Last class will be from 9-11, 4/26. Hand in your final portfolio CD. If you would like to meet with me individually, sign-up for a time, beginning at 9am. If you are just dropping off your CD, please do so between  9-10 at the classroom.

Together, we will visit and discuss the exhibition:
Standard Deviations: Types & Families in Contemporary Design (3rd Floor)
For more info, read  AIGA Coverage of the event

While you are at the museum, also check out:
German Expressionism: the Graphic Impulse

Next week is our last class! So you’ll have 2 weeks to put together your final portfolio for the semester. This should include all assignments from Spring semester. Scan or take photos of all compositions. Compile them into one PDF. Burn this onto a DVD and label it with your full name and ‘Visual Language, Spring 2011′. If you have trouble creating the pdf, you can save all images as jpegs. Fit all compositions for that assignment on one page.

naming convention:
1. value_ scale_your_name
2. contrast_saturation_your_name
3. contrast_hue_your_name
4. warm_cool_your_name
5. color_wheel_your_name
6. contrast_proportion_your_name
7. four_seasons_your_name
8. photo_palettes_your_name
9. monochromatic_stamp_your_name
10. colorizing_your_name

This will prepare you for assembling your final portfolio, due April 26 (last day of class). More to come on that.

The objective of this assignment is to:
- create a design that works at a small-scale
- learn to apply palettes specified and to work within design constraints
- incorporate the visual language design principles

Your stamp should include:
-image
-denomination ($)
-country

Your stamp should be presented at approx 5′x5′ (you may want to do a square, or rectangle). Scan in this composition and create a smaller version that is actual size. put this on an envelope and bring to class with the original composition.

You have three choices for the subject of your stamp; it can honor a person, place or event. If you choose a person, they must be dead for at least 10 years.

Reference zazzle.com to see size/denomination options for the USA (you can even create your own stamp, but it will have the wonky text/barcode on it).

1. nature
2. a fast food restaurant
3. your room
4. streets of nyc
5. a floral arrangement/flowers
6. a human interaction

Create color combinations based on each photograph. Present your 6 photos and their 6 palettes in the format of your choice. the 6 page accordian book seems to work the best. view examples.

The objective of this exercise is to observe and record the endless amount of color combinations in our everyday environments. You can use found paper or gouache.

Assignment Specifications:
4-fold accordian book. Each collage should be 4×6 or larger- up to 8×8.
Use found paper. Each composition should exhibit a color hierarchy (dominant, subdominant, highlight colors).

Collages should communicate your personal relationship/interpretation of each season. Create a narrative between each collage. DO NOT make the collages literal.

This assignment is due on March 22, so you have two weeks. Feel free to email me sketches for feedback. Please note, there will be no class held on March 15.

The palette for each collage must be one of the following types of color combinations (memorize these!)
Monochromatic: Colors that are shade or tint variations of the same hue.
Analogous: Colors located adjacent to each other on a color wheel.
Complementary Colors across from each other on a color wheel.

Not as common, but important to know:
Split-Complementary: One hue plus two others equally spaced from its complement.
Double-Complementary: Two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition.
Triad: Three hues equally positioned on a color wheel.
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Contrast of Proportion
When colors are juxtaposed, our eyes perceive a visual mix. This mix will differ depending on the proportions of allocated areas.
- The color with the largest proportional area is the dominant color (the ground).
- Smaller areas are subdominant colors.
- Accent colors are those with a small relative area, but offer a contrast because of a variation in hue, intensity, or saturation (the figure).
color-proportion-handout

Homework:
Create three collages that exhibit contrast of proportion. Use found paper based on the palettes you created in-class. Compositions should be abstract, and incorporate the principles learned last semester.

In-class:
1) Create palettes for your homework, 3 total.

Make it spectacular, well-crafted, and unexpected.
I look forward to being wowed!

In the center of the color wheel are 3 primary colors: Red, Yellow, Blue.
Outside of that are 3 secondary colors,  made by mixing the primary colors:
Red + Yellow = Orange
Yellow + Blue = Green
Red + Blue = Purple or Violet

Mixing these secondary colors with primary colors will make your 6 Tertiary Colors: Yellow Orange, Red Orange, Red Violet, Blue Violet, Blue Green, Yellow Green

In-class assignment: create a color wheel that includes primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Select a format from the examples shown in class. Then, add the 2 lighter shades and darker shades as shown in Ittens color star. This will be the color sample you base your personal color wheel project on.

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Any color can be lightened by adding white, the same color can be darkened by adding black. In Itten’s Color Star, each of the 12 colors of the wheel is accompanied by two light and two dark colors.

Project 5: Create a color wheel with the 12 hues of Ittens color star. Come up with a conceptual representation that is interesting while maintaining accuracy.

This is a two-week project. Next week your first rough draft is due. You will present your idea and a fully-executed sketch.
View color wheel student examples

Warm Color Scheme
The hues of magenta, red, orange, yellow, and yellowgreen are generally referred to as the warm colors. These colors produce a synaesthetic experience of heat in most viewers. Studies have been conducted in which test subjects were placed in rooms painted in a warm color and their perceptions of the room’s temperature was almost always much warmer than its actual temperature. The warmth that these colors radiate tends to make them seem warm, cozy, and inviting and they draw attention very easily. Psychologically warm colors are associated with happiness and comfort.

Project 4: Create a color scale that goes from warm to cool, and cut your swatches into 25 1′squares. Arrange them in a composition that exhibits the transition from warm to cool. Mount with a 1′ margin top and sides, 2′ on the bottom.