Here is where it all started. I chose three proposals to look at. Youth and Christianity, Jackson Pollock and the Burma Shave ad. I chose these three topics, beacuse they really interest me, and I thought I could really use them in some way, or at least use on of them in some way. As I am a Christian, Christianity is a big part of my life. I go to church every week, and try to help the community whenever I can, which is why I chose this topic, Youth and Christianity in particular is great, I made a three minute video, with what a strong Christian friend of mine thought about youth and christianity these days. Young people are not taking it seriously, and they wait for bad things to happen to them before they decide to come to the Lord; which should not be the case. Moving onto my next topic, Jackson Pollock. I have also admired Polllock’s work since I was in high school, but had never actually done anything about it. So for the ‘do something you have never done before’ brief, I decided to do some Pollock style paintings. They turned out pretty well, and I had alot of fun doing it. At first I found it quite difficult, as I couldn’t really decide on whether to put the paint on from a certain distance or height. I got it in the end. I was really pleased with the outcome, and would definitely continue to do more in the near future. Thirdly, the burma shave ad. I came across this, whilst researching for my dissertation, which is on Outdoor Advertising and Public Space. I was thinking
I could use it as a promotional scheme in shopping centres. It all started in 1925, when a man wanted to sell brushless shaving creme, but the strategies where not working. So he decided to use scrap pieces of wood along highways with little poems, promoting his brushless shaving creme. Which turned out to be very popular.
By looking at the Burma shave ad and wanting to take that further, I looked up a couple of artists that Luke suggested. They all tie into the burma shave ad, which also ties into outdoor advertising and public space, which is what I am looking at for my dissertation. I though I would look into these people a bit further more and see how I could incorporate or modify into my work. “It’s all about mixing up references together”, says Luke. Which is exactly what I wanted to do. Modifying other people’s quotes and putting them together. My next step was to think of a subject/ an idea, demonstrate it will my skills and communicate the idea. What message will I be putting across? Doing a poster based entirely on typography, is something I have never really done before. This would mean that the message would have to be very strong. After looking at all these artists, I was intrigued by Jenny Holzer’s work. Ok, so I liked the idea of the public art, but how was I going to go about that. I really liked the idea of projecting a message on a building. But the big question is how and where was I going to do it? The shopping mall idea was still in my head also. Maybe instead of going around and around in circles in my head thinking of questions I should actually start something. But where do I start? I needed help! I also needed topics… 1. Safe sex & Contraception among teenagers/young people
2. Smoking 3. Youth & Christianity I also thought I could just do quotes by artists. I got down to it! With this poster right here, the idea was for the audience to come closer and take a look. They will be wondering, “What is that white thing in the middle?” Once they see it they will understand. This poster has two different views, or you may say it contradicts itself. ‘Smoking kills’. ‘Go on mate, have a fag!’ It’s kind of like the actual cigarette packet. It says on it ‘smoking kills’, yet people still buy it anyway. I really don’t understand that. It’s like they are paying to be killed, but slowly. If not killed, at least some sort of damage. To make matters worse, there is an image of what would happen to you if you do smoke, yet people continue to buy it. This is what I was looking to do. Using the language of advertising. Don’t do it, do it! Something people will be confused about. A satirical meaning! I decided to go with the negative space idea, because I remembered doing it in my second year, and it was a process that I really found quite strange at first but then ended up loving it. It’s somehting you have to look at to work out. I also did another two contradicting posters.
After a meeting with Mike, we decided to go with Christianity as a main topic, as it was stronger and was not really a topic that people designed around, unlike smoking. Also it was a topic that was really close to my heart. I also did a poster, that contradicted itself in a different way. I used a quote from an atheist, called Richard Dawkins and a gospel singer called Kirk Franklin. As it indicates at the bottom of the poster, Kirk Franklin was written in white, and Richard Dawkins in blue. I decided to incorporate colour, to make it more exciting to read. Mike and I decided to go with the athest vs Christianity poster. I could use different quotes and different colours.
ment with typography and concrete poetry. I took the lyrics from a song called ‘Get Up’ by Mary Mary. It reads ‘he said, she said, they said, what do you say. It’s your dream, your choice, your life, so don’t you miss it’. I took this upon myself as part of mu Christianity and Atheism theme.
