Representation, Abstraction, and Symbolism

This magazine advertisement is an example of representational visual information because it contains a photograph of a real car, road, and sky that people would experience in the real world. The image on the ad is a photograph, which people depend on to represent visual reality. The sky looks realistic and is something everyone, including the viewer, recognizes from experience in life. Both the road and car are something man made and not in everyone's environment, but the designer assumes that whoever has a magazine probably has experienced a concrete road and several cars in the real world if they have access to a magazine which advertises it. This photograph is able to replicate an actual car, road, and sky on the flat surface of a magazine. All the details it would have in the real world are present in the photograph so the viewer can believe that it is real and may intice them to desire a car which looks like the one in the ad.

The imagery in this CD album cover is an example of abstraction because the image does not represent anything that the viewer would experience in the real world. It has no connection with anything we can experience in the physical environment. This cover uses the space purely for tone, color, and texture. Only the composition itself in the design has meaning that is subjective to the perception of each viewer. In my interpretation of this abstract design, the image is related to the title of the album "Waking Up." The features in the image seem to be going up, or waking up, from the ground and going higher. Most of the round features have a trail to make it seem like they are moving upwards. Ultimately, even if the viewer is not sure what the exact meaning is, they can extract from just looking that there is a movement of going up.

This poster is an example of symbolic visual information because it is very simple. The poster is basically reduced to minimal information so that the viewer can still be able to recognize what they are viewing without the details. In addition, the letters and words on the poster are also symbols of written language. Most of the symbols in this poster such as the iPod and the words must be learned to understand, but the silhouette is obviously a human female to any viewer. The silhouette has an arm that is out and a tilted head, which means that she is probably in motion. Someone familiar with the iPod would probably understand that she is dancing to whatever music she is listening to from it. This means that whoever owns an iPod like the woman in the poster can have fun dancing like she is by connecting each of the symbols on ad.

Visual Techniques

Visual techniques: Simplicity, economy, understatement, accent, and juxtaposition.

Visual techniques: Complexity, exaggeration, boldness, and distortion.

The first and second posters can be compared as both are advertisements of different products but they contrast in the message and how it is delivered. In the first poster, the techniques used such as simplicity, economy, understatement, and accent help the viewer to focus on the few elements on the poster. The simplicity also helps with the juxtaposition of the two kitkat bars because having two objects close to another in a simple background focuses the main message of the poster. Altogether, the elements in the first poster are very minimal but gives an effective message of pausing to take a relaxing break to enjoy a kitkat bar. In the second poster, it contrasts with the first poster because it is complex, exaggerated, and bold unlike the first poster. By combining these techniques, the poster establishes a chaotic looking space. The distortion in the man's face also interacts with the previous techniques to make the message appear more visually chaotic. The overall result in this poster gives the message of chaos, which is perfect to represent a headache, through the interaction of the visual techniques.

Week 11 Contrast

This poster about typography is an example of effective contrast in graphic design. The intent of the designer was to make the statement "Bad Typography Is Everywhere" stand out because it is an example of badly aligned typography. The use of color, red, in this sentence works out well to contrast it from the white of the page. The other phrase in the poster "Good Typography Is Invisible" looks invisible unless the viewer tries to read it because the white text blends in with the white background. Also, the alignment of the statement is contrasting with the red statement so the viewer can somewhat see it as is an example of good type alignment. The poster is making a true statement about typography using contrast in the design with typography and color and it dramatizes the designer's intent.

This poster is an example of ineffective use of contrast. There is contrast in the typography and color but none of the contrast has meaning to it. The contrasting typefaces, colors, and scales are not helpful in the design because it seems randomly placed. Some text has a contrast in tone in the middle of a paragraph, some text is bolder than others, and the placement of the text is also moved around for no apparent reason. Also, the color red is used in the first paragraph and on the huge red dot of the "i" in Univers to give it contrast to the black, but it attracts unwanted attention to the dot, which is not where the viewer wants to focus on. Contrast should be used to make a statement in design, but it is not correctly used here because the poster is difficult to read with the visual noise made with ineffective contrast.

