Thy Nguyen

"Her" Film Poster

"The 'Her' poster has been redesigned by many designers, and this version is one of the most impressive ones I encountered on Pinterest. Let's analyze some design principles that make it stand out and striking:

The Negative Space

The significant amount of negative space surrounding the ear and the title "Her" serve as the primary focal points, drawing attention to these elements. This design creates a sense of emptiness and isolation, reflecting the film's themes of loneliness and longing.

Symbolism

The ear, as the primary visual element, symbolizes listening, communication, and human connection.

The title, "Her," placed below the ear, reinforces the theme of human connection and the idea of falling in love with artificial intelligence.

Typography

Tomatier Snack’s cherry tomatoes

by Valencia-based design studio Meteorito

In a crowded market of sleek, monochromatic packaging design, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd – especially when your product is the humble tomato. With a refreshing taste of playful personality, Tomatier stands out with a delightfully fresh packaging design that embraces the sillier side of branding.

Let's walk through the smart use of the design principle with me:

Character Branding

The packaging features a playful, anthropomorphic design, giving the cherry tomatoes a personality. The dinky square boxes are bursting with personality, featuring a series of monster characters with adorably illustrated expressions

This creates an emotional connection with consumers and makes the product more memorable.

Vibrant Color Palette

The use of bold, contrasting colours, such as red and green, creates a visually striking and eye-catching design.

The colours are associated with freshness, health, and vitality, which aligns with the product's positioning.

Typography

The typography is clear and easy to read, with a playful font that complements the overall design.

The use of different font sizes and weights creates a visual hierarchy, drawing attention to the brand name and product information.

Shape and Form

SAN DIEGO DESIGN WEEK

by Raygun - a design agency based in San Diego

Color

Vibrant Palette: I like how Raygun used a vibrant color palette that not only reflects the energy and excitement, but also reflects the spirit of the event - San Diego Design Week calls for an aesthetic that reflects the diversity and interconnectedness of their community's characteristics.

Contrast: The contrasting colours (warm and cold color) between the letters and the background create a strong visual impact.

Typography hierarchy

The larger font size for the main title "SAN DIEGO WEEK 2020" emphasizes its importance, while the smaller font sizes for the event details and categories create a clear information hierarchy.

Shape contrast

The combination of curves (circle) and angles (typo characters and squares) attracts attention. Besides, it brings symbolic effects - a circle can represent unity or infinity, while a triangle, square can symbolize stability or power - brand identity of SAN DIEGO WEEK want to convey.

Negative Space

GUTA - Vietnamese Coffee Chain Branding

Designed by M — N Associates, Ho Chi Minh City

Inspired by the unique Vietnamese street culture, Guta Cafe is becoming a familiar coffee brand where urban people can connect and enjoy the outdoor environment.

GUTA is Vietnamese slang taken from “gout /gu/” in French and “ta” in Vietnamese, which together stand for the term “Our style”

Logo and Typography system - Cultural Symbol

I like the way Design Studio use the iconic chair and Vietnamese diacritical marks to make Logo and a custom font named after Guta — FONTA. If you travel to Vietnam, you can see these stools are used by Vietnamese people everywhere in their daily life.

This represents Guta’s brand spirit, proud to serve a good, strong Vietnamese coffee. Street coffee has become a fundamental habit, not just in Saigon, but throughout Vietnam. Beneath the habitual culture there’s always a “plastic chair,” small and convenient for setting up small coffee shops anywhere.

Color contrast and consistency

I also like the clever use of colour, inspired by the iconic Vietnam Social Security propaganda poster that is displayed everywhere in the country, the blue and yellow colour scheme has been adapted by Guta. The adjusted colour scheme not only stands out due to the contrast of warm and cool colours, it also reflects the familiar slogan of the poster, the colour choice represents the idea of ​​"a friend of every worker".

Halftone Texture

People who love street coffee in Vietnam usually kickstart their day by sitting on a plastic chair, somewhere shady, surrounded by greenery, with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The halftone print effect of newspapers adds a distinctive look to the various characters sitting on chairs, from office workers to lady hawkers.

