For this week’s blog post, I decided to examine Erik Loyer’s and Kevin Pyle’s digital project Totality for Kids”. This project was inspired by McKenzie Wark’s book, and brought a comic book element and interactive interface to the plot line. The book describes post-war Paris, and shows the political radicalism shown during this time leading up to the general strike of May 1968. The digital interface shows protests seen during this time as well as the turmoil faced by Parisians during this time.

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 12.18.00 AM

I really loved how this interface fused both art with a digital interface to create this interactive project. On the interface itself, different quotes, images, and plot captions can be clicked on to further describe Paris during the early 50s. I loved the cartoon aspect that was used throughout the website, and I thought it allowed the creators to set the mood even more through color and their drawings. The colors of black, grey, and red really struck me as a navigated through the project – creating a dark and ominous, jaded mood.

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 12.18.49 AM

I also loved that these cartoons would open up captions that were very heavy lessons and analysis of Wark’s text. The differences between the youthful cartoon and the heavy message behind it I thought was really effective.

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 12.19.41 AM

However, there were also some difficulties and confusions I faced when going through this interface. There was not much content describing what exactly was happening throughout the interface, which made it somewhat difficult to understand. Luckily, there was an editor’s introduction that described Wark’s work briefly, however I was still confused what is book was about.

I wish that there was more of a concrete description about what the interface was aiming to accomplish before I entered it – just so I could appreciate it in its fullest. Also, as I was going through the comics, I felt confused with the captions sometimes and how they all related to one another. I wish overall that there were more descriptions outlining the overall project and how the different aspects related to one another.

Overall, I loved the visuals of the interface, but thought that the content and background could use some improvement.