DESIGN PRINCIPLES / FINAL PROJECT: VISUAL ANALYSIS

DESIGN PRINCIPLES / FINAL PROJECT: VISUAL ANALYSIS

01/11/2022–02/12/2022 / Week 10–Week 14

Jason Antony / 0356335

Design Principles / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / The Design School

Final Project: Visual Analysis

Instructions

Lectures

Visual Analysis: A method of understanding design that focuses on visual elements and principles. It is a critical part of visual literacy - reading and critically interpreting images.

• An analysis and justification of visual composition for its own sake. 
• to recognize a designer's decisions, consider how a design's formal elements convey ideas, substance, or meaning.
• improves critical thinking abilities and aids in the search for solutions.

Phase 1: Observation

• Determining a design's visual components and describing them in your own words. (Don't read anything about the design in advance.)
• Look, consider, and choose appropriate vocabulary to describe what you observe.

Phase 2: Analysis

• Reflect on your observations, then make claims about the work supported by the data from your observations.
• How the many visual components come together to form a whole and what impact the finished product has on the viewer.
• How and why does the work draw your eye through the design?

Phase 3: Interpretation

• Observations, descriptions, and analyses of the work are combined with information from reliable public sources regarding the design work (and, in some cases, the designer) and historical context.
• What does the design represent? What was the motivation for its creation?

Final Project: Visual Analysis

Visual Analysis

Fig.1.1 https://pin.it/4GEGTTi

Rationale

I choose this design because it takes a clear-cut, uncomplicated approach to present gender inequity. Despite the design's minimalistic approach, the message is profound. However, because the design doesn't explicitly depict the difficulties encountered by women, it necessitates a lot of thought and interpretation. Overall the design is quite unique as I rarely see minimalistic designs convey a deep topic.

Phase 1: Observation

• Determining a design's visual components and describing them in your own words. (Don't read anything about the design in advance.)
• Look, consider, and choose appropriate vocabulary to describe what you observe.

The design features a woman and a shadow resembling a silhouette of a mother carrying a baby in blue. The background is a bold orange color that contrasts the blue. The woman has white skin, and black hair,  and is wearing a formal dress. She is standing on a podium and it seems like she is giving a speech. No other elements are present 

Phase 2: Analysis

• Reflect on your observations, then make claims about the work supported by the data from your observations.
• How the many visual components come together to form a whole and what impact the finished product has on the viewer.
• How and why does the work draw your eye through the design?

Fig.1.2 size and space occupation analysis

• The size of the shadow (focal point) is significantly larger than the woman on the top left. This creates emphasis on the idea that is being brought forth through this design. 
• The composition has an asymmetrical balance, therefore resulting in a larger area of negative space on the top right.

Fig.1.3 placement analysis

• Placement of the elements in the composition follows the rule of thirds. The focal points are near or at the intersection of the grids.

Fig.1.4 color analysis

• The color used is very contrasting as blue is the inverse of orange in the color wheel. This provides a very clear view of the elements in the design. 

Phase 3: Interpretation

• Observations, descriptions, and analyses of the work are combined with information from reliable public sources regarding the design work (and, in some cases, the designer) and historical context.
• What does the design represent? What was the motivation for its creation?

The design is extremely clear in relaying the message the designer wants to convey. This is perhaps achieved by having only 2 main visual components, causing an uncluttered view and a straightforward emphasis on the main idea of the design. the 2 visual components are placed in a way that guides the eye to see the shadow first. naturally, we would look at the source of the shadow afterward and so the second visual component is located there. 

Women have always been underpaid, overworked, and taken advantage of since the dawn of humanity. They are never looked at as the equals of men, but rather as inferior to the latter. This design emphasizes and carries out that message very clearly. It depicts the shadow of a "successful woman"; how their "duties" as a woman are always an inevitable burden so to say, a shadow that always follows them everywhere they go. These duties are also bigger than the individual, as they are expected to follow what society demands of them. 

