Design Research: Graphic/Media Design

Harris Teeter Catering Brochure
I appreciate the colors on the brochure because they are rich and they all seem to work together. The colors resemble the foods that are being displayed in the images. Inside the brochure are about twenty different images of platters that create several examples of vertical datum lines. For some reason I was really drawn to this brochure I think because of the colors and maybe the food. I believe this brochure was designed very well.


JCPenney coupon
I like the fact that the information for the sale is enclosed in a gift bag image. The thing that I do not like is the gray background. I don't know if it is supposed to look like glitter because the first image that came to my mind was the fuzzy screen that appears on the television when the connection is bad. The gray seems too dull although this does help the red gift bag to pop a little more. This coupon is representing a holiday sale and so I guess this is why the background is silver because I guess some people consider silver to be a Christmas color. This to me is not a Christmas color in my opinion.


Majors of UNCG
This is a magnet that is meant to remind students of a career fair that UNCG was going to have. I am able to see several sets of datum lines, both vertical and horizontal. The top of the UNCG symbol and the top of the lighter blue polygon create a datum line. Also the text in the light blue polygon and the text directly below create datum lines. The color choice coordinates to the school's official colors. The major thing that I do not like about this graphical design of the magnet is the digital looking arrows pointing to the statement "Save the Date!" I think this is the most irrelevant thing because just just do not seem to fit in. I think the magnet would be much better if the arrows were just removed.



A Weekly Planner This piece of paper is supposed to function as a weekly planner that organizes the events happening through out the week. I was drawn to the planner when I first bought it because of colors that are used. They are very bright and happy colors. I like the reoccurring circles through out the piece of paper. The thing that really bugs me is the horizontal bands of color that separate the different lines to write on. I have found that when I am trying to write on this I have a hard time seeing what I have just written because of the dark colors in the background. I think this would work much better if the colors where faded almost to a point where we could barley see them.



Durable Foil
This graphic was attached to the top of the container of which my mother bought. Personally I do not understand why they chose the colors that they did. The only reason that I can think of is that they are the primary colors. The label has the ellipse, that contains the picture of the product, mimicking the shape of the plate in the main picture of the food. The entire label in fact has several different ovals or ellipses that have some form of unity throughout the entire label. I think the large image being centered and in the background works well but I think that it would have been better if the food was displayed in the product in the main picture.

Seven Devils
This brochure in my opinion is well designed and planned out. The color scheme has been taken with inspiration from the fall colors of the trees in the picture. This is found on the front cover on the top half. The layout on the inside folds are designed in a way that the viewers eye starts in the top left corner and ends in the top right corner. The order of the eyes is as follows: top left down diagonally to the bottom right over to the bottom left and then diagonally up to the top right. Another aspect that I really enjoy is the faded image that has been placed in the background on the inside page. This seems to make the text pop right off it. The entire brochure I believe is equal between pictures and text. There is not too much of either one of the two.

Goody's Advertisement
This article is meant to inform shoppers of the up-coming sales that Goody's will be having before Thanksgiving. The color choices of the ad are red and green with the purpose of this being that it is time to start shopping for Christmas gifts. The ad was designed with at square centrally located that was divided into four squares. Four different types of apparel and accessories are presented in the four different squares. The four topics being men's apparel, women's apparel, junior's apparel, and shoes. I think that it was smart to organize the different categories of apparel into this format. This way easily shows the shoppers what Goody's offers. Besides having the large square on the page it is also filled with large writing about the sale and large writing stating the store in which is holding the sale. Making the text large helps catch the shoppers attention. I think Goody's did a good job of advertising their sale and I am glad they did not place too much information and images on the ad.

