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.