Core Concepts- Exercise 9: Seeing the light
Exercise 9: Seeing the light
Using only an image of a light bulb, the word ‘light bulb’ and a block of colour of your choice create different designs that explore visual dynamics – as the kitten designs shown in the previous project. Think about your compositions, trying each element at a different sizes and cropping your photo. Your block of colour can be any size, so use it fully to create a sense of space in your composition. Think about layering your visual elements to create depth within your designs and think about contrasts. Be playful within the rules set, creating as many different designs as you can. Edit these down to about 20 designs that you feel represent the breadth of different approaches you have explored.
I began this task by creating some thumbnail images of the block of colour, lightbulb and lightbulb text. I began quite ‘simply’ and became more abstract with my ideas as I continued. I then felt like I should transfer into Photoshop to test further and see the actual images/texts to see what other ideas with composition I can formulate. I was unsure of which colour block to choose, something that stood out well against the background, initially I thought of yellow as that is associated with light. I tested with different colours, and decided to go with a red as it stood out well. For the font, I went for something simple and ‘easy’ to look at, ‘Helvetica’ is a font I feel works well, and doesn’t take away from the importance of composition for this task. I decided to go with Helvetica inspired from making my way through 'the calligraphy section in ‘Graphic Design: A User’s Manual.’
I began to test different compositions in Photoshop and started simply. I began by placing the lightbulb in the middle of the page and working around it aiming for aesthetically pleasing images, as I continued to test I became more abstract with my thinking. I decided to spread this task out over the space of a week, and just add a few every day to try and be as varied and interesting as possible, as opposed to completing the task all at once in one frame of mind and producing potentially less interesting outcomes.
Final 20:
I enjoyed this task, being limited to just 3 elements and focusing on composition forced me to think more creatively. This task gave me many ideas for future pieces composition wise, and maybe this is a good exercise to do when I think im ‘finished.’ Breaking down the work, especially collage work, and trying again with a different composition could create better or different results.
