Final Project Website

http://gunnerwallis.wix.com/desertdancetheatre

Final Project Objectives

Trisha is an 8^th grader. She is an active girl. Her hobbies are dancing, cheer-leading  and boys, talking on the phone and hanging out with friends. She has friends in school who have danced for years. She would love to, but feels she is too old to begin. Because of that feeling she has never told her parents how she feels.

Jamie is an 8^th grader who takes classes at DDT. All her friends at school love to dance and wish they could take dance classes with her. Her friends have expressed interest in dancing but nothing has come of it because Jamie does not know how to get her friends in contact with DDT staff.

Pepper is a single mother who works hard to make ends meet. Her daughter is 6 and wants to be a ballerina. Who could resist that little smile… so pepper enrolls her daughter in DDT although she is not sure where the tuition money will come from, she can’t say no to her daughter’s dream. Pepper is middle aged mother who loves her daughter with all her heart. She has lived in Utah her entire life. Her Facebook is mainly used to keep up with friends and possible fathers to be.

Courtney is married to a wealthy business man. She enjoys spa days, fancy lunches and the company of her friends. Her boys are into sports, bikes, hiking, fishing, hunting and every other outdoor activity imaginable. Her little girl, on the other hand, hates anything to do with the outdoors. So she enrolls her in dance.

Tiffany is also married to a construction worker. Although money is tight she always finds enough to send her oldest daughter to dance. This year is especially hard though because her husband has not been able to work as much as years in the past. She knows how much her daughter loves to dance and as determined to do everything possible to allow her to continue. Facebook for her is a way to escape the current challenges for fantasy and chit chat with old and long lost friends.

V-Day Design

For my V-Day design i chose this very simple design that, I feel, captures the true idea of Valentine’s Day. It’s a day to celebrate LOVE, what better way to demonstrate that then to take 3 paper hearts and put them together with a circle.

 

This is the only thing I would have changed. I would have used a wedding band with a diamond stud for the "O" or cut out the center of the “O” to induce the subtle idea.

Good Versus Poor Brand Design

Fruit Snacks… little bits of fruity goodness all wrapped up in yummy little packages.  Which one is the best?  Real Fruit, Real Fruit Juice, Made From Concentrate, All Natural or No Preservatives. I guess it really depends on…………… the packaging.

In fact, when it comes to fruit snacks it’s all about the packaging. You don’t believe me? Take a look at the nutrition facts from these major brands.    

 

 









 

As far as nutrition is concerned all fruit snacks are pretty much the same.  Therefore it stands to reason that manufacturers of fruit snacks can not tactically claim to be healthier then their competitors in order to gain the following of their customers. So they are forced to revert to dirty yet brilliant tactics only possible in advertisement.  

And that my friends is where the house divides.   On one hand you have fruit snack companies that appeal to the parents and on the other you have those manufactures who appeal to the children of the parents. 

For this assignment we were to find two representations of design, one good design and one poor design that exist on a level playing field.   Since I am a father of three boys, I am going to side with the fruit snack packaging that appeals to children.  

So lets begin with boring and grown-up packaging campaigns of Sunkist and Welch's fruit snacks.  They focus on the healthy, nutritious and vitamin packed opportunities that parent have to give their children something fruity and nutritious.  After all, as parents, we know that ANYTHING that has pictures of real fruit on it HAS to be healthy and good for our children.   

Another trick these company's use to entice the parents to pick their fruit snacks are muted and natural colors.  Look at the Welch's Fruit Snack Box below.  Even the words "real fruit" are a muted color.  

Another reason I think Sunkist and Welch's go with healthy appeal versus character appeal is for branding purposes.  

Both Welch's and a Sunkist are known for there fruit-based beverages.  Therefore parents already associate them with health and are less likely to question the validity of what they see on a box.

However...
WHAT KID WOULD CHOOSE THE BOX ABOVE WHEN IT IS SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THIS??? 

Now keep in mind that there is no nutritional difference between Farley Ninja Turtles fruit snacks and Welch's.   

This box is AWESOME! What boy would not want to rip open this box and partake of its yummy, gummy goodness? 
The colors used are different then the ones used on the Welch's box.  These colors are vivid and pop. They catch your attention and draw you in to the fantasy that can exist in every box.  

Look at the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They all have taken up defensive positions on the box. Almost like they are ready to defend the gummy inside.  THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!!  No longer are you just an average shopper in a grocery store, but you are now part of Shredders evil army fighting the turtles. Trying to get into their hidden underground sewer lair in order to eat them.  

