Semester Reflection

I would say that I've learned quite a bit about the programs Illustrator and Photoshop. I've learned how to create logos and icons on Illustrator. Also, I had fun using the paint and layer mask options on Photoshop. I'm not sure of what else could be improved for next semester. One thing I would like to learn how to do would probably be to learn to create my own cartoon character.

Review Week 17

I'd say that I've learned quite a bit about serifs from this article. I didn't really know earlier that they originated from Roman times. Also, I didn't know that they were classified into two separate types: adnate and abrupt. Also, seeing the different components of the letter, like spine, counter, bowl, terminal, and ligature was new to me.

Review Week 16

How many points are in an inch? How many points are in a pica?
There are 72 points in an inch, and 12 points are in a pica.
Of the seven classifications, which classification (s) would best work as body type? Why?
Old script and Modern might work the best because they both don't look too fancy or distracting.
Identify the lowercase characters that have ascenders?
They are b, d, h, k, l, and t
Identify the lowercase characters that have descenders?
They are f, g, j,p,q, and y

I think that this is Slab Serif because the line weight appears to be the same throughout, and also, the serifs appear to be like squares.

I think that this is Script because the characters resemble actual handwriting.

This is one is Decorative because of the slightly "fun" look that the characters have.

This is Sans Serif because of the lack of lines at the ends of strokes.

This is Blackletter because it resembles the medieval style of writing.

This is probably Old Style due to the wedge-shaped serifs.

This is probably Modern because of the thin, flat serifs.

Podcast #4 Typography

Define typography?
The art of expressing ideas through the selection of appropriate typefaces.
Where did the word "typography" originate from?
From the Greek words 'typos' (form) and '-grapheia' (writing).
What does typography involve?
Creating and modifying type using a variety of illustration techniques.
What is a typeface?
Distinctive designs of visual symbols that are used to compose a printed image/design.
What is another term for typeface?
Font
What is a character?
An individual symbol that makes up a typeface.
What is type style?
A modification in a typeface that creates design variety while maintaining the visual style of the typeface.
What does type style "create" within a design?
Variety
What is the waist line and what does it indicate?
An imaginary line that indicates the middle of the characters.
What is a base line and what does it indicate?
An imaginary line that is drawn at the bottom of the characters.
What is an ascender?
The part of the character that extends above the waist line.
What is a descender?
The part of the character that extends below the base line.
Describe a serif?
A smaller line used to finish off a main stroke of a letter, usually at the top and bottom of a character.
How can the size of the typeface be identified?
It can be measured from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender.
What is a point?
The unit in which point size is measured. Also the subdivision of a pica.
How many points are in an inch?
72
What is a pica and how many are in an inch?
A unit of measure composed of points. There are 6 picas in an inch.
How many points are in a pica?
12
What is body type and where can it be found?
Type sizes that can range from 4 pt to 12 pt. These sizes are found in places with lots of text to read.
What is the key to selecting appropriate typefaces to be used as body type?
Don't use scripts; it would be too difficult to read. Readability is also important.
What is display type and how is it used?
Type sizes above 12 pt. It is used to draw attention to a message (headlines, subheadings, etc.)
What is reverse type and when would it be used?
It consists of white type on a solid black or darker color background. It would be used when something needs to be highlighted.
What is a typeface classification?
A basic system for classifying typefaces that was developed in the 19th century.
When was Blackletter invented and how was it used?
It was invented in the 1400s and used in inventions of the printing press.
Describer the characteristics of a Blackletter typeface?
It is highly ornamental, with thick to thin strokes.
When was Old Style invneted and what was is based on?
It was based on Roman inscriptions and was created in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Describe the characteristics of an Old Style typeface?
Wedge-shaped, angled serifs and low contrast of thick/thin strokes
When were formal scripts developed?
17th to 18th centuries
When were casual scripts developed?
In the 20th century
Describe the characteristics of a Script typeface?
Based on forms made with flexible brushes or pens. Has strokes resemblant to handwriting.
When was Modern typefaces developed and why?
Late 18th and 19th centuries because of a radical break from traditional typography.
Describe the characteristics of a Modern typeface?
Sharp contrast between thin and thick strokes and thin flat serifs.
How early can Sans Serif typefaces be found? What happened?
They can be found as early as the 5th century. Sans Serif was made obsolete by the Italian Renaissance return to Old Style.
When did they become popular?
In the 1920s
What does "sans serif" mean?
Without serifs
Describe the characteristics of a Sans Serif typeface?
Strokes uniform in weight with monotone appearance.
When was Slab Serif developed and why?
Developed in the 19th century for advertising purposes.
Describe the characteristics of a Slab Serif typeface?
Uniform line weight and thicker, square serifs.
Describe Decorative typefaces?
Typefaces developed with a particular purpose or theme in mind.
Why were they developed?
In order to keep a certain theme in mind and to resemble it.
What are they best used for?
They are best used for larger point sizes, or display type.

Review Week 14

5  colleges that offer graphic design majors:


1. Georgia State University:
School name: College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Location: Statesboro, Georgia
Graphics majors offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2D, 3D, and graphic design,  Master of Fine Arts in 2D, 3D, and graphic design, Bachelor of Science in Graphic Communications Management.
Requirements for admission: Minimum 1010 SAT, and good GPA in fields of Mathematics, English, Science, Social Science, and World Language.

2. New York Institute of Technology:
Department name: Department of Fine Arts
Location: Manhattan, New York City, New York
Graphics majors offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
Requirements for admission: A portfolio of artwork.

3. Winthrop University:
School name: College of Visual and Performing Arts
Location: Rock Hill, South Carolina
Graphics majors offered: Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
Requirements for admission: Good SAT or ACT scores, Proficient class rank, standardized test scores, academic GPA, Application essay, Extracurricular Activities, Volunteer work.

4. Grand Canyon University
Department name: Department of Art
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Graphics majors offered: Bachelor of Arts in Digital Design with an emphasis in Animation, Bachelor of Arts in Digital Design with an emphasis Web Design
Requirements for admission: Thinking critically, communicating clearly, and living responsibly in and understanding a diverse world.

5. California Baptist University
College name: College of Arts and Sciences
Location: Riverside, California
Graphics majors offered: Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and Digital Media
Requirements for admission: Two letters of recommendation, $45 application fee, Official transcript with minimum of 2.5 GPA, Good SAT or ACT scores.

What is a portfolio?
A portfolio is a collection of all work that has been done for a particular field.

What is the importance of a portfolio?
The importance of a portfolio is that it can help give an edge during a college or job application.

Review Week 13

Here, the principle of repetition is used when Marilyn Monroe's face is repeated several times within the design. Andy Warhol adds interest into the design by giving each copy of the face a different color scheme.

This picture uses proportion/ scale. Here, scale is distorted to make the man appear bigger than the land. This alteration of scale draws attention to the man and gives a feeling of power, loftiness, and stature.

Balance is used in this picture. The vivid red skirt of the girl on the left represents a heavy element which is balanced out by the more neutral pink outfit of the girl on the right.

This picture uses emphasis by making the bowl of oranges the focal point of the design. Attention is drawn directly to bowl of oranges when one looks at the design.

This picture uses unity because all of the elements work together to show a tree-like structure that looms over a town in the night. Variety is visible because a variety of different elements like the tree-structure, the moon and stars, and the village are clearly visible.

This work shows figure/ ground. The figure is the bent spoon with the cherry. The ground could be considered the trees and snow. The largeness of the spoon makes it stand out as a figure in this winter scene. It can also be seen that an unusual scale and proportion is used as well.

This picture show rhythm. The landscape pattern creates continuity by showing a checkered pattern of grass and concrete. This pattern provides a sense of rhythm.

This picture shows contrast by portraying the skateboarder and ground in black color and the sky in red color. This contrast makes the action of the skateboarder clear and prominent.









