Assignment 1 Thumbnails

I have decided to base the assignment on a music theme and a dog theme, since I am familiar with both subjects. I had studied music and I have a dog.

For Music, the 4 thumbnails are based on (left column, from top to bottom):
- Musical notation
- Chinese instruments
- Pop/rock band
- Sound equipment

For Dogs, the 4 thumbnails are based on (right column, from top to bottom):
- One dog per letter
- (Parts of) A dog and its chewing toy
- ≥ 2 dogs per letter
- Dogs, food, toys

In the attempt to make the design more interesting, I varied the size and positions of the letters. For most designs, however, “X” and “Y” are still the largest letters since they are my initials, and it is easier to read my name this way.

For both themes, I realized that the ones that look nicer are harder to read. The problem of “Art versus Design”! However, I have decided to choose “Art” and see if I can improve on “Design”, since this is only the first part of the design process.

I will work on the Pop/rock Band for the Music theme and the Dog with Its Chewing Toy for the Dog theme. For example, I have tried to make the letters more legible by introducing color, and there seems to be slight improvement. Of course, more work needs to be done and that will be the rough sketches in the next post.

Wonder what the other Xinyi is doing? :p