K AT R I N A S C OT T Audiences & Contexts and Implementation
QUESTION 1 Name? The simplicity of this question is clever, because I thought I can not just put my name. That is when I experimented with processes, such as embossing, screen printing, hand written text and exploring what my name signifies. It then lead to me think of how important a name is; everyone has one. It is our label. My final piece shown right combines all of this exploration.
Above is my chosen final piece for question 1.
QUESTION 2 Age? I experimented with simply embossing my age, with a smiley face, to represent that I feel being 21 is a great age and an age that a lot of people say to me “I wish I was 21 again�. I also wanted to try out showing my age through imagery. This was from photos that were taking from my 21st birthday celebrations, but wanted to distort them slightly so it would be a piece to look at closer to see the clues to my age. I showed some of my pieces I had done to people I got to work with on placement at Haymarket publishers. Carl and Rikki liked this piece. They said it takes them back to how much fun they had when they were 21 and it sparked a conversation in the whole studio about Las Vegas. I feel if my work can do that then it has achieved what I aimed to do.
QUESTION 3 Place of birth? The reason for choosing my birth certificate, is from answering this question it revealed a hidden family secret. I asked my mum if I could look at my birth certificate, because I never actually have before. It stated my place of birth was Sutton, as I was born in St Heliar hospital. Then I noticed my mum had Butcher as a surname, which then led her to tell me she had been married before. To think I may have never of known if I had not asked for my birth certificate, so this question lead me to find out more about my mums past.
Shown left is my nan pictured with the final piece. As she is my only grandparent left, so is the head of the family, I wanted to seek her opinion of this piece.
QUESTION 4 Position in family? I used the idea of a family tree that I got inspiration from looking at google images and http://www.wilkie-collins.info/ family_tree.htm. This family tree is different, as it is based around me and states what position I have in every part of my family. This was one of the pieces that I showed at the family and friends presentation I had at my house.
QUESTION 5 What are your hobbies? My main passions are friends, family, horse riding, manual/ digital photography, being creative and generally to have fun. I wanted to express all that in a drawn piece of work. This was to be a picture that I could look at and think it summarises what I like, so that others can see what my hobbies are in one piece. I displayed it in an art shop, as I think it fits in nicely in that environment and almost blends in. An art shop is a place generally where people that would appreciate art would go, so I thought that is an appropriate place to display work, until anyone working in the shop realises.
QUESTION 6 Where do you live now? I photographed my house where I live with my family, as I am lucky enough to live close to uni so can commute. I wanted to capture it using a new process, so chose to use my camera obscura I made in the workshop, as I found it fascinating how it worked. I then took a photograph of the image it made in the camera obscura. It created an interesting perspective of the house where I live.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/37244678 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
THE REASON BEHIND THE ANSWER
When I look at how my nan and grandad met at 14 years old and were happily married together until their eighties when my grandad passed away, it was the first thing that came to me to answer this question. It made me think how rare that is in society today and I bet when I’m in my eighties it will be an exceptional occasion if a couple has been married that long. To portray it being a long time that they were together and the era that they met, I made it a black and white old style looking film. I uploaded it on vimeo and my blog, so it can be seen by others. I also exhibited it in the uni exhibition and my friends and family presentation.
QUESTION 7 What is the most beautiful thing in the world? The images show four stills from the final film. It was created using the old and new photographs of my nan and grandad.
The link to the book- http://issuu.com/katrina.scott/docs/what_is_graphic_design and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
QUESTION 8 What is Graphic Design? I found a great quote in the book ‘The art of looking sideways’ by Michel de Montaigne, “ I quote others only the better to express myself.” This gave me inspiration in how to answer this question; to get quotes from others, to get a rounded view of what Graphic Design is. It made me think how hard it is to answer this question. This lead me to finish on the quote I made, “Graphic Design is what you interpret it to be.” This is because everyone has their own opinion on what it is. I enjoyed researching others views and believe it has made me think more about what it is. I made the book in Indesign and exported it as a pdf, so I could upload it to issuu.com to allow a wider audience to see it. Within one day it had eight views. I hoped it could be a piece of work to inspire other’s, and I think I have achieved that.
Shown left is my five famous logo’s that I drew from memory with my eyes closed.