How do you add a layer mask to a particular layer?
You click on the layer mask icon on the bottom of the layers palette.
What two colors are used to create the mask?
Black and white.
Describe the process of using a layer mask?
A layer mask can be used to hide certain parts of an image. Black color is used to hide whatever needs to be hidden. If something needs to be seen again, white is used to make it visible again.

Stephen Kroninger

What kind of art/ design does he produce?
He produces photocollages.


In what publication/media studios has his work been featured?
Time Magazine, The New Yorker, New York Times, Newsweek.

This piece was published on the blog 'Ruthfully Yours'. I think that the principle of repetition was used to emphasize the focus on John Bolton's mustache that the article was displaying. The design of the poster is repeated in the design. Emphasis could also said to be used when considering that the picture of Bolton is the focal point. An unusual proportion is also used to make the signs rather big; this drags attention to the posters as well. The element of color is used when the colors of red, blue, and white are used to give the work the necessary America theme. 

This piece was published in The New York Times website. The principle of diversity is used here to show the multiple things that the women is putting on her bed. Unity is used here because all of the objects on the bed work together to make the design look good. The cushions on the bed also serve to help the picture achieve its objective: Showing the bed as a literal house.  The element of designs in this picture are color and shape.

Review Week 12

How can you, as the designer, use principles of design to help compose a page?


Principles of design can be used to help maintain audience interest in a design and also help a viewer navigate through the design. They can also help add variety and difference to a design and prevent it from becoming monotonous.


What are the principles of design (define each in your own words)?


Repetition- Reusing an element of design throughout a document.
Proportion/scale- The size and scale of elements in design, usually in relation to the human body.
Balance- How heavy and light elements are distributed throughout the page.
Emphasis- Using a focal point to direct attention to one particular area of a design.
Unity- Making a composition look 'whole'. Makes sure that all elements are working together properly.
Variety- Using a range of different elements of design in a piece.
Figure- The positive space that is paid attention to.
Ground- The negative space which surrounds the figure.
Rhythm- An organized space-time movement which provides continuity in a composition.
Contrast- Making two related elements different by using different sizes, values, colors, textures, shapes, etc.

Podcast #3 Principles of Design

Define principles of design? Concepts used to arrange the structural elements of a composition

What do the principles of design affect? The expressive content, or message of the work

What is the principle of repetition? Repeating some aspect or element of the design throughout the entire document.

Describe ways that the principle of repetition helps the composition/audience? Controls the reader's eye and keeps attention on the piece. They work with patterns to make a composition seem active. Repeating design elements can help the viewer navigate the piece.

What are ways that you can incorporate repetition into your designs? You could use repetitive elements like bold font, thick line, a certain bullet, color, design element, particular format, or spatial relationship.

What should you avoid when working with repetition? One should not repeat so much that the design becomes overwhelming or annoying.

What is the principle of proportion/scale? The relative size and scale of various elements in a design.

What is the most universal standard of measure when judging size? The human body

How can the principle of proportion/scale be used as an attention getter? Making an unusual or unexpected scale can help make an attention getter.

What is the principle of balance? The distribution of heavy and light elements on the page.

Which kinds of elements/shapes visually weigh heavier/greater? Large elements and irregular shapes visually weigh heavier on the page. 

What is another name for symmetrical balance? Formal balance

Define symmetrical balance? Occurs when the weight of a composition is evenly distributed around a central vertical or horizontal axis.

What is another name for asymmetrical balance? Informal balance

Define asymmetrical balance? Occurs when the weight of the composition is not evenly distributed around the axis.

What is the principle of emphasis? Stressing of a particular area of focus rather than a bunch of details of equal importance.

What happens to a design that has no focus? Nothing stands out.

What is a focal point and how is it created? A focal point is the area where the eye tends to go first. It can be created by a sudden change in direction, size, shape, texture, color, tone, and line.

How many components of a composition can be a focal point? Only one

What ways can emphasis be created in a design? By using a sudden change in direction, size, shape, texture, color, tone, and line.

