Category: Uncategorized

A new technology that I find interesting is the deep fake technology. For those of us that don’t know what deep fake technology is, it is the ability to map the movement and facial features of an individual to produce a video that can be nearly indistinguishable from the original. The concept of deep fake technology is rather new and has only shown real potential for such believable fakes in recent years through movies. I have seen a shift however in the usability of dep fake tech come into the hands of anyone who wants to use it through free iPhone and computer apps. While the technology itself is fascinating it has been questioned for the danger it can potentially cause. From fake porn videos to successfully recording a video of a former president of the united states without the former president being in the area or without his knowledge. 

I think the technology has great potential in the design industry for the use of mockups. As it becomes more accessible to the general public I can see it moving in the direction of creating mock-ups for event spaces or building designs. Imagine being able to place clients or the models, or pop stars into space without them needing to be present. This technology could be utilized in both real space and spaces that only exist on the computer. 

At our current point in time, it is useful because of our pandemic situation, but I think this use will only continue to grow and the technology for it will only continue to improve and become cheaper. This nightmare covid situation will leave the world with shadows of the struggles we had to deal with, from seeing more masks generally warn in the flue-season months to the desire to not meet in face to face unless you’re close friends or family. And as we continue to move into a technology-heavy future, it’ll be more and more important to be able to successfully integrate an individual into the digital world for things like mock-ups to game development and simulations. We are already seeing strides in VR and character designs are beginning to explore the uncanny valley of human design. Soon your real-life body and virtual avatar will be indistinguishable from one another. How crazy would that be? 

I worked for over two years at a nursing facility that specialized in elderly individuals suffering from the late stages of dementia so I have chosen to showcase a few design examples that I was around on the daily basis. As a building, we required a lot of equipment specially designed to make their lives easier, equipment that allowed our residents to be as mobile and self-reliant as possible. One of the hardest areas for our residents to be independent in was hygiene. Showers, baths, and using the restroom were really hard to navigate and could even be dangerous in certain scenarios. Because of this our building utilized the walk-in bathtub for our more mobile residents and a gliding shower chair for our wheelchair-bound users.

The walk-in tub was used inside our building but was also a target to anyone dealing with mobility issues. Bathtubs are slippery and lowering yourself down and getting up again can be a real struggle when dealing with arthritis, osteoporosis, or missing limbs. The tub was designed with a door and a built-in chair for comfort and easy access that didn’t involve stepping over a tub lip. It did wonders for our resident’s independence and made hygiene an easier task. I think the design is well done and functions as it should but it excludes anyone who can’t afford it . . . which is most people. It is an expensive piece of equipment and it isn’t covered by medicare.

The second designed piece of gear was this sliding shower chair that functioned pretty well for most hygiene needs. I never handled the equipment personally but I know it made the lives of our staff and our residents easier. It allowed wheelchair users to access tubs. This equipment did need a staff member to assist the resident to be used safely effectively. I think one thing that could be improved upon in the design is the addition of a safety measure. A seat belt that the resident could clip together for their comfort or per our staff’s advice would be beneficial to the design and increase the safety of the entire process. Nothing is scary to our residents or our staff than one of our residents falling out of their chairs or falling in general. In extreme cases, it could and has lead to permanent injury or death. And this is why accessibility is so very important in all walks of life and design.

I’m going to be honest here and say that until recently I haven’t thought about sustainability in a design setting. Don’t get me wrong, I think about sustainability a lot. I avoid single-use plastics as much as possible, recycle what I can, buy locally, and so forth. There is a lot of care in the actions I take to try to make a difference in my personal life. I thought it was interesting to not only use design to speak up about these climate issues but to bring a sustainable mindset into the work I produce. I especially liked the idea of using recycled or eco-friendly materials in our design work. It’s such a simple and easy thing to incorporate into what I do, and something that sounded even easier to sell to potential future clients.

This also answers the question, “How can businesses or design agencies implement design for good into day to day work?” Pushing eco-friendly materials and avoiding things like single-use plastics in their design planning. I think it can be hard to focus on what the design is going to be on when we spend so much time focusing on the design itself. This makes me think back to a class taken with Christine last year when we had to repurpose our assigned object and package it. Some of the designs did not mention materials and process and some put a lot of time into this idea of sustainable packaging. I believe I brought up the idea of recyclable cardboard packaging but I was blown away by the few people who designed their packaging to be used as more than packaging, such as a way to store their object or an extra tool that worked with their object. I think giving more purpose to packaging than just packaging is an amazing way to think sustainably. I found that to be a pretty inspiring process and it has made me think more deeply about packaging and its purpose. Packaging makes up a majority of the waste we produce, almost 90 million tons of it.

