The End.

BDC 192 Digital Media was one of my favourite classes this semester.

Here’s a couple things I loved this semester:

Lecture was my favourite part of this class. Even at its crazy early hour & having to wake up at 6am every Tuesday morning to make it here on time, it was worth it. I didn’t really understand the exact term that is ‘Digital Media’ but after this class not only do I understand what Digital Media is but I actually really enjoy every aspect of it. I also liked how even though class was so early in the morning, Laurie was so enthusiastic about what we were learning and remained passionate about what she spoke about each week. It helped me enjoy the content of the course.

Crits in class. I have never been one to enjoy sharing my work because I am always scared that people will be like “ew, what is that?” However, this changed this year. Not only did crits help me feel more comfortable with sharing my work in a professional environment, but it also made me feel more comfortable with showing people my work before hand. Input from others really helped me to improve my assignments before they were due & allowed me to look at my assignment as a viewer, rather then the creator…if that makes any sense.

Here are a few things I would change:

Morning Lecture. If I lived on campus I wouldn’t be saying this. And I know this as not my professors planning, but having to get up at 6am and for some not even leaving school till 9pm is honestly insane.

Twitter during class. I love that twitter was used during class and I definitely liked adding #BDC192 hashtags to my tweets, but I found that tweeting DURING class was a little disruptive. I was personally so intrigued with the content of the lecture that taking a few minutes to tweet took me out of the lecture & into a “how can I write this into a tweet” mode. I know that there was a study and what not that it’s helps you learn, but for me personally it was just a little disruptive. However, I liked tweeting after class/about the class.

Website design. Before this class I had never created a website before. I feel like everyone could have benefitted from a little more website design information. I also found it hard to start my website without a rubric. I didn’t know what exactly I needed. I remember in lab she Laurie at least 4 pages, but that was all I knew.

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Overall, I loved this course. I loved learning about all these aspects of media in relation to my life that I never even knew existed before. I discovered that I actually like designing things, but sometimes I’m too picky and take too much time choosing specific colours/fonts. I think it is important for people to learn about whats happening around them. Staying up to day and keyed in to the newest things—twitter, blogging etc. allows you to make a name for yourself. Getting yourself online—in a positive way, is probably the best thing you can do for yourself (career wise, and personally—its pretty fun) And the one thing I won’t ever forget from this course is that Google NEVER forgets.   

I’m excited to read this during fourth year & see what I’ve done with Digital Media & hopefully laugh at my amateur designs.

This is Eve Sharabi and I thank you for reading my blog! :)

Who, What, Where, When, WHY?

The Why of Transmedia.

When I Grow Up, I want to be Carmen Sandiego!

This week in lecture we spoke first about HTML (the fun fun world of hypertext—I’m not offending it! I give credit to those who have the ability to find the one / that’s throwing them off.) and then more about Gaming and ARGs.

Now, I’ve never been a huge gamer, but I did enjoy a little super Nintendo growing up. And as I got older I LOVED playing Sims. When my parents bought me the Sims Deluxe Edition I was the happiest kid alive. I don’t really know why everyone loved the Sims so much, I mean they don’t even talk properly. But dressing them up, and deciding their hairstyle & who they’re going to date. As a preteen this was the most exciting thing.  When I come to think of it, I played games even before that. I remember I had an Arthur computer game & my favourite Carmen Sandiego. Wow, I never realized I was such a gamer growing up. I guess I grew up in the “virtual world”

Anywho, Laurie said how gaming is a part of life. It acts as many different things including ice breakers—I definitely bonded with my mums co-workers daughter over the Sims. It allows for this virtual world, where nothing really matters because if you fail, you can just restart. I mean, having a Sim until their old with grandchildren would be pretty amazing, but I know personally I got bored of the Jones family and would create the Cooks down the road.

Virtual reality lets you experience things and do things that you wouldn’t normally do in the outside world. As a preteen I would never imagine talking to the cute boy down the road, but OH HO OH, on the Sims, I could befriend him in seconds. I mean, that’s rather a silly example, but I think it gets the point across. Virtual reality is kind of amazing. It let’s one get outside of their comfort zone a little bit.

