BAGD Central Saint Martins 2016
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The title of this publication and the eight questions around which the work is loosely organised reflect a field of study and practice ‘graphics’—in a state of flux. No longer simply the business of making form follow function, design practice has expanded to incorporate design thinking, research, strategy, humanitarian and service design and so on. Studying graphics is increasingly about developing processes and methods for tackling complex problems, diagnosing and improving systems (or hacking them), bringing user-friendliness or a sense of humanity to an otherwise alienating (user) experience. Our publication title and its organising questions emerged very much in the context of this shift. The Central Saint Martins BA Graphic Design from which the work emanates, is soon to be known as BA Graphic Communication Design, signalling that at the heart of this field, or discipline, or profession, is a concern with how people communicate— with each other and with machines—through the use of signs and symbols. In discussing the salient themes for the book we (a team of students and staff) ended up with several questions and several more keywords, reflecting perhaps, that the current state of affairs in graphic communication lends itself not to comprehensive systems or a singular overview but to questions and a loose set of affinities. Much could be said here about the eight questions we ended up with, and this is a conversation very much underway in the discussions in classrooms, studios, libraries, blogs,
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books and bars that constitute the life of the course. The modest goal here is to preface this slim volume of richly creative and investigative work from BA Graphic Design with a few contextual reflections.
How does graphic communication (re)solve problems? It used to be said that design is about ‘problem solving’. Then it became apparent that some problems aren’t ever really solved, but they can be responded to. Some of these sorts of problems are tackled (not solved) in the work here: Homelessness, social housing, the systematic failure of the US education system. To paraphrase Horst Rittel1, defining the problem is the problem. And to paraphrase Bruno Latour2, to design is never really to design from scratch, but always to redesign what is already in existence. Put practically, designers are increasingly engaged in addressing recurring problems that require new ways of looking at them.
How do we find a voice in a commercial world? If New York graffiti artists are commissioned to paint walls for advertising campaigns, are they finding a voice in a commercial world or victims of the voracious appetite of commerce, ever hungry for a new ‘style’ to exploit and then expel? These sorts of issues are explored under this question, along with those projects that use visual communication to give a voice to things that have been silenced by the commercial word: unpaid workers in Japan, for example, or even forgotten anachro-
nisms of the televisual age like screen tests, revived as interactive animations.
How do we (re)design who we are? Related to the ‘finding a voice’ question above, this theme sheds light on the struggle against a loss of individuation, or self awareness, which has been recently attributed to aspects of contemporary culture, be it the impact of attention-fracturing technologies or the effects of a globalised commerce.3 Projects here include filmic dramatisations of the letters of recovering addicts and another documenting the role of women working in a patriarchal world.
Is technology leading us to utopia or dystopia? The topic of countless films and novels, the utopia/dystopia question is found lurking behind a number of projects in the book. One draws attention to the physical impact of the internet, particularly so-called cloud computing which, while suggesting a utopic, dematerialised space of infinite possibility, in fact has a very material legacy in its infrastructure of server farms and underwater cabling: 10 billion emails have been calculated to create the same carbon emmissions as 40,000 return flights from London to New York. Another project explores the inherent ambivalence around artificial intelligence. While the myth of better living through technology still pervades contemporary imaginaries, these projects ask of the technology: who is it for?
How do we (re)materialise culture? With this question we come back to the founding principles of the Central School, established by W R Lethaby in 1896 to counter the effects of mechanization and poor quality machine-made goods by infusing industry with artisanship. In an age in which theoretically anyone can download the software and online tutorials to become a designer, and in which the representation precedes the real (to paraphrase Jean Baudrillard,) works that seek to slow down productivity with craft and artisanship have gained a new value. The act of creating a dry point of a disused industrial structure, for example, seems to counter industrialism’s imperatives of speed and efficiency with a slow, painstaking method of reproduction, creating space for contemplation and recalling Tomas Maldonado’s reflection on design’s obsession with being useful: ‘It is difficult to prevent the useful from laying waste to the world.’4
What is wrong with design/society? Under this theme, the investigative and persuasive role of graphic communication comes to the fore, drawing attention to the complexity of social, political and environmental problems: a publication documenting the improvisatory culture of squatters in the context of Britain’s housing crisis. Or projects that challenge conventional wisdom that such issues are beyond the jurisdiction of graphic communication and focus on the perpetuation of stereotypes in graphic communication: here we see a number of stereotypes under scrutiny: Asian women in Western
screen media; singular representations of beauty; and the media aversion to fat, hairy and flatulent bodies.
How is reality formed by narratives? The discussion around narratives starts from the commonsensical but often forgotten point that creative writers, illustrators and designers are constantly disseminating new fictions that influence and perpetuate the way people perceive reality. This idea becomes philosophically intriguing when it extends to perceptual psychology and the theory5 that humans are continually engaged in ‘making up’ the world by processing and labelling sense impressions with language. The homogenizing impact of Google on our perception of the built environment is creatively re-interpreted along with the power of the fictions perpetuated in and by the figure of Donald Trump.
