Visual Techniques: Product Design

Visual Techniques in no particular order:

Line

Boldness

Stasis

Repetitiveness

Balance

Flatness

Unity

Simplicity

Predictability

Regularity

Visual Techniques in no particular order:

Depth

Boldness

Opaque

Asymmetry

Economy

Balance

Simplicity

In the first design of the show rack, the interesting physique of it-- plain wire, twisted into the shape of a footprint- makes good use of the line to create a flat image of what we think of when we hear 'footprint'. It's rather bold, and the shape itself stands out clearly (especially in middle with the flip-flops). The shapes are very static and repetitive, but that's part of their character.  

The second design-- the chairs-- are a prime example of the kind of designs I want to create in terms of everyday-usage products.  The actual concept of these chairs is very interesting- it's just one clean line curved to form a shape similar to a question mark, that ultimately becomes a seat.  It's eye-popping in the way that a flat line is given depth in this way.  This design is very bold because of the way it incorporates the asymmetry of the line itself into the symmetry of the chair (the line curves this way and that, but ultimately evens and balances out).  I think it would be interesting if there were a transparent version of this chair, but the opaque colors help to define the outline of the chair better.  It's not intricate and it's rather economy, but I think that was it's designer's purpose because any more detail would take away from it's overall appeal.

CONTRAST

In this example of contrast being used well in design, the color palate is what stands out first.  The use of red, white, and of differing tones of grey provide a nice, even-looking room interior.  The color red has been chosen to accent the living areas and the furniture in the room.  Soft grey hues provide a backdrop, and even the way the shadows drape down the side of the wall provide a nice hint of interest.  The theme of shapes for this room is very box oriented; just about everything in the room except for the chairs and the lamps has an angular, rectangle look to it.  This uniform approach is pleasing to the eye and does not create a discomforting disharmony to the viewer.  Lastly, the size of everything is pleasing as well- there's a set amount of space for the chairs which is ample room to sit in, the red drawers above the television are skinny enough to not draw too much attention, and the lamp is small enough to give enough light but to not be overpowering.  The use of all of these components together gives this room meaning: it says that here is an open and friendly space ready for you to use and relax your body and mind in.

In this example of contrast being used poorly in design, the various uses of mis-matching color has taken over the rest of the design of this bed.  There seems to be no apparent color scheme here; simply the designer must have wanted the bed to POP and catch the viewer's attention.  It is a children's bed, so in addition it is meant to give a cheery feel to the room.  However, because there is not one singular thing to focus on, the eye is drawn from object to object in random order and is not given a path to follow and the viewer's attention is bombarded with colors and things vying for attention from all sides.  And so instead of any one thing or concept being sharpened by contrasts in color, the overuse of it takes away from what was intended.  For the viewer, this bed is unsettling that way: perhaps if the design on the blue bed sheet were allowed more focus by having the rest of the covers simply remain varying shades of blue, it would have a more calming, composed effect. I do like the dotted backboard, however the board appears to be coordinated to fit the size of the mattress and thereby making the bed itself appear even smaller, giving the effect that the bed is overrun by colors and pillows and accessories.

Movement/Motion: Navigation

In this example of people navigating a building, visitors first confront the large hall immediately following the entrance doors.  This space seems to be mainly for meandering and meeting other people.  Then visitors can proceed to the inner rooms where there are exhibits that might catch their interest.  The design of the space was meant to direct people in a one-way motion- to the inner interior of the building at the far back.  However the problem I find with this is that there is no directed flow of movement- and so the resulting movement pattern would be sporadic. Also with flows of traffic coming from opposing directions, it could make for a stop-and-go kind of walking pattern.  I think the architects built the building so large to compensate for this (judging by the size of the fake people).  This type of design could also possibly work in favor for the visitors as well- the intention being that you'd have to back through the entire gallery to exit, and along the way you could see things you missed.  Or perhaps they intended the crowd to trail the edge of one wall first, and en route coming back to the entrance, would follow the other wall. The one part of the design I really agree with here is the circular-looking exhibit in the middle; this kind of layout provides a sort of "capsule" of an exhibit, cut off physically from other ones.

