Axioms of Design

The website that came to mind after reading about the assignment was the music website known as feedmusic.com.  What is amazing about this website is it's highly functionality of all it's aspects.  Visually it is beyond stimulating.  The first screen that a new viewer will come to is this space like view of what seems to be transactional aura.  It pulls you in to the point that you almost get lost in the idea of the vastness of which we are in this universe.  I think that's the purpose of it too.  I think that what they wanted the audience to grasp is the idea that there is no limit.  That what ever their heart desires as far as music goes they can give that to them.

One of my favorite things about this is the fact that they incorporate their logo everywhere.  Even if they don't they use the law of continuity to pull together the idea of the logo.  The logo itself is in the shape of the sideways "play" arrow we are familiar with when it comes to technology. But it's not just and arrow it's arrow inception. It's an arrow within an arrow.  Kind of in my mind playing further on the indefinite possibilities of website.

Once you've visual ascertained what what going on in your life through this website it executes out the motion in which it wants you to follow in order to understand their communication objectives. It goes through it's purpose and vision of what they want to bring to the plate as far as music goes, digital music especially.

Overall it's simple (law of pragnaz) and doesn't overwhelm your senses, but rather it pulls you in with is captivating uniqueness.  I haven't seen many other websites like this.  The ability for it be draw the audiences attention blows me away.  I know that as a viewer that it spoke to be, it separated itself from the crowd of mediocrity.  Though it's a newer business I hope they stick to what they are producing and embrace the uniqueness of the website that they debuted.

Group Project Artifact

Our group project took an already existing product that was just a hobby but later developed into a perspective small business.  Mary Callahan started off making earring out of guitar picks and slowly increased her skill and ability.  The name behind the product is Groupie Love.  Love being their last name and she was and still is her husbands groupie.  Her unique product is about to make it's grand debut but she needed a little help with marketing her product.  Our group each took a special interest in helping her present her product.  My particular job was to take photos of the product for her new website Kylie created.  Our plan was to do it on a white background as to make the product stand out on the website giving it a more professional look. Tacy aided in setting up the set and lighting for the product placement. Together we created a visual that helps the consumer see the handcrafted detail in these unique products.

With the white background we pull in the Gestalt principles of pragnaz with the simplicity of accentuating just the product.  We also applied the law of continuity with the consistency of white backgrounds again putting the focus on the product.  While editing these picture I wanted to brighten the overall picture while adjusting the contrast to accentuate the earring themselves. Reducing the shadowing and high lights allows for the details of the earrings to be the focal point.  Ultimately the point was to sale the product, so therefore the product must be displayed in the best possible way.

Throughout the product shoot I walked around the area she  made her product and took candid shots of the area of operation to soak in the organic nature of this products production.  Just a mom taking an idea and executing it out.  There are a number of old speakers and records around the house that add to the classic rock feel of the product.  This is something that plays on the emotional side of the products target audience. 

With this picture I really like how it's the Love sculpture which brings in the element of the product name into the picture. The play on the name as well as the product in the background,  I played with the focus on this so the earring in the background got the crisp focus while we see the blurry sculpture in the front.  This in my mind I guess was a way to visual produce the process of these products.  With the play on the word love being both the last name of the couple as well as what brought them together and distally produced these unique guitar picks we see in the background.

Compose Your Frame

Since Professor Young wanted us to execute our own picture I decided I was going to try and capture something from our family trip to Fright-fest at Six Flags in Santa Clarita, California during Halloween weekend.  This particular picture however was captured between Venice beach and the Santa Monica Pier, in fact you can see the pier in the background of this picture.

I captured this picture on my iPhone 5s, and it doesn't seem as high quality uploaded on here as it did in my phone, but alas I still love how it turned out.  I was attempting to use the rule of thirds as well as the use of lines, specifically diagonal lines.  By using the diagonal lines it helps me create the frame of the picture. The intent was to guide the viewers eye to the sign.

The sign being the forefront of this photo for me because of the contrast of the yellow to the blue hues of the sky surrounding it.  It pops out and draws the eye immediately to it.  The arrow on the sign acts as a bonus for this picture by coinciding with the diagonal lines that I created with the angle in which I took the picture.

The vertical lines of the trees and the sign work with the diagonal lines to create shape and dimension in this picture. It's essentially creating an arrow of movement for the eye to follow. Overall the shape frames a shape and a focus to what the picture is capturing.

