Final thoughts

My overall feeling about the class is that I have learned a lot. From understanding what an abstract composition is to using spray paint and stencils, I feel like this class has helped me broaden my spectrum. I liked the free style approach to each project and the freedom we had to think, explore, and come up with something that reflected our thoughts or feelings about a subject.

I also liked the idea that we were able to look outside of the realm of graphic design in terms of designing on more meaningful topics. I thought that our sessios on art history were great as well.

Thanks for a great class and experience.

Our last project

I have to confess that I enjoyed our last project more than I thought I would in the beginning. Our group worked very effectively together. We all contributed the supplies and were there to make wholes and connect each water bottle together. I believe that our chandelier was the most difficult one becuase it required stringing together small bottle ends in two places. Nevertheless our team stepped up to the plate and we worked hard and our end project showed it.

As far as the digital postcard, I really enjoyed it that too. I was happy with my call out title, Drill. Drip. Drop. I came up with that by making a list of all the words that related to my image and watercharity.org. In the end, I felt it represented by image well. The color of this image didn't transfer well. It is suppposd to be blue and white.

Again, I tried to upload images of the postcard and the flyer and was unable to. They didn't upload completely, so I just deleted them. But I had fun doing it. I was a bit apprehensive about doing stencils of those two items since I had never done that before. I was also nervous about spraying it with paint. But after doing it anyway, I learned that I love that medium and spraying the stencils worked out great. In fact, my favorite was how the flyer turned out. The whole experience opened a whole new world to me.

Two other images I created which for some reason upload blank are about pills and about measuring. Our society is reliant upon pills for everything, and pills are made to appear "beautiful" because they will take care of all the problems we have. When in reality pills can be killers.

The measuring image related to the fact that we continually measure circumstances and situation using our own "ruler." Everythings gets filtered and assessed through our own experiences and we decide whether it measures up or not.

Finally, I would like to comment on the fact that I thought the process by which we came up with our book was very effective. We went from a variety of ideas, thoughts, and concepts to the book to a simple yet effective way to present our ideas. Brainstorming ideas does help in shaping main principles and direction. I liked it how in the end all of us agreed on a direction for the book.

This was a picture that I thought represented youth very well. The boy is swinging on a tire swing, free from cares and able to enjoy the moment.

The picture to the left of that is of a boy whose face reflects innocency yet even a bit of mischief. It was intended to be placed at the beginning of the book where a lot of white space on a page was intended. We begin very innocent, but even at a tender age, there is mischief present.

Again, my image here uploads incomplete. I don't understand why, but here are my thought behind it. One part of our lives is deterioration. In addition to us aging, the things that surround us get old and delapidated.

The collage of the candidates above also was intended for us to have a reflection of what was happening at the time that we compiled the book.

For some reason, this image did not upload completely. It is missing part of the image.

My thought in creating it was related to our discussion in class which referred to corruption. Corruption is very much a part of our society, and as Oscar Wilde implied in his poem, it becomes more evident as people get older. People lose their innocency as they get older.

Using another new technique learned on Illustrator, I came up with the "clematis stars" that the author of the poem refers to.

Next, I was intrigued about how the poem implied that youth is beautiful then it is gone and then a new more beutiful stage emerges. I tried to replicate that idea with a flower, since the author refers to flowers in his poem. Again, I learned how to use the blending technique in Illustrator to achieve this effect. I was pleased with the end result.

Poem Project

This is the first image I came across in my research stage for this assignment. The picture was intriguing in that it seems like her years and position on the bench were perfect props for her to be able to share her experience. The part of the poem that I thought it fit with was her telling us that the gods have been good to us but then they have taken away. In a sense she was telling us her experience. Her beauty now gone as evidence that what she was telling was true. It was also the fist time that I was able to place text in an object. I was excited to learn how to do that.

In the "i" image above, I continued to play with typograhy. Typography intrigues me and I found that I really enjoyed making compositions with letters. I went a little bit further and read some online tips on typography for designers and its importance in today's grahic design. I came across a couple of links that I found very interesting, so I will post them here. They are http://informationarchitects.jp/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/ and http://ampersandvirgule.blogspot.com/2006/06/architect-of-page.html. I learned that typography is about being an architect and creating a page to serve the function of readability, aesthetics, cost, and connotation. In a book I purchased on typography, the author related that typography is like the conductor of the orchestra. I found that to be faschinating insight. I never thought much about typography before, but now I will always pay attentiont to it. There is an emotional response to typography that readers will have. Interestingly, I read that some readers read with their eyes and some with their ears. I've never heard of that before, so I would like to get more educated in that aspect of design.

