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.

9 The Basic Elements- Identity Logo Design

Dot >>>
In this logo for "Lullaby Studio," the dot is very active in its final design. Like 19th century Pointilist painters, the design uses dots to create the perception of colors. Dots of various sizes, tones, and colors are used in determining how to define the shape of a crescent moon. The dots are smallest along the edges of the moon. These particular dots connect and are therefore capable of leading the eye. The ability to lead our eyes is intensified by how close these dots are to one another.

Line >>>

In this logo and title for the website called "Vivid Ways," line is very much active in its final design. The graphically designed logo shows that it has been built on dots. The logo itself is a line with point positions and settings for tension and bias. It displays scalability as it has been manipulated to form two connected letters V and W- the initials for Vivid Ways. The connection of the V and W show the letters' relationship as the website's initials. The type fonts of the title "Vivid Ways" and the slogan "color-in your life" are defined and differentiated by the nature of their outlines- straight vs. curved, direct vs. complex, etc. The structure (proportions and relationships) of every letter in this design is based on lines.

Texture >>>

In this logo for the comic book franchise "Batman," texture is very much active in its final design.

Much detail is conveyed. All of its colored blotches have associations with materials. The simulated brown blotches create the illusion that the viewer is looking at rust. Also, the grey and white blotches together create the the illusion that the viewer is looking at a shiny metal object. Hence, this design relieves flatness and creates interest. Its textures have no tactile quality and only optical. It only appears as a rusted, shiny metal object. No one can reach out their hand and touch it to feel that it is an actual object.

8 Visual Thinking Research

1) Which two bracelets are the same?

I used the pattern-seeking operation of matching to discover which two bracelets are identical. I particularly used the quick way of matching. I chose one random bracelet at at time, seeing each desired bracelet pattern as a whole. I attempted to match pairs without hesitation until I finally matched two.
My sister used the operation of matching as well. However, she used the long way in performing her matching. She compared details of one bracelet with the details of another. She even verbally talked to herself.

2) How many triangles are in the cat? (Answer: 20)

I used the pattern-seeking method of finding. I "closed" in on the figure, outlining the triangles that were most apparent to me from largest to smallest. I lastly counted the overlapping triangles.

My sister used the pattern-seeking method of finding as well. However, she "closed" a bit differently from my method. She immediately counted the most apparent triangles as well, but she counted the overlapping triangles at the same time.

Visual Perception 2/ Feature Hierarchy

Mariah Carey: E=MC2, Island Def Jam Records

This poster is related to feature hierarchy in the way that it uses feature channels to create a visual design which promotes the uniqueness of singer Mariah Carey's album E=MC2. Color is used to pop out preattentively- especially the singer's name and human figure. Secondly, the viewer detects that shape has levels of variation. From the top down, words (the names) become smaller in size, allowing viewers to understand the importance of each phrase: 1) singer's name 2) album's name 3) lead single of the album 4) secondary singles. Together, these words operate by using scale to express how one set of words is more important than the next below or less important than the next up. The viewer next notices the motion created by the photo. From the bottom up, the image's depth creates the illusion that the person is standing over the viewer and that the viewer's perspective looks up at singer. Furthermore, the image's shape is detected due to how the white pops out within the black background. Combined, together, these three feature channels for a spatial layout. The viewer has the intuition that specific parts of the poster have specific roles to guide them in acquiring information rapidly and efficiently.

Visual Perception 1 / Top-Down Visual Processing

Lady Gaga: Born This Way advertisment by Interscope Records

image from http://www.nycitsalwaysanadventure.wordpress.com/

The cognitive goal of this advertisement is to grab viewer's attention with the image of Lady Gaga's extremely large, pale face which has covered the entrance side of a subway building. In being so massive, bold, and out of the ordinary, viewers' eyes are bound to be drawn to the ad. The ad is designed to send a message. Hence the neurons in their eyes will send visual information to their brains as they scan the ad. The viewer immediately makes short fixations to get an overview of the ad, starting from eye level and up to the top of the ad. The viewer then scans from left to right, reading the musician's name, the name of the record, and the album's release date; these are the goal-directed eye movements the viewer makes to try and understand the design's message, which is to promote Lady Gaga's upcoming album. The words on the ad are very small compared to Lady Gaga's photograph. Hence the viewer soon makes longer fixations and makes scan paths below the ad's title and on the photograph. Their eyes will be strongly bias over Lady Gaga's enormous face.