Calendar Project

Problem Statement: The Graphic Design Department is in need of a calendar for the academic year 2013-2014. It will be shown in the new  design gallery next year. Selected calendars will be shown at the Spring Show. Possibility it may be printed.

Create a Calendar with the following specifications:

• The calendar is going to be 4 panels of 11x17= 44x17
• It needs to include all the months, days of the week, the name, and dates.
• The type should be one of the three: Helvetica, Univers, or Futura. 
• The calendar needs to demonstrate contrast, grayscale, utilize white space, and have non equal black to white ratios.

Working with the Grid

1st EDIT: Calendar Sketches

I drew out 15 sketches and made a matrix on the side that helped me with keeping my months, name, pictures, year and dates in a SML scale. I tried to keep in mind that the calendar we are designing is not actually supposed to look like a calendar. After going through my 15 sketches, I chose 2 and refined them. I emphasized pictures and made them different scales in my first one. In the second one, I took one month and highlighted it in big numbers and arranged the pictures differently as well as in different scales. 

 2nd EDIT: Calendar Sketches w/more contrast

My first sketches didn't emphasize strong contrast so I did a couple more and emphasized the months, Calendar, and the days of the week. After seeing Brooke's sketches in class, the definition of contrast became more clear to me. Out of everyone's sketches in the class, I only remembered her sketches because she had contrast. That's the goal of contrast. To catch the viewer's attention, and have that image retain in their mind. 

 Relating Type to Images

Starting off this project, was a little bit difficult. How can I relate my type to the images that I have? It was hard to see the elements my pictures already had. So I began by defining my photos. 

I sketched out my photos and first began by drawing out the lines and curves that I saw in my photos. I then sketched another set and filled in the white space I saw. Just by doing this, I was able to see the elements of my image. This goes back to the cheerio exercise from the beginning of class. When I got stuck on how to relate my type to the images I had, I began defining the elements (Lines, curves, whitespace) and I was able to see these components more clearly. I then began sketching out ideas on how I wanted to relate my type to the photos. What do my photos have? My photos have lines and circles. So I began using the Gestalt term Continuity for relating my type to my images. Besides relating my type to the lines and circles of my images, I could also relate it to the unit of white space in my photos. 

Modular vs Radial

1st EDIT: 2 Contrasting Modular Grids

(Left) I realized I needed more black in my compositions so I made one of my modular compositions dark (the  top left picture) and placed the letters of the month there. The letters took up two grid units, so I used those units to place the days and the pictures. My S,M,L hierarchy is emphasized in the composition. but I realized my white spaces were clunky. I then had to figure out a way to weave in the white space and get rid of the odd little shapes that it created. So instead of making my numbers in boxes, I made it the length of the months so it read as a texture and I placed the images and year on the bottom of the composition. After analyzing my revision, I realized my white spaces do look cleaner, but what relationship do they have to my calendar? Where am I taking the units from? This was the most challenging aspect for me--Staying within the grid, while maintaining S,M,L, visual hierarchy, having clean white spaces and establishing relationships within the composition.

(Right) I made this composition darker by making my type bolder and larger. I added a black line to increase the blackness of the composition, but after analyzing my composition as a whole, it looked very cluttered to me. Where does my eye go first? The months and "Calendar" were competing against eachother and again, my white spaces needed to be refined. For my revision, I made the white spaces relate to the pictures and made the days the unit of the pictures, but I was concentrating too hard on staying within the grid units. I needed to break free of the symmetrical layout and not have the content become so overwhelming. 

2nd EDIT: Contrasting modular Grids

(Left) I increased the blackness even more in this composition and added contrast in the sizes of my photos by making one picture large, 3 medium, and 4 small. However, I realized the units of Calendar didn't actually match the units of my photos. Why? Because I was editing on the computer, and confused the text box with the actual text. So instead of making the text the unit of the photos, I was actually making the text box the unit instead. I still needed to work on my white space more and play around with activating white space. In the bottom composition, I fixed my units up and made Calendar the same units as my pictures and took out the small photos because I felt they had no relationship to my composition, unit wise. 

(Right) My goal for this composition was to increase the whitespace. Instead of having the days read as boxes, I put them into a texture. I took the unit of white space between the year and texture and repeated it within my photos. Although I was slowly beginning to understand the concept of taking units in a composition and repeating it, I was straying from keeping my white spaces clean and simple. In my next revision, I played with interval of the white space and had it increase starting from "A" and increasing all the way to "R." However, my ratio of black to white began to equalize and I needed to come up with a way to increase my white space in a composition.

