This assessment required students to select one article from a set of articles that relates to an aspect of their respective lives, identifying how it connects to them and a major theme addressed within the text. Students then needed to design an explicit representation of their selected theme. The audience should be able to understand the message clearly, even without reading the article.

In this preliminary stage, I created a mind-map for three articles I was most interested in detailing the main points and takeaways of each article as well as a possible plan of a visual representation for the final product.

In this stage, I took one of my mind-maps and its respective article and realised a very rough, concept sketch of a possible visual representation for its main theme. I decided to select Article 1, as it was the most interesting to me as it has a focus on the future and the place of technology in it. 

Visually I intended for the concept sketch above to illustrate the path (here, in the literal sense) in which AI could potentially go down in the future, which, ultimately, is up to society as a whole to decide. In the scope of the article, which discusses AI's use in regards to news, this representation reflects the presents a dichotomy between AI's use in either defending or defeating one's 'cognitive safeguards' put in place when new information is being presented.

The left side, which represents what I would deem as a negative outcome (AI defeating one's cognitive safeguards by embedding fake or audience-tailored information in other factually sound articles, for example) would visually be reflected by a dystopian, main street to the left – reminiscent of Times Square in terms of visual interest and light. I imagine bright neon signs with text detailing all the negative things that AI could be used for. Temptation would be a major theme, in that companies for monetary gain would want AI to be programmed for questionable things, which would be reflected by the types of shops depicted on the street as well as attention-grabbing, confrontational advertising and street art.

The right side, in essence would represent the opposite. Whilst not as captivating as the street to its left, it reflects a utopian future for AI and its uses that benefit society and permit individuals to lead happier lives, free of current concerns in the technological space of privacy concerns and large-scale data collection, for example. To represent this visually, the street may reflect a different era, in which these current issues may not yet exist. Rather than a step back in time, the use of this visual metaphor would allow viewers to instantly understand that this street represents order, simplicity, and perhaps AI's rewinding to a more ethical stage, in which the individual benefits from its use.

I began by outlining a rough draft for my suburban street scene. Originally I had been working with the visual metaphor of a 'fork in the path of the road ahead' to illustrate two contrasting avenues that AI could eventually go down. This however warranted a two-point perspective illustration which was proving to be extremely difficult to create in Adobe Illustrator.

Therefore, I changed my original idea for the visual representation to be a single street with two contrasting sides, drawn in single-point perspective. Despite having some pseudo-3D tools available, as it is ultimately not designed for realistic 3D illustration or modelling, the half-completed initial wireframe below took some time to create.

I also began to question how much of the core theme the final version of the wireframe would eventually portray. Given the fact that the more complicated a design gets, the more that could go wrong, I stopped work on the wireframe, on the premise that the main message would likely get buried by all the other visual elements that would have to be added to make the scene look realistic. Also, the sheer amount of work required to achieve such an effect I didn't believe was realistic for the scope or due date of the assessment.   

Instead, I ultimately came up with the draft below, opting for an entirely different design. Rather than portraying the two avenues AI could go down in the future, I decided to portray what an exaggerated, dystopian realisation of AI would look like.

Visually one can observe the large metallic robot arm pressing against the Earth, easily able to warp it out of shape, representing the power of AI and other rapidly-developing, potentially-harmful technologies. There is an overhead light shining down on the scene, possibly depicting that there is more just out of frame – just how much more – the viewer doesn't know. Finally the text (which prompts the user to think about the current situation with AI) appears to have been slashed by a sharp object, with its message helping to create a sense of urgency in the viewer. 

Avenues for improvement in the final version include improving the look of the robot arm (as peers viewers thought the scene was presented from above, looking down at some giant robot/humanoid creature), refining the stars in the background (varying shape and other properties), adding more interconnected lines between regions, and finally small touch ups to make the artwork stand out more, such as refining of gradients, paths and other technical aspects of the illustration.

The final completed image is below. A major change is the shape and visual elements of the arm. I wanted to make the technology seem strong and powerful, and therefore modified the arm to look new, robust and shiny. The Earth has been given a glow, as well as more interconnected networking lines as well as other subtle visual elements. Its shape has also been modified to accentuate the perceived force of the arm. The stars in the background have been refined and subtle colourful gradients have been added to make it more visually striking. Finally the text size has been increased to increase its impact.