My name is Juliana Rattin and I am from Grayslake, Illinois. I am currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee completing a BA in Digital Arts and Culture with a minor in Design. I love anything creative – from painting to sculpture to film. I grew up in an environment where my creativity was constantly being encouraged. If I ever got an idea my family was always around to help me execute my vision. When I am not creating you can find me outside either rollerblading or playing catch. . As well as growing up in a creative family, I was also encouraged to play sports and grew up playing a bunch of different ones like softball, soccer, basketball and volleyball.

I probably looked at almost every school in the Midwest and the majors they offered when I stumbled upon the DAC program. At first was a bit hesitant about going into digital arts because I had never even attempted it before and the fear of loss of physical manipulation of my projects. However, I began talking with family members who work in the digital realm. They said that I didn’t have to give it up but incorporate my analog drawings into my design process. Before DAC, I have never even heard of an interdisciplinary major before, but the opportunity to have such a versatile major excited me. Instead of having to choose one school the interdisciplinary major would allow me to take class in three colleges: School of Information Studies, Peck School of the Arts, and College of Letters and Science. I visited the University and discussed the major with an advisor and from then on I was sold.

From my first day in class at 51ÁÔĆć, I have been trying to soak up as much information as I can. I started with learning the Adobe Creative Suite. After learning how to work with Adobe products I began to learn web design working with HTML, CSS, and WordPress. It is amazing to think that less than 2 years ago I knew nothing about digital arts and now I can’t get enough of it.

The Creative Process

At first was a bit hesitant about going into digital arts because I had never even attempted it before and the fear of loss of physical manipulation of my projects. However, I began talking with family members who work in the digital realm. They said that I didn’t have to give it up but incorporate my analog drawings into my design process.

Before I began designing any project, I start with research. In the case of the airport tag, I looked at images of [Cairo], what it was known for, common shapes, etc. Following my research, I start by sketching on paper. Any ideas that come to mind I get on paper. I first started by focusing on the wordmark. I tested out different fonts, thickness, and letter positions to express the essence of the city (1).

I then get feedback and choose my top 3 designs and move them into Adobe Illustrator. Once working digitally, I made tons of different versions testing out different spaces and expanding on my original design (2).

I then chose my favorite design and made more refinements (3). After I have my completed wordmark I begin work on the airport tag. I originally took colors directly from hieroglyphics however when I printed it out the colors looked different. I went back to the drawing board and used the computer color book to select the colors I wanted. Lastly, I aligned my wordmark on the tag and made the final adjustments (4).

I failed a lot in the beginning. I was more focused on the letters themselves then showing the location through the typography. When I showed my designs to others they helped me realize that I need to look at the project from a new angle that ultimately pushed me in the right direction. I am really proud of the improvements I was able to make from my original design. I learned to adapt to issues I was facing which ultimately worked in my favor in the end.

Thoughts About DAC

DAC is such a unique major full of like-minded creative people. The fact that everyone in the major has such diverse interests makes the experience all the better. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I applied for the DAC program and, to be honest, I couldn’t even describe what it was. The more time I got to spend in the classes and work my professors the more my voice as an artist began to appear. DAC has helped me to where I am today and for that, I am truly grateful.

To someone new to DAC I’d say, do not be afraid to experiment. Any idea you may have, write it down. An idea that you had years ago might be exactly as you need. It is important that it takes time to learn these skills and you will continue to learn every day. You will hit roadblocks and question your work but continue to push through. Don’t be afraid to start over and try a new direction because it may be all it takes for you to make your next great work. Take this opportunity to take a wide range of classes. It is because of the DAC program that I was about to get experience in graphic design, coding as well as cultural classes helped me become more well-rounded overall. By learning about key cultural milestones and different digital platforms work it allows you to know how to best create your work. DAC is truly a unique and personalized experience that I would highly recommend.

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For as long as I can remember sports has always been a part of my life, my parents were collegiate athletes, I was a multi-sport athlete for most of my life. It wasn’t until late middle school that I started to have an interest in computer, gaming, music, and other subjects. After sophomore year of high school, I realized I did not have much time in the sports world left (knowing that coaches did not want an athlete that wore glasses on their teams), I had to find a hobby that I can get a job with.

I was not a fan of the main subjects in school (math, science, English etc.) and I never really explored colleges that had majors with paths that I found an interest in, I applied to college that were in state and had some options that I found interesting. I came to UW-Milwaukee because I was able to land a job and my connection in sports allowed me to reconnect with old teammates as the student manager of the men’s soccer team here. I felt that I the job would come with great work experience and let me still connect with the game of soccer, working with the team helped me figure out my skills in the workplace.