Should design impose order or chaos? The final question is something of a provocation, juxtaposing two rationales for design in order to draw attention to a current concern with systems thinking: is design the ‘conscious effort to impose meaningful order’6 or is design better conceived as contributing to emergent or chaotic systems? The question applies to all aspects of design from city planning to coding to branding and identity, where a move away from strict standards manuals toward frameworks is arguably a reflection of computational thinking. In this area, projects include a dimensional mapping of improvised solos in jazz and a photographic series finding correspondences between micro and macro planes of existence.
Other projects play with systems for ordering books and measuring time, questioning orthodoxies and leaving us with yet more unanswered questions: Have the systems we invented in the mechanical age outgrown their usefulness? To what extent do our tools shape us? How might we redesign the way we catalogue, measure and see?
References 1 Rittel, H. & Webber, M. 1973. ‘Dilemmas in a general theory of planning.’ Policy Sciences 4, pp.155-169 2 Latour, B., 2008. ‘A cautious Prometheus? A few steps toward a philosophy of design (with special attention to Peter Sloterdijk)’, Keynote Lecture for the Networks of Design meeting of the Design History Society Falmouth, Cornwall, 3 September 2008. 3 Stiegler, B., 2008. Technics and time: Disorientation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 4 Maldonado, T., 1991. ‘Looking back at Ulm’ in Lindinger, H. 1991, Ulm design: The morality of objects. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 5 Winnicott, D.W., 1971. Playing and reality. Hove: Psychology Press. 6 Papanek, V., & Fuller, R. B., 1972. Design for the real world. London: Thames & Hudson.
Central Saint Martins BA Graphic Design Class of 2016
d Paulina Bastos paulinabas94@gmail.com bas-paulina.tumblr.com
Rebecca Bartola rebeccabartola@gmail.com rebeccabartola.com
Mia Che m@miache.org miache.org
Angele Delajoux delajoux.angele@gmail.com angiepower.co
Harry Ashbee harryashbee@me.com harryashbee.co.uk
Eliko Arimoto eliko.arimoto@gmail.com Alice Bibette contact@alicebibette.com alicebibette.com
Amy Chen amychen.2010@hotmail.com
Mario Deiana mddesignlondon@gmail.com mddesign.london
Douglas Birch d.birch2@arts.ac.uk
Lara Arafeh lara.arafeh@gmail.com lara-arafeh.com
Taymah Anderson taymah.anderson@gmail.com taymah.com
Ajatshatru Ajatshatru ajatshatru8@gmail.com
Agata Adamska aaagata.adamska@gmail.com agataadamska.com
Harry Adams hazzadams@hotmail.co.uk amcreative.myportfolio.com
GaĂŤtan Bernede contact@gaetanbernede.co.uk gaetanbernede.co.uk
Ralph Bayntun-Roberts ralph.colours@gmail.com Navjot Singh Chana ralphroberts.co.uk navjotchanadesign@outlook.com cargocollective.com/navjotchanadesign Theo Bernard bernard_theo74@hotmail.fr Amy Chau theobernard.com achau893@gmail.com
Olga Carpenco olga.carpenco@gmail.com olgacarpenco.com
Therese Cappelen hello@theresecappelen.com theresecappelen.com
Jun Woo Bak jwbak94@gmail.com creativebak.myportfolio.com
Fly Chen chenxiangfei321@gmail.com flychenart.com
Jordan DeVos jordandevos@outlook.com jordan-devos.com
Yuemeng Dang amyyuemengdang@gmail.com amydang.com
AT Dam kokuyachan@yahoo.com behance.com/damanhthu
Connor Daly connor_daly@live.co.uk connor-daly.com
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Alice Caiado Ribeiro alicecaiadoribeiro@gmail.com alicecaiado.com
b Olga Bagaeva olga.notgraphic@gmail.com notgraphic.design
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Satoko Furusawa satoko0808f@gmail.com behance.net/satokyo
Benjamin Franklin mr.benfranklin@hotmail.com benjaminfranklin.work
Hortense Franc hfranc@btinternet.com hortensefranc.com
Elisa Mantovani mantovani.elisa@hotmail.com elisamantovani.com Stelios Markou Ilchuk steliosilchouk@hotmail.com cargocollective.com/steliosilchouk
Lars Høie larshoie@gmail.com larshoie.com Teresa Eun Joung Hong teresahong@live.com teresahongg.tumblr.com Mika Hosono mika@mikahosono.com mikahosono.com
