Visual Language

Week 1

Describing my taste/visual preferences and what has inspired them:

I am deeply drawn to clean, polished, and purposefully designed visuals because I recognize and admire the tremendous effort that designers and artists put into creating them. To me, the beauty of design lies not in overcrowding a project with fancy or excessive elements, but in the ability to convey a clear and compelling message. Designers should focus on the essence of their work, allowing the audience to breathe and absorb the art without being overwhelmed by distractions. In my opinion, the best designs strike a balance between simplicity and depth, encouraging reflection while maintaining visual appeal.

Having spent much of my academic life in suburban and smaller city settings, I’ve developed a strong appreciation for peaceful and serene visuals. The calmness I find in these environments reflects my preference for tranquil moments in art, where minimalism and clarity invite contemplation. However, I am also captivated by high-saturation colors and distinctive, bold elements, especially when used in darker environments. These features stimulate my imagination and evoke powerful visual emotions, inspiring me to push creative boundaries. Many of the films I love embody this contrast—they combine subtle simplicity with bursts of striking, vibrant visuals that create a lasting impact. This dynamic interplay between calmness and intensity shapes much of my visual taste.

Designing My Own Poster:

The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves in 2022, is a reboot of the Batman series. Instead of focusing on the film's combat and explosion scenes, I designed this poster to capture the darkness and steaminess of Gotham, where the story unfolds. Most of the scenes in the movie take place at night, which is significant because Batman operates from the shadows. The cinematography emphasizes the city's darkness and cyberpunk aesthetic, so I used three key elements to convey this atmosphere.

The visual hierarchy of my poster moves from the Batman title to the depiction of the city, and finally to the criminals robbing a man in the image. However, the physical hierarchy is reversed: the criminals are in the foreground, while the Batman logo lingers behind the buildings. This arrangement symbolizes Batman hunting the criminals in the dark while they wreak havoc on the city, unaware of his presence.

The text layout is symmetrical, with the building in the center dividing the Batman logo. The three main colors I used are black, representing the city's darkness; neon blue, illustrating the cyberpunk vibe of the cinematography; and blood orange, which I adopted from the original movie poster.

The Batman by Matt Reeves

Analzying A Poster

Typography

The font of this poster is consistent. It uses a sans serif font that has clean, straight lines, and it creates a sense of modern, quiet, and minimalism to the poster. The word “Tree” and “Life” is much larger than the word “The” and “of” in the title section, thus highlighting the focus of the movie. The space between letters is relatively distant and well-balanced with the font-style.

Negative Space

The negative spaces of this poster do not simply be white empty background, but it is the strong and natural light that shines through the adult hands and infant's foot. The negative space of this poster symbolize the nature surrounding and nourishing humans. These negative space gives light to the whole picture,

Hierarchy of Element

This poster has three major parts: infant’s foot, adult’s hands, and the title of the movie. The most recognizable subject is infant’s foot, and it implies the movie begins with a birth of life. Even though the movie title sits in middle of the picture, it is white and light-weight that makes less eye-catching than the infant’s foot. Finally, we see the adult’s hands that are carrying the little foot, symbolizing the protective and caring relationship between child and their parents.

Grid System

I unevenly divide this poster into 5x5 grid system based on the text and subject position. Although absolute symmetry, does not exist in the canvas, except the title sitting in the middle of the canvas, the top of the infant’s foot and the names of casts and director are relatively and horizontally symmetrical. At the same time, the first and last columns occupied by the hands and middle three columns of feet almost fill up the same amount of space, as well as vertically symmetrical.

Color System

Since this poster is a photography with sufficient natural light, the color palette is skin tone, illustrating purity and life.

©Zhongao Xuan

WILL’S DESIGN LOG

XUAN 2024