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Naomi Kundu Graphic Design
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the last semester, we have learnt a great deal about Graphic Design, through various courses, assignments, displays and amazing faculty. I would first and foremost like to thank Tarun Deep Girdher, our guide through Illustration and Typography, for teaching us the basics of everything there is to know about these subjects and Graphic Design, and for being an amazing mentor whenever in doubt. Mr. Anil Sinha, our guide through our colour course for helping us brush up our basics of colour theory, making the assignment interesting and letting us explore colour on our own in our own way while learning about form as well. Mr. Debashish Chakrabarty and Mrs. Jean D’souza for two weeks of constant and duly needed contemplation, and insights into important topics like gender semiotics and gender discrimination, and showing us wonderful films that definitely struck a cord.
Mr. Hitendra Vala, for an interesting and educational photography course that cleared up the basics of camera usage and photography, introducing us to basic terms and being an experienced guide. My batch-mates for being great friends and always giving me feedback when I need it. They have taught me a lot along the way, and the varying styles and perspectives has always reminded me to think out of the box and be appreciative and critical at the same time. My seniors in Graphic Design, who we look up to and who never fail to help us out, who give us invaluable feedback and remind us to work well and work for ourselves. Mr. Rupesh Vyas for being there and always willing to hear us out and guiding us during critical situations! Lastly, my parents for letting me fulfill my dreams of being a Graphic Designer and giving me the best education.
Naomi Kundu Graphic Design Semester 3 National Institute of Design ‘12
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Illustration SLA Communication
Typography Colour Photography 3
illustration
Tarun Deep Girdher Immanuel Suresh Five Weeks I was looking forward to the illustration course since Foundation year, as in school I constantly doodled and exhausted my stationery. With the extremely valuable guidance we recieved this semester, our illustration course was a great channel for us to experiment with mediums, styles, concepts and methods. We fine-tuned some very basic skills like pencil sketching, understanding portraiture, composition and technique. Mixed media was by far the most diverse course with a lot of variety across the classroom that all of us benefited from. This course was a great foundation for future illustration courses and projects, as we now have a lot of reference material and experience, to make quicker and better judgements. Following are a few pieces of work done during the five week course of illustration taken by Tarun Deep Girdher. A brief explanation of the assignment and the process has been mentioned along with a picture of the final work. I thank my faculty for the wonderful assignments and feedback, and my batch mates for their encouragement!
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still life. We studied a composition comprising various objects and created a still life drawing paying attention to scaling, space, proportion, lighting, and close representation of various surfaces. After selecting a fixed angle, we explored it with different mediums. With colour pencils, the grainy effect had is advantages as I could control the amount of pressure I applied on the pencil to show light and shade and show overall depth. Using sketch pens, more of an unusual, experimental medium, taught me that it has on singular line weight that would remain constant. Therefore I had to depend on my strokes and be messy yet selective about the spaces I left to show the different textures, surfaces and light. It was a good assignment in revising how to maintain the proportions of real life objects in relation to each other, as well as representing the same piece with different mediums.
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self portrait We were to study the style, technique, medium and colour palette of a master painters’ work. Based on this understanding, we created a self-portrait in Quarter imperial size (11’ x 15’). The key constraints were posture, gesture, composition and elements which were characteristic to the student.
PAUL GAUGUIN
He was known for his bold use of colours and his passion for breaking the norms. His style of painting changed numerable times throughout his life, as he travelled and changed location, and exposed himself to many different cultures. I was to represent Gauguin’s paintings of the era in which he visited the island of Tahiti in French- Polynesia in the 1890’s. His painting during this time period depict mainly the environment and women in the village, with a distinct colour palette. The women posses a dusky complexion with serene and contemplative expressions. Most are holding either flowers or other objects on their hand.
After a good look in the mirror and references to pictures, I attempted with colour pencil to get my facial features in the right proportions, as well as my current hair style, keeping in mind the colour palette. My body posture is me holding a rabbit (my late pet that was brutally murdered) with a contemplative and sad expression, like the women in his paintings. After a few more medium and surface explorations, I settled on acrylic paints on yellow construction paper, to give the paints this dull, old effect. The final portrait is of myself in the foreground, and to other figures representing me in the background doing and wearing things very characteristic to me as well. The reason for multiple figures is that Gauguin’s paintings rarely have isolated figures, but rather, have one or two figures in the background.
