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Week 6 was all about design. I learned a lot about the aspects of design through the assignments we completed this week.
Reflection on Vignelli
Our first assignment was to reflect on Vignelli. While reading Vignelli I thoroughly enjoy the quote he uses in the second paragraph of his book which states
Creativity needs the support of knowledge in order to perform
I think this is a great quote for this course. Although most of the students enrolled are either creative or have some interest in the topics, doing the different assignments with no knowledge of how to do it will not help us learn and create great pieces of arts. For example when we did the photography week- although we are all capable of taking a good photograph with the knowledge of how to take good photographs, we are more susceptible to taking better pictures.
The three main aspects of design in Vignelli’s opinion are semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic. semantics is the meaning behind the design. Syntactics includes the overall structure, the grid, the typefaces, the text and headlines, the illustrations, etc. Pragmatics is the idea of a simple design that needs minimal explanation. On top of these aspects when creating designs you need discipline, appropriateness. Discipline is a set of self imposed rules or parameters that we consider while creating works of design art. Appropriateness alludes to what is specific or works for a particular problem. Ambiguity is the idea of a design having more than one meaning and being interpreted in different ways.
I think his booklet had a lot of meaningful and useful information. However, I also thought that sometimes he seemed to not clearly define certain words and concepts but talk more abut what they do and the affects they have on the audience. I learned a lot from this article, but as someone who knows very little about the topic I personally could have used a more concrete definition of the concepts to better grasp the ideas.
Complete a designblitz
Our second assignment was to create a designblitz. Which was like the photoblitz we had last week but with different elements and no time limit. I found design elements in different rooms in Eagle- the apartment where I live. This activity like the previous one really allowed me to understand and better realize the thought that goes behind design elements and the different kinds of aspects in photographing and designing products.
I chose this photograph to represent unity. I think the chest has a very unified pattern on it and then the carpet does as well so it adds to the picture. The individual pattern would not look whole without the repetitive pattern. If just the circleish square shape was there it would look out of place.
This sign represents a message. It’s a play on words and has a witty message. It accurately states it’s message and uses an arrow to emphasize the message.
This photograph represents color. I originally took it thinking it shows texture and texture would probably be a good design element, but that wasn’t one so I decided to use it for color. I think this is a good example for color because even though it is all one color the different layered petals make the color stand out and gives it different shades. The color draws your attention to the petals and the different elements of them. The coral color on the brown background also works very well together.
I really wanted to use this photograph. I decided to use it for use of space. I think that there’s several examples of space including the empty and filled space, the fuzzy and focused leaves, and the color and plain space.
This photograph represents dominance. Although it also send a message I found it interesting how the Stand a little taller was so much bigger than the words at the bottom- which I had never read before.
This one represents rhythm. Not only are the lines repeating. But there is also a sort of wave element to it that really gives it a sense of movement. There are light and dark lines to allow for the alternating elements. I really like how up top the lines are really dark and predominate where towards the left corner its more white and fuzzy.
Daily Creates
TDC 1359- Combine your favorite logos
@ds106dc Combining two logos can give a very bad message #tdc1359 #ds106 pic.twitter.com/dGz9Qxs9zs
— Kelsey Stanbro (@KelseyStanbro) September 28, 2015
Today’s daily create was to combine two logos. I combined Coke-Cola and Nike. This combination showed the disastrous outcome of combining two logos that don’t go together. In order to make this I used Paint and combined the two logos and then cut out the red piece and paste them in the spot when the white from the Nike logo covered up the red line in the Coke-Cola logo. Then I colored in the rest.
TDC 1360 Draw something you bought today
@ds106dc #tdc1360 I bought nothing today because I'm a broke college student and I have no time to go shopping #ds106 pic.twitter.com/NBORtiBCmn
— Kelsey Stanbro (@KelseyStanbro) September 29, 2015
I actually just realized you had to draw something you bought today for today’s daily create, but in that case I drew nothing because I bought nothing because I am a broke college student who is too busy to be buying things she can’t afford.