It is a lot to think about and as a creator, I do think I have a responsibility to lead by example and practice what I preach, but I don’t think I hold any responsibility in the situation on climate change itself. I have a responsibility to use my voice and platform for good, but the people ruining this place for all of humanity are the ones that need to make a change. And by this, I mean the multi-million (and in some cases billion) dollar consumer industries that are burning this place to the ground. Literally.

“Emotion and color perception: A psychoanalytical theory of graphic design in consumer of goods”  By E. Bankole Oladumiye and Odji Ebenezer 

This is an academic journal for the Department of Industrial Design at the  Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. The article was published in 2017 and was accepted in 2018. 

“Emotion and color perception: A psychoanalytical theory of graphic design in the consumer of goods”  by E. Bankole Oladumiye and Odji Ebenezer discusses the use of the principles of design in packaging and how the emotional response and physical look of the packaging determine if it purchased. Line and color are two principles that appear most often in package work and can help invoke emotion, arouse the viewer and create a sense of movement or guide the eye through the package. Colored sunray patterns are one of the more popular arrangements on the package because of the emotional response and excitement created by the formation. The study then goes into detail about texture and the psychological response elicited by color and the principles of design present. The study itself was a survey that measured qualitative data. The study sample was a group of young adults ages 18-45. This group was asked a series of questions to determine their purchasing reasoning. Does color affect your purchase? Does color affect your emotion? How do you feel color and emotion relate to one another when purchasing goods? A majority of participants responded positively, saying color and aesthetically pleasing packaging that elicited a positive effect did influence their purchase. 

E., Bankole Oladumiye, and Ebenezer Odji. “Emotion and Colour Perception: A Psychoanalytical Theory of Graphic Design in Consumer of Goods.” Journal of Fine and Studio Art, vol. 7, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1–11., doi:10.5897/jfsa2017.0050.

“Age-related decline in color perception and difficulties with daily activities–measurement, questionnaire, optical and computer-graphics simulation studies”  by  Keiko Ishihara

Keiko Ishiharaa,, Shigekazu Ishiharaa , Mitsuo Nagamachia , Sugaru Hiramatsub , Hirokazu Osakic were all participants in this study across multiple Universities in Japan. The paper was revised and scientifically accepted in 2000. 

“Age-related decline in color perception and difficulties with daily activities–measurement, questionnaire, optical and computer-graphics simulation studies”  by  Keiko Ishihara focuses on the visual impairments experiments by the elderly and how it affects their interaction with technology. The lens in the eyes, which is responsible for a lot of our visual processing and how we focus on the world, begins to harden and yellow with age. 130 elderly were asked to distinguish between shades of yellow and white. The rate of misjudgment was over 41% in elderly 75-80 years old and almost 50% in elderly 80 and up. Another experiment in the study was a simulation of age on young adults. These individuals were asked to wear yellow goggles that simulated the changes the lens goes through over time and to go about their daily lives. These users reported having a hard time distinguishing color, a hard time reading electronic displays, worsened depth perception, and even having a hard time dealing with nonsolid items, such as liquid or flame. Multiple more studies were used to verify the difficulties that the elderly go through in their day to day lives dealing with packaging and electronics and is valuable information when it comes to improving these designed elements in the future. 

Ishihara, Keiko, et al. “Age-Related Decline in Color Perception and Difficulties with Daily Activities–Measurement, Questionnaire, Optical and Computer-Graphics Simulation Studies.” International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, Elsevier, 21 Aug. 2001, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169814101000282?casa_token=9P52uga8ax0AAAAA%3AjfDIhCzVudODGNZsghg3MUazNly5OZWuzPK3uwy1YjbqBgWB_Qqvq2G8IExc02MMaZnf2rnH2g. 

“ The psychological effect of color on the suppression of human aggression”  by Alexander Schauss

Dr. Alexander has over 191 publications and a PhD in Natural and Medicinal research. 

