2D Design - The Grade 7 Yearbook Mock-up: Creating the Solution

2D Design - The Grade 7 Yearbook Mock-up: Creating the Solution

We are a bit unsatisfied with our school yearbook and are therefore making our own in photoshop using the principles of graphic design. I have already decide how it is going to look in the previous phase. In this phase which is creating the solution, I will be both making the product and teaching you how to make it step by step. I hope you'll enjoy and that this is helpful!

This is the final product. Good, right? Ha ha!

Note:

1. Download Adobe Photoshop CS6 before doing anything.
2. Please remember to always save your work.
3. Feel free to do it the way you like. This is just a reference and the contents and for making my product.
4. The yearbook page in this tutorial will only be able to fit 12-13 mugshots.
5. Please try to name each layer carefully and detailed.
6. Depend on both the words, videos, and screenshots, and make sense out of it.
7. Please make good use of the sites provided.
8. Please read the changes and problems carefully and don't repeat the same mistake.
9. Please read everything carefully.
10. If you have a question about the instructions that you have another way of doing it, you can do it your way. However, the instructions are the ways I recommend and that I think is the best, simplest, easiest.
11. Please revisit and review previous text or videos if you do not understand or forgot how to do something.
12. Please finish reading all the instructions before starting to work on it.
13. If you are not exactly following my instructions, which means you don't have your measurements on here. Then, please take a note of your measurements as the project goes.

If you haven't look at my previous blog post about this project, the above is the planning drawing for the page. Therefore, it is going to turn out looking like that. However, please be aware that it is telling the story of my class.

Step 1 - New File

This is what we're doing in this step.

As one of the design specifications is to make the page A4 size, I tried to do so. One of the mistakes I did was that I was thought I would go to a document, then take a screenshot of a page and put it in photoshop. And the result to that is a FAIL. That is because you have to set the size of your background before you start working it. And then, I found a good youtube video that helped a lot, I hope it can help you too:

Remember the ratio of A4 size is 29.7cm to 21cm. After setting up the background, I would like you to make sure that the layer is named "background" just to make it more convenient for the future.

Before we go any further, may you please collect the mugshots (in this case silly portraits) of the people (in this case your 12-13 classmates) and arrange them in case you haven't.

Step 2 - Decorating and Finishing the Background

This is what we're going to finish with in this step.

Now use the paint bucket to paint the background but do not add new layer. You can choose the colour you like, but I'm using light sky blue (I did something accidentally when I take the screenshot so it looks greyish). Now use the round rectangle tool, which is right below the curser tool. You'll have to right click and choose the correct tool. Now draw a round rectangle: Radius 7, Stroke is 6 pt, Fill is yellow. Once again, feel free to choose your own colour. Afterwards, move it upwards until its top line is gone. Now, draw the two diagonal lines on the left and the two on the right, trying to make sure they are about 45º. Do so by using the grid and counting the spaces when drawing it. Now, Use the rectangle tool draw a rectangle that is going to fit in the lines, and just drag it in. Use "transform" to make adjustments if it doesn't fit. if you don't get it just use the paint brush or pencil tool. If it ask rasterize shape or what, just click "OK". Now you have the place for titles, use "text" tool to put down "Autographs" in the middle, and "Mugshots" on both corners. I'm using bold Verdana. Make sure you use the rotate tool in transform (in the menu bar) the "Mugshots" text to fit it in its place.

Step 3 - First 4 Silly Portraits, Decorations, Getting Use to Doing This

This is what we're going to finish with in this step.

We are now drawing the black round rectangle with the yellow gears on it. Now, use the round rectangle tool and draw a round rectangle: Fill black, stroke black, 20 px. Draw it so that the edges are all round. Now, we are adding in the gears, I recommend the 3 that is right below. I used the second one.

Here is a video on how to put the gear and other stuffs like the mugshots into Adobe Photoshop (CS6). Enjoy!

Scale the gear properly and move it into the right place as shown in the screenshot. After you've done that, you'll have to put in the mugshots or silly portraits of you classmate. We'll do the first 4 in this step. Now, watch the video below and learn how to put in the mugshots/ Silly Portraits correctly. Then, do it for all four of the mugshots/ Silly Portraits and then we'll go to the next step.

