Alyssa Matlosz
flip through this book to get to know me & my work
flip through this book to get to know me & my work
I am a Media Arts + Practice major at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. I am passionate about learning, collaboration, and media innovation. My design work focuses on concept and interactivity, specifically for themed entertainment. I also have experience with graphic design, front-end web development, and video production.
Constellation Exploration is an interactive projection experience intended to be consumed on a large scale, ideally as a museum exhibit. The piece begins with a black screen with randomized stars, so there is a new space to explore with each run. In sync with any motion detected by the webcam, lines begin to connect the dots and form constellations. The star space does not reveal any existing constellations, but rather emphasizes exploration as the method of education. Users, particularly younger users, gain a sense of curiosity and interest in what could really be out there, while incorporating creativity and customization.
Demo Video ProcessI created this piece for a class on Tactical Media. The largest challenge was learning how to code in Processing. We began by viewing examples that involed optical flow, as well as face, mouse, and motion tracking. Using these examples, I planned to make a program that creates constellations through mouse clicks. Once I had this functionality down, I wanted to take it one step further into something that could potentially become a large scale piece. Through mostly trial and error, the program works fairly well, and flawlessly on a plain background. I created the demo video in ideal consitions with a plain black background, simultaneously recording myself and the screen.
Living Light is an interactive infographic website that teaches about bioluminescent organisms. The project is geared towards middle-school aged children, using simple scientific language with multiple forms of interaction.
Click Below to Visit the Site
This application was created for an information visualization class assignment to visualize any dataset. I had the option to use an existing dataset, but had recently taken interest in the concept of bioluminescence, so I decided to compile my own based on recent reviews and studies. I pulled the data from several studies on the topic in order to compile a spreadsheet, and would like to continue to update the page as I find more information.
After doing the research I began designing the site by drawing the icons for each organism in Illustrator. Through this I also established the color scheme of the website.
I then made a site layout mockup in illustrator.
From there, I began coding, starting with the basic reactivity of the sidebar to recognize the active part of the page.
To incorporate the data I downloaded the research spreadsheet as a CSV and converted it into JSON format. I ran into a challenge with connecting the data to the image and position, so I then calculated all of the x,y positions of each icon by hand (using a white board and much trial and error) in order to add them to the same JSON.
I then used jquery to add buttons to trigger the animations and the hover elements. From there it was all aesthetics.
The online anatomy coloring book is a web application that uses the effectiveness of games as a form of education. Still in progress, the app currently features uncolored versions the heart, the spine, and the skull and tasks the user to color code them to indicate different anatomical classifications or functions. Ideally, it would be used as an activity to supplement human anatomy lessons on the elementary or middle school level. The site is planned to be used in the future by USC’s Joint Educational Project Young Scientist Program in several local schools.
Click Below to Visit the Site
This application was created for an advanced creative coding class. We were given free reign for our final project and I wanted to something educational, as that is something very important to me. Additionally, anatomy and physiology have always been the most interesting scientific realms to me and I was interested in learning more through this myself. Through this project, I learned jquery and D3.js.
As I add more pages to the website, I start each time by drawing the body part in illustrator, organizing the layers, and then exporting SVG code. I then choose the colors and labelling system. Using d3, I then connect the SVG to the color palette and answer key. Lastly, I incorporate the individual page into the rest of the site using jquery toggling.
Below is a screenshot of an earlier version of the site. It has since been updated to more closely reflect the aesthetic of paper coloring books.
Created as part of a group project for a Themed Entertainment Design class, The Molecular Gastronomy Cafe is a themed restaurant that is housed in a speculative RD&E attraction "Dr. Victoria's House for Eccentric Experiments." The cafe features mad science-themed food, as well as theatrical demonstrations throughout your meal. Fun for all ages.
The group developed the full house attraction, click below to view the restaurant concept slides, my contribution to the pitch, featuring both found and original images.
We were assigned random groups in class and given 7 weeks to take a themed entertainment design through the concept stage. My group began by proposing ten ideas each and then narrowing down to a top three. This left the group divided between a steampunk and mad science themed attraction, which we ultimately combined into the idea of exiled mad scientists running an interactive house. From here, I developed characters, entertainment, and a speculative menu for the cafe.
Assigned to create my "dream concert" that could feature any artists alive or dead, I chose to go fictional. Breaking the Fourth Wall is a concert that takes place on October 6, 2027 at the Hollywood Bowl. It features bands who only exist within the context of their movies/TV shows who decide to break out of their screens and come together to put on a concert for their fans in real life.
Click Below to Visit the Site
We could have created a concert with any lineup, at any venue, on any date. Many of my peers did existing artists they would like to see, but I wanted to go towards the impossible and do bands that never existed.
I first determined the criteria to define a fictional band (ex: soul brothers originated in a movie but was not applicable to the project). From there, I chose the lineup. The Hollywood Bowl venue ironically looks over many of the major film studios. The date is exactly 100 years from the release of the Jazz Singer, the first film with sound. On the same day sound entered the film world, these film bands break out into the real world.
After figuring out the logistics, I first made the poster to determine the color scheme and aesthetics. For the website, I was inspired by old DVD menu screens.
Read more about my process here
Two portraits, one of my mom and one of me. The former was created for a graphic design class and the latter for my LinkedIn profile picture.
First I selected the photos and posterized them in photoshop. I then drew over the photos with the pen tool in illustrator and determined a new color range to use. For my mom's portrait I then created a hydrangea flower brush to frame her. For the self portrait, I traced my face and then separately traced a blazer, and then combined.
A magazine layout using an article written by Lauren Collins-Hughes and Alexis Soloski from the New York Times about women starring on Braodway in 2016.
Click to view pdf versionCreated for a graphic design class, we were tasked with creating a magazine spread for something we are passionate about. I love broadway musicals and felt that 2016 was a great year for women on stage, so I chose to use a NYT article on the topic for my layout. Below is an early iteration of the project.
| Phone: | (732) 997 - 9072 |
| E-Mail: | matlosz@usc.edu |