Abs-olute BS: A Senior Humor or Satire Art Project by Sheila Ahi (2014)

In my humor piece, I used a combination of satire and parody in my humor project, a magazine cover. I got inspiration from a bunch of Cosmopolitan and Men's Health magazines, then mimicked their fonts, word choices and how they constructed their photographs for my own piece. And, yes, I mean construct, not just enhanced, because nobody looks naturally like the way they're exhibited in the picture… not even the person themselves!

Adobe Photoshop and InDesign were both used in the making of the magazine cover. It was a fun process, especially putting makeup on Channing Tatum. It suddenly hit me that I was actually doing what these magazine designers do, except when they distort the original image, it is seriously to make the model ''more appealing,'' while I was doing it as a joke.

The cycle of consumerism starts with making people insecure. Magazines like Cosmopolitan and Men's Health need people to believe they are not appealing the way they are, and so if they want to look like the ''beautiful'' person on the cover of their magazine, they should read to find out what they need to buy. Companies advertise products in these magazines, from body-building machines to mascara, and have deals with the magazines because both benefit from the profit. I am so tired of people falling into the trap and these corporations taking advantage of people's insecurities, then giving inaccurate advertisement to the masses. I wish there were more companies willing to be real, appreciate people of all shapes and color, and represent them.