Week 14

This is an example of Symbolic visual information. The advertisement is for Volkswagen, celebrating their 30th anniversary of their Golf GTI. In this ad, they symbolically represent the horse as horsepower and a tiny jockey to show the driver. This clearly shows that there is a lot of horsepower for such a compact car.

This package design represents Representational visual information. It uses the idea of being a consumer, but packages it in a box as if getting credit for shopping can't usually be seen physically. I like that it even comes iwth a paper cut of a Gucci purse.

This is an example of Abstraction. It is an advertisement for an art festival that uses the concept of having to wear 3D glasses, except in this case, you don't need 3D glasses since each color is its own layer of an image. From my point of view, I believe the blue layer is a picture of a lion and the pink is a child.

Week 13

There are many things that I want to dab into for Visual Design Communication. Can you tell which two I'm interested from looking at these pictures above?

I'm interested in Package Design and Advertising. Ever since I can remember (more like middle school), I have always been very passionate in advertising. I used to rip advertisements from magazine that I thought were clever. I still have a large pile of them in my room back in home. Since I have two older brothers, one of them who is very passionate about cars, Volkswagen is a big influence. Ever since I was little, my oldest brother has been lecturing to me about cars and since my family is very into European cars, Volkswagen just happened to be something that was part of my childhood. I always thought that Volkswagen advertisements were very clever and simple to understand. The layout of their advertisements are very nice. They are very visually driven, but they have enough text to support their pictures.

The other picture is of some creative package design that I thought was quite interesting since I am Chinese and at the moment, I am learning how to write in Chinese characters. So, nice concept for package design plus Chinese makes my day! In a way, Package Design is very similar to Printed Advertisements because they are both trying to appeal to their audience. The same amount of thought goes into both. To me, I think the only contrast between the two is that package design is something that can be kept if it is a good and durable. Where as, an advertisement is trying to sell you the product or image. Though, neither can go against the world market alone. Package Design is like the extra touch for your final decision.

Week 12

(Source: Packagings of the World)

I'll start with this package design first. This package design demonstrates good use of contrast because the use of only two colors is simple and doesn't distract from the text. Instead, it emphasizes on the point they are trying to sell, "Focus + Clarity." The shapes created with the dual-tone creates depth and makes you believe that you can see far and with great clarity.

(Source: Ads of the World)

I think this advertisement is quite interesting, but at the same time, it does not do a good job in contrasting. The colors are too bland and nothing really stands out. From the advertisement, I get the idea that someone likes to use plastic bags for everything, instead of washing dishes. I don't really believe that is the main point, but because there is not much contrast in color, I don't understand what the advertisement is trying to say visually.

Week 11

Part 1:

Part 2:

(Source: Ads of the World)

The first picture is an example of Implied Motion in Design because the photograph is a bit blurry and using cues, you can tell that the kids are wrestling with each other which is motion. Implied Motion is important because it draws your attention to detail and can make things easy to picture in one's head. Also, if this advertisement didn't reveal motion, then the accompanying text would have no effect or appeal to our eyes. This advertisement is very visually driven because the text only makes up less than 10% of the spread. The motion also allows for our eyes to wander towards the movement, towards the text.

The second picture is of an advertisement involving littering on campus. There's so much trash on the map. Because of the actual size of things, it navigates your eye around the map. I suppose that the map of so-called place named "Centrum" does not serve any purpose because the main idea is that there is trash everywhere. But, the map adds an emphasis on that. This advertisement is trying to show that littering on a campus is a big concern, not a minor one. When you see one scrap of trash on the ground, a person may put it off as "Oh, it's just one thing. Not everywhere. This campus is pretty clean..." but in reality, when all the littered pieces are put in a collective whole, it is quite a lot of littering. This advertisment does a good job on revealing the naked truth about littering.

Week 10: Extra Credit #2

(Source: The Dieline)

The concept of this package design is by Steve Haslip, a graphic designer from Wivelsfield Green, England. According to Haslip, the concept of this package came out of wanting to have unwrinkly t-shirts, since most shirts that you buy online are always wrinkled and sometimes we just run out of coat hangers to hang them up. So this package makes it sustainable and reusable.

