Design Success and Failure in Relation to Syntactical Guidelines

 Succeeding image: This Jack in the Box ad is a good example of using syntactical guidelines to display the product in a clear and informative way. Viewers can instantly perceive that image's message, this is clearly a Jack In the Box ad promoting a food combination. The burger is in the center and this helps to make the viewer focus on it. The combo is somewhat balanced as you can see the burger in center, the soda to the left and the french fries to the right giving some sense of symmetry. There is also grouping as the meal deal is shown in front while Jack the mascot and a bald eagle are seen in the background wearing the same hat. This group of images displays the large font words using the an American symbol, the bald eagle, to indicate that this meal from Jack in the Box is "All-American". The meal is also on leveled ground and the background is an ordinary color which allows focus on the product and the ads message without distractions.

This is an amusing ad, but a rather bad use of syntactical guidelines for advertising and just to be clear this is supposed be about Altoids mints. The perception is far too focused on the shocked mother and boy rather than the actual products Altoids. Another reason viewers might not perceive this as an Altoids ads is because there is no clear indication of the logo/brand that catches their attention, the product is not in focus. This clearly displays positive and negative in a reversed situation where the ad has the product in a passive role to the eye while the boy and mother are playing an active role of grabbing the viewers attention. The message is not clear at first glance, the Altoids product should be positive while the two people should be a negative, but that is clearly not the case. The roles are very ambiguous in this ad causing the message to fail. Honestly I thought this was something about sex ed until I saw the small red box of Altoids which just proves that this ad fails to properly utilize syntactical guidelines.

Visual vs symbolic language

Representational responses:
the City
workers
line
free food

Underlying Composition structure:
Depression
laid off
desperate
middle class (aka working class)
In between employed and homeless

Symbols:
City clothing
side walk
sign


     

               The black and white photo reports a  bad economic time (probably the Great Depression) judging by the film picture quality and the clothing design of the men waiting in a line for free food. These men are waiting in front of a store with a sign saying "Free Cup Coffee and Donuts For the Unemployed". The area appears middle class or some lower income area since the sign has faded painting, the front steps have chipped painting, and so on. Note, these men appeared to have had jobs at one point since they are all wearing hats, trench coats, ties, shoes, etc. work clothes and do not appear homeless. No one is happy which should be natural considering the circumstances.

Meaning 2: Interaction between the 3 Levels

Representational: The  image displays a clear visualization of an iPod nano  back and front. It displays the screen, the controls, the hard drive size, black color and the Apple logo for authentication. Importantly only the iPod is shown and nothing else to distract from it. This picture would be a good representation of an black 8GB iPod nano in a store catalog. The logo clearly denotes the Apple Corporation and the image displays the design of the iPod.
Abstract: Only the back and front of the iPod is displayed in this image with nothing else in the background allowing viewers to focus on the product. This image would be of use in a catalog since viewers can see the iPod's design like the screen, controls, the shape and physical size. The iPod has a fairly simply but easy to access design so that anyone can use it. A screen for displaying things like menus and song titles, a control for selection/pausing/playing etc. and naturally it is designed for handheld use for travel. The Apple logo also functions as a way for Apple to trademark the iPod.  The iPod control has clear representation of a menu function written while including several symbols denoting different functions.
Symbolic: The iPod symbolizes a product of Apple and obviously the logo is Apples brand or seal. Users and viewers will know this product was created by Apple (or at least trademarked). The Apple logo can also be seen as a seal for a competent product making viewers think, "Oh, Apple makes iPods and therefore the iPod must be a pretty good device". Apple has a long history as a popular computer company and consumers might naturally think of all their products as highly competent so the logo give partial incentive to purchase the iPod. The abstracts of the iPod is an example of Apple's modern functional designs. The product itself is a good representation of the high quality products Apple outputs into the electronic market.

Meaning 1

This image is representational of a pet dog because it displays details indicating certain traits of a pet dog. It is easily recognized as a dog standing on four legs, has a lot of fur on its body, ears flapping down and the signature black beady eyes all dogs share. The environment of the picture is indoors seeing that the dog is standing on wooden floorboards and noticing the pink clothing indicates someone dressed it. These represent signs that this dog is owned and the fact that it is inside can be a indication that it is housebroken, another recognizable trait of pets (although to be fair not every pet is housebroken). Viewers can clearly identify the traits and environment so they know the photograph does in fact represent a pet dog.

 The DC (Detective Comics) Logo is an example of something symbolic as the image is clearly recognized by the public to only refer specifically denotes Detective Comics the comic book publishing company and the logo is not mistaken for anything else such as D.C.. The logo operates for viewers as an easily recognizable symbol with its own individual traits that also prevent ambiguity with other meanings of "DC". This logo has visual information such as the large blue font with a star makes it so the logo is remembered to symbolize Detective Comics and not anything else.

This image of a storyboard is an example abstract of how animation for a cartoon is made. The example displays sketches of a cartoon called The Boondocks as the storyboard shows several motion by motion frames which significantly help plan out the animation process. Each frame sketch function as part of a visual plan for how the cartoon will be animated.The storyboard drawings shows the viewers how the animated show might look like and what to expect for the final product. This storyboard informs viewers that this episode will include the characters drawn and the following actions drawn will occur.