The visual learner likes to see information,and best remembers it if written down. In this visual category, there are two sub-channels, (1) visual linguistic, and (2)visual spatial. Visual linguistic is to easily identify with the written word, and can remember the words even after only seeing them once. Visual spatial learners, learn from seeing demonstrations, diagrams, graphs, and any other visual material. Kinaesthetic  learning is by touching, or the hands-on approach. Auditory learners gather information by hearing and discussing.

Learning styles

The learning channels are only the first part of the, so called “learning styles”. The other styles are: Cognitive strengths (how we commit information to memory).  Manner or Style of learning (how we process information, to understand it). Personality type influences (the way your personality effects your learning process). Types of learning behaviour (the different types of intelligence).

Typography

This is my Typography picture. On my left shoulder, it shows that I am, maybe not a too mature student, but technically so.

Drawing of me

This is a drawing of myself, by me. Maybe not a very good one but it has the elements that I can see.

This weeks lecture was all about “Semiotics”. Semiotics is a tradition of thought known for calling attention to the formal structures of
signification, of meaning-making, in culture. It is a widely used approach to the study of the relationships among patterns of perception and meaning. Semiotics, or semiology, is usually traced back to both Swiss linguist Ferdinand De Saussure and American philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce. In plain simple words, this means that our visual perceptions are not always as they seem. Sometimes we are shown certain images which, portray a feeling, i.e. masculinity, femininity, goodness, badness, wealth or poverty to name but a few. This portrayal is known as “Semiology”, or “Semiotics”. Many, if not all advertising campaigns use semiotics to attempt to give the potential customer a positive feeling towards their product. In the days when cigarette advertising was still legal, Many tobacco companies used advertising to portray the smokers as macho, cool or sexy. These type of advertisements gave the potential smoker a misconception that smoking these brands made them macho, cool, or sexy themselves. With the exception of advertisements that actually give us factual information about a product that we don’t already know, plugging a product by associating it with other things we value, is the basic strategy of almost all brand-name product advertising today.

This week we were also given an assignment we were asked to use an image of a celebrity, and portray them in three different ways i.e. I am Masculine, Feminine, Wealthy, Intelligent, Evil, or popular. The images are to be uploaded to moodle with accompanying explanations of the choice of colours, locations, compositions , and symbols.

Below are three images which I uploaded. They are of the model Jordan. I used this one because she is in the media at the moment. She is in I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of here . The top picture is my interpretation of an evil look. Using Photoshop I made her eyes yellow and red,to make them scary looking. I darkened the pupils to give her an evil gaze. I darkened inside her mouth and tried to make her teeth look sharp, put streaks of red all over her to look like blood. Blackened out the end of her right arm to make it look like it was chopped off. Then whitened the background behind her left shoulder to look like the light from a full moon.

Zombie Jordan

In the next image, I attempted to make her appear intelligent. I did a collage.  I printed out the picture and cut out the head, stuck it on a picture of a library. Then I got a picture of a suit, cut this out and put it on her (there is also a book in her hand to make her look intelligent). I then decided that she would look even more intelligent if she had a pair of glasses on.. put the glasses on her and stuck her eyes over them. Unfortunately her left eye went a bit wonky.

Can she really read?

So Macho

The third image is a photoshopped image with Jordan’s head on the body of a pumped up, female body builder. Although it is the body of a woman, it looks masculine.

It’s important stuff, it’s all about the way images are portrayed on a screen (Computer, TV, Projector etc). The types of images we covered were  Bitmaps and their different image formats:

• TIFF.(.tif)
• BMP.(.bmp)
• PICT.(.pct)
• GIF.(.gif)
• JPEG.(.jpg)

There are also other formats but these were the main ones that we looked at.

A bitmap is a graphic image, also known as a raster. It is a large grid with a lot of squares to form an image. Each of these little squares are called pixels, short for picture elements.

Bitmaps are quite universal – almost any program can work with simple bitmap file formats, and they require little system overhead to properly display.

When you specify your monitor’s resolution, you  tell the computer how many pixels across by how many pixels high, to define the size of the grid  showing the image.

The resolution of the screen can be referred to as dots per inch (dpi). 72 dpi is the max for a computer screen. A resolution of 800×600 would be 800 pixels across by 600 pixels high, and therefore a resolution of 1024×768 is 1024 pixels across by 768 pixels high.

The next type of image format covered was the Vector.