What is the principle of unity? The "wholeness" of composition

What three ways can unity be obtained?
1. Put objects close to one another

2. Make things similar using similar textures

3. Direct vision by a line that travels around the design.

What is the principle of variety? Use of differences and diversity

What ways can a designer add variety to a design? He/she can vary textures, colors, and shapes and alter contrast, tone , and intensity 

Why is it important to find the right balance between unity and variety? Too much of unity looks boring, and too much variety looks chaotic.

What is figure? A form, silhouette, or shape that we pay attention to.

What is another name for figure? Positive space

What is ground? The surrounding area around a figure

What is another name for ground? Negative space

When a composition is abstract (has no recognizable subject) what will the figure depend on? What does that mean? The figure will depend on the abstract relationship between visual elements. This would mean the relationship between positive and negative space.

Why must a designer consider the composition as a whole? Figure-ground relationships are important because their balance makes the perceived image clean. Unusual relationships can also add interest and subtlety to the image. 

What is the principle of rhythm? A continuity, recurrence, or organized movement in space and time.

How is rhythm achieved? It is achieved through the orderly repetition of any element, line shape, value, and texture.

What three ways can rhythm occur in a design?
1. Intervals between elements or the elements themselves are similar in size or length.

2. A more organic, flowing sense of movement can be applied.

3. A sequence of shapes through a progression of steps can be used.

How does rhythm help a composition/design? It can control the viewer's eye movement and add life and interaction to a page layout.
What is the principle of contrast? Two related elements are different.

How can contrast help a design? It can help draw the viewer into the piece and guide him/ her through it.

What is wrong with having too much or too little contrast in a design? Using too much can cause confusion while too little can cause boredom.

What is the key to working with contrast? Making sure that the differences are obvious.

What are some common ways of creating contrast? Creating differences in size, value, color, type, texture, shape, alignment, direction , and movement.

 

Potato Head

Color Schemes

Triadic color scheme

Analogous color scheme

Monochromatic color scheme

Complementary color scheme

Split-complementary color scheme

Andy Warhol

Within what art genre did Warhol work?

Pop art

Define the genre?

This genre utilizes styles from advertising and mass media to create artwork. Pop art came around in the 1950s.

During what years was he alive?

He lived from 1928 to 1987

Post 2 samples of his art. Answer the following questions for each piece.

Title of the piece?

Describe the color that he utilizes. Does he use any particular color scheme?

What do you notice about the artwork itself?

Red Race Riot

This work utilizes the color magenta everywhere. So this would be a monochromatic color scheme.

I notice about the work that one image is repeated at least once in the work. Also the artwork seems to merely be a bunch of photographs that are made of the colors magenta and black instead of the typical black and white that is expected from old photographs.

Goethe

Interestingly, this artwork uses a variety of different colors. The picture of the man is repeated and each repitition has a different bunch of colors. The top right picture appears to have a triadic color scheme with the primary utilization of red- blue, and yellow. The top left picture appears to have a 'cool' color scheme, the bottom left one seems to have a 'normal' color scheme, and the bottom right may have a 'dusk' color scheme.

Like some of Warhol's other works, this picture also seems to consist of a single picture repeated many times with each repitition having different color schemes.

Review Week 9

Compare and contrast vector graphics and pixel images.
Vector graphics are made of lines, shapes and curves while pixel images are made of pixels (picture elements). The quality of a pixel image relies on its resolution while a vector graphic's quality remains the same no matter how much it is scaled.

What resolution is necessary to print raster images?
300 dpi (dots per inch)

What resolution is necessary to display raster images on the internet?







72 dpi (dots per inch)

Steve Jobs

Who is Steve Jobs?

He was the co-founder of Apple and the CEO of Pixar animation for a good deal of time.

What company was he CEO for many years?

He was the CEO of Apple for several years. He also used to be the chief executive of Pixar Animations.

What did he do for the computer industry?

He initiated the use of the graphical user interface with the introduction of the Macintosh. Also, he made the mouse more popular in computer use.

