Monday, February 22, 2010

Class Assignment C


Mid + low angle shot
Giant Doraemon. The bottom up look and the centralise position of Doraemon give it a commanding look. Furthermore, due to the close proximity of Doraemon as compared to the cupboard creates an enlarge effect on Doraemon.


High angle (top down) and long shot

This angle gives Doraemon a depressed look(sloughing shoulder, no smile). Though focus was on Doraemon, the blue scarf occupied most of the photo, causing audience to extend the focus more on the scarf(background) than the object.



Low angle, long shot
Top of the world. Powerful.


Medium close up, canted
Gives Doraemon a charging look, especially since his fist is raised up and the angle gives it a downward momentum feel. The use of aperture provide more focus on Doraemon as well.




Low angle long shot
Gives Doraemon more of a top of the world, confident feel as compared to medium low angle shot, which gives it a Giant feel.



Close up + eye level
Close up shots allow us to emphasize on the features of the object, thereby draw out a strong emotion from it. Here, we can clearly identify the jubilant in Doramon from the huge smile smap across the face and the cresent eyes. This eye level close up gives a more natural and familiar feeling to object as well; visually pleasing.


If you have taken a closer look at all the photos, most photos are taken on the basis of Rule of Third.

Assignment 2 - Pictogram

Updates:]

Hello! After much consideration(actually littel.. LOL), I had decided to drop Iluma and work on something new..My aim is to do something that is iconic to Singapore. Some of the ideas that I had considered were Merlion, esplanade, supreme court and duck tour. However, most of these building or tourist traps have existing logo, which i do not wish to be influence by.

After flipping thru pages and pages of photos, i decided on river cruise, bumboat. Simply because there is no logo on it yet, and it has an iconic body, the fish head, which i can work on to create the logo:] Here are some of my research!
Side track a little, I came across this heartwarming photo too:

Ok, back to topic, I decided to use bumboat and managed to sketch out the bumboat using few photos that i had found online.






The changes in 3 and 4 were quite little.. perhaps i shoud have removed the tyres as well.. oh well :[
While i recommend 4 for the direction sign used, I believe that the 5th one can be developed into a logo that companies can adopt. Ha.. What do you guys thing?

Anyway, here is the possible location for placing the direction. Ha.. The boat shape and the fish head should be able to help tourist associate the logo with the river cruise.



Tata~~~


Previous Draft

I
n my own opinion, I believed I have failed for this assignment.

The first mistake was misinterpretation of the assignment. For this assignment, we were asked to create a pictogram for a local site, not pictogram of a local site :[
For this project, Iluma will be the building I'll be working on. The pictogram selected will be used as a direction signage for Iluma and it will be located at the Bugis MRT Station.

A little about Iluma:
Designed by WOHA Architect, the crystal mesh facade of the mall plays with lights and illumination. The theme was inspired by the proximity to art institutions (NAFA and Lasalle) and the mall pitch itself to be a supporter of the art scene in Singapore. Here's a video I have found online about Iluma. Observe the emphasis of the use of lights.

Original photo that I'll be working on.



And, here is the Pictogram I have created.



The greatest challenges was to include the mesh of crystal hexagon in the pictogram. If you take a close observation of the hexagon, they are not of the same size and odd shape polygon exist in between the crystal hexagon. Hence, instead of replicating the exact mesh, I created a beehive mesh and adjusted it on Iluma using transformation wrap tool.

Peers comments:
- Further improve on simiplication
- Zoom in to the essence of Iluma, the hexagon
- Adopt the most simplified version for the signage but include the mesh of hexagon

My comments
- improve on the colour and outlining
- improve on the first few pictogram by adding more shadings
- focus on iconic hexagon shape

- to scrape the whole thing and come up with something new

Currently working on the zoom in portion of Iluma; illuminated hexagon. looks bleak. Will post it up by this weekend.

Class Assignment B

In the 2nd lecture, Jing taught us how to purposefully critique on a piece of work. Thus.the class assignment is none other than using the 4 criteria to evaluate a design. Here the picture that we were given:

So here's my partner and mine 2 cents worth:


Description
A mug shot of the a blue figurine of Avatar with dense forest as the background; monsterous looking. There is a Mcdonald logo on the right hand side. As for the left, Avatar's logo was spotted, together with the director's name and the words "only in cinema".

