Visual Techniques

Le Corbusier chair
-contrast and harmony
-balance and instability
-simplicity and complexity
-understatement and exaggeration
-Subtlety and boldness
-flatness and depth
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CONTRAST

 The first product lacks contrast. Even though the wood and the ceramic are contrasting materials, they whole look seems very plain and lack of drama. The silhouette does not contribute to contrast of the product either. The edges are rounded with fillets, and the cutouts are composed of ambiguous curves, which made this watch lack of contrast and less eye catching. The proportion between the watch body and strap is also not surprising and placed in an expected way.

As for the second product. It is a food grater. Usually, food graters are bulky/cubic shape with sharp corners to express durability and  strength. As for this particular food grater, it is made out of one piece of silicone wrapped around the metal grind, which is a surprising material for a food grater. Also, the fact that the tool is bendable/flexible makes this design unique and the concept of contrast materials (silicone and steel) also compliments the usability. The silhouette created by folding the food grater and the curve of the steel is contrast to the fact that this is something hard and rough and it grits food into pieces. Also, the silicone is soft and harmless while being gripped by one's hand. That is also a contrast to the utility of the food grater.

week 12 Blog-Movement Motion

The first lamp on the top has the element of  "expectation" in implied motion. We are used to living in a world with gravity, and we expect liquids to drip downwards to the ground. That's why the red paint (even though it's not real paint) is dripping towards the ground, and there are some form of liquid on the floor (which in this case of a lamp design it is the support of the lamp shade). The altra shiny surface finish of the red liquid is convincing to the audience that something is spilling. Also, if we look closely at the lamp shade, it resembles an up-side down coffee cup falling from the air. The cup is not supposed to be hanging in mid-air in our world of gravity, we expect it to collaps on the ground in split of a second. The red and white contrast design also highlights the implied motion, the red part grasping attention from our eyes. The red also creates a clear and visible outline of the drip which enhance the viewer's experience. 

The implied motion utilized in this Alien Lamp is the suggestion of directional movement. The curves of the lamp indicates swirling movement of the object. It gives the viewer an illusion that this is some sort of smoke/fume rising towards the sky, or even something swimming in our atmosphere. If we imagine its bottom view, there would be swirls of circles going inwards, which is commonly used in psychedelic art work, giving the viewer illusions of circular movement. In my opinion, when the heavy (head) part is facing down, it gives it less of a movement, it seems like its just hit on the floor, which the implied motion is suddenly stopped when the viewer sees it. However, when the lamp is hanging upwards, it has more implication of movement. Judging from the wavy "tail", the lamp is moving upwards, using our experiential data on the curves (experiential data on curves of smoke, organic objects). Overall, this lamp conveyed its idea successfully in terms of practicality and form/movement.  

http://www.productplus.com/Interiors/Decorate/Remarkably-Artistic-Lighting-Designs_4463.html#.UMKGppPjksq

Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

In this exhibit, there are plenty of depth and size cues. We can see that the camera is from an eye level of an average human. Because when you see the white slope over the other mannequin's heads, you immediately sense the familiar size cue by assuming we are similar to the height of the mannequin and we are also standing under the white slope at an eye level. Another use of the familiar size cue is that the tiny mannequins are far away. There are overlaps between mannequins, the white slope, and the chairs. If you observe the blue chairs, you can see overlap, relative size, and relative height (characteristics from the depth/size perception notes). The mannequins also perform the relative size depth cue. There is also the atmospheric perspective cue in terms of the mannequin's faces, the mannequins towards the deep end have fuzzy outlines and features.  

http://retaildesignblog.net/2012/02/08/bread-butter-berlin-2012-adidas/

Tone and Color

In the poster on the left, almost every shade of tone is utilized to design the atmosphere for the poster. There are two distinct tones (hard light and shade) on the actor's face, which creates a dark and mysterious mood. The bright tone is mostly on his hands and his white shirt. These extreme tones tells us that he is wealthy, and doesn't get his hands dirty. The other super bright tone from the back of his head is the light from the streets. This gives the viewer a feeling of impact, especially when it shines on the dark human figure shadow on the street. The bright light is also In contrast with the seat of the vehicle, giving the seat depth, and also adds darkness to the character's position. The most interesting interaction in terms of tone is with the lines. All the lines inside the car are crisp and clear, and they interact with the distinct tones in the vehicle. The edges between light and shadow creates lines, thin, fine lines giving the person a delicate and unstable mood state.
In terms of color usage in this poster, it's mainly constructed of blue and green hues. According to Dondis, blue is passive and soft. The color suggests the character of the person-passive and soft. When this trait interacts with tone, it adds dimension to the composition. The dark tone reinforces the saturation of the color blue/gray, building up the intense vibe of the story.   

