Wedding Inspirations

For our project we did the web site for weddinginspirations.org

Wizard of Oz- Art Director

Cedric Gibbons
After graduating from New York's Art Students League he worked for his architect father, then started film work at Edison Studios in 1915 assisting Hugo Ballin. In 1918 he moved to Goldwyn as art director and, in 1924, began his 32 year stint as supervising art director for some 1500 MGM films, with direct responsibility in well over 150 of those. He designed the Oscar itself, winning it 11 of the 37 times he was nominated for it. Some of his designs influenced American interiors, and it has been argued that he was the most important art director in the history of American cinema.

According to the book "Let's Go to the Movies!" by Lester Gordon published by Santa Monica Press in 1992, the reason his name appears in over 1500 film credits is as follows: "His 1924 contract stated that every film released by MGM in the USA would give him the credit of Art Director, even though others did the majority of the work."

Practically every film classic made by M-G-M between 1924 and 1956 bears his name as art director.

The Wizard of Oz was one of the first films that began in black and white and finished in color.  

The transition from black and white to color communicates more than just an appearance it is a metaphor for the film.  The story in black and white portrays a time of conflict and the mood is dark and dreary.  The color part of the film has overly saturated colors, the mood is lively and depicts alternate reality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKZbL8pIBM

Composed Frame

When I take a photo I usually tend to frame it with the rule of thirds, I feel like your eye naturally goes to the that point.  I think that framing an portrait with the eyes at the cross section of the thirds draws you into the image and makes it more interesting.

This is an image of my youngest child in the bathtub.  I liked how it brought his big bright eyes to the fore front and shows his personality and demeanor.

Happy Valentines

I have a couple of designs I have done for my kids to give as valentines this year.  This is one I designed for them to give their teachers, it folds over a bag with a heart shape brownie in it.

Design Presentation - Business Card

Bad Design Example:

There are a lot of things that are bad about this business card design, it is hard to decide which element is the worst. 

• The typeface is not only an over used bad font it is scared to be squished together or pulled apart to fit the space.  A better way to fit a font in a space is to work with the tracking of the font.
• The image is hard to decipher and doesn't help the viewer decide what the business actually is.
• The colors of the card are not very appealing and doesn't have enough distinction in between the background and the text, making it hard to read.

Good Design Example:

A business card is your chance to have some kind of staying power with your clients/customers.  If your business card is unique someone is more likely to hold on to it and refer back to it.  Which in turn will keep you in the for front of their mind and bring more return client/customers. 

This business card has many Gestalt design principles:

Law of Similarity: This business card is for a landscape design business, the layout of the card is similar to the layout they make and show clients.  

Law of Proximity: The circles are near each other which makes your eye group them together and when the seeds sprout the plants are then grouped together around the building

Law of Pragnanz: This design is completely at its simplest form it consists of mostly circles and lines yet when you look at it you see a building especially when the seeds sprout.

Contrast, Balance and Harmony

This photo has many elements of contrast, balance and harmony in it.  

Contrast:
The first contrast noticed is the bright blue clothing against the stone of the pyramid. It is not only contrasting in color, the rough nature of the stone and the flowing fabric create a very different feel.  The pyramid is old and stationary while the person is more modern and moving, which creates a very strong contrast.  There is also contrast in the rough stone of the pyramid and the fluffy nature of the clouds.

Balance:
This photo has a symmetrical balance.  The pyramid is very symmetrical in its nature but the color of it and how it is brighter in the middle from the light also lends to the balance of the photo.  The clouds although they are not perfectly symmetrical they help create a sense of balance in the photo.  They help to soften the photo and bring in another blue element so the person is balanced with the color.

Harmony:
The harmony of this picture is subtle, the colors all work well together and create a harmonious feel.  The person in the blue although the color is brighter brings another sense of harmony because of the culture this region.  I think the person shows a harmony between the past and the present.  

Visceral Response

'Cascade Falls in Autumn'  Zion National Park, Utah

by David J. West 

This picture includes the following design elements:

• line- the rocks draw the eye across the image and the trees and water draw the eye up and down in the image
• color- the colors of this image are very warm and inviting
• space- the amount of rock/water to the trees is divided using the rule of thirds
• texture- the texture from the water and the rocks are very smooth while the leaves bring more texture.

I think that all of these elements add to it and contribute to the beauty of this image.  To me this image feels like home, I have lived in Southern Utah most of my life so when I see an image like this I can not think about all the happy memories I have with my family.