Good Design and Bad Design

Over the weekend I visited ULTA, (a beauty and cosmetics store) and I caught myself laughing at some of the perfume bottles on display right as you walk in the store. Because of this, I decided to use perfume bottles for my good and bad design comparison. 

Vera Wang Princess

and

Nicki Minaj Minajesty

Both of these perfumes are priced at $50 or more, and were actually found very near each other on the women's perfume display at ULTA. Which indicates that each perfume is trying to target the same demographic, women shopping at ULTA who are willing to fork out at least $50 for 1.7 ounces of perfume. Generally when they group perfume in a store like this, they group perfumes that have the same "notes" together. So that women will pick up multiple perfume in a given section because they all have similar notes but each one is different. These perfumes are also supposed to be, "fun and flirty." 

For these two perfumes, I am going to analyze the light, shape, color, balance and law of simplicity.

Light: 

Princess is in a transparent bottle, and it's kind of hard to see in the picture, but the bottle is actually faceted (like diamonds are) to reflect light and make the bottle look prettier. Minajesty used a mixture of shiny plastic and metallic paint to make it reflective. (and if the sun hits it just right, it might blind you.) 

Shape: 

The Princess bottle is heart-shaped, and fits perfectly in your hand when you go to spray it. The Minajesty bottle is awkward, because you have to take Nicki Minaj's head off to spray it, and the bottle doesn't feel like it naturally belongs in your hand when you hold it. Rarely do I buy a perfume bottle that is really awkward to use. 

Color: 

The Princess bottle's glass is clear, but the perfume itself is purple. The purple with the gold on the crown-shaped lid topper go together nicely and looks sophisticated. Minajesty is a different story, we have gold metallic, pink, black, red, a second gold, as well as silver going on here. In my opinion it's a bit busy when you first look at it. 

Balance: 

Despite the many differences between these two perfume bottles, I believe they are both pretty symmetrical as far as the bottle shape and artwork goes.

Law of Simplicity: 

The overall design of Princess is simple, and it's heart shape, curved lines and facets make it look feminine and sophisticated. While Minajesty is balanced as far as symmetry goes, with all of the different colors and shiny-ness, it makes it look busy and complicated. This makes it look childish and not sophisticated at all. 

Gestalt in Architecture

For this assignment, my group went to the Holland Centennial Commons Building to find examples of Gestalt principles in architecture.
This is my example for figure-ground:

This is my example for the Law of Proximity:

Law of Similarity:

Law of Pragnanz:

Law of Continuity:

Law of Closure:

Contrast, Balance, and Harmony

This year I decided to be my family photographer on our annual Kennedy family beach trip. I was really discouraged with how difficult beach photography is, but I was pleased to see that by the end of the week I had somewhat-mastered Manual mode on my Canon Rebel T3.
So let me introduce to you one of my favorite photos of the week, and probably one of the best pictures I've ever taken.

 I see the contrast in the colors of his swimsuit, eyes, and the water. They are all different shades of blue, but they all seem to connect the picture through colors. These shades of blue seem to create harmony throughout the photo as well, like everything in the frame is included for a reason. The colors also maintain the beachy theme that this photo exudes. I also like the contrast in the depth of field, Jackson is in the foreground and in focus, while the water and sand behind him are blurred. I also like the angle of this picture. He's looking up at me, and so the lower parts of his body become blurred and part of the background almost. In this picture, we're actually standing underneath the pier. So, the light pattern coming through that we can see on the water is from the spaces between the boards on the pier above us. I think this creates a sort of contrast as well between shadows and light, as well as creates an asymmetrical pattern as far as balance goes. I like that there isn't anything symmetrical about this picture because it makes it interesting to look at.