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.