Composition: Icons

Activity 10: Icons

     For this exercise we were asked to focus on the importance of icons. We were asked to find an image of an object and identify the object's most important features. I picked a syringe from Google. I discovered that the most important aspects to any syringe are its needle, the pressure pusher, and the measurements. Then, we were asked to transform the image into our own interpretation of an icon. 

My final image looked like this:  

 I took the most important and identifiable parts of the syringe and made it into an aesthetically appropriate image for others to look at. It conveys a medical message that could lure people in to "get their blood drawn, get tested for various symptoms, diseases,etc." It's comic enough that children could appreciate it for it's visual aspects , but it's real enough that adults can appreciate what it means.

 Krause says: "The ultimate goal of an icon is to convey a message-quickly, clearly, and in a manner that is aesthetically appropriate for its purpose and target-audience" (p.155). I think I followed and understood what Krause meant with my interpretation of my needle icon. I learned from doing this activity that it takes a lot of thought and effort to produce a good icon. This activity was hard for me to get through but I'm overall pleased when I look at the final result.

 

Composition: Gestalt Theory

Activity 9: Gestalt Principle-Closure

For this activity, we learned about the Gestalt Theory and the different Principles that it includes: Closure, Proximity, Similarity, and Continuity. We were then asked to go to PowerPoint and make a simple image of one of the Principles. Once we were finished I went to Photoshop to crop my image from it's background. My image describes the principle of Closure. This principle says that "we attach meaning to visual displays." The viewer can see that this is the Closure Principle because of the shape that the eye forms by itself when looking at the piece as a whole. In reality, there are 4 oddly cut out squares but when the eye sees them together it forms a full rectangle in the middle. I enjoyed this activity because I learned something new about the different ways an eye can visualize and make something appear real when it's only an illusion. 

Composition: Critical Reflection Section 1

Connection: 

I think that the elements in my blog are thematically connected. I use titles to introduce my pieces and activities. I also use introductory, middle, and concluding sentences that connect my thoughts and the pieces I display. I use words like "original" and "new" so one can clearly distinguish between what pieces come first and so on.  My pieces are very much connected with each other. My titles are in bold which help to organize the post, and draw attention to what is important to pay attention to for that section. My posts are also in chronological order so one can easily follow them. I purposefully have breaks between activities to indicate my movement from one subject to the next which helps to connect the piece as a whole. For example, in my "Horizons" exercise I make a break between the horizons examples and the Golden Section to show my movement from one theme to the next. Finally, there are strong visual connections throughout my design. For instance, my font color is consistent which brings the design together. Also, my background is a soft pink/faded white which fits in with the font. My descriptions are always before and after pictures I upload, and everything is aligned in the middle to stay consistent throughout the blog.

Alignment:

I have thoroughly checked my alignment within my pieces to make sure nothing has been overlooked. My alignment is consistently in the center with a touch of variety. For example everything is aligned in the middle except for my ruler of the Golden Section which is flush-left. My downfall is that I express how to enforce the message of my designs within my descriptions but not so much in the design alignment itself. I could do better in the future to ensure my message is clear with more movement opportunity of my designs. I allow the proper amount of space between each piece and theme so nothing is overly cluttered or overly spacious. In looking at my alignment, my clients would probably tell me to change my patterns a little bit to establish more of a variety. But on the other hand, center alignment pleases the eye because it allows everything to appear right in front of one's vision rather than having them search for everything. I could do better in different levels of importance, rather than make them all appear to be equal. That would make the most aesthetically pleasing piece.

Priority:  

I took a break and came back to my computer. I found that I would indeed keep reading this blog for the amount of color sustainability and variety. Once the color caught my eye, I began reading and found that there was enough information mixed with personal emotions to keep me captured within the text. There is clear and appropriate hierarchy within the text. To use the example of my Titles and text again, the Titles are big and in bold to catch the audience's attention. There is good balance of color and value. I mix the background color well with my text color. And my pictures fit well with soft hues or vibrant hues when called for. The visual flow is pleasing in that nothing stands out or feels out of place. I am able to follow through the entire blog without feeling overwhelmed, or pulled in opposing directions. Each item flows swiftly into the next.

In evaluating my own work I'd say my alignment needs the most work. I could make my work stronger by using more variety when a piece needs the most attention. Everything else goes above and beyond the expectations of a blog. I have the right balance of colors, and every segment is arranged in strong hierarchy typically from original works to altered and improved works. I enjoy my work and look forward to what comes next, I hope everyone else does as well!

Composition: Color and Emphasis

Activity 7: Color

 

We used images in Photoshop for this project. We started with one simple image that we could easily multiply and manipulate. My image was a pair of cowboy boots that I took from Stolkvault.net. I  used the magic wand tool to select the image and paste it onto a new slide, then tripled the image so the original image looked like this:

We were then asked to significantly change the color of one of the images. This was done to allow viewers to focus on the colorful pair and make the image more visually appealing. I highlighted the middle pair of boots because the middle is often a main focal point for the eyes. I then changed the hue of the brown so it focused into a deep green. My final image looked like this:

I was excited to do this project because I love working with colors and pushing the boundaries to new images. Color really helps an image to stand out above the rest and make a statement. That was what I was aiming for with the middle pair of boots being green. Middle tends to be in the spotlight!

