Photoshop Final

Place:  Franklin Mi.

Setting: Franklin Cider Mill

Issue/Problem: We live in a world where things are constantly changing. However, the Cider Mill is almost 200 years old and has changed very little in the last 40 years. How long will it be able to remain the way it is now before something forces it to change and it loses what makes it special.

Relevance: Visiting families enjoy feeding ducks and eating delicious donuts and drinking cider while trying to not get stung or buy too many decorations; all as part of the beginning of fall.

Goal: To represent the elements that make a visit to the mill special both in a way that shows both how it is in reality and how it seems in memories. 

Introduction

My place is a very very old cider mill. It was built in 1837 and it shows.  For at least 40 years or so it’s been a major attraction in the area I lived in. It’s filled with people of all ages from the day it opens on labor day weekend till it closes on thanksgiving. Since I’ve been alive, it’s hardly changed. Everyone goes for the same things:to feed ducks, eat donuts and drink cider. The Cider Mill is the same, every year for 4 months. I’m not sure for how much longer it will stay the way it is, but for now it’s still pretty perfect.  

Back of postcard:

Postcard 1: Repitition

The first postcards focuses on repetition. While almost all elements of the postcard repeat in some fashion, the most obvious is the plastic apple and bug that form the border of the image. This serves not to just call attention to what happens inside the border but also bring as much information about the Cider Mill as possible without having the actual mill featured. The truth is that even though the location is “The cider mill” the mill itself is not the focal point of any visit. After a brief moment spent inside the mill, families immediately return outside to sit along the side of the small river and feed the ducks, play in the leaves and dodge the rouge bees; all elements featured in the postcard.

The plastic apple and bees represent the food that attract people with the acknowledgement that bees are the trade off that comes with trying to enjoy your food outdoors. The ducks and leaves are fixtures of the location and season. I added texture to the water to show the impressionistic feeling of early memories. Many people who go to the Cider Mill start going at a very early when the ability to form memories is still new and so the memories are more abstracted.

Postcard 2: Transformation

The second post card uses distorted colors and features to show how the mill is a location that exists in it’s own world but it also exists consistently. The door to the mill has space behind it to communicate the small level of mystery that comes with the mill and the apple has changed from red to blue and green. It shows how the food is both special and exists only in this location. The floating licence plates that say “tradition” add to the idea that every fall people are eager to return to the mill as an essential part of their fall experience.

postcard 3: text

The 3rd post card is a photo of a tent outdoors that sells all kinds of fall accessories and decorations. The top of the tent has the words “apples” and “cider” across it to show that while people may come for the mill to get many things they fall under the tent created by the food. The box at the front says “autumn arrives” because that’s what the mill itself represents, a changing of seasons.

Concept map: