Visual Communication Final

Toyota
The first logo I am analyzing Toyota. There logo is distinct, and everyone can recognize a Toyota car by looking at "T" shaped logo. After doing some research, I found out that the logo actually spells out Toyota. If you look carefully you can see each letter within the design, clever. The logo also stands for the a mutual trust between the car and the customer, represented by the two ovals overlapping. The space in the background symbolizes the "unlimited potential for the future" (http://www.dinesh.com/History_of_Logos/Car_Logos__Design_and_History/Toyota_Logo_-_Design_and_History/) With this logo, Toyota wanted customers to feel a sense of trust and dependability. I feel that the logo has achieved this. When I see the "T" shaped logo, I first think..Toyota.. then I think Dependable.

Jeep
The next car brand I am going to analyze is Jeep. While most other cars have a logo type graphic, Jeep simply just writes their name out . There is some confusion where the word Jeep comes from. One theory is that it was from a character on Popeye, and others feel it stands for "GP" meaning general purpose. Most people feel it stands for "GP" and the word was slurred and it sounded like Jeep. Jeep has had the same type font for the past 60 years. There is nothing fancy about the word, it is just bold and simple. When you see the brand name, because of the font, you automatically think of a car that is out doorsie and bold. When I see the word Jeep I feel a "go anywhere and do anything" type of feeling, a liberating feeling. This is exactly what the Jeep company wants you to feel.

Mini Cooper
The logo just says mini inside of a pair of wings. Although it only says mini, you automatically say cooper at the end when you see the logo. This is because they have done a wonderful job name-branding their logo and their product. The wings give you a sense of speed and flexibility. With the word mini inside of it you just think of a fast little car that can fit into any parking space (even if you haven't seen the Italian Job). The Mini in all caps also creates an effect on a persons feelings. Although it is mini, it is bold and strong! I personally like it because I am small, but just because I am small doesn't mean I am weak and lame. By bolding its letters it gives the "small but mighty" feel to the logo.

Artifact one:
This artifact is a southern California wild fire poster. In the poster there is a bare tree that is charcoal black, with a colorful bird perched on it. There is sunshine in the background and blue clouds. The picture is a combination of simple shapes. There is "so cal" written up the side of the picture. Because the tree is charcoal black, you know that fires are a problem in southern California, and that it is ruining vegetation and what not. The picture would be really pretty if the tree wasn't black, this also represents so cal. If it weren't for those dang fires, it would be a much more pleasant place (M family and friends have been greatly impacted by these fires). The poster makes you feel sorry for the poor bird looking for a place to nest or something to eat. It makes you feel sad because the tree is black. For me, it reminds me of all the wonderful parks and places ruined by these fires. This poster also makes you want to help out in any kind of way. Maybe join a charity or donate money to the cause. It makes you want to take better care of the planet because you can see how beautiful this picture COULD be, if only the tree was green and the bird was happy.

Artifact 2:
This is an end suicide poster. There is a man with a gun to his head, and in the gun is a hand (that is a little icon you often see your mouse turn into) . At first glance you think "no don't shoot yourself!" Then you have a sigh of relief when you see that something is stopping this man from being able to kill himself. So this poster makes you feel a little anxious, then relief. You learn that something needs to be done in order to stop this man from killing himself. And that something, is the little hand. Because the little hand is a computer icon, you learn that a solution is on the computer. You immediately start looking for the web address, and find it at the bottom of the page. It makes you want to log on, because the thought of someone dieing is very tragic, and you could be that person that helps. That makes you feel good about yourself, the thought of helping. I find this poster very effective.

Artifact 3
This artifact is a series of posters. Each poster has one graphic in the middle and a solid color as a background. Because the background is solid, it makes you focus on the image in the middle. Just glancing at the photos i knew they were representing seriouse issues, that need awareness. I feel these posters goals are to get people to learn about different issues. The poster that impacted me the most was the survival poster. Just thinking about a baby dieing strikes sadness and fear into anyones heart. You want to do anything you can to saving a baby's life becuase the thought of one dieing is almost too much to bare. It makes you want to learn more about the isue and to make a change.

Story Board: Taming the Beast!

Web design

http://www.unitinteractive.com/

This is the link to the website that I decided to evaluate. At first glance I really liked this website because I was able to tell what kind of business it was, web design. I think that this particular web design follows a very strong grid, leading your eye from left to right of the web page. As you scroll down the web page, the different categories are broken up into balanced sections of the page. It is very organized and easy to read. There is a large graphic on the right side of the page, not necessarily at the vary bottom of the entire page. But when you first log onto the website, the image is at the bottom right of your screen before you start to scroll. It is very pleasing to the eye in my opinion. This web design is easy for your eye to navigate because there are lines throughout the page that lead where you are supposed to go. Another thing that I liked about this web site, was that it was easy to use. I didn't have to search the entire web page for hours looking for where I need to go next. They have the "tab" idea at the top right hand of the page that make it clear what other parts of the page you can visit. The colors they used are very soothing. There is a dark blue, with white writing. It makes it very easy to see. They also use soothing greens different shades of blue and some black. All together I thought this web design was very neat and it made it easy to navigate. I never once was confused or put off by the web site. Bravo Unit Interactive.

Font

Well I did my font, but I can not for the life of me figure out how to put it on my blog. I will try to post a link to my font and see if that works. Sorry! http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/fontstructor/edit/148225
Most of the letters I like, but a couple towards the end i have a problem with. I really tried to work with negative space for my font. Like a highlighted effect.

