Digital Image Design Sp 2012
Assignment 3 - Color, Typography and Metaphor
Artists and designers try to communicate ideas or feelings visually. Their “grammar” is the elements and principles of design.
Color is a powerful element. Color can be used to communicate information to audiences in all kinds of ways. Color can also communicate emotional information.
Typography is the study of any type-set matter. Type can be made up of several elements of design: points, lines, shapes, size even
color and texture. Certain typefaces carry connotative values: Some look “happy.” Some look “spooky,” heavy, thin, etc. Some typefaces are very neutral which makes them more suitable for a wider variety of uses. But sometimes choosing the appropriate decorative typeface can enhance your message. Note to the wise: Like salt in food, add decorations sparingly...
Metaphor is a device used in literature to enhance expression. It is also used in art all the time. Metaphors are everywhere! Just
travel over to wikipedia, take a stroll around and you see that there are many different types of metaphors. Here we will explore how
visual metaphors can enhance visual expression.
Metaphors are Natural
The human brain loves to seek the correlation between two objects. Example: What does the earth and bread have in common?
While your brain is churning over that one let’s look at the definition of metaphor.
Metaphor – n.
~ A figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to
designate another, thus making an implicit comparison.
~ One thing conceived as representing another; a symbol.
Oh and by the way, both the earth and bread have crust.
Why metaphors work
Like earlier stated, the human brain loves metaphor. Using metaphors will allow for deeper intrinsic meaning and the ability to trigger deep emotions without saying a word. Metaphors can also be looked at from a usability standpoint. Someone with a learning
disability might be able to understand simple visual metaphors easier than a block of text explaining the same thing.
Anatomy of a Metaphor
A metaphor consists of two main parts: the tenor and the vehicle. The tenor is the subject to which the metaphor is applied. The
vehicle is the metaphorical term through which the tenor is applied. These two parts come together to reach a point of similarity,
or metaphor.
Juxtaposition is one way to create a visual metaphor. Juxtaposition means the placement of things together. Our minds try to
make a connection between things that are near each other in a space.
An easier way of thinking about metaphor is the comparison of two things without using the word like: “Her eyes were glistening jewels.” Does that conjure up some interesting imagery? It is a much more dramatic and expressive way to express her eyes
than to merely say “Her eyes were a pretty.” Frankly, boring. One thing, her eyes or x (in the equation above) become y, or jewels.
Eyes=Jewels. Much more expressive of her eyes and how they may have looked if she were given [blank]. Fill in that blank.
A new Rolls Royce? Wow, must be nice...
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Eyes=jewels, love and hatred. What these images might mean: blinded by desire of wealth; blinded by love and blinded by hatred
Attack of the Web’s metaphor is as in-your-face as active metaphors can get! The tenor is the designer and the vehicle is the
anthropomorphic computers that are catching a beat down. This metaphor is implying that by employing this designer, he can make
the web bend and submit to his client’s will.
anthropomorphic means of human form
Citrus SEO uses the image of citrus soda to describe their business. The tenor being Citrus SEO and the vehicle being the citrus
soda conjures up images of refreshing soda. The mission of this metaphor is to relate the company’s abilities to refresh, revitalize your
SEO rankings while doing it in a clean and organic manner. The color of this site also plays heavily into this metaphor.
more
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SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. An important aspect of online advertising.
Source: http://nikhilmisal.com/using-visual-metaphors-in-web-design-part-1/
More about Metaphor:
“myths are metaphors created to illuminate human experience.”
Carl Jung
We’ve been taught to equate “myth” with “lie”
In actuality, myths are neither fiction or history. Nor are most myths – and this will surprise some people – an amalgamation of fiction and history. Rather, a myth is something that never happened but is always happening. Myths are the plots of the psyche. They are
ongoing, symbolic dramatizations of the inner life of the species, external metaphors for internal events.
Wild Ducks Fly Backwards by Tom Robbins, 2005, Chapter on Joseph Campbell, pg 61-66.
A techie example
“The walls had fallen down and the Windows had opened, making the world much flatter than it had ever been—but the age of
seamless global communication had not yet dawned.”
Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, 2005
A city example
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the subways,” said Shwa. “It’s a dank and dark experience.You feel morbid. The environment contributes
to the fear that develops in men and women. The moment that you walk into the bowels of the armpit of the cesspool of crime, you
immediately cringe.”
from Our Town, N.Y., cited by The New Yorker, March 27, 2000
Just funny
A Pentagon staffer, complaining that efforts to reform the military have been too timid: “It’s just ham-fisted salami-slicing by the bean
counters.”
The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 1997
A metaphor makes a comparison, and in doing so shapes our perception. If we say, “Time is a river,” we’re noting a certain similarity between the two.Yet we know they aren’t identical. We may mean that time is fluid, has currents and eddies, empties into some
vast ocean, but not that it’s composed of water. If we say, “Time is a stone,” we may mean it’s silent, still, indifferent, but not that it’s a
mineral.
If we say, “Time is a river,” we’re noting a correspondence between the two. Again, a metaphor has two parts: a tenor and a vehicle.
The tenor (“time”) is the literal subject of the metaphor, and the vehicle (“river”) is a figurative reference to which the literal subject
is implicitly being compared.
In order to write a simile, you need to determine two things that you would like to compare, and then compare them using “like”or
“as.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor
Juxtaposition: is usually a deliberate act of comparison, something you do in order to see the differences and similarities between
two objects or ideas.
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
John F. Kennedy
so, what’s the homework?!
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Assignment 3:
Part Two:
In a 8.5 x 11 AI document, typeset 12 of the words below. You may substitute your own choices as long as you
end up with 12 words. Make each word look more like what it means (this is known as onomatopoeia), first by
choosing an appropriate typeface, then by experimenting with size, color, placement, etc..Have each word in it’s
own text box.
Onomatopoeia
To convert the text into an object, do as follows:
1. Choose text box with black arrow tool (selection tool).
2. With the box still selected, go to the main menu item Object. Select “Create Outlines.”
3. Then select the converted text box and choose Object>Ungroup. Click away to execute ungrooup command. Now you can rotate
or stagger the characters (technical term for lettters); move them color them, etc.
NOTE: When changing the size of your text as object, DO NOT SKEW THE PROPORTIONS. Hold the shift key down while scaling
up or down. See the “heavy” example below.
List of words
Tranquil
Dominant
Popcorn
Frugal
Chaotic
Intense
Massive
Lush
Substantial
Passive
Wandering
Active
Swift
Contemplate
student examples from last semester
Part Three:
Create 3 sets of “paintings” that describe a metaphor using elements of design while focusing on color and color temperature.
Make the paintings as abstract as possible. Choose a dichotomy (opposite)*** for each set. Incorporate a word into the painting and
choose a typeface that enhances the message. Add a caption to accompany the visual metaphor.
CHANGE from class instructions:
I have made a template for you that will crop your artwork. We’ll go over clipping masks again later. Find the template in our homework folders in “files for class>A3 COLOR TEMPLATE”. Open the file and then save it as your own. Keep the layer 2 locked. Paint
only in LAYER 1. Make sure you go beyond the picture plane boundaries. Add captions in layer 3.
The name of the template is: color-studies-template.ai. Put all your work in your homework folder.
Example of one
completed set.You
will make three.
My love is a raging fire.
love=fire
color temperature: hot
His stare cooled my blood to icicles.
blood=icicles
color temperature: cold
*** possible sets could begin
with:
hot/cold
wet/dry
good/evil
(no obvious symbols like
pitchforks, angels, pentagrams,
etc. Use only color, color combinations, shapes, etc.