d e s i g n create 4

The assignment for the fourth design create was to create a minimalist travel poster of your favorite or least favorite place. The Rackham building is my favorite building on campus, so I thought I would make a poster in it's honor. 

This was actually a little bit difficult to make mostly because, again, Gimp is so so hard to figure out – there isn't even a tool to make a triangle shape! Some of my corners are uneven and I think the last window on the right is placed a little bit off, but this is only because I could not figure out how to fix a lot of things, even after looking at gimp for so long. Anyways, my process was fairly simple:

1. Fill blue background
2. Make beige rectangle, add same-size rectangles to make the windows, color them gray
3. Make green rectangle
4. Make angled rectangles for sides of the roof by rotating them, color in with blue paintbrush to make seamless (this was the worst part)
5. Add text

Minimalism, Contrast, Repetition and Repetition

I think I have told you before that I am a minimalist.

For this reason, this part of our design unit was especially enjoyable for me. I spent a lot of time looking at minimalist images on flickr, google images, tumblr etc. and I honestly couldn't pick a favorite, so I have a couple example of minimalism that I really like that I will share with y'all.

Allard One on Flickr

airows on Tumblr

artssake on Tumblr

Let's start with the first image. There isn't a lot going on here, but the contrast of the blue and red definitely defines the image. Though it is pretty simple, the bold colors show a perfect example of how contrast can help a minimalist image. This image is compelling because we don't exactly know what is going on - where are these chairs, who previously sat in them, why are they here? From the dark edges and bright colors, we get almost an eerie feeling from this photo - again exemplified from the contrast. The two red chairs also help this image because they gives us one of the main design elements discussed from Williams: repetition. This repetition helps the image by giving it a bold blast of color and, as discussed by Williams, an element of recognition.

The next image doesn't contain much content, but I really enjoy it. Again, this is a prefect representation of Williams' discussion of both contrast and repetition. The same circles, same frame around the words, same font – repetition is a main theme of this image and ties it all together. The contrast is also very obvious. Like Williams discusses, "don't be a wimp about it"; either go big or go home. Don't contrast navy blue with royal blue, but instead contrast red with black, which is perfectly portrayed in this image.

This last image is probably one of my favorites. While there are plenty of different colors in this picture, they are all fairly similar and are repeated throughout the image – each square has (more or less) the same color scheme as the next. There is obviously repetition throughout the image, and this consistency helps bring the image together, once again bringing a sense of recognition to its viewers. The contrast is once again obviously by comparing each square to the next, since the colors contrast and compliment each other nicely.

All of these images are great representations of Williams' discussion of design through repetition and contrast. Each have repetition, or stick to a certain theme that evokes a feeling within the viewer, as well as a contrast that helps keep the image interesting, unique and beautiful.