Abstract

This image is an abstraction of the Audi car by simplifying the actual car into minimal white lines against a black background (basic visual elements). By incorporating the key elements to help identify the car such as the side mirrors, the windshield, headlights and the bumper, you can pretty much identify the Audi car with barely any detail. The lines are used to describe only these emphasizing details (visual cues) which make a car. When we see the car logo positioned at the center, the windshield and all the basic parts of the car preset (in basic shapes and lines) positioned a certain way you would expect to find them on a car, then you already "see" the car.

Representational

This is a photograph of a Cocker Spaniel. The photograph according to Dondis is the most technically dependable means of representing visual reality. Every detail is captured in this image without anything being simplified, altered or omitted. In general, this is what a Cocker Spaniel looks like, and any one who is a dog lover can identify that this is one due to its long ears, relative size and fur texture. But also, anyone would know that this is a dog due to its general dog features. Viewers might identify the Cocker Spaniel from experience, memory or knowledge of what it looks like.

Symbolism

Unless you have been living under a rock or detached from products and commercials, you probably won't know what this symbol represents. But to most people, they can identify this as the Adidas logo (or old logo). The latest Adidas logo still incorporates the three stripes but looks a little bit different now. Anyway, this logo symbolizes the sports brand Adidas and most people can identify or recognize the brand simply by this symbol. The reason why I chose this particular symbol of Adidas was because it was intended to promote one of their Fall collections, thus the use of brown leaves which adds meaning to the original symbol for a specific purpose.

Visual Techniques

I am not sure this is an ad or something since it's in Chinese however it is still graphic design. The visual techniques strongly evident to me are ACCENT and SINGULARITY. It has accent which is the black V-like abstraction strongly contrasting and set against the plain gray background. The V-shaped figure (if you look closely are two people pointing at fishes in a pond) are the highlight/focus of the picture. Even though the V-shape is a combination of elements (the fish, people etc.) you see it as one thing because it looks so SINGULAR, as one separate/isolated group. It looks singular because it appears mostly opaque,continuous and sharp (the inside of the V which enables you to distinguish the shapes of the fish, the pointing fingers and the head, not the outside ).

Comparing my two Visual Technique examples, the Fish ad (the one directly on top of this) looks so simple compared to the complex knotted ball of roads which make up the GPS ad. With the fish ad, things are easily distinctive from one another. there is the background and there is the accent or the focus which is strongly visible through its opacity, darkness and shape that contrast against the empty, light background. The GPS ad on the other hand fills up the entire picture. There is not a single empty space. Every inch is occupied with something whether its a street, a tree or a house. There are so many elements that make up the picture and each element is distinguishable. You can find cars even though they are so tiny. This is why the GPS is complex. And as opposed to the singularity you see in the Fish ad, there is juxtaposition with the GPS ad where you put the knotted ball of roads (which is unusual) into a normal surrounding where roads are flat. Accent is definitely strong in the fish ad. The ball in the GPS ad is also an accent by the shape of the ball against the flat surroundings, but not a very strong one because it still bears similarities to its background despite its odd shape and you can also see that there is this continuing connection with the background setting and the main subject (the ball is connected by the flat roads).

Visual Techniques

This is something I aspire to do with creatives in the advertising field. This is an ad for MIO GPS navigation systems by ad agency Hock. I admire the creativity and talent put to use in advertising and I think that they are very inspiring and intelligent as well. For this one, the ad puts the feeling of getting lost and going in circles into a visual image of a ball of knotted roads to convey the problems of navigating your way on roads. The visual techniques that stand out strongest to me are the use of COMPLEXITY and also EXAGGERATION to reflect the difficulty of the consumer's situation which the ad is trying to point out.
It is COMPLEX because of the great twists and turns of the road and everything within the ball that is crunched inside. The ball is the image of complexity and what the designers are trying to convey is that it's complicated and hard to find your way around it. The complex ball contrasts its surroundings which is made up of simple straight roads and organized houses, trees and buildings.
It is EXAGGERATED because of the unrealistic expression of road difficulties. It is extravagant, it is enormous and crazy.

