Carly has been cooped up in her apartment for two whole days trying to meet a work deadline. She’s only left her place twice to get take out for dinner at her favorite Chinese restaurant a block away. She’s restless, uninspired, and craves sunshine.
Carly decides to take a walk in her neighborhood to clear her mind and get some exercise. About 10 minutes into her walk, she stumbles upon Pan Pacific Park and realizes that she doesn’t take advantage of it enough. As she meanders down the path, she notices a brand new walking labyrinth. She decides to give it a try. Along the path, she notices small stones with motivational words written on it. She picks up the stone that says, “You are the best version of yourself” and meditates on the phrase as she continues weaving through the path. She leaves the labyrinth feeling relaxed and recharged.
I happened to buy ingredients to make homemade Moscow Mules on my way back from taking a walk to my field site, Pan Pacific Park. There are countless places to get a drink close by, but sometimes it’s nice to make something that’s healthier and more cost effective.
I wrote a tongue-in-cheek series of haiku poems to narrate my walk from the park, to Trader Joe’s, and then to my house to make the cocktails. For the actual recipe, go to www.theholistichoo.com.
Grad school is stressful
Went for a walk to relax
Stopped off at the park
Tried to close my eyes
Too many observations…
My brain can’t shut up
Ugh… I need a drink
So many places close by
But… school is costly
Hmm… maybe just one…
But one is fourteen dollars
LA’s expensive!
Off to Trader Joe’s
To find some ingredients
For a Moscow Mule
Hmm, but what to use?
Ginger beer’s too sweet…
Must. Make it. Healthy.
Ginger, lemons, limes
Vodka and kombucha too
And some mint will do!
Now, the recipe
Muddle a sprig of mint leaves
Until it’s fragrant
Add one shot vodka
Or be bad and add some more
Kill all the demons
Time to add some fizz
Kombucha is so LA
But makes gut happy
Add some sliced ginger
A squeeze of lemon and lime
Stir, and stir some more
Pour in copper mug
Fill the mug with lots of ice
Garnish with some mint
Mmmmmmm, so delicious
Energizing and cooling
Tingles my taste buds
This exercise was a lot of fun! I’m very fortunate to live right by the bustling Grove in LA. There’s always so much going on there that it’s hard to really focus on one thing at a time. It kind of just hits you in the face all at once. I’m glad that this assignment made me hyper focused and myopic. I was able to appreciate all of the cool things that I have right outside my front door.
The route basically took me the long ways to Trader Joe’s. I ended up going into the strip mall that has a ton of restaurants and home goods stores. I often skip over this strip mall and head right for the Grove. It was nice to mosey on through and take the long way to the main Grove entrance. I actually never made it into the Grove itself. Instead, I walked along it’s boundaries until my final destination.
I think my favorite aspect of this assignment was the sketching. I’ve never really been a doodler, and I had so much fun trying to quickly create a visual representation of everything that I saw.
This bonus assignment was extra challenging for me, because I literally saw ZERO political signs anywhere in Los Angeles. In the course of two weeks, I’ve been to Beverly Hills, Koreatown, Larchmont Village, West Hollywood, Miracle Mile, Westwood, and The Beverly Grove… and there wasn’t a single lawn, window, or gate decorated with political signs. I never really gave this lack of political engagement much thought until this assignment… but now I’m keenly aware of it. I believe this bizarre anomaly may be due to some strict laws… but I couldn’t find anything on the internet to back it up. If anyone knows the reason why, please let me know in the comments section.
In lieu of political signs, I have decided to analyze email header graphics instead and think outside the box with what’s in my inbox.
Email Header That I Love:
This email header came from one of my organization’s email campaigns. I personally liked some of our graphic designer’s other designs better (they were a little less on the nose and more symbolic), but this is ultimately what our internal partner chose to use. The graphic overall is clean, modern, and well-balanced. The illustration of the hand placing a ballot in the box easily conveys the action of voting. The copy, “Your Vote Counts: A Ballot Measure Forum,” is simple and to the point.
