Introductory Studies - Emily Sollitt by Emily Sollitt

Introductory Studies

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Emily Sollitt BA (Hons) Graphic Design Level 4

Contents

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Chapter 1

My Journey Home p.4-13

Chapter 2

Life and Death p.14-27

Chapter 3

Through the Letterbox p.28-47

Chapter 4

Software Demonstration p.Sessions 48-51

Chapter 5

Exhibitions and Inductions p.52-67

Chapter 6

Tutorial Notes p.68-71

Chapter 7

Lecture Notes p.72-81

Chapter 8

Bibliography p.82-85 3

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My Journey Home

My Journey Home BRIEF Using the idea of a map you are required to visually represent your journey from college to home or visa versa. Consider means of exploring this that you would not usually notice e.g. the flora you pass by, the street signs, sounds, bus routes, etc. Also consider the less tangible ways of tracking your journey home e.g. thoughts and song titles. Consider incorporating elements associated with maps such as a compass and/or a legend. You may you collage, typography, photography and/or drawing or combination of them.

Contents

Initial Ideas 6-9

Final Design 10

Self Evaluation 11

Initial Ideas

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Initial Ideas

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Final Design

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Self Evaluation This was our first project, and I will admit that it’s not my best work. I was stuck for ideas in the beginning, and by the time I thought of one I didn’t have loads of time to do it so it ended up being slightly rushed. I know that I don’t have enough sketches, which definitely would’ve helped me. I felt like this one was very wordy as I did quite a few comparisons and mind maps that had to be written out. I also didn’t like how it turned out, I imagined it differently but we had only just started using Adobe software so I wasn’t sure on everything. I thought this was a good project to start the term with because it got us thinking and wanting to experiment.

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Life and Death

Life and Death BRIEF Choosing the right time to overtake a lorry on a busy road can mean the difference between life and death. With this in mind visually reinterpret two images to appear on two rear panels of a lorryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doors. The left side must represent life, while the right sight represents death. The objective is to visualise a clear and meaningful graphic statement about life and death.

Contents

Initial Ideas 16-19

Further Development 20-23

Final Design 24

Self Evaluation 25

Initial Ideas

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Initial Ideas

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … half colourful/half black and broken. Shows life and death simply.

Life is full of flora and fauna, but bones are a bold representation of death.

Shows two styles of time, one positive and lengthy and the other rushing through life.

Further Development

Simple sketches showing comparisons between Bournemouth and Westlake

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Further Development

sundial design

black and white design with slight colour and grey background

black and white stylemap filled in

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smaller design, white background

larger design, white background

Final Design

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Self Evaluation I really like how this piece turned out, I had a bit of a mind block for the first few days but after a tutorial, which further developed my previous idea about a stopwatch/clock, I came up with this. I did quite a bit of research on the Doomsday clock and looked into the different designs on sundials. I did many more sketches on this project and I feel like it helped me to see the visual progression and the different ways I could create it. I went into a tutorial with a somewhat finished piece, which was all black and white, but as we were throwing around ideas, someone added that rust on the sundial side might look better and more completed. I wasn’t sure how to do it so I did a tutorial on Lynda that helped me to create a design that I’m happy with.

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Through the Letterbox

Through the Letterbox BRIEF This assignement encourages you to think like a Graphic Designer. This way of thinking requires you to constantly observe, question, explore and form opinions about the environment in which you live. It also means that you understand your opinions may differ from others. The essence is that if you want to effectively visually communicate to an audience it is vital that you are clear as to what you want to say, who you want to say it to and how you want to say it.

Contents Initial Ideas 32-33

Further Development 34-37

Visual Research 38-43

Research 44-45

Final Design 46

Self Evaluation 47

Initial Ideas

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Further Development

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Further Development

Print warped lines on transparent paper, place eye underneath with information.

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Eye will look like its part of the design although it will be printed underneath warped lines on matte paper.