“ The psychological effect of color on the suppression of human aggression”  by Alexander Schauss illustrates the effects of Baker-miller pink on aggression and how it can be used in certain settings to decrease violent behavior and negative emotion in individuals. The color was tested in multiple settings with a range of subjects and its effects were recorded. These setting included jail holding cells and a youth correctional facility. The effects were also tested on the normal functioning individual, individuals with behavioral disorders, blind individuals, and individuals suffering from schizophrenia. It was discovered that individuals placed into rooms painted this color began to calm from their aggressive state. They acted less violence, used less offensive language, and would decrease any self-mutilative behavior. Because these studies could not declare the pink a cause of this sedated behavior, a trial that was more controlled and less observational was implemented. 72 right-handed men were brought in to be tested. The men viewed a controlled panel in a shade of blue and the experimental panel in the baker-miller shade of pink. After viewing each panel their strength was tested. This was repeated with 60 men. In both cases, the men performed lower on their strength test after viewing the pink tile versus the blue. While studies are still ongoing, the pink appeared to have a sedative effect when viewed. 

Schauss, Alexander. (1985). The Physiological Effect of Color on the Suppression of Human Aggression: Research on Baker-Miller Pink. International Journal of Biosocial Research. 7. 55-64. 

“Color Psychology and Graphic Design Applications” by Rose Rider. 

I couldn’t find much on Rose Rider, but this was a piece of her Senior Honors Thesis for an honors program at Liberty University. Her sources were cited properly and the source was found on google scholar, which I deem a pretty trustable search engine. 

“Color Psychology and Graphic Design Applications” by Rose Rider discusses the fundamental principles of color perception and how they can be applied in the context of Graphic Design. Color by itself is light that is being transmitted at different wavelengths and our perception of it can be broken down into three separate categories, hue, saturation, and value. Color preference can be found in children as young as three months old, and these color preferences universally change with age. For example, infants prefer yellows and reds while older adults are often reported to prefer blues or greens. Color is also reported to carry emotion with it, which is most often seen when comparing hues. Warm hues (the longer wavelength hues) are often associated with energy and are found to be more arousing compared to the calming nature of the shorter wavelength cool hues. Cooler Hues are also the more preferred hue. This information is extremely important when considering its application in Graphic Design. Color is a large factor when trying to appeal to your audience and can be used to reach a specific age, personality, social status, ethnicity, and culture. A good example of this is the preference of color with age, the hue is important, as was mentioned earlier, but saturation and value also have a huge part in what colors are preferred by what ages. Children prefer darker, richer hues and secondary colors, as well as fun textures like glitter, compared to other adults who prefer lighter primary colors. 

Rider, Rose M. “Color Psychology and Graphic Design Applications.” (2010).

This was my answer to anyone trying to start a discussion with me about anything even slightly political, throughout high school and even into my first year of college. It wasn’t that I was stuck up or too good to talk about politics, and I had opinions, I was just traumatized. Since I could remember, politics has always been a hot topic in my family. Without being too personal for the sake of the topic, my mom came from a very religious, very conservative family and ended up marrying my dad (a very loud and very liberal atheist.) This started a lot of conflicts, screaming matches, and broken ties that never really mended. Things have improved since then, but a lot of trauma and negative emotions have remained.

Why is this important you ask? Well, I needed to explain where I was before to help contrast where I am now and now that that is out of the way, I can finally go about answering the question, “How does the inevitable intersection of design and politics make you feel?” In short, this intersection makes me feel responsible and in some ways, it makes me feel powerful. When I first started the graphic design classes here at OSU, I had no idea what GD was and I just wanted to create art and be doing something I enjoy. After learning about what GD is and the rich history it has, I discovered it was not just art for the sake of art. Graphic design is a tool and a powerful tool at that. No wonder it has such strong political ties. Knowing that I have this power and skill at my fingertips has helped me overcome some of this past trauma and find a voice in the madness of politics. Besides posting my beliefs on social media and speaking up in person, I created my first poster urging people to vote. It was for a class, and I even submitted it to the AIGA! It didn’t go anywhere, but I was still proud of myself and the progress I have made as a person. Galvanized is a good word for it. I feel strong, and connected to the community because of the intersection between my future profession and politics. But overall, the strongest feeling that comes from this relationship is responsibility. It’s not a burden per se, but a reminder that graphic design is probably one of the closest things we have to a universal language, and things I make have an impact.

I am a woman, a member of the LGBTQ and a fighter. After many years of being too scared to speak, I have found my voice, and I do not plan on wasting it. 

