Typography

For this assignment, we were to use typography, concepts, and themes to create "type based images that reflect the meaning of the words they portray. I decided to create a guitar using musical terms with bright, neon font colors on a black canvas.

Answer to Kraus Questions:
Clarity: Each word that is placed to make the shape of a guitar is apart of a music theme. I have the words, note, chorus, passion, rhythm, harmony, sing, tune, sound, lesson, jam, band, live, lyrics, melody, beat, acoustic, play, chord, song, rock, tone, electric, music, strings, guitar and riff. These words all work together toward the same overall message of a music theme. No one would misinterpret any of the pieces to mean something else and there isn't another message this design could portray.
Audience: My target audience are the people involved in my LTLE 372 class. Since the font colors I have chosen for this design are bright on a dark background, this tone would be happy and musical because of the words and picture I have chosen to convey. I hope this is a unique design that not too many people have seen before, yet I feel as though a typography design of a guitar has been done before. To me, my design looks like something that would be seen on an advertisement for a concert or a music store. When my target audience looks at this person, I hope they think of rock.
Purpose: This piece is not meant to sell a product, or to persuade, but to inform my audience of the musically upbeat in society. Music is a big part of our society and so it is just to be looked at as a positive design and one that informs my audience of things that deal with music.

HARTS PROJECT

For this project, we were to develop instructional signage for HARTS (Harrisonburg and Rockingham Thermal Shelter) locations to inform, explain, guide, teach, and generate awareness among patrons, volunteers, and/or donors. The location my group was assigned was the Faith Community. We were given basic instruction, a list of visuals, any related files and the opportunity to communicate with our partnering team in the Instructional Design course. The purpose of this assignment was for us to design visuals for a real-world client, in consultation with instructional designers. We were given seven types of signs to make, which are shown below. 

Faith Community Emergency Exit Only
4 signs that say emergency exit only

Faith Community Check-In Sign
Pick up linen and toiletries here

Faith Community Breaker Box Location
Breaker box located in nursery in case of power outage

Faith Community Restricted Area

 2 signs showing that say an area is restricted

Faith Community Smoking Area

Sign indicating that smoking area is outside

Faith Community Trash Collection
Sign indicating that trash collection is outside

Faith Community Check-In Sign
No weapons, alcohol, drugs

Answer to Kraus Questions

Clarity: Each sign above are clearly and efficiently presented. The emergency exit sign not only has the the word in white with a red background indicating attention, but an image of a man running out of the door that shows alertness. The linens sign includes an image of linens and toiletries, which helps indicate what the person should be looking for. The breaker box sign has a power outage symbol, which represents a hazard. We also put an image of a man opening the breaker box. The restricted area sign has a man that is crossed off to portray no one being allowed in that area. The smoking sign has cigarettes being crossed off to portray no smoking is allowed. The trash sign has a trash bin on the curb to indicate that trash goes outside. The no weapons, alcohol, or drugs sign also has those items crossed off to show that they are not allowed. Each sign has images and words to help people understand a guideline. Each sign also has the Faith Community Church symbol as well as the HARTS symbol on the bottom of each sign to help bring all the signs together. They are also in the same font to help portray a community. We did the best we could with all the signs and I think they came out very well to help get the message of the signs off to the people looking at them. 

Audience: Since the signs have been made to be put in the Faith Community Church, the people that attend this church is my target audience. The signs are very understandable and we use the appropriate lingo and images to help our message come across. We used the color red to show alertness to what was not allowed in the building and we put a black background on the break box sign to help portray that a power outage could occur. None of our signs talk down to our audience, they are just informative signs to get things across to the people at the church. 

Purpose: These signs are made to share information about what is appropriate in the church. There are some signs that are sharing the rules and  others that include where to pick something up such as the linens and toiletries sign. Since the purpose of the signs were given to use before we made the design, we did discuss everything. None of the signs have too many images so that the sign in unreadable. Everything is simple and to the point, yet is creative to be pleasing to the eye.

Special Topics Presentation

For this assignment, we were asked to create visuals to share with the class to help explain the article we were given in class. Carly Goodwin and I read "From Media Consumption to Media Production: Applications of YouTube in an Eight-Grade Video Documentary Project" by Ching-Chin Lin. To summarize, this article was about the use of YouTube in a classroom. It focused on a study that showed eighth graders working on a film project for their class. They would search videos to get a better idea of how they were done and then work on their own to create a video. After we read and got a good idea of what our article was about we had to have ten visuals that we can share with our classmates. We used a copyright sign, a YouTube logo, a graph showing how YouTube users are increasing, a chart that shows how technology is changing from the past to today, a chart that shows that watching YouTube leads to making videos, an example of cropping of an image can lead to a different perspective of the image, a picture of how YouTube is used in the classrooms and at home, vocabulary words that we found important in the article, and a video we found online about the use of media in a classroom. We also made our poster board look like a Mac Computer to add to our presentation. 

