A. Concept
For the final project, I will be working with Taylah on an interactive catcalling website. Catcalling is a social phenomenon in which sexually suggestive remarks are made toward a stranger on the street and is a form of sexual harassment. It is an unfortunately common phenomenon that many will find relatable and we hope to bring light to its nature as an epidemic, especially in large cities like New York City. I figured catcalling, which is invasive in nature, would translate well into a website through the use of different web features, such as popups, deceptive links, and autoplay audio.
B. Sources
One artist of significance in this project is the creators of the “Carbon Budget” by World Resource Institute. This is an example of an infographic that is clear, concise and informative. It presents relevant information in an easily readable format with a color display that is calming for the reader. This relates to the desired format of the website to provide information to the readers about Catcalling in a simple, easy to follow format. This also allows us to manipulate the remainder of the space (next to the infographic) to include distractions.
Another website that is a source of inspiration is that of recording artist Solange, whose site includes minimal text and many photographs. The layout of the website is visually appealing and engrossing, and if we adapt this style, we would then distract the user enough to be startled by an interruption.
https://blackplanet.com/solange/
C. Production
To accomplish this project, we will utilize various media such as audio, video, and other visuals that will engage the user and engross them. Using the alert function on JavaScript, we would interrupt the viewer’s experience on the website. Other interruptions include scroll-triggered audio of actual catcalls, popups that appear multiple times when links are clicked, amongst other things. The website will contain information about catcalling including narratives involving catcalling sourced from the Internet. The webpage will be scroll-centric in that the beginning of the page might be some innocuous, everyday subject that has nothing to do with catcalling, though the user gets interrupted anyway, effectively translating the experience of being catcalled in real life. At the bottom of the site, information and testimonials of people’s catcalling experiences will be included, as well as movie/television clips that depict catcalling.