Conveyance: Critical Reflection

Clarity

Each composition clearly presents the intended theme. The narratives posted below each image further explain how each composition emphasizes the theme. The entire post is working towards the same theme of conveyance. The explanations ensure that there will not be misinterpretations of the piece’s message. Each image represents a different message but in essence they are all working towards the same concept.

Audience

The target viewer of my blog is my professor and possibly classmates. The blog is not necessarily intended for a client; it is being used as a way to explain the concepts I have learned in this semester and what compositions I have created using the knowledge I have gained. My professor and classmates have a variety of tastes. It is clear to see this by viewing the blogs of my fellow classmates and seeing the diversity in their posts. The concept is explained in an educational tone. The post serves as an explanation on how to utilize images and text in order to convey a concept. The explanations are kept concise to keep readers from becoming bored or uninterested. I tried to use a variety of colors to keep the viewers engaged as well. The concepts are very understandable to all viewers and the explanations in each post further help the viewer gain understanding of them. Each image in this post is created from my interpretation of the word; therefore, it differs from the compositions created by my fellow classmates. If this blog post were a person, it would be an intriguing and creative person that the viewers would want to learn more about.

Purpose

This post is supposed to explain the concept Typographical Conveyance. It is not meant to sell a product or persuade anyone. It is more of an informational post that allows viewers to develop an understanding of the concept explained and give them examples of how it can be shown. The post is narrow enough so that what is included is necessary and nothing could or should be left out.

Typographical Conveyance

"With visual Media, conveyance is the delivery of meaning or mood from the observed to the observer." (p. 283) -Krause

The purpose of this exercise was to come up with typographic conveyances using a given list of words.

The first word was "BRICK". I first found an image of a brick wall on Google. I then chose a font that was very thick and almost like blocks. I used the eyedropper tool to make the word the color of one of the bricks from the wall. Finally, I added a bevel and emboss effect in order to make the word stick out from the background and make it look more square like.

The second word was "LIGHTLY". I chose to do a simple image for this. I used a very flowy font and chose a light blue for the color. I then used the shape tool to put an light bulb as the dot in the "i". Finally, I added an outer glow effect to drive home the idea of light.

The third word was "PILLOW". I first found an image of a sleeping baby on Google. I used the magnetic lasso tool to outline the baby. I then dragged the baby onto a blank canvas. I added the text "Pillow" in a very rounded font to give it a fluffy effect. I then used the liquify filter to shape the word around the baby's head to make it look like a pillow. I added an inner shadow effect to the text to make it have a softer look. I left everything in this image shades of grey.

The fourth word was "SHRED". I chose a simple font for this image. I then used the line tool to draw white lines through the word repeatedly to make it look like the word itself was being shredded.

The fifth word was "XXL". I started with an image of an oversized man from Google. I used the magic wand tool to get rid of the background and then dragged him onto a blank canvas. I chose a font that is very thick and blockish. I made the "L" larger than the "XX". I placed the "L" on the man's huge stomach to emphasizes that it represents the word "large". Finally I added a drop shadow to make the letters stick out.

The last word was "ATOM". I first chose a simple, yet bolded font. Then, I used the paintbrush tool to draw red dots all over the word. I then added a drop shadow to the dots. Finally, I deleted the text so that all that was visible was the red dots in the shape of each letter. I chose to do this to make it look like the word was actually made up of hundreds of little molecules.

Overall I am very happy with my final products. I believe that each image correctly conveys the meaning of the word. I like that this exercise allowed us to utilize many of the different tools in Photoshop we have learned to use throughout the semester.

Components: Critical Reflection

Connotation

The visual style of this section of my blog is the same as the first section. The background is pink and the headlines and titles are purple. These colors convey a girly theme to represent my personality. The colors in the blog catch the reader’s eyes, accomplishing one of the main goals of the style. The only thing that might be improved upon is the font color of the body of the blog. The light gray color might make it difficult for some to see against the light pink background. Choosing a darker gray would be one way to fix this problem. It would be helpful to get input from others because the style of the blog does reflect my taste and personality. Different audiences may prefer different colors or themes. However, I tried to make sure that each assignment effectively conveyed its own meaning without too much of my preference put into it. For example, in my Color Echo post I followed the exercise instructions by pulling colors from the fruit in the bowl when choosing background and font colors. I avoided using colors that I thought were “pretty” and instead chose colors that helped make the image flow.

Attributes

I am overall pleased with the visual weight, structure, color and presentational style of my blog portfolio. For example, I like that images such as the ones in my Word Portrait post have a white background. When coloring the background is not part of the assignment it is helpful to keep it white rather than transparent in order to keep it from blending into the background of the blog. Linework in my Gestalt Principles and Icons post could be tweaked. The image of the icon I created a good representation of a wrench, however, making the lines a little thicker and steadier would make it have more of a professionally drawn feel. The black background in my icon makes the wrench stick out nicely. As I mentioned before, I tried to stay away from using my favorite colors in every assignment. There is a variety of colors used throughout each component. Although each assignment is not composed using the same colors, overall they fit nicely together in the blog portfolio. By keeping each post in the same format the blog conveys a sense of flow. All of the compositions could be used for several different uses. For example, the image in the Legibility and Text Safe Areas post could be used as an invitation, e-card, poster, etc. The font size in each composition and in the blog body is large enough for the intended audience to read. The fonts in each composition were specifically chosen to convey each given message. I am happy with my choice in fonts for each assignment and the body of the blog.