http://www.frbatlanta.org/about/visitcntrstours/storyofmoney.cfm

This other example of a walk-through layout is a little awkward.  The blue section has been highlighted to show the area which makes up the museum; the grey area is designated for staff members.  Like the previous one, this one also has a walk-towards-the-end centered design plan. This is the lower level of the museum- people enter on the floor above this one, and come down the stairs, pictured right above where it says, "a time to remember."  However this one incorporates twisty turns and odd corners and passages, which if it really is as small as I imagine it to be, would be a hassle to try to walk and maneuver around other visitors into the same space to see the same exhibit. Particularly the corridor in the middle of this layout- that small hallway funnels down to open up into the big room to the right of the picture.  It's a walk-there, then retrace-my-steps kind of design.  I do agree with the spacious presentation of the exhibit hall, say the least tho that it is slightly deceptive because one does not realize there is such a big area after the hallway.  However, having the bathrooms almost immediately at the bottom of the stairs is a good idea.  They are downstairs so they are not in direct reach of the immediate public that walk through the front entrance, but they close enough to access fairly easily.  If I were to have designed this better, I would have tried to direct the flow of visitors by connecting each separate exhibit to the other in a circle or maze fashion (like how in IKEA there is a designated way to walk, and you never re-trace the same area twice). 

http://www.brucemuseum.ca/plan-a-visit/museum-layout/

Dimension/Depth/Space/Scale

In this picture, the first and most noticeable aspect is the establishment of the viewing eye level in dimension.  Dimension depends partially on the angle at which the viewer observes whatever he is viewing.  In this case the viewer is looking down onto the cushions and, further back, onto the sofa in the background.  Photography in particular makes distinctive use of perspective as a tool in portraying the flavor of a picture to an audience.  Shooting a picture from an angle makes up for the narrower range of vision (versus the wide range of peripheral vision that eye encompasses).  In this particular picture, the camera is angled to highlight the sunflower-looking cushions on the floor.  In the picture, these cushions are like the main course, and the sofa is the desert afterward.  The more obvious aspect of dimension here is that the cushions are in front and the sofa is in back, so it appears smaller in comparison.  However the viewer would probably determine that relatively, the sofa is probably not as small as it appears here.  This is part of how the actual space of the room was manipulated through the lens of a camera when it became this 2-dimensional picture: the representation of 3D in a 2D visual format is a manipulation of space; it is an illusion. 

A second element in play is the element of scale.  "All visual elements have the capacity to modify and define each other.  The process, itself, is the element of scale" (Dondis, 56).  In scale, everything is relative to each other because the elements that make up scale can change and warp depending on the complete picture, surrounding elements, and the juxtaposition of these elements to each other.  Therefore, scale is not absolute, and it changes.  In this particular picture, color is juxtaposed against other colors to create a clash and a 'wow' effect from the seeming brightness of the colors (when in fact they may not be so bright-looking by themselves). Although scale does not depend on measurement, it is aided by it--and in this picture, the mean measurement tool seemed to be the human being.  Everything is sized to the proportions of an average-sized adult person.  

http://www.dezeen.com/2008/12/05/takashi-murakami-at-design-miami/

Tone and Color

This motorbike is an example of tone and color functioning in design.


Tone-wise, the differences in the intensity of light and darkness playing off the contours of the bike give it a sense of motion, although it is obviously stationary.  One of the things motorbike consumers look for in a good bike is the sense of sleekness- if the bike visually *looks* like it would move fast, no matter if it actually will or not.  What tone does for this concept is it defines the sleek shape of the bike, highlighting the sloping angles of the material the bike was crafted from.  In this way, tone works together with shape to give dimension to the bike.  Also, the tone creates a linear break in the parts of the body- from more rounded areas to area of depression, to places where pieces were welded together, etc.  


