David Tejada Design and Color I
Graphic principles Experience
Design and Color is the kind of class that set the foundation for visual perception, getting the basics of what one wants their audience to see. A design is to tell a story without words, being able to create life with and without color, and make a humble piece demand attention. That is what I expected, or at the very least to learn how simple mechanisms and shapes could help design more ambitious projects, like architecture or motion picture. Of course, I ended up getting something different, and I feel conflicted on whether this difference on what I thought this class would be and what it actually is, is a minor difference or a major one from time to time. When I entered this class, I was surprised that the primary focus was drawing the perfect square. At first this seemed rather strange but I humored it, since it fell with my ideal that grand designs start with small foundations. A small square could always lead to something bigger. Of course, I learned a thing a thing or two prior to commencing my square.
The Professor likened these squares to perspective in advertising. I learned about proper placement, and how to catch my audiences attention by relying on a subtle type of environment, something that gets right to the point of the product in question. It is with this that I found that drawing a square is easy, but a drawing the perfect square requires practice and has its own blueprint for success. So I handed in my square the best that I could, and we moved on to broader subject, such as 3D, Pattern and Rhythm. In the long run the shape that the majority of the class, myself included, relied upon was… the square. The square turned from a menial objective into a trump card as it was the one that allowed the most practice. And it helped us understand when the professor kept emphasizing that she does not do “Too Literal.”
For example, We were tasked throughout this semester to tackle squares and circles in different perspectives, such as 3D. But we didn’t want to just give 3d square or a cube, that’s too blatant and it wasn’t the style that would fit for the goal as a class. No, we wanted to capture our shape in the beginning of its transition, where it can give the perspective of 3D without being “In your face” about it. and of course, this initiative extended into other projects such as rhythm and pattern. We wanted to focus on the commencing of the shapes working in harmony with our ideas, and so it may just look like squares to the untrained eye, but it is a statement to artists with a true grasp on what art truly is.
Of course, time went on and many students have made great stride in perfecting their shapes, with factors such draughtsmanship and margins. Our measurement skills increased, so much so that many were able to tell if a shape was misplaced by even a 32nd of an inch. We made progress without even realizing it. With so much practice on the black squares, we had shifted, though not without struggle for some more than others, into the format of using designer gouache. We finally entered the phase of personal design.
This is it. Our chance to show our true colors through our own narrative. We each had to make our own take on going green, being tested on making a story with the principal of Bauhaus (Less is more), and overall making a design that will immediately understand without inconveniencing the mind in any way, shape or form. A clashing of great ideas are in the works and one can feel the strive for perfection in the air. Was this what we were waiting for?
And so, with many months of training, it has dawned on me the revelation of the purpose of this class. It is to provide us, the students, with mental preparation for the bare necessities of what makes good design. And so, while I may not have made any grand imaginative designs, I learned exactly what I need to make them. And I believe that that is what this class is about.
