Assignment One
Born and raised in Oxford. Studying in Coventry. Prior to coming to university I used to Irish Dance and was a county Table Tennis player. At University I have started playing dodgeball, and joined the social side alongside this. Ameture genealogist.
The basics about me
Postcard based around creating a piece of work influenced by one of the above artists?
As an overall concept, I always look toward Dutch designers but having travelled a bit, each new culture that I emerse myself in and everything new that I see influences my ideas and the way my designs emerge. Irish and Australian roots have always influenced my personality and hobbies. But the fact that everything has become digitalised within recent years merges all cultures together and instead created this digital power. The digital culture formed a lot of my photography work and the aesthetic of this is something to consider within these postcards.
cultural influences or interests
Obviously I don’t want to use all old images, this defeats the point of exploring my style now and seeing how I have developed. But it will be interesting to revist this project again at the end of all the modules to see how my style has changed as a designer.
Including some images from my previous projects could even be a posibility. I want the set of postcards to work well on their own individually but also as a set so these images could work well as connectors between the other images.
look to photographic examples to influence my work. I particularly enjoy black and white architectural photographs, combining my photography influences and graphic design influences could create some interesting images.
They need to say something about you, your interests in graphic design and your wider cultural influences or interests. Previously studied photography so I also
Mindmap about me
My interests lie with: - a lot of very experimental work - playing on perception - crazy, bold graphics - Interactive work to bring a new dimension to work.
Influences: Sabato Visconti Rosa Menkman Chloe Sells Pentagram Mattijs de Witt The beautiful meme
Designers and Interests in Graphic Design
Initial Ideas
The Beautiful Meme (n.d.) Untitled [online[ available at < https://www.thebeautifulmeme.com/> [3 October 2018].
de at [3 Sells, C. (2014) Only in Passing, French Kissing [online] available from <http://chloes e l l s . c om / f re n c h - k i s s i n g / f v y p e i 0 1 v n f z p z5ewxgwahrwuy015g> [3 October 2018] Below and right are both my own images.
M. (n.d) Kluwer Memo Covers [online] available < https://mattijsdewit.nl/projects/kluwer-memo-covers/> October 2018] (published by Wolters Kluwer Business.
Witt,
Think about how it is going to be sent and received 1.
2.
3.
4.
1. Pentagram. (2018) London Fashion Week (AW18) Brand Identity [online] available at < https://www.pentagram.com/work/ london-fashion-week-aw18?rel=sector&rel-id=2> [3 October 2017] 2. We Are Useful (2010) Draw in Light [online] available at <http://theinspirationgrid.com/draw-in-light-look-book-by-we-areuseful/> [3 October 2018] 3. Unknown. (n.d.) Louis Vuittonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s invitation for Yayoi Kusama Selfridgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection [online] available at < https://www.behance.net/ gallery/7796561/Louis-Vuitton-Yayoi-Kusama-Invitation> [3 October 2018] 4. Onarheim, M.S. (2011) Self Promotion [online] available at < https://www.behance.net/gallery/4707245/Self-Promotion> [3 October 2018]
“Glitch photography is an approach that situates today’s artistic practice of photography within a larger apparatus of production, its interlinked networks, and its reverberation throughout the populace. Glitch photography understands how the apparatus of production envelopes the scene of where a subject (physical or digital) is captured in time with a camera device.” Visconti, S. (2017). Glitch Photography - Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. [online] Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. Available at: http:// www.sabatobox.com/glitch-photography [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].
Sabato Visconti “Sabato's work finds itself in the intersection between emerging media environments, internet culture, and professional digital production.” Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. (n.d.). About - Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. [online] Available at: http://www.sabatobox.com/about [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].
