Choosing a Color

Choosing the correct color pallet for a product/brand is an essential process when designing for a company. Each color tells a different story. A designer must know very well what the product or brand is trying to sell in order to pick the correct colors. For instance, when we see gold or silver we link it to royalty and elegance. When we see brown we think of soil and nature. It is very important to choose the correct colors because those colors will represent the product or brand. Colors do have a major influence on consumers.

The Starbucks logo has the color green. Green representing the environment and organic. The image of Starbucks has always been very organic and "green" so the color choice suits the brand's image very well. And when we see the products that are being sold at Starbucks, we mostly see the colors brown, green, and other soothing colors that represent nature. That's the image Starbucks is wanting to sell.

McDonald's colors are mainly red and yellow. We can recognize the sign from a very far distance that this is a McDonald's logo. The colors red and yellow are two very lively colors, usually representing the sun. But red and yellow can also trigger hunger. When we see the signs we immediately think of food due to the color choice. The same with other fast food chains, the mostly include red and yellow in their logos. For example, Carls Jr., Burger King, Jack in the Box, etc. Different genres uses different color choices.

Each color represents different ideas. They all link back to our normal lives and can relate to our daily habits. Designs from advertisements can most likely find colors to be of great help to the design process and can be much more appealing to consumers.

Sustainable Design --- Nathan Shedroff

Guest speaker Nathan Shedroff gave a thorough presentation on sustainable innovation. In the very beginning he explains that Design, Sustainability, and Business all connect with each other. When put together, makes meaning and experience in all fields. Many questions arouse from sustainability. What is a more sustainable world look like? What is a more meaningful world look like? What is a post-consumer world look like? All these questions yet we do not have an answer. But we need to. And that is what design is for, to create answers to all these unanswerable questions. A sustainable design also has to consider multiple factors such as financial, social, and ecological factors.

As we saw in Nathan Shedroff's presentation:

"In a stable economy, sustainability is the competitive advantage strategy. In a down economy, sustainability is the turnaround strategy. In a collapse, sustainability is a survival strategy." Hunter Lovins, 2009

There is no such thing as sustainable design. But there is such thing as more sustainable design. "Don't design things today that make tomorrow worse."

We always go back to the iphone because it was such a successful sustainable design. It's fashionable, some what "affordable", it's portable, and it can substitute as a phone, mp3 player, camera, watch, GPS, planner, etc. Instead of bringing 5 billion different devices, we only need one iphone to substitute it all.

OBJECTIFIED

The film Objectified showed many industrial designers from around the world. To paraphrase all their messages together: "Industrial designs' goal is to produce mass production." Which is true, the whole goal of industrial design is to produce copies of their designs and send them out to the world. Every design has a meaning behind it. Every design tells a story. As stated by the film, a good design is innovative, honest, consistent in every design, and should have as little design as possible. Design is to search for form.

What does it meant to search for form? A design with form will drive consumers to buy that design. It could be the way it looks, how useful it is, if it's comfortable, etc.

The film talks a lot about industrial designs and the processes of making each objects. The process of designing each object mainly focuses on what the consumers want and what the consumers need. For instance, the grip handle on the cutting utensils. They first marked down all the pressure points that were used when using the utensils. They went through a process of producing different grip handles to test out to see if it satisfied their initial goal.

Design today needs to think of the consumers' wants and needs in order to produce a successful design. Because in society today, many objects that are sold today depends on supply and demand of the consumers. Take the ipod/iphone for example, why is their product so successful in the market? Because it is innovative, people can afford it, there are many choices for different age groups, and they have everything you need in one little gadget. No wonder the Apple company is on top of the list!

picture from apple.com

Abstract Art

What is abstract art? If asked, many people would say, "art that's kinda random...", "confusing, no true meaning behind it." Is that true? Is abstract art "random"? "no meaning"? The answer is no, it's not true. Many abstract art are well planned and intended to be that way. They all have a meaning behind it. Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. An example of a very famous abstract artist is Piet Mondrian. His most recognized works are abstract paintings of colored squares, rectangles, and thick black lines. He began all is paintings in a grid-like format, coloring squares and rectangles in mostly solid colors.

This painting of squares and rectangles have already been evolved several times before it finally looked like this. His most famous works are painted primarily with the colors red, yellow, and blue, as well as black and white. In this version of the piece we see the used of double and triple lines in which he had never used before. And then led to another major adjustment to his piece. Mondrian painted smaller squares between several lines without any black bounding their edges. Throughout the different adjustments of his pieces, we can see a change in direction in his life that reflects in his paintings.

