WEEK 14

This poster is from the Family Dog Studios from back in the 50's and 60's. I've always had this passion for psychedelic art and I would really like to make some of my own in the future. This poster has a melting quality that I really like. The words blend together as if they are all melting down the page. The colors fade from red, to blue, to green from bottom to top creating a nice flow of color. The contrast of light to dark creates its own feeling/mood of the overall picture. 

Here again is another poster back from the 60's when psychedelic posters were much more popular. Again we can see how all the words melt together and flow in form sort of creating an overall picture with the words them self. Most of the time these were used for music festivals or concerts, which is really want I would love to do. I love music and attending music festivals so it would be my dream job to be able to create poster and flyers such as these for big music festivals all over the world.  

CONTRAST

I found this picture on the internet to be very well designed and shows a great example of positive and negative contrast. There are 4 nice squares, all the same size right by each other, showing a nice, level, contrast to each other. The black and white of each picture really brings out the contrast affect. Each square has its own pattern and either a black or white background. I thought it was very interesting and a nice play on contrast. There is no confusion here for the viewer, everything is nice and symmetric. 

I found this picture to me a lot more confusing and a failed example of contrast. As beautiful as it is, there are a lot of colors and direction, no set patterns, more ambiguous. I fail to see where the contrast comes into play here. With so many colors and no pattern, I can't see it. In the first picture, we have a nice light to dark contrats, here there are a lot of colors, a lot of dark and a lot of light all mixed together. 

Week 12 Exercise

I found this picture on the internet doing a google search under motion graphics. It really caught my eye out of all the rest because it really gives a great sense of motion. We can see a person standing still with his hands open, pretending to either throw our catch the pieces of paper. They seem to be floating above his hands and cannot tell if they are falling into his hands or away. It really gives a great perspective of motion in a still image way. When we look at the picture our brain immediately thinks that the pieces of paper are moving in some direction, but no matter how long we look at it, they never move, creating an amazing visual affect. 

This picture is relevant both to San Francisco and to our major, hence why I chose it. This I found under motion photography which mainly uses the blur affect to show an exaggerated motion affect increasing speed when in reality, it is all going the same speed. This picture shows the famous cable car zooming down the tracks downtown, but I know from experience that these cars do not zoom at all. Actually quite the opposite. They are very slow and stop at every other block and could take a while to get to where you need to go. I think the juxtaposition between the slow moving vehicle and the fast moving background really shows the effects of motion. 

Week 11 Exercise

http://www.youthedesigner.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/3d-graphic-design-10.jpg

This is an image of a 3D graphic design. I thought this picture portrayed a very good example of depth and perception, with the lines shooting out from each side growing in size to make it seem like the word color is farther back than it actually is. Also, behind the word color, we see small words, showing perspective and playing a huge role in overall size. We can’t have large without small. By scaling the images behind the word, it has a pop out feel and makes it look like it is bigger in size. The juxtaposition of the big words against the small words makes for a very interesting photo. We can also see some circles which help to show scale since there a some bigger ones and smaller ones. It creates a nice scale all in one photo to really show perspective. Even though this is a 2D image, it has been created to look 3D using elements such as scale, dimension, and size, all the key elements in creating perspective and depth. 

Tone and Color

http://www.ripcurl.com/content/images/40091354fed658f7029cb6d0332bbdf5.gif

Here is a poster of the Rip Curl Pro Search which is going on right now here in San Francisco at Ocean Beach, which I have been to the past two days and am having the best time of my life. I love this poster and can’t get enough of it. The colors are so perfect for the Sunset district, but I’ll start with tone. Tone is a way in which to convey dimension, as Dondis says. It helps us perceive depth and movement. This is clearly evident in the poster above as we can see a wave just beginning to break and the white water flowing behind it, spraying the ocean. It’s a perfect perfect peak breaking left and right, which usually never happens in SF. We also have a good horizon line as the ocean continues on and the street comes closer to us, as if were are standing on sunset street. Tone, Dondis says, is basically light, “through it, and only through it, we see,” and as you can see, in the distance it is lighter and closer to us, it is darker, maybe signifying that the sun is shining onto the ocean. 

