100 ways to Avoid an Alien Abduction

1-50 

1) Don't hang around with cows
2) Speak fluent French
3) Avoid open spaces
4) Don't be scared
5) Spray them with perfume
6) Get a degree
7) Don't live in the countryside
8) Never go to abduction seminars
9) Don't drive in secluded areas
10) Drink lots of caffeine
11) Become one of tehm
12) Board all windows and doors
13) Avoid visiting crop circles
14) Spend your time with UFO skeptics
15) Provide them with more interesting research materials
16) Sleep with a torch by your side
17) Avoid places where alcohol is consumed
18) Befriend an alien
19) Think happy thoughts
20) Get a government job
21) Exercise more often
22) Don't follow the light
23) Avoid the cliches
24) Lay off the takeaways
25) Wear an alluminium hat
26) Never go into a deep sleep
27) Watch the skies
28) Go into hiding on the 20th March
29) Get a pet cat
30) Play dead
31) Report every UFO you see
32) Don't stand on rooftops
33) Never go to a trailer park
34) Don't talk to strangers
35) Live in a subterranean village
36) Avoid these places #1
37) Build a bunker
38) Create clones of yourself
39) Animals can sense aliens
40) Don't listen to the radio
41) Don't step on bugs
42) Never be alone
43) Avoid creating banners declaring your love for aliens
44) Migrate to Iceland
45) Don't drive through the desert
46) Go for a blood test
47) Don't live on a farm
48) Don't grow your own crops
49) Abduct an alien
50) Start an apocalypse

51-100

51) Avoid Area 51
52) Live in a densely populated area.
53) Reverse engineer a spacecraft.
54) Never dress up as an alien.
55) Don't shower.
56) Aliens hate water.
57) Live in the south during winter.
58) Construct a dummy of yourself.
59) Carry a weapon at all times.
60) Avoid these places (UK) #2
61) Build a fort.
62) Don't trust anyone.
63) Constantly be on the move.
64) Place crystals around your room.
65) Move to another planet.
66) Set up a camera near all forms of entry.
67) Move to the desert.
68) Switch off all electricity.
69) Become nocturnal.
70) Never visit an empty car park.

71) Think bad thoughts about aliens.

72) Avoid these places (USA) #3

73) Eat lots of Kale.

74) Question your friends and family.

75) Never investigate a crash landed meteor.

76) Take out abduction insurance.

77) Stay near a place of sanctuary.

78) Become anonymous.

79) Refuse to eat.

80) Wear a suit.

81) Don't go to Egypt.

82) Avoid making contact with the aliens.

83) Don't use a walkie talkie.

84) Avoid these places (UK) #4

85) Sing.

86) Almost everyone who works in a post office is an alien.

87) Don't buy a mobile home.

88) Play "Indian Love Call" by Slim Whitman.

89) Avoid cleaning your house.

90) Get accepted into MENSA.

91) Never get in a taxi.

92) Keep the heating on.

93) Become a member of the INS division 6.

94) Destroy everything that can be tracked.

95) Learn their language.

96) Believe in aliens.

97) Buy a cargo van.

98) Become a social recluse.

99) Don't mock aliens.

100) Abduct an alien.

Software Workshop - Image Sequence 2

Nesting sequences

UFO Hotspots - USA

The majority of the sightings occured in the North-East of the USA which is surprising as Area 51 (in Nevada) is towards the South-West.

Also, when looking for 'Rachel, Nevada' using Google Maps, I noticed some unusual shapes in the desert (including a KFC logo).

UFO Hotspots - UK

I decided to visualise the aforementioned UFO hotposts on a map. However, I decided to create seperate maps for the UK and the USA as these seemed to be where the majority of sightings occured.

Most of the activity seemed to be in the South-West:

Visual Language - Type & Grid 2

From a newspaper, we were asked to measure 3 examples of text on one page which had varying point and leading sizes using a guide similar to a ruler but specifically designed for type. We were then asked to select a page layout in a magazine to then recreate by re-positioning the images and text in a different composition. We could use the existing grid or create one of our own.

100 UFO Hotspots

To expand my research, I looked at 100 UFO "hotspots". Using various sources, I gathered 100 towns from across the world where there have been a high activity of UFO sightings.