Stephanie Kaiser stephaniekaiser@live.hk resiakdesigns.com
Vorathap Kiathapkajon mic_ju@live.com behance.net/mickyju
Elky Li elkyli@gmail.com elkyli.com
Kenneth Lim limzy.kenneth@gmail.com designerken.be/designing
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Ryan Kailla r.kailla1@arts.ac.uk
Soong Her soong0714@hotmail.com
Takashirou Hata taka.w.hata@gmail.com cargocollective.com/taka_hata
Neil Hampshire neil.hampshire@hotmail.com neilhampshire.tumblr.com/
Jūratė Gačionytė jurate.gacionyte@gmail.com jurategacionyte.com
Ke Fan k.fan116@hotmail.com
Tatiana Ermolaeva 11ermolaevat.s@gmail.com ermolaeva.co
Amy Elms a.elms@hotmail.com amyelms.com
Yasmine Ellis yasmineellis68@yahoo.com
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Leshan Li info@lileshan.com lileshan.com
Frankie Leung contact@frankieleung.com frankieleung.com
Angelica Lena angelica.lena@me.com cargocollective.com/angelicalena
Yuk Lee y.lee21@arts.ac.uk
John Cubillan johncubillan@hotmail.com johncubillan.co.uk
Georgia Cranstoun georgcran@gmail.com georgecranstoun.com
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Rebecca Lardeur r.lardeur@gmail.com rbk.graphics
Katie Lambe katie.lambe@gmail.com katielambe.com
Melanie Cottenie melaniecottenie@hotmail.com melaniecottenie.com
Jess Cole cole.jess22@gmail.com jesskohl.com
Chiara Broggi cc.broggi@gmail.com chiccabros.com
Olga Branovitskaya o.branovitskaya1@arts.ac.uk
Amanda Hui Choy amandachoy498@gmail.com amandachoy.com
Louise Dyhrfort louise.dyhrfort@gmail.com louisedyhrfort.com
Chu Chu chuchu941102@gmail.com cargocollective.com/ chuchu941102
Masha Boldyreva mashabold@yandex.ru behance.net/mashabold
Su Choi s.choi@hotmail.com cargocollective.com/sujungchoi
Henry Duprey henryduprey@gmail.com henrygeorgeduprey.tumblr.com
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Sophie Rush sophie.rush@hotmail.com sophierush.com
Liisa Roll liisa.roll@gmail.com liisaroll.com
Nikki Ritmeijer nikkiritmeijer@gmail.com nikkiritmeijer.com
Adnan Rehman Ali hello@adnanali.uk adnanali.uk
Emilien Rabin emilienrabin@gmail.com
Michal Kuzmierkiewicz michalkuz@hotmail.co.uk
Jasmine Kurino jasminekurino@gmail.com cargocollective.com/jkurino
Koto Kurasawa kotikhina11@gmail.com behance.net/katerynakot
Claire KĂśster hello@clairekoster.com clairekoster.com
Kateryna Kosinkova kotikhina11@gmail.com behance.net/katerynakot
Kezia Kong keziakong@gmail.com keziakong.com Sebastien Mertens smertens81@hotmail.fr amcreative.myportfolio.com Clara Metter clarametter@gmail.com clara-metter.com
Barnaby Pau Jury Morgan contact@barneypau.com barneypau.com
Katie Opländer katie.oplaender@gmail.com katieoplaender.com Saiko Otake sxxxo89@gmail.com cargocollective.com/saikootake
Lawrence Pearson lawrencejaypearson@gmail.com lawrencejart.com
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Jasmine Parker jasmine.parker@hotmail.co.uk jasmineparker.co.uk
Amalie O’Neill amalieoneill@gmail.com amalieoneill.com
Hannah Nightingale hannah@4pixels.com hannahnightingale.com
Khoa Nguyen k.nguyen3008@gmail.com khoanguyen.co.uk
Anh Nguyen ng.nganh93@gmail.com anhnguyengraphic.com
Jaehyun Myung allergictodust1@hotmail.com cargocollective.com/tamtelion
Alisa Moshkunova amoshkk@gmail.com alisabats.com
Freya Morgan freyacmorgan@gmail.com freya-morgan.com
Odira Morewabone odiramorewabone@gmail.com matatuism.com
Tomoko Monno t.monno1@arts.ac.uk behance.net/tomokomonno
Iara Monaco iaramonaco@gmail.com iaramonaco.com
Yildiz Memisoglu y.memisoglu1@arts.ac.uk
Atikhun Jansanjai atikhunbed@gmail.com atikhunjansanjai.com
Kerry McGranaghan kerry_mcgranaghan@hotmail.co.uk kerrymcgranaghan.com
Reggie Hung tachunhung1019@gmail.com
Annemarieke Kloosterhof annemarieke48@hotmail.com annemariekekloosterhof.com
Milan London m.london1@arts.ac.uk
Louisa Luk l.luk1@arts.ac.uk behance.net/louisaluk
Giulia Mazzucconi hello@giuliamazzucconi.com giuliamazzucconi.com
Raymond Hui hui.raymond@hotmail.com huipaklam.com
Chloe Kim serendipityxyk@gmail.com cargocollective.com/chloekim
Eliza Loh lohhuijuneliza@gmail.com cargocollective.com/elizal
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xyz
Xinxin Zheng x.zheng2@arts.ac.uk
