VISUAL TECHNIQUES

 Dondis' Visual Techniques most evident in the bed's braided blankets include intricacy, irregularity, and exaggeration as the textiles are made up of heavy, large braids that differ in size and length.

The Kotori Chair (kotori meaning songbird) was featured at this year's Tokyo Design Week by mizmiz design. The Textured fabrics and wooden base of the chair are a fine use of contrast, as well as accent and episodicity between the chairs themselves.

The blankets depicted first differ from the chairs above because they contain an element of harmony in that they are made up of the same dyed and woven fabric. The textiles of the chairs change between each chair, offering an episodic and contrasting appeal. The chairs on the left are made of leather backs while the chairs on the right are backed with a dot-textured, white fabric. The wooden seat and legs of the chairs also contrast the leather and fabric backs. However cohesive the blanket's material is, the actual braided physicality of the blankets are more irregular and spontaneous versus the predictability of the chairs. The blanket's are the opposite of manufactured as their braids vary in size and length and appear to be the locks of many Rapunzels. 

CONTRAST

The image above serves as my example for successful use of contrast in design. The decision to paint the outside and trim a pure black, while keeping the interior a very raw, warm wood tone and place the entire shelf against a blank white wall is very contrasting. Dondis writes that light is the essential tool to seeing anything, yet most importantly, understanding contrast; he writes "in its elemental visual state, light is tonal, reaching from brightness (or lightness) to darkness in a series of steps which can be described as having very subtle gradations" (Dondis 86).  It also feels episodic and dimensional because of the varying sizes and directions of the shelves. The shelves contain a rhythmic, energized feel as they taper in depth form the ends to the middle creating a bubble-like aesthetic. The entire shelf, from color/texture to shapes, contrasts in such a way that is interesting for the viewer/user.

The bookshelf above lacks contrast in all areas including color, shape, and layout. If anything, it is harmonious. Dondis writes that "Harmony, or the leveled state in visual design, is a useful and almost foolproof method for the solution of compositional problems for the inexperienced and unskilled visual message-maker" (Dondis 93). Basically, it is an easy way out to create any sort of visual as nearly no effort is required in the creative process. The shelf above, is obviously composed of the same material and color, completely uniformed with an opaque white finish. Even the shelves are precisely identical square dimensions. Both shelves are constructed the same way, with one end of four shelves working down to one. They are juxtaposed to face each other, which is the most compelling aspect of this design if there is one.

Sources:

http://www.architectureartdesigns.com/storage-unit-combining-functionality-and-elegance-by-designer-ka-lai-chan/

http://www.123rf.com/photo_12218121_white-bookshelf-with-a-colorful-books-3d-rendered.html

Success in Syntactical Guidelines

The chair illustrated above is a perfect example of multiple communication strategies working together in a balanced design. Dondis describes symmetry as an "axial balance . . . in which every unit on one side of a center line is replicated exactly on the other side" (Dondis 112). This chair serves as the best representation of symmetrical design because the seat and legs of the stool replicate a mirrored image divided by a line running down the middle. Naturally, the symmetrical design also boasts unity, which is "a proper balance of diverse elements into one totality that is visually all of a piece" and Regularity, "the uniformity of elements" (Dondis 113). The stool-chair is a successful design because it utilizes very simple, yet flowing lines to make up a useful and perfectly symmetrical piece of furniture. The winged edges of each side's seat offer an additional flair so that the balanced design does not come across as painfully flat or boring.

Failure in Syntactical Guidelines

The example above contrasts the previous design in that it is unbalanced, asymmetrical, and irregular. Although it communicates some of Dondis' visual strategies such as fragmentation and boldness, I find it to be an unsuccessful design because the extreme mashup of materials and shapes looses the design completely. Personally, the chair feels unpleasant and looks unapproachable. The designer may have intended for the chair to appear interesting through variation, but it does not come across well; Dondis writes that "variation, in visual composition, reflects the use of variation in musical composition in that the mutations are control-led by one dominant theme" (Dondis 121). Arguably, the common theme in this design is the organic material used throughout. The actual construction of the material is far too unrelated-- there is an absence of a grounded theme as one side of the chair's back is a neat, linear pattern that is harshly interrupted by giant, gaping circles and floral pattern shapes. This is opposition, not a mutation derived from one common theme. Additionally, the black base of the chair creates an extremely bottom-heavy aesthetic that is also unpleasant. The piece as a whole does not contain much unity, and the fragmentation and variation is not well-derived and overall, unsuccesful.