I think that the size perception of this is nice because it's portable and seems simple to use. I always buy t-shirts online from Threadless, so the concept makes sense. Plus, it permits people to become more aware of making more things sustainable and reusing packages. (Yay, saving trees!) The cues that may be used in this package are proximity, color, and shape. There is a good enough proximity between the mailing address section and the logo, as well as the instructions. The main colors are green, white, and brown which emphasize on its recyclable nature. The shape is slightly rounded when mailed, which reduces the amount of material used in packaging.

Week 10: Extra Credit #1

(Source: The Dieline)

This design was made by a Spanish design student, Nuria Herrero, who recently did a project with "Herederos de López-Montero" wine. He created three labels for the three types of wine they offer.

In the picture above are:
- Young wine (2008)
- Aging wine (2006)
- Vintage wine (1989)

The dominance of the color black is significant to the depth because it doesn't distract your attention from what is visible and important. Also, the colors Nuria Herrero implements, brings a strong contrast to the color. The colors used in each bottle are indicated on the very top of the bottle, making it easy to identify what type of wine it is, whether it be young, aging, or vintage. I think that this design is simple enough to understand and easy to spot when looking at a grocery store. It's a very modern approach for wine package design.

Week 10

(Source: Ads of the World)

The Mercedes-Benz ad for their car, Sprinter, is a good example of using depth. The ad requires that you use depth cues to be able to read this. If you can interpret these depth cues, then you will find that the letters aren't just to make a nice advertisement nor are they random letters. The letters slowly grow smaller and smaller, and spell out to be G-O-O-D-S. This shows that the Sprinter is able to pack a lot of goods, big and small. As well as packing the goods, they give a good visual to showing how much of a difference Mercedes-Benz's 7.30m car will help with your needs. I think it is also a good example of good use of Typography, which is normally not a key element to selling you a car.

Week 9: Extra Credit #3

(Source: Ads of the World)

I just saw this on the Ads of the World website. Monopoly advertisements! I've never seen Monopoly advertised before. I always thought that it was given that everyone had a Monopoly board game in their home. If not, then you were obviously not in the loop.

Anyways, it took me a bit to understand why the advertisements were in these red and green settings, but it all makes sense now! Do you get it?

Remember playing monopoly and building hotels on there. Yeah, do you recall the colors of those little houses? They were red and green. If you didn't get what color represented what, well... it pretty much is shown on the advertisements above. The red is of course, cheaper than staying in the green one. I think you also have to have 4 red ones in order to get a green one. I don't really remember....

I think the colors are a nice touch to the advertisement and definitely makes you think about it too. You know that it's not reality to have a place that is all red and all green. (My mom tells me that having a red bedroom makes a person unable to sleep... not sure if that's true, but I'm definitely not allowed to have a red room *sigh*) But, the advertisement makes you believe that it's realistic for you to "own it all" with the colors.

Week 9: Extra Credit #2

(Source: Packagings of the World)

Can you tell what this package is about? It's Hand Sanitizer. What makes this hand sanitizer different from other hand sanitizing companies? It's the package design, of course! Since we are now in the age of all being about ORGANIC. This package is very relevant since it uses the color Green and White. Plus, the name is "Clean Well." What we're used to seeing are hand sanitizing packages that are in a transparent container, but if sometimes the transparency of the package makes me feel like even if I try to get bacteria off my hands, it will still be on the hand sanitizing package; the dirt will leave a mark with my handprint on the package. So, how does that make me feel like the hand sanitizing product killed 99.9% of my germs? It's still visible! That's why, I think this package is nice because it's not transparent. It's white. The color, white, gives me a clean, fresh feel. The package design is very simple which also makes me think it's easy to use and open and something that isn't trying to overdesign itself with all the unnecessary clutter of colors and labels. The package is down to earth and will get my hands clean, as well as safe for kids! Now, that's all that is important!

