https://amykunberger.com amy kunberger Thu, 28 Apr 2022 13:24:32 +0000 https://amykunberger.com en https://amykunberger.com/Home Sun, 26 Apr 2020 18:39:46 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/Home amy kunberger&nbsp; You can do it like it's a great weight on you. Or you can do it like it's part of the dance. (Ram Dass) https://amykunberger.com/thesis-book Thu, 28 Apr 2022 13:24:32 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/thesis-book thesis book From the Colophon:&nbsp;This book is a publication submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design School of Visual Arts&nbsp; //&nbsp; College of Fine Arts Boston University, Boston, MAMay 2022 It is typeset in Aktiv Grotesk. Made by Dalton Maag," Aktiv Grotesk takes an authoritative but neutral position, supporting any message without overpowering it. A flexible and diverse family of 24 styles with matching italics, from Hairline to Black." (Adobe Fonts, 2022) and Lust and Lust ScriptMade by Positype. The book is sewn/hand bound as a reflection of and dedication to my learned appreciation for slowing down, paying attention, imperfection, and working with my hands after so many years of leaning on technology. It feels personal and a total reflection of my experience in the MFA program at BU after three years of thinking, reading, and making.&nbsp; <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/460bc7074a6baea5011cf49e0d60c1f59e7d3570db64201d1394d4bcf461c339/IMG_4163-2.jpg" data-mid="141054235" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/460bc7074a6baea5011cf49e0d60c1f59e7d3570db64201d1394d4bcf461c339/IMG_4163-2.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43beafa8c5aa74e665689197377a8061bc892108bc5343b00a802ac1717cb73c/IMG_4170.jpg" data-mid="141053718" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/43beafa8c5aa74e665689197377a8061bc892108bc5343b00a802ac1717cb73c/IMG_4170.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cc20d61f83d486ff8f3e709faa345d9c8513cabbccbc0f83f807145e54eb24bb/IMG_4168.jpg" data-mid="141053717" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/cc20d61f83d486ff8f3e709faa345d9c8513cabbccbc0f83f807145e54eb24bb/IMG_4168.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d4a6510fdef8cb200855d00caf09319d7c2dc660d3266851d78409d2f6b9c21b/IMG_4165.jpg" data-mid="141053714" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/d4a6510fdef8cb200855d00caf09319d7c2dc660d3266851d78409d2f6b9c21b/IMG_4165.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/99ef24808b90a330bbfdcac6978dd79ea5934e2e89857936d437ed3f75c062cf/IMG_4171.jpg" data-mid="141053720" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/99ef24808b90a330bbfdcac6978dd79ea5934e2e89857936d437ed3f75c062cf/IMG_4171.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b50bc2e6bb8162d06f021119b3595720424bb09963ce4b9ef41ea8d4078a4012/IMG_4166.jpg" data-mid="141053715" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/b50bc2e6bb8162d06f021119b3595720424bb09963ce4b9ef41ea8d4078a4012/IMG_4166.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d4d7df54ee7b09b710237661d9a28720003ae3b21960b630e3adb72e63ac265/IMG_4167.jpg" data-mid="141053716" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/3d4d7df54ee7b09b710237661d9a28720003ae3b21960b630e3adb72e63ac265/IMG_4167.jpg" /> <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ab31f79c0a7b770fc3249c68ccda6522f276d0790f40588066c731dadfb92dff/IMG_4172.jpg" data-mid="141053721" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/ab31f79c0a7b770fc3249c68ccda6522f276d0790f40588066c731dadfb92dff/IMG_4172.jpg" /> https://amykunberger.com/historical-statement Thu, 28 Apr 2022 03:13:09 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/historical-statement historical statement <img width="756" height="1008" width_o="756" height_o="1008" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aec27f32bba67753b51935b6d845cf4a9d32c6274d9c5f816a4c2bc13a4d115e/ISG-museum.jpg" data-mid="141003026" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/756/i/aec27f32bba67753b51935b6d845cf4a9d32c6274d9c5f816a4c2bc13a4d115e/ISG-museum.jpg" /> <img width="580" height="408" width_o="580" height_o="408" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5b227211afe0c17c8bc0b3d7b9306262c29406320405ce2abeb3e1ded5286a2b/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.14.58-PM.png" data-mid="141003023" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/580/i/5b227211afe0c17c8bc0b3d7b9306262c29406320405ce2abeb3e1ded5286a2b/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.14.58-PM.png" /> For the 2020-2021 school year, which was supposed to be my 2nd and last year of graduate