fLaura Romaniello has 6 post(s)

Manipulating Photos by Hand

I kind of wish I got to experience photo manipulation in the dark room. It is super interesting to me and I would love to make a montage by hand to fully understand the process that goes into it. I think that by manipulating a photo yourself like how they did before photoshop will give you a greater appreciation for the craft. I honestly didn’t think that photo manipulation was possible back in the 1800’s, it’s astonishing to see the products that were made without the help from any digital technology. I learned in high school about film making and the process they went through back then and I had never thought about how similar it was to photo manipulation in photography. Placing images on top of one another to create a compiled negative which is then developed to one awesome photo manipulated image. It’s so fascinating!

Jerry Uelsmann

I find Jerry Uelsmann to be a very talented photographer, he has an amazing eye for montages and creating images with a message. Watching his videos of the process in which he makes his photos really opened my eyes to the efforts that go into photo manipulation. You really have to know what you’re doing to get the best product. Below I have created a gallery of some of Jerry’s work that I find fascinating.

haunted-

adj. Frequented or much visited by spirits, imaginary beings, apparitions, spectres, etc.

kerplunk-

adj. To fall with a sound like that of a heavy object falling into water.

graveyard-

n. a burial ground, especially one beside a church.

obrumpent-

adj. breaking; bursting

I took this quiz two times, the first time I got an 86 which I was okay with but I knew I could do better. The second time I kind of rushed through it but I was familiar with the kerning that had to be done in order to  get a good grade so I fixed the kerning on the words and took a step back to see if the words looked good and continued onto the next. I didn’t really find any of the words too challenging. The only word that I would consider to be difficult was Yvess because of the Y and the lowercase v. Overall I didn’t struggle to fix the kerning, it was all about what just looked normal to me. Yeah I could have moved a few letters over a smidge to get a 100 but I am happy enough with my score that I can accept it to be put into the grade book as it is. I will always be happy with an A!

In watching the film Helvetica, my eyes were opened to the world around me and made me aware of how reliant we are on typeface. I had never really noticed how important typeface is to our society and how it affects our daily lives until now. Anywhere you look, Helvetica is used 99% of the time. On street signs, business signs, maps, directories, buildings, logos, food products, and anything that requires the use of text information for the American society. Ever since watching this film, everywhere I go I am scanning the streets looking for Helvetica and taking note of how often it is used. Just sitting in my room writing this I am looking around and noticing how often Hevletica shows up.

Like Lars Muller said, Helvetica is “the perfume of the city, we don’t notice it but would miss it if it wasn’t there.” I find this statement to be very true because if we take away everything that is written in Helvetica and replaced it with something like Times New Roman, the atmosphere would be completely changed. I agree with Leslie Savan’s statement (below) about Helvetica treating all problems from our daily lives as if they don’t exist. “Helvetica has almost like a perfect balance of push and pull in its letters. And that perfect balance sort of is saying to us – well it’s not sort of, it is saying to us don’t worry, any of the problems that you’re having, or the problems in the world, or problems getting through the subway, or finding a bathroom… all those problems aren’t going to spill over, they’ll be contained. And in fact, maybe they don’t exist.” Helvetica is like the cure-all for typeface, it is the go-to. It very versatile and has the ability to make everything simple. It doesn’t project any certain mood or feel to the audience, it is up to the content to do that. Wim Crouwel makes a good point when he says “the meaning is in the content of the text and not in the typeface, and that is why we loved Helvetica very much.” 

Lars Muller

Leslie Savan

Wim Couwel

Graphic Design and Me

I have never really had any experience in graphic design prior to college, I had always taken film classes in high school because that is what my main interest was. I’ve always been pretty good at art so I never took any art classes in high school either, now that I am in college as an art major I really enjoy the amount of art courses I am taking. I am looking to do the dual option BFA in art and design so I can do half graphic design and half studio art. In doing graphic design, I have a pretty good idea of what my favorite types of design are. With my love for film making, I would say that motion design is definitely one of my favorite types of graphic design. I am also very interested in advertising design.

Motion Design

I originally came to Keene with the idea that I was going to be a film major because I have always wanted to work in a studio whether it be for film making or television production, I just really enjoyed the whole editing together sequences of shots and adding transitions and video elements. I loved watching a piece of motion come together and the whole process that goes into it. Designing and putting together title scenes, animations, trailers, music videos, adding music, etc. brings me joy and I could sit there and put together a video all day without complaining. I have a good amount of experience with putting together motion designs and short films/videos through the classes I have taken in high school and the robotics club I was a part of (I was the head of the marketing team). I understand that it is very important to convey a message correctly and get the right audience to acknowledge it and grab their attention. This is done through color schemes, the way things flow together, the image conveyed in the motion, the sound that is added, the typography, and many more aspects that trigger our psyche and create a specific emotion that designers want to create for the audience. In this article, the typography of stranger things, it talks about how a few aspects of a motion can create such a powerful feel in such a short span of time. The reason why I love motion design and film making so much is because I really enjoy the challenge to create something that is visually pleasing and brings out a reaction from the audience.

Advertising Design

Advertising design is interesting to me because it goes hand in hand with motion design. I am able to advertise for the videos I make and with the same visual concepts. It’s all about the visual appearance and it’s effect on the psyche to draw a viewers attention. I have experience in advertising design through the robotics club I was a part of in high school. I would put together images and information onto pamphlets, brochures, posters, banners, etc. to market for our team and get people interested in the program. It is important for advertisements to have the ability to stick with you, whether it’s a catchy tune or catch phrase. Something that allows the audience to remember the company pr product that the advertisement was providing information for. I love to get creative and think outside the box to get someone intrigued by whatever is designed. In order to create a well designed advertisement, one must have the ability to understand and use psychology, marketing, and creativity for the best results.