Westport:
Union Station (Crossroads):
Self Evaluation:
1. What is the visual strength of the image/line study selection and pairing? How could it be improved?
I feel that the relationship between the line study and the images work well in all three posters. If the line study could match the heights of the windows in the Business District poster, it would make the pairing even stronger. In the Westport poster, the line study works well with the image because of the darker bricks in the line study. The line study in the Union Station posters are more of a comparison and work well, but the perspective could be improves to match the tracks better.
2. How is the photograph legible, well composed, engaging? How should it be improved?
The angles in relationship to the line study in the Business District posters make the photos engaging. However, in the second poster, the image is too static due to its size in comparison to the white space. The ragged shapes cut out of the Westport photo are interesting, but overall it isn't as visually engaging, because it's so much of the same all over the page. In the second and third poster the angles of the bricks creates more of an active space, but the shapes created in the white space are awkward.
3. Is line quality study well crafted? Where should it be improved?
The line quality in the Union Station posters need improvement, because the lines are jagged and poorly vectorized from the live trace.
4. Is the type choice and placement integrated and appropriate?
For the Business District poster, the plain horizontal type worked better than the type on an angle. To improve the overall placement of the text, I should try to align it better to elements created by the poster. In the Westport poster, the overall type isn't right for the neighborhood and a bit large so I should try to size it to the width of one of the line studies.
5. How does the overall composition dynamically employ principles of scale, framing, orientation, alignment, continuation? How could it be improved?
To improve the Westport posters I should use another graphic element in order to make the compositions more dynamic other than continuation. In the Union Station posters, the tracks create a nice continuation, but are bit disconnected from the line studies. To improve this the scale and orientation of the line studies should be altered.
6. How well do the graphic elements communicate the neighborhood?
In the Business District poster, the angles of the buildings and line studies create an active space in order to communicate the fast pace and ups and downs of business. For the Westport posters, the morphing of line study to brick helps to communicate the revitalization of buildings in Westport.
Partner Evaluation:
Patrick Drake was my partner for the evaluation so to see the images mentioned in this critique please head over to Patrick's blog.
1. What is the visual strength of the image/line study selection and pairing? How could it be improved?
The Nelson and Midtown home pairings are practically identical which makes the pairings both unmistakable and strong. On the other hand, the stop sign posters are more of a comparison, but the organic quality of the line study really imitates the graffiti quality of tagging. Although I understand the pairing, the line study becomes more dominant and the actual lines of the graffiti aren't as apparent. To make the pairing stronger, maybe edit down the line study.
2. How is the photograph legible, well composed, engaging? How should it be improved?
Overall, the approach you took was very minimal so a lot of your images are stripped down, which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as the pairings are visible and you can communicate the characteristics of the neighborhood. For the Nelson poster, the line study and photo are so identical that I can't really tell them apart. They all are very quiet but the lines within the photo and the line study are very active and move your eyes around, which I feel makes them successful.
3. Is line quality study well crafted? Where should it be improved?
The line quality of all the studies are well crafted and the only improvement that I can think of I mentioned earlier about editing down some of the lines from the stop sign poster.
4. Is the type choice and placement integrated and appropriate?
I think the typeface, weight and size are working well. There is a nice balance between, photo, line study and type which have an equal presence in the poster. For the stop sign posters, I know you were having a lot of trouble integrating the type, and I like the approach you were going with the middle poster. Overall you've been using your type as a label which works well in the Nelson and house poster, but in the second stop sign poster I can see you were trying to integrate it into the line study. However, if you do take this approach, I think you'll need to do it in the other two posters for cohesion.
5. How does the overall composition dynamically employ principles of scale, framing, orientation, alignment, continuation? How could it be improved?
In the Nelson posters, I like how you've oriented you're line study and images to create imaginary lines that leads our eyes to the type. Everything in these posters are center aligned, which helps to communicate your concept, but I feel you could play with the space more to make it more dynamic but sustain the concept. For the house posters, the line study itself has a lot of visual vibration and I like how you've aligned the house and the line study in the first and second poster to create continuation of the line study into the shade of the house. In your second stop sign poster, I like how you've framed the photo to place more emphasis on the graffiti rather than the stop sign itself. If you want to keep using the stop sign image for the graffiti maybe find other ways to crop it so the stop sign isn't so dominant.
6. How well do the graphic elements communicate the neighborhood?
I understand that your concept is trying to show Midtown being in the middle, and your communicating that idea strongly in where you're placing your graphic elements, but I don't think that you're allowing your images to speak enough for itself. Your house posters are the strongest of the three in communicating the neighborhood and although you've vectorized the photo the architecture of the home allows you to sustain enough information. The Nelson posters the images are cropped in so tight I don't know where in Midtown the photo is from. For the stop sign posters, all of the stop signs in the last poster have graffiti on them so in order to distinguish the Midtown stop signs from other neighborhood signs, maybe use a clean stop sign and have only the Midtown stop sign be tagged.
1. All three of your posters incorporate the comparison of image and line study very well. The visual representation of three dimensional space is shown very nicely in the union station (crossroads) poster. Also the fracturing of line in the business district allows for a seamless graphic comparison between line studies and image. The placing of the image behind the line study in the third business poster is again breaking the picture plan with dimensional graphics, which is communicating the rushed and speedy nature of the business district.
ReplyDelete2. I agree the westport image is too static which is the direct opposite of the business district which very active. The union station image of the bridge is beautiful (sorry its no longer in the picture[no pun intended]).
3. Overall the line quality is very high, although there could be some minor adjustments in the union station posters curved-dashed line (which have already fixed).
4. The union station type with perspective, is the most successful out of all the posters (all of which are good) it could be a more life like in its perspective, and mimic the line in close proximity. I also think the weight change in the business district typography is a nice moment in the posters. It is not only visual interesting, but also communicates the different moods of the district depending on the time of day or day of the week.
5.Your business district posters all handle the overall framing in very different ways, has a lot of white space while the others are very full framed. Both of which are successful, but I think the top one with the upside down building is the most successful, because of its dynamic communication. I also really like the continuation of the lines from the line study to the bricks in the westport poster. The transition is seamless from image to line study.
6. The motion of the union station really communicates the momentum of the environment. While the westport poster communicates a more historic feel about the area rather then the contemporary attributes. I already stated the ability of the business district to communicate and how successful it is.