Yanan Zhang yananzhangll@gmail.com
Varvara Zelenko zelenk.o@inbox.ru zelen.co
Adam Willis adamwillis321@gmail.com adam-willis.co.uk
Carina Stolt-Nielsen Wikborg carinasnw@me.com carinasnw.com
Amber Weerasinghe amber.weerasinghe@icloud.com amberweerasinghe.com
Yangzi Wang wangyangzi@msn.com behance.net/wangyangzi
Sandy Wang hello@fartsforart.com fartsforart.com
Luqitiao Wang qitiaobonniew@gmail.com wangluqitiao.com
Hattie Wade hattiewade.design@icloud.com hattiewade.com
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Melissa Zee hello@melissazee.net melissazee.net
Wan Yuhainis d.wu1@arts.ac.uk
Jessica Yeung ninety45@yahoo.com cargocollective.com/ninety45
Jack Smith jsmithdesign@outlook.com jsmithcreative.co.uk
Adhiraj Singh adhiraj.singh11@gmail.com adhirajsingh.com
Joshua Smith jjsmithdesign1994@gmail.com Wen Yi Tseng wenyigraphicillustration@gmail.com behance.net/joshuajsmith wenyigraphicillustration.com Philippine Sohet philippinesohet@yahoo.com Nicolee Tsin philippinesohet.com nicoleetsin@gmail.com nicoleetsin.com Sean Song seansong93@gmail.com Zeynep Turkmen watchxchange.london z.turkmen1@arts.ac.uk
Aisha Tijani aishatijani95@gmail.com cargocollective.com/ATijani
Agnese Taurina sagagraphic@gmail.com cargocollective/agnesetaurina
Benjamin Sing benjameann@gmail.com benjamean.com
Cristian Silva Reascos c.silvareascos1@arts.ac.uk
Chin Tan hello@heychin.com heychin.com Gautam Tankaria drawingyt@gmail.com cargocollective.com/tankaria
Yuk Lam Giann Shih giann.shih@gmail.com giannshih.com
Yuli Serfaty yuli@yuliserfaty.com yuliserfaty.com
Kyoko Takemura takemurakyoko@gmail.com kyokotakemura.com Selin Tamer selintamer93@gmail.com cargocollective.com/selintamer
Natalie Schroeter natalieschroeter@yahoo.co.uk natalieschroeter.wix.com/natalie
Emily Schofield emily_schofield@hotmail.de emilyschofield.de
Aki Takano a.takano1@arts.ac.uk
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Luying Xu sallie_xu@yahoo.com luyingxu.com
Natalie Preston natppreston@gmail.com nataliepreston.com
Sarina Pornnimit s.pornnimit@gmail.com maaew.com
Fangdi Pei ninety45@yahoo.com cargocollective.com/ninety45
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Xueyan Sun sunxy0315@gmail.com
Emma Woodland woody@emmawoodland.com emmawoodland.com
How does graphic communication
Vanessa Wu puisangwu@yahoo.com.hk vanessapswu.com
Shannon Swinburn shannon.swinburn@gmail.com shannonswinburn.com
Felix Steindl info@felixsteindl.com felixsteindl.com
Jordan Woodage jordanwoodage@gmail.com jordanwoodage.com
Di Wu d.wu1@arts.ac.uk
Eftal Soral Eftal.soral@yahoo.co.uk
Justyna Woloszuk j.woloszuk1@arts.ac.uk
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Britain is in the throes of a serious housing crisis. As council buildings are stripped away to make room for luxury properties, residents are finding themselves alienated in their own communities. The media often depict squatting as a criminal way of living. This publication reveals the efforts squatters go through to create homes for themselves.
Squatting and Social Housing in London Elisa Mantovani
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This project seeks to combat the problem of sensationalism in the news by bringing conflicts down to a more understandable level. I found that it is hard to empathise with a subject when you don’t understand it, so I hope to set people straight on the sequence of events that led to the proxy war in Syria.
Syrian Chess Joshua Smith
PROBL
The American education system features a one-size-fits all approach to measuring a student’s growth and development. This book challenges the broken system by visualising observations, asking questions, and posing solutions. It is a contribution to a larger conversation about understanding the individual instead of measuring the masses.
A Call for Nuance Jordan DeVos
PRO
A mobile workshop that brings a moment of mindfulness and creativity to public space. A cart invites passers-by to create a personal print reflecting what they truly value. The outcome is a unique combination of shapes which one can be proud of and look back on.