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mixed media
Three different still life compositions were set up in the studio. We chose one, and made a line drawing of the composition from one particular fixed point of view on quarter imperial size sheet. Then, using this as the master composition, we illustrated it using different media, both conventional, as well as experimental. Media exploration was a fantastic assignment in terms of acquainting ourselves with different mediums that we do not have the time to experiment with, or think of using often. After there explorations, it will be easier to know what medium to use, be it unconventional or convention for our ideas and concept execution on the future. Mediums on the right: -Black India ink on paper -Highlighters on paper -Water colours on Thermocol sheet -Poster colour on paper -Fevicol and sand on Ivory sheet -Orange/red water colour on paper
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poem Each student was given a poem (Hindi or English). We were to understand the poem, conceptualize, visualize and create a single piece illustration to complement the text. The smallest side (width or height) was to be at least 15�. The choice of medium was dependent on the visualization.
I used water colours and poster paint as my main medium for the pictures, accenting it with rendering in black micro-tip pen. The board and the photo-frames have been done using card-board, and embellishments such as jewel-beads, glitter-glue, wrapping paper and paint.
The poem I chose was a Hindi poem called Hekdi, by Gulzaar. This poem is about a man, who seems to think of himself to be greater than he really is and is comfortable in this vanity. He claims to have done marvelous things with famous people from around the world in history, and keeps referring to himself as ‘Sikander’-the great. This fun poem evoked vibrant and funny visuals, and I executed just that.
Going through a lot of manual labour, doing the intricate illustrations, and making each and every frame and leaving myself with cuts and blisters, taught me mounds. Learning what kinds of material work best to execute your idea, to realizing that there are better stronger materials that can work better, it was a marvelous lesson in media exploration, time management, skill improvement and character development.
After various layout and character explorations, I settled on a flamboyant and flashy stout man, lounging with his big belly with the air of telling stories and boasting. He is looking up and the various photo-frames on the wall, each illustrating a certain part of the poem.
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picture book Different short stories in Hindi or English were given to us. We were to read the story carefully, and visualize the page wise distribution of the story. After discussing with faculty, we refined our ideas and began exploring the style and treatment of the illustrations. We then chose any two doublespreads and made final illustrations with text in the correct proportion of the final book size. If required, we could use digital tools to make the final spreads. The story I was given was “The Giving Tree� by Shel Silverstien. It was first published in 1964 by Harper and Row, and it has become one of Silverstein’s best known titles and has been translated into more than 30 languages. The story subtly sends across messages about selflessness, sacrifice, greed, and the importance of being grateful. Such a loving and happy giving tree represents the millions of giving figures around us that just go unnoticed and unappreciated. Hence, for my final illustrations, I decided to make the boy a silhouette, so that it could represent not just one type of boy or persons but represents all the little boys and girls in the world of all cultures. I decided to use real leaf impressions for my leaves of the tree, and because the tree was such a kind, happy and loving tree, that the leaves deserved to be colorful and jovial.
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Once, there was a tree.... and she loved a little boy.
And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. And the boy loved the tree... very much‌ And the tree was happy.
Other work
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Debashish Chakraborty One week This semester, we were introduced to Semiotics, the study of signs, and sign processes, indication, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. We had many discussions and debates about issues like gender, race and religion, and did various assignments that required us to think, analyze and write about the same. Group assignments proved fun, interesting and helped us all understand the basics of semiotics much better, as we ended up exploring the campus taking pictures of scenes that indicated or signified something. We walked through the fundamentals of Sigmund Freud’s theories on the stages of cognitive development and the unconscious mind. We critiqued advertisements that portrayed gender, race and religion adversely, we analyzed poems and came up with visuals to represent them, we watched films such as V for Vendetta, The Artist, Sita sings the blues and For coloured girls.
poem & ad study We were given a collection of poems, of which we had to choose one and analyze it, and come up with images that could represent the poem.
Next, after being shown many advertisements that adversely portray gender, religion and class, we were to find images and ads of our own that show the same.
Auden paints a portrait of a tyrant that is both human and absolute. This tyrant is not a political machine - no mention is made of his military aspirations or his place in history. Instead we have a tyrant who is terrifying precisely because he is so “ordinary” - he laughs, he cries, he seeks perfection, indulges his interests. He is not even the motive force behind the destruction he causes- he means no harm to the children, it’s just that the momentum of his tears causes them to be destroyed. What makes tyranny so terrifying is the idea that the fate of an entire country and all its people is governed by the magnified yet frail ego of a single individual. And that’s exactly what this poem captures.
