In Conclusion This project has brought new ways for me to think about developing a concept when nothing is presented to you except the idea of exploring. It has showed me that collaboration is key when trying to branch out of a subject of study. Talking to people and getting their reactions to what your working on is an amazing tool that I now use in my design process. Remember that everyone sees things differently and as designers it is our job to make sure that somewhere along the way we use that knowledge to create better more interesting designs.

The fact is that most people don't realize that we associate human characteristics with animals all the time. The best two examples are Disney and Paxar. Families flock from all over the world to Disney land and Disney World to ride on rides and laugh and play with a lovable mouse and his friends. Paxar has brought us fish in Finding Nemo and a bug’s life and cars that have human characteristics as well. Yet when someone takes on an alter ego of an animal with human characteristic they are shunned and whispered about behind their backs. Sure there are people that take things to the extreme but that can be found in many different circumstances not just in the realm of furries. So why do we laugh at these people who draw and dress up some times with ears on there heads and tails on there backsides. When your just as guilty for liking animals with human characteristic based on things like Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Poo, The wild things book and soon to be movie, Pixars Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, and Cars etc... When you go to Disney don't put those Mickey ears on your head cause your embracing the tinny furry in you and who knows maybe you will be snickered at behind your back to.

This exploration came about after being asked on several different occasions about why I attend the ARF meetings on campus.

I asked Sara Joy president of ARF
to write about ARF and Furries and
the miss conception that happen in
general and here on campus.


So without further ado here are her words.

Name: Sara Joy
Age: 25
Year: Junior
Major: Illustration

The term “Furry” has become a word with a meaning that has been dragged through the mud. Often when someone unfamiliar with this term inquires about it, rarely do they get a favorable answer, let alone get it from someone who has any association with it whatsoever. Usually, one will get an answer like this: “They’re a bunch of freaks who wear tails and sit in the woods eating twigs and berries becasue they think they’re animals.” Or, “Oh, those are those wierdos who like to dress up in animal suits and screw each other.” Overall, it’s not a very flattering introduction, and it’s becasue of this misconstued information delivered by idiots that those who lable themselves “Furries” keep to themselves. So what exactly IS a Furry, and why such a crude branding? The answer is not as odd as you may think, and this time, it’ll be from the mouth of a Furry fan.

Birth Of The Fandom
Ultimately, Furry is a fandom. It is said to have been birthed as far back as the mid 1960’s, but was never really recognized as such until 1980. It was then that the concept of Furry originated at a science fiction convention when a drawing of a character from Steve Gallacci’s Albedo Anthropomorphics initiated a discussion of anthropomorphic characters in science fiction novels. In turn, this initiated a discussion group that met at science fiction and comics conventions regarding fictional mammalian anthropomorphic characters, soon to be known as Furries. Since then it has grown and evolved significantly to nearly a subculture, complete with it’s own style of art, prose, publication, conventions, and slang.

What Is A Furry?
“Furry,” not only defines the name of the fandom, but those involved in it. Furs, Fur-fans, and Anthros, are also terms that Furries go by. A Furry is a person who personifies with a particular fictional, anthropomorphic character. This character often reflects the personality of its creator or serves as secondary extention or alter-ego. These charcters are usually called Fursonas, a play on the word persona, meaning “one’s public image or personality, as distinguished from the inner self.” Furries tend to have a large appreciation for animation, video games, and comics that contain anthropomorphic characters. Characters from well known studios such as Disney and Warner Bros. are an inspiration to the fandom, particularly concerning the style, as art plays a huge role within the community. Often Furries will adopt this style and draw out their fursonas in much the same fashion.

ARF and Ringling
Here on the campus of Ringling College of Art and Design, I am the president of a club called A.R.F. (Anthropomorphic Ringling Fanclub). Though there are a handful of Furries that attend, I do my best not to promote A.R.F. as a "Furry" club, being that it is open to all students on campus and does not solely revolve around the Furry fandom. So, what happens at A.R.F.? For the most part, we get together to commute and unwind. A typical meeting consists of any updates regarding an upcoming event, sitting together to draw or do homework, with an occational movie to play in the background. As a club, we schedule trips, usually having to do with animals. We've been to several sanctuaries, to learn about and draw various animals, as well as volunteer our time to help out these non-profit organizations. We have also donated artwork to be auctioned off to help keep no-kill animal shelters open and running.

A.R.F. has been active with these advocations since the club was created 5 years ago, and still continues to grow with new memebers each year. Yet, just because students who call themselves Furries also attend, the good hearted efforts we've made are always overlooked, leaving nothing but the same nasty, hearsay labeling, from not only students, but faculty as well. FACULTY, of all things. Instead of stepping in with correction or discouraging the act of student degrading student as a teacher should do, they partake in the mockery. Not only does this make them look moronic, it reflects badly on the school as a whole and the social security that the students expect to receive.

Words words words

A series of typographic explorations dealing with word association from my spin chart.

Taking a word and placing it
in two different settings.
One a movie and the other
in a true natural setting.






When Describing about a word
without saying the word you might
not guess the mean of it right away.
These next exploration are based on
that principle that the word is not
always clear through the description.

My link to the book.

Think about section for my book.
1. The origination of almost all my exploration was through goggles.

so for that one I'm thinking, Shifting Details.