QUESTION 9 Re-draw a famous logo from memory with your eyes closed. I did not just want to do one logo and move on, I wanted to explore into this question more. I was interested if other people would choose the same logos as me and if there is any logo’s that are most popular, therefore the most memorable brand. It was a way of interacting with an audience to solve an answer. Out of the ten drawings of five logos, nine drew a nike tick. This shows what a strong brand it is, but was it because it was an easy logo to draw with your eyes closed? The logos chosen to draw were all quite similar, which I believe are the logos that are projected at society the most.
Q U E S T I O N 10 Make an image using thumbprints. This screen print was to portray how our thumbprints are an integral part of our identity. I think it is amazing that no one can have the same thumb print, everyone’s is unique to them. This has allowed us to use it to catch criminals and solve crimes that could not be done before forensic investigation. It made me think about how powerful our prints can be. This piece represents this by replacing his face, which we associate with recognising someone, with his thumbprint. This displays how his thumbprint is as or even more important as his face in his identity. It was created to be a thought provoking piece.
Q U E S T I O N 11 What annoys you the most in others? This was a brilliant personal question for me. Being a blonde female I do think a lot of people prejudge me. I have even been told when starting a new job, “I thought you were going to be a bitch when I saw you, but your actually really sweet”. I think it is so unfair to judge anyone on their looks no matter what they look like. Having blonde hair I have had many people assume I am a ‘dumb blonde’, but it gives me more ambition to prove I am not. Looks can be a help and a hindrance. I believe to treat everyone how I want to be treated and never form opinions of anyone until I can actually say, I know them.
Q U E S T I O N 12 Print a T-shirt with a design that promotes something inappropriate. The type of person I am I find it hard to be offensive or too inappropriate, so it took a while to make something I was comfortable in wearing. From seeing the quote by Mark Twain ‘Humour is like a frog; if you dissect it, it dies.’ It made me laugh and think to go for something that is funny and slightly rude, that does not need to be dissected, it is what it is. It ended up being a quite feminist statement, but ‘tongue and cheek’. I create a supported illustration to create a more interesting design than just words. I printed it myself, one by using iron on transfers. I printed the design in reverse on the special transfer paper and then the heat from ironing it produces the print. The other one was created using screen printing.
Q U E S T I O N 13 What languages do you speak? My first language is English and I speak a little German from taking it for GCSE. I created a simple design using the countries flags and used the appropriate language of each to convey this. It also made me think how I believe it is due to English being spoken worldwide that makes us a lazy country to learn other languages. At school I do not feel we are taught early enough and in little detail, which makes it hard to pick up a language fluently.
Q U E S T I O N 14 Describe the synopsis for a famous film in fifty words or less, and make it into an A2 poster using a combination of analogue and digital processes. I chose the film ‘Pretty Woman’, not only because it is one of my favourite classic romantic comedies, but I was analysing it as part as my contextual studies essay at the time I approached this question. This made my synopsis come from a different perspective. Instead of relaying the whole story I summarised in one line about it being a fairy tale coming true and went on to state there is more to it. It shows the prejudice women had on ladies from a lower class and how a female can be taught to be feminine, which was relevant to my question in gender and identity. The analogue processes I used were drawing the famous pose of Julie Roberts and Richard Gere, screen printing for the title, photography for the background which was then manipulated on the computer. Along side this digital process I put all the elements into Photoshop to compose it into a poster and add the text of my synopsis.
Putting the A2 poster in context.
The link to the animation- https://vimeo.com/41711693 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
L E A R N I N G 3 D V I Z S O F T WA R E U S E D F O R B R O A D C A S T I N G
During my work experience at Sky News I was taught how to use the software they use to create their animations for broadcasting. I asked if I could record myself playing around with the software to create a design and they loved my idea of using time lapse photography to capture this. After showing all of the graphics team my finished video, they were impressed how quick I had picked up the new skill and wanted to create a time lapse animation of the studio. From learning this skill I got to collaborate with Chris from the viz team to create an animation that got played out on Sky News and learnt a transferable skill that will help me in the future.
Q U E S T I O N 15 Learn a new skill and record yourself doing it. The images show four stills from the stop frame animation. It was created using time lapse photography, capturing stills of creating an animation using the new 3D viz software I was learning. The photographs were then put into final cut pro to be put together, finishing with the animations I created.
Q U E S T I O N 16 What is psychology? What I find interesting is that words we use today can normally be researched back to an old language used and can have symbols representing them. Therefore I looked into how the word psychology was put together and found out it originated from the Greek language.
Q U E S T I O N 17 What is semiotics? I asked an expert, Greg Rowland, what semiotics was, as he studied semiotics and cultural theory at Oxford University. My final piece was my email conversation I had between him and a fellow college to gain the answer.
Q U E S T I O N 18 What is your favourite colour? I wanted to make a statement piece that could be observed visually on me. I went to London and walked around with ‘my favourite colour is turquoise’ on my head and dressed in my favourite colour. I got a few stares, but I expected more. I think this was due to it being in London, as a lot of crazy stuff happens there! I made a photographic piece to record this.
Q U E S T I O N 19 Re-design the rainbow. The quote by Marsha Norman influenced me with this question, “Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you�. A dream that many of us have, is having money, such as wining the lottery. I used this idea to create a rainbow that would rain bank notes and illustrated it in a colourful print and digital based form.
The link to the animation- https://vimeo.com/37284443 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
C R E AT I N G A H A N D D R AW N S T O P F R A M E A N I M AT I O N
I wanted to create a fun and original animation to answer this question. It allows drawn text to come to life and finishes with a couple of figures moving. It represents what I enjoy doing, when I have had a bad day I will just doodle. It might not be a great picture, but it releases what ever is going on in my mind. It is a pleasure that solves problems. I draw to create ideas, draw to relief stress, draw when I bored and if I have a problem putting pen to paper makes me think of an idea to resolve it. I uploaded it to vimeo and my blog, so a wide audience can see it on the internet.
QUESTION 20 What in your life is your greatest source of pleasure? The images show four stills from the stop frame animation. It was created by drawing the background and text, then in photoshop moving the text frame by frame. It was exported at 6fps using the animation part of photoshop.
Q U E S T I O N 21 A N D 5 6 If you were a teacher what brief would you propose. And complete the project you outlined in response to question 21. It was great to see what a tutor has to think about when writing the brief and an opportunity to create a brief I wanted to explore. It was a chance to investigate more into one of my hobbies, photography.
PUBLISHING MY BOOK
I published my book on issuu.com to be accessible to a range of people that may benefit from my exploration in my personal investigation. The link to the book- http://issuu.com/katrina.scott/docs/ personal_project and is uploaded onto my blog- http:// katrina.gdnm.org/
QUESTION 22 What is abstraction? I showed the meaning of abstraction through creating an image rather than in written form. The lose of facial features represents abstraction. This was shown in my family presentation, which people thought looked ‘freaky’.
QUESTION 23 Using info-graphics, construct a ‘portrait’ of yourself. My piece of info-graphics is representing what I believe are my important attributes, which may differ to others opinion. I think personality and intellect are the most important qualities I have. Therefore the segments for these are the biggest. Depending on what I feel is important, the smaller the segment gets the less importance it is to me. The book, ‘Designing Infographics’ by Eric K. Meyer was an inspirational read to help design an info-graphic.
Q U E S T I O N 24 What is Dogma? The most useful definition was found in the Oxford dictionary. Now with the internet it is not used enough! This piece represents getting back to how everyone used to find out the meaning of words before the internet.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/40974307 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
SECRET FILMING
I had to bend the rules slightly, as in order for this secret mission to work the plane had to made out of a twenty dollar bill. This was so it looked like money made into a plane. Therefore it could not be too large. However the image (bottom right) shows it as a large plane! The 20 dollar bill was my hidden slogan. The slogan is the message that the imagery on a 20 dollar bill reveals when folded in certain ways, suggesting prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks (shown in question 30). I released the plane to fly and filmed the journey. It shows live interaction with an audience and a man picking it up thinking it is money and realising it is just a plane! It was uploaded to vimeo and my blog and was shown in the boileroom exhibit (bottom left).
QUESTION 25 Make a large folded-paper aeroplane, paint a slogan on it, which you think will revolutionize your life and film it flying somewhere. The images show four stills from the film. It was filmed using my iphone HD video camera, so I could do it discretely. It was edited using imovie.
QUESTION 26 What is sacred? I used hand made type, digital type and photography to make this piece. The title is made from letters that have words on them, to summarise I have used words to define what it is. It reveals a variety of different explanations for answering this question, ending with my opinion on what is sacred.
QU ESTION 27 What is profane? The cracked pavement symbolises the destruction that war causes from fighting about religion. Being profane is a form of swearing and cursing, so I demonstrated this through the action of written speech.
QUESTION 28 Recreate, improve, alter, destroy, an iconic image. I chose to recreate and alter the image of the iconic lady, Marilyn Monroe. I chose her because she died before she grew old, so wanted to show what she would look like if she had got old. In a way I have destroyed the mental image of her, as she is forever remembered as a beautiful woman because she died in her prime. On the other hand I feel I have improved it, because I have given the chance to see her as we have never seen her before. Even after giving her aging skin, her beauty shines through and I believe if she had lived to an old age she would of been an eternal beauty.
QUESTION 29 Who is the most important person in your life? I would love to of said my whole family, but the question says a person, so as many daughters would say it has to be my mum. She has brought me up to be the person I am and she is there for me no matter what. A mothers love is unconditional and that is special. I screen printed a favourite image of my mums and gave it to her on mothers day, as for this question she was my audience.
QUESTION 30 Make a structure out of paper and either; photograph it/ film it/ animate it. This follows on from question 25 and reveals the images that a twenty dollar bill creates when folding it in certain ways. It shows the pentagon ablaze, twin towers in smoke and spelling out Osama. I feel these structures of folded paper create a thought provoking piece.
Q U E S T I O N 31 What makes you happy? I used a black and white manual camera to take photographs of my friends mouth as if she was doing a big loud laugh. If people around me are not happy that makes me unhappy and vice versa. There is nothing more infectious than seeing others laughing. This image was made to make an audience think about the influence people around them have and hopefully, like me, it is a happy one!
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/41307460 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
TH E M E RG E
I wanted to put a twist on this question and merge myself into my dog and pretend I was trapped in the dog (which is expressed in the voice over) and get my dog to act for me. It was a challenge; as it is said, never work with animals, but I got the result I wanted. I staged it as if it was a hand held camera, so not perfect, to be as if it is being filmed by the person who done the merge and it is their experimental video. It was uploaded to vimeo and my blog to publish to an audience and was shown to friends and family who thought it was amusing. It is a bonus suki (my dog)is cute, as it attracts more of an audience.
QU ESTION 32 Make a film of yourself being an animal. The images show four stills from the film. The first part is made from photographs and then it was filmed using a HD video camera. It was all edited using imovie and exported into quicktime.
QU ESTION 33 Why are you here? A deep question I thought and one that made me think. The only real answer I could come up with is ‘to be me’. It is a question that I think when I am older I will be able to answer better, as I may have done something that I thought was the reason to be here, but for now I believe I am here to be myself. I used my hand made type face to reflect the personal writing that is on the piece and my hand drawn eye, as I feel eyes say a lot about someone. I presented this piece of work on a world map (shown top, right) to represent I am myself, no matter where I am in the world.
QUESTION 34 What happens after death? I never have taken the time to think about this, but I do believe in ghosts. I have had personal experiences that make me think that ghosts exist. Whether ghosts are true or not, I believe the whole idea that as long as were alive we will never find out is fascinating. It means it will never be known to the living, which allows everyone to think differently. As it is an opinion I expressed my feelings in a visual form and exhibited it at the uni feed back presentation to gain other peoples judgements of my work, one of which was this piece. My ghost image (shown on the next page) received really positive feedback.
QUESTION 35 Make a contemporary memento-mori image. From looking at memento-mori work I noticed commonly used objects were a skull, candles, wine, books and I wanted to use these objects, but a modern version which are personal to me. Instead of a wine bottle, vodka (as it is a favourite spirit of mine), my graphic design books, horse clock, money candles, a mac and a modern looking skull. It is for an audience to get a look into my interests in the style of a memento-mori.
QUESTION 36 What is greed? I made this piece from a solarised image of money and I played around with the type to create an interesting layout for the definition, to make it more eye-catching for an audience.
Q U E STION 37 What is waste? My first thought of what is waste was recycling and general rubbish, but when I thought deeper about what I believe is a waste I thought about things that annoyed me. This made the basis for my answer in form of a sign. It was displayed in the appropriate context of the job centre where they go and get their benefits.
QUESTION 38 Make a pin-hole camera out of something disposable and take a picture with it. Out of a watermelon I made my pin hole camera. I put photographic paper in the back opposite the hole, which was then developed using the darkroom. The images were produced to carry on my theme of question 34, to create a ghostly presence. I think a pinhole camera is the perfect instrument to make this. Being unique photographs it makes it more appealing for an audience and why I chose to publish them as part of my printed book. I produced negative prints (which are the four on the top row) and then a reverse print. The reverse print, I placed the photographic paper face up under the enlarger and placed the pinhole image face down on top of the photographic paper, I covered it with a piece of glass and exposed the photographic paper. Then I developed it as normal.
