Project Evolution

Marks with tools:

Linear depiction line 1:
Line 2:
Line 3:
Storyboard:
Taxonomy:

And then my animation exported really weird and I have yet to figure it out, but it is done and I will try to figure out how to export it nicely. :D

Final Reflection

I felt like project 3 is a great one to wrap the first fall semester of design up with. Starting with project 1, we looked at conveying messages through simple dots and pictures. From that, abstraction was brought into project 3. With project 2, we looked more deeply into design with juxtapositions. Project 3 was definitely encompassing all of the projects. The abstraction that we worked with in project 1 helped a lot and there were some correlation with project 2 and 3 but not as much as 1 and 3. In project 2, we worked between mediums: digital to hand work back to digital. I felt like that helped with project 3 since we did hand work and then brought it into the digital realm. In general, I learned a tons. I learned how to view abstraction with a deeper meaning, content is everything, and there's always a deeper layer with everything. Process work is also important because looking back on it, my first thought for everything was totally not the best. When going into the spring semester, I feel like I can bring a lot of knowledge with me. Just things like ideas and principles, work ethic, and stuff like that. It was a really good fall semester.

Below is one of my iterations for project 3, line one of my haiku. It goes, "Night is bright with stars."

I remember during critique in class, people didn't see the haiku line in any of these shapes. At first, I was going for the "night" part but looking back on it now, I totally see what everyone sees. There is no bright or stars in there at all. The last eight shapes was going towards more to the stars part but it wasn't bright and that word/idea is the main point of the line. Line 1 was the hardest for me since my ideas never worked so I had to restart my thinking process and I feel like my final shape really goes with line well (definitely better than the above ones).

Paul Rand

Paul Rand was a graphic designer that mainly did corporate logo designs. His famous ones include UPS, ABC, and IBM. Many transitions were used in the video. Most of them were wipes and scale change. There were some pans and morphs too. On his thoughts about design, I like how he views everything. He said that without content, there is no form but without form, there is no content. The way he described them as being connected made them seem so obvious. And of course it is obvious, but it never really sank in for me. I also like the phrase, "don't try to be original, just try to be good" because it really does prove that not every original idea is good.

F+S

I just happened to stumble on this packaging and thought of how it is an example of abstract shapes. At first it seems like a blob but when looking closer, there is a gorilla's face but on top of his "eyes", there is like little buildings that could be a city. I think it is a very interesting package and it probably started with handwork and then digitalized.

Final Storyboard

This is my final storyboard:

Storyboard and Revised Texts

So here are my revised storyboards according to the talk with Jamie. I really do feel they are better and it will be better when I animate them.

And then I revised my first 2 lines. For the first line, I moved it down a bit so that there is less space between the text and the image.
My second line now has the text at the bottom, around the same margins as the first and third. I like it a lot better than when the text was all the same place. And of course, my third line stayed the same.
I'm working on the flash right now and it's harder than I expected it to be but I think I have it down for now.

Static Text Solutions

These are my "final" text solutions for Vis Comm for our flash animation.

I tried to keep the image centered and the text is positioned in the same place. I shifted things a bit to make it look more balanced and hopefully this work.

Time and Motion

Time and motion are principles that are closely related to one another. Motion can be defined as a kind of change, whether it is change in time or a literal change. These two principles are considered for all design work, from multipage printed book to an animation for film. The examples shown were all really great ideas that involved motion in a still image. It made me think about all the projects that I did last year in fall foundation class and having to deal with temporal change in an image. I loved all the LOOP examples and having to deal with implied time and motion. It shows that motion can be achieved in a static image/logo. The section about animation basics was helpful too since I did some stop-motion last year and worked on some flash in Type class so I got what it was talking about. The example that I absolutely loved was the animated typography by Peter Cho. I loved how all the changes were complex yet so simple.

Vector vs Bitmap

Vectors is the opposite of bitmap and it consists of points, lines and curves. These elements can be combined to create complex objects. They are mathematical creations and are ideal for logos.

Pros:

• stores representatively
• can be filled with solid colors, gradients, and patterns
• the programs that are used saves the instructions on how the image should be drawn rather than how it looks
• it can be redrawn and manipulated at any size and any position without losing its quality
• ideal for producing artwork that needs to be presented in different sizes or colors

Cons:

• it must remain simple compared to bitmap
• impossible to render nuances of photographs
• has distinct feel and look even with details

Bitmaps are stored in a literal fashion. It is the most common graphic format for the web and on the computer. It is composed of pixels that are only visible when magnified.

Pros:

• complex fills, shading, and gradient effects can be easily rendered
• it offers as much as freedom as an empty canvas
• saves as an exact visual picture of the image
• can be scaled down and still maintain quality
• contains the exact amount of information required to display it

Cons:

• the pixels doesn't change size when the image does
• more pixels are needed to fill a larger space
• blurriness is created when enlarged and manipulated (rotating, scaling, or distorting)
• computer adds pixels if the image is enlarged
• pixels are more visible when the size of the image is increased exponentially

I feel like my analog shapes will be best represented in a bitmap format as opposed to a vector format. My shapes have a lot of characteristics that I feel will be lost if vectorize. If it was vectorize, it will definitely be more clean cut and distinct.

