Week 14

Representational


This image is of a peacock sitting on a tree limb. It is a representational window. Representational windows are those in which the design seeks to imitate, or represent, nature. You place this image in a widow and it looks as if you are looking out at the trees and there is a peacock in one of the trees.



Abstract


The book shelf is a traditional piece of furniture that is stretched, curved, and stacked. It is considered abstract since it doesn't resemble typical furniture. Most furniture is composed of straight lines and/or circular shapes. This book shelf is warped and looks like it doesn't belong in this reality.



Symbolic



This building looks like a birds nest. Any one, from any country can tell what this stadium resembles. It appears to have twisting or intertwined pieces similar to how a birds nest. Just like a birds nest cradles its eggs and keeps them warm and safe, the stadium will hold all of the occupants.

Week 13: Visual Techniques

Transparency & Asymmetry


Symmetry, Randomness, Complexity



These images achieve balance in two ways: asymmetrically and symmetrically. The image on the left displays a butterfly in the right hand corner while the image on the right displays the bottle in the center.

The image on the left also displays transparency because the background can be seen through the butterfly.

The image on the right uses a random technique. The background shows a planned disorganization. It also displays complexity since it is comprised of many elemental units.

In my opinion, both images are opposites. The image on the left could be considered subtle next to the image on the right, which is bold and achieves optimum visibility.

Week 11: Contrast

I found this image by doing a google search using "contrast graphic design". There are only 3 colors used in this image and is a great example of contrast. The white arm and hand are a good contrast to the black background. It's the first thing my eye was drawn to in this image. The red lettering, which represents blood coming from the arm, also is in contrast with the black background.




The image of the map is an example of using contrast in a not so good way. It's hard to tell the difference between the orange and red orange colors and the yellow and light green. The colors are extremely close in contrast, and they almost look the same to me. It seems that they used warm colors. In order to make this map I would use colors that are more contrasting like red and blue; a warm and a cool color. The intensity of contrast is not used here.

Dimension/Depth/Space

I chose a picture showing an example of exhibit design. In this image, there's converging lines showing that this image has depth. The closer the lines are the farther they appear, and the farther away the closer they appear. The objects, and stands show overlap, which tries to convey depth or distance. The closer an object the bigger, and farther away is smaller. Relative size also plays a part in this image. The objects that appear to be small in the background are thought to be far away. The objects that take up a large part of the field of view appear closer, ie the chairs towards the left, the table on the right.













http://www.itsm-online.com/

Tone and Color used in a poster

This poster is for the 2006 action/disaster film, Poseidon.

The tone is operating in this poster by highlighting the shape and form of the sinking ship. The closer end of the ship that is covered in shadow is a dark blue and black. The further away portion is a light blue and white. This shows dimension. The use of tone shows the ship has different levels or decks. The light blue tone gets darker towards the bottom of the poster which is the deeper area of the ocean. There is a large dynamic tonal range that provides more detail to be communicated and distinguished. The color of this poster describes the feeling. Blue is associated with cold and sadness sometimes. The ship is sinking into the dark blue ocean, which is a sad image.

Magazine Design

I chose magazine design as a profession that I am interested in.

In this image there are two good examples of Dondis Basic Elements.

Dimension
The lines show structure and its relationship to balance. Dimension uses lines to plot its effect, but its final intention is to produce the feeling of reality. We perceive the top and bottom lines coming together. In our minds we associate that with distance. The lines coming together seem to be farther away.

Tone
The white windows and the dark wall is an example of Tone. We see the intensity of darkness and lightness. We see what is dark because it abuts or overlaps what is light, and vice-versa. It's job is to communicate depth and its position in space.



Direction
The rectangles used in the image expresses the vertical visual direction. The green rectangle on the floor is at an angle, referencing to the idea of stability. Since it is at an angle it is viewed as unstable.

