Design Principles // Exercises : Symbols, Image & Words
27/09/20 - 4/10/20 (Week 5-Week 6)
Caitlyn Aurelia Tjandra (0339381)/BDCM
Design Principles
Exercises - Repetition and Movement
Lecture
Week 5 (27/09/20): Symbols
For this week's lecture Ms. Jinchi post to us a YouTube video link , articles and a pdf document for us to watch and read. I read the article first and here is what I understood from it.
symbolism is The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships
Designers use symbols in both obvious and subtle ways to communicate something about the design. Symbolism is a profound, complex subject so in this post I will present an overview of what I consider to be the most important for designers to be aware of in terms of symbolism
Symbolism of Color
Red: frequently used to symbolize anger, aggression or intense passion.
Black: lack of, emptiness, night, death, and even the negative or evil. They usually used in funerals to potray mourning of loss or lack of a person.
White: purity, life and new beginnings like the break of dawn. Usually seen in gowns worn for weddings and angels.
So through the use of a symbol in a design and then promoting it, the meaning of a symbol can be created or changed. That is the power of advertising.
A crossed red ribbon was adopted as the symbol for anyone supporting AIDS research and now is recognized worldwide. The crossed ribbon is a powerful symbol that represents supporting a cause. Other examples are: yellow ribbon for troops in a war, a pink ribbon for breast cancer.
Symbolism can also play a subconscious role in design. FedEx logo for example, at first glance it seems very simple, just type in two different colors. But look closer at the white space, or counter-form, between the E and the X. It is an arrow pointing to the right. Since we read from left to right, pointing right signifies moving forward and an arrow is speed. Then add the color symbolism of orange which can mean caution. The underlying message is that FedEx will deliver your packages quickly and carefully.
Week 6 (27/09/20): Word and Image
For this week's lecture Ms. Jinchi post to us a YouTube video link for us to watch. I watch the video and here is what I understood from it:
Images can be a powerful force in design. No matter what the subject, we're naturally drawn to them. From beautiful, high-definition photos to carefully crafted graphics, they're usually the first thing we see.In design, they're the hook that draws the viewer in.
1. Finding images
-finding high-quality images for almost any type of project
- Using stock:There are countless online sources that offer images for exactly this purpose. Stock is perfect when you need something specific
2. The importance of quality
Look for high-quality images that are sharp, clear, and free of distortion. Bigger is better, because it gives you more to work with. A large, high-resolution imagecan always be cropped or sized down, depending on the needs of the project.
- Raster: enlarge into a tiny little pixels
- Vector: any size, big or small, without losing quality.
3. Editing images
-Cropping can be used to change the size, shape, or focus of an image, making it useful in many different situations
-Resizing an image will ensure it's the perfect fit for your project. Howevr, you can't make an image bigger than its original size without affecting its quality.
-Cosmetic adjustments such as filters let you enhance certain image qualities, including brightness, contrast, saturation, and color.
4. Putting it all together
Adding photos, graphics, and other visuals to your work is a great way to make it more engaging. Even a simple background image can transform your design into something special.
Instruction
Exercise
Week 5
Symbols:
Research
For this excercise, we were assigned to make arbitrary symbols. We were told to do some research on it and make one ourselves. The material that we use for symbols is digital. Therefore, I started by researching what is arbitrary symbols and compiled the one I liked in mood board.
Arbitrary Symbols is a linguistic sign (a written or spoken word) that bears no obvious resemblance to the thing or concept signified. Ms. Jinchi told me that arbitrary symbol is like world flag, where there is no resemblance to the actual country on the flag.
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Fig 1.0 Exploration |
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| Fig 1.1 Sketches 1 |
Greedy: I symbolize this as a snake tightly protecting its money. With an open mouth, it is ready to attract anyone that came close.
Freedom: This design is two wings of a bee. bee is a symbolism of dreaming big and freedom
Prosperity: it is known that goldfish are portrayed as good luck especially in money. I use the fish inside a coin with its eyes having the symbol of money.
Unfortunately, all this design is rejected because it is too relevant to the word. Therefore I made other sketches.
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| Fig 1.2 Sketches 2 |
Lockdown: for this one I wanted to show a house and how it is locked because of the lockdown covid 19. I design a house with a lock hole. This could also present how the house is the body of the lock.
