Design Principles | Week 11-14 (Visual Analysis)
Week 11-14
-2nd November 2021 to 26th November 2021
NAME: Isaac Yaw Wai Zac
I.D: 0343197
COURSE: Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Mechanical Engineering
SECTION: 02
Figure 1.1: Week 11's class session (2nd November 2021)
In this week's class session, we were all ready and prepared with our phases 1&2 on this topic (Visual Analysis) to be reviewed by Miss Jinchi. Since the lecture on this topic was pre-recorded and uploaded onto Microsoft Teams, we started the class immediately with the consultation session.
Figure 1.2: Week 12's class session (9th November 2021)
In this week's class session, Miss Jinchi reviewed our phase 3 of visual analysis which is the further interpretation of the background story/meaning/message of the artwork we have selected. Based on the feedback that I have obtained this week on my progress, Miss Jinchi mentioned that I should work harder on the visual analysis parts, especially on phases 2 and 3. The specific feedback is documented in the feedback from the lecturer section down below (under week 12).
Figure 1.3: Week 13's class session (16th November 2021)
In this week's class session, it was a very quick consultation session as all of our lectures were already taught in the previous weeks. A few important announcements were made which were the deadline for both this Final project submission and the Final compilation which were set to 26th November 2021.
Figure 1.4: Week 14's class session (23rd November 2021)
In this week's class session, it will be the last session with Miss Jinchi and the deadline for this submission is due this Friday. With that, this week's consultation is very crucial as all our final design decisions were needed to be finalised by this week's class session.
Lectures:
Figure 2.1: Lecture Notes for Lecture 8 - Visual Analysis
In this chapter, visual analysis is the understanding that is focused on the detailed elements and principles in a particular design. The purpose of this is to recognise the choices that the designer(s) made when creating those designs. That can also allow us to observe and understand the formal properties of design that communicate ideas, context, or meaning.
In the real world, it is a critical part of visual literacy for people to understand through mediums such as physical, or social media. In the outline form of visual analysis, there are three phases:
Phase 1: Observation
Phase 2: Analysis
Phase 3: Interpretation
Visual Analysis Explanation
Phase 1: Observation
Observation is done by closely looking at design inspirations and stating out the visual elements of it. No further research were needed to be done but instead, just pointing out what can be understood through a self-made description.
Phase 2: Analysis
The analysis is done with a further breakdown and elaboration of our observations in a more detailed form. With the specific visual elements that we have identified, we can explain what effects the elements gave in the design. Explanations of the necessary design principles extracted can also be elaborated at this phase but not with any further research.
Phase 3: Interpretation
This stage is a more detailed one because all our observations, description, and analysis done in the previous stages were then backed up with some further research to fuse them with factual explanations. This can be about the designer's background and historical context. Some guidelines that we can follow when undergoing the interpretation phase are such as the meaning and purpose of the design.
Final Project
- Task(s)
In this given task (Final Project), we were all given 4 weeks and it requires us to understand visual analysis. Overall, the project requires us to assess, investigate, document, and analyse a design material that can be in either of the forms: (billboards/television commercial/movie clip/work of design).
We as designers should be able to notice the details of these examples through research and observations such as the size, placement, purpose, effectiveness, and design principles. Why do this? This allows us to get inspiration and also observe and extract information to apply the knowledge of design principles in our design.
Project Timeline
Week 11 (selected design with phases 1 & 2 done - visual analysis)
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Week 12 (phase 3 of visual analysis done)
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Week 13 (visual research and idea exploration for own design)
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Week 14 (final idea development and final submission)
- Visual Research
After doing some visual research from various online sources, I managed to compile a few designs that caught my attention. They are either outstanding, impactful, meaningful, or obey very good design principle(s). The top 4 selected designs were documented in Figure 3.1 down below.
Figure 3.1: Compilation of selected designs (as of 29th October 2021)
Brief description
Design #1
Source: Link
Design #1 - This graphic design caught my attention because I like graphical elements which give the aesthetic of fashion sense even with utilising minimal use of colours. To me, it is very harmonious and has the word and image design principle. However, I did not choose this design to further develop because I found a few other designs which were more interesting and have better use of design principles.
Design #2 by Simon Prades
Source: Link
Design #2 - This vector art design is of a double exposure format and in my opinion, it looks very well composed and tells a very deep story. If I was to develop this design, I would have gone with a coloured design approach, but it may not look as appealing when compared to the black and white form. Since I was unable to decide on one, I did not further develop this design.