Movement and Motion (Option 2)

This information design poster is an example of navigating through space because the user has to search the map for information that they need. Most likely, the user will first focus on one point of the map such as the bottom left corner where there is a key to the symbols on the map. After navigating through the information there, the user will pick the color or symbol they must locate on the entire map. For instance, if the user needed the Central line, they would first locate which color represented the line. The Central line is red, so the user will navigate through the entire red line on the map until they find the station they are looking for. One of the problems the designer had to confront was probably how to organize the complex information on the map so that the user can navigate through it smoothly to find exactly what they need. The designer had to make the map user friendly so navigating through the information will not be frustrating for the user.

Another example of navigating through space is in a website. This website incorporates Flash animation which helps to show the user movement on a flat surface through motion. On the home page, the user has four main paths to choose to navigate: Credit, Work, About, and Contact. The user can click on one of the buildings to choose the path they want such as Work. A rectangle box with more information will appear in front of the screen with many more navigation options such as Client List and Identity. At any point in time, the user can go backwards or go back to the home page so they are free to navigate the space that is the website. One of the problems the designer confronted while designing this website is probably to make the movements flow so that the user will not get lost in the flat space. It is easy to get lost in a website with no motion, so making a website with Flash helps to alleviate that issue.

Website: http://www.piotrowskimichal.com/

Dimension, Depth, Space

In the design of a three dimensional virtual world, such as World of Warcraft, several depth cues are used to create the illusion of dimension, depth, and space on a flat screen. One of the cues used in the example above is overlap. Many of the objects, such as the flamingo, hills, and trees, overlap to create space. Relative size and height are also used because smaller objects are perceived as being farther away from the viewer while larger ones are closer. Atmospheric perspective is used as well in the example because the farther away the object it, the more foggy it appears. Looking at the grass, a texture gradient can be seen as the texture is more spaced out closer to the viewer. The grass is spaced closer when it is farther away until the texture is almost gone. Although not seen in the above example, in the World of Warcraft, flow pattern is used because objects on the sides of the avatar go past the screen of the viewer.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/batgrl/3442554861/

Tone and Color

Tone: There is tone in this poster because there are a lot of gradations in the sky. It goes from darkest on the top of the poster to lightest on the bottom of the poster and then it gets somewhat darker again on the bottom. There is light near the middle of the poster to bring out the significant figure on the poster. The character is highlighted in this poster because it is lighted against a more dark background.

Tone and Direction: Because there is gradation on this poster, tone is able to interact with direction. The gradation causes the viewer to look from top to bottom and also from bottom to top because of the gradation. The viewer will also probably focus more to the right because of the figure that is reflecting a lot of light tones.

Color: There are a lot of colors used in this poster. Although most are gradations, there are two main hues in this poster. A dark blue dominates the poster in color while red acts as an accent. The viewer will most likely look at the red colors on the poster more than the blue because it stands out in the poster against the dull blue. Since color has a strong affinity to emotions, this poster full of dark blue makes the viewer feel gloomy.

Color and Shape: Color interacts with shape in this poster because of the figure on the right side of the poster. The figure has many complicated shapes which also has many different colors, giving the viewer perspective and depth on the figure. Also, there is a red circle highlighting the E, a part of the name of the movie being promoted, in the poster.

Image Source: http://mystudio87.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

Book Design

Shape: Several different shapes are active on this book cover. The blue circles are shapes used to do two jobs here. One of them is to group together to spell out the letter L for logos, the title of the book. This draws attention because the circles are blue against the dark gray background. The second job for the blue circles is that they are put together to lead the user from the top left of the book cover, the area where readers pay attention to first, to the bottom right where the book will open for the reader. Another shape used is the rectangle. There is a black one on the right highlighting the publisher of the book. The contrast between the gray and black makes this shape work.

Line: The line element is used in this book cover. The lines are the thick white lines surrounding the black squares to form a grid structure on the cover except for the section where it is broken apart by the four diagonal squares with text in them. Here, the line is used to form structure for the different elements that are needed on the cover such as the text. The lines are perfectly straight horizontally and vertically to show that the grid is a significant part of typography for clear reading. The lines also help draw the viewer across the page because a line is never static.

Direction: In this book cover spread, direction is a strong element. The illustration of both yellow and green birds, which look somewhat like a triangle shape, are put into a pattern where if you look at the front cover on the right side of the spread, the view will follow the flying birds to the right side of the book. This leads the reader to want to open the book. If the viewer is looking at the back of the book, the contrast between the green and yellow birds there will cause the user to look at the flying direction of the green birds to the left side of the book. This gives the same effect of the front side except it is reversed. As the birds are triangular shaped, therefore having diagonals, it makes the direction visually provoking.