Email Header That I Dislike:
At first glance, the email header seems amateur. The top copy, “Vote 2018,” is very blurry. After I saw that, I had a hard time taking the rest of the email seriously. The sub-headline and italicized supporting copy below “Vote 2018” is also not very inspiring. It’s too text heavy without any visual aid. I don’t like that the section is aligned centered while the “Vote 2018” is aligned left — it makes the whole thing feel unbalanced. The the typeface, spacing, and kerning also seems like it was created in a Word document and wasn’t given much thought. Overall, this header is very forgettable amongst a sea of political emails.
PROJECT 2 – PART 1 Since it was a beautiful Fall day out, I decided to explore Pan Pacific Park. It’s situated right behind the busy Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax and The Grove LA. It’s also flanked by the Palazzo and Parc LaBrea apartment complexes on 3rd Street; residential housing on Garner Street; and The Broadcast Apartment complex, Erewhon grocery store, USPS, and chic restaurants on Beverly Boulevard. Due to its diverse recreational, athletic, and leisure offerings, it’s a very popular place for people to play, unwind, socialize, and workout.
Force #1 — Education and Activity Centers:
The park has several main hubs for people to enrich their lives. On the northside of the park, near Beverly Boulevard, is the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. The museum is a beautiful building that seamlessly integrates into the park landscape and attracts visitors from near and far. In front of the museum is a small outdoor amphitheater. Although I’ve personally never heard of any performances happening there, it’s a nice area where I see people either relaxing or running laps. On the eastside of the park is the Pan Pacific Senior Living Center. The facility has a community room, kitchen, auditorium, gym, computer lab, and dining hall. The building hosts all sorts of activities; from bingo, to Hatha yoga, to acting. Adjacent to the Pan Pacific Senior Living Center is the Fairfax Branch Los Angeles Public Library.
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
Amphitheater
Fairfax Branch Los Angeles Public Library
Pan Pacific Senior Living Center
Force #2 — Picnic and BBQ Areas:
There are plenty of lone picnic benches and BBQ pits scattered all over the park. There are also two large covered areas that can be rented out for parties that house more picnic tables and a grill. During my observation, I saw four birthday parties going on (one in each covered area and two out in the open on the grass). There were also people casually barbequing and eating with friends at various picnic tables.
Picnic Lawn Party
1st Year Birthday Celebration
Big BBQ Bash
BBQ Coals Only Grill
Force #3 – Exercise and Team Sports:
The park has so many solo and team exercise opportunities. The park has a soccer field, outdoor swimming pool, three baseball diamonds, an outdoor basketball court, bodyweight workout circuit, and a set of monkey bars. There are also plenty of paths for people to walk, run, and bike on.
Soccer Field
Large Baseball Diamond
Dodgers Dreamfield Baseball Diamond
Outdoor Swimming Pool
Monkey Bars
Bodyweight Workout Circuit
Force #4 – Playgrounds:
The park has two large playground centers for children to explore and play to their heart’s content. During my observation, I saw a plethora of children playing while their parents either played along with them or supervised from a safe distance and socialized with other parents.
Mega Playground
Swing Set
Force #5 – Wide Open Space:
In general, the park is one big playground for people to use and explore in a multitude of ways. Children, adults, and dogs run across the grass to frolic and play games. Many people also use the space for quiet and solitude as they sit in a in either the shade or the sun and soak up the surroundings.
One of the most challenging aspects of this project was figuring out what to focus on. There is so much going on in Pan Pacific Park and its surrounding areas. While I initially just wanted to focus on the park, Jesse suggested that I include more of the areas around the park to show how it’s an oasis in the middle of everything. I extended the map to include The Grove, 3rd Street Farmer’s Market, the Town & Country Shopping Center, and more of the residential areas to the east of the park. I colorized the commercial buildings as light blue and residential areas as dark grey. I decided to include high traffic areas, because I wanted to show how congested and busy certain main arteries are close to the park.
In the park itself, I cleaned the map up and simplified it a bit. I added sports icons to easily reveal key group sport areas. I found this was more effective than numbering each baseball field and redundantly writing, “Baseball field” three times on the map key. I also removed the picnic tables and BBQ grill icons, because I felt they were too small to see. Instead, I added a dark green transparency over the green field to show popular leisure areas where people congregate to have picnics, celebrations, and play fetch with their dogs.
