Thursday, November 5, 2009
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EMily Post T-SHIRT
The Simple Modern Man’s Guide To The Clothes Of A Suave And Attractive Millennium Gentleman
A real man dresses like a gentleman. The easiest method is to stay classic, stay sharp and stay clean. Just as a woman in Paris can buy frightful clothes- or the most beautiful, so too can a man in Adelaide. Without any guidance, results can be disastrous. Let us suppose you are young, or at least youngish and fit. And without a doubt dashingly good looking, you have unquestioned social standing, and you are going to get yourself an entire new, charming, ‘modern’ wardrobe. Good luck with that. The Pub A place to sip frothies with the boys, generally a relaxed and ‘merry’ atmosphere. Jeans Can be worn to the pub, the current trend being ‘skinny’. Don’t skimp on jeans. Good jeans look great, bad jean look terrible. As a rule, the lighter the denim, the more casual it will look. A button up shirt looks smart with jeans and doesn’t have to be too dressy with the sleeves rolled up and the top button undone. Sometimes the top two buttons look good open. Never three. Ever. Unless you want to look like a try hard latino pop singer. These days ‘nice’ T-shirts, whether they be polo’s or fitted printed T’s are acceptable at the pub with jeans and neat slip on shoes or lace ups. Don’t wear thongs to the pub. First of all, thongs look cheap with jeans. Secondly, no respectable establishment will even allow thongs as part of their entry dress code because they look tacky. On that note, sneakers are also a huge no no. the ‘sneans’ look never has been and never will be acceptable. Do not wear sneakers with jeans. A Dinner Date Depending on the location of the date, the attire can be quite varied, but generally a first date will not be too formal. After all, you don’t want to scare the poor girl off. No suit is necessary, Pub attire is generally acceptable. A shirt is probably preferred, If it’s an upmarket restaurant (Main meals over $30) you are taking the lucky lady to, then an unbuttoned shirt with a smart blazer (looser fitting and more relaxed style to suit jacket) can be worn over the unbuttoned shirt. Wear with jeans and smart leather shoes or boots, in either brown or black to match the leather belt. Avoid white, tan, grey and snake print at all costs. And never settle for vinyl. A Barbeque Usually barbeque’s take place either in someone’s home or in a park or open outdoor area. This makes them more casual events. They are a place to relax, and enjoy warm weather and good company, but this is no excuse to look like a dag. Shorts may be worn to a barbeque, but not the basketball or football variety. ‘Preppy’ fitted above the knee shorts are the ‘in’ thing this year, and they can be worn with either T-shirts or shirts. Try to wear bright colours on either your top OR bottom half in summer as this will highlight your charismatic and ‘happy’ personality. Thongs may be worn to a barbeque because you are in the company of friends only. Ensure that feet are clean, callous free, trimmed, and moisturised before public exposure. There is nothing more disgusting and unfashionable than dirty feet. The Beach Assuming you have a fit and tanned body, board shorts are appropriate for a day at the bay. Like shorts, the above the knee style is more popular this season. Board shorts always look better with print. Plain coloured boardies are boring. A cap (as long as it’s not a freebie and not a piece of merchandise for a team you support) may also be worn if you require some sun protection, a panama hat is preferable however, these look good on most people and show that you have a bit of style, even when wearing the bare minimum. A Wedding Weddings are glorious places to meet new people, and how better to make a grand first impression than with your beautiful taste in clothes. Unless specified on the invitation, a suit is always appropriate at weddings. Avoid any shade of cream or blue. These colours look cheap. Polyester is non breathable and hideous. Velvet is not in fashion. Padded shoulders are an abomination. Look for fit in a suit, not the price. ‘Fit’ means perfect set and line, not plaster tightness. Two buttons are best, but never do both of them up. The tie is where you make your statement, bright colours and patterns show personality. Stick to spots and stipes though, tie’s with little pictures of penguins or cars or ‘humorous’ cartoon characters are for primary school teachers and taxi drivers only. Home The only place (besides the gym) where track pants and ‘wife beater’ style singlets can be worn. Comfort is essential when in ones own home, but one must never forget that at any single moment there may be a knock at the door. Wear shoes, even if they are thongs or slippers, because bare feet equal dirty feet and dirty feet make you look poor. Slippers must look like slippers though, and may not be worn outside the house. Do not wear cartoon head or puppy dog slippers, they are not cute.
say NO to sneans
Sophia Rebecca
MY FINISHED EXEGESIS
EXPANDING ON EMILY POST
Issues in Publication and Design- Sophia Thomson
One of the main components of the Issues in Publication and Design course this study period, has been focusing on understanding the works of theorists such as Walsh, Reep, Parker, Schriver and Wheildon. All of whom look at the relationships between communication, graphics and design. Another component of the course was studying an etiquette guide written in 1922, by American author Emily Post. This exegesis breaks down the three Emily Post related artefacts which have been created to tie in with the theme of the book and looks at the reasoning behind the design choices made in the process of creating the objects and the comparisons of these choices to the ideas and suggested design ‘rules’ of the theorists studied. It also looks at how the reader may interpret the artefacts through the use of language and context, semiotics, meanings, and graphic design.
The first artefact created is based on Emily Post’ original 1922 Etiquette guide, chapter XXXIV ‘The Clothes of a Gentleman’ (Appendix 1.1). The original piece of text is written in a conversational but very serious tone, it is a lengthy piece of writing and is easy to get lost in. Because the text is written in block chunks, rather than in short concise easy to understand dot points or small pars, I personally found the chapter rather difficult to stay focused on. According to Walsh (2006) ‘Print based texts have different levels of decoding, responding and comprehending’, meaning that it cannot be assumed that the text itself will be interpreted the same by everybody. Similarly Schriver (1997) explains that ‘Every reader interprets what they read differently as they base it on personal experience and have different individual meanings based on knowledge, attitudes and values’. Ideally, reading a piece of text should be an enjoyable interaction between the reader and the text itself. This is why when creating this print artefact I chose to re-write and simplify ‘The Clothes of a Gentleman’ for a modern audience. For this print artefact I have written the guidelines on a men’s T-shirt. The T-shirt is a modern fashionable slim fit style and it reflects the evolution and changes in men’s fashion today. This also agrees with and takes Walsh’s (2006) theory into consideration, that the style of writing and the story needs to be reflected in the presentation. In this case, the text is relevant to men’s clothing, so it makes sense to print it on a quirky fashionable men’s printed T. Although the original guide utilises sub-headings such as Formal Evening Clothes, The House Suit, Formal Afternoon Dress and In The Country, which work to break the page up, call attention to specific topics, show where topic changes occur and help readers find specific information (Reep, 2006), the newer version of the guide does not use these. Instead, ‘The modern man’s guide to looking suave’ uses shorter sentences and a less conversational tone. It is written in more of a bullet format, with shorter sharper rules, rather than long descriptive sentences and uses different colours to break it up. ‘Colour in a document is eye–catching and appealing to readers… it also helps the reader move through the document.’ (Reep, 2006) This also makes the actual T-shirt more attractive and fashionable, from a distance it simply looks like an interesting bright printed T rather than a T-shirt with a slab of information printed on it.