However, I find this design quite lacking in some aspects. It doesn't clearly show what other expectations women are demanding and it also doesn't show the effects of what these expectations, duties, and obstacles do to her career. In the article where this artwork was featured (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/opinion/send-the-breast-pump-with-the-defense-attache.html?utm_content=buffer6c9c8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer), Julianne Smith, the author, confessed about her career and the misleading thoughts of what it means to be a career woman. 

She said, "You will face countless difficulties, some of which your male colleagues will never encounter. You will wonder whether and when to have children. You will suffer from impostor syndrome. Someone will mistake you for the assistant when you're the keynote speaker. You will wonder if your male co-workers are getting paid more than you. You will pretend you can breastfeed twice a night and still function normally at work.". These confessions and issues are not wholly portrayed in the design. It also may be misleading to some, without context, as the design only portrays the shadow of a woman holding a child, so it may seem as a positive message as in the woman can fulfill two roles, a mother and a career woman, causing it to be shallow in meaning. 

Perhaps the design could be improved by adding more graphical elements that emphasize the message and confession of the author of the article more clearly. 

  

Design Process

References

Fig. 2.1 https://pin.it/4Caqg6F

 Fig. 2.2 https://pin.it/23KPxWg

 Fig. 2.3 https://pin.it/2tFmJL9

 Fig. 2.4 https://pin.it/5HN0EYn

 Fig. 2.5 https://pin.it/4XJLL1T

Sketches 

Fig. 3.1 sketch 1 

I wanted to contrast the idea of which gender is appreciated more in sketch 1. The notion is the same as that shown in Fig. 2.5, but I added a vision expressed by one of the small ladies who envisions a society in which men and women may equally walk side by side and be treated equally.

Fig. 3.2 sketch 2

The idea of a woman winning a race over males inspired my idea for sketch 2. This concept illustrates how women are consistently undervalued and viewed as less significant than males. In contrast, I wanted to show that women may excel in comparison to males and that they are not necessarily inferior compared to them in this design.

Fig. 3.3 sketch 3

Sketch 3 shows the unjust conditions that women encounter daily. In today's society, it appears that males always have an easier time achieving success and that their lives are in general smoother than those of women. The bridges contrast the lives of men and women. The woman is standing on a decrepit and worn-down bridge as the man walks across a smooth and flawless one.

Improvement on Idea 1

Fig.4.1 sketch 1 of idea 1

Fig.4.2 sketch 2 of idea 1

Further Improvement 

Fig.5.1 Improvement of sketches

Final Design

Fig.6.1 Final Design

I chose a simplistic design style because I wanted to go out of my comfort zone of a more abstract painting style and realistic design style. With that in mind, I knew that I had to reduce several elements and choose the right colors selectively. The disparities between men and women in business situations are explained by this design. The illustration includes Towering men that obstruct and obscure the little women in the foreground. This illustrates how women are consistently viewed as inferior to males. I accentuated this impression even further by making the shadows of the ladies darker than those of the males. The colors yellow and green portray success and achievement. Yellow also serves as the color of shining light, which also means success in this case. Next, the thought bubble features a male and female with equal scale shaking their hands. This represents the idea of the dream that males and females are considered equal. The colors of their outfits also are the same and this further emphasizes the idea of equality. 

Feedback

Week 11:

Need a rationale. Observation is missing. Observation is mistaken as analysis.

Week 12:

Improve on idea 1. sketches are too similar to the reference.

Week 13:

Add more people to the composition. 

Week 14:

The yellow background should be larger. The faces of the men should be improved. Make shadows less blocky.

Reflection

I have never tried a simple vector clip art style of design before, and I like how it turned out. Simple designs like these that convey a meaningful message are, in my opinion, more difficult to execute. The selection of each and every part is essential to conveying the composition's message because there are so few components. Because of this project, I have become even more discerning about the colors I choose and the meanings behind color choices. I've learned how an effective design may convey a message, and I'm happy that I was able to create my own impactful design.