Hi! My name is Meowza and I love cartoons.
Almost everything I've learned and love about design stems from my background in drawing comics and cartoons. Trying to establish character, mood, and still convey my message all within the limited space of a comic panel (and with a split second of a reader's attention span to do so) is a daunting challenge.
So as a cartoonist, you tend to find yourself resorting to thinking in basic shapes a lot. I know that if I design a character that's instantly recognizable as a silhouette, that character will work once we go in and add the facial features, attire, etc... Everything within this basic skeleton are accessories, but the base is paramount.
For example, I don't need to tell you who any these characters are for you to recognize them.
Our eyes strip down everything we see into its most basic elements on a daily basis without even thinking about it. Mickey Mouse isn't a mouse who wears red shorts. Our mind remembers him as a circle with two smaller circles on top. Just to visualize, we can dress him up in any colors or attire we desire and nobody would ever mistake him for anyone else.
But if we were to alter the base of his foundation even slightly...
Like magic, he is no longer Mickey Mouse.
Human beings are extremely lazy creatures when it comes to visual association. We have difficulty consciously remembering details and ultimately recollect most of our visuals through basic shapes.
To put this theory to the test, look at the following images and ask yourself a couple questions:
a) What's wrong with Yosemite Sam?
b) To which popular cartoon character does this eye belong to?
Answers:
a) I've changed the color of Sam's handkerchief from the usual yellow to green.
b) Woody Woodpecker.
Okay, some of you may have gotten the first one and a few may have even gotten both. But out of context and had I not asked, you probably wouldn't have given either images a passing glance even if we've all seen these characters a million times before.
So, what has all this got to do with anything?
Well, the very same principles in cartoons relates directly to the world of design. Any good design, like cartoons, reduced to its most basic framework will remain a good design. A prospective customer is fickle. They are not going to stick around to look at the great little flower incorporated into the background of an advertisement if they're not immediately hooked. And even if they do, chances are they may not remember it tomorrow. They care as much about minute details labored over in a design as you care about the color of Yosemite Sam's handkerchief.
Although a solid foundation can be enhanced with flashy details, flashy details cannot save a poorly designed foundation. Spending that extra time in the initial compositional stages of a design is of utmost importance. It's the "Mickey Mouse ears" from which all other elements of a design will work off of.
So a lot of those very same principles mentioned above, we tried incorporating into the Aviary branding and design.
We know that if our fine feathered friends you see here work in their most basic form, they'll still read once we add the details:
As a comparison, would the toucan have worked had he looked like this?
Why not? We used the exact same colors and general idea of the other toucan. But one look at his silhouette gives us the answer. It just does not read.
So, the next time you come across a great logo or a beautiful design, ask yourself what made that design appealing to you. Chances are it's not the beautiful flower in the background or your love of a particular color they used. Ask yourself how the design read compositionally. You just might find your answer there.
Now, I'm sure there are plenty of designs and logos out there that break this general "rule." Funny enough, I just can't recall any of them off the top of my head.
Well, that's my belief anyways. Or maybe I just wanted to draw Mickey Mouse today.
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Posted by Christopher Gilbert on 2007-12-06 18:49:40
When reduced to silhouettes, could you still identify diglett? I say yes, only because when you reduce this article to silhouettes, I can still identify this article as one that i diglett. The end.
Posted by nagash on 2007-12-06 18:58:12
great article! when I'm working, I tend to give a leading role to object composition, but I don't see many designers caring this much. even though I'm conscious about it, your silhouette approach gives me a fresh perspective and it will be *very* useful in my current character-design work. thank you
Posted by Dragoljub Profirovic on 2007-12-06 19:19:06
Maybe a great way to expand on the topic of character silhouettes is to review the silhouettes of heroes vs villains in comics. I'm refereeing to our innate ability to recognize certain features about the body and face to help us judge a characters moral compass.
Posted by Kit on 2007-12-06 19:49:14
I believe Matt Groening has said something very similar to this before.
Posted by David Johnston on 2007-12-06 19:57:45
This is one of the fundamental principles of animation (see "Illusion of Life" by Frank & Ollie -- a seminal work on animation) and I'm sure it applies equally (of perhaps more) to the static images of comics.
Posted by Jowe on 2007-12-06 20:17:01
Dude Mewz, i didn't even know you exist anymore cool article yo
Posted by midwestisbest on 2007-12-06 20:59:57
Adult Swim had a nice little bump that illustrated (ahem) this concept, using characters from Futurama as examples. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the clip.
