Art & Design

This is a blog on art and design. That includes my own work, work that I think is inspirational, and writings or articles on design or art. 

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Movie/TV/Video Game Title Sequences

The first title sequence I picked is from the video game The Last of Us. I like the minimalistic style of the graphics. It's in black and white so it isn't very loud, so it doesn't take away from the words. Another interesting thing about the graphics is that it shows fungus growing, which is the main cause of the zombie apocalypse in the story.It also has symbolism of how the disaster and chaos grows to a global scale as it sets the scene of the game. The audio of the game is a newscast that reports what happens around the world. It also has some really nice strumming of a guitar which gives a calm but unsettling mood to the sequence. It's interesting how these elements give that feeling of calmness even though the world is ending. It's a feeling is constantly felt through the game, where silence and peace is constantly broken from fungal zombies or other humans. 

The second title sequence I picked, is from Hannibal. I also like it for its minimalistic graphics, which revolves around the manipulation of some red liquid which represents blood. It's neat how the blood starts from a formless shape into a human head, which makes you sure that it's blood, instead of another red liquid like wine. The head represents the human psych which is an important element in the series. The red, black and white color scheme is strong which makes it even more powerful. The music is very unsettling and creepy. It sounds warped and disturbed which gives you that feeling that you probably shouldn't let little kids watch it or you realize that it's not a happy show if you never watched it before or know what the show is about. The music does well with creating an eerie mood which makes you wonder about what will happen in the episode.

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One website I like to follow to see current designs is Colossal. While I look mostly at anything under the category of design on this website, another nice thing is that you can look at other things such as art or photographs, which can be inspirational. This website posts a lot of nice designs, it's not limited to one category in design, so I sometimes see illustrations or even architecture designs. One thing I really enjoy about this site is that it has links to artists or other design related things, so it's good for navigating to related topics in a post. Some posts also include gifs or videos of the design.

 This website organizes its posts pretty well too. The background isn't loud so it doesn't take away from the content. The content is always really interesting too, and it covers a broad area which means I see more variety of works. The descriptions are also pretty good, they are brief but the information is straight to the point.

Link: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/category/design/

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Packaging

Most of the designs I picked have interesting shapes. The different shapes are playful, and it makes the product stand out compared to the usual rectangular box. The first image where the tea bag is in the shape of a bird is an interesting twist to the product, since you would expect it to be in the usual rectangular shape. The bright colors also works well with the different products. Pastels are used in the tea packages to give them a more relaxed and calm feel. Brighter, loud colors are used more for products to appeal to a younger audience. 

Another interesting with the packaging design is how some of the materials were used in the packaging. Such as the chopsticks for the sushi package was used as the handle for the box, which makes it easier to carry and wastes less material. The use of eggshells as the pudding cup in the third image is also pretty clever. With the last five packages, I like how the product is shown as a part of the design. The products are visible, but it does not take away from the appeal. You know what to expect from these products and seeing the products makes you think more carefully on which box or bag to choose. 

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Web Design

I picked websites that were clean and are easy to navigate through. The color schemes for the websites were simple, and not too loud so it doesn't hurt the eye as much. The layout for most of them are made in a way that makes it easy to read and easy to find your way around the website. The use of pictures and symbols help with navigation, an it also makes it more interesting to go through, compared to navigating in a website mainly composed of text. Some of the websites also have some nice interactions in them, with how the icons and images change if you roll your mouse over them. I really enjoy the playfulness of the designs which engages the visitor when browsing a page. 

http://www.nitrografix.net/

http://www.suonia.com/

https://www.etsy.com/?ref=lgo

http://www.ch3mical.com/

http://www.thesocietyinc.com.au/

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National Constitution Center

One of the most interesting things about the National Constitution Center is how it attracts a range of age groups instead of just one specific group. The designers who create the exhibitions have to take into consideration of how different age groups respond to different things, so the exhibitions have different elements which appeal to different ages. Younger age groups, which generally refer to children and teens, are more interested in the visually appealing parts as well as the interactive parts. One example of this is how I noticed that a group of middleschoolers were very engaged in the room with the life-sized statues of the founding fathers. Aside from taking pictures and comparing their heights to the statues, some kids were also reading through the touch screens placed around the room. From what I noticed, the kids also enjoyed the main exhibit area which had a lot of interactive things such as areas where they could go back in time and take pictures of themselves and there was also a trivia being hosted there. I also noted the booklets in the front of the exhibit which were categorized as high school, middle school, elementary school, and visitor guide to take each respective age group around the exhibit and provide facts and background information. There are also things that capture the interests of adults as well. In the Constituting Liberty area, there was this touchscreen monitor which would show other countries that had the same rights as the U.S. based on amendments. I heard one man discussing with another elderly man about how it was surprising to find out that some countries still did not have anti-slave laws, such as China or even India. I think that a lot of the longer texts are focused more on an older audience as well, since most kids won't stand still for that long to read. The designers worked hard and probably will continue to work hard to make exhibitions appealing to all age groups, even if the subject of the exhibition is not considered to be the most interesting ones to most people. 

