What Language Looks Like: Final 9 compositions

Reflection on lecture by photographer, Travis Shaffer.

One particular quote mentioned by the speaker really struck me: "People are compelled to take photos. We live our lives through photographs, experience through the camera, not a part from it. We replace experience with images of experience."

As a person who loves to take pictures, this quote that the speaker mentioned really got me thinking. There are various reasons that I take pictures. Memories, fun, documentation for work or school, or even as another creative venue to express myself or what I'm seeing. Although I enjoy taking pictures, sometimes it can be stressful, as it can take away from the experience. Many times, I'm torn between simply letting my eyes take in what I'm seeing, and taking the time to document the experience so I can have memories to look at later.

Psychology of Colors

Interesting article I ran across on the psychology of colors. http://www.pepfx.com/articles/web_design/webdesign_colors.php

WEB DESIGN & COLORS

Brief summary of some of the emotions/feelings associated with color:

strength, boldness, excitement, determination, desire, courage
enthusiasm, cheerfulness, affordability, stimulation, creativity
attention-grabbing, comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy
durability, reliability, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness
depth, stability, professionalism, loyalty, reliability, honor, trust
power,nobility, luxury, mystery, royalty, elegance, magic
conservatism, traditionalism, intelligence, seriousness
endurance, relaxing, confident, casual, reassuring, earthy
elegance, sophistication, formality, strength, mystery
cleanliness, purity, newness, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity

The above associations are not universal. Our personal associations, but also cultural backgrounds influence how we experience colors.

"Colors are seen as warm or cool mainly because of long-held (and often universal) associations. Yellow, orange and red are associated with the heat of sun and fire; blue, green and violet with the coolness of leaves, sea and the sky. Warm colors seem closer to the viewer than cool colors, but vivid cool colors can overwhelm light and subtle warm colors. Using warm colors for foreground and cool colors for background enhances the perception of depth."

Source: Pantone,Inc.

Color is a very powerful element in web design.

Colors make us feel a certain way, so they can and should be used to support the purpose of a website.
Red is a good accent color as it stimulates people to make quick decisions. Blue has a rather calming effect, however when combined with warm colors (yellow, red), it can result in vibrant and high-impact designs. Blue also makes time pass more quickly. Yellowstimulates mental activity and is very effective as an attention grabber. Green - as a predominant color on a website - has been known to drive people away, so in most cases, unless the website is associated with nature, it is better to use it only for website accents. Orangeis highly accepted among young people.

Color plays a major role in your web design, it is also recommended for you to be careful in choosing the right hosting provider for your website

Colors & Shopping behavior

Psychologists have suggested that color impression can account for 60% of the acceptance or rejection of a product or service. Market researchers have also determined that color affects shopping habits:

• Impulse shoppers respond best to red-orange, black and royal blue.
• Shoppers who plan and stick to budgets respond best to pink, teal, light blue and navy.
• Traditional people respond to pastel colors - pink, rose, sky blue.

Color and Design - Lecture Notes

Additive mixing - only used by digital media (on screen). The light interacts with light.

Subtrative mixing - used for printing. The light interacts with a surface. Consists of cyan, magenta and yellow.

Hue: family name of a color such as red, green, blue. It suggests symbolic or psychological aspects associated with color. It is also an expressive aspect of color.

Value: Lightness or darkness of a color. It contains more than 90% of the information in a design or composition.

According to Goethe, views are more comfortable with combinations that show the darker value as more dominant. For example, M&M bag designs.

Chroma: Purity of a color - strong to weak (looks more and more gray).

Value and Chroma also suggest space. On a dark background, objects that are lighter in value and stronger in chroma appear to advance in space.

Atmospheric perspective (aerial) shows colors receding in space on a light background. As colors go back in space they get lighter in value and weaker in chroma.

Ambiguous space: some colors advance on a dark background others advance on a light background.

Color unity: strategies employed by artists and designers to convey an idea more clearly, such as:
1. through use of hue, value, or chroma dominance.
2. limited palette can also help create color unity.
3. analogous hues - hues next to each other on the color wheel.
4. transitions in hue, value, or chroma create color unity by eliminating big visuals, slowing viewers path through the picture plane.
5. use of neuttrals - blacks, whites, grays.
6. soften contrast - weaken chroma.

Photography OPS Essay reflection

Reflection on Photo Essay

“With eyes wide open, your day becomes a stream of photo opportunities…”

This article was of particular interest to me, because I enjoy taking photographs on a daily basis. The article states that “photography opens your eyes to color, shape, shadow and texture; it makes you pause, look, imagine, capture”. When I take photographs, I can make art out of reality. Capturing the beauty of nature and the random moments of happiness in life can be difficult, but it is something that I will never stop trying to achieve. The article had some interesting suggestions regarding symmetry, repetition, movement, framing, etc. These are all things that I try to incorporate in my photography but don’t often see outlined and explained so clearly. 

Parts of a Letter

Parts of a Letter

Learning the terminology for the parts of each letter is essential for designers and typographers to develop an understanding of the alphabet and its visual qualities. In the article it states “each letter of our alphabet developed as a simple mark whose visual characteristics clearly separated it from all others.” This struck me as a very interesting perspective on how the written language and typography came about. Typography is an intriguing subject and the possibilities in its exploration are limitless.

What Language Looks Like: ABSENT

Not present in a place or at an occasion; missing.

Not existant; lacking.

Exhibiting or feeling inattentiveness.

IDEO Deep Dive

"Deep-Dive is the name of a technique used to rapidly immerse a group or team into a situation for problem solving or idea creation. This approach is often used for brainstorming product or process development."


This video exemplifies the IDEO creative process with the objective of building a better shopping cart. They demonstrate the company's brainstorming process, in which, creativity is encourage and during the idea generation process no one can criticize. The participants create prototypes throughout the process in order to judge the best one. 

Make it Better - Design for 5 bucks: Process Photos