Bad Contrast

This bathroom design is an example of bad contrast because there is a lack of it. The marble patterns which make up the walls and floor of this bathroom barely distinguish each other with its overly matched design. On top of that, the mirrors and the reflective sink counter are not helping by reflecting even more marble. There is (visually)marble everywhere! The problem here besides a marble overdose is that lack of contrast makes it difficult to find anything in this bathroom because they are easily lost/camouflaged in this confusing design. It functions similarly to the military camouflage pattern with the purpose of blending in the environment. But this is a bathroom and the last thing a person using a bathroom would want is to have his things blend with it. You can barely tell that there is even a tub there if it weren't for the pillows and candles outlining it. This makes it difficult navigating through space and spotting things you can normally easily spot in a room with better contrast.

Creative Contrast

This is an awesome chair is aptly named the "Grid Chair" by designer Jaebom Jeong. I thought this is a great example of contrast of two different elements that make up the chair frame and the seat. You can distinguish two very different elements here, which compose the parts of the chair that creates this cool contrast of thick and thin, detailed and simple, heavy/sturdy and light, transparent and opaque. The wiry chair frame is made out of stainless steel while the seat is made of Walnut (wood I presume). While this piece of work may appear flimsy and light (from perceived transparency of its frame), it is actually quite the opposite and is fully functional. When you look at it, you might want to double take and look again at this graphic inspired creation that looks like a prototype draft illustration conjured up in a computer screen but the chair is actually a real physical object. Form definitely follows function in this piece, but with style and unique sense of creativity thanks to brilliant use of contrast in design.

Extra Credit

This is Google Maps. One of the navigation problems I frequently encounter when I use Google Maps is zooming. Zooming can be sometimes confusing and you can get lost in it particularly when zooming in to view a more accurate location. For example, if I am looking at San Francisco from a very general far away view and I slowly zoom in on it to get a picture of San Francisco, I find myself constantly moving around instead of focusing on one spot. When you zoom in, your area of interest shifts around the screen as you click on it. While the name 'San Francisco' might originally be on the left on your screen then you click in to zoom in, it moves a few inches here and there as the pictures get larger or come into place instead of focusing on one spot and enlarging that area while having the location name stay in position. Sometimes, when viewing something so detailed that you want to click in and get more of a focus, the clicking option can get a little tricky because the mouse does not highlight what your mouse is resting on or selecting so you are not really that sure that you are clicking on the area that you want.

Motion

This is a game scene captured from the latest Resident Evil 5 game. The character that stands in the middle of the picture is the character that is being played in the game. In this game, you move a lot through narrow spaces such as alleys and small streets full of stuff/clutter. For many parts of the game, you are usually not walking on level ground (implied by the constant changing level of your line of vision in the game) and occasionally you get attacked and thrown "off balance" in the game. I think for the navigation designer, it's the character's movement that is most of the challenge because they are trying to make this realistic attempt to give the player a "feel" of movement through the player's eyes. It gets especially visually confusing when turning in this game during times when you are looking for your attacker/zombies because you know they are there which are caused by jumpy screen views and sound effects but turning around and scanning your environment can be a bit of a challenge. Movement in terms of rotation/turning are not completely mastered yet because it does not flow smoothly and can be nauseating for a new player who is not familiar with these kind of games.

Extra Credit

This is a design by Danil Kryvoruchko from a design site myshli.com. While somewhat an abstract representation of an explosion happening, there is still motion going on here. This scene might seem familiar if you have seen a few blockbuster movies depicting explosions or world annihilation and such except in place of fire and smoke you see stars and candy. Motion is depicted here strongly through the foreground where you see it appears really blurry with rapid lines extending out from the colorful candy cloud explosion as if that area is quickly in the process of being blown away by wind and explosion impact. At the top of the candy cloud explosion, you can see tiny bits and pieces of stars sort of bouncing off/shooting out separating itself from the big cloud, ready to scatter. There are also these pointy green and red triangles that are circulating around the explosion at the bottom ground sort of resembling colorful gusts of violent wind circulating.

