Visual Techniques

 

Instability

Complexity

Fragmentation

Exaggeration

Activeness

 

Balance

Depth

Simplicity

Economy

Juxtaposition

 

These two Nike advertisements use a lot of visual techniques to convey their messages.  The first advertisement uses complexity, exaggeration, and movement to show that the shoes are powerful and cool.  The advertisement uses fragmentation and instability to draw in the viewer.  The second advertisement uses depth along with juxtaposition, simplicity, and balance to draw in the viewer. The advertisement uses economy with the simple text of “FIND YOUR GREATNESS.”  The two advertisements are both done by Nike but both convey a different message.  The first advertisement is more about the shoes, and customizing your shoes on NikeID.  The second advertisement is more about motivating the viewer to go work out, and “Find Your Greatness” and then go and buy Nike shoes.

Contrast

This Nike advertisement uses contrast very successful.  There is contrast with the bright text against the black-and-white background.  The football player’s shoes, socks, and parts of his uniform also contrast well against the background.  The uniform, itself also uses contrast because the bright yellow is placed on a white and grey uniform.  The text and the uniform give a pop-out effect when placed in the black-and-white background.  The background is also out of focus, which is in contrast to the player, who is in focus.  This also makes the player pop out.  This advertisement uses contrast very well.

 

This advertisement uses bad contrast.  The advertisement uses transparent boxes to place the text in because of the brightness of the background.  However the text in the boxes are still hard to read.  The boxes are too transparent.  The boxes are overlapping too many things in the background and the result is difficulty reading the text.  The logo and the text in the bottom white space are also hard to read.  They are not bright enough to highly contrast the white area.  Overall this advertisement does not use contrast very effectively.

Movement/Motion (Option 1)

 http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2010/nike-women-rock-victorious/

 

Implied motion is being used in this Nike advertisement with Serena Williams.  Serena Williams seems to have just taken a swing with her tennis racket, which is motion in real life.  In this 2D print it is implied motion because we don’t actually see her in motion.  It is implied motion by the position of her racket, her position of her feet, and the particles that follow her racket.  The particles move from Serena’s left side to her right side and follow the direction she would have swung the racket.  The particles in this advertisement do a lot to show implied motion.  Without them we might just think Serena was just standing there.

 http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/nike-sandile-10088705/

   

In this Nike advertisement about skateboarding implied motion is being used.  On the right side of the advertisement it shows a person doing a trick on a skateboard.  But since it is a print ad it has to show us the progression of the trick in 3 still shots.  When the 3 still shots are shown next to each other and overlap the viewer gets to sense that the skateboarder is in motion.  The viewer follows the direction of the skateboarder to get the sense of motion.  There is also some blurring of the person on the skateboard.  The blurring also gives a sense of implied motion because the viewer thinks the person on the skateboard is actually doing a trick and moving.

 

Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

 

In this Nike advertisement the basic elements of scale, space, and dimension are used.  Scale is used with the relative size of the players in the background.  They seem smaller but are more likely the size of the person in the front.  The goal is also smaller and we know the goal is taller than all the players on the field.  The soccer ball is closest to us so it appears bigger.  Atmospheric perspective is used to show dimension.  The people in the stands are so far away that we cannot see them clearly, but we know they are there. 

Tone and Color

 

How TONE is operating

Tone is operating in this advertisement to show the contours and lines of the body.  By the shadows contrasting with each other the viewer knows this is not a flat object, but an object with dimension and shape.  The tone lets the viewer see the object is moving with all the tonal variations in the clothing.

How TONE is interacting

Tone is interacting with the element of shape in this advertisement.  Tone helps to further define the shape of the object.  The viewer sees the shape as a familiar soccer move.  Tone interacts with the shape to help show that the object is not flat.

How COLOR is operating

Color in this advertisement acts to draw attention to the viewer.  The reds of the jersey are very prominent compared to the other colors in the advertisement.  Color also adds to the shape and tonal definition to the advertisement.

How COLOR is interacting

Color is interacting with the basic element of dimension in this advertisement.  The color on the socks works with dimension to show the perspective of the object.  It also acts with the ball to show how far the object is from the ball in the air.