3rd EDIT: Choosing one modular grid & refining it

I chose to work with my composition that had the most black in it. "Keep it simple" was Gwen's words to me so I attempted to increase simplicity within my photos. On the left, I made my picture units the same as the days and made the white space between the photos relate to the units of the year. In the composition on the right, I made Calendar the same unit as the pictures as well as the days and months. This way, my white spaces flow evenly between the photos and type. The year is actually the same unit as the photos and I placed it in the corner to activate the white space in the center. I am pleased with my final revisions because my white spaces are not so clunky, I am able to see visual hierarchy/grayscale, and my elements have a stronger relationship to each other than before. It's about working with what you have, everything is already available for you to use, and in the beginning I was overlooking that concept and making the task much more difficult than it really was.

1st EDIT: Two contrasting Radial Grids 

(Left) For this exercise, I decided to relate my pictures to one composition by having my days transition from light to dark. In the first composition, my days read as stripes, and there wasn't a strong enough transition from light to dark within my days. The years also read as an interruption and didn't flow with my composition because it was the only element that was reading vertical instead of horizontal. For my revision, I decided to flip the years so that they read horizontally instead of vertical, and I made my days a texture instead of reading as stripes. I also incorporated "Calendar" into the transition from light to dark so that it has a relationship to the composition instead of looking like it was just placed there. Looking back at my first composition, the stripes and the black square makes my composition appear to be too "boxy" and the texture in my second composition breaks free of that boxy look. 

(Right) For my second radial composition, I decided to take the elements I already defined in my photos (See above: sketches defining lines/white space) and began emphasizing the gestalt term continuity from them. I wanted to keep my composition simple, and only have 2–3 interruptions. I chose to work with the half circle photo I have of a flower, and play with having the text as the white spaces in my photo. After analyzing my composition, I felt that my interruptions were too minimal and not greatly emphasized. I felt like there wasn't a strong focal point to catch the viewer's attention and started analyzing what else can I change to highlight an element in my composition.

2nd EDIT: Two contrasting Radial Grids 

(Left) I decided to break up the texture of my composition and have the years become a unit of the pictures. I made "A" darker because the picture below it has some darkness in it. The unit of space between my photos came from the unit of the stem of the flower in my first photo. I still wasn't satisfied with my changes in my composition so I decided to sketch some different ways I could emphasize the transition from light to dark in my composition. For my revision, I decided to have my numbers small and have more white space between them to emphasize the lightness in weight. Then increase the blackness by enlarging by numbers and increasing the boldness of the numbers. However, by making these revisions, I ended up having two different concepts and they didn't look like they weaved together. I then needed to figure out a way to emphasize the lightness and darkness in a composition while still maintaining flow, and keeping the elements tied closely together instead of making them look like two very different forms.

(Right) I decided to stick with a radial interruption instead of having different lines and curves in my composition. Instead of having my days as boxes, like in my previous composition, I decided to make them a texture and have that texture interrupted by the circle. For my revision, I decided to place the texture along the bottom so that it ran parallel to my pictures and decided to incorporate the gestalt term closure by having my radial circle stop halfway, and then interrupt the texture with white space. I did the same to my radial circle for my flower photo. For calendar, I emphasized boldness in some of the numbers in my texture to create closure for that circle as well. 

3rd EDIT: Choose one radial and refine it

For my final radial, I chose to edit my light to dark picture relationship composition because I felt it was unique and different form everyone else's radial composition in the class. I began working more on my white space while still maintaing grayscale hierarchy and flow. I then thought about putting "Calendar" within my images instead of separating them because I felt like they would emphasize more with the transition from light to dark.

Grid layout Project

IP

Grayscale Composition

Problem Statement: Cut out 1 3/4 by 1 3/4 type squares from magazines. Each edge of each square must be the same value and no pictures should be in the type area. With the type squares, compose a 7 step grayscale from white to black. The composition should have big letters, medium and small, and gray scales.


1st EDIT: First of all, I looked up the definition of "grayscale".

Keeping this definition in mind, I started cutting type from magazines. I was looking for type ranging from small letters to big letters, thin to thick and quantity of type. At first, I was only cutting out black type on a white background. I learned later on that you can also increase black within a composition by making the background black and the type white. 

2nd EDIT: Defining grayscale within type: I started evaluating the different ways a grayscale can be defined with type. 

• Thin to Thick

• White to Black

• Small to Big

• Text Quantity/White space

3rd EDIT & Final Composition: After evaluating the different ways a grayscale can be composed with type, I started combining these ways and compiled them into a grayscale. I kept in mind that the squares should not be read as the same. From left to right, black starts decreasing as white starts increasing. In the first three squares, the quantity of type increases and gets bigger/thicker. Black starts decreasing as white increases. The next four squares show the white space increasing. The thickness of type gets thinner and the quantity and size begins to decrease. 

