Tiffany Hale: Personal Pargarph

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Tiffany Hale, and I am in my third year as a graphic design student at Rutgers University. I was born in northern New Jersey, and was raised in suburban south Jersey. Professionally, I consider myself a serious student. I look forward to taking the tools from my first two years to truly delve into the possibilities of visual communication through graphic media. My curiosity has led me to become increasingly interested in literature, too. Art and art history are essential to my education as a designer. Feminism has become a personal interest through exposure to its principles in social media. I once read, on Tumblr, a quote that has been credited to both Marie Shear and Rebecca West: "Feminism is the radial notion that women are people". The quote always stuck with me as a designer because, essentially, design is purposeless without people. I've always considered myself a humanist–someone who believes in the basic human right to live your life as you please with fairness from other humans and a protection of your own rights. Human beings, the audience, those whom design serves, not only give design meaning, but give it definition. If the theoretical woman as a person is a radical idea, then is design tailored toward her tastes radica, tool? Is it pointless? I also enjoy watching youtube videos that are both fun, and socially educational. They influence how I approach life in general, but it also helps me consider my audience more accurately when I discuss history. One of my favorite Youtube vloggers featured this video about a famous woman whose legacy was attacked in a parody. I look forward to reviewing and developing ideas about the visual communication we receive about women in this semester.

This comic from illustrator Emmy Cicierega of http://emmyc.tumblr.com/ satirizes a popular song, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. Obviously boys can have fun too, but are often pressured into upholding the gendered stereotypes that discourage lighthearted fun. It's small hokey pieces like this that inspired my casual interest in feminism.