Shepard Fairey Design

These are both designs by Shepard Fairey. He is a graphic design artist. The first photo represents the style of much of his early work. The second photo is his most famous design, the Obama 2008 presidential campaign poster. This is more representative of his newer designs.

Mood In Lines

This is a poster that I have on my wall in my room. This poster has lines that convey mood. The curvy and flowing lines suggest movement, like waves. Also, because they are smooth and curving, it conveys a calming and serene mood. 

Gray

The color that I chose was gray. The picture above is of Queen Elizabeth I. The color originated in the Elizabethan era. Cheap dyes were used to produce the color, but the meaning behind it was very important. The color people war during the Elizabethan era was dictated by the law. The colors they wore depicted different aspects of their lives. The color gray was used for Christian symbolism.  Gray meant mourning and repentance. Gray also had a biblical meaning because it was the color of lent and therefore represented fasting and prayer. The color gray has had many different meanings through different time periods and cultures. One meaning is that it is peaceful, because it usually is quietly in the background. Native Americans associate the color gray with friendship. However, some people even interpret gray as sad or depressing. This idea originates from the weather because when it is gray outside, people tend to think of it as dreary or gloomy. 

Lines

Both of these are pictures of my roommate's posters on our wall. The first one is a poster from the movie Tangled. It is an example of psychic lines. Neither of the people on the poster are looking forward. The guy is looking down at the girl, and the girl is looking up at the guy. This creates a psychic line between them. Their body language also creates a psychic line. Even though the girl is turned away from the guy, her elbow is pointing toward him creating a psychic line. The second poster is an example of implied line. The guy in the center of the poster is pointing upward. This creates an implied line with his arm and finger and make you want to know what he is pointing at. 

Tree Leaf

These are the leaves of a Yoshino Cherry tree which I am using for my trashcan design.

Trashcan

This trashcan is unlike most trashcans. It had a lot of thought that went into the design of it. It has a mosaic design on it. Small colorful tiles are arranged on the sides of the trashcan to create a picture of a bird. It makes the area where the trashcan is places look more presentable and friendly. 

Nature Quote

"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."  ~Albert Einstein

I really liked this nature quote by Einstein. I think there is a lot of truth to this statement. Many times we just do not understand certain things about the earth and how it works. However, if you just spend time looking at nature and being in it, things somehow just seem to make more sense. You begin to feel at one with nature.

Leaf

I found this leaf outside of my apartment. I chose it because at first glance it does not look like that interesting of a leaf. However, when you pick it up you realize it is much thicker than normal leaves. I like that it is smooth and waxy on the top side, but on the underside of the leaf it feels almost like velvet. I also like the colors of the leaf. It is green on top, but brown on the bottom, which makes it more interesting.

Nature Border

I chose this border because I like that it is green, which gives it a nature feel to it. Also, I like how the vines make up the border, but they look like silhouettes. I also think it is interesting how you can see flowers and butterflies within the border because they represent nature as well. 

Logo

I was walking through the parking lot at Mercer and saw this bumper sticker on someone's car. I thought this was a well designed logo for presidential candidate Romney. It was a good idea to have the colors of the logo be red white and blue since it has to do with America. It is also well designed to have the R designed so that it looks like it is made up of other R shapes. It was a good idea to have the rest of the text simple so it does not clash with the R.

Desani

This is a picture from the Desani water display that was in front of Stetson at Mercer University yesterday. I thought this was a very interesting and creative design because they created the sign from water drop shaped pieces which was cool because it is a a water company. I also like how in the writing of their logo, the S in Desani looks like is flows like water. It is also cool how they used a water drop as the O in drops. 

Logo

I thought this was an interesting logo because they used gestalt in a really cool way. The logo is for an electric company, so it was a good idea to use the white plug. However, because you can see an E created from the negative space around the plug, it is very eye catching. 

Focal Point

The first photo is a picture of the University Center at Mercer University. In the picture the focus is on the bear statue. The bear is the focal point because of the placement of the bear. Because it is in the center of the photo and is close up, it draws more attention to the bear than the building behind it. However, if the photo had been taken at a different angle or further away, then the focal point may have been the building itself. The second picture is a design I created. The focal point is on the center of the design because of an absence of focal point. The design is made up of squares, but a square is missing from the center, so the attention is drawn there. Also the different lines created by the colors draws attention to the center of the picture as well. 