Visual Research

I really like this Banksy piece, it’s very bold. The white text on a grey background stands out and gets the point across. It completely explains itself, we’re being “protected” by all this spying and surveillence.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … I really like this image because it’s showing how everyone is so focused on their technology that they can’t think for themselves, hence the fact that they are so unaware of what’s going on. Most people believe whatever they read or hear on the news.

If there are people watching us at all times, surely someone higher up has to be watching them? If they know how to get into the systems they have to have some sort of authority looking over their activities

Visual Research

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Visual Research

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I tried to get a wide variety of images, but I thought the ones I chose fit very well with my topic and helped me to come up with my own visual. The image above this paragraph is a Banksy piece, which I think explains what is going on perfectly, not subtle and completely truthful.

Research

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My main resources were Adbusters, BBC, and some other news websites. I also watched a few videos on Youtube that were done by Glenn Greenwald. My knowledge was greatly widened on this topic by doing my research, which helped produce a powerful message. It’s frightening how little the media covers on important topics like this.

Final Design

= This will be printed on a double sided A3 paper, the lines on top and the eye underneath, to make the eye just barely visible but then very bold when the letter is opened. Below the eye are some brief questions, trying to get people to think about whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening and take some a stand against it.

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Self Evaluation This project was my favourite out of the three in this unit. The topic really appealed to me, and I read articles and watched videos that helped me come up with my final idea. We had been learning about this at school last year, and it has intrigued me ever since. I think because I’m so passionate about the subject I really enjoyed doing the sketches and the research on it. As you can see in the Further Development section, I went through quite a few design before I came up with the final one. By working through and creating the design in different colours and patterns it gave me a wide variety to work with and mix to create a final design.

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Software Demonstration Sessions

The tech dem sessions really helped me improve my skills in Illustrator and InDesign. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d never used either before, and as we had to use both for our projects I found it much easier to navigate through them by attending the sessions.

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Fishork

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Exhibitions and Inductions

… Disobedient Objects…

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V&A Museum

I thought this was a brilliant exhibition, I enjoyed reading about the history and the personal stories that created beautiful art work filled with passion about what they believed in. 55

Russell-Cotes Museum

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I really enjoy museums, the whole experience makes me feel so at ease and admiring the variety of aspects of design is a wonderful thing. I love the mixture of the new and old art at the Russell Cotes museum, also the building is in itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original state which is stunning.

MoDiP

MoDiP is an excellent resource to have on campus. It’s interesting to see how plastics have developed over time and how many every day items are made from it.

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Book Binding

I really enjoyed the book binding session, I much prefer hands-on work compared to listening to lectures all day. It’s a useful thing to learn about and I will most likely use this at some point in the future.

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Tutorial Notes

My Journey Home Books -Information is Beautiful -Handwritten -Visual Research Book •Photographs •Comparisons •Points of difference •Overlay photos and colour over to point out differences •Drawing from memory •8 comparisons (try 4 or 5 in different styles) •Icons

Life and Death treesgrid style five sections - seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter, spring) handsbaby hands vs old hands butterflylife and death concepts, look more into butterflies and how they work/lifespan visual research clockdoomsday clock concept of time values attributed to time sundial the church used to hold the time, so the public weren’t allowed to know what the time was. skulladd some sort of flora to life side to make it brighter/more life-like. look into subject more deeply as the idea isn’t complete enough to create a piece from. Think about: trigger words and visuals target audience cropping and perspective positive and negative space icons and symbols manipulate images

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•exploited

•civil liberties •privacy Look into:

