Articles...

What makes us look?

•   Effective design 1- attracts viewer’s attention 2-holds attention long enough to deliver message.
•  Looking is an interactive or relational experience for viewer. Viewing context is important.
• GD is a dialogue between viewer and design (it’s a visual system)
• Viewing response have 3 sources; 1-humans physical body (eyes/hardware) 2-cultural influence 3-viewers experiences
• Eyes: Certain sensations are caused by ways the eye/brain system processes inputs. Color vibration, shimmering patterns, optical illusions. Designers use these to get viewer attention
• Humans attracted to faces, infants…larger heads
• Face perception: Sensitivity to gaze of others, we seek eye contact
• Processing visual info: Brains great intermediate net input/output contributes to memory, association, language and imagination. There is processing between the input/output. Human brain asks questions as the process… What could that be? Is this like anything I have experienced before? Should I call someone? Etc.
• Culture helps us process appropriately …and we are able to communicate with others coherently.
• WHY do we look? We are constantly scanning the environment and selecting certain stimuli to respond to.
• How do we as designers grab a viewers eye? Purposeful vision…search or surf.
• Search-seeking particular img. Familiarity pops out and there is recognition. Searchers don’t want ot be distracted.
• Surfers: Let eyes meander . Rapid eye movements with occasional stops. Attracted to features that promise the most visual info about the subject; angles, sharp curves, edges, contrast…. Classic atten. grabbers are aimed at surfers… viewing context is important also. Make it stand out from what’s around it.
• Our eye easily distinguishes contrast (fig ground)
• Come closer…distance affects how you see the img.
• Imgs. that dissolve/resolve: step back from the images to see them better. Different view points
• Fill in the blanks: When visual info is missing our mind tends to fill it in. Elicits audience participation by forcing the viewer to mentally complete an img. Ie subjective contours.
• Color: perception of one color is heavily influenced by the colors that are around it along with lighting. Simultaneous contrast, vibrations, transparency… Interaction of color.
• Optical Mixture is an effect we use that causes colors to lose their identities… they blend rather than separate as hues. (Impressionist art!) Come closer and you see the individual dots that look very different when viewer is further away.
• Motion: Natural attention grabber… illusion in GD or reference to motion. Blurred edges… abstract expressionist painters use hand drawn imgs or words in GD evoke powerful kinesthetic resonance in viewer.
• Depth: Lead the viewer to fill in a third dimension to make them feel a part of the imgry. Size contrast… dull v clear. Type on top of an img creates depth
• WHAT does it mean?? Once viewer is captured content will keep the viewer or not.
• Play with neg meaning: fear, ansiety, abnormality are atten grabbers but offending can be disturbing.
• Sex and nudity: culturally specific. 

I thought it was interesting to see this analyzed and there being two different types of viewers… the searchers and the surfers. I like the emphasis on making your design stand out against its competition… thinking outside the box so it pops out in its context.  Seeing  how the eye and brain work to follow patterns or recognize elements and the use of design principals to attract and keep attention. All of this information is helpful to a designer to try and understand that there are different types of viewers and we want to try and reach them with our design choices. This reading makes me think of what I am learning in my history class about how advertisers used propaganda during WWI and WWII to manipulate the masses to sway them into thinking a certain way about the wars. This is true today as well in advertising any product. There has been a heavy study of viewers, they are put into categories with different demographics. People are definitely manipulated everyday into thinking the need products and even manipulated in how they should vote! These manipulations are often aided by strong designs  
 
I liked this list that I found on Adams blog... I LOVE any list that will help keep me on task or help me generate ideas! The more tools the better!

8 Items That You Can Use As an Editing Tool

- drawings
- physical recreations through crafting with paper, clay, etc.
- verbal critiques
- mind mapping
- defining the problem through basic ideas and comparing with art element relations
- thesaurus to find antonyms/synonyms
- camera to find different points of view
- music to see how it can combine to contrast or harmonize with the composition and bring emotional attachments.

 

Time Management Article

·         Why you need to be organized to be creative?

·         We as designers can easily get sidetracked with email and clerical tasks to stay on top of communications and networking. There are lots of distractions before we actually will get to the design part of a job.

·         The article talks about the Urgent / Important chart which would help organize a priority LIST :) of tasks.

·         The questions at the end of the article will help me reflect on what tasks have gotten done for the day.  Helps me see that I can get more creative by taking out the meaningless distractions from my routine. Getting in touch with what is my most creative time will definitely help me see when I am easily able to focus. Fining out what works best for me so that I can be at my most creative. This includes managing interruptions that disrupt my concentration.  

      The questions at the end of the article are great because they force me to step back and reflect about myself. They are basically ways that I can organize myself and bring the best out of me. Asking the questions and responding to them will help retrain my brain and how I work effectively. The chart is a great organizational tool. Not sure as a mom how I would be able to turn off all the connections to the outside world is realistic or not but I do see the point it makes. I just think instead of turning it off that I need to learn how to deal with it and incorporate distractions without getting frustrated or off track.

"The key principle is to create a ‘buffer’ between the information and demands that are coming at you, and your response. That way you can get out of reactive mode, avoid the Sisyphus effect and spend more time on the kind of work that really inspires you."

 AIGA Design processes

·         Why do you design?  A designer can wear many different hats just like we learned in GPHD intro with Mario and also in production with Laura… Graphic designers have to adapt to the job that they are working on… How we approach a project and the role we take on.

Process Process Process is KEY!

The Model LISTS!!!

1. Define the Problem.. articulate it and give it boundaries, multiple view points.

2. Envisioning the Desired End State.. Prototype/predict the result.

3. Define the Approach by which victory can be achieved.. Use maps.

4. Support and action.. use communication to help them see why they should go along with the journey.

5. Seeking insight to inform the prototyping of the solution.. research, definitions, imgs, history.

6. Prototyping Potential Solutions … physically

7. Delineating the tough choices .. Designers make the tough choices..what to include?

8. Work as a team - Facilitate choices to be made and connect everyones views

9 Choose best solution and activate.. Commit to the best choice for a solution.

10. Make your solution known.. Marketing

11. Sell the solution..  make sure the process of buying and selling is helped by the design and that people know what they are buying and what it is worth.

12.  Learn from it all .. Never stop learning, striving or improving. And learn from the mistakes, enjoy successes 

I am all about organized lists that would make my job easier and my stress less! The tips in the list are very helpful and would be for any designer. They are simple and easy to follow. Great advice for any design job we will get in the future.

Designer's Guide to Creativity Article

With tips and exercises about how to warm up your imagination I can get better at idea generation. It can be nurtured/trained and by paying more attention to my surrounding I can come up with more variations and better ideas. PROCESS!! Keeps us on track and it helps to get an umbrella of ideas rather than just one big idea. There is not just one solution. Ask the right questions. Metaphors can become powerful solutions for visual problems.

Kerning and Shape Type Game

I love games! They are a de-stressor for me. I was getting quite competitive with these! Super fun plus at the same time we are learning!