Visconti, S. (n.d) Untitled, Cachemache [online] available at < http://www. sabatobox.com/cachemash> [10 October 2018] Sabato Visconti’s work highlights databending at its finest. With the digital culture that has emerged from the development of the Internet, the possibility for things to go wrong on hard drives has increased and this is where Visconti’s work first developed from. Using Cristina Isabel Rivera’s defective memory card, the ability to adjust images in a way the camera can’t became a new aesthetic that Visconti investigates in multiple layers within each piece of his work. What was once a medium that represented the real, has now become an endless medium, anything and everything can be represented whether it is real or manipulated. Although it is difficult to make out what the subject was of the original image, this allows the audience to focus on the form and how manipulation can take various forms. No two of Visconti’s pieces actually turn out to look the same. But this allows a variety of interpretations to be gained from the work. The cultural codes that different people have adopted as part of their language will result in them viewing the work in different ways. This is the beauty of the work within the digital culture and postphotography. Because our understanding of codes is now open to so many different influences, our reading of images is taken to a completely different level and each piece can be understood in many ways. But similarly, the potentional that has been taken beyond the camera has exemplified the amount of images, or manipulations, that can now be seen.
Visconti, S. (n.d) Untitled, Raw Skies [online] available at < http://www. sabatobox.com/raw-skies-5d-iiidatabending#24 > [10 October 2018]
Applying this to my own work, this style has been something that I have always looked towards. Not only do the aesthetics attract my eye but what has changed due to this new digital culture has always attracted my eye.
Images are no longer just an image, they are code, binary and are stored in multiple places all ready to be drawn up at the tap of a button. Something that we all participate in, social media, is a prime example of the manipulation that computers can now formulate. You plug in something that is very real, your identity, but it can be manipulated by a) the user to portray what they want to portray, b) the platform itself, putting the image into its own algorithm and how it appears on other people’s feeds and c) how it is then viewed in context to other posts on the feed. The aesthetics of Visconti’s work can be applied and used to portray this in various different ways, especially with the technique of databending. Because that’s all these images, and any images have now become, they are data in a wide data network. Right: Visconti, S. (n.d) Untitled, City of Vapours [online] available at <http://www. sabatobox.com/city-of-vapors-blender-obj-moshing#20> [10 October 2018]
Visconti’s work is a prime example of the direction in which postphotography is going:
“Postphotography can be best understood not as a movement or a practice, but as an existential condition. This is the constellation where my generation of emerging visual artists finds itself situated, amidst technological, social, and political developments that are continuously transforming the artistic practice of photography.” Visconti, S. (2017). Glitch Photography - Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. [online] Glitch Art, Photography, and Illustrations by Sabato Visconti. Available at: http://www.sabatobox.com/ glitch-photography [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].
Experimentation As I was struggling where to start with the postcards, I thought that responding in the same style to Viscontiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work could spark up some ideas, after all I too am influenced by internet culture like I expressed in my original brainstorm. Layering up multiples of this pulled photo, highlighted and extracted various different elements. These elements were not determined by myself but instead the computers coding decided it for me. A piece that was originally inspired by Visconti, turned into something simplistic (below) and instead began to reflect the work of Pentagram. Equally, reflecting my love for textures and geometrics within graphic design.
Right: Image credit Georgia Ince.
The work produced doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the visual language of a postcard, it appears more like a print. In order to fulfil the brief it needs to be a postcard not just by my own definition but also the expectations of visual language and communication. Although this does show my creative influences and cultural interests to an extent, a postcard is usually very straight to the point. There is no interpretation to it. This requires more thought and more depth to the graphics to surround the idea of representing myself. Could the original image of myself be brought in a little bit more?
Digital culture “Digital culture is a blanket concept that describes the idea that technology and the Internet significantly shape the way we interact, behave, think, and communicate as human beings in a societal setting. It is the product of pervasive technology and limitless access to information — a result of disruptive technological innovation within our society. It is a lifestyle, and you’re part of it. You’re living it.” D’Arnault, C. (2015). What is Digital Culture? – Digital Culturist. [online] Digital Culturist. Available at: https:// digitalculturist.com/what-is-digital-culture-5cbe91bfad1b [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].
