EcoGen -Design Ideas

Weekly Post 11

LG Cyon - Environmentally friendly phone

http://www.mobilewhack.com/reviews/lg_cyon_-_environmentally_friendly_phone.html

Since the company I chose was EcoGen, a company that produces and sells environmental friendly and environmental conscious products, the design and characteristics of this phone will help and be a guide for me when I am thinking of ideas for my company. This phone doesn’t not contain any harmful components like lead and mercury. This shows how committed the company of LG are to the environment and how much consideration they put into their products.

Web 2.0 Logos

Weekly Post 10 (Special)

5 Articles I read:

http://tape-jessy3513.blogspot.com/2008/11/design-of-week-5.html

/tape-jessy3513.blogspot.com/2008/09/design-of-week-2.html

http://blog-on-blogger.blogspot.com/2008/09/weekly-project.html

http://hungryravers.blogspot.com/2008/11/design-article_04.html

http://hungryravers.blogspot.com/2008/09/shapes-article.html

3 Articles I chose:

http://blog-on-blogger.blogspot.com/2008/09/weekly-project.html

From this article, I learned that graphic design plays an important role in music album covers. Contrast and proximity are the two most important elements when designing an album cover according to this article.

http://tape-jessy3513.blogspot.com/2008/11/design-of-week-5.html

I liked this article a lot because it is very interesting and shows me a lot of about designs of today. For example, the bookshelf is looks quite strange and has a weird structure. However, people still think it is cool and is fashionable. It shows how the designs have changed throughout the past decade or two decades.

tape-jessy3513.blogspot.com/2008/09/design-of-week-2.html

This article concentrates more on web designing and is presenting the new of design of Facebook. In addition, this article proves that Facebook has achieved its goal as being a social network. Even though it is a great design, there are a few negative points. This shows that there is no such thing as a perfect design since there is always something to work on on a graphic design.

Description of Logo 2

The red and orange colors of the flame represent the warmth and the energy of the company. The black background symbolizes the sophistication and efficiency of the company. 

Logo Design 2

Description of Logo

I chose the main colors to be white and blue because white represents the sophistication, clarity and the efficiency of my company while the blue represents communication, intelligence, trust and logic. Altogether it will reflect the whole reputation of the company with these positive colors that will give a good impression to people, especially customers, who will look at this logo. 

Logo Design

Weekly Post 9

The Google Phone

http://gizmodo.com/5062977/t+mobile-g1-google-android-phone-review

This review of the Google phone is seriously tempting me to get on during Christmas. The pictures of the phone that are included in the review are great and give me a good impression of this "Smartphone", which is a big competitor with Apple's Iphone. The characteristics of this phone that impress are that it is multi-tasking, solid and simple. This phone has plenty of applications and cool tools. For example, more than one program can run on the phone. The phone is just like a computer since it has tons of apps including Google Maps, browser, a music player, IM Messenger and mail. In addition, the body of the phone looks like a HTC is just incredible. Different to the Iphone, the Google Phone has a keyboard (just like a HTC). However there are a few minor problems with the keyboard, since the scroll bar tends to be very sensitive and the keys on the keyboard are not raised high enough. As a result, it is very hard to type text messages on the phone, since it is not easy touch-typing. Overall, I believe the Google Phone will be a hit as soon as it comes out.

Smiley

It was quite tricky creating the smiley, since we had to follow steps on a video which lacked clarity and explanation. However, I managed to create a similar smiley than the one in the video. As the smiley kept developing, the harder the steps became. The hardest step was probably creating the teeth. I had trouble putting the teeth behind the outline of the mouth. Another difficulty I had was  creating the eyes. Using photoshop is not really my best thing to do. I couldnt copy the eye after creating one completed eye. As a result, I had to repeat the step without making the eyes 100% identical. At the end, I managed to make a fine looking smiley with a hat. I was happy with my achievement and this lesson will guide me when I am creating my logo for my company later on. 