Here is a little logo that I did, based on a poster I saw about bad and good typography. I was not too sure it worked, but then again its all about being able to criticise your work. Underneath in white it reads ‘Jesus Christ’ and on top in red it reads ‘Atheism’. After speaking with Mike, I decided to do quite a few posters. I
looked at bible passages, atheists such as Mark Fairclough, Danel C Dennett and more of Richard Dawkins. I also looked into the Big Bang Theory. I definitely think some posters are stronger than others. I experimented with type, positioning, layout, colour, font size. At the bottom is a little experi-
It came out okay, I would not say it was good. The idea came across nicely. It would be quite difficult to follow, as to where to start, continue and end from.
Another idea I had was to use word that I found on the website as buildings. Cultural, Fashion Forward, Urban Style, Food Fushion and A new metropolitical centre for East London. Each word would be on a building, to show that was what the new Stratford would be made of. The othe idea was similar. Apart from the fact that it would just say ‘A new metropolitical centre for East London’. With a model looking over Stratford. There will be more ideas to come.
EVALUATION So far, I feel like things are going according to plan, and I have really enjoyed the past few months. I don’t however know what I want to do for my Final Major Projevt, so it would be difficult to write a proposal. Nonetheless, I have learnt so much in such a short space of time. I have learnt how to make a mini movie, I have had the chance to be inspired by Jackson Pollock. I have also had the chance to get in more in touch with my Christianity. I never thought i would have the opportunity to do something like this. I never thought I would have such ideas. I have also learnt that if you push yourself hard enough, you will get to were you want to be. I know its something that I hear all the time, but I never actually really experienced it until now. I followed the example of Jennifer Holzer, with the projections on the buildings. I used a projector, and projected a couple of the posters I had done, with the Christianity and atheist quotes, onto a wall. I definitely think the quality could have been much better. I am going to repeat this procedure. It can be better. I didn’t really get to finish what I was doing, as a class was about to start. I wasn’t able to capture the whole poster. I couldn’t get the projection to be more defined. It kept coming up blurry. Other than all of that, I think the medium could be quite effective. It’s in your face, so you would have no choice but to read it, even it was just a couple of lines. However, I guarantee that if a person was to read the
first couple of lines, they would want to read on. If I recall, on Monday when I had my meeting with Luke and a couple other students, tall Chris (sorry don’t know his surname) said, that he was not really into religion, however he finds this quite interesting (to read). So in a way, the audience is varied. I also think I prefer the coloured projection. It’s easier to read. I also think in order to get the whole poster onto the wall I would probably have to print it out onto A5 or something. I also need to thin of colours that would work better with the projections. Dark colours are not very visible. For next time, I would look into slide projection, to see how that would come out.
I have had such amazing support from tutors. My downfalls I would have to say that i did not think of the idea sooner. I could have had a lot more outcomes. I also was not very critical about my work. I could have analysed it more, from a different perspective. I could have thought more of what the audience thought.
External Positioning My journey into the life of Advertising
I have always been interested in advertising, mostly print based. Lately, I have had the passion for outdoor advertising. I know that whatever direction I go in, it will involve advertising. Over the last few months, I have discovered public art, which I also think is in the category of outdoor advertising. I would like to work for a design company who work with outdoor advertising, print based or public art and intervention. I also think about opening my own company, probably in another country, doing public art and advertising. For me public art is all about getting your opinion out there, and seeing how people react. Whether they react or not it still counts. You get combine your likes together, art and your opinion. The thing with public art is that it never gets old. Your opinion can always be updated, and so can your design style. I also have a thing about large scale, which is the reason why I have been so interested in public art. To have the urge to do art outdoors, is amazing, which is what I want to do. I have never actually put my designs out there, put I think I will really enjoy it. I think it will be slightly nerve racking, but i am definitely going to go for it. My aim is to at least have something of mine on the streets. Jenny Holzer, Bob and Roberta Smith, Why not associates, Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor, Gillian Wearing, Banksy, Liam Gillick and many others. I really love Jenny Holzer, although I just recently got to know about her. Her work is so
amazing, for someone to think that way. It’s not that she uses her own her opinions, but her ‘external positioning’, is bizarre. I mean how can you think to project your point of view on huge buildings? How does she do it. That is my aim in life now. I have to do that before I die. Ok thats a bit extreme, but I do have to do it though. Its a must. I haven’t the faintest idea how, or when but it shall be done. Of course I already have my opinions, so that’s a start hehe. Holzer questions, what our eyes can see and what we can’t see in media, whether consumers today have any real control over the information that is provided to them.
