The Legalization of Marijuana (Jan. 30th)

For the past few decades, the legalization of marijuana has been a subject of debate and controversy in California. Marijuana is illegal to consume, use, possess, cultivate, transfer or trade in most countries of today. Since the beginning of the worldwide spread of marijuana prohibition of the mid 1900s, most countries have not re-legalized it for personal use, although more than 10 countries tolerate, or have decriminalized, its use and cultivation in limited quantities. However, medicinal use of marijuana is also legal in a number of countries, including Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Israel and 16 states of the U.S.

Even though marijuana is illegal in most parts of the world, many considerable resources are committed to both interdiction and counter-interdiction of its cultivation. Thermal imaging helicopters, inspection of trash, examination of credit purchases, and analysis of energy bills, have been used in the prosecutions of marijuana. However, in the U.S., thermal imaging is considered to violate civil liberties that are constituted in the U.S. constitution. This had resulted in significant changes to growing trends and availability in our country.

In 1996, California voters passed Prop 215 (the Compassionate Use Act) by means of popular initiative. It allows for patients with a valid doctor's recommendation to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use and now expanded to the point where if protects a growing system of collective and cooperative distribution. It was the first law of its kind and was later followed by similar laws in Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. However, California's common law has interpreted the intitiative on multiple occasions. In 2007, the courts upheld a decision of a trail court in the City of Garden Grove v. Superior Court to the Garden Grove police department to give Felix Kha his marijuana back it is said it is not the job of local police to enforce the federal drug law. In 2010, the California Supreme Court took down limits on how much marijuana people could grow or possess in the People v. Kelly case, which says its ok for people with doctors' permission to grow or possess reasonable amounts. In California there are designated shops for people who are permitted by law to purchase and use marijuana. Today there are even marijuana bakeries that make a wide variety of treats that range from chocolate bars to foods such as nachos and baked goods. These shops are made for people who have illnesses which allow them to purchase medical marijuana to go to if they do not wish to smoke in order to get the needed marijuana into their system. (wikipedia)

Magazine Ads (Jan. 23, 2012)

The average American, today, is surrounded by advertisements promoted on t.v., billboards, buses, buildings, newspapers and magazines. Advertisements are used to sell a point of view, promote a charity, or even to support political campaigns. But mainly advertisement is used to sell commercial products. Products like toothpaste, cereals, tissue paper, shampoo, blow dryers, jeans, t-shirts, soft drinks, bottled water, radios, computers, etc. How many of these products do you we actually need? For example, why is it important to have a underwear under Calvin Klein's or Levi's on your back pocket of your favorite pants? This is because the purpose of advertisement is to persuade viewers to buy or support something for profit. As graphic designer, one must consider important questions before designing, for example :What is the ad really trying to sell? What visual and verbal strategies is the ad using to portray its message? Is the ad ultimately persuasive?

Magazines ads, for example, can be used to demonstrate this idea. Designers must first do research and figure out who the ad is going to target and what kind of message is going to be portrayed . Secondly, the design. Designers need to make sure that the customer's eye goes immediately to the visuals. They got to think about how they will use visuals: people or places in the ad, uses of color, choice of font, movement of customer's eyes, etc. Third, Designers must examine the brand name and its display, the product's slogan, and other print information and analyze why this slogan was chosen. Fourth, they must consider the types of emotional appeals that are meant to entice the customer. And finally, consider the overall impact of the ad. Make the audience think about your ad and why would they need it.

After looking through many magazine ads during the past week, I have noticed many ads aren't as good as they should be. The best type of ads are the ones that look visually attractive and send a strong message. The good ones usually have imagery, type, and color all working together withing the layout of the ad. The bad ones usually do not have these qualities working together, layout just looks all slapped on together. Positioning, Layout, color and message connection must all work together within an ad in order for a successful ad.

Advertisement (Jan. 18, 2012)

Advertising, is defined, as a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common. The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new media such as websites and text messages. But I believe it is more than that.

The most important part of advertisement is the audience. Getting to know your target audience is the most important process to the success of the product/idea being advertised. During this process, research and analysis is very crucial, the better you know your audience, the more successful your ad will be. The idea of all this is to send a message to your intended audience, to convince them your product/idea is the product/idea for them. As a fellow victim of this manipulation, I understand the control that the media has on it's audiences. Creating an attractive design is key. However, even though design plays a big part in the process of advertisement, it is not the most important aspect, Language is.

Choice of words play a huge role in audience manipulation. Short slogans and simple quotes usually work very well with this manipulation. Nike, for example, has had a huge success in its advertisement using this approach. "Just do it" has had major success in the manipulation of it's audience. Besides the many attractive shoe designs and its many ads/commercials, Nike's success comes from its slogan and its simple logo design. Its extremely simple which makes it very memorable. I'm sure that there is not one person in the country who doesn't recognize the Nike slogan or its logo. The idea is to get your audience interested and thinking about your product/idea, to give them a reason to purchase your product. "Just do it" can imply many ideas to it's audience, one of them can imply "Just buy our product. You know you want to. Just do it." which seems to be the logical idea behind the brand. Product Recognition is key to all ad success.