For this assignment, I was tasked with taking a series of photos that could reasonably represent certain aspects of design. However, I didn’t want to be boring and browse my room or house again. Thankfully, I got a wonderful opportunity over the week with my family going to the Smithsonian National Zoo. As such, all of my photos were taken during that trip.
Rhythm:
First, I went to the Amazonia exhibits, as I am personally fascinated by all the flora and fauna of the Amazon rainforest. Here, I found this Bigtooth river stingray, and felt that it was perfect for representing rhythm. The matte black body with the tons of yellow dots across its body, all imperfect and asymmetrical yet almost feeling like a consistent pattern sells the idea of this creature being smooth and simple, yet dangerous to handle. To me, it invokes the imagery of a messy yet beautiful starry night.
Typography:
I saw this sign made to allow people to donate money to protecting the pandas at the zoo and across the world, and since they are my absolute favorite animal, I had to do so. Unfortunately, the sign wasn’t working, but I did feel that I could still use it for this assignment. I feel that it is a great example of simple yet clean and effective typography. The font is nice and doesn’t try to overstylize at the cost of readability, and all the most important words are highlighted by not only their size, but also the design of the sign itself. Mix that with good graphic design and it shows itself to be a great example of why more is not always better with typography.
Color:
I saw this overgrown fence close to where all the birds were being kept, and I felt that it was a really nice way to display the important of color. Obviously, there’s the point that so much of it is defined by green, to the point where if you smudged this whole image into one color, it’d likely be a clear shade of green. Alongside that, though, there’s also a bit of contrast with the light browns of the soil which the thin bamboos were growing from, the black of the fencing, and the the smallest sprinkles of a dark brown from the trees in the background. It’s important to choose one color or color scheme to define the piece, but sometimes it’s important to break that up with a bit of something different so it doesn’t become blurred and confusing.
Dominance:
And of course, I had to go with this photo for the concept of dominance. Even with an entire half of the photo above being vegetation, I would bet that your eye immediately went to one of the scarlet ibises, particularly the one standing right in the shade. That, I feel, is what defines dominance: when something can be such a small part of a photo yet instantly grab your attention. The framing of it being in the middle of the frame, the rock and stump surrounding it, the shade (ironically enough) highlighting its presence in relation to the others, this small bird manages to use everything around it to steal the spotlight.