TAXONOMY BY LYDIA CZOLACZ GRAPHIC DESIGN U1250424 PROCESS AND DEVLOPMENT
BRAINSTORMING: So this is my brainstorm upon receiving the Taxonomy brief. The way I looked at it was by taking my Summer project of 30 derelict buildings and seeing what I could do with it, however, half way through I began to see the other project being more interesting and it turned out I could delve more into that one than the original. In the end I have chosen to go with my notes, these are notes that I have collected when walking around places that other people have dropped. I have a range from appointment cards to homework, to drawings, even email addresses and till end of the day cash ups.
tutorial session: So last Thursday we had a mini tutorial with our group. This was just discussing our projects and the avenue we are going to head down with them. I always find these really helpful because you get to see your peers’ projects and possibly offer them your opinion and ideas. After seeing what everyone else had done I came to a conclusion about my project: I was definitely switching my project to the notes one because it sounds more interesting. these were my notes during that meeting: Derelict buildings – font, Tracing over the photos to create letters and shapes Interwine images back into the font, Daniel Eatock, NOTE PROJECT, History of scrap pieces of paper – modern humans - ancient scrap of paper – archaeology, Psychoanalysis. Contextualise looking at ancient texts – piece of code second world war, piece of the bible, Typeface from these – interpret those using different fonts. psychology of handwriting.
scanning in notes:
So my next step after the tutorial was to actually get my notes scanned into the computer. Now I know I only have 23 which means I would like to at least collect 30 in order to pick my few favourite notes to work from. The thing is with my project is that it has to be done properly, I can’t just pretend I wrote my own note and found it because I find reading other people’s notes interesting, plus I wouldn’t want to do that. The problem with some of these is that I didn’t realise but the scanner’s brightness must have been turned up which has made some of them look horrible, I’m going to try photographing them and try scanning them again.
daniel eatock: I decided to study Eatock due to our tutorial we had. After looking at his work first glance I thought it would be interesting to see his design style. He was also the designer behind the “Big Brother” logo which has evolved over the years but is still recognizable all over the world. The first thing I want to talk about is his own website which is http://eatock. com/. I like the simple layout it has and it is easy to navigate however from a designers perspective it is like he has pretty much stuck his fingers up to the commercial design of websites. I like the fact it fits his design style as again, he is not just your everyday graphic designer. Furthermore, I really like his “Picture Of The Day” part of the site where he uploads pictures he’s taken which can range from cars, broken signs to even cats.
The reason I chose this particular photo was because of the way he has photographed the cans and their layout. I like the simpleness of it however it is still appealing to the eye and even the text that is on the cans is the same. A simple idea for layout yet still effective. I thought about ways I could bring this into my own project and the first thing that came to my head was layout. I’d like to be able to layout my notes in a way that makes them look more important than what they are, to me anyway because to other people they could have lost something they need. In order to do this I was thinking of treating them like they were archives, displaying them in a case and handling them with gloves, but, because I have so many I think I would categorize them into which ones I think are quite personal, the more personal they are the probability of them being essential to that person is high and I want to show how easy it is to delve into somebody’s life.
FLuxus movement:
FLuxus is a movement that is a large network of many different international designers and artists. It started in the late 1960’s and the types of work can be seen in most creative areas, such as: music, architecture, literature and visual art. Its main aims were to “fuse… cultural, social, & political revolutionaries into a united front and action” - Fluxus Manifesto, 1963, by George Maciunas. This was then later referred to as the “Neo-Dadaism” and “Renewed Dadaism” movement however when it was suggested to a member of the Dada movement they rejected this and said to just stick to “Fluxus.” This photo from Fluxus is also the reason I’ve chosen to look at the movement. It was created by George Maciunas in 1966 and is a box containing early works of the movement. The work in the box was never credited, nor produced on a high budget. The reason I have chosen this work is again because of the layout. I could possibly create a case of my own containing the notes that I have found and use it to lay them out in a certain way.
PSYCHOANALYSIS: FO llowing from the post on Colour Psychology I thought it would be ideal to start looking at psychoanalysis for my project. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and techniques which was made popular by Sigmund Freud who was an Austrian physician. Proposed theories for this began with:
1) How a person is effected by things that happen in their childhood. 2) How people’s mannerisms and attitude is effected by their environment. 3) If unreasonable actions are unconscious. 4) How easily we are manipulated as free people. 5) How the conscious mind and the unconscious mind can be turned into forms of mental illnesses and emotional disturbances, things like, depression, anxiety. 6) How we can make the unconscious mind conscious through therapeutic intervention/guidance, e.g, counselling.