I mentioned in the video that take a screenshot so that all the mugshots/ Silly Portraits are equal, so that none have a different ratio, being wider or longer. Actually, you don't necessarily have to do that, you can just use the crop tool. Below, there's is a link to a youtube tutorial in using the crop tool. Both ways work as well, so it depends which one you like.

Now before we go to the next step, use the line tool which is in the same column as the round rectangle tool. Use the line tool to draw a line (it is the thick one on the right above the silly portraits, in the screenshot on top). The line should be: Fill black, Stroke black, No specific pt, Weight 8 px. Draw the line diagonally.

Okay, we're done for this step. Let's go on if you're ready. Take a break if you want :)

Step 4 - Working on the Second Row of the Page

This is what we're going to finish with in this step. If you see stuffs like the shoe and stuffs above, just ignore it, it's not part of the step.

In this step, we are going to work on the 2nd row of the school yearbook page, in other words it is also the centre of the page as this page have 3 rows. By now, I expect you to already know how to import, rotate, scale etc. for the images.

In the screenshot, there are two Silly Portraits on the left. On top, there is a black rectangle with arrows on it. That is what we are working on now. First, use the line tool to create the rectangle. Draw a line: Fill black, Stroke black, No specific pt, Weight 30 px, -15º. And then we will add the smaller lines with arrow-heads. But how do you make a line with an arrow-head? Watch this youtube video.

Draw 3 lines with arrow-heads: Arrowheads Start, Fill yellow, Stoke no, No specific pt, 3 px
Now, we've completed the rectangle with the yellow arrows on it. So now all you have to do is to: (1) Import all of those mugshots/ Silly Portraits that you have arranged previously to be in this spot (2) Scale them properly and rotate them to -15º. (3) Put them into the right place.

Let's move on to the 2 mugshots/ Silly Portraits on the left with the line on top! First of all, use the line tool to draw a line: Fill black, Stroke black, No specific pt, Weight 8 px, 10º. So now all you have to do is to: (1) Import all of those mugshots/ Silly Portraits that you have arranged previously to be into this spot (2) Scale them properly and rotate them to 10º. (3) Put them into the right place.

We're going to be doing this now.

Use the round rectangle to draw a round rectangle: Fill yellow, Stroke black, 7 pt, Radius 12 px. You can look at the size comparing it to the mugshots/ Silly Portraits. Use the same gear image and put two in there with the same size. Scale it so that the gear fit in the round rectangle on the sides nicely and that it is round not long or wide. And then, use the text tool to type "7-2" in black and in bold Verdana (that is what I'm using and what I recommend). Now use the line tool to draw a line under the yellow round rectangle a bit on the right. The line should be: Fill black, Stroke black, No specific pt, 3 px. Now, we are gong to draw the robot hand thing, or a mechanic clip thing, under that line. In order to that, we first have to use the Ellipse tool to draw an oval that is a little wide. The Ellipse tool is in the same column as the round rectangle tool. Draw the oval: No fill, Stroke black, 7 pt.

We finished step 4!

Step 5

As we get closer to the end, you will find that it will get tougher and a bit more complicate and a bit more to do. Also, for this step, I have circled the parts to make it clear what 'm saying, but do not misunderstand and think that is a part of the yearbook page, it's not.

You will first have the make the part with the red circle. It is the same things: Gears, lines with arrow-head, black round rectangle. Now, you changed the settings and sizes for the lines and round rectangles. You can refer to the arrows in the next step and the gears in the third step. The round rectangle should be -8º, as well as those lines with the arrow-heads.  It should be drawn a little bit wider than the other "conveyor belts" of the boxes. Now we are going to work on the shoe and the spring. Download the images below and just import them into photoshop. Afterwards, please watch the video below.

We'll get to the box and the mugshots/ Silly Portraits afterwards. 

