Final Exam

1. The first logo I would like to talk about is the Jeep logo. From what I could tell, Jeep was one of only five companies on the list who's logo is the actual name and font itself. I believe the makers of Jeep have wanted to keep the design simple for a long time. Jeep is more than just the name of a company-it's the name of a car too. Sure, they have names CJ, TJ, Wrangler, etc. But when you hear the name Jeep- an immediate picture comes to mind. You don't hear people saying "I'm going to take GM out for a ride." Owners of jeeps are very particular about keeping the integrity of the jeep. Though this has changed somewhat in recent years, Jeeps kept a simple design in both the interior and the exterior. I believe this reflects in their logo. There probably isn't a more simple logo on the list than that of the Jeeps. Just "Jeep. Simple and tough looking.

2. I next wanted to evaluate a car that incorporated both a logo and a font- but where the font stood out more. I will evaluate the Smart Car. First off, I think this is a great name from a marketing standpoint. In todays world where gas prices aren't as cheap as they were ten years ago, the name "Smart Car" implicates that this is going to be a fuel efficient car. So even before seeing a logo, the name itself catches our attention. The font- which is very similar to the HoratioDMed font has a futuristic look and feel to it. The font works for me as it captures the look and feel of the car. The logo i didn't care so much for. There is an arrow on the right side of the logo, which I'm guessing represents the company looking forward. I feel that the brand would be better served to not have the logo. It doesn't represent the feel of the car. Many of the publications that I looked at for the Smart Car didn't even have the company's logo in it.

3. The last logo discussed will be the BMW logo. This to me contrasts the previous two logo's in that though both a font and a logo are incorporated, the logo is much more reconizable. I'm not sure if there is a brand more reconizable for a sports or luxury car than a BMW. Even if you are far away from the vehicle you can tell from a good distance what kind of car is being driven. The design of the logo is pleasing to the eye. You have a perfectly symmetrical circle with colors that contrast each other to create a unique look that is not easily duplicated. Just as the Jeep logo can survive and even thrives on not having a logo, I believe that BMW wouldn't have to include a font to differentiate itself- the design of the logo is a great representation of the company.


Part II

1. Artifact one deals directly with the affective portion of one's self. The poster is attempting to draw raw emotion and which will result in you using the psychomotor element of acting upon the emotion you feel and donating . Cognitive effect is not used so much here. You already know why you are at the event so the poster doesn't need to so much inform you but rather draw you to it. In this poster, the bottom of it seems show darkness and destruction. As you get higher you notice sunshine and birds which bring to mind hope and happiness.

2. This artifact does draw a little bit of the cognitive effect into it by giving you information on a website. However its main effect it is trying to draw on is the psychomotor and affective effects. The picture draws your attention right away and opinions are formed right away due to the nature of the picture. The starkness of the picture is intended to motivate those who may be considering suicide to act upon their feelings that this picture represents and seek help. Many times a person doesn't feel like that they can turn to family or friends but this site allows for help only a click away. I believe that a graphic picture such as this may also affect the person contemplating suicide and possibly help them to decide a different path.

3. I believe this artifact was created mostly for the cognitive effect. Without any text in the pictures, most people would have a difficult time figuring out what the campaign is for. There is nothing in the artifacts that will cause emotion for me and make me want to act upon this and become more involved in the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. Though one word for each poster still doesn't give me a lot of information on the project it creates an interest to gain more knowledge on the project itself. based on the information given, that helps me understand a little more what the photo's represent and may prompt me to act based upon the information I learn from the pictures posted. Once I found out more information on the project and realized that the first letter of every word spelled out the word "possible" it did stir up some emotion in me. Possible is a word that draws up emotion of hope. It is interesting that most campaigns try to draw up some kind of affective effect to draw up emotion. Simple knowledge of something doesn't compel us to act, but those things that stir up emotion cause to act upon our feelings.

Part III Extra credit.

Short review here, but I thought the website did a great job of using all three of the communication effects. First of all, it was informative. It included all information all of the communication degree's. I liked the "What can you do with a communication degree portion of the site- but the one thing I guess I would have liked to see there as well was a page dedicated to different careers within that degree. Looking at that front page made me want to see more of the different careers offered in those fields. The affective portion of the website I believe was in the pictures which I believe was very affective. Most of the pictures were in black and white which I have always believed captures a raw emotion that color cannot. The pictures were also closeups which helps the person seem more personable. There is no room for our eyes to wander elsewhere but straight at the person. The darkened background uses Gestalt principles in leading our eye to the person photographed.