1) Warminster, England

2) Exeter, New Hampshire, USA

3) Rachel, Nevada, USA

4) Gulf Breeze, Florida

5) Nottingham, England

6) Lancashire, England

7) Shropshire, England

8) North Somerset, England

9) Avon, England

10) Broad Haven, Wales

11) Nullabor Plain, Australia

12) Cantanduva, Brazil

13) Formosa, Argentina

14) Monte Grande, Argentina

15) Parana State, Brazil

16) Caracas, Venezuela

17) El Chocca, Argentina

18) Devon, England

19) Bonnybridge, Scotland

20) Colorado, USA

21) Mexico City, Mexico

22) San-Clement, Chile

23) Wycliffe Well, Australia

24) Warren, Rhode Island, USA

25) Anza Valley, California

26) Corydon, Indiana, USA

27) Elk River, Minnesota, USA

28) Lincolnton, North Carolina, USA

29) Pine Bush, New York, USA

30) North Bergen, New Jersey, USA

31) Portland, Oregon, USA

32) Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA

33) Clio, Michigan, USA

34) Owensville, Ohio, USA

35) Havelock, North Carolina. USA

36) Ligonier, Indiana, USA

37) Swansea, Wales

38) Leeds, England

39) Boroughbridge, England

40) Clay, Arizona, USA

41) Monroe, Florida, USA

42) Ottawa - Kansas, USA

43) Ellis - Kansas, USA

44) Hawick - Scotland

45) South Molton, England

46) Kingswinford, England

47) Aberdeen, Scotland

48) Gallia, Ohio, USA

49) Potter. Pennsylvania, USA

50) Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, USA

51) Childress, Texas, USA

52) Lamar, Texas, USA

53) Donley, Texas, USA

54) Hockley, Texas, USA

55) Nottingham, England

56) Hereford, England

57) Dalnegorsk, Russia

58) Fatima, Portugal

59) Hopeh, China

60) San Miguel, Argentina

61) Cussac, France

62) Ulan Bator, Mongolia

63) Canary Islands, Spain

64) Emilcin, Poland

65) Victoria, Australia

66) Ans, Belgium

67) Wuchang, China

68) Varginha, Brazil

69) Kaliningrad, Russia

70) Bangor, Northern Ireland

71) Kodiak, Alaska, USA

72) Larnaca, Cyprus

73) Istanbul, Turkey

74) Zagreb, Croatia

75) Ural, Russia

76) Ankara, Turkey

77) Ngunguru, New Zealand

78) Chelsea, New York, USA

79) Isfahan, Iran

80) Finnsnes, Norway

81) Tbilisi, Georgia

82) Tallinn, Estonia

83) Minsk, Belarus

84) Sedona, Arizona, USA

85) Kaikoura, New Zealand

86) Pretoria, South Africa

87) Warden, South Africa

88) Kirkuk, Iraq

89) Turin, Italy

90) Ulan Bator, Mongolia

91) Dona Ana, New Mexico, USA

92) Pettis, Missouri, USA

93) Morgan, Missouri, USA

94) York, England

95) Hampshire, England

96) Dagenham, England

97) Bloomington, Indiana

98) Zhejiang, China

99) Valensole, France

100) Washington, USA

The Anatomy of a Book

PART 1 - Collect, Categorise, Communicate

Leaves - Individual sheets wtihin a bound book
Pages - Leaves have a front and back, each referred to as a page
Page spreads - When bound together, the right (recto) and the left (verso) page are centered on a gutter where they are bound together at the spine
Perfect bound - Where pages have an equal aspect ratio and size

When designing a book, you need to think how individual pages with with one another.

Imposition - Precise arrangement of multiple pages on a large sheet of paper. When the print is folded, bound and guillotined, each element of the document is correctly positioned
Pagination - Dividing and numbering documents into pages. They can include other attributes such as columns, margins, headers and footers.

Types of binding include:

Perfect, coil, plastic, multi-binding, velo and thesis, some of which are illustrated below:

The aspect ratio of a page determines whether it will be portrait or landscape. Portrait has an aspect ratio of 1:2 (width to height) whereas landscape is the opposite. The ratio is the proportion of measurements.

For economic and efficiency reasons, a large sheet will be used to print multiple pages. For example, an A2 sheet will fit 32 pages at around A5 (though this will be reduced once guillotined and bounded etc).

As you can see, the numbers seem to be in a spontaneous order but when folded, cut and bound, they will produce a book where the pages are sequential.

PART 2 - Content, Layout, Format


How do you engage with a consumer/recipient/user/visitor

Statistical visualisation
- Building comparisons
- Information delivery
- How do you control what information is received
- Use of colour is vital
- Fact, infomation and context

There is an endless possibility of formats - not just through binding but materials, structure, size etc. In some way, the book may drive the idea and not the other way around.

