Visuals in Schools

This is a presentation I would have liked to be a part of! Of course the visuals I see in schools as a librarian may not be what others think of first. I think of the display cases full of student work, from any subject. I think of signs telling you about fundraisers and up coming activities. I think of shelf labels and Dewey Decimal numbers! But mostly, I think of book covers!Cover art is an interest of mine. Because the old saying "you can't judge a book by it's cover" is wrong. You can, and will judge a book by it's cover. I've even seen a little research about this very topic. As books are published in each generation the covers change, and there are some very specific trends that have been found. I don't know much about those trends, and I can't remember where I saw that article but I have definite opinions about book covers! If you want a young adult, or a child to read a book it has to look appealing. I'm sorry but it's the truth. The books above and below this paragraph are the same book with different covers. Doomed Queen Anne is about Anne Boleyn and was written with a young adult audience in mind. The first cover seemed to be too juvenile for the young adult readers for which the book was written. The new cover appears to be more sophisticated.

I read a lot of young adult and children's literature. There are some good books kids won't touch. It's got to be appealing! I know one librarian, who does a Brown Bag Book Grab. She takes some classic older books from her library, good books that she can't afford to buy new copies of. She book talks each one and the students "bid" on a book that sounds good to them. The challenge is to take it home, open up the bag and read the book. They are NOT to open the bag until they are home and to read at least the first chapter. For some kids it works, others don't really get into it. But it's a great way to deal with judging books by their covers.


No matter if it's a young adult, children's, or adult novel I'm always looking at book covers. Currently I am looking at a lot of science fiction book covers during my Master's research. I am looking at current trends in young adult science fiction. So far I have read Peeps, Taken, and Candor (in that order) for my research. Can you tell which cover I like the best? The look of the book has been a consideration as I read. I take one that I like the look of, then one that doesn't "look" as good. That way I am not reading all the "good" books first. I ended up liking the book Taken a lot more than I thought I would, but I sandwiched it between Peeps and Candor for a reason...


PS
Here's an AWESOME trailer for The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The trailer is actually narrated by the author as well. This book won the Newbery Medal in 2009.


PPS
Read the book Candor by Pam Bachorz and then check out this website! Ever want to know what makes a "good book?" When you HATE the ending, but still LOVE the book...that is a GOOD BOOK.

Post for Monday, Feb. 21, 2011 Visual Symbols Take 2 Part 2

So we were supposed to update our first post about visual symbols in our life when I posted about music. Music doesn't really reflect current symbols in my life though, so I'm taking the time now to talk about some of the visuals that I can't escape right now.

I will be graduating this May. Unless my research project slows me down, but at the very latest I will be done with everything by the end of the summer. I WILL be "walking" in May. So right now I have a lot of thoughts about the graduation process...leading to the job searching process...yikes! It seems like my time as a student is flying by at an alarming rate. I have notes everywhere reminding me to finish this application, or send transcripts to "that school," or don't forget to update your portfolio! Everything is coming together, but I don't feel ready!


Finding a school library job is the priority now. Although, I'm applying for public and academic library positions as well. With budgets being what they are these days, if it says "library" I'm there. I've been using the Teach Iowa website to look for school library jobs as well as a website called indeed, a job search engine. To start I am searching in Iowa for library jobs, but if I need to I am willing to expand that search to Illinois and Wisconsin. Although teaching or working for the state of Wisconsin right now seems to be a risky idea...but I have family there...so for now I'm searching in Iowa!

Visual Symbols Take 2 Part 1

I enjoyed class tonight. Seeing the different visuals that were used in the presentation was fun. It's funny how seeing certain pictures or images will affect people. I saw a treble clef. Which reminded me of reading music.