How did this man impact the graphic design industry?

He led Pixar Animation studio in creating the first completely computer-generated film, Toy Story. This paved the path for the popularity of more computer-animated films.

Review Week 8

Why must designers pay close attention to how color is utilized within a composition?
The right use of color in a design and can evoke the right feelings in an audience. It can also help to draw attraction to a design and properly convey the message that the design is communicating.

Why is the color wheel an important tool for graphic designers?
It provides graphic designers with all the colors that can be used in a design. It also helps to arrange good colors schemes.

Find an example of neutral colors utilized within a design (hint: google poster design). Near the sample, discuss why you feel the designer included neutral colors within the composition.

The usage of neutral colors helps to bring out the brightness of the green roofs. More importantly, it gives a more serious tone to the appearance of the city.

Briefly describe how we "see" the color of an object?

Whenever light hits an object, each wavelength is either reflected or absorbed by the object. The color wavelengths that are reflected back to our eye are the colors that we see. White is seen when all wavelengths are reflected back to the eye. Black is seen when all wavelengths are absorbed by an object.

Podcast #2 Color Theory

The right use of color can do what?

It can maximize productivity, minimize visual fatigue, and relax the body.

Within the electromagnetic spectrum, which waves allow us to see color? 

Visible light waves let us see color.

Describe white light? 

Equal parts of all colors in the electromagnetic spectrum.

How do we see color if objects "have no color of their own"? 

Objects absorb and reflect the color wavelengths. The colors that are reflected to our eyes are the ones we see.

What is a glass prism?

A transparent triangular object that breaks white light into all the colors of the electromagnetic spectrum.

What seven colors result when white light is refracted through a prism? 

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet

Describe hue? 

The color itself

When does white light occur?

When all wavelengths are reflected back to your eye.

When does black light occur? 

When no light is reflected to your eye.

How color is perceived depends on what?

The type of light you see it in.

What is a color wheel? 

A visual tool that shows the relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

What are primary colors? Name them? 

Three basic colors that can be mixed to create other colors. They are red, blue, and yellow

What are secondary colors? Name them?

The mixture of two primary colors. They are orange, green, and violet.

What are tertiary colors? Name them? 

They are the mixture of a primary color and a secondary color. They are red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, red-violet, and blue-violet.

What are neutral colors? How can they be created? 

Colors of low saturation. They can be created by mixing complementary colors.

How can a neutral color help a design?

They help put the focus on other colors or tone down overpowering colors.

What are complementary colors? Name them?

Colors positioned on opposite sides of the color wheel. Examples are red and green, orange and blue, yellow and violet.

What is color value? 

The lightness or darkness of a hue.

What is a shade? 

A color with black added to it.

What is a tint?

A color with white added to it.

What is saturation/intensity?

The brightness of a color.

What happens when you mix complementary colors together? 

A neutral color is formed.

Describe color harmony? 

A pleasing arrangement of colors.

What is a color scheme? 

A harmonious color combination.

Describe a monochromatic color scheme? 

It uses various tints and shades of one color.

Describe an analogous color scheme?

It uses three colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel.

Describe a complementary color scheme?

It uses three colors opposite to each other on the color wheel.

Describe a split-complementary color scheme?

It uses one color and two other colors that are adjacent to its complement on the color wheel.

Describe a triadic color scheme?

It uses three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel.

What colors are considered to be warm colors?

Yellows, oranges, and reds

Describe a warm color scheme?

It expresses aggression, excitement, and danger. Colors in a warm color scheme are found in the sun. Warm colors overpower other colors in a design.

What colors are considered to be cool colors?

Greens, blues and violets are considered cool colors.

Describe a cool color scheme?

It expresses passiveness and is comforting and nurturing. It gives an impression of calm and rarely overpowers the message of a design. It appears farther away than a warm color scheme and is often used to give the illusion of depth.

Why is important to consider which colors are being used within a design?

Right color choice can convey the right message and evoke the desired response to any form of visual communication.