Design #3 by Sony Wicaksana
Source: Link
Design #3 - This vector art design features a character and I can see that it tells a story on its own. Other than that, I can see much use of design principles after further observations. Because of this, I decided to conduct the necessary visual analysis on this particular design and the detailed analyses was documented down below.
Design #4 by Anton Yermolov
Source: Link
Design #4 - This design caught my attention because I like minimal and aesthetically pleasing designs. Although this design looks very plain and minimal from afar, it still stands out among all the other designs because of the striking colours and clean look. Upon further observations, we get to see the very detailed elements in this design which I like. Other than that, it also obeys many good design principles which I will further elaborate down below.
Selected Designs for Visual Analysis
- Idea Exploration
Design #3 (Not selected for final design)
Figure 4.1: Design #3 by Sony Wicaksana - DEATHMACHINE
Source: Link
Phase 1: Observation
This is a vector art of a detailed skeleton character that is in portrait orientation. This orientation is selected in a way that the subject itself takes up a huge percentage of the entire framing of the composition. With the good use of limited colours, the red, grey, and black colours match one another very well and none of the colours overpowers one another.
Phase 2: Analysis
With the very good use of framing, this design composition obeys the rule of thirds very well. The entire subject intersects with the central box and the 4 intersections of gridlines under the rule of thirds also intersect with the subject. Not only that, there are no negative spaces because of the huge subject and well-balanced elements of details throughout the subject. To further elaborate this good framing with appropriate design principles, we get to see the emphasis on the subject. The emphasis is further enhanced with the use of the red colours that indirectly create an obvious contrast between the red coloured elements and the darker colours. Looking throughout the subject, we get to see the repetition of elements used such as the wires and the skulls. Those tiny little details such as the wires bring good flow to the design that enhances the harmony and unity effect to it. Not to forget, this aspect allows a good visual hierarchy to take place.
Phase 3: Interpretation
When viewed in detail, this particular design reminds me of the punk and horror genre and that is what the artist wants to deliver. The designer is a freelance illustrator and a digital painter based in Surakarta, Indonesia. Upon research on his other artworks/designs, Sony Wicaksana creates most of his artwork based on comical art which is very detailed and stands out very well.
About the artist:
Figure 4.2: Story of Sony Wicaksana (Video Interview)
Source: Link
Figure 4.3: Sony Wicaksana's Instagram (Portfolio)
Source: Link
Figure 4.4: Original post for DEATHMACHINE design
Based on his artwork, he also mentioned that this design inspiration came from the renowned futuristic video game called Cyberpunk 2077. Based on his statement, I have to agree with him too, because this artwork gives me an evil, horror, but futuristic detail on the character itself.
Source: Link
Figure 4.5: DEATHMACHINE inspiration (Cyberpunk 2077)Design #4 (Selected design)
Figure 4.6: Design #4 by Anton Yermolov
Source: Link
Phase 1: Observation
This design is a very simple and minimalistic one in vector form. Viewing from afar, there is very good use and a mixture of colours that complement one another well. They include beige, red, yellow, orange, black, and different shades of blue. We can also see the large circular shape in the middle which appears to be the letter 'C'. The beige colour used in the background is well thought because it is not strong and does not overpower the strong and vibrant colours used in the main subject itself. When viewed closer in the clockwise direction, many elements such as the character doing martial arts, cityscapes, dragon, the Great Wall of China, and a Chinese temple can be seen. Then, there are smaller elements such as China's flag at the top and also some short texts at the bottom.
Phase 2: Analysis
This design may seem to be very simple and minimal at first glance, but it has many good design elements and principles that can be extracted after further analysis. First of all, there is a good visual hierarchy because the main subject/focus is in the center and is the biggest element. The circular and curvature letter 'C' further enhances the flow in terms of visual hierarchy so that viewers can view the elements in the letter 'C' first, and then slowly divert them to the flag, and the words underneath the main subject. Other than that, there is good contrast between the main subject and other elements because of the use of bright colours (red, orange, blue) and also its relatively huge size. This also indirectly creates emphasis towards the main subject (letter 'C') for the same reasons as mentioned above. With a very good symmetry, a good balance in this design was achieved. This is also because the artist aligned all the elements vertically in the center of the design. There is also a subtle use of repetition in the clouds in this design to complement the design and add a nicer touch to it. Other than that, the use of the dragon and the Great Wall of China, give the impact of movement or that kind of feeling to the design itself which would also enhance the visual hierarchy with a good flow. All the elements which represent China complement each other very well and thus, creating a good unity whilst having a harmonious outcome in this design because of the use of analogous colours. All these elements would also give us a good sense of place by understanding what China is about, with the help of this visual design. Last but not least, the use of word and image and also the symbol represented by the Country's flag and the word description creates a subtle and aesthetically pleasing view to this design.
