greeting card.

I like my Santa Claus! Made it out of simple shapes (some drawn) in illustrator. But the most important aspect in this assignment is the colour scheme. I'm using cool colours for my card because Christmas is associated with snow and cold. I'd wanted to use a very dark blue for the top of the card but I can't control the gradient properly. 

Actually, the other colour scheme I have in mind is composed stronger, darker colours which I think are also symbolic of Christmas. Something like that:

For the background.

save/prevent/kill poster.

I love Amnesty International ads. In my heart, they're second only to the Economist ads, and that's only because I'm more of a copy-based person. Most AI ads are witty, engaging and they drive home the point. Many of them are provocative and all of them are powerful.

For press freedom, this is my personal favourite:

When I was brainstorming about press freedom, the first idea that came to mind was the image of 'a pen on a leash'. I think that's the fundamental proposition of press freedom: that the right of journalists to uncover and publish the truth should not be repressed. In my design, the pen is symbolic of the journalist and his attempt at writing. There is an ad that uses the pen as a symbol of the journalist as well, in a coffin. Its message is the killing of journalists. I swear I saw that ad after I thought of mine. But anyway, there is a difference.

My second idea was newspapers covered by grains of sugar spilt over it. Tagline: Stop sugarcoating the truth. Eliminate press censorship. But I guess it won't be as visually appealing as the first. Of course, this is assuming I've executed the concept well. If I haven't, please at least award some credit for my effort. For this poster, I've racked my brains for a suitable object to use as a leash (dog leash is too huge for a pen). I bought a fountain pen...and was fleeced of 5 bucks by Kino. And I owe my friend, Samuel Chee, a huge favour for his help with the photoshoot in the Sheares studio. (photocomm chair ok!) And I haven't started studying for EL1101 midterms which are in 3 days!! OMG.

Principles of interaction employed:

1. Contrast in size and composition: area towards which viewer's eyes are drawn to.

2. Harmony (visual balance)

Yays. I've just vastly improved that amateurish poster! Fiddled with levels in photoshop and somehow I've managed to produce this. (: (: (: It looks much more professionally done and I think it brings across the feel I wanted to convey better. That is, oppressiveness. Also, the visibility of the leashes around the pen is greatly improved. And the font is doing wonders!