Week 9: Extra Credit #1

(Source: UsuabilityPost)

In this post, I want to talk about Logo design. As you can see in this chart above, choosing the color for the logo is essential for adding that extra assurance or message to your company or brand. Take Starbucks Coffee for example, their logos are seen twice on this chart. Their old logo brown and white. They also used a circular shape to represent maybe a more feminine look to match the mermaid in the center of the logo. From what the chart says, brown represents more of a earthy, fall, warm, romantic, colonial... etc. feel. Do you think that matches what Starbucks is about? Sure! (I don't really drink coffee so I don't know) They definitely give me that warm feel since it's coffee and I guess coffee beans is pretty earthy to me... it is brown after all. So it would make sense to imply the color to their logo since that's what the majority of their products are.

Then, their latest logo, which is the green, black, and white logo. There is still a mermaid, but it's more of an upclose portrait shot of her. She is also centered by the circle rings that surround her, giving her importance to this logo. The green, now on the outside, of the mermaid gives it an earthy feel as well. Green is supposed to represent a more environmental friendly, natural, and organic, as well showing trust. The hue of the green is also relevant because you don't want a bright green to represent Starbucks? What message would that give you? Oh, yess... Starbucks Coffee makes you want to blind you with their puke green-ness. Yes, they are so green~ NO! They want something that is going to make you feel like everything is natural, so they choose a dark green, more like a forest green to represent their ring of trust?

Week 9: Color

(Source: TheDieline)

I think that when it comes to package design, the colors used is initially as important as how organic the package is. The photographs above are package designs for fruit juice, made by Naoto Fukasawa. Color is really important for selling things, since you wouldn't want to sell strawberry or banana juice in a brown package, but it would probably be okay if you were selling coconut juice. Our world is rich with color so why wouldn't we touch up our package designs with colors that correlate?

In Fukasawa's designs, the colors are organic. What I mean is, that they are the same vibrant colors that the actual fruits are. One of the things mentioned in Dondis Chapter 3 is texture. And Fukasawa very well shows or well, lets you feel a faux texture of the fruit. How real can this package get! Texture is important because we not only look at the color of things, but we also feel with our own hands. If you were at a grocery store, trying to pick out what types of fruit. What would you look for in getting good quality, fresh fruit? You would probably look at the hue of the fruit color and you'd feel the texture or hold it to see if its squishy. If it's brownish and you can feel it getting squished in your hands, you most likely aren't going to buy it.

Another visual element is the shape. As you can see in the photograph, the banana juice package is not the same as the strawberry and coconut juices. I don't believe it's possible to recreate the shape of a banana in a juice package design, only because the user interface or ergonomics of the shape would not be practical for storing and shipping. Plus, would you really want a banana shaped juice box? (Okay, well that might be cool, but very unrealistic)

Week 8: Package Design

Yesterday, I was at Safeway trying to buy toothpaste since I had just run out of it. Before getting to the toothpaste aisle, I thought, oh this decision will be so easy. I like Aquafresh, so I will just pick up some of that on my way out. To much of my disbelief, I ended up spending quite a long time making a decision between the different types of Aquafresh, thanks to the different package designs for their products.

You'd think that making a choice in toothpaste would be as simple as before because there's only one type of toothpaste and everyone uses it, but it's not like that anymore. The main competition between different toothpaste brands is all about PACKAGE DESIGN. I'm not sure if all consumers are like this, but speaking for myself, I look for two things when it comes to buying something: 1) affordability; is it worth what it says it's worth? and 2) package design; is it appealing visually?

In my opinion, I think the second thing is the most important for determining which package of toothpaste I want to buy. First thing you notice is the colors of the package. If you were trying to market toothpaste to the masses, how would you make it appealing? Bright colors. Colors that are crisp and have to do with your product; something that will make you think that if you buy this product, your teeth are going to be white! Then, what else are you going to use? Maybe you can make the box sparkly to show that if you use this product, your teeth are not only going to be white and clean, but you will be able to blind people with your beautiful, white, smile.

