Vivid Bijou

Make Sure the Prince Doesn't Leave His Room... from Ellise Williams on Vimeo.

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Exercise #1 was a task of "getting our feet wet" as it were, in the land of Photoshop. The "Non-Designers Design Book" gave us helpful hints and tips about the different characteristics of design and the "Adobe Photoshop On Demand" textbook taught us how to use those characteristics within Photoshop. For this design, we had to find a factual statement from a news headline, or something of that nature. I came across this headline on the BBC website, and saw limitless possibilities.
My ultimate goal was to express the absurdity of the statement, while maintaining its factuality. The first decision I made was to change the word "desires" into something more fitting. Although my choice might have been the "logical" choice, I feel that it effectually conveys the meaning that the word should have. I used the color red, which is so often coupled with romantic or lustful thoughts, to further accentuate the word. The number 23 is also in red, to make the connection between the "desires" and the "23"rd husband that is being desired. I chose to make the words "husband" and "centenarian" out of the same font, but making the latter look its age by thinning out the letters and adding a slight italic to make it look elderly and frail. "Husband", however, is a much bolder, sturdier word, giving the viewer a hint as to why this centenarian might be looking for a new husband; someone who is strong and able to provide for her. Finally, the gradient added on the numbers helps to convey the number "23"in such a way as to make the viewer think twice about how many twenty-three really is. All of these design choices put together make a normally standard headline pop out and cause a viewer to look twice at what he or she is reading.