WHY?

For almost the entirety of our education, we are told that we must draw inside the lines. There are countless rules that we MUST FOLLOW. We aren't quite sure why following the rules is so mandatory, but we follow the rules for fear of punishment. Any sort of rebellion against these rules results in stern punishments meant to keep us from breaking the rules again. The resulting punishment is often so harsh that we promise to ourselves that we will never break the rules ever again in order to avoid the punishment.

We live in a world that attempts to push everyone into the same box, and the articles we had to read for class to just that. The article lists blanket rules that for some reason we all must follow. In doing so the article completely disrespects the idea that we all have different abilities and as such are capable of completely different things. This article places everyone in the same box. These thoughts all beg the question of why? What is the point of this strangling blanket of rules on everyone everywhere. I have come to the conclusion that ideas are for average people. They serve as a way to control people who need to be controlled. The average person needs rules to protect them from themselves. In the eyes of the rule makers, not having rules for the average person would be anarchical state.

However while rules do a good job stopping average people from hurting themselves, brilliant people do not need rules to protect them because they are smart enough to be able to know what to do and what not to do. Interestingly enough the ones who make history are the ones who break the rules. The greatest among us didn’t become great by following rules, they broke the rules and changed the world as a result. The greatest among us break the molds that the rest of us are forced to be confined in.

A great example of geniuses breaking the mold of senseless rules that hold society in its talons is Beethoven. When Beethoven start, music was suffering under a tyranny of musical authoritarianism. The rules were the rules and they must be followed no questions asked or else you can’t possibly be taken seriously at all as a composer or a musician or any other part of the musical process. But Beethoven ended this tyranny of the rule, he broke the rules and made music better for it. Beethoven broke so many rules that he brought to an end an entire era of music and brought in a new era of music.

http://www.beethoven.ws/musical_style_and_innovations.html This hyper link lists some of the ways that Beethoven broke the mold for music and led to the changing of the age.

The point of all of this is to show the importance of not being afraid to violate rules that are only there to enforce conformity. If no one ever questioned rules, we would still be in the stone age. Advancement is only possible by the questioning of whatever holds us back, often times what holds us back is archaic rules which are no longer necessary. The world is a better place when rules that don't need to exist don't exist.

https://youtu.be/4Tr0otuiQuU

They Are Who We Thought They Were!

This week's assigned reading was very interesting. The most interesting part to me was the author's discussion of semiotics. Semiotics is very interesting to me because it involves the psychological analysis of how the unconscious mind and causes people to react before they think about what they are doing.

Semiotics, is the study of how basic colors and shapes can elicit meaning for viewers. As Ferdinand de Saussure said "Semiology would show what constitutes signs, what laws govern them:

In his writing on What is Semiotics, in which Danesi first introduces the topic of semiotics he discusses how a color can make you immediately think a certain way. When I first read this, I immediately thought about the famous clip from former Arizona Cardinals head coach Dennis Green following a football game in which apparently his team did not do very well even though the team knew exactly what the other team was going to do. The connection between Green and semantics is the colors mean what we thought they mean!

An example of semiotics would be the color red. When you see the color red on a sign your first inclination is to stop. Why is this? This is because your brain has been programmed to identify the color red on a sign as to mean stop. An example of this is a stop sign, which is red, and a stop light, which uses the color red to indicate to drivers that they should stop their car behind the appropriate line or risk life and limb crossing the street while cars moving perpendicular to you are also proceeding through the intersection. 

However, the location of where you see the color has a major impact on the inference that your mind will make. For example, if you were to see the color red somewhere else, for example at a sporting event.Your mind would more than likely immediately make the distinction that the color represents a team that is participating in said sporting event. If you were to be walking by and see a person on the ground with the color red growing around them, you would immediately jump into action as this person is obviously hurt and their life is endanger as they are bleeding out. If you were to see the color red

Another part of semiotics is symbolism.  A symbol is an object that stands for something else. An example of this would be a cross. A cross can stand for many things, from a gravesite, to a hospital, to a church, to representing an entire world religion. When a person first catches sight of a cross they can have many initial reactions but these initial reactions will be filtered by the location of the symbol so as to bring about the correct meaning of the symbol. For example if you see a cross in a wide open field your initial thoughts are one this is either a symbol for the Christian religion or two that someone is buried her. Your initial reaction to seeing a cross in a field is not to say "Oh... look a hospital" this is because your brain uses the location and placement of symbols in conjunction with the actual symbol to determine the intended meaning of the symbol. However if you were to see a red circle with a cross inside of it, your mind would almost immediately make the distinction of "oh hey look a hospital, not a graveyard."

Wrapping it all up, the study of semiotics is very interesting and intriguing as semiotic study the initial human reaction to an object. This is very important in media and communication as advertisers want their advertisements to be clear and informative to the receivers of the message in order to increase sales and convince people to purchase their products. 