2. another chapter would be for bandannas. dealing with cultural perceptions.

so for that one I'm thinking, Pin pointing

3.next chapter would be about viewing icons in different manners.
This relates to my key chain experience.

so for that one I'm thinking, contextually

4. Another chapter could be on Cultural differences. This one could include the bandannas and the scarfs, how they are perceived in different cultures.
So for this one I'm thinking, Pin Pointing, or Over an ocean, or Crisscrossing, or Habitat*** I like that one.

5. Next is the self-perception.
How do you view yourself In different environments?

So for this one I'm thinking, Inside out

6.Next is my past how I thought the world would be compared to how it actually is

So for this one I'm thinking, Disappointment, reality

7. My next exploration is going to be about stereotypes. Focusing on a specific example of a friend of mine who loves animals but is viewed in a negative way. I'm going to include an interview with her. Bio info and imagery talking about how people like animals so called normal animals and how if you do something a little off beat it can be blown out of proportion. Take for example everyone loves Disney beauty and the beast and also in peter pan the lost boys are dressed in animals like a persona of who they are. There are many examples of how we look at a preconceived notion. In the end I'm going to break it down to show that this stereotype is not called for in the end.

So for this chapter I'm thinking. Bring down the False.

Personal perception

After completing my last exploration with type this simple image sparked another round of explorations for me. How to view yourself using light. In the dark we view light in different ways than In the day. Its presents draws us in to specific points, are eyes squint to see everything around us, and the irises of our eyes get HUG! Can you picture living in total darkness.

exploration

Continuing with my spines theme of perception I did some Type studies relating to how letterforms are perceive in different ways. Through the use of cut paper and shadows I found new ways to view typography. Looking at the relationships between words and their counter forms.
I than linked it with imagery I had previously used in my spine presentation, and also making relationships between the different types studies them selves.

Perception

Making connections is not the easiest thing to do. I found that out when doing these explorations. For me making connections isn't something that I force myself to do. It is something that happens over time and different situation.
How I have made Connections In these explorations.

1. I included other people in on my activities
2. We had different reactions to each thing we did resulting in a connection of ideas.
3. Further talking with other people outside of the original exploration exercise has shown new connections as well.
4. From talking to those people Looking at what they saw than going back in time to see if there is anything else you can connect and branch off of.

With these tactics I have compiled this chart furthering my study of connections after the original exploration was done. I found that associations made by different groups of people could change the perception of the topic at hand.

Below is a link to my Spin and the components that have driven its further expansion.

Spine

Goggle Exploration

What is perceived as a trend now could have had other meanings in the past.


Perceptions of the world around you change all the time. A speak could influence you or a design or a funny photo. For this exploration I went back to my childhood and love for sculpture and created some crazy looking goggles. Right off the bat I was excited about creating something not with a mouse. There is something about making something with your hands that I have always loved to do. Duck tape is one of my do it yourself can fix everything for a while problem solvers. With that some broken stuff from my house and cardboard I have made some crazy goggles.

When thinking about what kind of goggles I wanted to make I came up with a couple key ideas I wanted to incorporate. The first one is the idea that goggles would be good if you where in a sandstorm. So they would have lids to help shelter the eyes from wind and sand. The next element in the goggles would be a piece of cloth to cover your mouth and nose from sand and wind. The third thing I thought about including was a sci-fi theme incorporating some broken headphones into the peace. The headphones would be a means of communication with a base or having an up link to some navigational radar system in a heads up display. Than I thought about adding ears to the piece after trying on the goggles and realizing my hair hid most of the goggles features. This would break up my hair and show the eyes more. Also reasoning that they could be a form of audio ears allowing me to here at great distances or radio antenna feeding the satellite data to my heads up display.
I know I'm a big dork. What can I say; I love the idea of going places including other worlds.

After completing the goggles and trying them on I got some interesting feedback.
One person said I looked like a terrorist. I find it funny but oddly surprising that they where right for this time period. Before 911 I don't think this would be the case at all. But adding the cloth to the face totally made it look like someone from the middle east. And there is the stereotype we are living with now. Not in a million years when I was growing up and at my first college would I have associated that with a terrorist. For me I can look past this stereotype to other things that I remember and still hold true. I hope that this is the case for most of you when you see these images of the goggles and me. As designers we are supposed to be able to look past the obvious and discern true meaning in different things; This is what separates us from most people.
Enclosed I added some photos that if put in a different time period would have suggested something else but in today's society read differently.

As you can see you saw the image of the bank robber and than in modern times you now see the trend to wear the same type of face covering while snowboarding. This is a new trend that has emerged in the past two years in the world of snowboarding and skiing. Were in the past it was just to help hide your face from identification now Shaun White has taken it and uses it as a trademark of sorts for his personal style. This trend can also be seen in the snowboard/skiing seen with the new helmets being produced in the shape of an old world war helmet.


Card Comparisons

1.

Bach's keyboard music and
recordings of every one.

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2.

Enveloped with a demurely demurely: adverb
in a demure manner; "the army
girl, tall and demurely pretty,
threw a quick side-glance at her".

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3.

Eye lock on the prey, and
the breathing deepens.

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4.

Made in the USA

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5.

What's hiding behind.

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6.

Internet has provided a wonderful
opportunity for us to connect.

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7.

Date due slip.

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8.
Wasn't there a time when I might not have been a collector.

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9. Neor - linguistic (is a theory of language, communication and thought together with an associated therapeutic method, which holds that people can improve the way they interact with the world by means of certain principles and techniques concerned with their use of language.)
extravagances (unrestrained or fantastic excess, as of actions or opinions.).

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10.
Enough to fill the difficult pages.

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