We may not be able to find the true meaning behind each painting, only the painter itself knows. But from these abstract paintings we do see that each line and color was as intentional as modern design we see today. Abstraction is just another way to escape reality and express emotions in a very different way. Even today, artists and designers use abstraction to achieve the utopian world they long to strive for.

Color Theory by Albers

In the book Interaction of Colors by Josef Albers, it mentions several times that "color is the most relative medium in art." As Albers stated in one of the chapters of his book, different people have different perception of the same color. For instance, if fifty people were to pick out the color "green", there would most likely be fifty different shades of green that we

re picked out. Albers used this example to prove that it is close to impossible to remember distinct colors. He underlines the important fact that "the visual memory is very poor in comparison with our auditory memory." Albers often compares colors with poetry and music. He stated "colors and hues are defined, as are tones in music, by wave lengths."

Lets look at one of the plates from the book:

Colors can be very deceiving. It is very difficult to single out a color by itself and not seeing them as an interaction with the surroundings. In this picture, we know that both grids in the middle are the exact same shades of green. But why does our eyes see differently. This is the magic of colors, they can be deceiving. The background color changes from yellow to a darker color. The green is interacting with the background color in which it was placed on. Each color influences the green differently and that is why we see the green grid to appear so different from each other when in fact it is the same.

Another color deceiving image here. In our minds we see four different colored squares with a folded transparent square on top. The transparent square is nothing but different shades of colors put on top of the original colors. It works as a transparent square because it interacted with its surrounding colors and created the effect in which our mind perceives it as a transparent square instead of different shades of colors.

Design today manipulates colors to "deceive" our minds. Make up is a great example of color deceiving. Different shades of eye shadows work against the different shades of skin colors creating different effects with the eyes.

Picture from lancome.co.uk

REPETITION repetition

As we've learned in the Gestalt Theories, repetition can be one of the elements that creates unity within a design. The concept of repetition sounds simple, but knowing how to use it correctly requires further knowledge of the concept.

If each object repeated itself identically throughout the whole design, the design would be very "boring", it wouldn't be able to capture the viewers' eye

s right away. To create a successful design using repetition, objects in the design should be repeated with different angles, different colors, different sizes, etc. That way, the viewers' eyes can flow in and out of the piece thinking, "Hmmm...this object looks familiar but different at the same time." The more they think about the design the more successful that design is.

Lets take a look at Andy Warhol's famous pop art of Marilyn Monroe.

Even though the image of Marilyn Monroe doesn't change throughout the grids, the color change creates that unity that connects all the grids together. The different colors represent different moods in each grid, being able to capture the essence of the whole design.

Now lets take a look at a more complicated piece of artwork.

This is also a grid design, but notice how the object is not the same in each grid. However repetition still takes place in this design. Notice in different grids, the shapes and lines repeats throughout each grid.

Many designs in society today use this technique to create "unity", for instance, many commercial advertisements uses repetition. We see that the graphics on gift cards repeats itself. Repetition can be a great technique to designers, if known to use it correctly.

IMAGINE NATION

Design revolves around our imaginations, or "thinking outside the box". New designs need to pop out and "wow" the audience. Make them have a second look and have them think about the designs. The more "different" the design is from other designs, the more we tend to stare at the design and go "hmmm...what does this design mean?" The more people staring/thinking at your design, the more "successful" your design is.

picture from: xcitefun.net

As we look at this picture, we find it fascinating that this picture seems so REAL! The tearing up of the artwork serves as a rhythm to flow the viewers' eyes in and out of the drawing. The creativity of this piece "wowed" me the first time i saw it. Having the person in the drawing taping back the torn up drawing is ingenious. This is "thinking outside the box!"

Designers/artists manipulate this "wow factor" in order to capture attention. In order to find this "wow factor" they have to use their imaginations and create different/unique projects for the audience to go "WOW! that is awesome! I would've never thought of that!" We live in a world where all kinds of imaginations are possible, or what I like to call it, the Imagine Nation.

HA PPYS LI P :)

When we were watching the video of happyslip in class, I was fascinated with the humor and how "right" she is with the advertisement on the home security infomercial. Her videos can be easily related because she involves REAL PEOPLE in her videos.

