Matthew Farmer

TLDR is a video automation platform built on Adobe After Effects that takes complex ballot information in the form of a JSON-formatted data file, and outputs it as an engaging 2-3min video guide to a local political ballot measure. Millennials have the lowest voter turnout, despite being the 2nd largest generation of voters, and soon to become the first. Having identified that millennials are largely unsatisfied with their knowledge in local politics, TLDR aims to address the bottlenecks in the political education pipeline. We plan to alleviate voting friction for young adults by providing sharable, eye-catching content, that passively informs viewers on relevant political issues through a medium they already actively use. With several organizations tackling the issue of “Getting out the vote”, TLDR answers the important question: Once people start voting, how will they be prepared to do so?

In this project we wanted to explore cardboard as a material, and so we strayed away from creating a 3D form for forms sake and instead focused on the intricacies of what made cardboard cardboard. This lead to a simplistic cylindrical form but one that I feel is truly unapologetic in the way that it shows off the natural beauty of cardboard. The simplicity of the form allows the viewer to solely focus on the ripples of the corrugation, which are evenly lit due to it being a cylindrical form.

This is a poster aimed at bringing light the many violations of personal privacy and freedoms that have happened in recent years in the United States. The poster is made by highlighting specific letters in an encrypted message to reveal the words “We’re Watching”, illustrating the way such violations have been conducted in post Patriot Act America and NSA surveillance.

Translate Now is an application redesign focused on creating a fast, no-nonsense translation app made for people who want the ability to communicate in a foreign language instantly. The app is stripped to the bare essentials of translation. With the core of the navigation centered around the keyboard, users can instinctively change how they want to input their phrase as well as the output of the translation. This application is the epitome of streamlined utility with considerations such as the keyboard being already up when users opens the app, and so users are able to get in, translate, and get out, with all the inputs at their fingertips. This was the objective for our first project of DESIGN 371: User Interface I. To start this project we took to the App Store to see the competitors in the field. On reviewing the various applications there, I found that many fell short of what I wanted to achieve; often displaying subpar visual design, questionable information architecture, or simply having a lot of extra "fluff" that detracted from the objective of getting a phrase quickly translated. And so I set out to create an application that was the epitome of streamlined translation. I wanted users to get in, translate, and get out, with all the inputs at their fingertips.