The Internet, and everything that has come with it, has become so ingrained within society that trying to analyse it becomes difficult. Everything has some kind of link to the Internet and as it has become second nature, we forget what it was once like to have to put our pin in everytime we want to make a transaction, Apple Pay just wasn’t a thing. Nothing that has come about due to the digital culture looks the same to the next product. Everything has a different look, feel and aesthetic. Therefore, trying to characterise the ‘Digital Aesthetic’ is challenging. Art could now be defined as “a state of encounter” (Bourriad, N. 2002:18), “a kind of bonding agent that keeps together moments of subjectivity associated with singular experiences” (Courpe, J. 2007:79). However, there is no bonding agent when files become digitalised. They continuously get transferred between languages, codes and disruption occurs. The glitch aesthetic reflects this in some ways. The continuous jolting as your eye fails to trace one singular line emphasises the constant changing that goes on over the internet. Everytime you view an image on someone’s Instagram page, you view it as part of a different algorithm, so a different set of codes influence the sending and receiving of codes between yourself and the image. This is a slightly confusing concept to try and portray within one piece of work, hence the glitch is constantly used to try and represent various issues surrounding the digital culture.
Bourriad, N. (2002) Relational Aesthetics. Dijon: Les Presses du Reel. p.18. Coupe, J. (2007) ed. by Brind, S., McKenzie, R. and Sutton, D. ‘Art, Representation and Responsibilty: towards a systems aesthetic’. in The State of the Real: Aesthetics in the Digital Age. London: I.B. Tauris & Co. p. 79-87.
Rosa Menkman Menkman, much like Visconti, investigates the glitch through her artwork, questioning when is it art, when is it an artifact and when is it a digital process. Compared to Visconti’s work, Menkman’s almost looks more glitch like. I don’t want to say there is a spectrum at which they situate themselves on, but it highlights how the glitch can formulate itself in many different forms. Each artist does it differently, just like we each interact with the internet in different ways, yet we seem to create similar results, the same occurs with glitch art and artists. She is “more intrigued by the significance of the material lost in the process of making data ‘fit’”. Alikhani, D. (2015) Beyond Resolution: Rosa Menkman’s glitch art. Available at <http://postmatter.com/articles/archive2012-2016/2015/51-rosa-menkman/> [28 January 2017] Above: Menkman, R. (2011) Loopz [online] available at < https://www.flickr.com/photos/ r00s/5727565890/> [17 October 2018] Left: Menkman, R. (2018) 36. Beyond Resolution [online] available at < https://www.flickr.com/photos/ r00s/43694363715/in/photostream/> [17 October 2018]
The digitalised appearance of these pieces highlight the state of which are digital culture is in - it is unpredicatable, unintentional and unstructured. The eye is constantly attracted to a different aspect of the piece, there is no linear structure to follow. This almost contradicts the way in which my work is currently going. Everything is in lines and although they are slightly jolted between them. You read the image on a very obvious horizontal plane. Whereas, these works, and the works of Visconti play with both the horizontal and vertical planes, going between the two and there being no correct way of reading the work. Obviously my current work can also be read in any way, but there is a more defined pattern to it which contradicts the idea of databending work.
PIXELS
Pixels communicate to the audience a lower quality of imagery which is something completely different to what the computer system has allowed for. If anything, computers and the development in technology has allowed us to produce higher quality images yet one characteristic to highlight the digital nature of something is to show the bad quality of an image. The logic of this visual communication technique doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite seem to fit however, it communicates the message effectively and should therefore be utilised as the visual codes prove effective.
Using my own photography work as a base to the editing and trying to disrupt the linear pattern that I previously mentioned.
Glitch Art Vs. Databending Glitch Art can be unintentional, it can naturally happen when a bug gets into a program and ruins your data. Databending is more specific. When someone intentionally interrupts data in order to create glitched results.
Other than individual designs, these needed to start being considered as a set but something that I often forgot was that the postcards wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily be read in the order that I set them out in within this document.