John Lewis campaigns were just amazing, and that is the kind of mindset I want to be in. So creative, so imaginative, just wow!
I mean its all about collecting different quotes and putting them together. Mixing up references together: a method and a message.
Account Managers are the axles in the wheels of the agency. As such, they work with all other departments, from planning and creative to TV and digital production, championing the strategy from concept to execution, and driving the project from beginning to end.
ADVERTISING AGENCIES I do have a number of agencis I have been looking into, but I am not going to bore you with that list. The two I am most attracted to are JWT London and Adam and Eve London. I have looked at their work, and have read what they are all about. I would say I got more information on JWT than Adam and Eve. It is very difficult to get such information, as everyone is busy, especially at this time of year. So I am just going to talk about JWT for now, until I get some info on Adam and Eve. What I can say about Adam and Eve is that thy have worked for cliets such as John Lewis, which was one of the reasons I fell in love with them in the first place. The ideas the came up with for
But to move onto JWT London, although I did not get an internship with them, I found out alot of information about their graduates programme. Firstly, all grads at JWT London join as Trainee Account Managers. Account Management is the focal point of the agency’s relationship with the client. They’ll work to meet their business agenda with a sound communications strategy, ultimately developing an effective creative solution.
At JWT, all their people live by the 4 Cs – Courageous, Curious, Creative, Courteous. They look for others who share these qualities, who are intent on seeking out new ideas and making them happen. You do not have to be a graphic design student to work there. They have taken grads that have majored in Quantom Physics to Engineering - as long as you bring a fresh perspective to what they do. You need to be able to stand up for your own point of view; but also be good at listening to other people. You need to think
on your feet and constantly find new and more effective ways of doing things. And you need to be every bit as fanatical about great ideas as we are. What’s more you’ll bring bags of enthusiasm and commitment – because tt is never a nine-to-five job. They’ll start you off with a competitive salary and a £1,000 bonus on your first day. Plus 23 days’ holiday, life assurance, long-term disability insurance and health cover. Your salary will increase in line with your performance – along with other benefits like further holidays and bonuses. (Although, that is not really important). POSTGRADUATE An MA in Graphics Design, Advertising, or Marketing is something I am considering after a year or work experience. I have looked at a couple of universities such as Kingston, Bournemouth, Southampton, Nottingham Trent. I may even go abroad. It is not something that I have looked into depth, as it something that I have skimmed through with my parents. My parents are very involved with my eduvcative life, and feel it would be the best for me. My dad would like me to open my own company in Ghana once I have my experince and MA degree. As there are not many Advertsing companies in Ghana, I think I could have a chance.
I decided to do a D&AD brief for a number of reasons: 1. To further my understanding of advertising and working to a brief. 2. I had never done one before. 3. It would be a great and possibly life changing experience. 4. Agencies would be interested to know that I entered. I decided to go with the ‘Westfield Stratford City’ brief, as it is in relation to advertising. Firstly I went to Stratford to see what the place was like, and to get a feel of the environment, and the kind of place I would be advertising. The feeling I got from the place was choked, congested, flats upon flats, a run down shopping centre already existed. After seeing all this, I definitely thought that having a Westfield would brighten up the place, and there would be no problem with customers, as there were so many flats. So in the brief, they specified that they wanted to promote the fact that its in Stratford not that there is a new Westlfied. It’s all about the environment.
So what came to my mind was ‘East meets West’. I thought of having the old Stratford and the new Stratford merged together, so the difference would be obvious.
EVALUATION I can honestly say I did not have a clue of what to do for this part of the unit for a good couple of weeks, which was really bad. Eventually when I did get to grips with it, I found quite a few ways of where and how I could position my work. I am interested in advertising, so I obviously looked into ad agencies and saw what they had to offer, and how they worked. The exhibition with the other GD third years was another way to go, as it is something I have never done before. Thirdly, the D&AD brief was another thing I though I should do because it ties into advertising, it would give me the experience of doing an intergrated ad campaign, and also again it is something I have never done before.
Another idea that I came up with, was to have a Westfield flag piercing into the grounds of Stratford, to show that Westfield has landed and Stratford is going to be changing. Wesfield is standing its ground, with the line ‘A new Stratford City Centre’.