Smiley

Weekly Post 8

The Apple Logo

http://www.logoblog.org/apple_logo.php

I learned a lot of fascinating things about the apple logo in this article. This is probably one of the most interesting articles I have read so far about graphic design. I learned a lot of things such as the first apple logo, which was also called the "rainbow apple" because it had multi-colored stripes. The designer of this logo, Rob Janoff, wanted to honor the discoveries of gravity and the separation of light with this logo. As a result, Isaac Newton plays a role in the logo, since he was the scientist who found out about the gravitational force when he observed the apple falling on his head. Rob Janoff might also tributed the "Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge" from the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Other people believed other things. For example, the multi-colored logo was used to advertise quality of colors on the Apple computers. This article also talks about the other apple logos like the polished chrome logo and the famous white and raw aluminum logo. This article might also be handy to me during the next topic in Digital Design, logo designing.

Color Codes

Color Schemer

Color schemer is a brilliant program for building cool and new color schemes. It is a very easy program to use and can build new color schemes very quickly. It is a very helpful tool for designing. 

Color schemer can also edit the colors of picture and manipulate the hues and the contrast of the colors. It is quite fun to play around with. 

Peter Piper's Palette Picker

Triad Relatioship

Analogous Relationship

Split Complementary Relationship

Color Shades and Tints

Using a color wheel divided into various shades and tints is one method of identifying possible options for color schemes.

Color and Contrast

Every visual presentation involves figure-ground relationships. This relationship between a subject (or figure) and its surrounding field (ground) will evidence a level of contrast; the more an object contrasts with its surrounds, the more visible it becomes.

When we create visuals that are intended to be read, offering the viewer enough contrast between the background (paper or screen) and the text is important. If there is not enough contrast between figure and ground, a viewer will squint to view the text, causing eye fatigue.

Color Wheel

Primary Colors: Colors at their basic essence; those colors that cannot be created by mixing others.

Secondary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of two primaries.

Tertiary Colors: Those colors achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary hues.

Complementary Colors: Those colors located opposite each other on a color wheel.

Analogous Colors: Those colors located close together on a color wheel.

The color wheel can be divided into ranges that are visually active or passive. Active colors will appear to advance when placed against passive hues. Passive colors appear to recede when positioned against active hues.

Color Basics

Color is the perceptual characteristic of light described by a color name. 

Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray 
Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue. 
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black. 
Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value.

Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black. 
Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.

The Meaning of Colors

Every color has a different meaning in every culture and religion. As a result, colors play an important role in our lives since they represent different characteristics. In web designs, colors are essential and should relate to the purpose of the website. However when designing websites, colors should not be extreme. Using tints, tones and shades of colors will make the design more interesting. Rougher surfaces can make the color darker and smoother surfaces can make the color brighter. Therefore altering colors are important in web design. 

Colors

Red : Energy, strength, passion, eroticism, cheerfulness, courage, element of fire, career goals, fast action, lust, desire, blood, vibrancy, driving forces, risk, fame, love, survival, war, revolution, danger, aggression, strength, power, determination, emotional intensity, sex, provoking, dynamic, stimulating, courage, bravery, good-tasting, force, leadership, drama, excitement, speed, heat, warmth, violence, attention, generosity, romance

Pink : Romance, love, friendship, femininity, truth, passivity, good will, emotional healing, peace, calming, affection, emotional maturity, caring, nurturing, sweet tasting, sweet smelling, ethereal, delicacy. 

Orange : warmth, energy, balance, enthusiasm, vibrancy, vitality, expansiveness, flamboyance, excitement, business goals, property deals, ambition, career, goals, general success, justice, legal matters, selling, action, attention-grabbing, the sun, friendly, inviting, intense, joy, strength, endurance, steadfastness, tropics, quick movement, wealth of the mind and knowledge, charity, growing things, fascination, friendliness, happiness, beginnings, heat, creativity, autumn, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, courage, earth, mental and appetite stimulatant, emotional lift, assurance, social force, health, warmth, attractiveness, cheerfulness, mood-lightening, uninhibited, independence, amiability, constructiveness, self-assuredness, cheap, low-budget, fun kids colour, youth

Brown : friendships, special events, earth, materialistic thoughts, hearth, home, outdoors, inexpensive, reliability, credibility, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity, comfort, longevity, intimacy, tranquility, masculine, nurturing, contentment, strength, sensuality, productivity, passivity, fertility, generosity, dirt, substance, practicality, hard work

Gold : wealth, god, winning, safety, masculine power, happiness, playful humour, prestige, wisdom, love of spirit, meaning, purpose, awe, spiritual love, quests of the heart, desire for power, mystic powers, higher mathematics, sciences, attainment, concentration.