Which reminded me that I miss playing my violin! I've never been a very good violinist, but I enjoyed it. However, I don't have the money for the upkeep. The last time I looked at my violin the bridge had been compromised and I needed a completely new bow or to re-string the old one. A new bow would probably cost less. Besides the fact that I don't keep it in the best case or take care of the climate around it I really think I should pass on my violin to someone who would take care of it. However, I still want to be able to play. A friend of mine had a very small electric violin at one point. I wonder if I could keep that in the proper condition so that I could play when the feeling struck? I don't want to forget how to play completely! I may not be very good, but I do enjoy it.
All of these thoughts ran through my head during class. I probably missed another picture or symbol that could have triggered a completely different "tangent" in my mind. But the treble clef is what caught my attention.

Perspective

Among other things, we talked about Perspective in class this week. These first couple of pictures were taken for a class. I was trying to use perspective to help illustrate a word choice. I like playing with perspectives, but sometimes it works great, while other times I just don't catch it. For the cookie making picture I was standing on a chair, trying to get a sharp angle down...it kind of worked.

Other times I'm not even trying and the outcome will actually be better! I like perspective pictures that happen naturally. For example, Notre Dame Cathedral. The height, angles, and the character of the building really do all the work for you! Just keep snapping shots and you'll end up with some great stuff when you get home.





Can you tell Paris is my favorite city in the WORLD to visit? Really, if it wasn't that every time I visit the city it's usually with someone who has never been, AND we are always there for a short period of time...I would just wander around all day taking pictures. I mean literally wandering with no real purpose other than to snap a shot when I feel like it.

Killing Us Softly Video Response

I enjoyed watching the video in class. The author/presenter was good at walking the line between funny and serious. In response to the content; I think right now we are beginning to see better TV adds, there are certainly more that have a positive message or use "real women." However, I don't see much changing in print adds. That seems to be a bigger problem maybe in part because the audience is more specific when you are looking at print adds. Either way I don't think the problem will ever go away, because somewhere, somehow, the adds must be working...otherwise why would they keep getting used? One year my sister decorated her bedroom with different ads from magazines. Anything she found interesting, funny, or beautiful. She had an add for jeans using the cast from "That 70's Show" because we were big fans. It was just the cast in "costume" wearing jeans and looking normal. However, I did recognize an Evian water add from the video as being in my sister's room at the time! It was the lady in the bathtub with the Evian bottles all over. It was simple and pretty, I'm not exactly what the problem with this add was. It's a "normal" too skinny model, but that's hard to avoid in most magazine adds. I feel like going back and finding some pictures of her room at that time so I can compare the images she picked to the ideas presented in this video! I know she wasn't picking ads with a critical eye for the types of "messages" presented in the video, but by what she liked at the time either what the add was selling or maybe who was in the add. My interest is piqued!

The following commercial has good points and bad. Yes it shows off "parts" of the woman's body rather than the whole, but it also shows a body that isn't the unattainable crap you normally see. I worked for Lane Bryant for 5 years, it was a great way to earn money and get a great discount on professional clothes that fit! This add came out and caused such a stir because Fox decided not to air it during American Idol, after seeing it. The amount of free press that Lane Bryant got from the controversy, I'm sure they sent Fox a thank you card. But really, I don't see anything wrong with it...judge for yourself. I thought the commercial was nicely done and similar in style to others I had seen on television at the time. I know that some commercials are made for the basic networks and others are made for cable, but I'm pretty sure you can see a lot worse than this on any of the basic network programs, let alone the ads!

Perception!

Perception. As I read chapter two and again while watching the videos in class I was amazed by the power of perception. It really is amazing that different people can see the same exact picture and see completely different details. So this whole thing reminds me of one thing, and it just keeps popping into my head so I feel I have to share.

"Once you can name something you have power over it."

