Month: October 2014

This project was the first time that I used After Effects and it I think that, all things considered, it went pretty well. My video project highlighted several aspects of my everyday life in Houston. While the footage may not be particularly meaningful, I avoided being in any of the shots to keep it from being too straightforward. For the text I opted for a less traditional transition, in which the text appears to be being written on the screen. I thought this would be a far more interesting method of presenting the text than just having it fly onto the screen. My font choice of Edwardian Script seems consistent with the title of the video, “A Day in the Life” which implies luxury. Edwardian Script is a very regal looking font that also appears fairly luxurious.

Before I was at all interested in graphic design, I was extremely interested in graffiti and my Pinterest definitely reflects this. The disorganization of my Pinterest boards is somehow reminiscent of the chaotic form and colors of a lot graffiti/street art. Additionally, I really enjoy sharp lines with very contrasty colors, which is also very evident from my Pinterest posts.

https://www.pinterest.com/txsteelersfreak/

Much like my Information Map, my Artifact Map is fairly simple in both color and design. The font choices are the same as that of my Information Map and the layout is essentially a simplified floor plan of my apartment. The gradient key in the upper left hand corner flows very softly from one color into the next and, therefore, compliments the light gray text very nicely; it also compliments the simple style and colors of the piece.

It seems like working with muted colors is extremely popular in this day and age, and, therefore, that is often what I do. This sense of “muted” is not just present in the colors I have chosen for this piece, but also the design, which I chose to keep fairly simple and straightforward. The font choice and muted colors are also vaguely reminiscent of some early (70’s) TV shows, such as the Brady Bunch. Such familiarity can be comforting to the viewer but does not feel forced.

I like to incorporate humor in many of pieces, including this one. For the cognitive map project I chose to poke fun at college Greek life, whose members typically act and dress very similarly. My symbols, wording, and font choices reflect the playfulness of my project’s concept. The color and design of the background, while also playful, reflect those of certain clothing articles that may be considered “fratty”.

Like After Effects, the cutter/plotter was a methodology that I used for the first time in Image Methodology. Therefore, I felt that it would be appropriate to create a street art-esque piece, as street art was the medium that led me to graphic design. For this piece, I started with a crudely drawn set of letters and then traced it using the pen tool. While not intended, the letters seem to resemble the word “SEX”. The shapes and curves of these letters are very contrasty; some of them very curvy and loose and others jagged and stiff. My other piece that I created for this project was more creative but markedly less successful. The idea was to coat the words “Razzle Dazzle” in lighter fluid using a Q-tip and light it using a match, leaving “Razzle Dazzle” burned into the paper. Unfortunately the fire would immediately spread to the surrounding areas, burning the entire paper and not just the letters.

This project seemed to deal with our abilities to synthesize completely different objects into one cohesive portrait. For the picture on the right I added shadows and blended several of the objects in the picture, detracting from the artificial, low fidelity look that was supposed to be achieved with unaltered photos. With this in mind, I attempted a second portrait, which came out completely differently. The left portrait is far less cohesive and has a classic “Photoshopped” look that is often characterized by objects that transition poorly from one to next. The quote from which I derived the image on the right pertained to laziness. I could not think of a more lazy looking figure than the blobfish. Additionally, potatoes are, in their own way, a particularly lazy symbol. Another facet of the quote was royalty. I wanted the symbols to be slightly ambiguous so that the viewer did not immediately derive the intended meaning from them. Royalty is often associated with a monarch of some sort, hence, ants, which are known for having hierarchical societies with queens ruling them. The symbolism on the left is far more apparent. The water/ant being poured out of the bottle is “lazily” being poured. Additionally, the crown represents royalty and the pinecone represents laziness as well.