 

YES I SAID EAT!!! Look at the gummy characters.  They are the Turtles, Bebob, Shredder and Rocksteady. 

 

The next part of the box I would like to point out is the dark green, upside down triangle.  It's really an arrow that guides parents to the grown up message. "Made with real Fruit Juice". Also, do not forget the "FAT FREE" message on the lower right corner. 

The last point I want to make is the placement of the boxes on a shelf; it is very strategic.  

Look at this example.

All the fruit snack boxes that appeal to children can be found at a child's eye level.   While the fruit snacks that appeal to the parents/grownups are in either on the very top or very bottom.   

I could not find proof of this research, but based off of my experience with my own children, parents are more likely to give in and buy fruit snacks with cartoon and superhero on it while shopping with their children than while shopping alone.    

 

Contrast, Balance and Harmony

This is a picture that I took during combat training at Fort Dix in New Jersey. The objective of this mission was to navigate a series of obstacles in order to take out a fox hole that had a M2 and a MK 19 grenade launcher in it.

For this assignment I have been asked to explain the concepts of Contrast, balance and harmony as they pertain to this picture.

To begin, I would have to say that out of the three relational characteristics contrast, balance and harmony, I feel that Contrast is the most prominent  concept that we see represented in this picture.

Contrast can be seen in the fore different shades of green represented in this picture. You have the most obvious green color of the smoke, the green color in the uniform the green needles of the pine trees and the green gloves warn by the soldier you see in the upper right and upper left corners. Another great contrast that is present is a contrast between the clear and focused pine needles and the bellowing smoke created from the smoke bomb. When you begin comparing these elements you notice that you can see through the pine needles on the right side of the picture but you cannot see through the bellowing smoke on the left. We get an idea of what is behind the smoke by seeing the pine trees in the upper left corner, but you cannot see them through the smoke.

Balance was achieved in this photo in the dissipating smoke. It gives away to a slightly visible background. This allows the picture to have a realistic feeling. It also allows the picture to be broken up into thirds. Another element of balance, in my opinion, is the other soldier’s leg that is seen through the dissipating smoke. This distributes the weight of the picture that is caused by the offset of the soldier in the forefront. Another way balance is achieved in my opinion is seen in the natural progression of the smoke going from thick and billowing to a slight haze lingering in the air.        One more way Balance is achieved can be seen in the pine trees that are not only represented in the foreground of the picture but also in the back ground of the picture.

Harmony is created by the mixing of the greens. Because the soldier is wearing camouflage, body armor and has his weapon drawn you automatically get the feeling of combat. The thick dark green smoke is an exact contrast to the uniform and thus causing it to pop out at you more than the soldier. Looking at this picture you get a since of what combat might really be like. The soldier who has a mask on that covers their nose and mouth, is running through the smoke or he is avoiding the smoke makes sense to our brain. It’s a natural expectation of combat. There for we do not question what is taking place. If we were to switch out the soldier for a fire fighter you could easily achieve the same element of relativity that exists given the content of the picture.

Visceral Response

For my Visceral Response i chose a picture I took of a camel while I was in Kuwait. I love this picture, it reminds me of Sid the Sloth from Ice Age. Except with bigger teeth

When you first look at the picture it take you a second to identify it. Its not a picture you would think of when you think of a picture with a camel in it. 

The first thing I notice about the picture is all the different textures you see in the mouth.  My mind doesn't really know how to interpret them right away.  Its almost as if my eyes blur like a camera coming into focus while as my mind is readjusting my eyes so i can see it better. 

The pink in the roof of the mouth looks like a shriveled brain. Making it that much harder to compute what it is you are actually looking at.

Then there was teeth... monstrous teeth.  This picture makes the teeth look huge. I think that a result of the upward angle of the camera and the diagonal angles coming together to make a triangle.  

other aspect you cant help but see is the curves of the eyes and the nose. There are four distinct circles represented here.  The first two are the eyes. The third is the nose and the forth is the oval shape of the lips surrounding the upper and lower jaw. 

Another interesting aspect to this picture is that the horizontal lines dont stand out.   In fact, one could argue that horizontal lines do not exist in this picture.  There are only a few vertical in this picture. The lines created by ropes coming off the harness but that it. 

The teeth, in my opinion give this picture a 3 denominational feeling by separating the upper and lower jaws of the camel. 

The other awesome thing about this picture is what it looks like when you turn it upside down.  


LOOK AT THIS!!! (there was no picture modifications done this is simply the picture above turned upside down.)

- To me it looks like a cross between Alien and a tiger.

  

 To me it looks like a cross between Alien and a tiger.