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Stephanie Rhiannon Freel

English 108
December 12, 2010

Project #1 Reflection

I actually got far more out of this project than I expected to. Initially, I figured this would be a
very boring project to do: while I enjoy doing the research for profiles, compiling it all is the part I
usually find rather tiresome. It didn't help dispel my misconceptions of the project that we were limited
to pop culture figures, since I really am not particularly concerned with pop culture (or so I thought). I
don't even entirely recall what inspired me to write the profile about Lady Gaga—I think I may have
been listening to “The Fame” when it suddenly clicked what the song was actually talking about, and I
just knew that she was who I was going to write about. I'm actually quite glad I picked her to write
about. In the end, I think that the profile I wrote would not have been nearly as interesting if I had
picked a different subject to write on.
Actually writing the profile much more fun than I expected. At the start of this project I had the
idea that, since profiles are almost entirely based in fact, all the profile had to be was an effectively-
written regurgitation of my research. At its root, that is what a profile is. That is not, however, all that a
good profile is. Good profiles don't just tell you who the subject is—they show you. They let you get to
know the subject without ever actually meeting them. It is more important for a profile to project the
personality of the individual than the facts about them. You can't just explain to them what your subject
is like. You have to make them feel it. That part actually takes some creativity, which I was delighted to
realize once I finished most of my research and moved onto actually writing. My subject in particular
required even more of this creativity since Lady Gaga is very creative individual herself.
I combined several methods to try and best convey Lady Gaga to the audience. One of the first
things a reader will likely notice about the profile is the color scheme—it is almost completely the
opposite of the normal black-text-on-white-page, with some splashes of red thrown in. This color
scheme was actually taken directly from Lady Gaga's official website as well as the lyrics booklet
included with her most recent album, “The Fame Monster.” At first consideration of the subject, it is
actually quite a simplistic color scheme. I feel it fits though. The white-on-black with touches of red is
a very stark color scheme and is totally opposite of the norm, which is sort of the impression one gets
when looking at Lady Gaga herself. Her fashion is immediately noticeable, sticking out from
everything else around her, and one of her key selling points is being an outsider, someone who is
different than all of the other celebrities America is in love with. At the same time, however, the black-
white-red color scheme is very easy-to-view and doesn't overwhelm the brain. This is much of what
Lady Gaga seems to attempt with her art; she aims to present abstract, unconventional ideas in an easy-
to-digest techno-pop format. In addition to the color scheme, I also included several photos to enhance
the purely visual representation of Lady Gaga. Normally I wouldn't focus so much on the visual
aesthetics of a word-based project, but Gaga is a very visually-based artist, and I felt that had to gain a
little more focus than usual to best project that aspect of her creativity.
Putting more work into the design aspects of the profile taught me a few very helpful things.
Depending on the subject of the profile and the medium it appears in, visuals may be completely
unnecessary or absolutely pivotal. If they are going to be included, however, you have to pick the right
ones, just like you have to carefully choose what information you’ll include, what words you will use
to convey that, etc. Also, generally speaking, if you’re going to include visuals, include more than one.
Providing only one makes that visual seem out-of-place. For the most part, if you only need one picture
to enhance your article, you actually don’t need that picture at all.
Besides the aesthetics were the actual words of the profile—which, with this being a print-
based, text-based profile, were actually the main focus. One thing I did to try to better show her was
modifying the writing to sound more like her. Lady Gaga has a very distinct way of speaking: she is
what many of us on the internet like to call “sophisticated as ****” (look it up on TVTropes.com if you
want more examples). She is surprisingly eloquent and articulate in her speech, which is nonetheless
peppered lightly with more slang-y or even vulgar language. Though I tried to avoid the vulgarities,
since those are generally looked down upon in academic writing as unprofessional, I tried to keep my
writing as fluid and sophisticated as possible while still maintaining Gaga's more edgy tone. I may not
have gotten this perfect, but I feel as though I did a good job with it. Including several of Lady Gaga's
own quotes as well as similarly-styled quotes about her definitely helped.
At one point, the idea struck me to make the profile an actual navigable website instead of just a
single document. However, I had to throw that idea out because it did not fulfill the prompt. As much
as I liked to idea at the time and was sad to see it go, I am actually somewhat glad I did not end up
going that route. One reason is the design I already had in place for the profile. The color scheme may
have still worked, but the overall design elements would have had to be completely re-hauled to make a
good-looking website, which I would be hesitant to do because I feel that the aesthetic design of the
profile is one of its strongest points. It would have been more work than necessary. Additionally, I feel
as though a web version of the profile would have felt sort of juvenile, for some reason, and that was an
impression I did not want to go for—one of the things I really wanted to emphasize about Gaga is that
she is a mature, brilliant albeit eccentric artist, not the sell-out sexpot many like to think she is. A more
academic essay format helped to present this, I believe.
There are a few things that have bugged me about this, however. One thing is a minor detail, but
has presented me with problems. Although the essay's file can be opened in programs other than
Microsoft Word, if you do, the margins of the page turn white with the rest of the background black. It
looks tacky and amateurish, which really bothers me because of the amount of thought I put into
making this look good. This is a problem since my laptop doesn't have Microsoft Word on it any longer
(something weird happened with the program and I haven't had the money to replace it yet) and I didn't
know you could use Word to save documents in PDF format. This brings up a good thing to keep in
mind: though all programs do have their own limitations, most of the time technology is only limited
by your own capabilities with it.
Another weak spot in my profile is the section towards the end of the paper about Gaga's
involvement in and advocacy for the LGBT community. All celebrities have some cause or another that
they involve themselves in to different degrees, but Lady Gaga's is especially important to her. This
community is where she started performing. Her LGBT fanbase is how she got so popular in the first
place. Much of her artistic expressions have a very LGBT feel to them, such as the homoerotic
overtones of the “Telephone” and “Alejandro” music videos, or the older long-running rumor that Lady
Gaga is actually a man. Though her involvement with this community is a big part of her life an career,
in my profile it was rather underplayed, only earning two half-heartedly written paragraphs towards the
end. I really wish I would have written more, but by that point I was in a bit of a time crunch and been
have trouble finding concrete, specific evidence of her involvement. If I could redo any part of this
profile, I would revise that section specifically.
Despite some issues with Project #1 and it being overall one of my lower grades of the
semester, I'm still quite pleased with the results. It was nice to learn that proper essays don't have to be
that basic black-on-white to still be effective and scholarly. I'm also quite happy with a work habit I
picked up from doing this project. Though no mention of it shows up in the final piece, during the
entirety of working on this profile, I kept my laptop playing nothing but Lady Gaga music. During
writing breaks, such as eating dinner, I watched Lady Gaga music videos and interviews to not only
keep myself on track, but get an even deeper, more complete understanding of her artistic style and
personality. This sort of more focused entertainment is a very effective study/word aid, especially for
writers like me who are easily sidetracked and like to jump from project to project all the time. Not
only did it help enhance and drive home my understanding of the subject, the constant reminders of her
songs playing or watching her videos helped to keep nagging me, “Hey, you've got a project to work
on.” If nothing else, this project was a good way for me to learn some helpful compositional techniques
and good work habits.

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