Helvetica

Picture from http://www.antsmagazine.com/2009/03/77-inspiration-typography/]

This blog is a movie review project for 2D design class. We watched the Helvetica movie last Tuesday. It is a feature-length documentary about typography, graphic design and grobal visual culture. The movie was produced and directed by Gary Hustwit and the story was told by some of the most illustrious and innovative names in the design world, including Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, and Lars Müller. (http://www.helveticafilm.com)

Helvetica is a type of San Serif font. It has become a part of our life for more than 50 years. I think it's like a street typeface that we’ve seen everytime and everywhere before we know its name though. In my opinion, I pretty like it and I think it’s a good typeface to use in many occasions because it looks simple, clean line, and neat. It’s very important to select the typeface to communicate our idea. The message can be changed only if the typeface is changed. This font can be used in many purposes because it’s neutral and not too prominent. Moreover, the shape and line of this typeface are easy to read and proper to be used for formal communication.

There were a lot of graphic designers interviewed in the movie and most of them are significant people in design field. I've learned many things from each of their experience via the movie content. I like Rick Poynor's statement that "type is saying things to us all the time...typefaces express a mood and atmosphere." And also agree with his point that graphic design is the communication framework through which these messages about what the word are now, and what we should aspire to. In addition, I like David Carson's style. I like the way he's learned things and applied to his work. He experimented himself and trial and error things, they've finally become his identity.

More than a half-century of Helvetica to have been used in many industries around the world, it’s become the most powerful contemporary typeface. Any reasons from graphic designers interviewed in the movie could be summarized that typefaces controlled the message and Helvetica was the most successfully typeface that perform this duty. People choose Helvetica because they want to look normal and need efficiency communication. Maybe they don’t want to take any typographic risks for their corporations. Hence, Helvetica is classified in a group of modernism like pop-art because this typeface is broadly used and it is everywhere. Now, Helvetica is more than a typeface, it is a culture. And it brings about people who either love or hate it. I would recommend this documentary to design students who need to be involved with typography either way. They would get a lot of information and views about typefaces so that they can apply this knowledge to their work someday. 

Assignment # 8

I've just done the online assessment game from

http://www.thecolorblindphotographer.com/2008/10/03/test-your-color-vision-with-x-rites-online-100-hue-test/

I got 4 points for the color vision test by Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test.

Assignment #7

            This is an internet project that I need to analyze the color and composition of Claude Monet’s pictures from Paris Web Museum's gallery of Monet's Houses of Parliament series. (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/parliament/)

Claude Monet, a French painter who is often regarded as the most prolific of the Impressionists spent most of his career experimenting with the use of color to simulate light, so his paintings are significant to color study.

The site contains four images of the Houses of Parliament as seen from his window, captured at various times of day and during various weather conditions.

1.    The Thames at Westminster (Westminster Bridge)

1.1) Monet used only a few colors or limited color palette on this painting. The color scheme he used was a split complementary palette. He painted the tree and the river with dark green and light green (two adjacent hues) and painted the sky with red-orange (opposing hue). However, he reduced the saturation of these background colors by adding some black. This scheme made visual connections within a composition and created harmony through a balance of opposing forces. Moreover, he used black to make the shades for the bridge and the Parliament. The foreground, timber pier, was the darkest and clearest part, so it stood out above the others. 

1.2) This painting contains mostly dark value, so it creates a dense or heavy emotion to the picture.

2.    Houses of Parliament, London, Sun Breaking Through the Fog

2.1) Monet used many colors or broad color palette on this painting. The color scheme he used was a Tetradic palette or Double complimentary palette that referred to the relationship of two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition. He used red orange – blue green and yellow orange – blue purple to create contrast to his painting. It’s difficult to balance or harmonize because four colors were used in equal amounts. Besides that, there was no image in particular that stood out above the others because he used every hue in similar saturation.

2.2) This painting contains cool and warm colors in opposition on the color wheel, so it seems to create visual tension. Moreover, high saturation and value of each hue make this painting be warm in temperature and create conflict in emotion.

3.    Le Parlement, Effet de Brouillard

3.1) Monet used only a few colors or limited color palette on this painting. The color scheme he used was a Monochromatic palette that referred to having a single hue and its variations in terms of tints, shades and saturation. He used this scheme to make harmonious in appearance by painting only one hue (blue) in brightness and darkness. There was no image in particular that stood out above the others because every hue on the picture was similar in saturation.

3.2) The main color of this painting is blue, so it creates cool temperature and conveys calm emotion.

