Assignment 1: 1/3/11

PRADA AD

(online)

This ad contains elements of "concrete structure"; the pattern of the bricks on the wall form repeatable diagonal lines that draw the eye back into the frame. The stairs form repeating horizontal lines that draw the eye upwards.

From these lines and the model's positioning, we get a sense of movement to the right and upwards. The diagonal brick wall and the leaning body draw our eyes to the right, while the staircase leading up draws our eyes to the top.

This poster is asymmetrical; the model is not in standing straight in the center of the ad, but leans to the right, creating a sense of tension and movement. This keeps us more interested because, as Ellen Lupton explains, asymmetry holds attention for longer because "the visual relationships are not optically predictable."

The pale, nearly translucent skin of the model and the light pink flowers on her dress contrast the dark shadows in the alley and the black dress she wears. This makes her skin and the pattern on her dress pop out of the frame. Our eyes are automatically drawn to these elements.

It is clear that the model (and whatever she is wearing) is the main subject in this composition. The stairs, the brick wall, the dark shadows, all seem to fall away into the background as we focus our gaze on the female.

COKE AD

(online)

The animated bottle of coke in this ad is visually weighted directly in the center and is symmetrical. The object of focus is the bottle of coke (the background is just the color black). The ad uses contrast to draw attention to the coke: the clean, black background serves to emphasize the shocking bright pink color of the bottle.

The objects spewing out of the bottle are grouped together in a cluster. These tiny objects are duplicated throughout the cluster but are varied enough so that we still have to group them together. Each object is unique but they all share a similar theme of color scheme (bright, neon colors) and form (round, playful). There is a rhythm to this group of objects; in the center, they are tightly compact, and as they get further out towards the outer frame of the composition, the objects grow further and further apart in a discernible pattern. This also gives us a sense of motion, like an explosion.

MERCEDES AD

(online)

What stands out to me immediately in this ad is the dramatic placement of the car in relation to the rest of the composition. The car looks like it is the closest object in the frame, and our eyes are automatically drawn towards it. There is a strong sense of a distinction between figure and ground. The car is the main object of focus, and then there are people, the road and the sky that fall into the background. The people and the road are not the focus, but are elements to help contextualize the car (both in size and in function). The big sky can perhaps give the viewers a sense of freedom and breadth that the advertisers want this car to evoke.

The car is much bigger than the people; the people in this ad serve to highlight the sense of scale of the car, making it appear powerful and large. There is also a strong feeling of movement. The painted lines in the road come straight at us, giving the ad a thrusting forward motion towards the viewer. But then the car is angled to the lower right corner of the frame. This break in direction from forward to diagonal makes the pattern more visually interesting and again, serves to draw attention to the car, as it deviates from the line we would expect it to follow.

IBM AD

(print ad in a magazine)

This ad uses repetition to create a visual frequency. In this case, the repetition is created from the duplication of the cell phones. The shape, size, color, and texture of each phone are nearly identical. The cell phone (the object) is also duplicated in a predictable pattern across the page: the objects are placed in the same distance from one another. We also experience a sense of movement as the objects lead in a diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the upper right corner of the frame.

The white space in this ad is the area between the objects and the text; there is a lot of blank space (which is the light blue background). The blankness of the background helps the cell phones to stand out for easy pattern recognition, made possible by a lack of background clutter.

Finally, the word "smaller" is in black and stands in opposition to the rest of the white text surrounding it. The use of positive to negative in this composition makes the word "smaller" pop out, placing extra emphasis on the word.

SUBWAY SANDWICH AD

(poster)

This poster is more visually weighted to the top of the add. The first thing our eyes are drawn to is the word "Any," which is the object that takes up the most space. This poster feels dynamic because of its imbalance; there is a heaviness to the bold lettering on the top, and then a lightness to the tiny text at the bottom of the frame. The number 5 is the center of a kind if spiral structure that contains long triangular shapes emanating outward from the 5. The information conveyed in this ad -- the fact that you can have "Any" footlong, its price, the type of sandwich -- is communicated through contrasting colors. The word "Any" stands out as a white object against a dark green background. The "$5" is outlined in the same dark green, in order to delineate it from the yellow/light green background. The "footlong" is in written in white against the yellow/light green background and is traced with dark green in order to make it pop out even more. Thus, all of the essential units of information are quickly communicated to the eye because they all stand out from one another as well as the background.