Phase 3: Interpretation
To me, this design reminds me about China and a brief overview of what the country is about. Other than that, the combination of the bright colours for the main subject (the letter 'C') caught my attention to further observe the elements in this design, which is what the artist wants to achieve. Even with minimal elements as the representation of the country, China, we can already understand the country very well such as the cityscapes representing Shanghai, the Chinese traditional dragon, the iconic Great Wall of China, the Chinese temple, and their traditional martial art. Besides, the artist also included a very small-sized flag to represent the country aesthetically. The artist also wants to deliver information about the country with this design and therefore, he used small texts displaying the language, capital, population, and currency of China. When we do some further research, we get to further understand the story behind the artist, Anton Yermolov, and his ideation on creating this design.
Source: Link
Figure 4.7: Anton Yermolov's Instagram (Portfolio)
Based on Figure 4.7 above, Anton Yermolov is a multidisciplinary visual designer based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. We can see that his works all cover many different styles of art. They are graphic design, vector art, photography, minimal art, and so on. In his previous designs, I managed to extract 2 similar artworks and were documented in Figure 4.8 below. This allows me to further explore and get more inspiration from these examples.
Figure 4.8: Illustration of other similar designs from Anton Yermolov
In Figure 4.8 above, the two examples that I have extracted really caught my attention because I like minimalistic vector arts and I love to travel and explore new places. The first example showcases the country Brazil and the artist managed to include visual elements representing famous landmarks, their festive costume, landscapes, and animals. I really like it because a simple vector design like this can also tell us a lot about the country. Similarly, the example on Denmark showcases their traditional boat, buildings, landmarks, and wind turbines whilst using limited colours. With that, these examples representing various countries such as Brazil and Denmark gave me the motivation to develop my own design inspired by his works.
- Feedback from lecturer (Week 11)
In the consultation session this week, Miss Jinchi mentioned a few things that could be changed and improved. In the layout of my blog, I should reposition the research figures and analysis because it is quite misleading in the current form. Other than that, I am already good with my analysis on phase 1 and phase 2. Then, I am ready to proceed with the next phase by undergoing further interpretation and then, I can kickstart my own design. For the current explanation on phase 2, Miss Jinchi also mentioned that I should further elaborate on some design principles because some of them are still quite brief without further explanations.
- First Draft (Progress)
I got inspired by Anton Yermolov's work and I was very motivated to develop my own design inspired by his examples as shown in Figure 4.8 above. I thought of creating a similar minimalistic vector art to showcase our country, Malaysia. However, I was pretty skeptical with this approach because this would mean that I took 100% of my idea from his examples. With that, I only developed a sketch of my idea as my first draft and to show it to Miss Jinchi in week 12's session before proceeding to digitise it.
Figure 5.1: Progress #1 - Sketching my idea using Adobe Photoshop (as of 5th November 2021)
Figure 5.2: Video progress of sketching using Adobe Photoshop (as of 5th November 2021)
Figure 5.3: sketch outcome as first draft (as of 6th November 2021)
- Feedback from lecturer (Week 12)
This week, Miss Jinchi had quite some comments on my progress for this project, especially under the visual analysis section. She mentioned that my description is lacking direction which may confuse the readers if they did not read through multiple times. Instead, I should elaborate more on the reasons why I stated the necessary design principles. Other than that, my first draft (sketch) is good, but it should not be fully and heavily inspired by the work done by Yermolov. She suggested that I could make some minor changes such as using the same design as done in Figure 5.3 above but representing something else, such as the languages in Malaysia.
