C.A.P.

Clarity

The literal, stylistic and themantic messages of this piece are clearly and efficiently presented. Each design is working towards the same overall goal  of "delivering meaning or mood from the observed to the observer." I think overall, my designs do an accurate job of representing what they mean. However, there is some room for misinterpretation because everyone views things in their own way. For example: if a person is looking at the XXL example, and see a whale as one of the X's, they may be confused as to why it is there. However, I personally put it there because whales are very big creatures. But XXL to them may be something much larger. I think there is only one overall message being portrayed. I believe the theme of conveyance is simple enough to create a strong impact. I do not think that it needs to be altered.

Audience

The target audience of this piece is college students because they are the ones viewing my blog. If there were a client involved their target audience may also be college students. I say this because each design could apply to a college student. For example: the word Atom could apply to a student taking chemsitry, XXL could apply to clothing, Lightly could be a motivational saying for college students who are under stress, etc. They key point is that if this work were to be sold, I would choose college students as my target audience as well. Each picture has its own visual taste, because they all are representing a different word. To be sure of my conclusions, I could make my blog private so that only people of my choosing are able to view it. The overall tone, is interesting and creative to keep college students intrigued. They will respond to short lingo, to facilitate readability and avoid long boring passages. I think they prefer bright/lighter colors to catch their attention. The concept of this piece does not talk down to the target audience. It is relatateable. This announcement can evoke pleasurable moods. This design stands out from what the audience has seen because I used a mixture of san serif and serif font. I gave greater weight to some texts, and made sure to keep all text legible, to create aesthetically pleasing visuals. I also made some of the typefaces italicisized. If this piece represented a person, they would be put together, funky, and act unique. The target audience would like this person, and want to get to know them better.

Purpose

As stated above the purpose of this work was to take a word and alter them to represent what they mean in a creative way. Kraus says that when it comes to typographical conveyance the use of visual media is to convey a meaning or mood from the obserserved to the observer. This work was not created to sell. The purpose of the work could be both to inform and persuade. The audience can learn to look at a word in a different way, which could cause them to act differently or change their view on something. I have informally discussed the purpose of this piece with Dr. Estes. However, I have asked her for help on ways to improve my work. The purpose, as stated in the first line, has been adequately narrowed so that it can be given the utmost attention and power.

Typographical Conveyance

Kraus says "With visual media, conveyance is the delivery of meaning or mood from the observed to the observer."

The purpose of this work was to take words and alter them to represent what they mean in a creative way. 

For shred I decided to apply bevel and emboss effect to make the word appear rugged. I then used the eraser tool -4pt, and made lines through it so that it would appear shredded. For the last step I added a pattern overlay. 

For this design, I first googled a picture of an atom online. I then opened it up in a new window. I then added a text box and wrote the letters A,t, m in bold black font. I then free transformed the atom, and moved it to where the letter O would usually be in the word.

For this design, I first used the shape shape tool, and chose one that looked similar to the shape of a pillow. I then used the paint bucket tool and made it light blue. I was not quite satisfied with this because I thought the blue was too bold, so I changed the opacity to 16. This made my pillow appear a lot lighter, and more realistic. I then added and inner and outer glow, and changed the noise to 69. For the last step I added a text box and wrote the word pillow in a serif font.  

For this design, I first found a picture of killer whale on google. I then saved it to the desktop and opened it up in photoshop. I then magnetic lassoed the whale and free transformed it to be the size I preferred. I then took the paintbrush tool and made the letter XXL around it. I thought it was neat to include the whale within the first X. I thought this looked nice, but I wanted to make the overall design "pop" more. So I added a blue glass effect to the background with the paintbucket. I then added an outerglow to the letters.  

For this design, I first found a brick background online and saved it to my desktop. I then used the eraser tool and spelled out BRICK within the background. When I was done I was pleased with the work, but decided that I would crop the image for a greater emphasis on the word brick. 

For this design, I chose the font Zapfino becuase the cursive typer make it seem gentle and elegant. I then added an outer/ inner glow, and chose light pink for the font. Lastly, I cropped the image for greater emphasis. 

I am very pleased with how each word came out. I think I thought of some clever designs. I am glad that we were given a couple class periods to work on this assignment because I was able to improve my work, to make sure I was fully satisfied with the outcome of each word. 

C.A.P.

Connotation
The visual style of my blog has remained the same since last semester. It is pink stripes with white font. This suits my personality- upbeat. This being said, it also suits my work because all of my designs are created and formed with my own individual style. Every sub-component follows the same theme, so therefore it is working towards the same thematic goal. I do not think that the theme is too particular or overly broad. Many girls can relate to my theme, and the pink can bring about calm feelings to those who may have not particularly chosen the color. I think the only think that could be changed to make the images stand out more is for the border around images to be a darker color, because the border that surrounds the text is beige. It would definitely be helpful to show the logo or compositional element to others to see if they perceive it the same way I do. It is always helpful to get at least one outside opinion. It helps make ones work stronger because it gives the designer contstructive criticism.

