Week 15 Three Levels

This is an image of the design process.  This picture tells a story of the design process using all three levels of visual design.

Representational: Many of the images in this picture are on the representational level.  As a whole the representational images are to show the actual finished products for real life use.  The impact of these images are important because they help finish the story that this picture tells.  They show the viewer finished (real) products.  If you look throughout this picture there are many concept drawings, anamations, and pictures of products.  The representational images are required and tie everything together because they are the final part of the process. 

Abstract: The Abstract images in the picture are used to show a three dimensional concept for the products as a whole.  They are important for showing intermediate steps in the process.  The impact it gives to the viewer is the understanding of the product concepts.  The viewer can understand the shape, and colors of these shapes.  Even the baby comes into play.  The drawing of the baby gives the viewer the understanding for the use of these concepts.  This level relates to the other two levels because it acts a an intermediary between the symbolic concepts to the representational outcome.

Symbolic: As a whole the symbolic images and words give us an informative understanding of where these ideas came from.  The symbols in the picture have an impact because they show a begining of the design process.  The words tell us who the concepts came from.  The symbolic drawings give the image its details and specifications for the products.  The symbols relate to the other levels because they give the neccesary details that are to be considered in the other levels.

3 visual levels

Representational:  This is a photograph that is on the representational visual level.  When viewers see this photo they know that it is a photograph based on reality.  These kind of representational images are the most reliable messages because people can relate to the realism of the photo.  People have a strong connection to the photo.  In this case people look at the photo and they actually see a house.  They relate to it by saying, "I've seen one of those and I live in one of those.

Abstraction: This is an abstract image of a house.  This image is abstract because it is not a realistic photograph.  However, on a visual level people can still see that it is a representational picture of a house.   The major difference in this image and the one above is that it has a reduction in the visual message. In this image people see the visual understructure of what represents a house.  The triangle on top represents a roof, there are circles for windows, and a box for the foundation.  Basically there is less information in this picture, yet there is still enough to see that it is a house.

Symbolic:  This is a symbolic image of houses.  The boxes are symbols because they don't look like houses or buildings yet people know that they are anyway.  People can still understand that they are buildings because the lines represent streets because they are parrallel with eachother and the boxes are symbolically placed where buildings would go. This helps people understand that the boxes are coded information that symbolizes homes.

Week 12: Visual Techniques

Toy Design


Techniques: Instability, Color, Spontinuety, Intricacy,distortion, variation.

Techniques: accuracy, flatness, repetition, balance, symmetry, predictability,simplicity.

I am inspired by both of these toys because they were two of my favorites when I was a child.  They inspired me to want to become a toy designer.  Although both of these toys are successful in the market and ingenious designs, they are both very different.  Top: The transformer is a very intricate toy is involves many moving parts.  The toy allows a variety of distortions and variations.  The transformer is also very colorful and attractive.  Bottom: The etcha-sketch is much more simple.  It has a simple square shape to it.  The transformer, on the other, hand has bumps and curves all over it. While it has two knobs on the Etcha-sketch allows variability like the transformer, the knobs are very predictable.  They turn left and right.  The Etcha-sketch is also alot less colorful.  It is mostly shades of white, grey, and black with a red border.  The Etcha-sketch also has a 2D quality to it.  It is very flat where the transformer almost forces people to see it in a 3D perspective if they want to solve it.  It requires depth.  Both of these toys do allow people to be creative with them because the user is allowed to choose how the toy should look.  These are good examples of how much contrasts toys can have while still being successful.

Week 11 Contrast

FASHION DESIGN

This is a good example of bad contrast in fashion design.  The reason that this is bad design is because it creates confusion for people.  The lady is wearing black baggy pants with a tight corset top.  This causes contrasting confusion.  Is the outfit supposed to excentuate her body or hide it?  Also the pattern on the pants stops right at the waiste contrasting with her top.  It would have been easier on the eyes if she would have had a little pattern on the shirt as well.  Then contrasting with the black outfit is her pink purse, pink shoes, and red hair.  This begs the question if her outfit is the most important thing, why are the extravagant accessories bringing in more attention than the outfit.  The culmination of this contrasting outfit is not only confusing for people, it is a bit scary also.