Now we are going to work on the part in the blue circle. This time we are not using the line to to draw a thick line, we are going to draw a thin round rectangle. Use the round rectangle tool to draw a round rectangle: Fill black, Stroke black, No specific pt, Radius 30 px. Draw it so it's thin, thin, thin, just as shown in the screenshot. It should be 7º.

Now we are gong to add the 5 mugshots/ Silly Portraits. Import the mugshots/ Silly Portraits and scale them and rotate them according to the information provided previously. Now, the three mugshots/ Silly Portraits on the left are gong to generally have to be smaller and closer together even if the "conveyor belt" is a bit wider. Then, do the ones on the right, they are the same as all the other ones we did in the previous steps.

Now we are gong to do the part in the yellow circle. First of all, simply use the Ellipse tool to draw a oval on the very end of the "conveyor belt" on the left, as shown in the screenshot above. I would name it "Circle Entry" or something like that. The oval should be: No fill, Stoke black, 5 pt. Draw it as in the screenshot, a long oval. Now draw one using the same adjustments and settings, but draw it horizontally to the bottom of the last picture, as shown in the screenshot. I would name it "Circle Exit" or something like that. Now connect the two of the ovals with the Pencil tool. Draw the line very very thin. Then, colour the inside black using the paint brush tool which is in the same column as the Pencil tool. Then use the text tool which is right above the curser tool (actually called the path selection tool). Put "Final" as one layer: 11 pt, In yellow. Then put the "Exams" from the top to the bottom just simply by pressing enter every-time use enter a letter. If you haven't put them in the correct place, do it now.

Now we are going to work on the part in the green circle. First draw the line with the line tool. Press shift while drawing it horizontally so it's 0º (only let go of the shift button when the line is formed). According to the screenshot, draw it right next to the bottom of the "Circle Exit". The line: Fill black, Stoke black, No specific pt, 5 px. Now fit a round rectangle on that line. Draw the round rectangle: Fill dark brown, Stroke black, 7 pt, 30 px. It has to be long enough to fit. It has to be able to fit a text that is: Arial bold, 24 pt, in yellow. And we are going to type in the text "The End" now. Make sure the box fit. Do not change any settings or the round rectangle and for the text. Draw a round rectangle all across under the line. And then type in "Congratulations".

Step 6

We are now going to work on the boxes with your class in there. So if you haven't change any settings or stuffs since the last step, just go to the rectangle tool which is in the same column as the round rectangle tool and change the shape stroke to 7 pt. Draw a small rectangle. Then, if you haven't change any settings for the text, just open a new text a put you class # in there. Then, rotate both the rectangle and the text according to the angle of the "Conveyor belts", and fit the in the rectangle, with the layer text above the rectangle. And there you go, boxes with class # on them. Put all of them in the centre of the "Conveyor belt". Except for the one in the third row on the right. For that one, place it a little on the left to leave some space for the autographs as there's a shoe and a spring.

Step 7

In this step, we are gong to add in the autographs. First of all, simply take a blank A4 paper and collect everyone's autograph (I suggest you get them to use a marker or at least make the lines thick so it would be obvious in the page), making sure that you have enough space between each. Then scan it. Then, open it in photoshop 12-13 times (depending on the # of people). Each time you open it use the crop tool or eraser tool, and then the magic wand tool to select one autograph only. The other way of doing that is: Opening the file and taking 12-13 screenshots, each time with a different autograph. Whichever way you do it, you will then have all of the in you yearbook page. Then, you just have to arrange them to make sure the correct autograph is on the correct person (with the "Conveyor belt" in between). However, for the last row on the right there are 2 mugshots. You will have to adjust the places so that everything fits. Also, on the left of the last row, the middle mugshot/ Silly Portrait would need a different arrangement for the autograph. I would put it in the bottom of the mugshot/ Silly Portrait as there is still space.

Please take note that this yearbook page does not include name (tags) as the Silly Portraits are suppose to be able to tell who that person is.

Before we finish, make sure you have it 300 ppi. That is what my class have came up with after discussing. You can of course change it if you want. Watch the video below if you dont' know how to do so.

