For my Fandom final, my two partners (Shoshana in Game Design and Wajma Mohseni of ITP) and I are disrupting the Maxim fandom. But…perhaps, more accurately, we are exploring casual misogyny within print media, particularly the version of sexuality that Maxim’s sells as normative culture.
Myself and an average joe (aka a male ITPER) recreated Maxim poses. We plan on making posters to put around the city encouraging people to come to our website (which we are building) and vote for Who’s Hotter (or maybe Who’s More Ridiculous?) The site will feature myself and the male ITPer in all of our poses with the simple text of: just a couple of fans trying to recreate our favorite Maxim photographs.

Framing it as a fan act and fan object will highlight the ridiculous nature but also downplay the obviousness of the project. We want this to be seem as “authentic” and “lovingly” created but also ridiculous- the more ridiculous the poses and the nature of the project, the more it highlights the ridiculous nature of Maxim.

We then plan to project these images and have our classmates vote for which pose they prefer.

Poses from Maxim that inspired us:

Our user testing; or, how our class responded to an “average joe” re-enacting the poses.

One thing that was brought in class discussion was contrasting the male to a female and how they were recreating poses that highlight “what is sexy” as opposed to just having a singular male re-enact Maxim. This furthers the idea of exploring the male gaze and the idea that the female is an empty vessel/platform for this male gaze.

For my data rep final, I am making a physical installation called “Read Your Tags.”

“Read Your Tags” is a physical installation that breaks down the United States Apparel Consumption From 2010 via country of origin of manufacturing through stacks of tee shirts. After contacting various organizations, such the American Apparel and Footwear Association, which collects data on the subject of clothing imports and they sent all of their data and spreadsheets on clothing consumption and apparel manufacturing origins.

“Read Your Tags” is a physical bar graph through stacks of tee-shirts that illustrates where the United States purchases clothing from. In 2010, 34.27% of U.S. clothing purchased was manufactured in China. Compared to 1.96% of clothing purchased being produced in the U.S. I will have 9 stacks of tee shirts (each stack is like a bar on a bar graph) for different areas of import: CAFTA-DR (a free trade agreement between the US and Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic), China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, United States, Mexico, and the rest of the world. Each stack of tee shirts will be a different color. In front of each stack will be a wooden plaque that is turned over, so the top is completely blank. When you turn the plaque over, it will say which country and percentage the stack represents. So, China’s would say “China 34.27%.”
Within each stack, I will have clothing tags that give information about manufacturing within the country of origin. Another example- China is the leading producer of polyester, it produces 36% of the world’s polyester.”

This project is designed to teach the user about where their clothing comes from and environmental affects of said clothing. Within the clothing stacks, I will create tags that highlight how much clothing the US consumes, how much is thrown away, and the amount of energy that goes into clothing production.

I have contacted a variety of organizations: the American Apparel and Footwear Association, the Council for Textile Recycling, USA EPA Textile Common Wastes and Materials, and Not for Sale (an organization that highlights sweatshop labor); who have all given me access to a variety of data sets and excel spreadsheets they have compiled on this subject.

Here are pictures:

Here is a drawing/early schematic:

For my final project for Data Rep, I want to do a project on clothing consumption and the size of fashion’s eco footprint. Inspired by the book Overdressed, and these articles:

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/overdressed-elizabeth-cline-on-fast-fashion-overconsumption-and-what-we-can-do-about-it

http://www.overdressedthebook.com/fashion-fast-facts/

We now own and buy more than we ever have as a society. On average, Americans buy around 68 new articles of clothing a year, and 7 new pairs of shoes a year and we consume over 20 billion garments a year. Americans also spend around $1,100 a year on clothing (http://www.marketplace.org/topics/life/high-price-cheap-clothing) but we own more than we have ever owned before. Much of this clothing is considered “throw away” clothing, made cheaply, purchased cheaply, and then promptly disposed of. Much of this clothing ends up in thrift stores, then turned into rags for stuffing and cleaning and then shipped off to third world countries. But what happens after that? It ends up in landfills or falling apart.