Color Studies Project

Problem Statement: Define the colors that are in your images using the color aid packet. Take one image and identify all the color within the "visible and undertone" areas. Take all those colors and place them in a quantity relationship interval. Take the neutrals and find their parents.

1st EDIT: Playing with color, Fluting & Seeing Color

I chose one of my final images from the leaf/shadow project to use as my image for my color study. I chose it because of the variety of texture that was illustrated in the photo and I felt like there were so many hidden tones in it. At first, it was hard to distinguish immediately what the visible colors were. I was trying to match the colors from my color aid to the exact value of the color in my image. That just made it harder for me to pick/distinguish colors and it slowed me down. I then learned that there are different color values within a photo, not just one. So instead of trying to match the same value, I could pick the same color in a different value that's close, and it would still be in the photo.

The next step was trying to understand color more by learning how the "flute" worked and seeing color being pulled from another to reveal what colors were in it. I had the most difficulty with this and had to spend a lot of time working with color to get my eye used to seeing color vibrate off the edges of the swatch. I started off with the simplest/easiest colors: orange (red & yellow) green (yellow & blue) and purple (red and blue). Then once my eye got used to seeing colors, I moved on to defining the more challenging colors that I found in my photos (browns and undertones).

2nd EDIT: Defining the colors in the photo

3rd EDIT: Color Palettes

Cheerios Project

Problem Statement: Every object has design. Define the object (cheerios) using Gestalt principles and dissect its meaning.

1st EDIT: In class, it was really challenging to distinguish the Cheerio's many shapes and form. What I visually saw was a Cheerio- a circle with a smaller subset of a circle within it. The color of the cheerio was more of a lighter brown and it had small little holes all around it. I tried to associate the Cheerio in terms of design to help me see it a little bit better. So for the term direction, I tried to imagine designing a cheerio poster. How would I want the cheerio to look on the poster just by the word direction? I could make it look like it's coming out of the page, I could make look like it's moving. I could make it look like it's falling. I could make it look like it's coming out of the corner of the page, etc etc. So this thought helped me brainstorm ideas much better. I began taking the cheerio and stacking it and drew the outline of what I saw to create a different shape. I thought maybe I can use some of what I learned in GPHD 25 with interval and apply it to the cheerios by using color. (Black increasing, white decreasing).

2nd EDIT: I began brainstorming all the terms on different sheets of paper trying to come up with many different ways to see the subject. What helped the most was looking up definitions for that word. I defined all the definitions and printed them out to help guide me with this particular problem. The definitions I found always gave me an idea that I could branch off of and create something entirely new. This time, I tried to get a little more abstract with my cheerio. I kept in mind Gwen's example she used in class, that we can crush up the cheerio, and then we have another form of the cheerio. It's not just looking about the Cheerio from the outside, from what you see. It's also what you don't see and what you are overlooking. For this edit, I tried to imagine designing a logo, what symbol can I create that would illustrate each term effectively? For motion, I imagined the cheerio as a frisbee and drew it out a couple of times illustrating how it would move if it were thrown like a frisbee. I imagined it being flicked across the table. Then word motion itself, made me think of all the different things that's associated with it. Motion of the wheels of a car, motion of a frisbee, motion of a windmill, motion of a baseball of softball. So I took those ideas and applied it to the cheerio and combined them together. So here's a summary of my thinking process I went by for this exercise:

Thinking Process: Think in terms of design (example: designing a logo) ---> Define what is the object (Cheerio) --> Define what is the term (example: Motion) --> Define things associated with that term (example: For motion- frisbee, wheels, fans, windmills) --> Combine ideas and definitions (Example: Cheerio + Motion + Windmill =?)

3rd EDIT: For my third edit, I ended up taking all my sketches and refining them more cleanly on a matrix with a felt pen. A lot of brainstorming went into one little design, I thought I would be able to come up with more, but this project has made me realize that first of all, you must design with purpose, not just draw something and make it totally unrelated to the definition. Second, you have to go through a lot of brainstorming and refining just to get that definition across to the viewer. It was extremely difficult not to edit myself, that was a challenge I found out during this project. I also discovered that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to design. There is always a solution to everything, and it is up to you to find that solution and effectively convey your meaning to your audience.

