Assignment 3

This week's assignment is to tell a story using 8 photos.
PHOTOS: this puts a smile to my face! i love taking photos. haha.
However, as i tried to draft a story in 8 photos, I realise it was not as easy as I thought.
Firstly, it was to come up with a good storyline. Next, I thought of the different frames for my story. Below is the storyboard for my photo story:

I hope you get the twist of my story.
1. Boy is upset after seeing his exam paper. (This photo will probably focus on the boy's sad face)
2. He got 25 out of 100. (will have to try to place the marks using the golden mean so that the marks will be the main focus of this photo)
3. Boy decides to study hard. (look through his books, gathers his stuffs for studying!)
4. He gets all his stuff and settles down. (he places all his stuffs nicely on a table, the boy will probably has a smile on his face, happy that he is all set and ready to study!)
5. Boy is trying to do his work. (switch on his laptop to do work, a front view of him studying hard)
6. Boy is frustrated as he did not know how to do it. (has his hands grabbing his hair, looking frustrated)
7. So he concentrates hard... (a close up shot of him concentrating hard)
8. on playing game. (computer screen showing dota!)

I haven't confirm my frames and taken the photos yet cos I been busy with project datelines and mid-terms. AND I need a M-O-D-E-L too. (though I already know who to approach!:) )
We are real lucky to have the recess week to think about our photo story as well as take all the photos. YAY!

Pictogram

Here's my 15cm x 15cm pictogram to be placed in canteens:My class and jing said that I can try to reduce the utensils to only the essential and I forget to add the directional arrow in previous design!
The utensils were also a little too small in my previous design.
Therefore, I reduce the utensils to the essential, (a cup representing drinks, bowl representing bowls, plates etc, chopsticks representing chopsticks, forks, spoons etc) and I enlarge the 3 items as well as adding a directional arrow. Hopefully, this will allow people to see the sign more clearly from a distance:)
I hope this pictogram convey my message well!

Degree of Abstraction

After much thoughts, I finally came up with my degree of abstraction!
As I was doing my degree of abstraction, I had to keep changing my designs/abstractions from time to time. This is because it was hard to reduce the multiple visual factors to only the essential and most typical features.

1st abstraction: the typical look of the tray returning point
2nd abstraction: remove the chains and nails
3rd abstraction: one trolley instead of two, reduce the amount of utensils
4th abstraction: change the trolley to a simple looking one
5th abstraction: from two levels to one level on the trolley, reduce the utensils to the essential ones only

It was not easy doing this degree of abstraction, from a fairly complicated picture to a simple looking one. It also has to be easily understood by all as well as communicate where the tray returning point is.
This is my 15cm x 15cm pictogram to be placed in canteens to direct us to the nearest tray returning point!

Assignment 2

Assignment 2 is to create a pictogram for NUS community and placed this pictogram within NUS campus.
I came up with many ideas that could benefit the NUS community: ATM sign, canteen sign, study corner, 'places with powerplug' sign, 'please keep quiet' sign.
and I settled with the 'tray returning point' sign because many people has problems looking for where to return their trays. When I first join NUS, I always had a hard time finding the tray returning area. As for now, there are many times when I walked to a farther tray returning area and only realise that there is a nearer one when I was walking back.
I think that with this sign around, it will be much easier for students and staffs to locate the nearest tray returning point (yes, i'm lazy.)

This is a photo of the tray returning point, I will be transforming it into my pictogram:)will be back with my degree of abstraction soon!

ME, MYSELF & I!

Presenting ME, MYSELF & I:

I am Ying & I love nature!

I thinned the outline of my words and added a blue background to it. definitely looks better to me now! :)
really enjoyed my first assignment, the whole process of it.
From creating thumbnails from a list of words to developing 2 full scale rough sketches and then computer graphic my work!
I learned how to use colours, drawings and computer graphic to communicate my name:)

Computer Graphic

Just went for the illustrator workshop, it was rather enriching.
I never realise the wonders of illustrator, creating an image on the computer, adding colours, details. It is really powerful. I am really excited to use my newly learned skills for my other assignments.

Presenting the digital form of my work:

my name is ying and i love nature :)

I changed the design a bit after gathering comments from my tutorial class.

As one of my classmates pointed out that the idea of vegetables gave him the feeling of nature, I decided to play with that idea. I added roots and a soil base to portray the nature feel and I think it kinda works.

I cant make up my mind about which one is nicer.
Hence, I came up with two, one without outline and one with outline, and asked the class for suggestions.
My class prefers the one without the outline and suggested that I add a sky blue background to it. will have to refine it a bit before I am done with assignment 1.

I am really happy with what I did so far.
Before I took this module, I have no idea how to use adobe illustrator and photoshop.
However, just through this one assignment, I starting to appreciate the wonders of computer graphic and I am looking forward to the next one! :)

Rough Sketches

Yesterday was my first tutorial and we were to present our 4 rough sketches and 2 full scale to the whole class.

Here's my 2 full scale rough sketches:
After adding some colours :)I wanted to use the first design as I think its rather cute.
However, jing said that i seems like a cheery person, why do i want to portray myself in such negative light.
The colour of my work is also quite bright, communicating 'like' more than 'hate'.
The wonders of colour to communicate what we want people to know:)
I do have some ideas how to change my design a little to fit ME, MYSELF and I now.
will post soon! :)