Target Ad

UnityDescribe the forms that contribute to the unity of this composition.

(look for elements and traits that repeatedly appear)
Notice how oval shapes are used and reused… …sometimes as simple ovals, but often as concentric rings… …they provide a simple graphic theme (motif) that both unifies the cluttered central image… …and builds to the “perfect” concentric circles of the Target logo.

The blue of the background dominates, while the lime green ads a second color — thus the color palette is limited to blues, greens, white and black — plus the anomaly of Target's logo red.
Colors are consistently clean and pure — tints and shades are used, but colors are not mixed, per se.
All surfaces and edges are clean and crisp — sharp objects and highlights are everywhere.

The broad, simple, clean background unifies the entire page — one simple, unbroken canvas.

The objects are all kitchen utensils — eating implements of one sort or another. This is not really a formal similarity, but rather a conceptual similarity — they all have a similar idea or context that most of us would recognize.

(look for alignments, structures or groupings that organize parts into larger entities (gestalt))
Most of the objects on the page are clusted into a tight group "spraying" out of the shower head, in a cone or triangle shape. The simple enclosed shape unifies the otherwise cluttered and chaotic objects.
Many of the objects are joined or connected by overlaps — some objects/shapes clearly are intended to lead from one to another — the spoon and some glasses are quite directional.

VarietyDescribe the forms that contribute to the variety and dynamism of this painting.

(look for contrast of any and every kind. Look especially for similar forms that are varied in some way. Look for anomalies — patterns or norms that are broken.)

The ovals appear in many different forms — varying in size, in color, in thickness and proportion (some are flattened, some are nearly circular)
The ovals, and the objects generally, are oriented at all sorts of random angles — seeming to tumble across the page.

Focal AreasWhat areas are focal areas?
Describe the forms that contribute to their graphic emphasis?

Prominent features draw our eye from ‘island to island’ of bold-colored, broad shapes.
A) the emphasis lies in the mass of objects clustered in the center,
b) the proximity of the objects to one another form next to the emptiness of the rest of field brings emphasis to it. They form together with the illusion of depth as it moves from top left to bottom right, and
the bright greens and silvers and lines stand out.
The final focal area is the Target logo — isolated and tucked into a corner, its anomalous bright red and perfect, concentric circles conclude the play of ovals elsewhere.

Strictly speaking, there is a hierarchy of very significant focal areas, less significant areas, and pure relief areas.

Relief Areas
the relief areas are of course the blue "empty" regions.