You can also watch a video from youtube about it if you prefer:

So now you have your own (school) yearbook page! Happy? I hope it's useful and have helped you. I also hope you like the product and have enjoyed the process!

2D Design - The Grade 7 Yearbook Mock-up: Inquiring and Analysing

2D Design - The Grade 7 Yearbook Mock-up: Inquiring and Analysing

As said before, we are working on graphic/ 2D design using photoshop in this unit.

1. Explain and justify the need for a solution to       a problem

We have decided to make a silly funny yearbook (page) for ourselves as a project for this unit. This is a great decision. It is because:

1. We can have a yearbook that we own more (because we aren't very satisfied with all the serious pictures in our school yearbook).
2. We can be more creative because the yearbook isn't for school but for us.
3. We can learn and apply the techniques of graphic designs that we just learnt.
4. We can practise using the tools in photoshop and use photoshop to do some good job.

These things, all in one project! Perfect!

2. Primary and secondary research

The tools:

1. One of the is the concept of working with layers. This is really important and makes using Photoshop much easier than on paper. It's because when we can work on separate layers and arrange the layers, the layers can also be named so you would identify them, you can also create a layer. we don't have to think for very long and decide which layer goes first and which go second and which... Also, we won't mess up other parts (in this case layers) when we work on one part. However, I feel it might be hard to get use to it when you paint or do something, you have to work on separate layers. So it's sometimes inconvenient and sometimes take away your habit of thinking carefully before doing something because you can't do that in real life.
2. We can take import an image into the project from many places like internet or on the mac. With that, we don't have to draw or make our own image or figure or only get the image from one place. It makes it really convenient and allow people to get a wide range of images or figure or photo...
3. Now with the images imported, one good thing is that we can crop it and take only the part we want. This is really important because it allows us to choose the part we want from an image we've chosen.
4. We can also use the magic wand to take away the parts with same colour in the image. Not just that, we can change the sensitivity of it. Makes it a lot easier to just get the part you like.
5. We can also transform the images imported. We can rotate, scale, skew, distort... It allows us to make it fit in and make it look good in the project.
6. We can also erase or paint on a layer to get the colour we want and to take away what we don't want.
7. We can also make a layer which is for the brightness and the contrast and stuff and make it look good and beautiful.

The concepts:

1. For Gestalt principles, I'm going to use the Starbucks logo as an example: There are closures in many places. The "mermaid tail" is just a couple of white curved lines, but we see them as a "mermaid tail" with patterns, and our brain close it up. It also forms a circle around the body of the mermaid. Similarity: Although the logo doesn't show that the "mermaid tail" is connected to the body, the similarity that the hair down the body and the stripes on the tail let our brain relate and connect and group them together. Figure and ground: For sure, some of the green is part of the figure, but obviously, most of the green is the background which doesn't stand out as much as the white and the shapes in green aren't that special.
2. Closure. The adidas logo has closure in it. If you look carefully, you can see the shapes on the top are actually in three, and are separate. Also, the two lines in following and the piece in blue at the very bottom, they are all separate. However, when we look at them, they seem to be one whole, closed shape with three white lines on there. That is closure.
3. Movement: It is kind of like continuation. Internet Explorer and the windows 7 wallpaper is a good example. There seems to be a flow in the lines that, that make you see it's moving across the screen, while it's actually not.
4. There are also other concepts and principles we learnt. There is alignment, it is to keep related objects in a line.
5. Balance: When you distribute the objects on the surface equally in number, including the effect from the size of the objects. Many logos are so simple they have only a few objects to distribute, but they do put them in the middle (Balance is an important part for wallpaper designs).
6. Contrast. It makes the the people looking distinguish the object from object or from background... It can be done using the difference of contrasting colours, size, shapes...

We've also learnt lots and lots of other concepts and principles (graphic) designs.

3. Analyse a range of existing products

Now, I am doing the inquiring and analysing phase. We are asked to find a good yearbook example and a bad one. I have two main ones, but I'll also be talking about two other ones.

The one above is a one I chose as a good one. It may not be the best and we may not write a lot of words, but it's a good one. This is, I suppose, a sports (events) page from a high school year book. You may not notice very obvious Gestalt principles, but there are some parts that are remarkable and makes connections.

