My first poster conveys the message of connect/disconnect caused by social media. As various social media became the main form of communication in the digital world nowadays, the young generation is facing more complicated social problems like cyberbullying. Currently, some reports also indicated that social media could lead to potential metal illnesses. Thus, I utilized two original photos and the icons under the license to illustrate the situation of the adolescents who might fall into ’social media depression’. I would provide the documentation of the process and the iteration of experiments on digital images below.
First stage: background and figure
As the base, the picture with trunks was adjusted from hue and saturation. To reveal a warm tone and keep the contrast, I increased the saturation while I decreased the hue and lightness. Then I added the dark blue vignette in the size of 30 to lead audiences’ eyes to the center.
To integrate the figure with the backdrop, I cut the main body out off the original picture and transformed the scale. Slightly adjusting the saturation, I applied the ‘Art Poster’ filter in the amount of 12 and the dark green color, which could bridge the relationship between the surroundings and the boy. The opacity of the figure was also drained to alleviate the sharp edges between the boy and background. The shadow underneath the figure was added by three ovals in different opacities.
From the aesthetic perspective, I have experimented several filters to the backdrop including ’Solarize’ and ‘Cross Process’. The former one showed a surrealistic genre with completely distorted colors, and the latter led to an imaginary scenes with over-saturated color. I chose ‘Cross Process’ seeing as it was closer to the real and it would not catch audiences’ attention too much.
Second stage: icons and text
Under the Flatiron Basic License, I chose the social media icons from the original designer Freepik. Featuring the round shape and the consistent hue, the icons were placed in the background and tilted by free transformation. To highlight them, I changed the opacity of their individual layers. With different opacity modes, the icons revealed the effect of bubbles and the movement of floating in the background.
According to Flatiron Basic License, the social media icon allows users to alter and create derivative works with appropriate attribution.
“For web usage: By placing a link with the text “Designed by Freepik and distributed by Flaticon” in a visible spot, so ‘s authorship is noticeable.”
To clarity the usage ethically, I noted the links of the original work, the designer and the license in the form of CC attribution.
“Social Media Icons” by Freepik is licensed under Flatiron Basic License
Ultimately, the text situated beside the figure was hollow-out design. I experimented different fonts including ‘Adobe Fan Heiti’, ’Stencil’, ’Routan’. It turned out that the Stencil one worked best for the concrete composition, which was operated in Photoshop. On the text layer, I increased the level of noise to create the similar texture as the boy, and I added the ‘Outer Glow’ to enhance the clarity of text.
Final stage: reflection
During the process of this digital image production, it took more time on exploring the various tools on Pixlr than the research on social media issues. However, the idea would become clearer when the image gradually completed. After collecting the material like pictures and icons, I started to piece them together by manipulating the layers and filters. Integrate and then highlight. This principle made it easier for me to produce the posters.
The second poster illustrates the concept of old media/new media. The image utilized the memorial gallery to layout the old media that have been obsoleted nowadays. Wire telephones, CD/tape players, typewriters and radio were replaced by mobile phones. Framed by iPhone, the concept of comprehension of mobile phones is also revealed. With one device on hands, people now can communicate with each other and receive information instantly.
First stage: collection and attribution
Using the original gallery photo taken by myself as background, I applied the inverse ‘Art Poster’ (Amount:88, Color:32) to transform the tone to dark brown with black noise edge. Meanwhile, the contrast was enhanced to sharpen the frames on the wall.
The following step was collecting the different old media. From the Creative Commons on Flickr, I chose those which allow to adapt ‘remix, transform and build upon the material’ with attributions. To avoid violating the copyright, I adopted the formal form on CC attribution instruction, providing the title, author, licenses with links. Each work might be under different type of CC license. Therefore, it is crucial to confirm their content of license and note original sources appropriately.
After eliminating the content inside the frames by ‘Clone Stamp Tool’, I assigned four images collected from Flickr inside the frames and distorted the shapes to fit. Under the filter of ‘Posterize’, the saturation of the four photos was increased dramatically. However, the high hue might break the nostalgic aura. I applied another filter, ‘Old Photo’ to integrate them within the backdrop.
Second stage: text and frame
Placing ‘R.I.P’ on the right corner of the image, I applied the ‘Diffuse’ filter on the layer, which demonstrated the texture like pastel writing. The italic font made the text parallel to the frames and the black trace underneath. The text might not catch audiences’ attention at the first sight, but it was still clear enough to recognize and keep the modest style at the same time.
Considering the comparison between old media and new media, I added the iPhone held by hands as the frames of the previous image of gallery. To highlight the iPhone as the modern device, I applied ‘Posterize’ in amount of 3 and added vignette that could focus the central content of the work. On the top and the left were the exposed white parts initially, filled up by the black brush.
Final stage: reflection
The biggest problem appearing during the production was the ethical usage of others’ photography. Finding the suitable pictures under the license that tolerate derivative works could consume a lot of time. Moreover, when there are images from different source, the integration could be harder because of the distinct tones and compositions.
Digital Literacies 