My favorite part is the color. There are many different shades of red, mixed with yellow, orange, and some white for letters and the wave. Yellow usually signifies warmth, and I believe that is exactly what it is signifying here, the nice warm feeling of the sunset. Red is supposed to be emotional, which is perfect because the emotion at the beach today was amazing and everyone was so happy to see the worlds greatest surfers in our back yards. The color fades from red, to dark yellow, to brighter yellow as it fades away, getting warmer and warmer. This poster makes me feel so warm and in love with San Francisco that I don’t think they could have picked a better color choice. Nothing is to bright here, mainly all the same. Nothing is really saturated to much, just different hues of red and yellow. Red and yellow compliment each other very nicely here and I think who ever designed this poster did a fabulous job. 

Week 9 Blog Exercise

DOT

This is the logo for the company insomniac, who organizes massive music festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival, Electric Forest, Beyond Wonderland, and many more. They are a very quick growing company and started in 1993. This logo is fairly recent and I’m going to focus on more of the picture near the word, and how it has dots, four of them growing in size. As stated in Dondis chapter 4, the dot is ‘the simplest visual element that can be used with great complexity of intention’ (Dondis 40). It can hold much deeper meaning than what meats the eye. Because of its round shape, it identifies with many things in nature that are also round, since it is the ‘most common formulation’ out of the rest. In this logo, we have four round dots, each a different color, and each a different size, two more elements of visual communication, making it 3 in total. So we have 3 in 1 here, which is great. I think that these dots for this company symbolize music, especially electronic dance music since that is what mainly plays at these festivals. The music builds up to a climax and then drops. I believe the growing of the dots size show that build in music, but without the drop, to keep you rising up. I am not sure about each color, but it could signify that there are many different genres in the EDM (electronic dance music) category and that they all get along. 

MOVEMENT

This is probably the most recognized logo in the surf community. It is for a company called quiksilver. This logo really focuses on another element from Dondis called Movement. Movement is harder to convey in a still photo, but when done correctly can have a great affect on the viewer. This logo really focuses on the ocean, particularly the wave. Because it is a surf company, the obviously wanted a wave as there logo so surfers would be able to differentiate between other companies that might seem similar. The basic layout for the logo above to me looks a lot like the basic outline of a wave, with what maybe looks like a mountain in the middle, maybe because they also sponsor snowboarding. This might be a static image, but it gives a feel of a crashing wave, moving, or even flowing to the right, which goes well with humans because we natural read from left to right. If flipped horizontally, this logo would look very different and might not be as successful. 

LINE

Finally, we have the RVCA logo, which is another surf company that has grown extremely popular in the past 10 years. Their logo focuses mainly on the line aspect from Dondis. The line can be thought of as a bunch of dots extremely close together moving in a certain direction. Here we see nice solid black lines, with very little detail. The logo is using the line as its design, sort of like a building where they are stripped of anything unnecessary and letting the structure be the design. So it is close to architecture in a way making it much more diverse. These lines are very precise and not vague in anyway. They have distinct direction, hence the boldness. Everything is very strict looking and snap to grid like. Lines are really everywhere in nature, they are just hard to see. I really like this logo and I think it does a great job using the line technique and showcases Dondis’s view well. 

Week 8 Blog Exercise

This is my first puzzle that took me a while to complete. My eyes were focused on the circles a lot more than the white area and once I began drawing I would get confused and lost. Paths began to arise as I drew longer lines, but would eventually hit a dead end. I tried looking for alternate patterns, but the only pattern I kept seeing was the overall garden pattern. I almost feel like I began drawing knots throughout the circles. Overall this one was very difficult and my roommate and I to solve without the solution. 

