Meaning

Representation:

This Audubon bird sketch is a prime example of representative design. It is a visual message that is tied to this particular type of bird in order to help bird watchers and ornithologists identify this specific type of bird when the time comes. It conveys a great amount of realistic detail because when it comes to differentiating between specific species, loss of detail could mean the difference between the visual message being "this specific type of bird" to "birds in general" which ultimately has a much more general range spanning from wrens to eagles. This representational image has as little interaction with the abstraction level as possible to preserve realism, but in a sense, it does interact a bit with the symbolic because it has so many connotations being associated with nature lovers, educated people, and the concepts of things like conservation and wildlife preservation.

Symbolism:

This pair of crossing signals are symbols for both crossing and not crossing an intersection. Over time, these symbols have become attached to more meanings than their original intended usage. They become associated with safety, the urban environment, and even the time and part of the world that these particular crossing signals are used. For example, a crossing signal might be fairly universal, but one wearing a hat would represent Tokyo while a animated one might represent Taiwan. This symbol, in an effort to be as clear as possible to all people regardless of cultural awareness to understand interacts heavily with the abstraction level simplifying human form until it tells the viewer that the sign is generally for all human beings.

Abstraction:

Big Bird is a great example of abstraction. The character is meant to invoke birds in general and simplifies the concept to a large animal with a beak, talons, and feathers. A creature of too much complexity would likely not be as relatable as the creators of the show would want it to be. As a result of this, the design of Big Bird has also interacted with the level of symbolism becoming associated in our collective consciousness with things like childhood and innocence.

Navigation

When it comes to game design, navigation is a very important feature to consider when designing the interface that the players will have to use to traverse the in-game world. A badly designed interface can have the player fumbling for some basic function at a critical moment and can be both frustrating and flow breaking. In this example we have the interface from Blizzard's Starcraft II which features a very simple interface popular with most real time strategies. As most people are right handed and will thus favor the right side as the dominant one, all of the directional and ordering controls have been placed at the right. Unit statistics are posed in the middle, and finally the overworld map at the very left which also indicates the location of the selected units in real time. All controls are easily visible at first glance, but do not impose too much on the game display up top, allowing for a fully immersive gaming experience.

Another area in which navigation is important is in the world of comic books where proper visual design is needed to ensure that the panels are both visually appealing as well as easy to understand. A big downfall of many comics is that they either use a strictly linear box progression which quickly becomes boring or position their panels so randomly about the page that the reader needs to pause for a moment to determine the intended sequence of the panels. This particular example is of a comic I have never actually read, but it is an example of fairly good panel design. The panels are not all simple rectangles which gives the comic a good feeling of motion while being very clear as to their sequence. The panels read from right to left, and then from top to bottom in accordance to what their western audience would expect (Eastern comics like manga would likely read from left to right) and thus makes the comic both engaging and immersive for the reader.

Contrast

Contrast is an important element especially in clothing. In most cases, fashion will dictate that the clothes ought to make the wearer stand out in some way from other people meaning that most good fashion design will try to be as eye catching as it can. Take for example, the 59Fifty: this is a very popular kind of baseball hat with sports fans as well as in the hip hop/skater subcultures. The hat is large, flat billed, and fitted to the wearer's size making it a very recognizable bit of apparel. It is most popular, however, because there are an infinite number of variations to this simple template allowing for the artistic expression of each wearer. This unfortunately is where my first example fails. This hat lacks any sort of contrast with a black logo for the Oakland A's embroidered over the black cloth of the hat. The complete lack of contrast in color makes the logo hard to see and the eye of the beholder simply glance over it in a second. Overall, a very forgettable design.

This next hat however, is a fine example of great contrast in color. It is the same type of hat, sporting the same exact logo as before, but now it features the vibrant yellow and green colors of the team. While normally each individual color might seem fairly unimpressive, in context with the others, each color seems that much more vibrant. Attention is even brought to the small connecting stud at the top of the hat because it is a single point of yellow surrounded by the forest green.Best of all, now the logo itself is white instantly telling the viewer what team the hat is supporting. Whereas before a person walking by would probably remember the black on black hat for only a few seconds before dismissing it entirely, now we get a hat that will leave some sort of impression on anyone who sees it.