Contrast

Good Contrast Website (http://www.freedomandpartners.com/) The Freedom and Partners website has a lot of contrast the creates an interesting website. There are varying tones of grey with red used to highlight the position of the viewer on the website. Also this website utilizes different shapes an planes within space.


Bad Constrast Website (http://www.em-ha-em-art-productions.nl/columns/beleggen/halterstrategie.htm) The Koos Roetbank website has a number of problems including horrible contrast. The website uses black as a background and has colors such as purple that contrast poorly with it. Also within the side bar the green and purple are too similar. Overall the design is plain and uninteresting.

Motion and Movement Exercise

Part 1 Herman Miller Thoughtpile (http://embody.hermanmiller.com/)

The website is all about motion perception. On this page there is a circular disc with people on it that appears to be rotating. This motion is perceived because the people change position and get bigger or smaller as they rotate around. Additionally, the perspctive changes of the person. Also on this page is the illusion of thoughts coming from a person, getting bigger and moving across the line on the top and then go back down to the group of people.

Part 2 Diller Scofidio and Renfro (http://www.dsrny.com/)

To navigate this website you move over the various peices of work with the illusion that you are looking down over the images in a 3d space. The illusion is created using linear perspective and relative size. The perspective of the images change and become bigger as you move towards them and then disappear out of view. The problems that the designer would have encountered is creating a realistic perception of moving smoothly in space over the images. The speed of moving could also be a problem, since people perceive movement at certain speeds. Finally, connecting the movement of the mouse with the movement on the screen would also need to be addressed.

Design Perception Example

The website 344 has a number of space perception cues that create a feeling of depth in the design. In the opening page, the intro feels like a 3d space because of the perspective of viewer and the illusion of linear perspective. In addition, there is overlapping with the stickers to the left. Finally, the "Hi" uses linear perspective, texture gradient and shadows to create a convincing 3d object. In the second example of 344's work, the viewer perceives a close-up of certain features of the piece. This illusion is created with relative size and lines that connect to the whole piece. These lines are reminiscent of linear perspective and call out to the effect that it creates.

Color Exercise

Six Strata, Photographic Book, Jonathan Barnbrook

In the design of Six Strata, Jonathan Barnbrook uses a monochrome of blue color to show the underlying strata of the Roppongi Hills. The design throughout the book uses blue which as opposes to natural colors such as green or brown shows the form of the strata in a much more abstract manner. This allows the viewer to focus on the subject of the book, strata. In addition to color, Barnbrook uses lines predominately to bring out the form and structure of the strata. This allows the viewer to see all of the intricacies within the layers of the strata. Throughout the book Barnbrook uses the line to organize and draw attention to points of interest. To contrast the line, he also uses the circle effectively throughout the book. As shown on the cover, the circle adds contrast and also brings attention to points on the page. This adds some visual interest and creates balance on the page. Overall, the cover of this book is well balanced, but still interesting and provocative. The color is used to create the mood and the basic elements help to define the subject.