What I am willing to take from this and apply it to my own project is the way in which I can try and analyse a person just from their notes, how I can imagine them to be. Now in order to do this I understand I may have to have detailed notes, however, I am not just going to look at exactly what they say. I am going to be looking more in depth at the way the person writes and try and use psychoanalysis in that way, looking at certain letters to see if it connotes some kind of emotion. I will be looking further into this as this is something that interests me.
TRIP TO MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY: So today I came back to Manchester to visit family and I thought it would be a good idea for me to go into the MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) to look at the way museums display their artifacts. The only problem was that once into the museum we weren’t allowed to take any photographs or videos therefore I only managed to get these two photos. Despite this, from looking around the museum I saw the layout was normally the same: glass boxes, white, clear stands and a description to go with the item normally including date, sometimes the person who invented/created/used the item and what the item was used for, some included development of the idea however I don’t think that certain one would be relevant for the notes because as I mentioned in the previous post, that’s where I begin to over complicate things for myself. While I was there I also visited an exhibition about brains and the way they work. I also saw some brains that had suffered from a mental illness and have been stored for research.
They came from an asylum hospital in Prestwich which actually is not too far away from where I live in Manchester which was kind of creepy. I really enjoyed the exhibition and found it interesting and would definitely suggest people go and see it. More information of the exhibition can be found here: http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/brains-the-mind-as-matter. aspx.
SEMINAR NOTES:
kurt cobain journals: one of my peers suggested I take a look at this journal type biography by Kurt Cobain and I am very thankful for that because this is the layout in which I’d like my project to take. The journal is the first publication that was released of Cobain’s diaries after his death in 1994. They account for his rise and fall in the superstar world and are real recollections of how he felt and how he was moved by certain occurrences in his life. Despite them being Cobain’s real diary entries, some were re-designed for the journal which what makes this interesting. I thought I could bring this into my project as I felt it might benefit me trying to redesign what I had found on the notes. Unfortunately, after even trying to create my own illustrations of the people and how I thought they looked I decided to take that idea away. It wasn’t practical and again I was over complicating the brief, making it a lot harder for myself, don’t get me wrong, I want to do as best as I can in this project but I think there was much more simple and sophisticated ways of doing so.
looking at museum displays: I’m FInding it very hard to get suitable images that show the display off in a museum and the different coloured backgrounds they have because not being able to take photos in a museum hinders this. However, I have done my best to source images online that have actually some relevance to the type of things I saw today in the Museum of Science and Industry. What is even better about this is the fact if I gather enough ideas from this I will be able to apply it in my own work.
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 1: Unfortunately the scan isn’t that good as while I’m at home I have no access to an A3 scanner so these will probably be done whilst I’m back at University. On this scan it shows my first few ideas of trying to illustrate what I think the person would look like from their note. However, I found this very hard to do because some of the notes I have are just appointment cards that don’t really have much personality in them apart from a date and time, therefore I decided to scrap this idea. Despite this, next to them I started trying to imitate the person’s handwriting on the note which I thought worked really well. I am going to use this idea in my project definitely to show my prediction of the person, like a fact file style, containing how old I think they are, possibly occupation? (Relating back to pychoanalysis.)
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 2: So, again, unfortunately this scan really isnt the best however I will talk you through my first idea of creating solely a book. This book would contain the notes I have collected scanned or photographed on a coloured background. The FIrst page would be the title of the book and include a grouped image of my notes as the background (relating back to the idea of Taxonomy, a group of objects.) Then I would have an introduction which would introduce the project and my aims. To be exact: Why? What? Who? Where? When? How? Also, what I had hope to achieve and show by doing my chosen collection. I then thought about an inside title to separate and categorise my notes even further. I hoped I could possibly relate this also back to psychoanalysis and try and group them in a way that is either reflected in what the note is about or how I can classify someone through their handwriting. The page next to the note would contain my mock ups of the person’s handwriting, however, the information I would write would be my analysis and judgement of the person who wrote the note. The last three stages would be the process repeated for each note.
Pro’s of this idea: - Affordable - Smart - Includes both brief requirements and looks professional - Mixes old style with more modern styles - Shows collection in a very simple yet effective way Con’s to this idea: - Think of more original idea? - Feel like this is an idea I would need to start first and see it visually before deciding if it’s the right path - Need to think of a clever title - Would I be able to get it in the style of a proper book/how I imagine it?
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 3: This idea requires me to be relating back to the museum concept through making an installation. Each note would be framed with a coloured background (again this museum style exhibition) possibly bringing the ideas of categories back. Also referencing the notes with a number and maybe a namecard inside the frame. I then considered creating a mini handbook (actually designing something) which the references would go into. Like my past idea, it would contain information about the pieces such as: date and place where the note was found.
