Pepsi Ad

Capitalism successfully makes a profit by exploiting black people and black culture, what's new? Interesting how it's so easy to recognize that just talking about how wrong this Pepsi commercial is, is bringing attention to the company, in return completing its original task. However, when it comes to actual Black Lives Matter protests and all the attention and publicity it gets, people are still hard pressed to acknowledge that it actually is making a difference. I love hearing how companies advertise so "successfully" that it backfires, like with Google. People love using google as a verb more than they like the actual search engine. It has become such a commodity that at some point Google tried to make a case against the use of the verb.

Society of the Spectacle

"The Society of the Spectacle" was a captivating book that questioned our consumption of mass media and as well was a criticism of how our direct experiences change with the development of technology. The advancements of technology we have access to has, as the author would say, made us forget what the world is truly like and no one seems to care that we can't remember. Avoiding these vacuums of substance is easier said than, seeing as how a lot of the way we participate in getting so wrapped up in this virtual environment is paying any attention to a spectacle. While the author and Debora certainly seem to think that media has ruined our lives, I think that it has added on to our experiences not deprived us of them. But then again, I would be of the generation that doesn't know what I forgot.

How to Ruin a Great design response

While a bad design in regard to visual studies is not as drastic a social issue as this article makes it seem, it does prove a pretty interesting point. The small details in a design that might have been overlooked as unimportant could ruin the entire thing, however i'm not sure if I could agree with this without someone blatantly pointing it out and explaining what's wrong with it. Small mistakes can become distracting and could undermine the whole reason of something, for example a traffic sign. The author insists that there is a way of doing things for a reason, like having all the traffic signs in the same font and design. Which makes me wonder what he would expect from new ideas if the originals are so perfect. I actually like weird fonts and distracting set ups, probably not in traffic signs, but I do appreciate them in pop culture. An example of this would be DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar, an album with bold red simple letters on the cover and all capitalized letters and punctuation marks for the track list.

Poster Project

The colonization of Puerto Rico by the United States, and whether Puerto Rico should become a state or gain it's independence.

"Estamos Unidos" (We are united) it's a pun in reference to how to say the United States in Spanish (Estados Unidos). I put the American flag on a vegigante, a mask typically made by indigenous Tainos of Puerto Rico, a symbol of our history and culture.

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This is a poster of a leader of the Young Lords party protesting in New York. The Young Lords party was a Puerto Rican nationalist group that promoted the needs of Puerto Ricans including health, food, housing, and education.

Final Project

Half a decade later...

In a couple of months, I'll be renting my first apartment and completely supporting myself from my full-time job as a cook and from selling my art. I'll slowly work my way up to dealing with the corporate aspect of the restaurant that I work in and I'll be seen as a person with smart business ethic, particularly when it comes to marketing. As I continue my course work at Temple University in Geography and Urban Studies and as well as art, I hope to learn more about the environment of Philadelphia and become more involved in the inner city community. I see myself attending rallies and protests, writing letters and articles about controversial issues, and channeling the pain and suffering that I witness and feel myself, into my creativity and expression. I see myself being accepted to a top university for law school and in 5 years I hope by then I'll be heavily invested in my dream career as a social justice lawyer and activist. I want my art to continue to be a release for me and I want people to see my art as a release for them as well. I see myself traveling constantly despite my ambitious career goals. “Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.” 

Everyone is altered response

The whole idea of hollywood is based on having celebrities to idolize. So it makes complete sense to me that celebrities are not only seen as perfect but by digital enhancement are made to have no imperfections. I think it's important for children and our youth today to not isolate people who represent beauty and view their status as unattainable. However, the industry clearly does not support that.