First of for the ITB interview promo

and also i’ll add my Portfolio photos when i get a chance.

So to finish up my blog i added a custom header, it’s a photo from my holiday in Greece a few years back, i thought i should put a bit of warmth on my page since its freeeezing outside. I also added a flickr and twitter feed to my page.

I still have to finish my website, my promo interview and my photography portfolio along with a few other bits and pieces i’ll upload these to when im all done and dusted….

so before I go I thought id leave you with some pics of the crew, well most of them , we had fun so far can’t wait to see what happens next….

Typographic Portrait

“Typography is a visual graphic language when it is used creatively and expressively. As a form, type contains the design elements of line, shape, texture, size and value and can be arranged into graphic, compositions.”

The first part of our typography assignment was to sketch portrait of ourselves into our notebooks. It was too hard to keep looking in a mirror to sketch myself so i found a photo of my self and tried my best to sketch that instead heres what i got…….

Based on our sketch we were den to redo the image using letters and numbers, we could use magazine, newspapers, via Photoshop or illustrator, and by hand. And since i still have no idea how to use the adobe features i went with my best instinct and hand done the assignment

So i thought the best way to do this was to draw a quick outline as a guide…..

….and den i splashed on the letters

I used words like, Shauna, lee, brennan, me, creative, intelligence, live, laugh, love and smile.. I thought using my name and a few words to describe me worked best. I also used colour to make it more interesting.

hope you like it

to finish of I thought I’d add some really cool typographic portraits I found on the net

Heres an awesome video i found using typography

Our journey began with Typefaces, a typeface is a complete alphabet (letters numbers & characters) in a single design. A font is a typeface in a particular size and style.

History of typefaces

• The origin of letters
• Roman capitals
• Uncial script
• Half-uncial script
• Carolingian minuscule
• Humanist script
• Gothic script
• Venetian antiqua

There are two basic groups of typefaces, serif and sans-serif..

Serif has decorative embellishments on the ends of character lines were as sans-serif had no embellishments and is the more modern of the two. Usually sans-serif would be used on  web design, and serif in books.

The anatomy of a letter form consists of a

• Stem
• Baseline
• Ascender
• Descender
• Counter
• Serif
• X-height
• Bowl

An important part of typography is the readability, our eyes scan a script of text and mainly focus on every few words ‘saccadic movement’. Also line spacing is important,  you gotta make sure it’s easy to read. ideally you should have no more than 60 words per line or 35-45 on the web.

There are 4 different column set-ups to choose from..

• flush left
• flush right
• centered
• justified

Kerning is to adjust the space between to letters

So i thinks thats enough said about that, it’s not terribly interesting…. so on to our last assignment :O  we were asked to sketch our portrait and den redo the same image using typography so basically we have to draw our portrait with letter, id much rather do it on illustrate instead of hand doing it this time just to mix it up a bit, after all it s a digital media course…….

I’ll upload my assignment when im done  bye-bye

The Gestalt Principles

Gestalt is a psychology term which means “unified whole”. It refers to theories of visual perception developed by German psychologists in the 1920s. These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied. These principles are:

Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.

When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasised if it is dissimilar to the others. This is called anomally.

Continuation

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Closure

Closure occurs when an object is incomplete or a space is not completely enclosed. If enough of the shape is indicated, people percieve the whole by filling in the missing infomation.

Proximity

Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group.

No proximity…(seperate)

Close proximity….. (together)

Figure and Ground

The eye differentiates an object form its surrounding area. a form, silhouette, or shape is naturrally perceived as figure (object), while the surrounding area is perceived as ground (background).

Balancing figure and ground can make the perceived image more clear. Using unusual figure/ground relationships can add interest and sublety to an image.

Most of the information on this blog post was taken from here.

Not much was done in the labs today .