Ode to Constructivism by polina joffe Unfortunately there is little information about this project anywhere but this allows me to focus entirely on the graphical construction of this piece instead during my analysis. Firstly, one thing that I notice is in the construction of the book itself. As Joffe allows lines to flow over the spine, it relies on the book being perfectly bound so that these lines continue to meet up within each publication. If she hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been able to do this, the breaks within the lines would have completely changed the aesthetic of the work. Being based off of constructivism, a movement that relied upon strong bold lines and geometrics, the first thing that had to be mastered was the structure of the book itself. Sometimes using black, white and red can become a bit of an over used colour combination. However, in order to bring variation to this combination, Joffe is continuously changing the thickness of the lines, the length and angle. Typically, if you were to get bored of this combination, this book could then tip you over the edge considering this is the only thing the book is based off of. But, because Joffe has been clever with her sequencing and graphical choices, you find yourself as a viewer changing your perception each time although you are really viewing the same thing over and over in slightly different ways. When looking at these graphics a lot closer now compared to when I first discovered the body of work, part of me questions why some of the decisions were made. Although I do like these graphics, why, when every other line is straight has Joffe put one in that is angled. My immediate connection with this one is that there is a pile of books and one is falling. In my eyes, this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the aim of the project. Yes it does add some variation to the lineararity of the rest of the graphics, but to have this one as the only angled line in any of the graphics I could find for the book, just why? Maybe if I were able to find more about the project, some of these graphics would make more sense and although I do like the simplicity of it, I begin to question the actual structure of the work. How many times can a line change for it to really look that different? Images available at https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/polina-joffe
This definitely works better as a sequence in terms of the two edge pieces but now the middle section doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to flow as well.
70s geometric inspiration When you type in 70s geometric pattern into Shutterstock, these are all the images that come up. There are a lot of bold colours, each featuring itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own ombre as well as repeated geometric patterns.
But these Arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t typical postcards. How can I make it a postcard? In the more traditional sense.
Go back to basics and base everything off of a photograph. Then apply my style to this. a photograph can highlight the topic whilst my style will show my interests.
As these were all taken from black and white film images, the quality when enlarged isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t great but with these designs, I wanted to utilise this. Through the edits that I placed on the image, it breaks each image down into pixels going back to the digitalised coding mentioned before but this time the pixels having a much clearer arrangement.
The more abstract the base image, the harder it is to identify that this is Coventry, however, the images produced on this page are perhaps some of my favourite graphics. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about what I prefer, it needs to work well with the series, if they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t then substitutions may need to be made.
Looking at which image works best with my one confirmed image so far
Current series
Experimenting with additional graphics. Having looked to the cultural influences in Coventry, I thought creating a postcard based around the same concept but my home city of Oxford made sense. It builds up more of my identity as the brief requires.
The images were originally designed in landscape however, all the other postcards are portrait. Although it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter if the orientation changes throughout the series, it seems to be more for a matter of consistency. The audience will instinctively want to turn the postcard around and this completely changes the persepctive so it could become an issue within the sequence.
Sequencing options for these images. Which tones work better as a set? The orientation is definitely an issue with the top set but the tones flow better between the three for this set.
Additional project photos that could be added to the sequence. Instead of using the kaleidoscope graphics that were created for this project, I wanted to use the more commercial photographs as these would break down the sequence better and they seemed to capture what a postcard is more about.
The other graphic I decided would look best is from the project entitled Accumulation. This is obviously another very graphics based project which could make it harder to balance the graphics. I thought that the element of text in a couple of these images could work really well to break down the information again.
Sequencing options
Focus on me, my interests and my photography work
After reordering them again slightly the final selection of images work well together in terms of the balancing of tones that I had been struggling with. The third image, the one of my project entitled X^3, is really important within this sequence because it shows a lot more about my work. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always bold random structures, this one is very well organised, the kaleidoscopes have a regular pattern and the photograph itself is kept very simple and shot in the style of any other product photography. This also reflects my organised, yet caotic, lifestyle. It is something that I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t show in any other way apart from this. The two images next to this central image not only show the style of work that interests me but it shows two of my biggest cultural influences, as these are the two places I have lived, Oxford and Coventry. The two places architecturally are very different. Normally this is how I would explore a place, through the lens of a film camera and looking at the interesting forms of architecture. However, here, I wanted to bring it closer together.
Now, how to send them...
