The Basic Elements

Line

In industrial design the line serves as a crucial element in the design process.  Using the line is almost impossible in this field, the line is used in throughout the design process as seen by this 3-D computer rendering of a tea kettle.  However the line is also used in other areas of industrial design such as the original freehand sketches of designers.  This rendering of a tea kettle uses the line to demonstrate the shape of the product, and the overall look.

Shape

This desk lamp enclosure incorporates the basic element of shape in its design.  The three most basic shapes are the circle, square, and equilateral triangle.  As can been seen in the photo the lamp enclosure primarily uses the equilateral triangle, which can cause a viewer to experience tension, conflict, and action.  

Direction

Building off the basic element of the shape, the 3 basic shapes express 3 basic directions.  Equilateral triangle corresponds with the diagonal, the square with the horizontal and vertical, and the circle which expresses the curve.  The curve can cause the viewer to experience a sense of warmth repetition, and containment.  This couch uses the curve which is a great design because a couch is a place to relax, and the curve invokes comfort and warmth.

Visual Perception 2

Ableton is a music production software, with an easy to use interface.  The first thing that pops out at the user are the color coded rectangle in the middle of the interface.  These boxes are different samples one musician can use to play a part of a song, or play multiple samples to create a song live. The overall box these features are contained in is the main feature of the interface controlling sound levels and what is being played.  The layout of the interface is very easy to use and find items.  Each  part is is separated into 3 large boxes.  On the left is the devices and electronic instruments column which uses symbols, indents, and line breaks to navigate through the content in the hierarchy.  The bottom box is used for the user to add effects to the sounds or song they are currently playing.  

Visual Perception 1, Top Down Visual Processing

This is a great example of both product design and top-down visual processing.  Top-down visual processing invokes goal directed eye movements, to achieve either an action goal or cognitive goal.  The viewer would look at this product first with short fixations and realize that this is a system of shelves or a bookcase.  However, with longer fixations the viewer would find the words spelled out within the bookcase reading “READ YOUR BOOK CASE”.  This then causes the viewer to reach a cognitive goal about the product.  The scan paths for the viewer of this bookcase would be first the bookcase, then realizing the words made by the shelves.