Visual Techniques

Visual Techniques:

-Asymmetry

-Simplicity

-Activeness

-Accuracy

-Flatness

-Sharpness

Visual Techniques:

-Complexity

-Exaggeration

-Activeness

-Boldness

-Accuracy

-Depth

The Results Between the Two Design Works:

The first picture is a vintage Disneyland poster for the “Autopia” ride, and the second picture is a poster for the CBS television show, Hawaii Five-0.  The “Autopia” poster is designed differently than the Hawaii Five-0 poster.  With the “Autopia” poster, the design has more flatness than the other poster.  I can tell the “Autopia” poster is more flat because of the lines and shapes used; the Hawaii Five-0 poster has more depth because there are actually real people in the poster layout and the water splashing around those people creates more depth.  Both of these posters give a visual message describing what either the ride or the television show will entail.  The “Autopia” poster tells audiences that you will embark on a ride that involves cars, roads, and curves.  You can tell this because of the curved lines and overpass in the poster design.  The Hawaii Five-0 poster shows audiences the four main characters of the show and you can infer that the show takes place somewhere with ocean water because there is water splashing around the characters.  The Disneyland vintage poster shows how simple a design can be but still gets a message across to an audience.  The simplicity of this design has a great impact on audiences because the message comes across straight to the point.  The Hawaii Five-0 poster design is more complex and involves a great deal more depth and activity than the Disneyland poster.  This design creates realness and is more life-like than the Disneyland poster.

     

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.amazfacts.com/2011/07/vintage-disneyland-posters-42-pics.html

http://www.tvblog.ro/hawaii-five-o-sezonul-1-poster/

Contrast

Good Use of Contrast:

This is a poster for the television show, Mad Men.  This poster is a great example of good use of contrast.  The usage of only three colors (red, black, and white) allow a clear message to be conveyed.  These colors "pop out" perfectly on this poster.  The silhouettes of the characters and the way they are portrayed with the colors is perfectly designed.  This poster is easily readable because only three colors are used, and those colors are the most recognizable and commonly used in advertisements to draw attention.  With the usage of black and white for the background, the title of the show is able to stand out, just like the characters stand out.  This poster is simple yet the usage of black, white, and red makes for an excellent poster design.

Picture Works Cited:

http://en.paperblog.com/mad-men-poster-high-contrast-adaptation-176686/

Bad Use of Contrast/Contrast Failure:

This is a scientific poster, but you can barely tell what it says let alone know that it is a scientific poster. The only way that I know it is a scientific poster is because the website told me so.  This poster is not designed well according to contrast.  The designer used all dark font colors and backgrounds, which makes the poster hard to read.  There is low contrast in this poster due to the bad usage of color.  The tones are all wrong and the color choices create a headache for people trying to read what the poster says.  This would be a more effective poster if the designer had used either a dark background with light font colors or a light background with dark font colors.  Overall, this poster is a contrast failure.

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.makesigns.com/tutorials/poster-design-layout.aspx

Movement/Motion

This is the movie poster for the Disney/Pixar film, Up.  I chose this poster because it displays motion that is clearly visible.  This movie is about an older gentleman who wants to go on one final adventure, so he rigs balloons to his house and floats away.  In this poster, you can see his house in the background, which is the start of the motion and movement.  Attached to the house is a garden hose with Dug, Russell, and Mr. Fredrickson.  These three characters are hanging on for dear life as the house floats above them.  You can see the motion and movement because they are flying through the clouds, as the house floats higher and higher.  You can also tell that there is movement in this poster because the characters look like they are falling down in our direction.  The motion in this poster is implied motion, which is clearly and creatively displayed.

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.movieposterdb.com/movie/1049413/Up.html

This is a movie poster for the Disney film, Tangled.  There are many parts of this poster where you can see an implied motion or movement.  The first is the lanterns floating up into the night sky.  These lanterns start from one common source and then as they float into the sky, they disperse across the top of the poster.  The second part of the poster that shows motion and movement is Rapunzel's hair.  Her long, flowing, blonde hair cascades behind her in a spiraling motion.  It seems to float through the air.  The third part of the poster where you can see motion and movement is the boat in the water.  If you look at the bottom of the boat, there is water that splashes around it.  The splashing water indicates the boat is moving forward.  

