DESIGN: Assignment 4
Response to the following reading:
1. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: Chapters 4 (Time) and 5 (Line)
2. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative by H. Porter Abbott: Chapter 1
The readings stress importance of time and emotion in how they relate to narrative. Specifically in a 2-dimensional medium, such as graphic design, these elements are crucial to the success of the work. Most of my design work has been in interactive and print design, and even though this type of content doesn’t have such obvious narrative, it still uses a similar structure. I attempt to tell stories in my work, and the images, colors, and composition helps to do this. In Chapter 4 of Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, he talks about how the eye scans over a single static image, dividing each segment into its own period of time. This intuitive behavior, works to the designers advantage, has they can construct their designs with this in mind. This is usually done by placing important elements from left to right, top to bottom.
In addition to the placement of elements to create sequence in design, emotions can be generated. This can be done by juxtaposing elements. This conflict of images, colors, etc. creates tension within a design that helps to convey a specific emotion. Another example given in the reading is the way that icons effect emotions of the viewer. Icons are contextualized by social context and our experiences, enabling the designer to express a deeper message with the use of one symbol.