Navigation in Design

1. jeff-hahn.com

This photography portfolio website is designed to allow for simple navigation for the viewer. Jeff Hahn’s portfolio is all about the digital quality and color content of his work. The photographs are meant to be large, and overall, the focal point of the website. As the viewer scrolls down, he is viewing large images and very little text or detail that would distract from the images. It is simple to navigate in that the entire website is a fit and measured array of photos that are organized chronologically. The viewer is able to know what Hahn’s most recent works are based upon their order on the site. The potential navigation issues that the site’s designer considered was the placement and size of photos to help organize and guide the viewer. For example, larger thumbnails communicate that a series of photographs lies behind the photo on the feed and can be clicked to expose the entire series while smaller photos imply solidarity.

2. De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

The De Young Museum is designed primarily by Herzdog and Meuron and landscape architect, Walter Hood. They combined their design plans to usefully direct guests through all levels, galleries and outdoor displays that the lovely museum grounds have to offer. When the guests enter, they walk through a hallway that widens out with courts on either side. The Fern Court houses exhibits that eventually lead to other wings and eventually, the photography and contemporary art exhibit. The opposite side has an Entry Court that is located directly next to the Museum Store, Cafe, and bathrooms. The designers had to consider the loop that guests would make as they observed all of the artwork and finally made it around to grab lunch or souvenirs toward the end. The design of the De Young Museum successfully overcomes the possible confusion that would exist if the museum had been constructed with eating areas and a lobby in the midst of exhibit space; it is designed to specifically navigate museum guests through related exhibits in a loop pattern before they go on to food and restroom areas.

Tone and Color

 

How Tone is operating:
Dondis defines tone as the "intensity of darkness or lightness of anything seen" (Dondis 47), and in the bed sham pictured above, tone plays the main role in creating a lively and intense visual. The bed sham is made up of varying reds, ranging from more delicate, salmon-pinks to muddy reds and burgundy. Tone is a useful tool to emulate nature and create dimension, both of which are seen as active elements in this particular design. The scaled, snake-like pattern suggested by the varying red tones with a large pink line cutting through asymmetrically creates visual drama and appeal.

How Tone is interacting with Texture:
The snake-like pattern that is created by those pinks and deep reds together is amplified by the use of texture. If you were to observe this bed sham more closely, you would not only notice that it is rich with various tones, but that it is also ribbed. The cross-hatched stitching on the pillow case and sham is another suggestive design element that is inspired by organic snake-skin. Tone and Texture are deliberately combined to create a bed shame that captures beautiful elements in nature to exist in a functional bedroom setting.

How Color is operating:
Dondis compares the differences of tone and color in a visual message when he writes, "tone is related to question of survival and is therefore essential to the human organism, color has stronger affinity to the emotions" (Dondis 50). The author describes color as being more expressive and symbolic; he includes a poem that implies the color red is a powerful symbol since it is the Communist International banner color and the color that Pope Innocent IV gave to his cardinals. Red also happens to be the main color of this bed sham. Personally, it creates a feeling of warmth and desert heat. In this bed sham, the combination of the color red, texture, and tone feels as though it was stripped from the red clay-rocks spread throughout the infamous Arizona to Colorado deserts. In that heated earth, it captured the land's color and dry heat and even the snakes that live within those rocks. The bed sham uses red to communicate desert warmth.

How Color is operating with Dot:
The warm desert feel that the color red communicates in this bed sham is amplified by the dots that make up the tonal patterns. Because the red tones are dispersed in a dot like texture, the sham visually appears softer, not straight-edged. As discussed earlier, the use both tone and texture to suggest an organic, snake-skin pattern adds dimension and drama. Furthermore, that snake-skin pattern is made up of muddled pink and red colors that are elusive. The dots in this bed sham allow the human eye to perceive the snake-skin pattern, yet also feel its muddy, desert-like texture.

Source: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=29300811&parentid=A_DEC_BEDDING

Elements of Design via A Primer of Visual Literacy by Donis A. Dondis

LINE

This first element of design I have chosen to explore is 'Line,' which Dondis defines as a "dot in motion." Line is a key component in all design, and it is the strategically used in the design of this Italian Campaign Canopy Bed I have chosen as my example:

The bed frame above is made up of lines that create shapes, rhythm, and also provide the structure of the bed frame. Dondis describes line as having the perfect perplexity in that it can be wild and directional, yet also "tight and technical, serving as the primary element in diagrammatic plans" (Dondis 43). Conclusively, it is the perfect tool to communicate visual ideas. This bed frame with its sturdy, straight legs that become swooping arches and then meet at a circle, hosts all of the advantages of line while also capitalizing on its simplicity and usefulness.