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.shockya.com/news/2010/11/11/a-new-tangled-movie-poster/

Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

This is a poster for the Disney and Tim Burton film, Alice in Wonderland.  Dimension, depth, space, and scale all relate in some way in this poster.  One depth cue that I see within this poster is Overlapping.  The mushrooms are placed in front of each other, with the taller ones in the back to middle and the smaller ones on either side of the bigger ones.  This gives an effect of depth.  Another cue in this poster is Scale.  Scale applies to physical objects in space, depth perception, and graphic depictions of size.  In real life, humans are taller than mushrooms, a lot taller.  But in fantasy, reality can fly out the window.  Mushrooms can be taller than humans, and quite frankly, I'm not sure if the Mad Hatter is really human or not.  That is what's great about fantasy.  You are free to let your imagination do the talking.  This is one reason why I chose this movie poster.  Scale is a major factor in this movie, and this poster gives a great inference into what you can expect to see when you watch this movie.

Picture Works Cited:

http://rookieinlive.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/alice-in-wonderland-–-3d-movie-review/

Tone and Color

This is a poster for the ABC television show, Once Upon a Time.

How TONE is Operating:

The tonal range in this poster is important in the way that the picture communicates with its intended audience.  In this poster, tone creates mood.  The darkness and the shadows indicate a sort of eeriness and suspense, two ideas that are prevalent in this television series. 

How TONE is Interacting:

The element that tone interacts with is the Line.  There is a wide variety in the tonal range used on the trees in the background of this poster.  The trees are perfectly or almost perfectly straight (they are the lines in this poster).  The trees in the forefront of the poster have a different tone to them than the trees further in the back.

How COLOR is Operating:

In this poster, there is little color variety.  Although this show has amazingly beautiful costumes full of color, this poster portrays those costumes in black and white.  The only color in this poster is the title of the show in gold.  Everything else is kept to black, white, or darker shades of black/blue.  The use of gold for the title gives this poster the Pop-Out Effect.  Also, the Natural Color System is used in this poster (black and white).

How COLOR is Interacting:

The element that color interacts with is Shape.  The main characters of this television series are the shapes portrayed in this poster.  Even though people aren't square shaped or circle shaped, I still consider people to be shapes.  There are some shapes that are visible in this poster through those people.  The evil queen's (second from the left) costume (her shoulders to her waist) give the outline of a triangle.  The heads of every character are circle shaped.  The characters are portrayed in darker and lighter shades of black and white, giving the title of the show the most color.  This is how color interacts with shape.

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.cinemablend.com/television/Once-Time-SDCC-Poster-Teases-Season-2-44244.html

Basic Elements in Works of Visual Communication Design

Visual Communication Design:

Lines

The first element that came to mind when I saw this vintage magazine ad was lines.  There are many lines in this advertisement.  These lines include the shape of the Wrigley gum box, the lines in the font of the writing and letters, the lines of the advertisement itself, etc.  For example, the lines in the font of the letters are defined and differentiated.  The outline of the letters are straight and direct lines, not curved ones.  The typography is very sleek and precise.  The job of the lines in this advertisement is to convey a clean font so that the letters are easily readable.  

Shapes

This is a picture of a Microsoft Tag, one of the new designs of a QR code.  The element that came to mind when I saw this piece of advertising was shapes.  In this box, there are triangles, rectangles, and parallelograms.  These shapes are important in the design of each new QR code because they are a code for something.  When you scan this box, you are taken to a website for a particular product or service.  With the use of shapes, Microsoft is able to design hundreds of different codes to different websites.  The combinations of shapes are endless.  