Slow Gratification Philippine Sohet
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An Interstellar Rosetta Stone Theo Bernard
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We are a generation that has come too late to explore and discover new continents and we might have come too early to travel to new worlds. But with the technology and science we possess today, we are getting close to knowing what really lies beyond our solar system. Now, we can indeed seriously consider exploring and researching the interstellar space for the first time in our history. So how do we construct a message readable by any mind, understandable by any extraterrestrial? Designing an ‘Interstellar Rosetta Stone’ seems to be the best solution. A key piece, a system explaining how to comprehend our language and the dimension we evolved in, appears to be the most appropriate answer. With the technology we possess now, we would be able to send an incredible amount of information about humans in a relatively light and small device. The ‘Interstellar Rosetta Stone’ would resolve the issue of language, assuming the extra-terrestrial being is intelligent enough to find the patterns in the information sent and to arrive at some sort of conclusions about the beings that sent it. And, supposedly, the more information they have to work with, the easier it may be for intelligent aliens to find patterns and learn about our nature, culture and societies. We can imagine a new type of ‘Golden Record,’ containing zettabytes of information, a copy of the Google servers, our encyclopaedias, history books, movies and music. Attached to it, a multichannel message instead of binary information to allow for a pluralism of ideas and approaches. Additionally, with today’s interconnected society, we can engage the public through events that support the message’s construction around the world. Engage the poetic imagination and creativity of people to encourage collaboration and a non-exclusive, pluralist message with wide global participation.
(Extract from BAGD dissertation.)
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How do we find a v a commercial worl
This project is designed to increase awareness about Zika virus protection. Including a screenprinted mosquito net and an essential guide, the kit aims to provide a positive impact in times of need.
The Zika Awareness and Prevention Package Stephanie Kaiser
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Television test cards and patterns are broadcast when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast. With this interactive installation, I wanted to convey the basics of electronic screens/ communication in an intuitive, playful and interactive environment. The audience can use a wireless remote control to change the parameters of several real time animated visuals representing testing elements such as alignment, colour, frequency, and typography.
82 Years of Testing Screens Felix Steindl
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A performative lecture about plagiarism/appropriation as creative process. The narrative is told through a fictional Czech–Vietnamese appropriation artist from the 1980s.
Works 1980–1988 Lars Høie
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HORS T AU
In response to my long-lasting concern about Japanese overworking issues including unpaid labour and death, this project protests against the silence amongst employees who choose to obey what they have been told.
Dying to Work Aki Takano
M ER
An exploration into the controversy surrounding the advertisements being painted on the walls of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, where renowned street art murals are being covered with advertisements, including the replacement of a memorial portrait of Nelson Mandela with a Perrier advert.
Walls of Williamsburg Ralph Bayntun-Roberts
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How do we (re)
The aim of this project was to explore the subcultural creative workspace of Nairobi’s Matatu industry. I was trying to show and tell a different story of Africa; an Africa of creative, ‘cool’ and enterprising young people who live by an ethos of ‘doing things their way and operating by their own rules’.
TY TI Matatuism Odira Morewabone
IDEN
This project explores the way humans perceive things in the world and the impact of our perception on the decisions or judgements we make. The headpiece enables us to see things from different perspective.
Perspectrum Koto Kurasawa & Takashirou Hata
design who we are?
A Short Ballade to Soviet Modernism
This booklet is about a relationship with Soviet aesthetics during a childhood in 1990s Latvia. The author celebrates a shift in her taste and shows how a sense of disgust can turn into appreciation.
Agnese Taurina
A short documentary about my nonna, the backbone of my family and its restaurant. ‘They say behind every great man there’s a great woman. I say behind a great man there’s no woman. She is beside him and with him, if not ahead.’
Backbone Giulia Mazzucconi
O GR BI
Created in response to a brief about silence, this project explores sleeping routines in a modern world full of distractions. By visually interpreting people’s responses, it sheds a personal and playful light onto various quirky and unique habits. An online platform is in development. (Instagram: z_bedtime_stories)
Bedtime Stories Louisa Luk
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Based on letters by ten recovering addicts, this film expresses inner conflict and is a binaural experience, designed to explore the audience’s own thought journey and emotional response.
The Battle Inside Carina Stolt-Nielsen Wikborg
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Everyone has an accent. And though we may not think that we do, we somehow pick up on these accents from the people around us. This book explores the phonetics of the word ‘hello’ from different accents around the world.
The Book of Hello Amy Chau
This zine is a photo-documentation about an artist’s vinyl collection and his painting studio. Sounds are intertwined with colours representing his spirit.
Sounds/Colours Saiko Otake
U RES LT
BCU SU
A series of three images and a short film detailing my response to the narrative, rhythm and mood of a poem written by Marco Bajjali (an MA menswear student at the RCA) using the clothing he designed in response to his poetry. The film can be found on my website.