Answers to Krause's Questions

Connotation: Our visual style for this component ties in with our theme of YouTube because we used a YouTube video to share and also made our poster board look like a YouTube screen on a Mac Computer. We used color backdrops for our images that we picked at random and each image has a different size proportion. We showed other presenters our presentation and they seemed to perceive our poster and video as the same way we did. They understood what our article was talking about and it seemed to make sense to them just like we planned.

Attributes: I am satisfied with our visual weight, structure, color and presentational style. Posters may seem boring to most, but it gets the point across. I wish we got a little bit more creative in how we went about showing our material to the class, but the first thing we thought of was a poster. I wish I knew how to work Prezi or some other visual that would have came off a lot more appealing and interesting to the class. I think the video added a good touch because it talked about a lot of the points our article did of using media in the classroom.

Placement: The poster and the video were both the main focal points of our presentation. The summary that we had laid out was only there to give an overview of what we would tell them through our presentation. We summed up our article with the poster and video, which held a lot of people's attention, while the summary on the sheet of paper would not get the point across as well. 

Primary and Complementary Colors

For this assignment, we were asked to create a sign for out HARTS project using primary colors and complementary colors. My first sign that I made uses the primary colors of red, yellow and blue. For the second sign that I made, I used the complementary colors of the primary colors. Complementary colors are opposites on the color wheel. So for this sign, I used green to be complementary of red, violet to be complementary of yellow and orange to be complementary of blue.

Answers to Krause's questions

Connotation: If I were really to make this sign for a building, I would only use the colors red and white to convey the emergency exit sign. Red is the color that shows alertness and so I think that would make most sense and white the most easily red on white. I would though use these font choices because they are basic and making the capitol makes it stand out. 

Attributes: I am satisfied with the visual weight, structure, color and presentational style for this assignment. I am not happy with it if I were to use this in a room for a large amount of people to see. The colors behind the font making the font hard to read and are not pleasing to the eye. The color scheme's do work for the primary and complimentary colors for this assignment though and meets the criteria for the class. The text is large enough for an audience to read, but the colors could be better and more appropriate for this type of sign. 

Placement: The words are the main focus of this sign. I also believe the color red should be used as the backdrop to cause attention and alertness to people who pass the sign. The words are placed in the middle of the frame because they are the main focus. The alignment of the words are centered and nothing fancy needed to be done to distract the readers.

Conceptual Framework

For this assignment, we were asked to design a visual for the competencies in the COE conceptual framework. It had to be in a poster format so that students could see them hanging up and easily recognize what is being said. We had to create icons that were simple and visually appealing. For this, Carly and I chose the images we wanted to use and changed the colors to be purple and gold for JMU and then placed them in a bubble. Next, we had to convey a message about each competency so that students could easily recognize each competency. Making the icons was the easiest part of this assignment. The hardest part was aligning the words and icons on the poster to make sure they all fit and were readible. We wanted the icons to be the largest because that is what is most appealing to our audience of students. Another difficult part in this assignment was figuring out how we wanted to describe each competency with the space we were given. In the end, I am really pleased with how it turned out. 

Answers to Krause's questions

Connotation: The visual style of this component ties in with the theme of the James Madison Educational Program because the colors of purple and gold that we used. All of the icons are in the same format to convey the same goal of attracting students into reading our message on our poster. We made the title font a lot larger because it explains who the message is towards. We then used the same font for all of the conceptual framework descriptions. We bolded and italicized the words that were most important for that specific framework. For the framework words, we had them outline the circular icons that we made. As our poster was getting passed around to the class, it was nice to see that others perceived our message clearly and enjoyed our poster.

Attributes: I am extremely satisfied with the visual weight, structure, color and presentational style of the graphic elements on this poster. It goes very well with our backdrop of lined paper because paper is something we connect to school work. The icons stand out clearly as well as the words framing the icons. The color scheme of purple and yellow and placed throughout our poster. The intended audience can see the bolded words from afar, while the definitions are a little bit smaller. To grab people's attention, it is best to get to the point of what we want our audience to get from our poster. No one is going to read a paragraph for each framework, so we tried to keep it simple and to the point. 

Placement: We wanted the icons to be pretty large so they could call attention to the audience. Nothing on this poster is meant to be unnoticed, but there are things that are meant to stand out more than others. All the icons are aligned vertically, but the middle row is aligned differently horizontally while the other two columns are aligned horizontally as well. The title is centered and the captions under the icons are centered with the icons they are underneath of. Nothing on this poster should be further cropped, rotated, moved, sized or altered in any way.

Practice with photoshop

For this assignment, we were asked to draw a variety of shapes using the Photoshop shape tool. We had to experiment with shapes, color, style, and filters/texture. We also had to select part of a photography and remove the inverse to create colorful shapes. 

