WK 15- Interactions Between the 3 Levels

   

Representational:  This record label logo for Makatsuku Records consists of a record player and a cartoon-like hand as the needle playing the record. Any person who has been in contact with technology will recognize the record player and pull from their personal experience to come to the conclusion that this logo is in some way connected to music, vinyl in particular. This is related to the abstract and symbolic levels because it is the source for a symbol that must go through the process of abstraction to become a symbol. The representational level is important because in order to have a successful symbol, you must have a representational object that people can relate to through their experiences.

   Abstract: The logo is an abstracted version of a record player which has been stripped of many minor details. It relates to both the representational and symbolic levels because it is the middle stage that takes something that we recognize from the real world and makes a symbol out of it that now symbolizes a record label who strongly believes in the vinyl format and releases its music via vinyl. 

   Symbol: This logo symbolizes a record label that releases their music on vinyl only. This symbol relates to the representational level only it has gone through the process of abstraction to now become something that communicates its a particular message more clearly and directly. 

Week 14- Representational, Abstract and Symbolic

This match lighter is representational because it is a lighter that represents a large match. This is funny or clever for the viewer because we all know that a match is also used to create fire. The flame even comes from the same area as would a real match. This lighter-match combines the aesthetic of a real match with the convenient functionality of a lighter to create a functional piece of art.

 

This piece of art is abstract because it is a stripped down version of an ocean-sunset scenery with only the bare essentials. There is just enough information here for us to make the correlation between this piece and what it actually represents in the real world without any intricate detail.

This is symbolic because it signifies that something is flamable by using two pieces of wood and a flame. People understand that stacking wood is a conventional and primal way to create fire. This symbol is stripped down completely to its bare essentials with no extra detail and is quite clear and universal.

Visual Techniques

Intricacy
Harmony
symmetry
complexity
simplicity
exaggeration
Randomness

Exaggeration
Intricacy
Spontaneity
Harmony
Symmetry
Complexity
Balance

Both compositions are successful designs because of their balance and symmetry. The main meat of the compositions are nicely centered both horizontally and vertically, leaving adequate space all on sides of the piece to breathe and for the essentials to stand out. Although both pieces are intricate and complex, they both appear very clean-cut and concise. Although only three to four colors are used in either piece, both pieces represent extremely harmonious color schemes. The second composition seems to be a bit more eye catching and interesting than the first because of the overly exaggerated text size and vibrant colors like yellow. The large simple text and the intricate group of people at the bottom seem to balance each other out very well and draw the eye into the piece without being overly busy. Also the three dimensionality of the large text and people provide a bit more depth to the second piece and thus more interesting. Although I do like the first piece, I feel that it lacks complexity and is missing the intricate coloration that the second piece provides.

Week 11 Contrast

This design uses very extreme color contrast to emphasize the name of the artist and also differentiate the title from the rest of the design. The brightly colored title contrasts very well with the all black background and really 'pops-out' out to the viewer. The dark background also influences our perception of the colored text by making it look brighter than if it were in front of a lighter background. There is also contrast in scaling, color, and shape between the different types of text that prioritize and differentiate them. The more important artists name is larger, more flamboyantly colored, and a different text style as opposed to the smaller, darker, more plain font of the 'DJ-Kicks', which is the name of the record label.

This design is interesting and eye-catching because of the high contrast in shape and color between the black objects on and around the subject and the background. The color contrasts between the black arm and light, cream-colored background really make the arm 'pop-out' and direct the eye to what is the center point of this design. The hand-written, black script on the girls chest and stomach also contrast very well from everything else because of their unique shape and color. The light gray spots to the left of the girl also contrast well with their background in color, shape and tone and offer a nice balance to the busy subject to the right.

Implied motion In Design

This is the logo of an L.A-based record label called Stones Throw. The implied motion here are sun rays beaming from the circular logo. This implied motion adds a nice gradient of color as the sun rays fade out toward the edges of the poster. Also the spaces in between the rays provide an interesting contrast between light and dark. Although the implied motion is that of light rays beaming outward, the eye is drawn into the source of the light rays where the subject of the piece is located.

The implied motion of these dancers is their reactions to the music that the DJ is playing. The name of the compilation is called 'Phuturistc Dancin' and the cover art is just that. The designer wants his viewer to see the implied motion of these people and believe that the music within will make us do the same. It is an illustration of a dance party snapshot, where the photographer was able to capture a magical moment in time. If the illustrator were to press play again, I have a pretty good idea of the motion of these characters that the designer was implying.

