Design Principles | Visual Analysis

 📅 WEEK 10 - 14 : 04.06.2021 - 02.07.2021 

Lee Shu Wei 0345494 
Design Principles Final Project : Visual Analysis & Final e-Blog

📑 LECTURE  

This week, we are going to start our final project, which is about visual analysis. The objective is to understand design from the visual elements and principles learned and how designers deliver their message by applying them. This is known as visual analysis. 

        There are 3 phases in conducting visual analysis:        

Phase 1: Observation, which is to observe, identify and describe with the visual elements applied, such as lines, words, colours, images, etc. In this phase, we are not required to think about the design, but to observe only.

Phase 2: Analysis. From elements observed in Phase 1, identify how design principles learned from Week 1 - Week 5 tutorials, such as the emphasis, balance, movement, unity and more are utilized by designer to convey a message. 

Phase 3: Interpretation. Further research about the designer's background, style, or any possible influencing factors are allowed in this phase. Putting in all from phases together, we are able to interpret the designer's purpose on a design in detailed. 

This skill is named as visual literacy, which audiences are able to understand and interpret a design critically. An important note is that, there is always a purpose for design. Hence, designers need to be able to design a work that serves it purposes, which means audiences are able to receive the right messages. 

After that, Dr.Jinchi briefed us the final project as below:

        Visual Analysis:        

1. A 500-word visual analysis, describing and analysing the design principles of a selected design.
2. Exploration of ideas in sketches.
3. Pictures of your design inspired by the selected design material on one A3/A4 paper with your best craftsmanship.
4. A 200-wordrationale,explaining and defending the decisions made in your design.

        Final e-Blog:        

A complete e-portfolio consisting of all the exercises and projects, adhering  to  the  requirements (the  design  process,  various attempts, final outcome, feedback by lecturer and personal reflection for each  exercise).

💡 INSTRUCTIONS

💭 FINAL PROJECT

To start off the 1st part of this final project, I found out a few designers that attracted me.

The first one is    Yuko Shimizu    , a Japanese Illustrator in New York.

Figure 1.1: Yuko Shimizu's design which accompanied a book review of Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch, a novel by Dai Sijie. Around 2005 for Financial Times Magazine.

( https://www.instagram.com/p/CPreekyDgxi/ )

Figure 1.2.1: SK-II Art of Travel special packaging project - China by Yuko Shimizu

( https://yukoart.com/work/sk-ii-art-of-travel-special-packaging-project/#13 )

Figure 1.2.2: SK-II Art of Travel special packaging project - Hong Kong by Yuko Shimizu

( https://yukoart.com/work/sk-ii-art-of-travel-special-packaging-project/#15 )

Figure 1.2.3: SK-II Art of Travel special packaging project by Yuko Shimizu

( https://yukoart.com/work/sk-ii-art-of-travel-special-packaging-project/#19 )

Figure 1.3: Yuko Shimizu's portfolio

( https://yukoart.com/category/work/ )

Next, I personally like collage arts very much, so I found out this International Collage Art exhibition. From here, I found out a contemporary collage artist,    Koji Nagai    .

Figure 2.1: International Collage Art Exhibition 2020 poster

( https://www.retroavangarda.com/international-collage-art-exhibition-2020/ )

Figure 2.2: Tower of BABEL by Koji Nagai

( http://kolajmagazine.com/artistdirectory/koji-nagai/ )

Figure 2.3: ROUGE, 2016 by Koji Nagai

( https://retroavangarda.com/gallery-of-friends/albums/Koji_Nagai/?img=625/ )

Figure 2.4: APPALE! 2, 2016 by Koji Nagai

( https://retroavangarda.com/gallery-of-friends/albums/Koji_Nagai/?img=625/ )

          Visual Analysis           

          Feedback 1:          

After seeing Koji Nagai's designs, Dr. Jinchi introduced me about Dada. It was a cultural movement that was concentrated on anti-war politics which then made its way to the art world through art theory, art manifestoes, literature, poetry and eventually graphic design and the visual arts (Dada : Design Is History, n.d.). She suggested me that If I have time, I can try to figure out about it, and see whether it relates to Koji Nagai's designs. 