Gay Identity Barney Pau Jury Morgan
An immersive space where the audience discovers Beirut by wandering around, going through specific locations and listening to building stories. This project embraces the fact that Beirut is as damaged as it is beautiful. The viewer navigates the city on an iPad, using it as an open window showing the way to an alternative world, a place that heals itself through space regeneration after a difficult past.
The Sense of a Place Alice Bibette
Is technology leading us to utopia or dystopia? C ON N
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This animation is an open-ended and ongoing exploration of our shifting relationship with replicas, in light of the destruction of ancient historical sites across Syria—such as the Temple of Bel in Palmyra—and their digital and physical resurrection, thanks to advancements in 3D rendering and mapping technologies.
Selective Memory Jasmine Parker
S PE C U L
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A speculative exhibition proposal for a museum of the future, this project deals with the abundance of CCTV recordings and their place in our lives in 2055, blurring the borders between human and technological memory. (mnemoseum.com)
The Sky When I was Born Olga Carpenco & Tatiana Ermolaeva
RN ET E
A campaign that aims to raise awareness of the negative consequences generated from our actions online by narrowing the gap between what we know and what we actually understand about the internet.
Clean our Cloud Raymond Hui
INT
The Internet is a deceitful online platform, hiding behind the idea of doing good for the Internet. Only after completing the transaction, do visitors to the site realise that they have been deceived and that ‘SAVE’; actually stands for ‘Support Abusive Virtual Existence’. Users are presented with a receipt for their data, a physical reminder that they should be cautious online, as nothing really comes free.
SAVE the Internet Melissa Zee
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The Future of Crafts Therese Cappelen Perceptions of the craftsman in relation to industry, tech nology and therefore modernity, have been too black and white. William Morris was not trying to ‘stop the clock’; rather, he simply resisted the non-egalitarian threat posed by mechanisation. Although Morris’s view on craft reflects pre-20th century Western attitudes, his influence over craft revivals like the Arts & Crafts Movement continued to cast a shadow over crafts definition up till this day. Analysing Morris’s opinion in relation to the politics of his time is necessary and allows us, as critics in craft, to abandon a widespread misconception of craft as an artefact of the past, making room for an evolution of craft theory. In The Invention of Craft (2010), Glen Adamson suggests that this misconception proved dangerous to craftsmen. He argues that after the Industrial Revolution skill was not lost; skills were even higher in 1850 than in 1750. Adamson argues that, in fearing an impending loss of skills, Morris and The Arts & Crafts Movement ignored all the skill that went into building the ‘new technology’, as well as the skills needed the create bridges and tailoring, etc. By restricting the definition of a craftsman, they in advertently limited the number of practising craftspeople. In neglecting to consider digital craftspeople, we risk committing the same mistake as the Arts & Crafts Movement in their opposition to industry. We must consider the skills or the ‘craft’ of those who write the programmes, as we would, those craftspeople who produce material, tangible products.
(Extract from BAGD dissertation.)
This project looks at the translation of the paintbrush into an ever-expanding set of digital brushes that far surpass the capability of the analogue version. In an attempt to translate the Photoshop paintbrush back into an analogue one, I created a set of tools that emulate the function of the digital utensils.
Q HN I U ES
Photoshop Paintbrush Claire Kรถster
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How do we (re)materialise culture?
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ED I A This project documents a conversation between Lara, a Palestinian, and Yuli, an Israeli, both attending BA Graphics at CSM. In their talks they have learnt about each other’s views and upbringing, their differences and similarities. The delicate process unveiled a new understanding of how they define and build their identities in a place so different from home.
The Conflict Yuli Serfaty & Lara Arafeh
This is an animation project, bringing traditional Chinese art into a contemporary form. The idea is to animate a still illustration piece, starting with a plate decoration.
LOGY EO
The Moon Luqitiao Wang
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This project documents the landscape of Germany’s largest industrial area, called the Ruhrgebiet. The industrial structures remaining stand as cultural monuments to the heritage of this area. They are a symbol of change, the rise and fall of industrialisation, and the pride and hard working mentality that came with it.
Das Ruhrgebiet Katie Opländer
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A book cataloguing discarded letters, photographs and various other documents discovered by a family on purchasing their new house. The documents follow the lives of the Cundall family and the home they shared for over 100 years. The book preserves otherwise-forgotten memories and presents them in a way that can be observed and enjoyed from an outside perspective.
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Cundall Benjamin Franklin
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An alternate reality for written English based on the construction and evolution of Chinese writing, this font and type specimen displays a selection of English words as pictographic monograms. The words were chosen from the original meanings of the Phoenician alphabet, the precursor to the Latin alphabet and the descendent of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
This portraiture brief showcases the Edmonton allotment community in documentary photographs of people tending to their plots.
