5 replies to this topic

[Dorho]

Ok, so I've got some pretty good skills in the the fields of illustration and graphic design and I've been thinking of different ways to make contributions for the Imminst.

I have pretty mixed feelings about contributing though. The possibilities are endless and I think reaching the mainstream is very feasible, but there are also huge challenges along the way. Let me explain.

Most of us Imminst members have a good idea about what this site is about. I believe I do too (though I remain agnostic), but when I came here I had very little knowledge about this place and the reason for my first visits had to do with the information provided in one specific subforum of Imminst. Now that I have gained some knowledge of different areas of research, all of the information about "Imminsting" is starting to form a very beautiful, organized, and yet interconnected web that makes me see the world from a totally different perspective.

I think the complex nature of Imminst doesn't bend to the simple slogans like "let's end aging" or phrases like "anti-aging" that are used. To be honest, if I had heard someone advertise a site or project or institute using those terms when I had no knowledge about this site, I wouldn't have been interested. The reason is not that the content of the messages in themselves are bad but rather that the culture around us has modified our thinking so that those terms evokes mental connections and images that don't do this project justice. Anti-aging equals L'Oreal's cosmetics in my head at least. "Ending aging" sounds like a cheap Eastern European scam intended to rob people of their money. "Battle against aging" sounds like the title of a poor hard sci-fi story.

I would really like to hear your opinions on this matter, whether you agree with me or not.

I have thought about some tentative ways to approach this problem that I think is very real. Here's what I've got:

-trying to modify the culture around us so that the terms and slogans start evoking better thoughts (very hard, poor resource use and payoff ratio)

-replacing the phrases and slogans with either:
--careful combinations of existing words
or
--newly created words (both of these have the potential of misuse though)

-de-emphasizing words and instead putting emphasis on photographs, images, graphs from scientific studies, models etc. etc.

I think the possibilities are the biggest with the last solution, though a combination of several solutions of the ones I've mentioned and of the ones you come up with is a better idea.

Anyways, does this make sense or do you think I'm just making up a problem where there isn't one?

[brokenportal]

Tell me if this topic is getting at what your talking about:

http://www.longecity...__1#entry335991

Skim through the first 3 pages or more of the art team to get a feel for the topics, and then remember, its probably best to start off simple, get into the swing of things and grow into bigger projects or not, at your leisure, from there. We dont want to burn anybody out. For example, one small project could be done over the course of three months. We are looking for at least one progressive action report on art in the art team topics like yours here per month. So for example, "I sketched out the concept for a graph with some simple pictures that represents this cause, next month Ill begin at least part of it," etc... One of the most important things the team can use at this point is any good pace car. Anybody to keep the flow going, to show people that it is steadily moving along and accumulating successes here and there.

[Dorho]

Tell me if this topic is getting at what your talking about:

http://www.longecity...__1#entry335991

Skim through the first 3 pages or more of the art team to get a feel for the topics, and then remember, its probably best to start off simple, get into the swing of things and grow into bigger projects or not, at your leisure, from there. We dont want to burn anybody out. For example, one small project could be done over the course of three months. We are looking for at least one progressive action report on art in the art team topics like yours here per month. So for example, "I sketched out the concept for a graph with some simple pictures that represents this cause, next month Ill begin at least part of it," etc... One of the most important things the team can use at this point is any good pace car. Anybody to keep the flow going, to show people that it is steadily moving along and accumulating successes here and there.

Yeah, that topic seems very interesting. My bad that I missed it / didin't remember it.

And I'm sorry, I really should look into things more carefully. I actually realised that the "Stop Aging Now" in the box on the left is in fact a name of a book, not a slogan like I previously thought. But I really don't like that box at all, it looks so amateurish that it never lured me into clicking the links contained within it.

I was thinking about changing the graphics of the box as my first thing here, if that's ok. I'll start working and present what I've come up with later.

Edited by Dorho, 17 May 2011 - 08:12 AM.

[brokenportal]

That might work, come up with some concepts and if somebody from the team seconds them then create them. Dont worry about spotting everything, thats part of the reason people like me are here, to help you find this stuff and figure out where stuff is. For example, some key art projects might have been collected someplace in particular, but the forum is replete with things I think youll find engaging. You can also create your own suggestions. Another fertile places is the flyers topic. People create flyers to suggest and if we second them we use them. We can also make some of them official as we take on more volunteers to arrange more pages like that of an official flyers page.

[brokenportal]

What do you think about a banner that helps brand Longecity with a notion like, "Longecity, the new longevity" with elaborations and pictures or whatever it may be that you see fit? Something that just kind of gets people correlating Longecity as a word that goes further than "mere" longevity in scope. We would need this all seconded though.

There is an entire rebranding effort to look out for too that you can get in on if you choose to. Keep an eye out for that. Once the official font and layout is decided on we will need a host of versions. Straight banners, block banners, tall, short, with and with out the tag line, with the logo centered, to the left, etc.

[brokenportal]

What do I have to do to convince you to take on one of these projects? Dig deeply, whatever it is, think of what is preventing you from contributing and then post it here if you would.