Regarding to my phase 1 and 2 of visual analysis, Dr. Jinchi advised me some amendments as below:

1) Phase 1 Observation can be more specific,

2) Main colours are red and yellow, without brown but background in cool grey,

3) Typo such as capital "C" for Chinese

4) There is contrast for the design, and need to be included in Phase 2 Analysis. The contrast is created by red colour, as it stands out from the grey background and border.

In addition, feedbacks for out blog are given as below:

5) Credit lines are needed for all the designs in our blog,

6) Weekly reflection is required even without hand-in any designs. 

However, I found out an interesting poster the following week when I'm looking ideas for a campaign. I decided to work with this design instead. 

    Figure 3: The Vagina Monologues poster

    Creator(s):    Hickmann, Fons Matthias, artist 

    Date:    2011

    Format:    born digital; posters

    Associated Publications:    Eighteenth Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition. 

    Fort Collins: Dept. of Art, Colorado State University, 2013   

    Collections:    International Poster Collection

    ( http://hdl.handle.net/10217/80000 )

          Visual Analysis :          

Phase 1 - Observation

This design work is a poster in portrait format. The main colours observed are pink and red. There are lines observed in the middle, which are the brackets - parentheses and curly brackets. Words in Sans Serif fonts are observed at the bottom right of the poster. 

Phase 2 - Analysis

The brackets at the middle of the poster is bilateral balance. However, this design is asymmetry balanced as a whole, with the more words aligned to the right side. The emphasis is on the central image - the brackets, which looks like a vagina. Contrast is achieved with the red colour being used to stand out from the pink background. The brackets also shown repetition. A repetition of words is found as all the fonts used are Sans Serif fonts. Besides, the bolded title "The Vagina Monologues" and 2nd section of details in Germanic are left-aligned and placed more towards the right side. The 1st section of details, which is the date and address are centre aligned. Hierarchy is achieved with the proposition in this layout - first, we see the brackets in the biggets size, followed by the bolded title and smaller words.  

Phase 3 - Interpretation  

This is a poster designed for a play called The Vagina Monologues, a special performance on V-Day Berlin 2011. It is written by playwright and activist Eve Ensler in 1994, which was a centerpiece of V-Day: A Global Activist Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Women's & Gender Studies , n.d.). It is a collection of monologues describing women's experiences with sex, relationships, pleasure, and violence, based on interviews with more than 200 women of various backgrounds, ages, and ethnicities (Kroll, 2011). This explains why pink is applied in the design, as it represents feminisms. Besides, brackets arranged like a symbol which looks like a vagina, not only reflects the purpose of the event about feminine experience, but also points out the absurdity of this taboo - vagina is something to be ashamed of. 

References:
Women's & Gender Studies. (n.d.). What are The Vagina Monologues? [blog]. Available from https://www.depts.ttu.edu/wstudies/events_TVM.php [Accessed 13 June 2021].
Kroll, M. (2011). A Special V-Day Performance Of 'The Vagina Monologues' Opens In Berlin. npr [blog]. 5 April. Available from https://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135115278/a-special-v-day-performance-of-the-vagina-monologues-opens-in-berlin [Accessed 13 June 2021].

          Feedback 2:          

Dr. Jinchi allowed me to work on "The Vagina Monologues" poster instead of Yuko Shimizu and Koji Nagai. Overall, all phases of my visual analysis are good. However, some amendments are required to make it better. Advices given by Dr. Jinchi regarding to my visual analysis are applied to my 2nd attempt of visual analysis as below (Amended Visual Analysis).

         Amended Visual Analysis :          

Phase 1 - Observation

This design work is a poster in portrait format. The main colours observed are pink and red. There are lines observed in the middle, which are the brackets - parentheses and curly brackets. Words in Sans Serif fonts are observed at the bottom right of the poster.

