Kinetic Typography video that I directed and animated for Level Playing Field Institute that demonstrates how SMASH Academy is closing the opportunity gap through STEM education.
The purpose was to highlight the opportunity gap and demonstrate the ways in which SMASH Academy bridges that gap for talented young students of color. To this end, I tried to create an actual object out of the word opportunity, and split it in half at the “T”, to create what seemed likes a gaping whole in the word. This is the beauty of text based art— words are symbols for ideas as they are, but they can also be turned into images that represent the same idea, or different ideas all together. In this case, we used letters to symbolize opportunity, and the image of the word “opportunity” split in half to symbolize a gap. Throughout the rest of the video, there are other instances where a single word, or even a collection of words are arranged as an image to symbolize an additional idea. Pretty neat, huh?
The video is now being show at high schools across the San Francisco Bay Area as a recruitment tool to encourage thousands of high school freshmen to apply to SMASH.
I’ve been invited to be a judge for the Mo Project youth media contest! And I’m… “honored”.
The main goal of MO Project is to give an outlet for youth who want to spotlight issues related to access to good food and safe places to play and exercise. It’s a contest about a movement and creates an opportunity for young people to think about what’s working, what’s not working, and how to make it better.
I’ve been asked to be a judge for the poster category, and have to select what I feel has the best design and the best message. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 and the winning designer can win an iPod Touch or a Wii!
It’s typically all about the Benjamins, but these days it’s all about rocking out with Barack out… check out the new $25 dollar Obama bill!
You might wonder… why 25? Why not 44? Here’s a few reasons… 25 goes into 100 evenly, as all other bills do (1,2,5,10,20,50). A $25 bill would cover any item priced at $19.99 (plus tax)… no need to pull out a $20 and some change anymore. 25 is the average age of the mid-twenty somethings that did so much work to help Obama’s campaign. And as for 44… what would you really do with a $44 bill? Do you really want to start thinking in multiples of $44? Sure, Barack is our 44th president, but he’s also our 1st Black president, so we might as well just get rid of ‘ol G. Washington, and put Obama’s face on the $1 . I figured the Obama bill would represent a new phase of US Presidents and change the face (literally) of US currency. I’m hoping to get a few $25 bills to Obama and his family, and hopefully, as one of his first duties while in office, he can pass a bill to get his own bill.
