Category: Digital Media

In this Human Centered Design and Implementation project, I worked with a team to create a design challenge and product customized to the growing senior citizen population. Honor The Elders is my concept of using participatory culture through instructional environments focused on creating tech savvy seniors. As the Subject Matter Expert in the Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation Phases – I used Pew research statistics to identify common problems with aging in place, created interview questions for personal views on life, health and thoughts on the technology age, interviewed seniors and named the product. The target audience is African American women living alone on a fixed income. The project uses the SCRUM process to organize research, ideas and track project development. Covid 19 impacted the original classroom design of the product. Stay at home orders presented an unexpected challenge to the participatory aspect of the product. The solution was to create a digital library of instructional videos and use representation to engage our target audience.

Video Transcription: A young man walks into the living room and waves his grandmother, who sits in a wheelchair.

Grandmother: Thanks for coming to see your old granny. Edward would love this, got me to like them too. I really miss him.

Grandson: Yeah, I remember.

Grandmother: Since your Grandpa died, I feel like I don’t get to see anyone anymore.

Grandson: Grandma just use video chat. We got you the phone for Christmas for that reason.

Grandmother: No, you know I’m not good at those gizmos.

Grandson: Its so easy, see (phone rings), hello, Dad.

Dad: Hey, Son, what’s up.

Grandmother: Let me see that (two beeps) uh, looks like I got the hanging up pretty good huh (laughs)

Grandson: Grandma

Grandmother: Well, you can help a Granny out couldn’t you?

Announcer: Cultivating tech savvy seniors takes time, patience and of course you.

In this digital art, I used Adobe Suites to display the elements of value and color with the principle of emphasis by layering word art with a picture to create meaning. The image is denotative in highlighting a descriptive meaning of Plato’s quote in a dark moon lit night as the visual parallel. I used a cellular phone to capture the picture to demonstrate the cohesiveness of digital devices to create meaningful art.

In this digital creation, I used Adobe Illustrator to layer an image and typography to combine meanings. The breaks in the quote and doubled image embodies the message to expect the unexpected by the use of an inanimate object and word manipulation.

“Waiting for my new Buddie,” is a social media campaign that combines the greatest assets of the Agnes Scott collegiate community. By the use of our Scotty Mascot, the 9th in coming President, and the Black Ring Mafia Alumnae in a “Gangster of Education Sisterhood” theme, we celebrate and honor the women of power and the strong leadership of the institution. I used power-point to present my idea to classmates and answer Agnes Scott ‘s media department call for creative concepts from the Writing and Communication graduate students.

Melanincholic, is a transmedia critical thought project using the digital images and lives of Sarah Baartman, Sandra Bland and performance art to address chronicled negative ethnic representation and the algorithms of oppression present on digital search engine platforms like goggle. In combining moments in the lives and deaths of these women, I memorialize those who lost their lives, celebrate the activism born from their sacrifices and provide positive narratives of women of color on digital platforms. Beah Richard’s poem serves as the foundation of the project thus explained in the following video.

Video transcription: In 1950, poet, activist and actress Beah Richard on a way to an audition decided to make a quick stop at a forum led by white feminists and philanthropist. As a special treat she wrote the poem “A black woman speaks.” This particular poem chronicles the abuse heaped upon black women as white women stood back and watch without protests. Beah Richard’s poem speaks to this victimization in a holding a mirror up to your face kind of fashion to show white women that you are just as enslaved as black women are even though you may have different circumstances, live in different homes, you are still a slave to the white patriarchy.