Color-wise, the bike is visually separated into parts, or sections, depending on the color given to that area.  For example the tires are black, the body of the bike is a yellow gold, and the seat is a brownish red color.  But there are also highlighter colors- the black from the front tire continues to the handlebars, as if when it were in motion, the bike was moving so fast that the black color streaked back that way.  Also the silver lining on the inside of the front tire and along the sides of the engine give the impression that the manufacturer paid careful attention to the very last details.  However notice how the back tire is covered by the yellow-gold colored shell of the body: it gives the feeling like the back tire is more grounded whereas the front on is ready to grind up the highway.  Also, color works with texture here because in general, the different materials on this bike are segregated by color (the rubber tires are black, the metal (?) casing is yellow gold, the leather (?) seat is brownish-red, etc).  Lastly the choice of yellow for the body gives the sense that the body is expanding; yellow and red colors tend to expand whereas blue tends to contract.  The yellow makes the body seem more "muscular" in this sense.

Product Design

THE LINE

In this example of product design, there is nothing else to the design besides the lines that comprise the design.  As a computer decoration, having too many extra colors, tones, textures, shapes etc and such might take away from the original design.  The lines is this are, essentially, moving dots, connected so close together that they become continuous.  This design has taken, in the form of lines, the designer's vision and has put it into a palpable reality.  It has a fluid linear quality that is undistracted by other elements (mentioned above).  These lines are tightly and clearly defined, not the kind of lines one would find in a rough sketch.  Because of this design's simplicity in only using lines, the spareness has a dramatic effect.

(Dondis p.42-44)

http://www.webspiderz.us/articles/category/creative-designs/

TONE

This picture depicts a rough sketch of what could potentially turn into a real product- a "transferable golf bag."The intensity of darkness or lightness of anything seen is tone, and here it is portrayed in the varying gradations of the blue, red, yellows colors, and the grey shading.  Being a rough sketch, this figure cannot rely alone on lines to depict the designer's idea to the fullest.  so with the aid of tone, the designer can bring dimension to the product idea he/she wishes to show.  By using tone, the illusion of reality can be captured in a 2-dimensional image.  

(Dondis p.47-50)

http://www.designmyidea.com/design.html

COLOR

This product stands out because of its color. "Color is, in fact, loaded with information and one of the most pervasive visual experiences we all have in common" (Dondis p. 50).  Different colors have different meanings- red for example can mean "danger, and love, and warmth, and life"(50) while yellow can give the impression of being welcoming and cheery.  For this product-- which happens to be a remote control to control electronic devices like the volume of your music or the channel on your television-- the bright green really POPS out at the viewer and catches their attention.  The designer probably intended it to look fresh and bright, as well as give off a feeling of "new"--other things that are bright green include freshly sprouted leaves, for example.  Also, the color is a good way of preventing customers from misplacing it in their house I bet. The hue, or the actual color is green; green is one of the secondary colors (the others being orange and violet).  It is also saturated, meaning the actual color is pure and not diluted.  The combination of it being a saturated secondary hue also gives the impression it is not primary or elementary like the colors red, blue, or yellow- that it is more sophisticated than that.

(Dondis p. 50-55)

http://www.sawse.com/2008/01/10/the-5-most-interesting-product-designs-of-2007/

For this week, I attempted to solve these two puzzles (pictured above) with my roommate Ellery. The first puzzled we tried is the blue one with the stars; the second was the multi-colored hexagon with triangles.

The first puzzle required us to connect all 16 stars without lifting our pencil off the paper, and by only using straight lines to go through the center of each star. Both of us tried looking for patterns in the stars- what kind of pattern could we make with 6 straight lines that would pass through all the stars?  In our mind's eye, we had to fill in mentally what we thought would be a good solution, because to keep tracing and retracing lines on the paper itself would've been confusing.  The process of solving the puzzle also included finding possible solutions through visual reasoning- "if I were to draw this line here, it wouldn't work, but perhaps..." etc.  In addition, we had to work with the available space and try to come up with a method to fill it.  In the end, we couldn't come up with the solution.

In the second puzzle we were asked to find one or more of the triangles that we were able to completely draw all the lines shown in the triangle without lifting our pencil from the paper, and without tracing any lines over.  Ellery got this one right away- she found the upper left hand triangle (the one made up of triangles) could be drawn as the directions instructed. Her reasoning was that she tried to find the simplest triangle first, and see if that would work.  In other words, she visually analyzed the figures she was given first, and then visually induced which one may give her a solution.  Also in this way, she categorized the shapes from easiest to hardest to draw in her mind. For me, I thought the triangle with the circle could somehow be a solution, but realized it would be impossible to not retrace any lines.  I also tried to categorize the shapes by what I thought would be easiest to draw, and I sought patterns within each shape.  There was actually another "solution triangle"--the one with the square in the middle.  But we didn't try finding it because we didn't realize there was more than one answer.

