The Online Creators’ Association
The Online Creators’ Association (TOCA) is a labor rights advocacy group for TikTok content creators. I joined TOCA the day it was founded, in July 2020, and joined the administrative team in August.
Primary skills used:
Animation
Research
Team management
Airtable
Public speaking
Visual design
Brand development
TOCA Logo Design
For the first six or so months of operation TOCA used what was essentially a stock logo, a set of red and blue squares rotating over each other. In the time between putting that one in place and making a new one, it grew on us (as things like that tend to), so I tried to recreate the aesthetic of the original in a design that evoked the mission of the group.
The design I went forward with was based on a camera aperture—it allowed for a similar circular design; as an organization of video creators, a camera component is a relevant image; and the blades of an aperture moving together empower a level of control that they can’t provide on their own, which calls to the values of organizing.
The shape of the blades in some of the apertures I referenced created the impression of two spikes per color, like the earlier logo. In later iterations of the design, I repositioned the blades of the open aperture to emphasize that link.
Both TikTok and Discord support animated icons, which gave me the chance to make an animated version of the logo. I used Adobe AfterEffects to animate the blades of the aperture contracting and dilating, which helps communicate the meaning of the imagery, and used a lens blur filter over the text, which shrinks and blurs as it drifts out of focus, emphasizing the connection to a camera lens.
TOCA research projects
The absence of clear information about the mechanics of social media platforms, folk theories spread quickly. Creators rely on these platforms for their livelihoods, and it often feels like any guess is better than not knowing. However, these hypotheses are rarely tested, even when they would be easy to falsify.
As a researcher with TOCA I’ve conducted experiments with TOCA’s Senior Researcher to test TikTok’s mechanics, and more importantly I’ve organized our members to report information that helps us figure out larger trends in the mechanics of the platform. I also designed an Airtable base to receive and organize these reports. Through this reporting we’ve been able to find anomalies in TikTok’s Creator Fund payment structure, uneven application of the criteria for account bans and removal from the Creator Fund, and manipulation of the recommendation engine for the apparent purpose of suppressing news events.
I presented this research for Arizona State University’s Institute for Humanities Research in March 2021.
“Examining TikTok.” Streamed 31 March 2021, 58m32s
TOCA media production
While Cecelia Gray films and uploads the majority of the content on the @OfficialTOCA TikTok account, other administrators sometimes contribute. I’ve written and filmed four informational videos for TOCA:
I’ve contributed to scripts for several other videos on the account, as well as internal statements for TOCA members.
I also host one of two weekly Twitch livestreams, discussing TikTok news and findings and playing party games with other administrators and guests, at twitch.tv/officialtoca.
