PunMasterClark

Hi, I'm Clark. I used to run a blog here but now I just post stuff for school. Neat. 

[punmasterclark]

1. The first chart literally flips the x-axis to make it seem the lows are peaks and vice versa. It make it look like the “Stand Your Ground” law look like it dropped murders, rather than raise it. I have no intention by posting this example, just something I noticed. 

2. I chose the Happy Meal as my design system. Each part of the happy meal can stand alone but each piece represents the greater mcdonalds corp.  I would argue that other products including their desserts, coffees, and other foods are also part of this system. 

[punmasterclark]

1. The first piece of design that I though functioned in a greater system is a traffic sign! Traffic signs help guide traffic efficiently and safely. The greater system being the road system. This sign’s design is very loud- with words saying ‘stop’ in all capitals and having a very bright red background. I think this is also a good example of having system thinking and design thinking working together. 

2. The second design is an advertisement in a Nike outlet store. This example actually reminded me of Holland’s example of the client-designer system, where a client comes to a designer with a job. I’m sure this particular advertisement was done in-house, but I would argue it still has a role in the advertisement/sales system for the store here. 

3.The last image is a screenshot from the old schedule builder. A website itself is design, it has a layout and people navigate through it based on the design that was laid out. It has a place in the school scheduling system since it’s the main tool students used to schedule classes. 

[punmasterclark]

1. The first design piece is what I chose to represent the modernist movement/ style. This is advertising for a painkiller from the 1940s. It is clearn, non-ambiguous, and most importantly, it is self-reflexive. I would consider it self-reflexive because the design as a whole is inherently a presentation of this medicine, and that is reflected by the stage for the product. 

2. The second design piece, the Minnesota Wild sports team logo is what I chose to represent a more postmodernist design. The logo is ambiguous, can be interpreted many different ways (is it a bear, or is it a landscape), placing more importance on the viewer’s interpretation. Also the logo is much more visually complex, compared to many other NHL logos that were likely created during the modernist era (Maple Leafs, Black Hawks, etc.). 

[punmasterclark]

1. & 2. : I chose the Black Swan movie poster to demonstrate denotative vs. connotative meaning. The poster simply denotes really only 1 ballet dancer with a very elaborate makeup and a very large, decorative tiara, and very red eyes.  But the juxtaposition in the color in the make up(lights and darks), especially around the eyes, would seem to connote a duality/ or clash in character. Not to mention the red in the eyes would suggest(or connote) something sinister as well.

3: This WWII poster of Rosie the Riveter serves an iconic function because Rosie directly represents (or signifies) American women of the era(such as herself). It is not symbolic because it is not arbitrarily assigned meaning and it is not indexical because Rosie directly resembles what she stands for (or is in this case). 

4. This penguin melting poster is indexical because melting penguins alludes to the idea of climate change. It is not a direct symbol for climate change, so readers have to infer that what the idea is behind the poster. 

5. FedEx uses a symbol function in their logo via use of an arrow between the E and X. An arrow represents moving forward, as well as speed, direction, etc. An arrow is a widely accepted symbol  but would still have to be learned by a person to understand its meaning. 

6. This bowl of Rice Crispies is clearly trying to reference 50′s art of the same characters that are still around today for the brand. The purpose behind referencing an old design like this is to passively demonstrate how old and established(and therefore great) this brand of cereal is for lasting the test of time. 

[punmasterclark]

1. This magazine has a lot of vertical rhythm. The columns give repetition to the work, making it easier to go through visually. 

2. The ‘h’ in this sign has an ascender, as well as the ‘t’! They both go above the rest of the text. 

3. The j in ninja has a descender since it dips below everything else. Nothing else does though...

4. The big space in the middle of the O in Altoids has a counter! So does the D! 

5. The R in Green has a cross bar in it. Not sure if the E’s do too, but I think so! They all have a vertical line in them.

6. I noticed that the title of my Game Design textbook have really tiny ascenders. I assume this means the font has a large x height!

7. The ascenders on the old space cursive font has very tall ascenders, which I can only assume that means the font has a small x height!