Posted by Mike on 2007-12-06 21:34:35
Hi Meowza , I love your blog with all cartoons , congrats on your blog , just digg it also, it seems very popular and attention made to me also about cartoons .
Congrats,.
Mike
Posted by Katrineholm's Rude Abstract Paintings on 2007-12-06 23:41:20
"OK then" to quote Ed McDonnough (Holly Hunter) in "Raising Arizona".
Posted by Technology Blog on 2007-12-07 03:54:28
Posted by Dustin Boston on 2007-12-10 10:18:09
This is an excellent point. It's important to note that just because the base is simplistic, the overall image doesn't have to be. That's why it's called the base. :) I think that very complex illustrations can be built on very simple foundational elements such as circles, squares. Nice post.
Posted by Teh on 2007-12-12 06:23:25
this post is very interesting for me. I use this as my topic on our agency "Interesthing Sharing" section...Thank you very much!!
Posted by hamasuki on 2007-12-26 17:39:21
Nice. An excellent article and some points that I had not ever thought about. I did realize that no matter how much you "jazz things up" they are still at the core apealing or not. I have learned some things about basic design here. Thanks for giving me a new perspective on creative design and an interesting read as well!
Posted by Shane on 2008-01-03 11:53:42
Thanks for writing that out, I think there is a very key point there not just in iconic branding, but I also think there are elements in what you are saying about outlines that carry over to document structure and navigation. I am by no means an expert here, but I would like to add an armchair contribution to the idea from a few years in machine vision. When the eye scans something, there are a series of very small motions where the eye traces lines of contrast called "saccadic movements". This takes very little time to commit these micro traces to memory and from what I understand (correct me if I'm wrong), it is the memory that we "see" and not the 1 to 1 mapping of the focused image on the retina. Maybe there are some associations made in the mind that link familiar saccadic traces to an iconic symbol or character? They say it takes a visitor a very small fraction of a second to determine if they "like" a website or not and the distillation of what determines this is fascinating to me. Not for exploitation so much as just doing the best we can. Thanks for the worthwhile read, I hope that's food for some additional thought on a great idea. :)
Posted by El senior x on 2008-01-04 11:49:38
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge! Great article!
Posted by Andrew Fielding on 2008-03-16 07:21:05
Reading this I wondered if this is why the Bebo logo lost its "ears" - it looked too much like Mickey Mouse!
They now rely on their stylised "b" in a circle to do their identifying for them instead.
I'm going to have to go back and look at my own logos in this way to see whether they still work in sillhoette.
Thanks for one of the most thought provoking blogs on design I have read for a long time.
Posted by Jeff Namnum on 2008-03-21 20:28:59
Wow, this was fantastic! I heard a little buzz about aviary at barcampnyc and figured I'd head over and check it out, but I had no idea I would be educated in this way. Thanks Meowza for opening my mind to this new point of view. Also thanks @Shane, that's a fascinating link to the biology specifics of how the mind takes in a design.
Posted by James on 2008-04-25 21:27:42
Thanks for sharing your knowledge! I learned something today. :)
Posted by Chris Johnson on 2008-05-03 22:21:02
I have a question about the first image, the mickey, bugs, and bart shadow. Is this image copyrighted by disney, warner bros, etc, or is this yours. I am interested in using an image like this on my website, but don't want to use a copyrighted image. I would be willing to pay for a simple silhouette of mickey and bugs.
Posted by David on 2008-05-14 08:37:13
Great Article on Silhouettes and Posture. Its definitly a must before designing any icons or artwork.
Posted by Reklambyrå on 2008-10-11 10:41:50
Very nice! I dont know much about illustration but the illustrations are very well done. I liked the image where the parrot becomes a carrot!
Posted by ????? on 2008-12-20 08:54:11
Nice article. One of the more creative articles I have read recently .
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Posted by seamless steel pipe on 2009-12-07 22:15:52
I'm refereeing to our innate ability to recognize certain features about the body and face to help us judge a characters moral compass.
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Posted by Diana Moneymaker on 2007-12-06 14:13:37
Excellent article Meowza. I never thought of it like that. Bart Simpson does lie with the foundation; a subtle foundation. It goes to show that it's the little things that makes something magical. -Diana