For this first design, I was required to adhere to basic rules of symmetry in order to create three different levels of hierarchy on the cover. To do so, I took inspiration from the mirror designs used as examples in lab. I made a mirror image of the backdrop of a town and then put and red-black gradient atop it in order to create a textured background. Then, I used a bright yellow in order to create a high level of contrast, but I also used a brighter red to put emphasis on the last word. To create a secondary level of hierarchy, I put two mirror silhouettes of a man in either corner of the page and made them contrasting colors, and then did the same with silhouettes of bayonets to create a tertiary hierarchy. Putting all these elements together, the viewers is first drawn to the center focal point of the bright yellow text, then down to the bright red on the second line, and then finally out and down into the contrasting colors and images in either corner.
For the second design, I was required to create an asymmetrical layout that would move the viewer’s eyes in either a triangular or circular motion. After several designs I wasn’t satisfied with, I decided to create motion by stacking several objects on top of each other and giving each one (besides the polaroid, as it would lay flat on the table) a drop shadow effect to create a 3D feel. I textured the background with a simple wooden table to increase the sense of realism. I then fitted a photo of a mural into a blank polaroid to create a photo, and then wrote the title onto the lip underneath. The photo acts as the first focal point, mainly due to its central location and striking imagery. After blending the two layers, I made it look as if the words had been written onto the polaroid with fresh ink. This creates the second focal point with the high contrasting colors. The final focal point is created by “scribbling” the author’s name onto the blade of the knife using the same technique as before. With these three points, the viewer’s eyes move from center, to bottom, to upper middle, and then back to center. Thus, a triangle.
For this assignment, I was required to make four different designs, two pairs revolving around two different subjects. For the first pair, the main focus was with typesetting and the decisions I made concerning font type, size, color, and spacing. For the second pair, my main focus was on which information was organized where, as well as how to space words and letters in order to use the space on the poster in the most economical and appealing way. Some other aspects I had to focus on while designing was groupings, contrasts, and iconography.
For the first design, I was constrained to several requirements; the paragraphs had to be left-aligned on a white background, and the letters had to be grayscale. Furthermore, no images could be used. Otherwise, I had total liberty as to how I would convey the required information. To do so, I created a three-tiered hierarchy of information based on what I believed to be most important, and the three paragraphs follow this hierarchy. These create three different groupings on the page. To ensure that I had three different type encodings, I decided to size what I deemed to be the most specific factor (1 million) one size larger than the rest of the words, as well as making them all caps. I did the opposite for the last group, making the link one size smaller so as to not make the call to action so demanding to the viewer.
Module 2 Case Study
The instructions for this design were mostly similar to the first, however I was required to align the paragraphs either center, right, or justified, as well as having a non-white background and using colored letters. I attempted to use center alignment at first, however I felt that I left too much open space across the page and risked creating windows. I then moved the wording to a right alignment, which I feel avoids these issues and better grasps the viewers attention with the unorthodox style. I decided to use a green background, because the topic at hand revolves around conservation and environmentalism; I feel that light green evokes similar ideas. I knew that I wanted to have the one million factor and “trafficked” colored in red to stand out to the reader and create a contrast that emphasized the facts. I first tried to color the remaining letters a dark blue to symbolize the “water” on the globe-esque graphic I wanted to make, but I found that the color contrasted too heavily with the light green and red, so I instead opted to go with a dark green instead.
For the second half of Part 2, I was put into the seat of a social media manager for a restaurant. The main requirements were for me to read a list of weekly deals and determine how and why I wanted to create the hierarchy of information that I did. Otherwise, it was up to me to portray the information that I wanted. I determined that the title should be at the very top of the page, as this is the first piece of information people should know in order to understand what they’re reading. I then had the name’s of the days; they each have a unique title, creating brand recognition. After that, I had the prices, which, while important, could mostly be determined from the aforementioned names. I differentiated between these two ranks by making the prices one size smaller than the titles. However, I grouped the two together by putting a purple backdrop behind them to ensure that the viewer associated the the specific title with the specific price. Finally I had the days of the week as the last piece of necessary information. As stated before, most of the titles convey this already, but it helps organize the page more into four specific blocks. While the instructions included specific days, each description stated that the deals extended to every week, so I decided to just include the day of the week rather than the date, which would require more space and possibly confuse the viewer as to when the deals are available.
The instructions were similar to the previous design, with the added addition that I was required to include images that not only helped convey the information on the page, but also had matching designs and aesthetics in order to preventing contrasting ideas. First, I decided to align the text to the left in order to ensure that I had enough space for the images to be viewable and deliberate. Then, I decided to go with icons that were specific enough to convey the type of food being served for each day, but not too realistic or specific that the viewer would believe that they were seeing the actual product they would receive. For example, the burger simply has its core ingredients, the contents of the taco are not specific, the lobster is the main focus of the dish (I previously did not know what lobster thermidor was), and the drink is just specific enough to be identified as alcoholic. I also made sure that the icons were all similar in size so as not accidentally create a grouping that didn’t exist.