This one was a little more easy and I completed it within reasonable time. This one dealt more with pattern completion and visual memory. I realized that I would forget which lines I had already drawn over and would get myself stuck into a dead end. I didn’t really think about visualizing it before hand like my roommate, I went more with trial and error. I was more focused on each moment and each line instead of the overall pattern completion. 

We both found this one to be very difficult and it took us both awhile to figure out. We could not have done it without the solution. Her process was once again to sit and think about it, visualize it in her mind, and attempt slowly, while I once again jumped right in. After about 10 mins we each gave up and decided it was too difficult. We kept running into other lines and dead ends, both felt like we were drawing a bunch of knots all over the place. 

My roommate Connie found this one much easier for her. She said she just looked at it for a little bit instead of just drawing lines right away like I did. She visualized the pattern and path before she began to draw her lines. Her very first time she got twelve, which was the correct answer on the solution, and I was surprised. I think that visualizing it before hand in your head might help better than just jumping right into it and guessing which way to go. She completed the pattern before I did. 

Blog Exercise Week 7

http://www.quiksilver.com/home/index.jsp?clickid=topnav_logo_img

      Here I found a poster of a surf competition that was held in newport just a little bit ago. Since I want to work for a surf company, I thought maybe I could eventually design these types of posters for advertisement. When I look at this poster, I am directed to the image in the background that is faded out into a grayish color and is basically the whole poster. For the pre attentive features such as color, motion, shape, and overall spatial layout, I think the designer did a good job on keeping things well organized while making it feel very oceanic to go with the waves. The overall color is blue, with different shades of blue, the brightest part being in the middle top of the picture. I find only one shape in this poster and that is squares. There are many different types of squares and rectangles all converging to overlap each other making my eye path more smooth. The background image creates really nice depth to the poster because it adds a nice horizon that makes it feel as though we are looking out over the ocean. Finally, for motion, I feel lacks slightly. I find that I basically start from the top and go down, where at the bottom we find sponsors and information. 

Week 6 Exercise

http://zedomax.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/collapsible_surf2.jpg

            Because I want to work in the field of surfing mainly, or extreme sports, I found this picture that I think expresses the perfect example of top – down processing. Top – down visual processing is that act of looking at objects and having a goal in mind, and focusing with a lot of attention to detail. Our eyes are moving extremely rapidly, also known as fixations or saccades, over certain spots where we need to focus most. In my picture above, it is a collapsible surfboard that can be put together and taken apart. I thought this image was perfect because the ultimate goal here is to put it together, so our mind is focusing on all the certain parts of the board individually, but also processing it as a whole surfboard to figure our the final result. In other words, we are looking ahead in our mind and seeing the finished surfboard, but actually looking at all the separate pieces in reality. So for example with this picture, I began looking at the fins, then the pole at the bottom left, and also the finished product in the back, and as I am looking at all these different parts, I am visualizing the final product in my mind and all the steps I will have to take to get there. 

Week 5 Exercise

      This is the Billabong surf company logo, which is a company that I would love to work for and hopefully help design logos and other graphic designs. I think this logo is a great example of design and follows a good structure of balance and abstraction. It has a nice horizontal feel to it, resembling the ocean, as we can see the sets of waves. It also has a great positive and negative affect by using black and white for the same image. If it was black where the white was, then it would just be all black. Its very organized and balanced which is why I think people respond positively to it and can relate to the waves because thats the actual way the face in real life. It even has a nice shadow effect on the edge and also makes it feel like the poser is flowing with the waves, which helps its overall meaning and adds to the balance and perception of the ocean. Its a nice, level logo with good positive and negative contrast, and I think its a good example of graphic design. 

