Visual Perception 2

This is a picture of my house designed by my father in the east bay; the house is located in Lafayette.  This picture I took myself from the top of the street looking down upon the house.  The mountain you see in the background is Mt. Diablo.  Driving up too the house the structure remains invisible until you crest the hill into the driveway.  The first thing you notice when you drive up is the huge view of Mt. Diablo and many areas surrounding the mountain.  The view is breathtaking and holds your attention for the first few moments then your eye and brain begins to explore the rest of the house.  After the mountain my eye goes straight to the front door, and the glass plate that is above protecting and changing the light that lands on the front door.  After the front glass has been looked over I find great interest in the extremely aggressive green plants in the blue grass on either sides of the front door.  These wild plants give an almost “avatar” feeling.  

            Many of the lines on the house are horizontal so my brain started to connect the lines and make patterns both horizontally and vertically.  The amount of glass that is used is a real eye catcher because of the color differences.  The contrast of the brown metal and blue glass is awesome, as well as the grey driveway.  The contrast helped me a lot to organize what I was seeing for the metal is usually grey but in this case the rust made it brown, an almost wood like color.  With these colors between wood and metal being so similar I was left to look at the differences between the textures of the two surfaces.  The patterns within the building leave my mind to think and eager to see the rest of the house in order to find more and more line patterns. 

Visual perception 1/ Top-down Visual Processing

This is the Porsche 911 GT3RS driving very skillfully and fast through the mountains.  I chose this picture as an example of bottom up and top down visual processing because they’re many great examples to point out.  As soon as I look at the picture my brain begins to find patterns and make ideas happen so that I can further understand what is happening in the picture.  Because I have so much experience with cars I already have background knowledge helping me out in interpreting what is happening here.  I see the Porsche with the unique fin and streamline design and assume that “speed” is what the car is built for.  I see the curvy road all around the car that leads me to believe he is on a long drive through the mountains as there is nothing else around but trees and cliffs.  To confirm all of these assumptions I look at the wheels and see that they’re smoking and spinning, these are all signs of a serious sports car on a windy mountain road doing what it does best.

            When I have started the top down processing my eyes go directly to where the road is going to see what the cars next move will be.  I am interpreting the road and all of the other obstacles around, including rough roads, guardrails and water on the surface of the road.  I also look at the road behind the car to get an idea of where this Porsche has been and to get an idea of how fast the car is moving now and how fast it could have been moving before the turn.

Citation: http://images.pistonheads.com/nimg/21533/PorscheGT3_oppo_wide.jpg

            

Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

In this Porsche I feel that balance was the number one idea they had in mind when designing the way the car looks and feels aesthetically.  They didn’t put any visual stress to one side or the other.  The car feels perfectly symmetrical and doesn’t lead you to get stuck on any one point of the car.  The exhaust ports are located at the same exact distance from the outside edge of the car.  We can draw a vertical axis straight down the center of this and have exactly the same image but reversed.  This balance that is created visually, is also there for a purpose.  Visually balanced cars are usually physically well balanced as well.  With both sides of the car containing the same visual cues makes for the weight of the car to be perfectly symmetrical as well creating better overall handling and stability.

This is the Nissan cube that I found to be lacking the balance that the Porsche had.  The rear window has been moved to the left to eliminate the blind spot.  They took out the structural steel and just put glass there as a replacement.  On the right side of the car the steel has been left alone and there is now glass wrapping around that corner.  This was a great idea in safety for the blind spot is gone, but imbalance was also created when this happened.  Looking at the back of this car I instantly go to the rear window and ask myself what these designers were thinking aesthetically.  Stress is instantly put on both sides of the car and I keep looking back and fourth to try and figure what is going on with the rear section.  This lack of balance that I saw in the Nissan Cube reminded me of this quote from the text, “lack of balance and regularity is a disorientating factor”.  This car that is lacking regularity is difficult to process because different design points and colors on either side of the car put stress on different points making your eyes continue to look for information to find a center.  When that center is never found you are left confused and disoriented by this bad design.  