When she was in class the other day, she talked a lot about feedback and networking. As a creative designer, we must learn from feedbacks from others, positive and negative. Negative feedbacks are what helps a designer improve on his/her projects. Networking helps broaden a designer's circumference of people to make his/her work universal. Christine Gambito talked about viral marketing and how it helped her get to where she is now.

One more thing she emphasized about was: as a creative artist, one must find inspirations from anywhere and everywhere. Find creativity outside of yourselves. Be "unfashionable" as Housefield says. Do what you want to do and don't have people stop you from doing it. That's what happyslip is about. That's what design is about.

picture taken from: http://www.chareyes.com/blog/2009/03/22/happyslip/

As we look at the quilts that were being displayed in the Nelson Art Gallery, we see a similarity in all the quilts. They all have a sense of pattern and rhythm.

Lets take the far right blue quilt for example. We see a repetition of pattern throughout the quilt. The pattern repeats itself in different directions and with different shades of color, forming a rhythm in the quilt. The rhythmic pattern emphasizes the color contrast between each stripes in each directions.

For this quilt, there are two different patterns. The outer "border" repeats with different thickness of lines. The outside squares captures the importance of the inner squares because there is a huge color contrast between the two. The four squares in the center of the quilt ultimately have the same pattern throughout, but they are all filled with different colors. These four squares are the staccatos of this design.

Design today also manipulates patterns and rhythms to establish and emotional response in the viewers.

picture from: kaboodle.com

The shirt uses repeated patterns and vibrant colors for their design.

OLD versus NEW

Why is that the designs from previous centuries are so much different than the designs now? There are many answers to that questions, but for now we will discuss only a few.

Technology. The new and improved technology allows us to move further with designing a graphic, product, space, architecture, etc. Back then, all designs were hand-drawn or were from very limited technological resources. Now we have multiples of applications in our computers to help make the process easier and less tedious. These applications include illustrator, photoshop, indesign, etc.

The change in demand. People back then and people now want different things. They view things differently. This can also be called "generation gap". Design has evolved to fit the wants and needs of current issues. Just like how businessmen have to think of supply and demands of consumers, as designers we also have to think of our clients and audiences. We want to make things appeal to as much people as we can.

Three D

Three dimensional designs are different than two dimensional designs. Not just the fact that they are different dimensions, but they have different perspectives on how to view the designs. When designing a three dimensional object, we have to follow the rule of two/three point perspectives. There is always a horizon line and a vanishing point.

Buildings are examples of 3D designs. Architects spend most amount of time focusing on the perspectives of the design. What can capture the viewers' eyes and be stable for the design to be created.

The Gestalt theory says that proximity, repetition, and continuity can create unity in a design. Most successful designs we see today have used these elements in their designs to capture audiences. Most, if not all, commercial designers work hard to achieve the balance between these elements of unity.

Gestalt Theory

2D DESIGNS

The Gestalt theory focuses on the perception of unity. In many designs, the audiences have different perceptions in viewing the designs.

Take this picture for example. In this painting, there is more than one focal point. The three pumpkins are the focal points of this painting because the viewers’ eyes go straight to the pumpkins. Even though the pumpkin has been repeated throughout the painting, the angles, sizes, and shapes of each pumpkin are different from another, but yet it is recognizable that all three of those are the focal points of the piece. The proximity of the objects is located near the center of the painting with the fabric and lines working as a unity between each pumpkin. The fabric allows viewers to flow their eyes to one object to another, making the whole design flow. The color choice of the background and cloth doesn't fight with the focal points so the focal points can stand out.

The elements of the Gestalt theory work as a base for designers to create unity in their designs. For instance, advertisements we see on billboards, magazines, etc. all have unity within the design.

Image from: Gage Academy of Art. By John Rizzotto. http://www.gageacademy.org/adult/?page=classes&subpage=classes_painting

In the Tool Box

Outside the Box

As a designer it is important to find things outside of yourself, to collect more references when creating the next design. It could be anything from nature to buildings to people or even the art tool box sitting right next to you.

For this particular oil pastel drawing the artist first came up with the overall idea of what is going to go on the paper, for example: color choice, composition, which objects to use, etc. The color choice the artist chose was purple with a complimentary yellow to balance out the colors. The objects are different sizes, never the same size with another object. All the different tools in the drawing flows well with one another. The complimentary colors were used at a 8 to 2 ratio (Purple to Yellow).