Visual Diary 5

HARUKI MURAKAMI Book Collection Cover

by Suzanne Dean - creative director at Penguin’s VINTAGE

If you’ve ever read a Haruki Murakami book, you’ll know that venturing into any of his fictional worlds comes with an inevitable sense of mystery. And as a designer and also an avid Haruki Murakami reader, I pride myself on obsessing with not only the stories within his novels but also with the covers of each book I’ve ever gotten.

Suzanne—a creative director at Vintage—is the author of the covers for the above books, when she was asked to give Murakami's current catalogue a more cohesive look. That's when she came up with the concept of the symbolic circle.

Cultural Symbol

These circles on book covers regularly appear on packaging and printed materials in Japanese and Taiwanese. The consistent use of this iconic circle on book covers has silently conveyed the cultures of these two countries to readers.

Color contrast

The sharp contrast between black, white and red - a limited clor pallete but still creates a visually striking design.

Negative space

Visual Diary 4

Street Photograph

by Kala on Flickr

Caught by chance on flickr, this photo really impressed me with some design principles:

Light and Dark Contrast: The interplay of sunlight and shadow creates a dramatic effect, highlighting the women is walking up the stairs

Visual diary 3

The Mental Health Coalition Campaign

By Pentagram and Emily Atwood project team

The color

I like the way Pentagram use the color set for their campaign. The platform’s identity is appropriately muted and calm, as it will be a hub for often serious discussion, but it is also interwoven with pops of colour and fun to lighten the mood and increase engagement.

Symbolic

The branding visually combines various elements of the initiative, linking the Coalition to “How Are You, Really?” by integrating the square-peg symbol of the logo. The identity’s distinctive typography (set in Druk) immediately makes campaign messaging recognizable as part of the Coalition. It means that most people occasionally feel like a “square peg in a round hole”. It is also symbolic of the belief that regardless, when it comes to mental health, “we all fit”

Typography

Finally, I also like the way the campaign uses a variety of typefaces and sizes to create visual interest and emphasize key messages.

Image 1

Color Contrast

Warm vs. Cold: The contrast between the warm yellow of the illuminated window and the cool blue of the surrounding buildings creates a strong visual impact.

Light and Dark Contrast

The bright yellow window stands out against the darker blue background.

Image 2

Shape Contrast:

The hard, straight lines of the rectangles contrast with the soft, curved lines of the ellipse.

Worksheet 1 - Shape

Inspired by the playful combination of blue and orange colors, so I created four images using dots, ellipses, rectangles, and lines,..

In the 1st image, I applied Motion blur and Gaussian blur to soften and blur the outline of the circle. I also used the liquify tool to create a wave effect by adjusting the curves in the circle.

In the 2nd image, I added more ellipses by using a gradient (from orange to transparent) in an angled style. I also gave each ellipse a different rotation and position to make this artwork.

In the 3rd image, I added several rectangles with gradients and adjusted the opacity from the outside to the center to emphasize the central area.

Visual Diary 2: "Kinds of Kindness" film posters

directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

My first impression is how poster artists use strong contrasts and a limited palette in colors: Yellow, Red, and Blue. These colours have dark tones, not as bright as the original colours that can create a sense of tension or unease, reflecting the film's dark themes.

In addition, they use contrast in typography. The bold, aggressive font of the title suggests power or control, meanwhile, a delicate, fragile font is used for subheading that represents vulnerability or manipulation, the message that this film wants to convey.

Visual Diary 1: Artwork

created by Animal/Horror artist Essi Välimäki

This artwork describes a dog's head with a grotesque eye and a smaller, innocent sheep within it, created by Artist Essi Välimäki

Some Design principles at play make me impressed:

1/ Contrast: First of all, the most striking element in this artwork is the contrast. The combination of the dark, fierce dog's head with the vibrant red background and the contrasting details within the eye creates a powerful visual impact. 

This contrast evokes a sense of tension, unease, and even horror.

2/ Symbolism:  The artwork also seems to be rich with symbolism:

Freak, Angry Dog: The dog's anger represent frustration or rage towards the "traps" of the world. It depicts a rebellious attitude against expectations or limitations.

Timid Sheep: The sheep, often associated with innocence and vulnerability, represent the childlike qualities that remain within us, even though we grow older.