Week 8 - Tone and Color

Tone is used in this example to help focus the eye into the middle of the design where the information of the record appears and also give the effect of a spherical 3-d object. A large dynamic tonal range also not only offers the viewer a wide array of colors, but also helps fade in and out of different colors to create a smooth gradient of very different colors.  The tonal change from red to black at the outside of the circle fades the circle out into black and provides the illusion of the top of a 3-d sphere. This smooth transition is much more interesting than a simple sharp edge, offering more color information and different dimensional possibilities.

Tone is interacting with the center circle of the record and title by surrounding it and emphasizing it. The eye is guided toward the middle of the record because of tonal changes from complete black on the outside corners to complete white on the inside. Along with tonal changes, changes in color are also happening going form the outside in. Darker colors are used on the outside corners and the colors lighten as we move into the center circle. 

Graphic Design

1. Direction

The artist name and album title are rectangular blocks that give us both the horizontal and the vertical directions. I like the different directional elements that these two titles offer and they balance each other out very well as two objects perpendicular with each other. If both titles were either both vertical or both horizontal these design wouldn't be as successful because the two titles would no longer balance each other out and fill the correct spaces as they do now.

2. Texture


If you look closely, the white background of the image is not a plain white background, but a dusty off white color with the circular wear and tear marks of an old record sleeve from 1971. The designer included these wear and tear marks in the design to simulate that of a vintage record because the music enclosed in the cover was made with many vintage musical instruments and also contains many 1970's soul samples. Apart from its associations with the music, I think that this texture serves as a much more interesting backdrop to the text and image than would a plain color background and also gives the entire piece a bit more dimension to a design that would otherwise be overly flat. 

3. Dot

 The dot is used in this album cover to represent a profile photo of the artist in half-tone. Different sizes of dots and their relative locations are used to represent gradients and shading. I really like this style and the way the image is broken up into individual parts and we are still able to recognize this collection of dots as a cohesive piece. This half tone pattern is much more interesting and eye catching than a normal photograph because we are able to see this image not only as a whole but also able to see its individual parts.

Week 6- Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

They syntactical guidelines have been put to good use in these music flyer for a local soul music party. The important pieces of information are stressed here including the name of the party, name of DJ, and name of club. It is also well balanced with a symmetrical layout of text and imagery. Grouping is also very well executed here using different color, fonts, and sizes differentiate and group like information. My overall perception of the flyer is also very hip and futuristic which I think I appeals to the appropriate crowd and accurately conveys the music played here. 

 

This flyer fails to follow many syntactical guidelines and is bad design. There is no use of stress or sharpening and it is hard differentiate the different information. The important information needs to contrast more with the other information. The flyer has balance but but it is too balanced and lacks attraction, mainly because there is no difference in font size, style and has no real title. Although the information is color coded it still feels scattered and like information should be close to each other.

Visual vs Symbolic Language

Business man, corporate, stress, unemployment, sadness, economic depression, depression, lonely, laid off, father, family.

This photograph reports a man who has just been laid off of work due to an economic depression. He is sitting on the stairs outside of his job wondering what he is going to do for money and how he will feed his family. He doesn't know how to tell his wife and the thought of not being able to provide for his family drops him deep into depression. His suit, tie, and brief case tell me he was working for a large corporation that is suffering from the economy and laying off many employees. His eyes staring at the ground and head in hand say that he is in deep thought and in a dark place. I would say a good replacement for this image would be a man in tears because it would visually represent a similar emotion that this man is feeling in this photograph.

Week 3 Exercise - Feature Hierarchy and Visual Search

 

Music is one of my passions in life so naturally any design that relates to music appeals to me. This music flyer is a perfect example of feature hierarchy and visual search and how a thorough understanding of this concept can really make or break a design. In this case the use of spatial layout,  color, font size and shape really help organize the information into a hierarchy and help highlight what is important. The important information is located toward the top of the flyer and is also colored in orange to stand out from the rest of the information, while the less important information is located toward the bottom in smaller, black font. 

 

 

This Akai drum machine is another great example of feature hierarchy. The pads on the right that are used to program drum patterns are large, dark and immediately attract the eye as they are the most important part of the machine. All of the recording buttons are grouped together toward the bottom left of the machine with the 'record' and 'overdub' buttons in red to differentiate them from the rest of the record buttons. Although the group of buttons at the top-left of the machine are all blue to signify that they do a similar task, color is not the leading hierarchical tool used here. I would say spatial layout and button size are number one here. All buttons with similar tasks are neatly grouped together and buttons of most importance are located nearest the user i.e drum pads and recording buttons. Size of buttons is also hierarchically organized from most important buttons being largest to buttons of least importance smallest.

Week 3 Exercise - Feature Hierarchy and Visual Search