Part A: Revised Photo Design
The first exercise I would like to share is the revision of a photo. On page 25 of Design Basics Index, there are three photos of a road with clouds from different angles. The question in the text that made me really think hard about this exercise is:
"What is the purpose of this image? What 'feeling' should its composition lend to the piece?"
Here is a photo I include in a PowerPoint I made for a meteorology unit. It features some interesting clouds.
During this exercise, I asked myself, “What do I want students to feel when they look at this picture?” The answer is that not only do I want them to feel as though they were observing weather but that they were a part of it as well. Therefore, I decided to remove the car on the left. I think it makes the viewer feel more alone and heightens an awareness of the impending storm.
Part B: Harmony Workshop
Part C: Ten Rules of Good Design
Hi Christine! I really like what you did with the photo of the clouds for your meteorology unit. Your decision to crop the car out was smart- the red color of the car was a distraction; my eyes actually went right to it, instead of the clouds! another edit you might consider is tilting the picture slightly- the horizon is slightly crooked, so adjusting the picture and cropping some of the sky from the top might help the viewer's eyes go directly to the clouds on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the color activity took a long time. There are so many different directions you can go with it, it's difficult to make a decision and stick with it!
Ellen
Hello,
ReplyDeleteThe highway and the clouds does support the viewer's impression of being in the midst of a pending storm. By removing the car, the viewer does appear to be alone in the middle of the road looking up to see how near the storm is.
The classical music poster allows the viewers to be carried away by the floating clouds. You allowed the clouds to be the focus of attention and the viewer does the rest of the manipulation.
My favorite music poster is the last one because you did the opposite of what is expected -- you didn't center!
Hi Christine!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your taking the time to develop a screencast explaining the 10 Rules of Good Design - it was very informative! I think it was great that you evaluated that website while keeping in mind the limitations posed by creating a site back in 1997. I completely agree that it'd probably have a much different look if it were redone with today's design tool capabilities.
As far as your Harmony Workshop piece is concerned, I agree with De Bora that the last one was my favorite. I, too, was tempted to favor the first poster as you do, but I think that the placement of the music notes in the fourth example more effectively conveys the . I felt that the music notes at the top of the page gave more clarification in illustrating what the event was about. I definitely liked the "under the clouds" aspect of your piece, as the image was definitely appropriate for the title of the festival. I also noticed that your last poster's organizational design is quite similar to the White Space text's "works-every-time layout," with one main difference: you avoided sin design #6 - centering everything, as De Bora mentioned in her post. Well done!