UX Amalgamist. (n.d.) Printer Error Packaging [online] available at < https://www.uxamalgamist.com/printer-error-packaging> [17 October 2018]
Apps, J. (2016) Glitch, Interfering with Beauty [online] available at < https://www.behance.net/gallery/36307613/Glitch-interfering-with-beauty> [17 October 2018]
Epson did some really interesting packaging for some of their printer cartridges that involved the glitch or databending aesthetic. When you order with Epson you have the advantage that you know exactly what you are getting, all that really needs to be on there is their brand name and the association can quickly be made. With this advantage, the packaging can focus a lot more of the design instead of having to have too much information. With my designs though, I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t got this advantage. There is going to have to be a little bit more information than just my name. This response to a project that I found on BeHance actually creates a different image for the packaging each time the algorithm is used. In this case it works for the project, however, with my postcards, it is more of a one off. There is no need to build up an identity for a company based on this. It needs to represent me in the one moment it is opened. Maybe it would be best for me to avoid the glitch pattern or digital aesthetic on this occasion as there is already a lot of visual noise being represented within the postcards so adding it to the packaging could become too overpowering for the eye.
IS Creative Studio. (n.d.) Ficciones Asiáticas [online] available at < http:// iscreativestudio.com/project/ficciones-asiaticas/> [17 October 2018]
Viannay, V. (n.d.) Untitled [online] available at < http://vviannay.blogspot.com> [17 October 2018]
Making my work interactive reveals a new dimension to the work. With this assignment, it goes with the postdigital aesthetic that I explained before, combining both new and old media. These two examples show two different ways that I could approach this. Firstly, I could make an envelope that tells its own story, it requires it’s own reading separate from the postcards. This doesn’t have to be a lot of text like the example on the right, but as you unfold the pages it reveals a story prior to the main story (the postcards). Although this could be a good option, I feel like this would be too much. The focus needs to be on the postcards and their content, not the content of an envelope. Similarly, there would be too much reading to do in terms of the packaging as well as the postcards that aren’t your stereotypical kind of design. They require a little bit more work and overall, the results could end up just being too much work. This second example on the left, although the structure isn’t as complex, it does it’s function. If I wanted, it can become more complex, instead of using a block colour, something else could be used to encase the postcards but structurally, I think this is something that I need to try as it won’t make the postcards too long to read. The aim of any postcard is to be a quick read, get an update on someone else’s adventures, not to read a book like the above packaging would be!
Packaging ideas: My main interest within my work is the digital culture, how it is effecting the way our work is presented and how our identities are represented online. So maybe completely contrasting this would be interesting. For example using my birth certificate. This is how the government views me. This is an official record that cannot be misinterpreted through the internet. The only kind of place you are going to go looking for this document is on a family history website. Everything on there is factual based, there is no possibility to build an alternative identity like there is on social media. You also donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go looking for social acceptance but a clarification of identity through facts. It would also highlight one of my interests outside of my work because tracing my family history is something that I have been focusing on a lot over summer. I have managed to go back to the 1780s and discover multiple relatives, some people that I knew as friends before, have turned out to be fifth cousins. I was thinking of using a thicker card for the postcards but for the envelope I think that using a thinner paper would represent so much more. It would almost represent the density of information presented. My birth certificate shows so much less about me as a person compared to the postcards and the difference in density between the two would represent this.
What do I write on the back? I have already decided that I want to hand write on the back of these as I feel like it will bring the traditional aesthetic of a postcard to life but also it will use the combintion of new and old media that is typical of the post-digital, to highlight this influence within some of my work.
The Digital Me. Being ginger is a large part of my identity when someone gets to know me and with this image, I wanted to highlight that I do have these tones within my ‘real appearance’ but online this isn’t always the case. Our online data gets broken down and rearranged so that the image is never the same so it is clear that there is someone within this work, but it isn’t clear it is me. This references my interest in the digital culture and the loss of identities online that make up a big part of my photographic work.
When moving to uni, being classed as ‘the posh one’ became a big part of my identity to start with. When moving to a new place like this you are reminded of your roots and I guess I am lucky to have grown up in such a stunning place as Oxford. As a cultural influence, this is one of the best places I could have asked for. Everywhere I go, not only is there the stunning university buildings but archives and research centres to go and explore. Using Oxford as the backdrop to one of my postcards seemed the perfect way to highlight one of the biggest cultural influences for me. Combining this with the 70s geometric pattern allowed for something a little more experimental, maybe something that is missing within Oxford.
