#i think it looks aesthetically pleasing and can convey multiple feelings that might not be covered by full face shots

[ultfan]

i love the tumblr rpc obsession with making like 80% of our icons close-ups of our muse’s eye

[writingwithcolor]

Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400​ said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him. 

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters. 

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

 3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods. 

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao. 

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications. 

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures. 

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine)  , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again). 

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

 Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why.  We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

[archival-account-2]

definition and refinement; in the heart of an artist. | keiji akaashi [headcanons]

❛ 𑁍 pairing: keiji akaashi x female!artist!reader

❛ 𑁍 scenario: in fukoradani academy; in the art club (school studio); in the volleyball court

❛ 𑁍 warning: none because it's a fluff; y'all haven't seen the coffee sachets i consumed

❛ 𑁍 note (i): my head isn't a healthy headspace because the brown coffee + sugar + black sugar i consumed today; y'all better expect like a train is gonna hit you off the rails because i didn't went easy with this one; of course, i tried to keep keiji akaashi in character, so please patient as i am adjusting his personality with my writing style (it’s fun writing new things)

❛ 𑁍 requested by: @schoneelise

🡪 you are one of the school prominent artists not because you're the vice president of the art club (your senpai is a third-year) but because you're presence is always defined no matter where you are.

🡪 did someone saw that cutie in a red berret? yeah, that's you, sketching in one of the notebooks you brought.

🡪 oh, did someone also saw that dolly in a skirt with van gogh's starry night masterpiece? yep, defintely, that's you, admiring your juniors' art in their studio while giving them advice.

🡪 anways, moving on; your senpai, (s/n), is very good friends with kotaro bokuto, the colleyball captain of the fukorodani volleyball club. (s/n) comes to their friend's practice by themselves but one day, you're intrigued with the way they were acting.

🡪 it was as if they were jittery and were kept on their toes. did something happen without your knowledge?

(s/n): they almost had it... they almost had it!

(y/n): ... senpai?

(s/n): if keiji didn't mess it up, he could have-

(y/n): sennpai, are. you. okay???

🡪 your kind concern reconvened your senpai's attention toyou, who almost looked petrified. (s/n) apologized for their erratic behavior and explained the situation.

🡪 long story short: fukorodani would facing off against the schools in tokyo in less than one week, and they don't have enough time to practice the new combo they conjured up.

🡪 you, being the supportive type, decided to come with your senpai. they were more than happy to have you tagging along. besides, it seemed like you needed something to be your next inspiration.

🡪 wow. the tension in the court... is just... wow.

🡪 boy, did the sound of balls bouncing off the floor and walls made you rethink your decision. what if you're going to lose an arm? what if you're going to get a concussion? is the place even safe for behaving people?

(s/n): relax. they know where they're gonna hit.

🡪 you're almost believing your senpai when a ball narrowly missed your head by a hair. a hair... a. hair.

🡪 poor you... you almost dropped your art things on the floor and fainted right after that.

keiji: not that high, bokuto-san. you almostt hurt (s/n)-san.

(s/n): actually... you almost obliterated my vice president, (y/f/n).

🡪 you were, by all means of surprise, a forgiving type of person, so you kindly and simply brushed it off with a shy wave of dismissal and a smile.

(y/n): no, it's fine! in fact, it kinda impressed me that it can go that fast and strong. er, good job!

🡪 let's just say, the volleyball captain became very fond of you at the very instant.

🡪 and his vice captain? he's intrigued, to say the least.

🡪 after one strenous match (that scared you most of the time and had to shift multiple times), they finally had a break. your senpai walked over to kotaro and chatted with him, shooting the breeze as the other players attended to their needs.

🡪 while the game was nearing to an end earlier, you finally moved to the most comfortable spot: almost to the corner,  underneath a window. you set your artist's satchel beside you in peace (at last) and made new sketches that were inspired by your new surroundings: the court ceilings, the net from your perspective, the rapid movement of rubber shoes, the accelerated ball and it's awesome momentum.

🡪 you were having your own fun in your own newfound place, and you like the fact you had something new to draw about.

🡪 now, during the ten-minute break, keiji akaashi, the vice captain, noticed that you were gone... well, that was until he saw you sitting by yourself.

🡪 you were sitting cross-legged; your sketchpad on your lap; your mechanical pencil scraping the paper as it draws; your head bending down with your eyes focused on the task at hand.

🡪 keiji walked over to you quietly, making sure his tall presence won't startle you. but since you were so immersed, you didn't even pay any attention to anything else. so, he stood before you, bent over, and looked down at your sketchpad.

keiji: it's really pretty.

🡪 you almost threw your pencil five feet in the air from the sudden, accidental scare.

(y/n): oh, um... thanks... but does it really?

keiji: yeah.

🡪 from then on, you and keiji hang out like good buddies every other time after his practice and after your duties in the art club were done for the day.

🡪 however, on one hand, it would be you who would come by the court and proceed with your habit to sketch the surroundings. but, on the other hand, it would keiji who would finish early and drop by the art club (without announcing his presence because of his frequent visits), watching you work behind your back as you work on an easel or laptop (for digital arts).

🡪 of course, during the times you two would spend the time, keiji would give you meaningful advice on how to make your pieces more attractive and more aesthetic-looking.

🡪 surprisingly, they worked so well! in fact, so well that your (s/n) would tease you about keiji being the better mentor than themselves.

(s/n): i guess (y/n)-chan doesn't need me at all... she had found a better teacher... much worse, he's in the volleyball club. oh, the horror!

(y/n): but you taught me the fundamentals, though... senpai, you're being melodramatic again.

🡪 in case you haven't noticed it yet, you're the type of artist who can quickly adapt to another artstyle without sacrificing your own. you are a fast learner type and that was because you believe improvement knows no speed.

🡪 you always work hard to make your pieces expressive, eloquent, and emotional. with your ardent passion to adapt to functional styles, it's no wonder why you can cope up with keiji's suggestions without thinking about it.

🡪 keiji, in turn, would be surprised. but he would only retain that notion only to himself. he couldn't bear to admit that verbally.

🡪 he's not big on evoking emotions or feelings easily; he prefers to keep a calm, relaxing, and unmoving personality everytime he's around crowds.  

🡪 but there was one thing he couldn't do: he couldn't stop his own eyes from expressing from what he truly felt in the inside.

🡪 whenever he saw you drawing something that seemed better than he liked it to be, keiji would give you a nod of his head and simply motioned for you to continue with a wave of his hand. but then you would give him a quick-second glance, and his eyes said, 'it's really amazing. please do more'.

🡪 other times, when you eagerly show him your work, a side of his lips would tug slightly upwards. but it would quickly disappear as it appeared. you didn't fail to spot it, though, and you felt super proud you're able to make keiji elicit an expression of happiness.

🡪 so, one day... your art teacher dropped the bomb: you, art students of the art club, have to draw still-life.

🡪 but not just any still life. no, it had to be still life with the theme, "classically contemporary".

🡪 well... well.. you need to think fast or else your grades will drop to a 'c-' or a 'b+'. and you're a straight 'a+' student in arts, so you can't let this drop-

keiji: what's going on with that head of yours?

🡪 you're hanging out in the court this time, and keiji was on a break (thank heavens; kotaro just made them run twenty-five laps around the gym as 'cool down').

🡪 you explained you thick dilemma and keiji said you shouldn'y overthink it too much because that'll "bench you out until the time is up".

🡪 you took his solemn advice with a grain of salt and thought it through as the second round of practice commenced. before you knew it, you finally made your decision and you're excited to keiji about it.

🡪 but the question is: would he like it?

(y/n): akaa-

keiji: keiji.

(y/n): um, keiji! i finally know what i'm going to do!

keiji: good. can you tell me what it is, then?

(y/n): can you be my model?

🡪 him? akaashi keiji? a model? for someone's project? esepcially that 'someone' was you?

🡪 gosh, he really didn't know how to respond, so he just simply looked at you with the most unreadable face ever. it made you contemplate if you had upset him or something...

(y/n): keiji... um, you know... it's fine if you don't want to my subject. i can just go and ask some of my other friends if they want.

🡪 next day rolled around and you still haven't asked any of your friends yet. that's because you had a hunch they had found their own models and muses in the earliest nick of time.

🡪 sad to be you right now.

🡪 so while the others were working with their newfound partners, you were simply minding your own business by setting the 'still life' background/setting of your work, thinking it might lighten the load while you're still looking for the right person.

(s/n): (y/n).

(y/n): y-yeah? senpai?

(s/n): why is keiji dressed like he's about to revive a shogunate?

🡪 good lord.

🡪 it had to be kotaro's idea.

🡪 it just had to be.

🡪 akaashi-freaking-keiji cannot just waltz inside the art studio dressed in a yukata with a semi-real sword strapped across his waist. no, no, no, no, nope-

🡪 it looked so out of his element, to be honest. like... he wasn't born to wear it because his face conveyed the most unamused expression to ever live. he looked like he was forced to get inside the costume. but how could anyone coerce this serious man to even wear that?

🡪 but you know what?

🡪 he looked really dashing, to be honest.

🡪 really, really dashing.

(s/n): ... this is the art studio, not the drama theater.

keiji: i know. i'm here for (y/n)...

🡪 did. you. hear. that. right?

🡪 or what he just said rendered you deaf?

🡪 anyways, anyways, anyways. here's the breakdown of how the hell akaashi keiji ended up wearing a yukata with the matching sword.

🡪 he admitted to kotaro that you asked him to be your model. kotaro nearly gave him the most memorable slap ever because he lowkey rejected you. as his punishment, kotaro got in contact with one of the drama peeps he's friends with and ordered to his friend the most amazing yukata they have in the closet with matching sword. (so it was definitely his idea; no wonder why akaashi looked slightly pissed). while akaashi thought it was a waste of time and called kotaro out for being impulsive, he also thought... what's the freaking big deal?

🡪 what is he overthinking about? there's nothing to put his mind heavily on the matter. the only thing he's going to do is sit still and look handsome for the artist. is that the hardest job in the world?

🡪 his answer came to him when he sat down on a stool and posed for (y/n): it's not the hardest job at all. besides, he's not always on energizer bunnies and he's barely hyper when he's sitting down. so... i think he's doing a great job~

🡪 (y/n), in turn, is having the best fun of her life.

🡪 she's sketching one of her bosom friend for one her important projects.

🡪 she's taking her sweet, sweet, sweet time sketching keiji on the digital easel and before they both knew it, the draft was done!

🡪 it only took them seven hours, though.

🡪 keiji missed his volleyball practice and it was past their curfews.

🡪 but neither of them mind. while some students really did stay put (wow, the dedication), keiji and (y/n) decided to go home at once.

🡪 but only after keiji changed into his uniform again.

🡪 he cannot be seen in a yukata.

🡪 his dignity relies on his appearance somehow.

🡪 once he's done, both of them walked home since their houses were just walking distances.

(y/n): you actually looked really nice in the yukata, keiji.

keiji: thank you, (y/n). although it was just forced on me.

(y/n): nonetheless, you appeared very dream-like back there.

🡪 something blossomed in keiji's chest. was it deep appreciation for the meaningful compliments? was it earnest regard to how he had behaved and look for your project? whatever it is... he's not going to deny it in any way. but then again, he's not going to say anything about it.

keiji: is that so?

(y/n): gosh, yes! you're a lifesaver back there, you know.

🡪 you spent the night polishing the whole thing and it continued for the rest of the week.

🡪 keiji, being an understanding and considerate type, didn't step in your way except when to remind you about eating lunch and going home earnestly.

keiji: (y/n), eat your lunch first.

keiji: (y/n), brush your hair before sitting down.

keiji: (y/n), time to go home.

keiji: (y/n), rest your eyes.

🡪 one week after your final draft, you passed it to your teacher just in time.

🡪 of course, to compensate to keiji's volunteerism and efforts to keep you alive (barely) last week, you treated to lunch on you.

keiji: i have my own bento, (y/n).

(y/n): but mine has more meat than that,

keiji: ... fine. let me have it, please.

🡪 after a hearty lunch, keiji walked you to the art club. (of course, there was no competition but the grades matter-)

sensei: all of your artworks deserve to be in a museum. but, to be honest, out of the rest, i think (y/n)'s piece deserved a seat right next to da vinci's.

🡪 god bless keiji for being there or else you could have lost all senses then gained a concussion from fainting.

🡪 your still life, turned out, to be the one that stood out the most.

sensei: how did you pull this off, (y/n)? who... who taught you?

🡪 you squinted at your work and noticed the changes you never paid attention to at all. while you retained your own original art style of 'still life', there were some compositions that seemed brand new.

(y/n): keiji-kun taught me.

🡪 you said it with so much pride that keiji actually smiled.

🡪 smiled.

🡪 he smiled the most genuine smile he could ever muster.

🡪 (damn, kotaro is missing in action right now.)

🡪 you got the highest grade among your classmates + your (s/n) congratulated you wholeheartedly. they even said, "you might even be the next president in the art club!"

🡪 you laughed and accepted their compliment.

keiji: maybe next time, you should draw me in a hakama.

🡪 now, should you? only kotaro knows the answer.

❛ 𑁍 note (ii): y’all want actual fanfic of this thing??? dm me/ask me, comment and reblog this, then, so i would know. hope you like this~

[fyrapartnersearch]

Looking for someone to play Peggy for a slow-burn Steggy romance RP

Hello folks! My name is Joe. I'm a Brit in his late 20s who started roleplaying about 15 years ago, when play-by-email and play-by-post were the norm, but I've been massively out of the game for the last few years. I briefly got back into roleplaying in 2018 but the site I joined imploded after a few months and I became a bit disheartened. I miss my favourite hobby very much, and I would love to get back into it with someone's help. I have a particular story I'd be interested in roleplaying with a dedicated partner for an extended period of time - months or even years, if we both think there's more room to take it. The Plot I am looking for someone who would like to play Peggy Carter against my Steve Rogers from the MCU for a slow-burn, long-term romance roleplay. Steggy is my absolute, all-time OTP, and this is a story I'd love to play out for so many reasons - from a deep love of the characters themselves, to a life-long obsession with all things Marvel forged reading the miss-matched comics I could get my hands on as a kid and watching the X-Men/Spiderman TV shows, to a nostalgic love for the aesthetic of the 1940s (I am 99% sure that I am the world's leading listener of obscure Gracie Fields and Pearl Bailey songs on Spotify). It's such a perfect mix of story elements for me. In the MCU timeline Steve meets Peggy in June 1943 and rescues Bucky in November 1943, but doesn't go into the ice until February 1944. I'd love to play out a story that lets us imagine together what some of those pre-1944 moments might have looked like when they were working together during WWII, sticking to the canon that they weren't at any point a proper romantic pairing and didn't have their first kiss until the very end, but ultimately focusing primarily on their reunion after Steve's return to the past in Endgame. In my mind there are two ways that we could go about doing this, but I am absolutely open to suggestions or alternative ideas:

Jump right into the post-Endgame story with Steve and Peggy's reunion, and cut back to vignettes of their time together during the war that we play out as and when we feel appropriate.

Play the entire tape through from start to finish, from the moment they meet in the training camp right through to Steve going into the ice, and then pick up with the post-Endgame reunion.

We start with the post-Endgame reunion to the set the scene and context for the story we want to tell, and then play the whole thing through vignettes and independent scenes that aren't played out in any particular order.

There are so many things that I think it could be enormously fun to explore in this story. I don't mind if we play it as Steve going back in time properly so that his identity has to stay hidden and he has to keep a low profile just cheering on Peggy as she builds the incredible career she goes on to have, or if we play it as an AU so Steve and Peggy are also able to become world-saving, ass-kicking partners in not-actually-crime-but-justice. My main interest is in exploring the contours of the characters, their love story, and the highs and lows that would come with being re-united. I am happy for us to bend or twist canon about the wider MCU if you would like, as long as we keep the essentials of the story correct and keep these two characters true to their canon depiction. I am absolutely, honestly not remotely bothered by the sex or gender of the person playing Peggy. My main hope is to find someone who has enough of an appreciation for these characters that we can have an enormously fun time imagining their journey together and thinking what scenes it would be fun to play out and what elements of their story we'd like to explore. I am not interested in exploring anything where Steve is implied to have had anything other than a platonic relationship with Bucky, Tony Stark etc. I am bisexual IRL and have absolutely no problem if you also ship Steve with other characters, but it's not a story I am personally interested in. Writing Style / Partner Preferences I write exclusively in the third person, with multi-paragraph responses. Whilst sometimes it might be clear that a short answer is better to progress a scene, even in a dialogue intensive moment it's rare you'll get less than two paragraphs out of me. My posts tend to be 3 - 5 paragraphs in length; 2 paragraphs if the scene is dialogue intensive, and more like 7 - 9 if I need to move along a lot of action independently of my partner (e.g., if my character needs to be somewhere else doing something, I would rather write more in one post to try and get the action back to playing against my partner in as few posts as possible). I write quickly and words flow easily, and I am not very good at being succinct (for better or for worse!), in no small part because I try to make sure I'm clearly conveying my character's feelings and thoughts to the other player as well as their character. I tend to be quite detail heavy on thoughts and feelings, and try to blend that into action so there's always something for my partner to work with. I have roleplayed happily against other players with very different styles and post lengths in group settings, but for 1x1 play like this I am looking for a partner who also writes in third person with multi-paragraph responses. I'm a working adult with a life that varies in how busy it gets. There will be times when I can reply once a day or even multiple times per day; there will be others when I can only post a couple of times per week, and cannot commit firmly to being able to post more than a couple of times per week. I'll always communicate with you what my availability looks like and keep in touch OOC so you know I'm around. Please especially be aware that weekends are often busier for me than weekdays and don't assume no reply at a weekend means I've lost interest; it's time to spend with my fiance, my friends, my family and work on other hobbies as well. I will often be in a better position to reply during workday evenings. Intereted? If you'd be interested in taking this up, then let's chat about what the story could look like! I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts on which of the three approaches you'd be most interested in, or if you have any ideas of your own, and if there are any specific scenes or plot points you'd like to include in the story. Rather than just jump right in, I would like to map out how we want to do this given the different approaches we could take.

I would prefer to play by Google Docs, e-mail, I don't mind making a Tumblr account either, but for now you can contact me on Discord at ampason#8923.

[mucky-puddler]

So, I’m doing a module on Kubrick, and I’m bringing you along for the ride

Context; I’m required to upload weekly blogs about the lectures and screenings and readings from the week. This is that.

Okay, so first is the lecture; one of the first things Nathan said is that Kubrick is that he has a film in every genre other than a western - we were not given a reason why; I guess he just hates them.

After my first introduction to Kubrick, I didn’t really know what to think about him - he seems a little high maintenance because he was very nit-picky about something changing on his set, whether that was a slight difference in the lighting or a prop had shifted. It should come as a surprise to no-one that Kubrick was an avid photographer as a young man because the skills he learnt whilst as a photographer at Look Magazine have bled through into his film-making. I also enjoy photography, so I connected with him at least on a very surface level. His other hobbies, like chess and other physical sports, also can be seen manifesting themselves through his work - some good, brief examples are his three short docu-style films. Day of the Fight illustrates his passion for sport and shows how he experimented with his photography at the same time; a good example of this is what I am calling the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, where the boxers are shot from underneath - we can see both of their faces and where the blows are hitting, and it gives the audience a glimpse into what it might have been like to see the fight live. Perhaps his strength and talent in photography lead people to see him as a “New York Intellectual” - part of me thinks that the deep and entwining themes came along after his experience as a photographer.

