ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing » October 30th: Working with Graphics

October 30th: Working with Graphics

We’ve got a few things to do today, so below is a list:

Graphics

Some of you have been using graphics in your designs very well. As you might have guessed, I’m no artist, so my own designs are more “utilitarian” than say Robin Williams’ designs or some of our more artistic classmates. Tonight I’ll show you a few tricks with Photoshop that deal with manipulating graphics.

How might graphics evoke emotions in an audience or make make appeals to ethos or logos?

Here are some basic things to remember about graphics.

Ethics and Visuals

When creating visuals or, more likely, manipulating visuals, make sure you aren’t distorting reality. I know we all remember Dove’s Campaign for Beauty (could be a commercial before video starts) model’s metamorphosis. Anyone know of other distortions? Imagine this transformation…

Ever heard of “Hitler’s Pope”? Apparently, he never met Hitler, but this picture, through juxtapositioning, makes a case.

This is typical of Washington, DC protests–remember, the camera “frames” the shots. I do realize this isn’t Washington, DC, but it’s typical of protests I’ve seen where the media, because of the limited camera view, make the crowd look bigger. This Web page discusses when to crop for legitimate reasons.

A century and a half of Political photo doctoring or, more accurately, Orwellian propaganda.

While the above might seem like extreme cases, even minor touch ups can be unethical as the book points out. However, not all photo doctoring is unethical, and removing people or appendages that taint photos can be appropriate, and cropping helps focus the reader’s attention. You don’t have to be Stalin to want to remove those who fall out of favor. Let’s take a look at eight-week old Netti.

Photoshop And Mischievous Behavior

In the spirit of Halloween, let’s cause some mischief! I want you to create some graffiti using found images. Of course, you need to be somewhat tasteful considering you’re manipulating an image, but you have some room. Here’s a sign I like to mess with. Here are before and after shots of some digital graffiti on a church sign:

Before

After

Alternatively, (or do both, but don’t neglect Document #3) I want you to doctor an image somehow. I don’t expect you to go to the lengths that Stalin and others did in the ethics discussion above, but, using the “Clone Stamp Tool” in Photoshop, you should remove a portion of an image, and, if possible, add something. Please provide before and after images.

This assignment is part of your webpage grade, so please don’t put up anything that will embarrass you…or me! If you aren’t doing the webpage, upload the before and after to your webpage. Also, if I don’t have your webpage linked to the Classmates Webpages, please e-mail your link to me.

Design for Information Ch. 5

We’ll just hit the highlights, so we can get to our workshop and digital graffiti fun. This chapter is (once again) about maps and focuses on spatio-temporal design. Basically, how do we represent the 4th dimension in two-dimensional spaces?

Document #2 Issues

I’ll return your Document #2 assignments to you tonight, but, because I started seeing patterns early on when commenting, I decided not to write the same things over and over again, so review the list below for more information. Generally, your designs are VERY good. Some are excellent. Your discussion of how your document conveys its intended message, however, is lacking.

Below are a few general issues to consider:

  • Ethos–describe your choices using the vocabulary from the course
    • EVERY SINGLE ONE of you can add more to your discussion (or lack thereof) on ethos
  • Your “feeling” or taste regarding a design element isn’t as important as your being able to describe the rhetorical and/or cultural significance of the element
    • Why do you include what you include?
    • Just because you like something doesn’t mean that meaning, feeling, or perspective is conveyed to an entire audience.
  • Explain your typeface choices
  • If you stray from Robin Williams design techniques (use center alignment and standard fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial), you need to explain why–don’t just write “because I did”
  • Stay parallel
  • Arial vs. Ariel
  • When citing your images from a google search, click “View image” and get a shorter url. Not doing so shows a lack of sophistication navigating the internet.
  • Consider using QR Codes to send users to more information. Guess where the below QR Code takes you? And, yes, that’s the official UNC Charlotte Hexadecimal Green (#00703C).
    qrcode-37402941

In anticipation of your next document, consider the following:

  • Uniform, clear screen shots (paste them in Photoshop)
  • “Basal” text–not the herb
  • MS Word Document look…
  • Stay parallel
  • Use captions for extra-textual elements (Figure X.X)
  • [Color] C=___ M=___ Y=___ K=___

Next week we’ll discuss Ch. 7 in The Non-Designer’s Design Book and cover color in design. In your planning memos, I want you to explain your reasons for choosing colors. Don’t just state what a color means based off some out-of-context web page or your own “tastes.” Instead, you should let me know why a color means what it does. There are several interpretations possible.

  • Why is blue calming?
  • Why is yellow for sickness?
  • Exceptions: Green for environmental stuff and Red for danger or love…those are pretty common, but state that your purpose for choosing them.

Those of you who haven’t turned in these portfolio assignments will definitely want to get them to me ASAP.

Tutorial or Brochure Workshop

Let’s get to it! You know the drill by now. We’ll start at 8:30 pm…even if you’re still talking about tonight’s reading.

Next Week

Make sure you read Chapter 7 on color in The Non-Designer’s Design Book will be for next week (11/06). This RGB to Hexadecimal Color Code Page might be good for next week’s class.

Also, Document #3 is due next week (11/06). Please review the assignments page because a lot of things are going to be due one right after the other.