Bad Ketchup

I thought that this was a really poorly designed add for ketchup. If I had to pick between this ketchup and heinz Ketchup based purely on the adds, I would choose heinz. The physchological noise that is happening with me immediatly is eww gross. I think this add is meant to be "sexy" but all I can see in my mind is giant glops of read ketchup. I guess it is supposed to be a red bottle pooring out the ketchup, but the sharp contrast of red and black makes me uneasy. This isnt a pleasent add to look at. I dont know one person who drinks ketchup from the bottle, and thats all that I can imagine and it freaks me out. The phychological noise is taking over the whole add. It makes me feel gross, I learn that I dont like huge amounts of ketchup, and it makes me want to turn away from the add. There are very small words at the bottom that I can not read, but I dont need too. The picture is so overwhelming that you dont look at the slogan at the bottom. At least I don't. I would turn the page very quickly. It doesn't capture my interest.

Good Ketchup (heinz)

I chose to use this magazine add for the good example of design. This is a Heinz ketchup add.
There are a couple different noises going on with this add. First, Physical noise. You look at the add and your mouth gets really dry because of the cardbaord food. Physchological noise happens because you become uneasy at the thought of eating cardboard youi can even imagine what it would be like to eat cardboard. Heinz is trying to say, that withough ketchup your food is bland and boring. To achieve this they made their add look bland and boring. All of the colors are nuetral and practically colorless. Except at the very bottom there is a red ketchup bottle that gives the add color. This works for what their objective is. This add is boring without the red ketchup bottle, and so is your food. I like this add because it is simple and gets the point across. There are not very many words, but there doesn't need to be. The onle words are on the ketchup bottle, and right above where is says WITHOUT. It is a small word but makes a bold statement because it is in all capital letters. The most significant contrast I can see is the color contrast like mentioned before. Everthing on the plate is nuetral and blends in, but the red bottle gives it color. The red bottle leads your eye to the bottom of the page, immediatley seeing the ketchup and recognizing that it is Heinz, because it is the only thing with color. This add appeals to all people becuase everyone eats. And most people do not like bland food. This design makes you feel like you need something more to spice it up. It wants the audience to think their food is boring with out ketchup, in return the psychomotor wants you to go out and buy Heinz ketchup to spice up your life, and food!

Gestalt

Ground Figure:

I used this photo for ground figure because if you look at his hand near the bottom of the photo, the shaddow on the window sill blends in with his hand. Also because the paint is chipped off on parts of the wall, makes it dark so his hand blends in to the context of the wall. But I do love this photo.


Law of Proximity:

This photo is a great example. I think those dots are gum on the wall. They are close together so your eyes group them together automatically.

Law of Pragnanz:

This is funny to me, because I see a series of squares but i also see a lot of L's.

Law of Similarity.

Because all of the chairs are black they are grouped together. At the same time I also group all the black furniture together in my mind, but they are seperate pieces of furniture.

Continuity

In this picture my eye automatically goes to the right side of the road because it is smooth. The left road is rough so it seems like the add-on to the road, not the original road.


Law of closure:

In this logo, you see IBM, not just weird lines. Your eyes fill in the blanks to make letters.

Contrast

Cultural and Social contexts:
In this photo the soldier and his notepad are pulled into focus while the people in the background are not. There is an obviouse cultural contrast between the soldier and the people. Love this photo.

Psychological:

I chose this photo for psychological becuase instantly it made me sad. The child is pulled into focus leaving the dumpster behind him kind of fuzzy. The dumpster and powerlines give this photo context. Not to mention the child is not wearing any shoes. It just makes me think he is homeless.

Position and Orientation:

I chose this picture for position and orientation because of the space that is used. I think it is unusual to have so much open space in the middle of a photo and two little heads in the corner. But it works because the tree at the top frames the photo on the right side making it balanced. There is a lot of lead room, and if this were a tic-tac- tow grid, the people would be in the lower third section. (Photo by Nathan Petty)

Highlights:

This photo has both shadows and highlights. The right side of the orange and apple are highlighted, while a shadow is cast on the other side. The wide end of the paper airplain is also very bright, getting more shadow towards the end of the paper airplane. The top of the stapler, as well as the right side of the glass are highlighted. Also the right hand corner of the photo is brighter than the bottom left hand side, It is very apparent in this photo where the light source is coming from because of the highlights.

Shape:

For me, this photo does a lot of cool things with shapes. The hot air balloons themselves are a rounded teardrop shape. But the designs on them are squares, triangles, and rectangles. Also the bottom of the baskets are a triangle, and the bottom of the bolloons are circle. A lot of different shapes, yet the picture makes sense.

Contrast

Color and shade:
To me this photo is more than just color contrast, but I think color is the most obvious. It starts off red at the bottom of the photo and turns into a deep blue at the top left hand corner of the photo. Mean while in the middle is a big black silhouette of the tree. The only color in this photo comes from the sunset.

I feel that it is also shadow. The sunset casts a beautiful silhouette of the large tree and the ground, making it stand apart from its background and grab your eye. I love this photo.
Photo by (nathan petty)

Size:
I chose this photo for size becuase there is such a huge contrast between the little people, (the little people being my husband and I) and the large temple. It puts into perspective how large the building actually is, and how small we are incomparative. (photo by Nathan Petty)

Texture:

I chose this photo for texture. You can see the paint chipping, and the coarse grip on the dial of the telescope. Because it is foccused on the telescope, the images in back become fuzzy, putting more emphasis and detail on the texture of the telescope. (photo by Nathan Petty)

Get the glass

I think that this is a very fun idea for the Got Milk campaign. It has a retro board game feel to it, unlike a lot of computer games. I think that they wanted the game to be family oriented so they made it a boardgame setup. I thought the post bail idea was very clever. you either lose a life, or you email a friend and have them bail you out at not cost. This is a great way to get your friends and family intorduced to the game. The graphics were amazing, and reminded my of something you would see from Pixar movies that are very popular these days.