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Book Covers

For a lot of the books that I chose, I thought that the composition was really interesting. While some of the books go with the classic subject in the center of the cover, others go with a more dynamic composition, such as This Girl is Different  with a diagonal, or in The Ringing Bell with an emphasis on the bottom of the book. The color choices of the books are also important, giving the book a specific mood which hints at the genre of some of the books. Some of the books, such as The Calamitous Black Devils or V for Vendetta have a darker color scheme to hint that these books are not something that you would normally read to little kids as they probably have darker themes to them. Other books such as the books on the second row, have a brown, sepia color scheme, so it would have a feel of the past to it. The last row of books are more brightly colored which is appealing especially to children. The first row's color scheme focus more on pastels and flesh colors to make it more human, but the white and paleness of it gives it a detached inhuman quality to it. 

Some of the book covers have some play on the type which adds on to the books. One example of this is how in This Girl is Different, the word "different" is upside-down and flipped to emphasize how different the girl is. Another book which plays around with the text is Kabuki where the title looks as it was written with a brush and ink than just printed text. The books also have an interesting use of imagery. The book Low Life uses several images with several scenes as well as a man who can be perceived as an important character to the book. Letters From Gallipoli gives the illusion that the book is made up of several old letters that are bound through the use of a ribbon. 1Q84 is really interesting because of how the title is made from the negative space and it gives a greater emphasis on the title than the face in the background.   

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Movie Posters

The first movie poster is interesting because of how much symbolism there is in the it. The scissors contain the faces of the main characters of the movie. The fact that the scissors are rusted slightly gives the feeling of decay and devolution which goes on within the movie. The blood between the open blades of the scissors gives it an implied sexual meaning to it, while also representing something violent.  

The second poster is nice because of how it doesn't use a while human figure as the center point of the poster. Instead it has the image of a hand which can either be considered as the peace sign or the victory sign. The only other image reference to anything human in the poster is the glasses which represent John Lennon. There is a reflection of the American flag in the glasses which emphasizes the idea of the U.S. in the movie, than just the mentioning of it in the words. The muted color scheme works well with the poster, making it that nothing completely captures the eyes of the viewer and allowing the eye to wander around the poster. 

The title, as well as the large sun in the center of the poster implies that the movie has to do a lot with Japan. The plane crashing as well as the child holding the toy plane, gives it the setting of being a war related story. Those two symbols are contrasting because the crashing plane signifies something negative such as death, while the child signifies hope and youth. The colors used are simple, being reds and yellows which give it a fiery feeling, with the background being monochrome.  

Based on the movie poster, the Black Swan would relate to ballet or dancing in some way. It would be considered just if it wasn't for the makeup which gives it a sinister feel to it. The dark lipstick as well as the dark makeup around the eyes gives it the feeling of something sinister. The redness of the eyes also add to the horror-esque feeling. The tiara on top of her head is also deformed and not perfectly symmetrical as well as having a sort of twisted look to it.  

I like the movie poster of "For Color Girls Only" because of the simplicity of the it. It portrays only a part of the female face with the use of watercolors. The overlapping colors is also a nice touch to it. 

The fifth poster is interesting because of what the image is portraying. The contrasting image of a delicate little girl on the bear trap implies that the lure to the danger is not as what it originally seems and there are twists to what goes on. It hooks the viewers attention, by creating some curiosity to what will happen if someone baited and caught in the trap which ultimately leads to a lot of pain and torture.

The Memory Thief poster is interesting because of how the different wires and cord make up the man on the poster. Along with the title of the movie, it gives the feeling that the man is being rewritten into someone else by these multiple cords that are plugged in. He also seems to be portrayed as a prisoner because of the uniform that he is wearing. 

The partial image of the woman that is also made up of rose petals gives it that feeling of something temporary as well as a fleeting feeling. Noting that it is a story of a murderer the rose petals are a censor of blood coming out of the woman. The petals also represent scent and smell which ultimately fades, but the preservation of these smells are the goal of the killer which also goes along with the title of perfume where the scents would be ultimately captured. 

The Burning Man image is neat because of the use of the man's reflection burning instead of the actual man which raises the question of whether or not the man is burning in reality, or is it in a metaphorical sense. The scattered food on the floor also represent that something bad has happened or was seen which caused him to drop all of the food spoiling everything that should of ultimately made something good but resulted in loss instead. 