I did not come right away but after a while working with the team and talking with my advisor, I was able to come across the Digital Arts and Culture program. I was intending on going into the Film program at 51ÁÔĆć but decided that Film was not the right program for me as I was interested more in making short comedic videos and reviewing films then traditional filmmaking. I maintained an interest in film by making film studies my minor but decided that DAC (Digital Arts and Culture) was the program for me.

I still do not have a set definition or way of describing the program, but I would say it’s a program for people who want to create videos, art, or other forms of media. Knowing that there are many ways of creating media the program teaches students basic ways to do so and additionally you will always have to learn new ways of making media and that school is there to prepare you how either find ways to explore your strengths. The program helps people find their strength and helps them find careers or jobs that could allow people to create media and hopefully find a job they feel comfortable doing.

The program helped me figure out my strength in camera work, video editing, media writing, and other design work. I was able to find an internship that give me an insight into possible jobs that can be achievable with the skills I have. I do not have a set dream job I want to achieve but I rather want to find a job that I can enjoy the work I put into it. I was able to expand my hobbies and hope that in my last semesters at school I can produce some projects that I am proud of and the work I put into these pieces ready me for life after college.

Some projects that I am working on right now are animations for local sports team I work with over the summer, the meaning behinds these animations fit simply with the sports they are for but the creating of the animations and finding out how other people make them to me goes a long way in expanding on projects that people publish and how I can put my own mark or spin on the projects.

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My name is Bethany Deyo. I was born and raised in Baraboo, Wisconsin and spent my entire lifetime living there up until 3 years ago when I moved to Milwaukee for school. Some of my interests include, music, film, tennis, biking, video games, art, and podcasts.

My creative/technical background is largely music-based. I came to UW-Milwaukee as a Music major initially, double majoring in both Composition & Technology and Saxophone Performance. I had played saxophone and guitar since I was around nine years old and had been very active in the music scene in middle school and high school, so it made sense to me to continue pursuing my passions into higher education.

I studied as a Music major for around a year and a half and started to feel a disconnect between my passion for music and music performance. I felt like I was lacking academic stimuli and interests in other course programs that I wasn’t able to get with the program I was in and I really wanted a degree program that was more interdisciplinary and allowed for me to essentially study various things rather than one subject. That’s how I ended up at DAC. I really enjoy learning about media and culture and already had a passion for music as well as the arts, so I thought it fit quite well. Now I’m a double major in DAC and Media Studies!

I really like DAC because no one person is in the program for the same exact reason; everyone has a different preferred medium, everyone has different skillsets, everyone is working toward applying their skills in different ways.

The central direction of my creative work revolves around audio and sound design. I create sound as a form of music as well as a form of art. Working in sound design this last year especially, I have found a lot of joy in working collaboratively with dancers. It is surreal to take an auditory experience and see it being physically transformed by dancers through the choreography they put to the music and sound. I also find a lot of joy in creating sound art because it’s meant to be listened to in a more “non-traditional” way compared to music one might hear on the radio. Sound art has the ability to be more experimental and avant-garde in the way it’s created, which is the part of the process I find myself most interested in. I have made a lot of my best work in applying my academic knowledge of music but also deconstructing my academic knowledge of music.

I am currently in the process of recording my capstone project onto cassette tapes. My project, Ephemeral, involved creating five 1:30-2:30 beats on Ableton, with the final portion of my project being a tangible artifact of the audio I had created. The length and amount of audio I made was restricted by the length of cassette tapes I had bought for the project, which presented its own set of challenges in what I produced. Usually I do not constrict myself so heavily on the length of my projects and allow whatever I make to flow organically in its length and composition, so I enjoyed the challenge of having a cut-off point for the total audio length.

I see myself taking these experiences and skills and hopefully working with audio in some form in the future! Whether that be audio/radio journalism, sound design, making music; anything would really make me happy as long as I get to keep actively using my skillsets.

If I could tell a beginner anything about creative practice and the things about the nature/structure of DAC that allowed me to develop my practice, I would tell them not to be afraid to explore different mediums and not to compare their work to everyone else’s. I really like DAC because no one person is in the program for the same exact reason; everyone has a different preferred medium, everyone has different skillsets, everyone is working toward applying their skills in different ways. It makes for a really friendly and collaborative environment.

·ˇ»ĺľ±łŮ:Ěýis now available on Bandcamp!

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My name is Jack Feltes and I am from Brookfield, Wisconsin. I am currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee pursuing a BA in Digital Arts and Culture with a minor in Studio Art. The DAC major has been an eye-opening dive into a variety of mediums and disciplines. In my free time I try and devote my time to things that add value in my life, it is rare for me to lay around and binge Netflix. I try to run and read every day, I find that these habits free my mind and encourage growth. Additionally, I love camping and being outdoors. When I was younger the only type of vacation my parents took us on was camping in northern Wisconsin. Growing up with an emphasis on the outdoors, I have grown to appreciate the serenity and power that comes from being outside.

