Pop Culture: Design a Band

We start today with this "How Might We . . . ?"

How might we create an intentional band out of random elements?  

This will be run similar to a DEEPdt  flash lab.

DISCOVER.

Make a list of bands and artists that you believe have really great names. Even if you don't love the music or consider them a favorite, you hear the name and think, "that's a great name."  Throw in good names of movies, good names of books, TV series, while you are at it.  

Put three of your favorite names -- music or not -- and put each on a sticky note and up the marker board.

I notice.  I wish.  I wonder.  We'll look at those band names up on the board and discuss using only those stems to start our thinking.

EMPATHY.

3x3 Interviews.  Three questions.  Three subjects.

1. What sorts of fonts appeal to you?  Handwriting? Block? Serif? San Serif?

by mostash.

2. What colors appeal to you?

by Dehahs.

3. Do you prefer realistic or abstract images?

Realistic To Abstract from kyoung

Collect your responses and include them on your blog post when you discuss the album art you create.  Use what you know appeals to others visually to inform your choices.

EXPERIMENT.

Create-A-Band Process 

I'd Give Credit to the Creator of this Process  But It's From a While Back & I Can't Recall the Link! #arghface.

1. Go to the Random Article link on the Wikipedia front page. (You can find it in the top left navigation menu.) The title of the random article is your new band/artist's name.

2. Go to the Random Quote link on the Quotations Page front page. (You can find it in the left side navigation menu.) You will get a list of random quotes. Pull either a full or partial quote from that page. That is the album title for your band's latest release. (You might also find some song titles this way as well.)

3. Go to Flickr and click on the 'Interesting Uploads from the Last 7 Days' link. (You can find it by scrolling down and looking beside the 'Take the Tour' link.)

4. Pull that information together and then use an app like Pages, Google Draw or Google Docs, a photo editor like iPhoto or Gimp, or any other application that lets you manipulate words and images, and create your album cover.  Export your finished work as a .JPG and post it or  PDF and screenshot it and post it on your blog.

PRODUCE.

5.  On your blog, create a context for your band.  Who are the members?  How did they form and when?  What genre(s) do they play?  What was the gig that led to them making this album?  Where do they play? In other words, what is the story behind the band?  

Here's the big huge giant challenge of this creative endeavor: take those random elements from above and make them all seem intentional.  How might you create sense out of what might be nonsense by applying the filter of music to it?  What does this say about the power of music?

6. In a separate blog post, choose an artist or band you enjoy.  Select an album by that performer. Explore the relationship between the artist's name, the album's name, and the cover art for that album.  To what extent do they align?  Where do you see a clear relationship between the visuals and the music?  Where do you see it not working out?  What about the band's logo or the font used on the album cover?

One to two descriptive paragraphs with visuals to illustrate.

Extra helpful?  Embed some Vimeo links or Spotify links or other ways of proving your point through the music.

You might get some inspiration for your album covers here

10 Iconic Album Covers (Yahoo) Here

99 Well Designed Album Covers (Inspiredology) Here

21 Great Albums with Not So Great Art (AV Club) Here

Lego'd Album Covers Here

Humanities: Culture & Composition Photo Essay DT Challenge Rubric

Humanities: Empathy Phase: Photo Essay Challenge

Last Wednesday we mapped our our cultural identities based on the eight components of culture.  Each circle represents a component, the placement and overlapping reveal how much, or how little, each plays a role in our lives.  After personal maps, we collaborated in groups on maps of our community culture.  This worked served as part of our Discovery phase.

This is a shot of my #sketchnotes plan for the day.

Here are some of the insights and trends we mapped after looking at our models.

This gave us some fuel for going into Thursday where we spent our energy identifying the various users we may have for our photo essays.  This marked our first day of Empathy phase in our DEEP design thinking process.  

What did we notice from our culture work on Wednesday?  We revisited it on Thursday.

And that led us to Friday where we had at the opportunity to talk with the crew from South Carolina again, if only briefly.  We had a couple of class leaders take on the task of conducting an empathy conversation.  This gave us some valuable insights as to how we should shape our photo essays this week.

This takes us into Monday . . .

Monday we dive into Experiment mode.  Folks should be coming with photos they've taken so far and start playing with formats for their photo essays.

There's time to brainstorm and play and sketchnote and storyboard.  We'll be using some of our 8 Box techniques and other means of getting to great photo essays.

Tuesday will be more experimenting and then Wednesday, we practice.

ASSESSMENT.

BLOG.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post.  Explore Pecha Kucha and Ignite.  Find an example here or here.   In your blog post explain why you chose this sample as a mentor text -- a model you can follow for you own.  What made it great and interesting to you?

PHOTO ESSAYS.
Friday.  Friday.  Friday.

Humanities: DT Challenge: Photo Essay

HMW use our knowledge of composition and culture to reveal our culture through image?

