FINAL MAJOR PROJECT UNIT EGRD 3015 KAT SULLIVAN
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.� - Don Williams, Jr. (Novelist and Poet, b.1968)
My work from semester one enabled me to reflect upon the recurring themes within my work, so I could narrow down my ideas for my Final Major Project. The prominent themes were journeys and documentation. This reflection also helped me sift through the areas I definitely did not want to focus on, such as designing a new website or creating an animation. For my Final Major Project I have chosen to focus on these themes and create work using my strengths in the processes of illustration, critical and reflective writing, print making, photography and digital editing. I will use these processes to give meaning to the work and not just use them as an exploration of process. For example I am interested in how the individuality of wooden letter press gives character to text. I will start by creating a manifesto to outline my ethos and underlying principles that will help shape my Final Major Project. I will be exploring the concept of a journey through storytelling. I will be making conscious decisions as I work to determine how narrative is affected and reiterated through the physicality of a book. Exploring how book design can be utilised as a form of communication. My intention is to create a series of books that explore a journey through different interpretations and processes. I want to look at how a journey is both physical and mental, in particular how we can create narrative and meaning through the medium of books and the use of layouts. As well as looking at an individual personal journey I also want to explore the concept of a journey on a larger scale by raising questions such as how we reveal and discover ourselves through journeys. Although my focus will be creating a physical book, I also want to story board and if possible create an e-book version. The intention of this is to see the capabilities in how a narrative can transfer to digital and the changes to a layout/format I would make. I will be researching into designers and artists such as Dettmer Otto, Alan Kitching, Noma Barr, Hamish Faulton, as well as conceptual book designers such as Adele Outteridge. This portfolio can also be viewed on Issuu here: http://issuu.com/katsullivan/docs/fmpportfolokatsullivan
PROPOSAL
TIMETABLE
For my Final Major Project I have created a gant chart that shows my timetable. By creating a timetable I was able to see what equipment I would need and when. This enabled me to reserve equipment beforehand as well as signing up for relevant inductions (laser cutter and the new print room). Being able to plan my time more efficiently has enabled me to have a more disciplined and thorough approach in regard to my Final Major Project, instead of creating a body of work that ends abruptly.
MANIFESTO
As well as creating a timetable I wanted to write and design a manifesto that reflected core aspects of my intentions and approaches to my Final Major Project. I was inspired by previous briefs where I had benefited from writing up a manifesto prior to starting the project. My manifesto for my project on Journeys reflects the ethos that I want my project to embody.
I realised early on in my planning that there was a possibility that I would want to use the new laser cutter now available to students. I decided to sign up for induction and use my manifesto as a test piece. This enabled me to gauge the time and cost it would take to laser cut a piece of work. During the induction we were shown that the laser cutter could both cut, score and engrave. My manifesto was cut out in 7 minutes and cost an estimated ÂŁ5. It would take considerably longer if I was to score or engrave, so I have noted that I should not create a piece that requires a large amount of these techniques.
LETTER PRESSING
After creating my manifesto I wanted to communicate it through letter pressing. Having reflected on the first semester I now feel that I sometimes focused on the technique rather than the message itself. The intention of letter pressing my manifesto was to further communicate the individuality and humanity within its message. I feel that the worn wooded type best reflects this as it is a process where you reveal and discover the marks you are able to make.
I will go back to printing later on (as shown in my time table), however I first want to plan and create a meaningful body of work that I can then depict through printing if appropriate, however I do not want to be restricted to the process of print.
REVEAL & DISCOVER
After creating multiple letter pressed versions of my manifesto, I photographed different aspects and close ups of the text. My intention was to edit and use these photographs for a print on demand book from Blurb. I had previously used the print on demand service Lulu but had not yet tried Blurb. Creating Reveal & Discover as a print on demand book enabled me to assess both the quality of printing and the speed of delivery from Blurb.
The outcome of the print on demand book was positive as the photographs were crisp from having a high resolution. The quality, website interface, help and quick delivery meant I would be using Blurb again. Creating my manifesto book also enabled me to work with the dynamics of the images in relation to each other, as well as creating the order and flow of a visual story.
