assignment 2: figure+ground, four principles of design

FIGURE+GROUND

cristal champagne bottle ad

This ad plays on the figure and ground relationship an interesting way. The bottle (or figure) is physically formed out of the lines of the background (ground). Making the bottle out of the ground makes the bottle go into the background a little bit and highlights the label, which is the only solid (besides the swirly type) on the page. This brings the audience's attention directly to the label and indicates to the audience that the label is the most important part of the ad.

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

contrast. repetition. alignment. proximity.

This ad uses all four principles of design that we discussed in class very effectively. It uses repetition the most effectively, so let's start with repetition. The ad is split into four rectangles of equal size--two have text and two have pictures. The header font is the same orange for both text boxes and both headers have lines under them. Both text boxes also have arrows pointing to their associated pictures. Both the dog and the child are sticking out their tongues. All of these elements work together to make the ad cohesive and make it easy to look at/understand/read. Let's move on to contrast. The text boxes contrast with the pictures. They are light grey, while the pictures vary in color. This indicates to the eye that the text boxes are serving a different purpose than the photos. The alignment plays an important role in making this ad appealing as well. All of the boxes are aligned with each other and the text is in the middle of the text boxes. The ad also uses proximity to indicate to the audience which text goes with which photo. All in all, a very visually pleasing ad!