Visual Techniques

Contrast

Asymmetry

Complexity

Simplicity

Boldness

Stasis

Transparency

In this magazine layout there are six techniques that stood out to me. The first is the contrast of dark and light in the photo and the colors of the title. These two contrasting features focus the eye on these two parts of the layout. Then there is Asymmetry of the picture coming across the center barrier. The complexity of the house that is shown makes one look at the house for even longer. There is boldness with having a single multiple page picture that hangs off the border of the page. There is stasis within the house itself, there is no wind captured or anything moving, it is just there. Lastly there is transparency in the title, the two boxes overlap and give a three dimension effect. 

Contrast (Color)

Balance

Symmetry

Repetition

Simplicity

Activeness

Boldness

Depth

In this layout there are eight techniques at play here. The first is Contrast with color, there is one accent color that is taken out of where the sun should be in the black and white photo. Balance within in the colors of the black large structure of the watering mechanism in front of a light gray sky then diagonal is the stark white bold title. The symmetry is with in the text on both sides of the layout and colors in the picture. Repetition is used with the watering mechanism triangle shapes, and that is also creating depth. Boldness is once again used with using a full layout picture, and also is seen in the title. 

Contrast

Contrast that works:

Typography Hierarchy, Color, Grid, Negative vs. Positive Space.

In this example many of the contrast concepts are working together to achieve a purpose. The typography hierarchy and the negative vs. positive space work so well together that is all makes the main slogan "Yes We Can" jump out at us. The Grid layout of the smaller and bigger words give a sense of structure that is key to contrast working so well. There is a feeling of tension but also of unity. It all sharpens the idea of the slogan "Yes We Can" by incorporating the unity and tension in the "We". There is also the contrast in color. There are shades of gray arraying the whole gradient scale, but the same blue is used only twice. The contrast from the grey, to the bold blue brings forth the two most important messages. 

Contrasting the fails:

This is an advertisement for a tv show that has been cancelled already. The contrast is trying to make this ad interesting to look at but it becomes more of a hassel to read as you keep looking. They try to contrast it with the opposites of black and white. This may work but in this case the woman's black parts (her clothing) are just about the same size as the letters. I don't know if there is another letter i am not seeing. There are the letters themselves contrasting in size but are tough to read. The fox symbol and times as the bottom are nicely hierarchied but the rest of the contrasting features aren't sharpened enough. 

Movement/Motion

This week we learned about the different types of motion in a 2D space. I decided to go with option 1 and found a movie poster and a well known logo that represent motion in a 2D area.

In this poster from the movie, Catch Me if You Can, there is implied motion of running in the characters displayed on the poster. The blurry aspect of lines in the picture makes the eye assume they are moving from right to left in a quick manner. This brings in the Dondis Element that the shape and direction show movement. As humans we know the way other human run and have watched and studied the motion in-depth. By previous knowledge we know that they are in the running motion. The way the horizon is in the viewers line has them almost on the same height as the viewers. 

Ah, the smoothie company we all know and love. The logo and concept designed from fellow college students a couple years ago from Cal Poly demonstrates more than a colorful reflection of the fruits that go into the smoothies. The point in the center of the red swirl is the only crisp point and then flows into smooth curves, like the frozen fruit turning into a smoothie. The swirls breaks brings in the Gestault law of Continuation, and forces our knowledge of a tornado type object to come to the forefront. The lines are not quite horizantle and force stress when the become diagonal and this "implied movement is universal." The big to small lines also show sign of universal movement. Tornadoes are thought in parallel with swiftness, but this also symbolizes the motion the blender makes. 

Dimension & Depth

This week I decided to go into the poster communication route. I thought of those inspirational posters I saw all over high school classrooms with inspirational quotes paired with vast pictures.

