Unit 2 - Visual Thinking

Henry Kirby

Unit 2 Distinctive Characters Postcard Letters in Landscape Lectures, Workshops and Seminars Essay

distinctive characters Studying the functional aspects of type and how the aesthetics of a word can convey meaning.

Postcard Produce an A6 postcard with the image on one side and a brief description of the word on the other.

Letters in Landscape a lexicon of urban typography Begin with a visit to Poole where you will identify, collect and photograph, examples of vernacular letterforms in the town.

Working in groups of four, produce an innovative book that displays your photography. It must be French fold and be hand bound.

CONT

London An indepth look at the how the London visit aided my work and our activities on the day.

Workshops lectures seminars Exploring the Lectures, Workshops and Seminars that I attended throughout the term.

Essay ‘An analytical response to Propaganda and Ethics within Cigarette Advertising and Anti-smoking Campaigns’

TENTS

Task .1

distinctive characters Unattractive Up

Uphoria

Underneath Uppercase Ugly

Urban Ugly Our task was to convey the

meaning of a word through it’s aesthetics. Ollie Richings

and I were given the letter U.

We explored possible words

beginning with ‘U’ that could be

effectively

through visuals.

illustrated

USA

Uniform

Underwear

Underground Upstairs U = You

U 300mm

We explored a variety of ideas branching out into concepts and possible outcomes. Those that seemed most promising were ‘Underground’ - the idea was for the letterform to be created out of the london underground tube map. It could have been made 3D by using different coloured wire and illustrated 2D on ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR. Other ideas included, ‘Urban’ - whereby the letterform was to be in graphity in an urban environment. We also explored ‘Underwear’ - the idea was to dress the letterform in underwear. We were not confident enough with this idea so we compensated by creating a prototype out of card and getting feedback from our peers.

We were also aware of the fact that it would be hard to relate underwear with typography.

Task .2

postcard Next, we had to create a postcard that displayed our chosen photograph and a caption containing description. For this task we used InDesign. This was

my first time using InDesign so naturally it took me a while to get comfortable with the program. While in the designing process we were aware of certain chararcterisics we wanted the postcard to have.

We wanted our postcard to convey a sense of quality and luxury. We brainstormed some ideas:

Thumbroom - It was

important that our postcard had thick boarders.

Leading - More leading makes the text seem

important and meaningful.

Paper - Printing on good

quality heavy paper makes the product luxurious.

Finishes - By using a flatbed printer we utilised it’s ability

to emboss and print a variety of finishes onto the postcard.

Including both gloss and matte emboss.

Individual tuition from our technician Simion Barr and my tutor Gabbi Hass guided me through the basics of InDesign so that I could develop my skills in page layout and typography.

Task .3

Letters in landscape A trip to Poole resulted in us taking photographs of letterforms within the landscape. We then utilised InDesign to design a French Fold book displaying our photographs. This was a great opportunity to further my skills in InDesign.

One important aspect of the book was the flow. By varying the size and the amount of images on certain pages we could adapt the flow of the book. Pages with a double page spread had the most impact, and larger images places next to a selection of smaller images offered a nice contrast.

This task taught me aspects of photography, page layout and how to physically bind a book. It was truely enjoyable and definitely something i’d like to explore further.

One aspect I would like to have improved was the choice of paper. I feel it is a little too thin for the purpose of the book. If the contents was mainly text based then it would have been ideal.

Whereas when viewing images it is best to feel a heavier paper as is gives a quality feeling. Luckily the French Fold caused us to double up the pages, bring it closer to the desired thickness. I do feel that the final outcome is extremely professional and elegantly put together.

A collaborative project between

Henry Kirby

Harry Murr

Ethan Huang

Tyrone Westlake

london The London trip gave us the opportunity to see first hand the design work that had become very influential over time. The Science Museum had a huge array of displays in the design genre. The exhibitions opened our minds to the vast world of design through the ages, and it helped us appreciate how design has changed the world.

The Science Museum dedicates an area to the process of 3D printing. It displays the possibilities for 3D printing and how influential it can be. Fortunately I was aware of 3D printing and how the process is performed, and I was therefore able to appreciate the exhibition.

One exhibition that caught my attention was the branding and plastics display. It showed excellent examples of branding over the years, such as the work from ‘Apple’, where they showed some concept designs and some classic products. This display heavily featured the use of plastic, which could go some way to explain why the products in the exhibition were so influential.

We had some personal time in London whereby we were able to explore the city for ourselves.

Many of us decided to go for lunch in China town, which provided a change in scenery and a great experience.

We travelled on the tube to Trafalga Square for shopping and sight seeing. I greatly enjoyed this day as it offered a nice change from the day to day schedule, and I took alot from the experience.

Lectures Workshops seminars Lectures Transmedia This lecture focused on the storytelling within transmedia. Alot of the attention was on interpretation and adaptation, specifically within books and films (eg. interpretating a book and turning it into a film).

