Week 3 - Color

Week 3 No specific topic given this week. Decide for yourself what aspect of the digital media class (lecture and/or lab) you want to reflect on or explore further in your blog post for this week.

I started working on my CD cover yesterday and found that it’s a bit harder than I’d thought. I picked a picture of my sister, Brie, and a background from my home town and the title “Free Fall” because it seemed like an appropriate album title. I wanted to make as many changes to Brie as possible, so I started by trying to make her a blonde. When I was done it looked really fake. I used brightness and contrast and saturation and color hues and all that but it still looks pretty one dimensional. It would be way easier to make a blonde a brunette. I’m going to keep working on it and see how natural I can make it look.

I’ve also been brushing up on colors. I’ve never studied color before so i thought I’d take some time to familiar myself with the basics.

Primary colors in color wheel: red, blue, and yellow.

These are the colors that create all the other colors and (yellows a bad idea against white) cannot be made by other colors being mixed together.

Secondary colors: green, violet, and orange

These are the colors made from mixing the primary colors together.

Color Harmony:

“Analogous colors are any three colors which are side by side on a 12 part color wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Usually one of the three colors predominates.”

“Complementary colors are any two colors which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green”

Look in nature for harmonious color schemes.

http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html

Week 2: CRAP

Week 2
Find at least 4 images (from magazines, the internet, digital photos of posters, billboards, etc, scans of flyers, etc). Each image should embody one or more of the CRAP principles. Explain how each image embodies those principles. Briefly discuss the merits and/or shortcomings of the CRAP principles in terms of their usefulness as a design aid.

CRAP: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity

Image #1: Love Happens

Contrast

• Names, tag line, title, and details at the bottom of the ad are all different font sizes.
• Names and title are green while tag line is black
• White background makes words and picture pop

Repetition

• Names and title are both the same color green
• The picture of Eckhart and Aniston has a lot of green in it as well
• Ever item is horizontally placed on the ad

Alignment

• Horizontal
• Tag line and title are centered
• Focus is centered because of the position of the actors as well

Proximity

• Names of the actors are next to each other at the top of the page
• The tag line flows into the title because it is right above it
• Nothing is squished, everything has space around it, this makes the ad very clear and easy to look at

I noticed that you can use the CRAP principles for things you don’t want people to notice as well such as the information in small type at the bottom of the ad. This is easy to ignore because it does not follow the CRAP principles. Its font is light and skinny which doesn’t show up well against the white background. The small type is only at the bottom of the page, there is nothing to connect it to the rest of the ad. It is aligned with the bottom of the page so that it can be easily ignored. Since everything else on the page is so clear, especially the title which is directly above the small type, the eye is uninterested in examining this part of the ad.

Image #2: Diet Coke

Contrast

• “Flirt with taste. Not calories.” Is written so that the words “Flirt”, “taste”, and “calories” are larger than “with” and “not”.
• The bright red words and brown/red coke bottle stick out from the black and white background
• The word “Diet” is the only word not written in a red font, which along with its position (above and to the right of the word “Coke”) , makes it seems like an after thought. The advertisement is trying to say “even though its ‘diet’ coke, it still tastes good”, so their main focus is to sell the taste. The font of the word “diet” is sort of cursive style which makes people think “fancy” or “classy”. This coordinates with the stars and circles design as well as with the woman who looks like she’s dressed to go out on the town.

Repetition

• The red is repeated in the tag line, the bottle of coke and the word “Coke” on the bottle and in the bottom right hand corner
• The swirly circle pattern coming out of the bottle is also at the top right hand side of the ad as well as a similar looking design of circles and stars along the bottom of the ad
• The same logo that is on the bottle is in the bottom right hand corner of the ad, repetition of the product is important because it is the main focus of the ad

Alignment

• Our eyes automatically read from left to right so placing the words of the left hand side and the image on the right hand side is easy to look at
• The two sentences are separated while the words within each sentence are close together.
• The bottle is placed right below the tag line
• The right side the ad isn’t bare of color or words because of the diet coke logo.

Proximity

• The women’s eyes seem to be looking at the words “Flirt with taste...” which, to me at least, looks like it’s what she’s thinking. The woman is in a “flirty” position as well; laughing, touching her face, leaning forward, etc.
• Both the diet coke logos are at the bottom half of the ad

I think Robin Williams should have added an S at the end of CRAP to make it CRAPS, and the S would stand for SIMPLICITY

People like images that are easy to look at. A clear image equals a clear message, which is what images try to present.