school, I dropped down to part time at BU in order to be able to stay home with my kids and faciliate their learning remotely. Their schools were closed and later hybrid due to the covid-19 pandemic. It was the right choice for my family, but definitely hard to put my finally-in-motion degree on the back burner. I turned my home office into a classroom, with desks and shelves, writing paper, dry erase board, and the alphabet on the wall. My kids were in 1st grade and preschool, and boy did my handwriting improve doing their writing lessons alongside them. I was grateful to still be connected to the school, but I was remote for the entire school year (like so many others) and I really missed going to the city and being in the studio, and being around other people. I even drove into the city and sat in my car on Comm Ave for a little bit to write on my 39th birthday. I took one class per semester and was a TA for Graphic Design History (lucky, because I got to spend time with what would become my beloved 2nd year classmates♥). One of the classes I took was Performative Text and Design, which is an "interdisciplinary seminar explor[ing] the intersections of text, design, performance, publishing, and activism."; a perfect course during a year of so much confusion, unrest, and uncertainty. I valued having my studies as an anchor (even part time) during a period where I wasn't sure that my life would ever return to normal. I will always remember the faculty and my classmates for creating a community when I was mourning so much. <img width="860" height="1242" width_o="860" height_o="1242" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ce07150779b2e8a33a8410befcb30d4961000ca3a56b2788c1466e93892836e5/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.15.06-PM.png" data-mid="141003024" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/860/i/ce07150779b2e8a33a8410befcb30d4961000ca3a56b2788c1466e93892836e5/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.15.06-PM.png" /> <img width="800" height="1238" width_o="800" height_o="1238" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/19e1c8132f8238e67be8f8de80cbd8b46c4519a4a71d240efd56059aa238344c/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.15.16-PM.png" data-mid="141003025" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/800/i/19e1c8132f8238e67be8f8de80cbd8b46c4519a4a71d240efd56059aa238344c/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.15.16-PM.png" /> https://amykunberger.com/extreme-scale Thu, 28 Apr 2022 03:20:48 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/extreme-scale extreme scale <img width="1058" height="1061" width_o="1058" height_o="1061" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/61538bcdd0f97d4db3ec14b2c9799de0efbf968437e894852123dfbfc77e7d29/IMG_3835.jpg" data-mid="141003581" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/61538bcdd0f97d4db3ec14b2c9799de0efbf968437e894852123dfbfc77e7d29/IMG_3835.jpg" /><img width="907" height="1209" width_o="907" height_o="1209" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4c29c0627bcae106c7ed4df8e30ce23f85c07e3ae788a9642ccb7532cf45c3ad/IMG_3841.jpg" data-mid="141003582" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/907/i/4c29c0627bcae106c7ed4df8e30ce23f85c07e3ae788a9642ccb7532cf45c3ad/IMG_3841.jpg" /> The prompt for this one was simple — make something that expresses the idea of Extreme Scale. An open prompt like that has typically intimitdated me throughout my academic career, yet with this new focus of my thesis thinking, a prompt like this now automatically has direction for me. I spent some time thinking about the two words themselves, "extreme" and "scale". I made a list of phrases that use the words. I defined the words. It is helpful for me to get immediate ideas out of the way. This also gave me some text to work with. My first thoughts about executing the phrase "extreme scale" had serious motion implications and lots of movement, like a video of zooming in and out on a roller coaster. But then I applied my thesis methodology: craft, analog, attention to detail as mindfulness, humor, print. I decided to use some of the words and phrases that I had collected from the word scale. Then, I used a part of a type character to illustrate that word or phrase. The viewer is called to really focus in on one small part of one letterform. But I also wanted to give the viewer the perspective of the entire letterform, so I added a transparent overlay page into the binding for each form, in order to show where the illustration belongs in the total letter. In the example on the facing page, the black part of the "s" is meant to illustrate "hard water" (which