1. Those pictures are all around the text. You usually don't understand what the words are about until you read it out (boring). However, in here, with all the sports pictures around the text obvious it should be about sports.
2. The text are also usually much less attractive than pictures. However, in here, the big words just seems to grab or balance your attention to read it as it might be useful. (May be TRK means Track also)
3. The pictures are also quite similar. Of course when you take pictures of the same subject or event, they are alike usually, but when you look at the blue track background and the strong muscles, you kind of connect them all together as one event. Very successful!
4. The pictures themselves have a balance in the people (the faces, looks, bodies), and the background (the sports played, the event happening, the occasion). Nice balance! It also have bigger and smaller pictures and arrangement in place to let your attention go to some pictures more.
5. The "Indoor Track" on the left and right corner or the 2 pages are good. The colour is well-chosen: relating the blue with the track and make it feels calm, probably to balance the competition and eager in sport with a calmer colour. The left and right corner thing also makes it cool and most importantly, not take away the attention of the text and pictures.
6. Good balance of how they put the pictures. It's not like they stuck all the photos on one side or at the bottom or at the top, but they made it all around the place.
7. White space: It is a suitable amount of white space between the pictures and the texts. It doesn't look too plain but it gives the right amount of white space that you don't feel it's too busy but spacious.

The yearbook is not very bad, but the good one is much better for me. The picture looks cool and are well-organised. However, it somehow makes you feel weird when the whole page is packed with rectangular pictures and the titles are even in boxes. It does make a connection but it looks a bit irritating and should have some more space for decorating the page and make it look less packed. There is a lack of white space. They should perhaps remove some pictures or make them smaller or make the page bigger to increase the white space, so it would feel more spacious. It might also seem like the title is too less obvious and it just looks like a bunch of colourful boxes stacked neatly on the paper.

4. Develop a Detailed Design Brief

We chose and are given different parts and pages of the school yearbook to work on - events, special guests, mug pictures, class photos, daily pictures, lesson pictures, funny pictures, excursions and field trips... So what sort of page do I intend to make. I intend to make the mug shots and the autographs page. What is the target audience of our project. Of course, it is us as we are not quite satisfied with the school yearbook as we don't have much ownership to it, so we want to have one that is decided and made by us. I have decided to make this page because I think I am more stable with mug shots, but there's a better reason. I usually notice the mugshot pages in the school yearbooks especially boring. I want to make this yearbook less boring even in the most boring part. I would also like to challenge myself through the process and use my creativity. I was assigned to make autographs but I thought it was fine because it would also be a challenge to make it look interesting. I actually like collecting pictures from other classmates too, it creates more communication and cooperation. We just discussed it in class and it seemed like not much wanted to do that (they want to do the fun ones) so I thought I would give it a try. I also wasn't that confident I could get pictures of the other ones.

Science Fish Kill Essay

Fish Kill Essay (Final Draft)

By me,        Date: 28-11-2013

For xxx teacher

Have you ever gone to Mana Mana? The sand you are stepping on may be the sand that tons of dead fish once lied on. Some people say that there was a fish kill in Mana Mana before. Why are there fish kills? How does it affects us? How can it be solved?

Firstly, why are there fish kills? Fish kills may be caused by water pollution, oxygen depletion, infectious diseases, parasites. There are a lot of possibilities, but water pollution includes a lot of the possibilities and is probably the most possible and common reason.

Water pollution, what is water pollution? It is a pollution which occurs when too much foreign substances go into water, damage the water quality and make the water non-potable- undrinkable or dangerous for organisms to live in. Pollution can go into water in many ways- acid rain, inroad soil, runoff containing fertiliser or other substances, chemicals released from industries, sewages… Water is easily polluted and is really hard to be cleaned. It is because water is the “universal solvent” which means it dissolves many things. This causes water to dissolve almost everything that gets in its way, and by the time it damages the quality of itself and get polluted. This also causes water to become difficult to clean.

