OUGD405: End of module self evaluation.

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? I think that first and foremost I have learnt to take the time to really research into my subject, and use this research to inform my design decisions. I have thought more about what media, ideas, formats are appropriate for the pieces of work I am completing, I think this shows particularly in the 3 week brief we completed. I have become more ambitious with materials instead of staying away from them, experimenting with a varied range of stock, including acetate and printing ribbons. I have explored functionality more within this module, learning that first and foremost design must be functional and well communicated in order to be successful. I have also learnt, that when designing, I should keep the brief close by as a constant reminder of my aims, and to not stray away from the brief and design a product that although may look great, does not stray away from the brief, which is useful for work in the future working to the clients wants. What approaches to/methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process? I have developed working with print in this module, mostly digital print. I have experimented with printing on alternate materials, some which I have found successful and can be used for future projects. I have took an approach to design that is much more well informed to previous work I have completed. I have learnt to research a subject widely, often going off on tangents as this may inform my original research subject. I have also looked into more possibilities of design, drawing up initial ideas, and freely changing these to reflect feedback that I have been given by my co peers and others involved with graphic design. I have created mock ups and experimented printing on different paper stock, where as before I would automatically stick to a stock I was comfortable with using. I think the experimentation and experience of working with other materials through the module, and the methods such as vast research is making me into a more well rounded designer. 3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? I think something that shows in my work is a large sense of thought, from being handed the brief to submitting work. I think my main    strength that has appeared in this module Is my want to be more knowledgable. I think that for each brief we have completed I have a strong breadth of research which has essentially underpinned everything we have completed in this module. I also think that I have managed my time better, although the 3 weeks that we had also allowed my to complete ongoing work, It also gave me the time to really cull my research, experiment, and evolve within the brief, fulfilling it to a point where I was quite happy with what I have designed. As a pose to other briefs where we would, research, experiment and design within a week. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? I think that I still need to experiment with other materials, I would have liked to try screen printing during this module however I stuck with using digital print as I know this is what I am comfortable in using. I think towards the start of the module there is a lack of wanting to create more than one possible outcome – initial designs, however towards the end of the module I have designed more freely and designed a range of design outcomes. In order to combat these issues in the future, I would book time slots effectively for screen printing, leaving myself enough time to iron out any mistakes that may arise, and for thorough research and planning. I will also plan out a time scale in which I can complete the three week brief in a shorter amount of time, to ensure that I can work to shorter deadlines more effectively, for industry and the rest of the year/course. 5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Try out screen printing – gaining another skill in print and becoming more considerate to other printing techniques. Experiment with hand rendered ideas and then import these into adobe for further visual investigation to create a broader range of technique, as hand rendering is also one of my strong points. Experiment with stock effectively early in the process, so that I can decided the pallete of colours and text etc, appropriate to the stock. Create a process in which I can complete the thorough 3 week brief in a smaller time scale so I am more prepared for industry. To practise and work more with photoshop to gain a wider knowledge on how to edit photos, so I can work more comfortably with the program and also use my own photos for work where possible.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

(please indicate using an ‘x’)

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					x
Punctuality					x
Motivation				x
Commitment					x
Quantity of work produced				x
Quality of work produced				x
Contribution to the group				x
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is    essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

OUGD404: Colour theory part 4.

To begin the session we presented our colour experiments we had created in pairs to a small group of students. 

We were then asked individually to make a list of 10 questions, which we would search to find the answers to as an ongoing research journey into colour theory. My questions were:

1. What is the difference between tone and hue?

2. What is additive colour?

3. How do you use a pantone swatch?

4. In what light is a colour, its original colour?

5. How do you tell if a colour on the borderline is for example yellow or orange?

6. When can complementary colours be used successfully?

7. How do you swatch a colour in RGB mode?

8. What is the rule of using pure black against white on screen?

9. Is grey classed as a colour or a shade of black/white?

10. How many colours is the limit to use for a good piece of Graphic design?

We then came up with a set of questions in a small groups. Once we had written a list of 5-10 questions, we rotated lists clockwise around the groups so we were left with a different set of questions. Each group must work over the week to answer these questions in preparation for the next session. Myself and Sophie Abell decided to take 5 of our groups 10 questions each to cover them all between us. I answered questions 6-10. 

6. Does Tone effect the temperature of a colour?
The experiment I have done below also answers this question, when the colours below have been desaturated, orange the warmest colour on the colour wheel and blue, the coolest have equal amount of warmth. I have also desaturated blue, in different tones, one dark and one light and when desaturated they both have the same amount of warmth. Therefore there is not affect on temperature. 

It is infact hue that would have an effect on the temperature of a colour when altered. 

7. Is it possible for a colour to be warm if it is desaturated?

When I first thought about this question I would have assumed that when the warmest colour on Johannes Itten's colour wheel, Orange, was compared with its opposite shade of blue, the coolest, that even when the colours were desaturated the orange would still appear warmer and the blue, cooler. However I found that when I did an experiment in photoshop that I had different results. 

