Katy Konchan
BA, Visual Communication
Minor, Studio Art
Statement
At the start of this semester, I was interested in how human emotion has changed as the human experience has become exponentially more digitized.
My attempt to understand how human emotion may have been affected by technology and the internet as an everyday means of expression and socialization came to fruition through the examination of pop music over the last five decades. I began to take a deeper look at the zeitgeist of a decade by identifying the songs that spent the most weeks at number one on the Billboard charts per decade since the 1970s. I analyzed the lyrics and instrumentation of each song to determine the feeling of each moment that was communicated to listeners. I organized a color-coded system of the eight basic emotions (joy, love, fear, awe, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation) that I composed into a moving gradient field for each song.
In the final composition, titled Colored Emotions, each song gravitates toward the others that are similar in emotion, showing how the feelings of each generation may or may not vary. Despite major changes in communication over the decades and the many political, social, and economic differences in each generation, it seems that the emotions people felt or wanted to feel have remained the same.
Bio
Katy Konchan is from Tinley Park, Illinois. When she was little, Katy was obsessed with drawing and doodled over all of her notebooks to the point of illegibility (this may or may not still happen). High school is where she first began exploring graphic design. At the start of her college career, Katy was an Advertising major but quickly realized that it was not for her and made the switch to Visual Communication. For the past two years, Katy has worked at Loyola’s University Marketing and Communications as a graphic design intern. There, she had the opportunity to learn what designing in the real world is like. She has been able to work on projects ranging from small-scale digital graphics all the way to CTA advertisements. Although she is still learning about her design process, her favorite parts of designing are creative problem solving and bringing ideas to life. Illustration and branding are Katy’s favorite aspects of design. She is particularly drawn to imagery with rich color and a playful tone. Recently, Katy has been inspired by Fisk. Their work is extremely colorful, bold, and expressive. Their creative process seems to focus on the fun of making and bringing energy to design, which is something Katy tries to incorporate in her work. Katy has a deep interest in music and fashion and hopes to pursue a graphic design career in those industries in the future.