Color: On this table of contents spread from a book, the color element is being used several times. Each chapter of the book is given a distinct color. The color is used as a background color for the white title of the chapter under each rectangular image. By making each one a different hue, color is assigned to each chapter, allowing the reader to more easily browse through the book and find the information they are looking for within it. Since color is also the strongest visual process, it draws the attention of the viewer easily.

Syntactical Guidelines

This poster shows good balance because all the text is centered and the visual weight is symmetrical. The targeted user will look at the center of the poster to see information they will need for the event. Also, there is leveling in this poster because there is good harmony between the text and the background. The background only shows at the four corners and are predictable because they are all the same. This poster makes good use of attraction and grouping with the text as well. Similar information is placed closed to each other while the one that stands out, ben sollee, is large and separated. There is clearly positive and negative space in this as well; the blue is the negative part and the positives are the decorations and the text.

This poster does not show balance but it shows stress, which interferes with the information given for this event. Because of the stress, it can disorient the viewer from getting the correct information. Also, this poster is ambiguous, not leveled or sharpened. People prefer looking at important information on the lower left hand side of the visual field. In this poster, the most important information is put to the right side. The multitude of colors in the information given on the right side makes the user lose the principle of attraction and grouping even if they are the same size text because the color here is stronger than size. Also, this poster feels very cluttered so the positive and negative aspect is not very clear. Almost everything on the poster dominates so the message the event wants the user to see can get easily lost.

Visual Language

The visual message communicated through this screenshot of Super Mario Bros. 3 is that it is a dynamic playful environment for various characters. With different pastel colors, the image visually communicates the playfulness. There is also motion in the image as there are three different characters floating in the air. The rectangles and the overlapping of characters and objects give us a sense of dimension in the world the image is depicting. The image makes use of symbols visual intelligence also. Most of the bottom of the image is made up of various symbols made up of letters and numbers.

In a video game screen shot, the character you are controlling is typically in the center of the screen. Also, video games usually have a heads-up display to show the user information about the current status of your progress within the game.

Visual Thinking Research

The first puzzle I chose was Starry Sky. Unfortunately, I was not able to solve this puzzle and always ended up with one star missing. I kept trying different ways to connect the stars to see if I could eventually get all the stars with six lines. I tried both diagonals and straight lines. The image above is one of my attempts at solving the puzzle.

After sharing results with my friend, we realized we were both unable to solve the puzzle. She also had one star missing most of the time and the above is the one she got closest to. We both were missing the same star at the end. She said she was trying to use the lines to get the most stars possible and never stopped short. The answer was to make longer lines that extended passed the edge of the stars to get it under six lines.

For the second puzzle, I tried a counting the triangles that is similar to the counting the squares in class puzzle. The strategy I used here was to count all the smallest triangles, then moved up to the next biggest one, and kept going like that until I got to the largest triangles. Totally, I got 32 triangles but the answer was actually 44 triangles.

My friend got the correct number of triangles. She said she also counted the smallest triangles first and then went up to the larger ones. I found what I was missing: I forgot to reverse the triangles for the medium sized triangles to double count them.

Feature Channels and Visual Search

The design of this informational poster uses both feature channels and visual search concepts. There are only two colors here but they work effectively in making certain elements pop-out to direct the attention to different significant information the viewer needs to know. The date and time are most important so they use white to pop-out the most, helping in the visual search. The images and typography both use shape as a feature channel. Size is another feature channel used to contrast different information on the poster. The type uses density to make it pop-out from the rest of the poster. Visual search is used in the design because the most significant information, the date and time makes use of preattentive processing.

Image Source: http://www.35mmdesign.com/portfolio/print/poster_tct_glasshouse.jpg

Top Down Visual Processing

This is a map of the San Francisco State University campus and it is related to top down visual processing because it causes goal directed eye movement: the user will look at the map with a purpose in mind such as locating a building. The eye movements will constantly be moving around the map to fixate at yellow spots that are buildings to see if it is the correct one, ignoring green fields. It also involves priming of action plans because the user will ultimately use the map to find the best direction to their building. For example, the person looking at the map will probably not only locate the building they are looking for, but their current location on the map. This person will probably keep looking back and forth to trace a good direction to get to their destination.

Image Source: http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/announce/smokemap_zoomin.jpg