can form a substance called. "scale".) The water stops short, because of the scale buildup. The overlaid yellow shows the viewer where the shape comes from; what part of the letterform they're looking at. <img width="1396" height="896" width_o="1396" height_o="896" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/45e7b5e571f50a624a049b561ba2ff4414ebc4e9ab77f07a77de501f384a52a8/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.23.42-PM.png" data-mid="141003583" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/45e7b5e571f50a624a049b561ba2ff4414ebc4e9ab77f07a77de501f384a52a8/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.23.42-PM.png" /> <img width="1016" height="1264" width_o="1016" height_o="1264" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ba95b2634e73aed8d0dc78c4da9f27a680451758f42cffd3b49c27029c89f32a/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.24.49-PM.png" data-mid="141003585" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ba95b2634e73aed8d0dc78c4da9f27a680451758f42cffd3b49c27029c89f32a/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.24.49-PM.png" /> <img width="1012" height="1268" width_o="1012" height_o="1268" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1bdef57fded2c47719c52632edf5eb52a4be853e2a7a6f6be581e5a668d1662c/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.27.55-PM.png" data-mid="141003738" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1bdef57fded2c47719c52632edf5eb52a4be853e2a7a6f6be581e5a668d1662c/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-11.27.55-PM.png" /> https://amykunberger.com/internship Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:25:54 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/internship internship In February 2021, I learned about an internship at a Cambridge publishing company called Orbis Editions. Orbis Editions publishes e-books, paper books, and artist works in digital and print forms. I spoke with the owner and editor, Jessica Hankey, and she offered me the internship. I was tasked with taking over the design of a book that had been designed by a previous intern. When we started working together, I learned that the author and editor wanted a redesign of the book in order to gain more page economy. The text is dense and has lots of very long footnotes; an editorial challenge for sure. The book is titled Supervision: Motherhood and Surveillance. Being a mother of young children, a lot of the content was very relevant to my life right now; and so I felt a deep connection with this text. The book is a collection of essays and artworks.. At the end of my internship, the book was not completed (they were waiting on some more text from other contributors, and text for the index and other back matter.) I had to hand it off to the next intern! It is still being produced. Since it is in progress, I made a mockup of the book as it stood on my final day as an intern. The front pages of the book are images of my notes, emails between the author, editor, and myself, and other ephemera from this experience. The rest of the pages are the book as it appeared the day I handed it off to the next intern. I look forward to seeing how it looks when it's finished. It is due to be co-published by MIT Press and released in May of 2023. <img width="2016" height="1512" width_o="2016" height_o="1512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e863acee796d53780ef54129ca58075b63b8b4a1b8bbf05f8b082d67521641be/IMG_3846.jpg" data-mid="140993990" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e863acee796d53780ef54129ca58075b63b8b4a1b8bbf05f8b082d67521641be/IMG_3846.jpg" /> <img width="2016" height="1512" width_o="2016" height_o="1512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6e3bb3b2c096703767e85ca376dae2dd45612bee127944cfa1bcad15802ce468/IMG_3845.jpg" data-mid="140993989" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6e3bb3b2c096703767e85ca376dae2dd45612bee127944cfa1bcad15802ce468/IMG_3845.jpg" /> <img width="2016" height="1512" width_o="2016" height_o="1512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9a96cb00ff5317a427a501759e6fa7819662d599274227939b1f8a52a662f72c/IMG_3843.jpg" data-mid="140993988" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9a96cb00ff5317a427a501759e6fa7819662d599274227939b1f8a52a662f72c/IMG_3843.jpg" /> https://amykunberger.com/thesis-inquiry Tue, 26 Apr 2022 23:29:04 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/thesis-inquiry Thesis Inquiry<img width="4000" height="2250" width_o="4000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da932eea9333371b50732492948d17a443711b97f96c5bc148ce0421c6088008/DIP-promo-graphic.png" data-mid="140880543" border="0" data-scale="79" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/da932eea9333371b50732492948d17a443711b97f96c5bc148ce0421c6088008/DIP-promo-graphic.png" /> In