My Digital Bliss

The assignment was to design 10 cards 7″ x 4 3/8″ with two common themes, they must have red as an element, and they must focus around a holiday.

I’ll let you see if you can figure out which holiday I chose.

This post includes my revisions to my first seven cards, as well as my final 3 cards.

Eames 1 – addition of American flag on Mustang. Touched up again to add some radial blur to give more depth.

Eames 2 – Touched up by adding more texture to the background and using a drop shadow to give depth to the plate of ice-pops.

Eames 3 – I didn’t change anything on this one, I really liked the simplicity and style of the gradiant and white shadow.

Eames 4 – Touched up by adding a bit of grain and texture to the background image to make the text a little more sharp and have more “pop”.

Eames 5 – Redone with some clipping masks to try and simulate fireworks bursts. I’m not really pleased with the result, but I don’t have time to try anything else with this picture.

Eames 6 – Touched up to remove some of the extra elements and create a higher contrast.

Eames 7 – Touched up to improve the use of font on the image, much more subtle now.

Eames 8 – Used textured background and overlayed font at an angle to give the effect of old writing, added ink/feather as well.

Eames 9 – Took image of Washington Monument, removed background, added in background elements of fireworks, blurred foreground slightly to give depth.

Eames 10 – Taken from a previous assignment, used mosaic styles and color filters to stylize the picture.

The assignment was to design 10 cards 7″ x 4 3/8″ with two common themes, they must have red as an element, and they must focus around a holiday.

I’ll let you see if you can figure out which holiday I chose.

Eames 1 – addition of American flag on Mustang.

Eames 2 – Added checkerboard pattern after removing extra image content.

Eames 3 – Added red gradient after removing extra image content.

Eames 4 – Modified color hues to bring out the reds, added text.

Eames 5 – Removed extra image content, added gradients.

Eames 6 -Photo taken by me, cropped, hues adjusted.

Eames 7 – Photo cropped, hues adjusted, lens flare removed, text added.

The assignment was to spell our name using font, without using any of the actual letters of our name.

Here is my result:

Design Challenge 2 had us creating three images that were mainly monochromatic. As my unifying theme, I used photos all taken on different vacations/trips I’ve been on recently.

First, we have a stylized image of eight gasoline mortars.

Next is an image from SIFE’s trip to National’s in Philadelphia, I really played up the blue in the image.

Finally, is an image from the trail up to St.Vrain mountain. This was already heavily green, I brought out the green a little more, and kept the water fairly white-blue.

2. What is unity as it applies to design?

Unity is the thought that all the different parts of a design should look as if they belong together. There are two types of unity, conceptual unity and visual unity. Conceptual unity would be those connection made on a non-visual level. The book gives a good example of this by showing a picture where the number 5 is represented in numerous ways – the number 5, a clock set to 5 o’clock, a dice, the letter V. All of these conceptually have unity, but visually are very different. To contrast this there is visual unity, which is where the objects all have similar design and look to belong together.

4. What is the layout of a design?

The layout is the  arrangement of all the elements of a design in the space piece.

5. How can the grid be used as a layout tool?

The grid is a series of intersecting line that are used to align the elemts on a page. This can often create an implied line by lining up different elements. I use this technique all the time when I am working in photoshop or illustrator as they have the nice rulers that can be turned on, you can then click and drag “guides” out from the rulers that make either splitting the page in sections or just lining up items very easy.

7. Give an example of a metaphor used in a nongrid layout.

The simplest example that comes to my mind is the various names places use for shopping carts online. No matter if they are called shopping carts, bags, backpacks, baskets, etc… the overall understanding is the same. The items in your cart are items that you wish you purchase. Another great metaphor that is often used (especially in browsers themselves) is the simple drawing of a home to represent your homepage.

This week we did a color scavenger hunt where we went around town and found examples of color schemes.

Here is what we found -

Triad:

This is a fantastic example of the classic triad red, yellow and blue. This particular color scheme popped up several places, as evidenced below:

Another classic triad:

Analogous:

This is an excellent example of how analogous color schemes are often found in nature. In this photo we have yellow-green, green, and blue-green. This would have been even easier to find earlier in the summer/fall, but we still managed to find these evergreens that worked just fine.

Here is another analogous example:

Alternate Analogous:

Here a fantastic example of an alternate analogous color scheme including blue, green, and yellow. Also, not when including the wall, ceiling and painting a nice classic triad is also seen in this picture. These alternate analogous were fairly easy to find.

Here is another example:

Split Compliment:

In this particular photo one of my group members is highlighting the split complement of red-orange, green, and blue on the Boulevard Brewing sign. This was a fairly difficult color scheme for us to find. However, we did find one more:

In this split compliment we have violet, orange-yellow, and yellow-green.

And that’s what we found on our color scavenger hunt!

For this week’s open mic blog, I am going to discuss some of the websites I like to visit for design ideas.

CSS Zen Garden:

This is one of my favorite sites to visit if I want to get a great look at creativity. It consists of websites all designed using the same HTML, where the only thing that changes is the CSS. It is really hard to believe all the different websites listed are the same HTML until you start read the content. This really gives you a first hand example of how dramatically the design of a website can affect the mood it projects.

Ten Ton Books:

They have some amazing free tutorials on Adobe software (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, etc…). They also have whole series of tutorials which you can purchase which I am sure are also amazing, but I have not personally purchased any of those. I have referred to some of their free tutorials numerous times when I am looking for a quick memory jogger on the best way to accomplish something.