My Photography work is constantly changing and I think these rubiks cubes highlight that. The work is always changing the way it looks depending on how the audience interact with it. Once again the work highlights the way in which we interact online and the issues surrounding online identities.
To go alongside the Oxford postcard, I felt it important to show my other influence, Coventry. Although it isn’t the most artistically inspiring place with all the concrete, it is where I get most of my inspiration from as I am surrounded by other creatives. It only ever seemed like a place I would study but Coventry has grown on me and you start to notice the small details. Also, as it is so grey and concrete, it is the perfect canvas for me to apply some of my style and colour to!
My work rarely utilises text and I think this is something I wanted to show in the last postcard. Text is a big part of graphic design and I need to begin to utilise this more. The text is often needed to explain my work as it can get a bit complicated. In the last two years, this is the only piece that has actually had any text in yet it still uses my typical style so I know it can be done and it has to be done. This effectively highlights what I want to develop over the next year - my design skills to be encorporated to my photography work and vise versa.
Paper Types Traditionally I would go for a photo printing paper, something like Matt or Satin however, I wanted the writing on the back to not just look like an after thought or a necessary part of the process so the paper needed to be the same on both sides, which it never is with photography paper. Therefore, I began to look at card and textured paper. Although the choice of a regular card seems quite boring, it fits the function. However, everything I tried just wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t printing the colours correctly so I decided to go back to printing on photo paper as the contrast and colours were exactly how I wanted them. Also, I made sure that the back of the photo paper wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the horrible textured type that you can sometimes get from printers (it also has writing all over the back) so by buying my own high quality printing paper, I eliminated these issues.
Above can be seen the images when printed on card and compared to the image on the opposit page, it is really clear how different the colours are. They were too flat and the colours didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pop as they did on screen. As artistic postcards, these need to stand out and these did not fulfil this function. The final images printed on to Oyster Pearl Paper. Although it cannot be seen on this image, when you receive these postcards it is clear that the printer left some horizontal lines across the postcards. To some people this would be annoying however, based on what I am trying to portray with these postcards, I thought the natural â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;glitchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or error would be a welcome addition to my work. Everything else was a forced, designed glitch whereas, these printer marks were something out of my control.
In a way, with this project, I was my own about me, showing my interests, my
client. I had to create a set of postcard influences and my photography work.
Through this series, it is clear that I have established a style of design that I like. However, what I was able to start developing, was different ways of creating a similar look. I hadn’t, up until this point, created a piece of work that was so directly influenced by Sabato Visconti using the same methods as he does in his work. Combining his methods, alongside some of my own, I was able to create some really interesting responses that have made me start thinking about the work I am producing in a new way. Although I have obviously taken influence from other artists for multiple years, it has made me realise that sometimes going back to the basics of not just finding visuals that are similar, but trying to replicate their methods, can stimulate the best ideas and test your own boundaries and not just the boundaries of your own work. As a result of this, I think that the postcards not only show something about me but show how I am investigating my own identity through them. Photography has obviously been a very big influence during recent years but it is about transitioning my brain to think in new ways about the same work just under a different title. Creating this work has reminded me of what I always enjoy but it has also introduced me to new aspects of both photography and graphic design that perhaps I need to explore more. Visual textures being one of these. Although this features in my work in various degrees, trying to enforce it within purely digital work can be hard and the way that I have been doing this is very different to the way I would be doing it on more commercial projects which means, everything I think I have started to understand, I really haven’t. I have only touched the surface and through this course I am hoping to develop all of these aspects even further. Being able to work with each component within different circumstances will come with time but also experimentation. My enjoyment for experimental work has only just been touched upon here but in producing these postcards, you as an audience have been able to learn more about me, and in turn I have been able to learn more about the way I work and what I want to achieve through this course.
