Journal 5

The four basic design principles are alignment, proximity, repetition and contrast. The first, alignment, is pretty basic. It means that all objects on the page are all aligned. It goes on to explain that mixing alignments is not good. If you choose to center the Headline, then proceed to center the rest of the text. If an individual were in fact to mix alignments it can come off as cluttered or messy which in turn looks unprofessional. The second principle is proximity. This is the idea that when two subjects are close together then the must have some sort of relationship. So, if they were far apart then they would have no relationship. A prime example of this would be a picture, with the caption far away from it. In cases like those, make sure they are close in proximity so the understanding is clear.
The third principle is repetition. This unifies all of the elements on a page together. This unification helps the viewer to tie everything together rather than disassociate certain elements. “Colors, style, illustrations, format, layout, typography, and so on can all be a part of the repetition that unifies the entire site.” Hence, having the same color scheme throughout the sight or the same font would be a factor in repetition. The last principle is contrast. This is the pull factor. You want something to pop out at the reader; this could be a bolding of text. However, you must be very strong with contrast, if taken too timidly it may be overlooked. Nevertheless, there are specific times for contrast. If you are simply trying to present a factual text, do not distract the reader with contrast. Also a factor that plays in too overdoing a page is color. You want a limited color scheme when designing. If you branch out into an unlimited color scheme it can become overkill, but when using the limited color scheme, the effect can be of sophistication and class.
For me personally, after reading this my font choice needs to be worked on. For my links the font the is still Times New Roman and it looks awful.

10 20 08

For the essay by Haunani-Kay Trask, her audience seems to be for any tourists considering going to Hawaii, or just anyone in general. For the the essay written by Aaron Knier his audience seems to just be his peers, friends, or teacher. In Trask’s she is strictly trying to get a point across. The decolonization of her native land is detrimental in her opinion and tourists are not helping. She wants to let in the audience in on all of the horrible things that have been stripped from Hawaii such as huge masses of land for military purposes. Her tone is very stern and informative. She has so many facts to ensure that her point is backed up. She is not casual or humorous, in fact it seems a little “mean”. “We don’t need anymore tourists. If you want to help, pass this message onto your friends.” This is the last sentence she leaves us with in her essay; it conveys a negative connotation that sums up the entire piece. In the essay of Knier, he is telling a story. He is explaining his fascination with electronics with a personal story from his college years. His tone is somewhat humorous and light. It is almost as if he is talking one on one with you, “Truth is, I just liked being around all that tech.” There is not much seriousness expressed in his narrative. For each author, I think the tones are very appropriate. For Trask, she is trying to strictly get her point across and she means business, whereas Knier is simply trying to portray his electronic interest in a sense that we can understand.
Between the two movie trailers, there are significant differences. First, Bride and Prejudice seems to be the comedic version of Pride and Prejudice. The trailer claims the movie to be a twist of a classical tale, which in turn means that it is not as serious and what is expected. The story is presented with a humorous tone, with little clips of amusement to capture the audiences’ interest. This could maybe appeal to a younger generation or to those who do not find classical novels as interesting. The style of dress seems to be of “Indian” descent whereas the traditional movie was from a more colonial period. It is a more modern movie. The second movie trailer, Pride and Prejudice seems to be following the original classical novel written by Jane Austin. The picture is much duller than the one compared to Bride and Prejudice. This adds on to the colonial feel of the movie. Also the dialogue in this trailer heavily contrasts that of the first. Words used in the olden times are heard such as “Sir I can not accept you”. This sentence today would be said, “I just do not like you” or “I do not want to marry you!”. The respect factor has somewhat diminished since then.