Journal Entry #5

For the Men's/Woman's Restroom sign, I kept male and female figures but instead took the shapes from Barbie and Ken Dolls. I combined a flame with a fire extinguisher with a cloud coming out of it for the fire extinguisher sign. For the Janitor's Closet sign, I based it on the same figure from the original men's room sign and added a hat and a broom. The Executive Washroom sign was is exactly the same thing as the original men's room sign, except the figure is wearing a suit. For the Parking Garage sign, I used a picture of a parked car in a parking space. The Exit sign is a picture of an opened door with clouds and a sun beyond it so you know that it is a door leading to outside.  

I chose blue and pink colors for the restroom signs because these colors sometimes represent male and female. The flame in my fire extinguisher sign isn't a complete shape, but the design principle of closure allows the brain the fill in the rest and so you can see it as a complete object. I used the similarity in my Janitor's Closet because the entire sign in black. Contrast was used for the Executive Washroom sign by using only black and white. I put emphasis on the parking lot lines by putting the car in perspective so you could see the lines better. The Exit sign was done all in lines, instead of having the shapes filled in with color. 

Journal Entry #4

Arrows, which are probably one of the simplest graphic symbols there are, date back to 25,000 to 50,000 years ago. In ancient times, arrows were placed on the tips of sticks for hunting. Now, in an age of advertising and technology, the arrow is most commonly used a symbol representing direction. However, some people choose to use the arrow in works of art, or to symbolize something completely different than its original meaning. As I was looking around for arrows, I realized that the arrow is a more common symbol than I thought.

The first place I searched for arrows were on regular household items. I found the first set of arrows on a thermostat. The purpose of these two arrows is to lower or raise the temperature in the house.  I think that it is important to have the buttons on a thermostat labeled so you know what you are doing when press one of the buttons. Other places where I found arrows were on a toaster oven, computer keyboard, computer speaker, T.V. remote, a popcorn bag, and box of plastic wrap. I think all of these arrows have a good purpose and that it is important that they are there. The arrow on the toaster oven points to the word “off” so that you turn the dial the right way. Like the toaster oven, the arrow on the computer speaker indicates which way to turn the dial in order to turn the sound up. Keyboards can have many different arrows, but I chose to take a picture of the up, down, left, and right keys. The purpose of these keys is self explanatory. Similar arrows were found on the T.V. remote, to go a certain direction when viewing a menu on the T.V. screen. The bag of popcorn has arrows pointing the correct end to open up.  If you were to open up the wrong side of the popcorn bag, hot oil could come out and burn you. The last arrow was on a box of plastic wrap, pointing to the sticky spot that holds onto the plastic wrap. Although I think this arrow was not absolutely necessary, it brings attention to a part of the box, their trademarked “Glad Grab” which makes it stand out from other brands of plastic wrap.

Although some arrows are important and helpful, some of them are rather useless, in my opinion. For example, I found arrows on a bandage wrapper. I think that opening a bandage is pretty easy to do and you should not need instructions on how to do it. There was also a triangular arrow and the word “pull” on the lid of a bowl of instant ramen. Also, I think the arrow and the word “pull” was also a bit unnecessary because most people know how to take a lid off of a cup of noodles.

I found many more arrows in my house, but I decided to go out and find some elsewhere. The first arrow I found was on a sign on a traffic light post, telling which way to cross after pushing the button. It is important to have an arrow there so that you know which button to press if you want to cross the street. Another traffic-related sign that had an arrow on it was the “no turn sign” which has a red “no” sign over an arrow. Arrows are very important symbols on roads because they tell where drivers should go and where not to go.

There are many arrows out in public places that tell you where to go. While I was at ASU, I found arrows on signs pointing the bookstore, and area with lockers right outside the bookstore, the BAC building, the Student Admissions desk, and the entrance to the dance studios. All of these arrows had the same person of directing a person, particularly one that is unfamiliar with the campus, to their destination. There was also a sign with an arrow pointing to the stairway, a sign that can be found in other buildings as well. Another common area to find an arrow in a public place is on an elevator button. The purpose of this arrow is to tell you which direction the elevator will go once you press it. Two other miscellaneous places I found arrows were on a recycle bin and a sign on a soda machine. The arrow on the sign was there to show you to check your bottle to see if you won a prize, and the arrows on the recycle bin were part of the recycle logo, which do not have much of a purpose other than just to be part of the logo.

Journal Entry #3

For the theme of this entry, I chose chain restaurant signs. I think almost all of the restaurants I went to had decent signs that were pleasing to the eye and successful in terms of graphic design. IHOP, the first restaurant, had a successful sign by using formal element of shape and the design principle of repetition. The word “IHOP” almost makes a rectangle, but the tail of the “P” has to hang down in order for circle inside of the “P” to match up with the circle inside of the “O”.  Chili’s, which also has a sign made of letters, uses balance and repetition to create an eye-catching sign. The bottom of the letter “h” connects to the bottom of the letter “l” creating balance, but also a bit of repetition since both letters have ascenders. Subway uses repetition in its sign by having an arrow on each end of its logo. Burger King’s logo is unique because it uses suggestive type to make the words look like a patty between two buns. In my opinion, Chipotle’s sign lacked creativity because the lettering was so simple. Popeye’s sign was more creative because not all letters were the same, like the P’s were both different. Arby’s sign is also unique, with an outline of a cowboy hat behind the lettering. Pizza Hut uses contrasting colors to make it stand out to the viewer. I liked Wendy’s sign because it used old-fashioned letters which were put into an interesting shape. Denny’s sign is rather plain but the shape of the sign makes it stand out from others. The Long John Silver’s sign stands out with the use of contrasting colors and a bright yellow background. Another sign that had a yellow background was Filiberto’s, but this was not a good sign in my opinion and the lettering could have been much better. Taco Bell has a simple yet effective sign because of the use of symmetry in the bell icon. The McDonald’s sign, which is probably one of the most recognized signs in the world, is both simple and symmetrical. Panda Express’s sign, which is the last one, is successful because it using contrasting colors and overall the sign is well balanced.

Journal Entry #2

Journal Entry #1

I chose a picture of a painter’s palette because I love art, whether it is creating it or just looking at it. Although I am not much of a painter, I chose to use a palette because I think it is a good representation of just art in general. I enjoy many different kinds of art and exploring new art forms and mediums.  

I chose a computer because I believe that other people probably think that I like computers a lot. A lot of my time is spent on the computer doing things such as playing games, chatting with friends, or doing homework. I think computers are great for many different things and I think without them I would be a very different person.

*Note: I didn't actually take these photos myself. I got them off the internet (wasn't sure if we were supposed to create the image ourselves or not).