As most filmmakers do, Kubrick responded to the debates and ideas of his time, and made films within the context of those issues (more on this later). He seemed a little stuck up, especially when considering that he did not compromise his stylistic or intellectual integrity; some might say that that is noble of him, that he remains true to himself and the standards he upholds, but try thinking about it from the other crew’s point of view - he might have turned down their ideas because they did not align with his. This is, of course, speculation and I have no evidence to prove either way. Also, I’ve been informed that he had to check everything himself and didn’t trust other people to make his imagination come to life, which seems controlling to me - for example, he would often insist on holding the camera himself in order to effectively portray a point of view or something. I think if he could direct, hold the camera, do all the edits, record the sound, and act all the characters, he would. It would appear that he wanted everything to be just how he wanted it - but maybe that’s my pessimistic mindset coming through.

Let’s talk about the first three shorts Kubrick was commissioned to do. The first was called “Day of the Fight” in 1951 and is a documentary about Walter Cartier, an Irish middleweight boxer preparing for a fight. The narration, paired with the footage shot by Kubrick himself, informs the audience of how a semi-professional boxer prepares for a fight. Through this short piece, we can see Kubricks interests creep in - his enjoyment of sport and passion for chess is represented by the boxing itself, but also his love for animals can be seen through his inclusion of Cartier's dog. It is in this piece that the first ‘under-the-fight’ shot is used, emphasising his love for interesting shot and photography. His next short is called “The Flying Padre” (also 1951) and is another docu-piece about the priest Father Fred Stadtmuller who used his plane to spread the word of God and reach as many people as possible. He is portrayed as a lawful good hero, a Superman type. This is the shortest of the three, and there isn’t much more to say about it. The final short Kubrick released was made in 1953 called “The Seafarers”, and contained information about the perks that these navy-esque men receive for their service. It sheds an innocently positive light on the domestic aspects of their work and the options available for them (although they do say the word ‘seafarers’ far too much). It looks like some of the short were staged, especially as Kubrick probably would have had only one camera, but that is a common method to use when creating docu-style pieces. One question I did have though, nothing to do with Kubrick though, is how are the families of the seafarers perceived? Are they judged or pitied for not having a man around (because it was the 50′s, ya know)?

I’ll briefly (or not) discuss the other two feature-length films that Kubrick released about the same time. In 1955 he released “The Killers Kiss” whose story revolved around an ex-boxer and a dancer who fell in love and wanted to run away together to escape her creepy boss. As is the case with all of Kubrick’s films so far, this one started with some internal monologuing. The first 15 minutes or so heavily mirror “Day of the Fight”, from the vanity inspection beforehand to the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, which makes sense - Kubrick was only in his 20s when both of these films were released and his experience (like most of ours) was limited at the time (also we all draw inspiration from previous work/real life or whatever). Other than the glaring social issues (gotta love the 50′s) and peculiar plot holes, I felt that the music offset the desired atmosphere during scenes that were meant to be particularly tense - we learned that Kubrick enjoyed his music, jazz, in particular, so I find it strange that he would not try to better match the music with the intensity of the scene; perhaps it was that he did not have much music to work with. Kubrick uses a lot of noir features in this film e.g. harsh shadows, casting light through slatted blinds, utilising the aesthetic of smoking and fedora hats standing at street corners and at the ends of dark alleys, which I always enjoy. The second film we were introduced to was “The Killing” from 1956 - according to Nathan, this film inspired Tarantino to use split narrative, and this is one of the worlds first heist films. I don’t have as much to say about this one, both sport and chess can be seen within it illustrating Kubrick’s love for them both, it has a lot of noir tropes, and I think there was a gay couple in it? But I might be reading into it a little too deeply. There was an interesting switch of gender roles between two couples - in one, the man was dominant and overbearing, but in the other couple it was the woman who essentially bullied her partner, which was potentially quite progressive when considering the time in which it was released.

Here’s a brief (actually, this time) intro to the film I want to focus on - “Fear and Desire” was the first Kubrick film I watched, I had no expectations or thoughts about it beforehand and didn’t really know what to make notes on. After doing some reading, certain things became clearer, so I’ll pair the reading with some of my notes on the film itself.

In the introduction of the reading, James Enyeart talks a lot about the implications and developments of photography in the mid 19th century - these are some of the attributes he gives it;

- highly graphic and structures

- photographers had a keener eye

- composition gave structure and harmony

- gave a more aesthetically pleasing view of the world

- the more graphic an image and the more dramatic it’s presentation, the stronger the emotion

I agree with these conclusions - obviously, technology has advances since then, but these comments still ring true today. Additionally, Enyeart discusses photos in relation to the context they provide, and I have a theory; if a collection of photos can give more context than a single image, therefore a film (which is a series of photos shown in quick succession) can give the maximum amount of context? Alternatively, it could have the opportunity to convey multiple contexts, which could be considered themes?

Word of the day; Apotheosis – a perfect form or example of something, the highest or best part of something, elevation to a divine status.

I also agree with Enyeart’s comment suggesting that the overlap of cinematic photography, fiction, reality, and documentary style is the apotheosis of film.

Cherchi Usai’s chapter on Kubrick and “Fear and Desire” is more tailored to discussing the film – also I didn’t read any of the other chapters because I didn’t have time and that shit is long.

One of the biggest things discussed is how Kubrick hated the film in question (and I have to partially agree – it’s not great), but what is interesting is that no one can seem to agree whether it is a masterpiece or not. After the film was made and ready to be distributed, Kubrick was in love with it, as any young creative is with their most recent work. It is said he called “it’s structure; allegorical. It’s conception; poetic.” However, soon after its public release, critics called it “amateur” and said nothing more. However, after the initial hype, Kubrick ignored the fact that it ever existed, and it was after that that critics and fanatics thought the work to be more than it’s original worth. To me, it feels like a stranger wandered into Kubrick’s childhood bedroom and riffled through his GCSE artwork to find something for a museum – I do not understand why “Fear and Desire” is obsessed over.

It was at this point that I debated whether I wanted or even cared about the origins of the film, but my degree told me yes.

Also, keeping a camera in a paper bag is terrible camera care and hurts my physically.

One of the main points that were discussed was the theme of obsession – Kubrick had obsessions in his life, and he made films surrounding obsessions of different themes; death, lust, war, money, fear (also narration and film noir for Kubrick himself). In the film “Fear and Desire”, those obsessions are made manifest through Mac’s conversation with Corby about the Governor – he is obsessed with killing the enemy and winning the war, so much so that he died for his cause.

The final point to discuss is the double use of the actors – the actor for Corby also plays the Governor, which adds an air of humanity. Additionally, the narration played over their images is existential and inward-looking, therefore humanising both sides of the war.

[meeedeee]

Vidding Linkspam April 22, 2019

Meta

Seeking Vid Recs 

This year I decided to make a vidshow about how much I hate capitalism. (I’m not kidding.) The working, and probably actual, title is “Be Gay, Do Crimes”.  It will be vid show on queers and marginalized folk doing what they gotta to survive under capitalism/the patriarchy/etc.

http://silly-cleo.tumblr.com/post/184109805310/seeking-vid-recs

______________________________________________________________ 

Proposal to download YouTube fanvids before Europe's Article 13 takes them down

"I was thinking about each of us downloading videos, and marking them as "Safe/Downloaded" in the comments, until we find another place to put them / way to share them."

https://meeedeee.tumblr.com/post/184099896331/hi-i-was-wondering-if-you-knew-about-the-european

 ______________________________________________________________   

What's a good vidding song for Thor/Heimdall? 

http://mithborien.tumblr.com/post/183987036406/whats-a-good-vidding-song-for-thorheimdall

 ______________________________________________________________  

PLEASE don’t steal work from vidders.

Whether it is reuploading a video, or taking clips from their edit and passing the editing off as your own, PLEASE DON’T.  

http://gemxstone.tumblr.com/post/183422022587/i-cant-believe-im-having-to-say-this-but

 ______________________________________________________________   

Make things that are bad, silly, self indulgent.

Making that silly middle school-esque fanvid was the most fun I had video editing in a while. I went to uni for media, I got graded on my editing. It can kill the fun.  Make things that are bad, silly, self indulgent. Just make things because you want to. Don’t let perfectionism kill ideas.

http://strivia.tumblr.com/post/183296958875/i-know-there-are-posts-with-a-similar-sentiment

 ______________________________________________________________   

seekingferret: Wiscon Vids/Database Vids  

But it strikes me that vids like "Transmission" and eruthros's "Straightening Up the House", which got its own 7.5K creation essay, are vids that in an essential way may reflect an emerging Wiscon aesthetic that is meaningfully different from VVC-style vids. These are vids that are created by vidders fluent in the VVC house style, but they have the DNA of academic research projects in them as well. Vids are always attractive to me because of the information density they're capable of conveying, but "Transmission" and "Straightening Up the House" intentionally throw more information at you than you can absorb, while making you aware that they are doing this. The kiloword creation essay is an essential part of the art. You can simply sit back and watch "Transmission" and enjoy it, but you do so with the full awareness that you are not seeing everything the vidder has to say. I feel like that stands in confrontational opposition to the idea of Vid as Essay, which is so often essential to understanding VVC vids. 

https://seekingferret.dreamwidth.org/298378.html

 ______________________________________________________________  

elfwreck: Vidding 101 Begins

I picked up Sony Vegas 14 at HumbleBundle a while back, and finally got around to installing it.  I want to make a vid. I want to make a vid I know damn well nobody else will make, so I guess I gotta learn vidding. However, the vid I want to make is complicated and involves several sources from different eras, which I know is a pain. So first, I gotta make an easy-for-beginners vid to get used to the software.

https://elf.dreamwidth.org/803716.html

 ______________________________________________________________   Anonymous Musings on Making Fanvids

All this Endgame excitement is really overflowing my brain with ideas for vids. But my only experience with making fanvids goes back more than a decade with a borrowed copy of DVD Shrink and Window Movie Maker on a computer that wasn't really equipped to handle either, and I always wanted something that would let me layer video in more ways that WMM would allow.  

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/364661.html?thread=2127359093#cmt2127359093

______________________________________________________________   argh! (Indexing vids)

On the plus side, this little exercise in frustration made me finally fully update my index of Vids by Song (I have 3 indexes: by Song, by Vidder, & by Fandom; the other 2 are complete, but I started the Song database later on, so I never got it fully done). Next time I get convinced I have a vid set to a certain song, I want to be able to go directly to the song itself & see! Not combing through every single vid. 

https://istia.dreamwidth.org/499505.html

______________________________________________________________    Resources

Vid songs database? 

Is there somewhere an index or rec list or database or website or something where you can search for vids by song choice rather than (in addition to) fandom or ship or vidder? 

https://meeedeee.tumblr.com/post/184113257521/vid-songs-database

 ______________________________________________________________   

How to make the perfect fanvid rec list - using vids from multiple streaming platforms (YouTube, Vimeo, Internet Archive, Daily Motion etc).  

https://morgandawn.dreamwidth.org/1646310.html

 ______________________________________________________________   

Looking For Free or nearly free software for clipping large/ 1080p mkv files on mac

"Any recommendations for for newer software that might deal with files better? (I'm using Lightworks for the actual vidding)"

https://vidding.dreamwidth.org/389542.html

______________________________________________________________ 

Challenges/Contests

Spring Equinox 2019: Sources from the 1990s is live!  All 37 vids made for Spring Equinox are now live on the AO3 collection

https://equinox-exchange.dreamwidth.org/25769.html      ______________________________________________________________ 

cupidsbow 

Equinox Vid Recs - Sources from the 1990s

https://cupidsbow.dreamwidth.org/451765.html

comments x-posted to

morgandawn |

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[fipindustries]

i finished warbreaker

i have lots of thoughts on the matter, let’s break it down into parts

the book itself

not as good as mistborn. perhaps aesthetic preference, perhaps mistborn had three books to fully develop into a complex intricate world, perhaps i just really fucking like victorian gothic.

there is a line between “not explaining everything to the reader but let it be known that there is more to this world” and “tease interesting story beats and do nothing with them”. im afraid that warbreaker errs on the latter.

specially with it’s magic system, there is so much more that could be done if someone wanted to fully explore the limits of what can be done with it. i liked the idea of a world filled with relics of a distant, more powerful and more dangerous past, when ancient magicians tried to break the system and munchkin their way into a better world and all they got as a result was world war I. it reminded me of the treatment HPMOR has with objects such as the erised mirror or the deathly hallows. This world seems ripe for a singularity and i would really like to see how that would look. but we didn’t get that, in fact we barely got a few glimpses of it, and even that, only near the end of the book. i don’t want these elements just as a twist or a quick reveal of how deep this would could go if we only bother explore a bit further, i want to actually explore all this dammit. but that is not the conceit of this story so i can’t fault it for that.

overall 7/10.

now let me go a bit more in depth about...

the writer

brandon sanderson is very much a worker writer. a guy who won’t spend months and years nursing an idea into perfection like, say, neil gaiman, but rather he just sits down a writes a novel and he corrects it and then he publishes it and then he moves on to the next thing, rinse repeat. the strength that comes with it is that you get to develop a lot of experience and practice this way, you get to live comfortably off your work and your readers have a bountiful trove of books to plunder through. but there is, i feel, a bad side to this.

usually when you are this kind of relentless writer your novels will tend to be... how to put it?

is like all your books will have [intresting plot] that will involve [complex characters] within [careful worldbuilding], and that is it. not a lot more, not a lot less. All the elements to make [good novel] will be there, and indeed it will be a [good novel]. Yet, to me, a truly fantastic book is something that has to feel unexpected, not just in the plot, which very well could have all sorts of meandering twists and shocking turns, but the execution itself. @nostalgebraist said it in his review of too like the lightning:

I could, perhaps, try to convey what is good about this book by listing everything it does well; by telling you that, for a great range of things readers might want out of a novel, this book does them, and with impressive execution too.

But there is another thing, beyond this, where one says instead: "I don't know what you're doing, not anymore. You have passed into a territory not found on my charts, where you move through hoops the like of which I have never seen, and perform feats of magic that leave me unable to say what the trick was, if indeed there was a trick at all. I am not testing you anymore. This is a different kind of interaction. You have me in your clutches. More, please."

all of this is specially interesting to me when i compare branderson with wildbow. And i think the comparison is fair considering wildbow is also very much a worker writer, in fact he might be the poster child for worker writers all around the world, sorry stephen king.

i used to complain that wildbow’s prose didn’t have a whole lot of flavor to it. That he only wrote, again, [good books] with [interesting characters] within a [intricate plot], because that is all you can really do when you are writing serially with no editing, no revision, no items, fox only, final destination.

but now i have to revise that assessment. i think what was actually happening was that i have been tasting wildbow for so long that his flavor grew dull to me. i got so accustomed to reading him and nothing else that i forgot this is not the normal standard style of writing. wildbow manages to imprint a level of raw, visceral emotion to his narration of the like which i have not found in sanderson. on top of that his worlds feel a lot more alive, whatever problems the protagonists are facing, they are never the one problem the whole world cares about and is dealing with in their own way. in a sanderson book (as far as i have seen, admittedly, i have only read two series of his) there is the one conflict, the one doomsday scenario. it might be broken down into smaller, discreet issues, but is all the same plot. in wildbow there is not limit to the different, completely unrelated problems, multiple factions, multiple villains, multiple plots, yes, even multiple doomsday scenarios.

of course that is the advantage that comes when your story doesnt have to be shorter than the chrysler building when physically published. and i will say this for sanderson: is nice reading a book that can actually get it’s point across and move things along and be done with it, all in the span of one book.

to conclude

brandon made me appreciate wildbow a lot more. It also made me appreciate the fact that im kind of finnicky when it comes to books.

as of lately im starting to feel more and more the huge investment in time and effort that can be reading a whole novel, time and effort that i should very much be investing on other things. so if anything rubs me the wrong way at any point, no matter how petty it might be, i will immediately discount points. i will not enjoy a book unless it gives me something not only well done but actually mindbogglingly spectacular. problem is that to find (and get into) those books is a huge investment all it’s own and i don’t want to give up reading just because a novel doesn’t pass my arbitrarily high standards.

so yeah, branderson is as good as people led me to believe, and not a single bit more.

[minyoongijjangjjangmanboongboong]

Arranged Chapter Eleven

Description: Y/N is a struggling student in Seoul: working multiple jobs, living in a broom closet apartment, and often sacrificing her dignity for the sake of her livelihood. What happens when a handsome stranger presents her with an offer she cannot refuse at the moment she needs it most?

Pairing: Min Yoongi x (f) Reader

Word Count: 6,673

Tags: Non-Idol!Au, Chaebol!Au, Company!Au, Arranged Marriage!Au

Warnings: Coarse language, although not frequently

A/N: Hey guys! As always, thank you for being so kind and supportive of the fic and of me! It means more to me than I will ever be able to convey. I’ve had a pretty hectic week this week, so I’m hoping it’s not reflected in the chapter! I’m running on empty haha, but it’s good! I always feel the most productive when I’m struggling a little. Sorry to post this chapter a bit early but I have work at noon so I can’t post during my regular time! Anyway, please send me an ask if you want to chat or have theories/ideas about what you think will happen! I love seeing where your heads are at. As always, do feel free to send me feedback, critique, questions, or really anything! I love talking to you guys, and I’ll respond to all messages I receive within a day of receiving them! I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! 

–Mercury

Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven, Chapter Twelve, Chapter Thirteen, Chapter Fourteen, Chapter Fifteen, Chapter Sixteen (END)

———————————————————————————————————

I stared at Jungkook and tried to piece together what he was saying. He sounded so small, his voice trembling more than his hands as they held mine. If I wanted to refute it, to tell him he was wrong and that he’d never betray me, the genuine fear in his brown eyes halted the words in my throat. Whatever he was up against, he was certain about the outcome. Was this perhaps what he’d been trying to tell me the night before? 

“Jungkook,” I said softly, using my now-damp sleeve once again to dab at his eyes. “Listen, I know you. You have a good heart. If you hurt me…I know it won’t be your fault. You don’t have to exile yourself.”

He shook his head and pushed my hand away. “But what if this is the choice I have? The only one that keeps everything the way it should be? If I just…remove myself then-,”

“Then what? Does that negate whatever choice your parents made? Who’s to say that you leaving will even change anything? Jungkook, there are some things you can’t run away from,” I said, then shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe you can change things.”

His eyes were still glassy, but he looked a little more lucid as he straightened up with a sigh. “I can’t.”

“Well, here’s how I see it,” I said, smacking his thigh so he would look at me. “You’ve got two options: you can run, and there’s a guarantee that you won’t make things better,” I began, shifting my eyes from the horizon to his eyes only to find them already trained on me. “Or you can stay and at least have a chance to change it.”

He stared at me for a good, long moment. The wind had picked up and the breeze carried fallen leaves in swirls towards the sidewalk. Behind his head a tree waved as tremors swayed gently through its branches. The leaves looked so transient as they passed, so impermanent. They were powerless to the force of the wind. But the tree stood tall, its branches dancing but never once relenting to the breeze.

“Okay.”

I smiled as the wind died down and I realized that, despite what he may think of himself, Jungkook was not transient. He was a steady tree.

“Yeah. I think I’m going to have to stay with him tonight if that’s okay,” I said into Jungkook’s phone.

Yoongi seemed to have a smile in his voice as he responded. “That’s fine. I understand.”

“Um…before I lose the nerve to ask…can we talk about what happened before I left? Maybe, uh…when I get back home tomorrow?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Okay. I think that’s fair.”

“Alright…um…I’ll see you at home.”

“See you at home.”