The Basic Elements

This magazine cover uses the basic element of tone.  The intensity of darkness and lightness on Kobe Bryant’s face adds to the dimension to the photograph.  Although the photograph is monochromatic sense there are a lot of variations of tone, we are able to clearly make out the photograph.  The black and white photograph adds an aspect of simplicity to the magazine cover, which can be very cluttered and distracting.  The magazine cover also uses color.  The color used for “Vogue” and for “Kobe Bryant” make them pop out.  They pop out because of the high contrast with the photograph and the rest of the text.

This magazine layout uses the basic element of scale.  The “M” drop cap gives scale to the rest of the text.  The reader is able to compare the rest of text to the “M” and realize the size difference.  The drop cap adds dimension to the page rather than having all the text be the same size.  It draws in the reader and encourages them to read it.  I think this layout works well with the use of scale.

 In this magazine layout the basic element used is shape.   The layout of this magazine is divided up into basic shapes of squares and rectangles.  The pictures and text fit into shapes of squares and rectangles.  The layout seems to use a grid which I think works really well.  The layout looks simple and clean and is nice to look at.  I like how the text on the left side makes their own rectangles by how the text is set.  It further gives the prominence of the use of shape. 

Visual Thinking Research

 In this puzzle you are suppose to count how many triangles there are in the picture of the cat.  My girlfriend and I both did the puzzle for 5 minutes.  This first picture is of the puzzle I did.  I used pattern seeking and finding to figure out how many triangles there were.  I started at the top of the head counting triangles and moved down through the body to the tail.  In the end I counted 19 triangles, but there was actually 20.  I messed up on the middle part of the tail.  It is broken up in to 4 separate triangles.  I thought there was a pattern with the first part of the tail with a big triangle and a small triangle.  But there are actually two big triangles in the middle section.

 This puzzle is the one my girlfriend did.  She also used pattern seeking and finding to figure out how many triangles there were.  She also started at the top and moved down and ended at the tail.  We were sitting on opposite sides of the room, so it is interesting that we had a similar approach to the puzzle.  She also got 19 instead of 20 triangles.  She made the same mistake I did with the middle section of the cat’s tail.  That is also interesting that we both made the same mistake.

In this puzzle you are suppose to figure out with spiral consists of a single piece of rope and which has two separate pieces.  For this puzzle you are not suppose to write on it while solving, which my girlfriend and I did not, but I wrote on it after to illustrate how we both tried to solve it.  This first picture is of the puzzle I did.  On the left spiral I focused on the blue lines and followed both of them around until I got to the middle and they separated.  Because the separated in the middle I figured this was the spiral with a single piece of rope.  On the right spiral I followed the blue lines again.  When I got to the center the blue lines ended together.  Because this happened I knew this was the spiral with two pieces of rope.

This puzzle is the one my girlfriend did, and I think she had a better approach then me.  Instead of following the blue lines she followed the white space inside the blue lines.  On the left spiral she followed the white space and ended up on the other end of the spiral.  That is how she knew it was one piece of rope.  On the right spiral she followed the white space again and ended up in the middle.  That is how she figured out that spiral was made of two pieces of rope.  

 

Visual Perception 2/ Feature Hierarchy

 

The title of the magazine “Complex” is the first to pop out because of the size.  The title is a lot bigger than any other words on the cover of the magazine.  The next thing the viewer sees is “Jim Jones” because of its large size and bold font.  The color of the word is white and it is in a black box, which highly contrasts the word.  The next the thing the viewer sees is “Cheat on you girlfriend” because of the size and boldness again.  The word is black in a yellow box, which is contrasting, but not as much as white and black.  The spatial layout of the magazine directs the viewer down the page to the less important information.  The less important information is smaller than the more important information.

Top Down Visual Processing

 I chose this poster because I am a Visual Communications major and I really enjoy reggae.   When I first looked at the poster I saw “UB40” in large type.  It was a brief glance but it got my attention because of the size.  It also got my attention because I thought it might be a concert poster from previous experience.  I know that band and became more interested and scanned down the rest of the poster.  I read closely where the concert was and the date and time of the concert.  And where I might be able to purchase tickets.  I noticed logos at the bottom of the poster and knew they were sponsors from previous encounter with concert posters and moved quickly to the next part of the poster.  I moved down to the very bottom of the page to see who was putting on the concert and to see where I could go to receive further information.