Besides this, is has an entire fantasy exploration aspect. Carmen Sandiego always got me hooked because I felt like a secret agent whenever I played. Carmen wears a red suit and a mysterious hat that covers one eye. She was just so cool. I’ll post a picture of Carmen below. She was an inspiration. But, I didn’t just get entertainment out of these games, but I got knowledge as well. Carmen Sandiego allowed me to see the world (virtually of course). I remember doing something along the lines of putting a Greek god’s statue back together to get the next clue, but it had to be the right one etc. etc. It taught me a little geography and history & I think there was a few math equations if I remember correctly. Wow, I wonder if I cam find the CDs, I’d like to play the games all over again. Getting lost in a virtual world is so exciting. It can be distracting, don’t get me wrong, but venturing into the lives of Carmen Sandiego is a lot more educational then facebook or angry birds… (FUN FACT: I’ve never actually played angry birds. I have no idea what the app/game? Does)

Here stands Carmen in all her luscious ginger glory:

 Another thing, we didn’t specifically talk about in this weeks lecture, but something I want to briefly discuss is interactive art. We did go over interactivity and how important and entertaining it is, so I guess what I have to say fits nicely into this. I think interactive art is possibly the most magical thing yet. I love art. I truly am a fan. But, its modern contemporary art that catches my eye. I love things that are hand made & I love things that are made for our hands. In other words, when you can physically play with art, or interact with it in someway it is a whole lot more interesting. I don’t have a specific example that we haven’t already discussed in class, but something that is online and well, not exactly the most amazing art, but very addictive is this. This website is so pretty. It really is. I have written so many different things, screen capped it & sent it to so many people. There’s something special about that. When you can take something created by someone else & make it your own. I think my point is that interaction in this world is possibly the most important factor of life. And people tend to believe virtual inventions have prevented this interactivity with the “real world” but I beg to differ, I think technology has only enhanced humans ability to share.

Here is my awful attempt at writing I heart Digital Media, Eve on Silk:

*Please note that none of the above images are mine. I do not claim the rights to any of them. They are simply images  I found online, or made online and believed worked well as examples.

If I tell you, I'll have to kill you.

Click here to see my final piece.

Artist Statement

For this project, I decided to make a teaser for the television and book series Pretty Little Liars. The reason I chose this specific show was because I wanted to incorporate fire in one way & thought of a way this could work for Pretty Little Liars.

Call me a pyromaniac, but I think fire is beautiful. It automatically catches my eye whenever I come across it—be this from a candle or a bonfire. And as I cleaned my room one weekend, I came across the Barbie covered Pretty Little Liars novel.

Within seconds I had an idea.

With an $8 Barbie doll from the nearest Toys R Us, some lighter fluid, a match and the cliché saying “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you”  my idea was set in stone.

Pretty Little Liars is all about secrets and death. Even though that sounds like a rather odd concept,  it worked well for this piece.

So I bought the Barbie, lit her on fire, took some pictures and worked with what I had. I learned that I should always go in with a story board or specific idea of what I want to occur—whereas burning is rather hard to assume the outcome, many other things will benefit from step-to-step planning.

I found that working with trial & error, dragging and dropping and little edits is what got me to where I was.  When you first drag something into After Effects, the size of the image, depending on composition size, is normally quite large— And I kind of liked the way this looked. I played with size of image to capture the most grotesque burning Barbie scenes. I cut my image amount from almost 40 pictures to about 10.

I worked with the program Audacity to cut and alter sound to fit my piece. Instead of making one solid continuous track I imported separate files and dragged and drop them into the perfect spot. Although I did not know how exactly to use sound in After Effects, a little Googling and asking around really helped me.

Another thing I benefitted from was tutorials. It’s really cool how many other people are trying to do the same thing you are & have posted online to teach the world.