Analysis & Interpretation
The blue figurine and the dense forest background with unusual vegetation implies that Avatar is not a typical human race, but more of an alien. Hence, one can conclude that this movie(since it says, shown on cinema) is a science fiction movie.
Furthermore, this appears to be a promotional advertisement between Producer of Avatar and Mcdonald. The main subject will be Avatar, since it is position at the centre and occupies more than half of the poster. The main aim of this poster is not really clear, for it is not really a movie poster per say since the logo is small and lack the credit section. Itis not exactly a Mcdonald product ad as aside from the Logo, none of the design is related to Mcdonald.

Thus, to make things clearer, I have googled "Avatar Mcdonald". As mentioned above, the producer of avatar (FOX) and Mcdonald have this collaboration, to bring Avatar to the restaurants and computer games. Perhaps, it is Fox's strategy to reach out to more audiences. Though i did not manage to find the source of the photo, base on some recollections, this may be the "create your own avatar" programme (create your own avatar that resemble you by manipulating your photo) as the Avatar does not seem to be the original Avatar in the movie.

So, in short, the main aim is to promote avatar and the programme(huge space allocated to it. Secondary aim is to promote the companies(found at the corners) that is involved in this collaboration.

Judgement
If we are to judge this as a movie poster, it wasn;t very successful in bring forward the true idea of avatar in the poster. Furthermore, the resolution(pixelation) and the colour contrast of this poster, or the lack of resolution and contrast, make this poster unprofessional and unattractive to the eyes of public. With just a small title and the lack of short but powerful description, further hamper the strength and success of this poster. In additional, the design of the avatar was mediocre. It obviously lack symmetry, which is essential to create a"perfect" looking person. However, from the colour of the avatar and the background, audience will be able deduce that this is a science fiction movie.

If we are judging it as a promotional material for "create your own avatar", then clearly, it failed to convey the message that you are able to create your own avatar. The lack of usage of proper words and phrases were the main hurdle of this design; making it a typical example of how a words, or two, can alter the meaning of a work completely. The contrast of the words and logo was bad against the green background, as yellow, green and blue appears to be nex the same spectrum ofcomplementary than contrasting coloyrs. However, as opposed to the earlier critique on avatar, it is acceptable in this case to not explicitly convey the meaning of avatar as this piece of work would have been a follow on from earlier movie poster and we can generally assumed that the general public has a rough idea what avatar is.
Original Posters


Just for the fun of it, these are the original movie posters of Avatar. The tagline is consistent in both poster, promoting the movie based on successful of creator's previous work. Title/Logo Avatar in both posters are shart and clear. "Entrez Dans Le Monde" when translated to english means "enter the world"; splitting image of human and blue figurine show the existence of 2 creatures, porbably living in 2 different world, and we are entering the one that is less commonly known, the blue figurine world. Aside from the second tagline and figure, the background conveys a message of a new world to be explored as well.
The richness of the colour and the great use of contrast and illumination(words and freckles) to bring out the avatar serve its main purpose of attracting attention of the audience.
Hence, comparatively, the 2 posters are better designs as compared to the 1st poster we have crtitique; for it serve the main purpose of a poster, to draw attention and convey message to the audience.

Class Assignment A

Mad posting!!! Here we go!!



Looks like a plain sunglass doesn't it?

Nope, this is more than just a sunglass. It kind of like a revolutionize sunglass that incorporate media player in it. User wearing this pair of glasses will be able to watch video, listen to music with it. The buttons at the frame of the sunglass has a control function, e.g. one long click to play, 2 clicks to skip, 3 clicks for previous etc.

Alt, you may use the remote that comes with it to navigate through your songs and video selection. Furthermore, with this touch pad remote, you are able to do web browsing as well.. Simply use the circular navigation tool as well the the rectangle touch screen(resistive system to hand write alphabet) to key in your favourite website and start browsing.


Sounds like itouch? you got it! that how the whole idea orginated.

Wide screen experience, stereo sound system, as well as shade the sun, this is definitely an up and coming fashion icon

ps: the vector drawing of the lady was a previous preliminary work of mine and huimin for a postcard. It is actually a vector drawing of Audrey Hepburn. Thought adding a lady will give a more complete look with the sunglass.

pss: if you look carefully, you maybe able to spot some dancing figures on the sunglass.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Assignment 1 - Myself


Updates
I just realised all along I saved this post as a draft and it was never posted on my blog! AHHHHH..
Oh well.

