Module File: Exploring Graphic Design Process
Nathaniel Stevens
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Nathaniel Stevens
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Exploring Graphic Design Process
Contents Summer Pre Tasks 4. Sound of Summer 10. Zine Project 11. Task A 12. Task B 14. Task C
26. Alternative Title 28. Indesign Workshop: ReDesign 34. Continuous Writing Exercise
90. Self Reflection
36. Picture Sound
92. 98 Reasons To Be Cheerful
42. How to Make a Start
94. 100 Ways
44. Illustrator Workshop: Mapping 100. 50 Photos - Part 1 48. 5 Hours - Part 1
112. 50 Photos - Recall
70. 5 Hours - Recall
114. 50 Photos - Part 2
72. 5 Hours - Part 2 146. On My Radio 154. On My Radio - Recall
156. Ways to Ask a Question 158. Book Interpretation 174. Final Reflection 175. Final Outcome Links
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Sound of The Summer BRIEF: Produce a one minute sound piece that is your ‘Sound of the Summer’. (you may employ the help of others if needed) Produce in a suitable format to play at the first session. Consider: Atmospheric sounds, language, musical genres, folk songs, soundscapes, background sounds, mechanical sounds, location sounds, spoken word, manifestos & sound effects, please document what, when, & where the piece was recorded.
APPROACH: I wanted to create a music lead sound piece that summed up my summer, I wanted the piece to have a melodic narrative and show the passing of time and the change in mood and spirit. I also wanted to include some found sound into the piece to add underlying texture and moments of interest, I was also wanting to experiment with creating a drum beat or pattern using samples recorded from sounds made from my desk, where I have spent much of the summer working.
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RESEARCH: I really like composers such as Ludovico Einaudi and the cinematic composer Hans Zimmer. Ludovico Einaudi has a collection of recordings called ‘Seven Days Walking’ where each day is split into different moods or moments, all of these instrumental pieces are played predominantly on the piano. I Really like how expressive his playing is and feel that piano can be used as a great storyteller more so than many other instruments. Einaudi also released a collection of pieces on the record ‘12 Songs From Home’ where the production is not as high as these songs have been recorded in his home during lockdown. This “lo-fi” production really creates a sense of place. Hans Zimmer is responsible for the soundtrack of the film Interstellar, it contains beautiful textures for strings and organs as well as delicate melodic patterns played on the piano. The patterns are often repeated and with the films focus on the different passings of time, with the pieces in this soundtrack really reflecting that to great effect. The pieces also create great emotional atmosphere through the use of texture but also the chord progressions and cadences generate a “coming home” resolution. Both of these composers’ work are about story telling through piano movements.
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PROCESS: At first I wanted to make something that was a little more light hearted, something that had a summer feel but was nice and positive. I had been listening to Mac DeMarco and was playing around with chord shapes until I came across something interesting. I put together a simple beat and recorded the piano progression and a couple of extra melodies to go with it and thought that it was done. However, upon revisiting the piece I didn’t think it represented the amount of change that has happened over the summer and didn’t really tell any story so I scrapped it and started again The concept was to have something that built up as the piece progressed from being simple and in a minor key to something more layered and major. The idea was to start with a basic melody to signify coming back to the UK into the depths of the first lockdown, with not being able to see anyone or do anything, I wanted the melody to be sombre and repetitive. Then as the piece progressed I wanted it to modulate to a major key to signify that things were getting better, then I would add more layers as a device to show that I have been getting busier as the summer went on, getting ready for uni and being able to see people. Finally I wanted the piece to still contain minor key elements to signify that the pandemic was not over so not everything was fine. I thought that an arpeggiated pattern would give a nice amount of repetition to signify the passing of time, I chose E Minor as my key and started by playing a simple chord arpeggiated, then after a certain number of bars I would change one note of the progression to start to push it into a major key. The progression modulates into an F Major finishing with a return back to
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the notes of the E Minor chord which were used at the beginning of the piece. I then worked on some extra melodies that would be played to give more interest to the piece but also be a part that does not change throughout. I brought in some more solid A Minor chords near the end of the piece over parts that were very close in pitch to the main melody to signify the business of the end of summer. I used a simple whole tone progression when the melody had moved to F Major using some organ and string sounds along with some bass to give new textures to the piece, used in homage to Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar piece ‘Day One’. Finally to add more texture to the piece I played the chords of the main melody on the electric guitar. I recorded the sounds of me traveling on the train to Bristol from Bridgwater as this was something that I had done a lot over the summer. I added them to my track but mixed it to become more of an indistinct texture under the whole piece. On the first move to the F major key I added a recording of the Starlings that would be eating berries outside my window and finally sampled the sound of me slamming the desk draw and tapping on my desk lamp which became the basis for my kick and snare drums and my high hats. When it came to mixing I wanted to approach it in the same lo-fi way as the Einaudi album ‘12 Songs From Home’ so I removed a lot of hight frequency information and added distortion and tape wobble to help bring all the parts together.
