Week 9 Blog Exercise – Dimension/Depth/Space

Photo Credit: http://uaesm.maktoob.com/vb/attachments/51497d1175718133-lexus-ls-600h-l.jpg

With my focus on Product Design & Development, I noticed that cars have various areas which are all done by product designers.  Both interior and exterior of the car as well as the parts to make it work go through some sort of design process to make it all work together.  The picture above would be an example of designed physical space.  The designers had to design not only the actual objects inside (steering wheel, seats, navigation system, etc.) but also the 3D space inside the car for those object to fit in as well as the enough space for the riders of this automobile to fit as well.  Not only did these items have to fit inside with the riders as well, but the designers also had to make sure there was enough space for people to use and operate such features inside the car.  This pictures shows the dept of how much space you will be expecting to have when inside.  The steering wheel and dashboard seem to be farther away to emphasize a large amount of space and luxury inside.  The perspective shown is also almost dead center in which you can see the boundaries of the space extending behind you almost as if there is a vanishing point inside the car. 

Week 8 - Tone & Color

Photo credit: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_RoiyLOZ6PdY/R7nW221XphI/AAAAAAAAAHY/sH6eGO682Tw/S483/air-jordan-xx3-23.jpg

In this picture, I really liked how the photographer at Jordan Brand used a wide tonal range to highlight the new features of the shoes.  There are many parts of the shoe, such as the suede and the shoe laces can almost go unnoticed as their tones are very near that of the background of the picture.  The other features such as the plastic around the toe, signature script around the front, and the grey and red accents from the embroidery designs can be seen from the higher saturation and contrast that the lighting brings.  I think the tone also creates a mood of mystery and elegance.  The mystery comes from the subtle highlights of certain parts of the shoe that almost makes you want to see it in person or at least see more of the shoe it self in different pictures. The color, or lack there of, show a different take on the basketball shoe.  Jordan Brand had used just blacks and greys with a hint of red on the shoe.  With less color, the shoe has a more grown up and mature look.  The color gives it sleekness and also "quiets" the shoe by using less loud colors.  The only color, red, did serve well as it shows great contrast that can lure the customer in.

Week 7 Blog Exercise

Photo Credit: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2734477874_f30483cc44_z.jpg

This image above would be the blueprint drawing of the Apple iPhone.  I chose this image because it demonstrates exactly what the use of lines are for.  The lines itself do not hold any symbolism, just that it draws borders on where certain parts of the phone start and end.  The lines work similar to actual writing.  They tell you what the overall shape of the phone is, as well as where the screen may actually be.  The lines also display other features of the phone such as any visual buttons and the ear piece to hear.  

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Photo Credit: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3055/2556789382_54100b545e.jpg

 This image above is now the 3D mold of what the Apple iPhone is supposed to look like.  Shape is now being displayed.  The overall shape of this phone is rectangular which as stated displays "dull" characteristics.  But in this case, I think that the shape is more to display simplicity.  The edges are also rounded which can be a part of the round or circular shape attributes which shows "endlessness" and "protection".  The edges may have been rounded off to avoid dramatic cosmetic damage if dropped on the edges. 

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 Photo Credit: http://www.mobilewhack.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/3g_iphone.jpg

Now we have the final product of the Apple iPhone product that shows the overall texture of the phone.  Similar to the shapes displayed earlier, this shows a smooth and sleek texture.  I think they had chosen this texture as well as display to coincide with what Donis A. Dondis had said about the human nature of seeing texture in "A Primer of Visual Literacy".  Naturally "the judgment of the eye is usually checked on by the hand by actual touching"(Dondis; 55).  A smooth texture would in most cases cause a larger attraction and interest in the product especially after being able to have the phone itself in your hand . 

Week 6 Blog Exercise - Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

 

I am currently a Product Design & Development major.  I chose this picture of this sketch because it really just broke it down with simplicity.  The series of pictures had a good use of the positive/negative aspect of the syntactical guidelines.  The positives in this case would be the figures that were actually colored in to show dept.  The man focus is clearly the chair in the top corner which is a lot larger then everything else shown.  They had also used  good attention grabbing and grouping techniques.  They had grouped the actual sketches together on the top right portion as what looks like the other products to be released in this line of furniture.  And like discussed earlier with the positive/negative aspects, the different pieces of matching furniture are colored in as well.

 

 

This image above would be the "failure" picture   I had chosen.  In this picture, they designer have everything all spread out and almost lost in the clutter.  They did grab attention with the colored sketches of what looks to be the finished design, but there are also many small hints are color throughout that sidetrack the eye.  The sketches also seem to be randomly placed.   It is hard to tell at first glance which sketch goes with which product.  There was a good attempt with the positive/negative as the colored sketches show up more, but it looks be to very unorganized and confusing.