- Second Draft (Progress)
Design #1
With the feedback and comments obtained in week 12's session, I brainstormed and had another idea that can be used to develop my design, which is also inspired by the examples done by Anton Yermolov. I decided to go with a 3-dimensional vector art that can be done based on the CAD software that I use and learned from my engineering course. This idea will showcase the world's tallest and most iconic skyscrapers because it is something that I like to explore. The end product will look like a minimal poster that showcases these buildings. After further research, I think that it is better to create a good compilation of some of the world's most iconic buildings/skyscrapers instead because it would create a good unity and contrast with different sizes of buildings. Other than that, this decision was made because having all extremely tall buildings would mean that my foreground buildings will cover up the buildings at the back.
Figure 6.1: Further research on buildings/skyscrapers' blueprints and dimensions
(as of 10th November 2021)
Of course, some factual and more detailed research on this design idea must be done as shown in Figure 6.1 above because I needed to select a few buildings to be used for my design and all the dimensions must be accurate. For my CAD modeling design, I decided to go with a scale of 1:1000 which means that 1 meter in actual length is equivalent to 1mm in my CAD design. If I decided to 3D print this design, it would look exactly the same as the final outcome that I will be developing for this design.
Figure 6.2: Design #1 - progress #1 (as of 11th November 2021)
Figure 6.3: Design #1 - progress #2 (as of 11th November 2021)
Figure 6.4: Design #1 - progress #3 (as of 11th November 2021)
Figure 6.5: Design #1 - progress #4 (as of 13th November 2021)
Figure 6.6: Design #1 - progress #5 (as of 13th November 2021)
Figure 6.8: Video progress #1 for Design #1 (11th - 13th November 2021)
Figure 6.9: Video progress #2 for Design #1 (14th November 2021)
Figure 6.10: Design #1 - second draft (as of 14th November 2021)
Design #2
In this second design, I did my further research to see what type of art I can use to create my design that is inspired by Anton Yermolov's art design. Upon browsing through the online sources, I came upon origami designs that gave me further design inspiration to create my own design. For better understanding, there are a few examples I found on Pinterest and they were documented down below. Further explanations of this design will be explained down below.
Source: Link
Figure 6.11: Design #2 inspiration #1 - origami art (as of 12th November 2021)
Source: Link
Figure 6.12: Design inspiration #2 - origami art (as of 12th November 2021)
Source: Link
Figure 6.13: Design inspiration #3 - origami art (as of 12th November 2021)
With all the selected designs as shown above (Figures 6.11 to 6.13), I got the idea to develop a design inspired by Anton Yermolov's work which utilises the main alphabet to showcase the overall design itself, but using origami art. In my idea, I want to use the letter 'N' to represent nature or the letter 'e' to represent Earth and the overall theme would utilise elements just like the ones used in the above examples. In the end, the letter 'e' was chosen because it is quite round, and it can represent the spherical shape of our planet. Then, I proceeded with the sketch for this design using Adobe Photoshop.
Figure 6.14: Overview of Design #2 sketch idea (as of 13th November 2021)
This sketch idea particularly reflects on the nature around us on planet Earth. The message to be sent with this visual illustration/design is by demonstrating the wonders of nature and its beauty through a different form of art. I will be using colourful paper cutouts (origami art) to showcase elements that represent nature such as clouds, trees, animals, mountains, and other organisms. With the further development of this design idea, a better understanding of the composition can be developed as it is not finalised at this point.
- Feedback(s) from lecturer (Week 13)
As for the feedback gotten from Miss Jinchi this week, I have obtained many essential and important comments because I came up with 2 designs before finalising one. This week, I have completed design #1 and only documented the research and idea on my design #2. For design #1, Miss Jinchi mentioned that it was good to go, but needed a few final touches before submitting it. She mentioned that I could try out different background colours to match with the 'futuristic' theme I went for, and even repositioning the bottom texts so that I could have the text above to be bigger than the current size. For design #2, she mentioned that it was not necessary but I could develop it to see how it would turn out. I then proceeded with the necessary progress in the following week.
