A flower, a freeway, and a photographer

Welcome back! Today we are going to explore design concepts of depth of field, leading lines, and the rule of thirds. We will do this by observing photographs of a flower, a freeway, and a photographer.

DEPTH OF FIELD - THE FLOWER

This first example photograph is a stock photo of a flower that was found on the pixels.com website (https://www.pexels.com/photo/beautiful-bloom-blooming-blossom-369433/). No information is given about the photographer, but this is a beautiful photo that is available for use as a stock photo on pixels.com. This photograph would be excellent for use in any advertising, as the photo is clear, the subject is simple, and the colors are bright. 

This photograph shows depth of field in the way that the flower is in focus in the forefront of the photo, with the background being out of focus. This effect draws the eye to the flower and makes it the primary focus of the photo (shown with the white circle below). The background is not in focus (shown with the green arrow below).

In this photograph of a pumpkin that I took in my front room (below), I have mimicked the look of the flower photo in using depth of field. By placing the pumpkin in focus, the background appears out of focus. This draws the eye to the pumpkin as the primary subject of the photo. 

The white circle below indicates the the subject that is in focus, while the green arrow shows that the background is out of focus. This adds depth to the photograph.

LEADING LINES - THE FREEWAY

For my example of leading lines, I've chosen this photo of a freeway from clipart-library.com. The photograph is labeled "Road #1982891" and was found at http://clipart-library.com/clipart/pTodbB9gc.htm. This photo has an interesting blurry effect that evokes a feeling of movement. The lines on the road, as well as the road itself, create leading lines for the eye to follow toward the horizon. 

Here, I have indicated the leading lines of this photo with pink arrows:

In this photograph that I took in my front yard, I've mimicked the style of the freeway photograph by using the lines in my fencing and the along the road. The lines of the fence and the road/curb point the eye toward the stop sign.

I've highlighted the leading lines in my photograph with pink arrows (below), which show the direction that the eye is drawn toward the stop sign:

RULE OF THIRDS - THE PHOTOGRAPHER

To represent the rule of thirds, I have chosen a photo featured in an article called, "Top 10 Best Free Stock Photo Websites fro Designers" at http://www.timearrows.com/best-free-stock-photos/. The 2017 article was written by Laxmikant, but no further information is given regarding the photograph or the photographer. 

This photo depicts a photographer shooting a photo. The background is very simple. The main points of interest are along the lines that represent the rule of thirds. 

Here I have indicated the lines that represent the rule of thirds in green. I have shown the elements that are along the lines with pink arrows. The subject is the photograph. Other (less prominent) elements are the horizon line and the line of the road on the right side of the composition. 

I have mimicked the style of the photographer photograph in this photo of my daughter holding her digital camera. Similar to the professional photograph, the main subject is the photographer and the background has some horizontal elements along the grid as well. 

Here I have once again shown the lines that represent the rule of thirds in green. The elements that are along the grid lines are shown with pink arrows. The main subject is the photograph. Other (less prominent) elements are the horizontal lines of the painting and the couch. The striped pillow is also an item of visual interest and is along the grid as well. 

It is really helpful to understand design principles and how they can apply to any type of visual media. Understanding concepts like rule of thirds, leading lines, and depth of field can make a big different in how we perceive the things we see. It can also help us to improve our design skills when we create our own work. 

Chef Boyardee - Start the Par-dee

Welcome to the Par-dee! 

Chef Boyardee recently released a new commercial with a music video featuring rapper Lil' Yachty and Donny Osmond. My 2 year old loves the commercial and the song (she sings it non-stop and we watch it together on Youtube sometimes as a treat). I suppose its a pretty effective ad, because I think about Chef Boyardee a lot these days! 

I was hoping that I could find a print ad for Chef Boyardee with some contrasting typography, and here it is! (Though sadly not featuring Lil' Yachty or Donny Osmond!). I found this ad on the artists-illustrators website and the design was attributed to Dan Andreasen. This design has the classic style that you would expect from the Chef Boyardee brand. 

The original design

 

There are several fonts used in this ad, but I'm focusing on the main text section at the top. The most prominent font used is a Sans Serif font in all capital letters. There are no serifs and the type is mono-weight.

The Sans Serif font alternates with the 2nd font, which is a Script typeface. This is identified by the handwritten cursive look of the font. It looks as if it is handwritten to look fancy like calligraphy.

The two fonts that I have identified above are very much in contrast with each other. The Sans Serif font is very plain, mostly straight lines, and bold, especially since it is in all caps. The Script font is the opposite effect - swirly effect, mostly curved lines, and a softer more feminine look. This contrasting Script font is use to add emphasis to the more whimsical parts of the text. 

Reverse Engineering (while hungry) - One Woman's Shocking True Story!

Well, maybe the story isn't all that shocking after all... I was trying to select an advertisement to reverse engineer and all I could think of to search for were foods...then I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch yet! So everything was looking really tasty. I settled on an advertisement for a Blizzard. Then I ate a salad. It didn't taste like a Blizzard at all.

This is an advertisement for the Turtle Brownie Blizzard at Dairy Queen. It is an older advertisement, so I wasn't able to find the designer, but it was used as an official Dairy Queen advertisement in 2012. I found this on the website www.dishblogger.com, which features a blogger's review of this particular Blizzard flavor. 

The alignment of the text is centered, as is the text on the Blizzard cup itself.

The colors used in this advertisement are heavily based in several shades of brown that represent the "turtle" (chocolate, caramel, and pecan) elements of the flavor being promoted. These colors are repeated throughout the piece, including the text, items in the forefront, and on the product itself (repetition of the color scheme circled in green above). The purple background was an interesting choice, but it does provide a brighter background and more contrast than using white or another shade of brown.

The red, white and blue colors of the traditional Blizzard cup and spoon (circled in green above) really stand out in contrast against the rest of the colors in the ad. This makes the cup the focal point of the ad, so the viewer immediately knows that this is a Dairy Queen Blizzard advertisement.

The proximity of the text that indicates the flavor being advertised (circled in green above) is nearest the specific food elements that comprise the flavor elements. The text on the cup (circled in red above) is with the actual product itself, which shows the viewer the final product being advertised for purchase.

This design relies on the repetition of several elements - the colors that represent the ingredients are repeated in the text that advertises the flavor and also shown in the final product Blizzard cup (examples of repetition circled in red, blue, and green above).

Overall, I would say that this is a very effective advertisement. It is eye catching and uses a lot of different design elements in a creative way.