Design Principles - Final Compilation

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Week 1 - Week 7
2024.02.06 - 2024.03.24

Qistina Nuralya Maria Binti Azly / 0354180

 Design Principles / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Final Compilation and Reflection


Table of contents

1. TASK LINKS

2. FINAL SUBMISSIONS

3. REFLECTION


1. TASK LINKS

1.1 Task 1: Exploration

1.2 Task 2: Visual Analysis

1.3 Task 3: Design


2. FINAL SUBMISSIONS

Task 1: Exploration

After looking over all the 17 UNSDG goals, I decided to choose "Life Below Water".

Life Below Water

Fig. 2.1 "Life Below Water" Goal of UNSDG (Source)

    The 14th Goal of UNSDG, "Life Below Water" refers to the conversation of oceanic and marine resources for a more sustainable future. Due to the worsening effects of ocean warming, acidification, eutrophication, and plastic waste, the ocean is currently in a state of emergency. Furthermore, overfishing is still a worrying trend that is depleting more than one-third of the world's fish populations. 

    As fish are a major part of the Earth's ecosystem, it is imperative that the world strives for a more sustainable future in which the risk of destroying the marine ecosystem is non-existent. Hence why the UNSDG has put forth "Life Below Water" as an urgent goal.

Chosen Design

Fig. 2.2 "Overfishing"
Feliana Sutanto
159mm x 225mm
Traditional Watercolour, Poster

    Overfishing represents one of the main culprits to the worsening of oceanic and marine life. The high demand for fish in a massive portion of the world's diet stands as a reason for why overfishing happens. As stated by Feliana, this poster features one of the most in-demand fish, the Blue Fin Tuna. It properly conveys how disproportionately humans are taking away the Blue Fin Tuna without realising its finiteness. The lone Blue Fin Tuna outside compared to the cramp and crowded Blue Fin Tunas in the net help create the sense of the scarcity left once every other fish is taken away. Hence, I've chosen this design as it properly conveys the faults of overfishing and its unsustainability in the long run; perfectly relating to the "Life Below Water" UNSDG goal.

Design Principles present:

  • Emphasis
  • Contrast
  • Balance
  • Repetition
  • Hiearchy
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Task 2: Visual Analysis

Observation

This poster is in a portrait format. In the upper right/upper half of the design is a big net with overcrowding fishes and a few stray sharks, stingrays and shrimp caught in the mix. In the bottom left/bottom half is a lone fish accompanied by the phrase "How Am I Expected To Survive?" along with text of a quote and organisation at the very bottom. Overall, the style of the poster is simple and uses blue and slightly green hues to represent the ocean surrounding. (87 words)

Analysis

This design is balanced as it follows the "Golden Ratio", starting from the lone fish and expanding outwards. The lone fish becomes a focal point (emphasisbecause it is white against the blue-hued net and the surrounding water. The text to right of the fish helps to also guide the viewer's eyes towards the congested net. The repeated designs of the same fish within the net helps to create the "congested" or "crowded" feel which highly contrasts to the single fish outside in the empty ocean. The sizes of both subjects and text create hierarchy whereby the illustrations are the main focus followed by the small text in the bottom left. (116 words)

Interpretation

Fig. 2.3 Image A - Character Design and Children by Luke Scriven (Source)

Fig. 2.4 Image B - Children's Book Art by Rรฉka Kovรกcs (Source)

This poster is of advocacy to a sustainability movement in Green Peace made by Feliana Sutanto. To me, this poster reminds me of something a person would find in a children's book illustration with its sketchy style and watercolour medium. Since those kind of illustrations need to be illustrated properly to effectively convey a message (Chhabria, N., 2023), I feel like this style is good for this poster since the negative message of overfishing would be easily digestible by any audience. As seen in both Image A & B, simple watercolour-styled children's book illustrations can still convey plenty of emotion (curiousity etc.). The simplicity of the style also helps to convey the innocence of the Blue Fin Tuna, showing that they don't have a choice in the slow eradication of their species caused by overfishing (WWF, n.d.). (137 words)

ReferenceChhabria, N. (2023, September 15). The Power of Visual Storytelling: Exploring illustration in children’s books. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-visual-storytelling-exploring-illustration-books-chhabria - Bluefin Tuna (n.d.). World Wildlife Fund. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bluefin-tuna

(Total no. of words: 335 words)

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Task 3: Design

TitleReel Dilemma

Fig 5.1 Final Design Outcome.

Rationale

    My chosen artist's work was a digital and in a watercolour children's book style. Hence, I decided to follow suit with that style. However, I made some changes in how I drew the fish to give them more emotion by making them seem more human-like. Additionally, I went for a more dynamic composition with my design to really attract people with its message. This artwork is meant to directly question the morality of overfishing, which is a main concern of the UNDSG goal "Life Below Water". By humanising the fishes, people are more likely to sympathise with the message and help in the cause. Regarding the design principles I applied, the lightness of the two fishes contrast with the dark and desaturated surroundings. Furthermore, the composition of the fishes reaching out create sense of movement and urgency. The lines of the fishing net also help emphasise the main focal point of the design that being the fish. Lastly, a portion of the design follows the Golden Ratio rule creating a balanced look. Overall, my artwork aims to not only visually engage viewers but also provoke thought and action toward addressing the issue of overfishing.

[194 words]


3. REFLECTION

    Throughout this module I learnt more in-depth about design principles. In my previous semester, we touched a bit about design principles during some of my modules but it was very brief so I only had a general idea of it. Now though, I'm glad to have learned about it more. 

    Out of all the tasks, I definitely liked creating the design part the best. Having creative control over my design made me excited and I looked forward to composing everything into what I envisioned to be "perfect". My design outcome was not "perfect" per se but I'm satisfied with it. Speaking of liking though, researching was a bit of a "drag" to me since my attention span flew away every time I tried to research. It wasn't that bad of an experience really; I just personally struggled with it a bit so it wasn't my favourite.

    I learned that I should try taking rests in-between doing my assignments because there were times I experienced eye strain and it was very disorientating, would not recommend ;-; I also feel like I definitely was more productive in class than I was at home because of the class atmosphere. I'd say the way I approached assignments has also changed slightly for the better through out these 7 weeks (for the better) like I never really thought negatively of the assignments as much as I did for previous semesters' assignments. Unfortunately though, my procrastination is still present so that journey is still ongoing.

    To be honest, I feel like for me to really enjoy a module is to have more time with it. So, this module being in a short semester didn't really let me feel into it that much unfortunately. Other than that, this module had a bit too many people in the intake so the classrooms felt a bit cramped and also time I had to ask my lecturer for feedback was very short. My classes were in the afternoon so having many students asking for feedback and staying past class hours for feedback seems a bit tiring for both students and lecturers. In the future, maybe try resolving this? (I'm not really sure how but it's something I think could be improved on)

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