Phase 2 - Analysis

The poster is made up of punctuation marks, which take up 85% of the overall composition. The punctuation marks in the middle of the poster are bilaterally balanced. However, this design is asymmetry balanced as a whole, with more words aligned to the right side.

The emphasis is on the central image - punctuation marks, which look like a vagina. Contrast is achieved with the red colour being used to stand out from the pink background.

The punctuation marks are also shown repetition. Repetition of words is found as all the fonts used are Sans Serif fonts. Besides, the bolded title "The Vagina Monologues" and 2nd section of details in German are left-aligned and placed more towards the right side. The 1st section of details, which is the date and address are centre aligned.

Hierarchy is achieved with the proposition in this layout - first, we see the brackets in the biggest size, followed by the bolded title and smaller words.

Phase 3 - Interpretation

This is a poster designed for a play called The Vagina Monologues, a special performance on V-Day Berlin 2011. It is written by playwright and activist Eve Ensler in 1994, which was a centerpiece of V-Day: A Global Activist Movement to End Violence Against Women and Girls (Women's & Gender Studies, n.d.). It is a collection of monologues describing women's experiences with sex, relationships, pleasure, and violence, based on interviews with more than 200 women of various backgrounds, ages, and ethnicities (Kroll, 2011).

The colours, pink and red are suitable applied, especially the pink colour which is normally associated with the female. It connotes more female elements and represents femininity.

Punctuation marks which are arranged like a symbol that looks like a vagina, not only reflect the purpose of the event about the feminine experience but also point out the absurdity of this taboo - the vagina is something to be ashamed of. Taken the meaning of the punctuation marks out of the usual message creates more curiosity in people. The punctuation marks applied fitted well with the purpose of the poster "The Vagina Monologues", which is about the conversation. People talking and sharing about their experiences by using words, hence it is very suitable to use punctuation marks.

References:
Women's & Gender Studies. (n.d.). What are The Vagina Monologues? [blog]. Available from https://www.depts.ttu.edu/wstudies/events_TVM.php [Accessed 13 June 2021].
Kroll, M. (2011). A Special V-Day Performance Of 'The Vagina Monologues' Opens In Berlin. npr [blog]. 5 April. Available from https://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135115278/a-special-v-day-performance-of-the-vagina-monologues-opens-in-berlin [Accessed 13 June 2021].

 

          Further research about "The Vagina Monologues" for idea exploration:          

Figure 4.1: The Vagina Monologues Poster

( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104734.The_Vagina_Monologues )

Figure 4.2: Screenshot of The Vagina Monologues on YouTube

YouTube Playlist Link : https://youtu.be/cjX1OEpf8Xw

Figure 4.3: My mind map to jot down interesting points from the YouTube videos

After watching the show on YouTube, I have collected some interesting information as shown in Figure 4.3 as inspiration for my design later on. A few sentences caught my attention and I felt there are possibilities for me to incorporate those ideas into my design. Sentences such as:

"My vagina was my village. Not since the soldiers put a long think riffle inside me, so cold the steel rod cancelling my heart. Don't know whether they are gonna fire it or shove it through my spinning brain......My vagina was once my hometown. God since they took turns for 7 days, smelling like feces and smoked meat...My vagina alive wet water village. They invaded it, they butchered and burned it down. I do not touch now. I do not visit. I live someplace else in hell. I don't know where that is..."    

"My coochie snorcher is a very bad place. A place of pain, nastiness, punching, invasion and blood."

"It's a site for mishaps. It's a bad luck zone. I imagine a freeway between my legs. Girl, I am travelling. I am going far away from hell." 

"It's the leaf around the flower, the lawn around the house." (Metaphor to describe hair) 

"My partner says it smelled like sour milk and it was staining his coffee." 

In the show, topics such as sexual abuse and disrespectful from partner were shared in a humorous way. As a female as well, I felt the emotional appeal of the show influenced me in a positive way, which we should stand up and respect a part of our bodies. "HOME" stands out to be the element that I want to incorporate in my design, to represent what my vagina means to me.    

