Line:
With a single stroke of a pencil (or a computer mouse) you can call this element into play. You can then manipulate the mood of your design or organize your page , depending on the kind of line you’ve drawn and its placement in your format.
• What is the product or service being advertised?
An old Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival
• LINE is being used in the design to:
X Create a mood
X Organize other elements on the page
___Create texture through illustration
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisement or website uses LINE.
The advertisement uses line to organize the photos used in the ad . The images are put together to display what the advertised festival is about. The line also creates movement across the ad and gives a serene and natural feel as the eye follows the curves. A straight line would be too manufactured for the theme of nature and wildlife . Instead the ad uses a gently curving line to seem more organic. The thick flowing line then organizes the images to move across the ad to catch attention .
The use of line was mainly to display the photographs used in the ad , and also used as a border around the edge of the advertisement. The design was meant to feel natural and not artificial , which would defeat the purpose of advertising for a wildlife festival . The movement is gentle and peaceful , which is exactly what any birdwatchers would look for in a birding event, and the sense of peace given to the viewer puts the idea in their head that this is exactly what they need .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of LINE in this design.
The use of line seems like a good idea to me in this case , because many other design methods are just too busy for the feel that this ad was looking for. Texture or shape as a main feature might make the ad too loud , and the use of a perfectly straight line (as I mentioned before) would not produce the same effect as the waving line does. It wouldn’t feel as relaxed . Too loud an ad would imply a noisy or boisterous event, and it ’s not easy to view animals with a lot of excitement going on all over the place . There needs to be some quiet too.
One thing I would have liked to change was the coloring. More specifically I would have liked it to have some color, nothing too over the top, just enough to see the images clearly. Because the ad is so small , the black and white images are a bit harder to read .
• Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
Bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts
Shape:
Shape is another element that can be used alone or in conjunction with line and type to help communicate the concept of a design . Shape can be defined as any element that ’s used to give or determine form. Shape can exist as a design element all by itself, without the aid of line or type . Most flags are designed with nothing but shapes. Even if you remove the color from the American flag, the design survives intact. Likewise , many fabric patterns are the result of designing with shapes; they effectively convey a style or mood , usually without the benefit of type . When shapes contain pictorial information in the form of decorative illustration , such as floral patterns or other subject matter, additional interest is added .
• What is the product or service being advertised?
Purina Strategy horse feed
• SHAPE is being used in the design in the following way(s):
X Photos and illustrations are creating shape through the actual shape and content of the art.
___Line or a line illustration is creating the predominant shape
___Type is creating the predominant shape
___Shaded or colored areas are creating the predominant shape
X Shape is sustaining the viewer ’s interest.
X Shape is organizing the page
___Shape is helping the viewer understand the concept
X Shape is leading the viewer ’s eye through the design
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisement uses SHAPE.
The advertisement uses the product itself to form the shape sitting prominently on the page . Instead of making the focal point the package it uses the contents to create an interesting illustration . The image uses the shape of the horse’s head as an interesting and attention grabbing focal point. The shape of the horse’s head is the first thing you see when you turn the page . The shape takes up much of the upper portion of the page and offsets the bold red text below and the black text below it, keeping it from being bottom-heavy. From the shape of the horse’s head at the top, the eye travels along the neck and to the feed spilling from the product package and then gets grabbed by the bold red text to the side , leading you around in a curve that takes in the whole advertisement.
The design was made to make a more stimulating image than just a white rectangular bag sitting on a white background . The designer was using not only the shape made by the arrangement of the feed , but the texture and the color to stand out from the background and make you stop and look while flipping through the magazine . The shape generates interest and curiosity in seeing what it ’s all about and what else of interest the ad has to offer once it catches your eye .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of SHAPE in this design . The design seems very effective . It grabs attention with a bold shape and color and texture that pops out. Without using shape to make a vivid image , the advertisement wouldn’t feel as inspired or interesting. Nobody wants to see just another white page with a package sitting in the middle . The graphic doesn’t only stand out, it works well with the other elements in the ad . • Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
Horse owners
Texture:
Texture can be defined as an object ’s visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance , or as something composed of closely interwoven elements (such as a woven cloth). In graphic design , texture is most often used as a secondary element to reinforce an idea, rather than a primary element to communicate a concept. However, it is a powerful addition to your design because it can add depth and interest to an ordinary flat design . Especially in the world of computer design where the effort to design a usable interface often leads to flat color or white backgrounds, the skillful use of texture can add a new dimension to your design .
• What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? www.zoonewengland .org • TEXTURE is being used in the design to:
X Create a particular mood or feeling
X Fill individual shapes or areas
X Reinforce or support the concept of the design
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisement or website uses TEXTURE.
The designer used texture for both the background and the page’s borders. The background of the web page was given a leopard print design , while the borders were wooden or bamboo sticks bound to the content within it by ropes. The leopard print fills the empty space on the page’s background and provides a wild feel , and with the darker tint lets you imagine a great cat stalking through a dim jungle . The wooden poles and rope give things even more of an exotic flavor while containing the textual content.
