12 Movement / Motion

IMPLIED MOTION IN DESIGN




This logo for "Disney Magic Music Days" very much is designed to imply motion. The design shows a few bars of music with a large treble clef note at the beginning lefthand end of the bars (lines)- just like how actual music is shown in music books. However, in this logo, the bars are curving and converging to the righthand side, while actual music bars are completely straight and parallel. In this logo, the converging of the bars represent the Gestalt Law of Continuation, so we expect the patterns and lines to continue. In this case, we expect the music bars to continue as they converge into the implied distance. Hence they imply movement and change. The letters of the phrase "Magic Music Days" are spread across the music bars and have variations in scale, becoming smaller as the bars converge. As the viewer reads the shrinking letters, this implies a forward movement, leading the viewer's eyes through the composition. The word "magic" is largest in scale as it is implied to be closest in depth. The stars are dispersed along the logo to convey the energy of the music bars' movement; hence the stars are visible multiples that appear because of the music bars' implied fast movement.









This logo for Disney and Pixar's film "Up" very much is designed to imply motion. The floating house and balloons are positioned diagonally as if moving through midair. Based on our prior experience of the world, we interpret the house and balloons to be in the process of floating upward. It seems as if the house and balloons are frozen in motion. The large, slanted letters of the word "up" lead the viewers' eyes through the composition. Their straightly edged shapes are composed of diagonal lines. Also, there is a variation of scale in the word. The letters "U" and "P" are each a different scale. The word "up" itself is positioned diagonally, creating the illusion of forward movement in the viewer's perception. The diagonal stress and variations in scale in the logo all communicate movement and change.

11 Dimension / Depth / Space / Scale

This is the album cover of Mariah Carey's album "Merry Christmas II You." The design illustrates a three-dimensional scene in linear perspective. The viewer envisions actual space hence actual objects. The viewers' size perception of the objects depends on the context of the design. The image presents accurate scale with closer objects (such as the snow and human figure) appearing larger and farther objects (such as the stars and blue houses) appearing smaller. The viewer recognizes familiar and relative size. The lines on the brick walls create a texture gradient. The brick wall on the lefthand side particulary positioned at an angle in our perspective. Hence one end of the wall grows larger, stretching outward from the image as the other end grows smaller, stretching inward into the image. (The snow has no texture gradient, so its depth is ambiguous.) Throughout the design, objects overlap each other. Hence the viewer can understand what objects's positions such as: The human figure and snowman are in front of part of the brick wall; the brick walls are in front of the houses; the clouds are in front of the sky and stars.

10 Tone and Color

TONE

A) Tone very much operates in this advertisement promoting singer Lady Gaga and her song "Hair." Tonal range is the key to defining the photograph- especially Lady Gaga's appearance. The details of her face, body, and clothes are communicated and distinguished by high dynamic and tonal range. Also, the entire photograph shows peak whites (such as background and some of the letters), absolute blacks (the clothing and edges of the ad), and lots of tonal information (grey scales) in between.

B) Tone interacts with the visual design element of dimension. Almost the entire advertisement is a grey-scale photograph. Its blacks, whites, and greys define the three-dimensional structures (mainly Lady Gaga's figure), shadows, and lighting. Hence, with just the advertisements' tonal range, viewers' eyes are able to recognize and understand the image as we, as humans, are evolved to see a three-dimensional world.

COLOR

A) Color very much operates in this advertisement promoting singer Lady Gaga and her song "Hair." The two colored areas of the design are Lady Gaga's hair and the song's title "Hair." Hence, since the song is about hair, the singer's hair and the song title are the same color. Because these two areas are relatively small parts of the design, they create a pop-out effect within the dominantly grey-scale advertisement.

B) Color interacts with the visual design element of texture. Particularly for Lady Gaga's hair, color is used to show the values within the three-dimensional image of the singer's hair. With a color value scale ranging from light to dark, viewers are able to analyze the structure of the hair- in areas where it is more clustered or dispersed.