How can we influence others for good?

For the majority of Maker 10, we have been working on something very interesting; a podcast series. This actually was 2 projects, but since they connect into each other, I am making it just one.

For the first half of this project, we were basically learning what is a podcast, and how can we start one. Our essential question is “How can we use design and content to influence for good?”  We learned about positive influences and how we could frame a podcast around that idea. We then started learning about what is a podcast, and we started listening to short sections from podcasts. We did this a lot, and while it was helpful, it got boring after a while. We also learned about story telling and finding a target audience.

Now that we knew the philosophy of what is a podcast, we could start to make our own. We simply started by coming up with an idea we wanted to talk about, and I decided to make my podcast about the connection between hip-hop music and contemporary fashion. I wanted to do this for the documentary project last year, but I thought there wouldn’t be a lot I could film. Now that we were just talking and not filming, I could do what I wanted. We started mapping out our ideas by making a vision board. I think my board really shows off the kind of aesthetic or creative thinking behind my podcast.

During the vision board process, I wanted to come up with a name for my podcast, and I decided to name it So Fresh, So Clean, after the song by OutKast.

After that, I started designing some art for my podcast using Canva. I already had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted my logo to look like, so all of the revisions I made were just small details. I was really passionate about this step of the project, and I finished my art before most other people in the class, so I decided to start something that I truly think shows extending quality work. I started an instagram account for my podcast. I’ll admit, I wasn’t the first one to make one, and I certainly wasn’t the last, but I do have the largest. As of writing this, my podcast instagram account @sofreshsocleanpod is at 39 followers. I started the account because I wanted to promote my podcast and also post some cool designs I made about a topic I am really interested in.

The next thing we made was some podcast music in Garageband. At the time, I was really into lofi jazz-rap, and I thought the vibe matched my podcast pretty well, so I used Live Loops to create a beat. I also decided to pay homage to OutKast by sampling their song in my music, which I now use in my trailer and introductions.

By now, we could start making a trailer. I don’t really have a lot to say about it. In my trailer, I give a pretty decent description of my podcast and why I’m making it. On my instagram page, I decided to put some photos together to make a video to go along with my trailer.

 

On May 19, I released my first episode: Kanye West and Yeezy – The Rise and Fall. I went through a pretty standard process for making it: Writing, Recording, Interviewing, Editing, and Publishing. This is one of my few episodes that features an interview, and this one is from Zach, who is doing his podcast about Kanye West, and I did an interview on his podcast as well. I have basically been repeating this process for all of my episodes so far. If I had to choose one as my favourite, I think it would be Episode 3, about A$AP Rocky. I really like this episode, not just because I think its interesting, but because I made some technical improvements in the sound. My first episode had some sound effects, but on the second episode, I added background music to the audio clips. One problem with this is the sound effects are louder than my voice, and when I put background music over the clips, it makes it even quieter, so my podcast can go from barely audible to deafening in a second. The problem is especially bad on episode 2, but I spent a lot of time on episode 3 figuring it out. While it still isn’t perfect, it’s definitely an improvement. Another highlight from an episode was my interview with Landon in episode 4. At the end of the interview, Landon thought it would be silly to say some vulgar and PG-13 language, and I couldn’t include that, so I had the idea to cut out those sentences and replace it with a bleep sound effect. I thought this was pretty funny, and I don’t really have a comedic podcast, so I thought that was good.

We ended up displaying our podcasts at the annual PLP spring exhibition. We combined this project with our PGP project. I wrote more about this in my Finances and Exhibition blog post, so click here to read that. 

To answer the essential question from earlier, design has the potential to shape our world in meaningful ways. By using ethical ideas, user needs, and a focus on positive impact, designers can leverage their skills to influence change for the better.