Journal Exercise 5: Colour creating "Fantasy", "Otherness" and "Consumer Spectacle" in Design

Colour Attempting to Create a Sense of FANTASY:

Example: Parade of Lost Souls, Vancouver


I'll try to make this my post that references Day of the Dead but I can't promise anything. Although I didn't get a chance to go this year, I couldn't make it this year and lovingly remembered the parades that have passed.......so theoretically in my mind, it happened during the week. =) Anyways, this parade is filled with crazy colourful costumes.





Colour Attempting to Create a Sense of OTHERNESS:

Example: Scenes in Movie "Eat Pray Love"





Colour Attempting to Create a Sense of CONSUMER SPECTACLE:

Example:

Journal Exercise 5 - Use of Colour in Society

PART A:
Colour and It's Anti-Authoritarian Potential

Example: Hospitals


Hospitals may be conservative in colour for many psychological reasons such as for ease of anxiety in stressful life
changing situations that may occur in a hospital but for all aesthetic reasons it is completely chromophobic. One beige hallway leads to the next beige hallway with some stainless steel thrown in here and there. It is all too completely surgical and void of personality. So I decided to add lots of crazy Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas type psychedelic colours to it.

I added a super saturated pink that could either stimulate you or may your eyes and stomach, depending on the person. And some op art type carpeting that if on major medication may send you into an Alice in Wonderland type environment. So maybe the colour change wouldn't be that great of an idea for all of the hospital but in a couple areas I think it would do well for uplifting spirits and giving you an otherworldly experience right inside the hospital. I'd be all over that.

PART B:
Lack of Colour Where We Expect it To Be

Example: Fireworks


Fireworks are great because who doesn't like giant, shiny, exploding things in the night sky? But it's the colours that make fireworks so amazing. The blooming flower effects of some fireworks with white centers of sparkles and growing green,blues and purples falling all around. Without colour....


In this example I took all colour out of the fireworks and turned it into one shade of desaturated yellow. Kinda bland. Still somewhat exciting I'm sure but the lack of colour doesn't give the fireworks the WOW factor anymore.


Example: Day of the Dead Art

I love the artwork relating to Day of the Dead. It's always colourful and perfectly portrays the whole message of the Day of the Dead... to celebrate and remember those who have died. Most of the artwork is of a morbid nature but the colours used are intense and saturated giving it a different life.


Without colour, it just plain looks creepy. It looks like artwork that was solely created to scare or creep out the viewer. No longer is there a strong feeling of celebration in the piece.

Journal Exercise 4 - Contrast and Colour Theory

The design I chose to represent in sculptural/3D form is a Japanese movie poster by artist Tadanori Yokoo.


The original poster as well as the 3d version have many variations of contrast. However, the poster is very flat and it's the colour that gives it live. When putting this in 3D form, the work becomes more alive and it provides movement to piece where it wasn't before.

The contrasts used in this piece:

Contrast of Saturation:
This contrast is prominant. The bright saturated red that is used throughout the piece and leads our eye all over the piece, is a big contrast against the light blue of the sky. The light blue sky makes the red rays pop even more. The red rays in the 3D form take over the piece as the first item that you HAVE TO see before your eye can travel throughout the diorama.

Contrast of Light and Dark:
This contrast is obtained again by the bright, high value red and yellows and the low value blue. The spots of black as pop against the light blue background.

Contrast of Proportion:
The bright red and yellow give the most visual weight to this piece. They take up the majority of the piece are give it that pop factor.

Journal Exercise 3 - Graphic Design and It's Use of Color

The Five Spot logo I stumbled upon on a picture gallery type website for designers. After searching for a while, I later found out a bit more about the designer, the restaurant and the logo. Patrick King on The King Group designed this sometime around '96 for a friend that was opening a nightclub. The nightclub opened around the time of the movie Swingers and also the same time as those Gap ads with groups of swing dancers and the theme of the logo evolved from there. It was a bar that was open in Philidelphia for a number of years hosted many big bands (as in Big Band music) as well as well known hip hop and soul singers. The bar unfortunately was burnt down in 1997.

I think the typography of this logo reflects all the artists and events the bar hosted. It's colour screams, 50's, lounge and swing music and dancing. The sans condensed and playfulness typeface remind me of Blue Note album covers of to 50's and 60's......and then Blue Note album covers also remind me of great soul artists of that time. The colours give the logo movement, the warmer colours are displaced throughout the logo and go up and around the cooler coloured letters. The desaturation of the colours gives the logo a lounge vibe. Overall it's a great logo and captures everything the designer set out to portray.

ORIGINAL LOGO

Exercise 1: Alter the Color Scheme

1a) Monochromatic Color Scheme

This variation reminds of airlines and airports. The colours used are very popular with airlines.....they love their blues. The fact that each word is coloured differently rather each letter,gives the logo an upward movement rather than a frentic, swinging kind of movement so I think that's also what's brought me to the airline distinction.

1b) Complimentary Color Scheme

This colour variation reminds me of basketball jersey colours.
The dark purple "I" and the "E" are fading way into the background while the yellow is jumping to my eye first followed closely by the lilac. My eye/mind almost blocks out the "I" and "E" and assumes that the fact that they are darker colours, they are not as important to read in the word.

1c) Analogous Color Scheme

This specific colour scheme with the warm yellow and orange-reds portrays a more sexy kind of vibe. The different coloured letters still give the logo life but these colours seem a bit more sensual.Probably a good colour choice for swingers bars, not bars for swing dancing.

Exercise 2: Alter the Intensity

2a) Intense Colours

The colours for this variation are just that, INTENSE......too intense. The intensity almost hurts. The screaming colours against the black background make the intensity that much more and it's burning my retinas right now. The colour scheme would be good for a venue geared towards children...but the intensity of the colours might just make the kids a bit crazy after a while.

2b) Less Intense Colours

This variation looks like something that's been left out in the sun for too long. It looks aged and weathered. Doesn't look like the happening, swinging spot the bar was. The colours don't give the logo the same life....the type choice gives it a feeling of the 50's but it's original colour gives the logo it's life and portrayed the bar more completely.


Exercise 3: Alter the Temperature

3a) Warm Colour Palette

This alteration gives the logo a whole new feel. It now feels as though this could be for a 60's lounge. The colours are so vibrant with this variation, the letters almost vibrate next to one another.


3b) Cool Colour Palette

I really don't like this variation. All the tinted blues and green make me
a) Naseous &
b) Think of hospitals and medicines and pills. Overall something you don't want to be thinking about when you're looking at the branding for a swing bar.