I ended the call, handing Jungkook his phone, and sighed into the nighttime air. Jungkook stood beside me with red-rimmed eyes and arms wrapped around his torso. We’d walked to his house, his parents’ home, and were standing before the large estate. I’d dropped him off the other night, but Yoongi had been the one to walk him in while I parked the car and called Yoongi’s driver. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the house, a massive four-story home built with modern aesthetics and sensibilities: fountains in the front and on the sides of the entryway, a long round driveway, white pillars and imposing external walls made of masonry. It was sleek, like something I’d seen in an architecture magazine once. And it was big enough to get lost in. Big enough to never see who else was living with you…

Jungkook glanced down at me, his face barely illuminated by the yellow streetlights, and I patted his shoulder before leading the both of us past the white iron gate and onto the property.

“You don’t have to stay,” he said quietly.

I shook my head. “Of course I do. If I’d been a better friend before I would have noticed you struggling. It’s the least I can do to look out for you now,” I said. He stared down at me with furrowed brows. “Why do you have to make it so hard not to like you?” he asked.

I blushed and smacked his shoulder. He chuckled slightly and held the white front door open for me before walking in himself. The foyer was marble-floored and sprawling, but I was more interested in the photos lining the walls of the entry. Pictures of a young Jungkook, clad in a taekwondo dobok and holding medals, laughing on the beach, standing in the water with floaties and a frown. I smiled as I stared at each of them individually.

“Um…yeah. That’s me.”

I laughed. “I could tell,” I said with a glance over my shoulder at him.

He fidgeted. “Back in Busan. Before my mom and I moved to Seoul,” he said.

At this I turned to face him. “You lived with your mom growing up?”

He shrugged and gestured towards the ornate stairway leading to the second-floor mezzanine. I followed his cue and let him lead me up the stairs, all the while playing with his hands. “Only until I was around ten or so. Then we moved out to the city since my dad wanted us all to be together.”

“Are you closer with your mom then?” I asked.

He shrugged once more and led the way down a hallway. He paused before a doorway. “This isn’t my room, by the way. If you’re uncomfortable.”

I stifled a laugh and shook my head. “I wasn’t.”

He nodded, suddenly stiff and shy as we traversed his home, and opened the door. Before us was a media room large enough to host a small convention, plush beanbag chairs lined up facing a screen and controllers strewn about. There housed every manner of video game, stacked in uneven piles all around the cluttered room. Several computers sat on sturdy desks behind us. Tacked on the walls were posters of different movies and games, even some singers or dancers. I examined one with a smirk.

“IU?” I asked through laughter as I stared up at a small photo of the beautiful girl amongst the sea of posters, hung with care from a string so as to not puncture the photo itself.

Jungkook stepped in front of me and furrowed his eyebrows. “Don’t snoop.”

“How was that snooping? You brought me in here,” I said.

He thought a moment and crossed his arms. “It’s my house and I say it’s snooping.”

“What?” I exclaimed with a laugh. “Stop being such a kid!”

“If you don’t like it you can go somewhere else. The house is big enough.”

“What, are you gonna call my mom and tell her to come pick me up?”

“Maybe!”

I was the first to crack a smile and, as I began to laugh so did he. We continued laughing together for a moment and it felt nice. Like things were okay, or at least if they weren’t okay that they could be. 

“Wanna play Mario Kart?” he asked.

I nodded. He dimmed the lights and ran the projector as I fell against the giant beanbag chair, handing me a controller before collapsing into his own fluffy nest beside me. He started the game and we waited in a comfortable quiet for the map to load.

“You know I grew up with my mom too,” I said quietly.

He glanced at me, face glowing from the bright screen consuming more than half the wall. “Yeah.”

I played with the controller in my hands and pursed my lips. “I think back on my childhood and I think…it was happy. But not the parts when I had money. I know it’s a horrible cliche, but I remember being happier without it. Like…when I was little and living in such a nice house, I was scared I might break something if I touched it. So I kept my hands to myself. I didn’t play outside very much. I mostly stayed in and drew pictures,” I said as the match began.

The both of us got a bad start, so I tried to make up for it by picking up speed around a corner. I was hit with the squid ink too soon, however, and my morale plummeted. I sighed as I decided to just coast in the back of the pack. I took a peek up at Jungkook’s screen and he was, predictably, in first.

But he kept looking at me when he could chance a glance, and I felt like he wanted me to continue. Something in the way his eyebrows knit together told me to keep going.

“Anyway, when we left that place was when I can remember the happier days of my childhood. I was messy and wild and I made a lot of mistakes and cried a lot but…I remember thinking every day was fun. One day I might come back to the apartment with a stray cat and my mom might scream at me and I might demand we keep it. Another day I might catch some teenagers smoking and throw my shoe at them. And another day I might sit by the river with my mom and eat a sandwich she made with the crusts cut off, just the way I liked it,” I said with a laugh as I idled in place next to a curve. “It was warm.”

“Warm,” he said quietly, slipping from first place to second. “Busan was warm in the summer.”

I nodded. “All of our precious memories are warm.”

He was in third place now, but still fighting to reclaim his spot, launching a red shell at Baby Bowser and striking him in the backside. “Do you ever miss those days? Childhood?”

I shrugged and let my remote sit in my lap, unused. Jungkook didn’t seem to notice my stagnation in the game, too engrossed in his power struggle with Princess Peach and Baby Bowser for first. “I think I miss the feeling more. Carefree. Like even if I made a mistake someone would clean it up for me.”

“Like you could come home crying and someone would fix it all for you,” he commented, now falling to fourth place.

“Mhm. Do you miss it?” I asked. “Do you miss Busan?”

“I miss who I was in Busan,” he said. 

I smiled gently at the screen as he struggled to escape sixth place. “Were you just Jungkook in Busan?”

He nodded. “Just Jungkook. No concept of money, no idea what the real world was like, just a happy kid with his mom in a beach city. He had friends who really liked him and his mom smiled a lot.”

“He’s you, Jungkook.”

“No he’s not.”

I sighed as he lurched forward into third place, overtaking Yoshi in the process. “I wouldn’t go back,” I said.

He turned to look at me in shock before returning his attention to the screen. “What do you mean? Why not?”

“Because even though things are complicated and ugly sometimes when you grow up, it’s also bright and colorful and fun. I’m still that kid even though things have changed. Getting to know yourself, getting to know the world…it’s good. Part of what makes growth beautiful is that it’s sometimes tragic. And the lessons I’ve learned along the way are things I would never want to give up for the sake of going back to being ignorant,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Right now is warm too.”

Jungkook’s position fell again to sixth, and then to seventh. He cursed under his breath as he continued to try to climb. “Then why do I feel like I’m always under cold water? Like I have to struggle to keep my head above it?”

I smiled at him as I thought. “You don’t have to stay there. You can get out. You just have to ask for help.”

He fell to eighth place as the other racers passed him. His hands had gone limp around the controller before, in the blink of an eye, he was in eleventh, his cart rolling to a stop right beside where mine sat on the curve. He didn’t have to worry about being first anymore. He could sit and rest for a moment with me instead. Slowly, he turned to look at me. Our eyes met and a silent moment of understanding passed between us. And then, wordlessly, he nodded his head. I felt the question in his gaze, saw it in the way his knuckles were bone-white against his skin. 

I would help him.

“Wanna play another round?” I asked with a smile.

I awoke slowly, disoriented as I opened my eyes and saw instead of my usual morning sunlight only darkness. I rubbed my face and squinted against the dark and, as my eyes began to adjust, I could make out the outline of a projection screen. Was I still in Jungkook’s messy game room? I stretched against the soft beanbag chair and glanced to the right only to see Jungkook still sleeping peacefully, barely visible against the dark.

I chuckled and thought about rousing him for breakfast or something, but decided instead to collect myself and take my leave before he work up. I wasn’t sure what sort of reaction he might have to finding out the two of us accidentally slept near each other for the second time. I stood and grabbed my jacket. I hadn’t even brought my phone in my mad dash to find him, so it was a quick escape from Jungkook’s lair. I exited into the hallway and scuttled quickly downstairs, my eyes burning from the sudden light. It was a gloomy day outside from the glimpses I caught through the massive windows in the foyer: the clouds forming a sheet of grey overhead and raindrops coming in bullets from the sky.

I was just pulling my shoes back on my feet in the entryway when I heard motion behind me. Jerking to the side, I turned around with only one shoe on my foot and was met, to my chagrin and shock, a woman who I could only assume was Jungkook’s mother. Beautiful with porcelain skin and black hair, soft dark eyes and not even one wrinkle, she stood with a mug of tea in a silk house robe, her free hand gently touching her chest. She raised her eyebrows at me. 

“I…Uh, hello,” I said, bowing deeply to her.

She returned it and offered a soft smile. “And you are…?” she asked.

“Oh! I’mY/N. I…Jungkook and I are friends,” I said, relieved that she seemed at least to be gracious.

“Y/N!” she exclaimed, pointing a manicured finger my way. “My apologies for not recognizing you! The last time I saw you was at…”

“My wedding,” I finished with a bashful smile. “I’m sure you’re wondering what a married woman is doing in your home, sneaking out in the morning.”

She tossed her head to the side as she appraised me with a smile. “Dear, when you’ve been around as long as I have you learn not to worry about what you see or don’t see.”

“No! I-I think you’re getting the wrong idea,” I said.

She shrugged and took a sip of coffee. “I’m not getting any ideas, my dear.”

“I…Jungkook and I are just friends.”

“Mhm,” she said with a chuckle. She glanced down at my shoes and pursed her lips. “You may consider checking your jacket, sweetheart. It’s inside-out.”

I flushed, mortified, and felt around my torso to find that, indeed, the seams were poking out awkwardly. I could feel the hood bunching near my neck, pressed against my back. “It was dark in the game room! I promise it’s not what you think.”

She smiled again, the one that felt knowing, and nodded. “Have a safe trip home, my dear. Tell Yoongi I said hello.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, bowing again as she flitted her fingers in a wave before disappearing down another hallway.

I felt my hot cheeks and rushed out the door before I could embarrass myself again.

I arrived home in the midmorning Sunday hours, my favorite time to be at the apartment. It was always so calm, so quiet. As I entered, however, it felt a little too calm, too quiet. Holly was resting on his bed by the TV, dozing as the pattering of rain against the roof lulled him to sleep, but he seemed to be the only living thing in the apartment. I furrowed my brow and crouched down beside the sleeping pup, giving his head a little rub before standing and glancing around the apartment. It looked like it always did: tidy, geometric, monochromatic, a little cold. The absence of Yoongi made it feel a little foreign though, especially when I was anticipating his being here so we could talk about what happened. How he…

I blushed before I could remember it all. His lips, plump and soft on mine, needy and desperate but passionate…

I shook my head. Where was he?

I heard the distinct vibration of a cell phone and remembered where I’d left mine, right on the coffee table. I jumped for it and dragged my finger across the screen to unlock it. I’d missed tons of texts from Hana, enough to fill a book, and a few calls from my mom. It was odd. Mom and I talked every other day most of the time, and she only really called when something was wrong. It put me on edge as I pulled up my messages. Twelve in the last two hours from Hana.

I am freaking out.

Why didn’t you tell me you had a side piece? ;)

He’s fine too…what, worried I’d take him from you?

I thought you liked Yoongi though.

Alright, teasing aside, what’s going on? You’re not usually like this. Like…spending the night at a guy’s house. I don’t know, I’m worried.

Give me a call or something okay?

I’ll send you the link to the article if you want.

Ah, you might not want to see it though.

Shit, okay I’ll send it but don’t click it if you don’t want to.

After your dad showed up…I’m sorry. I feel like you’re going through a lot.

Alright here’s the link http://www.chaeboltouch.com/back/bite.php/HVZ5T6

If you need space, I understand. Just…send me a text so I know you’re okay, alright?

I responded with something that accurately depicted my mental state, something simple that Hana would immediately understand.

Y/N: ?????

Hana: Jesus H. Christ you’re alive!

Y/N: It’s only ten though?

Hana: Baby, a LOT has happened overnight.

Y/N: What do you mean? And what were those texts about? I didn’t have my phone all night.

Hana: Did you click the link?

Y/N: No.

Hana: You might want to…

The conversation was ominous to say the least and, now concerned, I scrolled up in our log to find that link. Once I clicked it however, I kind of wished I hadn’t. Sitting there, staring at me from the depths of cyberspace, was a photo of me sitting beside Jungkook on a bench by the Han River at sunset. Me, a married woman dressed messily, wiping away a young rich boy’s tears with the sleeves of her jacket. I gaped as I took in the photo and the caption beneath it: Min Company COO Min Yoongi’s Wife, Min Y/N, seen up-close and personal with JJK Group heir Jeon Jungkook. A secret summer love affair?

I couldn’t read the rest of the article. Any site called Chaebol Touch surely didn’t have my best interests in mind. I pulled up my messenger again and, with fury blooming in my chest and my stomach, I typed a message.

Y/N: If those bastards knew what was really going on, they’d never post something so stupid. I’m livid.

Hana: You must be. Listen, is there anything you need?

Y/N: Besides the blood of my enemies?

Hana: Haha, I was thinking more along the lines of a warm breakfast and sangria…

Y/N: No. Thank you, Hana. But I’ve gotta talk to Yoongi. This is so messy. I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks for being there.

Hana: Anytime, babe.

I clicked the phone shut and tossed it against the couch, pacing back and forth along the rug and raking my fingers through my hair. Jesus, couldn’t things just be simple for a moment? Ever since I’d agreed to marry Yoongi my life had become a mess and I’d just been a passenger following diligently behind, cleaning up in its wake. I chewed on my lip as I thought. Who could have taken that photo? Jungkook and I weren’t nearly that famous. Whoever had taken it must have known who we were. Maybe they’d even followed us somehow. I couldn’t think of an incentive for something that sinister. To tear apart my marriage? Good luck. I was in a contract. To pit Yoongi’s family against Jungkook’s? From what Mr. Min said at the wedding, the company couldn’t afford to make enemies.

To ruin Min Company’s reputation…?

It was the only plausible conclusion. I furrowed my brow as I thought for only a moment before a call came through on the home phone. I lurched across the furniture to grab it and, without even checking who it was, I answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Y/N?”

Yoongi. Thank God. “Yes, yes. It’s me. I just got home. What’s this article?”

Yoongi sighed. “I don’t know either. I’m at the office with my PR team deciding what to do. I’m glad you’re home safe.”

“Me too, but…shouldn’t I be there too?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…I’m also involved aren’t I? This media firestorm happened because of me. Shouldn’t I be present?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“No. Y/N, it’s okay. I don’t know how much good you’ll do here. To be totally honest, I don’t know how much good I’m doing here,” he said with a chuckle. That he could laugh in this situation baffled me. “I snuck out of the meeting and they didn’t even notice. I think I’ll be able to come home soon if this keeps up.”

“Yoongi…”

“What?” he asked, a smile clear in his voice.

I exhaled heavily. “I can’t help but feel like you’re making decisions without me again,” I said.

He sighed, but I could still hear his smile. Was he happy to talk to me? Why did my insides go all fuzzy? “I promise it’s not like that. To be fair, I’m not even the one making the decisions. Just…rest okay? Take a nice bath or something. Play with Holly. I promised him I’d give him extra attention today, so do that for me.”

I pouted a little and looked down at the sleeping prince himself. “You also promised me something.”

Yoongi chuckled, the soft sound bouncing from the phone to my ears and hitting me straight in the chest. When had he been this tender with me? “Trust me, Y/N, there’s nothing I want to do more than come home and talk to you about what happened. Talk to you about anything, actually.”

I blushed and sat down against the chair, feeling my knees go weak. Even without him physically present, he could affect me. I bit my lip to keep from saying something silly. “Then why don’t you?”

He was quiet for a minute, then laughed. “Give me two hours. Two hours and I’ll be home. The PR guys just need my seal of approval before they do anything about the article. I’ll hurry them along and I’ll come home to you.”

Come home to you. My heart raced, hammered, thundered in my chest. I blinked against the haze of dreaminess that had overtaken me. It was hard to believe that only a few moments before I was raging mad about some stupid article. I smiled to myself, holding the phone a little more gently, pressing it a little closer to my ear, hoping to hear his voice just a little more clearly.

“Two hours?” I asked.

He gave a laugh. “Yes.”

“I think I can entertain myself for two hours,” I said softly.

“Hmm,” he hummed into the phone. “Okay.”

We were quiet for a moment, neither of us hanging up the phone. I wasn’t willing to release the moment, to relinquish it to memory. Were we flirting? Were we being coy? Something about it was so innocent, but also a little awkward, maybe shy. It made the thunderstorm outside, the articles deeming me an adulterer, seem distant. I was reluctant to do anything to alter the mood.

“What did you do last night?” I asked, a desperate ploy to keep him on the phone with me.

Yoongi chuckled and let out another long hum. “Sat around with Holly,” he said, then a little more quietly, “Thought about you.”

My heart rate doubled and I tried my best to contain myself. “Um…Hm,” I mumbled.

“Ah, shit. I have to go,” he said. Had he ever cursed around me? “They’re calling for me.”

“Go,” I said with a smile. “We can talk when you get home.”

He laughed and I could almost see his smirk. “I’m looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”

The call ended and I was left staring at Holly as his rhythmic breaths lifted his chest only to guide it down again, the only sound in the solitary apartment being the gentle pitter-patter of a summertime rainstorm outside.

In two hours I’d taken a shower, cleaned my room, tidied and reorganized the kitchen, chased Holly around the room after his long nap, made myself some tea and plopped down beside the windows to watch the raindrops race from top to bottom. I’d exhausted all of my ideas and was left laying listless on the floor, Holly laying curled on my stomach as I stared at the white ceiling. If he didn’t come home soon, I was certain I’d lose my mind. In fact, I was pretty sure the loss of my mind had already started.

I imagined Yoongi walking through the door, drops of rain clinging to the ends of his dark hair, longing as much as I did to be closer to him. I imagined him giving me his most dashing smile, exposing his teeth and his gums alike. I imagined him tossing his suit jacket across the apartment like he was some sixties movie star and scooping me up off the floor, sweeping my off my feet both figuratively and literally. I imagined he’d kiss me again, although the feeling my mind conjured paled in comparison to the real thing, and that I’d playfully hit his chest with a chiding, “I thought we were supposed to be talking.” To which he’d reply, “Body language.” And I’d swoon and gag simultaneously from the sheer cliche of it.

But my daydreams washed away with the rain as Holly used my diaphragm as a springboard from which to launch himself, landing gracefully on his shaved paws just beside the fluffy rug beside my hip while I was left clutching my stomach. 

“Holly,” I groaned, turning to face him. 

He yipped at me before trotting away towards his water bowl. I sighed at his indifference. He was beginning to resemble his father that way. My eyes slid from the path he’d taken back to the front of me, my body now facing that rug. The one with the cute little secret pocket beneath. The one that I promised myself I wouldn’t mess with again.

My fingers reached out on their own accord to play with the edge of the rug, furrowing my brow at it. There was so much I wanted to ask, so much I wanted to understand. I felt like there were things Yoongi and I talked about and things we didn’t. Some things were just…not up for discussion. His childhood, his upbringing, his family, his aspirations for the future, his deepest thoughts and darkest secrets…I knew none of them and I knew better than to ask. The thing I hated most about Yoongi was the part of him that I didn’t know, the part he kept locked away in a safe somewhere. Perhaps, by opening a real safe, I could also open the one that kept the unseeable parts of Yoongi’s life from me. 

“No!” I shouted to myself, pushing myself to sitting and turning my body away from the rug and towards the large TV across from it. 

