So for my first project, I decided to use a song by Jordin Sparks called "One Step At A Time." When I listen to this song, though I am completely aware of how cheesy it is, I get inspired in a way. It's one of those songs in which the lyrics remind me that hard times are normal, and that I can get through anything with a little perseverance.
All that being said, a combination of the lyrics and how the song makes me feel helped me design the chorus into this concrete visual text. The most important aspect of the text is the footprints. (Of course it is the typical representation for steps.) I decided to shape them in the form of a hill. I didn't want to make it the form of stairs just because when I listen to this song, I feel as though I can make it over hills and mountains as long as I keep trying.. I don't think it is all about climbing to the top. So that is why the steps represent working up and then getting over the top of the hill.
When it came to the text, I looked at the "ping pong" example and turned the performance idea into something of my own. I used the words and ordered them so that the reader looks at the lines as if they are taking the steps over the hill. You start on one side, at the bottom, and go back and forth over the line of footprints in order to get the full chorus of the song.
So far, what I have mentioned is exactly what I had in my head throughout my planning. But when it came to using Gimp (which I'm not used to at all but unfortunately my Photoshop isn't working anymore so I'm strugglin') I had a hard time trying to figure out how to do everything I wanted to do. The words are pretty plain and I am aware of that, and halfway disappointed. The reason why I say halfway though is because I think the fact that I used grey and black for the main colors of my text, really helped bring out the colorful aspect of the "one step at a time," which is my main line. Also, the lyrics aren't exactly the most colorful, unique, or out of the ordinary, so I think it is almost fitting that it is the way I made it in the end.
So, I guess I have learned a little bit about concrete and visual texts, along with Gimp, and myself. When we first received this project, I felt like I was reading a different language. I had no idea what we were expected to do, or what we could/couldn't do. Then I found out that it is all about what you make it. The possibilities for concrete poetry are endless. I've learned that its important to keep the reader involved aesthetically, as well as visually with bright colors, interesting pictures, etc. It's about the combination of things that turn a simple text, or maybe even complex, into something completely original and interesting for the human eye and brain.. and it's incredibly relieving to finally understand this stuff, and to have created something (even though its rather simple) of my own.