DE design xploration
daniel groneberg
prologue This document is a collection of reflections, poetry, a short story and imagery that marks the beginning of an exploration into the world around me as I take on the massive task of completing a Bachelor of Communication Design. I want to challenge the viewer to let the images guide them through the document by giving importance to items in different ways through size, colour, angle and placement; the use of type has also been used to push the eye in directions that make sense, or in some cases ways that don’t. I have attempted to convey a feeling to the audience that reflects the way I was influenced by each exercise, there should be a contrast in the way each section is experienced, some were quite enjoyable, others I found challenging. I hope you enjoy reading and browsing through this as much as I have enjoyed the journey of creating it creating it.
design NOUN ~ plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is made: “he has just unveiled his design for the new museum” VERB ~ Decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), by making a detailed drawing of it: “a number of architectural students were designing a factory”
explore VERB ~ examine or evaluate (an option or possibility): “the firm will explore joint development projects” Oxford Dictionary
contents
right were you are page 1- 4
combinations pages 9 - 12
differances: things with holes pages 5 - 8
patterns pages 13 - 16
finder compositions pages 17 - 20
contents
consumerism pages 21 - 24
multimodal thinking pages 33 - 35
tactile boards
found type
pages 25 - 26
pages 26 - 32
found paper 36 - 37
right were you are
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We take for granted things in our environment that we interact with every day. Items of furniture, the ceiling and even the floor start to take on a new purpose when we examine them closely. I found myself asking questions; why is the rooms colour palate so brown? Who chose the furniture and why? What does the ceiling feel like when I rub my hand over it? Although I have only been in this environment for a short period of time, what influences or impact have I had on it?
This environment is one that I will always associate with illness. A practical environment, bland and void of feeling, mostly due to nothing belonging to me apart from the daily essentials. It is the human element in this space that gives it life, not the four walls or the items within it.
By the time I had broken down the room into the micro I wanted to buy a can of red paint and splash it all over the walls.
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differences: things with holes To collect one thing is to place importance on it. By obtaining an item and possessing it, making it yours and then placing it within a new environment we are saying that this item is something that means something. Placing multiples of this object together multiplies their importance. I could have chosen rocks, spoons, teacups; anything really. The items in this collection are just as different from each other as they alike. They have holes. Some big, some little, some square, some round; some have one hole and some have many. The other thing they
have in common is that they are the outside. At one point there were no holes in them. They are the rubbish produced when another item is created from the inside. Placing these items in a collection became challenging as they are so different and I could not rely on repetition and symmetry to do the work for me. Only through the abstract form did the true story begin to resonate. The most successful images are the ones that do not give away the items identity.
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combinations Arranging natural and human items into relationships; a pencil, a piece of string, a sharpener, a tent peg, pencil shavings and a rock. I am not sure at what point the pencil shavings became the element in a light globe, or when a smiley face turned into a fully fledged electrical circuit complete with transistor and a switch, but I can say that without a sense of play, it would never have happened. I think it was at this stage of the exercises that I realised how much fun could be had with arranging objects, and that there is no right or wrong way to explore. Through the process of mixing and matching a working product was visible to my imagination, and when I placed the pencil sharpener on the string, the light turned on inside my mind. As I look back on the sequence of photos, I can see a sense of order that then turned into a sense of fun and exploration, through to a sense of silliness, before everything fell into its own. Even my drawings began to relax as I was not as concerned with a realistic representation of what was on the table but a narrative of what was forming inside my head. Page 9
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patterns
the framework of its outline, is it possible to create a pattern from the negative space around many leaves together? Can I be so loose in my definition of a pattern that 3 leaves of different sizes and shapes can create a pattern just because they are close to each other and within a frame? Through exploration into these questions and the arrangement of items in particular orders I believe that it is possible to create and communicate a pattern with whatever material we want, and it is the hidden patterns that resonate visually with me.
In order to document something like a pattern I have had to decide what a pattern meant to me, how did I define a pattern? There are plenty of patterns all around us, geometric repetition of symmetrical objects, both 3 dimensional and 2 dimensional. Human patterns on fabric, in construction, and in art are mostly angular and symmetrical. In nature however, the pattern may not be as clear, in some cases the pattern may be formed by what is missing, a seed pod for example. I have played with the idea that if a pattern is a repetition of shape and form then we can make patterns out of anything we wish. Although a leaf contains patterns within Page 13
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finder compositions The micro within our environment is what makes up the macro. Without the details we cannot have the bigger picture. It is when we over look a small detail in a process that cracks start to appear. Breaking down an environment into the little things helps to reinforce the importance of the bigger picture. Without knowing what the bigger picture is though, we cannot put the little things together in a way that makes sense. It stands to reason then that even though it is the little things that are important, without a direction or a set of instructions to putting these little things together, we can end up with nothing more than a mess of ideas with no purpose and the bigger picture will get lost.
I began to document this task taking random images of small details but about half way though I realised that without making connections between the items they would have no meaning. It became very apparent that even though “the little things are important” it is also important not to “forget the bigger picture”.