Monomedia - The written and spoken word Multimedia - A combination of mediums working together An example would be a song (spoken word = monomedia) and a music video (spoken word + visuals = multimedia).

This lecture did introduce me to some interesting concepts. However I don’t feel it was entirely related to my current studies.

The lecturer did however make the topic seem interesting; he talked enthusiastically and could interact will the audience well.

His knowledge of film and music caught my attention as well.

Ooh aaa mmm ‘Notions of Taste, Aesthetic Judgement and Consumer Culture’ was the basis

for this lecture. The session explored our relationship with objects and how we give value to items. Kirsten illustrated how our taste for aesthetic styling can adapt our judgement of value. In particular the session looked at hierarchy, taste and popular culture and questioned what we determine to be good and bad design.

I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture. Kirsten’s approach to good and bad design was very interesting and her comments on luring and seducing within product design and advertsing helped me construct my essay.

Propaganda The lecture investigated the purpose of propaganda, why it is around, and how it communicates meaning. It examined key issues, notions of mass manipulation, persuasion and control in relation to propaganda, including examples of visual and guerrilla methods. This lecture was very provocative and gave me huge insight into the world of propaganda.

‘It inspired the focus of my essay’

The session was my first introduction into the notion of propaganda. Many of us were unsure of what to expect when going into the lecture: we were unsure of what propaganda was and what was it’s purpose. Afterwards was a completely different story. Kirsten illustrated the concept very well and inspired the focus of my essay.

Workshops LetterMpress We were introduced to LetterMpress, a digital letter press program. The software is very simple to use and it aims to simulate the process of letter press. I have had the opportunity to do both and I feel that this program is much more versatile than the letter press. You don’t have a physical outcome but you can export your results to a variety of programs in different formats. This versatility helps keep the program up to date within the industry.

I can see myself using the software in the future, as there is alot of potential in the program and the workshop itself was very useful. Unfortunately it was cut short so I had not learnt as much as I’d hoped, but it did offer a good introduction into digital letter press.

Silkscreen The process of silkscreen printing seemed interesting, however the workshop Printing revolved around observing the tutor as she demonstrated each step of the process. This was a very long and arduous process and the tutor showed very little enthusiasm for her craft, calling it “boring” at one stage. We were hoping to have an outcome from the workshop but we didn’t get the opportunity to do the process ourselves. I will jump at the chance to learn the process again with a different tutor as I feel silkscreen printing has alot to offer.

Seminars Essay Combined with the propaganda lecture we had a seminar devoted to our essay. We were given our brief and had the opportunity to ask questions about the essay and what was required. The session was mainly discussion based so it seemed quite casual, although the importance of the essay was accentuated.

Modernism Modernism is the concept of simplicity, the use of materials and space. In the modernism movement, rational thinking was a key element. The aesthetics of a product were influenced by the function, and unnecessary clutter within artwork and design was discarded.

Post Modernism

The post modernism movement utilises and combines styles from other cultures, creating a new and much more outlandish concept of design. Technological developments, the rise of mass media made the world much more connected. People were now aware of different cultures and different ways of doing things. This was a huge turning point for moderism and influenced the post modernism movement.

This seminar was lead

by Kirsten and offered a big insight into the role of modernism and post modernism. She showed us helpful examples of each and how they influenced other artwork and product design.

“Less is More� - Modernist ethos

Piet Mondrian - Modernist artist

essay ‘An analytical response to Propaganda and Ethics within Cigarette Advertising and Anti smoking Campaigns’ Choose the work of a designer who’s work is driven by ethics, morals or driven by a strong opinion. In other words, can be considered as a form of propaganda. You can compare two similar designers or a variety, or simply focus on one.

I researched a variety of subject areas before settling on the theme of smoking propaganda.

I felt this topic had a lot of stigma associated with it and there was a personal element to the design work. The work of Rodrigo Gomez caught my attention because of the shocking imagery and conviction behind his work. He was difficult to research but I felt his work was so powerful it was necessary to mention him in my essay. Smoking propaganda has changed a great deal over the years; health risks made the advertising strategies change.

Glamorous women were replaced by doctors, and then smoking advertising was banned altogether. Nowadays smoking propaganda raises awareness of the health risks, such as lung cancer and impotence. I found this aspect very interesting and it encouraged me to study smoking propaganda through the

How does your designer convey conviction?

How do they communicate with their audience?

How do they project their views from a visual standpoint?

decades. The smoking propaganda timeline became a base structure for my essay. I utilised the resources in the university library as soon as possible because research from a reliable source is fundamental to a good essay. I located five books that were useful for learning and quotes about advertising strategies within different time periods. They also explained what influenced a certain designer’s work. I found the essay highly interesting and it made me research and write in different ways. The essay was 2500 words long, but because there is so much written about smoking propaganda, I feel I would have benefited from a 3000 word count. W

Henry Kirby