Representation Abstraction Symbolism

Representation - These are two candid polaroids of my roommate and I in the shower. It is a direct, detailed, representation of not only what we look like, but also what we look like in the shower.


Abstraction - This is an abstracted picture of a cup of coffee. It is not very detailed, yet it is still easily recognizable. It is constructed of only brush strokes and reduced to only outlines of the image.

Symbolism - This is the Droid phone. I saw picture of it on a bus stop ad and one of the first thing noticed was the four buttons under the screen. Each symbol communicates to the user the function that it will perform. From left to right the appear to be "go back", "menu", "home" and "search". These symbols are common to many technology interfaces and their meaning is probably understood by a wide variety of users. They are simple images that communicate the most necessary functions of the phone.

Contrast

In his "Church of Light" Tadao Ando expertly uses contrast to depict a glowing cross on the wall of this church. The concrete is contrasted with the non-concrete (negative space) for a very dramatic effect.

This my example of a bad use of contrast. I went on a hike in the Muir Woods with this map that is provided to you for a donation of one dollar. I found this map very hard to use, due to lack of contrast between the different lines. (trails, roads, contour lines, etc.) In addition to this, there was a "you are here" arrow pointing to the location where the map was received. That is really stupid because once you leave, you are not longer "there". However, the later problem was not due to lack of contrast.

Movement

This stool shows implied motion. In fact, it is called the "Movement Stool". The stool is curved to one side and it almost appears to be walking. However, this stool is a just an ordinary stool. It is not actually moving. It is made from sucupira wood from the Brazillian rainforest.

Dimension

This is a picture of an exhibit designed by Lorenzo Apicella of Pentagram. It was designed to showcase the new line of wall and ceiling mounted speakers made by Sonance, and to help to create a new image for the company. It won some awards. The design of this exhibit heavily relies on the use of Dimension. He has created a 3D space to showcase the speakers in a house-like environment with several different rooms. On top of that there are 4 huge cube/rooms in different vibrant colors that do not seem to be accessible. This use of Dimension seems to have no purpose other than looking cool and attracting attention, which it does very well. This is an good example of how well-used dimension can create interest and help to draw people in to an exhibit.

Tone +Color

Once again i will use CAD as a blog example. In this screen shot there is a 3D image of a trashcan with three sections. The different faces are shown in different tones. This helps the viewer to visualize the 2D image as a 3D object by simulating how light would be cast on this object in the real world. In this example, TONE is working with DIMENSION.

In this Cad example, different objects are being distinguished from each other through the use of color. In this image, it becomes more clear that the trashcan is made up of 3, six-sided objects.
COLOR is working with SHAPE to help the viewer visualize this 3D object.

Product Design

LINE + DOT
Here is a screen shot of AutoCad on my computer.
It uses a series of lines connected by points to form 3D surfaces.
All types of designers can use this software to design objects.

COLOR
Color is very important in the field of design. The furniture above was designed with color as an integral part of the finished design. Color is a very powerful tool and is loaded with information. It can be symbolic or associate a mood with an object. Color is essential to the visual message that you are trying to convey.

SCALE
This pictures shows the scaling relationship between different ipod models.
When viewed together, it is apparent how much of an importance the scale of a particular ipod has in relation to other the others.

Week 6

This is the "Domino Table". The design of this table uses "Stress". It clearly was not designed to convey a feeling of perfect balance. At a price of 1,400 dollars, only someone who really wanted a table like this would buy one. This table is clearly catering to a select group of customers and in this case, this tables' imbalanced design is certainly working in its favor.