Jennifer's Blog

ENGLISH 1002

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His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society

vintage-sexism-2

Designing for the New Gender Era

This article highlights the change of traditional gender roles and how the new generation of designers and marketers have to evolve to include the new breakdown of the previous idea of ‘women’ and ‘men’. With these roles being more and more challenged in today’s society, the new world for appealing to men and women is becoming a wider and more general platform. The designers want to not only appeal to these “obscured” gender lines but to make sure they are accepted and comfortable in the setting of a society that is deeply rooted in a modern tone. Not only are the gender lines being more fluid but the role of women and men are being equalized therefore the overpowering masculine features of modern architecture is being switched out for softer textures and fabrics. This rise in the new form of Modernism is showing a new era of social change and therefore a new era of design.

Individuality

In creating this individualistic society filled with blurred gender roles and a new power role for women, these new designs and architecture is a new form of representation and sense of self.  With this new rise of importance of self expression, comes a new era of importance on representation and how designers keep up with the changing tides of identity. With companies like Lego changing their branding to accommodate the growing markets of fluid sexuality and identity, more and more brands are rushing to make sure they fit into the new ‘status quo’ of open acceptance. As well as toys, we see new strides coming with the new trends of androgyny and male centered makeup. New ideas from designers are pushing for this new idea of androgyny where men do things that were previously marketed for girls and girls wearing things that have boxier frames. There seems to be no more rules when it comes to designing for the future in terms of ‘will women buy this blazer’ because the new answer is ‘yes’.

Design of the Public Space

The end of the article also highlights an issue brought up in the New York Time’s article on how the shared space and the inclusion of a gender-neutral design is an integral part of modern times and modern design. ‘Accommodation’  is brought up as the mode of conflict resolution and with that comes the introduction of a gender neutral space and having the built environment around us being inclusive to every group. The article also parallels the issues that might arise with the first steps into the gender neutral society to the issues that arose with accommodating to disabled people. The article spoke of how the issues of inclusion were met with rules, compliance, and inconvenience.  This feeling of inconvenience makes the disabled and trans people feel as though they aren’t a part of the society to begin with. So in order to avoid the same sentiments shared by the lack of accommodation with disabled, the article speaks to treat everyone the same and to have basic places of comfort and safety be available to all people without the groans of having to change the predisposed molds.

 

Mid-Term Reflection

Upon taking the course and finding out it was a hybrid technology immersive class, I knew in that moment that most of the reading, writing, and research I have previously done would be completely different to what this class would expect from me. While in previous classes I have done a number of critical analyses on my reading, I don’t think those have really compared to the complexity of the reading summaries I’ve done in this class which calls for critical analysis while differentiating your own thoughts from the author’s as well as the author’s thoughts from the primary source’s tone. Through learning how to effectively with in this course so far, I think I can use that to pin point the exact points of interest and main ideas of an article or of a built environment so that I don’t over cloud it with my judgements. I’ve also learned through the Built Environment Description writing, that compiling research and putting that into a concise format is harder than it seems. With there being so much to observe within an hour of being in an environment, it’s hard to fulfill the prompt as well as completely capture the essence of the place you’re observing. With all these blog posts I put up for this class, I feel that my peers can look at the compilation of posts as a whole and see a cohesive story of how the environment around us affects us in deeper ways than we originally think. And utilizing this mode of writing in a blog makes it more user friendly and has a different tone than writing a term paper. The idea of accessibility also comes into mind when thinking of the differences I’ve encountered when comparing the term papers I’ve written in the past, in which only my teachers will see, to the blog posts in this class ,in which many of my peers are able to access it.

Over the past assignments, I’ve realized that one of my weaknesses is not being able to cohesively and logically put together transitions and sections to match the tone and ideas of the author. So I want to work on organization as well as reflecting the author’s ideas harmoniously in my future blog posts. While I do have my weaknesses, I believe one of my strengths is being able to have a wide and polished range of vocabulary that elevates my writing. I hope to use that selective vocabulary to better convey the message as well as articulate poignantly in my blog posts.

Though I haven’t been able to go in for a group study or a group conference just yet with my busy schedule of working and taking 18hrs of school credit, I want to utilize the great opportunity our teacher has made available to me to both earn extra points as well as get a better understanding of the assignments and get feedback on what I have so far. I have had made extra effort in making a blog post about the new experience I’ve had in the library which helps engrain that new experience into my blog as well as my one memory for future use. I have also had a few instances in participating in the quizzes which helps to better shape you as a rhetorical writer. Though I am currently satisfied with the amount of effort I’ve put in the class so far I always feel there’s still room for more improvement and growth so I want to make a bigger effort in earning the most possible points I can for the week including writing more reading summaries or more annotated bibliographies.

I want to start to work on my organization in my writing which not only could help the formation of my future reading summaries but my Built Environment Analysis as well. Organizational skills when it comes to writing is not only just limited to the scope of that one assignment so working on that aspect of my writing will help all of my future blog posts in this class.