Placement

Each assignment deserves some attention. There are some that are more complex and may take more time than others. This is shown by how much description is given. For example, the post Second Life Prims seems to have the least amount of writing beneath it. This is because the assignment was to simply create a prim in the Second Life program. There was not much of a deeper meaning other than to experience the complexity of computer simulations. The lines, dates, and titles separating each post are completely necessary. These allow the audience to see where one concept ends and another begins. Each is separated but still follows the same format. All of the images are centered, except for the ones included in the Word Portrait post. These are not centered because there were so many of them it made sense to wrap the text around them. However, in order to maintain the visual flow, it might have been a good idea to center these like the rest.

Combining Fonts and Images

The purpose of this exercise was to combine an image or shape with fonts in order to create a logo or advertisement for a business. 

Advantage Auto Advertisement

I used photoshop to create my advertisement. First, I found a shape I wanted to use; I chose the checkmark shape. I decided to use the checkmark tool as a letter in the title of the business. As you can see above, I made an advertisement for Advantage Auto. I chose a bold font to make it match the checkmark. Then, I added a catch phrase "COME CHECK US OUT!" under the title of the business. I made "CHECK" and the checkmark the same bright yellow color to emphasize the pun. I chose to use all capital letters in the advertisement to make it seem like the image is shouting out to you. I added a bevel and emboss effect to "Advantage Auto" and a drop shadow effect to "Come check us out!" and the checkmark. 

I am pleased with my final product. However, one thing I believe could be improved is the spacing between the checkmark and the letters in "Advantage". If the "antage" part was overlapped slightly by the checkmark I believe it would look more together.

Word Portrait

The purpose of this activity was to explore how different fonts can instill emotion. First, I chose a word that best amplified the "voice" of a font. I chose "Gorgeous" and it is shown to the right. Synonyms of "Gorgeous" include: luxurious, dazzling, and elegant. I used the font Apple Chancery to show elegance, the color pink to give it a dazzling effect, and added a satin overlay to exemplify luxurious.

The second word I chose to amplify with a font that matches its meaning was "Archaic". It is shown to the left. Synonyms of "Archaic" are: old-fashioned and antique. I chose the font Lucida Blackletter because I felt it had an antique feel to it. I then made the font black and added a bevel and emboss effect to make the word look like an old fashioned headline.

The next word I chose was to be a word that contradicted the feel of a certain font. I chose the word "Bold". Synonyms of this are: striking and thick. I chose the font Courier because it is very thin; the opposite of thick. Then I made the font a light blue color and added an inner glow. This gave the word a softer image as opposed to the expected striking statement.

The last word I chose was a word that contradicted a font as well. I chose the word "Vanilla". This word can be used to describe someone or something that is plain or boring. Also, its most famous connotation is as a flavor. I chose the font Rosewood Std because it is a bold and interesting font, in contrast to being boring and plain. I also added a bevel and emboss effect in order to add something more to it to make sure it was anything but simple. Then I made the font a deep brown color. This color is to resemble chocolate; the opposite of vanilla.

I enjoyed this exercise and feel that each of my words effectively fulfills its purpose.

Emotional Design

The purpose of this exercise was to take an ordinary object and use different techniques to morph the object into an image that appeals to one's emotions. I chose to do this exercise with a partner. First, we chose an ordinary object and found a simple image online. We chose the lamp featured below.

Original Lamp

Then, we had to decide what kind of audience we would like to appeal to. After playing around in Photoshop we decided to target Women ages 16-25. The emotion we chose to portray was confidence. First, we used the paintbrush tool to create a silhouette of a woman as the lamp stand. We chose to make the woman curvy rather than super thin as to avoid the subject of negative body images. We made her head slightly tipped towards the sky and the lamp shade tilted as well to look like a hat in order to symbolize her being so confident in her self that she is not worried about others' opinions of her. We chose a cheetah print lamp shade because we felt the cheetah was a good symbol of fierceness leading to confidence. Also, we applied an outer glow effect to the silhouette of the woman as to show that she is "glowing" with confidence. This is also used as irony because the stand is the part that is glowing, as opposed to the actual light bulb. We added a text box and wrote "Be Wild. Be You." This statement is used to urge women to be unique and proud of it. We applied a shadow effect to the letters to show the reflection of the light coming from the woman. Finally, we chose a deep red background because we felt it was bold. We chose to have the image off to the right rather than in the center to make it more interesting. The final image is shown below.

Our Final Product

This is by far my favorite project thus far. This project consisted of a lot of tweaking and creativity. I am very impressed with our final image and feel it is really interesting to look how far we came from the plain white lamp we started with!