- Third Draft (Progress)
Progress development for Design #2
Figure 7.1: Progress #1 overview of Design #2 - physical cutouts (as of 17th November 2021)
Figure 7.2: Progress #2 overview of Design #2 - cutout layering (as of 18th November 2021)
Figure 7.3: Progress #3 overview of Design #2 - photography (as of 18th November 2021)
Figure 7.4: Shortlisted picture outcomes for Design #2 (as of 19th November 2021)
Digital progress development for Design #1
Figure 7.5: Design #1 progress #7 - research on background colour (as of 21st November 2021)
Figure 7.6: Design #1 overview with different background colours (as of 21st November 2021)
This process was done so that I could get a better comparison and get to easily see which background colour to be finalised. Out of all these 8 colours, I went with the pasted orange/beige colour in the end because it looks very aesthetically pleasing and its colour does not overpower any of the other elements especially the main subject. Then, I get to do some further research on the different typefaces because my current fonts were good enough, but there is always room for improvements and to explore.
Figure 7.7: Design #1 progress #8 - research on typefaces (as of 21st November 2021)
Figure 7.8: Design #1 third draft overview (as of 21st November 2021)
Figure 7.9: Design #1 third draft (as of 21st November 2021)
Digital progress development for Design #2
Figure 7.10: Design #2 progress #4 - research on typefaces (as of 21st November 2021)
Figure 7.11: Design #2 third draft overview (as of 21st November 2021)
Figure 7.12: Design #2 third draft (as of 21st November 2021)
- Feedback from lecturer (Week 14)
This is the final week for this module and it is very crucial before finalising our end product and submitting it. Miss Jinchi reviewed my third draft and she was initially on the fence between both the designs. However, we have decided on finalising my design #1 after further discussion because my design #2 is a little more heavily inspired by the work designed by Anton Yermolov. I also agree with her statement and therefore, we are pretty set on what to be finalised. Miss Jinchi also suggest I use another font that I have documented to be used as the final title.
Figure 8.1: suggested typeface to be used for the final design (as of 23rd November 2021)
- Final Draft and Submission
Figure 9.1: Design #1 progress #9 - finalising design and alignment checking
(as of 23rd November 2021)
Figure 9.2: Final project final submission in JPG (23rd November 2021)
Figure 9.3: Final project final submission in PDF (23rd November 2021)
This design is entitled 'SKYSCRAPER' and it is a minimalistic vector art that showcases some of the world's most iconic skyscrapers/buildings. Out of all the iconic buildings, I have chosen a good variety of extremely tall and some shorter buildings to create a more contrasting design. The top title is a very simple yet aesthetically pleasing one and then followed by an informative description of the buildings and their respective heights at the bottom in digital font design. It is overall a minimalistic visual poster design that has an informational message to all viewers.
To break this design down relative to the design done by Anton Yermolov, there is some resemblance especially in the placement of the minimalistic elements in this portrait orientation. When explained using design principles, there is an overall well-balanced and good visual hierarchy in which the main focus (the buildings) is the biggest element and placed in the center of the entire composition and then followed by the main title and lastly, the short description at the bottom. In terms of contrast, there is a good contrast between the different building sizes ad heights. Not to forget, the buildings were made with bright and vibrant colours when compared to the background colour that is a little dull and faded because a pastel orange colour is used. This also indirectly creates a good emphasis on the main subject (the buildings) to enhance the visual hierarchy in a good way. With the placement of the texts and elements in a vertical configuration, we get a composition with good balance. With the very strategic placement of the buildings, we get to see a good unity and harmonious outcome that is pleasing to be viewed by all viewers. Even with this simple design, we get to visualise a good sense of place with all these iconic buildings from all around the world. Maybe it would bring back some memories to some viewers, maybe it would even draw viewers' attention so that they want to visit those places in the future. Last but not least, there is utilisation of word and image in this design to give it the 'poster' like feel to it.
Overall, I like how this design turned out and all the further learnings and reflections were documented in the section down below.
- Reflection
As a reflection on myself in this task, I get to learn and pick up so many design skills especially trying out the paper cutouts (origami art). It is something new to me although I used to play around with many types of origami art, but not paper cutouts. This had opened up so many research and development opportunities for me to learn and expand in the design field. As a compliment for this module throughout this semester, I like the way Miss Jinchi conducted the session because it is fair to message her our blog links privately every week before each session and they will be reviewed based on who submitted it the first. It was fun and we get to look at all our peers' designs and understand how they develop their work from the beginning. For this project, it was relatively challenging compared to the previous projects and exercises because this project is very open-ended and the sky is the limit when exploring different available designs created by other artists. However, I slowly got the hang of it thanks to the guidance from Miss Jinchi and with some help from my peers throughout the weeks.
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