REVEAL & DISCOVER BOOK SPREADS
THE JOURNEY BEGINS...
My plan originally was to document a physical journey such as a bus ride. However I realised there was little meaning to this than the exploring the process of getting from a to b. Whilst trying to research and plan my Final Major Project one of my friends passed away and I attended a funeral in Glasgow. I used the journey time to reflect, write and draw my experiences and create work that had more personal meaning. From the original sketches and notes I created a series of reflective written pieces and started to edit them to create a more concise narrative.
DEVELOPMENTS TRACING
I edited the original sketches and writing to create a more concise story, I then printed these onto tracing paper. The intention of the tracing paper was to representing the different layers of the journey, the overlapping emotion and the change in the physical scenery.
DEVELOPMENTS RETRACE
I created my second book, Retrace/Remember by scanning and editing the previous tracing paper pages of my first attempt. I wanted to convey the same sense of a layered journey and the process of revealing/discovering. Although I feel the illusion of transparency and layering worked within this book, the clarity of the writing was lost. Due to this I wanted to create a more cleaner approach where the writing was the main focus.
DEVELOPMENTS RETRACE
CREATING PACE
I edited the narrative and layout again to create a clear sense of pace. I replaced my original hand writing for text that would communicate better to others. I decided to keep all the text the same size as the text is equal in worth. I printed copies by myself and then reformatted it for a print on demand format. The photographs above are taken from the print on demand book I ordered from Lulu, which works better with black and white text as opposed to Blurb who have better colour quality.
PROGRESSION
BOXED IN
I designed a box to house the different versions of my book in. The box includes a written description of the concept, intentions and an explanation of the conscious decisions made when creating each version. I created this box by hand using a scalpel and ruler to recreate a cutout of my full circle skyline illustration. I decided to create my box by hand rather than use the laser cutter this time. This intention was due to the personal nature of the box’s content and I felt that a hand cut approach best reflected this.
LONDON TO GLASGOW & BACK
I designed this skyline from having looked at photographs of London and Glasgow and then choosing landmarks and scenery, to create an artificial blending of the skylines.
LONDON TO GLASGOW & BACK
Afterwards I laser cut the outline of the skyline onto card and photographed it in different environments, merging the artificial with the natural. The flexibility of the card meant I could create different depths with perspective such as bending it into a circle or creating a concertina effect. I created these images and photographs with the intention of using them as designs in another book that later developed.
DESIGN THE SKYLINE
After creating a body of work exploring one particular journey and designing an artificial skyline, I started looking at personal photographs to see the natural skyline within. I used a photographic manipulation technique to create circular skylines. I liked how these were both aesthetically pleasing and also conveyed a sense of contained environment. However after creating several of these I found the technique to be very limiting, producing a repetitive outcome. This exercise did however generate further questions that pushed my work onwards.
FULL CIRCLE
Moving on from the photographic skylines I created a more simplistic outline of a skyline, I feel this works better in depicting the concept of a journey. I used this image as the cover for my print on demand book about a personal journey.
THE JOURNEY
The main body of work that forms my Final Major Project is entitled, Anthology Of A City. Since the start of my Final Major Project I have been writing both observational and reflective pieces. I specifically choose to look at how the changes to our environment effects us as well as the interlinking nature of our decisions. My intention is to create something meaningful that would resonate with the stages we each face on different journeys. Anthology Of A City reflects this in four stages; struggle, questioning, understanding and hope.
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY
I created two 36 page versions for the print on demand book. Each had a different text weight as well as the inclusion of illustrated ending pages in the second book. I felt that the second book which displayed the heavier text and end pages, was more effective in its legibility, this was echoed by the thoughts of my peers and other people whom I showed both versions too. The illustrative end pages provided another dimension to the flow of the journeys, starting with the chapter heading and ending with the full circle illustration.
Anthology Of A City can be read online here: http://issuu.com/katsullivan/docs/anthologyofacity
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY
For the first versions of Anthology Of A City I created two different covers, each used a different binding method, as well as being printed by either Blurb or Lulu. Images from both versions would later appear in a revised edition.