Taxonomy Proposal

I plan to classify my marks by organizing them by the tool I made them with. Under each "section" of different tools, I plan to place them from the most indistinctive one (lightest one) to the most distinctive one (darkest one), creating somewhat of a gradient. For the order of the tools presented, I was thinking of putting them by the order they come in in the haiku. Since my first line is "Night is bright with stars", I don't have any tools for that. The second line is "...silly woman, whimpering", so the order will be something like hair tie, hair stick, tissue, handkerchief, and earrings. The third line is "Shall I light the lamp?", so after earrings, it would probably be candle, candle holder, wick, wax, and match. As for the format of my classifications, I plan to make a square book so maybe 6x6 with 9 marks on each page and bind it with a wire-o. For the table of contents, possible connotations include: light, woman, beauty, sadness, tears, pity, shines, burn, hot, loneliness. And possible denotations are: candle, fire, woman, hair, string, wax, wood, fabric, jewelry, spots.

The Urge to Make Things

I love the title for this article for some reason. It's serious as well as playful. Anyways, the article was so inspirational. I loved the quote about the painter paints a tree and in that process, he becomes the tree. I also thought that it was clever that the writer wanted to be a bell when he grew up. That was cute. In regards to my mark making, it definitely made me more self conscious about my marks. At first I was drawing shapes with them and as I continued on, I just made them into stamps. Then I realized I was trying to capture the essence of my objects in one single stamp (which was hard) but I felt like I have achieved that. I think I have to meditate more about becoming one with the object like the Chinese painter, or at least something close to that.

Connotation and Denotation

Connotation is what is pictured whereas denotation is how it is pictured. The example the writer used was a child. I thought this was a good example since it is something that we all can relate to. I also liked how it was in the context of photography and how color plays a part in the reader's mind as well. This reading helps the understand of connotation and denotation more than the dictionary does since it gives an example. In regards to my haiku, there is a line in there that says "Shall I light the lamp?" One of my shape is based on the word "radiance" so I drew like this pinwheel looking thing. The connotative side of it is that it pictures a radiance and it is denotative since it looks like a pinwheel and not like a star.

Final 30 Words

I reworked my words from last class and I think they work in general. They are much improved from what I had before I think. I reposted the haiku so people can reference it better.

Night is bright with stars

...silly woman, whimpering:

Shall I light the lamp?

- Etsujin

Line 1

1. calm

2. quiet

3. relaxed

4. cloudless

5. empty

6. bright

7. dark

8. breeze

9. moonlit

10. luminous

Line 2

11. whimpering

12. longing

13. remembering

14. lonely

15. simpleminded

16. earrings

17. handkerchief

18. tissue

19. hair stick

20. hair tie

Line 3

21. radiant

22. friendship

23. invulnerable

24. pity

25. warmth

26. match

27. candle

28. candle stand

29. candle wick

30. candle wax

The last line was tricky since there are many types of lamps. So I thought about the time period and where this poem was made and decided to stick with a candle lamp, but one that is super simple with a holder that is something like this:

Yup. :D

Haiku and Words

Night is bright with stars

…silly woman, whimpering:

Shall I light the lamp?

-Etsujin

Line 1

1. night

2. bright

3. stars

4. glitter

5. glimmering

6. moon

7. dark

8. breeze

9. peace

10. quiet

Line 2

11. woman

12. tears

13. handkerchief

14. whimper

15. sitting

16. sad

17. longing

18. leaning

19. fabric

20. disheveled

Line 3

21. lamp

22. question

23. caring

24. handle

25. candle

26. light bulb

27. match

28. worried

29. helpful

30. radiant

Reading "Anatomy of a Visual Message"

There are three ways to depict an object or thing: representationally, abstractly, and symbolically. The representational way is "what we see and recognize from environment and experience". It is reality and the most effective way to represent what we see. Abstract is the "kinesthetic quality of a visual event reduced to the basic element". The more abstract it is, the more general and all encompassing it becomes. Abstraction can exist as a pure abstraction, where no connection can be drawn, or in a visual statement, where minimal representation is used. Symbolic messages has the ultimate simplicity. It is in the "world of coded symbol systems which man has created arbitrarily, and to which he has attached meaning".

The reading in general was helpful in defining what makes representational, abstract, and symbolic work. At the end of the reading somewhere, it refers to a Chinese quote that says "one picture is worth a thousand words" and that "one symbol is worth a thousand pictures". I really liked that idea. Also in the reading by Ellen Lupton, it talks about one of Dondis's study regarding a square and how literate and illiterate people read it. It really does prove that abstraction is a skill and not a universal perception.

