How to source images...

There are a number of website across the internet which sell stock imagery. These images are uploaded onto these various websites and are made available for purchase and download for the users own personal use. The users are able to publish their purchased images on their own design without the risk of copyright.

Websites include...

Getty.com, Imagesource.com and istockphoto.com

The images come in different styles, sized and quality. Images of good quality are more expensive as the images with less quality.

Photos From Trip

Below are the three photos that I uploaded onto FlickR from the field trip that we went on.











These photos show a range of design from graffiti art to logo design.
This field trip opened my eyes to the amount of visual design that is seen on the streets. As you walk through Digbeth their are many examples of visual design that I noticed such as, graffiti art, logos, paintings and sculptures.

"Green" Business Card

For this exercise I was asked to design a business card that reflected the companies ethos. The brief was....

A company that makes “green” products requires a set of business card for their sales
team. The card must reflect their company ethos.

The business card......

Photographic case study - 1

Photographic case studies. Above is an album cover of a Dubstep artist called Distance. The album cover uses a photograph as the main focus point. The photograph is of some buildings within a city; the lighting in the photo is very dark though lights in the building have been illuminated which gives a futuristic effect. The top of the building in the middle of the photograph disappears into a bright light, which also gives a futuristic effect. These effects relate to the style of music as the music is produced electronically. The style of the music is known to be dark and moody and I believe that the style of the cover reflects just this. The music is also of a minimal style, consisting mainly of a drumbeat and a bass line. The cover represents this as it a minimal style, simply consisting of two elements, one image and text.

Visualized Words

For this task we were each given a word. I then edited the word so that the word looked how it sounded. A plastic effect was placed on the word to make it look as so it could be stretched. The word was edited though using Adobe Photoshop.

Business Card - Bright Ideas Design

Above is a business card that I designed for a fictional company called, "BrightIdeasDesign." The company was described as a fresh and funky company and our design had to reflect this style.

I decided to use bright colors for the text because it relates to the style of the company, being young and funky. I used a slight reflection on the word design to add a sleek and professional look to the business card.

I decided on using the image of the light bulb as it relates to the words bright and ideas. On the back of the business card the image of the light bulb is bright as if it has been switched on. The meaning behind this is that it relates to when someone gets an idea come to their head.

If i were to make adjustments to this business card I would make the text larger on the back of the card. I would also slightly nudge the text up one or maybe two pixels.

Business Card

Above is a copy of my Business Card.

Logo Analysis

Above is a logo of a popular skate company called, “CSeven Studios.” First of all I will comment on the colour used in the logo. The logo uses shades of grey against a white background, which is a major contrast that allows the logo to stand out. There is also a slight gradient used in the bottom right hand corner of the main logo, which gives a smooth and sleek effect. There is a silhouette of a skateboarder within the centre of the logo, which draws the viewer’s attention to the centre of the logo at first glance. The shape of the main logo is of a C and a 7 combined. This is clever though it can be hard to make out at first glance.

The type used in the logo is simple yet effective and is also small and easy to read. It has been positioned neatly between the end of the 7 and the end of the C. Overall this logo is effective, it stands out and would be just as effective if blown up to a large size but as the silhouette of the skateboarder is quite detailed it may not look as effective if shrunk to a smaller size.


Above is a logo of a snowboarding company, “CapturetheRide.” First of all I will comment on the use of the silhouettes of the camera and the snowboarder. Once again these are both effective as It captures the viewers attention. Once again though, the problem with small, detailed silhouettes is when they are shrunk to a smaller size they can become harder to view. I also noticed the beam coming from the camera lens. This is effective because at first the viewer’s attention is drawn to the camera, the beam then allows the viewers sight to be lead to the snowboarder.
The colours used in the logo are simple; they simply consist of blacks with a white background, which is effective as it’s a major contrast, and enable each element of the logo to stand out.
The next element of the logo that is brought to my attention is the type. The text is bold and creates impact when read. The word, “the,” has been placed vertically which helps shape the logo. This has been done because the word would have been hard to fit into the logo if it was to be placed horizontally. Also I notice the small text underneath the main text, its smaller as it is less important yet still readable.