The second artefact is based on a piece of work which is indirectly linked to Emily Posts book of Etiquette, it is a piece adapted by an anonymous author about greetings. (Appendix 2.1) It looks at the similarities and differences between Emily Post’ formal greetings and greetings in Japan with included translations. I have chosen to intervene on this work and extend it into an electronic children’s book with both visuals and sound. I chose to expand on this to make it more interesting and entertaining. By creating a document with more than just words, it immediately becomes more intriguing and especially for children, more fascinating. As Schriver (1997) points out, ‘as technology improves and means of communication change, presentation of information needs to adapt’ and similarly, Walsh (2006) states that ‘written text is only one part of the message, and no longer the dominant part.’ So in this modern day and age, books and information need to adapt to these changes. This is why I created the book which can be viewed via a Microsoft power point slide show. Unlike a regular kids book which simply shows pictures and text, this book also includes voice overs of the text. Not only does this give the story an extra multimodal element, but it also helps the child learn to read and to understand the pronunciation of difficult words, particularly because the book focuses on greetings in different languages from different countries around the world.
Schriver’s study is based on the interplay of text and graphics and explores how the relationship between words and pictures create meanings together, not separately. The study looks at the ways in which words and pictures interact and work together to evoke feelings in the reader. The construction of this children’s e-book was predominantly based around Schriver’s theories and suggestions. When creating this artefact I also felt that it was important to follow Parker’s direction and to first look at and understand who my target audience is and what similar messages they may already have encountered (Parker 1990). In this case, the intended audience is children aged 3-8, and assumedly, they would have been exposed to many different children’s books with different visuals and graphics. So taking this into consideration I wanted to make my artefact stand out. I wanted to make it fun and exciting for children to read. Ideally, I wanted to make this artefact something they would not grow bored with, I wanted to create something they would enjoy reading. Which is why I chose to introduce the element of sound to it. Each time the child clicks to turn the virtual page of the book, the next page appears with the image and text and then the sentence written on that particular page is read aloud to them as a voice over.
Each page of the book is quite simplistic. I did not want to overload the readers with too much information, I wanted to stimulate curiosity and interest, but not bombard them with too many words and too much information. ‘For language to be used successfully when writing the main message, the text needs to be presented clearly, not allowing several other messages to compete for the audience’s attention’ (Global Alliance, 2003). This is why on each page I have included only one short simple greeting. At the bottom of the page is the name of the language in bold easy to read typeface, and in the middle of the page is the greeting written in that language. The background picture on each page is a simple, generally recognisable stereotypical picture of a place in which this language would be spoken, for example the ‘French’ page has a picture of the Eiffel Tower as the background and the ‘Arabic’ page has a picture of the Pyramids in Egypt. This simplistic approach makes the book easy to follow. It is not too busy with too much text for young children to read, they should find it simple, easy and fun. I chose to use a simple bold consistent font for the book and avoided thin ornate typefaces because as Parker (2003) states, ‘thin serifs and strokes tend to get lost when projected on screen.’
The third and final artefact I have created is a drawing. It is based indirectly on Emily Post’ guide to public transport, and relates to ‘Bus Etiquette’, a guide, written by an unknown author. The humorous guide to catching the public bus explains how to overcome and avoid uncomfortable moments and awkward silences by covering different subjects such as The Bus Driver, Social Interaction, Avoiding Eye Contact, Creating Distractions, Seating, Signals and Location. I have chosen to expand on and intervene on this piece of text by creating an image of the inside of a bus. This image could be used with the text to expand on it and illustrate to readers what happens on the public bus in the 21st century. For those who have never caught a bus it would work as a teaching tool to help them further understand the written guide. The drawing I have created looks down the aisle of the bus from the entrance near the driver to the back of the vehicle. It is drawn from a commuters point of view, with their hand and their bus ticket in the foreground and the seating arrangement of he other commuters in the background. The drawing follows the rules of the ‘Bus Etiquette’ guide and shows elderly people sitting at the front of the bus, younger adolescent school students sitting at the back of the bus with their school bags on the surrounding seats, people sitting alone and people purposely distracting themselves with books and ipod’s so that they have reason not to talk to other bus passengers.
This picture is drawn in lead pencil and is mostly black and white, it incorporates sections of white space and uses only small amounts of colour to highlight different elements. I chose not to do the entire picture in colour because ‘colour should be used with restraint. It’s easier to make a strong impression with black plus one or two colours than it is to make an impression by using every colour of the rainbow.’ (Parker 2003)
Whether it be through text, a combination of text and sound or graphics and images, messages must be presented clearly to readers and viewers without confusing them with other distracting elements. This element of design and the idea of simplicity and cleanliness was the main focus for me when designing my Emily Post intervening artifacts. Each of the three artifacts were created to connect with their different audiences and to gain and hold their attention through colour, semiotics, language, genre, context and medium.
REFERENCES
Reep, DC 2006, ‘Document Design’, technical writing; principles, strategies and readings, 6th edn, Pearson/Longman, New York, Chapter 6, pp. 133-172.
Parker, RC 1990, ‘beginning Observations’, Looking Good In Print; a guide ti basic dsign for desktop publishing, 2nd edn, Ventara Press, Chapel Hill NC, Chapter 1, pp1-22.