TDC 1361 Upside Down Day
@ds106dc Upside down water in a cup.. That was already upside down #tdc1361 pic.twitter.com/Ewh6TpC3VG
— Kelsey Stanbro (@KelseyStanbro) October 1, 2015
Today’s daily create was to take a picture of something that would look cool upside down. I had a really hard time thinking of a subject to use for this assignment. And then I thought of those pranks where the water cups is upside down on a table. So I did that on our kitchen table and I put ice in it so the water was more dominant in the cup, then I placed a place-mat on the top of the cup so when I flipped the picture upside down it would be more complicated. This gave the picture more layers and made it more complicated when looking at it upside down.
TDC 1363 What can you see through the window?
@ds106dc #tdc1363 I may be jumping ahead a little…. pic.twitter.com/Y1FPMW7n10
— Kelsey Stanbro (@KelseyStanbro) October 2, 2015
Today’s daily create was to create what you see out your window. Since it’s raining and drowsy outside and there’s a hurricane on the way. I decided to exaggerate the amount of water we are getting. My suitemate has been freaking out about the hurricane coming, even though it’s probably going to miss us, and has stocked up on food, water, and supplies. So I decided to do the daily create based on what she sees out of our window even though it’s really only drizzling outside right now.
Design Assignments
We had to do 5 design assignments totaling 12 stars. We had one mandatory 3 star one titled The Assignment is Suspect. We had to create a bulletin board like they do in crime shows with a crime that we made up. As it said to in the instruction I used Microsoft word to create the project. I used a picture of a cork board from google and then created text boxes and overlapped the images. Then I used the shape tool to create the lines in between. I struggled to upload the image. I’ve been trying to group several shaped into one picture, but have not been able to. I’ve tried several different tutorials on how to do it, but have come up short every time. So instead I screen shot the word image and then crop it and save it as a picture in paint. However, when I upload that to WordPress the image is fuzzy. Hence, I made it part of the story that you must click the picture to read it to protect the integrity of the case. I tried to upload it to Flickr, but I can not figure out how to embed pictures. I get the link and then paste it in WordPress and it does not work. Other than those the actual assignment was fairly easy and fun to do. I decided to do chocolate milk because that was the first thing I could think of and then I chose the characters based on different kid shows. And then as I wrote the clues the idea of the rocket ship came up. I didn’t plan things out first I just let it happen.
The chocolate milk at New Kent Middle School has gone missing and it’s up to the falculty and staff at the school to solve the crime and collect the clues. The principal Mrs. Frizzel and the teacher who is in charge of overseeing the milk deliveries, Mr. Feeny, are the lead investigators on the case. They set up a bulletin board in the main office to organize their leads and clues. Throughout the day the bulletin board filled up until the case was finally closed.
The next one I did was 4 stars and titled Animated the DVD Menu. The assignment was to choose a key scene from a movie and make a GIF that would resemble the start menu on a DVD player. I choose the movie Time Lapse because I just watched it on Netflix and my roommate just finished it while I was doing my DS106 homework. This movie is actually the bomb. It reminds me of a movie you would see in a film festival, but it is suspenseful and you don’t see the ending coming- so if you have Netflix watch it and if you don’t find a friend with Netflix and watch it. I also decided to make a Tutorial for this assignment.
The Process
I made the GIF using this website. I really enjoy this website and making GIFs so I decided to make a tutorial to help anyone out who may be struggling with this assignment.
Choose a video from YouTube that has the clip that you want to make the GIF with in it and copy the URL.
Go to https://imgflip.com/gifgenerator.
Paste the URL into the box on the main screen and click enter.
You will then be taken to this screen. You can now choose the scene you want by moving the green and red arrows. If you want to preview what you selected you can click the preview button. You can get more precise scenes by typing the seconds into the boxes below the sliding arrows.
Now to add the title and different features that a movie screen would have you type into the text box. You can change the color of the words and he outline by clicking on the colored boxes next to the text box. In order to space the words out without paying for the advance program, I had to space in between words until I got the spacing that I wanted as you can see in the screenshot below.
You then press GENERATE GIF and you will be given a link to a page with the GIF, the option to download the GIF (my suggestion), and different links to embed that GIF. I download it so that I can save my work in a file and upload the GIF to WordPress.
The third design assignment I did Cartoon You was also 4 stars. The assignment was to make yourself or someone you know into a cartoon character. I decided to cartoon my roommate because she’s gorgeous and I just finished a volleyball match and needed a shower.