I turned it on and began focusing my attention on an old episode of Happy Together. As they all sat together in a sauna, I thought I might like to have a day to destress in a sauna too. I’d never done it and-

God, who was I kidding. All I could think about was that safe. Even if I tried to distract myself with television and good thoughts, I was still a slave to my curiosity. I felt my hands reaching for the rug again, on their own again, unstoppable again. But this time I let them. I could just…look at the key. I could look at it and ponder it and that could be the end of it. I didn’t have to do anything with it. I was a responsible adult and I was capable of being unsupervised at home without causing chaos.

But as I felt the cool metal against my palm, I could feel my head reeling with all the possibilities. Could it be as simple as he said? Just some money and personal items of value to him? Could it be some photos from when he was young, maybe an old watch from a grandfather or something? If it was really that innocuous, then why had he seemed so unconvincing before, giving me that smile?

Didn’t I trust him enough to let him keep something private to himself?

I hated myself, but I had my answer as I gripped the key tighter and stood to my feet, bound for his bedroom. I parted the doors and entered slowly, closing them behind me. I’d never been in his room before, so I was careful not to disrupt anything as I took it all in. Somehow, it felt like him. Decorated in cool greys and soft whites, the room was a mirror of mine. On the walls were massive prints of albums that I’d never heard before: Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, Views by Drake, Damn by Kendrick Lamar, a bright album cover by an artist named Suran. Even entering his room felt like I was seeing something new about him, uncovering the layers of secrecy that he hid with a straightforward and forthcoming attitude.

I sighed as I padded around, letting the muddled daylight filtering through the clouds guide me. I ran my fingers along his grey duvet, and along the spines of books that lay in stacks on his bedside table. Robinson Crusoe, Lolita, Demian, The Alchemist. A plethora of classic literature, and another insight.

I focused on my mission as the key jangled against my thigh and walked towards the massive walk-in closet across form his bed, the only way in which his room deviated from mine. I slid it open and found, predictably, lots of clothes. Monochrome and earth toned clothes. A sensible wardrobe for a sensible man. I cleared my thoughts, hoping that in so doing I may also clear the blush from my cheeks at seeing Yoongi’s room for the first time without his permission. I crouched down to the ground, searching for this safe, and came across perfectly aligned rows of dress shoes and, in the back, some well-worn basketball sneakers. I pursed my lips at them but pressed on nonetheless. Before I could worry too much, my fingers landed upon something hard and square and I angled my body slightly into the closet to get a proper look. I could see the metal edges of the safe and found the keyhole easily. For someone as meticulous as Yoongi, this seemed like such a silly and arbitrary hiding place. Either he didn’t value what was in this safe all that much or he really, really trusted me.

My heart leapt with guilt.

I shoved the key into the hole, trying not to think as I twisted it to the side and yanked the small metal door open. The light from outside afforded a pretty disappointing view, so I pulled myself out of the closet and sat instead just in front of it, plunging my hand into the darkness to pull out the first thing my fingers could touch. 

I examined with shaking hands a wad of hundred dollar bills, all wrapped in paper and sitting primly in the palm of my hand. So much money felt inexplicably heavy in my care, so I was quick to replace it as carefully as I could. I then felt around for something else and, fingers brushing the edges of what felt like a folder, I retracted my hand slightly. For a moment I hesitated. Whatever I pulled from that safe might very well be something I’d be better off not seeing. Would I really let benign curiosity make me cross a line that couldn’t be reversed? 

Indecision gnawed at me and I began feeling around for something else, anything else, but found under my touch only more files stacked on top of one another. I didn’t know why, but a foreboding feeling in my gut warned me to leave the files alone, to stop digging. But an altogether stronger feeling spurred me forward, forced my fingers to clasp around the edge of that first file and draw it from within the safe, settling the yellowish thing on my lap and staring down at it. Like the money, it felt heavy despite its weight and I stared at it while working my lower lip between my teeth. 

As much as I believed in Yoongi, as much good as I could see in him, I still felt like we were only playing at intimacy, like two kids pretending to be mommy and daddy. The real things, the difficult things, I wanted to see them all, know them all. But it seemed Yoongi would rather keep them away from me. And for that I resented him, if only just a little bit. The way he’d smiled at me when I found the key in the first place proved it to me. If I wanted information, I’d have to find it myself.

I had to force his hand…

And so I forced my own. Slowly, I flipped the file open so its contents were displayed clearly on my lap. At first, it didn’t look like much. Just a file on a person named Kang Eun. It was odd to see a person with a monosyllabic first name in Korea, but that was about the only remarkable thing about the file at first glance. I read through the file. This Eun person was a Korea University graduate with a degree in computer science. They graduated in the middle of the class, not particularly outstanding, but their transcript revealed the rigor of the classes they’d taken, classes I’d never consider taking. Apparently, this person’s background wasn’t great: mom was a seamstress and dad was a laundromat owner. The file also stated that they were born the same year as Yoongi, and that they grew up in Seoul. I wasn’t sure what good this information would do, as it seemed pretty common knowledge. 

But then I turned the page.

And I saw credit card history, transactions, notes on daily habits, work schedules, and all manner of horribly intrusive information that made my stomach churn with revulsion. A PI had surely been contracted by someone to gather this information. I checked the bottom of the second page for a date and, to my horror, found that it was issued only a few months before. Long before Yoongi and I had ever met. I wasn’t sure what unsettled me more: that he was the kind of person to violate someone’s privacy or that I had learned that fact by violating his…

I nearly shut the thing and shoved it back inside, ready to be done with it and every secret it promised to reveal to me. If this Eun person was important enough to hire a private investigator, I didn’t want to know what sort of information Yoongi had gathered on me.

But something caught my eye. Call it fate, or call it the corner of a digital photograph. I turned the page and my eyes became stuck, glued, to the photo before me. Because there, sitting in technicolor, was my husband with his arm wrapped gently around the subtle curve of a beautiful woman’s waist. He looked younger, shaggier perhaps. He looked like a kid, only bearing the slightest resemblance to the man I now knew him to be. He wore a big t-shirt over horribly ripped black jeans, a big, gummy smile on his lips as he posed with this girl in front of Namsan Tower.

And the girl…

Kang Eun as she appeared before me in the photo was a twenty-something beauty with long black hair and a slender neck, gracile collarbone, sloping shoulders that led to gentle arms wrapped loosely around Yoongi’s torso. She had soft, feminine features, amber eyes set upward towards Yoongi’s face. She looked like a young model, a starlet standing star-crossed with her lover. Her dress was flowing in the springtime breeze and I could see the trees behind their heads were beginning to blossom.

I was right.

Opening that file had been an irreversible act.

My heart ached and I felt all at once like far too much and far too little. Was this what it was like to see your boyfriend’s ex for the first time and realize she was, in every way, superior to you? No, this felt like more than that. Because when you see a photo of your boyfriend’s ex, you see it after stalking his social media, not sitting in a safe under lock and key, preserved preciously with care. 

I shut the file and shoved it back into the safe, wiping beneath my eyes as the implications of what I’d seen flooded to me in a sudden wave of emotion. In my distress, however, I was fortunate to hear the distinctive thump of footsteps from outside the apartment. I jolted to my feet and shut the safe, yanking the key from its hole and shoving the thing into the front pocket of my slouchy sweatshirt. Suddenly, I wanted to cover up more, to disappear altogether. Just when things between Yoongi and me seemed to be getting on track…

A past ghost and my own foolish, careless curiosity threw us backwards forcefully enough to knock the wind from my lungs.

I heard Yoongi at the front door as I exited his room, careful to mind my expression as I dabbed away the beginnings of tears from my cheeks. He didn’t need to see me crying. What right did I have to cry anyway? I was no more than a contracted partner, a business arrangement.

So, with my hands in my pocket, I fell back against the couch and began watching the rest of Happy Together. I couldn’t even force myself to look at Yoongi as he entered the apartment for fear of falling apart in front of him.

I never knew that uncovering the hidden parts of Yoongi would reveal parts of myself that I’d have rather kept hidden as well…

[jorjathomas]

FAS3002- Lifestyle

As we are coming towards the end of this course, this being the third project launch, I am determined to keep my standard of work high aswell as being open to new skills. I believe this course isn't independent this time around enabling me to share ideas with other students. The aim of this course is to create a brand based of trend research and present this brand to the class. It is important when creating this that we convey how the shifts in the world currently has impacted the fashion industry. This will be very interesting to cover given the global pause on normality. I think I would love to include something like this in the work I produce within this module.

Before starting the week again, we were set with an activity to complete prior to the module launch. We have been asked to research two or three brands which we find inspirational and to analyse the brand and its intentions with a customer. It took me some time to find brands that not only interested me but also reached a different target audience so I could differentiate the brands. I decided to look at the brands The Ordinary, Tesla and Etsy as these all have different messages and identities to the shopping world. Below I have discussed the different answers which we were asked on Moodle.

1. The Ordinary Skincare

quote: “Everyone ages, everyone gets their fine lines and wrinkles, and at the end of it all, we own it! We want you to own your skin and feel confident no matter what stage in life you're in. You're never too young or too old to be bold.”

What is the Brand’s Identity? -Their main focus is to deliver the best products for a persons skin. They don't spend too much money on their aesthetics and product designs as their honesty and integrity is was draws a customer in. they cut straight to the point with their products explaining what ingredients are in the bottle and why they are beneficial. I like this brand as they don't add any fragrances or other sort of junk which you could find in other products, as a customer myself they are perceived as genuine towards looking after their audiences skin. Below is a description of their narrative which I found off their website.

 “The brand was created to celebrate integrity in its most humble and true form. Its offering is pioneering, not in the familiar technologies it uses, but in its honesty and integrity. The Ordinary is born to disallow commodity to be disguised as ingenuity. The Ordinary is "Clinical formulations with integrity"”.

Product - The ordinary sell a range of different skincare products and makeup such as cleansers, direct acid serums, hair care products, oils and sun care. This brand interests me as their intentions are so pure which I wish could occur with every brand. The general pricing of these products differ from £3- £30 maximum. this widens their target audience as this is quite affordable for skincare. I discovered this brand when a skin care influencer called SkincarebyHyram on YouTube rated these products and recommended some of their products. There wasn't any ad agreements which happens often with influencers, but these intentions were pure which caused a lot of these products being difficult to by as they were so popular. The iconic items would be the Niacinamide and Zinc serum and the AHA blood face mask. These products received many good reviews and I think represents this business.

Price - As their items are cheaper than the standard range of skincare which could be £30+, I was doubtful with were they sit in the market. However coming across multiple articles explaining the most popular brands, The Ordinary was always in the top 5 answers. As every other brand they have competitors which are specific to their business. As this brand is organic, it reduces the amount of other brands they have to compete with. Their competitors are brands such as Revolution skincare and The Inkey list which advertise their products in the same way as this brand.

Place - This brand sells in a range of different places. They have their own website which you can buy online but they also have a small amount of stores across the country. Majority of their products are placed in department stores which is where I found the brand. This is probably the most common place for their products to receive sales.

Promotion - As discussed earlier, they don't advertise their products as much as other brand would. Keeping things as minimal as possible with the standard white and black designs so customers can gain knowledge of the products rather than liking the smell or colour of the product. I think they are very smart with this as most brands have developed a new way of promoting their products with bright colours and other forms of marketing which could interest a customer however The ordinary strips back all of these techniques and uses its products ingredients and intentions as a way of promotion. Below is an example of their honesty which I believe is a good way of promoting their brand.

“The Ordinary, are free of parabens, sulphates, mineral oil, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, animal oils, coal tar dyes, formaldehyde, mercury, oxybenzone. If you have questions about any ingredient that we use, please reach out to us and our lab will provide a response. DECIEM does not test on animals and does not pay others to do so. For this reason, none of our brands are sold in mainland China since such sales require animal testing for registration purposes.”

Customer - I think that their target market is widely diverse due to the range of different products. Each customer has a clear intention when buying these products whether that's heathier hair or to healthier skin. I have noticed a lot of young adults use this brand as they are good products to reduce certain skin conditions which are common for this age range such as acne. I would say their audience is mainly 16-30 year olds however it wouldn't surprise me if their audience was wider than this market.

2-  House of Sunny

What is the Brand’s Identity? - House of Sunny is a fashion organization producing womenswear. Majority of their clothing range are bright colours I barely see many dark pieces making this aesthetic very uplifting and ideal for the summer. despite this they state that their pieces are “Designed for an easy everyday, each product is carefully crafted to become the perfect addition to elevate any wardrobe which can transition through the seasons.”

Product - Majority of their key stock is their patterned knitwear and dresses but they also sell tops and other womenswear. Their key pieces would most defiantly their patterned knits both being cardigans and jumpers, I gained a personal interest in these pieces as they require so much more attention than a standard block knit. Their iconic item would be the Hockney dress which was grew popular when worn by the supermodel Kendal Jenner.

Price -  As their brand doesn't aim to be fast fashion and doesn't create a mass amount of products, their products are much more sustainable and are on the higher end of the market. I don't know if this price range is expensive or we have just been accustomed to unreasonable and cheaper products. I think these pieces value the price they set when I read their intentions on their website. Their knitwear range from £80+ and similar with other products. I haven't seen any of their stock go over £100 despite this. Majority of their pieces are set at the same price.  

Place -When researching, I didn't realise they sold their products in online department stores like ASOS and Urban Outfitters. They don't have any physical stores and all of their brand is based online which is a much more achievable way or selling clothes due to the current up rise in online shopping. 

Promotion - Like majority of their womenswear competitors, they use social media as a main contribution to reaching their customers. As this is online it is important they do this successfully to achieve a good amount of their target market. With the help of ambassadors, influencers tagging the brand when wearing the clothing and other marketing techniques, they reach new customers, like me, often. I also believe they pay for social media adds based on demographics and the activity of a persons social media data.

Customer - Being a womenswear shop I should assume their audience consist of women however with new society norms, I would say this brand can be unisex also. I also think the demographics might be of a younger audience being they are online. Also because they aren't a fast fashion company they aren't as well known as easier to find if someone was browsing on the web. I think a younger audience are more likely to come across this brand as they spend a longer amount of time shopping online than an elder may be. Despite this I think House of Sunny don't cancel out any specific characteristics or data of a customer making this brand diverse and suitable for anyone who likes their items. This approach to fashion and their overall message is what I find inspirational about this brand which is why I wanted to research about it.

3- Etsy

What is the Brand’s Identity? - Etsy is a online marketplace website and app focused on handmade or vintage items and craft pieces sold by small business. These items fall under a wide range of categories, including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor and furniture, toys, art, as well as craft supplies. This is a great place for starting business to sell products which may not be as reached if it was elsewhere.

Product - As this is like an amazon, selling many brands, there isn't any key prices as it depends on the sellers price range. However based of what majority of my history of the site I would say the price range is reasonable being £10+ with the products I buy. This could be things like personalised gifts or handmade accessories. I would agree in saying a lot of the key items would consist of personalised items and illustration designs.

Price - As said before their price range is quite diverse, I would consider this as an advantage as they are able to attract a different class of people which more department brands might not be able to achieve. Despite this the website receives a certain percentage of the fee a business would make on their site as they are advertising it to an extent, which could cause a brand to increase their product prices so they can receive more profitable income. I would say their competitors would be Depop, Ebay and Amazon as they all allow the public to sell particular items for customers.

Place - This shop is completely online and is also accessible through the app for an audience who use the site much more frequently.

Promotion - Personally I don't think Etsy itself uses many promotional techniques as they aren't selling anything however they may have some marketing techniques which could reach a small business owner and interest them in wanted to sell their brand on the site. I think the relationship between Esty and their own customers being the business owners need to balance each other well to achieve successful promotional techniques. For example a business owner would promote their products well in which they say where to find their products, being Esty. this not only engages the customer too look at the brands products but they are now on the Etsy site so they are most likely to look at other items on the site aswell or even interested in selling their own range of stock aswell. I think this is smart way of advertising their brand and what makes Etsy so successful.

Customer - As their price range consists of both expensive and cheap items the brand  reaches a wider audience. The businesses which use this website differentiate from one another creating a wider audience. for example one business may sell building tools and another may sell personalised jewelry which brings a range of different customers to the site. Overall I think this organisation is a very good space to enable businesses to grown their own platform and enable them to create their own brand aswell as profiting from their income from the purchase of their products.

[theloobrush]

Modern man in search of a theology

In light of a recent blog post, you may feel I have given God a bad rap. Or, to the contrary, you may criticize my craven need for ‘spirituality’ after admitting that reason seems to demand honest atheism. Well, no and yes. I’m never going to please the Dawkinite Taliban who want to scrub out every last vestige of delusionary religion and see faith as the dangerous opponent of good sense.  On the other hand I’ve probably burnt my bridges with the Christian community.

The other day I declared I was a ‘monist’. Yes, that’s a thing, a real philosophical tradition. As I also mentioned, one of my favourite thinkers is Baruch Spinoza (please google). He was a 17th Century CE jewish philosopher thrown out of his Amsterdam synagogue for heresy, having suggested ‘Deus sive Natura’. This Latin phrase is usually understood to mean ‘God’ and ‘Nature’ should be regarded as interchangeable terms. Baruch had a peculiar notion of ‘nature’ however: there is one substance in the universe, and once you logically understand the nature of that substance you see it is eternal, infinite, omnipresent, just as God is said to be. However Spinoza’s God was shorn of anthropomorphic features. I cite Spinoza as a monist rather than a ‘pantheist’ despite many hailing Spinoza as the exemplar par excellence of Pantheism. Pantheism of course being the belief that ‘Everything is God’. From my monist perspective, pantheism involves looking down the wrong end of the telescope. The pantheist perceives the wonders of physical creation and designates the sum total, in somewhat arbitrary fashion, as ‘God’. Or to put it another way, the pantheist labels as God what the atheist simply calls the ’universe’. Understandably the atheist thinks pantheism is a philosophical sleight of hand to shoe horn God back into discussion. At best, they point out, it is a superfluous use of language because the pantheist isn’t telling us there are any new entities or processes. Meanwhile the monist, being a geek,wants to penetrate deeper into reality, using reason rather than a Large Hadron Collider. What, asks the monist, is ultimate reality? As nothing comes from absolutely nothing, there must be an eternal and permanent ‘Ground of Being’. But what the heck? I’m sure I’ve already lost you in my verbal abstractions. And this kind of reasoning is a far cry from any  religion you may be used to....or is it? Actually, I think you can find ‘monism’ as the perennial operative concept at the heart of the ‘Great Religions’ having a profound effect on religious theology and ethics. And rather than being simply an intellectual abstraction, these religions propose there is a way to directly experience, to know and not just understand, its basic principle, and this is the path of the religious mystic.

So the monist philosopher wants to describe what ultimate reality is and  how we can know it. Alright, we get it. Everything is ‘one’. No, the monist retorts, it is ONE. You really do need to capitalize. But so what? .Well the monist has to go on to explain how that ultimate reality produces the apparent, almost infinite multiplicity of the universe around us and the relationship between the ‘ONE’ and the ‘many’ between the infinite and the finite is, like, the be all and end all, the great work, which provides the meaning of life, the universe and everything. ONE and not, 42. 