Parker, RC 2003, ‘Designing documents for web distribution’, Looking Good in Print, 5th edn, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale AZ, Chapter 14 pp. 269-293.
Post, E 1922, ‘The Clothes of a gentleman’, Emily Post’s guide to Ettiquette, New York.
< http://www.bartleby.com/95/34.html>
Schriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers. The interplay of words and pictures Ch.6, pp. 261-441, Wiley Computer Pub, New York. [electronic version]
The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, 2003, 10 Tips for Producing Effective
Publications, <http://www.taskforce.org/LFSC/toolkit/advocacy/LFPublicationTips.pdf>
Walsh, M 2006, ‘The “textual shift”: examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts’, Australian journal of language and literacy, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 24-37.
APPENDIX
Appendix 1.1- Emily Post’s “The Clothes of a Gentleman”
| IT would seem that some of our great clothing establishments, with an eye to our polyglot ancestry, have attempted to incorporate some feature of every European national costume into a “harmonious” whole, and have thus given us that abiding horror, the freak American suit, You will see it everywhere, on Broadway of every city and Main Street of every town, on the boardwalks and beaches of coast resorts, and even in remote farming villages. It comes up to hit you in the face year after year in all its amazing variations: waist-line under the arm pits, “trick” little belts, what-nots in the cuffs; trousers so narrow you fear they will burst before your eyes, pockets placed in every position, buttons clustered together in a tight little row or reduced to one. And the worst of it is, few of our younger men know any better until they go abroad and find their wardrobe a subject for jest and derision. |
| If you would dress like a gentleman, you must do one of two things; either study the subject of a gentleman’s wardrobe until you are competent to pick out good suits from freaks and direct your misguided tailor, or, at least until your perceptions are trained, go to an English one. This latter method is the easiest, and, by all odds, the safest. It is not Anglomania but plain common sense to admit that, just as the Rue de la Paix in Paris is the fountainhead of fashions for women, Bond Street in London is the home of irreproachable clothes for men. |
| And yet, curiously enough, just as a woman shopping in Paris can buy frightful clothes—or the most beautiful; a man can in America buy the worst clothes in the world—and the best. |
| The ordinary run of English clothes may not be especially good, but they are, on the other hand, never bad; whereas American freak clothes are distortions like the reflections seen in the convex and concave mirrors of the amusement parks. But not even the leading tailors of Bond Street can excel the supremely good American tailor—whose clothes however are identical in every particular with those of London, and their right to be called “best” is for greater perfection of workmanship and fit. This last is a dangerous phrase; “fit” means perfect set and line, not plaster tightness. |
| However, let us suppose that you are either young, or at least fairly young; that you have unquestioned social position, and that you are going to get yourself an entire wardrobe. Let us also suppose your money is not unlimited, so that it may also be seen where you may not, or may if necessary, economize. |
| |
| FORMAL EVENING CLOTHES Your full dress is the last thing to economize on. It must be perfect in fit, cut and material, and this means a first-rate tailor. It must be made of a dull-faced worsted, either black or night blue, on no account of broadcloth. Aside from satin facing and collar, which can have lapels or be cut shawl-shaped, and wide braid on the trousers, it must have no trimming whatever. Avoid satin or velvet cuffs, moiré neck ribbons and fancy coat buttons as you would the plague. |
| Wear a plain white linen waistcoat, not one of cream colored silk, or figured or even black brocade. Have all your linen faultlessly clean—always—and your tie of plain white lawn, tied so it will not only stay in place but look as though nothing short of a backward somersault could disarrange it. |
| Your handkerchief must be white; gloves (at opera or ball) white; flower in buttonhole (if any) white. If you are a normal size, you can in America buy inexpensive shirts, and white waistcoats that are above reproach, but if you are abnormally tall or otherwise an “out size” so that everything has to be “made to order,” you will have to pay anywhere from double to four times as much for each article you put on. |
| When you go out on the street, wear an English silk hat, not one of the taper crowned variety popular in the “movies.” And wear it on your head, not on the back of your neck. Have your overcoat of plain black or dark blue material, for you must wear an overcoat with full dress even in summer. Use a plain white or black and white muffler. Colored ones are impossible. Wear white buckskin gloves if you can afford them; otherwise gray or khaki doeskin, and leave them in your overcoat pocket. Your stick should be of plain Malacca or other wood, with either a crooked or straight handle. The only ornamentation allowable is a plain silver or gold band, or top; but perfectly plain is best form. |
| And lastly, wear patent leather pumps, shoes or ties, and plain black silk socks, and leave your rubbers—if you must wear them, in the coat room. |
| |
| THE TUXEDO The Tuxedo, which is the essential evening dress of a gentleman, is simply the English dinner coat. It was first introduced in this country at the Tuxedo Club to provide something less formal than the swallow-tail, and the name has clung ever since. To a man who can not afford to get two suits of evening clothes, the Tuxedo is of greater importance. It is worn every evening and nearly everywhere, whereas the tail coat is necessary only at balls, formal dinners, and in a box at the opera. Tuxedo clothes are made of the same materials and differ from full dress ones in only three particulars: the cut of the coat, the braid on the trousers, and the use of a black tie instead of a white one. The dinner coat has no tails and is cut like a sack suit except that it is held closed in front by one button at the waist line. (A full dress coat, naturally, hangs open.) The lapels are satin faced, and the collar left in cloth, or if it is shawl-shaped the whole collar is of satin. |
| The trousers are identical with full dress ones except that braid, if used at all, should be narrow. “Cuffed” trousers are not good form, nor should a dinner coat be double-breasted. |
| Fancy ties are bad form. Choose a plain black silk or satin one. Wear a white waistcoat if you can afford the strain on your laundry bill, otherwise a plain black one. By no means wear a gray one nor a gray tie. |
| The smartest hat for town wear is an opera, but a straw or felt which is proper in the country, is not out of place in town. Otherwise, in the street the accessories are the same as those already given under the previous heading. |
| |
| THE HOUSE SUIT The house suit is an extravagance that may be avoided, and an “old” Tuxedo suit worn instead. |
