When I was creating my visual project, I wanted the audience to feel something. I wanted them to think about their life currently, and their life as it could be. With the addition of some music, I could’ve helped transport the audience out of their present surroundings and into an introspective setting.
The song I hear when thinking about this project — and the song I’m thinking about as I write this blog post — is “In a Perfect World” by The Sam Chase.
These are two of my favorite lines:
“If you keep your options open / there are places you will go”
“Let me tell you mister / you should always talk to strangers / because you never really know the brilliant things that you might hear”
This song has very deep meanings, including life after death, but it is also very easy to apply to everything that is currently happening in many University of Illinois students’ lives. I take on as many opportunities as I can and rarely say no, since “if you keep your options open, there are places you will go.”
My listening habits are very habitual. When I wake up in the morning, I listen to NPR News Now, Motley Fool Money, Up First with NPR, USA Today 5 Things, and a couple other news podcasts on my Google Home (depending on how long it takes me to get ready).
I take advantage of my time between classes and work by listening to music while walking. When I drive by myself, I listen to some longform podcasts, like Serial, How I Built This, and Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. Occasionally, I listen to self-development audiobooks instead of reading them.
Audio is a way for me to escape reality and draw myself back into it.
Everyone started writing “traditionally” when they were 5 or 6, and everyone started writing “non-traditionally” even earlier. In the first unit, I learned how to link traditional writing with non-traditional visual writing in an academic setting, and I learned how to analyze the visual aspects of writing.
I rarely have to write long essays for class anymore. I know a 1,000 word rationale isn’t that long, but it required me to plan. These are skills I learned in high school but abandoned in college, and this project required me apply what I’ve learned in the past few years to what I learned in high school.
I took a second look at the readings, identified concepts that relate to my project, outlined the big ideas I wanted to explain, and made sure I covered the assignment’s requirements. Once I had done that, all I had to do was fill in the missing spots and make sure the rationale flowed well. I attribute the lectures, readings, and big assignment to my shift in writing process.
I used Adobe Creative Cloud software for this project. It’s the industry leading software for creatives and can accomplish almost everything an individual would want to do. If a student really wants to invest in their future by learning the software and paying the upfront monetary cost, I definitely recommend it.
Great post here, Jacob. I love Up First and also often begin my day with it. It’s interesting to think of that as an example of a podcast since the production value is quite low compared to others, in part because it’s a daily podcast.
It sounds like you really had to shift your writing process for the first assignment. I think it’s important to think about how rhetorical situations make us do this sometimes. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with next!