Blog Post I

The header image on my website conveys the outline of an image of myself with a blank silhouette. The choice of my head represents my psychological standpoint while the blank space represents my openness to tailoring my ideas and decisions to the specifics of my clients. I want my clients to know that I am eager to learn and transparent with my design process. I am constantly learning and upgrading my skills to deliver the latest design styles and most efficient products.

My source images were taken by me! Their reuse is purposefully for my website as I took ample time editing and iterating my logo.

To create and edit my logo, I used a few applications to complete the process. To create the silhouette, I outlined the image selected from my camera roll and uploaded it into Apple’s Freeform app. I cropped the image to only include my side profile. Next, I uploaded the silhouette onto Canva and continued to play around with different fonts that captured my design style and aesthetic. I replaced the font with my name and an opaque-colored background to enhance contrast and present an attractive color palette. “Layers allow you to work on one element of an image without disturbing the other.” (Manovich 2011) Creating the logo in different applications allowed for minor details to be addressed before it was all pieced together for the final product. I was able to change and compare different mockups without permanently altering the final image. Manovich explains how layers allow for these changes, and their ability to maintain the integrity of the image’s other elements. 

Davidson describes a single-layer bitmap as having limits within capabilities and the complexities of trying to enhance the clarity of a drawn image on a platform like Windows Paint. The antiquated method of enactment truly measures the extent of how far technology has developed. Images are now being processed at a fraction of a second and can be manipulated and edited without disrupting quality or cohesion. The advancements observed in today’s technology compared to what Davidson describes are vastly different. The advancements in delivery speed and quality of images from the 80s compared to 2024 are undeniable. “These intermediate tones soften the lines and make the individual pixels of the image less visible when viewed at normal size. The limitations of personal computer hardware in 1985 made it technically impractical for the original Windows Paint to use this technique” (Davidson 2015). As Davidson breaks down the extensive process of image enhancements in 1985, it seems unimaginable in a world where everything is processed in an instant.

Works Cited

Davison, P. (2014). Because of the pixels: On the history, form, and influence of Ms Paint. Journal of Visual Culture, 13(3), 275–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470412914544539 

Lev Manovich. “Inside Photoshop.” Computational Culture 1 (November 2011). http://computationalculture.net/inside-photoshop/.