| A gentleman is always supposed to change his clothes for dinner, whether he is going out or dining at home alone or with his family, and for this latter occasion some inspired person evolved the house, or lounge, suit, which is simply a dinner coat and trousers cut somewhat looser than ordinary evening ones, made of an all-silk or silk and wool fabric in some dark color, and lined with either satin or silk. Nothing more comfortable—or luxurious—could be devised for sitting in a deep easy-chair after dinner, in a reclining position that is ruinous to best evening clothes. |
| Its purpose is really to save wear on evening clothes, and to avoid some of their discomfort also, because they can not be given hard or careless usage and long survive. A house suit is distinctly what the name implies, and is not an appropriate garment to wear out for dinner or to receive any but intimate guests in at home. The accessories are a pleated shirt, with turndown stiff collar, and black bow tie, or even an unstarched shirt with collar attached (white of course). The coat is made with two buttons instead of one, because no waistcoat is worn with it. |
| |
| FORMAL AFTERNOON DRESS Formal afternoon dress consists of a black cutaway coat with white piqué or black cloth waistcoat, and gray-and-black striped trousers. The coat may be bound with braid, or, even in better taste, plain. A satin-faced lapel is not conservative on a cutaway, but it is the correct facing for the more formal (and elderly) frock coat. Either a cutaway or a frock coat is always accompanied by a silk hat, and best worn with plain black waistcoat and a black bow tie or a black and white four-in-hand tie. A gray silk ascot worn with the frock coat is supposed to be the correct wedding garment of the bride’s father. (For details of clothes worn by groom and ushers at a wedding, see chapter on weddings.) |
| Shoes may be patent leather, although black calf-skin are at present the fashion, either with or without spats. If with spats, be sure that they fit close; nothing is worse than a wrinkled spat or one that sticks out over the instep like the opened bill of a duck! |
| Though gray cutaway suits and gray top hats have always been worn to the races in England, they do not seem suitable here, as races in America are not such full-dress occasions as in France and England. But at a spring wedding or other formal occasions a sand-colored double-breasted linen waistcoat with spats and bow tie to match looks very well with a black cutaway and almost black trousers, on a man who is young. |
| |
| THE BUSINESS SUIT The business suit or three-piece sack is made or marred by its cut alone. It is supposed to be an every-day inconspicuous garment and should be. A few rules to follow are: |
| Don’t choose striking patterns of materials; suitable woolen stuffs come in endless variety, and any which look plain at a short distance are “safe,” though they may show a mixture of colors or pattern when viewed closely. |
| Don’t get too light a blue, too bright a green, or anything suggesting a horse blanket. At the present moment trousers are made with a cuff; sleeves are not. Lapels are moderately small. Padded shoulders are an abomination. Peg-topped trousers equally bad. If you must be eccentric, save your efforts for the next fancy dress ball, where you may wear what you please, but in your business clothing be reasonable. |
| Above everything, don’t wear white socks, and don’t cover yourself with chains, fobs, scarf pins, lodge emblems, etc., and don’t wear “horsey” shirts and neckties. You will only make a bad impression on every one you meet. The clothes of a gentleman are always conservative; and it is safe to avoid everything that can possibly come under the heading of “novelty.” |
| |
| JEWELRY In your jewelry let diamonds be conspicuous by their absence. Nothing is more vulgar than a display of “ice” on a man’s shirt front, or on his fingers. |
| There is a good deal of jewelry that a gentleman may be allowed to wear, but it must be chosen with discrimination. Pearl shirt-studs (real ones) are correct for full dress only, and not to be worn with a dinner coat unless they are so small as to be entirely inconspicuous. Otherwise you may wear enamel studs (that look like white linen) or black onyx with a rim of platinum, or with a very inconspicuous pattern in diamond chips, but so tiny that they can not be told from a threadlike design in platinum—or others equally moderate. |
| Waistcoat buttons, studs and cuff links, worn in sets, is an American custom that is permissible. Both waistcoat buttons and cuff links may be jewelled and valuable, but they must not have big precious stones or be conspicuous. |
| A watch chain should be very thin and a man’s ring is usually a seal ring of plain gold or a dark stone. If a man wears a jewel at all it should be sunk into a plain “gypsy hoop” setting that has no ornamentation, and worn on his “little,” not his third, finger. |
| |
| IN THE COUNTRY Gay-colored socks and ties are quite appropriate with flannels or golf tweeds. Only in your riding clothes you must again be conservative. If you can get boots built on English lines, wear them; otherwise wear leggings. And remember that all leather must be real leather in the first place and polished until its surface is like glass. |
| Have your breeches fit you. The coat is less important, in fact, any odd coat will do. Your legs are the cynosure of attention in riding. |
| Most men in the country wear knickerbockers with golf stockings, with a sack or a belted or a semi-belted coat, and in any variety of homespuns or tweeds or rough worsted materials. Or they wear long trousered flannels. Coats are of the polo or ulster variety. For golf or tennis many men wear sweater coats. Shirts are of cheviot or silk or flannel, all with soft collars attached and to match. |
| The main thing is to dress appropriately. If you are going to play golf, wear golf clothes; if tennis, wear flannels. Do not wear a yachting cap ashore unless you are living on board a yacht. |
| White woolen socks are correct with white buckskin shoes in the country, but not in town. |
| If some semi-formal occasion comes up, such as a country tea, the time-worn conservative blue coat with white flannel trousers is perennially good. |
Appendix 2.1- Japanese Comparisons artefact. Author unknown.
Unable to download file into this document due to formatting problems, however it can be viewed at:
Apendix 3.1- Bus etiquette, Author unknown.
Bus Etiquette
Public Transport:
Life is full of uncomfortable moments and awkward silences and never is it so prevalent than when one takes public transport. In no other situation are people thrown together in such close proximity, offering minimal comfort and little convenience. The public bus system is the epitome of such travel and as such has its own set of rules and etiquette which should be followed to ensure minimal discomfort.
The Bus Driver- Due to the ambiguous nature of the bus driver it is often hard to prepared for what may confront you when those double doors open. You could be met by a jolly ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ or you could simply receive a grunt as you hand over your change .As the driver is in charge of transportation he wields the most authority and as such dictates the mood of the vehicle. It is vital to remember that though we live in a democratic society, the public transport system has rules of its own; a bus is a dictatorship, and what the driver says goes. So if your driver is in a good mood by all means take advantage of the situation and exchange pleasantries as you pay for your ticket, but if not, stay OUT of his way.
