Assignment 2 - Less is More

The requirement of this assignment is to create ONE pictogram for a local site – i.e. shopping complex, school, community centre, sport hall, housing estate or national park etc. For the final submission we need process of abstraction, one final prototype and an indicator.

I came out with a few ideas for this assignment. My first idea was to do a pictogram telling bus passengers to move to the back of the bus but I gave up the idea because I found it quite hard to take a photo of the scene. My second idea was about the up arrow sign in the shopping complex. Sometime when I need to find the toilet in the mall, I followed the toilet and the up arrow sign but end up the up arrow sign is telling us the toilet is at another floor. The up arrow sign does not mean walk straight. I would get confused so I was thinking I can make a more clearer pictogram. My third idea was to create a pictogram telling MRT passengers not to lean onto the MRT grab pole when the train is crowded. I decided to choose my third idea and here is my process of abstraction:

The feedback I got for my workpiece is that most of my classmates cannot see the meaning I wants to show. They thought that the person on the right of the grab pole is holding onto the pole instead of leading on it. I think my source photo didn't communicate my meaning well, so I think I need to recapture another clearer photo.

After I had capture another clearer photo, I redo my process of abstraction. During the consultation with the tutor, I showed her my new process of abstraction as follows:

I told my tutor that I chose the 5th picture as my final pictogram. Then she give me some feedback: she suggests that I can choose the 4th picture as my final pictogram because she say it look quite different from the normal pictogram. She also says that I can add more details to the 3rd picture and make my currently 3rd picture as my 4th picture.

After listening to her comments, I edited the necessary things. I also changed the hand holding the pole because I find my previous drawing of the hand don't really look like it had problem holding the pole. Here is my final process of abstraction and the final pictogram:

Class Exercise B (Constructive Criticism Model)

For this class exercise, we need to apply constructive criticism model in evaluating a design/artwork. I choose the picture given during the lecture. Here is the picture:

A constructive model for critique include the following:
- Description: I saw a blue guy in a forest.
- Analysis: The title of the movie is at the top left hand corner, the MacDonald symbol is at the top right, the main subject of the movie is placed at the center and finally all the other details are placed at the bottom. I think the way the things are presented is similar to a movie poster.
- Interpretation: When I saw this picture, I would think that this movie is probably belong to science fiction because human cannot be all blue and with such a long ears.
- Judgment: My first impression on this piece was the character looked a bit fake. I don't think the character matched with the background because it looked copy and paste to me. I found the character's eyes looked a bit weird. I think the success of this piece can be this character looked friendly enough to attract small children.

Assignment 1 - Me, Myself and I

For this assignment, we need to do the following:
- Create ONE design based on the letters of my name, initial or nick name.
- Use these letters to interpret myself through manipulation of letters, use of symbols, shapes and colors (i.e. visual form).
Here are my 4 preliminary sketches (I used the first three letters of my Christan name):


The top left sketch is based on horror theme. I drew it because I liked to watch horror movies. The letter J is someone hanging.
The top right sketch is the food I liked. I think the design is quite obvious. I added a pair of chopsticks above the noodle so that the S won't looked too dull.
The bottom left sketch is based on maths symbols. The divide sign is my J, lesser than and the equal sign is my A and finally the dollar sign is my S.
For the last sketch, as you can see, is on Christmas theme.
After drawing the 4 preliminary sketches, we need to choose 1 from these 4 sketches and further develop them into 2 full scale roughs. Actually I liked the horror theme a lot, but I think it will be complicated if I convert it to a soft copy so end up I never choose it. During the critique session, one of my classmate said he think the maths symbols design is not bad which I also think so. However I never choose it because I scare my final design will be too simple. Therefore I chose the Christmas theme. Here is the roughs I developed:

The top design is the same as the last sketch. For the bottom design, the letter J is the presents falling down the chimney. After my tutorial session then I realized that I drew my J the wrong way. The top present should be at the left side instead on the right. I think the letter A and S should be quite obvious. Based on these 2 roughs, most of my classmates choose the bottom design therefore I decided to developed that into my final prototype.


My final artwork via computer graphic:

One problem with my design is the pink present near the Christmas tree. A few of my classmates think that it is a "I". They suggest me to take away all the presents near the Christmas tree and put some decorations on the tree itself to make it look like an A. The 2nd problem is that they said my rooftop should have some snow on it since it is snowing. The third problem, which I find it the hardest for me to edit, is the way I show my things in the house. Quite a lot of my classmates mistaken that the J and A is outside of the house. Therefore I need to do something on it to make it look like it is inside of the house.

During the consultation with the tutor, she suggest me on the things that I can change. Firstly, I can try to change all the wrapping paper of the presents to a consistent one. Secondly, I can try to make everything smaller and add a background.

After listening to all my classmates and the tutor feedback, I came out with my final design for this assignment. I decided to change my background color to blue which make it look cooler. Scale everything to a smaller size and add a snow background. Since I only had 3 letters which is a bit too simple, I tried to add extra things to my design. i added the flying santa and the reindeer but I didn't make it look dominant since I know that is not part of the letters of my name. I also added some colors inside the house to make it look nicer. Here is my final prototype: