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.