Social Interaction- It is advisable to keep the level of social interaction on public transport to a minimum. There are three crucial rules when considering this issue. These include:
Speak only when spoken to; Silence is golden and often the best times spent on public transport are the quiet ones. As most people present are simply trying to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ as quickly and pain free as possible. They will not appreciate being forced to engage in polite and shallow conversation with strangers.
Avoid eye contact; You do not know how long you will have to commute with the people on your bus and you want to avoid any awkward or uncomfortable situations. If you have the ill luck of being landed with the ‘booth’ seats (a set of two seats which directly face one another) then your only option is to find your ‘fixed point’. This is a place you can freely stare; where you will not meet the eyes of the stranger across from you. Typically this may be anything from the window you are located near to the suspicious stain on the floor by your feet.
Distractions- It is advisable when planning to commute on public transport, one take with them some form of distraction such as a book, phone or portable electronic device. Such objects act as forms of engagement, even if the device in question does not work. For it is always helpful to create the illusion of being distracted (this will help avoid both ‘eye contact’ and ‘social interaction’).
Seating- It is always advisable that one should try, when possible, to sit by oneself. If all seats are occupied then you will be forced to take a seat next to another person. Consider:
Personal Judgment; The best approach when presented with the daunting task of sharing a seat with a fellow commuter is to use your personal judgment to assess the people around you. Key points include the person’s level of sanity, intoxication and body odour as these factors will all significantly impact upon the pleasantness of your journey.
Signals; Subtle signals are used by many commuters to discourage fellow travellers from sitting beside them. One common ploy is to create the illusion the seat is full i.e. a bag being placed on a vacant seat, a single person situating themselves in the middle of two seats, an individual placing their feet across the seat in front of them (frequently use to prevent the awkward ‘booth’ scenario) and sitting in the seat closest to the isle to prevent others from entering.
Location, location, location; Anyone who travelled on a ‘school bus’ as a child will recall the system of hierarchy in concern to seating, with the order directly correlating to ones level of popularity. Public transport, however, is quite different. The most undesirable seat on a school bus, often referred to as the ‘dickie’ seat by students, is one of high demand on public transport as it allows an individual to sit by themselves. Other popular seats include those at the back of the bus as the likelihood of having to move for the elderly people is significantly decreased.
By avoiding the common civilities and moral standards engrained in polite societies, preached down to us by parents and teachers alike, one may very well be able to enhance their experience of the public transport system.
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR EMAIL WHEN YOU DIE??
THE GOVERNING GUIDE
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Murdoch's speech- World Media Summit. WOWSERS!
News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch,
World Media Summit Speech (Beijing)
I JUST READ THIS.... VERY INTERESTING
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/0937_summit.pdf
THIS SPEECH IS POTENTIALLY A VERY IMPORTANT ONE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD MEDIA! MURDOCH STILL HOLDS THE POWER TO CHANGE THE WORLD MEDIA!
MEDIA WATCH
It's no secret that the coming of the internet has imperilled the old media business models - especially commercial free to air television and newspapers. Journalism lecturer and media blogger Margaret Simons says that a revolution is under way:
Margaret Simons: I think over time it's going to be at least the equivalent of the invention of the printing press, and if you think about it, that changed just about everything, from religion to democratic forms to the way in which societies organise themselves. Now I'm not saying all of that is going to happen tomorrow but I think we're right in the middle of that scale of change.—
Mark Scott: And for newspapers, the last great hope now seems to be something called Waiting for Rupert.— Murdoch has made it clear that in his view, it's time for newspapers - still by far the most important originators of serious news on the planet - to make a stand. Two weeks ago he told a conference in Beijing:Rupert Murdoch: The Philistine phase of the digital age is almost over. The aggregators and the plagiarists will soon have to pay a price for the co-opting of our content.— Rupert Murdoch address at the World Media Summit, Beijing, 9th October, 2009
The Philistines, in Mr Murdoch's view, are the bloggers and aggregators, from Crikey to the Huffington Post, who, he claims, survive by commenting on the stories that newspaper journalists dig up. And they're also the search engines, the Googles and Yahoos, who Mr Murdoch says reap a fortune by making news available without creating it - and feed none of that money back to the content creators.But Rupert Murdoch and his son James, the heir presumptive to the News Corporation empire, believe the public must be made to wake up too. The free ride is over:James Murdoch: Yet it is essential for the future of independent digital journalism that a fair price can be charged for news to people who value it. —
News Corporation is determined, somehow, to start charging for at least some of the content on its global websites. It's an ambition which Mark Scott treated with some disdain.
Mark Scott: It strikes me as a classic play of old empire, of empire in decline. Believing that because you once controlled the world you can continue to do so, because you once set the rules, you can do so again. Acting on the assumption that you still have the power that befits the Emperor.—
I put it to Mark Scott that that sounded like a declaration of war by the ABC on News Ltd.Mark Scott: No, it's certainly not that. But it's an attempt to state, I suppose, the reality of the circumstance that we all find ourselves in as media organisations: the audience has the power now. And in a sense you have to engage with those audiences on the audiences' terms. Now for 15 years people have got their content online free of charge. You have younger people who have never paid for anything online. And you can't just say snap your fingers and expect that they will pay - particularly if there's going to be so much content out there that is available free of charge.
