Awareness Poster (Part 1)

For my awareness poster, I will be focusing on the increase of student debt for college graduate students, and the growing lack of jobs opportunities in their prospective fields. Student debt is at an all time high, and I was hoping to design a poster that would serve as a tool to raise consciousness about the issue.

In the sketch above, I wanted to portray a student that has just graduated, this is evident because he is wearing a graduation cap. He is reading the job section in the newspaper, and to his sides are stacks of student loan billing statements. The top of the poster will say, "Help Wanted: Debt Accumulating." I felt that this design works to show the fact that many students are faced with loan debt, and the job market is exceptionally weak, along with the economy.

In my second sketch, I had drawn an angry student sitting on top of a bill of student loan bills. In a protesting fashion, he is holding bill statements, and carrying a picket sign that reads, "Will Work to Pay Off Student Loans." The statement is a play on "Will Work for Food."

In my final sketch that portrays the issue of student loan debt, there is a scale with "student loans" on one side, and "jobs" on the other. "Student loans" is weighed down, in order to show that the student loan debt is out-weigh the jobs. This concept is similar to the first sketch, that many students are faced with loan debt, and the job market is weak, but the two designs are different.

Underneath the scale, I have include a statistic provided by Forbes stating, "As of 2016, the total student loan debt is $1.31 trillion."

Photomontage: Image Hijack (Part 2): The Persistence of Global Warming

In my Image Hijack final project, I utilized Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory to showcase the political issue of global warming. Global warming is the gradual increase in temperature of Earth's atmosphere and ocean's. The claim that fossil fuel emissions are warming the planet and melting icecaps, creating environmental hazards, is an important issue in today's governments and world. 

Global warming is a controversial matter, some people do not "believe" in it, and think that is a hoax, however, climate scientists agree that the planet is actually warming after looking at the data and facts on the issue. (LiveScience Contributors, "Global Warming"). As temperatures increase, some consequences of global warming include rising sea levels, severe weather events, damaging wildfire seasons, and more. (Union of Concerned Scientists Contributors, "Global Warming Impacts"). 

In my project, I portrayed global warming in one of Dali's famous artworks. I chose to replace his melting clocks with melting globes, to show that increasing temperatures are melting our planet. I purposely left Dali's pocket watch to represent that time is slipping away as global warming continues to increase. 

This design challenges the people who claim that global warming is a myth. I wanted to portray the danger of the issue, through satire and exaggeration. A proposed ideal placement of this photo-montage could be in used in any popular magazine that would feature an article on global warming, for example, National Geographic. 

References: 

LiveScience Contributors. "Global Warming." Live Science, http://www.livescience.com/topics/global-warming. Accessed 17 February 2017. 

Union of Concerned Scientists Contributors. "Global Warming Impacts." Union of Concerned Scientists, http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/science-and-impacts/global-warming-impacts#.WKcy8TsrI2w. Accessed 17 February 2017.  

Image Hijack: Part 1

For my first idea, I utilized Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory to showcase the political issue of global warming. I chose to leave one of Dali's clocks to represent that time is slipping away as global warming increases. I portrayed melting globes to represent the Earth withering away from the effects of global warming.

In this sketch, I drew swirls of smoke and fumes to represent air pollution in the sky in Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. I included smoke stacks in the background, as well, for the air pollution.

Lastly, I chose Edward Hopper's Early Sunday Morning to represent the sluggish economy, and rent increases. Many small businesses are opening and closing, because they are not able to survive the high rents, coupled with a lack of consumer spending.

I see this a lot of this in my neighborhood. Small businesses open, and within a few months they close. It is very unfortunate.