Tutor’s Feedback: Your submission overall showed: - Good experimentation with image-making (digital and post production) and use of technical skills in Photoshop - Evidence of risk taking in order to visualise your ideas - Sound analytical thinking - Good experimentation with paper folding and paper stock - A range of visual research for inspiration and direction - Some clear analysis of composition and use of “blank space” You could improve: - The visual language of postcards: Ask yourself “What makes a postcard look like a postcard?” Consider the layout of the back of a postcard? What text placement clues are you given? - Your learning log by evaluating what you have done and how this has helped you to understand better the processes of graphic design and visual communication.
Development:
What visual communication techniques are used on postcards? Both front and back - On the front there is an image of a generic tourist spot. It proves to the reader that the sender has been to the place shown. It is supposed to show off what they have been able to see whilst the receiver is at home. - Some of these examples have borders, the image is rarely full bleed as the postcard also needs to say where this place is. Whether the border used is a full border of just on one side, it still features. - These act as a way of advertising in a way, both to the sender and receiver. You want to send a postcard that shows this amazing place and has an image on that you probably havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been able to replicate so there is also the encouragement to keep this for your own personal use (scrapbook/memories). Equally, it is supposed to show the receiver how amazing this place also is and make them want to go and visit the country. - The back is kept very simple. It is split in two halves, one for your message, and one with the lines to write an address. - The destination is also put on the back but this wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t apply to my own work. - There is also space for a stamp so that the postcard can actually be functional.
What visual communication techniques are used by artistic postcards? - The back of the postcards features the name of the artist and the title. Sometimes a little more information features such as the exhibition or the gallery but it is important to credit the artist for their work. - There is no structure to the reverse of the postcards like there is on a typical postcard. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t set up to be sent, there is no space for a stamp, or lines to write the address. - The front is fairly similar in terms of structure. There is an image that sometimes has a border but there are also examples of full bleed images for these designs. - Paper stock is generally the same as the tourist postcards. They are a sturdy card that will withstand the marks of being transported and these marks add to the authenticity of the product. - As an artistic postcard, the intention obviously isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t there to send them in the same way so some paper choices were a little lighter, more textured and considered within the artistic sense. They were focused on how the buyer interacted with them, it is less about the sender and receiver as there is only one person within this process.
Although the aesthetic of the artistic postcard fits with my work best, the visual communication of these isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so widely understood like a tourist postcard. Therefore, when making the adaptations as suggested by my tutor, it is important to use the visual language that will be more widely understood. This can be reflected in the below designs.
Evaluation: This first assignment was definitely a learning curve for me. After revisiting it, I realised how much documentation that the learning log contained instead of highlighting the important learning points that I had made throughout the process. In doing so I often overlooked my research and the visual communication techniques that made this a postcard. Although I continuously asked commented that what I was producing wasn’t a traditional postcard, at the same time, I was struggling to identify exactly what made it a postcard or how I needed to convert my designs. My work typically doesn’t feature as postcards and when they do, it would be an artistic postcard. This has a different set of visual communication techniques that they use and which means not everyone may identify these to be postcards. Therefore, it was important to identify what was a postcard. In terms of creativity and experimentation here, I was able to try different techniques that I hadn’t tried before, mainly the sphere postcard that appeared 3D. Making something appear 3D out of 2D patterns was something that I always struggled with and here it proved really effective. Unfortunately, this didn’t get used in the end but it makes me want to experiment with different ways of using gradients in order to see the effects that can be produced. My research into other artists and the digital culture helped to place these designs and my style. However, looking back now, this style doesn’t fit the typical style of imagery that is found on postcards. It involves something a lot simpler in order to make it easier to read for the audience, the main reading aspect of a postcard is the text that is added by the sender on the back, instead of the actual image. In this way my visualisation skills based on researh needed to be improved but without using this style, it isn’t something that could have been explained any other way to the receiver. The packaging that the postcards are sent in help to add another layer to the work. The purpose of this was to contradict the digitalisation of imagery online and show that something has a real certificate of presence, me. As each postcard explains something about me, it still doesn’t prove my existence when put online, it just becomes more numbers so this packaging is designed to contradict this. Although this all makes the postcards, something that is very simple, become very complicated I think that shows a lot about me! I like to overcomplicate things. This is something that I want to continue to work on throughout the module as layering up work with so many meanings will become confusing for readers.