Richard Freudenstein, responded today:Shielded as he is from this commercial reality, Scott does not understand that advertising alone can't support the growth of online journalism. Every single commercial news publisher in the world is facing this reality, and as such something has to change.—
Unfortunately, neither Mr Freudenstein, nor any one else at News Ltd, was prepared to talk to Media Watch about just what it has in mind. For some reason, it's convinced itself that it wouldn't get a fair hearing on this program. So we'll have to be as fair as we can anyway.Richard Freudenstein told a recent newspaper conference that News Corp has done intensive market research here and in the US: Richard Freudenstein: There's a pretty positive response coming out of this research. The general public do recognize the value of journalism and are willing to pay for it if it's relevant, if it's delivered in ways that they want.— Richard Freudenstein (CEO, New Digital Media) address to PANPA Future Forum, 10th September, 2009
Margaret Simons contributes to Crikey, whose email newsletter has some fifteen thousand paying subscribers. She agrees that charging for content online isn't a hopeless proposition:Margaret Simons: I think it will work for some things and if you look at what Scott has said carefully he thinks so too. There will be some brands and some kinds of content that people are prepared to pay for... but I don't think it's going to be possible to force people to pay for general news coverage in countries that have strong traditions of public broadcasting which is basically Australia and the United Kingdom.— Media Watch interview with Margaret Simons, 14th October, 2009And there's the rub. In the eyes of James Murdoch, at least, the BBC's dominant position as a news provider in Britain is a huge obstacle to the survival of its commercial rivals.James Murdoch: Dumping free, state-sponsored news on the market makes it incredibly difficult for journalism to flourish on the internet.— Edinburgh International Television Festival MacTaggart Lecture delivered by James Murdoch, 28th August, 2009Neither the BBC, nor the ABC, are just broadcasters any more. And newspapers aren't just newspapers. James Murdoch: What were once separate forms of communication, or separate media, are now increasingly interconnected and exchangeable. So we no longer have a TV market, a newspaper market, a publishing market. We have, indisputably, an all-media market.— Edinburgh International Television Festival MacTaggart Lecture delivered by James Murdoch, 28th August, 2009In cyberspace, those markets merge. And if commercial providers need to charge users for content, argued James Murdoch, they shouldn't have to face a competitor who provides it free, courtesy of the taxpayer.James Murdoch: If we are to have that state sponsorship at all, then it is fundamental to the health of the creative industries, independent production, and professional journalism that it exists on a far, far smaller scale.— Edinburgh International Television Festival MacTaggart Lecture delivered by James Murdoch, 28th August, 2009Or, as News Corporation's Sunday Times in Britain put it recently:The BBC should stick to broadcasting and leave the written word to newspapers and their online commercial rivals.— The Sunday Times online, 2nd August, 2009That editorial was pungently headlined:The BBC should get its tanks off our lawn— The Sunday Times online, 2nd August, 2009
The ABC may not have the BBC's firepower, but it's determined that its comparatively modest armoured cars will stay parked on the cyberspace lawn.
Mark Scott: The public pays for the ABC to deliver distinctive content to them - and if it is content we are creating and packaging for them now, they are entitled to view that content free of charge.—
Mark Scott: A.N. Smith Memorial Lecture in Journalism, 14th October, 2009Free to the user, but not of course free to society. And News Ltd argues that much though Mark Scott may talk about the audience having the power, the ABC doesn't live or die in the marketplace, as its commercial rivals do. Guaranteed his annual $800m-plus taxpayer income, he can operate with little concern to what his audience actually wants...For those of us who actually have to earn our keep, we have to make a compelling enough case to the public that what we have to offer is worth paying for.— The Australian, 19th October, 2009
So what will News Corporation be offering online that the public might pay for? To listen to James Murdoch, you'd assume it wants to charge readers to access its general online news. But according to The Australian's media columnist, Mark Day, the online sites that News Ltd charges for won't look like the current free ones. Instead, they'll be......more akin to social networks, a hybrid of news, services, commerce, information and entertainment designed for like-minded people.— The Australian, 19th October, 2009All the signs are that we won't be asked to pay for what we're getting now for free. We'll be asked to pay for what we're not getting.
Meanwhile, the ABC will no doubt keep asking the government to pay more for what it's not able to provide out of current funding.As Mark Scott sees it, the crisis in the old business models makes the ABC more necessary than ever. Commercial television current affairs, for example, isn't what it was a few years ago...Mark Scott: ...and if you look in regional and rural Australia, similarly the business model there isn't working at all. Now, the response to that is not to weaken the ABC - to take funding away from the ABC... And I think too to hurt the ABC, to cut its funding, to cripple it, just to make wealthy commercial operations wealthier, because it's in their interests, not in the taxpayers' interests, I think that would be very unfortunate, and I don't think there's the political sentiment for that.— Media Watch interview with Mark Scott (Managing Director, ABC), 14th October, 2009In fact, the funds are flowing the ABC's way. In the last budget, it received 15 million dollars to create whiz-bang multi-media websites serving regional Australia. But media company APN, which owns fourteen regional daily newspapers in New South Wales and Queensland, argues that it's risked a lot of its shareholders' money already, trying to do the same thing. Brendan Hopkins: Of course we're looking to monetise those sites going forward but we've taken, I think, a very brave decision on behalf of our board and behalf of our shareholders that we want to invest ahead of that curve.
Jonathan Holmes: So when you see the government giving the ABC tens of millions of dollars...
Brendan Hopkins: I think it's got to be questioned... I can't believe that the government itself wants to pursue a business model for the ABC, or a model - there's no business involved - a model for the ABC where the cost of the ABC goes up and up and up and up, with all of the public outcry that that will bring, when bona fide commercial operators like ourselves have been investing ahead of the curve in those centres... and if we feel the ABC are competing or trying to compete with us unfairly then we'll go and talk to Mr Samuels at the ACCC and we'll maybe hold them to account. Jonathan Holmes: In this world of media plenty, that's so different from what it was seventy years ago, is there really a reason for the ABC to exist at all?
Brendan Hopkins: I think now is a good time to have that debate.— Media Watch interview with Brendan Hopkins (CEO, APN), 16th October,
For now, in Australia, News Ltd isn't proposing any such debate. Indeed, Richard Freudenstein specifically wrote this morning:I am not attacking the ABC's content or its right to exist, simply advocating a plurality of independent voices...— The Australian, 19th October, 2009
But Margaret Simons argues that, for the first time since their foundation, public broadcasters are directly menacing the commercial media providers' emerging business model. We haven't heard the last of these arguments, by a long way.
Margaret Simons: Yes I think that one of the big battles of the early part of this century will be between all of those who try to make us pay for content which includes pay television and apparently Rupert Murdoch, and public broadcasting. In the United Kingdom and Australia I think that's going to be a hugely significant battle and it's one of the things that will make our media future different from that in the United States.— Media Watch interview with Margaret Simons, 14th October, 2009
source
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2718294.htm
Exegesis
For example for the T-shirt, even though I aimed to make it fashionable and "cool" I still wanted to leave some white space around the text to draw the viewers/wearers attention to the important information.