In this picture of Anne Hathaway's outfit there is an example of good fashion contrast.  The contrast works in a possitive way because it helps excentuate parts of the dress while bringing attention to it.  For instance, the silver background helps excentuate the black tassles that are hanging off of the dress.  These are important because the tassles not only help show off her shapely body, but they also excentuate the way her body moves. The shiny silver background also helps bring attention to people's eye when the glimmer hit them.  It also gives a nice contrast to the matte black tassles which doubles as triangular patterns on the dress giveing it depth.  The culmination of these contrasts brings an elegant and pleasing vision to those who are looking at it.

Implied Motion (Option 1)

In this photo, the city is set up to show how cars move through the city.  Although there are no cars in this photo, people know that the lights represent cars in the city.  The eyes follow the lights of the cars between the buildings. Using our exsisting knowledge of cars in the city, we can observe the directions of the traveling lines.  In our mind we know that the white lights on a car is the front and the red lights on a car is the rear.  This lets our mind know which way the lights are going in the photo. Therefore, the viewer observes the white lines traveling toward the front.  The red lights flow away to the back of the photograph.

 
This photo is another example of implied motion.  Although nothing is actually moving because this is a photo, our knowledge of motion tells us that things are moving in this picture.  First of all we can see that the building in the center of the picture is falling down.  Instead, of being vertical, the building is diagonal across the screen telling us that it is falling down.  We know the direction that the building is falling because of our preconception of how thing natually fall.  Another thing that demonstrates motion in this photo is the puff of dirt that is coming from the base of the building.  We know that dirt natually lays on the ground; therefore if the dirt flys up in the air many particles are moving around in the air.  These facts combined give us the directions and movements of the objects within this composition.

Depth/Dimension/Space

This is a beautiful picture of architecture.  This picture is interesting to me because it is a good representation of the dimension of a room.  Although this is a 2D photo, there are several ways that dimension is used to give it a 3D quality.  First, you can find dimension by the sizes of the object in the photo.  For instance, The objects that are closer in the picture appear larger and the objects that are farther away apear smaller.  The bottom of the stairs look very large compaired to the steps at the top of the stairs.  This example lets you know that those steps that are smaller are farther away than the bottom steps.  Another way to find dimension is by the element texture.  For example, in the bottom of the picture you can see that the square tiles are separated by colors and grain.  However, in the back of the room the tiles almost blur into one color.  This also shows that the tile is closer.  Lastly, dimension is visible because of overlap.  If you look on the hand rail on the staircase, you notice how it raps around the stairs.  The stairs begin to hide behind the hand rail halfway up the staircase.  This shows that the handrail is in front of the the steps.  Therefore, adding dimension to the photo. 
URL:http://boberfly.com/alex/?page_id=9

Tone and Color

A.  Tone in this photo proves once again that it is key element in photograph.  The tone in this photo does many things.  For instance, the tone in this photo is used to bring out great detail.  The viewer can easily see the detailed waves in the background to the black rocks, and even the details in the wedding dress.  The tone also gives this picture a mood.  The bright detail in the sky that reflect off the dark rocks create a sense of equal harmony and drama in the photo.
B.  The tone that shows great detail in the picture works lovely the way they it is combined with texture.  For instance, because the tone in the picture creates an awesome clarity, it allows the various textures in the photo to spring out.  The cracks in the black rock, the foam in the sea, and the folds in the dress fabric all add to the dramatic mood.
C.  The color in this photograph is used in a couple different ways.  First of all, color in this photo brings focus to the the bride and the scarf she is holding.  The bride and scarf really pop out of the background because of the contrast in the photo.  It begins with the bright blue sky contrasting with the black rocks in the forground.  The white brides dress really stands out from the blue sky and black rocks.  This makes here a great central theme in the photo.
D.  The color works well in this photograph when combined with motion.  The color in the photo causes to immediatly go to the scarf which stands out in the photo.  This is where the motion takes over.  Because the scarf is twisting and turning, the eyes are able to use the scarf to naturally flow through the whole photo.

Architecture

This image has a strong use of the element line.  The lines are actively being used as structural support.  The lines in the photo are used in a virtical fashion in the background and carry your eyes up the tall buildings.  The lines also carry your eyes horizontally in the forground when looking at the train and the tracks holding the train.  Some of the lines in the photo are tilted from the viewpoint and gives the photo a 3D perspective.