QUESTION 39 What is success? The contents is made from quotes that other people have said about success. I think it is an inspiration piece, that can stand up any where as decoration for the home. My parents chose the position of putting it in the dinning room, so people can look at it and get motivated. The red colour also goes with the candles and plant we have in that room.
QUESTION 40 What is failure? From being at uni I have learnt failure is something I can learn from, so wanted to make this into a motivational poster. The imagery of my blank film, reiterates this, as what was a disaster of my film not coming out, has now been used in this piece as the perfect image. I have encountered many mistakes and mishaps, which can be stressful, but I always try to turn a negative into a positive.
Q U E S T I O N 41 Explain the Zen doctrine in twenty words or less, typeset and print it. My challenge to myself was to summarise it in 2 words. For a complicated subject two words was tough, but I think ‘inner peace’ picks out the main ethos of this Buddhist practise. It was the first time I have type set and printed a piece of text before and realised what a skill it is. It also made me think about leading and spacing more.
QUESTION 42 What do you think the qualities of life fully lived? I needed to ask someone that has lived their life to answer this question, because I don’t think at 21 I know. Therefore I asked my nan, who has 87 years of experience, what she felt. I wanted it to be framed, as it is a piece of work that should be displayed and respected as it holds words of wisdom.
QUESTION 43 Make a piece of work using a book. A popular, easy to read book for me and my mums is ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, so I chose to make something from it. I went to a charity shop which had a copy of the book, so I did not have to cut up my own personal one. I also found a lamp base, with no lamp shade. It was then my idea of creating a lamp shade out of pages from the book came to me. I wanted it to look good enough to use as a bedside lamp for my mums bedroom, as she did not have one. With the technique of paper mache I create a unique, personalised lamp, that fits the context of a bedroom and does the practical job of giving light to read at night. I love that the lamp is made out of a book, with the function to assist reading a book.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/41452157 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
C R E AT I N G A F I L M O F T H O U G H T S
Similar to question 8, what is Graphic Design, there is many different views and opinions. Myself and Sophia collaborated on making it to get the perspective of graphic design students and non-graphic design students at a range of ages. It was great to interact with an audience and produce something that other people can take something from. I uploaded it on to vimeo and my blog for other’s to see. I think the blog was really appropriate for this, as it is an answer to a question us as Graphic students should explore.
QUESTION 44 What is the purpose of design? The images show four stills from the film. We made it out of four videos and I edited it and put it together using imovie. The theme was to go through a scrap book focusing on an image which develops into the answer.
QUESTION 45 Design and make something to sell. Make twelve of them, sell eleven, and keep one. Spend no more than 25 pound on this project. I decided to make a bag for the target audience of uni students, as that is where I was going to sell it. I used my cute dog to entice customers and related it to a uni life style (At uni.. Get legless). Each bag cost 40p to make and as they were made for students I wanted to sell them cheap at £2, making a profit margin of £1.60 per bag. Overall that gave me a total profit of £17.60. It was small scale, so I was happy with that and after selling them all quite quickly it was a great price to get them all sold. If I were to make more I could then increase the price. I have already got friends asking me to make them personalised ones. The popularity of them can be seen on the comments and likes I got from facebook (shown in the top right corner). I sold them from advertising in the pop up show, friends that go to other uni’s and even a lady from my dads work bought one for her daughter.
QUESTION 46 What is leisure? The first thing I think of associated with leisure is freedom. The free time to do hobbies and interests. To me what represents freedom is a bird. I think it is because they can fly. The thought of flying seems so relaxing and there is the well known saying “as free as a bird”. Therefore I etched the image of a bird with the title ‘leisure is freedom’. I pictured it in the context of a tree, as that is what I associate with part of a birds environment. It was exhibited at the pop up show and it was also modelled on the wall to show how at any size this image would look great as decoration for a home.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/40975954 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
T H E A N N OY I N G D I S H WA S H E R
This film was created to turn an annoying mundane activity of unloading the dishwasher, that has to be done everyday, and replicating that annoyance by using the original sound recording speeded up to create just as annoying noise. It is a film that is hard to listen to, but it gets hypnotic. It was turning what is a boring activity into something more. It is uploaded it to vimeo and my blog to externalise the video.