4.    Houses of Parliament, London

4.1) Monet used only a few colors or limited color palette on this painting.  The color scheme he used was a split complementary palette. He used two adjacent hues (blue and purple) together with opposing hue (yellow). This color scheme created harmony through a balance of opposing forces. The building in this picture stood out above the others because Monet chose to paint it with darker color than the background.

4.2) This painting contains cool and warm colors in opposition on the color wheel, so it seems to create visual tension. The dark color also conveys a dense or heavy emotion.

P1_p5

<<Picture from http://www.flickr.com>>

To create this final blog, I need to think about what I have learned from the project one (blog design 1-5). And I’m going to tell you project by project.

Blog post # 1 Work personality assessment

            I think this blog is like a starting point for me to understand more about my nature and working style first. It is a basic step to help me evaluate myself with my favorite job’s nature later on.

Blog post # 2 Ideal job

              This is a second step that should be considered. I started to think about my ideal job based on my interest and personality that I learned from blog post # 1.

Blog post # 3 Five favorite jobs

            After I came up with some ideal jobs in mind, I was required to find out more information about those industries such as salary, job prospects, and growth.

Blog post # 4 Interview

            It’s an important step to learn from someone who is working in the real world. Thus, I interviewed a professional person in the career that I was interested to get some more ideas from his point.

Based on my findings and interview so far, I learned more about my favorite job’s description and its qualification. This information doesn’t make me change my interest to be a graphic designer. And I also learned that I need to practice more and more to prepare myself before getting to the work competition world.  

P1_p4

This is my 4^th blog post for 2D design class. I need to find out some more information about my interest (Multimedia design) by interviewing someone in this career. Based on my research thus far, I made contact with a professional person in multimedia design field to get some ideas about this industry. His name is Kareem Bacho. He is working for Sapient Corporation in Virginia as a senior web consultant. He has been working in this field for 14-15 years. I made contact with him via my friend who used to work for him as a freelance graphic designer.

Mr.Bacho, the person who I interviewed, has experienced in this field especially in web design field for over decade, so he found some changes in this industry pretty much. He said the important change was a user interface. He couldn’t explain why, just said “Play X-Box! You will see”.

He said he was a technology man and this job energized him to work. Thus, he really likes his job. He believed his qualifications towards getting the job were his degree in Communication Arts and Graphic Design and also his interest in file sharing and the internet.

Besides that, he showed his point on the career growth that the online business was the main factor. “Job growth is available in all areas of online business. Those who get online first, stand to benefit from popularity,” he said.

Finally, he told me a little bit about what training we need to maintain our job. He said, “…regular training is required, tutorials, exposure to new technique within your specialty as well as project experience.”

<<Picture from www.sapient.com>>

P1_p3

This is the third blog for 2d design class. It’s a good time for me to come up with an idea about interesting jobs in multimedia field that I want to get in. It would be great for me if I get a chance to work in any one of my favorite jobs below;

1. Graphic designers / Graphic artists

The nature of this job is planning, analyzing, and creating visual solutions to communication problems.
I'm interested in graphic design for mass media field such as print design, poster design, packaging design and web design. These jobs are growing continuously especially in digital age. They are more and more important in mass media and other fields to communicate visual messages to customers. The opportunities to be employed and grow up in this career tend to be in the big city. Therefore, I will try to make a chance for myself to get into this field.
Job prospects:  Employment of graphic designers is expected to grow 13 percent from 2008 to 2018. Many talented individuals such as Web design and animation will have the best opportunities to be employed and graphic designers with a broad liberal arts education and experience in marketing and business management will be best suited for positions developing communication strategies.
Salary: According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts, average annual wages for graphic designers were between $26,110 and $42,400 in May 2008 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $74,660. Median annual wages in the industries employing the largest numbers of graphic designers were Computer systems design and related services.

2. Photographers

The nature of this job is producing and preserving images that paint a picture, tell a story, or record an event.
I like either fine arts photographers or commercial and industrial photographers. I know it sound strange though, but I really love to work on both creative and commercial jobs. However, I'd rather be a freelance photographer and work full time for graphic designer if I get a chance. 
Job prospects:  Photographers held about 152,000 jobs in 2008. Most of them work in portrait or commercial photography studios. They likely to be employed in metropolitan areas. Employment of photographers is expected to grow 12 percent over the 2008-18 period. Growth of digital media will require increasing numbers of commercial photographers to provide digital images. Related work experience, job-related training, or some unique skill or talent—such as a background in computers or electronics or knowledge of a second language—also improve a photographer's job prospects.
Salary: Average annual wages of salaried photographers were between $20,620 and 43,530 in May 2008. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $16,920, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $62,430. Median annual wages in the photographic services industry, which employed the largest numbers of salaried photographers, were $26,160.