This ability of the “universal solvent” causes itself to dissolve almost everything that gets in its way, and by the time damaging the water quality and gets polluted, and difficult to clean. This ability of the “universal solvent” causes aquatic life to always be difficult. The reason is that water is too hard to keep itself clean and the aquatic life is then dangerous when that lot of variety of chemicals dissolved in water- which may be harmful- flowing around in water reaching different water areas easily, without being seen. Therefore, it is really important to keep water resources clean.

People in developed places don’t treasure water as they can get it by only turning on the tap. They over consume, waste water, and pollute water. You may think  it doesn’t matter, but have you ever think of how the water pollution affect all of the natural environment? Water pollution is a serious problem now, not only because water is very polluted, but also because it affects the natural environment and wild animals, a lot. Water covers 70% of Earth’s surface and covers 99% of the living space on Earth. It provides nearly 50% of Earth's oxygen and 20% of the world's protein supply, and supports 50% of the animals living on Earth. Now 2/3 are endanger because of water pollution.

You may not care about the natural environment as long as you are safe, but do you know that water pollution also affect us, humans, and you may not be safe? For us, living in developed places, we may not care, but over a billion of people can’t get clean water as easy as us, so they drink water that is not clean and then get sick or die. You may be a murderer. If you don’t care about others’ health or life, I bet you still care about yourself. Are you having fish for dinner today? Look at the fish you’re eating, it may be a fish that’s from a river or sea filled with oil of the boats, filled with rubbish and all that harmful materials you flush or wash away. You may be eating a fish from that horrible environment you created yourself. You don’t eat fish? Beaches, beaches that have water pollution gives you rashes, ear aches, pink eye, respiratory infections, hepatitis, encephalitis, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach aches. That’s no day at the beach, is it? So you are not going to stay safe forever with water pollution.

If you don’t care about health, do you care about money? Water pollution can damage economy as it is expensive to treat and clean the water in order to make it potable, and it’s also expensive to prevent water contamination. I bet you won’t like to pay for ten dollars for a bottle of water. People are sick because of drinking polluted water, they need medication. Medication uses a lot of money and resources. Also, beaches which may be tourist attractions are closed- because the water pollution at the beach gives people health problems like -and may decrease tourism. For example, thousands of beaches are closed in the US every year. Water pollution affects everything. Therefore, bear in mind, water pollution is a serious problem and it is really important to keep water resources clean.

Anyway, worrying is useless, why not think of a solution to solve the problem? How can we solve the problem of water pollution? There’s always a solution. We should start with personal little things. Firstly, we still have a lot  of clean water, save them, treasure them, use them in an appropriate way. Secondly, don’t dump junks into the sea, no matter when we’re on a boat or on the shore. Thirdly, we can volunteer to pick up rubbish on the beach which may go into the water and pollute them. Factories are one big part of water pollution too, and they’re now working new ways and policies to help with the water pollution. Many countries now have laws to protect water. Also, there are organisations now to tell people and clean water and save marine life. Also, instead of dumping everything from the sewage into the ocean, we can make recycle the water like how Singapore does, making potable water again. Although it may cost quite, it is an action we should take for a better future of us humans, animals, environment and economy… There are a lot of things companies and factories can do, but it is always a responsibility of all of us.

Back to fish kill in Mana Mana. What do you think causes that to happen? As you should know, Mana Mana is in Singapore, Singapore have always been reclaiming land. When they reclaim land, the waste of the machines may be releasing harmful materials into the water and this may be the cause to the fish kill. Singapore is also a trading country so ships are going in and out, and that may cause an accident of oil leakage.

Water pollution is almost the most serious problem, it affects us environmentally, affects our health, affects our economy. If water pollution is going to go worse, many bad and sad things are going to happen. For example, two-third of the endangered marine animals may all die leaving one-third of all the marine animals existing now; Water will be high-priced; More people will catch diseases due to water pollution… So bear in mind and be optimistic with working for a better future of water pollution.