I arrived on the DAC major almost by accident. I came to school undecided and after a few years I decided I wanted to go into the arts, specifically printmaking. I quickly learned that was not the path for me, it had far too much structure and I did not enjoy the environment. This is when I had to figure my life out: I knew I loved the arts, but I have too many interests to focus on one medium. Additionally, I enjoy writing, advertising, and communication – things that I would never be able to focus on in the fine arts world. This is when I looked into Digital Arts and Culture. The name is what interested me at first but, as I started taking classes, I realized that DAC was a great fit for me. I think it comes down to the fact that I get bored doing the same thing over and over. DAC gives me the ability to build a variety of skills. I’ve taken courses on social media writing, publication layout, social media graphics, digital communication, and advertising strategies. DAC molded me into a multidisciplinary creative expert, with a diverse arsenal of skills and an endless desire to keep learning.

I am drawn to the tangible;
I find so much power in a physical product.

The central direction of my creative work comes from a desire to combine different forms. Because of this, I would say that I am especially drawn to general graphic design. I look at design as a problem that I need to solve. When solving this problem, I can use my arsenal of skills to create something totally original. There is something special about using type, color, graphics, and photos to solve a creative problem. With this in mind, it would only make sense that I take a great deal of influence from magazines. I look at a magazine as the pinnacle of design, creators are required to combine text, color, photos, and illustrations. The world of magazine layout is interesting, regardless of audience or subject matter, the creativity and design expertise is astounding. When I need inspiration I’ll page through Vice, National Geographic, and Life magazines. My creative direction is constantly evolving, but I know I will always love solving the problem of design.

I am currently working on a magazine style resume that showcases a variety of my creative works. The idea of the personal magazine is to create a hybrid resume, one that showcases my work but also highlights professional work and education. Once the publication is printed, I could use it during job interviews, showcasing my design skills as well as my creativity. Additionally, I was inspired to improve my publication layout skills. I hope someday to be in a role where I will be involved with publication layout as a profession. I am drawn to the tangible; I find so much power in a physical product. This magazine is the pinnacle of my creative work so far, pushing my digital and analog skills to their limits.

I would tell someone who is a beginner in the DAC program to value every class they take. The amazing part of DAC is the diversity, this is what allows you to figure out what you enjoy and how you want to use it. I would tell a DAC beginner to try and take a broad range of classes, you never know what will resonate with you. DAC is truly the ideal program for someone who wants to learn a lot and diversify their skillset. DAC is a major that gives you an immense amount of opportunity, you need to use that opportunity to your advantage. What makes DAC different is your ability to learn so much, on so many different subjects, this is something that you won’t get with any other major. I believe that DAC is for the people who have limitless creative energy, this is energy that goes beyond a particular discipline, energy that pushes you to work and learn a variety of tangible skills. If you are the kind of person that thrives in an environment that allows you to push your limits and learn, then DAC is for you.

All images are the works of Jack Feltes.

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I grew up in the Milwaukee area and have been a creative person just about my entire life. I started playing piano when I was four and a handful of years later started to play the cello. A few years after cello I started to teach myself bass guitar and electric guitar followed a few years after that. My interest with music mainly revolves around hard rock and metal and making video game metal covers on YouTube. I also enjoy gaming and might potentially look at getting into YouTube Let’s Plays. Creatively, I come from a music background. I currently play guitar, bass, keyboard, and can also do drum programming and produce music with recording software.

From a music standpoint, metal is my biggest influence by far. I do write more chill pieces every now and then, but they still have a darker and melodic vibe to them, even if the piece is just clean guitar and piano. The two biggest forms of media I’m drawn to are Spotify and YouTube. Spotify really allows me to discover more underground artists and YouTube is a large influence for me more so with gaming and YouTube Let’s Playing.

One of my most recent songs is a from the Animal Crossing series. It represents what I can do by taking someone else’s work and making it more into my own version as if I had written it.

When I do something such as a video game cover, I go through a few steps. First, I learn the main melody on guitar and/or piano. Then, I figure out what I want the rhythm guitar and bass parts will be. After this, I program the drums (note by note) and then I begin to record my parts. Afterwards, it is on to editing, mixing, and then mastering. .

What I found to be the most satisfying is seeing how everything comes together at the end. Sometimes the process can be tedious, but the result is always worth it. I find myself sometimes procrastinating during parts of the recording process like editing and mixing because it is very detail oriented. However, it is important not to overlook the detail-oriented parts because that can affect your outcome. Something I found frustrating about making this was how the drums sound. They don’t sound bad but compared to my new drum software with my new recording setup, the sound does not even compare to what I can do now.