Many little things can spark a designer's imagination to think outside of him/herself. Not every designer may agree to the above statement, there is ALWAYS an argument against everything, but I must say this, "without inspirations there will be no design."

Drawing By: Joey Yao

Stone Soup

"Hangover"

Most of the time design is about teamwork. Working through compromises between everyone's ideas. Through the design process as a team, arguments are bound to appear, but the important thing is to know how to work around these arguments and come to a compromise between one and other.

Stone soup was a great example of designing with a team. Each group were limited to time and resources. Coming up with a design out of pine cones, branches, soda cans, etc. can be very difficult. Each member had to brainstorm ideas of what the procedures might be and at the end decide what to go forward with and what to leave behind. Sometimes less is more. Knowing when to stop is a great key to a successful design.

Communication plays a great role in teamwork. Good communication skills are bound to end in a great result. Even though each designer have their perspective on things, it is always good to listen to others' opinions because those opinions might influence them one day.

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy

Many creators find inspirations outside of themselves. Andy Goldsworthy for example is one of the many great creators that uses outside elements from around nature to create his designs/artworks.

Andy Goldsworthy uses elements of nature as his medium of art. In this particular sculpture, the audience can see the composition of the rocks versus the tree branches in the middle. The placement of the tree branches in the hole flows outwards towards the borders on each side flowing the audiences' eyes to the rocks. Even though the rocks seem to box in the tree branches in the middle, it doesn't give a sense of too compressed, because the rocks are placed with spacial consideration; they are not placed too close to the border line giving off a sense of space.

Most designs we see today are represented by inspirations outside of the designers. Things they see, smell, feel, etc. can be put into their designs to make that connection with the audiences.

Image from: http://graememitchell.com/blog/andy-goldsworthys-sculpture

Ileona

Ileona

In this design, Ileona (Stand Up) by Phil Choo, the typography was based on the lyrics of a famous Korean song, Ileona. This design is different compared to his other designs in the exhibition. This piece contains only typography of Korean characters. The characters are in mainly two different sizes; the same phrase in each line is represented by having the characters standing up. There is a great sense of depth in this design, things closer to you are bigger and things farther away are smaller. Phil Choo also uses a different approach in this particular design. He uses a different perspective on the plane of the design.

The plane starts from the lower left corner and flows all the way up towards the upper right corner. Instead of having everything flat, he shapes the characters so that it appears to be on a curved surface. He also gave the Korean characters that are standing up cast shadows. This creates a sense of three-dimensional form to the whole design.

Sometimes a very simple design can be embellished with little things such as two/three point perspectives, cast shadows, etc. A design can actually come to life by just adding these simple elements.

dream of a goose

Dream of a Goose

In this particular design, Phil Choo based the design on a popular Korean song called “Dream of a Goose”.

Phil Choo uses shapes and lines to create the figure of a goose, he didn't just draw out a goose, he used different shapes and colors to create a goose figure. He also uses typography to create lines and space around the goose. The typography in the design helps balance out the picture; it creates positive and negative space throughout the whole canvas. The typography ties the whole design together with the goose in the middle.

Compared to other designers, Phil Choo tends to base his designs on typography of Korean characters and non-recognizable shapes. After putting all the elements together, a goose comes out of the picture.

According to the lyrics to the song, the design is supposed to illustrate the idea of dreams intimidated by reality. “The goose in the middle implies that the big bird is flying over barriers.”

Design today tends to lean on simplicity and abstract drawings. Design evolved throughout time based on the interpretations of design from different generations. Many designers now involve typography art as part of their designs.

hangul exhibition

hangul exhibition

When I first walked in to the Design Museum in Walker Hall, I’ve noticed the dimmed lighting and the dark blue walls all around. The lighting and choice of color on the walls made each artwork stand out to the audience. There was also a big divider towards the middle of the entrance, allowing viewers to walk around it and explore the artworks that were placed in the back.

As I walked around the museum, reading the signs next to the artworks, I’ve noticed many of the designs that were shown were based on Korean songs and traditional folk dances. Designers, Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo, mostly used typography as their main focus of each design. They both placed cultural songs and meanings of the songs into each design. From the design, even if we cannot understand the Korean characters, we can grasp the meaning behind each piece of design and what it meant to Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo.

Most of the time, designers will have designs based on things that influenced them from cultural backgrounds such as: family traditions, songs, religion, etc. These designs can be very appealing to the audience in our multicultural world today.