After much consideration, I decided to use moon to represent me instead of clouds. For moon better represent who I'm and it is a little trickier in incorporating(hopefully, better grades;])
Here is the first draft on basic shape of the moon. Can you identify my name? Thee is a face to it as well, eyes at H, o shape mouth at E:]

I decided to further explore the design and finally, i decided to use the harvest moon concept again. therefore, creating this:


Hope it will help everyone sees it better in this direction:]


And here is the final submission. It is basically the same as the previous one, except the name is on the moon and not clouds.. Clouds were purposely made to twirl around the cloud as suggested by classmates.

Previous Post

Very first assignment! I will say it is pretty challenging, for it is not just about producing a piece of work, but incorporate yourself inside a supposedly artwork.

So what's the challenge?
- Incorporate your name in an item - fair enough, managable
- that item/artwork has to explain who you are - TOUGH with an OMG!

Yes, the toughest part was to identify who I really am. As all singapo
rean students are trained, you try to list down everything you can possibly think of:
  1. Student
  2. Female
  3. NUS Business School
  4. Finance Major - numbers and money!!!!
  5. moon
  6. stick
  7. photography
  8. piano
  9. food
  10. travel
  11. japanese culture
  12. poutine
  13. shopaholic
  14. deep thinker
  15. impatience
  16. quick
  17. worrisome
  18. nature lover
  19. trekking
  20. kayaking
  21. independent
  22. sucker for romance
  23. day dreaming
  24. O' Canada
  25. how i met your mother - just kidding. awesome show guys. should really go and catch it.

And now, on pencil and paper

Moon

Due to the "yue" in my name which refers to moon in mandarin, I have been always been associated with moon by my family and friends. As per usual, I did some research on moon. Here are some of the image that I have come across and attempted to develop.

Love how the surroundings are silhoutte. Possible ideas - using the silhoutte background to form my name.


I really love this moon. However, since its tough to incorporate the alphabets inside, the moon will have to be a secondary design. And I came up with the idea of using clouds to create my name. Check out my first draft.

Branches

As you might have guessed, "zhi" represents branches of a tree. This fits the description of me perfectly; someone who is in love with nature as well as a person who strive for the very best to be at the top(the upward growth of branch).

Japan

Since i was a kid, I was very attracted to the Japanese culture. Their practices, festivals(Matsuri), fashion and not forgetting their neatly presented foof. My first thought was to create a Manga style design, incorporating many aspects of the japanese culture. Slight modification in consideration of my sketching ability:

Yes, ramen! Aim to give it a manga punch and colour. Perhaps will include some cartoon characters in it as well:]

Photography

i love photography as well. Currently a proud nikon owner:]


From there, I kind of developed my first completed for work, for critique:

In this piece of work, my name is form by the clouds in the foreground. The night sky, moon and stars create an image of dream. Deep dream. It kind of represent the side of me that is always in deep thoughts. And I am a sucker for romance as well. Hence the concept of the design.
Of course, the most literal meaning for this design is that the moon represents me, what people always associate me with.

Suggestions given by my peers were
  • Loop/coil the clouds around the moon
  • alt, having the moon blow the name out from the mouth
  • blow the butterfly

And my critique for myself is

  • create more realistic clouds and moon
  • form closer connection between moon and cloud(may use the suggestion given by peers)
  • work on the moon to give it a more 3D feel
  • rid unecessary designs
  • design a pj for the moon:]
Currently, I am still experimenting it. Will update this post again when its done:]

First Post - NM 2208

Salut,

Merci (thanks) for visiting my humble little blog for my course NM 2208, Principle of Visual Communication. This is the place you will find all my work of, ahem, art/rubbish.

To start off, the blog is titled based on my favourite city in the world, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Or Quebec's motto to be more exact.



Quebec's Coat of Arms.

If we translate to english, it means " I remember".

According to poet M Tache, Je me souviens, the full significance of which cannot perhaps be readily expressed in English but which may be paraphrased as conveying the meaning " Yes, we remember. We remember the past and its lessons, the past and its misfortune, the past and its glory".

In my humble understanding, it refers to the century struggle for self government for quebecois, and not to forget their roots; france.

Boring history aside, Montreal is the cultural capital of Canada. The city is an art piece with little art pieces dotted around the whole city. There's no such thing as rubbish in Montreal. Its just Art, everywhere

Most people might not have heard of Montreal, but i believe everyone recognise this:

Mobtv, bus ride, silly pranks, remember?

We have to give some credits to the intl jazz, fireworks and firm festivals as well. One of the best I have ever attended:]


Though I may not physically in Montreal now, I dowish to continue drawing my inspirations from this vibrant/arty-farty city. Hope you guys will look forward to my art pieces.


For now,

Au revior!