Chapter 5

• What is the color wheel?

The color wheel is a chart in which complementary colors (or their names) are arranged on opposite sides of a circle

• What are some common color palettes?

• Why is color contrast important in web design?

Color contrast provides a lot of depth to the overall model in the viewer’s mind

• What is color psychology and why is important to consider when picking colors for your design?

Color physiology is the use of colors to convey ideas or feelings.  There are many examples.  Black can be used for absolutes.  Blue can be used to convey feelings of the sky or peacefulness.  Green can be used to convey nature.  These colors on unison or used in conjunction with an appropriate picture can influence all that see it.

• How can color set the mood of a website?

An all black website for a funeral home may be too appropriate for example, and create a feeling of depression or despair in viewers.  A website dealing with the Red Cross would ideally have a lot of red and white to complement  their logo.

• Explain how you found your color inspiration and your experience using the ColourLovers or Kuler websites. What tools did you find most useful?

Assingment 3a

How can the principles of design be used in web design?

Chapter 4

• When we look at the history of typography what can we learn about the past methods of printing?
• What are some common terms used in typography? Are there tools in Illustrator and other Adobe programs that help you adjust text alignment and spacing? What are some of the tools?

The history of typography can show us

Chapter 7

• What are some guidelines for scanning images?

Proper equipment and proper calibration of said equipment are very important for an effective scan.  Knowledge of file types and file sizes for the type of scan you wish to have is also important.  It will also be important that the highest quality scan is  used, getting all colors.   Keeping information about the scans is also important and will help greatly with organization.  Inspecting the images yourself is also important, as you can pick out discrepancies well.   Also, when optimizing, be sure to save many times.  This will help prevent inefficient work.

• What is the difference between resizing and resampling images

Image resizing is changing the size the image will print without changing the number of pixels in the image. Image resampling is changing the number of pixels in the image.

• What techniques can you use to get a good line art scan?

Following proper guidelines will help greatly.  It would also be important to learn to use the program being used effectively.    Proper file format selectin will produce a good scan too.  Understanding what resampling does will help too.  Nearest neighbor, bilinear, and bicubic need to be understood to know how to scan correctly.

Chapter 6

* What are some ways you can change a line in Illustrator and how does this relate to design principles?

You can offset, copy, swirl, mirror, etc.  This provides a unique look for companies

* Why is logo design important and what are useful design tips?

Logo design is important because it is often the first impression customers/clients will see.   This representation can greatly help or hurt your company, depending on your logo.  Useful design tips are to keep continuity between logo design and the image the company is trying to put out.    Here are a few more tips:

• A logo must be describable
• A logo must be memorable
• A logo must be effective without colour
• A logo must be scalable i.e. effective when just an inch in size

* Explain the design process of designing a logo as mentioned in the articles. Do you think this process is useful for your design process? How would you do things differently?

A logo design consists of the following:

• The Design Brief
• Research and Brainstorming
• Sketching
• Prototyping and Conceptualising (See Step 5)
• Send to Client for Review
• Revise and Add Finishing Touches
• Supply Files to Client and Provide Customer Service

I agree with these.  I think sketching is very important, as it allows much creative power to be unleashed.

Chapter 8

* After you used the levels and curve tools on your photographs or images did the quality improve?

* What is the Histogram tool in Photoshop and how can you use to improve a scanned photo?

* What is the differences between the Levels and Curve Tools in Photoshop?

* How can hue/saturation tools help you improve images?

* What can you do with camera RAW that you can’t do with jpeg files?

* What are some techniques you learned for sharpen photos?

* What is HDR and how to you normally create a photograph this way and how can you fake it?

Assingment 3a

How can the principles of design be used in web design?
Principles of design can be used in web design in a lot of ways.  Balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance, and unity are all very important in web design.  Balance and dominance are the two in my mind that are most important for web design, especially business web design.  Balance is an extremely powerful coefficient for an efficient and effective web  design for a business.  dominance is also important for many of the same reasons.

What is Symmetry and Gestalt?

Symmetry is balance.  Gestalt makes use of perception obtained visually.  Proper symmetry is extremely important for a business, especially in logos.   Making effective use of the Gestalt theory, a business can create effective visual representations of their principles.

What is negative space?

Negative space is the empty space or seemingly unimportant background space.  This when used properly can greatly give an image better perception to the viewer.

What is the rule of three?

It goes like this:

Figure 1 is static: x, y and z objects are equally distant. The first step of the rule of three is to create a dynamic interaction between objects.

Figure 2: z is moved slightly to the left and interaction between objects is improved.

The second step in the application of the Rule of 3 is to use objects. Objects can be pictures, geometrical figures (columns), a one word text (title) or a block of text (content), illustration, etc.

Assingment 3

VectorTuts

Gives a lot of tutorials on how to do basic to more complex Illustrator projects.  Has a few different posters.

n.design studio

Has some tutorials on 3D and glossy Illustator effects.  They also link to other resources for web designers

Tutorialized

Has a lot of tutorials on different topics.  Also has a very annoying ad on the website

Smashing  Magazine

Has a good variety of different tutorial topics.  Very good quality as well.

Good-Tutorials

Has a lot of basic Illustrator tutorials.  Many different topics are covered as well

Chapter 2a Assingment

As an artist why is copyright important?

Copyrights are important for a lot of reasons patents are important.  In theory, they give incentive to be creative/inventive.  This is seen a lot with artwork and also patents.  With seeing so many ideas of different people, it gives great inspiration to artists.  Copyright also gives the author due credit.  This is only fair, the same as a song writer would be given credit for his work.  Often times an artists uses his work to support himself or his family.  Stealing that work would not be benefitial to society.   Copyright doesn’t have to be bad for people that want to use the work.  Copyright serves the purpose to protect the creator’s work and ideas.  With licenses such as Creative Commons,  work can be shared with everyone.

Exerpt from Creative Commons information page: “How Does Creative Commons Work?
Creative Commons provides free, easy-to-use legal tools that
give everyone from individual “user generated content” creators
to major companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to
pre-clear usage rights to creative work they own the copyright to.
CC licenses let people easily change their copyright terms from
the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”

Chapter 2 Assingment

When I find myself in a creative slum, I do a couple of things.  What I do a  lot is doodle.  When I doodle about what I am working on, more ideas come to me.  Even if the doodles are not related to my current project, it serves as a nice boost and break as well.  Another thing I do is think about how someone else I know would approach the problem.  This helps a lot as well as expands my own mindset for future projects.