Everything about this picture makes me happy.  Not only am I on a beach in California (which always warms my heart in more ways than one), but the colors make feel welcomed and happy, which plays a psychological game on me.  Begging me to come back and leaving me with the question of, "Where are the lines guiding me to?", and "What's on the left side past the palm trees?".  Sometimes I wonder if other people take a step back and take a second look at something like I do.  As if they are soaking up the natural beauty of what they are observing.  By taking that second to look at something a little longer helps me see the bigger picture, and I feel at one with myself and the world surrounding me. The use of the lines in this picture guide the eye but leave a sense of mystery, which frames the mind to wonder what else is there.

I'm Your Huckleberry!

Heck yeah! I'll be your huckleberry Val Kilmer. (we're talking in the 90s Val, obviously)

So the scene I picked was from the movie Tombstone. It has always been and always will be one of my all time favorites.  This film debuted in 1993, with some powerhouse actors and in my personal opinion one of the best performances by Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday.  Lora Kennedy did an amazing job casting this film. George P. Cosmatos directed the film and we can see how he really wanted to execute a vintage western movie that John Wayne himself would be proud of.  The entire movie has the rustic western feel that America is known for.  Throughout the movie we get taken back in time to earlier part of western expansion and all the dust that comes with it.  We also see how the director made sure to highlight Doc Holliday's tuberculosis throughout the entire movie, as well as how persistent he was. His overall character is excellently executed by the entire film team as well as the actor himself.

This particular scene has always been one of my all time favorites. SPOILER ALERT!! It's at the end of the film so if you haven't seen it yet, oh well, you'll recover.  In this scene the art directors (Chris Gorak, Kim Hix, and Mark Worthington) and set directors (Gene Serdena and Brian Stewart)  worked well together to create a scene that sends chills down your spine.  Johnny Ringo waits in this natural setting expecting Wyatt Earp, and is surprised to see Doc Holliday step out from the shadows,  I loved how they did the lighting for this scene.  Doc Holliday starts off in the shadows walking toward his reckoning in front of him.  As he emerges into the light and Johnny Ringo realizes who he is there is a lighting behind him that silhouettes his figure more and shows his clammy skin, highlighting his sickness.

The cinematography by William A. Fraker helps bring the continuity of Doc Holiday's sickness throughout the entire movie.  Doc Holliday is always on the verge of collapsing in every scene of the movie and shirks it away as if it's nothing each time.  He still goes and gives it his all in every fight regardless of his weak frame. Throughout the movie he remains the unsung hero in the background. The framing of his figure with the background lighting makes him the most pertinent character in the scene to me.  Shows that he is the one being spot lighted almost eluding the fact that he'll be triumphant in the end.

Good/Bad Design Presentation

The design element that I chose was a local one some might be familiar with.  It's the sign for the local restaurant in Hurricane, Utah located right on State Street called Barista's.  I'm not sure whether to define this particular sign as good or bad, for it has had many affects.  The sign alone has created lots of controversy within the little town, as well as brought tons of attention to the small business in route to Zions. 

We can see that this particular sign is rather busy.  It contains some proximity with the shapes sort of clustered together forming a collage-like sign. The is also a slight repetitiveness with the use of circles within the design.  It has a bit of an oldies diner feel to it for me, with the lady depicted on the right circular piece of the sign.  It's also assumable that the restaurant contains some form of steak with multiple pictures on it both directly under the name of the establishment, as well as on the bottom rectangle. The sign has a lot of noise to me, with the various colors, lack of pattern, and use of multiple fonts. The sign however makes the eye draw mostly to the copper bull on the top.  The bull is the highlight of the design, probably how the owner wanted it to be.  The Specturm contains headlines like, "People are having a cow over this bull".  This is where I have a hard time deciding whether it's a good or bad design.  While this is somewhat visually chaotic,  it serves a purpose for the owner.  All the hub-bub over the bull is centered around the fact that he has testicles, rocky mountain oysters, or in the vernacular of today's youth, BALLS! This has done nothing but rile up the community of Hurricane, while spreading the word of this little restaurant.  Some say it's unnecessary to have this bull on the sign, but I say it's a rather genius marketing and advertising campaign. 

As we can see this copper bull is "anatomically correct" as some would like to say.  This design though random, is a very bold move for the small conservative town of Hurricane.  It serves the sole purpose of getting people in the door, and it's worked.  People go to check it out because of the controversy and bold statement.  The bull itself is a sculpture, a metallic patchwork forming a bull.  I would even dare say that if the testicles were removed, the law of closure would play into the design because people will add what's missing in their minds. The bull serves as an advertisement, though some would argue as bad, I would say is genius.  Any form of advertisement good or bad, is still advertisement.  The design element works for the small business owner.  Who knew metaphorically having 'the balls' to display these bull balls would be considered design tactic?