Overall, I went in with one solid idea. I prepared what I needed, did a little research and ended with a piece I actually really like! It was my first time using after effects, and I was definitely intimidated at first—but It’s rewarding to produce a piece that I am genuinely proud of.  For all of you out there that are too scared to use a new program, try a new food, or cut your hair in a crazy new way, I suggest you do it! Unless you try, you won’t know what you’re good at—or what you like. Creating this teaser in After effects was definitely a huge learning experience for me and after this project I am quite excited to continue using the program.

Burn Barbie Burn

For my Trailer I decided to go with my initial idea—a Pretty Little Liars. I purchased a Barbie & burned her. I always feel rather crazy saying this, but it’s true. I did it & it turned out pretty well:

However, I realized I should have probably come up with a plan before hand. I went in thinking woohoo gonna burn a Barbie. But I never really decided if I was going to do stop motion, or work with footage. In the end I left it up to my friend—who took pictures and just went with what I had. This has taught me to think about what I want in the future, as it is my project and without direction it may not turn out exactly as I hoped. Lucky for me, this time, I loved the final results. I should just know for next time that having an initial plan doesn’t hurt anybody.

I am currently on the look for fonts that compare to the original Pretty Little Liars title as I feel keeping it mostly the same will add to the overall piece. Here is the font below (taken straight out of the opening title sequence):

Here is the font I will most likely 98% use (I found it on dafont.com):

 Now I am just trying to sort out putting the pictures together to skillfully create an overall piece. I have based my ideas off the opening title sequence of the show—which looks a little bit like this:

In the end, I’ve really learned that trial and error and mistakes make a piece what they are. If I don’t know how to do something—Google it! I found this great tutorial on shattering glass that I will use in my final piece! Experimenting is key in creative work, as you don’t know what works best until you try it out.


PS. Today is 11/11/11 no big deal!

Kindle You Glad I Didn't Say Hardcover Novel?

This week in lecture we spoke about tablets. More specifically we spoke about eReaders. Laurie stated how having an eReader means not having to lug that giant hardcover 600 page novel in your bag. Before this lecture, I will not lie, I always thought the whole Kindle/eReader thing was a little bit ridiculous. But after this lecture I came home, did a little research and was wonderfully impressed by the abilities of these things. Not only does the kindle havea  2 month battery life (when used 30 minutes a day) but it even has high contrast screens—or something along those lines, which prevents glare and allows you to read it's a piece of paper.

Okay, I may sound like an excited child over here, but that is truly what I am. I have always loved reading. I never had a passion for Mr. William Shakespeare, but I’ve always loved those “silly girl books”. I loved waiting for the newest It Girl or Private to hit shelves, buying it, and reading it before the night came to an end. But these days I barely have time to read let alone watch for the book to hit shelves or go pick it up. And eeek reading an entire book in one whole day would leave me with zero time to do anything.

But, with winter break coming around the corner, I will have endless free time. Reading should probably become a part of my life again. Ahhh winter break. So close I can literally almost taste it! Anywho, back on track. During the break I will be subwaying to work, or living in the warmth of my duvet. Lugging a book around—leaving no room in my purse, or leaving the magical heaven I call bed isn’t really necessary if I don’t have to do it. I know I sound lazy, but think about it!

It’s a cold winter day. The snow is falling. It’s minus 4 outside (but feels like -30 with the windshield). Your new favourite book just hit shelves, but the thought of escaping your warm house and entering the frost bite possibilities of the outside world is holding you back from driving to the nearest indigo. If instead you had a kindle/ or any other various eReaders this wouldn’t even be a thought! You would grab your eReader, purchase a book and sit down with your blanket and hot chocolate. Ahhh problem solved.

Anyways, I’m really not some sort of advertisement. No one paid me to hype up the eReaders, I just simple think they’re brilliant. You can download a book in 60 seconds—Regardless of whether it’s in stock at the nearest Indigo and read it at your leisure. It also has a high lighter option if you need to keep that line handy for a school paper. You can change the font size for your own pleasure, get free books, store your own files on the thing and even borrow books from your library!