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Sheet music for main melody
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Summer Reading / Zine Project BRIEF: Task A:
Task C:
Read the title that corresponds to your surname.
Produce a zine based on the subject matter of your book.You will need to research the subject of your book further in order to gain a broader perspective of your subject matter.
Task B: From the book you have read select 50 key phrases, sentences, words, paragraphs etc. • • • • • • •
You must present this list of 50 in the following format: a numbered list 1-50 titled: Bookmarks followed by the name of book and author 10pt Times range left margin 4cm A4 portrait –you may use as many pages as needed. your name in top left
Think carefully and select with due consideration and analysis, as you can expect to have to defend your choices.
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From your list of 50 Bookmarks, additional research and using only your own imagery produce a zine that reflects your own personal opinion and understanding of the subject / theme of your book. The zine must be in colour and in one of the following size formats A5,B5,A4.
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Task A: Read ‘Hope in the Dark’ by Rebecca Solnit
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Task B: Nathaniel Stevens BOOKMARKS Hope in the Dark By Rebecca Solnit 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.
22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31.
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Now I watch people having [the conversation], wondering it is we get from it. The certainty of despair – is even that kind of certainty so worth pursuing? How do people recognise that they have the power to be storytellers, not just listeners? And there is far more to politics than the mainstream of elections and governments, more in the margins where hope is most at home. “One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise” Hope in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or the willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for early success, but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The despair that keeps coming up is a loss of belief that the struggle is worthwhile. That loss comes from many quarters: from exhaustion, from sadness born out of empathy, but also from expectations and analyses that are themselves problems. Waiting until everything looks feasible is too long to wait. The old certainties are crumbling, but danger and possibility are sisters. Most of us succeeded in refusing the dichotomies. We were able to oppose the war on Iraq without endorsing Saddam Hussein. George W. Bush campaigned as a uniter, not a divider, and he very nearly united the whole world against the administrations of the United States and Britain. Thus it is that the world often seems divided between false hop and gratuitous despair. There are those who see despair as solidarity with the oppressed, though the oppressed may not particularly desire that version of themselves This is often coupled with nostalgia for a time that may never have existed Or they trudge through a door looking for a new wall. There’s a kind of activism that’s more about bolstering identity than achieving results Thus it is that telling the bad news can be a gift and a step toward hope as long as that news can be let go when the times comes or the world changes. Joy is a fine and initial act of insurrection. The change that counts in revolution takes place first in the imagination. Revolution doesn’t necessarily look like revolution. Violence is the power of the state; imagination and non-violence the power of civil society. You may be told that legal decisions lead the changes, that judges and lawmakers lead the culture in those theatres called courtrooms, but they ratify change. They are almost never where change begins, only where it ends up, for most changes travel from the edges to the centre. New stories likely to start in the marginal zones, with visionaries, radicals, obscure researchers, the young, the poor – the discounted, who count anyway. That both the civil rights movement and rock-and-roll came out of the African American South to change the world suggests a startling, resistant richness under all that poverty and oppression and evokes, yet again, the strange workings of history. They were not just demanding change, but embodying it; and in this, they were and are already victorious. “We Indian peoples have come in order to wind the clock and to thus ensure that the inclusive, tolerant, and plural tomorrow which is, incidentally, the only tomorrow possible, will arrive.” And these rights-free zones seem to prefigure what corporation globalisation promises. We could feel strongly, and that is itself something hard to find in the anaesthetising distractions of this society. They operate on the premise that for every action there is an equal and opposite punctual reaction and regard the lack of one as a failure. Gandhi said, “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” It’s always too soon to go home. Resistance is usually portrayed as a duty, but it can be a pleasure, an education, a revelation.