The next logo is of a designer called, Adam Marshall. The first element of the logo that comes to my attention is the silhouette of the tree. The viewer’s sight is first brought to the tree then is lead down to the main logo. The style of the text is futuristic as the corners look pixelated, which is related to computers and technology. This tells the viewer of the logo that the designer may be related to some kind of electronic design. There are two colours within the main text, light grey and black. Once again the colours are simple and the colour stands out from the white background allowing the logo to stand out.

All three logos are visually attractive. They each contain imagery in the style of silhouettes. The silhouette in each of these logos is used to catch the viewers’ attention and sight, thus allowing their vision to be lead to the main element of the logo.
Each logo would be effective if blown up to any size though due to the detailed silhouettes, each logo would be hard to read and less effective if shrunk to a smaller size.

Mind-Map House Logo

Below is a mind-map for a logo design based on my house mates and our interests.





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Typography Poster Analysis

Typography Analysis – Advertisement




Above is a poster that is an advertisement for a popular hair product for men. The main feature of the advertisement and what the viewer’s attention is drawn to at first is the man’s hair. Words that describe the history of punk are shaped into a Mohican. The words on the top line resemble spiky hair, and the colour is in the form of a gradient and goes from red to yellow, which resembles fire. The text is easy to read though as you get down and the text becomes smaller it becomes harder to read.
The specific style of the hair is long and spiky; the advertisement is telling the viewer that this hair product has the ability to apply this style to long hair.
There is also text in the background in parts of the background each of a different style. Each style of text relate to the genre of punk. An example of this is the Sex Pistols logo in the background, the words consist of letter that have been cut out of newspaper articles.

Tutorialized.com

http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/

Above is a link to a tutorial based website. The website enables users of design based programs to search and locate a tutorial of their choice. On the site are option boxes and a search engine to allow the user to easily locate their tutorial. As a student of Visual Design I find this website extremely useful because it allows me to locate any tutorial that I like for any design program. The website has tutorials for all major design software such as

Adobe Design Suite
Flash
Fireworks
Dreamweaver
Gimp
Paintshop Pro

Tutorialized is also useful as it breaks down each program choice into categories, E.g. If you were to select Photoshop tutorials it will give you options for which specific tutorial you would like, you are able to select from a variety of specific tutorials from textures to image and text effects The site also gives opportunity for the user to submit their own tutorials.

Tutorialized can be located through simply searching through a search engine of your choice. Tutorialized is a popular site and is usually the top result of the search, “design tutorials.” The website can also be located through advertisements on other web sites.

Advertisement Analysis

Visual Design

Advertisement Analysis

Above is a flyer from a Drum and Bass night called, “Therapy Sessions.” This specific style of drum and bass music is known to have a dark and heavy sound to it, so it is important to relate the style and design of the flyer to the style of the music.
The designer has decided to use dark colours and shades to relate to the style of music. The typeface at the top of the flyer is, “grungy,” and fits well with the style of the flyer. The main typeface is a serif style font, this style of font works well with the flyer because it adds to the flyers dark and sisister style.
All of the text is in white on a black and grey background; this allows the font to stand out due to the contrast of blacks and whites.
There is an image used as the background of the flyer, the image is of a skeleton posing. The designer used this style of image to once again stick with the horror theme of the flyer. With the night being a Christmas special, the skeleton is of a film titled, “The nightmare before Christmas,” this relates to the night being a Christmas special.
The layout of the flyer is centred which allows the viewer to read the advertisement with ease. Their vision will instantly be lead to the main heading and from this they will read and follow the flyer downwards.
As a viewer you instantly get an idea of the style of music being advertised due to the colours used.

Mind-Map Visual Design

A mind map that demonstrates that I know what I mean by Visual Design



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Introduction

This is my learning diary, this demonstrates my visual literacy, my understanding of the topics covered in the module and experimentations based on those.