Meanwhile, I went on the internet to look for other designs about the related topic as well. Typographical Tart Cards appeared, it inspired me to play around with more alphabets, punctuation marks and symbols on my keyboard. 

Based on Wallpaper* (2015), many London prostitutes promote their services through tart cards. Even if a police crackdown, the internet and the increasing use of mobile phones suggest their days are numbered, tart cards are still so pervasive they are now regarded as items of accidental art and have something of a cult following. Once on the periphery of design, tart cards have influenced the work of many mainstream artists such as Royal Academician Tom Phillips and Sex Pistols designer Ray and Nils Stevenson. (Wallpaper*, 2015) 

References:
Wallpaper*. (2015). Sex issue: Type Tart Cards [blog]. Available from https://www.wallpaper.com/art/sex-issue-type-tart-cards-0#0_pic_68 [Accessed 20 June 2021].

A few designs that inspired me to think out of the box:

Figure 5.1: A typographical tart card from Wallpaper* (2015)

Designer: Adrian Giddings
 *further design details unknown*

(https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_920w_scale/s3/legacy/gallery/17056760/Adrian-Giddings.jpg)

Figure 5.2: A typographical tart card from Wallpaper* (2015)

Designer: Carter Wong
 *further design details unknown*

(https://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/styles/responsive_920w_scale/s3/legacy/gallery/17056760/Carter-Wong.jpg)

After that, I came out with my very first draft as below:

Figure 6.1: My 1st draft

Explanation: 

Both 1 & 2 are inspired by original poster. I feel adding an exclamation mark can represent the vagina better. Besides, the big "V" represents panty in between thighs, inspired from the "Y" in Figure 5.1 & 5.2. 

For 3, it is my initial idea, which I wanted to incorporate the idea of "Home" as vagina, also a safe place for women. The typographical tart cards inspired me to play around with more symbols, punctuation marks and alphabets. I am attempting to design by using all these elements rather than organic shapes. 

          Feedback 3:          

Dr. Jinchi provided me feedbacks regarding to the 3 ideas as below:

For the 1st design, the "vagina" cannot be interpret as audiences might read it as "The Monologues" instead. Besides, the arrangement of my punctuation marks and the big V are too tight, does not gel well. 

For the 2nd design, the vagina can be read. However, I can play around with the composition, the punctuation marks can be placed within the V instead. 

3rd design is the most interesting and more rooms for improvement in comparison with the 2 designs. It is advised to use landscape instead of portrait for a wider field. In addition, I am encouraged to discover and play more with the symbols and punctuation marks. Dr. Jinchi also proposed a challenge for me, which is try to reverse it into a V shape.  

          Design Progression:          

While progressing for my ideas exploration for this final project, my other module - Brand Management, required me to rebrand a brand called OrganiCup, a menstrual cup brand. Both modules, Design Principles and Brand Management influences coincidentally influencing each other. 

Figure 7.1: Logo design proposal w/ explanation for Brand Management module

This information attached is to explain how my ideas came from. 

Eventually, when it comes to re-design poster for The Vagina Monologues, the first few attempts are influenced by this symbol "(Y)". 

          Ideas derived from 1st draft:          

Figure 7.2: 1st Attempt of redesigning poster

Figure 7.3: 2nd Attempt of redesigning poster

Figure 7.4 - 7.7: Various attempts of redesigning poster

          Feedback 4:          

Dr. Jinchi mentioned that Figure 7.2 is clean and neat, the pink colour used is better than the previous design. However, the overall design is imbalanced, the right side is heavier. She advised me to try arrange the "mono", maybe make it pink as well to make it balance. Besides, she advised me to have a "V" in white, so that "vagina" can be read instead of "agina" For the various attempts of second design, it will be nice to be simpler without all the extra symbols to explain.

It was tough for me to choose which design to proceed with. Dr. Jinchi suggested me to make the 1st design as the main poster, while the 2nd design as another event, and to be placed at the corner of 1st design. Or, I can come out with one more design from the poem in the show. Implement the same colour palette for all designs.

          Design Progression:          

After that, I proceed to work on the 1st design with feedbacks obtained. 

Figure 8.1 - 8.2: Various attempts of redesigning 1st idea poster

Although they are balanced in a way...but I am not satisfied with all of my attempts because they just feel extremely weird. They looks balanced in general, but I just feel it's hard to read. No hierarchy is achieved, everything feels too balanced until I don't know what to read first. Even for the figure 8.2, the white "Vagina" is the emphasis and hierarchy of the design. But my intention is to lead audiences to read "The Vagina Monologues", not "Vagina" first because it's not "Vagina The Monologues" or "The Monologues Vagina". So I was kind of stucked over there.

Here comes a sentence from my current read "The Alchemist" : When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. - Paulo Coelho

The universe helped duh. Suddenly, I don't even know why I just recalled about my conversation with Dr. Jinchi during the tutorial class. She was talking about why is it "monologues" but not "monologue", because a monologue is a speech presented by a single character. I interpreted the title being "monologues" is because of the show is designed with hundreds of interviews collected by Eve Ensler. She was not only representing herself, but every interviewees she interviewed.

So here comes the idea of "repetition". Hence, I came out with this final design below:

Figure 9.1: Final Design Outcome in JPEG

Figure 9.2: Final Design Outcome in PDF

Rationale: 

The Vagina Monologues is not a one-man show of Eve Ensler, but for every woman. The repetition of "the vagina monologues" represents all the voices collected, and the white line represents Eve Ensler as representative of women to speak out loud. Hierarchy is achieved, which viewers will be first attracted to the big V with repetition of "The Vagina Monologues", then attention will be drawn down to the "the vagina monologues" arranged vertically. The design as a whole looks like a close-up of a woman wearing a pink panty between her thighs. 

To not waste my 2nd design idea, and also to not disappoint Dr.Jinchi, I imagined having this show in my hometown (Penang) during my birthday (29.08.2021). Hence, I came out with several designs like social media postings on Instagram to advertise the show. 

Figure 10.1: Social Media Posting Material for The Vagina Monologues

Figure 10.2: Social Media Posting Material for The Vagina Monologues

                                      Weekly reflection :                                     

- 1st week -

I started the 1st week for this final design project with a super low energy due to other modules started to chase behind me. I was feeling a bit lost, not sure where to start this project as I do not know much about designers. The cue for me was "one step at a time". The first step is important as everything will come along afterwards, as long as I START DOING. Eventually, I founded a very interesting Japanese Designer, Yuko Shimizu. She was attractive to me because of her ability in drawing. Yea, that's also why my classmate, Ee Chyn's drawings always attracted me. Seriously hope I can draw out all my imagination from my mind. Hmm but hey, find your strength and do what you can do la...yea I can WRITE mah. Stop finding excuses :) 

- 2nd week -

So! Dear Shu Wei, why are you changing your ideas and analyze other design ... Well, you know, things just happened right ... anyways, I believe the universe is leading to somewhere, so why not? While doing my research for the other module about menstrual cup, The Vagina Monologues poster just amazed me with the brilliant idea in using symbols. Dehh ... I thought you said you wanna challenge yourself in drawing, why now you are going the other way again. Let's be really honest to myself, I actually feel guilty :/ But I really had zero inspiration to design something influenced by Yuko Shimizo. She impressed me with her ability but Ms Lee Shu Wei a.k.a. Nicole is well-known with her personal style in designing. Uh wait, what "personal style". Haha ... I figured out my way in designing: I LIKE TO INCORPORATE MY DAILY THOUGHTS, IDEAS, AND LIFE INTO MY DESIGN. Urgh, but how is Vagina influencing you to design? My answer over here is: too much research has being made by me to plan a campaign all by myself for my brand management module. Every day keep on reading, watching and seeing about vagina, influencing enough not? ... yes influencing enough. Here's where "observation" came from. No time to observe more stuffs in my room with the current lockdown, only all about vaginas in my laptop. *Luckily my lecturer is a girl*