Activity 8: Emphasis

We were asked to choose another image; this time I chose it from Google.com. This image had to be of a street scene with people and objects. I chose a picture taken from Tokeyo's "Time Square". The original image looked like this:

Once we chose the image we were asked to make it black and white, or sepia. To do this I used the magic wand tool to select what object I wanted emphasized. Then I selected the inverse of the tool so that everything except my object turned to black and white. My final image looked like this:

This activity was to show us the value of emphasizing an image, not just with color, but lack of color and the importance of placement and emphasis within an image. I chose to highlight the billboard sign because I thought it captured the idea of Japan the best. I've never been there, but from what I know about the culture is that their buildings are very interestingly designed and their artwork and cartoons are extremely unique. I thought the billboard of the Japanese caricature captured all of that. It is in a place that might otherwise be overlooked when the image is in full color because the picture is so busy, so to ensure I drew attention and focus to it I left it colorful. I think the black and white altered picture is a lot stronger than the colorful picture. It lessens the business of it, and captures the most important part. The second one is the more aesthetically pleasing to my eyes and hopefully to everyone else's!

Composition: Alignment

Activity 6: Alignment

For this activity, we focused on alignment. I chose the liquor bottle because I thought it stood out more than just a picture of a cat would, per say. It definitely catches the eye's attention. Secondly, I focused on center alignment. I thought the text right below the bottle made the image a lot stronger. It allows the eye to flow naturally from the picture of the liquor bottle straight to the "message" which was my main focus of this design. Finally, I made the logo font smaller than the picture so it wouldn't take away from the main point. I aligned the logo underneath the picture to pull the piece together.This piece is not scattered and disorganized, off balance, or overly lavish. These reasons make this a good example of  alignment; it follows a specific pattern, of centrality in this case, but still projects an interesting point of view. I enjoyed working on this activity because I never really understood the importance of alignment in a picture until now. It was exciting to produce an image that people enjoyed.

Composition: Grouping and Theme

Activity 4 and 5: Grouping and Theme

I chose to theme unity this way because to me, the meaning of unity consists of thoughts like: togetherness, closeness, watching out for others and being supportive. Immediately I thought of a circle. It represents all of what I just talked about. A circle brings everything together and in essence "unites" what is separate into a whole. Light green seemed a warmer, more hopeful color to me which is why I chose it to help elaborate my point.

Logic represented a pattern to me. For instance, being able to think structurally, and orderly and make sense of an abstract idea. I used plus signs to unify the theme of logic with that of education. Education and learning helps one to understand something and make sense of it; hence being logical. I aligned the plus signs in rows on top of each other to represent a line. To me, lines lead to strategic and abstract thinking because one can do so much with them. I chose grey to represent the fact that logical thinking seems black or white, but grey is often the answer. Riddle me that :)

I chose clouds to represent isolation because when I see them in the sky they float silently by themselves, almost independently. When I think of isolation I think of singling one out. Making one feel cold and unwanted. Like they have to be independent and on their own. Hence why one cloud is white and floating by itself, shriveled up and alone while the others are clumped together. The purple helps emphasize the connotation of defeat. I chose a darker purple to emphasize icy-coldness.

Bigger is better when intimidating is the plan. I chose to big suns to "overrule" the smaller ones. The sun in the sky seems to be the most intimidating when one looks up and gets struck by beams of light. Almost like punishment for defying the "ruler above." This is why I used the sun as my tool for intimidation. Yellow resembles power, which is why I chose the color. Many kings, rulers, and nobles have goldish-yellow jewelry, crowns, artifacts, etc that exacerbate their nobility. Intimidation is power.

The structure of this piece is just simply that escape means to run away. I angled the lightning bolts as if they were in attack mode, and the word itself was trying to evade the harm that was coming. Angling the bolts gave a stronger connotation to the word, that seemed to emphasize urgency. Which is the point when one is escaping, they want to leave as soon as possible. Red signified an urgent color. Red is as if something is dangerous or deadly, like blood. So I contrasted the red with black letters, signifying inevitable doom if the plan to escape fails.

When one is celebrating it is generally known that one is joyous or happy. This is why I chose smiley faces. To resemble celebration. The smiley faces are ordered in diagonal groups because the vibe of this grouping is that of liveliness and joy. Everything that a special occasion entails. Pink seemed to be a vibrant color that makes one feel excited which is why I chose it to represent celebration.

Anarchy gives off the connotation that something is in uproar. Everything is disorganized and run a muck.  This is why I chose explosions to represent the definition. They are all different sizes and all over the place to represent the disjunction. They are all different colors of blue to show that nothing is orderly or put together. Blue seemed to be an ominous color which is why I chose it as the base color to represent anarchy. 

The purpose of doing this activity was to experience what Krouse was talking about when he expressed the importance of grouping. We were asked to make 7 different Powerpoint slides with a different word in each slide. We were then asked to organize 10 simple shapes that expressed the word through grouping. I tried to pick colors and shapes that best depicted the word given. This activity showed off my use of Powerpoint skills as well as my capability of thinking abstractly about grouping. Grouping isn't always center-based, it can be up, down, or sideways as long as there is a similar theme running through the entire work. Doing this project gave me a new perspective on how to think about words and their connotative meanings.Comparing my work to others I would not say that it is as good as some, but for that matter I think once you understand my thought process you will also understand why I made my pictures the way I did.