Pbase:

Pbase is a photo-sharing site, however unlike some of the other photo-sharing sites out there, it is more focused on amateur or professional photographers showing off their work, instead of just Joe Citizen uploading vacation pictures. While it can take some effort to dig through all the different galleries, there are some truly amazing photographers on this site. There is a good number of photos that have been completely re-worked in photoshop as well.

I may add more as they come to me.

Exercise 2 – Make an image that uses complementary colors.

Exercise 4 – Create a simple illustration that uses the three color combinations. Make the same image several times but use different combinations.

Instead I chose to color some of my emotion squares.

Anger (Analogous):

Contentment (Triad):

Fear (Analogous):

Frustration (triad):

Chapter 7

1. What is texture as it applies to design?

Texture in terms of design is how the designer uses visual information to portray the physical feel of a surface. This is done because in the digital world (or even in paintings) the viewer cannot physically interact and feel the surface, so visual information must be used to help the viewer understand in more detail what is being viewed.

2. How can texture be used to show detail?

By showing the texture of an object you can allow the viewer to appreciate an object in its fullest. An example of this would be the following two images:

Both adequately portray the fact that they are guns, however the second image is goes into much more detail, thus allowing the viewer to gain a better understanding of how it might feel if help. Detail helps the viewer understand the image better, this relies on past experiences and leads into the next question.

3. How can texture be used to simulate a surface?

By using design elements that mimic surfaces found in the real world, a designer can create an image that projects a certain understanding of how the image would feel if touched. An example of this could be an online restaurant menu that is designed to look like old parchment paper. If the background is stained and wrinkly looking, the viewer can understand that even though the image is digital, if it could be touched it would feel like parchment paper.

Chapter 8

1. What is the difference between the additive and subtractive color method?

Additive color is how colors are created in the natural world, and also in digital media such as TVs and monitors. Colors are created by combining wavelengths of light. The three primary colors are red, green, and blue, with the secondary colors being yellow, cyan, and magenta.

On the other hand, the subtractive method is how things like paintings or printings are made. The paint or ink absorbs all the color but what is intend to be seen, which is reflected back to the viewer. For example, if I am seeing red ink, it is because the ink is absorbing all the other colors and reflecting back red wavelengths of light. The primary colors of the subtractive method are red, blue and yellow, with the secondary colors being purple, green, and orange.

2. Which color method is used for new media?

The additive method is used for new media because that is how things like monitors or TVs produce colors, they combine light wavelengths.

10. What is a web-safe pallet?

A web-safe pallet is one that is limited to the 216 generally accepted colors that all browsers can equally display. Using these colors helps ensure a website will have the same color scheme from system to system and browser to browser. I would imagine the need for things like are going to dwindle in the coming years as browsers and system become increasingly more sophisticated.

This week our assignment was to pick out three magazines from a news stand or similar place that caught our eye, and then analyze them. I took a slightly different approach, I just looked at magazine subscriptions on Amazon.com and picked out the three magazines that caught my eye the most. Here they are with analysis:

The first magazine I saw that really stood out to me was Country Living:

I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to read this magazine, but the big spider on the cake really caught my eye. I think the reason it caught my eye was almost an unconscious reaction to danger. It was more like a double-take, where I needed to check and make sure the spider was not real. This is a type of advertising I had never considered before, but it worked really well on me. I may start to look for other designs that play on unconscious or natural reactions.

To analyze the rest of the cover, I think the content is appropriately spaced on the cover to give a brief idea of what is in the magazine, yet not overwhelm a buyer. The color scheme is very appropriate for the upcoming Halloween season.

I think the Halloween theme may help promote an impulse buy, however I am not any part of the cover would help this magazine sell outside of its intended demographic. The spider image certainly is eye-catching though.

My second magazine was Newsweek:

This time I was drawn to the cover text. I found it utterly confusing as to how a baby could be racist. I tend to think of babies in the sense of tabula rasa or blank slate, where they are young and innocent and have not yet been exposed to things such as racism. Then when I read the sub-text that the article is on a study of whether things like racism are genetic I was really interested. I am still not sure I would purchase this magazine at news stand price, but if it was sitting out in a waiting room I would definitely read it.

In terms of actual design, I find this cover rather boring. I do think the black background and shadows really helps play into the dark take on infantile innocence. It is also difficult to determine the expression the child is making, it is a very neutral face. A lot of space is devoted to the picture with little additional text on the page.

I can see this cover making impulse sales at the news stand because the article on racism can easily be understood by anyone, including those not usually interested in the type of current news Newsweek generally covered. Along those same lines, I think this cover would make sales outside of the intended demographic. Again for the same reason, it is a topic numerous groups would be interested in, and that everyone can relate to on some level.

My third magazine was Your Big Backyard:

My reasoning behind choosing this cover is quite simple. I love tigers. I do not know what type of magazine this is, but I am guessing it is a children’s magazine. So I would probably not buy this magazine, but I would definitely look at the pictures of tigers in it.

To examine the design elements, this is a very simple cover. Big tiger picture, check. Name of magazine, check. Two-word explanation of what is in the magazine, check. And that is all. Obviously, a lot of space is reserved for the photo, unfortunately I feel they made the tiger too big. It is often difficult to find a decent color to go across a patterning similar to the tigers, where the text must show up over both light and dark colors, they did an acceptable job by using a border on the text and choosing a fairly neutral color, but I still think it may have been better to shrink the tiger so that a more uniform background could have been used for the text.

I can certainly see this being an impulse buy for a little child, or even potentially for someone who likes tigers as much as I do. So in that sense, I can see this magazine selling outside its normal demographic of children.