Extra Credit

This is a design by an artist named Josh Rodes from this site nib101.com This image shows a cool mixture of movement and depth. Looking at the picture, we seem to be viewing it from an implied angle where the legs and the lower torso appear closest to us and then as you look further up to the top of the body and the head, it appears to recede into the top distance. It looks like it's moving because it is in a mid-running position. One foot is completely off the ground while the other has barely set foot on the ground. You can also see that the foot on the right has caused some friction with the ground creating this splatter of grass and mud where his right foot touches the ground. There seems to be a wind implied by the dashing lines going from right to left (picture-wise) as well as a few strands of hair that hangs on to the head and trailing in light waves in the wind. ANd if this were really a moving strip of film, you can probably perceive the shift of light and tones on his body as he runs

Motion

This here is a cool example of motion and graphic design by an artist named Norway which I found from Flickr. The original picture features an actual person which the graphic designer photoshopped to make it appear like there is an invisible person wearing the outfit. Despite the lack of appearance of the 'person' who is doing the movement, you can clearly see here that a jumping 'person' is depicted in the image. You can tell that the 'person' is jumping up because he is raised off the ground as indicated by the shadow cast on the floor underneath the body. You can also tell that the 'person' is not standing up right. He is in all sorts of diagonal movement looking at his raised arms and bent elbows, the torso angled at somewhat 30 degrees and his feet/tip of his toes pointing away. There is definitely a lot of tension going on to suggest movement as well such as the multiple folds and wrinkles on the jeans and the t-shirt.And if you observe closely enough you will notice how the shirt is raised up slightly rising along with the movement of the body, wind going up against the shirt as he jumps.

Extra Credit

This is a website header picture I found from iDesign UK. This one shows a great amount of depth and just by looking at it, you can see the "distance". SIZE/SCALE is a big factor here as you can see that the outstretching arm is very big in comparison to its environment which gives us the impression that it is very close to us. Then as your eye follows the direction of the arm, it looks like it is shrinking or getting smaller. You can also tell that the arm is closest to the viewer because it overlaps everything else including the clouds and the whole landscape. Even though the arm appears to be receding in size with the hand being very small relative to the top of the shoulder, the clouds in comparison to the hand are roughly the same size or even smaller which indicates it is very far away. In this picture, depth also works with DIRECTION as obviously pointed out by the outstretched diagonal arm which seems to be directed or pointing towards the top right or center of the picture. Relative height is also used clearly here especially with the presence of the landscape's horizon as reference despite the angled viewpoint of the shot. The hand, which is above the horizon appears farther from us, and overlaps the space of the sky. The elbow and the upper arm is placed below the horizon where they overlap against the shore. On top of that, TONE is present as you see stronger tones and contrast on the arm especially in detail on the holes of the sleeve on the arm. The background which is made up of the sky and the water have little contrast of tone and appear blurred or vague thus indicating it is at a distance.

Extra Credit

This interesting architecture is the Asadi Tower in Tehran, Iran. This image and structure shows great depth which can obviously be seen through the arches. The depth here can be seen and detected by the SIZE of the appearance of the archs from this straightforward view point. The bigger arch appears to be in front and one that appears to be at the back behind it which is indicated by the smaller, similar size that appears to be inside the front arch. And while the smaller arch appears to be within the bigger arch, you can also see there is an overlap where the front arch and the giant angular posts on both side blocks/covers from view most of the back arch and its posts. You also see linear perspective here but this is more of a looking-up view point. As you can see, it looks like this picture of the architectural building is taken from the bottom and is angled to capture the top of the tower. The top looks relatively further away and smaller in comparison to the massive posts that seem so close to us. LINES help indicate the viewpoint angle and depth we see from bottom to top as we see the lines begin from the bottom and converge closer to the center as they go upward.

Depth

This cute little product here that looks like an injection is a USB hard drive designed by dialog05. This image here is the actual product and the picture is used in their website to showcase their work. This displays depth through it's positioning with regards to the relative height. Although placed in a diagonal position, half of the injection (the front)is below the horizon and appears very clear, big and close to us. The other half (the end) is above the horizon, appears like it's receding in size, getting blurrier and far from us so we think that the end of it is at the back.
The other elements that work with depth in this picture is the direction. It is easily identifiable which tip of the injection is closer to us and which tip is farther to us and this is supported by DIRECTION. You can tell it is pointing to the bottom right because that point on the bottom right (tip of the injection/USB) is the sharpest, clearest part of the image. It helps depth by indicating that it is coming from an angle and you can find the "front" and "back". Another element that helps is the TEXTURE, which in this case would be the surface of the injections such as the measurement lines and the numbers on the body of the object. As it gets "further" away from us (above the horizontal line), there seems to be a gradient of sharp to blur from bottom to top. The pattern becomes vaguer as it extends away from the viewer.