Also this we we had the photo soc exhibition….. heres some of my fave photo’s from the day 

The Brief: Signs and symbols all around us are just that, signs and symbols, and not things themselves, we can come to take for granted. The media provide a flood of different,sometimes contradictory signs, symbols, narratives, and myths, and codes. You are tasked with composing three celebrity portraits (use the same celebrity image for all three)supporting a myth or ideology associated with three different statements:

• I am feminine
• I am evil
• I am wealthy
• I am popular
• I am masculine

First of i looked at the various statements and brainstormed them

Masculine:

muscles, strong, fighting, war, rough, tough, bold, mean, cold, hard, stubborn,childish, ego, immature, stupidity, cruel, selfish, gym, dogs, loud, cars, blue, sqaure, sharp, batman, superman, cool, slick , big, dark hero, james bond,
charming, handsome, prince, king, white horse, david beckham, power, farther

I am Feminine:

quiet, soft-spoken, bitchy, focused, beauty, hair, clothes, shoes, cleaning, kitchen, pink, flowers, hearts, soft, Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, small, round, narrow, bouncy, wonder woman, cat woman, fluffy, puffy, twinkle, star, glow, Megan Fox, clever, diva, bright, colourful, cute, gentle,princess, queen, beautiful, fertility, birth, mother, laughter, bubbly

I am Evil:

hell, fire, mean , cruel, war, fighting, monster, disease, poison, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, devil, Ouija board, ghost, society, people, bullying, red, black, dark, sharp, bold lost, afraid, terrified, loud, scary, menacing bombs, killing, guns

I am Wealthy:

money, gold, silver, green, paper, mansion, cars, holidays, gadgets, diamonds, celebs, famous, red carpet, rich catwalk, fashion, models, music, rappers, bling, 50 cent, business, entrepreneur, franchise Mac Donalds, Brown Thomas, mines, Sierra Leone, youth, hollywood, america, dreams, lotto, millionaire

I am popular:

mean girls, pink, purple, long hair, gorgeous, america, clicks, cool, liked, envied, resentment, jealous, bitchy girls, cheerleaders, jocks,money, new, wanted, red, foul, idealised, adored, daring, loved, stand out,different, funny, interesting, pretty, entertaining, red carpet, dresses, photographers, photos

Next up i had to pick a celeb to work on… hmmmmm…??????

Maybe Lady Gaga..?

Or what about Perez Hilton….???

Na!!! Marilyn Monroe it is

“Marilyn Monroe personified Hollywood glamour with an unparalleled glow and energy that enamored the world. Although she was an alluring beauty with voluptuous curves and a generous pout, Marilyn was more than a ’50s sex goddess. Her apparent vulnerability and innocence, in combination with an innate sensuality, has endeared her to the global consciousness. She dominated the age of movie stars to become, without question, the most famous woman of the 20th Century.”

I choose Marilyn because i do believe she has one of the most well-known ‘celeb’ face’s on this earth. Just about everyone knows who she is. I choose this particular picture to work with because it’s a picture of an instantly recognizable famous Monroe photo….

I choose to do a collage instead of Photoshop as i have no experience in Photoshop what so ever and felt the more time I wasted learning it myself the less time i’d have to focus on the assignment itself. I’m glad i stuck with collage i think it turned out really well. I noticed most people who done collage used magazine cut outs i went for something a little different. Part of what was asked was how would an advertiser convince a consumer of a product association with one of these statements? So I had the idea of making the three images into advertisements. Just to make them a little more interesting.

So first of was ‘I am popular’. This one was difficult to incorporate into the image, I
first looked at my brainstorm of ideas, ‘photographers, photos, adored,purple,daring, pretty, stand out’. This is what i came up with….

I wanted Marilyn to be center of attention, all eyes on her. Originally i had silhouette of paparazzi in the background but it flooded the image and took the focus of her, so i simply added cameras flashes. I used star like shapes to symbolise the camera flashes, so even tho you don’t see the paparazzi you no they are there. I used bold striking colours so it would pop out of the page. It is a asymmetrical image. I made it into a camera advertisement, i think it works really well.

Heres some images i used in the image and or as inspiration…..

Next up was ‘I am feminine’. Firstly I looked back on my brainstorm, ‘soft, pink, gentle, flowers, cute, bright, cleaning, kitchen’. Heres what i got….