Syntactical Guidelines

In this image I feel that the Syntactical Guidelines have been put to good use. The Syntactical Guideline of stress is used. There is a diagonal rainbow in the background and inside of the lettering which is moving in a different direction of the background. But there is some balance found with the lettering being horizontally aligned.

There is also some stress used in the lettering. The word "Bintek" is smaller than the word "Typography" and that throws off the viewer. There is also the Syntactical Guideline of positive/negative. The word "Bintek" is an example of that guideline since it is a beige or white color while the background is a dark blue/green. The word is active while the background is passive.





This image is an example of bad use of Syntactical Guidelines. This poster tries to use balance, but fails to do so. It is split down the center, but in no way feels balanced. All of the lettering is in different positions, going different directions, different fonts, and sizes. It's hard to focus on one part of the poster. I guess it's trying to use the guideline of stress, but too much. To me, this poster has too much "going on". My eye struggles to analyze the components as to their balance.

Week 5 Blog Applications Exercise

I chose a page from a Spiderman Comic Book. In this page Spiderman is trying to free himself before the crack in the ceiling gets bigger. The image shows this by showing the crack with dripping water in the first frame. It identifies the problem right away. The next frames show Spiderman struggling with water pouring ontop of him, displaying how he needs to quickly escape so he doesn't drown. He has heavy, probably metal, debris ontop of him, which is delaying his escape. Spiderman has both hands on a piece of debris and lifts his head up to gain the strength to lift the heavy debris off of him. The last and biggest frame shows Spiderman lifting the heavy debris and water is still pouring ontop of him. Without reading the comic I could tell that Spiderman was in trouble and would drown if he didn't. In each frame it shows the water falling from the ceiling.

Usually in comic books they display images in sequential order. " Devices such as speech ballons and boxes are used to indicate dialogue and impart establishing information, while panels, layout, gutters and zip ribbons can help indicate the flow of the story"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics).

Visual Puzzles

The first puzzle I chose was to draw 3 squares without lifting my pencil. I had my boyfriend try out the puzzle with me.
The first thing I did was to start from the top left and move to the right. I followed the outline of the squares until I reached the bottom part. When I got to the interior I had to look and plan my path. My first attempt wasn't successful because I realized that I would cross a line. My second attempt would be successful, by accident. I went to the right, then up, left and then mirrored what I had done. I eventually made it back to the upper left hand corner without going over any other lines.
My boyfriend made several attempts to solve this puzzle. First thing he tried was to start at the upper left hand corner, but instead of moving to the left, he went down. When attempting the interior he drew to the right, up, left, then down. He mirrored what he had done, but went up.

The second game we played was the "Next Square" game. We both got the same answer by noticing that the boxes with the lines really formed numbers 1-5.

Role of Feature Hierarchy in Visual Queries and Search

When I looked for an image that deals with graphic design and typography, this one stood out. The first thing that "pops out" is the "designgeist.org" which is in orange. It's the first thing my eye goes to. It seems that my eye is drawn to all the words that are in orange or black, then yellow and gray. There are different levels you could say to this image. Each word is a different size and color and my eye is drawn, obviously, to the largest and brightly colored word. Of course the brightest and largest word is what this image is advertising, "designgeist.org". This image relates to the topic of visual search and feature channels. It has something that "pops out" and has different variations in each channel.






http://netzwellen.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54ff24811883400e553b73ba98834-popup

Top-down visual processing

My area of study is Visual Communications. I'm interested in designing logos or posters. I chose this picture because it reminded me of some logos I've seen before (minus some text in the center), but it also relates to the topic of Top-Down Visual Processing. The image appears to have a white square on top of 4 black circles. What we really are seeing is 4 black circles with 1/4 of it cut out. Our brain make us think we are seeing a square. As it was stated in the Ware Reading, "Top-down processes are driven by the need to accomplish some goal." Our brains are biased and "what we see is the result of information about the world strongly biased according to what we are attempting to accomplish."

image from:
http://www.dana.org/uploadedImages/Images/Content_Images/art_0607hood_3.jpg