Non - binary: this is related to LGBTQ how a person is considered feminine nor masculine. In this design, I incorporate an actual binary with the combination of both female and male symbols.
Unison: unison has the same meaning as unity/harmony. Which is why I made a sort of Venn diagram. Additionally, unison is usually incorporated in a musical where they are used in a phrase such as they sing in unison/ sang at the same pitch. This is why I put 2 dots for each circle to represent eyes which makes the circle as a mouth. This is done to portray how the character is singing in unison.
Future, present, past: for this design, I had the idea to represent the three times. The symbol I incorporate is from the map where it usually has the red arrow pointing you are here. In this case, i use the arrow and make it into past, present, future.
LGBTQ: for this one, it is a simple explanation. It is two women in one symbol.
Reverse image: the design is the incorporation of the camera and search/ magnifying glass symbol. Which makes a reverse image. Reverse image is a search that takes an image file as an input and returns results related to the image.
Final Design
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| Fig 1.3 Final |
My final design is about Unison, unison has the same meaning as unity/harmony. Which is why I made a sort of Venn diagram. Additionally, unison is usually incorporated in a musical where they are used in a phrase such as they sing in unison/ sang at the same pitch. This is why I put 2 dots for each circle to represent eyes which makes the circle as a mouth. This is done to portray how the character is singing in unison. Therefore, my final design represent the theme of unity, togetherness.
Word and Image:
Research
For this excercise, we were told to make a design that has words and images that correlate with it. Our material for this excercise was collage. We were able to use a magazine or other things around us. Firstly, I decided to research some collage design on Pinterest and compile them into a mood board
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| 1.4 Pinterest Moodboard |
Materials
Since I don't have a magazine, I decided to print out the images. However, I wanted to have the magazine material on my design. Therefore, i the end I decided to buy some magazines. This was the magazine that I used:
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| Fig 1.5 Mag 1 |
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| Fig 1.6 Mag 2 |
Exploration
The first thing I did was explore each page to find anything that caught my eyes. I found this page where there were Whitney Houston and the quote that she said. I cut her and the quote and place the quote on the mouth area. then, I came across a Bali villa page which looks gorgeous which then I tried incorporating.
I decided to search more on gadis magazine. I found several unique fashion items that I wanted to incorporate to my design. Here is the result:
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| Fig 1.7 Collage 1 |
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Fig 1.8 Collage 2 |
For this one, I wanted to compose collage that resembles my life. Sometimes I felt I am not good enough. I am insecure with my ow body and sometimes it's frustrating. This collage send a message to love yourself. Before you can care for someone you need to be able to love your one self. Whatever race you are, How your body shaped, you are beautiful just the way you are. This is why I put compilation of beautiful girls with various races, body type, insecurities. I also emphazie the quote you are art.
Final
Rationale
My design for this collage is about Empowerment. When I found this quote I thought that it was really powerful. I emphasize the poster with a holiday background to emphasize on dream. while having Oprah's face to emphasize that she is the model for our success.Reflection
Experience: This week was the most difficult time for me. I was sick 1 week prior to the deadline and I lost a lot of time to make my design. It was difficult too since I couldn't attend class on Friday in which I need to ask Ms. Jiinchi for feedback personally.
Observation: I observe that I don't have most of the material needed. I was not fully satisfied with my collage since I have limited materials and had to make it in a short amount of time. I was pretty much stressed and assignments from my other subjects were piling up.
Findings: I find that during this time, I was pretty much exhausted that I don't find motivation in creating my design. I felt that my design was the result I come up with haste thoughts. Which, resulting in it feels more detached from me.
Feedback
Week 5
For the arbitrary symbol, you are to design one that does not look like the actual object because arbitrary symbols mean that we must learn its meaning, e.g. flags of the world - we won't know the meaning of a country's flag unless we learn about it. Nothing on the flag represents visually the look of that country (think of the Indonesian flag). You can view the recorded video in the Teams chat for today's class to have a better understanding.
As for the word and image piece, it is fine.
Week 6
Shows a good understanding of symbols and have designed an arbitrary one that carries an interesting meaning. As for word and image, the overall composition is balanced and the text matches the image. No rationale of work found, however.
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