     This is the shoe/skate company called DC shoes. I think this is an alright logo, but ultimately, I don't think its very good. It is balanced, but not very abstract in any way, and it really shows the literal meaning of the company DC. I mean when I even type the two letters, it just looks like them blown up, so I fail to see the creativity put into the logo. It doesn't really show any positive or negative effect except that its pretty transparent, with black lining in the shape of the letters. Also there is a random star in the C, which I also don't know the meaning for, so it just seems random and pointless. One thing this has is balance. It is very level and clear to me because it is standing in its normal, upright position that my brain can easily focus with. It follows a very strict horizontal and vertical axis, which for this image, I think could be bad in a sense that it is too perfect.  

Week 4 Exercise

Line, People, People in a Line, Newspapers, Transparent, Bold, Unemployment, Help Wanted

     The picture above depicts what people see as unemployment. We see a single file line of general people, men and women, in all transparent black facing left. It actually is a loop of people because I can see the same shapes of people every two or three persons. Behind them are newspapers in a sort of collage with the headlines reading, "employment," "Help Wanted," "busy." The color of the newspapers are a faded yellowish color, maybe signifying old papers that have been read through many times. At the top of the picture there is the bold word in black, all caps, "UNEMPLOYMENT" over a white transparent background. This just shows the overall meaning of the picture and what it is trying to represent. 

Blog Exercise Week 3

     This is the Billabong surf company logo. There are many other surf companies out there whether small or big that have their own logo and design. This is just one of the biggest ones, similar to Quicksilver, Rip Curl, West, and many more. I chose this one because it covers all three leves of design. Representationally, this shows what a real wave in the ocean basically looks like but is not exactly a photograph. For it to be a perfect representation, it would have to be an actual photograph with attention to detail and this is not, although we do see what most people recognize as a shape of a wave. 
      Thus, because it is not a representation of a wave, it leans more toward symbolism and abstraction. The waves have been completely stripped of all extreme details and reduced to the bare minimum of what people recognize as a wave. Once they did this, they multiplied and reproduced it all over their clothes, surfboards, backbacks, etc. and many people can recognize it as the billabong logo. It retains the main aspect of a wave without showing a mass amount of detail hence making it a symbol. 
     Also it is abstract as well because of the design around the waves. We can see some sort of have rounded squares surrounding the two waves inside. Abstraction usually refers to a much deeper meaning than what meets the eye. Who ever designed this was inspired by the ocean to make a logo based on what they saw, and simplified it to a look that meant something to the designer specifically making it much more abstract than people would normally think. 

WEEK 2 Exercise

Representation: Here I have a picture of a real surfboard by the company super which makes really awesome boards with their shape and aesthetics. This is what it would look like in real life to our eye. We can touch and feel it, hold it, and recognize it in person. Representation is all based on reality since it is the most basic and dominating experience we have. We base what we see off of total visual experience and how we recognize it in life. When we look at this surfboard, some people will recognize for either its function or its shape. Either way, people can recognize it in person and it can't be changed from the form its in now. 

Abstraction: This heart is considered an abstract heart because it is a heart reduced to its most basic and simple looking form. A real heart would be drawn with much more detail and have veins and many other components to it that a real human heart has. This is just a plain red color in the shape of what most people recognize as a heart, even though the shape of a real heart has no resemblance whatsoever to this heart. This heart is stripped completely of its surface detail so that it can be more widely recognized. Also with the abstraction comes meaning. Most people would say that this heart, or any heart symbolizes love, but that has no connection at all with a human heart thats function is to keep us alive.   

Symbolism: This picture of a hand is more widely known as a symbol to tell pedestrians to stop while crossing the street. When the hand is blinking it means you only have a few more seconds before the light changes. This simple picture of a hand is meant to say stop, but that has no connection at all with a human hand and therefore is a symbol. It has been stripped down to the most simplest form of a hand without any detail at all, we only see a black line in the shape of a hand and everyone can recognize it. This hand has been reproduced all over the united states and at every cross street so people can remember it very easily making it widely known throughout a very large population. This symbol refers to the idea of stopping, but other symbols my refer to different things such as a political party, group, business, or institution. 

First Post

testing this out