Dialogue

DIALOGUE SUB BRIEF

DEVLIVERABLES

CONCEPT

The objective is to encourage contributions for a week long, non profit pop up print exhibition and shop that will be held at the Leeds Corn Exchange in March 2014.

A3 Landscape or portrait format.

Vector or halftone images only.

Black and White.

300 dpi.

I would like to use this very short brief to make some political or social commentary, this is an area of graphic design I have always been interested in but have rarely found ways of working into my own submissions. This would be very suited to a brief about dialogue becuase this nature of sociopolitical artwork is all about getting people to talk about problems and solutions.

The theme of the exhibition is ‘dialogue’ where each creative will submit a design that will be used in a blind collaboration. Contributors must be open to their submissions being manipulated through the use of print and the match making process, that will pair two submissions. This will create a series of screen-printed artworks that will be displayed throughout the running of the exhibition.

TONE OF VOICE Political commentary, artistic, type based, image based.

I have two ideas to run with at the start of this brief; one about the current situation in Crimea and one about the British tabloid press, or any large news agency for that matter.

DIALOGUE SUB DEVELOPMENT IDEA 1 My first idea is to create an image about tabloid reporting in the UK and its focus on mundane stories when their is a world of interesting, real life things happening in politics, humanity, science and technology which never get reported on. This was inspired partly by the book ‘Frozen Chicken Train Wreck’ by Ditto Press (shown here) which is all about ridiculous news articles. My plan is to use one such ridiculous headline in an unexpected situation which would exaggerate its stupidity.

IDEA 2 The second idea will focus on the situation in Crimea. I have found a Russian phrase; все меняется, ничто не исчезает ... which means ‘noting disappears, only changes’, The idea that history is designed to repeat itself. Crimea has always been heavily contested land and has seen countless wars fought for its strategic position so I thought that this would be a fitting phrase to use for a typographic piece.

DIALOGUE SUB SUBMISSIONS On the right is the outcome of my first idea. To take a ridiculous tabloid headline and superimpose it in a location that raises questions about our sanity, also the aim was to be fairly tough-in-cheek about this, its obviously not suppose to be taken too seriously. Here we have the headline ‘Midget Fights Tranny’, which is taken from a Jerry Springer incident being beamed up to an astronaut orbiting about in space.

This can be interpreted however the viewer wants it to be. I like to think that it is either a bleak vision of the future or that the astronaut is sick of that Earth crap and has decided that living in the void of space would be better.

On the left is a hugely different submission using the Russian phrase ‘Nothing Disappears, Only Changes’. This can be interpreted as either a comment that Putin is acting like his Soviet predecessors, annexing a bunch of land or it could be commenting on the long history of war and conflict on the Crimean peninsular and that nothing really ever changes. The phrase is repeated to emphasise the point and some arrows added to illustrate the cyclical nature of war and human behaviour.

DIALOGUE SUB MASHUP and EVALUATION These two artworks will be submitted to the Dialogue exhibition and if one is picked to be printed it will be paired off with another submission by another designer or artist. The two artworks will then be layered and screenprinted in a range of colours

by Eve Warren and Nathan Bolton.

As a test to see how my work would come out if selected, I mocked up this image of my two submissions. If I have the time it would be great to print this myself in the future, I feel it gives a very short snapshot of how I am reacting to the news and the state of the world as I understand it at this moment. In fact it would be a fascinating personal project to do one a year and see how my tastes and outlook change over time.

I think the final outcomes are perfect for what the exhibition is all about; asking questions and making statements that could be interpreted in a range of ways, ultimately striking up dialogue with the viewers. The submissions are also a good mix of social and political commentary, topics I was eager to complete at least one brief on this year. In terms of design they are fairly simple, however I find that they are entertaining to look at and try to interpret, most importantly, they actually communicate ideas of my own rather than being simple patterns and colours.

DIALOGUE SUB PRINTED Here are a few shots of the submission which was selected to be in the exhibition. The Russian phrase все меняется, ничто не исчезает was chosen to be printed on top of a submission by a Russian artist. This was great news becuase the two styles complement eachother nicely as a combination of image and type. This has been a great brief and one that has been a totally unique experience with the blind collaboration. I don’t think the final outcome could have turned out any better. In addition the ‘Dialogue’ I had with people at the exhibition about what the Russian phrase meant and what I was trying to say by using it proved that the brief parameter ‘create dialogue’ was completed 100%.