Q U E S T I O N 47 Make a looped animation sequence of a mundane activity. My first version: The images show four stills from the film. It was filmed with a HD video camera and edited using final cut pro. The scene is looped and increased in speed. This creates unique music.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/41013538 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
H O W M U C H T I M E I S WA S T E D M A K I N G T E A ?
When looking at how much me and my family make tea it made me think, how much time does the world spend doing this mundane activity? Therefore to reflect this, throughout the video an on-going clock sound track is played. Again it was uploaded it to vimeo and my blog to externalise the video.
Q U E S T I O N 47 Make a looped animation sequence of a mundane activity. My second version: The images show four stills from the film. Again it was filmed with a HD video camera and edited using final cut pro. The scene is looped and increased in speed to make the process of making tea take only a couple of seconds.
QUESTION 48 What is re-appropriation? I have never come across this word before, so was interesting to find out what it meant. It was fascinating that the word is so new that most dictionaries do not list it. I turned the information I found on my mobile internet (picture top left) into a piece of work (shown beneath). When I was browsing the internet site Ted, as it always has interesting videos and information on there, I came across an article involving the word reapportion and by putting it in to context it help explains the meaning.
The link to the film- https://vimeo.com/37382603 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
MAKING A FILM OUT OF FILMS
I wanted all the clips I had downloaded to flow together and create one story. It starts by asking for a video (lifted from an advert from YouTube) and goes into a crowd cheering, then to Barack Obama singing, leading to Adele being cut off and finishes with the same style as the beginning. It has the theme of a concert and looking at performances, a long with behind the scene clips. The images and sound tracks merge well. To put my work out there to be critiqued I have played it in my uni presentation, boileroom exhibition, vimeo and my blog. This externalised my work and gave me an opportunity to gain feed back.
QUESTION 49 Make a video from content lifted directly from the YouTube home page. (1 minute duration). The images show four stills from the film. I used a clip converter to get the videos off YouTube and convert them to a .mov file. I then edited it together in Final Cut Pro.
QUESTION 50 What is theology? I knew what it meant so I wanted to discover what the word broken down means. I presented this in a visually stimulating way to make it more interesting.
Q U E S T I O N 51 What is secular? I have never used yahoo answers before and thought this would be a great opportunity to ask other people what it means and can interact with others online. It was a quick way to get an answer from other people’s perspective, as my first response was within half an hour. It is also published on the site for other people to see, so my question and the answers can be used to help anyone.
Q U E S TI O N 52 What is shaman? When I found out it was a person having access to, and influence in, the world of spirits; instead of just a written definition I wanted to create an original piece of work using a technique I have never done before. Using the path tool, layers, masks and 2 images on photoshop I created this 3 dimensional image representing a person connected with spirit world. The image can work with the definition and alone. It has been exhibited at uni and myself, as well as from the feed back I received, feel the new technique I learnt is very effective.
QU ESTION 53 Design a gravestone for a famous designer. I chose Milton Glaser as he has created a lot of iconic work, one of which being the ‘I love New York’ logo. This was the inspiration for my gravestone design for him. Being a designer he needed a modern looking gravestone that represents his work, which from looking at it in context of a graveyard, (pictured at the top of the page) it full fills this.
The link to the stop frame animation- https://vimeo.com/40655612 and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
T H E P L AY- D O H T I TA N I C
This was another collaboration piece with Sophia to recreate the cultural event of the Titanic sinking. We made the scene and photographed it together and then I edited it after in imovie. It was made black and white and in an old fashioned style to represent that it was an event that happened one hundred years ago. We felt it was an appropriate choice to choose being the one hundred year anniversary this year and was in the news a lot to make it a current topic of discussion. I uploaded it to the uni televisions to get it played at the pop up show (pictured below) to get it out into the public and uploaded it on vimeo and my blog.
QUESTION 54 Re-stage a specific cultural event / moment / image and document it. The props were used out of play-doh to recreate the famous story of the Titanic sinking. It was made out of photographs of each movement and I edited and put it together using imovie and exported into quicktime.
The link to the book- http://issuu.com/katrina.scott/docs/what_is_graphic_design and is uploaded onto my blog- http://katrina.gdnm.org/
O P I N I O N S O F W H AT A R E C O L L E G E N E E D S
We wanted to record our own opinions, but thought it would be interesting to see what other people wanted as well. We did not just want to ask people from are class, because that was to easy, we wanted to talk to people we had never talked to before or people that we would not normally ask. It was interesting to find out that everyone wanted a better social environment, such as a bar and more organised events. Me and Sophia felt the same and alongside that was the feeling of collaboration. Whether that is with uni work or nights out. I think lab weeks, especially the one that was in January, is a great way to promote collaboration and embrace the uni community. I published this on vimeo and on the blog. The blog is the most beneficial place for this to be externalised, as it is for the concern of Epsom uni students.