GRAFTON HANDOUT and DVD INSERT
I did a photograph essay on the town of Grafton, UT. Eventually I will put it on a CD or a DVD.

Here, I made a phamplet and a CD insert to promote the photo essay.

Gestalt principles used- Figure/Ground relationship, Law of Closure, Law of Similarity.

Also placed the logo designed about 2/3 the way up on the photos to draw the attention

to the logo.

HERITAGE WEB SOLUTIONS

1. The most relevant bit of understanding we must possess in order to design an effective website solution for our client is their business objective(s). Heritage's website uses symmetry and the rule of thirds to create a well balanced, clean, and eye catching model of a website. The site makes your eye gravitate toward the center of the site.

2. The most efficient way to clearly communicate a page’s visual structure is by using a strong grid. The Grid from Heritage's website is consistent in width and horizontal spacing. The vertical spacing is slightly different making some visual noise and does not possess quite the quiet structure that Rutledge refers to.

3. Generally speaking, the lower right is the most effective position for a large image on a text-filled page. Though the images on this website aren't on the lower right part of the page, they are on the lower part. The site has published pictures of clients that they have done work for on the lower center of the page. I feel this keeps the page symetrical and keeps visual noise away.

4. The most natural and effective direction for leading a viewer’s eye through a web page design or a landscape painting is along an angle. Though its not obvious in this site, "angles" are created by the structure of the grids that draw your attention to the center of the page. When you look at the page, the lines and grids draw your attention to focus in on what is in each bubble on each part of the grid.

5. For first-time visitors who have never seen the layout or used the interface of a website, the most important non-brand related issue the designer must take into account for an effective design is a high degree of affordance or intuitiveness. It is important for first time visitors to realize through visual clues what the function and purpose of the website and business is. While other sites that I have seen make you guess, or make you read through a lot of text before you can figure out what they do, Heritage makes it very clear what it is they do. The tabs on the top of their page indicate right away that they are website design and the pictures at the bottom of didfferent web pages are a visual clue right away that "these are websites that this company has designed."

6. The main point of interest is at the area of greatest contrast. The main point of interest when you first come to this page is that one side of the grid is vertical and the other side is horizontal. These two contrasting styles force your eye to the left side of the page first, but almost make your eyes want to read what is on the right verital side after reading the horizontal parts of the grid.

7. Aesthetically pleasing designs are widely perceived as being easier to use than less-aesthetic designs. The volume of information in the website matters much less then if the website is aesthetically pleasing. Rutledge shows the differences between USA Today's website and CNN's websites. USA Today's website has a lot of noise and its images compete with the content that it is providing, while CNN's structure by creating symmetrical grids creates a more quiet structure that gets out of the way of the content and is easier to look at.

SMALL, SLEEK, AND INVITING

The product packaging that I've done my evaluation on that I feel is a good design is the package for my Apple Itouch. The top part of the box is Dark black on the top and ever so slightly fades to a slightly lighter shade of black by the time you get to the bottom. The silver linings on the side and the engraving of the Apple Ipod Itouch blend in nicely to the the black color. On the front of the box is a picture of an actual Itouch playing a John Lennon video. Lennon is an iconic figure, one that we all can relate to. The texture of the picture of the itouch is slightly raised.

Here you can see the little packet that the instructions manual come inside of. Everything is small but nothing seems cluttered.
The package uses its space wisely. There are very few fonts on the packaging at all, but the fonts that are all centered. The texture of the packaging is smooth and inviting. This is one of the packages that you want to open up. The shape of the box matches that of the itouch. There is no wasted space in the box. The packaging matches the sleekness of the itouch itself.



A CLUTTERED, VISUALLY CONFUSING MESS


I am a huge Dale Earnhardt fan and thats the reason why I ended up buying this video. But the design of the package that it came in had me less than impressed and ready to watch something else. First I will discuss flaws that I found with the packaging and then I will also talk about issues that the very average NASCAR fan may have with design of the packaging.

