Design Evaluation

A topic I could talk about for hours: hair products. One of my favorite parts of being a hairdresser was getting to play with hair products all day.

I was obsessed with the brand Bumble & Bumble. I even ended up assisting with an educator for Bb after hair school.

Looking at the brand with a designer's mind, I can definitely say part of my attraction was the logo and the brand image, and the packaging design. The logo utilizes the concept of simplicity in the black and white color choice. The handwritten, loopy font is a fun play on lines and curves in the design. The use of the Bb in the logo is a clever alliteration of the brand name.

I adore the variation of the logo with the bright colors to signify the hair color care line. Once again, the packaging  is very simple, with very little use of color. By only using a little bit of color, the impact is more meaningful. The containers look cute and coordinate well because they all match — I want this sitting in my bathroom! Plus, the hair product smell divine, which is another sensory factor that sells the brand.

Kérastase is another high-end hair product brand that is salon exclusive. I am just not as drawn to this brand visually. The logo is boring. The typography choice screams classy and Parisian, but to be honest, it just reminds me too much of L'Oreal. If I am paying around $40 a bottle for shampoo, I want it to be pretty!

The packaging is okay. I like the shiny lids and I chose a photo with products that are in one of my favorite colors, but I still think the effect is more on the conservative  (blah) side. The fact everything is in French adds to the allure of foreign = better, but effect is lost on me. I see very little creative design elements, other than the contrast of matte and shiny and the wide lids on the three bottles. 

To be honest, I think Kérastase is a better product overall, but I am going to pick Bumble because it looks cute and I like the way it smells. 

Contrast, Balance & Harmony

This photo is from a design project I did last semester for a publication design class. I had my brother call up a few of his friends and turned them loose while I photographed them having fun. I definitely had to run about to keep up with them, but this turned out to be one of my favorite photo shoots. 

The contrast in the photo of Pretty Danny and the Dangling Legs is shown through the idea that normally the legs are at the bottom of the photo and not the top, but this photo has that concept switched. There are also several places where lines are prominent design elements, but the legs and Danny break up the patterns in the lines.  There is also contrast in that Danny is very well-groomed and more posed while his friends have a more casual and laid-back look.

The element of balance comes from the rule of thirds that I love to use.  There is also a V shape that forms from the dangling legs and Danny.  The V shape could be considered a squished arc form, which I notice I often use as a design element. Danny is looking down, but I think the eye is able to travel because of the way the dangling legs line up with the overall shape everyone forms.

I find harmony in the color tones. The color palette is more on the muted, neutral side, with the only elements that stand out are the Misfits patches on Danny's vest.  The 3 on the building even matches the denim color of the jeans on the upper right side.

Proximity

I found this logo design on Pinterest. The design of the coffee beans outlines the coffee cup, conveying the use of proximity. 

Visceral Response

The ballet dancer moves seamlessly and effortlessly aross the stage, creating perfect art in motion. While every pose, every turn, evey leap seems to be a natural movement for the dancer, the art comes from pain. And from that pain comes immense strength and beauty.

My first introduction to design was dance. When I was very little, I took dance classes and I remember being mesmerized when I would watch the older girls perform ballet. I was fascinated with the costume designs, and how they complimented the movement of the dancer and the feeling the dancer was projecting. The dancers didn't look human; they looked like perfect, ethereal creatures who created shapes with their arms and legs to tell a story. Even at a young age, I noticed the line and bevel of the foot during an arabesque, or the perfect arc of a grande leap. Add in the music and I would get emotional, even when I was very small. When I watch ballet today, I am moved in the same way, and even more so now because I know behind the smile or the I-am-kind-of-bored look a ballerina wears is an individual who is in physical pain for her art. Ballerinas may look delicate, but they are strong on the inside with physical and mental discipline.

I love the arcs and flow of the lines in this photo except for the lack of bevel of the
foot in arabesque. I am way too picky, I know.

So, when I found this music video that a fan had created of Florence + The Machine's song called "Blinding," I was in love with the dance scenes. The next level of this song is that I discovered it when I was going through my divorce after being with my husband ten years. The dancers juxtapose their movement with fluid and almost sneaky flow into a sharp and shaky rhythm. Well, that lead me to think the dancers are telling the story of a crappy relationship through movement. There are parts of the video that blatantly show what the video is about, but the abstract elements are what moved me.  The song is pretty powerful, too. It is one of those that I would do that really annoying thing and play it on repeat over and over and over again.

To make sure I had found the right video, I watch it again tonight. Even after four years, I still have the same response I did the first time I watched it.