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.