Visual Techniques

1st Image: Manhattan Subway Map - Infographic

Visual Techniques: Balance, Contrast, Predictability, Consistency, Accuracy, Flatness, Sequentiality

2nd Image: Symbolic map of the US - Infographic

Visual Techniques: Flatness, Accuracy, Consistency, Activeness, Unity, Balance, Contrast, Sequentiality

After comparing these two info graphics, it was interesting to see how they use some of the same techniques, but also use some different ones. What also made it cool is that they are both maps, but used in very different ways and in opposite scales. They both show consistency, balance, contrast, accuracy, flatness, and sequentiality. These are all things maps should require, except for maybe flatness. Since both are getting across information about a specific place, it is important that they are both accurate. They also both show consistency, balance, and contrast, by their use of colors and placement of text and imagery. Unlike the 1st image, the 2nd image shows activeness with the waves draw into the water, as well as some of the animal symbols on the map.

Contrast

Good use of Contrast:

This info graphic of cartoon characters shows very good use of contrast. The colors flow very well from one color to the next, as the different characters are placed around the color wheel. It also is a good use of contrast, because like all color wheels should be, each color is across from it's contrasting color.

Bad use of Contrast:

This info graphic is a good example for a bad use of contrast. It's obvious that there wasn't very much thought into which colors were being used for each item on the map. Also, everything is very scattered and just kind of all over the place.

Movement/Motion

OPTION 2:

The first image I found was a tutorial for an iPad game. This tutorial shows the user how to navigate around the game, and how to use the camera to see the different views. This tutorial leads the user through the interface in multiple ways. First, on the left it shows the three images of pan camera, rotate camera, and zoom in and zoom out. They are placed kind of in a zig-zag form, leading your eye from the top one to the bottom one. Next, the numbered list on the right leads our eye down that list, from 1-3. These are the instructions that further explain the images on the left. We then link these instructions with the images on the left, lining up each number with each image.

The second image I found is an interface design for an avatar creator for "sanrio land". The first thing the user will navigate through, is the experience of creating their avatar. Our eyes our lead down the list of icons, depending on which part of our avatar we want to change. It goes from hair, eyes, clothing, etc, leading down the list until we have our avatar completed. We next see the bottom part, which show us different stats, such as birthday, gender, etc. After that, our eyes are then lead to the "about me" section. Here we see icons representing things like our favorite food, favorite song/music, favorite movie, favorite sanrio character, etc. The "tips" at the bottom help lead you through creating your character in this interface. After that, we are pretty much completed creating our avatar. The rest of the menu we see on the right then is linked to the screen after we are done creating our avatar. These menu options link to navigating around the sanrio land, and other menus throughout the game.

Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

The image I chose to use for my blog exercise this week, is the interface for a GPS navigational system, more than likely being used in a car. This image shows great examples of depth in several different ways. First it shows a good use of overlap with the buildings, especially on the left side of the image. They are overlapping each other, showing that they are farther and farther away in distance. These buildings are also a good example of relative size and relative height. They get smaller and shorter as you move farther away in the picture. Also, watching how the road moves down and there is a vanishing point and horizon, shows that the roads are stretching out farther and farther away. Also, the arrows on the street show some flow pattern, showing movement along the road.

Tone and Color

TONE

The image I found that I decided to use for tone is an info graphic of the US, showing the obesity levels throughout each state. They use different tones of red and green to represent the different percentages of obese people. Tone in this map works by showing that the most saturated and brightest version of the red represents the largest percentage of obesity. The most saturated and brightest version of the green represents the least percentage of obesity. Then depending on the amount, the tone fades from the red to the green, going from most obese to least obese. This map that uses tone also uses lines. They work together by the white lines separating the different states, being able to separate the tones from each other.

This example is also a good use of color. It's very symbolic for red to mean "bad" and green to mean "good". This graphic uses those colors in that exact way. In this graphic, I would say color works with direction, at least in the top bar or "key" showing the different obesity levels. You could also even say it is a line too, because it uses the change of color, over a line, to direct your eye from left to right.

The Basic Elements - Mario Game Box Covers

1) Super Mario - Dimension

Even though it's very simple and not the entire design, this cover shows a very good example of dimension in the blocks that Mario is breaking through. These blocks pop out/appear to be more 3D than the rest of the cover, simply because of the way they are placed upon another block, offset, and set to different transparencies. The way it's designed, it's set up for the white/light blue part of the block to be the front, while the dark blue/light blue part is the back of the block. This gives the blocks the illusion of dimension.

2) Super Mario 3 - Direction

This cover design for the Super Mario 3 game shows a good example of the use of direction in two ways. Both use a diagonal line, directing the eye from the bottom left of the design, to the top right. The most obvious one would be the way Mario is positioned, and how he has his arms open as if he was flying. Your eye is lead from his feet, up to the tips of his fingers. Also, the title "Super Mario 3" is at a diagonal slant, leading your eye once again from left to right.