Scale

This is a vintage Disneyland poster advertising some of the attractions you may find in the park.  The element that I saw in this advertisement was scale.  Scale is a visual measuring tool and communicates actual scale and relative proportion of different objects to each other.  In this ad, most of the objects are in perfect scale and are the correct size.  The mountain in the background is proportional to the monorail next to it.  In the front of the advertisement, the mermaids are a bit out of scale.  I believe the submarine should have been a bit larger and the mermaids a bit smaller.  But, I do understand why the mermaids were created larger:  They are one of the focal points of the poster and are placed right in the front of the poster.  Overall, the objects placed on this poster are to scale, and do not look like they were created too big or too small.

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/21/celebration-of-vintage-and-retro-design/

http://alessandrarlima.blogspot.com/  

http://www.amazfacts.com/2011/07/vintage-disneyland-posters-42-pics.html

Visual Thinking Research

The first puzzle I chose from the list was "Name the Month."  The directions for this puzzle were: "What month is indicated by the strange symbols in the illustration?"  I worked on this assignment with my roommate, Kelly.

This is Kelly's paper.  The strategies she used were: 1.  went through all of the months, 2.  looked for the months with four letters, and 3.  found the months that started with the letter J.

This is my paper.  One strategy that I used was I covered up the top portion of the illustration with my hand (I drew a line on the paper to represent what I hid with my hand).  Once I covered up the top portion, I was able to see clearly the illustration said "July."  The McKim operation that I think is the closest to this strategy is "Finding."  Finding requires you to decide whether or not a figure is concealed in a drawing or number of drawings.

The second puzzle I chose from the list was "The Cat."  The directions were: "How many different triangles can you count in the picture of the cat?"  I did this puzzle with my roommate, Kelly.

 This is Kelly's paper.  The strategy she used was to count all of the individual triangles.

This is my paper.  The strategy that I used was to count each individual triangle one by one.  I first numbered the triangles and then went back and circled them to make sure I counted correctly.  The McKim operation that I used was "Grouping."  Grouping allows you to focus on one common shape and find al of the shapes that match that common shape.

Fact:  We (Kelly and I) actually counted 21 triangles, while the answer on the answer sheet was 20.  We found a triangle that they did not find.

Puzzles from:

http://www.puzzles.com/PuzzlePlayground/Visual.htm

Feature Hierarchy

This is a movie poster for Walt Disney Pictures’ “The Little Mermaid,” which debuted in theaters in 1998.  At first, my eyes are drawn to the bright yellow color of the movie title on the bottom of the poster.  Color is the first level of the preattentive feature hierarchy that my eyes are drawn to.  My eyes are also drawn to the center of the poster.  Ariel, the main character of the movie, is placed in the center of the poster, right above the title of the movie.  She is almost in a silhouette form, though I can see shades of red in her hair and green in her mermaid tail.  My eyes are constantly going back and forth between the mermaid figure and the movie title because those are the features of the poster that stand out when my eyes first see this poster.  Spatial grouping is also an important preattentive feature.  I like how this poster is simple and only shows the main character in an almost silhouette portrayal.  I have seen other movie posters for this specific movie and most of them are to busy-looking:  many include all of the characters in the movie packed onto the poster that it looks to clumped and clustered.  This poster is simple to look at and helps your eyes to only focus on the important things, like the character and the movie title.

Picture Works Cited:

http://disneyanimation.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=131310243

Top-Down Visual Processing

Every time I visit Disneyland or Disney World, I walk through the park entrance and find these vintage ride posters.  They are plastered throughout the tunnels guiding you towards Main Street.  This particular poster is for the Alice in Wonderland ride in Fantasyland.  At first, your eyes are fixated, trying to look at all of the images on the poster.  Once you realize that all of the images are connected, the information your eyes take in travels to your brain and you begin to connect the images with things you may see while in the ride.  These longer fixations allow your brain to connect the images and the words, and then put them together.  The path your eyes follow is known as a scan path or eye path.  Your eyes go back and forth between all of the images on the poster, and the words compliment the images because they give more information about the ride and what you will be experiencing.  Your eyes make sure you see all of the images, since they are telling you the story behind the Alice in Wonderland ride (there’s the Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, White Rabbit, etc.).  This process is goal-directed because your eyes are constantly scanning the poster and linking the images with actual concepts in the ride.  The overall process is known as Top-Down Visual Processing, goal-biased attentional looking.  This poster grabs your attention through its images, which your eyes take in and send to your brain to deliver the message.