This photo shows relative space, the mountain peak in the forefront of the picture is obviously the biggest and gives you a sense of what the peaks behind it could be the size of. I am pretty sure that the man on top of the mountain might be photoshoped in because that would be one tiny peak for a man to be that size on it. There is also overlap in this photo with the mountains, you can tell which mountain is where with in the horizon and the forefront. 

With this photo I wanted to show atmospheric and linear perspective as well with texture gradient all with in the swells of the ocean. The swells get closer and closer whilst they go back towards the horizon. They also show a linear eye line towards the vanishing point in the mountains.

With this poster I mainly wanted to show the obvious texture gradient in the wood and the linear perspective shown by the dock reaching out into the ocean towards the canopy.


Achievement: http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/ARTPUB/CRBR005380_36_24.jpg
Goof Fortune: http://positivethoughts.blogmegaportal.com/motivational-posters-good-fortune-have-positive-thoughts-20x16-poster-print-framed/
Destiny: http://blog.ivman.com/wp-content/Destiny.jpg

Tone & Color

Since I am a Visual Communications major I decided to focus on the lower age group that influence billions of companies revenue a year, Children. Every time I was a kid and would walk  into a fast food place I would go directly to the little box that would show these, or grab the flyer that goes into the kids meal bags. Why else would you get a kids meal if there was not a toy in it?

The tone in this poster helps give these toys a 3D feel, as if the child could just start to grab it and play with it.  Not only in the toys but also with in the background that show cases them. The back ground is of glaciers where the movie took place. Look down at Ronald McDonald himself, there is tones in his hair and on his clothes. There is a streak of what looks like lightning pointing with Ronald's yellow toned finger to the toys. 

The way I am describing the tone in this advertisement is how it is interesting with dimension. The perception that a 2D picture can give an illusion of being 3D. Mr. McDonald does't seem like some drawing on a piece of paper right now, but an actual figure with shadows and tones. They may not be the most intricate but they are still there. The glaciers in the back show depth, where the light hits and is immediately hit with the darkest grey give the illusion that the wall recedes farther away. 

Color in this advertisement grabs the kids eye. Such vibrant and non saturated to the most intense eye catching colors. The bright sky blue, stark white and Ronald in his standard mustard yellow and ketchup red get up gives a happy feeling of fun and excitement. 

The colors though seem to move along with line and shape. The circles of the animal toys and the circle in the lower left mirror off of each other, and the blue base shape mirrors the glaciers line at the top of the cliff. This in general connects visual objects through out the whole piece. 

URL: http://moresay.com/category/editable/page/2/

The Basic Elements of Visual Communication

Magazine Layout Design

Shape

The shape is built on the dot and the line, which are also shown here. We see the circle as a shape in this layout for Carbon Sequestration it is locating the title, an important part of the main image, and a side thought up in the right corner. Then the type is shaped around the circle so gracefully. Using a circle which symbolically represents endless, and cycles is a perfect marriage for the topic being discussed. Carbon monoxide is an endless cycle in our society, and destroys our ice structures. 

Color & Tone

Color here plays a substantial part in guiding the eye. It also works along with tone, which makes sense because these two work closely together. The bright true yellow contrasts on the black and white background. But the tone of the black and white photo balances the yellow on the other side on black. There is mostly highlights on "Pierces" face that balance the guitar's stark whiteness. This layout was put amazingly well with color and tone. 

Direction

The direction of the graphics are a little threatening. The color does not help this feeling coming from them, but the angles and sharp edges give off a "provoking" feel to them. This is mainly on the right side, on the left side there is more of a curve to these beams. I think that the movement is achieved by the scale and the perspective the 3D figures have. Some are big and some are small, some are closer and some are far away. Thent here is the tiny lines behind the text that are in a wave like form, this connects the two pages. 

Visual Thinking Research

I decided to let my roommate in on this fun excerise. We ended up doing more puzzles than what were assigned because we had so much fun, but these are the first two puzzles we finished separately. 

