Week 12 Blog Exercise / Visual Techniques

 

Balance, symmetry, activeness, unity/fragmentation, economy, predictability, boldness, singularity, exaggeration, opacity, variation, flatness, accuracy, sharpness, sequentiality

Symmetry, irregularity, subtly, juxtaposition, understatement, stasis, transparency, consistency, flatness, distortion, sharpness, sequentiality, repetition, fragmentation

The headphones depicted are similar in a sense that they have the same basic function, however they are both very different designs. The wrap around headphones are circular-bold and give the user a feeling of whole while using it. The other headphones are more fragmented and concealed for active use. The wrap around headphones are more on an exaggerated level than an understated design, like the bud headphones. Both serve different purposes, the wrap around are for recreational and more concerned with the quality of sound. The other pair are made for deaf people and more focused on the vibrations that come from the device itself. Based on the functions, regularity and irregularity seems to fit despite the basic design style. The wrap around pair are able to fold, which is unique because usually headphones of this design are bulky and hard to conceal. The other headphones are small enough to just put in one's pocket, so they are leaning on the transparency side. While the other pair is closer to the opaque side. Both good designs and good product ideas.

Week 11 CONTRAST

 This is a good example of contrast in industrial design. The composition is balanced and centered. The colors available are vibrant and creates the pop-out effect well. The shape of the product consists of circles, creating a feeling of completeness, creating a whole. The juxtaposition of an airplane, yet a boom box goes well together and allows all aspects of the boom box's features to be placed neatly and functionally.

The contrast for these snowboards seems lazy to me. When designing the snowboard, the contrast of the board on the snow is number one to be considered. Although black will contrast on white well, there are so many other colors and designs that can be incorporated onto a snowboard. Also, the white design is alright, however the pink is such a light color, the contrast woulnt be as noticeable as compared to a neon green or even a brighter pink. The snowboards shape must be about that, sometimes slightly different. The composition is pretty bland.

Option 2: Navigation Through Designed Space

There are many problems that must be solved in 3d game design. The overall problem is simulating another world and incorporating all the motion perception cues possible. The main cue being the optical flow of the virtual world. If you are playing as another character the world must be able to smoothly go around the character. The ultimate goal is for the user to feel "inside of the game" and to escape the norm as much as possible. The movement of other simulated characters must be apparent while the user is able to move through the world. For example, in this picture the simulated soldier must look like it is moving through the environment also. So the game designers problem could probably be solved by making the user able to run faster than the simulated character so that it blends with the optical flow, yet at the same time event perception can be incorporated with the character to create a narrative story. In order to keep the user's attention they must be able to relate to it. This picture is a great example to event perception - it is emotional, there is biological movement (reloading the gun, other characters moving, dying, etc) The white house keeps the user's attention because it is a battlefield - unsafe emotion. The relative movement needs to be smooth so that the part of the character you see (hands, gun) moves with the camera. How do you get illusions of direction? By putting tone in the right place such as the sun so that the far away tree is in the shadow of the building makes the illusion of direction.

Even simple 2d side-scrolling games like Limbo require dealing with a great deal of physical issues. The optical flow is easy to create because it is only a sillouette with a light background. However, with such a simple design, the physical environment really needs to captivate the user. The apparent and physical movement is crucial. For example, the spider in the game needs to move like a spider does to simulate that feeling you get when you watch a spider move. The boy needs to run like a boy. The emotion of the game relies on the biological movement of the character and the protagonists. The physics, such as when the boy jumps and lands makes gravity look very similar to ours. This creates the illusion of direction and enhances the overall optical flow of the game

Perception Cues

I chose the popular mass multiplayer online game world of Warcraft as an example of where perception cues are present. All of the perception cues must be present for the user to experience the virtual reality present in the game. Overlap is used to distinguish what is behind something else. There needs to be linear perspective, relative height, relative size, flow pattern, and texture gradient at all times as the character is controlled in order to make the virtual world come to life. For example, if there were no texture gradient, the virtual world would just be a hollow shell. If there wasn't any relative height, the world would seem impossible. With no optical flow, the virtual world would be unable to move with the character, the game would be adventure-less.

http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/07/gamesfrontiers_0728

Tone And Color

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxd7W7q-THw

I chose the Pixar short JackJack Attack to demonstrate tone in motion graphic design. In the beginning stages of motion graphic the design, the idea must first be sketched. By using line sketch and tone, the image begins to come to life. Tone is used in this link to demonstrate where there is light. When there is light, there is color. For example, right when the baby ignites itself the tone drastically changes to really make that scene really intense.
Color and its reaction to tone is extremely important in creating motion graphic design, especially when it is directed towards a young audience. Hue, saturation, brightness, and value must be used intelligently to capture the audience. Light/color/tone is also important for 3d animation in creating depth and making something look whole.
Colors need to be pretty simple in creating something such as a childrens movie because basic colors are important to recognize.

Motion graphic design

I chose this picture as an example of how the basic element line is active in the process of motion graphic design. By utilizing point and line, designers are able to create 3 dimensional models before adding texture. With just points and lines depth, movement and tone can be seen before adding any color. Point and line is no longer active once texture is applied.

I chose this picture to demonstrate movement active in motion graphic design. The character jumping over the turtle portrays some sort of physics in this design. A physics engine that makes sense to people is very important otherwise the design will seem ambiguous to most people. Point and line can still be active during movement.

I chose this last picture as an example of tone. I think pixar is by far one of the best in the motion graphics department. Point and line is no longer active, yet tone And texture overlays the model, making the design realistic to the viewer. By using point and line, 3d was possible. By adding color, texture and tone, light is possible.

Success and failure

I chose an example of character design for a video game. Here the syntactical guidelines are put to use by using balance for the character. There is a horizontal and vertical axis (felt axis) because he has the human form. There isn't a lot of stress, except a little in the upper right hand corner where sinuous curves are seen. There is a good use of leveling with the title of the character and the name of the game in the bottom left. This is a showcase of a character design.

There is lot of stress on the right side, so that it is hard to tell exactly what this is at first. It took quite a long time to realize its two robots in an embrace, It was hard to distinguish if there is a felt axis.