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32. “Every line we succeed in publishing today – no matter how uncertain the future to which we entrust it – is a victory wrenched from the powers of darkness.” 33. Only that angel can see the atrocities not unfolding. 34. And nothing is what victory often looks like. 35. This idea of perfection is also why people believe in saving, in going home, and in activism as a crisis response rather than everyday practice. 36. Don’t mistake a lightbulb for the moon, and don’t believe that the moon is useless unless we land on it. 37. If you embody what you aspire to, you have already succeeded. 38. There are far more than two political positions, and the old terminology only binds us. 39. We need them, we need a broad base, we need a style that speaks to far more people than the left has lately been able to speak to and for. 40. “The radical centre” 41. “It’s not what you serve up but how you serve it up,” he told me. “The way you win people over to your side is try to present the information from some perspective they are familiar with.” 42. To be antidoctrinal is to open yourself up to new and unexpected alliances, to new networks of power. It’s to reject the static utopia in favour of the improvisational journey. 43. The answer to most either/or questions is both; the best response to a paradox is to embrace both sides instead of cutting one or the other for the sake of coherence. 44. Antihierarchical direct democracy. 45. To assert their own history of the Americas, as a place that was not discovered but invaded. Invaded but not quite conquered, for though much was lost, the quincentennial was an occasion for many native groups to assert that they are still here, that they remember, and that their history is not over. 46. Columbus Day became an occasion to rethink the past, and rethinking the past opened the way to a different future. 47. Without stupid, helpless people to save, heroes become unnecessary. Or rather, without them, it turns out that we are all heroes, even if distinctly unstereotypical ones like the elderly woman who got Fichtel back on his feet. Governments like the grim view for a similar reason: It justifies their existence as repressive, controlling, hostile forces, rather than collaborators with brave and powerful citizenries. 48. In disaster, we are often at our best, however briefly, that in those hours and days many have their best taste of community, purposefulness, and power. 49. If these are the values of our society then I want to be an outlaw in that society. 50. They will regard us as people who rearranged the china when the house was on fire.
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Task C: RESPONSE:
RESEARCH:
My response to the book was a really positive one. The content was something that I cared about a lot when I was younger and has been something that has been fading for years, that is to say that I was very politically active from my mid teens to my early twenties and was regularly at protests or singing anti capitalist songs, but have found myself out of the loop in recent years. This book helped me reconnect with positive actions, direct action and feeling more positive and motivated about positive political change.
Most of the zines that I have at home are either political or they are about punk / heavy music. I have a lot of zines about political actions, ideologies and theories, many of them are very instructional and give a brief but good insight into political movements or strategies. These can be very type heavy with little to no imagery. Along side those I have plenty of zines on bands or small comic books made as zines, these are much more creative with photos or illustrations. Both gave me a great basis for layout and content.
The book is all about politics and positive successful political actions that have happened over the last 50 years, what they changed and how they did it. I found it very inspiring and wanted to continue down the political route. The book was first published in 2004 with a revision in 2015. A lot had happened both from when the first publication was released (something that is acknowledged in the book) and even its second revision with added forward and afterward by the author. I wanted to make something that was more up to date and focussed on the political actions that had been happening in the recent past. With so much to choose from it was easy to find material. I also thought this would suit a zine format as they are more “of the moment� and new issues can be released more frequently then an entire book.
