Size Matters!

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I want to start off by saying “100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People” is probably one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It’s a blessing when you are very interested in and intrigued by a textbook. It is so much easier to absorb the information and get as much out of it as possible! The section where the author is discussing the use of fonts covers several different reason why fonts matter and what they do for reader retention.

First off, the simplicity of the font allows the reader to easier recognize patterns in letters, words, and sentences. A lot of what we are doing when we are reading is actually just pattern recognition! For example, cursive can take longer to read because it may be harder for someone to recognize patterns compared to arial. It is also believed that if the font is harder to read, than the reader tends to perceive things such as written instructions for tasks to actually be harder to accomplish than if the font were more easily readable.

The author also states that we should keep font size in mind. They explain differing perceived font sizes due to the x-height of the font. This is the height of the lowercase letter x. This can vary between fonts and make them appear to be different sizes when they are actually the same point size. Lastly, the author touches on contrast. It is always important to make sure that your text contrasts well with the background. The book gives us a couple pointers such as the fact that black text on a white background promotes the best readability. I have learned tons of new things since I started reading this book. Super neat! One thing the book doesn’t cover though is the fact that different fonts can send different messages. The following YouTube video talks a little bit about that.

Inspirational Education

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Here are three documentaries that I found to be inspiring. The first is titled, “The God Delusion”, by evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins. In the film, Dawkins sets out on an adventure to document the absurdities of religion as we know it. He interviews preachers, priests, televangelists, creationist activists, and more. I think I have Richard Dawkins to thank for what I would call a revelation. It is his works that helped me get to where I stand today as far as theological views are concerned.

Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion

Another documentary I loved, was Neil Degrasse Tyson’s take on Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos”. I spent countless hours watching this series when it first came out. I do remember receiving harsh backlash from religious groups, which I found interesting. It wasn’t just the content of the series that was intriguing, it was also the way it was delivered. Neil Degrasse Tyson was very inspirational in his presentation. Even at 30 years old, he made me want to run out and pursue a degree in astrophysics. It wasn’t until today that I discovered he actually made another follow up to it as well in 2020. I will certainly be checking that out!!!

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds trailer

I couldn’t come up with a documentary about an inventor, artist, or leader that I had seen off the top of my head, but I did watch one recently about multiple different world leaders. It was a documentary about how the Russians interfered in the 2016 election. I found it very informative and it inspired me to stay more up to date on politics and current affairs. I’d also be lying if I said it didn’t inspire me to want to join the CIA, but let’s be realistic here.

HBO’s Agents of Chaos trailer

The Name’s Jesse!

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Allow me to introduce myself! Jesse Seward is the name and content creation is the game. I do have a motto that I live by. It may be somewhat cliché, but it’s the best words that anyone could ever live by if you ask me. If everyone lived by these words, the world would be a much better & safer place. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you”. This may be a verse from the bible, but I am far from religious. In fact, I’m a full-fledged atheist. However, that doesn’t mean that the bible doesn’t have a few good lessons to learn from it here and there.

I sat here brainstorming for a few minutes, trying to think of who my heroes in real life were. Then it dawned on me. I shouldn’t be trying to think of political, historical, or war-time figures. I should be looking closer to home. My biggest hero is my girlfriend. She is the best mom I know, not only to her own son, but to my daughter as well. She has done far more for me than anyone else ever has and I couldn’t even imagine what life would be like without her in it. She is beautiful, strong, intelligent, driven, dedicated, and just a good person. As good as they come. I love her very much!

I’ll share something a bit personal here. I feel like I have made many great achievements in my life. One of them being my position at the company I work for. However, I think I must say without a doubt that the greatest one I have ever achieved was getting clean. I was heavily addicted to methamphetamine when I was younger. I was a very smart kid in school before I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and veered down a bad path for a good portion of my early adulthood. It took getting in trouble with the law, becoming a father, and a lot of rude awakenings to finally whip me out of that lifestyle, but I did it. Not many who went that route can say the same. It was probably the hardest thing I ever did, and I lived to tell about it. Today my life is completely different. You wouldn’t even guess that about me if I didn’t mention it.

As far as things I most value in friends, I must say honesty, integrity, and loyalty.

What type of documentary would be about me, you ask? Why, expository I’d say!

