The Uncanny Valley

The uncanny is something that is usually more mysterious and disturbing, rather than surprising. I find an uncanny likeness to be a similarity that is strange and not complete. This is why twins can give an uncanny effect.

The 'Uncanny Valley' posited by Masahiro Mori in 1970, is a diagram that I think explains the uncanny very well. The more realistic a cartoon becomes, the more you notice the gap between it being real. Cubo girl looks very realistic, but doesn't look it when moving, giving an uncanny effect. You don't tend to notice this with cartoons such as the Simpsons, as it is not meant to look realistic, so it is not seen as strange.

Josef Albers, Stencil, 1925

We was shown the stencil components of Josef Albers typeface (1925) and was given an optional task of constructing our name out of as few of these components as we can. My first thoughts was that this would be very difficult as they are very simple shapes.

 



 

I am pleased with my outcome of this task as I feel that my name is clearly readable. However, I struggled with using as few components as I could, I felt that there wasn't a way of making it any simpler, unless it became harder to read.

 

 

I think that the original typeface has quite a lot of similarities to the name that I have constructed. However I feel that it is also a lot cleaner and simpler than my version.

Overall, I enjoyed this task and found it quite challenging.

 

 

Signifying Absence

 

Absence is a lack of presence of something or someone. I think that footprints are one of the biggest indexical signs of this as they indicate that a person was once in this place and also show the direction in which they went, giving the same signal as an arrow or somebody pointing. I feel that the absence from footprints are amplified because of the eerie feel it brings, you can sense the lack of presence more than if there was nothing there at all..



Rachel Whiteread, Ghost 

 

Casting is another method of signifying absence. The positive attributes are removed and leave the negative of an object, this is when we can see the absence of the object. I find this quite uncanny as even though you are looking at a solid object in front of you, it signifies to you that there is nothing.

A particular argument that intrigued me in Anna's seminar was whether a blank canvas or piece of paper is a picture of nothing or just nothing at all. When I would normally look at it I would usually see nothing at all, but this argument has opened my eyes to think it could mean either. I don't think there is a particular right or wrong answer as it just depends on how an individual perceives it.

New York

Logo Design Workshop

In the Logo Design workshop we learnt what the process is like of designing logos for a client. We was given 3 briefs from clients to choose from. I decided to choose the brief which I felt the most interested in which was logo design for a juice/coffee bar aimed at a young audience. I began by generating name ideas for the juice bar.

 

 

I then took a few of the name ideas to draw some quick, rough design ideas for the logos.

 

I began to develop a few of these designs in which I am quite pleased with. If it was to continue with this brief I would develop them further.

Bauhaus

Joost Schmidt's poster (1923) was the first poster created from the Bauhaus and the start of a new style of design. It combines text, lines and shapes to create a single message. The dynamic structure in the poster guides the eye of the perceiver, bringing the whole image together.

 

 

The poster, like most of the design from the Bauhaus, such as László Moholy Nagy's logo (1923) and Peter Keler's Baby Cradle (1922), uses simple shapes like squares, circles and triangles etc. to simplify objects and graphics.

The Bauhaus taught people to think more like engineers than artists, and took the 'Art madness' out of students, making them design more intelligently and systematically.  To make design for every day life feel better and younger. They worked under the influence of form follows function. I found the Julia Cave Documentary interesting and helped me understand the Bauhaus clearer.

Wasilly Kandinsky (1923 Psychological test)

In the lecture, we was asked to carry out Kandinsky's Psychological test where we filled in three shapes (square, triangle and circle) in the colour (red, blue or yellow) that we thought matched the shape. My results were the same as what Kandinsky hoped his respondents would choose. I find this strange how a larger majority of people chose these results.

Kandinsky claimed, "A dull shape like a circle deserves a dull colour like blue."

Even though I matched these two together, I disagree that this is the reason why I feel a circle should be blue. I think that blue is a very cool colour but I think that "dull is the wrong word to describe it. I find it cool in a more refreshing sense rather than dull. I find this very interesting and will look into it further in my essay on colour theory.

Channel 4

Channel 4 Idents

The first Channel 4 logo in 1982 was the first to use a wide variety of colours in their logo, compared to the other 3 TV channels which only had a maximum of 3 colours in their logos at the time. His made Channel 4 stand out and look modern and different to the rest.

The current idents use the landscape to create the logo using objects to construct it. The number 4 appears through a short clip where the elements fall in to place to create the figure.

I find this a very clever and creative idea, and just like in 1982 follows the theme of making them stand out from the crowd.

The locations of the idents are varied globally which I think shows that Channel 4 want to appeal to a world-wide audience rather than just internationally.

Also all of the locations are very contemporary. I feel that they have done this to again relate to the brand identity, a new modern look.  

Some people argue that the logo should go back to the old, colourful logo. However I think that the present idea makes Channel 4 very unique and stand out from the crowd. I find it a lot more appealing and entertaining, you don't see many other channels that have ideas as creative as Channel 4.