Con’s of this idea: Pro’s of this idea: - Cost of the frames - Referencing through handbook - Would I be able to find the specific sizes I need? - Different - Am I creating too much work for myself bearing in mind the time limit? - Interesting - Viewer interaction through the handbook - Don’t feel like there is much design involved - Need to think about how and where the installation will go? - Relates back to the museum theme
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 4: This is idea number 4 which I called “Glass Archive.” This idea involves me literally making a display case and showing my notes. The first drawing shows the image I created in my head, it would have a velvet lined table with the glass on top, my notes would be inside the case attached by small pins, the glass would be lift-able and they would have name cards which would be referenced by a poster I would make to hang above the case. Pro’s of this idea: - Looks professional - Museum ***-FASCIMILE IDEA*** - Looks simple but is effective
Con’s of this idea: - Glass case from where? - Affordable? - Realistic? - Where would I put this?
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 4 (IDEA2): Following this I then drew the second image on the right which was a more realistic representation of what I could make baring in mind the resources i have available. This tried to work around the pro’s and con’s of the FIrst drawing. The idea for this one was that I would be able to use a university table, however if I were still to use pins they would have nothing to go through. I would have a coloured velvet lining on the table which would drape down and instead of using glass I would somehow find a plastic rectangle which could act as a case. Pro’s of this idea: - Affordable - Easy to do?
Con’s of this idea: - Plastic from where? How big? - Pins have nothing to go through, will flatten by plastic being on top - Could look amateur especially if the plastic is scratched/looks dirty - Where is the design aspect?
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 5: This is the fINal idea that I had when I was trying to work out which one I should continue with. I really liked my first and second ideas and couldn’t decide which one to do so in the end I just thought sack it, why not combine them. This is what I imagine it to look like, I would have the notes hung up and framed in an installation and I would then have the book I would make to accompany them either attached to the installation in someway or just on a table underneath. Pro’s to this idea: - Museum style - Looks professional - Combining two ideas into one - Actually uses design and installation together as one - Uses coloured backgrounds - Uses name cards and referencing
- Can also use psychoanalysis - Can use framed notes as photographs in the book Con’s to this idea: - Again, sourcing the right sized frames
SKETCHBOOK SCAN 5: This is the fINal idea that I had when I was trying to work out which one I should continue with. I really liked my first and second ideas and couldn’t decide which one to do so in the end I just thought sack it, why not combine them. This is what I imagine it to look like, I would have the notes hung up and framed in an installation and I would then have the book I would make to accompany them either attached to the installation in someway or just on a table underneath. Pro’s to this idea: - Museum style - Looks professional - Combining two ideas into one - Actually uses design and installation together as one - Uses coloured backgrounds - Uses name cards and referencing
Con’s to this idea: - Again, sourcing the right sized frames - Cost?? - Place to create installation? University??
I Wonder – Marian Bantjes: This is a book that Margot kindly showed me in our seminar on Monday. It is a book that a Marian Bantjes composed from using her mother’s old notes. I really like the way the lines intertwine with different colours and the way it is based upon real life and the notes at the back are actual notes scanned in. I also really like the cover of the book, it looks nicely designed and the gold especially suggests importance. It’s not only the letters at the back but what she writes next to them that is the heart of the real emotion. “…it wasn’t until about three years before her death I understood the significance of these notebooks…”
30 Years of Swiss Typographic Discourse This was a book that Joe showed us today in the seminar session today. The book shows covers and past designs of the magazine from early days to modern times. It explores the ways in which design is shown to represent different things. I really like the style of the book and it also gave me some ideas for my own book, for example: the front yellow pages which can also be seen at the back (see image below) means I can do a montage using the notes I collected. I have really high hopes for my book with the ideas I have, I just hope it all pans out how I hope.
in the TypografIsche Monatsbl채tter:
starting to paint frames: So these are all frames I have gotten from different charity shops in Huddersfield. My idea was to start taking the frames apart and paint them which I have done. These are before and after shots of the progress I have done. I have actually recorded a short video showing the process I went through as I thought it would be a nice change from copious amounts of text on my blog, this will be uploaded shortly.
de-framing video:
I created a video to show the process of me de-framing the ones I bought in the charity shops. It was quite a long process so I wanted to do something with it other than photograph the process. If there was one thing I noticed while doing it it was that people love masking tape. it can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms9iHcNQGOA
scanned and edited notes:
magazine experiments:
frame outlines:
full publication on issuu: the reason i chose issuuu to show my magazine was because it is a well-known online website where it is free for anyone to use. i already have an account set up from FIRST YEAR WHICH IS WHY I WOULD LIKE TO CARRY ON USING IT TO MY BEST ABILITY. I KNOW HOW IT WORKS AND HAVE FOLLOWERS ALREADY ON THE WEBSITE. THE LINK TO MY PUBLICATION CAN BE FOUND HERE: http://issuu.com/lydiakrystynaczolacz/docs/finalfinal_aecda43a9c46b6