I decided to take Serena’s advice and reduce the perimeters around the park. My Part 3, V1 map had so much extraneous space around the park, that the park was dwarfed by its surroundings. I also decided to just number the important buildings inside the park instead of important areas inside and outside the park so that the park had more prominence.
I was very hungry when I started this assignment, so I googled, “Ice cream maps.” I was surprised to find so many different maps dedicated to sweets! The map I chose immediately caught my eye. In addition to the fun aesthetics of this map, it highlights all of London’s most quirky treats — including desserts like unicorn poop, rainbow bagels, and ice cream nachos! Mmmm…. What’s not to love?
ICONOGRAPHY:
The icons truly make this map unique. The dessert icons allow people to easily understand what each treat looks like and where it’s located on the map. I absolutely love how each featured treat has its own adorable illustration. Although London isn’t really known for its cuisine, this map has inspired me to travel there!
The Food Tube map has been simplified to only show what’s truly important: the quirkiest treats in London and how to easily get them by metro. I cropped the London Tube map to show the exact same area that the Food Tube map featured. By comparing the two maps, you can easily see how the Food Tube map only features the tube lines and stops where the featured treats are located.
The Food Tube Map uses the same tube line color coding as the actual London Tube map, so people can easily recognize the lines and their geographic location. The Food Tube’s map key gives a lot of helpful information to guide people to their destination. The key has been alphabetized by tube stop, which can help people easily find the stop they’re looking for or happily discover that they’re already conveniently located by one of the featured treat locations. The key also lists the names of each restaurant establishment where the featured treats are served in for destination recognition. Finally, the Food Tube line key shows all of the tube lines that you can get on to reach the destination.
My office chair at work is very comfortable. It has a lot of nice padding and lumbar support. Although it was adjusted and tested out for ergonomic usability by my office manager, I often have the worst posture in this chair. This is 100% my own doing. I find that having good posture all day keeps me alert… and sometimes I just want to slouch in my chair with a big warm blanket and mug of hot tea when I’m stressed out.
Focused Meeting Chair:
The chairs we sit in during meetings are beautiful and modern. I love their clean lines and the way our organization’s logo is laser cut into the back. They don’t offer a lot of padding and aren’t as comfortable as my office desk chair. I usually sit at the edge of these chairs so that I can sit upright, focus, and listen/contribute to the meeting.
Too High (For This Shorty) Lounge Chair:
I’m five feet tall and loathe any chair that is bar stool height. I look super awkward getting up and situated on high chairs… and getting down from them is even worse! This particular chair in my organization’s lounge area gives me so much social anxiety.
Fun and Unexpected Elevator Chair Ride:
My favorite work chair moment this week unfortunately wasn’t photographically recorded. However, I thought I’d share my experience, because it was a super cute office moment! When I went into the elevator on Thursday morning, a co-worker of mine and a security guy with two chairs were already in the elevator. As I eyed the chairs my coworker sighed and said, “Yeah, I was tempted to sit too.” I shrugged and decided to just go for it. After I plopped down, I begged him to join me. He luckily obliged. We said, “cheers,” clinked our coffee mugs together, and joyfully laughed the whole way down.
HOME
My Happy Place Couch:
My family room couch is soooooo comfortable. It’s one of those all-purpose couches where I feel absolutely content and cozy, no matter what I’m doing (lounging, working, eating, or sleeping).
Modern Dining Room Chair:
My husband and I have been redecorating and we just got these chairs two weeks ago. I’m absolutely in love with them. Their Mid-Century vibe creates a nice juxtaposition to our new farmhouse table. They’re also very comfortable. My only worry about them is that they’re white…
EXPLORE
I sat in two chairs for fun while I was visiting the Wilshire Boulevard Temple for my field study. They were both located in a secluded lounge area in the temple and had completely different vibes.
The Regal Chair:
I absolutely adore this chair. It feels fit for royalty or someone of high religious power. When I sat in it, I immediately felt more important and special. The bold red velvet seat cushion and ornate woodwork is absolutely breathtaking!
Laid Back Chair:
These chairs were less than ten feet away from the regal chair above. Although they look like they were made in two different time periods, they oddly compliment each other. When I sat in this chair, I immediately felt at ease. I just wanted to recline, relax, or have an intimate conversation.