I also only used minimal colour in my bus drawing to not make the piece too busy!
And for my e-book, I wanted to create something bright and bold, which I know goes against some of the design principles we have learned, but I figured its a kids book, and kids love colour, and you can't ALWAYS follow the rules! If we all followed the rules everything would look the same! And I'm pretty sure it was Parker who stated that if there were set rules and guidelines which HAD to be followed when designing objects, then designers would be replaced by computers and software programs! BUT, I was very consious of selecting my typeface and font wisely for the book! I made it bold, simple and very easy to read!
All up, Im pretty happy with my artefact and my exegesis is done and dusted and handed up!
EXEXEXE...gesis!!
I ended up trying a few different things and changing them and then changing them back and then scrapping them and starting over and finally I have finished! I think.. I hope so anyway, I have tried a hundred different things and I am as happy as I think i'll ever be with them.
Artefact ONE-
I have modernised Emily Posts "The clothes of a gentleman" and re-written her guide.
I shortened it, sharpened it, made it a tad humerous, gave it a splash of colour, and printed it on a cute white slim fit men's T! So not only is it a guide, it's a wearable washable, useful, fashionable guide too!
Artefact TWO-
I have intervened on "Bus etiquette". The guide to the public trasport system.
I used this modern dow "how to" guide to illustrate the modern bus. I followed the rules that were laid out, such as "Sit by yourself wherever possible", "put earphones in or read a book to avoid awkward conversations with strangers" and "put a bag on teh seat neaxt to you to prevent wierdo's from sitting with you". I have illustrated all of these rules and more in my lead pencil drawing of the bus. As a regular bus catcher, I undertstood these rules all to well, i could relate very well to them and drew the bus from my perspective on entering. The crucial point where you the passenger must scope out an appropriate seat.
Artefact THREE-
I initervened on the Japanese greetings artefact and expanded on this, I wanted to add teh element of sound to this and use it as a teaching tool. I ended up creating a childrens e-book, which van be read and listened to through microstodt powerpoint. The book is very simple (which is why it is directed at children), and uses basic bright colours, and bold fonts.
Each page of teh book, shows a steryotypical country/city, and a cartoon person (drawn by me). "Hello, How are you?" is also written on this page in the specifuc language, and read as a voiceover on the powerpoint. This tool helps to teach children to read and listen and to understand sounds.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Issues in the Media
I found this opinion piece by Amanda Meade on the Australian website VERY interesting! it came so close to home! lately i have found myself absouletly dumbfounded at some of our news progrmas (particultaly the current affairs shows)... They haave become SO full of rubbish, they can no longer be called news programs. They have become advertising/marketing/infotainment!
I was astounded last night on Today tonight to see that the main story was all about the auditions for the new TV show Beauty and the Geek! WHAT THE? Is this what TV news is coming to? How dumbed down will it become?
"LAST night’s episode of A Current Affair on Nine was so filled with cross-promotion, product placement and blatant self-promotion it was impossible to distinguish between the paid content and the editorial.
Host Tracy Grimshaw presented a segment on a Women’s Weekly “Product of the Year” competition. Dressed up as a consumer story the segment was nothing more than a long ad for the products featured and for the Weekly.
And won’t the advertisers of those products held up to the camera love that!
The talent in the story was Deborah Thomas, consulting editor, Australian Women’s Weekly and general manager, editorial projects, ACP Magazines.
A former editor of the Weekly, Thomas’ job now is to dream up marketing initiatives for the magazine.
This is how the marketing initiative was explained by publishers ACP: “The Australian Women’s Weekly Product of the Year Awards will not only drive readers in-store to trial and purchase products, but also give the finalists and winners the opportunity to promote their brand as a finalist in The Australian Women’s Weekly Product of the Year Awards, with usage of the “winners’ dinkus” for up to 12 months. This independent endorsement from readers of The Australian Women’s Weekly will prove invaluable when it comes to helping consumers navigate their way through an array of offerings.”
Women’s Weekly is, of course, in the Channel Nine stable so cross-promotions between ACA and the Weekly are de rigeur.
The ACA story included shot after shot of the cover of the Weekly and guess who the cover girl is? A very glamorous Tracy Grimshaw of course: “On Ramsay and gay rumours”.
But wait! That’s not all!
The next story was also a cross-promotion for the Weekly, a promotion of the Belinda Neal interview in which the politician says she’s forgiven her cheating husband.
And of course more shots of the Weekly’s exclusive photo shoot with Neal. "
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Exegesis ideas
I would also like to do an intervention on "The clothes of a gentleman"... My oh my! How the times have changed... I compare the clothes she describes men as wearing in the olden days to the clothes i see my boyfriend wearing and laugh. Poor Emily! If she saw my boyfriend today, she would be utterly aghast! Or worse, if she walked down rundle mall and was exposed to the popular "Emo" culture and style, i think she would have a heart attack!! I have a vague idea for this, that I could dress my boyfriend up in the clothes that Emily suggests are appropriate and then place him in thise settings with other "normal" modern day poeple wearing "normal clothes" and see how this effect him... I can use him as a lab rat to see how other people react to his dress too! And take photopraphs in black and white with an atique wash. I think it would look quite peculiar!
I have been brainstorming a hurricane!
I have read and read and read pretty much all of the literature I can find by her and I have absolutely loved all of it! I have found it just fascinating!
My favourite Emily Post pieces include:
On the Street and in Public
One’s Position in the Community
Teas and Other Afternoon Parties
The Débutante
Funerals
The Clothes of a Gentleman
Every-Day Manners at Home
I found each of these interesting and in their own way quite funny! "Funerals" was particularly entertaining to read and imagine!!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
MAKE THINGS EASY
The Moon in the sky was frollicked over by the female cow
BECOMES
The Cow jumped over the moon!
EXAMINING and EXAMPLE
It was Clear, simple and concise!
It used simple colours (not the whole rainbow), a white background with red and dark blue bold easy to read writing, and orange and blue at the bottom to divide the page and highlight the store logo. The images were appropriately sized and clear, there was nothing unnecessary on the page. It followed all of the basic rules Judith taught us.
Monday exctiment!