What this is meant to imply is that because of the lower alcohol content, men will only be wearing partial beer goggles-saving you from hitting on “fat chicks”. The face of the woman is rather pretty, however with manly thick arms, she is supposed to be perceived as off-putting. Also, the woman so happens to be in a kitchen, indicating more gender undertones of a woman being in her rightful place. Her glass appears to be empty, deeming alcohol a manly thing, reinforcing the conservative view that only men can drink. advertisement, setting a target audience as well.
In this Duncan Quinn ad, we see the vertical position of the man that symbolizes the control that the male gender stereo-typically exerts, while the horizontal position of the woman displays a woman’s image of submission to a man, or a wife to a husband. We also see the mans face clearly, while only seeing the woman’s body, giving her no individuality and displaying her body as a commodity, an object of sex. She is on a car, equating her with a vehicle, something that’s function is redundant after its use.
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Communication
Studies
Jean D’souza One week
It was extremely insightful and thought provoking when we touched upon sensitive issues and put things into perspective. I liked writing the essay, as it gave me a chance to analyze my favourite play and relate it to what we learnt.
Communication studies this semester, brought about the theories of Barthes, Lacan and Sassaure, and highlighted gender studies. We had many discussions about gender issues discrimination, and feminism to a considerable extent.
We watched movies such as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, My Fair lady, and Chocolate, to contemplate various types of discrimination that took place in each movie, in he form of gender, class and religion.
essay We were given a variety of quotes on gender, to choose one and write an essay about it in any context, or in relation to anything relatable. I approached the quote “one is not born a woman, but becomes one” by Simone de Beauvoir, in reference to Bernard Shaw’s five act play ‘Pygmalion’, later adapted to the film called ‘My Fair Lady’.
“One is not born a woman, but becomes one” By Naomi Kundu In the storyline, Eliza Doolittle, as well as the entire society of that time is made to believe that to be a “lady” or a “woman”, one must follow a certain set of conditions and standards lacking which one is considered to be nothing, plain “common”, or as Higgins more bluntly puts it “a squashed cabbage leaf ”, much to his own upper-class amusement. We bear witness to the transformation of the common flower girl of Covent Garden to an Eliza Doolittle, the elegant and mistaken princess of Hungary, and think it truly admirable the accomplishment the protagonists achieve, having finally reached the “lady” or the “woman” of Simone de Beauvoir’s quote.”
“Both Galatea (in reference to Pygmalion: Ovids Metamorphosis) and Eliza are
products of the man’s desire, and they become a true lady only because of man’s doing. And so to conclude, I would like to attribute to Eliza the truly important transformation she goes through which is not the adoption of refined speech and manners but the learning of independence and a sense of inner self-worth that allows her to finally leave Higgins. ”
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Typography
Tarun Deep Girdher Three weeks Typography is an omnipresent medium through which the spoken word is given visual form. Along with colour and form, it is one of the three pillars of communication design. Knowing that typography has evolved from its linotype form to its current keyboard availability, it is absolutely necessary for us to understand the elements of typography and practice in today’s world, with its overdose of visual and written communication. In this three week course, we laid our foundation of typography through various assignments, both group and individual, through methods of literal cut and paste to digital publication. This course has taught me how important text and typeface is in graphic design, and how it can be manipulated to sync with visuals, and make a statement. Typefaces in itself evoke different meanings and feelings, and can be used to do just that. Most importantly, understanding how typefaces came about, the basic terminology associated with it, and studying typographers, has opened up an entire new door in this vast field of Graphic design.
typo portrait
In a participatory manner, we were to ask our batch mates to list down one adjective that they associate with our personality. We selected one of the adjectives, which we thought represents our character the best. Then on an A4 sheet, ‘draw’ our name, using hand lettered type (an appropriate typeface can be referred to) so as to visually portray the selected characteristic. We could choose to write only our first name or our complete name, or even our pet name / short name, and can write the name only once. Compose the word meaningfully within the format.
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Of the many words, I chose the adjective Dramatic and Theatrical. The first image represents dramatic, and I used bright colours and varying typefaces to create the drama. With the exploration on theatrical below that, I experimented with colours associated with theatre and drama, and using a serif type, played around with each alphabet. The outcome was extraordinary, as with the inputs given to us after our first few explorations, we learnt a lot about composition on a page, use of color and how to work with constraints.
type terminology
Based on the presentations and discussions in class, we researched further (publications, internet resources, peer group, seniors) and presented our understanding in the form of a poster. This was an assignment that was done in four groups, and the topic was ‘Typography Terminology’. Doing this by ourselves was a good idea, as with the no idea how much was to be included on the final chart, we ended up reading as much as possible and referred to as many books as we could get our hands on. Most of all, it was a great opportunity to get to know and spend long nights working with a smaller group of people. Creating an entire chart based on typography from scratch was a challenge not only in execution, but also in composing it in the right way, and deciding what and what not to include. We were encouraged not to print any of the text, but construct it by hand, which trained our visual judgment of typefaces as well.
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meaning-making Inspiring quotes (upto two sentences) were provided to each of you, set in Myriad Pro light and bold. In the given format of 180 mm square on an A4 sheet, we were to create three alternative layouts using the text. We applied our understanding of typographic principles and elements (based on the presentation made to the class) to create appropriate hierarchy of information. The layout should be such that the text is readable. For changing the size, you can take reduced or enlarged photocopies. Not only was it interesting to see the witty and insightful things each of them had to say and trying to relate it to our current lives, but more interesting as we now were to make different meanings out of it, as seen in the first two images. Working within a square layout was also challenging in its own way, let alone cutting and pasting various sized manually. We were to then recreate our layout on InDesign, with the minor faults and flaws of our cut and pasted assignment using a scan of the same. This helped us train our eye. It was a good exercise in precision and understanding how to use the software.
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“There are two choices in life: to accept conditions a they exist or accept responsibility for changing them.� -Denis Waitley
Digitally recreated with faults
Digital recreated with corrections
typeface study Each was given a typeface. We were to analyze the typefaces from the perspective of classification and identifying features - comparing it with similar looking typefaces. Research and study the socio-economic, cultural, political scenario when the typeface was designed. Also find out about the designer of the typeface and the context in which the chosen type face is so unique. Collect samples of the typeface in use. Present your findings in the class. Using the information collected, we created a multi-page publication. This publication was to be 8 x 8 inches. The typeface I studied was Bodoni, founded by Giambattista Bodoni of Parma, Italy, in 1798. Bodoni is typically used as a display, headline or poster typeface, and is seen most often in fashion publications. It is antique as well as extremely elegant and modern, falling under the Didone modern classification in the Vox-ATypl system. Therefore, I used a bold yet subdued colour palette throughout to retain the modern feel, but retained a symmetric and framed layout to retain its class and antiquity.I also tried to create the subtle impression of a fashion magazine.
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Giambattista Bodoni
The king of typographers & the typographer of kings
The final Bodoni publication after printing. The cover page shows off the beautiful letter ‘O’ that Bodoni as a typeface possesses, and the pastel colour palette keeps it lively while retaining Bodoni’s classic Old style feel. Inside includes features like a comparison between Bodoni and Didot, that are almost always mistaken for each other, shown on a translucent sheet for visible comparison.
colour
Anil Sinha Two weeks During our Colour course in Semester 3, we experimented with various techniques of colour associations and interaction. We took off with the theme “Ice-Cream�, and came up with a set of shapes and colours that were taken to the general public as a survey for our case. After drawing conclusions from the survey about preferred colours and shapes associated with Ice-Cream, we explored tangible form and then took it digital to explore colour variations, and concluded with a final constraint that was different for each student. With the basics in place, it was not only fun, but completely educational to explore, survey, construct, deconstruct and give our selves constraints to work with in order to understand how colours play a big role in our surroundings, and how it can effect the way in which we perceive and feel.
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We sketched out the forms from the survey onto paper, and created them in thermocol in the workshop, to get a full understanding of the shape and volume. After this, we began exploring the ways in which we could play around with it, either by opening it up, distorting it, exploding it etc. Once we decided on a the form, we scanned it and took it digital, where we then began exploring the form with colour in various ways.
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Anger
After making colour explorations, we each chose a constraint to work with using these forms and colours. I chose to represent ‘emotions’ using this form, and using colour combination and interaction, tried to evoke a sense of each emotion in the overall composition.
Joy
Sadness
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colour research For this assignment, we each picked a different colour, and studied it from its origin to its use, to its meaning in different contexts. The colour I chose was the colour pink, as it is my favourite and it was time I find out more about it. The areas I covered were its meaning in gender, society, relationships, religion, marketing, politics, femininity, and sexuality. Pink is globally now stereotyped as a feminine colour, to be associated with girls to an extent that the opposite gender has begun refraining from its use with the opinion that it is not “masculine�. The pink rose is now a symbol of a new romance that has yet to bloom into full passion. Pink roses can also be used to signify joy and sweet affection, as well as wishing luck upon others. A pink triangle is frequently used to represent gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. The origin of the pink triangle goes back to when Nazis labeled their homosexual prisoners in concentration camps with pink triangles. Pink reflects a softness, sweetness and intuitive energy that works well for many products and websites promoting women’s products and services, such as beauty salons, fashion businesses and cosmeticians.
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colour application Along with these assignments, we also took some time visit different ice cream parlours, since Ice cream was the direction in which we were working. It was interesting to see how Ice cream parlours use colour, form and identity to represent their company who’s main aim is to attract the people to a food based outlet, especially ice cream. I visited Amul cafe, and learned how they use colour in the interiors of the cafe to evoke a certain feel. Reds and yellows as the interiors, with large clear pictures of well photographed food and ice cream was the main aim of the Amul cafe, which I think works quite well. A power point presentation was made separately for this visit.
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Photography
Hitendra Vala Three weeks Photography this semester was a three week course, that walked us through the basics of what photography is, how to operate a standard film camera and were shown presentations on lenses, how to take good pictures, how to manipulate shutter-speed and aperture to get the picture you desire, to what kind of camera to buy. We also went on a field trip to explore more sceneries and understand commercial photography in the form of poster and advertisement. Working with DSLR’s in for our studio shoot was new, and working with a concept was educational on many levels.
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In
Dreams Our first week was spent taking pictures all over Ahmedabad. We were using a Nikon-FM2, and our topic was “Dreams”. We could interpret this word in our own way, and using the right exposure and shutterspeed, take good pictures in a well-composed frame. The first picture is of a girl in a slum near the railway station. She had an mp3 with her and was listening to music quite happily. The frame I tried to capture intends to show music and being on stage as a possible aspiration or dream of hers. The next shot I took was of these young girls by the street, who were applying mehndi on each others hands, and having a ball. The frame I tried to capture intends to show these young girls dreaming of weddings and getting dressed up for an occasion, which makes them really happy. My third shot was taken at ‘theen-darwaza’, and is more abstract in concept. It is of multiple grills and bars blocking and barricading the viewer from seeing what lies beyond. The single lock being so small in proportion to the large barricade looks dream-like and mysterious, as though responsible for all of it.
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For the studio shoot, we were to use DSLR’s in the studio, and make use of the available lighting. The concept I chose was ‘Obsession’, shown in the style of fashion photography, and I have chose obsessions that I myself have, and used my friends to represent them. The first obsession I shot was obsession with sparkle and glitter. The red tinge that was created was done making use of light, exposure and no flash. The second obsession I shot was with rings, as I collect rings and have a fair collection of them at home!
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For our ‘candid’ shot, which was a portrait representation of our partner that shows us about their personality, I showed my partner Pupul Bisht, sitting on a stool, in mid conversation. Pupul to me is all about articulation, and her ability to get her point across and putting her foot down. When she speaks, her body language and hand gestures play a big role, and so I decided to capture exactly that. She is alone on in the frame to enhance the fact that when she speaks, it is just her in the room. Our visit to Champaner and the photo’s we took there were to be turned into tourism posters for Champaner. I did various explorations, and chose two portray the city as mysterious, lost and rediscovered, and something that needs to be experienced.
After three and a half months of our first semester in Graphic Design, I feel very proud to be in this discipline, and think I made a splendid decision. The things I’ve learnt this semester are far beyond what I expected, and laid the ground work for our future in this discipline. Each course was a step further in understanding all the elements that are required to be a graphic designer. Working here at NID inspires us everyday and shows us the possibilities that our education can help us achieve. All that is left for us now is to learn, and make the best use of this opportunity that we have. This first semester has proven that if we are capable of achieving the amount that we have in just a semester, the next five will definitely refine us, and make us the best designers we can be.
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Bibliography
http://www.paul-gauguin.net/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gauguin http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gauguin/ http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-0912/edit-page/30142243_1_urban-infrastructureeconomic-gridlock-gridlock-nation http://the-giving-tree.info/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TZCP6OqRlE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree http://www.addictivefonts.com/category/basic/ http://www.effektivedesign.co.uk/Effektive-Promo-Mailer www.pinterest.com http://www.itcfonts.com http://www.behance.net http://www.slideshare.net/mlepapp/bodoni-guidebook http://www.quayjournal.org/2_2/bodoni.htm http://www.sitepoint.com/the-modern-typeface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodoni http://www.twopoints.net ttp://www.linotype.com http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/be_bold_with_bodoni http://jordanccarlson.com/INDIA-REPORT-book Gauguin by himself by Belinda Thomson Mario’s Bombay I Love Bodoni/Avante Garde/Futura by Twopoints.net Excellent layout Design Designing type
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