This is the slideshow I decided to break down using the elements and principles of art. It is about beginning guitar lessons!
“Learning Guitar now: Beginner Guitar Lesson”
I decided to choose this slideshow because I own a guitar, but haven’t played in about 5 years and want to learn. I figured since I’m a beginner, I could evaluate how well the slideshow presents this, and if it grabs my attention with the elements of art. This is what I thought about each slide: First, there is a border surrounding each page, and I think it really takes advantage of using lines to draw the readers eyes to the center of the page. Also, it is not a full border- they run parallel to eachother, with a corner edge in one corner. I also think that helps the readers draw their eyes in- but in more of a subtle way (it represents unity throughout the slideshow, I think) Also, the use of color in the borders was a good choice. It is not a incredibly bold color, so it softens the look of the slides a little.Slide 1: This is just the introduction slide, but I like the simpleness of it. All it says is “So you want to play guitar?” with a half border around the writing, and a picture of a guitar beneath it. I think that is a good use of space, since when you don’t use a lot of space in a slide, it draws more attention to what is actually being said.
Slide 2: This slide asks “what should you learn first” for guitar playing, and lists 3 beginning chords that are the most useful for beginners. It has a picture of a guitar to the right, and below that is a question “But why should I learn these chords?”—I think this slide uses space again, very well. A lot of people would try to dress their slides up a little more, I think- but again, the use of negative space helps to highlight the positive space that is the important part that people want to know.
Slide 3: There is a contrast in the font color between the first and second sentences, which I think seperates and puts emphasis on both sentences. There is also three pictures representing the bands that you can learn songs from with the 3 chords mentioned- and those included with the 2 sentences completes the slide. Also, this slide is proportioned very well. The first two sentences are centered, and the pictures are equally spread out at the bottom of the slide.
Slide 4: At the top of the slide, the writing says “All you need to know is D, Cadd9, G and a couple of strum patterns.” There is a lot of negative space in this photo, with once again a picture of a guitar taking up a little bit of it. This slide made me think- if there wasn’t the borders surrounding some of these pictures, they would look too plain. The slide does lead into the following slide with the “So what are strum patterns” question, but I still think there is too much negative space, and not enough variety in the slide.
Slide 5: This slide takes up a little bit more space, as the sentences are longer. The first sentence is a definition, and the second sentence (whose font color is black, making it a focal point for the eye) explains how to use a strum pattern, with a visual to the bottom right of the page. In this case, I think the negative space is the left bottom corner of the page actually works- since the focus is suppose to be on the strum pattern.
Slide 6: This is one of the first slides with barely any negative space. It has an enlarged picture of the strum pattern it is teaching, with writing examples to the side. I think this slide has pretty good balance- nothing seems to overpower anything else, and there doesn’t seem to be emphasis on one object- everything is the focal point in this slide.
Slide 7: this slide is very similar to the second slide. There is a defining sentence at the top, with a small bulleted list of the 3 things to learn. The only thing I don’t really like about some of these slides is that each one has a picture of a guitar in it. This does give a theme to the slideshow, but at the same time gets a little boring after awhile. There is some negative space in the bottom left corner of the slide, and overall nothing really grabbed my attention about this one.
Slide 8: This is one of the concluding slides, and the only writing is at the top “You too can play the guitar by learning these three things.” There is too much negative space in this one, as there are two pictures of people playing the guitar- but the pictures are so little you can barely see them. There is really no emphasis or focal point of this slide, and I just think for a concluding slide its too boring.
Slide 9 (final slide): This slide is kind of an advertising slide, with a “For more info, please visit my website” – it’s boring with not much going on.
Overall, I think there wasn’t enough variety in this slide show. The balance was pretty good, because in each slide there always seemed to be a complimentary image or sentence. There was a lot of negative space throughout the slideshow, but in certain instances it worked really well, and in others I think it just made it look boring. Like I said at the beginning, I think the border really helped a lot with the emphasis on what was inside of the border, though it could have had a little more movement and variety.
Image from: http://copiousnotes.typepad.com/weblog/how_are_the_guitar_lessons_going/
