‘Spell with Flikr’ is an interesting application which allows a little bit of whimsy into a world dominated by uniformity of size, shape and colour. How many times have I tried to make a handout more interesting by changing the font style, size and colour, only to be disappointed in my efforts? Too many to tell you and still maintain my dignity.
Here I’ve decided to give up the notion that all things must be the same for the message to be clear and concise. The unique mosaic like image that is produced sends an overall message while each component (letter/image) is also a stand-alone piece that can be observed separately. The attempt for me is to allow ‘difference’ to work as one to produce a coherent ‘common’ message.
This application allows one to be creative but still ultimately in control at the same time as each letter/image can be altered individually by clicking on it. It seems that ‘Spell with Flikr’ solidifies the notions of the breakout of the visual that we explored earlier. Here the visual and the textual are merged and morphed into one.
Potential drawbacks on the other hand are that those with firm feelings of uniformity and control may spend a great deal of time altering each image to fit a preconceived vision of the finished product. Such efforts miss the intent of the overall application and limit the creativity which makes this unique application interesting.
