ex_7: icon, image, symbol

doug goodwin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:13:16 +0000

c.s. peirce (1839-1914) came up with a useful system for categorizing imagery and its relationship to the subject. it has many other parts, but the part I have found most useful is th eicon, image, and symbol. the icon refers to the resemblance of the image to its subject, its resemblance or likeness. the index of the image refers to the physical relationship between the image and its subject–this may be the time shared between subject and camera in a snapshot. symbols are abstractions or systems that emerge in the image, usually referring to language or other contexts outside of the image.

today’s assignment is to make a drawing out of letters; peirce’s system may be of some help. note that this is not the same as making letters out of natural things (leaves or patterns on butterfly wings), nor is it the same as concrete poetry, though that’s more like it.

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ben.jpg

braden.png

chris.png

david.png

ikumi.png

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ex_8: do your colors

doug goodwin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:53:09 +0000

johannes itten (1888-1933) taught at the weimar republic’s bauhaus school from 1919-1933. while there he devised a system of color and wrote several lucid and well-illustrated books about color theory. the books present many ideas about color harmonies which are still useful today.

itten believed in a kind of absolute color harmony, but his students strongly disagreed with his choices. so he challenged each student to make a harmonious color group. after seeing that every student had collected unique color harmonies, itten accepted that harmonies are more personal than absolute. he collected their photographs and colors into a file which he includes in the book interaction of color.

you all have favorite colors and complements. today I want you to try and capture those colors. here are a couple of examples from itten’s book.

you may also find this article about the color of movie posters useful.

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aaron.gif,aaron_singer

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bradenColors.jpg

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cw_emerson » exercises

ex_7: icon, image, symbol

ex_8: do your colors