Our world is amazing. Someone says, I want a way to access books from bed, and they do it.  It just makes you think about the endless possibilities of this world. What could be coming next? If you want it, you can create it—Now that’s a cool concept.  Just the other day I read a metro on my way to class & there was an article on tablets.  The person wrote about using tablets as menus at restaurants. The purpose would be that the waiter would have more time to actually communicate with the customer instead of try and remember their order—since whatever they wanted would be automatically clicked into the tablet and sent to the kitchen. I think the idea is fab. I think that it provides endless opportunity for a restaurant to do new things. Not only does it provide more 1-on-1 time with the wait staff, but it allows for people to key things in such as: I have a peanut allergy or I like my steak well done. Little things like this make a HUGE difference for a restaurant experience. Plus, I think it’s kind of cool.

In conclusion, I think that using technology to create a more hands on life is quite fab. I mean, we could all drop the technology forever & go outside, but it wouldn’t be the same thing. Using technology in our outside world, is a more interesting concept. It would re create those face-to-face connections that some believe technology has destroyed & act for an exciting day to day life.

Now I’m just waiting for someone to create a remote that pauses life—especially when I need a nice long nap, and life will be amazing.

(If you want to see what a Kindle is click this, they're pretty cool!)

An Idea of Perfection!

For my motion graphics assignment I am considering doing a trailer for Pretty Little Liars. It is a popular book and more recently a popular TV show for teenagers—generally girls. This coming week there is a special Halloween episode airing. All week I heard about the airing of the show—my best friend is obsessed. As I “cleaned” my room, I found one of the books in the Pretty Little Liars series. The cover had a barbie on it, and all of a sudden I had an idea!

For my motion graphics I plan to somehow light a barbie on fire—I’m aware that sounds a little pyromaniac-like, but I really think it could look cool. Pretty Little Liars is all about secrets ruining “perfection”. When secrets are out, people break. I thought showing a burning barbie could reflect this idea. It might be a little crazy. However, in lecture we watched videos where mistakes (such as the bottle of liquid spilling), or trial and error made the entire piece stronger. So, I think I’ll buy a barbie—or dig an old one out of storage, and see what burning it will look like.

So far I am liking after effects. In grade 11 I took a Com Tech class where we learned to work with Flash. After Effects is a lot like flash—but with a little extra UMFF. Kind of like Flash on steroids. I don’t really know how to work all the fancy stuff yet, but everything else is pretty straight forward and simple. I’m excited to learn more about it. It looks fun. Although I am worried that we won’t have enough time to learn a whole lot before our trailers are due. I just I’ve just to wait and see!

Type Everything.

FASCINATED. I am a huge fan of websites like Tumblr and Lookbook, where you can scroll on forever looking at photos and quotes and clothes and AHHH. As I browed Tumblr today—sort of stuck in procrastination nation, I found this fascinating website. Continuously scroll down (really, keep scrolling, it doesn't end) and view typography. It's very entertaining—A lot better then an English essay, I promise (I know from experience).

Inspiration Through Type

Check out this website! It has 50 inspiring typography posters. Typography is honestly so versatile! You can do anything with it. I love when people create images entirely out of text! This website has some good examples. 

What's Your Type?

Bored to Death opening title sequence
This title sequence uses typography for it's illustration. Text off the pages—in the title sequence, form shapes and moving imagery to create a creative introduction to the show.

Tom Barham, Curious Pictures, Opening title sequence for Bored to Death, 2009

Bored to Death is a show about a writer who wants to be/pretends to be a private investigator. The title sequence takes the concept of the writer and mixes that with the Crime Noir comics the protagonist bases his investigational practice off of. One can see that the font forms shadows—But, when one looks closely, they realize that the words do more. After each character's introduced, words drift away from their text-bodies. These words reflect the character's feelings/actions and character traits in the show.