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http://sb.city2.org/blog_files/0000/2452/UB40_Poster_noIration.jpg

 

Design Success and Failure/ Syntactical Guidelines

This advertisement for a truck uses stress in it, but in a bad way.  There are a lot of things going on in the advertisement and the viewer does not know how to view the advertisement. Along with the stress of too many things going on the perception is also bad in this advertisement.  The viewer’s eyes constantly move around the advertisement to information.  Some of the information is also not necessary.

 

  

This advertisement for a phone uses balance in a good way.  The phone is laid out and positioned in about the center of the page.  The advertisement uses leveling because how the phone is positioned relates a calming feeling for the viewer.  The calming feeling also relates to the perception of the advertisement.  The viewer knows exactly where to look in the advertisement.  There are no distractions for the viewer.

Visual vs Symbolic Language

 

Description

There is a man standing with his back to the camera facing the United States flag.  The man is wearing a U.S. military uniform.  He has a white hat on, black jacket with small red lining and metallic buttons, and blue pants with similar red lining.  The man in the uniform is saluting the flag with right hand while his left hand is resting at his side.  The top left corner of the flag is a blue rectangle with white stars in it.  The bottom left and entire right side of the flag is red and white stripes.  The man seems to be standing in the middle of the flag.

Responses or Feelings

Patriotism, dignified, stately, honor, respect, dignity, allegiance, esteem, loyalty, proud, tribute, “flag-waving”

Symbols

Flag = United States of America

White Stars = 50 states

Red and White Stripes = 13 original colonies

Uniform = distinguished

Compositional Structure

The composition of the uniformed man standing directly in front of the United States flag helps with the feeling of patriotism, respect, and honor.  The size of the flag helps with the feeling of allegiance and dignified.  The man saluting the flag also helps with the feeling of allegiance, as well as the feeling of esteem and loyalty.

MEANING 2

The girl in the advertisement is representational, along with her guitar, clothes, and jewelry.  The representation’s role is that the advertisement is directed toward white girls aged 16 – 22 because the photograph of the girl fits those qualities.  The impact for the viewer is that a white girl aged 16 – 22 can easily relate to the girl in the advertisement.  The representation relates to the abstract level because the girl is wearing abstract shoes and in an abstract environment.  She relates to the symbolic level because she is a symbol for rock and punk music.

The abstract shoes in the advertisement make the shoes look cooler then they actually are.  The shoes are also abstracted by being oversized which makes the viewer notice them first.  Since the shoes are oversized the viewer will also keep going back to looking at the shoes after they have looked at the rest of the advertisement.  The shoes relate to the representational level in that the girl is representational and she is wearing them.  The shoes relate to the symbolic level in that the shoes can be a symbol for a specific culture, gender, and age.

The Converse All-Star logo on the shoe is a symbol.  This symbol lets the audience know what kind of shoes they are and who makes them.  There are also symbols of stars on the ground and a symbol of paint dripping behind her.  The symbols of the stars denote that this advertisement is made for girls.  The paint-dripping symbol denotes the girl in the advertisement is artistic and that girls who are artistic should wear these shoes.

MEANING 1

This is a representation of a pair of shoes.  This photograph in full and natural color is the closest thing to the pair of shoes rather than direct experience.  The photograph enables the viewer to see that the shoes are a unique pair of shoes and not a generic form of a pair of shoes.  The photograph has many details.  Details of the color of the shoes, the brand of the shoes, the style of the shoes, and where the shoes are.  The photograph of the pair of shoes is clearly a representation by the information and details the viewer is able to receive.

This is an abstract depiction of a shoe.  This is an example of abstraction because there is a reduction of basic elements and detail.  There is less detail in the picture but it still retains recognizable information of being a shoe.  The abstraction is derived from representation.  This picture is moving away from more detail to a more simple form of a shoe.  It communicates to the viewer that it is a shoe, through its simplification of form and shape.

The Nike swoosh is my example of symbolism.  The Nike swoosh is symbolic because it is very simple and easily recognizable.  The symbol signifies the brand of Nike because it is used as their logo.  The Nike swoosh can also signify strength and even a way of life.  The viewer would recognize this through experience and history of viewing it before.  There is very little detail in this symbol and is information packed.