Week 4

During class today we dicussed on the matter of colour and its importance within the world. The way we see the world is not what it really is. Colour is derived from the spectrum of light formed into particles. The primary colours are red, yellow, and blue.

- Colour is dependent on many things, one is the ambiant conditions in the environment.
- There are monochromatic colours, complementary colours and much more.
- Subtractive colours (pigment) and additive colours (transmitted).
- Saturation, colour hue, contrast


These are my 6 coloured squares. I decided to do it slightly different, instead of using one drawing the same way, I used 2 drawings and manipulated them. I did not follow the colours by monochromatic, complimentary, or juxstaposition. I made them to experiment by myself by painting the background and scanning it to afterwards editing it on photoshop. The two drawings are done by hand and also scanned. I am actually very pleased with the result and I find the colours work well, I did play with the hue and saturation aswell as inverting colours.

Week 3

Today during class we presented each others work on the 12 designed sketches we created. Everybody had something completely different and out of the ordinary that opened me to explore other mediums.
We discussed about the use of rhythm, balance, scale and texture with designs.

- Balance --> fundamental human condition, symmetric, gravity

--> anchores & activates elements in space

--> dark objects to lights objects

- Rhythm --> strong regular repeated pattern
--> duration and sequence

- Symmetry & asymmetry --> asymmetry more active than symmetrical designs

- Scale is relative --> dots all sam size, design feels flat

--> size creates sense of tension

- Texture --> tactile grain

--> exists as optical illusion

--> adds detail to an image

--> juxtaposition and contrast

Assignment A & B:

3 paintings 1920-1940

"Composition in Red, Yellow and Blue" by Piet Mondrain painted in 1921. It was painted after the first World War I which Mondrain experienced and influenced him in doing more abstract work. The black straight lines are always the thinest which gives the piece balance and pattern at the same time. I find the repeated colours envelop the piece in a rhythmitic manner because of its simplicity. It communicates its message of the war and his life because of its division in power with the Russian Soviet which are represented by the lines and the two opposing sides are the coloured squares.

"Painting Construction" by Liubov Popova in 1920, one of her last paintings before doing architectural designs. Also part of the first world war, her work is mainly consisting of jagged lines and geometric shapes with bright colours. It communicates its message strongly because of the confusion caused by the colours and shapes as well as having a transparent line dividing the 2 sides; one with more straight lines (top right) and one with rounder shapes (bottom left).

"White with the Red Wedge" by El Lisitsky in 1919-1920. This composition is made with only geometric shapes; cicles triangles and squares. There is a repetition in colour also with the white, red and black. El is a Russian painter which is why there are Russian words on his work. This painting communicates the message of russian power because of the bigger and smaller shapes as well as the dark violent colours.

2 posters from 1940-1960

"We're in the Army Now" done by an unknown artist in 1940-1941. Their is a repetition in colour and with the figure of the women walking giving it a feeling of balance. The top words are known to be a contemporary popular song expressing the womens roll during the war. This poster communicates it's message strongly because of the way the women are dressed as well as the bold letters and lyrics attracting ones attention.

"Stop Hitler Now!" by an unknown artist once more was made in 1940. It is part of the second World War. There is repetition in this poster where the chimney's are and where the canons and guns are pointing. It is almost a representation of the way hitler use to place his hand pointing upwards to command the crowd. The colours are dark and the overall image does not have a plesant rhythm.

2 album covers from 1960-1980

"The Ronettes" are a 1960's famous female group from New York City. The album cover has a consistant balance and repetition in the girl's position as well as looks. This cover communicates successful its message about that time periods culture and the way women were dressed.




"Abbey Road" by the Beatles is one of their many famous albums. This cover has balance, rhythm and repetition that flows alogn with their songs. The four men are positioned the same way as well as the line pattern on the ground. It is interesting to envision the message they communicate since they are an on-growing band. This cover shows the evolution in the 1970 where clothes differed and technology such as cars was changing and society was growing and music changing.

3 advertisements from 1980-2000

This yogurt ad made in 1980 shows both cultural and social differences. There is now a unity between nationality and nothing is divided in two. This advertisement uses people rather than objects or shapes and has a flowing rhythm with the children and their height. There is a balance between the two tall children and the shorter ones.


This Pepsi ad was made in 1990 imitating Andy Warhol's pop art. It shows the evolution of art through advertisements with its photographic images that wee edited possibly with new technology. It communicates successfully its message about social and cultural evolution because of its modern design and repetition of colour and objects.

This 1990 GM advertisement has repetition balance and scale with the cars places and sized the same way as well as balancing on one another. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde refer to an old story dating back to 1886. This ad already shows the hunger for new technology by contrasting the cars with the words and having more of a formal appearance.

Week 2

Today in class we discussed how points, lines and planes are the essential for design.
- the mass of a point becomes a texture
- an infinite series of points forms a line
- when the line reaches its thickness it becomes a plane

An shape or object also aquires space and volume with 3 dimensional space. Linear perspective also simulates optical distortions.


Assignment;

I came up with 12 sketches that revolve around the theme of discomfort. Here are the 6 images that were taken from my 12 sketches and recreated in a more abstract manner.

Week 1

First day of University;

- Introduction to Joanna Berzowska's course on visual form and communication
- Will be learning about relationships between analog and digital
- This course will be non-digital therefore no programming
- Learn about lines symboles, gestures, typography, patterns, shapes and design aspects
- Watched humouristic videos with John Maeda, Stefan Sagmeister and Don Norman who went over topics such as simplicity, beauty and happiness.

"Graphic Design: The New Basic", interesting book to look upon.

Although this was only the first class, it seems quite interesting even though we will be working with such simple terms such as lines and symboles.

First assignement;

Representational and Interpretational?



The first picture on the left would be an interpretation of me because it is not exactly who I am, it is altered and modified to represent me. ( I did change my hair colour so do not mind that drastic difference) The cartoon effect changes the perception of my real image on the right. It is almost a translation to the other picture that clarifies or explains more simply the understanding of who I am.
As for the picture on the right, it would be a representation of me, depicting who I am in reality to the image on the right. This is who I stand for in this self-portrait, I represent myself. The image on the right does not show who I am necessarily in an artistic way unlike an interpretation of something or someone. I do not think there is a right or wrong answer as to what one may think is representative or interpretative.