- 3rd week -

Don't have much thinking because too much self-reflection being made for other modules. Yea, you know, at the end of the semester, almost every module needs self-reflection. But then here's something interesting to share about for Design Principles. I actually feel a little bit (I promised, it's only a little bit) stressful attending design principle tutorial class. No, the reason is not about me. I can feel Dr. Jinchi's FOOO (cantonese, a.k.a. fire in English) every week questioning other classmates' progression ... It made me thought of my other module - Design Thinking, which I faced a lot of issues due to China team members. Anyways, I can feel Dr. Jinchi is really sincere and passionate to teach us. One thing I've learned from both modules is empathy and compassion. BUT, after several chances of being empathy and compassion, your sixth sense will tell you the stop if the person is not being honest ... so yea. Well, it actually also leads me to read a book named "Personality Plus at Work: How to Work Successfully with Anyone" by Florence Littauer and Rose Sweet. Definitely a complex bunch of soft skills that I need to improve on. Shh...this is why I low-key like this module because it requires zero teamwork. Opps HAHA. ... I like teamwork la, but only with people who are better than me so that I can learn from them and produce awesome works (wah u damn ego la. *it's a confession, keep it as secret ok?). EHH! It doesn't work that way okayyyy, face your weaknesses and improve on it *mantra x3000*. Yea, so go read that book during sembreak and embrace it. 

- 4th week -

"Hooray!" and also "Oh-Nooo..." for the final week of the semester. Hooray because sembreak is finally coming, Ohno for the final exams and assignment submissions like a mountain. A super productive week because of all the deadlines. The universe gave me some energy as I was extremely panic looking at various attempts of my design, and none of it really satisfy me. Luckily a quick recall popped into my mind out of nowhere. Uh huh, being an overthinker, always have flashbacks can be view as a strength also right! I used to see this as my weaknesses. But guess what, thanks to influence of another module in this semester - Principles of Marketing, where the SWOT analysis came out again. Here's the key mentioned in marketing: both strength and weakness are microenvironmental factors, meaning they are within your control. So, you choose it, utilizing it as your strength or weakness! Thanks to the universe and self, I like my final design outcome very much, although it looks really simple. It looks simple but I like all my hidden meanings (yea, my style...AS USUAL HAHA). 

                            Final Reflection For The Semester                           

"All is well."

    A simple yet ample sentence to conclude this semester. To rate my satisfaction towards self for this semester, I would say 7.5 out of 10. I am being really honest, as I know I did not reach my fullest potential. Throughout the years, I've been having hard times chasing "perfection", whereby "consistency" "doing" "completing" are what truly matters. In conjunction, it means I need to be a "do-er" rather than a "think-er" consistently. 

    Instead of thinking from that aspect, I think this semester in general taught me more than the modules, more about the soft skills instead. Design Principles, this module is one of the examples that taught and provided me more values than the design principles theories and applications. At least I learned a new way to cope with my stress; and to handle my thoughts and emotions. I can express through drawing even though it might looks ugly; even though people might not understand. I think this is why I always like to incorporate my thoughts and feelings into design. Besides, this is the reason why I like to have "hidden messages/meanings". Every pieces of the design I created might not look nice for others, but they just meant a lot to me. I kind of glad of having this module in this semester, because I noticed my weekly design actually reflects and records like a journal for this semester. For example, for the week for "Movement", I was feeling super unmotivated and all i wanted was to "Flow". Or the other week which I created "good on the inside", was because of me feeling grateful of having friends on that particular week, and it was a reminder to self to focus the good inside me. Not going to week by week, or else I will have too much to talk about. 

    Overall, I am truly blessed to know about Dr. Jinchi. No doubt, you do not know how much positive impacts she put on me to go through this uncertain semester. Things were not going my ways for many times in a year time, even for this semester in this season. But hey, Dr. Jinchi is like one of the people that the universe sent me. Thank you, very very very much. 

    All is well. And I wish whoever who is reading this right now, all is well too. 

Love,

Nicole Lee Shu Wei.