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY REVISED
I designed a revised edition of Anthology Of A City that included all the written pieces as well as illustrations and photography. The revised edition has a different layout to its predecessor. I chose a 18cm x 18cm square hardback book format on Blurb with 44 matte finish pages. The addition of the illustrations enabled me to create more interesting layouts that assisted in the flow and intention of the written pieces.
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY BOOK SPREADS
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY E-BOOK
I decided to convert Anthology Of A City into an e-book that can be read both online and downloaded to iphones and ipads. Ideally I would have liked this to have been interactive, including animations of the illustrations each time you turned a page. I decided not to animate the illustrations as I have little experience in this area of design. Instead I moved onto creating the next revision of Anthology Of A City.
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY SCREEN PRINT REVISION
The screen printed revision version of Anthology Of A City are four books that can be read both separate and as a collection. They include new illustrations, covers and layouts. Most importantly they present an edited version of a larger piece of work that creates a revised and shortened narrative to that of the previous, largely text based books.
Firstly I mapped out the revised narrative and created hand drawn illustrations to accompany each page. I printed a series of prototypes onto A4 paper, that when folded created A7 sized books. I then created A6 folded prototypes and lastly screen printed onto A3 card (when folded creates an A6 book).
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY POSTERS
Each A6 book folds out into an A3 sized screen printed poster. Due to the intention of screen printing both sides of the card, I had to assess what images I would be printing and on what day, printing onto one side whilst another book drys. By nature, screen printing is time consuming, however I feel the results are ultimately beneficial to the narrative, offering a more tangible and textured feel to that of its Inkjet printing counterparts.
Screen printing a narrative was one of my original intentions for my Final Major Project. The concept was largely inspired by my visits to book fairs such as Handmade and Bound, London Zine Symposium and The Small Publishers Fair. Here I was able to witness first hand the works of Otto Dettmer and the Heuberg Collective, both of whom push the boundaries of visual communication through the methods of screen printing and book design.
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY STRUGGLE
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY QUESTIONING
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY UNDERSTANDING
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY HOPE
ANTHOLOGY OF A CITY VARIATIONS
I printed several copies of each book onto different coloured card to see which colours worked best against the black ink. For the final versions I stuck with my original intention, printing each book onto a colour that reflected the mood of its content.
PRINT ROOM EXPERIMENTS
PRINT ROOM EXPERIMENTS
PRINT ROOM
These photographs of the exposure room were taken without any digital manipulation. The photographs came out a brighter red than I had expected and reflect the heat of the room and the exposure process. This collage of photographs became a spread in, Ink In My Fingernails - observations & reflections from the print room.
INK IN MY FINGERNAILS
I designed Ink In My Fingernails due to spending a lot of time in the new print room for my Final Major Project. I wanted to reflect upon my time spent there, the conversations I had and the experiences gained. Ink In My Fingernails contains both photography by myself and my friend Richard Heaven, who helped photograph me whilst I worked. Designing Ink In My Fingernails was both a reflective process and an exploration of photographic layouts in order to create a narrative.
Ink In My Fingernails can be read online here: http://issuu.com/katsullivan/docs/ink_in_my_fingernails
APPLYING A STYLE
Current news events continue to influence my work. I have enjoyed previous briefs both taught and self directed where I have engaged and reacted to a news story. Whilst researching into different types of journeys, I realised the impact the news has on each of us, in particular myself. I edited one of the prominent news stories from January, (the proposed anti-piracy laws and the backlash from internet groups such as Anonymous) into a more finished illustration, that could be applied to an article either online or in print.
APPLYING A STYLE BOOK COVERS
From having discussions with one of my tutors about my Final Major Project, it was suggested that I look into areas in which my design skills and illustrative style could be applied to. I researched into 1930/40s Penguin crime book jackets as well as film noir. I could see my work echoed in some of the aesthetics such as the strong black and white illustrative shadows. Some of the above book covers are ones that I was looking at. I then designed two book covers, The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe and The Birds by Daphne du Maurie.
APPLYING A STYLE BOOK COVERS
I have developed and applied my illustrative style to other peoples work, creating an image that illustrates and captures the essence of a narrative. Here are my variations of designs for Daphne du Maurie’s book, The Birds.