Balance, Contrast, and Harmony

The picture above stupefied me on many levels and encompasses what I see as embracing balance, contrast, and harmony.  Initially the eye is drawn to the center of the picture with the tree being at the forefront, with mostly the sunbeams drawing the eyes to the light.  It's interesting how the eyes are naturally drawn to the changes in contrast, here being the light.  While in the top right corner of the photo there seems to be an ominous space of darkness leaving the frame.  This evokes all shorts of feel goods like, 'the sun will rise on a new day' or 'the night is always darkest before the dawn'.  The motivational visual of  'it gets better' comes to mind while viewing this.  That means this picture could also play on the psychological sense of the human mind, rendering us a visual to describe how we might be feeling emotionally.

 Contrast is what makes the picture for me.  The dark silhouettes of the trees with the warm yellows in the background draw the eye almost immediately.  Something about silhouettes gives a sense of direction while also leaving a mystery to be answered.

The harmony itself plays easily into the piece with aspect of nature.  Organically I think this picture has an instinctual factor that plays into our psychological make up as humans to grasp a 'bigger picture' element in our lives as we look at landscape pictures, or venture out into nature itself.  We develop a sense of oneness with the earth, so naturally I feel when we see pictures like this, well at least when I look at it, I get that same sense of  'oneness'  or harmony.

 The balance was seen to me by the breaking of light in the background.  What looks to be like an escaping storm cloud in the corner is being almost pushed away by the sun.  This gives a sense of balance because we can't have one without the other.  Without light, how would we know darkness?
Overall this picture just warms me on the inside. It feels as if I'm standing there in front of the tree and physically can feel the sun beams warming my skin.

Photo Credit goes to: Alex

Visceral Response

The visual I chose for my Visceral Response is a picture I took myself.  It is simple yet complex in it's own unique way.  I took the picture while my sister and I were up in Rockville, Utah taking family pictures for one of our co-workers.  Now my sister and I are in no way experts at photography but we have through combined efforts quite a few years of experience/practice on how to work a sophisticated camera, knowledge of lighting, and editing.  That being said, this particular picture was taken with a commonly known Apple produced smartphone.  It was edited with the basic software within the picture application on an iPhone.  While we were wrapping up the session, I was walking down this dirt road in Grafton Utah, and my eye caught the lines of this fencing.  The diagonal line of the fence flows to the vanishing point and draws the eyes to look that direction. Behind the vanishing point there is a horizon line that eludes to Zion in the background.  The vertical lines of the fence create height, leading to the center creating depth.  The vertical lines are accentuated even more with the perpendicular crossroads that is created by the horizontal barbed wire. Which almost is forgotten due to the fact the fence line draws the eyes past them. The lines are what makes the picture. They bring dimension making it visually stimulating to many.

Once I had captured the picture, I noticed the fence line draws the eyes mostly to the left side of the picture. There is sense of open space on the right side, predominantly toward the top of the frame.  This eludes the feeling that something is coming into that space. Though, we don't know definitively what the space for it allows for the observer to imagine what could be to the right of the frame. The reason I edited the picture to black and white is because the colors didn't matter to me.  Though it is rich with color, because I mean come on, it's Zions, I didn't necessarily feel that the colors mattered as much. The lines and dimension were the focal point to me, and is what drew my eye. When I made it black and white, the contrast amplified.  The change is what made the 'feel goods' come in full force. The contrast added texture to the picture. You can in a sense feel the rustic atmosphere.  It has history, character, and a story to tell.  The black and white helps add to the visual I was trying to get across when capturing this picture. The lack of color, allowed for vibrancy to be focused elsewhere, and moves for us to reflect on what once was.  This abandoned field once had a purpose. It's the ghost of the past, and a skeleton of something that used to be alive and flourishing. This picture to me is beautifully simple, and when I lined up the frame to take the picture it became even more beautiful, it became a story.

Introduction

Hello everyone,

My name is Shay Harvey, I am a senior Human Communications major here at Dixie State.  I received my Associates of Science Degree back in 2011, moved away for some time, now I am back to finish things up.  That being said, I am both and 'alumni' and a student. I periodically receive letters asking for monetary donations to the university.  I find it deeply ironic as I technically "donate" to the school via tuition each semester.

Not only do I love communications, I have always loved the art behind graphic design.  I previously loved being the layout/design editor of my high school yearbook for 3 years.  I enjoy the challenge of trying to portray a gripping visual of an activity, event, idea or product.  Understanding how the human eye works when viewing something and understanding what is and is not stimulating is just the tip of the iceberg behind such a task.  Hence, why I took this class to further understand, and broaden my horizon of the ever changing ways of technology and trend setting.  I cannot wait to see what Professor Young has up his sleeves this semester, as well as looking forward to seeing what my fellow peers bring to the table.