the beginning of our last year in the program, we were asked to give a presentation of insights stemming from the work done up until that point. We wrote scripts and designed slides to accompany our talk. This was a great exercise in thinking through what we wanted to say and how we wanted to explain it. When you're presenting information that you're intimately familiar with, like your thesis thinking, it's easy to forget to mention certain themes and ideas. You know it too well. Having to present it to an audience makes you consider the order in which to bring up certain topics, reminds you what context to include, and helps you find new insights. It's interesting to look back now and see how much my thesis thinking has changed. I definitely had to make this stop on my way to where I am now. The thinking in the video below is very much about solving the issues of internet-related distraction, dissociation, disinformation, and dysmorphia for everyone, on a high level. Which isn't a bad thought, but not very realistic at this point. As an exercise leading up to this presentation, we&nbsp; were asked to gather all content that has been influential to our thinking. The goal was to present the collection to our class and get help recognizing themes and common threads throughout each of our collections. This was the beginning of our thesis thinking. This was a tough exercise, and I learned a few things about myself through the process. One really important insight is that I had been using graduate school to try and reclaim some youth; and maybe try and escape from adulthood/parenthood a little bit. A lot of my work from the first year was rooted in things that I was very into as a undergraduate.&nbsp; I am far from a traditional graduate student — I turned 40 during the program — and since I received my BA, I have gotten married, worked as a designer for 15+ years, and&nbsp;have had two children. I was discounting those experiences until now. <img width="1514" height="1130" width_o="1514" height_o="1130" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0e704456ca5689dec4b8e8c1da6245fef67343781d24cf5c90ed681f71b47b92/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.46.09-PM.png" data-mid="140881216" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0e704456ca5689dec4b8e8c1da6245fef67343781d24cf5c90ed681f71b47b92/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.46.09-PM.png" /> The presentation of this material was very casual during class; it was meant to be an accessory to a conversation. I tossed a bunch of screenshots into a huge PDF and just walked through it all with my class. I had a really hard time organizing it. At the end of the semester, our professor asked us to collect it in some kind of format. Maybe it's the stage of life I'm in, maybe it's just me, maybe i'm just tired; but I felt that this scattered format was the best representation of how I categorize this information. I printed all the screenshots on randomly colored paper, printed little booklets, and hand stitched the signatures together. It's both chaotic and beautiful, funny and meaningful. It's honest, and feels like a good answer to the question: what's my perspective? <img width="1654" height="1270" width_o="1654" height_o="1270" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b63fa3caf02f2e47bb823900b8a997939e9ae56fbc4f671dea110c331153695e/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.44.46-PM.png" data-mid="140881215" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b63fa3caf02f2e47bb823900b8a997939e9ae56fbc4f671dea110c331153695e/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.44.46-PM.png" /><img width="1146" height="756" width_o="1146" height_o="756" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b9e8f7ac02ee275b32955d72c924caba8f725b04ba0da29ddd1315a788c9a4a6/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.46.17-PM.png" data-mid="140881217" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b9e8f7ac02ee275b32955d72c924caba8f725b04ba0da29ddd1315a788c9a4a6/Screen-Shot-2022-04-26-at-7.46.17-PM.png" /> This process allowed me to call on the things that I have always loved (authentic people, music, unique spaces, nostalgia, humor) and then tie them to the deeper,&nbsp; more conceptual themes that I am also interested in now (parenting, authenticity, education, service, print, digital citizenship, focus.) https://amykunberger.com/opt-out Thu, 28 Apr 2022 02:42:09 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/opt-out