BLOG/ WEBSITE
Since the start of my Final Major Project I have been regularly updating my blog with developments, including photographs of my work and written reflections. Blogging has helped me see a different perspective of narrative flow within my work, as well as offering students a way to comment on each others work.
At the start of my Final Major Project I set myself the theme of a journey, in particular the personal journeys we each take and the changes to our environment that effects us. I found the process of writing a proposal and redrafting it continuously very helpful. I found it difficult in semester one to narrow down my ideas as there was a number of things I wanted to explore. However since the start of the second semester and through creating a work in progress portfolio I felt more focused and driven in the direction of my Final Major Project. In preparation for my Final Major Project I researched into artists and designers who I feel have an affiliation towards journeys and whose concepts revolve around communicating that journey to others, such as the ‘walking artist’ Hamish Faulton. I have continued throughout my Final Major project to research into designers for inspiration and artistic references. I have found this helpful not only from an inspirational viewpoint but also to see how my work fits within a wider community of designers. Creating a gant chart at the beginning helped me to plan my time efficiently, especially when it came to ordering print on demand books, accessing the print room and booking equipment. This rationality of planning was also reiterated in the creation of a manifesto that outlined the ethos for my project. Originally I had reservations about exploring and creating a body of work that incorporated a personal journey but I soon realised that this was crucial in getting to the essence of an emotive narrative. This in turn influenced the larger body of work entitled, Anthology Of A City and helped in reflecting upon other people’s journeys and views as well as my own. After my work in progress portfolio, I continued to create a more finished design for the books I had already made, focusing on presenting them together in a box that provides written information for the reader. As well as exploring the narratives themselves, I intended to create several revisions of the books I created. I wanted to explore how the different revisions of layouts and changes effected the meaning of the narrative. I found that the final four screen printed books displayed the clearest narrative, as well as being a more authentic representation of my initial ideas and personal style. I intend to sell my screen printed books as well as Ink In My Fingernails at my degree show, providing this is possible. I will also be selling copies via my website as well as applying to exhibit and sell copies at zine and book fairs with fellow students. For my Final Major Project I spent a lot of time in the print room creating both my manifesto and my final four screen printed books, which folded out into individual posters. The new print room was open at the start of the second semester and I spent time writing notes of conversations I had and taking photographs of the area. My intention was to create a book containing these as well as reflections of the process of print from myself and others. I feel that my Final Major Project has helped me improve my layout and design skills through the different revisions of my books. My Final Major Project also enabled me to develop my illustration style as well as offering a look into areas in where I can apply my skills in the future.
EVALUATION
Books: Ambrose, Gavin. (2005). Basics Design: Layout. AVA Publishing. Bar, Noma. (2009). Negative Space. Mark Batty Publisher. Crow, David. (2006). Left to Right: The Cultural Shift from Words to Pictures. AVA Publishing. Fairburn, Christopher. (1996). Reading, Writing and Reasoning: A Guide for Students. Open University Press. Farrelly, Liz. (2010). For Love and Money : New Illustration. Laurence King. Fawcett-Tang, Roger. (2001). Experimental Formats : Books, Brochures, Catalogues. Rotovision. Fulton, Hamish. (2002). Hamish Fulton: Walking Artist. Richter Verlag. Jury, David. (2006). Letterpress : New Applications for Traditional Skills. Rockport Publishers. Lippard, Lucy. (2004). Put About: A Critical Anthology on Independent Publishing. Book Works. O’Reilly, John. (2002). No Brief : Graphic Designers’ Personal Projects. Rotovision. Walker, Alice. (1993). Her Blue Body Everything We Know: Earthling Poems, 1965-1990 Complete. Mariner Books. Wrekk, Alex. (2009). Stolen Sharpie Revolution 2: A Diy Resource for Zines and Zine Culture. Lunchroom Publishing. Websites: www.dobi.nu http://slingshot.tao.ca www.randomhouse.co.uk http://tragicsunshine.com http://ohyouprettythings.net http://linocutboy.blogspot.co.uk http://www.stackmagazines.com http://www.penguinclassics.co.uk www.debutart.com/artist/alan-kitching
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