Attributes
Overall I am pleased with the visual weight, structure, color, and presentational style of my blog. Linework could be made to some designs to enhance the elements aesthetic and thematic aggreement. For example, thickening the lines around the flower in color echo, could make the flower stand out more. I think the designs do flow nicely with the backdrop. Since my back drop is light pink, many colors blend well with it. The only visual that does not really go with it is the Second Life Object, the colors in this design are dark red and green which contrast light pink. Color options for each component have been explored. I tried out a variety of colors until finding ones that I thought were aesthetically pleasing. The colors of each element do for the most part flow together nicely with the overall blog. All of the designs can serve for many different puposes for example, Combining Fonts and Images could be used as an advertisement, Emotional Design could be used for a poster, and Legibility and Text Safe Areas could be used for an invitation. The text in all components of the blog, is an appropriate size for the intended audience to easily read. The look and feel of the type does go with the overall message, in each piece of work where text is included. It is specifically chosen for the overall design. However, the font for my narratives is simple so that it does not take away from the design. I do think it is always time to explore new fonts though, because a font used in a particular design should correlate with it. 

Placement 
Each design should be looked at and taken in individually. However, some may need to be viewed longer than others. Some pieces of work were more time consuming, with more attention given to them. This is what makes the difference between and exemplar design, and a good design. I am proud of all my designs, but I am most proud of the Emotional Design. I think Shelby and I did a good job portraying the emotion of confidence as explained in the narrative. I would like for viewers to take a little more time when looking at this design. The boxes that group each concept together are essential without them the blog would look chaotic and be hard to follow. Therefore, the edges should not go together with other elements within the layout. I do not think grouping the elements together would result in conceptual or aesthetic gains. I think each design deserves its own box, with its own narrative. Making it simple and easy to understand. I am pleased with how the designs are placed within the layout. The only thing that I may want to change is how thick the border is around each design. It varies depending on design.

Combining Fonts and Images

The purpose of this exercise was to choose a shape and then to combine it with words to create a logo for a business. I used photoshop to construct this logo. To do this, I first chose the shape; I decided to use a paw print. I then opened a new layer and spelled out Puppy Pound for the name of the company. I chose the color purple for the text, because I think it is calming.I want the customers to feel that their pets are going to be in a comfortable, organized atmosphere. I then put the paw print in place of the letter o in pound. To make the advertisement "pop" I added and inner and outer glow to the word puppy pound. After, doing this I decided that the paw print should also have the same effects done to balance the overall ad. I am very pleased with how the advertisement turned out.I like the purple font against the black paw print.

Word Portrait

The purpose of this piece of work was to make the word appear opposite of its definition. To do this I chose the world wild, and made it look really plain and boring. I did this by first choosing a shade of grey from the formatting palette. I then chose a simple font, American typewriter . I chose that because when using a typewriter, there is only one font and one color to choose, black. Both are very boring features.

The purpose of this piece of work was also to make the word appear opposite of its definition. I first chose the word plain. I then rotated it, to give it spunk. I then chose the font  Curlz Mt, and chose the color green. After that was done I thought it looked pretty funky, but I decided to make it even more original by adding and inner glow. 

The purpose of this work is to have the word portray its definition. I chose the word strong. Synonyms of this word are sturdy and robust. I think the color black gives the word a sturdy appeal. I then chose a san-serif font arial, and added bevel and emboss to add a glow effect to the word. This make the word appear mighty.

The purpose of this work is also to make the word portray its definition. For lovely, I chose an elegant looking font and made it light purple. I then added an outerglow and drop shadow. 

Emotional Design

Original

The purpose of this piece of work was to create an emotional design for a specific targeted audience. Shelby and I decided to choose women ages 25-40. We then googled a simple image. We decided to use a lamp. We gave the lamp shade a cheetah texture, because cheetah's are fierce. We then changed the lamp stand to a curvy woman using the paintbrush tool. It now appears that the woman is wearing the lamp shade on her head, the cheetah now embodies her. We made the woman looking away, because it shows that she is her own person and does not care what anyone else thinks. We then made a light around her using the outerglow effect. For the light coming out of the lamp, we used outerglow feature. But instead of having the light come directly out of the lamp, we have the glow radiating off the woman. We then used the gradient tool to pick a deep red for the background because it is bold. We then added a text box and wrote a bold phrase "Be wild. Be You" to encourage women to not be afraid about being their true self. I am really pleased with the outcome of our design. I think it is very unique, the colors blend well together, it is creative, and successfully portrays confidence. It took multiple attempts to get it exactly how we wanted it, but the outcome was worth the effort. 

Color Echo

The purpose of this piece of work was to borrow colors from a simple image, to create a poster. First, I opened my flower image in photoshop. I then used the magnetic lasso tool to trace along the outside of the flower. I then inversed the selection and deleted the background. I then used the eye dropper tool to find a color for the background. I then filled then used the gradient tool/ paint bucket tool and filled the background. After I created a rectangular box at the bottom of my poster and used the eyedropper tool to pick a color fro the flower. I then added a text box to the rectangular box. I then used the eyedropper tool to find a good font color from the flower. Then I chose a font that I thought was elegant because I think the overall poster has an elegant look to it. I wrote Cosmo Flower, because that is the kind of flower it is. I am pleased with the outcome of my poster, I think it looks  simple, but also aesthetically pleasing.