I worked on more tumbnails for project 2.

Ah, here is the first round of thumbnails for the second project.

Here are a bunch of the thumbnails i neglected to post previously

It is quite an image batch. All those old thumbnail pieces.

Ah, now here is a new addition to our network. Our good friend Gates.
He has his own particular brand of reviewing and now he has a blog up and running.

Game Tirade Blog

Shortly here I shall set up a page on the main blog for the Tirade Network linking our other contributers personal blogs so you can get a view of our projects on our own and also what we are working on individually.

We are growing faster then your average Zombie Outbreak.

Final Piece

Alright. I have worked on the helix piece and did two versions. The one closest to the original I preferred more, but I did steal elements I liked to add back into the final piece.

My chosen final piece.

I really like the bottom of this piece just because the bottom looks like i is unzipping to replicate. Ah, dna is fun.

 

And for the essay for the final piece. Similar to the last one. But more condensed.

Again the project was to utilize the basics of graphic design to exemplify themselves. I believe it did a decent job of this utilizing the elements in a way more to my liking. After numerous iterations this was the one i could deal with.

Emphasis itself again is the main factor. Forming the primary helix line. The top is closest to the middle to try and draw attention to it first. Being one of the first visibly readable portions i believed would also draw attention to it.

Balance is the counterpoint in the helix, with contrast forming a linking section. I went with lowercase letters for all but the starting b itself to make the text slightly smaller to try and keep attention a little more away from it. I stuck with Blue-Green for the main lines and contrast I set as yellow/orange for contrast to set it more at the opposite end of the spectrum to support contrast. I kept contrast darker as well to differentiate it from the lighter blues as well.

Flow is a semi background element. Faded out and given a lighter yellow hue with it dashed across the bottom section of the piece. It was kept a more simplistic element. Other ways I tried to use it generally drew to much attention to it. I wanted it to be more sedate, calm, and still distinct segment.

Repetition forms the background, with both the repetition of the word and the dna sequence nucleotides for added effect as dna information is stored in them as a coded pattern. I didn't wan't to use them in contrast, though it seemed it would work as a perfect background element however.

Alignment is an alternate background factor, forming an line running with the orientation of repetition itself. All of it has been fairly lightened to keep attraction away from it. Though it gives a sense of unity to the piece as it all follows the same basic tilt.

It was all about that form of cohesion. It echoed the floating of dna in a solution, and also the end seems to be unravelling like dna sequences in a stage of replication. I liked the effect myself, and tweaked it to fit that so it would be less uniform.

This piece turned out alright. There will always be work to do. Always be changes to make something perfect. Someday I shall strike such a note with my pieces and be totally happy. That will be difficult.

The alternate piece next.

This had a similar idea.

I took some ideas like the version of alignment simply because it was kind of interesting and added it back into the final piece. A full second background helix just didn't seem as interesting to me.

 

Update, Final Piece with Essay Pre Critique

     This project was done for the purpose of exemplifying both a set of words that define the basics of graphic design, as well as exemplifying their functions in a piece as well. A major concept utilized in the process is what is known as the rule of thirds. A grid system through which a layout is often derived.

     As for the words themselves we have Emphasis as a dominating factor. I decided in the piece that it would cut diagonally across the entire piece and be the spine for every other factor. Stemming from that is every other piece essentially. The Emphasis itself is the darkest element in the piece, and has a gradient across it starting from a lighter blue at the bottom to a heavier green at the top to visually weight the piece. To start you at the top and to guide a viewer to the bottom. Or at least that was my intent.

     The first factor to stem from that is balance. The first in a series of words that are aligned from this stem. Alignment is a separate element, but we will get to that in a moment. I put balance as the first of three primary descending elements and part of weighting the right side to more properly balance the left. It was to give a unique point to flow from.

     The second factor I used was contrast. Itself a mix of capitals and lowercase, black to a lighter blue. The only actual instance of black as used in the piece to set it as a stark difference from the rest. While Emphasis dominates the piece, it still is a mixture of color to darker shades with perhaps splashes of dark or black. The black in contrast does have some grey to it, but only to give the word more visual flair.
    
The next factor is flow. Cutting horizontally across the entire piece. It is different in that it is like
emphasis, a curved and flowing stylistic element. It was made to play off of emphasis and lead the reader down across the piece away from it in terms of visual flow. It is still less dominating then emphasis, but as we descended these elements they gained more weight again to draw you down.

     Now, for more background elements. On the left is repetition. On the right is alignment. The repetition piece to the left is a dull partially transparent grey that lacks any defining aspects to make it stand out more like the other factors for the simple fact it is a background element. Anything to make it more stylistic I though would make it stand out to much to be a background piece, and being to busy wasn't what I was trying to accomplish in visual weight or informational flow. Repetition is itself a sequence of repetitions repeated to exemplify itself. Also being a set alignment of 4 blocks. Each aligned to counter the right hand elements.

     For the right side element of alignment which we are finally getting to, it is a faded nondescript blue to fade it behind or mute it to allow the other elements greater recognition. It is made this way to be more of a background element. It is on this side to balance out visual weight with the opposite repetitions making both sides have four elements in some way shape or form on a more thematic level and fill a negative weight to break the piece up more. It also repeats multiple times to give the background of the piece a greater idea of repetition.

     Overall, the piece is divided into left and right by emphasis. Left is the four block series. The right has 3 primary words and the repeating alignment element. The primary words mostly fit the gaps of the repetition blocks to the left and alignment fills the remaining space. Flow cuts across though starts small and grows large to lead one from emphasis as stated before. The entire piece was rotated for the simple fact that it gave the factors a better and slightly
unique flow across the page then it had if it was all a simple vertical/horizontal piece.

     All in all, I am moderately happy of the work. I always have new ideas I would like to try, but they begin to deviate so much from the original intent and would be far to busy for such a simple piece they shall either be experimented with and learned from or mostly be used in future pieces. Being exceptionally self critical, I think it has reached the point where this piece is respectable overall. The other helix piece will be a something to continue on with these ideas,
and even if not publicly displayed will be the test bed and learning experience to build upon.

Okay. I have done an alternate ruff design. I have decided to tweak the last piece as well. With my helical design I still need to work on aligning the text elements after warping them.  This is more of an in concept idea and still requires some refinement. The Back element I need to scale down, and make a faster repeating pattern. Then keep it somewhat transparent to emphasize the fore elements. At least I really enjoy the background for it a o lot.

The initial piece I have to the point were I am finally ok with. The balance element has been scaled back to give it a secondary emphasis and I believe I am satisfied with the result. The Helical Background really is an evolved form of the background to this over a larger scale and the shaping of text gave me the idea for the other piece as well. It certainly is as complete as I shall get this piece.