On Orange

My module 3 is involved with the color orange and its association with processes. And having done so much research on it, I've come to really like the color, not that I ever had anything against it. I've always thought of myself as a blue guy, calm and pensive and etc... but I do have a more outgoing side and can be fairly friendly and energetic, orangish, you might say. So, perhaps my personality is made up of these complimentary colors, which kinda makes sense. I'm curious then, if this may be true for other people as well. I'm not a pro in color psychology, but I do have a ying/yang theory that I've grown to believe as a part of my Chinese culture. Basically, it deals with the idea that everything is composed of opposites, and one needs a proper balance of both extremes in order to function. For example, the Chinese have categorized foods into ying food and yang food (don't ask me which is which... I'm not too traditional) and if you eat too much of one or the other, then your health will suffer. The remedy would then be to eat more of the other food item. So, perhaps this applies in color psychology as well. Blue, the extremely calm and soothing color, is the exact opposite of orange, an color defined by its instability and energy. With blue and orange rapidly becoming my favorite colors, maybe I have found out how to visually(colorfully) represent my personality, and hopefully it's as healthy it's supposed to be.

On Color Usability

Upon further thought on the use of colors and usability of certain technology, I thought about how true it was for electronics. For nearly everything, a little green light indicates everything is on and working, orange means standby, and red means something terrible. I wonder how this came to be. I know that street lights have similar implications with the green go and red stop. I guess also that green often means yes while red means no. This is definitely true in most countries too from the extent of my travels. Thus, I am curious as to why the world has come to these conclusions.

On the Luscher Color Test

Quite frighteningly, this test was fairly accurate on describing my personality based on the color sequences I chose. I am curious to see how the order one chooses a series of colors can determine why they are peaceful and potentially insecure. I put a few friends through the test too, and most of the results were accurate as well (some results were vehemently denied). I wonder if the test is accurate to people of other cultures since I and my friends are terribly American.

However, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BCscher_color_test

seems to argue that the test isn't very accurate, though there seems to be a lack of citations throughout the wikipedia article. Supposedly, the color choices measure personality traits that are out of our consciousness, which is terrifying, and I wonder how Max Luscher designed his test to do this. My test results indicated that I am sensitive, desire peace, seek happy relationships, fear disappointment, and strive for artistic growth. I'd say this is true. But the test also claims that I'm needy, find myself easily misunderstood, and all around dissatisfied. To this, I will vehemently deny it.

On Color

After reading Lupton and Phillips's color chapter and their discussion on the effects certain patterns and combinations of colors have on people, I began to wonder if it is our cultural perceptions that determine what looks good and what doesn't. For example, Persian carpets. Some of us love 'em (including Persians). And some of us hate them (including some Persians too). There are color combinations that most of the world dislikes (personally, certain 80's themes) but meanwhile, someone else appreciates (somebody out there likes 80's colors I assume). So my question is: are there perhaps genetically programmed patterns/combinations for us humans to like or dislike? Or is everything absolutely subjective and we like things based on trends and utter personal preference?

On Making My Own Fonts

After our class discussion yesterday on professional text designers who make awesome fonts for a living, I remembered my days as a child where I would doodle for hours and attempt to make my own distinct font as well. I remember that my reasoning for having my own font was just so I could have an unique and cool signature when I grew up and became famous. Whether it was on a baseball or the back of a napkin, people would recognize my name because of how amazing it appeared. It was a search for originality that I had given up on because I would simply tire of it due to the inefficiency of writing a cool-looking text (a single letter could take up to a couple minutes of reworking until I thought it looked perfect) or because I thought it was impossible for my creation to be original enough. Thus, I am jealous of the people who are just making texts out there, doing something I did as a child and somehow living off of it.

On Thinking with Type

After reading our assigned pages, I was intrigued by the idea that are nearly an infinite amount of letter types to be created. Especially after researching downloadable texts and our class discussion yesterday, I realized the importance of having various texts to choose from. Since grade school till now, teachers and professors have always required me to use 12 point Times New Romans for everything I ever wrote. I guess I came to like it as well and use Times whenever I write anything (poetry/prose/letters/etc.) But now, I would like to experiment with other fonts when I do some sort of creative work. I've been taught to let the content speak for itself and use a standard font (Times, Courier New) for readability and formality. But after reading these chapters on letters and texts, I think the exploration of font, done correctly, could definitely add to the meaning/effect of a creative work.

Module 1

Well, after seeing Janae's turkey egg cultural identity map, I couldn't help compare it to my simple 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of 9 images I had found on Google. In fact, it seemed that most of my classmates put in a lot more effort in this project than I did, going high tech or old school to craft their identities neatly and uniquely. Perhaps this says a lot about my personality: a preference for simplicity and ease, a bad case of laziness, and a greater concern for functionality over aesthetics. And maybe that's okay sometimes, but I will definitely push myself a little more for the upcoming projects.

Graphic Design

I won't deny the fact that I like books with pictures/images/illustrations. This allowed me to really enjoy reading Graphic Design this past week as page by page it had stunning and fascinating images while having minimal text. It wows me that there are so many designers capable of creating such art while conveying simple information efficiently. I had already completed my cultural identity map before I read that chapter on diagrams, needless to say, it made me feel incredibly untalented. I'm fairly sure I'll never be able to be a decent graphic designer, but I'm fairly certain I'll always enjoy this book and all the graphic design lessons it will teach me.