Then, there's scale of the package. Where do you want to place the text? How big will the text be compared to maybe, a photograph of the toothpaste on the package? Will you include an actual scaled size of toothpaste or will you scale it down to make it more text-driven? These are some of the things you need to consider. In most toothpaste package designs, people include large text one-worders, like CLEAN, EXTREME, WHITENING, ADVANCED, MINT, COOL, PROVEN, etc. in order to attract a person's eye who is looking to find one of these characteristics in their own toothpaste. Also, there is the logo. Will people know that this is your product without looking at your logo because of the colors or is your brand very new to the industry and need to find some way to get brand loyalty?

Movement is another big one. You want what is seen on the package of toothpaste to be visually pleasant, enough to draw the eye to other information on the package. Since most of the western hemisphere reads language from left to right, you can't make your package going right to left. It needs to follow the flow of what your future consumers are like.

Week 6

(Source: Ads of the World)

This ad poster was for Brazil's CVV Suicide Prevention Center. Their tagline is "Help yourself." I think what attracts me the most to this poster is the cut out of a man falling out, but at the same catching himself. Although the cut out is at the bottom-right, the advertisement is still very balanced because of the textual information on the top-left. This advertisement also uses the relationship between positive and negative very well.

(Source: Lawrence Yang)

As the artist, Lawrence Yang, illustrated the new Pepsi logo, this is also what I think of when I see the new Pepsi logo. I am not a very big fan of the redesign for the logo; it also irritates me whenever I'm at Powell Muni Station and I see all the advertisement posters for Pepsi and you can't forget the large poster of it right by Chinatown. It's so large, how can you miss it? Yes, the logo tries hard to make a new MODERN and MINIMAL statement for Pepsi and I know that each type of soda that they provide has a similar logo, but the width of the white space in the middle is a bit different. Originally, it is supposed to resemble a face grinning or something like that, but I don't see it as that because in my mind, I feel like the new Pepsi logo is giving the statement that only people who are already overly-Obese drink their products or, this is what you will end up looking like after religiously drinking Pepsi. I don't think that's a good way to portray Pepsi, if they want to sell more.

Week 5

(Source: Lili Light)

-Simple

-Minimalistic

-Close Proximity

-Decorative

-Personal

-Lights

-Able to see

-Not distracting to others around you who want to sleep

-Minimizes bed table space

-Can store books or things you want to remember

-Top of light can keep the page of the book or magazine you are reading

-When book is placed on top of light, light turns off automatically.

-When book is taken off the stand, light turns on so you can read

-Less materials used to mass produce

-His/Her area

-No clutter

-Balanced, but edgy at the same time

-Good for couples

-Good for book lovers

Week 4

From the looks of the puzzles, my friend and I, both started from the left side (the tail of the cat) and went from there. I think it was easy to go in a trail-like way because then you wouldn't lose count. 

Week 3

(Source: http://omaribarra.tumblr.com/post/53905108)

I think this advertisement for Durex is very effective. Using Visual Search, you first think in your head, "Awww, it says 'I heart Nancy' or 'I heart Phil'" because of the white font color is so dominant. But then, you realize that there's a subliminal message as well because there is are grey letters as well. Once you make sense of it and read it again, you realize it says "I heart Pregnancy" and "I heart Syphilis." You immediately, think that it's not as sweet and pleasant as you had originally thought. Then, your eye is finally drawn to the logo on the bottom-right corner, with the phrase, "Love is blind." 

This relates to what my intended area of study (I'm not a Sex Ed. major!) because I want to go into Graphic Design, but more towards Marketing-Advertising, the creative/graphic aspect of it. I spend a lot of time looking at different advertisements and analyzing how effective they are. This advertisement is something I feel is very clever with the use of word play; it definitely gets the message across (if you didn't know already, have safe sex--wear a condom!). I would like to work at an advertising agency that is more international, but preferably with China and the rest of the world because I feel like China is one of those countries that needs a little more design help in their ads and commericals. I want to bring it to the next level and I also want to promote a better image for China, since a lot of people find that China in the butt of many issues. I've come to realize that a lot of people are against China, but if you think about it, if you're against China, then why are you promoting them by wearing clothes that says "Made In China"? You can't because almost everything is made there. 

My goal is to change China from "Made in China" to "Designed in China." I also think that once that is accomplished, there will be more positive feedback from people, as well as an improvement to China, in general.