What is great about DAC is that the program helps you realize how many different components there are to creative practice and being aware about how flexible and adaptive you should be.

With music, it is hard sometimes to determine what would be considered a #fail. Every now and then I do have a “happy accident” that leads to me making something better for the song in the long run, but this track was relatively straightforward and I did not experience any mistakes.

I arrived at DAC in the later portion of my college career after not being completely satisfied with the two previous majors I was a part of. What I like about DAC is how you can build your major to fit your preferences in terms of what classes you can take. I also like how most of the classes for the DAC program are more project-based compared to a more traditional test-based course.

I would tell a beginner what to keep in mind about creative practice is to know about multiple components regarding whatever creative endeavor you are into. For example, I put a lot of my creative focus into music. I make sure I go beyond learning the basic things about my instruments and performing to learning about the business side, as well as recording. You do not really have to be a master at every category but being knowledgeable and adaptable is important in this day and age. I am sure there are musicians that are very frustrated with COVID-19 right now because it inhibits them to play shows, but someone like myself does not feel as frustrated since I have a whole self-recording side of me I can focus on right now instead. What is great about DAC is that the program helps you realize how many different components there are to creative practice and being aware about how flexible and adaptive you should be.

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My name is William Barnes, I live in West Bend, Wisconsin, and I play an abhorrent amount of video games.ĚýĚý

I have some technical background in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere, and am currently working on Movie Studio 16.ĚýI have some experience with most major social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.ĚýThe reason I chose to be in the DAC program is because I had no idea what I was doing when picking a major. I wanted to do something with art, and I saw this as an option, so I choose it. Now that I know more about it, I’m glad I chose it. The people I met are fun and interesting, all with their own passions and talents.Ěý

My creative work is focused on YouTube. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, and I love the idea of making videos for the internet. I mostly want to make video game content, like Let’s Plays, since those videos are what made me want to become a YouTuber in the first place, and I love playing video games.Ěý

Something I’m currently working on is the , which is getting the “Knight’s Honor” achievement in Dark Souls Remastered. This is a sort of standard video that’s easy to make since it only really requires me to record footage of the game and commentate over it, and it’s much like the videos I watched as a kid that influenced me into wanting to make YouTube videos. As this is the second of many videos I’m going to make, I hope that someday I can get a following on YouTube and maybe make money from it.ĚýĚý

I only have two videos right now, one is the first part of the Dark Souls let’s play, and the second is a more… random video. I got the inspiration to make this from another video I saw that was a bunch of clips from a TV show, where the host asks seemingly random questions over and over.ĚýI thought it was hilarious, and late at night thought it would be fun to make my own version of it, with my own questions and statements. It started off with me just recording myself asking questions, but I hit a sort of block while doing so. I had all these ideas before hand about what to say, but in the moment, I couldn’t think of much. I ended up with 10 minutes of footage, which after cutting out most of the pauses, I had about 5 minutes of usable stuff.ĚýThere was some of the usable footage I felt I should cut as well, some things I felt didn’t work in the video. I am proud how it came out, there were some good jokes in there, and the way I arranged the clips was satisfying to me. The experience was good, for splicing clips and rearranging them, and thinking about the order they should go in. It’ll help with future videos when I think about how all the footage I collect should be arranged for certain narratives.Ěý

For people starting into DAC, creative practice is whatever you need it to be. If it’s sitting in a quiet room with a pen and paper, then do it. If it’s pacing the house talking to yourself, do it. If it’s shredding guitar at max volumeĚýuntil your ears start ringing, do it.ĚýThe creative process is yours to control, and no one can tell you what you should do. DAC can help develop your creative process. I’ve discovered mine through it. I always had trouble getting started on things, especially the YouTube channel I am now working on, before I was in DAC. The class forcing me to make something for it helped push me to discover what I needed to start my creative process.Ěý

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7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

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Thanks to a generous grant from theĚýĚý(JGS), Imagining America (IA) invites publicly engaged students of photography or digital media fromĚýĚýto apply for a tuition award and to join a national working group of students.The goal of the IA/JGS FellowsĚýProgram is to elevate photography and digital media as a pathway for students to pursue their careers and make a difference in their communities.

Criteria includes:

• Financial need
• Artistic merit
• Quality of community-engaged practice

The 2016-17 JGS Fellows will receive tuition scholarships of $2,000 each and will commit to engaging in a yearlong learning exchange that will result in a collaborative media project. Fellows will be invited to participate in theĚý, October 6-8, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and will be eligible for a limited number of travel stipends to attend the conference.

Deadline is May 16, 2016

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