In this photo the dominant element being used is shape.  In the early stages of engineering and architecture shapes are used to guide the designer by breaking down the structure into parts.  In this photo shapes are used to make it easier to see how the city can be broken down.  The shapes in this city vary from rectangles, triangles, and cylandars.  Therefore, the shapes in this picture not only have the job of breaking down the cities structure but also to diversify the buildings allowing them to be dynamic.

The element in this photo is motion.  This is known as a concept art.  This is a concept for a building in motion.  Motion is used in this picture to show how the building would look if it shifts and rotates.  The concept of this building is that each floor can shift its position.  This motion allows the building to be exciting and dynamic.  Motion forces the eyes to follow the building to the top.  Motion also brings attention to the building, because it would be the only thing different in a city of still buildings.

GOOD DESIGN/BAD DESIGN

GOOD DESIGN

http://www.exinteriordesign.com/innovative-design-coconut-chair-by-ascent/

This is an example of good design because of its use of syntactical guidelines.  For example, the contrast of black and white give the chair an elegant balance of color.  It also allows the user to distinguish the contrast of possitive (white) and negative (black) space.  The elegance of the chair gives the perception that it will be relaxing and confortable.

BAD DESIGN

http://www.montparnas.com/articles/oops-award-for-bad-product-design-2009/

This is an example of bad design because of the use of syntactical guidelines.  First of all, this is a perfect example of how balance can work against a design.  Because the designer used virtical symmetery to make this chair, people that try and sit down are forced to actually climb over it to get in.  Furthermore, the design of the chair gives little support for the users back making it very unconfortable.

Visual and Symbolic Language

                                    http://mscareergirl.com/

Tired              Desparate            
Lonely           Sad
Alone             Usless
Desparate      Direct

Some of the visual cues that make this a powerful photo is the lady, her expression, and her desperation.  For instance, just looking at the lady people notice that she is alone.  The expression on her face reveals that she is sad and frustrated.  Some of the symbols in the picture are the sign and her ring.  On the sign are direct words saying Hire Me!  This also shows how desparate she is.  On her left ring finger is a symbol known as a wedding ring.  This makes people that see her wonder if she is married and has a family.  This helps add sympathy to her situation.  If i was to explain this to a blind person, I would describe it like a girl losing her puppy.  It means a lot to her and she doesn't know what to do.
    

Week 4: Visual Thinking Research

        In the first picture on above I guessed the answer was D because i saw that box 1 and 3 made box 4.  So I assumed that box 2 and 4 made box 5.  Although I still feel like my answer could have been right by using an induction method where i find patterns between the figures the answer was quite simple.  At closer inspection from my friend he used finding as his pattern perception.  Imbedded inside each square is a number therefore the fifth square is E.

        In the second experiment with the cat I had to figure out how many triangles there are in the figure.  Again using finding as my pattern perception I counted 20 triangles embedded in the cat figure, which is the correct answer.

Feature Hierarchies

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A2KJkIQSoohMJE4AlfWjzbkF/SIG=12mtei10p/EXP=1284109202/**http%3a//mojosavings.com/2010/01/06/safeway-post-cereal-money-maker/

This cereal box is a good example of how a designer can use visual features to sell a product.  The first visual feature that jumps off of this box is color.  The cereal is colorful, the words are colorful, and the characters are colorful.  Color (as discussed in class) is the most powerful feature channel that someone can use to make thier product standout.  Another feature that is used on the box is spacial layout.  By spacial layout i mean depth.  The background on the box is almost entirely red, which leaves all the other colors to be contrasted in the forground. Lastly, the typography on the box uses many of the cues in its own hierarchy.  For example, the words are large.  They are almost as big as the characters.  It makes them stand out.  Then the colors of the letters also make them stand out.  Finally the font of the letters are in a stoney 3D which make them jump off of the box at the customer.  The features on this box becomes a visual playground.

Top Down Products

www.babson.edu/onecard/machinesp...north.htm

This soda machine is a good example of how to market and exploit top down processing.  Firstly when people are looking for a beverage to drink they visually see the huge soda and make the connection that they can get a drink here.  When they get to the machine there are visual pictures on the buttons to help people locate which soda they may be looking for.  There is also a picture to show people where to put the money and how to insert it.  Furthermore, when people come up to this machine, the top down visual ques tell people if put money in, a soda comes out.

DAI 323 Visual Design Literacy- Dennis K Foster

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