Holiday Help
This business card was handed to me as I was walking across campus. There are several aspects that I like about the business card. I really only like the layout, the colors, and the format of the card because with the information presented I am still unable to decipher what the card is trying to advertise. The lime green background color definitely would catch ones eye. I also like the contrasting colors used for the text. Both the white and the black text seem to pop off the green background pretty well especially since they were alternated between the change in text. I enjoyed the business card being in a portrait format instead of the typical landscape format. Other than not knowing what the card was supposed to be telling me I think the card was designed well.

Magic Mountain Mini Golf
This informational brochure in my opinion is not designed very well. Right in the center of paper are the words "super video games". I do not think this text needs to be as large as it is. The video games are not the main attraction at this location. The main attraction is the mini golf itself. I think the font sizes somehow need to be switched between video games and mini golf. I do have to admit that I think the green and the black work well together on the brochure. It is simple but it still catches your eye. The image of the dollar bill at the top is not a good image because overall it is too dark and the text that is placed on top can hardly be read.

Real Estate Sales
This brochure that is meant to advertise a real estate company that rents cabins. I think the colors of the brochure are way too vibrant. The yellow and blue are the only two colors that seem to go together and they don't look too great in this situation. The only thing that I like about this brochure is the images placed in the center. I like the grid of four pictures because it looks uniform and clean. The smaller thumbnail sized images that are centered in the middle of the larger four add a nice touch. They do not seem to be interrupting the larger images. The larger images are of landscapes and the smaller images are of the rental cabins. I think that I would have made the larger images of the rental cabins if this is really what they are trying to profit off of.

Layout devoted to different learned styles

Different drawings of Tiffany

We were to chose four different techniques that we had learned through out the semester and display them as we learned from our composition portion of the class. I enjoyed combining the different things that we have learned and putting them into one project.

Le Corbusier

Time Capsule

Thumbnails and Prototype of the Zine


This is my prototype for the zine that I made for the process of the time capsule project. The actual page in the zine changed some what.












The is a zine of my process so far on the Time Capsule project. It starts in the beginning and ends with my final idea. The final idea has a clear tube assigned to every first year student who would then write a letter to themselves on translucent paper and role it up and place it in the tube. The groups of four represent the groups that we would work in throughout the semester. The sculpture would have a ground level light installed under it that would shine up through and on the paper. The light would help show the writing and but not completely reveal it.

Drawings that have been touched up

I actually went back in and added some more contrast and now the cube actually looks as if it has a hole going all the way through.

Shadings of refined iterations

These are drawings of my refined ideas. My favorite idea is the bottom one that has the clear cylinders. The cube at the top is supposed to have a hole completely through it but this is hard to tell from the drawing.

Shadings of Cubes

I enjoy shading and for this assignment we were to use three cubes that we made and shade all of the shadows that were created on and around the cubes. The original works are much better than the scanned images.

Shading Assignments- Second Set

I chose to post all of my drawings instead of the ones that I felt were best because I appreciate seeing all of my work. Due to my shading the images here do not look the same as the originals. I found these drawings that were done in ink to be a somewhat difficult because the ink is more permanent and you have to rely on the density of the lines instead of the actual shade. Personally I still think I need more work with the hatching, cross-hatching, and random shading techniques. I do still think that I am best at the smudge technique. Before this was really what I thought that shading was but now I know that there are multiple techniques that can be used.

Shading and more shading

This was an assignment out of our text book. We were learning about different techniques of shading and the tools in which to complete them. The three different techniques shown here is hatching, cross hatching, and random. I did realize that after I had finished all the sphere, cone, and cube drawings that I did the light source in the wrong spot on the sphere. It should have been more towards the top left. We also had to try the drawings in both pencil and pen. I personally think I did better with the pencil than the pen. With the pencil you can use different leads that are available and make different tones and shades. The disadvantage of the pen is that the ink is only one color so you have to rely on the density of the strokes to create a lighter look. This was difficult for me. The only time that I have used ink for a shading assignment was in High School my sophomore year. The technique that I used was stippling. I am hoping that I will get better at shading with a pen because I think the end result of a pen and ink drawing is very neat.