The font used in the title sequence is a basic serif font. This font is typically used for newspapers, books and other printed material. Using a serif font for this title sequence creates a "writer/reader" feel to it, which adds believability that this is a real book being used in the sequence. Serif, rather then sans-serif, is also easier to read and presents a more professional/sophisticated look.


The typography used in this title sequence reflects the themes & ideas for the show. With it's black and white layout, the target demographic is clearly one who likes both comic books & mystery. Although, with it's 'sophisticated' feeling and song, it implies an older [comic book/newspaper reading] audience.


To learn more about how the title sequence was created click here.

DEXTER

As many people know, my favourite television show is Dexter.  I think the overall show is simply amazing. However, I’ve always been iffy about the shows advertisements.  I can never decide if the typography and overall design is doing too little, or just the right amount. So, it is now time to decide. Firstly, here is a Dexter advertisement:

I started by figuring out which typeface is used in the Dexter adverts. I have recently discovered that I am awful at simply looking at a text and knowing what it is. For example, I thought Dexter’s font was maybe Helvetica bolded and even italicized. But after staring at the advertisement, I realized that this was not the case. Whereas in the initial picture posted above, the T’s little top flicker looks like part of the blood splatter, in this advert (posted below) I realized it was part of the text. So I went to google to learn more.  After typing something really silly, along the lines of ‘Dexter font theme title’ into google, I found a few forums where hardcore Dex fans discovered that the Dexter typeface is called Soda Pop.  

Now that I knew the font, I looked more closely at the advertising and decided it was really well done. The sans serif font starts off very simply. It’s just clear font. And as the title continues, blood sprouts out of it. This simple idea tells Dexter’s story—He is a simple man by day, but at night he kills. The plain text represents Dexter’s “real” life & the blood splatter represents his dark passenger.  Its simplicity also suggests an older targey audience. One who doesn’t need separate colours or a fancy typeface to understand what Dexter is all about.


Toys R Us

The Toys R Us logo has always made me feel happy! It’s big and colourful and loud. I think that the company has done an amazing job at capturing their entire essence and target audience. The letters are bright and happy much like little children. Little children are drawn to the store because of their branding. Children like big playful letters similar to the ones used in this logo. If instead they had used a typeface such as Ariel or Helvetica, it would not have the same effect. 

The font used for this logo is called Toy Box—With the manually reversed R.

The pastel colours of the logo work extremely well too. When one thinks of children, or even toys, their mind—or at least my mind automatically goes to two things: pastels & the rainbow. I think that Toys R Us has used colours that reflect their target audience and products. Note that the colours are not either pink and girlie or blue and boy-like as people usually associate with babies, but rather pastel, darker, truer colours that toddlers & older children are associated with.

In conclusion, Toys R Us really knows who their target audience is for the products they are selling & their logo proves this.

If like me, you did not realize that their logo changed—from having a reversed R in quotation marks to instead a reversed R with a star in the middle, don’t fret. Read this article I found online to learn more about the change!
*Please note that none of the above images are mine. I do not claim the rights to any of them. They are simply images  I found online and believed worked well as examples 

Sketch

CLICK HERE to see a piece of motion graphics that I love.

I have chosen a PSA (Public Service Announcement) from Sketch. Every time I watch this I get an automatic thrill. Think about how long this must have taken—to draw, film and find the perfect song to match! Notice that the paper piles up after every drawing is added. The creator(s) definitely worked hard to make this PSA the wonderfully enjoyable yet informative stop motion piece that it is. It's contrast of black & white/colour is so simple and lovely. I chose this piece because I love anything that is home made and I believe this PSA does a really good job at suggesting the ability of one's hand.

Below is a brief summary taken straight off of their website telling you a little bit more about this non-profit organization and what they do.

"Art making is a curious way to address homelessness or poverty - growing issues in Canada, one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
Art making offers expression, self discovery and skill building. It facilitates participation in community life and in the making of culture.

Sketch creates art making opportunities for young people who live street-involved and homeless or who are considered to be at risk.