Poster Design

This poster is from the movie 127 Hours. There are several features on this poster that contribute to it's good design. The way the two sides of the rock come in and meet in the middle of the poster creates an interesting hour glass shape on the poster. Also, it draws your eye to the guy and the rock in the center of the poster. The lightness of the poster at the bottom between the rocks draws your eye to the title. And because the poster is symmetrical, it is a good place to put words at both the bottom and the top of the poster. So overall, this poster is very well thought out, and your attention is drawn to the important parts.

Karim Rashid

The designer above is Karim Rashid. He designs very modern furniture as well as a variety of other products. In the video Objectified, he talked about how in today's world everything we use is so new and modern. We have iphones, ipods, television, computers, etc. So if those things are modern why are we using old fashion wooden furniture? So he designs very modern, but simple furniture. The photos of the chairs above are two of his designs. The other photo of the jewelry is an over the door hanging jewelry organizer. This is an item that I own that I believe is really well designed. It is simple, but functional. It was smart of the designer to make it be able to hang over a door, so that it does not take up space on a table or dresser like most jewelry organizers. Also, it holds a large amount of jewelry, but it is designed well enough so that it is easy to keep the jewelry organized, and it looks good to have displayed where people can see it.

Princess Diana

For our poster project, the person from history that I have chosen is Princess Diana. The reason I chose her is because I have always been interested in British culture and history, and Princess Diana is a very important person from British history. If I were to go to see an exhibit of a person from history, I would want to see one about Princess Diana. I think it would be interesting to see her wedding dress, and her crowns in a museum, as well as learn about her life because in addition to being a Princess, she was a teacher at one point and involved in many charities and made many contributions to society. There actually is an exhibit on Princess Diana in England at the Althorp Estate that has all of these things, so this is what I am going to base my project on.

Tight and Loose Grids

Both of these pictures are examples of grid design. The first photo is a picture of the my wall in my room of my apartment. It is a variety of posters pieced together in a collage like fashion. This is not a traditional grid where all the lines line up, but a messier version, where the squares and rectangles that make up the grid are different sizes and fit together by being pieced together. This is called a loose grid. Even though the shapes don't match up perfectly, because the posters are all a theme of bands or movies, they go together because of their theme and their shape. The second picture is my calendar. This is a more traditional grid where all the squares line up and are the same shape. This is called a tight grid.

Repetition of Form

This picture of windows is a good example of repetition of form. All of the windows are the same shape, but they are different sizes and colors which make the design interesting. They are also arranged in an interesting way instead of lined up like normal windows. But the thing that ties the whole photo together even thought there is a lot of randomness in it is the fact that the same shape is used over and over.

Gestalt in Real Life

This is a picture of part of the University Center at Mercer University. It is a good example of gestalt in real life. The bricks are all one shape, but because certain bricks are darker than the red bricks, it creates a line. Also, the windows are a four-sided shape, but because of the way they are grouped together, we see a semi-circle. If you pay attention, you can find example of gestalt art in many places on campus.

Gestalt

This is an example of gestalt art. Gestalt art is when you use random shapes or objects and organize them in a way so that the negative space seems organized. There are many different ways to use gestalt. I liked this particular picture because it is only made from a black shadow like object. However, because of the way it is arranged, you can see a face and a hand in the black, but also in the blank space as well. It takes a lot of creativity to create an interesting gestalt picture like this one. 

Unbalanced Sculpture

This sculpture was inspired by David Smith's work. He is an artist who made many sculptures that were made from geometric shapes and objects that were balanced precariously on top of one another. After seeing his work, I tried to do a similar sculpture with items that I had in my apartment and this was the final product. 

Nature in Art

The first photo shown is a wave in the ocean. It occurs commonly in nature, and is also the inspiration for the second photo. The second picture is a sculpture by Jean Shin titled "Sound Wave".  I thought this artwork was very interesting because it was inspired by waves in nature, but it is also representative of the wave of technology that has come in the last couple of decades. I thought this was appropriate for this class, because we are creating art with technology, but that doesn't mean it can't be inspired by nature. 

Design

I first saw this picture a couple of months ago when I found out it would be the album cover for Owl City's newest album, The Midsummer Station. I feel like this picture embodies what design really is. Just by looking at it, you can tell that it was planned and organized very well. It was not just thrown together. It had a lot of thought behind it. It is eye catching, but planned out very well. You are drawn to the man in the boat as well as the whale under him and the rooms on the sides of the picture. It is very interesting, but the picture isn't so busy it is overwhelming.  At first glance it almost seems real. It makes you want to know things like why the man in the boat is there, or who is behind those windows, or why there is only a single whale in the water and nothing else. However, it is left to your own interpretation but it is obvious that there was a great amount of thought put into it. This is why I feel like it is a great example of design. "It is imaginative and eye-catching" (Lauer, Pentak 9).