Grace Walker Communication Design

Colour can convey mood, describe reality or codify information. Colour can be used to make things stand out or to make them disappear. Our perception of colour depends on the pigmentation of physical surfaces as well as the brightness and character of ambient light. It also depends on the colours around it - the same colour can appear different when placed with lighter/darker colours. Colour changes meaning in different cultures - in the West, white signifies purity where as in the East it signifies death. In 1665, Isaac Newton discovered that a prism separates light into a spectrum of colours.  On the colour wheel, colours next to each other are analogous - using them together provides minimal colour contrast and natural harmony (related colour temperature). Two colours opposite each other are complimentary - each colour contains no element of the other and they have opposing temperatures.  The colour wheel is split into primary, secondary and tertiary colours. Attr...

Texture is the tactile grain of surfaces and substances. Textures of design elements correspond to their visual function. In design it is both physical and virtual - optical appearance. It adds detail to an image providing an overall surface quality. Surface details have harmonic or contrasting effects. Contrasting textures often work well together in design. Design Task 1 For this task I captured images of textures and recreated them using typography of texts describing them. Design Task 2 For this task I used 5 squares of text and changed the properties of each square of text to create a composition of each on a 10 inch square.

A logo must be legible & recognisable at both a tiny scale and large scale. Some designs must be produced at multiple scales e.g. films on both cinema screens and handheld devices. Scale refers to the literal dimensions of a physical object or the literal correlation between a representation and the real thing it depicts objectively e.g. maps or scale models. Subjectively, scale refers to one's impression of an object's size - how it relates to the scale of our own bodies. When there is no relation to the human body, an image lacks scale. Contrast in scale is key to an interesting design - it creates tension as well as a sense of depth and movement - small = recede, large = move forward. Designers need sensitivity to scale in both web and print. Scale of an object is relative to the objects surrounding it. Changing the scale of familiar objects can create spacial illusions. Vector graphics are scalable - size can be changed without loss of quality. The quality o...

Rhythm and Balance Balance acts as a catalyst for form. A symmetrical design is stable, but balance doesn’t have to be symmetrical - contrasting size, texture, value, colour and shape. Rhythm is a strong, regular, repeated pattern - in graphics rhythms are punctuated with change and variation. Balance and rhythm work together to achieve stability and surprise.  On multiple pages, use rhythm to create repetition yet the pages should have variety. Design Task 1 For this task I experimented using symmetry and asymmetry with 3/4 basic shapes and colours. The results are below: Design Task 2 For this task I created an accordion book from squares cut out of a magazine, focusing on the composition and layout of each page with text and colours.

Point, Line, Plane Building blocks of design. A point marks a position in space, a pair of x, y coordinates, a dot/visible mark. A series of points forms a line and a mass of points becomes a texture/shape or plane. A plane is a flat surface extending in height and width - the path of a moving line, a line with breadth. Shapes are planes with edges. Volume is represented through graphic conventions - encloses 3D space.  Linear perspective simulates optical distortions - receding towards horizon. Axonometric projections - game designers, architects. Three objects, thirty-three ways. Spacial Translation. Drawing with Code - binary tree. B ézier curve - a line defined by a set of anchor and control points. Design Task 1 For this task I found things in my surrounding environment which represented point, line and plane as shown below. Design Task 2 List of words with no obvious visual reference: Trust Honesty Communication Poverty Freedom Life Darknes...

During the workshop, I learnt the basic controls of photoshop; how to make basic shapes and use layers to organise the workspace. The image to the left shows my experiments using the tools to create an overlay of colours with circles and rectangles with areas cut out of them. I also changed the blending mode of the layers to get more vibrant colours and textures e.g. the 'dissolve' mode on the top yellow shape.  I created the simple coffee icon to the right using only circles and rectangles and cutting out areas of them in photoshop. I also tried to add a wifi icon to the side of the mug, but I didn't angle the ovals correctly for this to work perfectly. Next time I would use measurements to place the shapes to make them line up perfectly.  To the left is an experiment of balance on an A4 page using triangles and circles, with rectangles going through them to make them seem fragmented. I liked this idea of splitting up simple shapes so I inverted the colours to see wha...

Typography = evolution of writing in clay. Serif came from Roman engravers - 100 B.C.E. Johan Gutenburg invented the first printing press - the letters were in a gothic style in order to fit as much content onto the paper as possible due to the fact paper was expensive at the time. Eric Gill - 1928 - Gill Sans - London Underground still uses this as the font uses open shapes for optimum readability. Anatomy of typeface is made up of: stroke, stem, stress, terminal, ascender, descender, serif, medium, baseline, leading and tracking. Classification: 1450 - Black letter 1475 - old style 1500 - italic 1750 - transitional 1775 - modern 1825 - square serif 1900 - sans serif 1990 - serif/sans serif Screen is low resolution compared to print - serif good for print. Look at negative spaces behind letters. Read in shapes - look at top half of a word - can you read? Font sizes: 14 = headings 10-12 = text 9 = tables Grids vs rule of thirds vs golden section (1:1.6). ...

Typography - space between and within characters makes it - Swiss pay more attention to this. One opinion: type should be expressive - one point of view e.g. when they type 'dog' it should bark. Helvetica = modern - 1957 Post war 1950s - idealism among designers, design was part of the need to rebuild - run more smoothly - early experiments of modernism driven by Swiss designers - rational typefaces. Clarity - clear, readable, straightforward - grids - creating order. Computer speeds up design, doesn't make it better. Helvetica is neutral - no meaning - meaning in content of type/image, not in the typeface. Serif vs san-serif, heavy vs light, thick vs thin contrast. Reading something is critical in how you view a typeface. Die neue Haas grotesk = original name for Helvetica. Was then changed to the Latin word for Switzerland and then changed to Helvetica which sounded similar so it could get into American market. Instantly took off.  Linotype owns Helvetica. ...

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...

The following two tasks I completed show overlapping and intersecting forms and layout boxes for text, image and titles.