Image Brief Three// Scale/ Frame/ Format..

The Brief//

Using the object that you have randomly selected you must create an eye chart replacing the conventional series of letters with your object.

This brief will allow you to explore scale and format, as the object must be able legible and identifiable  from the distance of twenty feet and work across a scale range.

Considerations//

THINK VISUALLY. Develop a range of visual soutions to this problem. How many ways can this object re-created? How much detail must you maintain for it to communicate? How can it be simplified?

Consider the colour. Which colours will work across scales effectively? Add clarity or cause confusion.

Line quality will become an important factor, as the change in scale will affect the detail of the drawn image.


Practical considerations//

This brief is drawing based. You must explore a range of processes and the resolution may be either computer based or hand crafted but you must initially test a range of approaches.


Background//

Pictograms and signage must work across a range of scales and still maintain a clear and direct message. They might have only a second to communicate their message so their intention must be immediate and cause no confusion.

The image can exist entirely on its own, no explanation required.


Mandatory requirements//

All images should be supported by a broad range of visual investigation in the form of design sheets and notesbooks.

The final image presented on an A2 portrait format.

The eye chart must be produced using two colours (including stock)


Deliverables//

One visually resolved eye chart submitted on A2.



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To find out the object that we would be using as part of our eye chart, we were all asked to pick a random object (thinking of one on the spot was quite difficult, especially when you thought you'd be the one doing that object). Once everyone had picked one, we were told to pick a number, the number was with an object and we would be using.

When I first recieved my random word I was a bit concerned on what I would do as the brief restrictions only allowed 2 colours (one of which was the stock choice). I knew that we could use tones of a colour, which would therefore make things a little easier for me. There was also the problem that the eye chart would have to be readable from 20ft, which meant I would have to simplify the Rubix Cube to its simplist form.

Rubix Cubes arent that complicated to start with, but I wanted to make it as simple as possible, but still know what it is. What I decided to do was focus more on the coloured squares rather than the actual cube itself. This meant that there wouldnt be too many lines, so that when it was shrunk to a smaller size the lines wouldnt merge together and become messy.

For creating the Rubix Cube I used the rounded square tool and picked my blue. To change the colour I edited the opacity values of random squares to make it look as though the Rubix Cube had been played with, which I think communicates it better. I then lined the squares up like a Rubix Cube and used the rotate effect in Illustrator to give the three sides a 3D effect.

The eye chart above was my first attempt, I have tried to lay it out like a traditional eye chart, going from biggest to smallest. Im not really sure if it works that well, it looks very top heavy and the bottom cubes are far too small they just look like a blue blob. I think it may work better if I maybe have less of them and have them slightly bigger. There is no limit on how many we must have and what size they have to be, as long as it looks like an eye chart.

I started looking at patterns that I could make with the cubes that I could change the scale of to see if this approach would work better than the one above. I do think that this idea works better because it is different from conventional tests and it looks good too. This pattern works well too because of the angles of the cubes.

Here is another design trying out layouts. I think the first two rows work because they use a similar concept as the one above, but the bottom lines make it seem too top heavy and it just doesnt work.

This is the Rubix Cube that I first made, which I have then changed the scale and angle of for the eye chart designs.

I really like the layout of this eye chart. The scale of the cube varies making it relevant to the standard eye chart but it is done in a more creative way. I like the way in which I have used the angles of the cubes to create the circular shape, it helps balance out the larger cube at the top of the chart.

For the design above I though I would play around with the cubes to see what shapes I could make. This ones a flower. I wont be using it for my final eye chart, but it looks pretty cool.

Although I wouldnt be able to use this as an eye chart, I do think it looks really good. I think its because of the two different angles of the cube, it just looks really interesting.

This design is using the same concept as the one above apart from I have added another cube at the top and bottom. These two are the same angle as the one on the left but because of the one on the right, they all first appear to be at a different angle which I think makes it more interesting. This pattern could be used within my eye chart because I could experiment with the scale of it.

This is a further development of the two designs above. This is probably my favourite and the one that I feel works the best. I dont think it would work very well as part of an eye chart but it would look pretty cool as a poster printed onto cartridge paper.

This is the eye chart that I will be using as my final piece, it has a good balance to it and the cubes dont get too small so that you cant work out what they are.

These are a few examples of how different colours may work. I decided to go with the blue because its quite a neutral colour. It is also uncommon that people are colour blind to blue.