Syntactical Guidelines- Success and Failure

The logo above is a good example of the syntactical guideline, balance, being used correctly. The difference between the contrasting colors, purple and orange, and the fact that they are on the same plane and size, creates a harmonious balance between the words even though they are different amount of letters. The logo provides stability for the viewer and is much easier on the eyes because of this trait. 

The image above is an example of a logo that is poorly designed. There are ore than three fonts used in the one logo which is an example of the syntactical guideline, stress. The fact that there are so many fonts plus the added image to the left, creates a stressful composition and the viewer doesn't know what to concentrate on specifically which causes them to lose interest. Having the watermark to the left of the composition is also an example of sharpening but it was poorly used. Having the watermark to the far left doesn't heighten the quality of the design and actually distracts more from the meaning. 

Visual vs Symbolic Language

Description:

Dark, melancholy, bold, tiring, frank, draining, repetition, linear, shadow, forms, currency, numerals, "help wanted", business attire, variety

This image implies the tiresome effects unemployment has on people, which is exhibited in the stance of the symbols of people. The fact that the people shown are all in a sort of transparent, dark gray shadow, displays the idea that the unemployed population can be seen as a large group that may feel ignored. The idea that the people are represented as shadows definitely suggests the concept that they may not feel understood or noticed by the public that is employed. It could also suggest the factor of feeling like a failure in society or like they no longer have an influence in society. The continual line that they are formed in may also propose the feeling of recurrent defeat in the competitive job market. The bold and prominent font of the the word "Unemployment" in all caps doesn't leave much opportunity for the viewer to disregard  the main issue being displayed. For someone who may be visually impaired the image may represent feelings of loneliness, disorientation, neglect, and  lack of progress.

Meaning 2

Representational:

This poster has a realistic, representation of the iPhone product. The iPhone is the main component of the poster, which signifies it's importance in the advertisement. The fact that it's directly in the middle of the composition relays this as well, and communicates the fact that that is the product they are selling. The realistic representation of the iPhone, gives the reader the "recollection factor." When they see the poster with the iPhone picture they can recognize what it is because it's realistically represented. This aspect relates to the symbolic level because symbols are intended for the public to be able to easily identify what they are. In the sense of relating to the abstract level, although the picture of the iPhone may be a realistic representation, it may not look like every iPhone available. It is a mere "abstract" representation of the common iPhone.

Abstraction:

The gadget-like illustrations behind the iPhone show a level of abstraction in this poster. You can't really tell what the illustrations are, and set a kind of ambiguous tone to the poster. I think it has a kind of outlet for imagination for the viewer since you can't really tell what is being illustrated. It seems to be mainly ornamentation. This abstraction relates to the representation level because I think the artist tried to make the illustrations relate to the realistic style as the iPhone was represented in, adding light and shading. The abstraction also adds to the level of symbolism because it is incorporated with symbolic features that are tied into the abstractions some how. 

Symbolic:

There are various examples of symbols in this poster. One being the Apple Company logo of the apple next to "iPhone." The others being the arrows and plus-signs. These symbols give the viewer a familiarity to make some sort of connection. The Apple logo for example provides a repeating symbol for consumers so that they can recognize their products easily. The symbols relate to the representational level because they illustrate things in reality that are recognizable in reality in symbolic form. The symbols also relate tot the abstract level because they are sort of conceptual and a mix between reality and abstraction. 

Representation, Symbol, Abstraction

This image of houses is an image of an abstraction of the idea of a house. The houses in the image are all distilled, meaning they are the "boiled down" version of what a house normally looks like. The conventional structure of a house is portrayed in the image which helps the viewer identify that they are houses even though it may not look like reality. The additions of windows and doors help the viewer identify that they are houses as well. The fence and the yards are also additions to the image that assist the viewer in making the assertion that they are houses being shown. The artist took the basics of a house and portrayed that in this painting. 

Above is a symbol of a cupcake. The artist took the simplest forms of a cupcake and chose those shapes to signify a cupcake. The image is so simple, yet gets across the idea that it is a symbol for a cupcake because of the shape and size. Even though the colors may not symbolize an actual cupcake, the viewer can still understand the basic image for a cupcake and make the connection between the two. The association made with the top of cupcakes usually being a bit larger than the bottom, and the resemblance of "frosting" on the top, makes this symbol recognizable to a wide audience. 

Above is a picture I took of two different coffee mugs. They are realistic representations of coffee. Because the photo was not altered in the sense that would effect the representation of the two coffee mugs, this image shows a simple representation. Nothing was done to the image to express any alterations but it is functional in the sense that it displays coffee in one of it's simplest ways. It was one of my direct experiences with drinking coffee, which is exactly what the image exhibits.