The average self proclaimed pantheist is not actually doing philosophy, let alone theology. They’re simply expressing their aesthetic feelings of joy and awe about the universe. They revel in nature. They may hug a tree or two.  Monists and Pantheists are not opposed. Monism tends to use a great deal of words to confirm that words and even concepts totally fail to convey ultimate reality. Pantheism is simply touchy feely, but I’m going to upset people by suggesting pantheism is the popular version of monism, easy monism for the masses. Add Cosplay and a dollop of ideas from Folklore and the occult Western Mystery Tradition, and pantheism becomes classical neo-paganism. But I like monism because monists do the intellectual heavy lifting. They believe they have answers to the very good arguments of atheists. And the monist also appreciates the universe with the same amount of emotion and rampant sensuality as any tree hugger, plus some. The Monist sees the world has having hidden extra dimensions. They might, like Plato, have a profound sense of ‘treeness’  that transcends any particular item of woody vegetation. And beyond ‘treeness’ the Monist has, or at least tries to cultivate, a most sublime intuitive awareness of the  sheer beingness that is also non-being. Some folk, like me, find in monism very attractive notions that reconcile reason and their deeply personal spiritual experiences. Others still want a personal deity or two, and the atheists will inevitably laugh all these ideas to scorn.

[queersunflowers]

LGBT+ Movie Reviews

I’ve binged watched as many movies in the LGBT+ section of Netflix as I could and have reviewed them in case you find yourself bored over the summer and wanna watch something cool. All these reviews are in my opinion and I’d even recommend some of the ones I found poorly done to my friends to watch just for fun. Feel free to add more because Netflix is constantly adding and taking down movies, some of which on this list are no-longer on Netflix anymore. These critiques are not professional in anyway, these are just my personal opinion and I tried not to analyze everything in case you want to watch them for enjoyment later on.

(These are in no particular order! Also if you’re uncomfortable with body parts / drug use / alcohol use / sexual content with minors, I highly suggest not watching these. Most of these also involve smoking a lot of cigarettes, idk why this is a common theme but it is??)

1. The Way He Looks 5/5

Based on I Don’t Want To Go Back Alone, this movie is about Leonardo, a blind teenager, searching for independence. His relationships with everyone around him change when a new student, Gabriel, comes to his school. They quickly become close and his perspective on life changes with their growing bond. This movie is incredibly sweet and I still think about it a whole year after watching it. The character and scenes stick out and the acting from Ghilherme Lobo is amazing.

2. Blackbird 4.8/5

Adapted from a novel by the same name, Randy is a church choir boy living in a religious town in Mississippi, struggling with his sexuality. With his internal struggle, Randy is also faced with the fact that his mother blames him and his little sister’s disappearance. His father tries to be apart of his life but the most positive influence turns out to be Marshall, an openly gay man. The cinematography was very pretty and aesthetically pleasing. Characters were a bit 2D but you can’t help but awe at character development as well as certain scenes. 

3. 4th Man Out 5/5

After celebrating his 24th birthday, Adam decides to tell his buddies he’s gay. At first, they shocked because he doesn’t fit their perception of a gay man and take it pretty badly initially. After the shock dies down, they’re determined to help him find the right guy. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Okay but really, it was beautifully done in that it breaks stereotypes of what it means to be gay. It had the right about of both humor and charisma to keep you watching. Also I love Evan Todd so there’s that. But idolization aside, this movie was cute and leaves you smiling and genuinely happy. 

4. 4 Moons 4.5/5 (No longer on Netflix)

This movie is about four different generations of men exploring their sexuality either for the first time, or giving themselves one last hoo-ra before retirement. This movie shows the pure first moments of love and the ugly sides of it. The characters aren’t connected at all, which initially confused me but over the course of the movie, made more sense. You grow attached to characters and feel like you’re going on the same roller-coaster as them. The plot was very well thought out and shows the intricate feelings of each situation. 

5. W E E K E N D 4.7/5

After a drunken house party with his straight mates, Russell heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen but what’s expected to be just a one-night stand becomes something else, something special. (IMDB) Things are little confusing at first and the plot moves very fast in the beginning but character development and technical aspects make up for those. It’s no wonder this movie was nominated and awarded as much as it. 

6. North Sea Texas 2.4/5

The movie follows the story of Pim, who falls in love with his male best friend, Gino. I’ll be quite honest, I watched this movie some time ago and I don’t have the patience to go back and re-watch it. It’s a cute movie, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t very memorable at all and I’d sit here and try to critique it but I can’t lol. It has nothing to do with Texas, it’s actually a Flemish movie, so I have no idea why they named it the way they did. This is a cute movie to watch if you have a lot of time on your hands.

7. The Outlist (Documentary) 4.7/5

The Outlist is a documented account of celebrities “coming out” and dealing with being out in the pubic eye. This movie featured people like Ellen DeGeneres, Janet Mock, and Neil Patrick Harris. This was actually recommended to me by one of my teachers who is a lesbian. It is a positive reinforcement “it gets better”. However, I wished there was more representation as far as race and LGBT+ people. Most of the people being interviewed were either gay or lesbian, which is good because we need accounts of them, but I would of liked more out trans, bisexual, pansexual, etc. people involved. 

8. Eat With Me 4.9/5

When Emma moves in with her son Elliot, they walk on glass around each other because of his sexuality and troubles with the father. However, when the restaurant Elliot owns that serves Chinese food starts to go under, Emma reconnects with him through authentic Chinese food recipes. Emma explores her individuality and this is more of a movie about the mother and son relationship than anything, which is probably why I love it so much. Yes, there is a man who becomes a love interest but the plot lies within the mother and her coming to terms with her new life and how she wants to live it. Lots of movies focus on the negative sides of being gay and having the family deal with it, this shows the upsides and how they coexist. 

9. Jenny’s Wedding 2.5/5

Jenny has been keeping her sexuality a secret from her family for too long and when she decides to get married to her lover, she decides that is a proper time to come out. She decides that if her family can’t accept this, they run the risk of losing her forever. Which sounds great in theory. Just like I said before, many movies focus on the negative, this heavily focuses on the negative to the point where its just too much. This is one of those movies where instead of focusing on the movie, you ponder what other movie you’ve seen because the main actress just looks so familiar. The acting was cliche but I’ll direct the blame to whoever wrote this. I really wanted to like this movie.

10. GBF 1.5/5

Ugh. You’ll be laughing at this movie not because it’s funny, but because it’s so horrible. Oh my god.  What happens after Tanner is outed by his classmates and becomes the title “gay best friend” for three high school queen bees? (IMDB) Not much but yet so much. It might be the worst movie I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes. If you’re a fan of gore/horror, you might recall the movie “Deathgasm”. This is just like that but Deathgasm is so much better. Please watch this just because it’s horrible. 

11. Loving Annabelle 2.0/5

After getting kicked out of two schools, Annabelle is sent to a Roman Catholic school by her mother. In an English class, Annabelle quickly develops a crush fro the English teacher. This is that AU. I have read so many better fanfictions that execute this idea better than this movie. An actual exert from my notes: 

12. Blue Is The Warmest Color 4.8/5

A young French girl, Adele, catches the eye of an older art student, Emma, and they form a chemically explosive relationship. If you’re gay, you knew this movie existed before anything ever. This movie is memorable and teaches you moral lessons that you should carry fro the rest of your life. However, it pursues the stereotype that bisexual people are more likely to cheat which is total bullshit but whateverrrrrr. (I’m salty.) Honestly, a classic that you should watch if you haven’t already. 

13. XXY 2.7/5

Alex, a 15-year-old girl with both male and female sexual organs and the rest of her case remains a mystery to me. Her mother invites friends (?) from Buenos Aires and their 16-year-old son Ãlvaro, and curious teenage shenanigans ensue. Who wrote this??  I was utterly confused and there was no plot that I can remember? It’s quite literally just her living with both male and female genitalia.

14. Strike A Pose (Documentary) 5/5

This documentary follows the lives of Madonna’s background dancers during her Blonde Ambition tour. Wow. It’s truly amazing. The story telling from each of the dancers and the way they loved their lives before and after the tour is tragically beautiful. The sass between all of them is perfect and leaves you smiling even though you’ve cried five times during it and it’s not even over. This movie made me want to come out to someone even though i have no one to come out to. It makes you think about life and how we need more movies/documentation about the AIDS epidemic, which impacted multiple dancers. There’s no words to convey how powerful this is. 

15.  Pariah 5/5

In Brooklyn, Alike quietly embraces her identity and is looking for her first lover. Her mother is constantly pressuring her into pursing a girly lifestyle, unfortunately perpetuating the stereotype that all queer women are butch. Her father tries his best to be there for her but somehow the lines blur and she’s left to deal with her sexuality in other places. The color grading for this movie is beautiful. Sound was great and whoever directed it gave set design a box of fairy lights and said “go wild”. The plot was so real and raw and the characters where very complex. This movie pulls some heavy emotions out of you especially if you’re apart of the LGBT+ community. They write friendships between queer women so perfectly! Ahhhh, amazing. 

16. Bloomington 3.4/5

A former actress goes to college to find independence and becomes involved with a female professor. This is so much better than the other movie on this list with the same concept so if you’re looking for a teacher/student movie, here it is. There’s not much plot here other than the obvious “we can’t get caught”. 

17. Room In Rome 1.9/5

Two young women share a night of passion in Rome. That’s it. If you don’t like sex, don’t watch this movie because it is quite literally just sex and lies. There’s some character development but half of it is lies which leaves you utterly confused. Set design is pretty but it takes place in one (1) hotel room. 

18. I Love You Phillip Morris 3.8/4 (No longer on Netflix)

Steven Russell comes out of the closet to his family and in a passionate vow to be true to who he really is, he moves to Florida but gets swept up in the wrong crowd. He ends up in jail and meets Phillip, who becomes the love of his life. This movie is a roller-coaster and you are not wearing a seatbelt. This is on the more comedic side of the movies on this list and has some truly funny characters. I probably laughed more than anything watching this. 

19. RENT 5/5 (No longer on Netflix)

A group of impoverished queer friends struggle to survive in New York City’s East Village with the looming outbreak of HIV/AIDS. A black drag queen, black pansexual professor, jewish boy, bisexual activist, black lesbian lawyer, HIV positive rock singer, and hispanic sex-worker all face adversity and challenges in their situation yet in the end, always maintain their sense of friendship. I am absolutely in love with this movie musical you have no idea. I’ve written essays on it. Character interaction and development go beyond the surface and technical aspects were on point. 

20. Those People 3.6/5 

In Manhattan, a young gay painter is torn between his obsession with his best friend and a promising new romance with an older foreign pianist. (IMDB) Costume design was amazing–all technical aspects were so if you need any inspiration, this movie is good to watch because they pay close attention to detail. This movie pulls emotions out of you and makes you want to cry. As you watch you are subconsciously thinking it’s going to go a certain way, but that’s not how life works out. 

21. Man On Heels 3.8/5

A transgender homicide detective decides she wants to try and transition. Although she has to hide this from her coworkers, which proves to be quite challenging. If you do not like violence or blood, this movie is not for you. This is an action movie and not all the information in this movie about transitioning is 100% accurate. The line of masculine vs. feminine is highly defined here but overall is a good, well put together movie.

22. We Were Here (Documentary) 5/5

Whip out your tissue box because you will cryyyyy. This documentary explains how in the 1970′s, San Francisco was the safe haven for all LGBT+ people but was soon struck with a wave of death, becoming ground zero for America’s AIDS epidemic. Interviews and accounts of survivors as well as nurses trace back the lives of all those lost. I’m not very good at reviewing documentaries but this one moved me, even though I am apart of the LGBT+ community and have known about this tragic event for years. From covering the riots and activism to hospital rooms, there’s so much history and emotion squeezed into an hour and twenty-nine minutes. Wow.

23. The 10 Year Plan 1/5

Best friends make a pact to be together in a decade if neither finds love. With two months left in their deadline, they both scramble to find someone to avoid being each other’s last resort. (IMDB) There’s no words to describe how incredibly awful this movie is, oh my goddd. The camera man and technicians knew what they were doing. Nobody else did. It was pretty to look at, but horrible acting. GBF was better. I blame the screenwriter and director for everything. Dialogue was bad, plot was cliche and you knew where this was going to go. They just couldn’t cut the movie off at 30 minutes so they had to waste time fucking around for the other 30, drawing the “plot” out for wayyy longer than it had to be. If you muted the movie and closed your eyes for exactly half the movie, until the ending scene, you’d think this movie was great! I am so upset!

24. Closet Monster 4.7/5 

Haunted by past memories and his suppressed sexuality reaching the surface, Oscar tries his hardest to avoid his broken home and leave his hometown. He is an aspiring makeup artist and is juts trying to quiet get by when he meets a boy who flips his normal life inside out. I love this movie so much. If you do not like blood or guts or anything of that nature, do not watch this movie! It is on a artistic side so you’ll have to read a little into it and things are done for a reason. Whoever was on the set design and makeup design team deserve medals!! This was a beautiful movie that I’ve watched multiple times just because it’s so captivating. 

25. Being 17 3.9/5

Two boys have heated tensions between each other at school and that’s as far as they’re relationship has gone. That is until one boys mother falls ill and the mother of the other takes care of her while taking in her son, forcing the two boys to live together. There’s occasional plot holes but it is visually pretty, the director really put an interest on scenery and that payed off. The plot was iffy though and was rushed at certain parts, making it a bit awkward. 

26. The Falls 3.4/5 (No longer on Netflix)

While on their mission trip, Chris and RJ fall in love, something forbidden from their religion. Oh my god this is a trilogy I’ve just now learned! I haven’t watched the other two but I defiantly will soon ahhhhh. This movie was aesthetically pretty and is very funny. The character development is deep and this movie shows how religion can affect LGBT+ lives and how you’re able to move on. There are some minor plot holes and things execution wise that made me give t the score it got, but was overall a good movie. Good enough to get me to search the web for the other two movies.

27. Almost Adults 2.5/5

I’ve seen how devoted some people on this site are to the actors as well as the YouTuber who made it and please keep in mind I bare no ill will against  Adrianna, in fact I’m subscribed to her. Don’t crucify me. Two best friends are transiting to adulthood, one embracing her sexuality, the other ending a long-term relationship with her boyfriend. This movie is packed to the brim with stereotypes of queer woman and written poorly. It is touching and sweet but makes me cringe when I listen to it. Lots of character development in both main characters and its very funny. I’ll be honest, you’ll only like this movie if you like the actors and screen-writer. I gave it such a low score because it reminded me wayy too much of how GBF was written in that everyone talked like they were years younger than what their character was. It’s written to how adults see today’s youth. I really wanted to like this movie, being a queer woman myself, but I could not find it in me to give it a higher rating than that. 

28. Blush 4.2/5

Let’s go sneak into clubs and do hard drugs with our new bisexy best friend! A high school student takes interest in a new, free-spirited girl and they quickly become friends. She is exposed to drugs, heavy alcohol, and sex. I’m not entirely familiar with Israel traditions so I can’t say if this is fully accurate. Color grading of a Haley Kiyoko music video and could of been better sound wise. However with all its minor setbacks, this was a beautifully done movie. You can see the change in the main character as she discovers her identity, as well as her struggles at home. She remains true to herself and overall is a very strong character. 

29. Esteros 4.1/5

Two childhood best friends reconnect after years of separation and explore their feelings for each other as adults. I’m not a huge fan of flashbacks because I feel like they take the audiences attention away from the real plot but these were okay and made sense with the story. I was left confused at points during the movie but they stayed aesthetically consistent. This movie is pure, 100% fluff, no real hurt or angst at all bless. Very minor plot holes with the flashbacks and all but left you feeling warm inside, just a good movie. I can’t remember if they show any genitalia so if you don’t like dicks, proceed with caution. 

30. 52 Tuesdays 3.9/5  

Billie is taken aback when her mother comes out to her as trans. Taking place over a whole year, problems start to arise in both Billie and her mother. This is another artistic and obscure movie. I found myself amazed yet confused at some parts throughout the movie. The lighting contrasts between shots with the night and day were nice. I wish the plot wasn’t so vague all the time and it wasn’t so random. These are one of the times that I feel flashbacks weren’t the best route to go on. It’s message was very clear though: Transitioning is never easy and is rough in some form for everyone who does go through with it. 

[douglassmiith]

How To Test A Design Concept For Effectiveness

About The Author

Paul is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors … More about Paul …

Getting a client or stakeholder to approve a design concept can be challenging. However, testing can make it easier, as well as ensuring you have the right solution.

Most of us are reasonably comfortable with the idea of carrying out usability testing on a website or prototype. We don’t always get the opportunity, but most people accept that it is a good idea.

However, when it comes to a design concept, opinion is more divided. Some designers feel it undermines their role, a view that seems to be somewhat backed up by the famous “Forty Shades of Blue” episode, where Google tested which one of forty shades of blue to use for link color.

Google undermined the role of the designer by placing an overwhelming emphasis on testing. (Large preview)

It is a position I can sympathize with, and testing certainly doesn’t tell us everything. For example, it cannot come up with the right solution, only judge a design that already exists. Neither is the kind of obsessional testing demonstrated by Google healthy for morale, or most companies bottom line.

That said, in this post, I want to explore some of the advantages testing design concepts can provide to us as designers, and demonstrate that we can do it cheaply and without slowing down the delivery of the overall project.

Let’s begin by asking why a designer might favor testing of their design concepts.

How do we encourage clicks without shady tricks? Meet Click, our new practical handbook on how to increase conversion and drive sales without alienating people along the way. Shipping now.

Get the book right away ↬

Why You Should Embrace Testing Design Concepts

Every designer has stories of being caught in revision hell. Endlessly tweaking colors and adjusting layout in the hopes of finally getting sign off from the client.

It’s not always like that, but every project is a gamble. Will the client, sign off immediately, or will you end up with a design concept named “Final-Version-21.sketch”? And that is the problem; you just do not know, which makes project planning and budgeting extremely difficult.

Testing Makes the Design Process Predictable

People tend to consider testing a design as a lUXury that a project cannot afford. They see it as too time-consuming and expensive. However, in truth, it brings some much-needed predictability to a project that can, in many cases, make things quicker and cheaper.

Yes, if everything goes smoothly with design sign-off, design testing can slow things down and cost a little money. But, that rarely happens. Usually, a design goes through at least a few rounds of iteration, and occasionally it has to be thrown out entirely.

Rarely is this because the design is terrible. Instead, it is because stakeholders are unhappy with it.

By contrast, testing creates a framework for deciding whether a design is right, that is not based on personal preference. Some quick testing could approve a design without the need for further iteration or at worse would lead to some relatively minor amendments if the designer has done their job.

In most cases, this proves faster and less expensive than an endless discussion over the direction. However, even when it does not, it is more predictable, which improves product planning.

Testing also has another related advantage. It changes the basis upon which we assess the design.

Testing Encourages the Right Focus and Avoids Conflict

The design has a job to do. In most cases, it has to connect with a user emotionally, while also enabling them to use the website as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, most design is not assessed on this basis.

Instead, we often evaluate a design on the simple criteria of whether or not the client likes it. It is this conflict between the role of a design and how it is evaluated that causes disagreements.

By carrying out testing on a design, you refocus the stakeholders on what matters because you build the test around those criteria instead.

That has another advantage as well. It helps avoid a lot of the disagreement over the design direction. That is especially true when many people are inputting on the design.

Because design is subjective, the more people who look at it, the more disagreement there will be. The way this is typically resolved is through a compromise that produces a design that pleases nobody and is often not fit for purpose.

Testing provides an alternative to that. It leads to less conflict between stakeholders and also ensures the integrity of the design, which ultimately leads to a better product.

Testing Improves Results

By using testing to avoid design by committee and focus stakeholders on the right assessment criteria, it almost guarantees a better design in the end.

However, there is another factor that ensures testing produces better design; that is the fact that we, as designers are not infallible.