Allotment Mario Deiana
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Phoenicia Rebecca Bartola
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Physical metaphors are commonly used to create familiarity within the digital sphere. The project plays with the gesture of reversing this action, an intentionally impossible translation. The aim was to challenge our preconceptions about the digital world and dissolve the immateriality attached.
Paradoxical Objects Therese Cappelen
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The Orient Lara Arafeh In a Kingdom that likes to keep a strong hold on all aspects of society, it’s no surprise that governments would like their art to be safe and artists even safer. Conservative countries have cultural sensitivities about representing or depicting the human body. With modern technology, as well as festivals, education and inspiration being easily accessible, a new generation of artists is developing and pushing Saudi Arabia into the contemporary art world. ‘Being a woman in Saudi may be really restricting, but being a female Saudi artist is very good at the moment.’ (Abu Abdullah, 2012). Works tackling controversial issues like the inequality of the sexes, the redevelopment of Mecca, the impact Islam has on the peace process, are fighting against limitations. Saudi Arabia’s once private and unknown social and political life is now generating an international audience, and record prices. Art records history, and allowing the world to see what goes on behind the closed doors of Saudi Arabia is one of the great powers of art and it gives those who were blinded by the governments reason to speak out. The government is aware of that, and they respond to the emerging conceptual art scene by promoting conservative artists. But today, people are not interested in a ‘pretty’ picture. They want the truth, not a false representation of what people should believe.
(Extract from BAGD dissertation.)
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A series of The New York Times front pages from the future. Branching from Donald Trump’s inauguration to the inevitable fall of America, these headlines and articles examine what would actually happen if Trump were elected President.
The Trump Archives Hattie Wade
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What is wrong wit design/society?
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This maquette is a modern depiction of Artemis, the greek Goddess of hunting and chastity, inspired by the myth about her and the young huntsman Aktion.
Artemis at the Gynaecologist Louise Dyhrfort
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This interactive exhibition piece invites the audience to take control of a CCTV camera via an arcade console. By allowing them to become the watcher instead of the watched, aims to help participants question and evaluate their stance on public surveillance.
Personal Space Invaders Kezia Kong & Benjamin Sing
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Stereotypical opinions about Asian women can be offensive and harassing. The project aims to raise awareness of the issue by examining these stereotypes and analysing their origins.
Asian Women Stereotypes Satoko Furasawa
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Old school feminist zines about the portrayal of women’s bodies. One is about fat girls, showing how beautiful they are by portraying them without mocking their size. Another focuses on how we shame girls for doing things that are not considered ‘girl stuff’, but which literally every human does, such as farting, having body hair, etc.
Femininity Zines Paulina Bastos
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A sculptural portrait of the fetishisation and patronisation of women in the workplace. A set of four surrealist patent black shoes with functional office supplies in the heels.
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Office Fetishism Harry Ashbee
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M LE This piece of work aims to highlight the irony and vicious cycle of the cosmeceutical industry. Inciting anxiety within the public to meet impossible beauty standards, the industry subsequently sells products claiming to help reach that standard. What results is insecurity, as we constantly buy and use more and more beauty products, further damaging ourselves in the process.
The Absurdity of Beauty Sean Song
Taking old manuscripts as inspiration, this project aims to bring mystery back into the mundaneness of everyday life and point out the value of imagination and magical thinking. It explores how people respond to things they don’t understand, and how confusion can create interesting narratives. The aim is not to offer people the narrative itself, but the mystical ingredients to create a narrative of their own.
P_G__N Nikki Ritmeijer
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How is reality formed by narratives?
This project translates the system and essence of a television show into the system of a book. At the heart of it lies the dichotomy between a dry and humorous dialogue and a dark and twisted plot, as well as the encounter of two very different characters.
Bron/Broen Emily Schofield
Afraid of the dark? It is actually a fear of the night! This hand-made illustrated book focuses on analysing and investigating my personal fears through a journey of my imaginings, illusions, nightmares–things I am afraid the most: night fears.
Afraid of the Dark Agata Adamski
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We asked the question: what if a physical place had the characteristics of Google Street View? What would it feel and look like? The result is an exhibition of speculative artefacts from this imagined place.
Nowhere in Particular Jūratė Gačionytė & Georgia Cranstoun
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A zine created for a fictional artist’s exhibition, based around an imaginary subculture called the ‘Skatelitas’, a merge of Skateboarding culture and Lolitas. Brink explores issues around identity, particularly around the early formative teenage years.
Brink Jasmine Kurino
A semi-autobiographical comic exploring the thoughts and remembrances of a soonto-be graduate as many of his memories are triggered by conversations and events at a New Year’s Eve celebration.
Proposal for an animated satirical video series following four invisible aliens as they give comedic social commentary on all aspects of human behaviour.
