VISUAL TECHNIQUES

Visual Techniques

Figure 1. The Vitra Vegetal Chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec.

Asymmetry

Symmetry

Balance

Harmony

Unity

Activeness

Boldness

Variation

Repetition 

Figure 2. The Vitra Panton Chair designed by Verner Panton. 

Balance

Instability

Irregularity

Intricacy

Exaggeration

Spontaneity

Boldness

Subtlety

Depth

Sharpness

Compare & Contrast

While both the Vegetal Chair and the Panton Chair challenge the norm of what a seating unit should look like, their chosen visual techniques create a distinct reaction to viewers. The Vegetal Chair makes symmetry and asymmetry challenge each other; while the chair is symmetrical in the sense that all four legs are angled in the same manner, tha tree-branch like design creates enough asymmetry to establish some contrast. This contrast therefore acts as a harmonious element of unity that additionally establishes  a bold and active feel to the chair's back. The lines of the "branches" give the chair a feeling of being actively in motion due to their spontaneous repetitive nature.

One the other hand, the Panton Chair, while bold like the Vegetal Chair the Panton Chair is more subtle. While the sense of the instability created by the curvilinear structure it has gives it a bit of an ecaggerated and spontaneous edge, the simplicity and sharpness of the overall structure in addition to the depth of the curves make it simpler. 

CONTRAST

EFFECTIVE USE OF CONTRAST

Figure 1. Valentin Löllmann utlizies the contrast of colors in materials in this beautiful night stand. 

German design Valentin Löllmann has proven to be a master of contrast with his new line of furniture. From this line comes a cabinet (Figure 1) which displays contrast being used at different levels in design including contrast in color, tone, material, texture and shape. 

Figure 2. A detailed close-up photograph of one of the pieces by Löllmann. 

As seen in figure 2, Löllmann highlights the natural tone of the wood from the drawers against the rough white exterior of the rest of the cabinet. The warm color of the wood is highlighted and in a way displayed against the stark quality of the white paint. In addition, the textural quality of the wood versus the plaster-like texture of the rest of the piece of furniture further enhances the differences between the elements of the piece. 

Finally, Löllmann's creation exemplifies contrast through its shape. The geometric quality of the drawer area of the cabinet compliments the organic, ornately designed legs of the piece. By having the legs in a different style, the designer is able to make the object appear more welcoming and less intimidating as opposed to if it was all done in a very geometrical stylization. 

NO USE OF CONTRAST

Figure 3. The MASH Studios LAX Bookcase is appealing, yet quite ordinary due to the lack of contrast. 

On the other hand, when observing the LAX Bookcase (Figure 3) from MASH Studios, one can note that despite the beauty created by the choice of materials and the decision of generating a product in a very minimalistic and geometric manner, the products lack of contrast makes it quite uninteresting and allows it to blend into the background of the walls.

Although such a style might be appealing for some, it is lacking in contrast. The bookcase maintains the same square shape for every one of its compartments. Additionally, it does not integrate color or a different material to highlight a certain area of it. As a result, the product is limited to its practically and fails to opearte as a visually intriguing piece of furniture.

OPTION 1: Movement/ Motion

Industrial Woodworking Corporation's line of furnishing known as Knú focuses on creating contemporary and sustainable home and office furniture. However, what grabs the viewers attention the most is the chosen styling of the furniture. 

 Figure 1. Knú Dining Table #1 appears to be in motion. 

Take for instance the Knú Dining Table #1 (Figure 1), while a normal table's legs sit parallel to the table top, Knú's design is created so that all four legs sit at an angle and all of them point towards the center. This is addition to the slight curve found in the legs of the chairs, create the illusion that the chair is about to jump of the ground. 

This illusion is created due to the familiar position one takes whenever getting ready to jump-- slight bend of the knees that creates a curved-like, angled stance. By having in mind that most viewer's carry this association in their heads, the designer was able to reinforce the implied movement in his pieces of furniture.

Figure 2. Knú Bookcase plays with implied movement through a different approach.

On the other hand, the Knú Bookcase (Figure 2) deals with implied movement but in a slightly different way. Even though the positioning of the "legs" in the bookcase create a similar illusion as those of the table and chairs in Figure 1, in this instance the overall length of the legs in the bookcase plays up the effect as well. Since legs to begin with aren't normally seen in bookcases (let alone seen in such a length) this piece of furniture gives off the notion that it is about to run away. This notion is brought on by the comparison of it's legs to actual human legs. The curvilinear design of them gives them the appearance of being a sort of cartoon character getting ready to escape some sort of chaos.

Images provided by:
http://www.treehugger.com/interior-design/knao-inanimate-motion-in-crisp-sustainable-form.html

DIMENSION, DEPTH, SPACE, AND SCALE

Kids Furniture by Hiromatsu 

In the realm of product design, designers often play with scale and space when seeking to re-invent a well known figure or item. One of these popular items that gets re-invented is kids furniture. 

This is done for practical reasons, as most furniture often proves to be too big for kids. However, when designers such as Hiromatsu apply this principle of scaling down items such as desks and chairs and maintaining a "normal" furniture-like look (in other words, furniture that isn't necessarily made out of bright colored plastic) the illusion is created. 

Figure 1. Hiromatsu kid's table 

As seen in figure 1, due to ones notion of what is the familiar size of a normal sized dinning room table, one might now immediatetly be aware of the actual scale of the product because the space that the product is within does not give the viewer any clues as to its size.  The fact that we often encounter such object as dinning room tables on a daily basis, further establishes our creation of this common scale.