opt/out <img width="1512" height="2016" width_o="1512" height_o="2016" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ae849ac6156788c7883c4f10a600568feb5edfe67e00c4583802fc8ee34077f2/IMG_3847.jpg" data-mid="141000589" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ae849ac6156788c7883c4f10a600568feb5edfe67e00c4583802fc8ee34077f2/IMG_3847.jpg" /> This project was a journal of my experience of truly abstaining from social media for one week during the spring of 2021. In order to legitimize this undertaking, I first have to admit to my usage of social media at the time. It was significant for me to abstain from it. It had gotten really bad in the year prior—due to the pandemic, I wasn't working, I wasn't&nbsp; at school, and I wasn't able to do much outside of the house. Using social media replaced relationships and adventures. It is embarrassing to put it into words, but for most days during the early part of the pandemic,&nbsp; I logged a cumulative total of 8-9 hours (sometimes more) spent on social media. Most of it was just reading, consuming — small chunks of time that added up. I didn't even post, most days. For this project, I completely abstained from social media for 7 days. No Instagram, no Facebook, no Reddit. No messenger, which cut off contact with a group of internet friends I speak to daily. I deleted all social media apps on my phone and signed out of all accounts from my browser. I kept a journal, writing a few times per day, and I also kept count of the number of times my body automatically jumped to use social media. I kept a post-it on my phone so I could record this accurately. I tried not to draw any conclusions about social media while I was performing the week off, I wanted to freely record thoughts and observations, whether I perceived them to be positive or negative. <img width="1740" height="2292" width_o="1740" height_o="2292" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b3b37ae7db47f0a4316d1e51add35cf0bfeab5e1533d673b9a510ac9523c544/Photo_2021-04-30_003459.jpg" data-mid="141000590" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9b3b37ae7db47f0a4316d1e51add35cf0bfeab5e1533d673b9a510ac9523c544/Photo_2021-04-30_003459.jpg" /> This exercise confirmed what I knew all along—using social media so much was really damaging to me. My anxiety levels decreased,&nbsp; I read more, I was more prodcutive around the house, I was more attentive with my family. That should be the end, right? I mean, clearly avoiding social media is the right choice. But it seems to be more and more the case that social media isn't optional anymore. My recent run for school committee happened mostly on Facebook, a platform that I try my best to avoid.&nbsp; Sharing art and ideas with my classmates happens on Instagram. I learn cool things and write funny one-liners on Reddit. But how can I use these platforms responsibly? Even after I have studied this topic obsessively for two years, I still don't know. I am still using them too much. I would like to make this abstention and journaling process a regular occurence. I want to be a good role model for my children and my students. This thesis book that you're holding now, and many of the projects within were born out of this journaling process, and it's a stepping stone to much more. <img width="1776" height="2472" width_o="1776" height_o="2472" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d09b4fe79bebaceb48ea72ea1be6eaa58c48d91676cbbe7f60df67d30be72b49/Document_2021-04-30_003934_1.jpg" data-mid="141000588" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d09b4fe79bebaceb48ea72ea1be6eaa58c48d91676cbbe7f60df67d30be72b49/Document_2021-04-30_003934_1.jpg" /> <img width="1812" height="2460" width_o="1812" height_o="2460" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7c92a02d85fccdcaf9f4c47a242883941f2a6ba4f82dbefdca58d9bdb884f77b/Handwritten_2021-04-30_004058.jpg" data-mid="141000630" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7c92a02d85fccdcaf9f4c47a242883941f2a6ba4f82dbefdca58d9bdb884f77b/Handwritten_2021-04-30_004058.jpg" /> https://amykunberger.com/5-years Thu, 28 Apr 2022 02:33:07 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/5-years 5 years <img width="1014" height="1270" width_o="1014" height_o="1270" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a8f6d367cb22d3cc25d8fe72a4feb285db9c6618ddd26fa94c844a8aa11fde6/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-10.34.04-PM.png" data-mid="141000360" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a8f6d367cb22d3cc25d8fe72a4feb285db9c6618ddd26fa94c844a8aa11fde6/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-10.34.04-PM.png" /> When I started my time