Colour and Composition

Colour Wheel and Scales

To begin the colour and composition set of instructions, we were first given the task to replicate a colour wheel, a grey scale and colour scale. This in itself wasn't that too challenging, particularly when it came to the colour wheel aspect, as the biggest challenge overall was making sure it was neat and tidy. However the scales proved to be a little more challenging as determining how much to lighten the colours proved to be harder to judge than I first thought it would be. With that said, I managed, and if I were to redo it again, the only thing I would change, would be taking larger steps when it comes to lightening the greyscale, as to not have such a large jump between the lighter end of the scale. 

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 Bauhaus Colour and Personality Exercise 

This part of the tasks was one that I found very interesting as I went along completing each individual segment. The aim of this task was to interpret what we associated with given words, as well as to create our own colour palette on colours that we found interesting and related to. I already knew going into this task that the likelihood of these colours being dark and muted were very low, as naturally in my own work, I am very drawn towards soft, natural colours that fall more on the pastel side of the colour groups. However, what I was a little surprised about was how colourful and soft my own palette was, and as well how similar some of the colours were between each word with the same colour groups cropping up. It was only when comparing them to other people that I realised how tentative I am when it comes to colours, not really going to the darker side of the colour scale. Yet what I also learnt was how different my interpretations were to other people, for example my 'Hospital Ward' colours were far softer and paler than others, which could be put down to different
experiences and different associations to the broad prompt. 

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Designing with Type

Going into this weeks task, this was one of the ones I believed I would have disliked the most, as it wasn't like anything I was used to, and before I began found myself struggling to comprehend how I was going to communicate what I wanted to through the given prompts. However, one I began to experiment, I found myself rather enjoying this task, with some outcomes being ones I liked, despite their simplicity, and others being ones I less liked the look of. 

Masculine 

Going into the tasks, I made a point of thinking in a stereotypical way, using colours that were broadly associated with each prompt, particularly the Masculine and Feminine prompts. Hence, why my first experiment was with the use of blues, given its association with being a masculine colour. However, I found that this wasn't always the most effective way to go, as personally, when changing the hue of the piece, I found the warm red tones to convey the feeling of masculinity more than the blues given it held a maturity to it. It was for this reason, I had another go at shifting around the colours and size of the lettering, changing the typeface to a similar, yet slightly different typeface. Something as simple as moving around the lettering, making some larger and some smaller proved more effective. It is for this reason I preferred the more muted colour palettes and believed they conveyed a stereotypical idea of Masculinity than the initial idea of blues; proving obvious ideas aren't always the most effective. 

Feminine 

When tackling the Feminine prompt, I wanted to use the same techniques as I had used for the Masculine pieces to prove how despite having similar layouts, text and colour can create a completely different feel to a piece. Clearly, the obvious way to go with this prompt was with softer hues of pinks and purples, something that did indeed prove effective. Coupling with an equally as soft yellow was effective too, as gave a slight variation in the warm colour palette. The association with Feminine is dainty, delicate and soft, which was what I attempted to replicate, changing the typeface to a softer font, with more rounded edges, and bolder text, contrasting the masculine set of designs. Much like that set however, I found that I preferred the design that had a little more of a variety in it, being that of the one that had both purple and pink hues, allowing some variation and somethings to stand out within the design as opposed to being all one hue. 

Power

For this prompt, I wanted to take an alternative route to the idea, as very easily, either two of the more muted Masculine designs would have worked for this prompt too. Instead, I decided to take the alternative route and go for more vibrant colours, giving them a gradient and stacking them atop of each other as to create layers, each being lifted up by the one underneath it, as if standing on a podium conveying the idea of power. Due to the colours chosen however, deciding on a background colour proved difficult, as well as what to do with the large spaces surrounding the centre lettering. It was for this reason I experimented in copying the typeface around and making more of a pattern. Out of all of the designs I created, this was the one I was least certain, as there is something I don't quite like about it, hence, if I were to play around with this again, I would more than likely play around with more colour palettes, changing not only the background, but too the colour of the layers of text. 

Pattern

These designs were the ones that I found the most interesting to work with, as they are very simple, replicating the letter 'S' over and over again, working with only two different colours of text, and yet, when putting all the lines of the patterns together, appeared to be a lot more complicated than they really are. For these designs, I again changed nothing more than the background, and this created an interesting effect, as in each of the outcomes, changing the background gave the illusion that the whole colour scheme of each design was changing. I believe that out of all the outcomes, I prefer the one with the blue hued background, as made both the yellow and mint green lettering stand out against the background as opposed to just one. 

Playful 

Out of all the designs I created, these were the more interesting in my opinion, as they were again simple, but the layering of the different text colours and horizonal and vertical lines allowed me to play about with shadows and layering. Although the colour scheme isn't all that interesting, the combination of both pastel and more vibrant colours made for a nice mix. Additionally, the composition used makes the text appear more spontaneous, where as in reality it is far more structure than some of the designs for the other prompts, as can be seen in the square made out of negative space in the middle of the design. When messing around with this design, I made two final pieces, but I prefer the final one overall, the one where only some of the text has shadows behind them. This allows the piece to have some variation and appear a little more spontaneous and playful, instead of every part of the design following a common rule.