Contrast

While I have covered some aspects of contrast in previous posts I thought I should post a few more to specifically hight some aspects

In this image the two pages contrast of colour verses grayscale. The red background on the background helps define the text which is clearly legible but the other page in contrast is less defined due to its lack of colour and more complex typography.

Here is a canvas I did for my ND Art and Design project, the imagery was taken from black and white stills of classic Noir and had excellent representation of contrast both in use of colour and as seen above splitting the composition between hard straight lines of the wall and the softer curves of the woman's face peering from the shadows.

A productive evening part 2

Following my earlier success I spent a few hours disecting my favorite elements of my existing ideas and inspired by the Porto Brand project proceeded to construct a rough visual guide based on these elements.

A Brand by any other name... Sketchbooks and Sigils

Initially when I got the project I began by sketching out some ideas in a notebook. I quickly upgraded to a sketch book but here are the scans of that development.

Mind map in an attempt to identify elements to develop

Here I tried to use a rough grid to belp balance the proportions of my sketches

Some rough glyphs copied from my Dictionary of Occult Symbols.

I developed a few sigils based on Grant Morrison's advice:

(sans the masturbation part, that seemed unnecessary for my purposes)

The idea of using "empowered" Sigils in my business card was an amusing one so I mocked up one based on one of my propose brand names "Grawlix"

Here is some of my development towards that and other brand names, including Grimoire Graphique which I would use in my final designs

Emphasis

Emphasis

During my research into emphasis I found some great examples.

This movie poster makes great use of emphasis though by constructing the woman's dress from a scribbled pattern and aligning the text up it's edge, heavier at the top. The resulting effect draws the eye much like an arrow, It gets bonus points for being reminiscent of Gustav Klimpt's "The Kiss" as he has long been one of my favourite artists.

Here the use of strong block colour; Black on Red, draws the eyes between the two armed children to the highlighted word destroy and finally up to the war child logo before the eye settles on the image where the white text is read and an discreet arrow draws the eye up to the word Donate. The black borders also help frame the image, keeping the eye from straying. A very effective advertisment.

For an audio only podcast Welcome to Night Vale has some great design, perhaps necessitated by the lack of visual representation for their cast. Their logo scales excellently to fit prominently among other podcasts on your iphone up to posters and desktop wallpapers. Straight line and curves, and white and black divide the image and contrast strongly highlighting the clear bold font and looming moon while the iconic colour palette balances with the black, while hinting a great eye over the town, representing the pervasive weirdness that permeates the series and perhaps the perception of Cecil Palmer, the narrator. Through layered emphasis the designer hints at many of the show's core precepts, and makes it very representational of the show.

A productive evening Part 1

After our typography session today I decided to play around with various compositions of my name, having been steering towards an alias in many of my previous designs.

My first attempt gave fruit but lacked in it's integration with my forename. Unperturbed I continued confident that I was heading in the right direction.

Much better, but it still needed something!

This was great, though heavily typographic it resonated with me. Its seamless integration of numerous inspirational elements; from Japanese architecture to Norse Futhark runes and alchemical glyph, it used them all without being too in your face about it. The Block background is reminiscent of the Marvel logo while its rough edges give it a decidedly grungy aesthetic.

Personal Analysis of design

TBC

Balance

Balance

Balance is a key concept in art and graphic design as seen in ancient imagery such as the Yin Yang. This one in particular especially with it'd use of retro 60s fonts to form the shape.

I really like this example as using colour to create balance while grounding it with the foreground image with the background uses proximity to create the the illusion of a profile shot.

This image finds balance between the starkly defined man and his dog against the greyscale blur of the train.

Finally this poster for inception achieves balance asymmetrically by balancing colour and density.

My first design utilises colour balance across both sides with the inverted colour White on Black on the front and Black on White on the back. The icon itself is also shows balance through limited symmetry as does the Futhark brackets around my name on the reverse.

These designs use variations on the same, the first uses symmetry in the reflected owls as well as the askew Futhark brackets which make a return. The second balances the dark focal point with the white canvas.

Principles of Good Design: Composition Workshop

Balance

Isolation

Chaos

Unity, Stress and Joy

Typographic Composition