in this MFA program, I was coming off of a 15 year career in graphic design. Lots of my experience was designing for corporate marketing, and my undergrad experience was heavily influenced by traditional Swiss design, and the whitespace/Gotham trend of the early 2000s. My first few projects in my first semester, I could only make things that fit that mold. Kristen Coogan, my professor, helped me to move away from this crutch and gave me the constraint to walk away from the computer. &nbsp; The prompt for this project was to answer the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" I was here to get my MFA so that I could teach. I wanted to bridge my past (fine art/hand making) with my future (teaching). I also planned on making this project without the computer, and using only materials I already had. Each panel was made using a different medium: yarn/pompoms, acrylic paint and canvas, embroidery, pyrography, illustration marker, watercolor, charcoal pencil, colored pencil, collage, and chalk. I used these tools to create a message that I could share with my future students. Admittedly I would have used different text now. Using this quote feels like too obvious a solution, but this exercise was absolutely a turning point in my ability to feel permission to explore more and take risks as an MFA student. <img width="936" height="624" width_o="936" height_o="624" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c4579a7e9480ffbf3afb0992951ba4d2a026e8f0e7553afa30caff2395d0cfdd/ONRGBPkY.jpg" data-mid="141000388" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/936/i/c4579a7e9480ffbf3afb0992951ba4d2a026e8f0e7553afa30caff2395d0cfdd/ONRGBPkY.jpg" /> <img width="772" height="1026" width_o="772" height_o="1026" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/772d27bd3a8ef73e073abd4682c062cc792b6377eb424f188a00d0729ec23abb/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-10.38.23-PM.png" data-mid="141000361" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/772/i/772d27bd3a8ef73e073abd4682c062cc792b6377eb424f188a00d0729ec23abb/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-10.38.23-PM.png" /> https://amykunberger.com/wdypuyp Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:59:36 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/wdypuyp wdypuyp? I know why I pick up my phone. Am I alone in my dissociative habit? I reached out to my Instagram followers to find out. First, it’s important to understand that social media platforms are designed to make us addicted. This is well documented, and over time the level of sophistication of the designed user experience has increased to the point where they can move a button that they want us to tap, knowing that our muscle memory will tap on it before we can even make the decisions with our brains. I know that my thumbs will often go to the apps I waste time on before I even mean to look at them. Sometimes I will rearrange my apps in order to trick my thumbs, but they learn pretty quickly. I posted the question, “Why did you pick up your phone just now?” in my Instagram stories. I theorized that most people probably pick up their phone to do one of two things: something useful, like checking the weather; or something that is a distraction from something else they’re doing. The most interesting part to me were the answers where people were intending to do something else, yet they landed in the Instagram app—probably out of habit. I wonder how much time they spent? I wonder what they were exposed to in that time? I wonder if they ever completed the task for which they originally picked their phone up? Of course, this is just a small snippet of time, and a small subset of answers. How do we focus on doing the task that we set out to do on our phones and then put them down? They’re designed, and designed well, to keep us engaged. <img width="562" height="1353" width_o="562" height_o="1353" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fc7b094bd4b05770ede4808ed9f2003664973aab59d49b7205c514081d556a59/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-9.01.23-PM.png" data-mid="140996791" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/562/i/fc7b094bd4b05770ede4808ed9f2003664973aab59d49b7205c514081d556a59/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-9.01.23-PM.png" /> <img width="1154" height="1150" width_o="1154" height_o="1150" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eaf7d91837090108261132a7c4e79e327712cf88aab594f04d874e95be93d8ac/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-9.03.53-PM.png" data-mid="140996248" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eaf7d91837090108261132a7c4e79e327712cf88aab594f04d874e95be93d8ac/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-9.03.53-PM.png" /> The