Built Environment Description: Inman Park

Inman Park is located on the east side of Atlanta and is Atlanta’s first planned suburb. The carefully constructed nature of the city is shown through the meticulous and planned tone and style of the neighborhood. You see both the rustic and gritty style of Inman Park juxtaposing the urban and suburban feel of the city and while both tones are drastically different from each other, they come together to give off a very modern yet inviting style. The city also composes of art, deliberate grit, and oddly the usage of nature. Everywhere you look you’ll see trees and foliage contouring the landscape and outlining all the contrasting elements of the city. Inman Park also has pieces of architecture that are very aged and have a more dated look to them and considering the city was planned and built in the late 1880’s, these older buildings still hold a harmonious theme to the city. The city was deliberately planned around open spaces and even to this day the city is very open and easily maneuverable.  You can access all parks and buildings with the ease of turning a street corner or just going down a simple flight of stairs. And while maneuvering the open streets you can observe the muted colors and red bricks of the city be juxtaposed with the bright and bold colors of graffiti sprawled all over the buildings sometimes to convey art or sometimes just to put a company name out there. This universal use of graffiti for both commercial and artistic use shows the lucid and bold tone of the city. The signage of the city is almost limited to the use of building art and graffiti which shows a new style of conveying the usage of the space by utilizing the said space. The bright uses of color and the familiar usage of red clay brick makes you feel comfortable and intrigued in this perplexing city that seems to make you at home while still leaving you with the feeling of adventure and exploration.

Digital Record of Inman Park #5

choco

While there at the Krog Street Market, I stumbled upon a chocolate store that made their own batch in the building. The chocolate was artisanal and definetly reflected the type of small business mentality that the whole Market had. There was no big name companies there besides Jeni’s Icecream which is still an artisanal ice cream shop that has roots in Atlanta.  This chocolate stood out to me since it was made in Inman Park and a product of the modern tone of the city.

Digital Record of Inman Park #4

contrast

Like stated before, Inman Park has a very contrasting feel to it. With one side of the picture being rustic and urban the other side shows a more modern and suburban feel to it. Many buildings surrounding the area show this modern appeal to it while also being surrounded by street art and grit. The two different sides don’t seem to clash at all but mesh together to build a cohesive mood to the town.

Digital Record of Inman Park #3

Parking

This photo is showing the no parking signs and how most of the residents purposefully ignore the signs and still park as they please. This is another indicator of how accessible Inman Park is. People park where they please and even the law enforcement in the town don’t take the towing policy to heart making it seem like the whole town is in cohesion about accessibility. This parking structure made it very easy for me to maneuver around town without having to worry about where to park or how much I had to pay for parking since parking around town was all free and easy to find.

Digital Record of Inman Park #2

Fish Graffiti

This graffiti wall shows the three aspects of Inman Park all in one photo:art, city grit, and nature. All three components of Inman Park are shown harmoniously on this street with the art of the Koi fish being predominantly shown through. Throughout Inman Park, you’ll see purposeful art being splattered across many residential and  commercial buildings adding to the rustic and modern feel to the city.

Digital Record of Inman Park #1

Krog Street Market Hall

Krog Street Market shows a great variety of vendors and sellers that all stem from the same ‘intown’ culture their website conveys. Every inch of the decor stems from rustic wood to urban metal and uses both themes to mesh together in a cohesive modern feel. Though it is labeled as a Market, I saw no fresh produce or goods being sold besides the local butcher in the building. Krog Street Market perfectly conveys the type of feel that Inman Park has with the purposeful graffiti and the modern architecture.

Annotated Bibliography 1,2,&3

Ambrose, Andy. “Atlanta.” New Georgia Encyclopedia. N.p., 15 Mar. 2004.
Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This article tells the story of the overall history of Atlanta while effectively including the important themes of race and civil rights in the tumultuous race relations that happened in the city. The article also spells out the great stride the black community had to make in terms of self education in relation to the crippling racial targeting that they faced in the very diverse city of Atlanta. They talked about the emergence of prestigious all black schools in contrast to the urban city and how the city was growing more and more segregated as the city expanded. They also spoke of the emergence of black adaptation to the segregation by emerging as business owners, teachers, and doctors. Not only did the article highlight the problems the black community had to face but also painted Atlanta as a hub for all sorts of social change like the police violence and the emerging Anti-Semitic views.


 

Harrington, Jaime Rojo & Steven. “20 New Murals From Atlanta Living Walls
2013.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Aug. 2013.
Web. 04 Feb. 2016.

This article explains and shows the emergence of a new form of art that has taken Atlanta by storm and how some in the community go against this art. The article takes a clear stance on how this form of ‘street art’ is held at a more prophetic and symbolic form of expression. The graffiti that has been painted on the urban walls all seem to portray some sort of social issue. The reason the graffiti artist use this public space as a voice may stem from the lack of voice they might have in the current stance of societal oppression. Other people in the community still seem to look at this art as a form of vandalization and defamation while fighting the artists who desperately want their voices to be heard in their community. The article also highlights the form of art festivals surrounding this type of expression and how the group who organize these festivals want the world to appreciate this form of expression and social justice.


 

Rosenberger, Robert. “How Cities Use Design to Drive Homeless People
Away.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 June 2014. Web. 04
Feb. 2016.

The article uses pictures in different cities to demonstrate a topic we have previously read before on how the city uses the environment to drive off the homeless and how they devalue their sense of home. The cities built spikes in the ground to prevent the homeless from camping out in front of storefronts. While the public had an outcry over the insensitive act, other acts of the exclusion from the city are not as apparent like sectioned benches which may be looked as practical formations of the park yet still serve the same purpose of excluding the homeless from the public eye. This exclusion is not translated as exclusionary and therefore it’s hard to target the city planning as targeting with intent. The article also highlights the exclusion not only faced by the homeless but also to the skaters who are being excluded from utilizing the same public space.

SOS Resources

What resources other than the library directory can we use for the annotated bibliography?

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