Figure 2. The figures demonstrate the true scale of this piece of furniture. 

However, when seen through figure 2, the scale becomes evident when the two figures are present within a resonable distance from the product (in this case, they are both clearly sitting on it). This could argueably be an example of relative size and familiar size, in terms of the size of the adult and child. 

TONE AND COLOR

Figure 1. Nintendo 64 with game controller and console. 

How Tone is Operating

As seen in Figure 1, the Nintendo 64 utilizes tone in a very subtle but effective manner. For instance, in the design of the console, the areas where the remote controllers are to be plugged in and the area into which the actual game itself goes have been designed in a lighter tone of gray to contrast the darker tone of the overall console. This small but significant distinction allows for the user to immediately identify these key areas and begin playing much faster. 

How Tone is Interacting 

In the console, tone interacts in a very interesting way with the scale of the distinctive areas with a different tonality. In the console for instance, tone acts as an attention grabber for those areas that are found in a smaller scale (in comparison to the overall size of the console) that require the users attention. By using tone to distinguish these areas, the design of the console remains balanced. 

Figure 2. A close up of the Nintendo 64 game controller. 

How Color is Operating

The use of color, in both the console and the controller, are very minimal and only applied to areas when necessary in this original version of the Nintendo 64. As seen in Figure 2, color operates as an indicator of the function of each button. Although the colors are not conventional to the average person, the color choices are based off what is common in the gaming console world. For instance, the use of red as "start".  

How Color is Interacting 

Color interacts the strongest with the use of shapes in the case of the controller. Even though the shapes (circles for the most part) distinguish the areas in which the controller has the buttons needed to be visible by the user, the colors chosen distinguish the function of these buttons to the user. By utilizing vibrant colors in these buttons, the user is able to quickly glance at the controller and distinguish which button it is he/she needs. 

THE BASIC ELEMENTS: Tea Kettles

Color 

Figure 1. The Alessi Signature Kettle with Bird Whistle by Michael Graves, 1985

This innovative design by Michael Graves redefined how individuals interacted with tea kettles. Graves managed to transcend tea kettles not only into a new form, but was amongst the first to integrate color. In the Alessi Signature Kettle Bird Whistle, Graves added two small hints of color in contrast to the stainless steel body-- a blue handle and a red spout.  Graves not only integrates these color elements for aesthetic purposes, but uses them as a way to visually communicate the areas in which the tea kettle is hot (red) and cold (blue).  By choosing unsaturated colors, Grave manages to still push his message across to the user while keeping the design elegant and timeless. 

Movement 

Figure 2. The Oggi Zephyr tea kettle gives of a sense of efficiency through its implied movement. 

As one of the most dominant visual forces in the human experience, the designers of the Oggi Zephyr kettle took advantage of that dominance. This particular tea kettle is crafted with an organic shape that appears to follow a diagonal directional line, giving the product that illusion of movement. It is through the use of these so-called angles-- as seen in the directionality of the spout and the handle doing in opposite directions for one another-- that the designers at Oggi managed to make this basic element quite visible in this product. 

Shape 

Figure 3. Il Conico Tea Kettle, Designed by Aldo Rossi for Alessi 

While most conventional tea kettles maintain a more organic and circular shape, this design by Aldo Rossi features to product in a very geometrical shape-- a triangle. Not only is the visual effect of this powerful because it is attributed as being different, but it is additionally successful due to the clever repetition of the triangular shape throughout the product. The shape is not only that of the overall body of the kettle but it is also found in the spout and the handle. Rossi's choice of a triangular shape additionally fits with this given product because according to Dondis, "the triangle [signifies] action, conflict, and tension".  This visual symbolism also applies to the function of the product-- the pressure of the water builds in this enclosed area to get it to boil-- making the association stronger. 

Works Cited
Bird Whistle by Michael Graves. N.d. Photograph. Alessi. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://www.alessi.com/>.
Il Conico. N.d. Photograph. Alessi. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://www.alessi.com/>.
Oggi Zephyr. N.d. Photograph. Oggi Products. Web. 8 Nov. 2012. <http://www.oggicorporation.com/>.

VISUAL THINKING RESEARCH

For this exercise, I asked my roommate, Lizeth, to complete the puzzles with me. For this exercise we completed the Theobalads Maze and the Cube Ring.

Tehobalads Maze

Lizeth's Work

 

For this exercise, I noted that Liz began to look for a pattern before actually marking anything on her page. She began by following the maze simply with her eyes and then looking at the different entrances and comparing how they were different or similar from one another. From this, Liz concluded that in the maze, all of the entrances lead to the center.
 

My Work 

 

My approach was very distinct, I immediately began trying one entrance and moved on to another without finishing it and instead of trying to see what the different entrances had to offer, I focused on finding the center. I then came to the conclusion that the way in which you entered was appealing to me, because it was sort of done in a concentric manner-- so that you had to navigate through all of the corrdors--  that made the task very relaxing.

Cube Ring

Lizeth's Work

In this puzzle, Lizeth began by counting the number of cubes in each figure, after numbering them off and realizing that the puzzle made it appear that all had 10 cubes, she then proceeded to rely on the rotation of the object to guess that while it appears to be that image C has 10 cubes, there is a possibility that if viewed from a different angle, the image would display an additional cube.
 

My Work 

For this puzzle, I took a similar approach. I too began by numbering off the cubes and then proceeded to analyzing how each figure was the same image at a different viewpoint. After comparing the different figures-- aided by memory and categorizing-- I concluded that due to the fact that there was no cube in any of the other images at that point in the figure, it would appear to be as if though the extra shaded region was an 11th cube.