Dimension...Depth...Space

Depth and dimension are shown in this vintage airline advertisement poster. The airplane is the closest object to the viewer, while the bridge and the building beyond it are the farthest away, showing depth. Dimension is also shown in the poster with the use of two vanishing points. The use of two vanishing points can be seen when looking at the buildings in the foreground. The use of tone also implies depth and dimension. The buildings in the forefront have more distinctions between different tones, while the building beyond the bridge blend almost into one tone. The lack of tone distinction in the buildings beyond the bridge shows depth. It is clear that the light source is coming from the right side of the image, casting a shadow on the left side of the buildings adding dimension.

Tone & Color

The above images have been pulled from the website of a local spa. The images are the banners of each of the different pages of the website. Their website is easy to navigate for the potential spa goer (the user of their website design). Part of the reason their website is easy to navigate is due to its visual appeal and their choice of color and tone.

Tone is represented in all of the above images. I think tone is most powerfully portrayed in banner 2, the pebbles. Because of the tone in the image, the viewer can see that the pebbles are three dimensional. Tone also helps show depth perception in banner 5, with the lighter grasses in the foreground and the darker grasses in the background. Banner 2 also represents the other basic element of shape. Not only are the pebbles spherical, so are the water droplets upon them. The tone of the water droplets gives them dimension, and again allows the viewer to see them as a three dimensional object. The basic shape of a circle is associated with warmth, a positive and nurturing association for a spa.

Their color palette is consistent throughout the website, and is not distracting or overpowering. The use of color is subtle, yet very effective. Banner 4 and 5 are the only images with actual color. I might argue that even banner 1 has a slight hue of blue, depending on who is looking at it. It is less saturated than the pink hue in banner 4 and the green hue in banner 5, and is almost a non-color. Most of the colors used in the website are less saturated, hence they provoke less emotion and create a more relaxed feeling (perfect for a spa). In banner 5, the green hue interacts the other basic element of the line. The sharp lines are seen in the edges of the grass. The lines of the grass split up the bright greens versus the light greens in the image.

Find out more about color and tone...

http://www.writedesignonline.com/resources/design/rules/color.html

Magazine Design

The Dot: is one of the most common forms found in nature and is often found in magazine design. Here, on this cover of New York, the flesh-colored dot is used to portray the skin of the woman. The dots, when placed close together, represent continuous tone as they blur and blend together. The numerous dots naturally guide the viewer to connect them together.


Movement: is one of the hardest basic elements to portray. Here, on this cover of New York, movement is implied by multiplying and blurring the image. In general it is hard to express movement without distorting the original image. At first, the viewer scans the image and notices that something is not right. The blurred image is not due to poor eyesight, rather motion trying to be expressed. From the image it can be gathered that the man is screaming and shaking his head.


Lines: are not commonly found in nature, but rather man-made technology. On the New York cover above, line is used humorously and as a previsualization tool. An arrow boldly points the viewer to the "brain" of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. Direction is set by lines and lines are commonly used in the form of arrows, such as above. In this example, line is pointing the joke out to the viewer.


Color: can mean different things to different viewers. The obvious choice of color here for the cover of Vogue Paris is red. In the past, red has signified anger, blood, danger, love, life, etc. In this example, red represents more sensuality as opposed to anger. Red is also the perfect contrast to the creamy skin of the model and the stark-white magazine title. Here, red is used in two different tones. The dark red tone is used for the background, nails, and lips. The bright red stands out boldly on the cap of the model.

Syntactical Guidelines

The original Fame movie poster does not reach the viewer effectively. The goal of the movie poster is to loosely tell potential viewers what the movie is about and raise their interest in seeing it. This poster uses the syntactical guidelines of stress and balance. The movie description, image, movie title, and director information are all balanced; however, the movie description is balanced in two columns, while the the remaining image, movie title, and director information are balanced into one column. This throws the viewer off. The movie description, as it differs from the rest of the poster, seems to be the stress of the piece. However, it competes with the larger red text of the directors information at the bottom and even larger image. The viewer is not sure what is the stress of the piece and they are lost.



The most recent Fame movie poster uses syntactical guidelines more powerfully. Again the poster uses the syntactical guideline of balance. The tag line of the movie creatively balances out the negative space of the top left corner of the poster. The subject of the poster shares the center with the title of the movie. Also, the syntactical guideline of positive and negative is used. The background is black and white but tinted pink (considered negative) and the center of the poster is the positive, as this is the part of the image that dominates the eye and the viewer's attention.
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