Extra Credit

This is an ad for red bull. This ad has a clear emphasis on the product using its signature brand colors of red, blue and silver. The rest of the ad, is quite light and white with very subtle tone. There is a strong contrast between the colored can and its white surrounding objects and background. Even though the brand name cannot be read clearly, especially the "red" in "Red Bull" on the top picture and barely anything can be read from the second picture of the can, you know it is Red Bull because you identify its signature colors and the familiar SHAPE of the can. When you look at the shape, color and its arrangements as a whole, even if you take out the label that reads "Red Bull" you already know what that brand is because of the memorable elements that make up the product. In this ad, you also see shape stand out, the roundness of the can (or rather the illusion of roundness)is set on a very geometric setting. There is the rectangular box on top and then the rectangular puzzle laid out on the bottom. The similarities of the shapes help further emphasize or differentiate the red bull can. Another element working with the color here is the TEXTURE. The coloring of the can is done in such a way that it appears shiny and rounded that is seems smooth. While we might generalize the colors on the can as blue, silver and red, looking closely, it is composed of various tones of blue, silver and red to create that shiny effect that makes it look smooth and round.

Extra Credit

This is a typical time magazine cover, except that besides the border and the text, everything is in black and white. The black and white, paired with the red borders and the red text create a strong contrast with each other and help set each other to stand out, particularly the text which says "TIME". In this cover, the text is seen very clearly because the layout is really clean, with very little color to distract or dominate the attention. The text is laid out in a clean bright white color laid against a solid pitch black background. The image on the left on the other hand, is not as simple or sharp as the text. Instead it is rich in TONE with different values of black, gray and white that create the dramatic effect even without the (other RGB) colors. Since it is black and white, the TEXTURE is also more noticeable in the subject's features with the fine details captured in a photograph. You can see the lines and patterns on her white veil, the wrinkles on her face, the fine lines which make up the strands on her hair and her complexion. While the range of colors are obviously limited, this duo toned cover gives a strong yet balanced expression. The border and the magazine title might be boldly and brightly colored, but to balance the strength of that, the subject or image counters that in black and white through tone and texture on one side, while the clear text balances it on the other side.

Extra Credit

This ad is for Pepsi Twist, a lime-flavored pepsi that was released for a limited time. The thing that makes this particular pepsi product stand out is the new packaging they did by customizing the typical red, blue and white pepsi colors and adding the green to emphasize the lime in the drink. Green is the associated color of lime so this is what they used to help sell the image of the drink and its identity as a lime flavored cola. The green color is used to help emphasize the lime in this ad. The green that was used was a bright and saturated green shade and really helps to identify that the weird round thing with legs and arms is actually a lime with arms and legs. This color paired with the SHAPE and TEXTURE, which is contributes to helping the viewer associate the little character as a piece of lime. The shape of the little green thing is oval which is the typical generalized shape of a lime. The texture, if you look closely is made to realistically resemble the skin/surface of a lime. These three elements put together compose this peculiar little character that seems so unusual yet familiar at the same time. It is pretty much the center of attention in this ad which helps market the key differential factor of this particular soft drink.

Color

This is an ad for the watch brand, Casio. As you can see, this picture used for the ad is unusual particularly because of its color and in the context that it is used. The picture itself (if it were displayed in black and white), is not out of the ordinary, but the color sticks out like an odd ball in the scene. It is definitely eye catching because of the contrast of bright bold pink in a sea and sky of blue. We do not usually associate the color pink with ships, and it is very unlikely we have ever come across one. This image is one of many in a series of Casio's advertising campaign which uses very "butch", powerful, strong, fast, high technology machinery like the navy ship above, all coated in pink. With social factors in mind, this ad is trying to market Casio to women and the color says it all. We all know (at least here in the U.S.A.) that the color pink is pretty much the stereotyped color for women and advertisers for Casio are using that to deliver the message. The attributes of "manly" machinery such as the ship are juxtaposed with the color pink to suggest that this can be made for women too. Other interesting design elements here are the movement and the direction. Although this is a still ad, you have the impression that the ship is sailing away by implied MOVEMENT. This is the impression because of the diagonal position of the ship which deviates from the concept of balance and the felt axis vertical-horizontal line guide. You can also observe the white foam on the bottom of the ship to indicate it is creating tension with its surroundings, causing the foamy white waves swishing in various small diagonals. DIRECTION is indicated clearly because of the diagonal positioning of the ship, the receding appearance of the ship towards the top right. There are strong lines that lead or indicate the direction especially the strong solid yellow line that seems to be pointing at two o' clock (or 45 degree angle).

