Inspiration

Inspiration is the first factor that drives artists and designers’ imaginations and creativities. Artists in a different era have their own and individual ways to get inspired. . Apparently, every single inspiration affects the style of their artwork. For instance, the artists from Baroque were inspired by a religion, their faith and their belief. On the other hand, the natural surrounding inspired expressionists to express their feeling through the canvas. Pop artists were inspired by a consumerism, which refers to an economic and emphasizes on consumption. From decade to another decade, artists have been changing the way of making and creating artworks base on the inspiration and the way they want to communicate to their audiences in term of “ Style”. Why did they change? “The fact is, it wasn’t just another decade. Something did happen.”(Kim Levin 1) If a social structure or activity were changed, it would affect and inspire artists to produce their artwork differently as Kim Levin had written an article a transition from Modernism to Post-modernism. “ Farwell to Modernism”
“We are witnessing that in the past ten years modern art has become a period style, an historical entity.”(Kim Levin 2) Kim Levin mentions about modernism in the very beginning of her article. Modernists emphasized on the methods and principles of science to produce and create art. Most inspiration in this era came from the society and human being. Artists denied the past. They tried to construct new forms by experimenting different ways of painting and designing. Besides, modernists believed in the technological future, believed in scientific objectivity. For instance, art was produced in factories from blueprints. Many museums around the world exhibited several exhibitions, which is mainly about machines and technology. Kim Levin also gives an example of the modernists’ inspirations in 1960s which is considered a period of Pop art. Pop artists embraced the processes of mass production and Minimalism. They showed the audience about the consumerism through their work of arts. Despite of Vietnam, Woodstock, peace marches, and violence, modernism fell apart. (Kim Levin 3) Modernism was slowly replaced by Post-modernism.
“It began with a return to nature. The future has become a question of survival.”(Kim Levin 4) Post-modernists started replacing the steel and plastic objects in the art magazine by natural substance, Photographic images, and real time system. The artists refused nothing from the past and compromised them together. They concerned about moral responsibilities of life. Moreover, technology is not necessary for life anymore. Audiences appreciate art differently depend on his/her own experience. Therefore, post-modernists created art through the context instead of style. Grid, formality, repetition, and ordering were not used to create art in post-modernism.
Whereas, arts from late modernism and post-modernism were the combination between these two styles. Kim Levin mentions about separating late modernist works and post-modernist is not easy. Similarity, late Roman and early Christian art, or late Gothic and early Renaissance, at this junction of period the styles coexisted. (Kim Levin 5) Audiences could have seen arts from late modernism similarly to arts from early post-modernism because the artists shared the same inspirations. Early port-modernists began to be interested in the new way of seeing the world and represent it to the public. They tried to give new experiences of appreciating arts to the audiences. On the other hand, modernists tried to avoid the traditional way of depicting and presenting their opinions by mimicking and reflecting the society. They reminded the audience to think and realize about their society.
Obviously, inspiration is one of the main factors that shape the style of the artists to create arts in the different period of time. As we can see from the significant artists in the history, Johannes Vermeer was inspired by his mistress to paint Girl with a pearl earring, Vincent Van Gogh was inspired by the nature. He painted Starry Night to express his feeling and present the way that he saw this world. The church gave the money to Giotto in order to paint Madonna and Child. This would be his inspiration to paint this painting. However, from the past to present, artists have different inspiration to produce and create arts which depend on what are they interested in, it might be nature, society, religion, education, or human being life. Meanwhile, in the next ten years we might be appreciating a new style of arts in our local gallery.

Inspiration & Motivation

Have you ever thought about your inspiration?

Have you ever thought about your motivation?

Have you ever thought about your imagination?

Have you ever thought about your perception?

Have you ever thought about..............................?

These questions came up to me last week about my inspiration and imagination. I am wondering that one day, I would not able to be inspired by any things. That would be the end of my career and my life.

I need inspiration not only to work and communicate my ideas, but also to live in my real life.

I definitely need inspiration and motivation to do it !!!!!!

Will talk about my motivation later. /:)

I would say.....

This is our second meeting, yet it feels like my finest memory.
You are sweeter than honey. Have you been eating sugar? Syrup? Honey? Sweet&low?
Hey ! I love your ears. They seem so soft. And your hair. It’s like really really nice hair or something.
And your hands, they are like really really small doll hands.
It’s like you live in a doll house. …. Or a small box on soft sand….
I would say…. I fall in love with you….Do you know what I mean ?

Ostrich

Ostrich. The meat that everyone wants to be

The skill designers lack and other small tips

1. What are the basic elements of design? Are there any golden rules?

The three basics are type, image and space. The golden rule is to understand clearly what you intend to communicate. Although it doesn’t sound “graphical,” more design fails for lack of a clear purpose than for any other reason.

2. How do the elements of layout interact? Do you look at headline styles in isolation from, say, image size? Does the relationship depend on the medium?

Nothing happens in isolation. Every element in a visual field is related to every other—this line opens into that space, which is like that shape. The mistake is to not perceive that everything you see is related and interactive.

3. How important is consistency, and what are the best ways to ensure a feeling of identity without becoming boring?

If you’re painting a picture, there’s not much need for consistency. If you’re communicating a company brand, consistency is gospel—same elements, same typefaces, same colors, same relationships, every time they appear in every venue (above). You’ll get bored, but your brand will be strong. Resist the urge to fiddle.

4. What skills do designers lack most?

The most common weakness among all designers is knowledge of typography.

5. What are the differences between laying out a single page and a spread? And how about a longer section?

A single page is about the size of the human head, so everything’s right in front of us, and we see it all pretty much at once. A spread is too wide to see all at once, so our eyes must scan side to side. Same is true of a tabloid and a big computer screen. You must design a big space on two levels—global and local.

6. How do you use layout to control the reader’s eye?

Do you mean . . . . . . like this?

7. What part does color play in layout and typography?

Viewers identify color more quickly than any other attribute. They’re also attracted to or repelled by color more readily than any other attribute. Repellent colors on an otherwise brilliant layout will ruin it and vice-versa.

8. How important is the use of full color?

Full color is how we experience life, so the more “alive” that you want your page to feel, the more important full color is.

9. How do you accommodate for images if you have to plan a layout before you’ve seen them?

Use a grid. Without the actual photos you can control only the size and shape of an image. This is usually a heavy compromise, suitable mainly for newspapers.

10. Are there any errors that would give someone away as not being a professional layout artist?

An amateur is likely to use more fonts or more decorative fonts or apply embellishments like shadows and outlines. An amateur is likelier to put borders around things. An amateur is likelier to even out the “gray,” making the page elements similar in size and spacing. From a pro you’re likelier to see very bold moves and high contrasts of color, size and position.

From Before&After magazine

http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2009/04/the-skill-designers-lack-and-other-small-tips/

I Believe in Advertising

I saw these printed ads on the website " I believe in Advertising" which is really good example for advertising design students. For some reason, these ads remind me to think about how hard to create a super awesome advertising, Also, how hard to come up with a perfect copy to communicate the image of the ad.

45 Amazing Type Faces

Typography is not just about choosing a nice typeface, actually it's much more than that, it's how we arrange the types in the layout choosing the right size, weight and type of font to transmit the message in the easiest and more understandable way. Now, imagine some designers take that to a next step, mixing typography with portraits.

P2 Weekly Schedule

My works from Information Design-Winter 2009

P1 Charts and Graphs

visual complexity