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consumerism Collecting data on my consumption habits certainly was a task that allowed me great admiration for someone that has the patience to accumulate the same information for more than just one day, to do this for a year would definitely take perseverance and a great amount of commitment. At first I was not sure which area to concentrate on and so decided to gather data on all my consumption for the day and see where this would take me. It was not long before I realised that the one constant throughout all my consumption habits was water. From the ten cups of coffee I drank through to the load of washing, even the mashed potato to go along with me sausages for lunch involved turning on the tap. Over the course of the day I used approximately 60 litres of water, I say approximately as I am unsure of the exact amount of water my washing machine uses for one load, but i am assuming it was around the 20 litre mark. Water for me definitely became a commodity that I could not live without, and the one thing that i use the most of every day. Something we can all not live without, something that must be protected and conserved. Page 21
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tactlie boards To touch something with your eyes closed and try and come up with what that item is without opening your eyes is an intriguing and complicated process. Something that looks like a leaf from a palm tree can feel the same in texture as the leather from a suitcase, a coffee bean can feel the same as a seed, a piece of metal can feel like plastic. The most interesting part of this exercise was trying to arrange the items in an interesting way, I found myself treating items like pieces of a puzzle, and instead of focusing on the way things feel, I was very much stuck in a visual sense with the items. This was by far the most challenging of all the tasks laid out in these pages. I also could not imagine any way of drawing/sketching these items in a way that was interesting, this is definitely an area I need to focus on, or at least be aware of in the future.
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found type This is by far the most fun I have had. I enjoyed this so much that I collected way too many items, it was borderline obsessive and i am sure there is medication for it somewhere, although I wouldn’t take it as I will never want to loose the love I have for the way type and words van relay a message. The alphabet is nothing more than a group of symbols that take on shape or meaning when placed in a group with other letters. They are like little families, or religious cults that convey the message of the leader that placed them together and sent them forth into the world of diction. Not only is type affected by the letters used, but also size, colour, shape and direction can change its meaning. My favourite of all the pieces I collected is
the Elevators sign with the arrow below. It is actually supposed to point to the left, but by changing its orientation I can change it’s meaning. Does the fact that it points down mean that the elevators all go down? Or is it an elevator that goes to hell? Is it a religious reference, or is it just that a screw fell out and all the questions are irrelevant in the first place? By arranging type in interesting ways I have tried to ask questions aswell as create an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of symbols. I particularly enjoyed the reversing of words so that it became the shape of the word that guided my around the page and not just the word. Through this exercise I have found a passion I want to pursue further, I can see endless possibilities. Page 27
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multimodal thinking Multimodal thinking is a concept that I have known about for quite some time, wanted to utilise, but never really got around to it, this exercise gave me the excuse I had been waiting for and perhaps the mental Jab in the proverbial to get on with it. In a sense it is using another persons work to inspire the creative process, another situation where we can “stand on the shoulder of giants” - Isaac Newton, and produce a piece of work that means something. I often picture things when I listen to a piece of music but have never thought of writing these things down, which is interesting as it would seem like the obvious thing to do, as it does now. Also to read a section of prose and visualise a picture in my head is equally as obvious a thing to do, I thank this exercise for revealing to me the hidden secrets of my imagination through the personal interpretation of visual and auditory stimulation. An experience I would recommend to all that have not tried it.
‘Suttree’
The picture ‘Gotham News’ by Willem De Kooning I have turned into a poem, ‘Suttree’ by Cormack McCarthy inspired a photo montage and the song ‘Guaglione’ by Perez Prado became a short story about a a groundhog style begining to the day. Page 33
Gotham News. Violent and Loud; The sound of keystrokes hammering to the almost song like ringing of phones in an Indian call centre. Scared and Nervous; The interns run between news desks, haphazardly stacked back issues, almost hanging in the balance, like the newsroom jobs of the future. Angry and Stressed; the journalists slam their fists on desks, either the story has broken, or they have broken the story. Upside Down and around the wrong way; the typesetters place blocks, symbols of unrecognisable words, in between lines of lead. Gotham News.
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The early morning sun splashes through a cloud of passing rain as Francis opens his front door and bends over to pick up the morning paper; this is his favourite time of the day, the fresh morning air is sweet and the musty smell of the passing rain gives way to fruity glimpses of tangerine from the neighbouring garden. Francis fills his lungs with air, places the paper under his arm and begins the morning ritual walk to his favourite coffee place. The sun is blinding as he rounds the corner, reflecting off the fresh rain lying in puddles along the cobblestone lane way, he nearly walks straight into his neighbour; “morning Francis”; “morning Robert”. As he perches himself at his usual
table he admires the way the oak trees mask the sunlight, he does not notice the rather large puddle of water lying on the road in front of him. Rattling and rumbling comes the truck down the narrow lane way on its way to pick up the daily load of goods. The driver is also temporally blinded by the sun just like Francis only moments before as he rounded the corner and accelerated up lane, also blissfully unaware of what was about to transpire. It happened so fast that Francis had no time to react, not even time to raise the paper up in front of his face, the water arched up under the heavy wheels of the truck like a wave
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about to break; and indeed it does break, right on to of Francis’ head! Francis jumped out of his chair screaming obscenities and waiving his hands at the truck driver as he smiled and continued on his way to the warehouse, “Does he never learn?” thought the driver. Realising that the driver was not going to stop and apologise, Francis brushes himself off and sits himself back down just as his coffee arrives. Rattling and rumbling a truck………….
found paper
Without realising it, I had collected quite a lot of paper before I even started this exercise. Upon emptying my wallet I found excesses of receipts and it was not long before I found more junk paper in the bathroom, my bedroom and also the kitchen. If this task has taught me anything, it is that I am not a hoarder of junk. I recycle nearly all of my paper and so the collection I put together was quite bland, I even used toilet paper to try and make up the numbers. I also found this challenging to document with sketches, and ended up drawing items from the
papers, or the items created by the paper instead of the boards themselves. I can see how the collection of paper for purposes of creation is important, once you have collected a few items, relationships can be made between them, although I did find this easier with one sort of paper rather than many different kinds as with the dockets from my wallet. If anything this task has made me more conscious of the possibilities that are available with paper as a means for creating interesting designs in collections. Page 37
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