Journal 3

The artifacts I chose center around Welcome to Night Vale (WTNV), which is a surreal, humorous horror podcast that originally started back in 2012. I will be focusing on the design of the actual podcast itself, their official twitter account, and their distinct logo. The individual podcast episodes are unique compositions that combine surreal humor, a storyline, and highlights of music. They are so unique that I feel like they provide an unusual perspective to what people consider rhetorical. These podcasts are meant not only to entertain, but to make people think about ordinary things in a new way and inspire creativity from them.

                Many other people seem to be using podcasts and tweets, and other similar things, but what interests me most is the idea that some people are going to use things like bottle labels, or odd inanimate objects. I never even considered using things like those. Many people also seem to be trying to relate all of their artifacts together, like using things related to Harry Potter, or Music, or in my case, WTNV.

                WTNV started circulating almost immediately after it came out. Through social media, fans were able to express which episodes were their favorites and for what reasons, and through that, they had quite a bit of power. Their input was able to alter the way it was viewed, like Edbauer suggests in her article. WTNV started simply as an interesting twist on humor and horror, but the fans changed its image to associate it more with the two main characters’ relationship.

                The design of the entire WTNV “universe” is meant to come off as creepy. The logo, with its large eye in the sky overlooking the desert town, is meant to fit with the unsettling surreal horror of the podcast itself. Everything, even down to the tone of the narrator’s voice, is purposefully and carefully thought out to make each episode as surreal as possible. The small attention to detail is something Wysocki

                Since all of these pieces are digital, they have no physical affordance. They could be made physical (The podcasts could be burned onto a CD, and the logo and Tweets could be printed), but that would be more of an inconvenience than if they were left in their original forms. If something were to happen to the power, however, I would be unable to access any part of my project. I could not listen to the podcasts, get online to view the tweets, or pull up anything on my computer.