Readings

Through reading the AIGA article, I have learned that graphic designers are not only communicators; but thinkers, thought developers, and problem solvers who dedicate their time and effort into doing whatever it takes to solve a problem. The problem is not only a task, but a process that will influence towns, schools, businesses, the government and the arts. In design, you not only communicate to your audience, but you communicate to the world and in some way, influence change through such a powerful message. To communicate good design, the process must always be consistent. To be consistent, you must thoroughly define the problem.

The process is a journey and everyone must be inspired once they start it. Everyone must work as a team to reach the solution. The point that stood out to me the most was number 12, "Rapidly learning and tacking based on your successes and failures." The article states the "most effective teams are those who constantly learn. Strive. Improve." Starting out GPHD 125 early on this semester, I was afraid of being wrong and afraid of failing. I have now learned that I shouldn't be afraid of being wrong, but learn why I was wrong and how can I improve that wrong to make a right. Anticipate failure and strive to make it better. It's going to take many wrong designs to make a right, and you shouldn't assume your first couple of designs will be your solution without going through a variety of edits.

"When we encounter any usual field, the most fundamental distinction our eye brain system makes is to identify contrast."
-What Makes us Look?

Reading about contrast and learning how to apply it has made me realize it is a very important key element in design. There's a variety of different ways contrast can be incorporated and it provides  visual interest within a composition. It is an effective way to immediately grab the viewer's attention and hold it long enough to get your message across. Design is dialogue and your composition must speak for itself in volumes in the split second glance someone takes of it.

Closure is another important key element the article talks about. How much information can be taken away from a composition so that the viewer would still be able to recognize it? Our mind fills in any missing information that is absent within a composition. I remember Gwen had stated during class, "If you find yourself adding, stop." Sometimes too much information can become cluttered and that's where closure comes in to balance the composition by creating an illusion of a complete image while utilizing the white space around it.

Seasons Project

Problem Statement: Create a photo composition that portrays the 4 seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). The composition should consist of 3 themes for 8 photos. There should be 3 sets of 8 (24) and one composition must consist of two photos from your leaf/shadow composition.

1ST EDIT: Brainstorming phase

I took each season and defined them to get a better understanding of what each season consists of. For example, Spring would be water, rebirth (revival from winter), greens, pastels, sunrise, slow to fast interval, moist, etc. Summer is hot, fast interval, excitement, bright, sun light, fun, beach, sand, fruits, sunglasses, lemonade, swimming pool, flip flops, etc. Fall would be dying, fading, transitioning, fast to slow interval, browns, falling, Thanksgiving, pumpkins, etc. Winter would be death, cold, dark, snow, tree branches, white, old, fragile, snow capped mountains, texture, stiff, ice, glass, frozen ice cubes.

After jotting all these words down, I would pick a couple that stand out to me and branch off from there. For example, ice cube. How many ways can I take a photo of an ice cube? Can I break it so it creates a unique jagged edge? What about the little tiny bubbles trapped inside of it? How can I make a transition from that? Ice cubes remind me of glass, then I would examine how I can interweave the two items. Right now it's just about jotting down whatever comes into my mind when I think of a specific season and taking the words I have brainstormed and generating new ideas from it. Then I would do a rough sketch of how I want to compose the photo.

2ND EDIT: Shooting and evaluating photos

After getting a general idea of what I want to shoot based on my brainstorming, I would take several shots of my subject at different angles to create more variety and more options within that one subject. If I noticed another object that had a similar subset of my subject (for example, the wavy lines of water and wavy rings on wood), I would snap a couple of shots of that object as well. My main goal while shooting was to capture images that I felt best connected with each season, while trying to capture some abstract photos as well. 

After a careful evaluation of my photos, I realized all of my photos were the "same" and I needed to establish more relationships between them. I didn't have enough white space in my photos and they were mostly full frame shots. I learned that subsets in photos can make the eye distinguish that two images belong together, or are related. So if one image in a composition has a prominent zig zag shape and another image, three images down has a zig zag shape that's more subtle, we can immediately make the distinction that the two photos are similar even if they are not placed together. This not only applies to shape, but color, texture, white space, etc. I also learned that to make a composition visually appealing, you need some sort of interruption. One way to go about defining an interruption is to map out the opposite of the subject. So if you have an image of a green leaf, what would be its opposite? Black leather. This creates contrast within the composition. 

3RD EDIT: Reshooting and putting together sequences

My main goal for this shoot was to shoot more contrasting images that contained elements that my photos during my first shoot didn't have. I kept in mind to create more white space within my photos and made sure they had a visual appeal. I noticed most of my images from my first set contained images of Fall/Winter so I tried to take images that illustrated Spring and Summer as well.