Vectors aren’t composed of pixels, they consist of points, lines, and curves which, when combined, can form complex objects. These objects can be filled with solid colours, gradients, and even patterns. It’s point A, connected to point B by a line of some shape. The shape of that line is defined by a  mathematical description. The line that defines the vector shape is referred to as the path.

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After learning about these graphic images, we had an overview of the Photoshop software, and were shown some online videos illustrating the programs uses. It is amazing how images and photos can be altered and enhanced with this program.  I am looking forward to having an opportunity to use it.

When the lecture was finished, our group (A) went to a class with Margaret and put together a short puppet show as part of  the creative side of the course. We had some time to put together a short theme and act it out using the puppets. I think everyone wants to be a puppeteer at some stage, so I enjoyed it although I suppose I could have done better with practice. It seemed that an element of violence seemed to be in everyone’s sketch. It may be that the Punch and Judy style of theatre is written in our psyche.

Grandad Puppet

After this she gave us a profile on the Russian painter Wasilly Kandisky. He was known as the father of “Abstract Art”. He wrote about colour in art: “Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul”. He felt that through colour he could give artistic form to ones inner nature, therefore giving a spiritual experience. He believed he could hear colour and see sounds  due to the phenomena of  Synaesthesia i.e. where the senses are not seperate fom each other, and there  is a direct transfer of reactions from one sense to another .

As a bit of a laugh, Niamh gave us a handout printed from the ehow website with the title: “How to use color and style to attract a man”. It was very funny.

When we went to the lab session, we put together our 60 image assignment. My images were of frogs. Here are some of the ones I did. I hope you like them, I really enjoyed doing this assignment and  even though I’m a fairly bad artist a great deal of encouragement was given by Margaret. So thanks  to you to both Niamh and Margaret for your enthusiasm and encouragement, it’s much appreciated.

some frogs

Here are some of the descriptions of these elements, which have been taken from the lecture notes. As I read through the notes about point, I couldn’t help saying to myself “wow! yeah that’s true”. It’s like your brain trying to solve little problems without you having any control over it. And when they say unavoidable, they mean it.

Point
Even if there is only one point or mark on a blank page the brain seeks to get meaning from it.
Our minds seek some kind of relationship or order, if only to use it as a point of orientation in relation to the outline of the page If there are two points, immediately the eye will make a
connection and “see” a line.
If there are three points, it is unavoidable to interpret them as a triangle; the mind supplies the connections. This compulsion to connect parts is known as grouping, or gestalt.

Just one of the affirmations of these principles is the way the stars have been grouped together and have been given names, such as the plough, or the great bear, or the southern cross. They are like a work of art in space. There are also other works of art made using only points, such as dot paintings and the body painting of aboriginal tribes. Another type of art known as pointillism was popular in France, in the late 1880s.

Line

A line is a mark made by a moving point, and having psychological impact according to its direction, weight, and the variations in its direction and weight.

Horizontal line suggests a feeling of rest or repose.

Vertical lines communicate a feeling of loftiness and spirituality.

Diagonal lines suggest a feeling of movement or direction.

Horizontal and vertical lines in combination communicate stability and solidity.

Jagged lines communicate anger or confusion.

These are just some of the feelings that line can communicate.

Pattern

Pattern and rhythm (also known as repetition) is showing consistency with colors or lines. Putting a red spiral at the bottom left and top right, for example, will cause the eye to move from one spiral, to the other, and everything in between. It is indicating movement by the repetition of elements.

Form and Shape are areas, or masses, which define, objects in space. They imply space and cannot exist without space.

They can be two or three dimensional. They are either Organic or Geometric.

Space

Emptiness in 2 dimensional form is known as “White space” or ” Negative space” and it  lies behind form, but when it is used cleverly it can become foreground and become a positive shape.

Space is undefined until it is articulated by the placement of form. Placing an object in space, creates a figure/ground relationship.

Case Study

We also did a case study on “Cubism” in our lectures.

Assignment

The assignment we were given was to represent one of a number of objects in 60 different ways on A6 pages, using  mixed media. Some of these to be completed in lab sessions and some at home. Assignment to be completed by Friday 9th of October.  Any late submissions will be deducted 50%.

We had an exercise in visual language, drawing 5 things you like and 5 things you dislike. See my very bad drawings and see if you can spot the pluses and minuses

In this lecture we were given information on exams and marking of the course.

Lab session. Tutorial on Mac Computers.