I did a lot of internet research on news stories regarding voting by the government, I also researched the topics that I wanted to include such as gay marriage.
I wanted the zine to be informative as well as inspiring and give people an opportunity to find out more and get involved if they wanted to.
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APPROACH: Many zines are black and white due to keeping reproduction costs down, however the brief asked for colour, so I want to use this as an opportunity to create the zine in a slightly more editorial magazine way. Short articles, bits of information, or personal stories accompanied by illustrations and perhaps a link to find out more information. I want the zine to be a personal, honest response to politics and the current political issues that I care about.
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A selection of zines from my collection that I took reference from during my research.
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PROCESS: First of all I thought about which positive political actions and changes that I wanted to include in the zine. I wanted to include the Black Lives Matter protests and have something about the toppling of the Colston Statue and the fundraiser print I had released earlier in the year. I also wanted to reference some positive things that I had come across while living in Australia. Finally I wanted to talk about some negative things that have been highlighted this year, the things that show that we still have a lot more to do. Once I had each story researched and selected I then created an illustration that fit with each one or chose an illustration that I had already been working on over the summer that matched the copy. I worked on each article and went through rounds of revisions to edit and change what I had written or what image was selected or made for each article. Between each article I wanted to include a quote from the book that I felt summed up the content of the next article succinctly, this was done as a nod to the book that inspired the zine but also as a break from the larger articles. I wanted to give the quotes maximum space so that they were the only focus on the page. For the name and cover, there was a sentence in Solnit’s book that really resonated with me, that the “world is divided between false hope and gratuitous despair”. We are either promised things that are very unlikely to happen or we watch the world miserably from the side lines. I chose the title ‘Option C’ as a way to
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suggest that there are more ways to view the world and more importantly, change it. The cover image has ‘Gratuitous Despair’ on the left as it is seen as a Left Wing trait and ‘False Hope’ on the right as it is used frequently by the government. The illustration of me is looking at ‘Gratuitous Despair’ both because I am Left Wing in my politics and also it was how I viewed the world and politics at that time.
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Examples of first spreads
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DEVELOPMENT:
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After having a review with my tutor, I was asked to look at creating more space so that the text wasn’t so dense, I was also asked to look at grunging up the publication as it was going to be online only and wouldn’t get the benefit of texture from the paper stock. I also did some more research about typefaces and pairings and wanted to create more impact with type and colour.
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FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/option_c_-_issuu_web
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The design is based on square pegs though round holes.
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Alternative Title
I chose this title based on one of the quotes from Task B. I think it sums up the book really well, keeps the general positive feel of the book as it denotes hope through positive change and the word ‘insurrection’ illustrates the political nature of the text.
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InDesign Workshop
Re:Design BRIEF: You will be given a file of text to work with this text will form your content. The text will relate in some way to the theme/subject matter of the book you have read over the summer. The task is to read the text before the workshop and then design and print a publication using Indesign. It is important that you use Indesign to design and not just as layout. The objective is to improve your design skills and knowledge of the software working with copy, adding images to content, layout, use of master pages etc. Your own interpretation of content is crucial. The publication can be of any size but must be multi-page- please consider size, stock, colour, type family, print finish and message. You will have timetabled workshops in InDesign at the EPI Centre in which you will cover importing copy material to InDesign, working with both illustrator and photoshop in Indesign, the production of a multi-page document, the use of style sheets, master pages, and how to save to print etc. and understand how to output as a PDF.