DIRECTION

The next element of design that I've explored is direction. The boots that I've used are not only my example, but also my most recent purchase and the design I've been analyzing recently.

The swooping lines that can be seen in the curved edges of the leather to the direction of the boot's toe are a successful use of directional design. Dondis describes direction as "the human organism's relationship to the environment but also to stability in all visual manners" (Dondis 46). The boots above are made of curved directional forces that are a powerful element of design because they provide a sense of stability, being that "diagonal direction has particular reference in the idea of stability" (Dondis 46). The diagonal lines in these boots allow them to feel wearable for a human foot. The slanted lines create a parallel between the diagonals that lead from the toe on both the top and bottom of the shoe. These curved, directional lines create both the structure and visual appeal of the boot.

TEXTURE

Texture is enormously advantageous in design, especially in fabrics and textiles for interiors such as the 'Ophelia Duvet' below:

This duvet has the look and feel of shredded paper that has been assembled into a delicate, tangible fabric. Designers, Shachin and Babi Ahluwalia were inspired by their native Indian homeland for this particular design. The piece is handwoven from soft, cotton jersey and loosely organized to mirror organic textures. Dondis describes the shredded cotton perfectly when he writes, "where there is actual texture, the tactile and optical qualities coexist, not like tone and color which are unified in their comparable and even value, but separately and uniquely, affording individual sensation to the eye and the hand" (Dondis 55). The colors of the fabric are a consistently cream, however, there is a large amount of direction and variety within the fabric and it is only because of its three-dimensional texture.

Visual Thinking

In McKim's "Images in Actions" chapter, he goes in-depth to describe the various methods to solve visual puzzles. These include pattern seeking, pattern categorization, rotation, inverse drawing and so on and so forth. After a couple of decades of research, Psychologist L.L. Thurston discovered over eight traits that contribute to visual thinking versus one. These contribute to our understanding of sorting visual data. The test materials that McKim includes within the chapter are to explore "the mental operations that do the active work of visual thinking." (McKim 14).

Below are two visual tests that my roommate and I took via Puzzles.com:

The visual challenge above forces the participant to match the two colored circle-groups that are equal in area. The 'from another viewpoint' visual operation is necessary to determine how much of the circle is, or isn't there and furthermore, establish the circle's area. The correct answer was green and blue; my roommate was clever enough to determine the circle's space by labeling them as 1/2 or 3/4. If a circle had two overlapping circles cutting into it, such as in the blue, it would be equal to two other circles in the green that had one overlapping each. The viewer is forced to morph the shapes and determine the space of each circle by skewing his viewpoint. 

This visual puzzle is a completely different challenge compared to the last exercise. The participant had to follow the lines within and around the shape with the least strokes as possible. So, without lifting his pencil from the page, my roommate counted his strokes as he drew the above shape. A combination of orthographic imagination and inverse drawing is necessary because the viewer must understand all of the different lines and shapes within and around the circle in order to manipulate many different ways to draw it quickly. Orthographic imagination includes cross-cutting through a shape and manipulating the viewpoints of an object to understand it's appearance from several different views. Although the image is not a solid object, it still must be dissected and understood wholly to understand the lines that make up the image. My test-subject roommate observed the object for a good three minutes before he took his pencil to the page a drew his attempt. This is because he was mentally following different lines and  counting the strokes, to understand where to begin to the loop toward completion.

Top-Down Visual Processing

Do you see it?

Wait for your top-down visual processing to kick in! Your eye is moving right now to discern between the shapes of branches, leaves and OH! is that an eye?

Here is a larger view of the picture. Now it is more obvious that camouflaged within the brush and branches is a deer.  This image is a perfect example of a visual query as it boasts a generally consistent color and texture scheme. Collectively and from afar, the photo looks like a series of linear patterns-- mainly branches. As the viewer moves their eye around to analyze the details of those lines, they will begin to discern between the shadows on the deer's face and the actual branches. Furthermore, the shape of the deer's eye is the most obvious visual cue that something breaks up the line-pattern. Once the viewer notices the black eye and nose, the visual has essentially been solved and makes sense as a whole. Instead of simply looking at something neutral and broken up with pattern, the viewer's cognitive perception has learned that beneath the bush is a deer, and is now able to separate the two.

"No Place Like Home" as applied to the three visual components of design

The "No Place Like Home" shoes are a clever design that embodies the whole anatomy of a visual message via the three visual components: representation, abstract and symbol.