Yellow : sun, intelligence, light, accelerated learning, memory, logical imagination, social energy, cooperation, organisation, breaking mental blocks, sunshine, joy, happiness, intellect, energy, cheerfulness, optimism, purity, enthusiasm, warmth, honour, loyalty, mental force, clarity, perception, understanding, wisdom, dishonesty, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, disease, weakness, caution, cowardice, follower, curiosity, mellowness, confidence, humour, dreams, creativity, desire to improve, action, idealism, optimism, imagination, hope, summer, philosophy, uncertainty, restlessness, glory, enlightenment 

Green : earth mother, physical healing, monetary success, abundance, fertility, tree & plant magic, growth, food, hope, personal goals, resurrection, renewal, youth, stability, endurance, freshness, nature, environment, tranquil, refreshing, quiet, hope, immortality, health, healing, good luck, renewal, youth, jealousy, inexperience, trees, grass, vigour, growth, harmony, responsiveness, generosity, safety, envy, misfortune, quietude, compassion, renewal, moderation, nurturing, diplomacy, calm, contemplation, joy, love, abundance, balance, self-control, inexperience, hope, good omens, soothing, sharing, dependability, friendliness 

Turquoise : calming, emotional healing, protection, refreshing, sophisticated

Blue : good fortune, communication, wisdom, protection, spiritual inspiration, calmness, reassurance, gentleness, fluidity, water, sea, creativity, peace, calming, higher thoughts, mystery, sky, formality, travel, devotion, progress, quiet wisdom, freedom. betterment of humanity, love, trust, loyalty, intelligence, reassurance, artistry, compassion, inner strength, devotion, depression, sadness, tranquility, stability, unity, truth, understanding, confidence, acceptance, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, comfort, cold, technology, devotion, harmony, depth, faith, heaven, piety, sincerity, precision, intellect, sadness, consciousness, speech, messages, ideas, sharing, cooperation, idealism, sincerity, empathy, relaxation, affection, inspiration, friendship, patience, contemplation, infinity, harmony, non-threatening, dependability 

Purple : influence, third eye, psychic ability, spiritual power, self assurance, hidden knowledge, dignity, high aspirations, royalty, spirituality, nobility, ceremony, mystery, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, sophistication, cruelty, arrogance, intuition, dreams, unconscious, invisible, telepathy, empathy, imagination, deja vu, universal spirit, spiritual connection, deeper truth, nobility, wealth, extravagance, dignity, independence, magic, creativity, energy, self-confidence, ego, ambition, fame, luxury, big profits, richness, sensuality, elegance, contemplation, meditation, majesty, lesbianism, Wicca, New Age spirituality, paganism, conceit, arrogance, nausea

White : spirituality, goddess, peace, higher self, purity, virginity, reverence, simplicity, cleanliness, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, cold, clinical, sterility, clarity, perfection, innocence, virginity, goodness, light, fairness, safety, positivity, faith, coolness, charity, successful innovations, union, self-sacrifice, holiness, feminine divinity, pristine, chastity, positivity 

Silver : glamous, distinguishment, high tech, industrial, graceful aging, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry, intuition, dreams, astral energies, female power, communication, goddess, ornate riches, sleekness, modernity

Grey : security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring, practicality, professional, sophisticated, durability, quality, quiet, conservativeness, gloominess, sadness

Black : protection, repelling negativity, binding, shapeshifting, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, classy, wealth, power, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, underground, modern music, space, high quality, bad luck, formality, reservedness, dignity, elegance, secretiveness, fear of the unknown, night, emptiness, dirtiness, sophistication, strength of character, dramatic, authority, prestige, grief, anger, reliability, strong, classic, strength, anti-establishment, modernism, serious