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Magazine layout research APPROACH: The article is all about protest and keeping up hope as positive change is rarely immediate and actions can have positive consequences far beyond there initial purpose. I decided to match the article with images from recent protests including the Black Lives Matter movement and the Hong Kong Pro Democracy movement, showing both protestors and the police / riot police. I think this best illustrated the immediate struggle of all protests, where they start and who the opposition might be, whether it’s against the police or if they are protecting those being protested against. I decided to design the publication in black and white, partly to get consistency between photographs but I felt it set a more serious note, plus images in monochrome rather than colour is a nod to the grey area about protesting, its perceptions, its achievements and its methods. I had a play around with setting different columns and image layout as a way to explore InDesign and get to know it better. I also made Character Styes for highlighted areas. Finally I did my best to make sure there were no orphans or widows at the beginnings and ends of paragraphs.
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FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/protest_and_persist_article_web
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Continuous Writing Exercise After reading this book I... Felt inspired and re energised. After years of feeling like I had fallen off the protest wagon it was really good to read a book that makes me feel like I want to jump straight back on it again. The way the book is written and the information in there was super interesting, it gave really indepth insight into a lot of positive movements but also gave their context in history which really illustrated how long some of these movements have been going for and who influenced other movements around the world. The way that Solnit talks about hope is really inspiring. She talks about it in such an open and varied way it really made me think about my own perceptions of hope, what it means to me and helped me get out of the “gratuitous despair� that she talks about in the book. I’m really pleased that this is the book that I was assigned, I feel like I really needed it.
Time: 5 mins 34
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Picture - Sound BRIEF: Listen to the sound track you have been given and construct you own visual response to the sound. Consider the dynamics of the sound track and respond to the rhythm in an experimental lo fi 30 sec film. To avoid a literal interpretation we want you to apply some of the following components: Shapes Lines Letter forms Patterns Texture Light/dark Colour (a maximum of 3 colours) consider your choice of colour palette is appropriate to visual style you are wanting to express).You will need to import the sound track to an editing programme i-movie/ Premier/ After Effects in order to edit your pictures to the sound track. This task is about applying appropriate abstract forms to sound producing a moving collage as your outcome. Consider using transparencies/acetate to layer and move images.‘Picture Sound’ gives you the opportunity to work with someone else’s content and develop it further to another stage.
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RESEARCH: Looking at some examples provided by the the brief such as artists like Len Lye with their use of patterns and colour, the abstract approach that is built on manipulating and painting film cells. There is a real pace to their work and a lot of use of layering and texture. This led me to previous work I had seen by film maker Jan Švankmajer with their stop motion animation technique that brings ordinary objects to life in a very grotesque way. And finally I looked at the colour layering of Stan Brakhage’s photography.
APPROACH: I wanted to create short animations that reflected the words that can be heard in the track, and mirror the monotony and repetition of the samples by repeating these animations at increasing speeds to show the passing of time. I also wanted to look at colour and texture and how I could layer the animations with watercolour paintings to give more colour cohesion and add more movement and layering to the overall look of the piece. Finally I wanted to animate a basic inanimate object that could easily be manipulated to create different scenes and shapes and represent imagery that fit with the samples of the track.
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PROCESS: I chose to work with short lengths of wool, choosing 3 colours, dark blue, light blue and red. I chose these colours as I knew that I wanted to animate a sun rise and set over the sea however the contrast between the red and blue worked really well in other animation ideas such as climbing graphs and creating a corona virus cell. Using wool was also a reasonably malleable material so I was able to make shapes and patterns with it quite easily. I set up my camera and created my first animation, spelling out the letters said in the track CO - VI - D - 19. At first I took 3 to 4 photos per frame and then moved the wool to it’s next position. After completing one animation I put the images into Final Cut Pro X where I made a compound group of all the photos and then used time stretch to increase the speed which created the animation. On my first few tests I realised that 3 to 4 images per frame was too many and made the pacing too slow, thinking of the speed of the Len Lye animations I decided to increase the pace by taking 1 image per frame then set the pace to sit with the track. Once I was happy with this I created the following short animations: Sunrise to sunset. Spinning Coronavirus.