First of all, when I pick the case up, it feels like a lunch pail, not a CD case. The texture is clunky. On the front cover is a picture of Dale, with the background a blurred mess. I'm assuming this is to represent what it may look like for a racecar driver- a blur, but it doesn't really work for me. The spacing of the fonts and pictures on the front are not bad, but as I will talk about later, I still don't like them. Once you are able to open up the cover, all you see is pictures. You could spend a little while trying to figure out where are all the DVD's are at. Once you figure out that the DVD's are inside the cardboard coverings of these pictures, you start to wonder how long the DVD's are going to last inside a cardboard surface. Some of the pictures are ok, but some are a bit blurry and too "yellowish" in color. I also feel that its a little picture overload. It doesn't seem that there are any fonts telling me what is on the DVD's! When I finally do find the insert that tell's me what's on the DVD's I am less than impressed. You have all this space being taken up by pictures, but the font sizes are small and plain and don't really get you excited to watch this documentary. There's also all kinds of inserts that can easily fall out as your trying to find the DVD's. The lines that you see on the front of the case do seem to move horizontally along with the title, which does make the front look a little better. Looking at this case there doesn't really appear to be much done on purpose to take advantage of space or color. I feel like the designers of this DVD case just decided to throw in a bunch of pictures in a metal case to make it more "NASCARISH" and call it good.

My last complaint about this is the design factor for those who know much about Dale Earnhardt. For those who who call themselves even a little bit of a fan probably know that black was his color. The only real black on the front of the case is a very small picture of his car on the bottom right corner. A lot of people will probably also know that his car was #3. There again, the only #3 we see on the case is the small picture on the bottom right. For the casual fan, they may or may not recognize Earnhardt by just the name "Dale." So from a marketing standpoint, I don't think "Dale" was the best name for the movie. He is much more recognized by his last name of Earnhardt. One last note about the design of the case. We seem to like simple when it comes to cases for DVD's. Look at Redbox. Very easy to open and close those cases. Look at most DVD's for sale today and compare them to DVD's for sale a few years ago and beyond. How many seal stickers do you have to rip off now? One? Maybe two? A few years ago and beyond there used to be three or four stickers to rip off. My point is, that we as consumers like it simple. With this case, you get far from simple.

CONTINUITY

In this image my eye automatically wants to follow the railing on the bridge

On the Epsonality website there were numerous examples of symmetry throughout the site. The man on the left working on machines is perfectly lined up with the desk and machinery on the right. After you calculate your "Epsonality," there are five floating devices that hover in symmetry over your calculated epsonality choice. All five of these floating devices are in the exact same shape. We also see the printers at the bottom are all sitting on the same platter shaped platforms as the other.

On the Pretty Loaded website, I think it shows symmetry and asymmetry. The top consoles are all lined up, yet they are different sizes. The center of the site is lined up with the icon displayed loading. Yet at the bottom left, the description of the site will show up in different shapes and is no way lined up with the top. It makes great use of the space and lets you focus on what the site is all about- which are the icons and animations loading.

CONTRAST

This picture on the right was one of my first experiments of taking pictures of Star trails. What jumps out at first of course is the stars in the background and tree in foreground. What I wasn't counting on showing up was the silhouette of the cliffs of Zion showing up in the background. To me, that stands out as much as anything in the picture. The other Picture is of Oneonta Gorge up near Portland, OR. I love the contrasting shadows and the green that contrast each other.

SHAPE

This picture above is a picture I took recently on an old historic bridge up in Rockville. I ended up taking a lot of pictures on this bridge because I became fascinated how many shapes and formations I could make with pictures because of the architecture of the bridge

POSITION

I like this picture on the right because of the way that the tree has grown out of the grown and seemed to have formed a protective "covering" of some sort over this bend in the road.




SIZE

This picture was taken of me down at the bottom of the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River and Havasu Creek meet. If you've ever been at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you know how awe inspiring it can be to "look up" instead of looking down as most people view it. This is a great shot showing how small I am compared to the towering cliff edges are that make up the Grand Canyon.



TEXTURE

This picture was basically an accident. Trying to take a picture at the bridge in Zion, ending up with a great "depth of field" picture. The texture of the stone bridge really stands out to me.

Get the glass

I believe the overall objective of the "get the glass" site was to attract people to the site. The game was hard enough enough to keep my interest and the graphics were great. Milk created interactivity using puzzles and trivia and using your email address. One outside site even said that milk sent him a glass that said "got milk" in the mail for making it to Fort Fridge. Great way to get people excited about your product.