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