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/movie-poster-of-the-week-the-posters-of-the-2012-cannes-competition

WK10—The Basic Elements

The Shape

The bookshelf on the left is a good representation of shape in Dondis Basic Elements. The front panel is a distinctive rectangle, divided into two equal rectangles.   Because the shelf is angled towards the top at roughly 30 degrees, viewers can also notice that the bottom of the shelf is a rectangle. As for the two side panels, they are equal sized trapezoids. The negative space is also distinctive shapes to the eye. The bottom negative space creates an illusion that there is another trapezoid box there.

The Line

As for the second product on the right, lines are key to this design. The lines construct the form of the tangible object. Each composition of the four lines creates a face, therefor building up to the structure of this unique bottle.

The movement

With multiple wireframes, it creates an illusion that the object is moving. Due to the structure of the object, these curvaceous wire structures give the human eye a soft and organic movement. The attribute of movement gives the product uniqueness due to the fact that most furniture is calm, solid, and still.  

Visual thinking research

Week 7 — Feature Hierarchy

This Kleenex box design used color and shape channels in this summer edition Kleenex packaging. First of all, we all expect a Kleenex box to be rectangular and boxy. By using a triangle shape as the Kleenex packaging, it becomes interesting and eye catching. The pointy top corner gives the viewer an elongated illusion. While looking towards the tip, the white "Kleenex" logo is in contrast with the red, green, orange background and it pops. The upside down opaque triangle is cohesive with the form of the packaging, and is also a nice and sharp design detail. The bottom edge of the package is a nice use of the color channel, giving it a distinctive edge/detail, and in interaction with the triangle on the top. The white Kleenex logo on four sides of the box is also in contrast and very readable which emphasizes the branding. On top of that, the printed texture on the sides of boxes is visually interesting, and makes the opaque areas significant and professional.    


source: http://www.sunpack.com/blog/tag/creative-packaging/

Visual Perception 1 / Top-Down Visual Processing

This image is a good representation of both top-down and bottom up visual processing. The face on the right composed of rock is a great example of bottom-up visual processing. We look at the edges, edges of the rocks, edges of trees, and edges of the horse. Afterwards, we see patterns of leaves, rock textures and road texture. At the end, we see horse, man, faces (objects). As for the Top-down visual processing, our eye ball are constantly moving and looking for more faces hidden in the background. Since we know there are faces hidden behind texture and trees, our mind switch to goal directed eye movements, and constantly scanning on the canvas looking for hidden objects. 

Design Success and Failure

 The first picture on the right demonstrates a good use of balance and sharpening.  The fish is on the center of the plate, and the fish body is lined horizontally creating harmonic visual balance. The book title on the top is centered symmetrically, while the red and black type is in harmony with the fish taking up two thirds of the layout. As for using the technique of sharpening, the white plate pops out in the gray background, and the cracks grab attention from viewer, hence a great use of the sharpening technique. 


The second picture on the right is an example of the syntactical guidelines not used efficiently. The designer intended to use the techniques of sharpening and grouping to bring focus to 
his design, but the canvas is way too distracting. 
In the picture on the left, the guideline of 
grouping is applied, but the canvas and accessory of the model is attracting more attention due to content, thus this design fails. As for the model on the right, the technique of sharpening is applied but the background is fighting for attention, and the face of the model is sharper than the artwork itself creating distractions making this an unsuccessful design work. 

Visual vs Symbolic Language

As we can see from the photo on the right, an elder veteran is embracing a younger veteran and it seems like an emotional embrace. The younger veteran is facing the camera but looking down with very sad eyes. The elder veteran has his back towards the camera and is embracing the younger veteran with his right hand griping the younger veteran's shoulder. Even though the younger veteran lost his left arm he is wearing an artificial limb and resting it on the elder veteran's back, and he is fulling embracing the elder veteran with his right arm with his hand on the elder veteran's back. The younger veteran is wearing a dark green uniform with red linings around his high collar and his cufflinks. He is also wearing a white officer's hat with black rims and a gold pin at the center of the hat. There are some blue and white metals on his left chest just above his white belt and a gold metal on his collar. The buttons and cufflinks are both gold and we can see he has three cufflinks on his left sleeve. There is a red and gold patch on the younger veteran's left arm shaped like a rectangle with top two corners chopped off. There are also red and gold stripes next to the younger veteran's gold cufflinks. As for the elder veteran, he is wearing a white officer's hat with lots of blue and yellow metal pins, and he is wearing a dark green uniform. There are four gold cufflinks on his right sleeve and he is wearing a yellow rubber like bracelet around his tattooed wrist. The elder veteran seems to be sobbing with his head rested on the younger veteran's chest. On the background there is a corner of the United States flag on the left corner of the picture and a little machinery that seems like a corner of a tank beneath the flag. There are three other people behind the two veterans. An army soldier wearing olive green, brown and beige camouflage uniform and a black officer's hat with a blue patch on the hat. He seems to be in his 40's and he has his hands crossed in front of his belly. The camouflage officer is standing very straight. There seems to be a women standing behind the younger and elder veterans. All we can see is her middle length blond hair and she seems to be wearing a black jacket. There is another elder officer standing behind the embracing veterans. He appears to be in his 60's and he is wearing a blue officer's hat with yellow cords around it. This officer is wearing thick glasses with a metal frame. He is also wearing a dark green uniform jacket with a white dress shirt and a navy blue necktie. There is a gold and red metal pined on his necktie. He also seems to be wearing artificial limbs but it is very hard to see due to the angle. The look on this officer is very emotional. All people in this picture seem to be Caucasian and the background wall is sand beige and there seems to be an extruding black window on the top overlooking these people.   


