Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

I am a Visual Communication Design major, and I plan to work on advertisement business in the future. I chose two different advertising posters that require very little text to support their effectiveness.

I consider this image successful in advertising their services, though it helps that FedEx is already a well known company. The message I got from looking at this image was, “We will get it to you quickly and undamaged.” It has a simple message and they gave it a simple visual for advertising their services. This is a balanced image. To convey the message that they will deliver your packages safely, they used a neutral color instead of a vibrant color, red for example, that is eye catching or provokes too many emotions.

In my opinion, this image is a failure to its type of visual advertisement. They had the idea of making a minimal text poster, similar to the FedEx poster above. When I first saw this advertisement, I was a bit confused until I read the tiny font on the bottom of the poster which says “Eliminate bad breath.” When I saw the image above, I imagined having a dry tongue which was conveyed through thirst and a sock. It is an imbalanced image. It could be possible that they are using this distracting technique to create the discomfort of 'bad breath.' If that is their intention, I would consider it partially successful in conveying their message.  Compared to the FedEx advertisement, Clorets’ advertisement is considered to be not as successful because it is confusing and can be misleading without text to guide the viewer. Even though they put a message to explain what they are trying to convey, the font is too small and it is hard to see because of the lack contrast between the light grey text and the white background.

Visual vs Symbolic Language WK 4

• Human silhouettes
• Dim colors (sepia) supporting dark mood
• Waiting
• Collage
• Depression
• English terms
• Numbers
• Dollar Signs

This unemployment image from Google contains two newspaper clippings from the employment listings section. The newspaper clippings are under a sepia color effect. On top of the news paper clippings are transparent silhouette of people of both genders and varying height, in a repeated pattern. These silhouettes are lined up from left to right. The news paper clippings are a representation of limited job opportunities being offered while the silhouette of people waiting in line represent those who are waiting in line to compete for the same opportunities, regardless of their gender or ethnicity. Above the silhouettes is the word “unemployment” in English lettering to make sure the viewer understands what this image is conveying.

Interactions Between the 3 Levels (WK3 Meaning)

This Coca-Cola picture shows all three levels of visual design communication.  The representational aspect of this image is a silhouette of a glass Coca-Cola bottle. It can also be interpreted as abstract.  The bottle is also a recognizable logo, a symbol, for the Coca-Cola company.  Their glass Coca-Cola bottles have a distinct shape which differs itself from any other soda pop bottles.  Anyone who is familiar with Coke will immediately think of Coca-Cola when they see a silhouette of their bottle.  This image shows colorful abstract, child-like drawings of planets, food, stars, and random creatures bursting out of a Coke bottle.  Although people do not usually see child-like drawings as something attractive, it does bring back nostalgic feelings of fun, happy times and great imagination.  All of this fun creativity is just waiting to burst out from within every bottle of Coke.  To ensure that everyone gets the big picture of this image, the designer of this poster put “friendship on the Coke side of life” to fixate people onto what they are trying to convey.  They used symbols of text to ensure that people know who this great company is and what they need to drink to feel this great feeling of nostalgia and happiness, Coca-Cola.

Representational, Abstract, and Symbolic Images. (WK 2: Meaning 1)

Sims 3 Character. Representational.

Representational:

The image of this animated woman is from the video game Sims 3.  The game itself is of repetitional design.  It's purpose is to simulate the lives of everyday people.  The designers of the game provide each object and character with very specific details that not many people may even notice without a good graphics card.  It shows the highlights and nearly each strand of this animated woman's hair.  Although this in-game character may or may not be real, it still displays something of reality, therefore it is considered as representational design.

         

An oil pastel painting.
"The Dance of Good and Evil."

Abstract:

This oil on canvas is called "The Dance of Good and Evil," by Curtis Verdun.  This image does not show specific detail on anything that is portrayed here.  From a distance I can see it as a dragon like figure, but I cannot be sure that this is what the artist intended to show.  This image could be argued to be a non-objective abstract image because it does not relate to or represent any real world object.  The colors represent "good" and "evil."  Deriving from the name of this image, we naturally think of the color red to be "evil" because it is normally associated with anger or the "devil."  Blue is a cool and calming color, it can also be associated with purity, therefore most people would likely think of it as the "good" of the painting.  The two colors collides and swirl together, which personally reminds me of the motions of ballroom dancing.

A normal "No Smoking" sign. 

Symbolic:

The "no smoking" sign is one of the most frequently used symbolic designs out there.  Usually, a simple picture of a lit cigarette is shown under bold lettering, reading "no."  From what our parents and the people of our society have taught us, we know that a crossed out circle means "do not do this."  The sign is red for reasons beyond having it catch our eyes.  This color provokes certain emotions in our mind, such as anger and danger, while also signaling our mind to stop, just as we would when we see a stop sign or a red traffic light.  When people people see the "no" sign on top of a picture of a lit cigarette, they would automatically think, "No smoking."