Visual Information & Language

This image is the album cover for American rock band Mae's sophomore release "The Everglow". The theme of the album is a story. The first track is an audio clip called "Prologue" that introduces the viewer to the album, then the songs follow, and finally ends with the "Epilogue" track, just like a book. Using that same theme, the album cover successfully fulfills the overall theme of the album. A young boy stands on a yellow brick road, facing away from the "camera". In his left hand is a small, black bag. He is ready to start his journey. A bag in hand signifies being ready to go, as you have all your things packed with you to help you along your journey. His body language of facing away from the camera is visual language that he is looking towards the future, which is the broad area of the background. He is standing on a yellow brick road which alludes to the yellow brick road in the novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". In the novel, the characters are constantly looking for that specific road in order to progress further to reach their personal goals. Just like in the novel, the little boy is following the road for his journey. We can tell it has just begun for him because the road is cut off behind him, as if it was its beginning. The boy is looking ahead at a looming, dark wooden gate with the words "The Everglow" sprouting from it. The gate symbolizes the start of a new place. It marks the boundary between "here" and "there". The light shines from behind it, as if there was a brighter, larger world beyond it. He looks like has just encountered the gate, and will go through it to start "The Everglow" journey. A green mist clouds around the bottom of the image and blackness surrounds everything. It is symbolic of a chilling atmosphere and mystery. It is telling us that the journey ahead of the boy is unknown, but he will still embark on it. Finally, the entire image has a "stage-like" quality to it. The gate and brick road look like props, and the boy is an actor. Again, going off the "story" theme of the album, the play-like quality of the image represents his story that is about to be told on this "stage".

Visual Thinking Research

(left image: my dad's markings, right image: my markings)

The first puzzle I chose to solve with my dad is The Cat. The goal of the puzzle is to count all the different triangles within the image of the cat. We went about the puzzle in similar ways. First we counted the obvious large triangles because they were the first that caught our eyes. Then we had to find all the smaller triangles. With our eyes and pencils, we dissected the triangles to find triangles within them (e.g. the two triangles within the cat's triangle eyes). We spent most of our time at the cat's "tail", where many small triangles were hidden. Sometimes we had to look at some areas twice because some areas seemed like rectangles when they were really quadrilaterals. The biggest challenge of this puzzle was the fact that the image uses Gestalt's grouping principles of proximity and similarity. It was a little difficult to break apart the groups because our minds would constantly keep grouping them back together. In the end, we found 20 triangles total and were correct!




(left image: my markings, right image: my dad's markings)

The New Star Puzzle was the next puzzle we chose. The objective is to create another five-point star that looks exactly like those on the page but it is larger than the others and does not touch any of them. My dad and I approached this in different ways. I dove right into the puzzle, lightly drawing all the lines of a star I could. When I hit another star, I would re-orient the page and try to create another one. On the other hand, my dad used more mathematical, methodical methods. First he measured the lengths of the stars with a ruler, making sure they were equilateral. Then he drew all the straight lines in between stars that he could. He was trying to find that center pentagon from which to draw the new star from. In the end, only I could come up with a star. Even though it was wrong, I now understand how powerful Gestalt's principles of perception are to our visual understanding of the world. It was difficult to find a hidden star because the cluster of stars on the page were grouped together so strongly on the basis of their similarity and proximity.

Feature Channels, Visual Search, and flOw

Santa Monica, California's ThatGameCompany released flOw in 2007. In this game, players control a white, glowing snake-like creature in a aquatic environment. The objective is to become larger by "eating" other marine-like creatures and evolving into other forms in the process. Feature channels distinguish the different aspects of the game. The first channel introduced is color. Two small, circular creatures have red and blue colors respectively in their center, as shown in the screenshot. We learn that the red creatures dives us deeper into the next "layer" where more challenges await, while the blue creature ascends us into the previously played "layer". These two creatures use three feature channels in our visual search for them as we progress. Their distinct colors, small size, and circular shape define them. Enemy creatures use the same feature channels to distinguish themselves. They may be large or small, possess unique colors, and have individualistic shapes. For example, in the screenshot, a small circular enemy floats below the creature the players control, while in the background, a wheel-like creature awaits. Another feature channel used in flOw is depth cues. As seen in the screenshot, the blurry creatures seem distant. This depth cue tells the player that they are in the next "layer". The feature channel motion is used as well. The two small red and blue "navigators"move at a relatively slow pace in the game, making them easier to find and "eat". On the other hand, enemies may move fast as we encounter and attack them, creating excitement and contest within the game. The creatures' speeds of motion tell the player what kind of a threat they are. Thus, feature channels are used by game designers to create a fun, interactive environment in which to challenge the player.

image source: http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/766/766102/flow-20070220032201003_640w.jpg

Top-Down Visual Processing & Big Bang Mini

Big Bang Mini, a Nintendo DS game by SouthPeak Games, closely relates to the top-down visual processing of our surroundings. This "fireworks shooter" requires our visual attention to progress through the increasingly challenging levels. Top-down visual processing is driven by attention to our goals. In the case of Big Bang Mini, our goal is to shoot down the enemy characters at the top screen by flicking the stylus in an upward motion, and at the same time, we must remember to move the "ship" at the bottom screen out of harm's way from the debris and collecting the points from defeated foes. Because of its action-packed gameplay, player's eye movements vary greatly in speed and fixation length. For example, in the screenshot, to accomplish the goal of killing the blue enemy at the top, we must gauge when and where to fire the fireworks from. This may require a longer fixation at the enemy as we analyze its movements and location on the screen. Yet simultaneously, other enemies are firing down at the ship. Quick eye movements are necessary to ensure that the ship is safe; if not, our attention is directed to the bottom screen where we must find a safe spot to move it. Then, our eyes dart across the screens again so that we can decide what our next move will be. "Feature detectors" allow us to focus on the task at hand, such as aiming at the blue enemy. In that case, blue becomes more sensitive to our sight as it sends stronger signals than the other visual cues of the game. Frequent linking and re-linking of visual information allows us to accomplish our cognitive and action goals. Big Bang Mini combines both cognition and action in its fun-filled, colorful gameplay.

image source: http://www.cubed3.com/tmpmedia/jesusraz/bigbang/Big_Bang_Mini_010.jpg