The last movie poster I chose was on the movie "Buried." Being surrounded by the large quotes gives that claustrophobic feeling of being trapped in a small inescapable place. That feeling of terror and of impending doom is seen on the man's face in the lower left-hand corner of the poster. The title of the movie stands out because it is written in red, which allows it to be set apart from the rest of the words. The composition of this piece is nice because of the diagonal   movement it has, and because of how it isn't centered like most movie posters. 

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Fashion Design

I like the first three designs because they incorporate unusual materials. The first design has wires surrounding the top to give it some more dimension of space and stars. The second design is actually made up of reflective material that isn't cloth, it gives it a cool and digital feel to the design. The third one is great with all of the different materials and the earthy color pallet to give it a cultural and animalistic look. The fourth one has some interesting designs in the material, which also look sort of plush or velvety which gives it a more formal and refined feel. The fifth one has a lot of lace incorporated to the designs. The designer uses transparency of the lace to create different levels of visibility in the clothing, the different patterns of lace also work well with the overlapping in some of them. 

The sixth one has a nice flow to it, The movement of the dress gets emphasized by the feathery look of the cloth around the wrists. The one after that has a lot of movement with it.The patches of color in the cloth also help move they eye around the piece without being too overwhelming. The last three designs are inspired by animals. The first two are inspired by birds, with the wing-like sleeves for the first one, and the second one has flowy feather like feel  to the material. The last one is inspired by butterflies, especially with the shiny blue and green-yellow as well as with how the materials echo a similar look of butterfly wings. 

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Photography

Joel Sartore's wildlife photos shown in the first row are really nice. The photos are up close to the animals and it brings out the animals more. The angle shot of the monarch butterflies is different from most shots of butterflies. The colors of the photo is also nice, with the focus of orange of the butterflies with the sky blue in the background. The picture of the great horned owl is a close up action shot which makes it seem as if it will fly out of the screen and towards the viewer.

Timothy Corbin has some really amazing ice photos. The pictures of ice are amazing because of the movement, this is shown in the second row of photos. The pictures have a lot of diagonals which moves the eye through the images. The third row of photos have a center or focus which are complimented by the surrounding environment. The center photo of the third row is a really good example of a good reflection picture. The ice on the ground works well with the reflected clouds in the water. The sunrise also gives the picture the nice contrasting color combination of orange and blue. 

Hendra Gunawan's photos have a nice feeling of scale. The first picture has intense colors which helps the eye move through the picture. The capturing the whole lake in the image really gives the feeling of something grand in the mountains.  The second picture is nice with how there are two points of focus that are lit up. The image created by the intersecting shadows is also really interesting with how it is different from the other spots of light on the ground. 

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Best of 2014

Book Design

The Swan Gondola: The effects around the words give it a historical feel to the book. The swans signifies some romance within the book, especially with the the heart they form together. The turquoise color gives it a sense of calmness on the outside, there is also a touch of sadness with the shadow bordering the cover. 

Rebel Music: The colors give a modern and rebellious feeling. The Arabic styled writing of "Rebel Music" gives a mix of traditional and modern sense from the book. 

The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft: The cover design echoes the horror and cthulhu. The overlapping tentacles made with ink and paper gives it an old and gothic feel. The black of the book gives a feeling of darkness, hinting to the unknown and the mysterious within the book itself. 

Game Design

Monument Valley: A colorful and unique ios puzzle game. The stage design is inspired by escher. The color scheme of the game gives it a dream-like and surreal mood. 

Child of Light: The art is beautiful, with it's watercolor like-style which gives it a misty and softer look. It has a turn-based combat system similar to other games designed by Ubisoft. It is a simplistic, but fun game which can be entertaining for a few hours. 

The Evil Within: This horror game has an interesting character design, especially the bosses. It uses a mix of features of combat and stealth to survive a chaotic world filled with madness and insanity. The lighting of the game is really well done, which is important in setting the mood in a horror game. 

Movie Poster

Aftermath: Even without knowing what the movie is about, you can tell from the poster that it has to do with a post-apocalyptic world. The gas mask, and radioactive logo shows danger and references a possible nuclear disaster within the movie. The orange words and logo stands out more because of the darker colors in the rest of the poster. 

Song of the Sea: It is a traditionally animated movie with amazing art. The poster's color scheme gives it a mystical feel to it, which references the myths incorporated in the movie. The symmetry of the poster gives it a nice feel, as well as highlighting the important characters of the movie. 

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For most of the break I ate good food with my parents. Aside from Chinese food and home cooked meals, we also had Yukoslavian food which is really good and also is served in large portions. For Thanksgiving, we ate with my Grandmother, it was nice seeing her again. most of the designs I took pictures of were from my home or were in the hospital. The objects are things that I see all the time at home never considered as "good design".

