NETWORKED MEDIA: W11 – Social Media Distributing – Photo

NETWORKED MEDIA

“Instagram has become synonymous with visual design and visual experiences. Instagram’s impact has become material, with devices, spaces, cultural institutions and homes all being re-designed and reimagined for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience.”PP. 150, Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

As mentioned in previous video post from this week, this week’s reading had me inspired. It had me wondering how many times we use the term ‘aesthetic’ to refer to things that are pleasing to the eye? And how it’s become so important within our society, that everything MUST be aesthetically pleasing to look at – including ourselves. I realised that Instagram’s impact IS material, and IS riddling popular culture fast. Everything is being re-designed for the peak Instagram aesthetic experience. So I set out this week to add a constraint and find material designs that have both ‘Instagram aesthetic’ and qualities of either a good or bad design that relates to our brief “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” from Donald Norman’s 1988 work, The Design of Everyday Things.

Finally leaving the house as the #covid19 restrictions in Victoria are lifted. Everything feels so much more scenic now. So much more beautiful. The outside world – ah!
Good pieces of design are often multifaceted. The architecture of the Eastlink Tunnel is stunning and the electronic signs not only remind us of the speed limit, but give us safety reminders and occasionally flicked to signs that urged people with symptoms of the virus to go get tested. Crazy. .
.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

Finally leaving the house as the #covid19 restrictions in Victoria are lifted. Everything feels so much more scenic now. So much more beautiful. The outside world – ah! Good pieces of design are often multifaceted. The architecture of the Eastlink Tunnel is stunning and the electronic signs not only remind us of the speed limit, but give us safety reminders and occasionally flicked to signs that urged people with symptoms of the virus to go get tested. Crazy. . . “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.” #DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

For this weeks photo, I decided to do another set of images – keeping in line with previous posts to keep the same ‘aesthetic’ going on, on my profile. The subject is the Melba/Mullum Mullum Eastlink Tunnel, that I drove through on my way to and back from viewing the puppy I will be adopting, that I mentioned in the previous post. I chose to take these images because it connects with our brief in the way that it’s a beautiful piece of design/architecture, and because it connects with above quote from Leaver, about things being re-designed for the Instagram aesthetic.

HOW DID YOU AUTHOR THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

Because I was in a moving car, I chose to take the photo on the camera app on my iPhone 8Plus. This was because it was the fastest option for me to pull up, as it’s a swipe-up feature on the lock screen of the phone. Because of this, I was able to zoom in, careful to use the square setting to match the ‘Instagram aesthetic’, while still capturing a rather clear image. I then moved to Instagram to edit, keeping to the constraints on my other posts, and making use of no filters, and only adjusting the brightness, sharpness and exposure levels.

HOW DID YOU PUBLISH THE PHOTO YOU RECORDED FOR INSTAGRAM?

I then published the photo to instagram, ensuring to use the GeoTag ‘Melba/Mullum Mullum Eastlink Tunnel’, not only so viewers are able to find the piece of architecture, but to also assist in the distribution process. I posted it with the caption:

Finally leaving the house as the #covid19 restrictions in Victoria are lifted. Everything feels so much more scenic now. So much more beautiful. The outside world – ah!
Good pieces of design are often multifaceted. The architecture of the Eastlink Tunnel is stunning and the electronic signs not only remind us of the speed limit, but give us safety reminders and occasionally flicked to signs that urged people with symptoms of the virus to go get tested. Crazy.

.
.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good design fits our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out it’s inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.”
#DonaldNorman #thedesignofeverydaythings #1988

I then posted the link to the post on my personal twitter account, to assist with the distribution of the content:

HOW DID YOU DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO YOU PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM TO OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA SERVICES?

I then distributed the photo set on both Instagram and Twitter, which allows the content to be distributed and viewed by users that it may not necessarily have without sharing it to Twitter. Not only this, but I continued with my use of Hashtags and GeoTag’s to ensure my content is being collated with other content on the platform and viewed by other users on Instagram.

CITATIONS
  • Leaver, T, Highfield, T, & Abidin, C 2020, Instagram: Visual Social Media Cultures, Polity Press, Newark. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *