Design Blitz

This assignment made me look at my surroundings in a different way. It made me begin to notice the different forms of typography that companies use to brand their products and how the use of color and alignment can make a message interesting and easier to read. All of the elements are often taken for granted, but when isolated it makes it easier to see how each element works to tell an interesting and easy to read story. For my first element I choses typography.

Typography

Before this assignment I didn’t know that there was a difference between type and font. As I began looking around my apartment for different forms of type, I came across a Honey Nut Cheerios box. I choose this as my example of type because it is a good example of Serif. It represents Serif, because it has the line at the top of each letter. I think this makes it effective, because it is eye-catching and an easy for to read. They also used different sizes of text which allows the reader and consumer’s eye to be drawn to the logo.

Minimalism/ Use of Space

For my next design element I choose minimalism. For this I found an advertisement in People magazine, that I thought worked well to show how using space and only a few images can tell a good story. In this advertisement they also use alignment to center all of the images in the picture which allows for blank space on each side. This is good because it is a symmetrical design, which is pleasing to the eye.

Form/Function/Message

I chose one of my mothers different forms of business cards for this design element. This card is called a floss card and is basically a business card that contains a case of floss within it. While the card is very simple in terms of design, it does send the message that you should always floss. Therefore I think it is a good example of function and message. I think with a little modification to the text and possibly the addition of her logo and the card could become a more appealing form of advertisement.

Rhythm

For rhythm I chose the carpet in my apartment. While this is not a part of graphic design, I think is a good representation of how patterns can interact to form a new pattern. The lines that connect each form on the carpet create a new design within each line. This creates a rhythm that is followed throughout the entire carpet. This same rhythm is also followed throughout our entire apartment which creates balance in our design.

Dominance 

The last element I focused on was Dominance. For this I chose to feature a book cover (Shout out to my love of books!) The book I chose to feature was Harry Potter. I chose this because it not only features a unique typography, but it also features different sizes of text. Using the large and unique text for the “Harry Potter” draws the reader’s eye to the logo. It also helps the readers eye go to the text first rather than to the picture on the background.