visualsketches mindmaps

i want to mimic/appeal to the internet aesthetic to a certain degree

most of all, i want the layout to have the atmosphere of cascading windows and the low poly deep-fried meme aesthetic

the aspect of using cascading windows appeals to me because it also symbolized something the virality of pop out windows, trolling

first digital idea: online archive and meme making space

executed with plain html and css

cons: too complicated and confusing. sometimes less is more

conclusion: make just the meme making station online and then once the person downloads it they get the archive of political memes

the idea behind the archive was for the landing page to be a map (mimicking the political meme compass) that shows where the memes fall on the political compass
cons: a bit too cryptic

political compass meme/test

most of my indexing ideas revolved about either having a visual index (that might work as a stick out segment, like in folders) or indexing through colours

visual index that does rely on text as well but the text is very illegible (because it mimics the meme aesthetic)

my pelican sketches are lacking quite a bit as most css changes don't seem to happen, so this is the current status of my pelican website (only the font, padding and similar changes have been done successfully)

for the font choice the obvious one would be impact (the font most associated with memes, as it was one of the first ones used) but i thought that would be too gimmicky or obvious of a reference to the early days of memes, after all, memes have evolved a lot since then

so i was choosing between these two fonts, the first one had a more of a gaming vibe where as the second one has a more of a design vibe BUT it's a good font to twist and distort and it takes up space, which makes it amazing for headers and titles

for the overall text I choose the font source code pro as i has a bit of a blocky feel and is quite a spread out font and feels like it should be used online rather than in a publication

Thinking between the title :
TO MEME OR NOT TO MEME?
THINK BEFORE YOU MEME
TO MEME?

If it's THINK BEFORE YOU MEME than it's better for the tabs to actually serve a purpose, show that there is a choice to be made, rather than just be there as repetition in favour of a purely aesthetic choice

for the index it's definitely better to use the pixelized icons i made rather that use one type of icons for the digital and another for the physical version

landing page kind of boring?
animation? pop-out disclaimer or into instead of the landing page?

feedback: the pop-up design is a bit too much and feels more like it's leading to a different website than that it's just a pop-up, make it stand out more as a pop-up
result: i made it take a smaller portion of the screen and added an outline

initially, I thought the landing page was like a welcoming mat to the architecture of the website, but a pop-up is more suitable because you already know where you are on the page.

i wanted the whole cover to be an index, in the front you would get to know the name of the meme you are reading about and in the back you would see the rest of the memes you can learn about.

in the back, the meme you are reading about is emphasized by being a white silouette on a deep fried background

I wanted the layout to resemble cascading windows of a computer, which is why the texts shifts from right to left, tho when done in excess it looks more like concrete poetry

all of the sketches are in the form of a square because i thought the publication could be in the form of a square to resemble most memes

has a segment which sticks out like in folders, which makes it easier to research by images, since most memes are not known by their names anyway

indexing though colours

indexing though colours with a segment that sticks out and you can view the images there

at first, i thought i was going to do an intersection of memes and mental health (how they-re used as a coping mechanism BUT i already have thorough research about their political influence and want to explore that subject more as it's also more urgent

colour choices derived from the political compass meme, which is sort of an emblem for the understanding of political memes

instead of using the actual images of the memes i made pixelized drawing of the actual memes to unify them in tone and size

feedback:
- the visuals are a bit too overwhelming, too confrontational, they might drive the user away. calm it down
- design the interaction more, nudge the user, guide them
- combine the visuals of the publication and the online version more
- think about adding an option for the user to get a link of the meme they are making so they could post it, but then after a while you change the image the link represents so it says a different thing. this way you would affect the afterlife of a publication more (this one is a bit dicy because it complicates the project and takes it in a different direction)

Titles and Subtitles: GT American Extended
Text: Source Code Pro
cons: Text barely visible and it's monospace, difficult to read, made for the online

Titles and Subtitles: Turret Road
Text: Space Mono
cons: Turret Road's kerning between the letters is claustrophobic and to the monospace text (again)

Titles and Subtitles: GT American Extended
Text: Space Mono
cons: Text attracts too much attention to itself and it difficult to read because of it's angularity

Titles and Subtitles: Turret Road
Text: Source Code Pro Medium
cons: Text is more visible but it's to wide and spread out

Titles and Subtitles: Space Mono Bold Italic
Text: Chakra Petch Medium
cons: Titles look cute but don't really fit the rough aesthetic of memes. Text is okay, maybe a bit boring

Titles and Subtitles: Titillium Web Black and Bold
Text: Roboto Mono
cons: Titles too boring. Text ok but monospace ain't for publications, too much space between the words

Title and subtitle: Chakra Petch Bold Italic
Text: Roboto Mono
(monospace not for publications)

Feedback: if it's gonna be print on demand don't put an image in the background because it's gonna drain someone's cartridge and then they're not gonna look at your project anymore
Also maybe don't use a monospace font for the publication

digital platform development

instead of having one title repeated without a purpose, the cascading windows on the front of the cover will feature all of the names of the memes in the publication with a highlight on the one that is being read and in that way compliment the index

added: once you open the generator you first have to change the image and then you can move on to add the text

added: download button that prints a different part of the publication depending on which image you choose

it doesn't open the print dialogue first so that the person can decide whether they want to print of download

added: because a lot of political memes are intertwined I've decided to also address that in the text and add some of the images from the parts of the publication that are about those memes

solution: add highlights of text in the front of quotes that stand out compared to the rest of the text

concern: sometimes the layout is ok but when it's mostly text it can get a bit boring and dry

Final font decision: Chakra Petch all the way for both the Digital and Physical part

i decided to use this font because it has a good angular feeling to it and works well both online and in print

Lastly I made the decision that instead of making it so that the person prints A4's and staples them together, the print is 2 A5's on a landscape A4 and then they just have to fold the publication.

This way there is less paper and metal waste but the standard A4 format is still used.

HYBRIDITY:
Memes in themselves are hybrids of text image and templatable cultural memory. But in their original form they are rarely put into formal settings such as print.
MAKING IMPORTANT THE EPHEMERAL POLITICAL MEMES + AN INTERACTIVE ONLINE MAKING SPACE THAT PROVES TO HAVE CONSEQUENCES

URGENCY:
Urgency is something of a long term concept. While we are still impressionable, our consciousness is being radicalized by forces we don’t recognize (like political memes that are essentially propaganda). This forms our world view for years to come or in extreme cases causes leads to acts of physical violence.
ARCHIVING THE VANISHING PROPAGANDA OF THE ONLINE WORLD + TROLLING THE TARGET AUDIENCE INTO KNOWLEDGE

design questions:
CAN A PLATFORM FOR MAKING LURE/ TROLL PEOPLE INTO LEARNING ABOUT POLITICAL MEMES/ sharing the platform with friends
HOW CAN A MEME MAKING PLATFORM HELP TO DERADICALIZE YOUTH AND PROVIDE KNOWLEDGE

added: small messages that nudge the user to think about what they create

portfolio caption and title

The first sketches which I really don't like because they were really plain
trying to find better ways to create contrast between the title and the text