Visual vs Symbolic Language

Green.

Efficient.

Self-sustaining.

New.

Powerful.

Saving Money.

Stopping global warming.

New Energy.

New way of living.

Technology.

Beneficial to the environment.

This image shows the sun setting over a solar farm.  I get is a warm positive “saving the world” type of feeling when I sit back and look deeper into the photograph.  There are little images towards the bottom of this photograph that have several images of “green” money saving items like florescent light bulbs and wind farms.  In this time of our economy the environment is extremely important to people as well as saving money.  Solar farms and efficient light bulbs are included because that’s what people think will save their wallets, our economy and the environment. 

The sun is a constant source of energy for the earth and everything that is living.  This is why it is the most visually appealing part of the picture.  Your eye instantly goes to the sun because it is the brightest most relevant part.  The suns energy is used through these solar powered fields and also represents green technology.  The suns power can be made into all of these different other types of power that we use today and some of those different ways to use the suns power is shown at the bottom of the image.  The suns power is hard to replace as we have relied on it since the beginning of time, it has been providing its energy, heat and life.  This photograph is formed around the sun; this could go along with any natural energy source.  If we wanted to we could put a dam producing power up in the right and corner or a wind farm.  All of these different sources of energy could be used as the energy in this photograph.

Interactions between 3 levels

Representational

• This porsche is a automobile that has been redesigned and refined for almost 70 years.  This doesn't just represent a car but years of hard work and testing.  This Porsche is not just a car but far more to the person sitting in the drivers seat.  This car represents passion for design and brand passion.  The representation is the more direct "what is it" and its a 2012 Porsche 991.

Abstract

• The sweeping lines that are seen on the cars surface are there to make the car slide through the air. These lines have been tested over and over to achieve the most slippery shape.  The lines also make the car pleasing to the eye, making the car appear like its moving fast even if its just standing still.  The abstraction is more of what you're mind has to figure out as you look at the car, the aesthetics or look of the car plays a huge roll.

Symbolic

• This car symbolizes so much more to me than just a car.  It symbolizes just a small amount of what Porsche has to offer.  Porsche has put its best forward in the new Porsche 991 that was released yesterday at the Frankfurt Auto show.  This car is what they will be judged on and what people will relate to the brand so they have made this car to the exact specifications that all of the designers dreamed up.  This car symbolizes the porsche brand as a whole and all of the hardworking designers, testers and builders who produced this piece of artwork.

WEEK 2 Exercise

Representation:

Here i have a picture of a bike that is being produced by Specialized bikes.  This bike is no normal bike in that it has one purpose, and that purpose is to go down mountains as fast as possible and with as much grace as possible.  The bike is beautifully painted and constructed with sweeping lines and a unique paint job.  This bike represents so much more than a bike or even beauty, this bike represents the power and strength to take on anything that could be thrown at it.  People love there bikes and the shape of this bike or any bike can be altered in so many ways and bring this joy and excitement to them in different magnitudes.  Bikes are in use all of the world and continue to be used as transportation, art and sport.

Abstraction:

Here i have posted a picture of a famous DJ.  This DJs name is Deadmau5 pronounced Deadmouse this shape is easily recognizable to millions of his fans.  The helmet that has been designed after the shape of a mouse head has been stripped of all the real natural things that you would associate with a normal mouse.  The fur is gone, the tail is gone and the teeth are gone.  The simplest form is left and certain features have been strengthened to create a special image for the DJ.  The image that he is associated with is this mouse helmet and it will be recognized for years to come because of its simplicity and power. 

Symbolism:  

This is the symbol that Oakley sunglasses puts on all of its glasses and different products.  This "O" represents all of the accomplishments that have been made by the company since they started producing motorcycle grips and goggles in 1975.  Oakley is known for its quality and advanced technology.  So when people are in the city or out on the motocross track they see this little "O" and all of this quality, technology and history is seen.  The power of the "O" has puts an image in peoples minds with these certain quality and a respect for the company is seen.  The Oakley "O" is a nationally recognized symbol that does not require any words or descriptions to understand.