I'm not sure who said this during class, if it was in one of the videos or came from the reading, but this just clicked with me. I think of this in terms of my car. Yes, my car. I am by no means a "car person." I don't really know one model from the next. I do know the basic manufacturers: Chevy, Ford, Pontiac (sadness that it's gone now), Olds (again, sadness), Toyota, and so on. I never knew how little I paid attention to cars until I bought my first decent car after finishing my undergrad degree. I bought my dad's old car, a 1998 Oldsmobile Regency silvery/tan. By this time Oldsmobile had been out of business for a couple years, but this was still a pretty decent car. As soon as it was mine I saw them EVERYWHERE! I couldn't drive to the grocery store without seeing at least one other car that looked exactly like mine. It was insane, and don't get me started about finding it in the mall parking lot! It was nuts, but I had never "known" a specific Olds before. They were all alike to me. This whole thing was a little crazy, but I thought "hey it's a popular car." Wrong, it was just a car like any other. Last year my poor Olds was "killed" by an accident, no one was hurt. My dad helped me find a "new" used car. I ended up with a 2000 (I think) Buick Lesabre, I like full size cars if you hadn't caught that yet! I started driving it around and after about 2 weeks I noticed my car was everywhere! This car is green, which I thought was a lot less common! But, my next door neighbor has the EXACT same car right down to the color! Why did I never see this before? Because I had no image of a Buick Lesabre, I just knew "Buick." I couldn't name it, I couldn't find one in a crowd. Now I see at least one EVERY day...

This is just one example of how perceptions change and affect everyday life. I have a friend who is an artist. It always amazes me how differently we see things. While watching the first video in class, the man with the interesting art, I thought about my friend. She sees thing differently similar to the way the speaker saw things differently. I was very impressed with how he could make regular items look extraordinary! I don't often think about my friends art, it's something she does because it makes her happy. It's not something she gets paid for or purposely shares with the world. But she shares it with her friends and family, and her art makes me look at things differently. Sometimes we influence each other. While taking photos for a class I took a picture of her reflection in her tuba, she is also a musician. She loved the picture so much that she made it into a self portrait for one of her classes. It is really neat, we both have a copy of the picture, and I love to see her portrait up on her wall when I visit!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This week I found some beautiful visual art at home. It also happened to be the edible kind! I live with friends from college, Megan and Chris Kremer. Megan runs a small cake making business from her home. Right now it is all the rage to order cake pops. I have been gone for a while so today was my first time to see what a cake pop meant. For something so simple Megan really knows how to make a statement. I was watching her as she worked today, and realized that she really has a talent for visual art as a cake maker. I love to watch her as she is making cookies, cakes, frosting, or anything really. She truly has a talent. Not only are the cakes much tastier than any of the pre-made cakes you would find at the store, they tend to be prettier too! Megan is very detailed and has high standards for her work. She seriously looks at perspective, complimentary colors, shading, size, and any other feature that would be important to the quality of her product. What I would normally think of as great, Megan can usually spot a problem. If something is off center or not the right shade Megan will find it and fix it! She goes to great lengths to put out a delicious and beautiful product every time. When making a cake for her grandmother's 80th birthday she decided to create a cake with a wine theme. She created a label to put replace the real label on a bottle of wine and added supports to the cake so that the bottle could be part of the cake! It was an amazing idea that really did more than just a picture could have. She made the cake a 3-d piece of art! Her grandmother got to enjoy the beautiful cake as well as "her own vintage" of wine. It was a really special touch.

Her business is really starting to grow! To help it grow she has done an excellent job of showing off her work through different media. You can find her on Facebook by searching Megan's Cakes or go to her website here! She has taken the time to purchase a camera that will take quality pictures so that her work is shown to the best advantage. She also continues to update and acquire new cake making supplies. She is currently working on creating a logo for her business.

Her business is about making great cakes, which you might think is all about taste, but that's not necessarily the case. People will buy a crappy tasting cake if it looks fabulous! So it is important that Megan create a visually perfect cake, more so than a tasty cake. Megan being the perfectionist that she is,does indeed make a very tasty cake, but I think she would still do well in her business if the cake was the same old stuff you would find from Hy-Vee. I think she is just that good at presenting the perfect visual. I don't have the same "eye" that she has. I can't look at a cake and know what will make it perfect. I can't be told a "theme" and think of a design...it's not my talent. If I had been told to make an M & M cake I would have made a normal round cake with the normal sides, but Megan thought too make the actual shape of an M & M and to take a little from the recent add campaigns as well! It was awesome!


*All pictures taken by Megan Kremer and used with permission.