Rationale of Poster

Sakktivel Elangovan

Digital Design

My poster was designed in the style of the iconic graphic designer, Peter Saville. I utilized the main principles of his work including using a vast variation of colors, large amount and variation of forms, especially circles and ellipses, and contrast. The text which is included in the poster explains the style of Peter Saville. The font of the text that I used was a very modern font, since Peter Saville was a graphic designer during the modernist movement and was a strong follower of Modernism.  Furthermore, I also warped the text because Peter Saville didn’t believe in order and alignment. Consequently, I made sure that there wouldn’t be any straight lines existing in my poster.  I used Adobe Photoshop, definitely the best software to use for graphic designing, to design my poster. The main tools that I used were the warp tool, to warp the shapes. These warped shapes in my poster come from his designs “Color and Form” and  “Waste Painting”.Using my knowledge and the skills that I learned with Photoshop, I created random shapes and added as much color and contrast as possible. My poster had a dark background since most of Peter Saville’s album covers have either a black background or another dark color. In my opinion, this dark background plays an important role in the distinctionof colors and the contrast that Peter Saville so often uses in his designs because all the other colors on the poster are light and neon. For example, yellow, light green, light blue and orange. In addition, most of the posters and album covers of Peter Saville have a body or body part of a woman included. As a result, I took the simple shapes of hands and feet that were incorporated in the Photoshop package.The multi –colored (rainbow) beams coming out from the bottom of the poster were added because this was one of the techniques that Peter Saville used in his designs to show contrast. Moreover, he always used these beams (basically just rectangles) when there was text included in his designs. Since he mainly designed album covers, most of his designs didn’t contain a lot of text.  My poster follows most of the principles of neo-classicism too. In my opinion, this is very important since Peter Saville also designed his works using the principles and was deeply inspired by Jan Tschichold. 

Weekly Post 7

Graphic Design Using Color

http://ezinearticles.com/?Graphic-Design-Using-Color&id=16

This article caught my eyes the first time I saw it. This article is very useful for anyone who has trouble with choosing the correct color in any of their designs. This article shows what color represents what characteristics. For example, blue represents "dependable" and purple represents "dignity". In addition, the article provides with recommendations and tips about what colors you should combine. In this article, they said not to use black and green together since black means to mourn and bad luck and green means sick. Therefore having green and a black background for an advertisement would be the worst choice since anyone who reads the ad will just have negative opinions about you. This is why this article is good and since we are creating posters ourselves as a part of our projects, this will be quite handy to me.

Bibliography of Project

Bibliography

Peter Saville Talks About Design

This site was definitely my most useful source since it contains a lot of valuable information about Peter Saville, the graphic designer I am researching about, including quotes, dates and pictures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/arts/2004/01/22/saville_iv1.shtml

 

Facts about Peter Saville

This website plays an important role in my bibliography because it’s filled with statistics and pictures that I can use in my poster.

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Peter-Saville

 

The Graphic Design of Peter Saville

A very reliable and important resource since this website is specified mostly on the graphic design of Peter Saville and explains where he got his inspiration from and how he has influenced the industry of design.

http://www.btinternet.com/~comme6/saville/biography.htm 

 

Peter Saville: A Graphic Designer

Consisting of very limited but unique information, this website presents the history and the general information about Peter Saville and tends to be quite handy.

http://www.showstudio.com/contributors/335

 

An Interview With Peter Saville

In this one-on-one interview, Peter Saville expresses a lot of his thoughts and ideas quite descriptively and gives me a better understanding of his genre of designing.

http://mocoloco.com/ambient/2005/10/interview_peter_saville_1.php  

 

Factory Outlet: Little White Lies (Interview with Peter Saville)

A very long but informative interview that provides me with important statistics and explanations about the graphic design style of Peter Saville.

http://www.btinternet.com/~comme6/saville/interview6.htm

 

 

Weekly Post 6

Google Chrome

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_to_offer_its_own_browser_chrome.php

This article about Google Chrome is not very informative and fairly short. However I still think it is quite a good article. It explains all the features of Google Chrome, Google's own web browser, in one sentence. In addition this article is also trying to persuade us to choose Google Chrome instead of any other web browser, especially Firefox.

Some of the new features on this browser include, having quick navigation, gears integration, open sources, smart memory management and crash-free app browsing. This article definitely gives me the interest to download this new web browser and use it as my default browser. However, after hearing about the problems about Google Chrome lately, I have completely deleted the application from my computer.