PUZZLE 1

In this puzzle I had no idea where to begin. I started by trying to find a pattern in which way the lines were traveling, which the reading said is "related to the act of thinking." But the forth didn't make sense to me and put me at a standstill. I thought back to the lecture and thought to try and see the bigger picture and that Gestalt was at play again. One of the exercises in class was a subtraction process to find the right answer. I subtracted the outside and found the middle figure are part of the objects making the number system and came up with the answer E. My roommate had a little bit different  experience and  after not coming up with a process in finding the answer she gave up and guessed B because it looked like it could be apart of a pattern. I might have found the correct solution because of the lecture, I had an edge over her. 

PUZZLE 2

This puzzle was quite different and we both came up with the right answer immediately. I would like to give it to the Visual Memory and Folding Pattern Laws of Gestalt but really it was process of elimination for us. What month has 4 letters out of our 12 month calender? July or June. Then I guess it was the Folding Pattern we saw to be sure it was July.

Visual Hierarchy

http://www.posters.jokesarena.com/poster,1623924,A-Black-Sheep-Among-a-Multitude-of-White-Sheep.html

The Black Sheep

When I first saw the first slide of comparing colors in a specific feature channel I thought of Democrats versus republicans and then too the infamous Black Sheep. This is a poster singling this poor black sheep out. The color feature channel makes the eye go directly to the sheep, but also the shape and spatial layout of the poster where the sheep is located and around identical white sheep. Viewers locate the black sheep pre-attentively due to those channels. The black in the white communicates quickly with the Primary Cortex. Not only does it communicate quickly but it hits an emotional chord. The black sheep is sometimes related to minorities in the majorities and being suppressed. Possibly what the designer was aiming to reach with the viewer. 

Top Down Exercise

MLB.com

Top Down Exercise:

I am visual communications, so when I see the front page of major websites it has always interested me why the have designed it a certain way. The scan path I have shown on this web lay out from the front page of MLB.com is the first eye movements my eyes made. There are goal directed eye movements through out this page, starting at the top center box where the top news stories are shown with a picture to entice the viewer. I had a short fixation on this picture then read the headline and made it over to the top scores of the day, continued with short fixations around the screen towards the worded top stories, to finally the brighter colored ads on the lower right, and back to the picture with a story to fixate my vision and thoroughly read what it had to say. Which is why I first went to this site to read the top news stories in the world of baseball. The web page has moved my eyes around to the more important information quickly and effortlessly. 

Success and Failure

I decided to go with logo design this week, since I went with advertising last week. Being a visual communication major, I am very interested in the way certain logos communicate ideas and feelings in the viewer or potential client. I chose (in what I feel) a good example of logo design and a bad example.

Good Logo Design

This is a logo for an olive company. It helps the viewer relate names to images that correlate well with one another. In the logo it is in a circular shape as an olive. There is a nice red star that refers to the "Lone Star" name and olive leaves framing the olive. That composition gives the viewers eyes a break with the complementary shape. Already with a little Olive in the middle the logo gives the perception of food off the bat, the viewer shouldn't be confused what this is directed at. The stress is directly at the vibrant green olive but is balanced with the natural green stamp like background. It is level through and through, especially with the ribbon saying "Olive Oil Ranch" gives it a nice base with the lower corners of the ribbon in line with the lowest point of the circle. Which also gives the "Ranch" feel  in the stamped background and ribbon over the logo. 

Bad Logo Design

This logo design has a lot going wrong with it. To the perception it gives off, to the visual balance. The name "Technology Driven Transactions" is for a company based in domestic and global negotiations. The man at the top of the logo give the viewer the feeling that they should be running out the door from this company?  When you are dealing with money negotiations you want your customer to come too you. This brings us to the balance of the logo, but it look like the top part is sliding off to the side of the green rectangle on the bottom. I am not sure if the balance is coming from the bottom up, or if it is sliding off the side.This causes the stress on the word DRIVEN because of the great white negative space and angles pointed towards it. I think it might be time to go back to the drawing board on this one. 