-Facebook Messenger can now access camera and microphone without permission Age rule can easily be broken, allowing young kids to create an account Asks for much more info and for access to certain aspects of account Fake accounts - anonymity, cyberbullying, feel stronger behind a screen, unaware of what’s actually happening because words through a screen can’t be that bad. Anything posted can be found even after it’s been “deleted” -CCTV always being watched anyone can gain access to the files helpful in some cases, although some (older generations) might disagree as they knew a world with much less surveillance -Internet privacy •cookies main purpose of a cookie is to identify users and possibly prepare customized web page all information from pages that are searched is stored anyone can get access to what you’ve accessed, even if browser is incognito •Prism - surveillance system created by the NSA allowed to, illegally and without permission, gain access to emails, videos, photos, voice, logins, phone info and others from internet firms Cyberbullying -make kids aware that anything they post will stay online forever, even after it’s deleted. -conversations can be altered -out of context statements -age restrictions on social media -possible ban for inappropriate behavior if under a certain age? -too much internet use distracts from physical/creative activities — Artwork/news/articles/film from: BBC Tumblr Pentagram Adbusters

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Lecture Notes

What is Graphic Design? NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION • body language assertive KEY ASPECTS • interpersonal skills be concious of how others work gestures

Intro to Visual Culture change in language power of the visual absorb surroundings ability to understand visuals construction and communication of meaning- understanding, interpretation and explanation pleasures of producing and consuming aesthetic pleasure KEY ASPECTS • production, distribution, consumption VISUAL LITERACY

• literate- to be able to read and write visual literacy- to be able to read, decode and understand images

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READING IMAGES

• contextual knowledge prior experience/information understand relationship with image appreciation of culture Totemism- relationship between objects are made to represent the relations of people of different groups VALUE

• artistic value use value personal or sentimental value monetary or exchange value AUTEUR THEORY • Auteur Theory form of explanation that depends on notions of expressions and individuality personality film, television Ranking and Evaluation film critics, reviews, Top 40, Turner Prize How do we understand? phenomenological and hermeneutic subject based approach- stresses the importance of the role of the individual and conciousness structural based approach- the importance of the role of structures, values and systems of representation There are various approaches and view points- texts and theories in relation to visual concepts

Visual Space scale perspective visual perception- ability to interpret surroundings psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience physical - physiological - psychological SYMBOLS metaphor- word or phrase is applied to an object which is not literally applicable __ Semiotics- the signs, the context in which they appear. Meaning of an sign effects whoever is reading if it doesnt spell everything out to the audience

“Esse est percipi” To be is to be perceived

Decoding Culture Media communication – everyday we engage with a variety of media Channels of communication – messages and meaning Language of the media – visual literacy (we read images), images play An important complex role in our society, creole (new languages), homogenised (made the same by education systems/mass media Roland Barthes 1997 – ‘the rhetoric of the image’ – argued that the meaning of images are always related to/depend on verbal text. Production of meaning- sign making Saussure and Pierce– beginning of semiotics Semiotics – semeion – ancient Greece – study of signs in society Patterns and structures of signs in media texts condition the meanings which can be communicated and read. Signs are organised into groups – codes – particular meanings Each medium has features specific to it and features which are shared with other mediums. Audiences understand and enjoy the media in different way Use signs to describe and interpret the world

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Creativity active energetic expression originality constructive inspiration Emotional Intelligence: innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember, learn from and understand emotions. Runwrake- Animation Creativity is imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value. Psychology Focus on individual, dispositional perspective. Creative Geniuses Andy Warhol Steve Jobs Creativity As.... Constraint focused experiences Process focused experiences Product focused experiencse Transformation focused experiences A fulfillment focused experience Cognitive process to creativity selecting relating combining evaluating selectively retaining communicating Cognitive approach to creativity expertise- knowledge of the field, problem solving, creating in problem solving Lateral Thinking water logic- flows conventional intelligence- recalling, recognizing creativity- new facts, ways, ideas 77

Branding Hovis advert

-nostalgia -heritage -well known product

packaging based on holidays or seasons provide additional information if it’s being sponsored by a company.

