Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Composition: "About Me" Poster

For this assignment, we used Photoshop to create a poster representing us. We had to keep the basic guidelines of composition in mind while creating the end product.

"About Me"

The concept of this piece was simply to describe me. Each component included was selected because it is meant to create a more complete description. The main image, the sunset over the mountains, was picked because it displays my love for the outdoors and nature. The typography on this picture depicts the importance I place on my faith, while it's transparency allows the viewer to form a connection between the background image and the text. The pictures on the bottom of the image (from left to right) depict my love for music, my friends, kids/teaching, and my fiance.

The composition of this piece also describes my personality. I enjoy organization and am a planner at a heart. Since this is such a large part of who I am, I decided to use one primary image, while putting secondary images in boxes in a line at the bottom of the graphic. I also used an actual line to separate these smaller images from the large image at the top. This was done to guide viewers' attention from the top down, and then allow them to easily switch focus to go from left to right. The color of the line represents one of my favorite colors, although, looking back, I think it may have been better to take a blue-hue from the mountain picture could have been applied to the line in order to for a connection between the line and the photographs used. Having the typography on top is meant to show hierarchy-that my faith is the most important aspect of my life and everything else stems from that. This is why all of the smaller images are aligned together on the bottom of the page, giving a clear end to the image.

I also attempted to follow golden sections and not center focus. The text and sunset occur on the top third of the poster, while the smaller images are on a portion of the lower poster that is less than half of the poster as a whole. In short, I attempted to use unequal spacing and placement of lines to enhance the visual appeal of the poster.

After reading a section of the textbook on alignment, I would go back and change the typography so it is all left-aligned to provide more consistency. I was not aware that "stair-stepping" font is off-limits in the world of design.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Gardening Poster

Before

After
For this assignment, I began by grouping each chunk of related information in close proximity to each other. The title, date, and basic information are at the top. The picture and slogan are on the left, while the directions and contact info are on the right. Everything is left aligned, although some was aligned to the black line acting as a false edge. This was done to create a strong line and guide readers' attention. The information included to the right of the center line is placed there for viewers that would like further information and is identical font and size to connect it together.

The font was repeated throughout the entire poster, as was the black/white/gray-scale color scheme. To create contrast, some font was larger and other font was bolded. The bolded title and slogan along with the bottom line act as a frame for the poster directing viewers attention to the information on the page. The utilization of black and white provide contrast, and especially causes the title and subtitle to have priority in the poster.

The graphic of the watering can was changed to gray-scale and was given a back shadow to make it pop more from the page. Sticking with the gray-scale color scheme was meant form a connection between all the poster components. It was also moved to the left and tilted downward so it would be "watering" the slogan. The acronym PARC (proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast) was utilized to make an unreadable and non-visually appealing poster into a poster that was easy to follow and eye-catching.

Shapes Activity

Original Image

Created Image

I targeted my created image towards children; therefore, I used vibrant colors to create an animal representation. The contrast in colors gain the interest of children and distinguish different parts of the face. The contrast in shapes can show children how various shapes can be grouped together to make a representative image.

I grouped the same colors together in close proximity to target the different areas of the face. Students can distinguish between left and right through the connections between what shapes are orange and which are green. Although the opposing colors does pull the viewers eye in opposing directions, that is the desired effect because the viewer (a child) is supposed to be able to see the face as a whole but also the opposing parts. The repetition of the purple rectangles and ovals on the mouth helps draw attention to it and differentiates it from the rest of the face. The arcs are all grouped together in close proximity to highlight the eyes and top of the head. The only shapes that are not paired in a repetitive manner are the rectangles inside of the ovals to make the ears. This allows them to be distinguished from the rest of the head. An attempt was made to align each component centrally to the component it was inside of. The entire image is aligned using symmetry.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Graphic of Research Proposal

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
For this assignment, I began by creating a time line that spanned from early May (when the research was to begin) to mid June (when the research was to end). I decided to use both squares and rectangles to depict items that were to occur during this time. The similarity of the shapes display continuity, but their differences represent the time frame of each task. The squares represent steps that will occur on specific days, while the rectangles represent steps that will occur over multiple days. Order is shown through the composition by having steps beginning first on the top of the graphic and steps beginning later at the bottom. Hierarchy is depicted by position and shows the order in which each task should be performed. The different vertical levels allow for tasks to overlap in order to show they occur simultaneously.

The labels on the far left describe each step and match the color of the corresponding square or rectangle.  Most of the steps are different colors in order to differentiate between them, but the components that are similar, like the two testing tasks and the two concluding steps, are the same colors to show connection between the steps.

The y-axis labels are aligned left, while the title is aligned to the center to match the alignment of the x-axis labels. If I created this graphic again, I would most likely align the title left so the viewers eye would be directed from the top, to the bottom, and then to the right.

My target audiences were the 2 teachers and the parents of the students. I feel it would be important to allow parents and teachers to see a simple graphic that displays the tasks of the research project and the amount of time it is estimated to take before they agree to be a part of it.