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Describing the Work

Author: Sophia

what's covered
In this lesson, you'll learn about presenting the work, which is an important step in the critique process. Specifically, this lesson will focus on:

Table of Contents

1. General Description

The first step in the critique process is the presentation of the piece by its author. If there are many participants present, they should all have the opportunity to look at the work closely before the critique begins.

When presenting, the author should describe the piece's formal qualities objectively and using appropriate vocabulary.

IN CONTEXT
If you, as the artist, were presenting a photo, you wouldn't want to simply state, "I took this photo of this girl because the weather outside was nice. I really like the photo because I like oceans and beaches."

That isn't objective, and it doesn't use proper vocabulary to present the piece's qualities and characteristics. Instead, you would want to go for more specifics, such as, "In this piece, I used colder blue hues in the top half and warmer hues at the bottom to complement each other and provide good balance and visual weight. This piece is also framed so that the girl was slightly offset to create a more asymmetrical balance. She is positioned in line with the tracks so that your eye follows the tracks back towards the girl, which is the dot or focal point of this piece."

Basically, you want to point out why a piece was designed a certain way.


2. Recapping Project Goals and Specs

After the general description, the presenter should move onto recapping project goals and specs. Specs is short for specifications, or the requirements for a job at hand.

EXAMPLE

If the goal was to provide something striking or memorable for an ad, then the presenter might want to conclude with "These elements work together to create an unforgettable mood and curiosity towards who the person in the image is, where she is, and where she's going. This creates a sense of intrigue and interest for the viewer in the ad."

You want the viewer to gaze upon the image and stay interested enough to want to learn more about what he or she is looking at. It's important to recap how your piece met the specs.

term to know
Specs
Short for "specifications;" the requirements for the job at hand.

summary
In this lesson, you focused on the first step in the design process: the presentation of the piece by its author. Specifically, you looked at examples of providing a general description of the work and recapping project goals and specs.

Keep up the learning and have a great day!

Source: THIS WORK IS ADAPTED FROM SOPHIA AUTHOR MARIO E. HERNANDEZ

Terms to Know
Specs

Short for "specifications;" the requirements for the job at hand.