Once I had photographed all of the planned animations I put each set of photos into Final Cut and used the compound method to create clips that I could speed up and slow down depending on the cut and how it sat with the audio. I put together a rough order before doing some post production work to each clip. I colour graded, increased contrast and added noise to each clip to give it a more analogue feel and sit more with the aesthetic of Len Lye and Stan Brakhage. I then used some effects in the programme to alter some of the clips. I layered the clips of the mask moving up the page next to each other to create a wave that I repeated, I also used the kaleidoscope effect on the spinning coronavirus to give it a more psychedelic look and give a point of difference from when the clip was seen earlier in the piece. I also used a tiling effect on the spinning coronavirus to represent rapid growth. Next I painted a piece of card with watercolour paints that matched the colours of the wool. I then filmed the colour on the card with me moving it slightly. I layered this image over the entire film, tilting it to the side and changing the speed so it looked more mechanical. The layering technique was creating some pleasing results so I layered some of the animations over each other and tweaked the effects so they worked well together.
Flying gulls. Moving clock hands. Face mask moving across the screen. Bars of a chart. The letters CO, VI , D and the number 19 as a tally all moving off the page.
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I altered the aspect ratio to make it closer to a square mimicking older TV and filming ratios again to highlight the vintage aesthetic I was aiming for. My final touch before exporting was on the audio its self, putting a limiter on the track to ensure that it didn’t peak and distort.
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Set up for creating animations: Canon 550D DSLR Camera // Tripod // Lengths of Wool // Pencil // Disposable mask // MacBook Pro // FCPX //
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FINAL OUTCOME: https://vimeo.com/467050424
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How To Make A Start. It all depends on the
WHY and the WHO’S IT FOR.
Professional Work:
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If it is for a client then I would interrogate the brief, ask questions and get as much information from them as possible before making mood boards, style scapes, initial sketches or drafts based on research, looking at examples by others and the creative brief drawn up by me and the client.
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Once I have all the information I would try and get as many ideas out of my head as possible, even if I know they wont work, I still find it helpful to get them on paper so I can move on.
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Personal Work:
1 2 For personal work, or making a start with module briefs I would find examples and look at them creatively and technically, I would scrutinise and ask: •
why do they look this way?
•
How did they do it?
•
What key elements place it?
•
What stylistic approaches are being used?
Then
HOW CAN I RECREATE IT?
I then start thinking about how I would approach the task with these parameters, trying my best to create a narrative and begin mapping out what I’m going to do. A lot of the initial stages I will plan in my head and then just get going before committing much to paper or screen, if it’s not working then reassess and start again.
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Illustrator Workshop
Mapping BRIEF: Building on previous Illustrator workshops you will learn tools and techniques that will be useful in the production of information graphics. We would like you to bring a map of the area you grew up in to this workshop. This can be downloaded from Google maps and will be a reference for you to make your own map of the area. In illustrator you will draw your own map and add your observations and memories to make a personalised map of your area,
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APPROACH: Using the knowledge I gained in the workshop about building Graphic Styles in the Appearance Panel and creating Patterns, I first mapped the roads and some of the green areas, I then made a different road style for paths. After this I made an isometric grid and created 3D models of places in Chard that were important to me, putting the name and then a short personal connection to them. I chose to create the map in blues and peach / pink colours to give the map a more artistic feel and made my house red with the other buildings in blue to help it stand out and give it status.
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CHARD
(Birthplace of powered flight, artificial limbs & the Henry vacuum cleaner.)
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5 Hours - Part 1
BREIF: Go to your given location. You MUST spend 5 hours (10.30am till 3.30pm) there recording EVERYTHING you witness. At 4.00pm return to the designated location and return with your sketchbook at this time– no excuses.We wish to see all documentation e.g. all notes, visuals, ephemera etc. from the day. We are aware of how much written / visual information can be collated in 5 hours, anyone who does not have a sufficient amount will be required to re-do the work. Present your information in a coherent manner. What you should have is a complete audit of the given environment. All work to be completed individually. MY LOCATION: Frogmore Street
APPROACH: Record as my information as possible in my sketchbook using pens, pencils, coloured markers and photographs.