Bibliography: (1135 words)

http://www.grinningplanet.com/2006/12-05/water-pollution-effects.htm

http://chinawaterrisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/The-Social-Impact-of-Water.pdf

http://eschooltoday.com/pollution/water-pollution/effects-of-water-pollution.html

http://www.nrdc.org/water/

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_sea_animals_die_each_year_because_of_the_sea_pollution#slide2

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-do-factories-do-to-help-stop-pollution.htm#

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean_life.html

Tree Of Life Art History Project

Tree Of Life Art History Project

(Some of the below is my opinion because it cannot be found)

Do you know what is the tree of life? Tree of life is a big part of most human cultures, but what does it mean? It alludes the connections of every life in the world, or on the planet. It is a metaphor for descents of different cultures in evolutionary sense.

What is the tree of life actually for? What is its most important function? I think the most important function of the Tree of Life is to tell people how the world works. It is to tell people how the things are connected and related, and how everything is a part of the world. It is a philosophy of people in the past. I think it is really important in the past- people use it, follow it, learn it, agree with it, believe it. They have a better idea of the world with the tree of life.

The tree of life is important in the past. However, I think it is no longer important or useful in modern life, especially in more advanced places. I think so because now that we have science, now we know better than before about how the world works. And how we understand it is somehow different from the concepts of the trees of lives. The tree of life in some ways is a mythology for modern people. Science was against sayings like the tree of life. And Science seem to be taking over- Like you won’t think that there is really a Yggdrasil that connect the nine worlds together.

There are some tree of life that are really detailed and full of symbols. Why? This is because some cultures has a lot of ideas about how things work. They want to say so many things that they have to draw many things to represent them, in order to express all their ideas. That eventually bring the tree of life a lot of details and symbols. Some are really beautiful and decorated because the culture value their tree of life. Others are simple because they have one main based concept. This is why there are some tree of life that are very detailed while some are simpler.

Why is it the tree of life? Why would it be “tree” of life? Why would it be tree of “life”? Also, how are they created? Life is complicated, in the past, people might not understand about life. Therefore, they start to think about what is life, they want to use something to represent life- about how life works, how life is related, what is life… They chose trees. Why? Different cultures choose different things actually. There is a representation of life I like which is a tree. How and why was it created? It is created because people want to have a better understanding of life, they want to express ideas of life. How is it created? Frankly, there is no specific ways. Different cultures created the tree of life with different ways. I will tell you about the tree of life I like and how it is created.

I like the Celtic tree of life because it is simple and it is really meaningful to me. It is designed by a Welsh artist, Jen Delyth, in the 1990s decade. This is one of the celtic tree of life drawings:

What does it actually mean or represents? How is it created? Why is their crosses and knots all around the tree? The tree of life is found in many culture including the celts. The crosses of Celtic origin incorporate tree symbols in their designs. The celtic tree of life represents the concept of nature’s forces that converge to create harmony and balance: It can be thought as how individual trees go together to form a whole forest. The trees are so tall and expansive they spread widely. They link together, forming knots and crosses, combining their forces of nature. Their existence provide home for thousands and thousands of species. The knots and crosses are also how everything in the nature connects and relate to each other. And they also represents cycles of stuffs. These are how the concepts of the celtic tree of life built, and how its design people thought of came out. These are also why the celtic tree of life is so important to celts. How does it connects to human? It is very simple, this tree of life shows us how nature gives us homes and how they nature is important to us. The celtic tree of life also represents how nature and human are related. I like and agree with the celtic tree of life and it’s concept. Why would I agree with it? It is because I like the nature very much and how it works by itself by its cycle. I like how nature is so pure and how they provide us resources and homes. I like how they form their big forest and let so many species live in it. I like how they fight through extreme and worst conditions. Therefore, I think trees in the nature is really important like how the value it. I like the design and the drawing of the celtic tree of life too. Why? I like how the lines connects and intersects. I like how the tree is so neat and its pureness in its design. I like it that it doesn’t have all messy symbols all over it, but it has one main design that shows everything.

By now, I hope you have a better understanding in the tree of life. Which tree of life do you like most? Why?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_life

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/tree-of-life-meaning.html

http://firstlegend.info/thetreeoflife.html

http://www.astrologyoftheancients.com/celtic-tree-of-life/