The first thing I did was look through different apps in the Apple Store for Cartoon Yourself apps.
I downloaded a couple but I ended up liking one called Toon the best
Then I took a photograph of my roommate and edited it in the application
The app allowed me to change the size of the lines and the colors
Below are my final project and several examples of different changes I made while editing the photograph:
The forth assignment I did was 3 star entitled Children’s Book Cover. The assignment was to recreate a children’s book cover using shapes. The best way to do this from what I read in other blogs was to use Paint. Which was good news for me because that’s what I usually use for my assignments. I decided to recreate Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Suess. I started my making different colored circles with the shape tool.
I then filled in the circles with the paint can and made a person out of shapes at the top. I then cut and pasted the words onto the picture.
My roommate saw me working on this and said that it was really good, but personally I don’t think it was my best work and when I look at the cover, which I’m saving to the end to show, I don’t think I nailed the recreation, but I think given that we could only use shapes I think it’s pretty good. I think I could have done the circles a little more tilted and tried to encompasses the cone top better- however it would have been hard just using shapes.
The fifth design assignment I did was Create your own logo for 2 stars. I created a logo for myself if I had a brand. I used “Stand Up” because my last name is Stanbro and I think this has a good message. I chose purple and black because they’re kinda intimidating yet cute colors and I feel like if I had a brand of say clothes it would have workout clothes and really cute stylish clothes so I wanted two colors that encompass that. I made the logo in Paint. I started by just brainstorming ideas. The way the S is drawn is something that was really cool in like 3rd grade and my brother use to draw it all the time. So I started just drawing that on my computer and then went from there.
The first one I did looked really sloppy because I just hand drew it, so I started over and used the shape tool to create lines. This made the logo look a lot more put together and professional. Although I think I like the arrow I drew better and home it isn’t connected, because its more retro and hip.
Love at first shot
Honestly, when someone thinks of a photograph that captures love this is usually it. It’s iconic. This famous kiss took place after the victory over Japan Day. It was taken August 14, 1945. I like this photograph because it’s candid and not like today’s candids where they’re planned candids, but the photographer spontaneously captures this photograph. After U.S. President Harry S. Truman announced the end of the war on Japan at 7 o’clock American citizens erupted in celebration- that is when this photograph was captured. Because the photographer, Eisenstaedt, was photographing rapidly changing events during the celebrations he did not have an opportunity to get the names and details- which leave us to make up our own stories through this picture.
While reflecting on the photograph and our photography week I wondered if it was just in the photographers nature to know what elements were around him in order to get this amazing photograph. I feel like the balance of color is so good and the background, line, and angles are just perfect. However the photographer only had a few second to capture this image so he couldn’t have planned it out.. then I came across this:
From Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt:
In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn’t make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds.
Only one is right, on account of the balance. In the others the emphasis is wrong — the sailor on the left side is either too small or too tall. People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.
So he used his knowledge of photography to lead him to the subject, but all in all he was just in the right place at the right time.
This however is not the story I want to choose to believe. When I look at this photograph I think of a sailor who has just arrived home and its so overjoyed that the war is over and he can stay with the love of his life and they can start a family and life can go back to normal. When in reality he was just kissing a stranger in the streets. And not only that but one of many strangers he had kissed on the streets that day.
In another account the photographer says:
From The Eye of Eisenstaedt:
I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I’d hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her. Now if this girl hadn’t been a nurse, if she’d been dressed dark clothes, I wouldn’t have had a picture. The contrast between her white dress and the sailor’s dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact.
I guess the moral here is that not everything is what it seems. However, if my someday child comes across this photograph I will let him or her make the photo out to what he or she may want.
Radio Show
Our group decided the best way to communicate is through email. We collectively came up with aspects that we wanted in our logo including grumpy cats, explosives, and sombreros and then Andrew Boswell made a killer logo for us.
Andrew did a fantastic job making this so I want to give him a lot of props and make sure that you know how well he did and that this was his doing. We decided that we wanted our talk show to be called 9 lives. We’re sticking to this cat theme. And that maybe our topic would have something to do with 9 people or 9 things. Our group still has a lot of work to do and a lot more organizing, but it’s coming together. I’m learning that online group work is a lot different than group work in person.
x Kelsey