My Vitamix is probably one of the most beloved appliances in my kitchen. I often use it once or twice a day. I whip up all sorts of delicious goodies – smoothies, sauces, soups, chia seed pudding, ice cream, pancake batter, hummus, and vegan cookie dough. Best of all, I can make nourishing meals for myself with very little time and effort. I simply throw in a bunch of roughly chopped ingredients, spices, and liquid… then flip a switch and turn a dial. Within less than a minute, voila! It’s done in a flash. It also takes minimal time to clean. You just have to rinse it, fill it halfway with water and a tiny bit of soap, and turn the blender back on for a minute until the water is nice and sudsy… then rinse it again and let it air dry.
The design of the machine is also practically idiot proof. The blender has several defined constraints. The start and stop switch on the right and the pulse switch on the left have easy to understand mappings. The dial in the middle conveys the speed of the blender from 1-10. This axes also provides feedback, because once you turn the dial, you can hear the level of the motor and see the speed of the food whirling around until it’s the desired consistency.
Although the blender is quite expensive, it has an amazing cost benefit. Considering that I’ve owned it for 5 ½ years and practically use it every day without any technical issues, it’s definitely an amazing investment. I’ve also saved oodles of money by cooking in instead of eating out! The blender has also kept my health in check, which has saved me money on medical bills.
Object I Hate: My Corner Cabinets
The corner cabinets in my kitchen are so badly designed. They’re situated on either side of my refrigerator. Although they look nice, I feel like they’re just an aesthetic necessity to create a clean wrap-around row of bottom cabinets for uniform connectedness. Due to the placement and hinge of the cabinet door, the affordance of the cabinet’s ability to open all the way is impeded by the physical constraints of the refrigerator.
Although both of the cabinet shelves are Lazy Susans, I find it very challenging and irritating to reach in and get anything out or put anything back in. I often have to contort my body in odd positions to get what I need. The awkward Pac Man-like shape of the Lazy Susans and the height of shelves also limits what I can put in there. I also discover that I end up buying things that I already have, because things are easily forgotten about if they’re stored in my cabinet vortex from designer hell.
Although I absolutely love living in urban environments, this city gal misses greenery and often yearns for the smell, shade, protection, and relaxing vibes of nature. I’m absolutely mesmerized by Stefano Boeri’s Vertical Forest in Milan, Italy. The two residential towers fully embody the dichotomy of my two opposing needs. The mixture of modern, clean, and industrial lines blended with lush, vibrant, and wild greenery, is truly stunning.
The architectural beauty, inaugurated in 2014, serves as a prototype for Boeri’s sustainable “Vertical Forest” model. While Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings that were harmoniously integrated into nature, Stefano introduces nature into the concrete jungle. The Vertical Forest creates a unique biodiversity within the urban ecosystem to help lower air and noise pollution, welcome wildlife, and offer shade.
The success of The Vertical Forest has made Boeri a highly sought after architect and urban planner. Since its unveiling, Boeri has been commissioned to create much larger scale projects – including vertical forest cities! I’m extremely excited to see how his Liuzhou Forest City will turn out. It’s expected to feature “40,000 trees and almost one million plants, comprising 100 different species.” (Gibson, Dezeen.com)
Two subtle biological indicators of female fertility are rosy cheeks and red lips. Humans subconsciously perceive women as more sexy and attractive if they’re wearing red (clothing, lipstick, and blush) compared to other colors for this reason. Iconic examples of this in history are Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell’s bright red lips and sequin dresses in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Stevie Wonder’s soundtrack album, The Woman in Red. Men, on the other hand, are perceived as powerful, dominant, and aggressive if they’re wearing red. Some examples include, male politicians wearing red ties, Satan, and red sports cars.
Example #1 – Cited By Original Source:
Vogue 2009 Cover
Bazaar 2011 Cover
Beyoncé is inarguably one of the most beautiful women in the world. Although the style of clothing, make-up, and art direction are very different in these two magazine covers, the color that Beyoncé is wearing is extremely influential to the overall vibe of each. In the blue dress, she’s a sweet and sophisticated beauty, while in the red dress, she’s a sexy, sultry, and confident vixen.