8 Components of Culture.

5 Elements of Composition.



Use 5 to Reveal 5.
5 Elements of Composition to Reveal 5 Components of Culture

Choose a Focus: Personal, Local, School



Today, we start DISCOVER phase of DEEP design thinking.

KNOW/NEED to KNOW/BRIDGE the GAP

What do we know about photo essays and documentary?  What do we need to know?

How might we bridge the gap?



Use the Photo Essay doc in Google Drive to help


Images. Due Monday, April 13

Presentation Practice.  Wednesday and Thursday.  April 15 & 16.

Presentation.  Due Friday April 17.

ASSESSMENT.

BLOG.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post.  Photo Essay/Documentary Mentor Text.  Find a photo essay or documentary you want to use as a mentor text for your product.  Identify three moments/images from that mentor text that speak to you and explain why you want to emulate them in your work.
Due. Friday, April 10.

Pop Culture: Music Mapping

Today we'll investigate the roots of the music we enjoy.  AFTER we share our social media products and the last of the comedy culture products.

We'll be using using our collective knowledge as well as the power of the interwebs to help us uncover the chronological, influential, and cultural etymology of music.

And we'll using ThingLink to showcase this knowledge.

In fact . . .

ASSESSMENT.

BLOG. 3+ Posts.
CURATION. 2+ Items.
PIN. on Flight307 Pop Culture Pinterest.

Req'd  Blog Post.  Create a ThingLink that demonstrates at least 5 steps in musical etymology from present back to roots.
Due.  Friday, April 10.
For example, I love The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, which have roots in the thrash metal of the early eighties a'la Iron Maiden and Motorhead and ALSO roots in the horn sections of 1960s funk and soul groups a'la James Brown and ALSO roots in Jamaican ska and reggae a'la Bob Marley.

Humanities: To Kill a Mockingbird Analysis: Final Day

Today will be a our last day breaking down To Kill a Mockingbird the film, as we will be looking at a few excerpts from the text and a close viewing of one scene in particular: the jailhouse.

We'll start with a quick LNG.  It's Monday after all.

Then we'll look at To Kill a Mockingbird  as it appeared in text.  See if we can identify the same themes, foreshadowing, and cultural components showing up there and they did in the film.

And we'll end with a film study.  A close view of just that single scene.  And we'll test my thesis:  the jailhouse scene tells the entire story of To Kill a Mockingbird

ASSESSMENT.

Blog: 3+ Posts.
Req'd Post:  Franklin County as Maycomb County.   Using effective composition skills, take at least three pictures that show evidence of Maycomb County culture showing up in Franklin County.  Consider any of the eight components of culture.  You may need to think outside the box a bit here.

These pictures could very well become part of your photo essay, an assessment to be announced this week.

AP Lit: Poetry as Design Challenge: Experiment Phase & More

EMPATHY & EXPERIMENT PHASES.

Monday and Tuesday, we have several vital signposts ahead of us.

One.  We need to explore some more poetry structures.  Sestina. Gazhal.  Villanelle.  This week.  In class.  (I promised no piling on.  I meant it.)


Two.  We need to examine results of empathy work and map our insights.


Three.  We have to determine which experiences we want to install and who will work on each.


Four.  We need a schedule for this next week and a half.  We will be installing on the 15th, due to step up day for the middle school crew.  Folks need to know what to finish and for when.

Five.  We need to engage the DEEP board so we can better keep track of who is doing what and when.

This is where it gets both nuts and amazing.  Just like any good design challenge should.

Reminder of Expectations.

1.  DESIGN a POEM.  Craft an original piece that evokes the theme of happiness or connectedness.  It must use at least 7 poetic devices from this menu.
Due. April 15.  Poem for installation.
Due. April 16. 1 page analysis.

2.  DESIGN an INTERPRETATION of a POEM.  Craft a visual/audio/tactile interpretation of any poem you feel suits this theme.  Consider using Poetry Foundation  as a starting point for  your search.
Due.  April 15.  Interpretation for installation
Due. April 16.  1 page analysis.  Use poetic devices from this menu as backbone of this analysis.

3. DESIGN an EXPERIENCE with POETRY.  Design an interactive experience for students on campus that uses elements of poetry and increases happiness and/or connectedness at Mt. Blue Campus.  This is where the crux of our design work occurs.
Due. April 15.  Installation.
Due.  April 16.  Collection of poems explored.  Three analyses completed using SCOUT & CRAP. 
Due.  April 16.  Documentation.  DEEP. Discovery. Empathy. Experiment.  Produce.  Req'd Blog Posts for the Week.  Have documentation of every phase and explanations ready for viewing.

This is also our pre-cursor to the big end of the year Watchmen installation.  This is really an extended flashlab to help us get accustomed to this work.

ASSESSMENT.

Blog.  3+ Posts.
Req'd Post This Week.  SHOW YOUR WORK.  DEEP.  Discovery.  Empathy. Experiment.  Any component of the installation.  Show it.  Record it.