58b91fa4fc5b4e4db536c0df3defd9e1c97534#commitcomment-67248404)[](https://github.com/benmiller314) The first thing my eyes were drawn to was the text, which effectively explained the argument of the image itself. I liked the use of color in the text as well because the black outline of the words matched the shatter effect on the page as well, therefore guiding my eyes to this part of the image next. I think the main point of the argument is of course that democracy is broken, but also aims to provide education on how to learn more with the QR code in the corner. I think this image does an amazing job with positive and negative space as well as color too. The white on the outside draws you into the image as well as the linear aspect of the lines pointing to the text draws your eyes to the middle of the photo too. I think this photo exceeds expectations within our criteria and is very well done. I have two simple suggestions to possibly help the image. I feel like the text next to the QR code is a little distracting from the image itself. I'm not sure if it is necessary to even have this text, as leaving an ominous QR code will compel viewers to check it anyways. If you would like to keep this text I suggest making it, and the QR, smaller as to not take away from your key message. Also, I feel the text in the middle could use a harsher font in order to help really push the message of the image. [benmiller314](https://github.com/benmiller314) replied [8 days ago](https://github.com/evankozierok/visual-argument-2022spring/commit/fb58b91fa4fc5b4e4db536c0df3defd9e1c97534#commitcomment-67248969) In addition to the great comments above, I'm thinking about Ellie's comment about not immediately recognizing Pennsylvania in the background, because it took me a moment, too. I wonder if one way to address that would be to crop the outer edges of the shattered glass at the state border, so the overall shape is more prominent. I'm not 100% sure it'd work, because it might just flip the situation and make the glass harder to parse; but it seems like something you might want to try, if that moment of pause is concerning to you. :¬)

Shown below: improvements made possible by workshop feedback

Baseline Criteria

• I believe I used many of our graphic design principles to great effect: I purposefully put the main message - the text and the fractured PA map - large (size) and in the center of the image (arrangement). In addition, I desaturated outside of PA in comparison to inside (contrast and negative space) to keep initial focus on the map, which was the only thing with bold colors in the image (color). Finally, the black fracture lines seem to move towards the center (visual rhythm; also value for the bold black lines), further reinforcing the first place to look, with the QR code coming only at the end.
• The message seems quite clear, as it is articulated in large font at the center of the image, and reinforced by the prominent fracture pattern.
• As mentioned above, the font was not explicitly "harsh", but felt serious and professional, a good match for the serious allegations of democracy being broken.
• Assets are credited on the project repo.
• There are definitely more than 3 layers (although some ended up not being used).
• I used several unique tools - off the top of my head: paint bucket, resizing, tracing text paths, exchanging colors in an image, different layer blend modes, desaturation... etc.
• Commit messages are generally clear as to what changed

Aspirational guidelines

• The repo is pretty organized. The layers in the project file are somewhat organized into groups, although it admittedly fell apart a bit near the end.
• There are a lot of distinct layers: the PA map, the outline of the map (had to be cut out so it could be above the glass fracture and thereby cut it off at the state border), the fracture, 2 sets of text and their outlines, and the QR code
• Lots of tools used - see in the baseline criteria. Most of these (besides paint bucket and resizing) I had never heard of/used before!
• Feedback shows that my message (the one I pivoted to, not my original gerrymandering-specific one) is quite clear
• The project was not specifically designed for accessibility, but as it turns out, red, blue, black, and white/pale brownish-yellow are a decent colorblind-friendly palette for most forms of colorblindness!
• As mentioned in the first bullet of the baseline, many of the graphical design choices compounded - i.e. I used arrangement, size, visual rhythm, contrast and so on all at once to draw attention to the center.
• The high contrast of the image is, in my opinion, bright, bold, and pops out.
• A QR code links to the readme with various articles for more information.

[paullewis2013]

"Car dependence" is a visual argument about the harm the use of cars can cause in society. The primary purpose of the argument is to communicate that reliance on cars is a bad thing and to give the viewer resources that can help them learn more about the problem and potential solutions. The idea that cars cause harm is communicated through the leaking oil coming out of the car's exhaust and the text "we've given up so much for so little" created with negative space inside the oil spill. The resources where a viewer can learn more are contained on a static web site I created quickly to link to helpful sources including books and online content. The site is linked using a QR code I generated in the bottom right.

here are 2 different stages of the image as it progressed.

I received some useful feedback that indicated to me that I was on the right track in communicating . One common issue was that the text was difficult to read in the oil spill. Another idea I received during feedback was that I could make the grass in the negative space appear yellow or dead to indicate that the car's pollution had killed it. I ended up incorporating this in my final design. I believe I met all of the baseline criteria such as multiple layers, visual rhetoric, meaningful commit messages, etc. I also believe I was able to meet some of the aspirational criteria by using my image as a link to a website connecting the viewer with more information. I think this is a really interesting topic and thanks to the flexibility of digital media I was able to combine several mediums together into a common theme.

Here is the final view of my project in Gimp:

[Mapatterson379]

When I first began working on my visual argument I had an idea to focus on the Black women who were murdered at the hands of police. I wanted to play homage to the work #Sayhername has done to bring attention to their stories. Women like Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Korryn Gaines, Aura Rosser, Alteria Woods, and so many more had lived lives that came down to just a short story about their passing, if at all. I had heard some of their names before and read about the events that lead up to their death, but I never really saw anything beyond that. While I was working on this argument I struggled with that truth. I think the “SayHerName” movement is a great start to bring attention and justice to these women, but it shouldn’t stop there. What were these women like? What impact other than their death did they leave on the world? How do their friends and family remember them? They are more than a name, they are people who were connected to this world in thousands of ways. In my head, I pictured a silhouette of a face made up of the faces of all the women. While trying to do this, my idea shifted to a less complex format as I thought it would be more impactful if all the women had their own space and were actually identifiable. My argument transformed as time progressed and I eventually came to the point where I am now. Which is masking the faces under a white transparent layer and having a cut out of the words “SAY HER NAME” be filled with the collage of faces underneath. For now, I would like to make more future changes to the piece. I am hoping to be able to incorporate a symbol of revolution or inspiration into the argument such as a fist or the Black Lives Matter slogan. I think the fist is what I’m leaning towards as I still want the argument to be focused on the lives of Black women.

Baseline criteria As far as baseline, I was able to meet all the requirements. It wasn’t very hard getting to or even past 3 layers as there were quite a few moving parts. The included text and font or somewhat lack thereof, “Say Her Name” fulfills the text criteria. The tools I used the most outside of select, move, and text were scale, transform, mask, and crop.

Aspirational criteria While working on my visual argument I was able to identify my layers by their names. I found this to be the easiest way for me to move images around and group my layers together. My feedback was kind of limited, however, my idea was evolving as it was being built. I think

This was one of the first drafts of my latest version. In this image you can see all of the women's faces setup in a collage format layered underneath a mask. On top of that layer are the "Say her name" slogan. From this point I wanted to cut out the words to make it seem as though the images were forming the words, rather than the words just sitting on top of the collage.

https://github.com/Mapatterson379/visual-argument-2022spring.git