QUESTION 55 What does this college need? The images show four stills from the film. This is a film made from recordings me and Sophia had taken of a selection of people at uni and ending with ourselves. It was then edited and put together to create a film full of opinions and answering the question.
Q U E S T I O N 57 Publishing my work I have published my work in a range of contexts to externalise my pieces and test them in various environments. Places I have externalised my work: - University (feedback presentation and pop- up show) - Internet (vimeo, issuu, facebook) - Websites posting questions (yahoo answer) - Boileroom exhibition - London (filming reactions to my plane and walking around London with art on me) - Sky News - Haymarket - Friends and Family presentation - Job centre windows - Placed in shops - Placed outside in the relevant environment (garden, graveyard) - Used as decor for my house - Published in my printed book In this portfolio I have presented the outcomes of my tested ideas through implementing my work in a range of external contexts that are listed above. I have discussed, while presenting my pieces of work in this portfolio, places where I have published my work. This evaluation will discuss in depth the range of contexts I have covered. I always think in detail about why and where I am externalising pieces of work, because it should always be for a reason. Depending on the place can provoke different responses and portray it differently. Firstly university. Through feedback presentations, discussing with fellow students and the pop-up show, it is a primary source of receiving different responses and opinions on my work. I always take on any criticism and believe it is a way I can improve my work. From the uni presentation I received constructive written feedback that I could take away, digest, and see if there is any improvements that can be made. The Internet. Websites such as Vimeo, issuu and facebook are a tool for world wide exposure. It is easily accessible and can publish my work to a wide range of people. It can give me just as much feed back as being in a room with someone, the only difference is that is virtual. Another useful website is ‘yahoo answer’ where you can post questions that anyone can respond to. This gave me a chance to get a response from a diverse range of people, just by posting my question on the site. It also remains there, so not only has it helped myself but it can be seen by others to help them in the future. The boileroom exhibition was my first real external exhibit. It not only was professional practice to display it in our own show, but got great feedback from new people that I could take and improve my films from it. (The feed back forms are pictured left). Being so close to London is something that we are very lucky to have. I think London is a great place to test ideas and gain feed back. To publish my work I filmed reactions to my plane and walking around London with art on me. What I love is that I think a lot more is acceptable there. I was walking around with writing on my head and a lot of people looked, but were not as surprised as if I was in the quiet broadway of Stoneleigh near where I live.
From doing work placement it was a great opportunity to gain knowledge and more professional opinions, as well as from tutors, about my work. At Sky News I got to show my stop frame animation to the whole team and it felt great when talented designers were impressed how quick I learnt and what I was able to produce. Also with my work experience at Haymarket I got to show them my blog and pieces of work, where they gave me tips for improvements and comment on what they thought worked well. Through this I have the opportunity to work with them now, where I will act like a sponge to learn from people with knowledge and experience. It was great to share what I had been producing with my friends and family. Creating a little presentation by picking up pieces of work and talking about them and letting them be passed around. It gave me a chance for them to understand more about my course and see what I am doing. Also to see why I make such a mess in the kitchen! It is important to always think about where to externalise work and make sure it is appropriate. For question 37 it was fitting to put the symbolic poster up in the Job centre window to reach the people I am talking about. I placed work in a shop for question 5 as I felt it almost blended in, as it suited the environment so much. However places like that work is not exhibited there very long, because someone in the shop will tidy it away or move it. Nevertheless, great for a mini exhibit and once I take a picture then it can last forever. When placing it outside I think of the relevant environment to put it in. For example question 46 being based on a bird was appropriate to photograph the piece in a tree. Also with the gravestone design it had to be seen in the environment of a graveyard to see what it would look like in context. The same as the ghost image works brilliant there to. For certain pieces they can make very original decoration for a house hold. I created the lamp that looks amazing for my parents bedroom and the inspirational success ordainment for the dining room. These are unique, which make them statement pieces for displaying in a house. Finally my printed book publication allowed me to editorialize my work and make hard independent judgements in selecting my top twenty pieces. It publishes my work in a unique book form, which I am really proud of. (Pictured in the 5 images right).