The field of design I am hoping to go into is product design, and one of the kinds of products I hope to be able to design is furniture.  This picture shows a kid's bunk-bed design by Zalf. Its yellow color sets it apart from the rest of the room and shows that it is spatially grouped together, although the adjoining desk is physically separate from the bed.  The shape and size of the bed make it easy to discern that it is the dominant feature in the collection; that it is the main focus and the other things that go along with it are accessories.  The way the desk is oriented to the bed (it's facing it) shows the relationship between both pieces of furniture (showing they are together).  This set is very simplistic and has nice, clean edges.  Overall, the dominating element is the color- it pops out at the viewer first, and manages to hold the viewer's attention throughout the time they are looking at the piece.

picture source:
http://www.trendir.com/interiors/kids-bedroom-from-zalf-rocks-1.html

Visual perception; top-down visual processing

"The goal of information design must be to design displays so that visual queries are processed both rapidly and correctly for every important cognitive task the display is intended to support."

In this example of top-down visual processing, the first and immediate thought the viewer has is that, "this is a table."  Top-down visual processing is viewing an object or a scene with a goal in mind, and although part of the brain's activity is focused on assessing available information, the other part is attention-driven, focusing on a specific goal.  In this case, the viewer may have the goal to use this table for decoration, or as a sturdy place to set something.  The most relevant information to the viewer is one, that this is a table and two, that it's designed to look like an orange.  So the viewer uses the information that they just gathered from initial observation and directing it with whatever focus they are driven by, and what results is a matter of focusing on the relevant bits of the table, and ignoring the irrelevant parts.  For example, the table's legs are under-highlighted and probably would not serve a greater purpose, therefore in top-down processing the legs are likely to be the last thing the person notices.  In contrast, the table top can serve several purposes, and therefore is the focus in top-down visual processing.

Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

This tree swing is a good example of putting syntactical guidelines to use to convey to the viewer the functionality and appeal of the swing.  First and foremost, the viewer perceives it to be what it is--a swing.  The swing is centered in the photograph, calling our focus to it.  There is a slight stress placed on the seat of the swing itself because of the leaf design within it that shows plainly against the blue of the ocean.  The swing is singularly by itself against a level background, and there is nothing else to distract the viewer from the impact of what a swing on the beach means.  The swing is a  tropical-looking leaf pattern design evokes imagery of beachside dwellings-- one can easily picture themselves at a beach house or hotel, on this beautiful swing, watching the waves.  The swing combined with the background conveys a sensation: the feeling of relaxation.  Thus, the swing is put into the context of its intended purpose as a product.

This is a good example of syntactical guidelines not being put to good use, and therefore the intended purpose of the image is lost.  This beautiful porcelain is gorgeous to look at, however the porcelain pieces are lined up next to each other, almost as if they were canned goods on a shelf at the supermarket.  They are grouped together by design which shows the viewer the variety of choices within a certain group; but by doing so, it takes away from the beauty of the individual pieces.  Porcelain pieces normally convey an image as delicate, behind-glass-doors, purely aesthetic products that symbolize luxury.  But by trying to show a large selection, this image takes away from such an intended feeling, and rather appear like they are perhaps not so valuable.  Perhaps if they weren't in such close proximity to each other, it would make them appear to have more value.  Also, there is not much contrast between dark and light because both the products and the background are consistently a similar color, and so the products don't pop.  I feel these products should have been photographed in a glass curio case or on bookshelf where they are intended to be placed after the consumer has bought them.  Also by placing them as if they were on display would signify more so that these are beautiful, exquisite pieces of porcelain, and that "you know you want one too."