Apples Are Red

Yellow means happy smiley faces, but could also warn of a poisonous flower. Red is the color of stop signs, but also of blood. Bright colors draw the eye, either because they indicate danger or safety. As Kim Golombisky and Rebecca Hagen describe in White Space Is Not Your Enemy, graphic designers, artists, and advertisers can utilize emotional associations with color to evoke a desired reaction from the audience. Even though colors often hold different meanings to different people groups, all people can recognize the natural contrast of complementary colors. Simplicity often carries more weight than symbolism. This principle is put into play in the early promotional materials for the Apple iPod.

Should You Break the Rules?

The excerpts from Golombisky's and Hagen's book White Space is Not Your Enemy provide an overwhelming amount of information about good print design practices. After completing the reading, my first thought was that it must be nearly impossible for a designer to follow are these rules. Thus, I set out to answer this question: Can an advertisement that breaks the rules of good design still be good?

My first example is a Fanta advertisement that was chosen as one of the best print ads of 2015 on several websites, including the two blogs JustCreative and A Nerd's World. Although it is regarded as one of the best in its class, it certainly does not follow all the principles of good design.

To begin, what makes this a good design? According to Jonny Rowntree from JustCreative, Fanta's ad is so "tastable" that it makes you want to "tear a piece of their advertisement and place it in your mouth." Or, as Golombisky and Hagen might put it: Fanta's brilliant use of color evokes a sense of freshness and delectability. The whole page seems to burst with fun and a summertime.

Nonetheless, this ad contains some major design flaws. First is what Golombisky and Hagen referred to as Sin No. 3: the use of too many fonts. Too many fonts break up the unity of the piece. Secondly, some of the fonts in the ad were a poor choice. As the excerpts mention, "stroking chokes letterform" and makes the text harder to read. Finally, I find that this ad contains too many words. Fanta could have just used a simple visual like an orange to convey their ideas. After all, less is more.

The second "good" ad that bends the rules comes from The Guardian. It was also listed as one of the best ads of 2015 by JustCreative.

At a first glance, there seems to be nothing wrong with this ad. It is simple and focuses on one crisp visual. The ad also delivers the message, "The whole picture," cleverly by leading viewers to regard the whole picture before finding the message.

There are several things I dislike about this ad. The first question I must ask is: Why a pie chart? Perhaps The Guardian wished to use the chart as symbolism for their commitment to supplementing news with data. However, the news company is not using it properly.

When we see charts, we expect them to convey actual information. But when I see this one, I am confused. How were the percentages of the pie chosen? Could it be based on word length, or is it random? In any case, there has to be a better way to visually represent something that is "the whole picture."

The Guardian's theme colors are white and blue,
which would have been a better color scheme
for the advertisement.

The color scheme also does not make sense. The colors are simple and contrast well. But instead of having a dark purple background, they should have used The Guardian's official color, which is blue. Overall, this ad just seems too generic.

So, to answer the question: Can an advertisement that breaks the rules still be a "good" one? According to some design bloggers, the answer is yes. But as we have seen, sometimes bending the rules of design leads to a weaker composition. In short, there is no definite answer. The rules laid out by Golombisky and Hagen are good guidelines to follow, but sometimes it pays to bend the rules of design.

Naked and Afraid- Graphic Design Edition

We all love to take pictures, whether it be selfies, panoramic photos, snap-chats to a friend, etc. Our phones rarely leave our hands and telltale click of the cell phone camera has become so common we simply ignore it. We share our photos with just about everyone, but have you ever looked at the same photo on multiple devices? Its not the same is it?  Here's something to think about: have you ever realized that your phone itself is a border? When you show your friend that picture, your phone edges and case create a border and you and your friend's attention is temporarily fixated on the picture.

Its now later in the day and you want to show another friend that glorious selfie you took in the bathroom this morning you posted on your blog, but your phone is dead. You bring the picture up on your laptop, but something is different, it doesn't "pop" the way it did on your phone, the colors and lighting are off, and, where do the edges of the picture end? You have just experienced a naked photograph-or, a picture with a transparent background- which is one of the difficulties one might deal with in Graphic Design.

A naked photograph is just one of the many "Sins" that Golombsky and Hagen talk about in White Space Is Not Your Enemy. Programs such a Gimp can create photos like these, and while in some instances, a naked photograph might be helpful, such as implementing a logo on an advertisement, it is not always the best route to take. For example, if your photo takes up the majority of an advertisement, you may want a "hairline border" around the picture to give it the emphasis it may need on a background that matches that of the original picture.

The small details that go into composing an advertisement or website add up to a larger effect on the audience of a piece in the long run. A good advertisement or website will focus and harness the attention of a customer and draw them into the advertisement, peaking their curiosity and maintaining a friendly, "easy on the eyes" approach without making the customer aware they are being lead. This can all be achieved with graphic design, and may be the key to gaining popularity or more viewers. So remember, if your photograph is naked, you should be afraid... of losing viewers!