E VA L U AT I O N Audiences & Contexts and Implementation I feel this semester has been my biggest challenge since I came to University; but with every big challenge I feel it produces the best results. It makes me push myself and test my abilities. Compared to previous briefs this one was different, where we are normally set about five briefs a semester, this time it was like having fifty six briefs. This meant I put my skills in time management, that I have learnt, into good use to make sure I had time to complete them all. I am also proud of myself for completing this brief early (at the original date) and feel this is tribute to becoming a well organised person, which I never thought I could be. I had to get my head around not being able to spend weeks on a question. The questions had to be prioritized, where some I would not spend as much time as others. The hardest thing I found was making a piece of work for a question and I would go back to improve it after feedback and then want to change something else, which could go on and on. It was learning to say to myself ‘leave it and move on’, as a piece of work could forever be altered and having fifty six to do, that is not possible. I believe I have embraced the ambiguities and uncertainties of professional practice, as I have explored many processes to make my pieces of work that have brought about challenges and problems that I have had to overcome. Also I have experienced first hand professional practice by going on work placements for Sky News and Haymarket publishers. While I was in the professional practice of these two great design companies I learnt lots of new skills and over came my fear that I may not be ready for working in industry, because when I was at both places I received great feedback and Haymarket has offered me a free lance job and Sky News said I can go back anytime for more work experience. While I was at Sky News I embraced the ambiguities of using their specialised equipment and even got to play out their graphics and a collaboration animation I worked on was used on air. Since my placements it has influenced me in my uni work to challenge myself more and realise if I put my mind to something I can do it. I have also learnt professional transferable skills that will help me in the future. I have enjoyed testing out my ideas and pieces of work in a range of external contexts to gain an all rounded view of my work. Feed back that I received from uni exhibitions, the boileroom exhibit, friends and family, is vital. It allows me to develop and progress with my work to get the best out of it. I feel it was an important statement at the end of our brief, in particular “your classmates are your world”. I think it is an integral part of uni to share our thoughts and experiences with my fellow students, we can learn from each other and discuss each others opinions. Great examples of these are uni crits, exhibitions, lab weeks and from talking to Paul from class he let me know about the boileroom exhibit, so I got involved to publish my work there as well. I have demonstrated that I can work independently
and corroboratively this semester; as in order to answer the questions I went on an experimental and thought provoking journey for myself, alongside for a couple of questions, working with Sophia. With the process of making work there are always things that can go wrong. I definitely have had a few stressful moments, but have learnt to embrace failure and when ever something goes wrong I make sure I find something positive out of it, which is usually something I can learn from. Prime example was when making my printed publication. I wanted to print and put it all together myself, so bought some double sided glossy paper for my printer at home. Although it said suitable for ink-jet printers my new printer would not print on it. I thought never mind get my old one out the loft! It took two hours to set up and work out how to print double sided properly. At first it worked and then it jammed. Did I give up? No! It took me six hours to print everything, but I did it. And what did I learn, never to buy that paper again! When creating work for each question, I would ask myself the question and just think and make notes. It was a process to make sense of what was going on in my brain. Firstly it would be what initially came to mind and then dive deeper. Considering underlying meanings, contextual and theoretical issues that could create an idea or influence my work. Research is important, even it is just flicking through a book or looking on the internet at pictures it gives me a wider range of knowledge. Once I thought of an idea I would experiment with processes that are most appropriate and give the best finish. Then I create! This is a big journey of trial and error, overcoming problems and the process of changing parts of work till I can be happy with it. I made a quote from doing this brief and producing my book (which actually features at the end of my book) that I feel summarises how I get my ideas; “Inspiration is best gained by learning from the knowledge of others.” I found a lot of inspiration from looking at quotes written by other people through researching on the internet and from reading the amazing book ‘The art of looking sideways’. If I had not of analysed my work process I would never have realised what I find helpful and skills that I will use forever more. From producing these portfolios, as I have mentioned before, I find them really beneficial to take a step back and reflect on what I have done. I enjoy analysing my work and it is from doing this that will make my work progress further. My analysing can be seen in my written explanations on each piece of work, where I summarise where I gained my knowledge and inspiration from, combined with the techniques and process I have used to produce it. On reflection I am pleased with my achievements this year and have gained some valuable skills and knowledge. I want to continue progressing and learning new things and I am looking forward to my final year to make sure I can become the best I can be.
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