 This is the before and after of an explosion symbol. I changed the color from black to purple.

The black flower on the right is what the symbol started off looking like. I then added a style to make the flower more colorful on the left. 

I used music symbols for the last part of the assignment. I had to use a texture and in order for the texture to show up, I needed to change the color. This one is a little hard to see but I hope it is noticeable enough that I changed the texture on the right.

For this, we had to get a picture inside of a symbol and so I used oranges inside of a heart and again here is the before and after pictures.

Answers to Krause Questions: 

Connotation: Because these images didn't have to give off a certain meaning, it is hard to answer a lot of these questions. The colors I chose though were not completely random and do give off the colors as if the shapes were real. For example, the color of the explosion I changed to purple, which can come off as a firework. The fun colors of purple and pink that I made the flower reminds me of spring. Music notes aren't typically a pink texture so it is hard to say whether this gives off a meaning. With a pink texture, I think of a girls night of singing and dancing. For the oranges in a heart, I think of an advertiser trying to sell oranges to an audience. If I was thinking about meaning before doing this assignment, I would have changed my color choices, but overall I do think these colors, styles, textures, and inverses' could give off a certain meaning.  

Attributes: I am satisfied with how my shapes came out. The audience can easily see my shapes and it is readable on a white backdrop. These designs can be presented in a wide variety of sizes and in various sorts of media because they are simple designs. The heart with the oranges though would only be able to be used for a fruit advertisement or a summery drink. They are not too funky where they wouldn't be able to be used, but they all can't be used for the same thing. 

Placement: The shapes that are not black should be the most noticeable in this assignment. If these were to be placed within a layout, the elements should not be further cropped or rotated. They are a good size unless they are to be the main focal point or a smaller focal point. It really depends on what the layout would be for. 

Gesalt Assignment

The Gestalt theory was develobed by Wertheimer, Koffka, and Wolfang in the 1920's. It is related to visual perception, which is the study of shapes and patterns. The concept is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. For this assignment, we were asked to portray four principles. The four principles we had to make using shapes include closure, proximity, similarity and continuity. 

For the principle of closure, we had to attach meaning to visual displays. I decided to use the sun shape in PowerPoint with a circle overlapping the sun to make the triangles stand out. If I wanted to, I could have used only triangles to create the same display. This shows closure because the triangles are touching and closing up on a circle.

For the principle of proximity, we had to group things that are physically close to one another, in a meaningful way. I decided to use hearts that were aligned evenly and equally all the way around. The first group are spread out more than the second group of hearts, but they both create a square.

For the principle of similarity, we had to group similar objects together in a meaningful way. This one is my favorite. I decided to use the squiggly shapes to connect the shapes. I used the same shape, but made the middle row larger and connected compared to the top and bottom row that are separated into four shapes. 

For the principle of continuity, we had to look for unity in objects. I decided to use a line that connects a square and then another line. This makes the objects flow together as one. 

Answers to the Krause questions:

Connotation: Each design I made ties in with the principle that I wanted it to convey. I didn't want to overcrowd any of the designs, so I tried to keep them simple. By looking at the designs and knowing the principles I had to do, I think everyone would be able to match up each principle to each design. The closure design uses two symbols to create a boundary. The proximity design has perfect alignment that is equal all around making it meaningful.  The similarity principle is cool because it uses the same shape, but they are different sizes. They align evenly as well, but the rows are different in that they 1st and 3rd row are aligned equally from side to side and up to down while the 2nd row is the same, but there aren't extra spaces in the middle of the shapes. The continuity design reflects a continuous motion. The line connects to a square, which connects to another line. This gives a flowing motion. I do not think any of the designs are projected in a way that could be seen as too specific or overly broad.

Attributes: I am satisfied with the visual weight, structure, color and presentational style of my graphic elements. I haven't thought about adding color to this assignment because I needed to portray a principle and did not think it was necessary to add color, but I'm sure I could have made my designs more interesting if I did. If these designs were placed in a larger layout, each design could fit in well with the color scheme because black goes with mainly every color. Placing these on a backdrop with a dark color though would not work best. The size is easily readable for the audience, being my classmates and teacher. I could make the size of these images larger or smaller depending on what they were going to be used for and have them still be readable.

Placement: All of the images I have placed on each principle are their for a reason and are where I want them to be. Each shape should be noticeable and they align in a certain way to portray the principle. I explained why I have my shapes where I do under my connotation answer. Each shape is aligned and grouped together in a certain way for a reason. For example, in the proximity example each heart is surrounded by another heart equally, unless it is on the edge. They are all grouped together to help convey the meaning of proximity, which means being near. Each of my designs can be rotated, moved, sized or altered in any way to be placed in a layout and still give off the same meaning.