Egret Jin and Ayaka Shimada Interview Each Other
Egret Jin: What was the inspiration for your piece?
Ayaka Shimada: I guess my inspiration for my piece was just how frustrated I have been with my neighbors who I see partying in large groups without any masks or whatsoever. I also know people who have been frequently going to bars with their friends without any precautions for the virus. My hope for this poster was to illuminate how the pandemic isn’t over and criticize the sheer irresponsibility in partying and reckless socializing.
EJ: I can see that! The text you use emphasizes your annoyance haha. I really enjoyed how you used fluid animation to illustrate the spread of the virus through partying. It’s interesting how both of our posters use fluid animation.
AS: I also loved your poster- I’m assuming it’s a PSA for people to drink more water and avoid sugary drinks? What was your inspiration for this?
EJ: Thanks! My inspiration was pretty simple really — I wanted to focus on an easy topic that most people are familiar with and the idea of drinking water and staying hydrated was the first thing that came to my mind.
AS: What is the background image for this poster and how does it relate to the water theme?
EJ: I was inspired by vaporwave aesthetics for my poster. My original intent was to focus on internet inspired trends–since our posters would be digital I wanted a topic that was wholly digital as well. Vaporwave and even drinking water, interestingly enough, are internet things
AS: What are vaporwave aesthetics?
EJ: It’s an aesthetic !!! It combines early Internet imagery and late 1990s web design with neon-y colors, and tends to be characterized by nostalgic or surrealist topics with popular entertainment and advertising subjects from the past
AS: Super cool! I can definitely see the retro aesthetic in your poster, especially in your choice of colors. The aesthetic also gives me futuristic, space vibes as well- I guess the way the water crushes the can and floats mid-air also gives me space vibes.
EJ: I feel like there’s a lot going on in my poster compared to yours, which is simple and clean contrasted only by the messiness of the virus spilling over everything. Did you intend for that effect when you were designing your poster?
AS: Yeah, so I started off the process with designing a 2D poster of a cocktail drink and a beer garnished with a virus. And in creating this, I was inspired by aesthetic posters of cocktails that had their recipe on the bottom. I wanted to translate the simplicity of my original poster and the posters I was inspired by to keep my message simple: “don’t party during a pandemic!!” I guess the simplicity in my poster is also a parody of the Instagram aesthetics that are trendy right now…
EJ: I can definitely see your poster being shown as an ad or something on social media. Do you think people who look at your animation will immediately understand what it’s about?
AS: I hope so? Perhaps making the cocktail drink a red solo cup or something would have made my messaging explicit, since martini glasses are really associated with partying per se. I guess I chose a martini glass because I think the beauty and luxuriousness of the martini glass juxtapozed with the grotesqueness of the virus and the snot-like fluid gushing out of it. I’m curious- what did you take away from my poster?
EJ: Well, I definitely felt the frustration towards people who are partying irresponsibly in the face of the pandemic. That martini glass conveyed the idea of social events which, like you said, juxtaposes with the grossness of the virus. Actually now that you mention it, the virus really reminds me of snot which makes the idea of it seeping into the drink even more icky.
AS: You mentioned earlier that you were inspired by internet trends, but where do you see your poster being broadcast within the internet? Do you hope your poster will go viral and become an internet trend itself?
EJ: It’s funny you should mention that because I actually had an idea for where I could post this animation while I was making it. There’s a subreddit called r/HydroHomies where I imagine seeing this post do well. I don’t know about it going viral but who knows?
AS: Oh my god I know what that is!! My boyfriend is OBSESSED with that feed and has made me follow it. He actually posts memes on there too. I think you should totally post it on there- I will give you an upvote 🙂 I think the HydroHomies would go wild!
EJ: Haha I definitely was planning on posting it there sometime in the future. I guess we’ll see what happens !!!