I am always drawn to works that use a lot of black and white with just a splash of color. This work fell right into the category. The first thing that caught my attention about this piece was the color. The swirls of light blue and yellow that are coming out of the drain pipe falling over the curb and onto the street. The color choice works because the colors are bright and capture the viewers attention and draw them in the piece. The rest of the picture is all black, white and gray scale. The picture is zoomed in to display just the curb and drain pipe with a little bit of the wall showing in the background. Even though there is not much in the way of objects the picture still gives a lot of information to the viewer. The first thing that I noticed is the the sidewalk is not clean, there are cigarette butts and dirt. What I like best about the piece is the symbolism that there is beauty in the everything. Life is not always wrapped up in a nice package with a bow on top, sometimes life is about the cigarette butts on the ground and the dark areas that are not always meant to be understood but you can still find beauty there. The quote is interesting as well, it keeps your attention long enough to carry you through the piece. The placement is in the center of the page lined up with the curb. The typography used is a sans-serif which is simple but effective. Overall this is a nicely designed piece. It can be found at www.stonewayinc.com

This design was created by Damien Northmore. The first part of the design that caught my attention was the usage of overlay technique. The background is not solid black as it first appears to be. The background actually has a pattern of bricks in gray on the black but it is subtle enough to not take away from the rest of the design. The colors are working nicely together on this piece. The designer used two complementary colors, orange and green along with gray scale. The orange has yellow mixed in with the primary color yellow and that helps to create a feeling of texture adding new dimension to the piece. The green graphic elements in the corner help to direct the viewers eye into the piece. The problem with putting it in the corner is that it also takes the viewer off of the design. There is some other directional tools such as the extension off of the "S" in lions and Sydney. There is a hierarchy created with the word Sydney due to its size. The piece has great texture and draws the viewer in. I do not understand why the typography is on an angle. I would think that the piece would work just as well if the typography was straight. Overall the piece works well in advertising the opening of a show and that is conveyed through both typography and graphic elements. The design can be found at www.allgraphicdesign.com