Project Description: Platform game maps were originally used in the 1980s for games like Pac-Man and Super Mario. Platform games created geography, characters, and features with pixelated tiles. You will use this retro gaming iconography as a simplified visual language to create a map of “home.” Use the memories and experiences you generated in the “X-page” exercise to imagine the qualities at home. Those qualities will inform the outward appearance of the environment. The landscapes will be based on a grid format, using color and symbols to add the geographic details. Try considering things like social, economic, geological, and cultural qualities.
Materials: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Reflection: I thought this project was a good way to practice drawing things in a simple way while still getting a message across. In my project, I tried to show the presence of gentrification in San Francisco. While it took a while for the class to understand my message, I was still successful in portraying the negative effects of gentrification. In my project, I chose to show three different scenes, the first being the SOMA West Skatepark. I thought that this park is a safe zone from gentrification, a place where mainly locals go skateboarding or just hang out. This park isn’t necessarily polished and perfect, but that’s what makes it so unique. Especially the community that has been built around it of people who just want to have fun and are willing to help others. Muni is also the main transportation that I take around San Francisco and to get to the skatepark from my house I ride the 22 Fillmore. The trip down to the park goes from a very rich neighborhood to a low-income neighborhood very quickly. This is another reason why I decided to use that park. For the second scene, I chose Haight Ashbury because it is a mix of gentrified businesses and very local culture. I think that they coexist in this neighborhood fairly well although the rent for small businesses in the area has exponentially grown. I tried to show this through the tech bro standing outside the house that says foreclosure. The Haight is where a lot of tourists travel to but as well as locals. There is a small DIY skatepark there and a private high school called Urban where many of my friends went. For the last scene, I chose Downtown. This is the area where large companies have offices. A new building just was built there, the Salesforce Tower, which is now the largest tower in the city. Many people complain about it ruining the skyline, many local articles compared it to phallic objects. Overall, I was pleased with how people reacted to it and glad all my work paid off.
