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.