Throughout history, Satan has been betrayed as an almighty, evil, fiery red beast from Hell. If you Google, “Male devil Halloween costume,” you’ll find a plethora of costumes that meet that criteria. However, if you Google, “Female devil Halloween costume,” all that comes up are sexy devil costumes that enhance the female form and highlight sensuality.
Red roses are extremely feminine and reminiscent of the female form. They symbolize, love, passion, romance, fertility, and sensuality. Men often give a dozen red roses to women as gifts to show their love and appreciation on special occasions and Valentine’s Day. On the other hand, chili peppers appear as more masculine in nature. They are are hot, spicy, temperamental, and phallic.
Reference:
William Lidwell, et al. Universal Principles of Design. 2nd ed., Rockport Publishers, Inc., 2010.
The Exposure Effect, also known as The Mere Exposure Effect, occurs when people begin to like something (neutral or positive) after they’ve been exposed to it many times. For instance, turmeric, the exotic tasting spice that hails from India, is now a widely accepted anti-inflammatory flavor enhancer in Western cultures. Turmeric can now be found in practically everything — from smoothies, to lattes, to savory meals. K-Pop’s number one boy band, BTS, has become a worldwide sensation. Their songs, which are sung in Korean, are known by heart by women and men all across America. Conversely, when people are exposed to negative things, they’ll be more likely to dislike them even more. There are many examples of how over exposure to negative stimuli in the news is affecting our polarized nation… and what can be seen as negative to some, can be seen as positive to others.
Example #1 – Cited By Original Source:
Politicians often use the Exposure Effect to help them gain popularity and likability. One of the most powerful examples of this is President Obama’s widely recognized “Hope” poster by American artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey’s poster helped define and encapsulate positive feelings of change, hope, and optimism. “That the image immediately went viral is proof of the emotional connection it had with potential voters, especially youth. Many believe this poster inspired enough voters to give Obama the edge that he needed to win.” (CNN) Since the original poster was created, the Fairey and other artists have created iterations of it that played on the theme of other important social and political issues.
Example #2 – Found Online:
The Exposure Effect can influence design trends and standards. Once certain layouts, symbols, and icons become popular, they begin to be widely used in design and accepted by users. The hamburger menu was originally designed three decades ago by Norm Cox while he was working at Xerox Star. Unfortunately for Cox, the icon was never “McDonaldized.” The icon was brought back to life during the advent of mobile devices and started trending after it was used for Twitter’s app, Tweetie, and Apple’s Voice Memos app for iPhone 3GS. (O’Neill) Although not everyone is a fan of the hamburger menu, it has become a very common standard for mobile friendly apps and websites.
In just sixty seconds, I found three examples of the hamburger menu (circled in red) on my phone:
Example #3 – Found in Real Life:
Remember a time when smoothies were just a healthy drink to aspire to making? Well… people got bored of just drinking their meals and taking photos of themselves holding a glass and decided to create a new trend: smoothie bowls. Instagram smoothie pics went from drab to fab seemingly overnight as people started creating fruit, nut, and seed mosaics on top of their smoothies. Currently, the #smoothiebowl hashtag has 1.7 million posts! Before grad school happened and I had more time on my hands, I used to painstakingly make smoothie bowls and take photos of them too…
Tried to close my eyes
PROJECT 2 – PART 1 Since it was a beautiful Fall day out, I decided to explore Pan Pacific Park. It’s situated right behind the busy Farmer’s Market on 3rd and Fairfax and The Grove LA. It’s also flanked by the Palazzo and Parc LaBrea apartment complexes on 3rd Street; residential housing on Garner Street; and The Broadcast Apartment complex, Erewhon grocery store, USPS, and chic restaurants on Beverly Boulevard. Due to its diverse recreational, athletic, and leisure offerings, it’s a very popular place for people to play, unwind, socialize, and workout.
ICONOGRAPHY:
Politicians often use the Exposure Effect to help them gain popularity and likability. One of the most powerful examples of this is President Obama’s widely recognized “Hope” poster by American artist Shepard Fairey. Fairey’s poster helped define and encapsulate positive feelings of change, hope, and optimism. “That the image immediately went viral is proof of the emotional connection it had with potential voters, especially youth. Many believe this poster inspired enough voters to give Obama the edge that he needed to win.” (