On June 6th, 2019, Jamba Juice decided to ditch the juice and revamp its logo entirely to showcase its expanding menu. The redesign was headed by Focus Brands Inc, a large company in charge of many of the food brands we know and love. The purpose of this redesign was to push into the more modernist style of today’s society and also appeal to its broad spectrum of consumers. I feel that the rebranding was successful in some aspects, but I have issues with several parts of the redesigned logo.

The first thing I find hard to accept about the redesign is the name change. Moving from a longer name to a shorter name has been a popular trend for many industries, like Dominoes Pizza shifting to Dominoes. The goal of this change is to allow for the inclusion of items on the menu that no longer fit in with the old name, but I think it tarnishes the history of the original design and the company. Jamba Juice had a natural rhythm and a sweet alliteration that is missed in the newer name. Because of this, the new name feels incomplete when viewed. This is just my personal opinion of course and is probably influenced by the familiarity and nostalgia I have with the logo and name. Children growing up who know Jamba Juice as Jamba should have no previous ties and therefore won’t experience the same issue I am having. 

Besides this name change, I feel like the designer missed the mark with the decision to not include that deep red that feels like the focal point of the old logo. I have always loved the color palette for Jamba Juice, because of the cohesiveness, the gradient created in the logomark, and the contrast created by the warm reds and cool greens present in the design. The newer design was stripped of multiple shades, which removed that lovely contrast and the seamless blend in the blender tornado. While I disagree with this simplification and miss the red tones dearly, the choice to bring color into the type itself was a nice touch. The original brown/black of the typeface was both jarring and inconsistent with the rest of the design. Because of this, it was easy to view the word mark and illustrative mark as two separate pieces that were thrown together haphazardly. 

This brings me to my final discussion topic, the font choice and new placement. I actually found this change to be surprisingly successful. While the old typeface was distinct, it felt robotic and too clunky for the service it represented. This new handwritten type is organic and smooth, like a perfectly blended smoothie. The logo feels more compact and easy to place, and the type is interacting with the tornado graphic with much more success than the old design. The name takes priority, and the j in Jamba seems to be containing the swirl like a blender would contain its contents. I do, however, dislike the ™ located in between the swirl and the j. It seems forced and like the designer didn’t know where to place the trademark. In its current location, I feel like the company is trademarking just the colorful swirl. 

Overall I think the new design of Jamba, forever Jamba Juice in my mind, had many successful design elements going for it but missed the mark in many aspects. While I feel that the name change does achieve the company’s goals of encompassing all the non-juice related items on the menu, it doesn’t have the same ring as the previous name and alliteration. The simplification of the color palette doesn’t help either and instead takes away from the design as a whole. I understand that they were trying to modernize and minimalize, but I miss the depth of the old palette. While I struggle with some of the changes made, I admit the logo as a design is more successful as a whole because of the new type placement, type color, and organic font. I just feel that the design could have been more successful by maintaining some of the original charms of its older counterpart. In summary, I’m not mad, just a little disappointed. 

I found Marshall McLuhan’s idea of “hot” and “cold” mediums to be interesting and a perspective that I had yet to hear, but I’d hardly say this idea was accurate as it has no scientific basis behind it. Besides this lack of testing and observation, the idea tried to define mediums that are fluid and constantly changing, not only with time but from item to item. What I mean by this is that not every individual had the same quality television (or vision) or the same signal for example. Lower quality or poor signal on television (or someone who has poor vision) would require more participation to decipher the fuzzy images coming through than one that came in clearer.

However, I do believe “the medium is the message” to have truth to it. The medium in which we intake information has a huge effect on how we process that information. We react differently when seeing a tragedy versus reading about a tragedy. In a recent photography class, I had learned about the effects of photoshopping in newspapers and something that stood out to me was the removal of color in wartime images. A black and white image hid things like gruesome wounds and blood in a way colored images on the internet could not. These different mediums affected how we saw tragedy like this, and how we responded to it as a whole. This is why digital photography and the internet helped push the idea that war was awful and gruesome, something newsprint and radio could not convey in the same way.

I think this idea that the medium has a huge impact on our design work should be at the back of our minds constantly. What medium would add to our intended meaning instead of subtracting? How can we communicate the most effectively with our audience? I would hate to push a message of nature conservation and the reduction of our plastic use, and have it be printed on giant, non_recyclable plastic signage. Design is more than just what we communicate, but how we chose to communicate it!