Design Evaluation

So, I'm going to talk about the bad design first.  I really hated this album cover (and thats saying something because this is my favorite band of all time).  I just think that it could have been really great but was very poorly executed.  The dark text on a black background with the bright colors that accent it but don't really do a great job it really was a poor design choice on whoever decided on this album art.  The dark text on the dark background makes the band's name really hard to read, and doesn't do much to add to the overall design.  The colors work well with the dark, but the way they were put in really looks awful.  

This album cover in my favorite out of all of the ones this band ever came out with.  The light really draws your eye toward the doorway and the wall beside it flooded in light, which I think really plays into the album title of "The Open Door".  Everything outside of the light from the open doorway is shrouded in darkness.  There's even dark elements in the gown that Amy Lee (the lead singer) is wearing, and they get lighter the closer they are to where the light is coming into the space.  I just think that the design of this cover is much better than the first one.

Contrast, Balance and Harmony

This picture was something I found a long time ago - I think on Facebook or Tumblr.  I was immediately struck with how gorgeous this small piece of scenery was, and how much it reminded the of home.  What reminded me of Maine the most was the colors. The green of the trees, the blue of the water, the mountains covered with snow, even the sky being cloudy and gray.

I love the subtle contrast between the shoreline and the trees, and the sharp contrast between the trees and the mountains.  There's even a contrast between the gray of the mountains and the clouds in the sky, and all of this contrast, subtle or otherwise, makes this photo beautiful.

I also really like seeing the different textures here.  The mountains, rigid and jagged, and the trees with their many branches and points jutting up into view in front of the mountains and the water with its rippling surface...all of this somehow creates not just contrast, but they balance each other out with light and dark and make this a very harmonious picture.