Live from South Park!

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Coming at you live from South Park! I sat down to make a cartoon version of myself today. An avatar. What better tool to do that with than the one provided on the official website for the show, “South Park”? This is by far one of my favorite shows. It definitely has a lot of adult humor, but it’s right up my alley. I was thrilled when I learned that I could do this. Not only to be able to recreate myself in a cartoonish fashion, but to be able to do it in the image of one of the iconic shows from my childhood. I haven’t watched South Park in a long time. Therefore, doing this really brought back some good memories from my childhood. Some nostalgia, if you will. I can remember countless weekend nights when I was a kid, having friends over, eating a bunch of junk food, playing video games, and playing the South Park tapes we rented from the Blockbuster store. Oh man. Those were the days.

I have to say that when I first started taking these classes, I wasn’t too keen on the whole VR and avatar thing. I think I’m getting more into it now though. At first, I was reluctant to try Second Life, but I will be following through on it this time around.

Media 111 – Module 10 – Weekly Essay

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My Final Thoughts on H2G2

Before I took this course, I had only ever briefly heard of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. I had never experienced the story. I’ll admit, when I first started reading the book, it seemed confusing, and not my type of read. However, as I progressed through it, it started to grow on me. It wasn’t after finishing the book, watching the film, and reading up on the influence and impact it has had over the years, that I really began to realize how special this story truly was. The story parodies our natural, endless, undying pursuit of knowledge. Our thirst for information is ingrained in our very nature. We don’t like not knowing the answers to our questions.

The H2G2 device that Ford Prefect is updating throughout his galactic travels also bears great resemblance with something that we use in real life to this day. It’s all around us. We all use it almost every day. The internet. The worldwide web is basically humanity’s version of the H2G2 and we are all constantly contributing to it in our own way. Scientific research, customer experiences, many different forms of art, statistics, and data are just a handful of examples of things that are contributed to our version of the H2G2 on a daily basis.

Douglas Adams’ story has touched many people and has what you could call a cult-following. The story has been reproduced in many different mediums including radio, television, and film. I would highly recommend this book to others! To this day, whenever I am in a stressful situation, I calmly tell myself, “Just don’t panic, Jesse.”

Media 111 – Module 9 – Weekly Essay

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My Responsibility as a Citizen

As a dignified citizen of the Milky Way galaxy, I feel like it is my responsibility to not only respect and embrace others from where I live in the United States on Earth, but to also respect and embrace others who live in different countries, on different planets, or in different galaxies! It’s important to be proud of where we live and what kind of culture or traditions we have, however, we should always remain open-minded and know that these norms and traditions can differ greatly in other areas. That’s a good thing, though! Diversity is awesome! Imagine how boring we would be if the entire galaxy was populated by American humans?? It would probably be destroyed by now. I feel like it also vital that we be open to change and willing to adapt to policies that allow our home to become a place where people of all walks of life have the opportunity to grow, flourish, and comfortably enjoy their lives.

One of the places I have discovered along my galactic travels, is Finland, another country on my home planet of Earth. Finland is a beautiful country! It is known for being the happiest country on the planet, according to an insider.com article by Theresa Christine.1 The article states that Finland has held first place in the World Happiness Report for the last four years! I highly recommend reading the article. It goes on to state that Finland is known for it’s universal healthcare, highly literate population, well-mannered citizens, and one of the best education systems in the world!

If the time ever comes where I feel the desire to move out of the United States, I know exactly where I am moving to now!

Helsinki, Finland. Panoramic View Of Pier, Embankment On Kanavaranta Street, Uspenski Cathedral And Pohjoisranta Street In Evening Illuminations. Photo by Grigory Bruev. Sourced from Adobe Stock.

References:

1.) Christine, Theresa. What it’s Like to Live in Finland, the Happiest Country in the World, 31 Mar. 2021,

https://www.insider.com/life-in-finland-happiest-country-2019-6

Also check out:

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2022/happiness-benevolence-and-trust-during-covid-19-and-beyond/#ranking-of-happiness-2019-2021

Media 111 – Module 8 – Weekly Essay

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The Animation That Changed My Life

An animated video that I believe enhanced my life would be one that I found on YouTube from the American Museum of Natural History when I was younger where the camera is focused on Earth, but then zooms all the way out to the edge of the observable universe. I was completely blown away by this! I was absolutely fascinated.

