IBM the Paper Stacks

I guess that building letters of stacks of papers reminds people of efficient technical company and not of inefficient bureaucracy, Who knew?   My sketch definitely gives a new look to it as it goes from the smaller sized (I)nternational to the larger (M)achines.   The paper generations claim to be everywhere, or at least at one time that was their goal.  I guess they figured since earth is a big blue marble it is the property of Big Blue.

A swollen river off its course turns CNN to CW

CNN has a line running along the middle of there letters that flow like a river.  It looks like the meandering river when I draw it.  I can make out the C but the double N looks more like a W.  I am not sure what impression they are trying to make but maybe something can be done animating it in a motion design piece.  If so I would be surprised if it has not already been done. 

W is for skewers

This is a wordmark one can get stuck on.  I never though of a w as a letter made of flaming skewers.  I could have a bundle of skewers each in both my first and last names.  I am not sure why I would do with them but they certainly would make my name light up.  I doubt anyone could read the w in either name so it certainly has its minuses.

The Voltswagen Logo

Volkswagen, a brand that has been around for a while do why does it bring to mind a peace symbol of a later age.  I know the Nazis used volkswagens as military vehicles in WWII and that does not sound like a brand of peace.  I guess you cannot judge a brand by its look but you sure can sell it by them.

The WTC Goudy

A G is a wondrous character.
Its lower form has two stories
They are curvy but flat.
A steady hand is required navigating your curves.
Your upper serif is a horn that shrinks as you grow
You come in gift and glory and great.

The Helvitica I i

A sans serif you are
You stand straight as can be
As an upper you have no break
As a lower you pause before before your top point.
You take little room.
Your angles are as straight as your lines

The Avante Garde K

The K is a great letter
After all it leads my name and word king.
Like the law it has a long reaching arm.
While is has a short one to guard itself.
It is straight lines and various angles.
Even when it lacks serifs.

The Slimbach S

Oh S, how do I delight in your ways.
You are full of curves like a dangerous highway.
Even your serifs are curved.
You have your thins and your thick in all the right places.
You come in lower and upper sizes
Like all letter you have uses.
You lead and you follow.

Color: A design principle

I seem to have trouble grasping the design principle of Color even though I have received a fair amount of education on it.  I can struggle through it by consulting references but it certainly has not become second nature for me.  Each symbolizes various things but those thing may differ by cultural .  It sometimes goes together and other times clashes so it is wise to be careful in the color scheme you choose.

Color can be irritating as a color scheme that work on a monitor may not work on a printer.  Even different printers can render the same color differently. 

Am I creative?

I don't think of myself as creative and yet I have little or no trouble coming with ideas when I am assigned a project and given perimeters.  Often my ideas are based on the works of other though those are not necessary in the field of what I am doing.  I have some trouble judging how good ides are but at this point that could be due to inexperience.  I cannot really call my ideas innovative as they are often inspired by the works of other.  Still they seem creative to me.

Exploring for the man

I find doing research interesting though I need a reason to do it and a goal to obtain.  A project can give me both but I am weak on creating my own reason and goal.  In my opinion I lack discipline that is necessary to do so as I am easily distracted when I have no firm goal or reason.  I find too many other things I want do.  That is one of the reasons that fine art does not appeal to me and commercial art does.

Using Illusions In Design

This week's homework was about using the mind's ability to see what is not there in order to steer the viewer to see those things the designer planned on them to see.  For instance the designer creates a virtual texture by adding to an image a simulation of those things that the viewer's mind uses to recognize a particular texture.  The same is done to create virtual distance in a composition by using various techniques to simulate the visual ques that a viewer receives when seeing an object or background that is more distant. There are also techniques and devices that can be used to evoke an illusion of emotion and other things from the viewer.  These can all be combined to communicate to the viewer the message the designer desires. 

There is also real texture in any design that can change the message that is on a monitor to when it is printed to a pamphlet or anything else with a different texture.  This means an effective designer will consider the texture of the finished work before finalizing it.

Do you see what I write?

I decided to use text to influence the person viewing the image that can be perceived either as a vase or two faces.  In an image that is vague in itself you can steer the viewer  into seeing what you want by using text, texture, color, or other graphic design elements.   I find this interesting.

Does it work?

To see what is not there

Looking at two figures, one a representative of a white 12 sided figure and the other a black filled outline of the same sitting by it, my eyes saw lined in the outline though none existed.  I am familiar with such 12 sided figures being dice so perhaps it was that familiarity that led me to see lines where there was none, even though I knew otherwise.  It may also have been because of the proximity of the shape that had those lines, or a combination of the two.  I find it interesting that you can see what is not there.  Another example of this is when you take a picture of a white object outside on a sunlit day and do not adjust the camera to take that into account.  The camera sees the object as bluish while your eye sees it as white.  Your mind adjusts the color of the image to account for sunlight just like an adjustment on the camera even though the item actually is bluish looking because of the effects of sunlight.

Am I still dreaming?

I woke up one morning and when looking as my bedside lamp I saw it as an open laptop.  The horizontal piece became the screen and my sleep fogged mind decided that was enough to fill in all the other pieces.  Not I consider that in line with the discussion of gestalt psychology and wonder if those discussing it ever considered that people sometimes put things into a picture that they expect to see but are not necessary there.  A person can see a face if she sees anything that is organized similar to the components of a face. 

As for the sketch related to this post, a shaky hand does not sketch very good and my attempt to show a lamp morphed into an illusion of a laptop may be hard to understand but it is an attempt.

Do I know you? Not!

Let me see, my mind is prone to daydreaming and coming up with odd conclusions based on limited information.  Sometimes they actually correct.  One situation  that seem common the past week is to see a person and think I know only to remember that the person I remember has aged since I last saw them some years ago and was most likely not the one I was currently viewing.  My mind is just grouping according to similar looks and drawing up a file that seems correct until I examine it.  I am not talented in sketching people but perhaps ideas.