@DailyShoot – #ds592 – What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “deadline”? #ds106
This is actually the second thing I thought of, July first, my imminent departure for the United Kingdom, and all the things that must be completed before then.
The first thing I thought of was an EKG flatlined, the ultimate deadline. But I don’t have access to one for photography, so this calendar will have to do.
These design principles are found in Molly Bang’s book, Picture This. This book not only gives design principles and examples, but also presents them so you can visually understand what is communicated to the viewer through pictures. I recommend this book to all visual artists as a supplement to their design library. I re-drew these book illustrations using Illustrator.
Smooth, flat, horizontal shapes give us a sense of stability and calm.
Vertical shapes are more exciting and more attractive. Vertical shapes rebel against the earth’s gravity. They imply energy and a reaching toward heights of the heavens.
Diagonal shapes are dynamic because they imply motion or tension.
The upper half of a picture is a place of freedom, happiness and triumph. Objects placed in the upper half often feel more spiritual & important. An object placed there has greater pictorial weight.
The center of the page is the most effective. It is the point of greatest attraction.
White or light backgrounds feel safer to us than dark backgrounds because we see well during the day and only poorly during the night.
We feel more scared looking at pointed shapes. We feel more secure or comforted looking at rounded shapes or curves.
The larger the object is in the picture, the stronger it feels.
We associate the same or similar colors much more strongly than we associate the same or similar shapes.
We notice contrasts. Contrasts enable us to see … through our associations and perceptions.
Try one or more of these out in your next design assignment. Pick on that supports your purpose or intent and incorporate it into your design work.
I made a #ds106 radio bumper, my first (already have an idea for the second)!
I kind of cheated, because most of the audio was recorded and mixed by a professional at a real studio back in 2001 (backstory and original audio clip here). Incidentally that was before I ever became a teacher. I don’t ever really sound like that in a college classroom.
All I did was drag that mp3 into a new GarageBand project, plug in my USB mic, and record myself saying “listen to your ds106 radio” on a new vocal track. To get the echo I added the Vocal Reflection to the recorded track. Then it was as simple as selecting Share > Send to iTunes from the menu bar. Since I had pre-set iTunes to import audio as a 64-bit stereo mp3, that’s what I got. In iTunes, I right-clicked the new file and chose Reveal in Finder, dragged it to my desktop and uploaded it at http://www.dropitto.me/ds106. I’ll be stoked if I actually hear it on #ds106radio!
This is an exquisite corpse made up of different images representing important parts of my life over the last several years. It represents my development over about the last four years. Among other things, I started growing my own food, sold my first piece of art, and tested my resolve by earning an associates degree (finally) (long story). I went through different photos taken of myself over the last few years, mostly self portraits. I also included a moth sitting on a net as a sort of overlay – it represents my continuing transformation between different states of being.
I submitted this as a #ds106 design assignment. This is something I assign to my ART100 students, and I ask them to make it say something about them. Check out their examples. It can be a really fun thing to do. Take pictures of yourself, or your family, or even each other. You can also mix in objects, like metal parts, tools, natural objects, animals, even sketches. Use an image editor to mash up the body parts and objects, etc. Let it say something about your identity. Heck, use it as your avatar. You can make it as goofy or deep as you want.
Hope you like mine.
Oh, yeah, you can get help with the technical details from this great open source textbook that I use with my class, Digital Foundations: Intro to Media Design with Adobe Creative Suite. What you want is Chapter 9, which walks you through step by step with pictures. My link goes to Exercise 3, which is where the Exquisite Corpse instructions start – you’ll just have to ignore the bits about the double exposure layer they have underneath their body parts. Or you could scroll up to Exercise 1 and add the double exposure into your mix. I hope you try it. It takes some time but I think the results can really be worth your while.
Well, required unless you are easily offended or prudish I guess.
Maybe this would be best when we hit video assignment week. But because #ds106 is having this discussion about what media can be, I feel strongly that you should see this same sort of discussion underway in the videoblogging community circa 2005. Two things to view by my friend Michael Verdi, one of the first videobloggers, back before YouTube:
First watch Vlog Anarchy and then if you are fearless, and heeding all warnings, continue on to The Yang of Vlogging.
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