Weekly Post 5

First look at Windows 7's User Interface

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.html

Windows 7, the successor of Windows Vista, is supposed to be something that is out of the ordinary from what we have seen so far from Windows. Windows 7 changes the way people use computers. The main new tool that everyone will be excited about is the new taskbar. Instead of having text descriptions when you open the taskbar, big icons will appear. Another big difference is the desktop. The desktop is where all the gadgets live. Windows 7 doesnt not have a sidebar like Windows Vista. Instead, gadgets can simply be put onto the desktop. As a result, there is less space taken on the desktop than having a big sidebar. There are many other differences and very cool new tools including the "Jump Lists" and the new Internet Explorer.

Weekly Post 4

The New Apple Macbook

http://www.apple.com/macbook/design.html

This article explains how well designed and engineered the Macbook was. It is a fabulous innovation and is different to any other type of notebook, since it is made out of one piece of aluminum instead of many different parts. As a result, the laptop is thinner and lighter than any other. Everything about this Macbook is revolutionary. This is why this new Macbook has introduced a new era in engineering and technology to mankind. The overall design of the Macbook is just a masterpiece. In addition, it saves battery life, is environmentally friendly by using LED display, which conserves a lot more energy than any other kind of lighting. In conclusion, I truly believe that this new Apple Macbook is the next generation of notebooks.

Cool Photoshop Application

The Warp Tool

The warp tool distorts the picture and completely transforms the way the picture looks. To get to the warp tool, you go to Edit > Transform > Warp. After you click Warp, a grid will appear and you can click and drag any point of the grid and it will distort the picture. 

Notes on Video

The counter culture movement of the 1960’s overwhelms the modern movement before. Rise of flower power movement. No more straight and clean lines in fonts. The movement of hand drawn fonts (the result of the counter culture movement). This was the response from Helvetica. Post-modernous font creation results in the design of the environment. In the 70’s it was out of control. In the 80’s people were affected by the post-modernism ‘disease’.

Subjective perspective – post-modernism approach to design.

Modernism

·         Functionalism

·         Utilitarianism

·          Objectivist

·          Simple

·          Clean

Post Modernism

·          Subjectivist

·         Free form

·         Chaotic

·         Complicated

Now is the time of the Retro Modernism (Post post modernism). It is the return of modernism. 

Examples of Fonts in the Environment

Notes on Fonts

Helvetica is used for:

1.   corporate names

2.   logos

3.   informative signs

Helvetica is used in the McDonalds, IBM, Fendi and many other famous brand.

Helvetica is:

·      easy on the eyes.

·      Simple

·      Sans serif

·      Perfect spacing

 

Helvetica is modernous font which represents modern movement.

Helvetica is ubiquitous and is used too much. Therefore it is not cool since it is too simple and is nor perfect.  

Helvetica is used for corporations and is therefore corporative and is institutional. Therefore it is a negative quality of this font.

Creating a Font

To create a font, you have to start creating letters with a straight line and a curve (i.e a ‘h’). Then you start creating an ‘o’ and then a ‘p’. Once you have letters, you can build words with them. This is a very important step in creating a font.

Horizontal slicing off of terminals.

Car brands use Helvetica in their logo. (Toyota, BMW, Jeep, Kawasaki, Saab)

They are authoritarian, bureaucratic, and oppressive, they can be more accessible, transparent and accountable.  Font gives a corporation a corporative tone. Using Helvetica, it makes the corporation looks more accessible.

A real typeface needs rhythm and contrast. Helvetica has neither rhythm nor contrast.

Helvetica needs a lot of space around it. All the letters look the same.

Typeface is a part of branding. When choosing a typeface, you are branding. Branding is projecting of qualities.

Weekly Homework 3

article: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-5-strangest-ipod-cases

This article is quite bizarre, since it illustrates all the different ideas an ipod case. It is crazy what people come up these days just for a case for an ipod. One really cool design was the bulletproof ipod case. It was quite big and didnt really look that attractive. However there were other clever ideas that I am very sure other people would like and fall in love with. For example, the 'Fluffpod', which is a furry ipod case. Another example is the 'iKitty', which is a case which is the shape of a cat. I think it is quite cool and I wonder how much it would cost. It would be something very revolutionary and would definitely draw a lot of attention. Therefore this article shows the weirdest ideas of design that people can up with these days. Design has just become such a wide interest worldwide that no one actually realises it.

Examples of Helvetica