A funny video I found:

Judging by the Cover

The video game industry is growing quite rapidly on next generation consoles such as the Xbox One and the Playstation 4. These two competing consoles and companies do share one thing: the vast amount of games you can play on them. The range of games is incredibly expansive, just about any genre of game can be found. Amongst the most popular game genres are: action, shooter and sports centered games.

Aside from the actual gameplay another major aspect of video games are their covers in which they are enclosed. In fact in many sports games that feature one or multiple players, Electronic Arts actually allows the public community to vote on who they want to be on the cover.

Lionel Messi features on the cover of FIFA 16

The first example of a video game cover comes from the game FIFA 16, a soccer game that is widely popular across the globe. The cover of this game is pretty simple but effective in following the guidelines and dodging amateur layout errors. With the main focus on the player Lionel Messi the rest of the design background is somewhat blurred out. This keeps the cover from having a "busy background" and draws attention to the center. Another effective technique it uses is clustering items together. The cover keeps the company's logo as well as the game's title together in the center. In addition to this in the upper left hand corner has additional information of the game clustered together for quick reading. Also, in the background the cover even clusters together two players together to avoid having clutter.

While this is a somewhat simple cover for the game, many times it is better to keep it simple and clean rather than try and force unnecessary objects in. When looking at the four corners, they are relatively empty other than the top left hand corner. This design really does a fine job of balancing and displaying all the objects and information needed.

The second game cover comes from a completely different genre of game. As FIFA 16 is a sports game, I thought it would be interesting to compare the cover of FIFA 16 to a shooter game cover. Although, Star Wars Battlefront comes from the same company as FIFA 16, Electronic Arts, the two covers are extremely different.

Rebel soldier stands in front of Imperial AT-AT

First, this cover has much more going on than its counterpart. Immediately there is focus on the center of the machine, title and a soldier. Much like FIFA 16 the cover presents the title of the game, the company and a look into the game. However, the background of this cover seems much more busy. And while there are plenty of objects flying, shooting and running in the background, the design still does a good job in avoiding the busy background layout error.

Despite the numerous objects on the cover, the design once again utilizes clustering techniques into the background. Planes on the left hand side are clustered into groups of three, as well as fighting soldiers side by side one another. And on the right hand side again planes and soldiers can be seen clustered together. Due to having so many objects, the design does a good job of balancing the amount of action taking place on either side, and avoids centering all the objects. While the cover has a lot of action taking place, it still holds true to the layout of a professional cover.

Comparing these two different covers by the same company shows how video game covers are designed and utilize the layout techniques described by Golombsky and Hagen. Both covers are efficient in their use of limited space and utilize clustering techniques to create professional cover designs. Despite being from two completely different game genres each cover follows common principles when it comes to their design.

G.O.A.T Movies

After having read White Space is Not Your Enemy’s “Design Basics” excerpt, I immediately jumped to the idea of movie posters. These are the images and visuals you may see posted outside theaters or advertised online. They serve many interests to help promote the movie among fans and non-fans alike. Accordingly, in order to have an effective movie poster, its presentation must capture and create interest for any particular viewer. Thus, simple design basics, as explained by Golombsky and Hagen, are very important to a poster’s success.

I want to look at two very successful films and one (from each) of its official movie posters. First, The Big Lebowski, which has become a cult classic having generated an intense following among fans, has a deceptively ostentatious poster. However, it does seem to avoid many of the “13 amateur layout errors” that Golombsky and Hagen outline. The bowling ball and main cast are clearly the focal point of the poster, with a design to lead the eye outward from there.

The poster does not have cluttered corners or a busy background, rather a simple bowling lane and carpet to serve as pseudo-borders but also play into the themes of the movie. The title is simple and straight, while also aligning with the font of the other less prominent text.

The second poster is from the critically acclaimed movie The Dark Knight. Overall, I think the poster does well to generate interest; it looks awesome, and for Batman fans is like an icon. However, I find that based on Golombsky and Hagen it may have some rookie mistakes. The font seems to be all over the place between the “Welcome to a world without rules”, the title of the movie, and the small text. Aesthetically, the font throws it off a little but not too much. However, the bottom does seem a bit too jumbled. I do understand that there may be requirements from the production agencies, other companies involved, etc. but from a purely visual prospective, the bottom of the poster is an eye sore.

On a positive note, The Dark Knight movie poster does extremely well to create balance through its contrast. Golombsky and Hagen describe these as important principles for design. The contrast between Batman and the dark colors with the burning orange Batman symbol is the obvious emphasis of the poster because of the blatant contrast in color. In doing so, the poster has great balance because Batman himself and the Batman symbol both, I would contend; have about the same visual weight. As a result, the eye can easily distinguish between the two and make a clear connection.

Both posters have their strengths and flaws, but overall they both do well to avoid major errors that Golombsky and Hagen explain. By that token, these movie poster should have had a positive influence on the advertising and subsequent viewing of these films. Had the posters been poorly made and designed with no knowledge of basic design then perhaps success would have relied purely on the thematic effort rather than the comprehensive experience of a movie which includes trailers, hype, and advertising.