Final Statement

The line project was a lot more fun and interesting than the dot project for me. I really liked all of the process work. At first, we worked with a partner to create lines studies based on balance, progression, and random. While making lines, we created rhythm and if placed correctly, tones and textures. I really like that we did them in black and white since we can see either the black as being the background or the white being the background. It changes the figure/ground relationship a lot. After that, we went into a photo safari looking for lines in our environment. I really enjoyed this part because it made me see KC in a different way. I had to look for lines everywhere. It was hard at first but then you get use to looking for what is needed. Then we paired that with our lines studies. This was the hardest part for me because it made me felt like I did not have good enough line studies to juxtapose the pictures with. In the end, I made some good pairs that I am proud of.

For the photographs, I started off by walking around Downtown and just taking random pictures. After I chose which pictures will work, I went to shoot at Westport, looking for things I know I need. At first, I had no particular direction as to what I was capturing. The more I took pictures and paired them up, I saw this pattern of close shots. So I decided to focus on the things that go unnoticed in the city, like the sidewalk or the cracks in the wood. I feel like I captured KC well through just Downtown and Westport. I think these are the two of the many places that KC is known for and they work well together to get a scope of what KC has to offer.
As said above, we paired our photographs with our line studies: horizontals, combined, and manipulated. With the curve and diagonal manipulations, we had to trace them and then translate that into vectors. It was definitely hard drawing curves but it taught me a lot about hand eye coordination. Tracing the lines to correct bumps and curves was a lot of help after we had to vector them. It would have been harder to just go from the raw manipulation into the vectoring and being selective on the computer. When we did it through our hands, it was easier to draw and be selective. Vectoring them was not as bad as I thought it would be. I can make better curves with the pen tool now because I know that the less anchor points you use, the better the line looks.
The main point I think of this project was to learn how to move between the computer and our hands along with juxtapositions of photographs. With the juxtaposition of elements, I started seeing things in pairs and how they relate to one another and enhance the meaning. Overall, I really liked doing this project and I liked how it is presented, through an accordion book. Since it was the first time I did a book like this, my craft can definitely by worked on.

Scher Video

I love how Paula Scher used New York as an inspiration. Since New York encompasses so many things and when they go big, they go BIG. I love that she "follows" the city and goes big with her art work too. In perspective to Kansas City, I really found the old style of Kansas City to be an inspiration. I liked that we had to go into our environment to shoot lines. It has really taught me to appreciate Kansas City more. It has really turned into a place that I absolutely love because there's so many distinct places that define Kansas City individually.

Project 2 Reading Response

"All things exist in interaction with other things" - Malcolm Grear

The above quote made me think about the juxtapositions that we made using photographs and our line studies. The two different compositions come together to create a cohesive spread.

I totally agree with the section about framing. It is a variable that graphic designers think about all the time and it isn't something that we can avoid. Cropping also plays a big part in how the viewers see the image and it could make or break a picture. A lot of my pictures were nice, but when cropped in, it loses its characteristics and it doesn't make sense anymore (so I didn't use them). Some were cropped really far away and it was much strong when zoomed in, like the above pair. The reading in general was a review of framing and figure/ground relationship for me.

Sequential Process

This is my sequential process from the basic horizontal line to a vectored curve. It was fun looking back at how I got from just a line study into a complex vectored curve. I learned that through manipulation and hand drawn work, we can change what the viewers see as the end result. The hand drawn part was the most difficult because I suck at drawing nice, curved lines but that was the part that taught me the most about hand-eye coordination along with how we choose to edit out unnecessary lines and bumps.

Basic line:

Horizontal + vertical (which I used):
Horizontal + vertical v.2:
Raw manipulation:
Hand edited:
Final vector:
Final vector with my juxtaposition:

Text Options

Titles:

Downtowned Westport

Westport, Downtowned

Quality Hill

Downtown Kansas City

Downtown Meets Westport

Kansas City's Downtown

Texts:

1) Kansas City’s Downtown contains many buildings. It has corporate buildings, churches, banks, and headquarters of big companies. When downtown, most people focus on the buildings and how grand everything is. Through this book, we start to notice the tiny things, like the sidewalks and driveways that are overlooked. When mixed with Westport’s scene, we get a better sense of our unnoticed surroundings. It is there that the spirit of Kansas City is captured, when the old meets the new, modern structures.

2) Westport is an essential place to visit when coming to Kansas City. It has many good restaurants and bars. Downtown is where the business of Kansas City is located. When combined, we get a whole sense of what Kansas City is. It is the mix of the old traditions with the new traditions. It encompasses the history of the city with the one in the making. It is the Kansas City that brings visitors back.

3) Walking through Westport, we notice all the bricks and cracks of the city. It is here that Kansas City is best summed up. When looked at with Downtown, the city has a whole new meaning. Kansas City is a place where visitors can experience tradition as well as a developing city. This book attempts to view Kansas City with a mixture of both tradition and the modern era. Through it, we can see how Kansas City was, and how it can transform through time.