For my second Bridge Project, I chose glasses as an object of showing time and growth. As you can read from the article itself, for me, glasses are a way to hide yourself and to be someone else simultaneously.
For the visual aspect for the project, I found myself struggling with an idea, and decided to do a mock-up advertisement for the famous frames of famous people. The work itself was done thorough Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign. Although it seems simple, the project itself took about four hours.
Seeing Through My Glasses by Talia Kohai
There are still memories from before I was first prescribed glasses; quite many actually. Yet, those after, seen through the clear- sometimes smudged- lenses of my glasses always had a different coating, specifically due to social status. My glasses, although providing protection, are an obstacle. While offering a way of hiding, they also stand out.
My eyesight started to worsen when I was 12 years old; a sixth grade student, just before the start of middle school. It is ironic that during that time I was also having social problems: just as any other child, I suffered from shunning, and as my social status decayed, I started to move as far away to the back of the class. As I was sitting at the back row, with the other outcasts of the sixth grade class, losing grip of a shallow reality of social status, I found myself also struggling with seeing what was written on the board.
I remember crying because of the glasses- I never wanted to add anything else to make me feel more of an outcast. It was in the early 2000’s, when the thick frame glasses that are so trendy today, were only worn by elderly men, still stuck in the 70’s, and glasses were a characteristic of what is commonly referred to as a “nerd”. My first pair of glasses were as simple as they could be. I tried to hide them away and I chose a thin half frame, in a color similar to my skin. However, I never knew how much I was missing- how much I needed those glasses- until we drove back home for the first time with my seeing aid. I could finally see all the leaves, every contour and line; they were not blurred shapes of color anymore. I found that the current scenario (alone and “four eyed”) in which I was thrown into provided me with a new outcome of reality; I started to distance myself from the meaningless standards a teenager might have, set by others and herself. I was invisible, yet I could see everything.
I continued to wear these particular pair of glasses for the next two years or so, starting my high school life as a shy and small girl, hiding the fact I wore glasses with a pair that seem to fit the “wallflower” persona I have already made for myself.
As I was getting older and my lens number grew, my parents agreed to let me start use contact lenses instead. I was starting to gain self confidence again, due to the change of people surrounding me. The physical change that I wanted to achieve then, went hand in hand with my ascending social status.
I started wearing contacts daily- I found myself wanting to never wear glasses again; I enjoyed the freedom of putting on sunglasses when the sun blinded me, and enjoyed not seeing the thin frame in the corner of my eyes, one which separates the clear reality form the blurry and unclear speculation of what was happening around me.
Yet, as time went by, and my personal style have evolved, glasses have started to gain popularity; society has become infatuated in the deception of glasses- they have established for themselves a definition of an accessory, although that is not their primary designation.
I have had difficulties with social aspects, but concluded that glasses should not be a reason for me to not achieve the social status I have wanted for myself or condemn the use of glasses because of it. Glasses were not a barrier from the world anymore.
A few years ago I decided to purchase another pair of glasses, a pair completely different from my first. While at first I have wanted to hide my glasses, this time my new pair were a half thick black frame, quite big and visible from far. I continued to wear my contact lenses daily, and only on days in which my eyes were too red, or my retina was too scratched, I decided to put my contact lenses aside, and wore my visible glasses, for all to see. As time went by, I enjoyed not having the restriction of contact lenses- of not having to wake up earlier and make sure I could see; of the fear of having the contacts causing damage to my eyesight. I enjoyed that glasses were no longer an indication of a social status; that by having them, not only am I not considered to be under a certain criteria, but I am actually able to better my appearance with the help of a simple and necessary “accessory”. Yet, even with my new acceptance of the glasses, I choose to put my contact lenses every morning instead. I find that they keep me “safe” from my surroundings- I am less vulnerable without glasses, as if they are still a weakness, and not an aid.
Although I know that glasses do not define me, I find myself wearing them at times when I do not have to be presentable; at times when I am sick, at home, or on the weekends, when I do not intend to meet up with significant acquaintances. I view glasses as a form of comfortability- an easy way out from the hassle of putting on contacts; they are a weakness of mine and I do not want them be my downfall. I prefer the freedom contacts can assure me, yet I cringe every time I open their case. I fear of the issues concerning them- the stories I have heard of contacts causing blindness, and the fear of falling asleep with them. Though my fears of contact lenses’s defects is apparent, contacts offer me today, without any social implications, what my first glasses were able to do back in the 6th grade- to provide me protection; they offer a way for me to showcase only what I want the world to see, and not who I really am.
Initial Ideas.
Advertisement As Inspiration.
Advertisement As Inspiration.
Initial Sketch.
Time-lapse clip of the making of the poster.
The Final Work.