Sometimes we misjudge the tone of the design or the mental model of the user. Sometimes we fail to spot how an image undermines the call to action or that the font is too small for an elderly audience. Testing helps us identify these issues early, while they are still easy to fix. Updating a mockup in Sketch or Figma is a lot easier than on a working website.

So hopefully now you see that design testing is a good idea for all parties concerned. The next question then becomes; how do we carry out design testing?

How to Implement Design Testing

Before you can test how well a design concept is working, you first need to be clear about what you are testing. Earlier I said that a design had two jobs. It had to connect with users emotionally and enable people to use the site as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, we want to test two things:

The brand and personality of the design, which is what dictates whether a design connects with the user emotionally.

The usability and visual hierarchy, which enables people to use the site more efficiently.

It is important to note as well that for the sake of this article, I am presuming all we have is a static mockup of the design, with no interactivity.

So, let’s start by looking at how we test brand and personality.

Test Brand and Personality

Before somebody is willing to act on a website, they have to trust that website. Users have to form a positive first impression.

In a study published in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, they found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. What is more, these decisions have a lasting impact.

According to a study in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology you have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. (Large preview)

In that length of time, the user is judging the website purely on aesthetics, and so we need to ensure those aesthetics communicate the right things.

We have three ways we can test this, but let’s begin with my personal favorite.

Semantic Differential Survey

A semantic differential survey is a fancy name for a simple idea. Before you begin designing, first agree on a list of keywords that you want the design to signal to the end-user. These might be terms like trustworthy, fun or approachable.

Once you have created the design, you can now test whether it communicates these impressions in the user by running a semantic differential survey.

Simply show the user the design and ask them to rate the design against each of your keywords.

You can use a simple survey to understand whether a design is communicating the right message. (Large preview)

The great thing is that if the design rates well against all of the agreed words, not only do you know it is doing its job, it is also hard for stakeholders to reject the design because they don’t like some aspect of it.

You can use this method to ascertain the most effective approach from multiple designs. However, there is a much simpler test you can also adopt when you have more than one design concept.

Preference Tests

A preference test is what it sounds like. You simply show several design concepts to users and ask them to select which approach they prefer.

However, instead of just asking users to select which design they like most, ask them to select a design based on your keywords. You can ask users to select which design they feel best conveys the keywords you chose.

You can also apply the same principle of comparison to your competition.

Competition Testing

You can run precisely the same kind of preference test as above, but instead, compare your design concept against competitors’ websites. That will help you understand whether your design does a better job of communicating the desired keywords compared to the competition.

A preference test can be used to see how your design compares to the competition. (Large preview)

The advantage of both types of preference testing is that it discourages stakeholders from adopting a pick-and-mix approach to design. In other words, it encourages them to compare designs in their entirety, rather than selecting different design elements from the competition or different versions, and asking you to combine them into a Frankenstein approach.

By combining both semantic differential surveys and preference testing, you can build up a clear picture of whether a design’s aesthetics are communicating the right impression. However, we still need to ensure it is usable and that people can find the information or features they need.

Test Usability and Visual Hierarchy

A website can look great and give the user the right feel, but if it is hard to use it will have still failed to do its job.

Once you have a fully built website or even a prototype, testing for usability is easy by combining A/B testing (quantitive) with usability testing (qualitative).

However, when all you have is a static mockup of the design, it can appear harder to test. Fortunately, that impression is incorrect. What is more, it is worth testing at this early stage, because things will be much easier to fix.

We have two tests we can do to ascertain usability. The first focuses on navigation and the second on visual hierarchy.

First-Click Tests

An influential study into usability, by Bob Bailey and Cari Wolfson, demonstrated the importance of ensuring that the user makes an excellent first choice when navigating your website. They proved that if users got their first click right, they had an 87% chance of completing their task correctly; however, if they got it wrong that dropped to just 46%.

Fortunately, we can test whether users will make the right first click using an imaginatively named “first click test”.

In the first click, test users are given a task (e.g. “Where would you click to contact the website owners?”), and then they are shown the design concept.

The user then clicks the appropriate place on the concept that they believe is correct, and the results are recorded. It is that simple.

First Click Tests help you understand whether your navigation is clear. (Large preview)

The advantage of running a first-click test from the designers perspective is that it can resolve disagreements about information architecture by demonstrating whether users understand labeling and the site’s overall structure.

However, usability isn’t all about clicking. It is also essential that users spot critical content and calls to action. To test for that, you need a 5-second test.

5-Second Tests

Research seems to indicate that on average, you have about 8 seconds to grab a users attention and that many leave a website within 10 to 20 seconds. That means our interfaces have to present information we want users to see in the most obvious way possible. Put another way; we need to distinguish between the most important and less important information.

Testing this kind of visual hierarchy can be achieved using a 5-second test.

Usability Hub describe a five-second test in this way:

“A five-second test is run by showing an image to a participant for just five seconds, after which the participant answers questions based on their memory and impression of the design.”

It is important to note not only whether users remembered seeing critical screen elements, but also how quickly they recalled those elements. If users mention less essential elements first, this might indicate they have too much prominence.

The great thing about a 5-second test is that it can reassure clients concerns that a user might overlook an interface element. Hopefully, that will reduce the number of “make my logo bigger” requests you receive.

As you can see, testing can help both improve your designs and make design sign off less painful. However, it may be that you have concerns about implementing these tests. Fortunately, it is more straightforward than you think.

Who and How to Test?

The good news is that there are some great tools out there to help you run the tests I have outlined in this post. In fact Usability Hub offers all five tests we have covered and more.

Usability Hub allows me to run all the tests I need to assess a design concept. (Large preview)

You simply create your test and then share the website address they give you with users.

Of course, finding those users can be challenging, so let’s talk about that.

When it comes to testing usability, we do not need many users. The Nielsen Norman Group suggests you only need to test with five people because beyond that you see diminishing returns.

After approximately five users you receive diminishing returns from usability testing. (Large preview)

These users can be quickly recruited either from your existing customer base or via friends and family. However, if you want to be a bit pickier about your demographics, services like Usability Hub will recruit participants for as little as a dollar per person.

Testing aesthetics is trickier because as we have already established design is subjective. That means we need more people to remove any statistical anomalies.

Once again, the Nielsen Norman Group suggest a number. They say when you want statistically significant results, you should look for at least 20 people.

It is also worth noting that in the case of aesthetics, you should test with demographically accurate individuals, something that your testing platform should be able to help you recruit.

Although that will cost a small amount of money, it will be insignificant compared to the person-hours that would go into debating the best design approach.

There is also often a concern that it will take a long time. However, in my experience, you can typically get 20 responses in an hour or less. When was the last time you got design approval in under an hour?

Worth a Try

Testing a design concept will not solve all your designer woes. However, it will lead to better designs and has the potential to help with the management of stakeholders significantly. And when you consider the minimal investment in making it happen, it makes little sense not to try it on at least one project.

(ra, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

Via http://www.scpie.org/how-to-test-a-design-concept-for-effectiveness/

source https://scpie.weebly.com/blog/how-to-test-a-design-concept-for-effectiveness

[laurelkrugerr]

How To Test A Design Concept For Effectiveness

About The Author

Paul is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors … More about Paul …

Getting a client or stakeholder to approve a design concept can be challenging. However, testing can make it easier, as well as ensuring you have the right solution.

Most of us are reasonably comfortable with the idea of carrying out usability testing on a website or prototype. We don’t always get the opportunity, but most people accept that it is a good idea.

However, when it comes to a design concept, opinion is more divided. Some designers feel it undermines their role, a view that seems to be somewhat backed up by the famous “Forty Shades of Blue” episode, where Google tested which one of forty shades of blue to use for link color.

Google undermined the role of the designer by placing an overwhelming emphasis on testing. (Large preview)

It is a position I can sympathize with, and testing certainly doesn’t tell us everything. For example, it cannot come up with the right solution, only judge a design that already exists. Neither is the kind of obsessional testing demonstrated by Google healthy for morale, or most companies bottom line.

That said, in this post, I want to explore some of the advantages testing design concepts can provide to us as designers, and demonstrate that we can do it cheaply and without slowing down the delivery of the overall project.

Let’s begin by asking why a designer might favor testing of their design concepts.

How do we encourage clicks without shady tricks? Meet Click, our new practical handbook on how to increase conversion and drive sales without alienating people along the way. Shipping now.

Get the book right away ↬

Why You Should Embrace Testing Design Concepts

Every designer has stories of being caught in revision hell. Endlessly tweaking colors and adjusting layout in the hopes of finally getting sign off from the client.

It’s not always like that, but every project is a gamble. Will the client, sign off immediately, or will you end up with a design concept named “Final-Version-21.sketch”? And that is the problem; you just do not know, which makes project planning and budgeting extremely difficult.

Testing Makes the Design Process Predictable

People tend to consider testing a design as a lUXury that a project cannot afford. They see it as too time-consuming and expensive. However, in truth, it brings some much-needed predictability to a project that can, in many cases, make things quicker and cheaper.

Yes, if everything goes smoothly with design sign-off, design testing can slow things down and cost a little money. But, that rarely happens. Usually, a design goes through at least a few rounds of iteration, and occasionally it has to be thrown out entirely.

Rarely is this because the design is terrible. Instead, it is because stakeholders are unhappy with it.

By contrast, testing creates a framework for deciding whether a design is right, that is not based on personal preference. Some quick testing could approve a design without the need for further iteration or at worse would lead to some relatively minor amendments if the designer has done their job.

In most cases, this proves faster and less expensive than an endless discussion over the direction. However, even when it does not, it is more predictable, which improves product planning.

Testing also has another related advantage. It changes the basis upon which we assess the design.

Testing Encourages the Right Focus and Avoids Conflict

The design has a job to do. In most cases, it has to connect with a user emotionally, while also enabling them to use the website as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, most design is not assessed on this basis.

Instead, we often evaluate a design on the simple criteria of whether or not the client likes it. It is this conflict between the role of a design and how it is evaluated that causes disagreements.

By carrying out testing on a design, you refocus the stakeholders on what matters because you build the test around those criteria instead.

That has another advantage as well. It helps avoid a lot of the disagreement over the design direction. That is especially true when many people are inputting on the design.

Because design is subjective, the more people who look at it, the more disagreement there will be. The way this is typically resolved is through a compromise that produces a design that pleases nobody and is often not fit for purpose.

Testing provides an alternative to that. It leads to less conflict between stakeholders and also ensures the integrity of the design, which ultimately leads to a better product.

Testing Improves Results

By using testing to avoid design by committee and focus stakeholders on the right assessment criteria, it almost guarantees a better design in the end.

However, there is another factor that ensures testing produces better design; that is the fact that we, as designers are not infallible.

Sometimes we misjudge the tone of the design or the mental model of the user. Sometimes we fail to spot how an image undermines the call to action or that the font is too small for an elderly audience. Testing helps us identify these issues early, while they are still easy to fix. Updating a mockup in Sketch or Figma is a lot easier than on a working website.

So hopefully now you see that design testing is a good idea for all parties concerned. The next question then becomes; how do we carry out design testing?

How to Implement Design Testing

Before you can test how well a design concept is working, you first need to be clear about what you are testing. Earlier I said that a design had two jobs. It had to connect with users emotionally and enable people to use the site as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, we want to test two things:

The brand and personality of the design, which is what dictates whether a design connects with the user emotionally.

The usability and visual hierarchy, which enables people to use the site more efficiently.

It is important to note as well that for the sake of this article, I am presuming all we have is a static mockup of the design, with no interactivity.

So, let’s start by looking at how we test brand and personality.

Test Brand and Personality

Before somebody is willing to act on a website, they have to trust that website. Users have to form a positive first impression.

In a study published in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, they found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. What is more, these decisions have a lasting impact.

According to a study in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology you have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. (Large preview)

In that length of time, the user is judging the website purely on aesthetics, and so we need to ensure those aesthetics communicate the right things.

We have three ways we can test this, but let’s begin with my personal favorite.

Semantic Differential Survey

A semantic differential survey is a fancy name for a simple idea. Before you begin designing, first agree on a list of keywords that you want the design to signal to the end-user. These might be terms like trustworthy, fun or approachable.

Once you have created the design, you can now test whether it communicates these impressions in the user by running a semantic differential survey.

Simply show the user the design and ask them to rate the design against each of your keywords.

You can use a simple survey to understand whether a design is communicating the right message. (Large preview)

The great thing is that if the design rates well against all of the agreed words, not only do you know it is doing its job, it is also hard for stakeholders to reject the design because they don’t like some aspect of it.

You can use this method to ascertain the most effective approach from multiple designs. However, there is a much simpler test you can also adopt when you have more than one design concept.

Preference Tests

A preference test is what it sounds like. You simply show several design concepts to users and ask them to select which approach they prefer.

However, instead of just asking users to select which design they like most, ask them to select a design based on your keywords. You can ask users to select which design they feel best conveys the keywords you chose.

You can also apply the same principle of comparison to your competition.

Competition Testing

You can run precisely the same kind of preference test as above, but instead, compare your design concept against competitors’ websites. That will help you understand whether your design does a better job of communicating the desired keywords compared to the competition.

A preference test can be used to see how your design compares to the competition. (Large preview)

The advantage of both types of preference testing is that it discourages stakeholders from adopting a pick-and-mix approach to design. In other words, it encourages them to compare designs in their entirety, rather than selecting different design elements from the competition or different versions, and asking you to combine them into a Frankenstein approach.

By combining both semantic differential surveys and preference testing, you can build up a clear picture of whether a design’s aesthetics are communicating the right impression. However, we still need to ensure it is usable and that people can find the information or features they need.

Test Usability and Visual Hierarchy

A website can look great and give the user the right feel, but if it is hard to use it will have still failed to do its job.

Once you have a fully built website or even a prototype, testing for usability is easy by combining A/B testing (quantitive) with usability testing (qualitative).

However, when all you have is a static mockup of the design, it can appear harder to test. Fortunately, that impression is incorrect. What is more, it is worth testing at this early stage, because things will be much easier to fix.

We have two tests we can do to ascertain usability. The first focuses on navigation and the second on visual hierarchy.

First-Click Tests

An influential study into usability, by Bob Bailey and Cari Wolfson, demonstrated the importance of ensuring that the user makes an excellent first choice when navigating your website. They proved that if users got their first click right, they had an 87% chance of completing their task correctly; however, if they got it wrong that dropped to just 46%.

Fortunately, we can test whether users will make the right first click using an imaginatively named “first click test”.

In the first click, test users are given a task (e.g. “Where would you click to contact the website owners?”), and then they are shown the design concept.

The user then clicks the appropriate place on the concept that they believe is correct, and the results are recorded. It is that simple.

First Click Tests help you understand whether your navigation is clear. (Large preview)

The advantage of running a first-click test from the designers perspective is that it can resolve disagreements about information architecture by demonstrating whether users understand labeling and the site’s overall structure.

However, usability isn’t all about clicking. It is also essential that users spot critical content and calls to action. To test for that, you need a 5-second test.

5-Second Tests

Research seems to indicate that on average, you have about 8 seconds to grab a users attention and that many leave a website within 10 to 20 seconds. That means our interfaces have to present information we want users to see in the most obvious way possible. Put another way; we need to distinguish between the most important and less important information.

Testing this kind of visual hierarchy can be achieved using a 5-second test.

Usability Hub describe a five-second test in this way:

“A five-second test is run by showing an image to a participant for just five seconds, after which the participant answers questions based on their memory and impression of the design.”

It is important to note not only whether users remembered seeing critical screen elements, but also how quickly they recalled those elements. If users mention less essential elements first, this might indicate they have too much prominence.

The great thing about a 5-second test is that it can reassure clients concerns that a user might overlook an interface element. Hopefully, that will reduce the number of “make my logo bigger” requests you receive.

As you can see, testing can help both improve your designs and make design sign off less painful. However, it may be that you have concerns about implementing these tests. Fortunately, it is more straightforward than you think.

Who and How to Test?

The good news is that there are some great tools out there to help you run the tests I have outlined in this post. In fact Usability Hub offers all five tests we have covered and more.

Usability Hub allows me to run all the tests I need to assess a design concept. (Large preview)

You simply create your test and then share the website address they give you with users.

Of course, finding those users can be challenging, so let’s talk about that.

When it comes to testing usability, we do not need many users. The Nielsen Norman Group suggests you only need to test with five people because beyond that you see diminishing returns.

After approximately five users you receive diminishing returns from usability testing. (Large preview)

These users can be quickly recruited either from your existing customer base or via friends and family. However, if you want to be a bit pickier about your demographics, services like Usability Hub will recruit participants for as little as a dollar per person.

Testing aesthetics is trickier because as we have already established design is subjective. That means we need more people to remove any statistical anomalies.

Once again, the Nielsen Norman Group suggest a number. They say when you want statistically significant results, you should look for at least 20 people.

It is also worth noting that in the case of aesthetics, you should test with demographically accurate individuals, something that your testing platform should be able to help you recruit.

Although that will cost a small amount of money, it will be insignificant compared to the person-hours that would go into debating the best design approach.

There is also often a concern that it will take a long time. However, in my experience, you can typically get 20 responses in an hour or less. When was the last time you got design approval in under an hour?

Worth a Try

Testing a design concept will not solve all your designer woes. However, it will lead to better designs and has the potential to help with the management of stakeholders significantly. And when you consider the minimal investment in making it happen, it makes little sense not to try it on at least one project.

(ra, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-to-test-a-design-concept-for-effectiveness/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/06/how-to-test-design-concept-for.html

[riichardwilson]

How To Test A Design Concept For Effectiveness

About The Author

Paul is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors … More about Paul …

Getting a client or stakeholder to approve a design concept can be challenging. However, testing can make it easier, as well as ensuring you have the right solution.

Most of us are reasonably comfortable with the idea of carrying out usability testing on a website or prototype. We don’t always get the opportunity, but most people accept that it is a good idea.

However, when it comes to a design concept, opinion is more divided. Some designers feel it undermines their role, a view that seems to be somewhat backed up by the famous “Forty Shades of Blue” episode, where Google tested which one of forty shades of blue to use for link color.

Google undermined the role of the designer by placing an overwhelming emphasis on testing. (Large preview)

It is a position I can sympathize with, and testing certainly doesn’t tell us everything. For example, it cannot come up with the right solution, only judge a design that already exists. Neither is the kind of obsessional testing demonstrated by Google healthy for morale, or most companies bottom line.

That said, in this post, I want to explore some of the advantages testing design concepts can provide to us as designers, and demonstrate that we can do it cheaply and without slowing down the delivery of the overall project.

Let’s begin by asking why a designer might favor testing of their design concepts.

How do we encourage clicks without shady tricks? Meet Click, our new practical handbook on how to increase conversion and drive sales without alienating people along the way. Shipping now.

Get the book right away ↬

Why You Should Embrace Testing Design Concepts

Every designer has stories of being caught in revision hell. Endlessly tweaking colors and adjusting layout in the hopes of finally getting sign off from the client.

It’s not always like that, but every project is a gamble. Will the client, sign off immediately, or will you end up with a design concept named “Final-Version-21.sketch”? And that is the problem; you just do not know, which makes project planning and budgeting extremely difficult.

Testing Makes the Design Process Predictable

People tend to consider testing a design as a lUXury that a project cannot afford. They see it as too time-consuming and expensive. However, in truth, it brings some much-needed predictability to a project that can, in many cases, make things quicker and cheaper.

Yes, if everything goes smoothly with design sign-off, design testing can slow things down and cost a little money. But, that rarely happens. Usually, a design goes through at least a few rounds of iteration, and occasionally it has to be thrown out entirely.