Image #3: Premarin Warning

Contrast

• The yellow against the black and white makes the important information stand out (while simultaneously symbolizing urine)
• The white against the black back ground is clear to read
• The bold yellow font is in contrast to the white normal font
• The pretty, old fashioned, smiling woman holding a glass of horse urine is an example of how contrast can create humour
• The strip of yellow background with the bold black lettering at the bottom of the page stands out against the oppositely formatted text above

Repetition

• Yellow glass, text, and label at bottom
• Black and white everywhere else

Alignment

• The giant T grabs the eyes attentio
• The eye sees the funny picture first, then reads down from there
• The title of the ad is at the bottom because the advertiser wants people to see the product from their point of view before even knowing what the product is

Simplicity

• The picture is clearly a stereotypical house wife: clean and tidy, not a pee drinker
• The yellow says it all
• The message could not be easier to read because of the large and simple font
• Humour makes people more interested than just the dry facts
• The truth is always effective

Image #4: Flare

Contrast

• Everything on this page seems to be in contrast with something else
• The two models have contrasting outfits – ones black and the other is mostly white
• There are about five different font styles, 6 different font sizes, and 2 different font colors
• The red letters against the black, white and grey stands out
• The huge black “scene” word stands out in front of the white background

Repetition

• The red “new wave” is reflected in the red “the disco darlings”
• All other text is black
• The same font style is used for “the hottest names to know in Canadian music” and below with “the disco darlings: fan death”
• black and white lettering and black and white outfits (they should have a splash of red too)

Alignment

• all text is centered except for the FLARE logo
• the models are in front of the title “the new wave” which shows their importance
• their image is more important than their information since it is placed at the bottom in small lettering
• the title “scene” at the top indicates the beginning of a new article topic within the magazine

Some things I learnt from looking at these images:

• clearity and simplicity goes a long way
• black and white can’t go wrong

• red on black and white stands out and takes focus

• contrast in font keeps information from becoming borin
• you can control what the eye focuses on as well as what it doesn’t focus on
• large fonts and cursive looking fonts are popular right now
• I think the photographs serve to catch the attention of the eye then the words give the wanted information

Photoshoped Las Vegas Postcard!

Week One!

Week 1
Your first post on your blog should be a reaction to the Digital Media lecture. Answer the following questions in your post: What were your impressions of the term “digital media” before the first class? Did your impressions change in any way after the first lecture, and if so, in what way? Why should a student in RTA take a course like this one in digital media? Finally, was McLuhan right?

Blog numero uno,
Before my first class of Digital Media I didn’t have a clear perception of what Digital Media was but I gathered that it was a technical, computer based class. Since the majority of the media is currently digitally communicated, i.e. computers; television; and radio, I assumed we’d be learning about the inner workings of these technologies and how to use them to our advantage.
After the first lecture I realized that Digital Media is almost everywhere I look. Advertisements, clothing, CD covers, posters, websites, buildings/interior design, signage, etc. I enjoy using computers and am stoked to start creating my own designs and works of digital media.

Although I am still uncertain about what I want to specialize in within the radio and television field, I know that a digital media class will help me with whatever I choose. As I mentioned before, digital media is everywhere, therefore it will most likely be a part of whatever career I choose to pursue. There are countless types of digital media within the field of television, including animated programs and commercials. The graphic design element of the course will be useful for creating any sort of visual concept I want to convey. The design of whatever I do is the first impression to my intended audience and the way I am going to attract their attention, interest, and business.

Enough about me...
In 1964 Marshall McLuhan wrote Understanding Media and from this piece of literature sprang his most famous quote: “The Medium is the Message”. McLuhan saw what was really effecting people minds, as well as society, when they were receiving information/messages by watching TV, listening to the radio, reading a book, etc, was not the content but the actual medium through which they were receiving it. The invention of the telephone, for example, didn’t change the conversations people were having but rather the way they had them. The medium changed society and culture, not the messages which we communicated by using it. Television sends its most effective messages by using images, radio through sound, and books/literature through the written word. Whenever a new medium is invented there is a shift in culture; people adjust and communicate and learn differently. The audience can have three very different experiences and interpretations when receiving the same message through three different mediums.

I think McLuhan is right. The messages we send through different mediums are infinite in content but the medium we choose to send them highly influences these messages. For example, if I call someone and they don’t answer then they text me back “what’s up?”. I know that, for some reason, they can’t or don’t want to talk. The message I get through the medium of text, in this situation, is I can’t or don’t want to talk, not “What’s up?”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJmbuE2qOs

http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/gordon.html