Here I have created an Orange square, the warm colour, and two blues, which I would use to distinguish whether tone affected the warmth of a colour. I have then taken a fourth square which i have filled with a mid grey. 

I added an adjustable layer to the orange and blue boxes which I turned the saturation down to 0. 

I left the grey box unsaturated so i had something I could compare the warmth to.

It appears that when the colours are desaturated they all have the same amount of warmth, however they differ because of their contrast of tone and contrast of extension. The pale blue appears to have taken on more warmth when it is desaturated.

I would say that it is possible for colours to be warm when they are desaturated, however I would also say that there is a constant warmth to all colours when desaturated, and this does not change from colour to colour. 

8. Can complementary colours be balanced (Contrast of extension)?

I did not understand this question and so I will suggest it in class. 

9. How would simultaneous contrast be used?

'Two colors, side by side, interact with one another and change our perception accordingly. The effect of this interaction is called simultaneous contrast. Since we rarely see colors in isolation, simultaneous contrast affects our sense of the color that we see. For example, red and blue flowerbeds in a garden are modified where they border each other: the blue appears green and the red, orange. (This is explained below.) The real colors are not altered; only our perception of them changes. This effect has a simple scientific explanation that we will uncover.'

quote

This website also give a great example of how simultaneous contrast could be used in relationship to evoking emotion.  Below is an image of Van Goghs 'Night cafe in Arles'

Image

On the website Van Gogh deems this painting his ugliest. He has used these two complementary colours against each other as 'Our sensation is the most intense where two extremes are juxtaposed.'

'I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green.'
'Gogh exploits the psychological capacities of colors to arouse emotions, here intentionally creating a jarring unpleasant sensation for the viewer.'

10. How do you make gold and silver?

To get gold and silver colour for print you would quote/use a swatch from the Coated Metallic formulae pantone guide. 

The code to get gold is Pantone 871c and the code for silver is 877c, these are both with aqueous coating.

To continue the session we looked into colour theory and printing.
We were asked to bring in 5 pieces of printed graphic design, for example, leaflets, labels, carrier bags and posters. 

We then put these pieces of graphic design into piles that defined how many colours had been used during printing. 

We then looked into 4 colour process CMYK printing.

We were asked to then seperate the plies of graphic design material into two piles, the first an optical mixing pile and the second physical mixing. 

We were to use a linen tester to discover if the pieces of graphic design were printed via:

- optical mixing: Layering colours (CMYK) to create a desired colour.

- Physical mixing: flat colour. 

We then looked through the linen tester at the four colour process pantone swatches. 

Here I discovered that the colours in these swatches had been created by a set of small dots one colour.
In order to create a lighter or darker version of the colour, the dots would be moved further apart, infusing more white space and creating a lighter shade. and then minimising the white space in-between the dots to create a darker shade.  

when colours are dense we cannot see the dots, in less dense colours the dots are further apart. 

In YCMB/K optical printing  each of the 4 plates are rotated out of sync so they are offset and you can see the existence of each plate. 

We then looked through the linen tester at the solid coated pantone book.
We found that the colours were physically mixed and flat. 

Although you may find swatches that are similar in colour in both the 4 colour process and solid coated books, they are different due to their process. 

When paying for 4colour process printing we are paying for the set up and the plates, these create most of the expense. 

1 plate makes 25% of the cost. 

using the linen tester and the tint book we also realised that this pantone book optically creates a series of tints through the use of formulae colour printing. 

OUGD404: Colour theory partner experiment.

Following on from the colour theory part 3 session we were set the task to create and record one colour theory experiment in a pair, and then do 10 individual experiments by ourselves. 

For mine and Sophie Abell's colour theory experiment we decided to record the results of all 7 of Itten's  when a series of green objects are put on a green piece of paper. 

Results for tone:
Tone is the juxtaposition of light and dark values.
The pipe cleaner and lid are most recognisable and readable out of the set due to the larger contrast in tone to the paper. The tone of these two products are the furthest away from the tone of the paper on the colour wheel. The candle and tag are less readable because they are closer to the tone of the paper on the colour wheel. 
For example if we take an image of the candle against the paper and change the image to grey scale the tonal values are almost the same.

Results for Hue: 
Juxtaposition of different hues. 
Here if we place the items in order from the largest contrast in hue against the paper to the smallest contrast we can notice that they are in this position because the highest contrast in hues are produced when the colour of the product is further away from the colour of the paper on the colour wheel. The products towards the end of the line, have a smaller contrast in hue as they are closer to the hue of the paper on the colour wheel.

Results for saturation: 

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturations.

When placing the candle upon the paper, the dull olive tone of the candle saturates the paper and makes the colour appear stronger. The paper that was once saturated by the candle, is now desaturated by the tag, because the tag is a more spectral green than the paper. 

Results for extension: 

Formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a colour. Also known as the contrast of proportion. 

When placing the pipe cleaner onto the paper, even though it is a small object it stands out because it has the heaviest weight out of the set of objects. The weight of the pipe cleaner is much heavier than the weight of the paper. Proportionally, although the candle is much larger than the pipe cleaner, the contrast in weight is much less because the weight of the candle is lighter than the weight of the pipe cleaner. 