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Environmental Graphic Design (EGD)

My favorite image is the first one, which shows the rebranding of the Museum of the City of New York. It was done by the Cooper Joseph Studio. The installation was completed around February 2013. The goal of the project was to make the main areas of the museum interesting and engaging. There were three main components to  this project, the LED lights near the spiral staircase, the relocation of the cafe, and the graphics used to move visitors through the space. 

I like this project because of how engaging it is while also being useful in moving visitors through the space. I've also visited this museum before so I've experienced what the project was trying to do. The LED light installation is really interesting because of how it seems to change as you walk from the first floor to the second through the spiral staircase which surround the lights. There is also a place for you to lay down to look from below the lights which is also an interesting interaction, since I've seen others lie down there and it provides another point of interest to the installation.What I like about the cafe and the graphics is the black and white color scheme which makes the images and text have more impact. It definitely causes the eyes to look at it and follow it which creates that movement through the space. It 's nice how they made some spaces which are generally plain such as the stairs more visually interesting so you wouldn't get bored while going from one exhibit to another. 

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Cultural Excursion Assignment

I went to the Academy of Natural Sciences with my group mates Joe, Theresa, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend's roommate. Being a Drexel student is nice in this case since we got to go into the museum for free and we paid only $3 for the special chocolate exhibit instead of the full $5.  My favorite exhibit was the pinned insect exhibit because of how the artist Christopher Marley organized the bugs in different shapes and played with the color combinations. The exhibit is a good source of inspiration for design. I suggest that you check it out as soon as possible since it is not a permanent exhibit and will be taken down in January. Another nice exhibit to check out is the butterfly exhibit. It is nice to see a variety of butterflies at a close distance. It is humid there so if you take pictures there the lens will fog up. The Academy of Natural Sciences is a nice place to bring kids, it's very kid friendly and its main target audience is definitely children. That doesn't mean that the exhibits there aren't as interesting to adults. 

After we left the museum, we went to eat at Chilis. We walked a few blocks since it wasn't far from the museum. I had a turkey sandwich, it was alright, I didn't really like the wheat bread but the turkey and cheese wasn't too bad. When we were waiting for food the others played some quiz game to pass the time while I drew on a sketchbook that was my homework for drawing class. They got really competitive when playing; it was a lot of fun.  Theresa got desert as well and tried to get Joe and I to try some of it but it didn't work. The roommate bought a chocolate covered scorpion from the chocolate exhibit gift shop and he ate it at the restaurant. I asked for some and let me have a piece. The chocolate covered scorpion was pretty good, it was really crunchy but it also had a sharp minty taste to it in my opinion. I don't think it's worth $7 though, but it was an interesting experience.

Overall I had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed looking at the different animals and fossils and other objects in the museum.  It was nice to see a lot of live animals that are not commonly found or seen. It's probably better if they were in their natural habitats, but they do probably live a more comfortable but possibly lonely life in captivity. The museum really reminds me of the Museum of Natural History in New York. Especially with the dioramas of animals and the exhibit with the fossils.

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Advertisements

Most of the advertisements that I picked had an interesting color scheme to me. The last row of advertisements are monochrome which portrays a different mood for each one. The first three are advertisements that were posted around the subway. These advertisements rely more on the images and a simple message or phrase to win over consumers compared to advertisements in magazines. The laser tag flyer has a nice effect where the triangles in the back direct the eyes towards the word "laser tag" giving a nice movement across the paper. 

The fourth advertisement isn't appeal, there are too many things going on in that piece. There should be some spots that are emptier to give the eyes some rest so there won't be an overload of information. The yellow text that ad uses isn't very appealing either. The cluttered feeling also applies to the first and second images, but it isn't as bad as the fourth image. Overall the advertisements aren't that bad. The images are pretty interesting. The different choices in image placement to create the composition in the piece catches my attention. 

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Interesting Typefaces

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Color Combination

My favorite color combination out of the ones I picked is the 9th one with the bird. The dark red stands out from the all of the other colors, but it also works well with it. The light brown color compliments the blue. The lighter shade of brown and green in the background also work well with the colors of the birds by bringing the colors out more. 

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Illustration Styles

The illustration by Tukiji Nao is my favorite illustration out of all of the ones that I have picked. The artist adds a lot of details to her illustrations, and this piece is no different. I really like the choice of colors in this piece, which bring out the character she has drawn. I like the use of hard light and softer light in the piece, which makes some parts of the piece clearer, and other parts are emphasized more such as the face of the fairy. The use of bright and warm colors gives it a spring-like feel as well as a magical and nature feel as well. She also does a good job at spacing the piece  by keeping the background simple so it does not clash with the immense amount of detail and color of the subject