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.