8. Screenshot of the chiller font. I think most fonts connote something, but the chiller font is especially trying to scare you! Fitting for the holiday! 

[punmasterclark]

1. While not exactly design, when I think of poor hierarchy in text, I think of poorly organized code. Just lines and lines of text with hardly any spacing. Its hard to look at the page and see wheres the big breaks in code. 2. I chose a cover page of a text book to show how the organization reflects the importance of the "Fundamentals" header and then secondly the topic it covers. 3. Table of contents. Nothing flashy here, just trying to show the reader where everything is! 4. The Bigelow word art is organized somewhat chaotically and puts more emphasis on the illustration over the actual text itself. 5. Also on the tea box, we see 3 defined columns on the box to organize the text and the graphics.

[punmasterclark]

In this Cooking Lite magazine, there are several examples of selective reading. There is clear hierarchy for quick information gathering that is tailored for skimming. The different sizes of text also stage the reader to pick and choose where to start reading. Visual attention can be drawn from the numbered sections, the illustration/pictures, or the writing.

[punmasterclark]

1. The Apples to Apples game box uses heavy greens and its compliment: red! 2. This legend of zelda poster keeps most of its colors in the red, pink, purple, blue with Link's green tunic juxtaposing in front of it. 3. This LoZ poster has a lot of soft edges with the clouds. 4. Nothing with harder edges than 8bit pixel art! The edges are clearly seperated on a grid. 5. The coffee mug uses blues, aquas, and greens. 6. Settlers of Catan game box uses lots of reds and yellows. 7. The contrast in both texture and color from the background make the Mario figute and the title pop from the background. 8. This water bottle uses dotted lines to demonstrate the continuity gestalt principal. 9. The movement from the knife to the pumpkin causes an unstable focal point on the poster. 10. This LoZ poster is an anniversary poster that features many iterations of the character over the years.

[punmasterclark]

1. This artwork has a lot of the dot elements included. While not exclusively dot artwork, it does make use of it heavily. 2. Line. This carpet is all lines, varying colors but all parallel. 3. Plane. This corner of the room has so many differences in plane direction. 4. Repetition. This pillow has a really cool repeated pattern on it! It has a nice rhythm. 5. Progression. These candles show progression of time. 6. Scale. These dots are all different sizes! Its a very interesting when regarding the negative space. Reminds me of agar.io 7. Symmetry. This picture has a lot of radial symmetry in the placement of the leaves. However, the leaves and center are a bit different... 8. Asymmetry. This piece has a lot of simple design aspects that contribute to its composition, but it avoids doing symmetrically. 9. Rhythm. I chose this piece because I find that the patterns have a lot of pace. The pic marks on the perimeter, and the checkered pattern in the middle. 10. Texture. This quilt has pleats that give it a bumpy texture.

[punmasterclark]

The first 2 images I would consider to be fine art. The bird is a 5 minute sketch of a bird and the elephant, while mass produced, is a painting that serves really only artist value. Neither thing is directing, branding, or persuading… while the elephant was both mass produced and purchased commercially, I do not feel as if its graphic design for the aforementioned reasons, which is why I reject some of the definitions from this week’s reading.

The bigelow tea and cherry republic are my examples of graphic design. They both seem planned- aimed to send a message regarding their brand’s image. They’re both calculated and try to guide the viewer to think about their brand in a specific way.

The final image, is a digital collage on canvas. It’s mass produced, and deals a lot with branding. I heavily lean on this being graphic design. However, if this was the only copy and I made it myself out of paint, I would consider it as fine art. But since it is mass produced, and digital, and impersonal, I struggle to label it. The last piece challenges my definition of fine art/graphic design.

[punmasterclark]

Before this week’s readings, I associated graphic design to logos and posters. Stuff like Joann’s Fudge’s logo and the pattern on my curtains are more what I’ve associated with graphic design in the past- more aesthetics vs. functions. However, after this weeks readings, I learned graphic design is more about communication more than anything. Stuff like the flyer in the mail can be graphic design- not just with the literal text, but also with the style in which it’s executed. Even web design has a lot of graphic design in its execution, trying to guide the user through the website.