|| Natalie Diffloth | Computer Artist Profile ||

Natalie Diffloth is a graphic designer of 16 years who began with print and publication design, but more recently, has focused on web design as well. As a designer, she enjoys working with clients collaboratively with good communication in order to generate an understanding of what the client needs. At the same time she uses her expertise to balance the practical considerations of her clients with strategic objectives to solve problems in imaginative and creative ways. She develops solutions to her client’s needs, which stylistically reveal her eye for design.

Natalie’s clients predominantly consist of professional artists, photographers, boutiques and galleries as she strives to create clear, elegant graphic solutions and websites to promote the field of art. Natalie’s design work has her own personal flair; however, she treats each client and project in a unique way taking into consideration the client’s style, the timeline and project requirements. The work that emerges in response to her clients consists of postcards, posters, brochures, books or catalogs. Her style appears to be very organized. The websites she designs, for example, are not cluttered with unnecessary elements; but rather, utilize the elements and principles of design in a simplified manner that effectively communicates her client’s work to its fullest potential. Her design work does not take away from the product she is communicating. Instead, she uses design, such as strong contrasts, as a method to effectively display the work of others.

I chose to look at Natalie Diffloth for numerous reasons. First of all because she is a graphic designer and I have a huge interest in this area. I love graphic design because of its communicative purpose. The purpose of graphic design is to communicate or promote an idea. I admire her ability to make someone else’s work look good. Graphic design is not primarily about the self and does not involve the emotions as many other forms of art do. Behind graphic design is often the need for a solution to a problem that a client has, unlike painting, for example, which often expresses the emotion of the artist themselves. I also like Natalie’s approach to her work and how she pertains to the needs of specific types of clients that are all related to the field of art. Even though she pertains to the needs of her clients she is consistent in her clientele base and doesn’t design for just anyone. I also really like Natalie’s style as it has a touch of elegance. Her style is simplistically sophisticated, yet extremely effective in its intent. I don’t find to be a result of inexperience or an inability to design, but I see it as a sign of an ability to design. My approach to graphic design is also very simplistic as well. I feel that it is much harder to achieve a successful design project with a limited set of elements because you have to be carefully selective. Even the placement of a simple straight line can be very powerful if it’s done properly. I also like what Natalie’s work consists of—brochures, catalogues, posters—because I feel that a well designed brochure is so important, especially in this day and age when everyone is trying to grab everyone else’s attention amidst such busyness. It disheartens me to see a brochure or a poster, for example, that are not well designed. Also, I like how Natalie is a versatile graphic designer as she is fluent in the language of design as well as web design which is a valuable key to success because many clients want to brand a company; therefore it is important to be able to carry the brand across all digital areas. Overall, I think that Natalie is a successful designer whom I admire for her strong ability to communicate in a simply effective way.

Link to her website: http://www.diffloth.com/

Playing with text...

When first assigned this project I was so overwhelmed and had no idea what to do because I love using text in Photoshop so there were so many different techniques that I wanted to try so I just could not make a decision! I had really liked the idea of using text to compose a portrait, but I initially thought that we had to do something that included the Bible, but I was mistaken so that was a huge relief and made things much easier! I proceeded to stick with a portrait, but then I faced the decision as to what portrait to use. I could have done a generic face, but then I feel that the text would not be as effective so I wanted to chose a significant figure who had a lot of writings and insightful words. I had recently seen the movie "Invictus" which is the story of Nelson Mandela, therefore I proceeded to use his portrait composed of inspirational words that he had said in his famous quotes or words that define him as a successful leader. Once I got my idea down pat I then made individual brushes for approximately 15 words. Then, I used the magic wand to select various areas and then in those areas I placed the various brushes that I had made in a variety of sizes, which proved to be very time consuming. I used this method for the remainder of the portrait until I felt that the portrait was recognizable as Nelson Mandela. This is just one of the methods of using text to compose a portrait so next time I will try something else...I want to try to make another portrait that is composed of text that follows a path to outline the facial features which will take much more time than this one already did.

Mirroring images through colour and pattern...

For this exercise we were asked to take two different images and mirror each other through the repetition of similar colours and patterns. I chose to take different images that still stuck with the same theme of fashion. Although the one image is a mannequin while the other is a fully dressed woman. I used the image of the woman as my "root" image - I didn't alter it very much, but used the colours and patterns in the other surrounding images. I used various methods such as creating displacement maps for patterns, used colour replacement tool and played with curves to get the colour levels to be similar. I hope that my choice of images are disconnected enough to make this an effective assignment. I enjoyed making the images "match" in a sense so they look like they belong together.

Photo enhancement...for the good...

In class we talked a lot about the idea of photo enhancement to make people look "perfect;" to eliminate people's "flaws" with the never ending capabilities of Photoshop. For example, making someone look younger--but why does age have to be something we want to put off as long as possible? Isn't there some sort of beauty found in the wrinkles of an aged face or worn hands? Wrinkles speak of character and experience so I don't understand why our society fears the presence of a wrinkle.

Eliminating "flaws" denies the uniqueness of us humans therefore we were challenged to enhance a photo to emphasize an ideal. I chose to deal with the idea of hunger and starvation. So rather than making someone look skinny like a society likes best, I chose to do the opposite by using the bloat tool to thicken the arms and legs of a little boy to make him look like a healthy boy should. I am not completely happy how the bloat tool manipulated the colour of the skin, but I wasn't sure how to fix that. I also added some healthy looking colour to his face and made him smile...no child should be so unhappy as the original. It is just not right for little children to be starving and as skinny as this boy was. I also clothed him which proved to be a challenge because I had to find another picture of a shirt that was in a similar position as my original photo. I then continued to use the liquify tool to make the shirt fit and then I used the burn and dodge tools to correct the lighting. I would have liked to put him in a better setting, but time was my enemy yet again as the hours slipped by as I was so engrossed in this assignment.

Original photo:

Enhanced photo:

Photo restoration exercise...

For this exercise I chose to restore this particular photograph that I found online circa 1920s. I absolutely love old photographs, in particular vintage fashion, so I really enjoyed this assignment. It was good practice with the clone and healing tool as well as colour replacement. I also added some vintage text in the background to still give it that vintage look amidst a restored old photograph.

Experimenting with colour...

This exercise involved using various ways to replace colour or to experiment with various colour adjustments. I found this assignment fun and interesting in that there are so many ways to achieve colour replacement and there are so many various effects that can be created. There are so many more that I could have done, but there is a point when enough is enough....but here they are...the first one is playing with colour adjustments and the second is using various methods of colour replacement.

Colour Adjustment:

Colour Replacement:

ART324 | Exercise #1 | Collage

The requirements of this project where to create one collage using actual magazines, paper and newspaper and then scanning it into Photoshop and then to create a second collage in Photoshop using found digital images. The purpose is to see the difference between scanning in material--how various textures etc. look once scanned onto the computer--versus using digital images themselves. I chose to go with the theme of cities and "city life." The second collage incorporates both found images as well as images that I took during my visit to New York a couple of years ago. I thought I would change the images themselves a bit using various adjustments and colours, which cannot be done with actual cutout images, therefore I thought I would play around with the flexibilities and possibilities of Photoshop.

Collage #1

Collage #2 - done in Photoshop