Creating this clothing is destroying our environment: World fiber production is now 82 million tons, which requires 145 million tons of coal and somewhere between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion gallons of water to produce.

I want to do a project that addresses these issues. I want to create a series of visualizations I can put onto an iPad or iPhone (via a website) on the waste factor involved with clothing production but, additionally, I want to create a physical project. I’d like to show how differently we consumed in the 1900s (it’s hard to find an average but people spent about 15% of their income, which at the time was around 750 dollars annually. A ready to wear suit, for example, cost 15 dollars back then, and 15 is more than 15% of the annual income. So a person probably owned…a handful of outfits- most likely 5), with the 1950s (somewhere around 11 outfits) and today, where we own anywhere from 100-300 articles of clothing. I would show case these either in stacks to represent physical bar graphs or with 3 different rolling clothing racks. I would like attach tags with QR codes that tell stories about where the clothing would have or could have come from (i.e. in the 1900s, it was the rise of the industrial revolution, ready to wear and easy to manufacture clothing was being invented but it was still made well with wool, velvet, and cotton. The average consumer would still gone to a local dress shop to have things assembled and then reassembled with the styles changed, in the 1950s- it was the beginning of the department store area but we still owned between 9-11 outfits, and now, we own clothing that is made internationally in sweatshops. Just last year, over 100 Bageldashi workers burned to death in a factory fire that produced clothing made for WalMart. Forever 21 has been accused of paying well below minimum wage and having sweatshop like conditions in their Los Angeles factory in addition to plagiarizing designs from independent designers.) How we consume clothing is now a political and environmental issue- if it’s made overseas, produced in bulk, and has a cheap price, more than likely it is made in a sweatshop and with materials that destroying the environment.
This project is not just about creating awareness but showing how much our clothing consumption has changed. We own more not because we always have but because of low prices and the rise of sweatshop culture from the ’90s. Gap and Old Navy redefined how we shopped but also how much we owned. If it’s below a certain price point, it’s considered disposable. If it’s under twenty dollars, psychologically a consumer does not even consider if they need it or not. If it’s priced low enough, we purchase it because we can and because why not?
That thought is something we, as a culture, were taught to do. Being taught to purchase things monthly simply because the clothing colored changed, new styles appeared, and the prices were low enough altered our relationship to buying clothing. Our society was retaught how to shop and that changed how we related to clothing. The problem with clothing consumption is as much as a culture issue as it is an environmental issue.

Low priced clothing reduced garment factory jobs that existed in America to overseas factory, effectively destroying a large chunk of middle class work. While low priced clothing seems like symptom of a recession, an answer to democratizing fashion, it’s actually hurting our economy and our work force more than helping it.
Since October 2000, the U.S. lost 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs, which translates to 5.5 million layoffs. (October 2000, the U.S. lost 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs, which translates to 5.5 million layoffs. )
This article really highlights my thoughts on the issue:
“…You can try to transform the system through law, politics, activism, or a lot of cash. You can try to change the culture, through exposes, stunts or celebrities. Or you can try to create a robust alternative.

…Since the advent of offshoring, Americans have mourned millions of lost jobs, and hundreds of shattered communities. But at the same time, they have been trained to expect the dirt cheap clothes that globalized production makes possible. In fact, many families, plunged into poverty by a shuttered factory, have come to rely on them.
We live in an age of throwaway consumption, where clothing is not expected to last. At the turn of the century, “ready made” clothes were often way out of the price range of the average American. In 1902, a knockoff French “lingerie style” dress at Marshall Field’s started at $25 ($621.50 in today’s dollars), according to Cline. These days, you can get a Tie Lace Dress at Forever 21 for $29.80. A smocked flutter-sleeve dress from Walmart will set you back $4.”
By using QR codes I’d like to create stories (based on data) that illustrates how we’ve changed as a culture in the way we approach buying and owning and how that has changed. This is not just a economic or environmental issue, it’s a cultural issue as well. And the paragraph above is not just a story but a real representation. It’s an example of how we shop and how that is not sustainable.