Picture Works Cited:

http://lisamakes.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/the-wonderful-world-of-disneyland-posters/

Blog Exercise: Success/Failure of Syntactical Guidelines

This is a vintage Disneyland ride poster, depicting the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride.  This piece of graphic art is a great example of the correct usage of the Syntactical Guidelines.  First, the equilibrium of this poster is perfect: everything is centered and balanced.  The ride vehicles are centered on the page (they are the main focus of the ride).  Even though the vehicles are tilted, the design of the poster as a whole is balanced.  Second, this poster shows a lot of stress incorporated in it.  The curves of the ride track and the ride vehicles themselves are perfectly even (the vehicles are curved in a way that flows with the track).  There are also many “triangles” on this poster  (in the lecture, there was a lot of emphasis put on stress, triangles, and angles).  Third, sharpening in this poster is greatly defined.  The ride vehicles are in color, while the background and Matterhorn Mountain are in shades of blues and grays.  With the ride vehicles in color, our eyes are focused on them rather than the background.  Lastly, our eyes are attracted to the vehicles, which is the main point of the ride.

Picture Works Cited:

http://thehalfhouse.blogspot.com/2011/04/inspiration-vintage-disneyland-ride.html

This is a movie poster for the Disney film, “John Carter.”  I chose this poster as a failed attempt at including the Syntactical Guidelines.  As a viewer, this poster does not impress me.  One guideline that this poster did not emphasis was sharpening.  The font color does not allow the title of the movie to shine.  The title blends into the background, making it hard to see the letters.  One thing that this poster did well was sharpening the main character of the movie, but the title should’ve been sharpened more because that is what the audience will read.  Another reason why I do not like this poster is the outline or curved line of a planet or the sun (I am not sure what it is supposed to be).   This line makes the poster look unbalanced.  I am not a fan of this poster. 

Picture Works Cited:

http://www.theinsider.com/movies/50701_Failed_Movie_Franchises/

Blog Exercise: Visual vs Symbolic Language

This is a picture most likely taken at a meeting of war veterans and active duty members.  On the wall, there is an American flag hanging.  In the forefront of the picture, two war veterans are hugging.  One veteran is older and the other is younger.  The older veteran looks like he is crying as he is embracing the younger veteran.  The younger veteran has also lost his arm due to the war and has a prosthetic.  Behind these two gentlemen are a group of people including another younger veteran and another older veteran.  All of the veterans pictured are in their respective military uniforms.

Responses or Feelings:

-thankful

-respect

-American

-heroes

-amputees

-veterans

-men and women serving our country

-medals/decoration

-American flag

-emotional

-happy

-safe and sound

Symbols:

-American flag: symbol of America, freedom

-military uniform: symbol of the military

-medals: symbol of military service and sacrifice

-decoration: symbol of military service

Underlying Compositional Structure:

The compositional structure greatly contributes to the listed responses and feelings that I have posted above.  The way the people in the picture were positioned, with the older veteran and younger veteran in the front, is very powerful.  You are able to see the emotion between the two gentlemen through their embrace and their facial expressions.  This is obviously a special moment and the emotion shines through in this photograph.

Picture Works Cited:

http://hearmesaythis.org/the-benefits-to-being-a-veteran/

Blog Exercise - Meaning 2: Interactions Between the 3 Levels of Meaning

This is a picture of a vintage Disneyland ride poster.  Posters like this one are found near the entrance of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in DisneyWorld.  