I grew up going to church on and off with my parents. I can’t say I was as devout as others, but I believed that there was a God who was watching and listening to us. As I became older, I started to question that more. I started to wonder why there wasn’t any physical proof of something that so many people were convinced existed. After watching this video, it really made me wonder. It made me realize just how insignificant we really are in the grand scheme of things. Our planet is essentially a speck of dust in an overwhelmingly vast sea of nothingness, yet some of us claim that it was all designed and built around us, for us, by some divine being. There are billions of other galaxies out there. Each one of those galaxies contains billions of different stars, which can all have their own solar system and planets.

Watching this animation got me interested in science and space. I then discovered people like Richard Dawkins, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, Christopher Hitchins, and Sam Harris. Today, I fully identify as an athiest. I strongly believe that religion and deities are things that humanity has fabricated ourselves due to the inability to go through life not knowing why we are here or where we go afterwards .I have a different line of thinking. I think as a species, we naturally tend to think too much of ourselves. We cannot imagine our existence without there being some meaningful purpose or reason for it. I can imagine that. I also don’t have a problem with it. I am perfectly okay with all of this happening by some random chance and just making the best of it while I’m here on this planet. I don’t need to believe in a magical being or a place in the afterlife in order to have a moral code and behave while I am alive.

When it comes down to it, I am glad that I have the views I have today. They are liberating. It’s quite possible that I wouldn’t have the views I have today if I hadn’t have watched the aforementioned animation.

Media 111 – Module 7 – Weekly Essay

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Movement in Film & Video

You learn something new everyday! I had no idea that Vincent Van Gogh, the famous artist, struggled with mental illness. Not only this, but he incorporated something into his works of art that nobody else had done before, probably without even realizing it! He was able to display fluid turbulence in his paintings. This baffled many brilliant minds for years to come. Van Gogh wasn’t anybody special. Some of his most famous work was created while he was a guest at an asylum! This shows that anybody can go on to be produce great works, no matter what your story is. This is definitely inspirational. If I was trying to create content that inspired and moved people, I would try to create unique works of art.

The same goes for movement in film and video. The viewer is given a chance to see that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and great things can happen sometimes to any one of us if we are willing to put in the effort. Those great things can even happen by accident as well! The story of the invention of the Post-It note was a great example of this. Go out there, be yourself, and inspire!

Media 111 – Module 6 – Weekly Essay

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Babel Fish and Moore’s Law

The good ol’ Babel fish! Little did Douglas Adams know that this fictional piece of technology he came up with would be a very real and useable technology in the future. I wonder what he would think about this if he were still here today! This awesome tech comes in many forms. You can get yourself a handheld instant translation device, headphones or earbuds that translate right into your ear (not as painful and uncomfortable as putting a fish in there), download apps for your smartphone that translate audio of one language into another in text, or even go online to Google translate in a web browser and type in what you wish to be translated. This technology has a beautiful impact on society. It helps remove the language barrier between different peoples. This is especially important for someone like myself who as a content creator, have a responsibility to ensure that all of my productions and works are easy to access, navigate, and understand, no matter what race or ethnicity you are. 

According to the article provided, Moore’s law implies that every 2 years the amount of transistors per square inch on chips doubles. This law has held true for quite some time now. However, they are beginning to think it may be taking 2.5 years for the doubling of the transistors. I feel that this essentially means that the limits and capabilities of technology are doubling every 2-2.5 years. That is mind-blowing to say the very least. 

Handheld translating device: https://www.amazon.com/Language-Translator-Jarvisen-Languages-Translation/dp/B07RFTLWN1/ref=asc_df_B07RFTLWN1?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80814185082047&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584413740500371&th=1Links to an external site.

Translating earbuds: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=timekettle+wt2+plus+ai+real-time+translator+earbuds&adgrpid=1331510200561409&hvadid=83219643785736&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=67589&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=b&hvtargid=kwd-83220382096359%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=11868_10977521&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_5z0mv3qaxz_bLinks to an external site.

Translation app for smartphone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/translate-me-live-translator/id1231853258Links to an external site.

Google translate: https://translate.google.com/