Having my posters put up in my Church notice board, was/is an appropriate external positioning for it. It makes perfect sense, and is something to share with the community, a way to get the audience involved. It may be difficult positioning them in other Churches, but I think once I have it in at least my Church, it would prove my point. I could also place it in my Churches’ weekly newsletter, would would be even better! I was worried that i would have to do two D&AD briefs, as I thought I would not be able to handle it, because I was already having trouble with the one brief that I had. But I think I have proven myself with my list of positionings as satisfactory. Having had ideas of where I could position my work, I think it was an really great idea as a unit. It got me to really think of
where I saw myself/what I saw myself going next year. Although I had a rough idea, it put things into perspective for me.
Independent Practice BY LAVINE OBENG-BOATENG
CREATIVE THINGSRETROFIT DESIGN ANALYSIS The item I am going to analyse is the toy doll with the drum. My guess is that the doll is to entertain young kids. The doll continuously beating the drum will excite kids and would probably get them to copy the actions of the doll. The exchange value of this doll would be that it repeatedly beats the plastic drum that is attached to it. The arms of the doll are little thin sticks, which work as drumsticks. The main aim of this doll would probably be to entertain kids. There does not seem to be another kind of function. The use value I would say, is the fact that the doll is quite adorable, its draws your attention. For the price it is, it would not be a waste of money. It has no ears, which is quite unusual for a doll. There is no recognition of where it is from or who designed it, which is also unusual. It expresses that it is able to beat a drum and is happy with the permanent smile on its face. The excitement the dolls expresses, will also make the kids happy. I think although there is no evidence of where it came from, or
who made it, the designer wanted to the target audience to feel how the doll looks.
I found this duck teddy bear at ‘dollmasters.com- a treasury of nostalgia’. This teddy is known as ‘Duck-Duck Boom By Jody Battaglia. This is a Dollmaster’s Exclusive, and costs £225. It is described as... “A Dollmaster’s Exclusive. Follow the beat with Duck Duck Boom, the newest folk art doll from renowned artist Jody Battaglia, who draws her inspiration from English children’s story books of the early 1900s. The yellow mohair duck wears a red and blue wool felt drum major ensemble, has orange felt beak, a cute little duck tail, and carries a paper mache drum marked “Fun Town”. Duck Duck Boom is an exclusive limited edition of 20 signed, dated and numbered by the artist.” So compared to the drum beating doll, this bear has a place, a meaning and a designer, including a price. However, I do believe that this bear has more of a background and has been worked on for quite sometime.
I think the feeling the designer tried to express was accomplished. It is a fun thing to look at, and would be something you would like to buy for child. However the fact that there is no recognition of who designed it, where it came from, when it was made, which I find was not very successful.
THREE MINUTE HERO For the 3 minute film brief, I decided to make a film of one of my good Christian friends, talking about the youth today and Christianity. As a strong Christian, he has been through alot and experienced many things that people could not begin to imagine. I asked him what he though about the youth today and how he feels it can be better. Through making this film, I firstly learnt how to use a camera, and how the mindsets of youths can be renewed.
DO SOMETHING YOU’VE NEVER DONE BEFORE For this brief, I decided to be inspired by the likes of Jackson Pollock. I have always admired his work since High School, but have never had the opportunity to incorporate his work into my own. It was a really fun experince, and I was able to capture my emotions in the paintings. I have always wanted to have a go at some sort of absrtarct art. These were my favourite two pieces. One I did across 3 pieces of card, so it would come off as a collage. And the other I did on a large piece of card.
CIRCLE ANALYSIS This was not really a 1 week brief, but it was something that really helped me alot and made me realise I don’t really have as many interests as I thought, which is pretty sad. It allowed me to seperate my weakneses from my strengths and my ambitions to my interests. I think I could use this technique in other aspects of my work.
FANZINES I was not really keen on the fanzines, although I do sometimes enjoy working with my hands, this was not the best thing I had done. I foun dit quite boring. I don’t know it was the fact that it was something we had to do in the studio all day and had to have an outcome. So I just rushed and did anything, which is not how I like to work. Bu t anyway I did one with things that I like to do. For instance reading campaign, doing wordsearches, reading my bible etc. The last two I did, was just marble paper. I really enjoy making marble paper. I use to do it in high school, and I never forgot about it. It is definitely something I can incorporate into my work. I did do a few for a book cover in the fisrt year I think it was, and it came out really well.
Research
One-week briefs