3. Multimedia artists and animators (motion picture and video industries)

This position is on the production process of the motion picture and video industries. Through their imagination, creativity, and skill, they can create anything required by the script. These workers must be familiar with many ways of achieving a desired special effect, because each job requires different skills. Computer skills are very important in this field
I'm interested in motion graphic design in multimedia field such as movie, music video, and advertising. When compared with graphic design job, the rate of growth was similar.
Job prospects: Employment of the motion picture and video industries is expected to grow 14 percent between 2008 and 2018. Opportunities will be better in some occupations than in others. Computer specialists, multimedia artists and animators, film and video editors, and others skilled in digital filming, editing, and computer-generated imaging should have the best job prospects.
Salary: Earnings of workers in the motion picture and video industries vary, depending on education and experience, type of work, union affiliation, and duration of employment. In 2008, median hourly wages for Multimedia artists and animators were $.31.54

4. Commercial and Industrial Designers

The nature of this job is combining the fields of art, business, and engineering to design the products people use every day.
This is another job I'd like to be. As I told you that I'd like to work in design field for entertainment media, I found out that there is a job in commercial and industrial design field related to my interest. Due to the higher marketing competition in entertainment media field, product designers are more important to create innovation in media products either functional or emotional, for example, design and create music player like ipod. 
Job prospects:  Employment of commercial and industrial designers is expected to grow 9 percent between 2008 and 2018 and can be affected by fluctuations in the economy. Commercial and industrial designers held about 44,300 jobs in 2008. The best job opportunities will be in specialized design firms which are used by manufacturers to design products or parts of products. As the demand for design work becomes more consumer-driven, designers who can closely monitor, and react to, changing customer demands—and who can work with marking and strategic planning staffs to come up with new products—will also improve their job prospects.

Salary: Average annual wage-and-salary wages for commercial and industrial designers were between $41,550 and $76,700. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $31,400, while the highest 10 percent earned more than $97,770.

5. Public Relations Specialists / communications specialists / media specialists

The nature of this job is an organization's reputation, profitability, and its continued existence can depend on the degree to which its targeted public supports its goals and policies.
This is another interesting job in media field. Moreover, the growth of this career is pretty high when compared with others.
Job prospects: Employment public relations specialists is expected to grow 24 percent from 2008 to 2018. They held about 275,200 jobs in 2008 and mostly in service-providing industries. Public relations specialists are concentrated in large cities, where press services and other communications facilities are readily available and where many businesses and trade associations have their headquarters. For example, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Opportunities to be employed should be best for college graduates in related field or related work experience. And competitors who possess additional language capabilities also are in great demand.
Salary: Average annual wages for salaried public relations specialists were between $38,400 and $71,670 in May 2008. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $30,140, and the top 10 percent earned more than $97,910.

<<picture from http://www.destination360.com>>

Source: http://www.bls.gov

P1_p2

Second blog for 2D Design class, I need to think about my ideal job!!

First of all, I’d like to tell you a little bit about my career background, then you will know what brought me here. As I posted on P1_P1 that I came from Thailand, I graduated in Mass communication. After that I had been working for a film company as an executive promotion officer for couple years in my country. My main duties were creating copy write and communicating direction to promote company’s movies via our sources and media. I had to deal with graphic designers all the time to find out appropriate ways on the artworks and then presented them to our company’s sponsors. My interest in this field started from that time on. Although my job experiences were related to Multimedia field, I didn’t have much knowledge in design. Thus, I decided to leave my hometown and came here to learn and get more experience in this field. Then, I’d like to go back and set up a small graphic design company in my country as I hoped.

My ideal job is something about graphic design, multimedia design, or advertising design. I’m interested in design for entertainment media especially music and movies. I’d rather work on creative design than programming or others because I don’t like coding as much. I can work well with computer-based jobs. I think most creative jobs require us to be fluent in computer software related to the career and we can also find out some ideas and inspiration for the job from internet as well. I actually prefer working alone but I think some graphic design jobs need to work together with other people to make the project done. That's fine for me too. If my job were a web design and I were not good in programming or photography, I would absolutely need to work with programmers or photographers in some cases.

If I get a chance to work in the US. I would be happy to be either freelance, agency worker or corporate employee. It would be very good experience for me to create my own business in this field in the future. By the way, I think the starting annual salary minimum $30k-36k would be acceptable according to the standard rate for non-experience graphic designer or multimedia designer like me. The average starting salaries for creative jobs were revealed that graphic designers (exp.1-3 years) earn $34.5k-49.25k / year while multimedia designers (exp.1-5 years) earn $50.5k-75.25k / year. See more details http://www.creativegroup.com/Salarycenter

<<picture from http://www.sxc.hu>>