Week 9: Demension/Depth/Space

Dimension is an important aspect when it comes to design. It is the "graphical means of specifying and communicating objects in space." Before such an idea was interpreted, a lot of paintings lacked dimension, therefore something always looked wrong. In the picture to the left you will notice the brick pattern on the floor. This is the perfect example of texture gradient. You can see the texture (the brick) gradually change as the floor goes backwards, the frequency changes. But that's not the only prominent thing in this picture that shows dimension. The flower pots are a perfect example of relative size. The flower pots are obviously the same size in reality, however in this picture the one closer to the camera looks bigger, not because it is, but because of it's dimension. The other depth/size cues include (but not necessarily present in this picture): Overlap, (the closer flower pot overlaps the table), relative height, linear perspective, accomidation, convergence, binocular disparity, and flow pattern.

Magazine Design (Week 7)

LINE: This cover of a Nylon magazine features a couple different Dondis Basic Elements, however I will be focusing on the element of line. The builings in the background of the image are the perfect example using lines in a design. It is said that a line can be described as a "dot in motion" and with these vertical lines the buildings in the background create, they do just that. The line has an enormous energy and it is an extremely important visual element. The buildings in the background are at a slight angle, however the lines that make up these buildings have a linear quality that helps create an image of creativity. The lines in this picture have a direction and a purpose, and that purpose is to create tall, slanted buildings.



DIMENSION: This image in a magazine shows the perfect example of dimension. Although dimension is usually dependent on illusion, it also represents a two dimensional visual format. This picture in particular shows depth and dimension by using a person close to the camera and then showing a person on a horse smaller, in the background. By doing this, it creates elongated visual depth. In reality, the small girl is much smaller than a grown man on a horse, however, by using dimension in this image the girl seems to be the biggest being in this picture, because she is closest to the camera. This image uses lines, in the tree and even in the girl, but that is just it's to plot its effects. The final intention is to produce the feeling of reality.





COLOR: This magazine cover is the perfect example of using color in design. Color itself is full of information that is easy to understand in all languages. This magazine, in particular, is actually a Japanese magazine. Color structure is easiest to understand if you refer to the color wheel. The primary colors are: yellow, red and blue. The secondary colors are: orange, green and violet. Multiple combinations of these colors are combined to create any color. In this magazine, almost all of the primary and secondary colors are used, giving the image a sense of chaos, yet makes the viewer feel comfortable. The perception of color is one of the strongest conveyance of emotion and uses its great force to express particular feelings.

The image to the left is the perfect example of the syntactical guideline of balance. There is a perfect centered, and even appearance of this image, as the people in it are evenly balancing the world up with their pitchforks. It gives the image a sense of normalcy, at least visually. The reason I chose this particular image is because of it's stylistic qualities. I am really into sketching right now, and a picture like this really appeals to me. I like bold lines combined with shadowing. Since this appears to be a french cartoon, the analogy seems to be that even though we balance the world together, we are still going to do so using pitchforks.

This image conveys a message entirely different. Although it uses bold lines, it also uses bright colors and neglects to use the syntactical guide of balance. This picture seems to be using everything else but balance. The male figure in the image is wearing only one shoe, has fallen off his bike, and is in complete disarray. There are hot dogs, peppers, the letter "W" and even a strange little angry baby angel up in the corner.