In the geometric design above, I tried to create something that is suspended and resembles shapes that we see each day, but that is somewhat abstract.

For my third composition, I wanted to play with letters that looked alike. They can create a pattern easily, but interspersed throughout the page, they take on their own personality.

My second composition reminds me of how each person has his/her "spokes" but we can learn to compliment each other and work with each other despite our differences. The swooping ends of the ys or hs further demonstrates that whether one is of a smooth, easy going personality or more structured they can again arrive at a unified place where each can thrive being who they are.

Assignment 4

I had a bit of trouble with the previous assignment, so this time I tried to pay more attention to the composition aspect of the assignment. Our fourth assignment was designing with type. I love type, so below are my three compositions. I was advised to engage the edges of my document more and to think more of the frame that the composition is in. Something else that I learned today that helped me focus on abstract art is its definition. I used to think that abtract was anything that came to our mind. But actually abstract art is derived from visual reality that is distilled or transformed by reducing resemblence to the original source. That really helped me understand that it was simpler than I made it to be. Though this assignment was supposed to focus on type, I designed my compositions in such a way that they reflect something that could happen in real life. For example, in my first compsition, the e's are hanging on, but one fell. The first e-j combination are clinging to each other, but the next e ends up falling and thus break the chain of unity and connection.

Assignment 3

I thought it was interesting how we learned about point of rotation and point of weight. I had never heard that before. I'll always try to think of that now.

color to abstract compositions

So tonight I began playing again. Adding color was great fun. Below are my compositions: Foliage, Dancing Whales, and Waves.

So the above were my first creations. I have entitled them: Space Walk, Space Stars, Elephants and Birds, Shell, Bird and Fish, and Boxes because that's what they started out to be but ended up being suspended something.

Interestingly, the elephants and birds won out in class. If we would have had a break in between presentations, I would have pulled that one off because I did not think it represented anything from a distance.

My own personal favorites were the shell, space walk, and bird and fish. I happened to create those as I was playing in Illustrator. I stopped when I saw them and thought they represented something real. I am not sure how that happens when we draw or try to be creative. There is a point when the scribbles take on a life of their own and it becomes art. I really think that the moment the image embodies something familiar to us seen in nature or around us, something is triggered inside of us and we realize that it speaks back to us. That's what happened to me with those pieces. They stopped me and I was satisfied with the "creation."

Now on to assignment two.

abstract assignment part 2

I've done a little surfing this morning to learn and look at abstract art to get inspired. I ran across a prior PSU student's blog. I thought it was interesting what she had to say. I'll place a link to her blog here.

http://gdpsu.typepad.com/commandsave/2008/09/sarah-runie-psu-grad---2006.html

I also reviewed the links from Luke's home blog. I thought the dutch design links were extraordinary.

Here are some links to abstract art in black and white:

http://www.abstractartgallery.com/art/abstract.art.001.large.jpg

http://www.allposters.com/View_HighZoomResPop.asp?apn=2819207&imgloc=22-2204-2SEAD00Z.jpg&imgwidth=1095&imgheight=548
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Reve-Fleurie-VI-Posters_i3246873_.htm
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Cherished-Rose-Posters_i3151589_.htm
http://www.allposters.com/-st/Abstract-Triangles-Decorative-Art-Posters_c81241_.htm
http://www.art.com/asp/View_HighZoomResPop.asp?apn=13585530&imgloc=26-2624-Z00DM711.jpg&imgwidth=1314&imgheight=457

Abstract compositions

Our first assignment required that we create three abstracts compositions. I am a graphic design minor student who is trying to find my artistic ability. I know I have some, but I have not spent much time in my life trying to allow it to come out. My greatest motivation for minoring in graphic design is to know how to make documents look good. I am all about presentation.

After taking classes in In Design, Photoshop, and Illustrator, I am finding out that I need to have the art background. I realize that I have many limitations because of my lack of a good foundation in art. So, that is one reason I am taking four art classes this term. I want to know the rules, so I can create better design. I also want to be able to express myself through art.

So with that in mind, this is what I am learnign about compositions. I find it interesting that Gestalt's theories deal with visual perception and the perception of art. It somehow connects the pieces in a composition with an overview of the whole.

I just learned that the mind fills in the gaps of the design. That the eye continues in the directin that it is going, and that the proximity of the items on the page as well as their allignment will dictate how the composition is read.

Gestalt actually means "whole" or form. The stronger the items are grouped together, the stronger the unity of the design. Gestald is all about desig unity.