"

How I found out about Sketch:


In grade 10 I had to do an assignment on a non-profit organization in Canada. I decided to use Sketch because I simply loved what they were doing. I found them through extensive online research and upon seeing their PSA (posted above) I fell in love. The organization was so art-filled and lovely.

Bad Dream

Check out the song Bad Dream by This Century. It’s the song I created my album artwork for. 

CD Cover

Artist Statement

For my first assignment I chose to do a CD cover. The reason I chose this was simply because I love music. Not only do I love music, but I love CDs. Even with downloading and file sharing, I’ve always found it more exciting to go into a store and buy a physical CD. I love looking at the album artwork, the lyrics and all the extra stuff that musicians put into their albums. As I got started on the assignment, I had no idea what I was going to do. I looked through my pictures and many different websites for inspiration. I finally found a picture that I liked and decided to use it. I was going to create a band and design a CD cover based on a few things I found online. As soon as I got started, I got really into it. However, I discovered that when using an image—that was not solid as my background, it was hard to find fonts and colours that really stood out. I tried playing around with saturation and a few other blending techniques, but I never got the effect I wanted.

The next day I lay on my bed waiting for inspiration to hit me. Suddenly I realized something so obvious. I have a love for dream catchers. I looked at the massive one hanging on my wall and then shifted my eyes to the tiny one attached to my key chain. Now, I didn’t know exactly what to do, but I knew if I incorporated something I loved, that this would be easier. I opened up google and searched ‘Dreamcatchers’. I then began creating my own dream catcher. I decided I probably needed a band name so I opened up my iTunes. I typed ‘dream’ and found Bad Dream by This Century. How had I not thought of this earlier? Not only do I love this song and band, but it works perfectly with my design idea. 

Next I went onto www.colourlovers.com. I decided my target audience would be teen girls around my age—since most of my friends that like This Century fit this description. Young, Girls and Pop/Rock music made me think of bright colours. I found a few colour palettes that worked and got drawing. Drawing feathers that don’t look like spiders can get quite tricky. I’ve never been an amazing drawer so tracing often helped me in this assignment. It was fun to work with many different colours. I chose a dark background to help the dream catcher—the main piece, stick out. The fonts and colours I chose were ones I believed were complimentary to the dark background colour and overall theme of my piece. I also tried to align my wording so it looked more uniform. In the end I really played around with colours, fonts, placement and blending. In the end I think I achieved my goal of a colourful piece that matches my opinion of the band—This Century.  


Benefits of Class Crit.


I enjoyed presenting my piece to the class. It feels really nice to hear feedback about what was both good and bad about my own work. The good stuff is really re-assuring. It gives me confidence. After looking at your own piece for so long, sometimes one can grow tired of it—As I did with mine. I really liked what I created, but after a while it just looked the same, ya know? So hearing from the class helped me see my piece in a new way. I saw things I achieved and things I could have improved on. The entire session really just taught me to keep going. If I think there's something wrong, or something's missing in my piece, there probably is. Also, it made me more comfortable with sharing something I've produced. I didn't really show anyone what I was working on until it was does (besides my parents of course) But I think I could have benefitted from showing it to some people in the same class/program as me, hear their feedback & make improvements to my piece. In conclusion, I really enjoyed seeing other peoples hard work & sharing mine with them. After working on something for such a long time, it's really rewarding to share it.

My 18 Technologic Years!

In one of my earliest Digital Media lectures, my Prof showed us a list of all of the technology she has seen in her lifetime. Inspired by this, I have decided to write a list of some of the technology I've seen over the years (In no specific order):

Vinyl Records. Record Players. Cassettes. Cassette Players. CDs. Walkmans. Rechargeable batteries. Ball point pens. Floppy Disks. Projectors. Boom box. Corded phones. Type Writer. Wireless phones. Cell phones. Computers. Flat screen Monitors. Internet. Television. Black and White Printers. Laser Printer. Flat Screen TV. HD TV. VCR Players. Blu Ray. Smart Boards. USB keys. Dial Up Internet. Solar Pannels. Email. Film Cameras. MP3 Players. iPods. iTunes. File Sharing. Digital Cameras. Scanners. Cell Phone Cameras. Touch Screen Cell Phones. Smart Phones. Laptops. Web cameras. Tablets. Kindle. 3D Movies. Super Nintendo. Wireless Internet. Bluetooth. Xbox. Toaster Oven. Digital Clock. Hybrid Cars. Surround Sound.