List of Words
- emotional
- solemn
- proud
- formal
- overwhelming
- touching
- serious
- heavy


Symbols
metals = status/rank
artificial arm = injury
standing still = ceremony 
flag = patriotic 
camouflage = combat/conceal
tattoo = stamp/mark/memory
suits = formal
black suit = formal
tank = military base

The two embracing veterans are the focal point of the scene due to its size. The camera is shooting the veterans from a lower angle expressing greatness and bravery. The people in the background are standing still and looking at a far distance suggesting they are participating in a ceremony. The flag, tank, and their emotional faces lead me to believe that this is a solemn military ceremony.  
  

Meaning 2: Interactions Between the 3 Levels of Meaning

Representational 
- identify what role it plays in the whole 
- describe what kind of impact it has for the user/viewer 
- how it relates to the other two levels 
This is the Panton plastic chair designed by Verner Panton and introduced to the world in 1968. It is a representative of a chair due to it's ergonomic form. People understand it's a chair by the curves and structure hinting where to sit and where to put one's legs. The impact of this chair is its chair form of elevating the sitting surface and the downward curve suggests where one would nest their bottoms. We can say the form of a furniture for one to rest in derives from function and ergonomics with the hollow shell on the bottom as weight support structure. The form (based on function/representation of a chair) also connects to an abstract form of a flower, a flowing brush stroke, water flow, or even symbolize the letter "S" or number  "5".

Abstract

In terms of the idea for creating this chair, Panton wanted to use a single piece of plastic and convey the messages of "Sleek, sexy and a technical first". The abstract form is created by the goal of fiberglass casting one piece of the chair. When multiple Panton chairs are arranged in different angles the composition portrays sexy strokes, sleek paint flow, or even swans in an abstract way. The abstractness of the chair when it's photographed artistically doesn't lose its meaning that "it's a chair" and symbol of "5" or a "S" or even a "V".

Symbolic
In Dondis's book, the author identify a symbol must "not only be seen and recognized but also remembered and even reproduced". The Panton chair highly associates with the symbols "S" and "5".

References: http://designmuseum.org/design/verner-panton 

MEANING 1 - Blog Exercise

Representation: the clock


The clock is a daily used product. In our basic knowledge, we have 24 hours a day and a generic clock manifests every 12 hours. The hands of this representational clock can clearly give us what we need to know. This image operates by showing the viewer with the short hand what hour it is, and the long hand tells us what minute it is. Although there are multiple forms of the device that tells us the time, this type (this image) is representational in the fact that it is installed in most schools and public spaces due to its readability.

Abstraction: Jasper Johns

This canvas created by Jasper Johns is called Corpse And Mirror II. It is composed of multiple short grouped lines, each group going in a different direction. These groups of colorful lines don't mean anything, really. Not even a segment of the lines represent an outline of an object or words. If you look at it subjectively, it has no relation to the title what so ever. One can only stare at the painting and try (very hard) to grasp the feelings the painter is trying to convey. Hence, one can only guess the abstraction derives from the sense that corpses and mirrors are both fragile and broken. The lines create triangle patterns which suggests distortion, looking like fragments of broken glass. Even though the colors are happy but they are just the three original colors-blue, yellow, and red, maybe suggesting the corpse which is dead- is the end of our journey and it goes back being the origin.

Symbolism: The handicap sign

This symbol has been around as long as I could remember. I think it is very clever and readable. Although not all handicapped people are in a wheelchair, the wheelchair does express the image of a person needing physical aid to transport. The lines are reduced to the minimum level, and the white lines with the blue background is very eye catching. The whole point of a symbol is to be readable and eye catching. We can obviously read this graph that it is a side view of a man sitting in a wheelchair, and that is why this symbol is so successful!