Considerations

• commercial propaganda • false needs • creativity • commercial culture • public perceptions • infomercials

“Ads only make sense only when considered in terms of the social worlds around us” -Greg Meyers

Advertising reflects cultures Hijacks attention Mass persuasion Importance and impact of adverts Integral part of modern culture Social communcation Possible negative influence Satisfaction of consumer needs Induce or increase consumption Social Grades __ A- higher, manegerial, admin or professional B- immediate managerial, admin or professional C1- supervisory or clerical and junior management, admin or professional C2- skilled manual D- semi skilled and unskilled manual E- lowest level of subsistence -widows, casual workers, unemployed Resources Decoding Advertisements -Jodith Williamson The Hidden Persuaders -Vance Packard No Logo - Naomi Klein Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertisements- London 78

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Photojournalism -Liz Wells 2001 Photography- A Critical Introduction • Context -Where the image sits -Who takes the image Reporting through photographs (photojournalism) -In certain contexts, the role of photography has certain connotations •The power of of photography can be invasive • record, reject, document -Harold Evans Pictures on a Page -Photojournalism, Graphics and Picture editing -Black and white sharp powerful -Colour emotion

“War doesn’t determine who is right, war determines who is left.”

Edward Muybridge -19th century British photographer -capture the motion of movements using still photography • Conditioned to smile when photographed -learnt from a young age Photojournalism- emerged as a distinctive form of photography in the late 1920’s/ early 1930’s “Paparazzi” • Photojournalism develops with technology • Major event - just photographs, no text. Collaging Editing Presenting news materials for publication/broadcast , which creates images in order to tell a news story. At which point is a photographer considered a bystander? Weejee- scenes of crime, day to day people -Black and white photographs

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources -Albert Einstein

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Bibliography

Bibliography Emily Canal (2014). Birgitta Jonsdottir, Amie Stepanovich And Adam Ghetti Believe Privacy Isn’t Dead But Needs Millennials. [online] Available from:http://www.forbes. com/sites/emilycanal/2014/10/21/birgitta-jonsdottir-amie-stepanovich-and-adam-ghetti-believe-privacy-isnt-dead-but-needs-millennials/. [Accessed 10 November 2014] Matt Hamblen (2002). Privacy Algorithms. [online] Available from: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2579067/data-privacy/privacy-algorithms.html [Accessed 12 November 2014] Open Rights Group (2014) Don’t Spy On Us. [online] Available from: https://www. dontspyonus.org.uk/org [Accessed November 2014] Nick Craven (2014) How police hacked Mail on Sunday phone: Officers used anti-terror laws to track down judge-protected source who exposed Chris Huhne’s speeding points fraud. [online] Available from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ article-2780809/How-police-hacked-Mail-Sunday-Officers-used-anti-terror-lawsseize-phone-records-identify-source-exposed-Chris-Huhne-s-speeding-pointsfraud.html [Accessed November 2014] Liberty80 (2014) State Surveillance. [online] Available from: https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/human-rights/privacy/state-surveillance. [Accessed November 2014] Adbusters (2013) #Killcap in Berlin. [online] Available from: https://www.adbusters. org/blogs/killcap-berlin.html. [Accessed November 2014]

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BBC News (2013) Profile: Edward Snowden. [online] Available from: http://www. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22837100 [Accessed November 2014] Adbusters (2013) America Not a Nation of Sheep of After All!. [online] Available from: (https://www.adbusters.org/blogs/america-not-nation-sheep-after-all. html [Accessed November 2014] Adbusters (2009) Unclick Google. [online] Available from: https://www.adbusters.org/blogs/blackspot_blog/unclick_google.html [Accessed November 2014] BBC News (2013) Q&A: NSA’s Prism internet surveillance scheme. [online] Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23051248 [Accessed November 2014] Sean Wilentz (2014) Would You Feel Differently About Snowden, Greenwald, and Assange If You Knew What They Really Thought?. [online] Available from: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116253/edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-julian-assange-what-they-believe [Accessed November 2014] Why Privacy Matters - 2014, video, Youtube, 10 October 2014, viewed 2 November 2014, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcSlowAhvUk>. Change.org (2012) A STAND FOR DEMOCRACY IN THE DIGITAL AGE. [online] https://www.change.org/p/a-stand-for-democracy-in-the-digital-age-3 to sign the petition and make a change [Accessed November 2014]