Lecture 2 Notes

LECTURE 2 01/19

TEXTURE, COLOR, FIGURE/GROUND

TEXTURE

- add richness to design

- tells a lot about the object – show don’t tell

- creates a mood

- can add contrast/detail/surface quality

- using opposites (contrast) amplifies each texture

PHYSICAL

- everything you touch has texture

- tactile sensation adds more to visuals

- different materials reflect different amounts of light (glossy/matte)

VIRTUAL

- optical effects of elements in graphic

- many ways to create texture (pictures, drawing, on the computer)

CONSIDER – carbonica website, Van Gogh, textual images, concrete

COLOR

- surfaces absorb certain light waves and reflect others

- color is pretty routine in our lives

- infinite amount of different colors

PERCEPTION

- color is relative to the viewer

- surrounding colors can influence look of other colors

- color depends on the amount of light

- hue/saturation/intensity/tint/shade/value (p. 74 in textbook)

COLOR PRODUCED BY LIGHT (RGB)

- red green blue mixed to white

- real life and on a screen – computer, tv

- additive – you add them together to get other colors

PIGMENTATION (CMYK)

- cyan, magenta, yellow mixed to black

- the colors you deal with when printing

- subtractive

COLOR WHEEL

- primary colors – red, yellow, blue

- secondary colors – orange, green, purple

- tertiary colors – blends of primary and secondary

- complimentary colors – opposites on wheel

- analogous colors – close by on wheel – similar

FIGURE/GROUND

- the relationship between figure and the background

- a.k.a negative and positive space

- separation and contrast

- background is active, consider it

3 MAIN STRUCTURES

- stable – figure stand clearly apart from background

- reversible – pos. and neg. elements attract equal attn.

- ambiguous – challenges viewer to find focal point

CONSIDER – optical illusions where the elements compete for your attention, maps

NOTE – begin thinking about first project, what kind of things interest you and what kind of things would be visually compelling, also DON'T FORGET letterform abstraction project due on Monday