Rarely is this because the design is terrible. Instead, it is because stakeholders are unhappy with it.

By contrast, testing creates a framework for deciding whether a design is right, that is not based on personal preference. Some quick testing could approve a design without the need for further iteration or at worse would lead to some relatively minor amendments if the designer has done their job.

In most cases, this proves faster and less expensive than an endless discussion over the direction. However, even when it does not, it is more predictable, which improves product planning.

Testing also has another related advantage. It changes the basis upon which we assess the design.

Testing Encourages the Right Focus and Avoids Conflict

The design has a job to do. In most cases, it has to connect with a user emotionally, while also enabling them to use the website as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, most design is not assessed on this basis.

Instead, we often evaluate a design on the simple criteria of whether or not the client likes it. It is this conflict between the role of a design and how it is evaluated that causes disagreements.

By carrying out testing on a design, you refocus the stakeholders on what matters because you build the test around those criteria instead.

That has another advantage as well. It helps avoid a lot of the disagreement over the design direction. That is especially true when many people are inputting on the design.

Because design is subjective, the more people who look at it, the more disagreement there will be. The way this is typically resolved is through a compromise that produces a design that pleases nobody and is often not fit for purpose.

Testing provides an alternative to that. It leads to less conflict between stakeholders and also ensures the integrity of the design, which ultimately leads to a better product.

Testing Improves Results

By using testing to avoid design by committee and focus stakeholders on the right assessment criteria, it almost guarantees a better design in the end.

However, there is another factor that ensures testing produces better design; that is the fact that we, as designers are not infallible.

Sometimes we misjudge the tone of the design or the mental model of the user. Sometimes we fail to spot how an image undermines the call to action or that the font is too small for an elderly audience. Testing helps us identify these issues early, while they are still easy to fix. Updating a mockup in Sketch or Figma is a lot easier than on a working website.

So hopefully now you see that design testing is a good idea for all parties concerned. The next question then becomes; how do we carry out design testing?

How to Implement Design Testing

Before you can test how well a design concept is working, you first need to be clear about what you are testing. Earlier I said that a design had two jobs. It had to connect with users emotionally and enable people to use the site as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, we want to test two things:

The brand and personality of the design, which is what dictates whether a design connects with the user emotionally.

The usability and visual hierarchy, which enables people to use the site more efficiently.

It is important to note as well that for the sake of this article, I am presuming all we have is a static mockup of the design, with no interactivity.

So, let’s start by looking at how we test brand and personality.

Test Brand and Personality

Before somebody is willing to act on a website, they have to trust that website. Users have to form a positive first impression.

In a study published in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, they found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. What is more, these decisions have a lasting impact.

According to a study in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology you have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. (Large preview)

In that length of time, the user is judging the website purely on aesthetics, and so we need to ensure those aesthetics communicate the right things.

We have three ways we can test this, but let’s begin with my personal favorite.

Semantic Differential Survey

A semantic differential survey is a fancy name for a simple idea. Before you begin designing, first agree on a list of keywords that you want the design to signal to the end-user. These might be terms like trustworthy, fun or approachable.

Once you have created the design, you can now test whether it communicates these impressions in the user by running a semantic differential survey.

Simply show the user the design and ask them to rate the design against each of your keywords.

You can use a simple survey to understand whether a design is communicating the right message. (Large preview)

The great thing is that if the design rates well against all of the agreed words, not only do you know it is doing its job, it is also hard for stakeholders to reject the design because they don’t like some aspect of it.

You can use this method to ascertain the most effective approach from multiple designs. However, there is a much simpler test you can also adopt when you have more than one design concept.

Preference Tests

A preference test is what it sounds like. You simply show several design concepts to users and ask them to select which approach they prefer.

However, instead of just asking users to select which design they like most, ask them to select a design based on your keywords. You can ask users to select which design they feel best conveys the keywords you chose.

You can also apply the same principle of comparison to your competition.

Competition Testing

You can run precisely the same kind of preference test as above, but instead, compare your design concept against competitors’ websites. That will help you understand whether your design does a better job of communicating the desired keywords compared to the competition.

A preference test can be used to see how your design compares to the competition. (Large preview)

The advantage of both types of preference testing is that it discourages stakeholders from adopting a pick-and-mix approach to design. In other words, it encourages them to compare designs in their entirety, rather than selecting different design elements from the competition or different versions, and asking you to combine them into a Frankenstein approach.

By combining both semantic differential surveys and preference testing, you can build up a clear picture of whether a design’s aesthetics are communicating the right impression. However, we still need to ensure it is usable and that people can find the information or features they need.

Test Usability and Visual Hierarchy

A website can look great and give the user the right feel, but if it is hard to use it will have still failed to do its job.

Once you have a fully built website or even a prototype, testing for usability is easy by combining A/B testing (quantitive) with usability testing (qualitative).

However, when all you have is a static mockup of the design, it can appear harder to test. Fortunately, that impression is incorrect. What is more, it is worth testing at this early stage, because things will be much easier to fix.

We have two tests we can do to ascertain usability. The first focuses on navigation and the second on visual hierarchy.

First-Click Tests

An influential study into usability, by Bob Bailey and Cari Wolfson, demonstrated the importance of ensuring that the user makes an excellent first choice when navigating your website. They proved that if users got their first click right, they had an 87% chance of completing their task correctly; however, if they got it wrong that dropped to just 46%.

Fortunately, we can test whether users will make the right first click using an imaginatively named “first click test”.

In the first click, test users are given a task (e.g. “Where would you click to contact the website owners?”), and then they are shown the design concept.

The user then clicks the appropriate place on the concept that they believe is correct, and the results are recorded. It is that simple.

First Click Tests help you understand whether your navigation is clear. (Large preview)

The advantage of running a first-click test from the designers perspective is that it can resolve disagreements about information architecture by demonstrating whether users understand labeling and the site’s overall structure.

However, usability isn’t all about clicking. It is also essential that users spot critical content and calls to action. To test for that, you need a 5-second test.

5-Second Tests

Research seems to indicate that on average, you have about 8 seconds to grab a users attention and that many leave a website within 10 to 20 seconds. That means our interfaces have to present information we want users to see in the most obvious way possible. Put another way; we need to distinguish between the most important and less important information.

Testing this kind of visual hierarchy can be achieved using a 5-second test.

Usability Hub describe a five-second test in this way:

“A five-second test is run by showing an image to a participant for just five seconds, after which the participant answers questions based on their memory and impression of the design.”

It is important to note not only whether users remembered seeing critical screen elements, but also how quickly they recalled those elements. If users mention less essential elements first, this might indicate they have too much prominence.

The great thing about a 5-second test is that it can reassure clients concerns that a user might overlook an interface element. Hopefully, that will reduce the number of “make my logo bigger” requests you receive.

As you can see, testing can help both improve your designs and make design sign off less painful. However, it may be that you have concerns about implementing these tests. Fortunately, it is more straightforward than you think.

Who and How to Test?

The good news is that there are some great tools out there to help you run the tests I have outlined in this post. In fact Usability Hub offers all five tests we have covered and more.

Usability Hub allows me to run all the tests I need to assess a design concept. (Large preview)

You simply create your test and then share the website address they give you with users.

Of course, finding those users can be challenging, so let’s talk about that.

When it comes to testing usability, we do not need many users. The Nielsen Norman Group suggests you only need to test with five people because beyond that you see diminishing returns.

After approximately five users you receive diminishing returns from usability testing. (Large preview)

These users can be quickly recruited either from your existing customer base or via friends and family. However, if you want to be a bit pickier about your demographics, services like Usability Hub will recruit participants for as little as a dollar per person.

Testing aesthetics is trickier because as we have already established design is subjective. That means we need more people to remove any statistical anomalies.

Once again, the Nielsen Norman Group suggest a number. They say when you want statistically significant results, you should look for at least 20 people.

It is also worth noting that in the case of aesthetics, you should test with demographically accurate individuals, something that your testing platform should be able to help you recruit.

Although that will cost a small amount of money, it will be insignificant compared to the person-hours that would go into debating the best design approach.

There is also often a concern that it will take a long time. However, in my experience, you can typically get 20 responses in an hour or less. When was the last time you got design approval in under an hour?

Worth a Try

Testing a design concept will not solve all your designer woes. However, it will lead to better designs and has the potential to help with the management of stakeholders significantly. And when you consider the minimal investment in making it happen, it makes little sense not to try it on at least one project.

(ra, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-to-test-a-design-concept-for-effectiveness/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/619990939858026496

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How To Test A Design Concept For Effectiveness

About The Author

Paul is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors … More about Paul …

Getting a client or stakeholder to approve a design concept can be challenging. However, testing can make it easier, as well as ensuring you have the right solution.

Most of us are reasonably comfortable with the idea of carrying out usability testing on a website or prototype. We don’t always get the opportunity, but most people accept that it is a good idea.

However, when it comes to a design concept, opinion is more divided. Some designers feel it undermines their role, a view that seems to be somewhat backed up by the famous “Forty Shades of Blue” episode, where Google tested which one of forty shades of blue to use for link color.

Google undermined the role of the designer by placing an overwhelming emphasis on testing. (Large preview)

It is a position I can sympathize with, and testing certainly doesn’t tell us everything. For example, it cannot come up with the right solution, only judge a design that already exists. Neither is the kind of obsessional testing demonstrated by Google healthy for morale, or most companies bottom line.

That said, in this post, I want to explore some of the advantages testing design concepts can provide to us as designers, and demonstrate that we can do it cheaply and without slowing down the delivery of the overall project.

Let’s begin by asking why a designer might favor testing of their design concepts.

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Why You Should Embrace Testing Design Concepts

Every designer has stories of being caught in revision hell. Endlessly tweaking colors and adjusting layout in the hopes of finally getting sign off from the client.

It’s not always like that, but every project is a gamble. Will the client, sign off immediately, or will you end up with a design concept named “Final-Version-21.sketch”? And that is the problem; you just do not know, which makes project planning and budgeting extremely difficult.

Testing Makes the Design Process Predictable

People tend to consider testing a design as a lUXury that a project cannot afford. They see it as too time-consuming and expensive. However, in truth, it brings some much-needed predictability to a project that can, in many cases, make things quicker and cheaper.

Yes, if everything goes smoothly with design sign-off, design testing can slow things down and cost a little money. But, that rarely happens. Usually, a design goes through at least a few rounds of iteration, and occasionally it has to be thrown out entirely.

Rarely is this because the design is terrible. Instead, it is because stakeholders are unhappy with it.

By contrast, testing creates a framework for deciding whether a design is right, that is not based on personal preference. Some quick testing could approve a design without the need for further iteration or at worse would lead to some relatively minor amendments if the designer has done their job.

In most cases, this proves faster and less expensive than an endless discussion over the direction. However, even when it does not, it is more predictable, which improves product planning.

Testing also has another related advantage. It changes the basis upon which we assess the design.

Testing Encourages the Right Focus and Avoids Conflict

The design has a job to do. In most cases, it has to connect with a user emotionally, while also enabling them to use the website as efficiently as possible. Unfortunately, most design is not assessed on this basis.

Instead, we often evaluate a design on the simple criteria of whether or not the client likes it. It is this conflict between the role of a design and how it is evaluated that causes disagreements.

By carrying out testing on a design, you refocus the stakeholders on what matters because you build the test around those criteria instead.

That has another advantage as well. It helps avoid a lot of the disagreement over the design direction. That is especially true when many people are inputting on the design.

Because design is subjective, the more people who look at it, the more disagreement there will be. The way this is typically resolved is through a compromise that produces a design that pleases nobody and is often not fit for purpose.

Testing provides an alternative to that. It leads to less conflict between stakeholders and also ensures the integrity of the design, which ultimately leads to a better product.

Testing Improves Results

By using testing to avoid design by committee and focus stakeholders on the right assessment criteria, it almost guarantees a better design in the end.

However, there is another factor that ensures testing produces better design; that is the fact that we, as designers are not infallible.

Sometimes we misjudge the tone of the design or the mental model of the user. Sometimes we fail to spot how an image undermines the call to action or that the font is too small for an elderly audience. Testing helps us identify these issues early, while they are still easy to fix. Updating a mockup in Sketch or Figma is a lot easier than on a working website.

So hopefully now you see that design testing is a good idea for all parties concerned. The next question then becomes; how do we carry out design testing?

How to Implement Design Testing

Before you can test how well a design concept is working, you first need to be clear about what you are testing. Earlier I said that a design had two jobs. It had to connect with users emotionally and enable people to use the site as efficiently as possible.

With that in mind, we want to test two things:

The brand and personality of the design, which is what dictates whether a design connects with the user emotionally.

The usability and visual hierarchy, which enables people to use the site more efficiently.

It is important to note as well that for the sake of this article, I am presuming all we have is a static mockup of the design, with no interactivity.

So, let’s start by looking at how we test brand and personality.

Test Brand and Personality

Before somebody is willing to act on a website, they have to trust that website. Users have to form a positive first impression.

In a study published in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology, they found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. What is more, these decisions have a lasting impact.

According to a study in the Journal of Behaviour and Information Technology you have 50 milliseconds to make a first impression. (Large preview)

In that length of time, the user is judging the website purely on aesthetics, and so we need to ensure those aesthetics communicate the right things.

We have three ways we can test this, but let’s begin with my personal favorite.

Semantic Differential Survey

A semantic differential survey is a fancy name for a simple idea. Before you begin designing, first agree on a list of keywords that you want the design to signal to the end-user. These might be terms like trustworthy, fun or approachable.

Once you have created the design, you can now test whether it communicates these impressions in the user by running a semantic differential survey.

Simply show the user the design and ask them to rate the design against each of your keywords.

You can use a simple survey to understand whether a design is communicating the right message. (Large preview)

The great thing is that if the design rates well against all of the agreed words, not only do you know it is doing its job, it is also hard for stakeholders to reject the design because they don’t like some aspect of it.

You can use this method to ascertain the most effective approach from multiple designs. However, there is a much simpler test you can also adopt when you have more than one design concept.

Preference Tests

A preference test is what it sounds like. You simply show several design concepts to users and ask them to select which approach they prefer.

However, instead of just asking users to select which design they like most, ask them to select a design based on your keywords. You can ask users to select which design they feel best conveys the keywords you chose.

You can also apply the same principle of comparison to your competition.

Competition Testing

You can run precisely the same kind of preference test as above, but instead, compare your design concept against competitors’ websites. That will help you understand whether your design does a better job of communicating the desired keywords compared to the competition.

A preference test can be used to see how your design compares to the competition. (Large preview)

The advantage of both types of preference testing is that it discourages stakeholders from adopting a pick-and-mix approach to design. In other words, it encourages them to compare designs in their entirety, rather than selecting different design elements from the competition or different versions, and asking you to combine them into a Frankenstein approach.

By combining both semantic differential surveys and preference testing, you can build up a clear picture of whether a design’s aesthetics are communicating the right impression. However, we still need to ensure it is usable and that people can find the information or features they need.

Test Usability and Visual Hierarchy

A website can look great and give the user the right feel, but if it is hard to use it will have still failed to do its job.

Once you have a fully built website or even a prototype, testing for usability is easy by combining A/B testing (quantitive) with usability testing (qualitative).

However, when all you have is a static mockup of the design, it can appear harder to test. Fortunately, that impression is incorrect. What is more, it is worth testing at this early stage, because things will be much easier to fix.

We have two tests we can do to ascertain usability. The first focuses on navigation and the second on visual hierarchy.

First-Click Tests

An influential study into usability, by Bob Bailey and Cari Wolfson, demonstrated the importance of ensuring that the user makes an excellent first choice when navigating your website. They proved that if users got their first click right, they had an 87% chance of completing their task correctly; however, if they got it wrong that dropped to just 46%.

Fortunately, we can test whether users will make the right first click using an imaginatively named “first click test”.

In the first click, test users are given a task (e.g. “Where would you click to contact the website owners?”), and then they are shown the design concept.

The user then clicks the appropriate place on the concept that they believe is correct, and the results are recorded. It is that simple.

First Click Tests help you understand whether your navigation is clear. (Large preview)

The advantage of running a first-click test from the designers perspective is that it can resolve disagreements about information architecture by demonstrating whether users understand labeling and the site’s overall structure.

However, usability isn’t all about clicking. It is also essential that users spot critical content and calls to action. To test for that, you need a 5-second test.

5-Second Tests

Research seems to indicate that on average, you have about 8 seconds to grab a users attention and that many leave a website within 10 to 20 seconds. That means our interfaces have to present information we want users to see in the most obvious way possible. Put another way; we need to distinguish between the most important and less important information.

Testing this kind of visual hierarchy can be achieved using a 5-second test.

Usability Hub describe a five-second test in this way:

“A five-second test is run by showing an image to a participant for just five seconds, after which the participant answers questions based on their memory and impression of the design.”

It is important to note not only whether users remembered seeing critical screen elements, but also how quickly they recalled those elements. If users mention less essential elements first, this might indicate they have too much prominence.

The great thing about a 5-second test is that it can reassure clients concerns that a user might overlook an interface element. Hopefully, that will reduce the number of “make my logo bigger” requests you receive.

As you can see, testing can help both improve your designs and make design sign off less painful. However, it may be that you have concerns about implementing these tests. Fortunately, it is more straightforward than you think.

Who and How to Test?

The good news is that there are some great tools out there to help you run the tests I have outlined in this post. In fact Usability Hub offers all five tests we have covered and more.

Usability Hub allows me to run all the tests I need to assess a design concept. (Large preview)

You simply create your test and then share the website address they give you with users.

Of course, finding those users can be challenging, so let’s talk about that.

When it comes to testing usability, we do not need many users. The Nielsen Norman Group suggests you only need to test with five people because beyond that you see diminishing returns.

After approximately five users you receive diminishing returns from usability testing. (Large preview)

These users can be quickly recruited either from your existing customer base or via friends and family. However, if you want to be a bit pickier about your demographics, services like Usability Hub will recruit participants for as little as a dollar per person.

Testing aesthetics is trickier because as we have already established design is subjective. That means we need more people to remove any statistical anomalies.

Once again, the Nielsen Norman Group suggest a number. They say when you want statistically significant results, you should look for at least 20 people.

It is also worth noting that in the case of aesthetics, you should test with demographically accurate individuals, something that your testing platform should be able to help you recruit.

Although that will cost a small amount of money, it will be insignificant compared to the person-hours that would go into debating the best design approach.

There is also often a concern that it will take a long time. However, in my experience, you can typically get 20 responses in an hour or less. When was the last time you got design approval in under an hour?

Worth a Try

Testing a design concept will not solve all your designer woes. However, it will lead to better designs and has the potential to help with the management of stakeholders significantly. And when you consider the minimal investment in making it happen, it makes little sense not to try it on at least one project.

(ra, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-to-test-a-design-concept-for-effectiveness/

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Design Approaches

Co-Design

Co-Design is a practice with Scandinavian roots, often having ‘nicknames’ such as Co-Operative Design, Co-Creation, and the aforementioned ‘Co-Design’, but what is this Co-Design practice?, well according to Sanders & Stappers, 2014:5-14 it ‘refers to collaborative design and integration between the design and the user who may be a non-designer’ basically it's a practice that involves the client in the designing processes rather than the designer and the client being segregated, i.e. instead of the designer converting the clients ideas into designs, it forces the clients to come up with the design (with the help of the designer), which often results in a design that functions as the client wants it to.