I really want to illustrate how we relate to clothing and how we cannot, environmentally, keep doing this. The earth cannot support this type of consumerism. By giving people tangible and relatable stories, I hope to help illustrate how we created this problem but how we can solve it.

The data visualizations on an iPad or laptop can also help illustrate what we are doing to the environment (showing the amount waste from cotton, how much we import, how many people have died in the past decade from manufacturing fast fashion overseas).

I…okay, this sounds very extreme in nature and I realize that. I’ll most likely be blogging about this a lot. But, I want to highlight ways, ways that have been outlined in Overdressed the book, the we can combat this. It’s buying less, buying only what you need, buying locally, and buying second hand (does this sound familiar? It’s kind of similar to how we should approach food). See this example as well “But these clothes aren’t always the wisest investment. “My pair of Allen-Edmonds has lasted for 20 years,” says Joseph, speaking of the high-end Wisconsin-made menswear brand. Spending $250 on a pair of shoes might seem extravagant to most Americans, but it’s cheaper than buying a new pair of Payless cap-toe oxfords, at $39.99, every two years.” (http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/10/04/we-can-make-usa-but-will-we-buy-it/)

If Americans spent one percent more on U.S. goods, it would create over 200,000 jobs (according to a Moody’s analytics report from here http://savethegarmentcenter.org/help/)

I’ve never done an overly didactic project before but this is something that has been really weighing on my mind a lot.

Some interesting data sets (I’d like to make a few of these…but in more “design-y” way)

http://www.weardonaterecycle.org/about/issue.html

https://www.wewear.org/industry-resources/we-wear-our-mission/

further note:
The 1950′s marked the beginning of one of the biggest economic booms in US history and spurred the rise of consumerism and American excess that has defined a lot of our culture in the US and worldwide for the past sixty years. Style Clothing became an important part of culture in the 1950s, with the country going through many societal and cultural changes. It would showcase one’s place in society more so than ever before and became a way to express conformity and individual identity.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/50sclothes.html

Research:

http://www.ci.mil.wi.us/ImageLibrary/Groups/doaPurchasing/forms/nonpovertywage.pdf

http://www.smartasn.org/about/SMART_PressKitOnline.pdf

http://www.smartasn.org/about/SMART_PressKitOnline.pdf

http://www.alternet.org/story/69256/dress_for_excess%3A_the_cost_of_our_clothing_addiction

http://www.textileworld.com/Articles/2004/September/Fiber_World/A_Polyester_Saga_Geography_And_All.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/09/trade-deficit-with-china-cost-nearly-28-million-us-jobs-since-2001.html

the ecological effects of producing billions of garments a year- http://www.alternet.org/story/69256/dress_for_excess%3A_the_cost_of_our_clothing_addiction

http://seekingalpha.com/article/194764-apparel-spending-as-a-share-of-disposable-income-lowest-in-u-s-history

less of our income is spent on clothing but we own more clothing than ever before

https://www.wewear.org/industry-resources/we-wear-our-mission/

http://www.weardonaterecycle.org/about/issue.html

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/10/04/we-can-make-usa-but-will-we-buy-it/

http://www.businessinsider.com/deindustrialization-factory-closing-2010-9#the-united-states-has-lost-a-total-of-about-55-million-manufacturing-jobs-since-october-2000-7

http://www.businessinsider.com/deindustrialization-factory-closing-2010-9#in-1959-manufacturing-represented-28-percent-of-us-economic-output-in-2008-it-represented-115-percent-9

http://savethegarmentcenter.org/help/

a list of where to buy US made clothing – http://savethegarmentcenter.org/madeinusa/
Reduce Waste Initiative by H&M (trying to fix the problem but they are part of the problem). http://hmconscious.com/#panel4 http://www.hm.com/us/longlivefashion

more research:

http://archive.harpers.org/2006/07/pdf/HarpersMagazine-2006-07-0081115.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJXATU3VRJAAA66RA&Expires=1364771544&Signature=yyztoPZW3xrx8gA5cqug7Ksi69U%3D

http://www.epi.org/publication/ib235/

http://prospect.org/article/plight-american-manufacturing

http://www.enjoy-your-style.com/1950s-fashion.html

http://blog.nyciwear.com/2012/05/1990s-fashion-history-and-influences/

2nd class.