Software Workshop - Image sequence

Using a series of sequential images, we created a film using the QuickTime in built feature. Using the 'Actions' and 'Automate' feature in Photoshop, we were able to efficiently re-size and edit multiple images in quick succession. Using QuickTime, I then linked these images in an animation format at various speeds - 12 fps being the most effective.

Here are the two videos, one using the original images and another with a gradient overlay.

Research Presentation

Collection 100 - Possible Ideas

1) Flipbook consisting of 100 images

This could be, for example, how to create a crop circle, with an animation showing the process from start to finish and the implements you'll need. I found an article online where the user described how to create your own home made flipbook using an existing video and post-processing through After Effects.

This would be a good idea but I'm not too sure what the video would explain/show or even how I could relate it to my theme of UFO's and aliens. If I were to go ahead with this idea, I would probably create a computer generated animation.

2) 'How to avoid an alien abduction' kit

I thought of this idea after seeing a handy survival kit in a compact, sardine can (images). It contains all the necessary equipment to survive the wilderness.This kit, however, would contain all the tools along with any tips or tricks to avoid an alien abduction. Although a tongue-in-cheek product, I will be designing the contents alongside the packaging itself.

My inspiration for the packaging comes from the following - here the contents are organised in a clear and concise way with several inserts each fitting the contents perfectly.

UFO Reports & Hotspots

Many UFO reports are located within the same area therefore resulting in 'UFO Hotspots'. These areas of high 'alien activity' are where most 'extraterrestrial experts' go to collect findings.

http://www.burlingtonnews.net/hotspots.html

Map provided by J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, Illinois
Map Shows Density of UFO Reports for Each State

However, this map is not in direct correlation with the following:

http://www.openminds.tv/ufo-trends/

As you can see, the first map shows the highest activity in the west whereas this is the opposite for the one above where most are reported in the east. This may be because the studies were performed in different years or it may be completely biased. 

http://www.openminds.tv/ufo-trends/

UFO reports from 20 towns across America have been categorised by the number of sightings reported alongside the percentage of sightings per population. As you can see, the percentage per population is miniscule and makes you wonder whether these sightings are true or simply a hoax. 

http://www.virginmedia.com/digital/science/ufo-sightings.php

These are the UFO 'hotspots' across the UK. They are categorised by the number of UFO sightings per county since 1961; however, 34 in West Yorkshire, for example, the highest activity on the map, is such a small number of reports in a total of 50 years.

Questionnaire & Findings Statistics

Using the feedback from my questionnaire, I created a few pie charts to represent this data. (The middle should be in reverse - the majority infact said no).

Also, from my research, I found the National UFO Reporting Society (http://www.nuforc.org/) which lists every UFO report, dating back to the early 1900's (even the odd sighting earlier on). Rather than listing this data as research, I wanted to clearly show a comparison between the years, as you can see below. However, they documented the sightings per month therefore I focused on the last 10 years primarily.

From this same website, I found UFO sightings categorised by shape or appearance. However, this was also listed per month therefore I decided to focus one particular month in particular. The highest amount of UFO sightings was in July 2010 therefore I used this as the basis of my data representation.

I categorised them into the following: Circle, triangle, fireball, oval, light, sphere and unknown. However, there were a few other shapes but due to the low amount of similar sightings, I decided to exclude these.

However, I then found every single UFO report they have received categorised by these shapes so I decided to represent these through pictograms also.

Visual Language - Type & Grid

Make up of type

Components
Baseline
X-height (height of a lower case x)
Counter
Bowl
Ascender/descender
Stem
Point size etc

Weights and sizes
Light
Regular
Medium
Bold
Extra Bold etc

Styles
Condensed
Extended
Script etc

A ligature is when a couplet of letters become a single glyph

Body size is measured from the ascender to the descender

10pt lettering with 4pt leading = 14pt linefeed also known as 10/14 pt
- Same as 14pt baseline to baseline
10pt solid = no leading

1 Pica = 12 points. This makes the size of a point approximately 0.35mm. A pica is derived from the width of the capital "M" in the currently used typeface and defines the proportion of the letter width and height with respect to the point size of the current font.

For example, a 20pt body indented by 1em will be indented by the same width as a 20pt letter 'M' of that typeface.

Halation is the effect of white (or light) spreading against a dark background. This can impair the legibility of white text on black therefore the tracking is usually altered so the black ink does not impair the readability of the text.

This is an example of a DPS I created in my national diploma course using a 7 column grid: