OUIL503 RESPONSIVE
Project Report Megan Ojari
Contents INDIVIDUAL Illustration 12�..........................................................................................3 Penguin Random House Student Awards................................................7 Papyrus....................................................................................................9
COLLABORATION YCN Grown Up Chocolate.....................................................................10
EVALUATION End of Module Evaluation......................................................................16
2
Illustration 12”
Krzysztof Komeda- Cul-de-sac
3
Let’s Eat Grandma- Deep Six Textbook
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Rings of Saturn
The brief was to create 12” album artwork in response to selected songs without using the song title or artists name to visually represent the song.
The Lemon Twigs- As Long As We’re Together
I decided to undertake this as my substantial brief because I enjoy making one off imagery to fit to a specific format for a particular purpose. I also felt that since I was slightly limited by time, it would be a sensible decision to develop a main brief which could consist of any number of the 12 songs provided. I think it was a good decision, as I found myself very stressed near the end of this module, so it was good that I could stop when I felt that I had enough final outcomes rather than strive to create one finished final outcome. From research into the entries for the very similar competition, Secret 7”, I knew to avoid obvious iconography as much as possible, and to put my own personal feeling and responses of the songs into the outcomes to make interesting, unique compositions.
The Handsome Family- Far From Any Road
To start, I listened to the songs and roughed the imagery I wanted to begin developing. I found roughing an ex-
tremely valuable tool, as I could quickly see whether my ideas would work compositionally to communicate my intent, as well as not wasting time developing an idea which will not be suitable for the format or theme of the song. A way to help this development was my ongoing reflection through my blog, which became a valuable document of self reflection, which I can refer back to and pinpoint what aspects worked and where I struggled to help with my creative development throughout future modules. By experimenting with varied media and techniques, I could really push my boundaries regarding what I was comfortable with, as well s manipulate my working process to reflect this. Although I have made responses which show a range of styles, I think this reflects how much I have enjoyed the image creation within this module. Because I wasn’t afraid to try new media, I experimented with screen, mono and lino print, digital, pencil, pen, gouache and cut paper to see where my abilities lie.
4
I took the text and imagery directly from lines within Let’s Eat Grandma’s song, and wanted it to show the eerie, rebellious theme of the group. I ended up making over 30 variants on Photoshop using my line drawings, which taught me to not be too ambitious with how many potentials to create, as it can often over complicate the process, as well as be time consuming. I used the orange and blue to show familiarity, but flip it on its head to maintain the feel of the song.
5
I found the main imagery for Komeda was the cohesive fight between the instruments, which I feel embodies jazz, so I tried to show a moving, fighting but complimentary composition. I came across this outcome by accident from the discarded cut offs, which I found far more interesting and visceral than the flat coloured shapes I was aiming for. I think this is an interesting lesson in keeping my options open and letting my creative practice lead itself in some ways.
Let’s Eat Grandma- Deep Six Textbook
Krzysztof Komeda- Cul-de-sac
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Rings of Saturn
For the Nick Cave song, I wanted to create a dynamic, simple solution to a relaxed, rhythmic song by using cut paper. Again, I created a lot of potential compositions, but this time I kept it simple by physically laying the rings out and keeping a photo record to refer back to and recreate. I found this method a lot easier to keep on top of, and ended up on a strong idea which I then developed later. The Lemon Twigs was my favourite to create, as I revisited my original idea and recreated it through cut paper to turn into a screen print overlay. I really enjoyed the process of this, and feel it shows the lonely but not alone feel to the song through showing almost touching but irrevocably joined reaching hands. This piece is also a further development from a piece in 504, which I discarded as it didn’t fit the brief, but I felt had a lot of potential still. The Lemon Twigs- As Long As We’re Together
My final cover, for The Handsome Family, developed through exhaustive roughing, which I then utilised the advantages of negative space to quickly create a lino print and combined it with a mono print. I wanted to show this really visceral line from the song of ‘rattlesnakes unfold’ yet still retain the handmade feel of the song. Overall, I feel like I have created five high quality, varied outcomes which fit the brief well. However, I do feel like because they are so ranging and different, I was unable to make very ‘polished’ outcomes, and had I allocated more time to this project I might have had more professional looking designs. I also would have liked to include more secondary research, as although I looked at relevant illustrators, facts about the songs and listened to the songs themselves, I feel my outcomes are strong personal reflections, which may not be entirely suitable for a commercial vinyl cover.
The Handsome Family- Far From Any Road
6
Penguin Random House Student Awards 2017
7
The brief was to create new book covers for classic books, with strict layout and size guidelines. All three books had already had several cover designs, so I wanted to make covers which had a strong point of difference and stood out within the market, as well as highlighted the key aspects of each book. I started by reading all three books and roughing out my initial ideas and compositions. I wanted to undertake this brief as I loved creating a book cover in level 4, and thought it was an important skill for an illustrator to have. My main intent for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole cover was to make a tactile looking outcome which appealed to the target market of children whilst not being too garish to an adult who may be the one reading it. I used gouache, cut paper, pen and ink, alongside scanned in sourced wood for this design. I feel like it works well to communicate a school theme, which is relatable and easily understood by a young audience, without being patronising. I did have to remove and alter some of my drawn aspects, as I found it difficult to fit all of the elements on.
The meaning behind the To Kill A Mockingbird cover, was to reveal the beautiful writing of Harper Lee, which has made the book so successful. The main struggle I faced with this cover was the legibility, as using type on top of type often made it blend into the background cover. I feel that although I communicated my intent, I could have done it more sophisticated through use of block colour. My intent for In Cold Blood, was to show the gruesome reality of the crimes, which is four gun shots and a cut. I used old style materials to fit in with the time of when the book was written. I combined this with handmade print textures and typewriter and letterpress-esque text to bring a formal element to represent the police. I feel that the colours in this design are too bright and looks slightly too happy for the actual text. Overall, I enjoyed this project, but I feel that I didn’t leave enough time for each individual cover, so had to rush to finish these outcomes so that I had something to submit. I feel that I prefer the quicker, less stressful process from Illustration 12�.
8
Papyrus The brief was to create an A3 landscape .3mm line drawing showing something relaxing. It would be used in an adults colouring book to raise funds for a suicide charity for young adults. I wanted to do this brief because I felt a very strong emotional connection to the cause, and wanted to create a detailed line drawing, as I find it relaxing and hadn’t done one for a while. I started by researching adults colouring book designs, then knitted a small section and posed for a reference photo. I decided to draw myself knitting because this is a very therapeutic activity for me. After roughing it out to scale, I traced it on the light-box whilst making a time-lapse, which they also asked for. Overall, I found this quick activity very enjoyable and useful in teaching me how to quickly create strictly guidelined outcomes. However, after submission, I noticed aspects which I would like to change, such as the length of the right hand. Which taught me about double checking before submitting
9
YCN Grown Up Chocolate Company The brief was to create a design for a new personalised chocolate product from The Grown Up Chocolate company to fit a sleeve and tray template, as well as be cohesive with a landing page. I worked with two Graphic Designers on this project, and I wanted to pursue it because I have a real passion for packaging, and I thought this was a great opportunity to gain some expertise from the Graphic Designers in this field. We decided early on that we wanted to create a fun, cheeky outcome which mirrored the company’s ethics of being made just for adults, but reminiscent of childhood. We split the research between us, and had a couple of brainstorming and task allocation sessions to ensure we knew what we were doing.
10
We passed a questionnaire around the Lecture Theatre to gain an understanding of what reminded people of their childhood, since our peers were our target market. I also undertook a research trip to the factory in Essex, where I gained extremely valuable information about what direction the company wanted to head in, as well as gaining a good understanding of the client. This early, thorough research ensured we had a really strong grounding and meaning within our work. It was decided that I would create a repeat pattern based on the ingredients list I sourced during my visit. It was very beneficial to work separately at times because then we were individually able to develop our practice with a clear vision before getting feedback from the other two and altering afterwards. Abstract pattern based on childhood memories
11
I created a lino and a screen-print pattern, which we then all worked on to make a layout for the net. I found it really beneficial to work in this manner, as we all had equal input, yet we all still played to our strengths to quickly produce a high quality product. We also wanted to consider the environmental impacts of this product, so we included a fold out keepsake poster on the back of the outer sleeve. Environmental impact is something we all consider highly, so it was a great opportunity to input something we were passionate about. I think the main strength of our group was that we got on, and respected each others opinions, meaning we felt comfortable sharing our designs and ideas, as well as offering useful constructive feedback. Keepsake fold out poster
12
It was my task to construct the actual product, and because I practised a lot before with rough print outs, I was confident with the construction in this, and knew the best tools to use. The major problem we encountered was accidentally using the pre-made net which was in RGB, meaning our final print was not accurate with colour. However, this taught us to double check our final files before sending them to print. One of the main things I have learnt from this is to double check everything before sending it to print, as well as considering the importance of errors within proposals. I have also learnt how to work in a cohesive team, as often I pick up the slack of other team members, but that was not the case in this project as all of us are hard-working. This was an interesting lesson in learning to trust my partners, and I feel like it has worked out well with a successful product which fits the brief well. However, I feel like I could have organised my time a little better to ensure I wasn’t as stressed as I was near the end of this project. I think time and stress management is something I desperately need to work on in my future projects to ensure I stay healthy and able to work to the best of my abilities Overall, I loved working as a group, as I was with two excellent partners, and all our working preferences complimented each others well.
13
14
15
End of Module Evaluation At the start of this module, I was unsure how to make competitive outcomes, as I found the challenge of creating work with the main purpose to be judged against other people very daunting. However, by the end of the project I was more comfortable in sharing my work, which is due to working collaboratively in a positively critical group in SB2. At the end of level 4, I was uncomfortable with my ability to quickly respond to briefs, as my best work had longer development periods, and I struggled with making outcomes I was proud of during the quick outcome based Visual Language module. Throughout this module I learnt to reflect upon the direction of my work on my blog, as well as confidently tackling live briefs. I also realised it can be beneficial to revisit briefs if I didn’t feel the outcome was successful, such as creating two outcomes for The Lemon Twigs in Illustration 12” in SB1, because I felt the first wasn’t successful compositionally. My development is evident by comparing the finished outcomes of the Penguin brief in Studio Brief 1, and the final outcome from SB2. During these briefs, I learnt a lot of Adobe suite techniques, most prominently InDesign, especially from using the software alongside my Graphic Design collaboration partners in SB2. I extended these skills throughout all three Studio Briefs
to create design boards and a Project Report. I have a much better understanding of brief requirements and how to follow them and have worked in a more professional manner to expand my reach to outside of LCA. As a result, I am far more confident in proposing work on a larger scale than just personal or university modules. Another experience which I learnt a lot from was working as part of a collaboration, as I find it difficult to relinquish power, but working alongside other practitioners made me trust them and share the workload as equals, and as a result we ended up with a high quality outcome. I need to continue to accept help and work with partners when appropriate to help me complete my workload. One of the more successful aspects of this module was working as a team during SB2, as I had to consider my partner’s opinions and change my work to reflect this. It is the first time where it has been a totally equal group, as often I have worked in large groups with a leader. However, in this brief everything was equally split and it was a fantastic lesson in adapting to suit other people as much as myself. By using Facebook Messenger and Google Drive we were able to effectively communicate and make the most of the short time we had on the project.
16
I also found self questioning on my blog extremely helpful to rigorously test my ideas and work against my own critique, which was strongly influenced by my research and opinions of peer’s work. Also, my self directed research trip to the factory of The Grown Up Chocolate Company during SB2 was an invaluable way to gather research through dialogue, as well as helping me to understand the intricacies of the client. Using this alongside online research, presentation slides, emailing and library books ensured I had broad research to refer back to. Overall, I feel my most successful outcome is SB2, due to the thorough research and collaboration, and some Illustration 12” outcomes from SB1, as I really enjoyed making these, and I think that shows in the outcomes. One of the problems I faced was appropriately dividing my time, as although I allocated time to this module through my physical timetables, I let SB2 take over a large portion of that, when I still time for SB1. This meant I had to rush a few of my designs when I would have liked to refine them more. However, this taught me two important lessons, to reflect on the amount of time I am dedicating to certain aspects, and lower it if necessary, and increased my ability to quickly produce work, which is a necessary skill for my future practice. One problem I faced was using RGB mode instead of CMYK
17
during SB2, meaning the printed colours were wrong, and although we had left time to reprint, we didn’t have time to remake the design to match the colours. This has taught me to be careful to double check the colour mode being used, and also to allow some imperfections when necessary to save time for other commitments. I also could have benefited from more feedback throughout SB1, and I should have asked my peers more, as when I did, their feedback was immensely helpful. I could have done far more secondary research in SB1, in order to establish a valid ground point from which to extend my ideas, as aside from reading the books for Penguin, often I was lost during the development, and found it useful to look at practitioners working in similar manners to me, and should do this more often. From this module, I want to continue working collaboratively, as it in an incredibly efficient way to make informed, appropriate responses to briefs. I will continue to work on live student briefs whilst I have the opportunity, as they are a wonderful way to quickly respond to briefs whilst having the possibility of gaining a lot of notoriety. I will also continue to use the skills I learnt in InDesign to make design boards within my practice through OUIL505 and beyond, as well as within my personal practice, in a more professional environment.
Megan Ojari