Representation

These shoes are unique in that they are directly influenced, in aesthetic and function, to the shoes of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.  Dominic Wilcox uses The Wizard of Oz as the basis for his design, which is appropriately titled, "No Place Like Home" as the shoes have a built-in GPS that directs the user home upon clicking the heels together. They are a Representational design in that they are a familiar image of shoes, but with the unfamiliar twist of implemented GPS tracking technology. The traditional leather shell and laces of the shoes are representational of our most popular walking utensil: shoes. The Representational aspect of the design also relates to the abstract and symbolic components of a visual image. Wilcox abstracts both the common function of shoes and of the common use of GPS mapping. He also strategically uses the color red in the laces and tongue of the shoes to symbolically represent Dorothy's magic shoes.

Abstract

In his "No Place Like Home" design, Wilcox abstracts the common shoe into a reflection of Dorothy's famous red, sparkly shoes in The Wizard of Oz. The shoes convert Dorothy's fictional, whimsical shoes into a semi-physical reality via abstraction. The LED lights bulleted into the leather heel of the shoe are accompanied by GPS technology to guide the user. The line of lights on the left shoe is used for accuracy of direction while the circle of lights on the right shoe works as a compass. Normally, GPS mapping is used in a device such as a smart phone or a piece of technology for vehicles, and they typically function with a screen containing an actual map with audio and/or visual text to guide the user to their desired location. The shoe-meets-mapping-technology is a novel approach to directing the user with guidance lights versus voice or written commands. Before leaving home, the user simply plugs the shoes into their computer using a usb cable and uploads whatever address they want to be directed to. The "Dorothy" shoes are visually representative of shoes and of GPS technology, yet when combined and used nontraditionally, these popular items become abstracted. Symbolically, the story behind the wild design is summed up with one iconic line in American film: "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Symbol

Aesthetically, the red details of the shoe and its overall function and intent are symbolic of Dorothy's magical heels. As discussed earlier, the shoes simply guide the user home using GPS technology embedded in the soles. When Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz figures out her way home by simply tapping her sparkling heels together and saying, "There's no place like home" three times, she is immediately teleported back to Kansas. The film is an internationally successful classic, and her red, sparkling shoes are a symbol of returning home. Dominic Wilcox uses the iconic movie symbol to influence and more so, explain his design. Representationally, the visual and symbolic element of the are contained in the detail of red laces and interior. However, unlike Dorothy's shoes, they are mainly grey leather and of course, operate with satellite GPS technology, not magic.

Source: http://dominicwilcox.com/portfolio/gpsshoe 

Representation, Abstract, and Symbol

The scientific illustration above serves as a perfect example of a Representational image as it is an image based upon an actual fish-- the aesthetic and characteristics of the fish are not manipulated in any way. More importantly, the artist made sure to accurately depict the shape of the fins and color of the scales. This allows the viewer to recognize that the details make it a pigfish. If the viewer happens to have any experience with pigfish, then the image will link to memories of seeing or even fishing this particular species. For most people, however, the image will be recognized as a general fish because it is a flat, finned and scaled creature that clearly thrives in water. These visual details are imperative because they allow the viewer to quickly determine what the illustration is based upon.

"Bat" by Bryant Devlin Malloy does not look like much of a bat at all. Despite its third eye, vivid colors and monster-like teeth and horns, the piece mirrors the image of a bat in that it has long ears, pebble eyes and a round head like most other bats. However, the basis of the creature is a bat, and has been creatively driven so far from that it seems to be merely a suggestion. Malloy's image is considered abstract because he alters and unrealistically exaggerates features of an actual bat. The circular pools of red, purple and golden pattern that work from the center of the bat's face, and the long, blue-ribbed tongue that drops past its head are not any feature that a bat in our reality has. Additionally, the third eye placed decoratively on its forehead and the larvae-like details placed all around the eyes and nose are abstract features. Possibly, a viewer who did not know the title of the piece could guess that out of any animal, it is a bat; the ears are perhaps the only feature that strongly indicates that.

This swooping black-line image is a symbol, and it represents the concept of infinity. The infinity symbol is universal via mathematics. In equations and graphs, the symbol may be used to represent "potential infinity." It is able to denote something that is difficult to explain with words, and as a universal symbol, it surpasses language as it is the same everywhere. Mathematicians in any nation, among any culture around the globe are able to use and understand mathematic codes. These codes are represented simplistically with black lines being that they serve to communicate shared knowledge and are written in problem-solving quite frequently. The infinity symbol is among a wide array of simple and universal mathematical symbols.