Responses

homeless, sitting on a box, cardboard sign, people passing by, ignoring, money tray, desperate, in need, pun, attention-getting, messy hair, business suits, casual wear, pondering, grey, in motion, in a sea of people, sidewalk, downtown area, challenging people's reactions, jacket, cold day, no food, water bottle, leather shoes, hoodie jacket, staring into the distance, looks intelligent

Underlying Compositional Structure

people moving away from the man, stillness versus motion, grey coloring, sitting versus standing, hurried manner versus killing time

Symbols

Money collecting tray, cardboard sign, business suits, unkept facial hair, clean-looking sidewalk, heels

Reporting verbally the image what the image reports visually

A man wearing a read hoodie, jeans, and leather boots is sitting on a petite metal box holding a cardboard sign reading "In need or just lazy?".  There are people passing by wearing business suits and heels who, with the camera's help, are shown to be walking swiftly past the man on the box.  The man has a money tray placed on the ground in front of him, a liter water bottle to his right, and an overturned styrofoam cup beside the bottle.  He is faced to the right of the cameraman, and is gazing down the clean-looking sidewalk into the flow of people.  The whole picture has a grey tint to it, as if to say the man is depressed.  However the man himself has an intelligent look about him, and his sign challenges the oncoming flow of pedestrians to stop and think about what he has written.

Meaning 2: Interactions Between the 3 Levels (Theme: Product Design)

Representational:

A banana is something we can recognize from nature, and here the concept of a banana is represented in the way this juice carton is colored.  The purpose of this specific coloring is to convey to the consumer that this is a banana-flavored drink, and allows the buyer to only take mere moments to visually analyze the intended message.  How it relates to the other two levels: the banana is symbolically probably the most widely-known fruit; this carton takes the banana as a fruit out of the context of reality and places it on the packaging of a food product, abstractly using it to advertise the product.

Symbolism:

A locket, generally considered to contain a picture of a beloved one instead, in this product, houses a USB stick.  Lockets have always symbolically been worn by women who are usually in love, but either way, lockets seem to have come to be recognized as a keepsake item.  To have it be used as a USB stick is a clever way of taking the historical context of a locket out of it's normal usage.  Representationally, it is a locket in form; abstractly it is used as a USB stick.

Abstract:

This bike is an example of abstract design because it takes the bare minimum of the essence of what a bike is and excludes the other parts you would normally think to find on a bicycle (the chain, a bar leading up to the seat, spokes in the wheels, etc).  Representationally, it has the frame and structure of what we imagine a bike to look like; symbolically it has all the basic of basic parts of a bicycle.

MEANING 1

Representation: 'what we see and recognize from environment and and experience.' This picture demonstrates representational aspects because it shows the artist creating her rendition of how she wants to represent the world to the viewers of her works.  In her paintings she takes real people and paints onto them, and thereby creating a 2D image out of 3 dimensional things.  This particular photo is very 'lifelike'- it takes aspects that the artist wanted to focus on (the shape and position of the person, the casualness of the moment) and plays down other aspects (like the color).  But the resulting photograph of the subject is not an exact portrayal of reality, instead it represents it.  It visually reports a feeling or conveys a message that the artist hoped to evoke.  What is emphasized is not the details of reality, and so such details are ignored.

Abstraction: 'simplification toward a more intense and distilled meaning.'  This example of abstraction, which I found at an art store where I purchased a sketch book, has stripped away realistic detail (save for the cable car).  The majority of the painting is a mix of shapes and colors which have little or no connection with familiar visual data that we see and experience in reality.  This is not a painting that specifically references any one realistic visual experience; it is more general and can encompass a larger field of the imagination.  The designs within the painting are simplified down to their basic elements.  I think the desired result was more to create a sense or a feeling rather than to portray an image.  This is not concept-, function-, or thought- based abstraction, but instead, at least for this particular painting, it's intended purpose is to convey the message that this store is an art store, and this is the kind of work you can create with the supplies they sell.

'A symbol, in order to be effective, must not only be seen and recognized but also remembered and even reproduced'.  This particular image is a symbol because it is recognized by large numbers of people around the world to stand for the coffee establishment Starbucks Coffee.  It is not the image itself that Starbucks wishes people to see, but the desired effect is for people to see the image and then associate it with a hot coffee drink.  Over the years, the company has redesigned the symbol and has made it more and more simplified; by making it less detailed it is easier for the viewer to quickly decipher what the symbol is and what it means to them, the consumer.  This kind of symbol is a logotype; a trademarked icon that refers to the company symbolically.