Visual Techniques

 http://designhistorylab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/poster2.jpg

VISUAL TECHNIQUES:

(1) Contrast (2) Balance (3) Simplicity (4) Economy (5) Spontaneity 

(6) Activeness (7) Boldness (8) Accent (9) Flatness (10) Sharpness

 http://www.saudimac.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/ipod_nano_4g.jpg

VISUAL TECHNIQUES:

(1) Harmony (2) Balance (3) Regularity (4) Economy (5) Unity

(6) Activeness (7) Boldness (8) Neutrality (9) Depth (10) Sharpness

Even though both campaign ads are from the same company, Apple, they differ in certain aspects when it comes to Visual Techniques. For example, while the first ad thrives in contrast incorporating a black shadow with the white product, in this case an iPod, with a colorful background. The second ad is colorful indeed, but the colors gradually progress as in a rainbow. This gives it a feel of harmony instead of contrast. Both ads are well balanced, the first one having much emphasis on the right which balances out with the left side that doesn't have much going on. The second ad is well balanced as well because the iPods are all in a line, giving it stability. Also, both ads show economy, activeness, boldness and sharpness. However, they differ when it comes to depth and flatness. The first ad is somewhat flat, it doesn't show much depth. Although the shadow figure shows dimension, being all black takes away from it and makes it look almost flat. Also, the white iPod looks very flat. Likewise, the second ad shows depth by having the objects tucked in behind one another instead of all being right next to each other.

 

CONTRAST

 

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This is a design that demonstrates an effective use of contrast contributing to a successful design using letters to form a shape, in this case a bottle. Although not all of the words are legible, the use of contrast in size and tone make some words stand out more than others, like love. The word love is bigger and darker than the rest, which makes it more noticeable than any other word. This gives me the impression that the designer of this bottle meant for the word love to be the most predominant in the design, in which he succeed. Also, the contrast in color between the black letters and the white space adds to the overall contrast of the design since black and white is the greatest contrast one can have. Overall, this is a good example of contrast since it has more than one contrast element, size, tone and color bring out the important features of the bottle while the rest blend in to define the bottle.    

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/4532/1saksvalentine.jpg

This is a design that demonstrates a lack of poor use of contrast contributing to a failed design using letters to form a shape, in this case a heart. Since there's not much contrast in the design, the wording is not legible. The viewer can tell that there's wording involved within the design, however, the wording itself is really hard to make out since it's intertwined with the rest of the design. If there's wording involved within a design, it is meant to be seen, otherwise, the design speaks for itself. What this design lacks is contrast in tone as well as size. If the wording was a bit darker and bigger/smaller than the rest of the design, it would stand out more but it will still keep the essence it now possesses. However, if the designer wanted to make the wording even more evident and overall make the design stand out more, contrast in color would need to be added. Compare to the design above, which uses the same concept of words making forms, this design fails in the legibility of the wording by not using different elements of contrast to its advantage.

MOVEMENT/MOTION

http://www.turboweb.co.nz/images/125/large/GraphicDesign.jpg

Implied motion is suggested but not actually shown. I believe this graphic depicts implied motion because looking at it literally, it shows a bunch of rectangles in different sizes full of color. However, the way these rectangles are placed in the picture plane, and the way the colors are assembled, it gives off the appearance of motion. The motion is inwards, it sucks you in. It feels like all these colorful rectangles are moving to the center of the picture plane really rapidly. Also, depth contributes to the feel of motion because it gives room for these colorful rectangles to collide inward. There's also a diagonal stress with the direction the colorful rectangles are moving to. Also, it conveys the energy of movement especially in the center where it's mostly busy and thus blurry giving off the impression of a lot of energy concentrating at the particular area. All in all this graphic has a lot of implied movement.

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Implied motion means motion that is suggested but not actually shown. I think this graphic ad shows implied motion although looking at it literally, the shoe is frozen in the middle of this picture plane. However, our eyes tend to look for motion when there's none. By using this fact to its advantage, this ad is effective in portraying implied motion by using a diagonal orientation which makes this shoe seem to be falling in a diagonal matter. Direction is also heavily enhanced in this graphic ad, the shoe seems to be falling from the top left hand corner to the bottom of the right hand corner. The shoe is called Meteors so it makes sense for this graphic ad to imply motion, as a meteor would. The fact that the shoes leaves a glittering trail as it's falling also adds to the movement. As well as the fact that the tip of the shoe is on fire, which implies that the shoe must be going at a very rapid speed, like a meteor. All in all this is also a good example of implied motion and very effective for an ad too.