Product Design

I found this interesting table lamp. Although it seems very IKEA-ish, I found it at the Design Town website which was made by the moma store and it's called the Lily Lamp.

SO I'm going to discuss the three elements which are the most active with regards to this image

LINE
This lily lamp is made of many lines that define a group of petals layering in on each other. They are composed of slightly angled curving vertical lines that created the outline of each petal. As a whole, you see a flower of made out of petals which in turn are made out of lines.

TONE
There is a strong light dark contrast going on here and it is very easy to see especially with the white color of the petals overlapping and layering with each other creating these shadows on each other with the light source coming from within the lamp's core. These shadows and highlights strongly define the outline of each petal. The dark and light also adds a rounded look on the lamp and makes it more interesting. You can also see a gradation of white to gray tone from top to
bottom.
TEXTURE
Because of the lines and the play with the light and dark, a very interesting texture is created on the overall surface of the lamp. You see a texture made out of strokes of petals or a texture of curving lines. The texture is strong, sharp and layered and 3-dimensional. And if you look closely and can see the actual texture of each petal, you can tell that it is not smooth. Fine subtle horizontal lines run across each petal.

Syntactical Guidelines

This ad(second from the top) seems so busy that the central message is just lost in the jumble of words (in funky almost unreadable fonts). The message appears scattered and it is not effectively conveyed with the arrangement of text and images. The elements appear to clash. The only interesting thing in this picture is the protruding shape on the upper right but it distracts from the message of the ad and leads the eye away. The words "The mania" which is typed in blue gets lost with the black and white background of the picture. The use of various font faces and sizes are confusing and inconsistent. Everything from the center and the rest that bleeds to the bottom right appears all compressed/stuffed/crammed while there's this huge bordering unoccupied space on other areas. It just does not look evenly distributed.

The ad on the very top is clean and organized. The text is easily readable and more or less consistent with each other with the exception of the two different logos. The focus is clear, it is balanced. The stress is on the image and the two logos but are harmoniously arranged.

Fine and Applied Art

This I think is a beautiful example of fine and applied art all in one.
FUNCTINALITY: First off, it is obviously a staircase with very obvious functions which is to connect you to a higher floor. But it is well designed to maximize its function as well as add aesthetic value to the overall architecture of the building. It's a spiral staircase that can go up many levels (probably two to three floors) that occupies a small amount of space yet takes you somewhere really high. The shape of the staircase while serving the functionality of minimizing space and reaching elevated heights.
AESTHETIC: It is also very pleasing to the eye as you view the elegant curving vertical waves the spiral creates against the horizontal steps and the small vertical pillars which hold up railings. It even slightly resembles the DNA symbol. If you look at it over all, it is a bunch of many different lines creating this sophisticated pattern to make a staircase. Each piece has a functional purpose which holds it up and makes it a whole. There is no unnecessary piece of this architecture and all is put to good functional use which doubles as aesthetic as well.
COMMUNICATION: I think that this staircase reflects culture, art and history. It seems somewhat 'modern'like Bauhaus in terms of functional aesthetic but somewhat has an Art Nouveau feel to it as well with the fine curves and lines and the nature aesthetic.
DECORATIVE/ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:It puts a 'twist' in going up the stairs. Many people will still take the stairs over an elevator for various different reasons from going around and around this kind of stair and enjoy some view. As a piece of architecture, it adds beauty and a style to the house as compared to an elevator.

Assignment blog #1 visual searches and feature hierarchy

My intended field of study is advertising so I decided to go look for an ad that related to the topic of visual searches and feature hierarchy. This is a green ad for a tetrapak company called Hedra encouraging consumers to go green by recycling their products. The form dominates over the color and the texture. As you can see, there is a tree (formed like a Christmas tree) inside the glass made out of apple juice and that is easily the first thing that you notice about the ad.

The picture is originally from the company Hedra. But I found it from a blog. (Having problems posting links for some reason)