Although I'm sure I can add many more to the list, this is what my brain has come up with for now. (I bolded some of my favourites—I still buy CDs & print pictures!)  It's weird to think that kids born in the last couple of years do not know what a cassette or VCR is! What will they invent next? What will your kids know? Will anything on this list still be popular?

Try it out! What have you seen? You'll discover more then you might imagine.

Crap.

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Contrast

Contrast has always been a hard concept for me to grasp. I’ve heard about complementary colours and such, but contrast can be found all over—not just in colours! However, the image below has helped me understand what colours complement one another. Take a look at it! 

Wonder who chose the colours for Christmas, cause they happen to be complementary colours! Green & red however, aren’t solely associated with christmas. They happen to be very common colours for many other things. For example in this image below 

This picture shows red and green—Two completely opposite colours. It shows a good contrast. If these were green and yellow, they would be too similar and wouldn’t create the same effect that the green and red does. If they’re not completely different, they probably shouldn’t go together. If you were going to describe contrast in another way you could say oxymoron. Opposites attract. Horizontal lines love vertical lines. Small type attaches to large type. It sounds simple but it’s quite tricky

________________________________________________Repetition

When some aspect of a design is repeated throughout the page

I believe that this picture does a good job at adding effect with repetition. When someone looks at this picture they do not simply see a person under a tree but instead they see a person under only one of many trees. By having numerous trees, it allows for the single person to stand out. Having a single image among numerous other ones, adds emphasis to the single image. In this particular image, the single person creates an almost eery and frightening effect—This could also be by the images colouring. The repeated trees automatically makes me think that this is a forest, and the colouring suggests night. Therefore, with just one glance, I know (or think) that the woman is alone at night in a forest, surrounded by nothing besides trees. This automatically raises questions in my brain about why she might be there and a whole story is created. If I had seen the same picture, without the repeated trees, I may not have reacted in the same way—If it was just one tree she could be standing outside her house. In conclusion, repetition adds detail and drama to an image.

Generally one might think that if something is repeated multiple times that that is what should stand out in an image. However, often repetition works in just the opposite way. When something is repeated so many times, such as in this photo, it can blend into the background. This may be a bad thing and something that people should remember when designing, but if done correctly—as in this picture, it works. Having the repeated phrase “ What made you think it’s be different this time?” sort of fade into the background it allows for the main message “Different font same old story” stand out. By having the sentence repeated multiple times it creates unison. It also creates a visually interesting background—It is definitely more fun to look at then a solid background!

________________________________________________Alignment

When items on a page are aligned to create visual connection. When pictures aren’t aligned correctly it is hard to find the start of each new word and creates overall confusion. 

This is an example of bad alignment:

In the picture below things are lined up to the right which makes it easier to find the next word on the page & creates better visual interest.

Another example of good alignmnet is a flight time chart. It is organized in a way to make it easy for eyes to read locate times:

________________________________________________Proximity

When one groups related items together. It makes separate items appear to be a cohesive group.

In the image to the left, many different small images are lined up on top of each other. Even though each line of images is completely different, because they are grouped together they become a cohesive group.

This is especially seen in advertisements. For a company it can be hard to sell an item—such as shoes because they are all different. To the right is a picture I found online. By lining the shoes up it shows that they are all a part of the same group—wether or not they are all visually identical or not.

_____________________________________________________________________
Overall, These four elements prove that design is a lot of work. For something to look visually interesting and draw in an audience it must embody most, if not all of these 4 elements.

*Please note that none of the pictures above are mine. I do not claim the rights to any of them. They are just pictures I found online and worked well as examples