Conclusion

It's now time to conclude my nm2208 journey for the past semester. I have to say this is one of my favourite module among all I've taken so far 'cos I never feel sleepy designing/drawing/colouring stuffs! And also because I get to explore really cool design materials from the web and my friends along the way. I dare not say I'm a master at PS and AI now, but I certainly have learnt lots of valuable skills which will definitely benefit me. I wish to thank Julian, my group mates, my family and my boyfriend for being so understanding and helpful in this journey. Oh and also my doggy (for assignment 3). Thank you!

I've arranged my assignments in order of latest to earliest so that anyone/everyone can browse along uninterrupted by the disorder. Comments are still welcomed! ;D

Good and Poor poster designs

This is my poor poster design, Santa Claus conquers the Martians. It is a cover of a 1964 US film.

Firstly, there are too many colours and words fighting for viewers' attention. The fonts are tiny, there is a lack of dominance/emphasis and it displays poor chunking. This defies the law of simplicity.
Next, there is poor contrast between figure and ground a.k.a bad figure & ground separation. The background colour is in bright orange, as bright as the pink blue yellow red green parts of the figures.
According to the Gestalt Principles of Proximity, things which are closer together or similar in colour tend to be grouped together by the brain. Thus, all the green martians will just be viewed as martians, few would look into what exactly the martians are doing in the poster.
So in a nutshell, this is a very 'busy' picture with NO visual harmony. Many images will be ignored by viewers due to a lack of emphasis. The only good thing I can think of about this poster is the varying typography used for the title.

And moving on to the good poster design...
I've chosen the poster of REC2, a horror film.

Firstly, the eye and the title of movie grab viewers' attention immediately. One reason for this is because the eye complies with the rule of the thirds. This rule makes use of the notiion that the most interesting compositions are those in which the primary element is off centre. Basically if you divide the frame by three, the attention falls on where the imaginary 1/3rd and 2/3rd line fall. Secondly, the title is situated at the visual centre of the poster. The visual centre of a page is just slightly above and to the right of the actual or mathematical centre. All these display a natural placement of visual forms, sometimes referred to as the museum height.

Next, an assymetrical balance is established in this poster where the weight of composition is flushed to the left. Such compositions tend to evoke a greater sense of visual tension.

Also, we can find varying degrees of emphasis in this design where there is a dominant object, sub-dominant object and subordinate object. The dominant object, the eye, is given primary emphasis whereas the sub-dominant object, the face, is slightly less of a focus. The subordinate object, in this case the pores and wrinkles on the face are not prominent BUT they are the details that cannot do without too. They add fear to the overall feel.

Also, according to one of the Gestalt Principles, the law of common fate, there is good continuity displayed by the eye between the title, just like the SAWII & SAWIII examples that Julian showed us in lecture. The eye between the [REC] tells that it is through the character's eye, through what she saw, that the movie was RECorded. The boodsplash in the title also displays good continuity through the background and figure.

There is good contrast between the background and figure, where light is casted on the face whereas the background is pitch dark. The designer applied the principle of closure here. Although merely slightly more than a quarter of the face is shown, viewers will naturally picture it as the other half of the face in shadow when in fact it is not there.

The choice of typography is kept simple, like the poster itself, and not too fanciful.

All in all, this poster is commendable as you can see, I have so much to say about it!

Colour Card

I redid my colour card as my first one was done up in a rush and is really ugly. Here are my sketches and 6 colour schemes for the new e-card:


I've decided to work on the first one after consultation with Julian.

1.2.

3. 4. 5.

6.

I look forward to your valuable feedback!