3) Super Mario Allstars (Wii) - Shape

Last, this more recent cover for Super Mario All Stars (Wii), shows a good example of the use of shape. I was able to find about twelve different circles throughout this design, including the "o" in Super Mario. First in the top left corner, showing that it's Mario's 25th anniversary. Next there is the large circle with a golden Mario in it, which has about nine circles within that circle. The 6 little circles with the stars, the circle around gold mario, the two "o"s in the design, and the blue circle that's holding the rest of the circles. This design is a good example of shape, because it uses the shape of a circle to support the entire design.

Feature Hierarchy

The image I chose to use that shows examples of "channels", is this map of San Francisco that I found using google images. I'm very interested in information design, as well as maps always really catch my attention, so I figured this would be perfect to use for this assignment.
This image uses good examples in many ways. Although there is very little use of color, since it's just a black on white image, the black outline of the city and the different areas of the city, as well as the text really stand out. The shape of the map is definitely split up into channels, by how each section of the city is outlined, with the name of each district within it's area. Also, underneath the outline of the city, the words "San Francisco" line up perfectly with the size of the city's outline. This map definitely shows motion by using different size font throughout the map. The larger more thicker letters stand out more, leading your eyes directly to them. This gives the larger areas in San Francisco an "unfair advantage" because they get to be noticed first. Lastly, the spacial layout fits along perfectly with the districts in San Francisco. Each district is it's own space, requiring the spacial layout to be exact.

Visual Perception I - Top Down Visual Processing

The image I chose to use for this blog entry is a map of the whole "world" in the video game Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This relates to my area of interest because I'm interested in maps/information graphics, and I also have always loved playing video games.


I believe that this is a good example of a top-down visual graphic because with the white space around the center of the map, your eyes are directly drawn to the center of the image. Your eyes are then lead toward the right side of the image, due to it being a dark color, and also the next largest area on the map. You are then lead to the bottom part, then the top right area, and lastly the top left area. This happens because of the size of each area, as well as how well the colors of each section stand out. After this you are directed back to the center of the image, which then it is very easy to keep wandering the map with your eyes.

Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

For this exercise, I found two graphics of waterpark maps.
The first image is a waterpark map of Wichita Falls in Texas. I believe this map shows good syntactical design. It shows a lot of balance, and everything is held together by the border and the "grassy" area. It's very simple and easy to understand, and likely to get the point across.



For my second image, I used a graphic for the map of Splashtown. Although the map itself is somewhat syntactical, it's not a very interesting design to look at. There is a grid set up around it, but it could be very hard to find exactly which part of the grid you are trying to find on the map. The text on the left side put in boxes kind of throws everything off. Also the text in the orange bubble also kind of throws the whole image off.

Overall, the first image has more balance and just seems to be held together better than the second image of the entire brochure.

Visual Language Syntax

This image is a good example to show the struggles of unemployment.
-Cheap Sign
-"Not Hiring"
-Incomplete sentences
-No symbols/lack of symbols
This image is a hand written poster attached to a gate that says "you don't work here. Keep out. Not hiring." It's a white poster with sloppy black hand writing. The poster it zip tied to the fence. This shows the struggles of unemployment because this place can't afford to hire anybody. They also can't even afford a nice sign to say that they are unable to hire people.

Meaning 2: Interactions between the three levels

The area of design I am interested is infographics, especially maps. I feel this image of a map of the US shows good examples of representational, abstract, and symbolic levels of visual design.

First is representational. This is obviously representational of a map/top view of the United States. The shape of the United States is very well known, and by the outline of the image, it is obvious that this is a representation of the US.

Next is abstract. Although it may not be the most abstract image, I still believe this image is somewhat abstract because of the different colors of the states, and some of the tinier images on the page, the somewhat "symbols", are kind of abstract with their shapes. Mostly these would be the ones that look like trees.

Last, this image has a lot of symbols on it. One very good example would be the symbol of a video camera located on the image in Southern California. This symbol would represent that this is where Hollywood is, and this is where many movies are made.

Blog Exercise #1

The category I chose to write about in my blog would be a representation, abstraction, and symbol, all that pertain to a restaurant or dining space. Here are my images, in order: representation, abstraction, and symbol.







The first image is a representation of a restaurant, because it shows the front of what most restaurants look like. Front windows, with tables in the windows for people to sit at, along with the nice big sign outside above the door saying "Restaurant" showing what the building is. You can tell it's pretty bright inside, and has a lot of people eating and enjoying their time at the restaurant.

The second image is an abstraction of the inside of a restaurant. It's hard to make out, but it's an image of the dining room, tables with food and set for a meal, and is obviously the inside of a restaurant. The image has been blurred and altered to make the image abstract and so it doesn't exactly look like a "restaurant".

The 3rd and last image is the symbol for a restaurant. This is a very well known symbol in the US. Even though it doesn't show any food in the image, most people can tell that those are symbols for a fork and a knife, meaning that this is a place where people can eat. Although a "place to eat" doesn't necessarily mean that food will be provided, chances are this symbol denotes that there will be opportunity to purchase food at this spot. A symbol that might be seen as a "place to eat" where food may not be available, might be a symbol for a picnic table or picnic area.