Assignment Two: Making images talk

This exercise is for developing skills in controlling visual message

Exercise:
Select an object or activity or location (telephone, running, bus stop, car, cooking etc). Try not to select an existing subject (eg. Toilet or well known sports symbols)
Create a representative image of the object (you may choose either iconic or indexic representation)
Distill the image through process of abstraction. (atleast 5 levels of abstraction from realistic to abstract) Indicate at what point in the abstraction process the object looses its specific identity and communicates generic meaning. Select that image and develop it into a symbol.
Print level of abstraction on A3 size paper and final symbol on A4 paper

Details:
The process of abstraction is one of distillation, the reduction of multiple visual factors to only the essential and most typical features of what is being represented.
Abstraction toward symbolism requires ultimate simplicity, the reduction of visual detail to the irreducible minimum. A symbol, in order to be effective, must not only be seen and recognized but also remembered and even reproduced.

Objectives:
Understanding and overcoming constrains/ problems of representation
Developing skills in controlling visual message

For my sketches, i had drawn... (images will be scanned soon!)

Fan.

Handphone.

Flower.

For my finalized design, i chose a flower! The fan icon looks like radioactive icon found in science lab! and for the handphone, i guess there will be a couple of people doing handphone so i had to ditch the idea. Since the given example in the lecture was a cat. I kept on brainstorming on icons for animals. So i tried to move away from doing animals icon. So since valentines day was coming while im doing this assignment, so lets do on flowers instead. =)

So i need to reduce a complicated form of a flower into something general and simple which people can identify it with. And also with just one look, they will know that it is a flower. So here is my design! taa-dah!


For this assignment im doing an indexic repesentation instead of iconic representation so i do not need a picture of a flower to start off the abstraction method.

My chosen general icon for the flower is coloured in red. During the critique session, comments were that the flower without its leaf is a better option for an icon. I chose the flower with the leaf still attached because i think what is a flower without its leaf right? The levels of abstraction for the flower i think is quite simple. At first, it was tough to come up with an object that can be abstracted through 6 or 7 levels. Thus, i had to brainstorm alot and finally decided to draw on my sketchbook firstly with the fan. Firstly, i pictured the object's first and last image. Then i filled in the in-betweens. It seems like im forcing in the in-betweens and it does not give the "flow" feeling but it helps me to get started on the sketches. Along the way, i brainstorm and see what fits best for me.

I really like the outcome of the flower icon.

Do comment on my work so i can improve it further for the portfolio.

Take care.