I made some stuff and then did some more stuff. yay!

In this image, it’s all the zero to five rated stars with the lowest (latitude wise) and highest (latitude wise) points of hotels.
Lowest- Los Cauquenes Resort and Spa
Highest- Radisson Blu Polar Hotel Spitsbergen Longyearbyen
codey code

I wanted to plot the whole class’s names on a map (or rather…hotels that featured our names). I got it to map mine but when i added the classes names it added them all together as one word and showed me…nothing… any and all suggestions are welcome!

clickety clack code
but here is a lovely picture of all the hotels that feature CAROLINE in their names. i now have a new bucket list goal- to visit them all.

and now the most remote.
here is the code
processing sketch
hotel class

from this code, it showed that the most remote is Talnak Hotel in Russia

I am…incredibly upset at my color test. Incredibly distraught. Color correcting was my job! For, like, two years! What the what? I didn’t get a 0, I got an 11. This is horrible. I plan on retaking this test when I’m not under slept and over stressed.

and here is my processing sketch-
i love pastels and muted colors and the shape makes it feel super retro. kind of like a 70′s vibe.

here is my sketch with the cyan set at 0

here is my sketch with the red set to 0

here is my sketch with the green set to 0

here is my sketch with the magenta set at 0

here is my sketch with the blue set to 0

here is my sketch with the yellow set to 0

and here is the code!
SquareLine[] mySquares = new SquareLine [60];

void setup () {
size (500, 500);

for (int i = 0; i < mySquares.length; i++) {
mySquares[i] = new SquareLine (color(random(255), random(255), random(255)), random(width), random(height), random (40, 100), random (40, 100));
}
//color, xPos, yPos,width, height, speed
}

void draw () {
background (90, 90, 180);

for (int i = 0; i < mySquares.length; i++) {
mySquares[i].displaySquares();
//end for
}

for (int i = 0; i < mySquares.length; i++) {
mySquares[i].displaySquares();

}
}
class SquareLine {
color c;
float xPos;
float yPos;
float w;
float h;
float speed;

// A boolean variable keeps track of the object’s state.
boolean mouse; // state of stripe (mouse is over or not?)

SquareLine (color _C, float _xPos, float _yPos, float _W, float _H) {
c = _C;
xPos = _xPos;
yPos = _yPos;
w = _W;
h = _H;
mouse = false;
}

void displaySquares() {
// Boolean variable determines Stripe color.
if (mouse) {
fill(50,60);
}
else {
fill(c);
}

noStroke();
rect (xPos, yPos, w, h, 20);
}
}

so. it’s not a lot of work but its the best i got post applications!

I chose the “Wired” logo. I love it, b/c it mimics letter press printing and it sort of marries technology and design. Letter press printing was incredibly technologically advanced when it was invented but laying out print and the typography of said print is incredibly integral to design and communication. Wired, the magazine, is about digital communication and press within the technology field.
Wired was started in 1991 and has had the same logo.

Additionally, like the google logo, Wired’s logo is incredibly easy to change or adapt the logo. Sometimes it looks actually wired, often times the letter pieces are different colors depending upon the cover design. It’s pretty dynamic while still being simple.

BAD LOGOS

so…I am a member of an all female mardi gras krewe called Iris. and This is a screenshot of our website.

Does this read Mardi Gras to you? Cos it just looks like a ladies club about flowers. Women that come together over flowers. Please see the following pictures and tell me if you really think Iris is about demure flowers.

ITP LOGO
i used this font i downloaded called wire. i didn’t intend for the whole post to be wire centric (har har) but i really love the font- i love that it’s playful while being descriptive (it look’s modern and “techy”) but it’s not too playful (we’re not talking like full on comic sans territory here).
i want it to look connected, vaguely p-comp like but also something that would be affiliated with DNA or science but whimsical

.