The Human Researchers Adam Wills & Connor Daly
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I hope this year is as kind to you as you are to me Neil Hampshire
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Distorting Reality Alice Bibette I thought about the dissertation design as a space in itself but also a space with a function which is to describe and explain some aspects of space distortion. Maps are the most straightforward way to describe space. Therefore, I wanted to give to the viewer the notion of scale, by deploying a humongous A0 poster folded to A4 size. At first, the A4 look might give a sense of surprise as as you might not intend to open something that big. In fact you’ll discover little by little the cover, then the Introduction etc. As a viewer you are free to look where you want and find your way between different kinds of spaces: natural, urban or digital. The more the map gets unfolded, the more you discover. Consequently, the legibility of the document gets affected. In response to that, I have magnified the content’s scale. When the limits of live action have been reached to communicate an idea, moving image can take its place and play an illusionist role. Animation has always been here, humankind has always been fascinated by illusions (Fantasmagoria). Drawing on caves, playing with shadows and lights, experimenting with scratching onto films or video mapping the whole Sydney Opera House every year, comes from the same need to echo the natural environment. The natural environment is where we started thus that’s where our first sources of inspirations have been taken from. We’ll constantly relate to nature to express our feelings.
(Extract from BAGD dissertation.)
An illustrated dialogue centring on the notion of chronological time and its dominance over human life. Maybe we have been looking at the passing of time in the wrong way; maybe time has never been passing at all.
Breadniverse/Time Freya Morgan
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Should design im order or chaos?
To a computer, everything is represented in 1s and 0s, including images and text. This is a keyboard where you have to type with eight buttons with each button representing 1 or 0 making up the eight 1s and 0s that will create a character.
8-bit Keyboard Kenneth Lim
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An investigation into mapping improvisation in jazz music and its relationship to the original version of a song. I mapped different versions of the same song, St Louis Blues, focusing on variations in overall musical structure, rhythm and pitch. This mapping uncovered references to the original melody within improvised solos, and the use of a common musical structure.
St Louis Blues Jordan Woodage
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A series of three experimental videos and photographs referring to the Hermetic Law of Correspondence, this project explores the fact that there is a direct correlation between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of existence. Patterns tend to reiterate and persist at all levels of observation, and this work aims to provide glimpses into worlds that question their scale.
As Above so Below Stelios Ilchuck
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What if drawing tools hindered instead of aiding us in the mark-making process? This project explores the possibilities of disruptive mark-making devices and how subverting their intended purposes can lead to unexpected results.
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A Poor Workman Blames his Tools Navjot Chana
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This project repurposes traditional textile techniques to discover unexpected interdisciplinary juxtapositions. By applying traditional weaving patterns to music a new way of forming songs is created, giving a materiality to a complex digital process. Each weaving pattern creates a different rhythm in the music and its visual counterpart.
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New Weave Shannon Swinburn
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The way we measure time today has a long history, but does that mean that initially there were no rules about how to measure time? In this project I removed everything that tells the time and then documented my perception of each 10 minute interval.
Self-clock Varvara Zelenko
An investigation into all of the pink books in the library in hope to reveal links between what the colour pink is associated with, what the books were about and who wrote them, to see if they fit the stereotype of the colour pink.
The Pink Book of Pink Books Sophie Rush
Logic and Feeling in Maps Jūratė Gačionytė
My interest in maps has increased since I have lived in places away from my home country. This particular theme of logic and feeling in maps developed largely from observation of my personal daily use of maps and the sense that this use was too far removed from my experience of the environment that the maps were supposed to represent. No map can be free from individual imagination and subjectivity. Logically, and philosophically, no map can be a true representation of place. No matter how scientifically accurate maps attempt to be, there is no such thing as an objective truth, or in the words of Danny Dorling
There is no such thing as a neutral map. And you’re kidding yourself if you think that you are a neutral cartographer. (Dorling, 2010) Every map fails as a representation, however if we take maps as propositions, they are all valid in their own right. Maps are inevitably the combination of the two worlds. Maps are valued for scientific achievements and language of logic as well as personality.
(Extract from BAGD dissertation.)
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Work selected by Advertising, Design & Interaction, Illustration, and Moving Image route leaders Clive Challis, David Preston, Andrew Hall, and Esteban Gitton, Context tutors Paul Rennie and Andrea Lioy
Copyright Š Central Saint Martins & the respective students
Published by BA (Hons) Graphic Design Central Saint Martins 1 Granary Square London N1C 4AA
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Printed on 120 gsm Munken Lynx Rough by ArtQuarters Press London
Neue Haas Unica Pro by Linotype
Typeset in Young Serif by Bastien Sozeau
Co–ordinated by Phil Baines
Designed by Therese Cappelen, Tatiana Ermolaeva, Lars Høie, Claire Köster, Nikki Ritmeijer, Emily Schofield, Hattie Wade
Introduction by Peter Hall, Course Leader
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