Research Book _ Cover Sheet

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EXTENDED PRACTICE MODULE BRIEF COVER SHEET Module Code: OUGD603

Module Title: Extended Practice

LEEDS COLLEGE OF ART

Student Name: Abbas Mushtaq

Studio Brief Title: –––– Research Book _ ‘Archive 02’ Synopsis: Design and produce a publication reflecting on your inspiration and influence throughout the past twelve months that has increasingly began to inform your design practice. Keep in mind influences that are not just simply graphic design related, but from sources more loosely related, yet relevant. List of deliverables

Evidence

(boards, resolutions, apps,etc)

(Series of business cards, posters, website etc)

Research Book.

Self-bound and handmade publication titled ‘Archive. 02’ in clear plastic zip bag. Intended as a follow-up of pre-practical publication given in for Context of Practice3 module in January, called ‘Archive’. Archive 02 is a broader, and more personal publication than the former, with more self-analysis and reflection and sources from a wider spectrum, not just graphic design.

Process Material

Metal fastened stack of off-cuts, spreads and general material that can also be read in a similar manner to a book. Communicates with less of a narrative and a more scattered, unsystematic range of influences and analysis.


Evaluation: Positives and learning curves throughout brief This brief was very personal to me, making a book about my own journey throughout the course, in particular the last twelve months really allowed me to take a step back and ask myself what/who influences me and why. The course, and year has been so fast moving I think this was needed. Sometimes when things are so busy, you can get lost in the shuffle and almost go on autopilot and forget what your overarching long-term goals are. Making this book allowed me to re-evaluate these, and actually inspired and motivated me when I think I actually needed it. The timing was luckily, perfect in my case. Researching into the content of the book was enjoyable and inspiring, the book is about what inspires me and drives me so naturally I would enjoy writing and researching into it. In particular, designing in a style I feel I have developed and started to refine over the year. Designers like Müller-Brockmann, and Paul Rand who are both in the book, have gave me confidence in not shying away from a style of work. In Todays contemporary design practice, with websites like dafont.com prevalent, design students in particular frown upon people who use the same fonts every time – when in fact this is really not a bad thing. Having a small collection of fonts to rely on, is something I’ve began to do, along with a design sensibility and approach I apply to every brief. This is exactly what designers like Muller-Brockmann did, and it didn’t work out too bad for him. I still feel I can be a bit more dynamic with it, yet still have the underlying design language I’ve developed. Overall, I’m beginning to understand what was drilled into us from the start – simply just research and understand classical graphic design, you need to understand the past in order to evaluate the present. My own design opinion began to develop during COP3, and I feel the design style that Archive 02 is designed in, progresses on from that and I feel it still has a place in todays design world. Highly communicative, stripped back and typographically considered. Difficulties faced throughout the module A difficultly would definitely be outlining the content I wanted to go into it, I feel I simply had too much I wanted to put into it, and not all of it was perhaps relevant. All the content also needed to flow together, and the pacing had to be right. I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to produce the book either, thankfully a lot of the content was on my blog or bookmarked in an inspiration folder I kept throughout the year or I would have been in trouble. In the end, I feel pretty happy with the content I’ve picked, and I’ve tried to make it clear what each section is about, and how it has affected me. As time was tight, I had to rely on a tried and tested form of binding, which I feel is becoming oversaturated and pretty boring to me now – the metal fasteners. I didn’t want to show this off, so I designed the cover to wrap around the book and hide the fasteners and create the aura of a perfectly bound / Coptic bound book, which is what I had hoped to achieve originally. Paper fasteners aren’t really designed to bind large books. So in places the book might be difficult to read. In the same sense, in the future I would outsource the production of publications such as this and could easily specify a Coptic bound, or perfect bound book. The ball would lie in my court in terms of design, and art-working. And I feel I’ve achieved that well with this brief. But, with that being said, it does still bother me a bit that it could have been bound better. What I would do differently next time Next time around I would allow myself more time to produce the book, content wise and design wise I’m really happy with it but not 100% with the binding method I’ve used. I would allow more time to bind the book in a more adventurous, and polished manner. OVERALL I’m very happy with the research book, I think it reflects me as a designer, my influences and my own ambitions within design. I feel the self-written spreads inside the book are highly personal and will go on to become a strong source of inspiration to me moving forward. I know if I feel a bit lost, or unfocused in terms of my ambition, I’d be able to pick this up, and read my own writing and remind myself what I’ve set out to do. This brief was very enjoyable, and a highlight of the closing stages of this year. I feel it’s a great addition to the course and highly valuable. Ratings (Very Bad) 1 - (Very Good) 5 Quality of work _______ 4 Quantity of work ________ 4 Attendance ________4 Punctuality _________4 Motivation _________5



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