Feminine

I choose not to draw a black outine on the one, i thought the softer pink lines were more suited to being feminine. I also placed this one on a pink background instead of a white one, which made it more girly and soft. By changing the font to one with flowers it instantly changed the feeling in the image.

Here some images i found that helped me along…..

Thess were very helpful toward a subtile colour pallet. I also came up with the idea of a fabric softener as my advertisement. A tad bit stereotypical but i think it works well. The tag line reads “ Give your clothes a lift, with flower blossom fabric softener”. I gave it a pretty font and bedazzled it with flowers. This like the image before is quite simplistic, but i always believe less is more, i let the few images speak for themselves. This is an asymmetrical image. Main focal point is Marilyn. The washing machine and fabric softener image symbolise cleaning, and the pink and flowers appeal to women.

Last but by no means least ‘ I am Evil’. This was by far my favourite of the three. It was the most fun creatively and the most effective image overall. Brainstormed words, evil, devil, fire, black, red, poison, alcohol, dark, sharp, bold, menacing. Heres what i came up with…..

I set this one on a black back ground, again not much on the background, but less is more. I used fire flames instead of a grate blowing up her dress. I used mainly black and red, bold contrasting colours that are also associated with hell, fire, evil, dark, scary….

Evil

Heres some images i used as guidelines. I decided to do an alcohol advertisement for this one. Originally i thought of Vodka, but i thought black absinthe was more suited. It’s stronger and therefore more dangerous. The tag line reads, ‘bad girls love… Pandor Black Absinthe.

I changed the writing to a more evil font. This image is a drastic change to the other two, the main difference being the colour scheme. I used devil horns to symbolise the devil and evil. I maintained the same composition in all three images, because one it worked really well the first time and second because i wanted colour, symbols, and shapes to do all the talking, i didn’t want to take away from the focus.

• Balance
• Movement
• Contrast
• Emphasis

Balance

• symmetry
• asymmetry

This famous picture is a perfect example of symmetry

This is a movie poster, i think it’s a good example of asymmetry

Contrast

• Size
• Colour
• Shape
• Composition

Thia is a perfect example of contrast in colour

Movement

• line
• repetition
• rhythm

Emphasis

Emphasis is the stressing of a particular area of focus

• Simplicity
• Placement and Scale
• Colour
• Isolation

Semiotics

the study of the relationships among patterns of perception and meaning is called semiotics.

Renee Magritte

This painting was done by Renee Magritte, to show thats it’s not actually a pipe but an image of a pipe…. (hmm deep very deep haha). Margrittes point was we forget that signs ans symbols are all around us, but thats exactly what they are signs ans symbols and not the things themselves.

Signs and Signifiers

A sign is anything that makes meaning, Or in Umberto Eco’s clever formulation: “a sign is anything that can be used to tell a lie.”

Signifier and Signified
A sign is made up of a signifier and a signified…….

Metonymy: one entity is used to stand for another associated entity, most advertisements use metonymy.

We had a look at some creative advertisements on the web heres some of my favourites

“Ideology is a loaded word. It can mean many things. One common meaning of the term is “false consciousness,” i.e. a system of ideas that is a problem because it presents a false picture of the world.”

Class activity……  We brainstormed Masculine

• Muscles
• Strong
• Blue
• Gym
• Football
• Hard
• Bad Ass
• Fighting
• Tough
• Smelly (he he)
• Cheeky
• DIY
• Cars

We were also given some more to think about……

I am feminine, I am weathly, I am intelligent, I am evil, I am popular

That lead us on to our next assignment, we have to compose three celebrity portraits supporting a myth or ideology associated with three different statements:

• I am masculine
• I am feminine
• I am wealthy
• I am intelligent
• I am evil
• I am popular

During our lab class we brainstormed ideas, and came up with the celebrity images we planned on using. I’m thinking either Lady Gaga or Jedward hmmmm..?? We can use Photoshop, illustrator, or collage. Well this assignment should be interesting.

Tha tha tha that’s all folks!