Representational: 

This poster represents the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland/DisneyWorld.  There are four different elements in this picture that viewers instantly recognize from the ride itself.  We see an elephant, a hippopotamus, the jungle, and the boat.  This poster is expressive and informational because it gives viewers clues as to what the ride will actually be like.  Viewers recognize the boat vehicles form the ride in this poster, as well as the animals and jungle scenery.  This ride includes scenes from a jungle that you might actually see if you were in a real jungle; this is what the poster displays.  The representation of this poster relates to the abstract and symbolic levels because of the way the elements are positioned on the poster itself.  

Abstract:

The elements and pictures in this poster definitely make it abstract.  First, the elephant is clearly taller than the jungle brush and scenery.  In real life, elephants are not that large/tall.  Second, if you look closely at the people in the boat, you can see emotions such as fear and curiosity: one person has a gun pointed at the hippopotamus.  This does happen in the ride itself, but it is obviously a fake gun.  The abstract level functions as the underlying visual structure of any visual information and contributes impact and emotional response.  This poster allows viewers to realize what they will be going through when they board their boat.  The abstract elements of this poster relate to the representational and symbolic forms because it provides the emotional responses.

Symbolic:

The symbols in this poster communicate familiar ideas in our minds.  This poster includes animals, transportation vehicles and scenery to communicate to us that this ride takes a through a jungle, where guests will be abel to see animal life and be introduced to the dangers and wonders of the jungle.  The symbol of the gun in the hand of one of the passengers symbolizes danger.  The elephant and hippopotamus symbolize the wildlife.  The boat symbolizes the type of vehicle you will be riding in.  The symbols in this poster relate to the representational and abstract levels because they are some of the most iconic figures from this ride displayed on this poster.  The symbols represent what you will be seeing on the ride.  The symbols are designed and placed in a way that is abstract and not normal in everyday life (for example: the giant elephant).  

Picture Works Cited:
http://thehalfhouse.blogspot.com/2011/04/inspiration-vintage-disneyland-ride.html

Blog Exercise - Meaning 1

Representation:

This is a picture of the Tree of Life, located in the Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.  The Tree of Life is representational in many different ways.  First, this tree carries large amount of details.  I know this is not an up-close picture, but the entire trunk of the tree is very interesting: there are hundreds of animals carved into the trunk.  This tree represents life, both human and animal.  Second, the Tree of Life alters and shifts the inescapable role of interpretation.  People who come to see this tree interpret it in their own way.  I know whenever I visit Animal Kingdom, I always take a picture of the tree and wonder why the Disney Imagineers chose the animals they carved into the trunk.  The tree has different meanings for different people, it is the Tree of Life.

Abstract:

This is an abstract picture of a flower on fire.  I think that this picture follows the second of the two paths that Abstract art can be viewed: abstraction toward symbolism with meaning attached.  I think that this is so because everyone who views this picture will have a different interpretation of it than someone else.  This picture is intense and distilled and uses pure, elemental visual forces.  The fire seems to engulf the flower, from the petals to the stem.  The different ways in which people interpret this picture involves "abstract thought," generalizing from the specific instance to a general class.  For some, a flower on fire can mean something earthly and to others, it could be interpreted as destruction of nature.

Symbol:

Take a look at this symbol.  It is iconic and well-known all over the world.  This is the symbol for Mickey Mouse.  The definition of a symbol is something such as an object, picture, written word, sound, or particular mark that denotes something else by association, resemblance, or convention.  This symbol resembles the features of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse: a large head and two ears.  This symbol is known all over the world, and it is known by people of all ages.  You don't have to visit a Disney park to know what this symbol means.  When I see this symbol, I know it has something to do with Disney.  When little kids see this symbol, they say "Mickey Mouse."  Each person has their own interpretation of this iconic symbol, whether they've seen it once on a piece of paper or they visit a Disney Park every year.  This symbol is simple and precise, making it easy to remember and recreate.

Picture Works Cited:

http://disneydose.com/tree-of-life-in-animal-kingdom-loses-limb/#axzz26IB6VRT4

http://1ms.net/abstract-flower-best-199135.html

http://www.etsy.com/listing/54027132/mickey-mouse-silhouette-digitized