what i've learned

visual hierarchy: i feel the most comfortable with visual hierarchy. from the second design brief to fourth, i think i've made the most progress in this area. in my final handout of maso's work there was absolutely no visual hierarchy. but since then, my drafts have gradually progressed to a point where i think the visual hierarchy is pretty clear.

repetition: i also feel comfortable with repetition. i understand that too much repetition can look a little obvious and tacky and just enough balance can pull a layout together.

contrast: contrast can make important elements stand out. i think contrast is another thing that should have a balance. too much contrast can be loud and tacky, while a good amount of contrast can make a design simple yet still interesting.

transparency: i'm not completely sure i understand what is meant by transparency. i know that messing with the transparency in photos and layering them in photoshop can make interesting elements. besides that i'm not sure.

audience: again i feel like i have to compare my current work to design brief #2. i don't think i really considered the audience in either of those designs. as for the poem, my design was difficult to read and the audience would obviously want to read the poem. and the form, i think maybe all the lines would make the form a little stressful to fill out, like the need to stay within the lines would be irritating. in the next design brief, i really thought about the audience and i researched the dance and tried to pick a photo that was reminiscent of the museum exposition that was mentioned in the flyer. i tried to design the flyer with those aspects in mind so the audience would want to read the flyer.

layers

unity

choice of typeface: i think i'm still having a little trouble with picking typefaces. pretty much every time that i email a design to my friends, one of their most common criticisms is with the typeface. i have learned from this criticism though, for example.. i thought papyrus was simple enough to use along a scripty typeface... and in the feedback i got... it's clearly not. since then i've tried to use only the most basic and simple typefaces in blocks of text and more elaborate typefaces in headings. i've also completely ruled out scripty typeface, because someone in class said they looked amateurish.

alignment: i think i may have always been comfortable with alignment, but maybe this class has taken that to a new level. i've always understood that alignment on the sides is a must, but from the brief #3 i learned that alignment throughout the page can pull the design together.

proximity

presentation

figure & ground

my dance flyer

my revisions

in my first flyer (with the two boxes) i mostly changed the bottom section because i still really like the top, with the picture and the title and the little bit of text. i moved the boxes around because someone told me it was hard to know where to start reading. so i moved the condensed the three sections of text into one section and placed it right under the photo in the upper left corner so it'd be obvious to start there. i wanted all of the top stuff to be seen as one element, so after that top section, the eye moves to the block of text, and then on to the two boxes.

i was told that my second flyer (with danceworks across the center) was hard to understand because everything had equal weight. again, i condensed the text on the right side and spread it across the bottom, and moved the times up to the right corner under the picture. i also removed the stripe because i thought it looked too much like a racing stripe.

the final flyer has turned in to my favorite, which is kinda cool because i made it at the last second just to have a third version! i was told that the white box of text was competing with the black boxes and the picture, so i manipulated the picture to make it whiter and deleted the black boxes. i was also told that the "trapped white space" was distracting. i had trouble fixing that problem because if i left open space it was distracting, but if i made the text boxes bigger it all had equal weight. i'm really happy with this revision, the only part that's still kinda bothering me is the dates and times, but i do think they complete the visual path nicely.

design brief #3

i have two major concerns with this assignment. the first concern is the amount of text we need to fit on the flyer, it's a lot! also i started to play around on photoshop today and it's really difficult! can we continue to use indesign or illustrator?

reading about type

all of this information was very new for me, from what the word "color" means, to leading (pronunciation, how it can be changed, that's it's a real thing...), to the different families, everything was new.

i really enjoyed the historical tidbits of upper case and lower case letters, and how the romans had to chip the letters in to stone and so created serifs.

i also found it interesting that "modern" fonts look way less modern than the oldstyle fonts.

my favorite reading was the "designing with type" page. the three c's; concord, conflict, and contrast are all discussed and explained, but contrast seems to be the most important c. contrast creates interest and makes people want to read more. the strategies to create contrast are pretty simple and will probably be useful in most-- if not all--of the rest of our assignments.

design brief #2

it was really difficult finalizing my designs without any feedback from the class. i don't the either the handout or the form changed much from my first draft to my final draft.... well there were lots of little changes. but no major differences. i'm thinking that's probably not good. in the end though, i'm still happy with my final designs, but i would have felt more confident throughout the process with more feedback.

my final tiles

figure & ground

the figure may be the most obvious object on the page, but to someone else the ground may stand out more than the figure.  for that reason, it's important to notice the ground as well as the figure.  in my work, i'll try to use this as an advantage, and try to use the ground in a more subtle way of expressing the intended feel of the document.  

in three of my tiles for class today i used the letter B and wanted to create tiles that are playful, fun and carefree.  in the first tile, the ground shapes are all very different sizes.  it makes the tile seem more chaotic than carefree.  in the next tile, the ground is shaped by lots of horizontal lines, which feels carefree but more sleepy than playful.  in the last tile, the figures are all playfully spaced throughout.  they're placed randomly around the tile, but spaced evenly enough to not be chaotic.  the figures are playful and the even spacing between them makes the ground feel carefree and playful as well.

three design contexts

the first design context i chose is the poet's kitchen.  i think the audience for this context would be mostly the friends and family of the poet.  these friends and family may also be writers of some kind, or at least they appreciate the poet's work.  the tile should mostly express the interests of the poet.  i don't think future home owners would be a problem because i see the poet as very old and settled.

my second context is the tile for the children's hospital.  i think everyone who walks through these walls cares mostly about the comfort and happiness of the kids.  so the tile should make the children smile and feel safe.  the tile should be dreamy and invoke creativity.  that creativity will keep the spirits up of even the sickest child.

the third context is the tile for the transit station.  when i think of a transit station, i mostly think of business people rushing around to get from one office building to another.  between those stuffy office buildings, it may be nice for the business people to get a glimpse of scenery to remind them of the bigger picture, or maybe remind them of home.

design brief #1

comments:

• i find myself disappointed and also relieved that this assignment, as well as the whole class, will only be in black and white.
• i have never used illustrator so i'm a little nervous.

questions:

• will each tile be a literal drawing?
• should the separate tiles have a common theme?