Graphic Symbolism

I took this class as one of my electives and really enjoyed it. The curriculum was contemporary and challenging. The instructor was insightful and attentive. Normally, with most classes, I buckle down, read the stuff, do the thing. You know, just kind of get the assignment done. For this class, however, I found myself thinking about upcoming assignments and thinking about the subject matter and processes almost obsessively.

For one assignment we had to produce an essay that described ourselves and then take that essay and produce a representative graphic symbol. While I enjoy this type of distillate process, I really dislike anything close to labeling of people. This came close for me, so I found a workaround, making the argument that labels can have negative or adverse effects on perceptions in this type of an exercise.

So the graphic you see is what I produced which closely represents the tenets I expressed in the essay. I really received a wide range of thoughts about it. Its not something I would use for anything other than to express how important it is to not let one’s perceptions get in the way of what someone is really about. Have you ever judged someone by their looks? Their nationality? Their clothes? And then been really surprised to find out they were totally different than what you might have first thought? I know how incredibly powerful first impressions are, and how important it is to put your best foot forward and all that, however, maybe in some cases, jumping to conclusions based on first impressions is really just reflective of how shallow we might be.

Pete