This Co-Design practise is often achieved through various methods, such as games, role-play and enactments, storytelling, workshops, etc which sounds ‘expensive’ however this isn’t the case as these methods are often created in low-fidelity, such as cardboard/ general crafts, which makes you wonder why doesn’t everyone follow this practice, as it increases the likelihood of a successful design for the client, encourages innovations, as multiple ideas are clashing with each other, from designers, and non-designers often ending up with innovations, it fosters shared ownership, meaning everyone feels involved from the stakeholders to the designers, resulting in a stronger relationship (https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/why-collaborative-design-to-build-products/) which makes it sound like a incredible practise for a design firm to have...

However, although it does have its positives, it’s not without any negatives, such as the extent of the innovations, you see this practise of Co-Design it’s heavily reliant on the client which sounds senseless, but when you have that wall between a designer and the client it creates a area of reality, in which as designer can be as innovative as they want within the boundaries in design where they can relay that information to the client, but in Co-Design it ‘blurs’ this boundary, which results in the client either having crazy idea that can’t be accomplished, or a simple subdued idea, which can be accomplished, but isn’t innovative. Another negative is that employing the Co-Design practise may result in serving a niche market (this mainly aimed at larger companies), as only a select few are involved in the Co-Design process, which may result in only those small few involved being interested, obviously this doesn’t detract from the client being pleased with the end product, but the product itself might not successful i.e. let’s say you’re the head of a large soda brand that has standard bottle shape but you, and your top employees want to change that bottle from a standard bottle shape to a sphere, and yous love it however this may cause some major issues down the line, such as transportation, cost etc which results in a unsuccessful product.

Obviously you can take steps to avoid these issues, such as being careful of customer selection, having a mix of customers in large quantities, good timing, etc, overall Co-Design is an effective way in creating a product the client/customer(s) like, when done correctly in the right situations.

(https://joycediscovers.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/negative-side-effects-of-co-creation/)    

Design Cultures

What is design culture?Well design culture is a collection of approaches, beliefs, ideas, etc. based around design, especially around what it means to be a designer, why is it important, and why is it changing. Design culture arguably began back in 1851 with the great expedition, where participants from around the world came together as the first ‘design culture', but one of the first impacts on design culture as a wholes was Jonathan Ives’ IPOD design, which not only impacted the design world but us, the consumers as well, as it was the first time portable music was made simple, rather than carrying CDs, or cassette tapes, you instead had all of your music in one small easy to use audio player, which made us think with what more can we do with design in relation to the clients, and our design conscious.

(iPod -Jonathan Ives)

What I mean by design conscious, is that what are the things we use as designers to get our ideas across, and what are the consequences of doing so, take for example the Alessi lemon juicer, which is the embodiment of form follows function, as it looks aesthetically pleasing, whilst looking deceptively intuitive, i.e. when you put to practice it fails quiet spectacularly, however the opposite is also true in design, such as the Bauhaus Wassily chair, which follows function over form, i.e. the aesthetic of the chair, visually indicates what it’s meant to be, and what it’s function is. 

(Alessi lemon juicer - Philippe Starck)

However creating a design such as the Wassily chair requires a person to do either extensive research in chair design or specialises in product design (or other similar fields), but the design for the Alessi lemon juicer was designed by Philippe Stark, who has designed a plethora of designs outside of product design, i.e. a ‘polymath designer', someone who isn’t ‘tied down’ to specific field, of course one can have a specialisation in design, but you don’t necessarily have to ‘stuck’ in that field. 

Take for example Karim Rashid, he’s a industrial designer that has design interiors, products, and has even dabbled in graphic design too, which does blur what it means to be a designer, back in the late 80s/early 90s, designers were often people who would design virtually anything, i.e. the polymath designers of today -however that way of thinking did fade over the years and many people today would rather specialise in a design discipline than going the jack of all trades path, this probably due a simple question, what is a good design?, is it something that functions, or is it something that looks aesthetically pleasing either way both these outcomes are correct, as to me ‘design cultures’ is just a means in which you yourself as a designer can be innovative through a group of like minded people, there is no right or wrong way in design, only positive and negative outcomes.

(nHow Hotel lobby -Karin Rashid)

(https://duuplex.com/work/karim-rashid-evolution/)

Design Thinking

Design thinking is how designers communicate to their clients or other designers, this practise ensures that the ideas conveyed don't get convoluted.  

So how does Design Thinking work, well to get started you have to find out what type of learner you are, for this we’ll be using Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s categories of learners (adapted from David Kolb’s categories). The first category is the ‘Activist’, these are people who learn via using activities, diving head first -these are the type of people like to explorer in design, they have a open minded approach to learning, and love any challenges throw at them, to say it bluntly they are the Leaders in the group, often brainstorming new ideas, or solving problems, and partakes in group discussions, however they tend to dive in head first too quickly, and can miss out certain bits of information.

The next type of learner is the ‘Reflector’. This type of person learns from observation, often sitting on the sidelines taking everything into account (e.g. information given, the discussions about the information, how certain people think, etc)  before coming up with a conclusion, typically the cautious one. They’re similar to the Theorist but they’re not as rigid, as in they don’t follow a straight path via the information given, instead they’re more flexible as they use the information given, and bend it in order to come up with solutions everyone agrees with by looking at different/ through perspectives. They’re typically the person that tries to keep the group on track without getting in their way. 

Which takes us to our next type of learner of the group, the ‘Theorist’ they are people who learn through models, concepts, and facts, as the name suggests they use these models concepts and facts to theorise, and internalise every ounce of information at time often as seen as the perfectionist when it comes to information. They are the questionnaires in the group, often asking questions based around the design, such as how does the design correlate with this and that. They’re often detached from the group, taking on an analytical view of the information given, seeing where this or that information fits via applying theories, creating structures where the information makes sense

.

The final type of learner is the ‘Pragmatist’, these are the ‘mad scientists’ they learn from experimentation; coming up with ideas, and then putting these ideas into practise to see if they work, in a way they’re the living embodiment of ‘practise makes perfect’. As spontaneous as they are, they’re typically laid back practical people and often come up with new but practical solutions to problems when faced with a task.

So after identifying what type of learner you are, what comes next, well next part is understanding when each learner comes into play when solving a task, we can do this by using Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s learning cycle(adapted from David Kolb), first comes the Activist, they’ll typically give the group the basic information, and a quick overview on what the group has to accomplish, after that the Reflector comes into play, this is where the information given is ‘funneled’ into something more detailed, by observing and thinking carefully about what information is necessary and what isn’t, by having small discussions with individuals, and taking on different perspectives, after the information is refined, the Theorists comes to play, this is where he’ll compile all the information given into a structure so that there’s a plan in place/checklist to follow. After this the Pragmatist creates ideas in which to execute the checklist, basically he creates a checklist that follows the task given and whilst using practical but innovative ideas to accomplish them.           

Thinking Differently about Design

In this category we’ll be investigating what design is, and what are the different perspectives people have on design, and what design is today. So let’s begin.

What is design?, is it a drawing?, an idea?, well the answer is none, design is nothing but a tool used to form materials -physical, or digital (physical -stone, plastic, paper, etc, digital -3d models that simulate reality), of course design is a useful tool, however design doesn’t solve problems in the real world, but materials do, much like how air by itself doesn’t do much, unless the human inhales and uses that air to function and create something useful, the reality of is that design is USELESS without materials… this perspective seems very anti-design, but this perspective was viewed from a scientific ‘designer’ (Raymond Oliver), someone who has graduated in chemical engineering, with a PhD in chemical physics, and has spent 30 years in ICI creating bio-materials; as designers we find this perspective difficult to swallow as this perspective, is metaphorically taking a dump on our career choices and/or passion, however this potentially bias perspective on design does come with a legitimately good thought experiment. 

Oliver sees design as THE ENEMY of a sustainable environment, which may sound over exaggerated however when you do think about it there is a truth, take for example plastic packaging, why do we use it in the way that we do?,  it’s a material that has virtually infinite lifespan and is incredibly strong and yet we use it in such a careless, and inefficient way, only in recent times have we have actively try to find a sustainable ways to package our goods, but not out of the spirit of design, but out of necessity, even then we’re relying on materials, so where does design really fit?, well according to Oliver it should come between the ‘vision’ (idea), and material science, acting like a bridge, an example of this is a pigment Oliver and his team created which would detect pathogens by changing colour (material), this pigment was then used in hospital workers’ garments, so they know when to change and wash their uniforms  (design acting like a bridge).     

The Future of Fashion

To understand the future of fashion we first have to understand fashion as an industry. ‘The global fashion industry generates 2.5T$ of turnover, and employs 60M people worldwide, making the 7th largest global economic sector’, which basically means fashion is much larger than incorporating electronics in dresses, or about wearing our expressions on our sleeves, instead it’s more about how the piece of fashion makes the user feel, whilst ‘being aware and reflecting the modern world’, this can be seen in today’s fashion as in today’s society has begun to get more technologically advanced e.g.microscopic circuitry, flexible OLED screens, high capacity batteries with a small, lightweight form factor, etc these advancements have started to leak into fashion, take for example the E-Ink dress that was unveiled in Japan’s Display Week 2017; it’s a dress that automatically changes colour and style on the fly (albeit it doesn’t change the silhouette), or the aforementioned hospital uniforms that change colour in response to pathogens.

(E-Ink dress -before...)

(After)

The fashion of today takes inspiration, and the advantage of the NOW, but for that to happen you must hypocritically look as the past understand the now, because without, there can but no ‘NOW’, and fashion has always been like that, a tug of war between the past’s norms and values of society and the now, trying to change and evolve those norms and values, take for example Victorian garments, they represent the ‘NOW’ of Victorian times however they looked at the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ as their inspiration, which the ‘Age of Enlightenment’ took inspiration from the Renaissance, and so on, so in summary the fashion of the future is inspired by the past, created in the now, in order to become the precursor of the future.  

Environment Under Stress

As this category indicates, our environment is under stress, but how is this the case?, well that is due to us, humanity, our hunger for resources, land, and technology is eradicating species and disrupting the balance of nature on Earth (climate change -warming oceans), so much so that we’re entering a new geological period: The Anthropocene.

‘For most of our history, it has been our environment that has shaped us, but now it is us who are shaping our environment’, but in a couple hundred years humanity will become a type 1 civilization on the Kardashev scale (Type 1 Civilization =harnessing all the energy on their planet), however without proper regulation we may spell doom for our planet, threatening the biodiversity.

(Illustration of the Kardashev Scale)

So how do we solve this issue? Well it’s simple, we have to identify those who can change things in the world, the first being governments and politicians, they understand the world and especially the regions they govern, as such they can produce short, and long term solutions to negate/reduce the environment being under stress e.g. short term: driving curfews, long term: switching out fossil fuels with green alternatives -hydroelectric energy , the next is industry, they are the ones that create things the designers make as such they are both accountable towards the damages made during manufacture, and consumer goods e.g not using sustainable resources, and or making packaging that pollutes the planet -however they can also be accountable towards solving those mistakes by simply paying attention the the planet more and adjusting accordingly, e.g. using clean energy during manufacturing, and lastly the academe: science and technology these are the institutions that create new materials, or technologies that help humanity advance i.e. they are the ones producing long term solutions, and example of this is plant based meats, if you may or may not know meat production creates more greenhouse gases that transportation (cars, trains, trucks, ship and planes combined).

(Hoover Dam -Hydroelectric Power Plant)

After discussing our current predicament, and looking at those responsible towards a solution how does this all correlate to design?, well as mentioned before design and industry are linked very closely, and when you think about what a designer is; the academe is also closely linked to design as they create/’design’ new materials and tech that allow designers to create something more ‘spectacular’, as such us designers hold quite a degree of power in the world as everyone uses a product a designer conceptualised, which means we have the power to change our world, for the better by looking at the issues the planet and society has much like Trevor Baylis who create a hand (crank) powered radio that save lives in poor and remote communities in Africa, as they we able to listen to health advice that was broadcast via radio waves.

(Trevor Baylis hand powered radio)

Interaction Design/Experience 

Has the world gone MAD?!, strange introductions aside has the world gone mad?, society today is strange when you look at it objectively, today we wear computers on a wrists, and carry them in our pockets, and we can even watch TV on them, and TVs today can now take calls from someone from the other side of the globe, which makes the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X look small.

(Apple iWatch)

These technological advancements have somewhat made the definition of interaction design obsolete according to Jamie Steane (co-author of the ‘Interaction Design From concept to completion’). The traditional definition goes like this: ‘The practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems and services’ (Cooper, A., Reimann R.,& Cornin, D.(2007) About face 3:The essentials of interaction design John Wiley & Sons), however the ‘modern’ definition (by Steane J & Yee J -Interactions Design from concept to completion) goes as follows: ‘The practise of designing interactive digital products, services, systems, experiences, identities and promotions’, their definition basically widens interaction design especially in this age, with the internet (online advertisements, apps, etc).

A example of this is new definition put to practice, was the National Trust App (DigitasLBi, London), where the team was asked to create a new National Trust app ‘that focused on retaining members by encouraging them to discover new places and things to do to make most of their membership’, along with their design following business beliefs/criteria, the first being Connectivity, the app has to work without WiFi this is due to the fact that most places the app suggests are in quiet remote places. The second is Content, the app must ‘accommodate varying amounts of content across properties’, i.e. the information must be explicit depending on the information provided, so some properties might not have a property plan, meaning that the app has to adapt to this. Lastly the app has to be accessible to all people e.g. colour blind people, or people with disabilities. 

All this is to ensure the customer is satisfied and continues to support the app via subscriptions, the Active Amy’s Customer Journey is a ‘map’ that follows a hypothetical customers actions, knowing of the app, downloading/buying the app, using the app, and then leaving/continues using the app, then the cycle repeats, and the basic rule of thumb for this map is that if a customer uses the app for a year then leaves, the company loses out, however if the customer uses the app for two years the stay for life.

Now let’s get back to the app; after understanding the task and identifying the criteria they started working on app’s features, one of them was ‘geo-location-based content’ which notifies the user if there is a National Trust property is near by, and encourages the user to visit the property, another feature was the ‘Event manager’ which allowed content creators to easily set up events on their property by giving them a set of options and selecting which ones relevant to them e.g. ‘is the event free?, yes, on, or depends’, and once a option is selected it would take you the next step; for example if ‘depends’ was select it would ask you specify by either showing the user more options, or allow user to specify it in their own words (which would give the user more creative freedom when using the app).

After this stage DigitasLBi used Confluence to help manage the project across the all three platforms (Windows, iOS, and Android), which converted the project teams into observant documentors.  

Critical Design

Critical Design’s origin is the Frankfurt School of Critical theory, according to Jeffery Bardzell, and Shaowen Bardzell.

(Frankfurt School of Critical Theory)

Critical Design is a critical theory based approach to design, which can be seen as yet another anti-design approach, as it opposes the belief system and ideas that underpin design commercial values or practical utility (basically shuns the commercial aspects of design, and debates whether the functionality of the design is useful e.g. a one time use package that opens up automatically.

The Early conception of Critical design, was in 2001, however back then they weren’t concerned with design as whole, but just electronics, but Dunne and Raby brought the idea of critical design to a wider audience in design, by creating something akin to a thought experiment by critically dissecting the purpose of design practices like ‘Haute’ which is a Fashion practice of creating one-off outfits/ concept pieces to explore a idea, like that Space collection by Pierre Cardin, Space Age Collection, 1966 and concept cars like the Silver Fox (2007).

(Pierre Cardin, Space Age Collection)

These ideas for concepts are typically taken from inspirations from things like briefs, or pop culture like ‘Sci-Fi’ which has its own term ‘Design Fiction’ which is where you take a Sci-Fi concept, and create a plausible concept, take for example the Star Trek communicator (1967),was the inspiration of the mobile phone (1973, First mobile phone made by Martin Cooper, but the first ever commercial mobile phone was released in 1983, the aforementioned Motorola DynaTAC 8000X).  

(Star Trek Communicator) 

After exploring the different approaches designers have towards design, I’ve come to a conclusion that being that I want to be polymath designer, ‘someone who isn’t ‘tied down’ to specific field’, you see my dream job is to become someone who can design, and make ‘stuff’ on films sets, so things like being a prop designer, prop maker, set designer, etc, this was due to the majority of my childhood, and even now was spent researching ways to make ‘cool’ stuff, an example of this was when I was a child I discovered hot glue, and that discovery was my ‘gateway’ in making and design, you see with the hot glue I could make things using materials I couldn’t fully utilities with just a normal glue stick and tape; like plastic toys, which I used to take apart and re-create it into something else, which inadvertently taught me how ‘things’ remained rigid even with flimsy materials, albeit it was mostly trial and error, but nevertheless it intrigued me, so much so that when I found out what ‘design’ was from my older brother I instantly knew that I wanted to be one when I was older.

Fast-forward to now after researching the different design approaches, the ‘Design Cultures’ category in particularly intrigued me, due to the fact it just screams design and creative freedom (e.g. the Duracell Flashlight -aesthetically pleasing ,but it wasn’t a very good), but also creative responsibility (e.g. Swiss Army Knife -multitasker tool); at the start I wanted to be an artist, which then progressed into me wanting to make the stuff I drew into reality, and then now, I wanted to combining those two things via design, as a result I see design as creative freedom -but you get paid for it, this is especially true when you look at the aforementioned Charles Rennie Macintosh and Karin Rashid, who are polymath designers and were able to make a living out of it, however was this way of designing clever?, efficient?, correct?, this is what I see as the creative responsibility a designer holds, I personally learned this at a young age; those toys I used to deconstruct and reconstruct we’re quite expensive for my family, so when I deconstructed them and made them into something else, it would look like ‘junk’ and a waste of a perfectly good toy to other people, and this anecdote can be translated to the polymath designer, let me give you a example, would a customer buy a pan from a product designer, or an interior designer? well they would go and buy the pan from the product designer, because they know what the suitable materials are, and that they would make it to a higher standard than an polymath designer classically trained as an interior designer, as the product designer is trained in that field and has more experience in it. This idea of creative responsibility was inspired by critical design and it’s ‘anti-design’ approach as I believe that us designers have to think more about the reality of our designs, and their in-the-world counterpart in a way going ‘beyond problem-resolution’, and really looking at the future, at the possible ‘what ifs’ of reality and not just design.

Design cultures is very much about what a designer ‘IS’, from the past, present, and future the meaning of a designer has changed, as a result many people a have taken design for granted, using as a way to express themselves, without taking into account the reality of what that entails -wasted resources, material, time, effort, etc, an example of this is the Moto Undone, Joey Ruiter (2011) which was a reflective rectangular motorcycle, why design and make it?, well why not?, its a motorcycle that challenges what a motorcycle should be, of course within design this is widely acceptable, after all design is a quite a aesthetic heavy subject, however if you look beyond the ‘design’ aspect of this ‘motorcycle’; to be frank it’s stupid, dangerous, and a waste of resources. Stupid and dangerous due to the lack of features and design choice, its highly reflective which can blind other drivers at night with their headlights, it doesn't have lights of any type on it (signal, brake, or headlights) making it a general hazard on the road, plus it doesn't even have brakes, so from a critical perspective this type design is quite ‘self-destructive’ however we can’t neglect the innovations this type of design brought, after all innovation is just a fancy word for trial and error, and this is true from all design disciplines, as many practice the idea of concepts or prototypes, take for example the E-Ink dress that was mention from the Future of Fashion category, a prototype concept which has opened up a new set of possibilities for designers, unlike the Moto Undone which is more of a artistic statement rather than the E-Ink dress which has converted a old technology and made it new, and I believe this type of thinking can help us achieve more with what we’ve got now, which will inadvertently will lead a path of innovation for the future generations of designers, much like the fashion of the future, the design now is inspired by the past, and the now is the precursor of the future.