Results for complimentary: 

Formed by juxtaposing complimentary colours.

The paper bring out the red in the candle because the candle has more red hues than the paper. The pipe cleaner brings out the yellow in the paper in the paper because the tone of the pipe cleaner is darker and further away from yellow on the colour wheel, therefore accentuating the yellow in the paper. 

Results for temperature:

When placing the lid on the paper, the paper appears cooler because the lid is of a warmer green. The lanyard is a cooler green and therefore makes the paper seem warmer. 

Results for simultaneous:

The colour that is placed on the paper wants its complementary to surround it. The pipe cleaner, lid and pen are most obvious. When staring at the lid an orange/red ring starts to appear around it. Simultaneous contrast is less obvious when placing the tag on the paper you can see the red surrounding the tag but it is less obvious because the tone of the tag and paper are light. 

OUGD404: Colour theory part 3.

Colour and contrast. 

The secondary colours of mixing RGB are CMYK and vice versa.
When we see red, we are saying It is the reddest thing we can see. 

Additive colour:
RGB primaries - CYMK secondaries - When RGB are all added together they produce white light. 

Subtractive colour:
CMY primaries - RGB secondaries - when CMY are all added together they produce black/ key.

Light contains different wavelengths in these wavelengths all these colours are available.

The Itten colour wheel helps us to understand the relationship between colours. 

Image

complementary colours are opposite each other in this colour wheel. 

Because of physiological responses, the eyes can be fooled into seeing the full range of physical colours through the proportionate of the 3 colours RGB.

Itten's 7 contrasts.

Contrast of tone

Formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values, these could be monochromatic (single colours)

Yellow has the lightest tone on the colour wheel. 

Blue has the darkest and red is a mid tone. 

The highest contrast we can see in the colour wheel is black and white.

The above images have the same level of redability because black and white are of equal distance away from the mid tone grey on the colour wheel. 

The orange and red have are a small distance away from each other on the colour wheel and so they begin to blend together. The blue on red is easier to read as these colours are further away from each other on the colour wheel therefore indicating a high contrast.

Contrast of hue

The juxtaposition of different hues.

The greater the distance of hues on the colour wheel, the bigger the contrast.

The blue in the first image stands out the most, followed by the red and then yellow as blue is furthest away from white in the colour wheel, this followed by red, with yellow being the closest to white, therefore it stands out the least. 

When the background colour is switched to black the results are reversed, Yellow stands out the most because it is furthest from the colour wheel, followed by red and then blue.

Contrast of saturation

formed by the juxtaposition of light and dark values and their relative saturations.

For example, when we see a blue, we are convinced this is the bluest thing we can see, however when placing a new blue with higher saturation against this, the original blue appears to become de saturated. 

This sequence can be repeated where each blue added appears more saturated than its previous. 

 

The same process can be repeated with other colours. Below the same experiment was repeated with yellow, where any yellow more spectral than its previous appeared more saturated. 

Contrast of extension

Formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of colour. Also known as the contrast of proportion.
Blue is the heaviest - dark. 

Yellow is the lightest - bright. 

When colours stand out from one another they are out of balance, thus creating a hierarchy of visual weights. 

When balancing a light and heavy colour different amounts are needed.
For example, we were shown to create a balance and imbalance.

When considering yellow and violet, the violet tries to jump out from the yellow, when the violet is in one place as a block colour it is easier to look at.

When the violet is split into smaller sections and spread across the yellow, the yellow is then trying to jump out in several places, the composition becomes less bearable to look at. 

Contrast of temperature

Formed by juxtaposing hues that can be considered warm or cool, also known as the contrast of warm or cool. 

Blue and orange are the coolest and warmest colours and are directly opposite each other in the colour wheel. 

In the demonstration we were shown an orange/red. Being quite orange the colour did seem particularly warm. However when I magenta (a cooler colour) was then placed to the left hand side, the red/orange appeared even warmer.

However When a warmer red is placed to the side of the original colour, the red/orange then appears cooler. 

Contrast between warm and cold makes us change the way that we see colour. 

For example looking at the sequence of colours above and focusing on the end blue and the violet/blue to the left of this colour we can see the way in which contrast of warmth of cool changes the way in which we perceive colour.

The left wall of the blue/ violet colour appears darker and much reflects the blue colour seen the the right. However this is just the way we perceive the colour. There is in fact no change in temperature in each individual colour. this can be proved by separating each colour with a black line.

Simultaneous contrast

Formed when boundaries between colours perceptually vibrate. 

For example, when looking at green and yellow, the yellow finds the yellow within the green.

For example in this image, red, blue and yellow have been placed against a mid tone grey background.

The red pulls attracts green from the grey, the purple attracts violet, and the blue, orange.

Complementary contrast

formed by juxtaposing complementary colours from a colour wheel or perceptual opposites

Complimentary colours do not work well when placed together, then often make things such as text hard to read and unbearable to look at. 

The red in the following image is unbearable to look at as it is placed on a green background (its complementary), the blue and yellow are much more bearable to look at as they are not complementary to green and they are closer to green on the colour wheel.