Gestalt Principle and Icons

The purpose of this work is to represent similarity. "The law of similarity captures the idea that elements will be grouped perceptually if they are similar to each other." I created this piece of work in Power Point. I first chose the heart shape and copied ten hearts. I then copied ten rectangles. I then aligned the hearts on one line and the rectangles on their own line. I did this because I wanted to link together similar shapes. Once I was done doing this, I decided to color the hearts red to make them appear even more separate from the blue rectangles. Overall I am very pleased with how my work turned out.

Original

The purpose for this concept was to find an image of an object and create an icon out of it. I chose scissors.

 

 Immediately a person can tell that these are scissors, even with the bottom half of them cropped out. That is the point. To do this I used Adobe Photoshop. I then cropped the bottom half of the scissors out. I then used the paint bucket tool and chose a light pink to fill in the handles. I thought this looked good, but to made the scissors stand out, I used the paint brush tool and outlined the scissors in black. I am very please with how the icon came out. I think I achieved the objective of this assignment by making it recognizable to the target audience.

Critical Reflection

1.     Connection-All elements that are thematically connected are placed in association with each other visually. Each themed visual is put under the labeled concept. I do not think any adjustments need to be made to create more relevant connections between elements. The piece does not feel scattered; the background design is simple so that it does not take away from the pictures. Each concept has enough spacing between image and text so that it does not appeared cluttered. Mostly everything is centered. I made it so that connections between elements were cut off by different titles, otherwise the purpose of each piece would not be as clear. All visuals are on the same blog page, but there is a strong visual and thematic connection between the concepts. Each represents a step on how to create an effective visual. Structural conventions are consistently applied since all pictures are centered, however do to technical difficulties there is a random white box around the last part of the narration for the horizon variation, and gold sections post. Fixing this would give the overall blog a better visual flow.

2.     Alignment- I do have a clear answer for any question that a client might ask me about the alignment and placement of each component. The concepts are placed in descending order from how we learned them. And the visuals are all centered, because I wanted to keep each piece of works alignment consistent so that it would be easy follow. I think there are exceptions that could be allowed to enforce the message, like if I flushed the photos left or right and put the title of the concept next to them instead of on top. I don’t think there are areas of trapped space that could be eliminated, I think the amount of space evens out the blog, and makes it look neater.

3.     Priority- I think my blog would catch a lot of attention when looking at it from across a room. I think that someone would be intrigued by it if they looked at it in depth on a lunch break. There is a clear hierarchy between elements. They go descending order from when we first learned them. Each concept was taught in the order of Krause’s Design and Basic Index book. I do not think any elements need to be made any larger or smaller. I think there is a pleasing sense of visual flow throughout. The viewer is able to look at one piece of work and then the next while understanding the concept and enjoying the beauty of the work. The eyes do not feel pulled in opposing directions or drawn off the page by the composition. Everything is aligned, centered, simple, and to the point. 

Color and Emphasis

                                                                                                Original Image

          Krause says "Color is an extremely effective tool when it comes to making one element stand out above others." So the purpose of this piece of work is simply that, to add emphasis to a particular object to make it stand out from the rest. The viewer is directly drawn to the different colored image. To create this image I started out with a basic umbrella, as seen at the top of the page. I then magnetic lassoed the umbrella and moved them all into one window. I clicked on the four different layers I had created to move the umbrella's so that they were placed exactly how I wanted them. I then chose color overlay in the toolbar, lessened the opacity (so that the umbrella appeared realistic), and then changed the umbrella to purple.  Now that my work is done I really like the shade of purple I chose, and how the purple umbrella really stands out from the rest. I also think the placement of the umbrellas are visually pleasing.

Past and Present

 

The purpose of this work is again to make one object stand out in the visual by making it a different color. To transform this picture I first selected a street image, then chose the magnetic lasso tool to outline the pink apartment (the building that is highlighted in the black and white photo) I then selected image, adjustments, then black and white. My photo was then complete. The black and white background really makes the pink apartment building pop, and stand out. In the original photo on the top the pink building is barely recognized. The viewers eyes may not directly go to it. Throughout this piece of work I made several different changes to it. At first I tried magnetic lassoing the brown building, but realized it would not be emphasized enough when I turned the image black and white. Now that my visual is complete I am very pleased with the building I chose to stand out, my eyes are directly drawn to it. 

Krause Alignment Assignment

The purpose of this work is to put an emphasis on the object that you want the viewers eyes to go to first. This is done by making your main object the largest, and the rest smaller. Alignment is very important to make sure that your piece of work is organized. To align my visual, I pulled the textbook to the edges on both sides. I then clicked: fomat, alignment, then center. This aligned my entire visual. While forming my image I had to make changes in the size of the objects to make sure that the final product emphasized the shoes. I wanted to choose a simple background, so that the viewers do not get easily distracted from my message. Overall, I used the centered alignment approach (centered visual, heading, and logo) to avoid distraction. I avoided stair-stepping for both text, and images. In the end, I am very pleased with my visual. I think the pink in the shoes is very catchy to the eye. I think the fun fonts represent personality, and I tied both the font and the color of the shoes together in my company name.

Grouping

GROUPING:

Each pictures purpose is to represent the power of grouping. Where objects are placed in a piece of work has a profound impact on the meaning of the image. Viewers tend to link images together based on their placement.  For this activity I used the shape tool to draw the myriad of shapes, the formatting palette to change the colors, and Word art to write the labels.

The purpose of this slide is to represent anarchy. To represent anarchy I placed the shapes in random spots to show chaos. I chose a shape that has an uneven outline to add to the chaotic seen, and show disorder.

                                                                        

The purpose of this slide is to represent celebration. To represent this theme I chose the sun shape, because the sun generally tends to make people happy. I arranged the suns into a smiley face to represent joy. I then used light colors such as yellow and pink which give off a cheerful vibe.

                                                           

The purpose of this slide is to represent escape. To represent this I chose to use clouds, because they are out of reach to us. I then arranged eight of the clouds into a two by two pattern, the remaining two do not follow the two by two pattern. I did this to emphasize that the last two clouds are trying to escape the conformed pattern. I also made the two clouds that are escaping red, along with the escape logo. I did this because when people think escape they usually associate the word with an exit sign which is red. 

The purpose of this slide is to represent intimidation. To represent this I chose to use lightning bolts. They give off a fearful vibe. I had nine of the lightning bolts corning one lightning bolt to show that all of them are ganging up against one.

The purpose of the slide below is to represent isolation. To represent this I had nine of the arrows grouped together, and then the other completely alone on the opposite side of the slide. This emphasizes that this arrow is not linked with the other arrows. I also placed the word isolation under the lone arrow for a greater impact.

The purpose of this slide is to represent logic. To represent logic I used an addition sign because mathematics is known as a logical sign. I placed six of the addition signs on top, and four of the bottom to trigger people to think of 6 plus 4 equals 10. As opposed to if I placed them in random order, people would be less likely to think of addition.

The purpose of this slide is to represent unity. To represent unity I chose to use a heart symbol, because people who come together must open themselves up to another person. A heart shows caring, and love. Both of those traits are found in close relationships between people. I also placed the hearts on top of each other to represent a tight bond.