CLARITY
SIMPLICITY
CONCISENESS
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Interesting tid-bit
"THE Australian will this week and next unveil a significant overhaul of its weekday and Saturday editions, including launching a Monday-to-Friday broadsheet liftout called A Plus.
The new section will be led by features and include a dedicated games and puzzles page, TV listings and reviews, a reader-contributed column and a daily guide to arts and entertainment events in each state.
The Weekend Australian's weekly Review section will become a magazine-style stitched-and-trimmed insert and The Weekend Australian Magazine will get a new look.
The revamp will be backed by a year-long branding campaign under the slogan Think. Again, which starts on Wednesday in print, online, on TV and outdoors.
The campaign will feature well-known Australians Ray Martin, Tetsuya Wakuda, Peter Cosgrove, Collette Dinnigan, Tim Horan, Phillip Adams, Gerry Harvey and Grant Hackett.
The relaunch and advertising campaign represented a multi-million-dollar investment in the paper, editor Paul Whittaker said. "We are continuing to invest in journalism. We're putting more pages of high-quality content into the paper."
The weekday paper will also include an extra page of world coverage and a bigger business section, with two pages of content from The Wall Street Journal.
On Mondays, the Business and Media sections will be integrated in a 12-page liftout.
The Weekend Australian's international content will also be increased, with a stand-alone Worldwide section.
A new section, Focus, will publish commentary and analysis and Inquirer will hold long-form journalism."
SOURCED; Sally Jackson August 31, 2009
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26003220-7582,00.html>
Issues in the Media
for "The Australian" newspaper which deals with Media issues and debates. I have also found ABC's "Media Watch" on monday nights to be a good source of information for discussion topics on teh media.
Assignment TWO
The assignment will need to be completed in different sections.
The first element is to read and understand Emily Post's book of etiquette, then three creative interventions then need to be made.
The first must be completely original, and the second and third intervention must be based on the models provoded. A combination of text, imagery and audio is to be used to create the interventions.
After the interventions have been made, an exegesis break down is to be written of around 1 500 words. This should describe why I chose to intervene in such a manner and how I intervened.
Looking at the models briefly today, I have several ideas for how to edit and adapt them to make them relate to Emily Post.
More Presentations
Jess based herpresentation on Kress, G & van Leeuwen, TV, 2006, Reading images: The grammar of visual design, 2nd edn, Routledge, London. Her complimentary reading was
Martinec, R & van Leeuwen, TV 2009, The language of new media design, Routledge, Oxford.
Alternatively, Bianca's presentation was on
I found both of these presentations very informative. Both were quite complex subjects but the girls did very well simplifying them and explaning them in an easy-to-understand format. Particularly Jess, who used plenty of examples throughought and also a great break down chart. Unfortunately, I found that I was deistratcted in parts during Bianca's presentation by her inability to pronunce some words and her cluttered slides.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Reviewing My Peers
-Gemma Broomfield- Reep's Document Design and the rodrigo website on "the F pattern".
-Alex Hill- Bruns’ Blogs, Wikipedia, Second life, and Beyond: From Production to Produsage and Produsage.org :From Production to Produsage: Research into User-Led Content Creation
-Genefhel Auditer- Parker's Design Basics and Bear's Elements of Design.
My PowerPoint Presentation
Parker, RC, 1990, ‘Beginning observations’, Looking good in print: a guide to basic design for desktop publishing, 2nd edn, Ventara Press, Chapel Hill NC, Chapter 1, pp.1-22.
Parker, RC, 2003, ‘Designing documents for web distribution’, Looking good in print, 5th edn, Paraglyph Press, Scottsdale AZ, Chapter 14, pp. 269-293
Bear, JH, Elements of design, About.com
<http://desktoppub.about.com/od/elements/tp/Elements_of_Design.htm>
My presenation illustrated and compared both of the theorists ideas about graphic design. I covered most of the basic information and key ideas that these theorists suggested as well as rerferring back to 'real life' examples and places where these ideas could be used.
I explained that 'There are no universal rules to graphic design but successful design evolves from a mindset.' (Parker, 1990) and that if there were universal guidelines and rules set out that had to be abided by, that there would be no need for creativity and designers would have no place in this world. I explained that if there were set 'rules', creativity would simply be replaced by software and all comunication documents would be computed generated and would look the same.
I then explained that good designs stemmed from good planning and good planning means understanding the purpose and importance of the information you are communicating. Planning involves looking at;
-Who is the intended audience?
-What is the message you are communicating?
-In what format will your readers receive the message?
-What other messages have they encoutered?
I gave the example of a healthcare report intended for a Government organisation versus a poster for a childrens book launch. These would be TOTALLY different documents and would require completely different basic planning right from teh beginning.
I also explained the importance of experimentation and the idea of analyzing other designers work and collecting a scrapbook of design ideas. These ideas can be used as inspiration for future designs and also to highlight design faults and things you do not like or think work well as guides for what to avoid doing.
Apperance was also a major point of my presentation, I talked about basic design formats and ideas, including;
-Headings
-Fonts
-Lines
-Images
-Consistency
And how these elements can be used to a designers advantage to highlight specific important information.
I also referred to this quote:
“As a general rule, always design for the worst possible circumstances.”
-R. C. Parker 2003
and elaborated on the fact that a designer should plan for the worst case scenario when it come to online publishing. The designer can not assume anything! They must assume the worst about the viewer of the document and also the screen the person is viewing the content of your design on. They might be viewing it from a blackberry for all you know!
I explained that viewing from a computer screen is more difficult than from a hard copy piece of paper and picked up a pice of paper and showed them this. Hard copy information can generally be viewed as a whole vertical document, online however, only a small part of the document can be viewed at a time. I also mentioned a few other things to take into consideration when publishing to the web:
-Avoid multicolumn layouts.
-Wider line spacing.
-Paragraph Spacing instead of indents.
-White space.
-Typefaces and Sizes. Avoid ornate.
-Colour- Single colour V rainbow.
-Inform readers- Page numbers.
I think that I tought my presentation group some valuable information. They seemed to agree with most of what I was teaching them and for the most part could relate to the examples I gave them and explained. I simplified the theories of both Parker and Bear as much as possible to make my presentation understandable and easy to follow.