Visual Language Syntax

Visual Language Syntax

One Word:                                      

Loss                                                 

Sorrow                                             

Down                                               

Hard Times                                     

Rock Bottom                                           

Don't know what to do                   

Suffer

Compositional Structures

Angled Stair Structure

Sitting at the bottom of the stairs

Burnout on the sides of the picture

Depressing colors

Sad expression and slumped body              

Person in front is focused on

Symbols:

Sad face

Limp body

Slumped shoulders

Work clothes

Briefcase

Big stairs

This photo is the epitome of the look of someone coping with unemployment. Visually all of the symbols and construction of this photo points to one thing: this mans despair. He is sitting on the lower steps of a large cement stairway with his head in his hand looking down. He is in a suit, as if he is a blue collar worker with a briefcase behind him. The stairs stretch up behind him signifying the climb he is facing and the lack of progress that has been made. The photo editing is also directed towards him, there is a burnout on the edge, putting a depressing connotation over the photo. 

Meaning 2

This Nike ad illustrates all three levels of design. The shoe itself is the representational aspect. It is a shoe, what Nike is displaying to the consumer. Then the aspects of a meteor, the fire, and astrodust particles burning off as it plum-its towards the earth are the abstract. Yet the viewer automatically relates these characteristics to a comet with out the giant mass being there. The fire and speed the shoe is perceived to be moving has the consumer relate to the speed he/ or she can go in a Nike shoe. The advertisement relates to a personal time or desire the viewer was running or the need to run again.  Then symbolically the Nike "swoosh" is a symbolic "check mark" as if checking something off your to do list, which is why their catch phrase is "Nike. Just Do It." It is interesting to see the flame up towards the burning off particles makes a Nike swoosh that mirrors the swoosh on the shoe itself.

Meaning 1

This week we were asked to show visual levels of designed visual information: Representational, Abstract, and Symbolic.

 I thought since the anniversary of September 11th is coming up it fit to show the process the Twin Towers went through. At first they represented our country with high prestige being the tallest towers on the New York skyline, then the abstract form of them on constant objects of remembrance, to now the symbolic memorial site the architects chose to build.

Representational

New York Skyline print.
http://www.postercartel.com/en/1700-5006.aspx?o=1030-5006

This portrait was painted among thousands of others when the World Trade Center was intact to represent the massive, importance that these two buildings meant not just to the United States but to the world. Having the sun setting behind the WTC front and center displays its prominence that the painter wanted the viewer to feel. Not only the painter, but the architects who designed the buildings, they knew it was going to be the tallest towers in the world at the time, and help put the United States on the power map. The two buildings stood tall and proud on the New York skyline for decades, it was a representation of our country's power. 

Abstract

Clip art illustration for sale to remember 9/11/01
http://www.clipartof.com/interior_wall_decor/details/United-We-Stand-September-11-2001-Text-Around-The-Twin-Towers-Flag-And-Bald-Eagle-Poster-Art-Print-1050272

When the towers fell the United States showed the most united patriotism in history. Graphics memorializing the day sprang up in full force. In these graphics you can not have such detailed buildings as in paintings, it becomes a blob on a shirt. The towers above just show the cubic form they had with the cone on top of the north tower and lines of light to show miniscule detail that there are windows. Yet the buildings still have their significance to the country in this graphic. 

Symbolic  

                       


 

      World Trade Towers Memorial site - 2011
     http://wandermelon.com/2011/07/20/911-memorial-in-new-york/

Finally there is the new symbolic meaning the WTC site has become. The architects now wanted to capture the significance of that area in New York. The pools are infinity pools that are exactly how big and where the towers were. They have to names of all who had passed on this horrific day. This memorial site is the ultimate symbolic representation of what that day meant and still will mean for decades to come. We will remember that day infinitely forever.