Skip to main content

Graphic Design: The New Basics - Layers

  • Layers are simultaneous, overlapping components of an image or sequence.
  • Most printing techniques require an image to be split into layers before it can be reproduced - digital techniques automate this process.
  • Layers allow the designer to treat the image as a collection of assets - Can vary the design by turning layers on and off.
  • Cubists painters popularised collage in the early 20th century.
  • Map designers use data layers.
  • Temporal layers - simultaneous. 
Design Task 1
For this task, I chose contrasting images of the Berlin Wall - one of freedom and one of a girl unable to even see the other side. I then used photoshop and created a double exposure composition of these two photographs and added a text, blending it into the image in places. The result is below:


Design Task 2
Here, I devised a way for 3 stories to be read at once, by using different ways of presenting them in a square.
Design Task 3
For this task, I used 4 sheets of coloured paper and made a collage. I then translated this digitally in Illustrator and I then created a storyboard for a short loop animation of how the layers could change, focusing on the opacity.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Graphic Design: The New Basics - Modularity

Every design problem is completed within a set of constraints or limitations. Modularity is one of these constraints. A module is a fixed element used within a larger system or structure e.g. a pixel. Breaking the rules of a standard design can produce a new response. Modular type can be made of anything. Think about the negative space around the letters. A calligrapher can freely adjust a character in relation to the marks coming before and after. A symbol stands for or represents objects, functions, and processes. Symbol systems are often based on geometric modules that come together to create myriad forms and functions.  Design Task 1 For this task, I used a grid to produce four letterforms with common characteristics. I then translated this into an image from physical objects. Design Task 2 In Illustrator, I used a square, a rectangle and a quatre-circle to make the alphabet, experimenting with letterforms. Design Task 3 I created all the char...
Post a Comment
Read more

Graphic Design: The New Basics - Back to the Bauhaus, Beyond the Basics, Formstorming

Back to the Bauhaus 1920s - institutions such as the Bauhaus in Germany explored design as a universal "language of vision - continues today. Bauhaus promoted rational solutions (planning & standardisation) but today the focus is more on unique, idiosyncratic and customised designs.  Modernism as well as systems that produce unexpected results.  “Design is never reducible to its function or to a technical description.” Postmodernism - don’t look for meaning in an image/object as people will cloud their interpretation with cultural biases and personal experiences. Postmodernism emerged in 1960s but became a dominant ideology between the '80s and ‘90s. Software designers describe the language of vision in a universal way. Software organises visual material into menus to create tools that are universal e.g. InDesign is a software machine for controlling leading, alignment, spacing, column structures, image placement and page layout. Transparency is used a lo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Illustrator Practice

In the workshop, I practised using Illustrator to get used to the tools and try and find a theme for my project. From using the tools, I found I was leaning towards modernism and geometric patterns as well as grunge typography so my project will lean towards one of these themes.
Post a Comment
Read more