The textures of the page are meant to invoke the viewer ’s sense of adventure and imagination , to make them want to get up and explore the webpage and later the zoo. The textures showcase the page and support the concept that this is in fact a zoo website .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of TEXTURE in this design .
The use of texture couldn’t be much more effectively used in this instance . It reinforces the idea of a zoo, full of outlandish and untamed creatures, and pushes you to imagine that there’s an adventure lurking in the underbrush waiting to pop out. I can’t seem to think of a more effective way to use texture in this design without completely changing the design itself.
• Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
The primary audience is families, tourists, and anybody else who would probably enjoy a trip to the zoo.
Balance:
Imagine yourself sitting at one end of a teeter-totter at your local park: you with the seat you occupy on the ground and the seat across from you empty and lifted off the ground . What kind of weight is required in the opposite seat to balance your weight evenly across the beam? The logical answer—and probably the first one that springs to mind—is that a person of equal size to you would properly balance your weight. However, that ’s not your only possibility; for instance , couldn’t two persons, if each weighed half your weight, likewise balance you if they both were to sit at the other end of the teeter-totter? Of course .
• What is the product or service being advertised?
Twinings of London tea
• BALANCE is being used in the design in the following way(s):
X To create a mood . X Symmetrical balance is reinforcing the message—such as; serious, conservative , sophisticated , stable , elegant, etc. ___Asymmetrical balance is reinforcing the message—such as; relaxed , informal , freeform, creative , etc.
___To create visual tension by being obviously unbalanced .
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own words how this advertisement or website uses BALANCE.
The advertisement lines all the tea boxes and their shelves up in an even and uniform manner. The balance created from the symmetry gives a feeling of classiness, matching the fact that this is a classy brand of tea, and the repetition of the shelves displaying box after box instead of just a few shelves gives the stability and calmness that tea can often give when used as part of a daily routine .
The design was meant to show that this brand of tea has something more than other brands of tea. The perfect symmetry of all the boxes displays a sophistication that just focusing on a few shelves with just a few boxes wouldn’t so clearly show. The simplicity of uniformly balanced shelves is more soothing than erratically placed displays. Tea is meant to soothe and calm instead of hype up.
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of BALANCE in this design .
The whole ad is completely balanced left to right, top to bottom. As the shelves end and the blank and empty floor begins, so does the text. With some minor asymmetrical aspects like the size of the shelves on either side of the tea and the Twinings tag in the bottom right corner, the ad feels a little more real than complete symmetry would show. By making the ad as a whole visually balanced but not completely perfect in symmetry it feels less artificial , because nobody wants to drink tea that feels artificial .
•
Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
The sophisticated tea drinker
Contrast:
Contrast is an especially important principle in graphic design , and a crucial tool to communicate an idea. It is also one of the most effortless principles to put into action . As soon as you add any element to a blank page , no matter how subtle , you’ve used contrast.
• What is the product or service being advertised?
Pepperidge Farm strawberry banana swirl bread
• CONTRAST is being used in the design in the following way(s):
X Strengthen an idea; support the message .
___To create a contradiction (BIG written in very
small
type).
X Contrasting colors
___Contrasting values
X Contrasting shapes
___Contrasting texture
___Contrasting typography
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own words how this advertisement or website uses CONTRAST.
This advertisement incorporated contrast in a few different ways. To make the ad really pop and still stay true to the product it ’s advertising, it places vibrantly red strawberries side by side with the light pale yellow of banana slices. The rounded fruit slices are placed in a radiant pattern around a very square piece of bread to create even more contrast. The radial arrangement of the fruit spins the viewer ’s attention into the center where a delicious looking slice of strawberry banana swirl bread sits.
The whole point of the ad is to make the merchandise look so appetizing that consumers will need to go out and buy that bread . The differing colors make the ad itself pop out at the viewer, and having an outer ring of rounded objects with a square in the center makes people notice the actual product. They see the product ’s ingredients, they see the product, they even see snapshots of the process of making it at the bottom of the page .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of CONTRAST in this design .
I don’t think that contrast could have been used any more effectively than it was here . They have a few different contrasting elements to the page and yet it doesn’t take away from the product at all and in fact enhances the idea of what it is and what goes into it. It ’s bright, vibrant and cleverly put together, not too over the top. Just enough contrasting elements to get the point across while still making all the pieces fit together nicely.
• Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
The grocery shoppers of the household
Unity:
Unity is the underlying structure of a design . Think of a house: it begins with a foundation from which everything else is built. If your foundation is shaky or poorly constructed , nothing will sit solidly in the rooms above . Unity is important in a design to make everything feel as though it fits together. Repeating elements are also important in design campaigns containing multiple formats so that they in turn fit together. When a company commissions a print campaign or website , the intent is that the viewer should always recognize the identity or product being sold , whether it is a print advertisement or a website .
