Hello everybody,
thank you for joining me on my blog once again.
Last week we had a lecture all about visual contrast and how it can be used as a creative way to entice a consumer whether it is through visual merchandising techniques, through retail
projects or just to make imagery more interesting and striking to an individual. I found myself feeling highly captivated and inspired by this lecture, it was a lecture that really stood out to me.
So here I am, bringing you all a blog post based around what visual contrast is, along with some examples I have found but also some examples of my own work that I had a go at during my Seminar last Tuesday.
Firstly, I will start by explaining what visual contrast actually is. Visual contrast is centred around imagery and how it can work together with text but with other images too. It is used as a way to make imagery more enticing and interesting to a reader or a consumer and it can be used to elevate what you are trying to show or promote. Visual contrast can be used in various different ways from visual merchandising in shop windows to music videos and film and I learnt in the lecture that it can create what is known as 'visual power' which is a way to attract, delight and seduce the reader.
Visual contrast can be explored in various different ways such as black v white, black and white v colour, cold v warm and many more. It is a way to really develop an image to give it greater effect.
Here are a few examples that I put together that really spoke to me when thinking of visual contrast as a whole.
We have a contrast going on within these two images and they are both demonstrating how you can play with the way we perceive black and white and what is going on within the images. The first image is very much centred around the colour black and Alex Turner is predominately our white figure against the black background. This is a great way to show off the figure in the image as the background is very plain highlighting everything else that is going on within the image. However, the second image is a flip/reverse if you will of the black clothing being the main focal point at the forefront of the crisp, white background. Brands can use imagery in this way to create juxtaposition and change the way we perceive
certain things.
Furthermore, I wanted to show the visual contrast between an image in black and white and then an image in colour. In both of the images Adele is very much the focal point, she is exactly what we are drawn to when we look at the images. Although, we are drawn to her for very different reasons. In the first picture Adele is our white figure against the black background although in the second image, the background is very plain in order to show case Adele and the colours that are going on within her outfit and makeup. The red significantly stands out against the solid blue background.
Here is another contrast between the use of colour and black and white in two similar images of Marilyn Monroe. In particular our eyes naturally focus on Marilyn's face and hair as they act as the 'white' against the black of the turtle neck and the background. Having a black and white image and a colour image next to each other makes it very visually pleasing to look at.
In the seminar last Tuesday we had a go at picking an image and practising different visual contrasting techniques on it. We followed on with our trend story from our mood boards so I had to choose an image that highlighted 'active'. This is an image from my sketchbook of a section of the work I did during this session. I took the red from the trainer and used it as the background to create a direct contrast. With the second image, I left everything quite plain and wrote the colour of the trainer alongside the image. I did this to take the focus away from the trainer itself but to highlight the word as a different way to entice and captivate the reader. It was a really fun task to have a go at but next time I would love to play around with different fonts a bit more as this could be another interesting route to go down.
Everything I have mentioned in this blog post is just a little taster in to what visual contast is. There are so many other ways in which it could be used such as having a very precise, clear image next to an image which is blurry and out of focus as this creates an added edge. You can also play around with a large image next to a small image and much more.
I really hope you all enjoyed this blog post, I really enjoyed being able to share and discuss one of the things I learnt last week.
Have an amazing weekned everybody!
Niamh x
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