reasons ranged from “killing time” to "checking the weather" to “bathroom”. I took the reasons people gave me and turned them into buttons. It’s interesting to see them as a group. I wonder if these reasons were visible to others, would we be less apt to give in to this kind of distraction? Would it help us break the habit? Does everyone want to break the habit? If you had to wear your excuses for looking at your phone on your jacket, would you stand by your reasoning? For the buttons, I paired the reasons with vintage photography from a time when this distraction didn’t exist. I am always interested in contrasting the problems technology causes with some visual language of pre-internet. Why did you pick up your phone? <img width="1512" height="2016" width_o="1512" height_o="2016" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b029ed3d2fa0456bafffac909591790d4ce2ea9351b2def476add1d3a836b717/pins.jpg" data-mid="140996251" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b029ed3d2fa0456bafffac909591790d4ce2ea9351b2def476add1d3a836b717/pins.jpg" /> https://amykunberger.com/50-questions Thu, 28 Apr 2022 00:52:48 +0000 amy kunberger https://amykunberger.com/50-questions 50 questions This book was born out of a prompt that asked us to write as many questions as we could. Just questions, no theme was required, but since we were starting to gather content related to our thesis thinking, a lot of our questions were related to our thesis topics in some way. We wrote as many questions as we could; we read each other's questions; we sorted our questions as a group into categories. There were lots of questions about the future of design; questions about working styles; existstential questions like "Does a straw have one hole, or two?" The freedom to just ask away led me to consider questions about the internet, about print, and about my career path and timing. Next, we were each asked to choose our top 50 questions. With those, we were to create a way to house all 50 questions. My top questions were mostly related to social media use, disinformation, and design ethics related to the internet. I decided to pair my questions with computer/technology ads from the 1980s. I replaced the headlines with my questions. The juxtaposition of the outdated images with the questions that mostly didn’t exist at the time is meant to ask the viewer to consider what parts of the past we can revisit in order to solve some of the problems our current technology has caused. I formatted the ads into a booklet, like a magazine, and printed it on newsprint in order to ground the publication in a different, disposable, fleeting time. <img width="2316" height="3088" width_o="2316" height_o="3088" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c5a1cd87821c9886e2ca652947096e94f060e59967ecd5763b37b901d5a4e28/Amy_Kunberger_1.jpg" data-mid="140995778" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2c5a1cd87821c9886e2ca652947096e94f060e59967ecd5763b37b901d5a4e28/Amy_Kunberger_1.jpg" /> <img width="1016" height="1268" width_o="1016" height_o="1268" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8484f8b8bef5b92bf71a0cebf764a08f93c57ad301060dd581eab6756b911cb1/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-8.54.15-PM.png" data-mid="140995737" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8484f8b8bef5b92bf71a0cebf764a08f93c57ad301060dd581eab6756b911cb1/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-8.54.15-PM.png" /> <img width="746" height="974" width_o="746" height_o="974" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/297b34d38ec9df31ad00bf58b961bef65766c54a959691bb792cf335d6725812/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-8.54.57-PM.png" data-mid="140995738" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/746/i/297b34d38ec9df31ad00bf58b961bef65766c54a959691bb792cf335d6725812/Screen-Shot-2022-04-27-at-8.54.57-PM.png" /> <img width="1650" height="2100" width_o="1650" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/37f529ecc7f82e9ebfbc6833f60c9fa0c7b2929a676c6bafccfdcae072333d77/50-questions8.jpg" data-mid="140995776" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/37f529ecc7f82e9ebfbc6833f60c9fa0c7b2929a676c6bafccfdcae072333d77/50-questions8.jpg" /> <img width="2016" height="1512" width_o="2016" height_o="1512" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c91731a020e74e06b2c30d92828bcede71680dcf7b8ff0a00f63b9780d9593bf/50q6.jpg" data-mid="140995777" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c91731a020e74e06b2c30d92828bcede71680dcf7b8ff0a00f63b9780d9593bf/50q6.jpg" />