• What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? aspca.org • UNIT Y is being used in the design to:
X Provide consistency
X Unify the design with consistent elements (grouped/repeating elements)
___Lead the viewer ’s eye through the design
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe how this advertisement or website uses UNIT Y.
The official ASPCA website uses its logo’s main color scheme , orange and gray, throughout its website . The bright orange on a gray background lets important sections of the homepage stand out, like the “donate” button and the menu bar that allows for navigation to different pages. Using the same color scheme as the logo makes the website feel more professional , which is a good thing for a nonprofit organization to be . It has the same font consistently through the homepage , not distractingly changing it often . The only changes to the font are the size and boldness in strategic locations. The use of color values and shapes give the page an organized grid for the arrangement of the elements on the homepage .
The integration of an aspect of the organization’s emblem gives a more authoritative/respectful feeling. The grid is clean , no unnecessary lines; none of the elements seem thrown together, either. The page looks just as it was intended , a professional and respectable group that is doing something important in the world . The viewer knows what they’re about and what they have to offer, and in the case of a nonprofit organization like this, what the viewer can do to help. The overall design and arrangement of the website is in good taste , not too over the top and yet bold enough that it isn’t completely understated .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of UNIT Y in this design .
The design of the website is well laid out. It ’s unified , everything is in relative proximity to each other (nothing crammed together or too spaced apart), and arranged well , with the navigation menu on top and important news and notices below. Everything about this site says “we are a respectable , trustworthy, and professional association .” Even the sizes of everything from the fonts to the clickable links/buttons are relatively similar. The donation button is also in good taste , small enough that it isn’t overly obtrusive , but vivid enough that people can find it without difficulty.
•
Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
Animal lovers, people looking to adopt a pet, etc.
Color:
Color has the power to override value . Color defines the intent of a design , the feeling, and the structure . Warm colors can make the viewer feel a range of emotions from warm and fuzzy to tense to angry. Cool colors leave us feeling relaxed and calm. Viewers respond to color in part based on cultural and social influences, but color is very subjective and based on personal preference .
• What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? whatpumpkin .com • COLOR is being used in the design in the following way(s):
___Creates a mood or feeling
X Creates visual tension and movement
X Provides unity and balance
X Provides structure and forms a grid in a design
___Provides a sense of order
___Creates harmony
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own words how this advertisement or website uses COLOR .
The webpage uses color to create a visually interesting layout. The colors are vivid and ostentatious to make parts of the page pop. From the top of the page down it uses orange and then blue , two complimentary colors, and then continues from blue to purple , two analogous colors. Used together as they are , with the brightness of the saturation make them work well together instead of clashing. Moving down the page , bars of color split the page into segments, giving it a bit of a balanced feeling and providing structure . The color is the main feature of this page because the vivid hues contrast nicely with the white background and make things more optically appealing.
Color was used to create organized gridding on the page and to make it seem lively and fun . The webpage is interesting and displays everything well . The colors of the fonts and the grid make the eye hop around the page to the important features. The viewer is visually stimulated and interested in what is going on . The bright images and links are also displayed in a way that their colors are not completely lost to the rest of the coloring on the page .
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of COLOR in this design .
Color was used in this design as pretty much the main element. It ’s found in the fonts, the structuring of the page layout, and in the images. The only place there was any absence of hue was the white background , another good choice because it made the eye focus even more on the contents of the page
•
Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
Teens, young adults, fans of the popular web comic Homestuck
Value:
Value is lightness or darkness of an object. Value exerts as a powerful influence on a design , creating mood , depth , and contrast.
• What is the name of the company, organization or individual utilizing this website? http://digital2.library.ucla .edu/sheetmusic/ • VALUE is being used in the design in the following way(s):
X Creates a mood or feeling X Creates contrast ___Creates movement and direction
• Please thoroughly explain your answer to the question above and analyze/describe in your own words how this advertisement or website uses VALUE.
Value was used on the webpage to create a specific feeling and to provide contrast between the colors. The blue is shaded a bit so that it feels sophisticated and elegant (as many classical musicians would like their music to seem), while the background is an extremely tinted yellow that looks almost taupe and gives a feeling of age . The two colors also contrast with their different levels of luminosity, one being very tinted , the other being shaded . The two hues and values work well together without clashing.
Value was used to give the viewer an idea of what the webpage was about. It ’s basically an archive of music for scholars and students as well as the general public. Since one of the targeted audiences is scholarly the value of the colors had to have a more sophisticated tone . It gives the viewer the idea that this is a reputable resource and that it has much to offer.
• Please describe the effectiveness of the use of VALUE in this design .
This webpage wouldn’t have worked without value . It wouldn’t have the same feeling at all with brighter gaudy colors instead of the shades and tints it had . The message would have been different and some of the viewers might shy away from something that looks like one of those questionable sheet music download sites.
•
Who is the primary audience of the advertisement or website?
Musicians