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FROGMORE STREET BS1 Situated between Frogmore Lane and Trenchard Street. Shares junctions with Culver Street, Denmark Street & Orchard Avenue. Street splits to have an island in the middle. The street is home to the OLDEST PUB in Bristol, The Hatchet Inn. The pub was established circa 1500 and has been The Hatchet Inn since 1606. The Hatchet is a rock bar that has small gigs in its upstairs room. O2 Academy, one of Bristols largest venues built where the old ice rink used to be. Basement 45 is a night club with music ranging from Hip Hop and RNB to Alternative and Punk nights. Queen Shilling is an LGBTQI+ bar. It often hosts drag nights. OMG Night Club and Cocktail Bar. Namaste Nepal is a Nepalese and Indian restaurant. Sergio’s Italian Restaurant. The only business that is open. They have extended their ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme until the end of November. Number of places to party - 5 Number of places to eat - 2 Number of places open - 1
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ROOFTOPS
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BUILDING M AT E R I A L S Metal Glass Concrete Brick Wood Plaster Ceramic Plastic Digital Screen
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PILLARS
WINDOWS
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NUMBER OF TREES NUMBER OF BINS NUMBER OF STREET LAMPS NUMBER OF BRIDGES NUMBER OF CAR PARKS NUMBER OF PHONE BOXES NUMBER OF BIKE RACKS NUMBER 0F JUNCTIONS NUMBER OF BOLLARDS NUMBER OF DIVERSIONS -
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V E H I C L E TA L LY LEGEND CAR
VAN
BIKE
BICYCLE
HORSE
Total time: 13 minutes, 47 seconds.
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H U M A N TA L LY
3 STUDENTS + 5 STUDENTS + 1 DELIVERY MAN + 1 DECORATOR + 1 STUDENT + 1 BIN MAN + 1 LADY ON HER PHONE + 1 BUILDER + 1 STUDENT WITH MILK + 1 COUPLE HEADING FOR THE CAR PARK + 3 POC STUDENTS + 1 COUPLE + 1 STUDENT ON HER PHONE + 1 CYCLIST TURNING RIGHT + 1 BUILDER WITH WIRES + 1 POC MAN + 1 BUILDER + 1 MAN WITH ORANGE BAG + 1 TRAFFIC
WARDEN
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(ARTWORK PERHAPS) + 1 MAN WITH SATCHEL + 1 GIRL WITH CURLY HAIR + 1 COUPLE COMING BACK FROM THE SHOPS + 1 CK MAN IN HIGH VIS + 1 MAN WITH AN ABE LINCOLN BEARD + 1 MAN WITH A VAN AND DOG. Total time: 13 minutes, 4 seconds.
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O B S E R VAT I O N S Sounds Not much. Most people are walking in silence. There is the sound of the few cars going by now and then and the sound of the wind rustling through the autumn leaves. It is a very quite place during the day. At night I am sure that it is a hive of activity, with so many venues in such a small area. However with the COVID pandemic at the moment I think that this street is quiet though the night as well.
People Mostly students coming to and from the large student accommodation. A lot of builders who are working on the Bristol Beacon at the top of the road. Some delivery drivers and people just walking through but not many.
‘History Island’ The flow of time from either side of the Hatchet, the island, sunken from it’s weight as it’s surroundings get higher and higher. A time capsule resonating a modern and unique sound, full of metalers and rockers, drinking pints as their ancestors did centuries ago. The central point to the street. Progress will not move it.
Pavement Pavements cracked by trees pulling up paving slabs and cracking tar mac, no straight forward path, winding pavements of medium slabs aligned in every direction.
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Home to a BANKSY
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COLOUR
COLOURS FOUND ON FROGMORE STREET SHOWN IN PROPORTION 60
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COLOUR CHANGE IN BUILDINGS
TOP OF FROGMORE STREET
BOTTOM OF FROGMORE STREET 62
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SKETCHBOOK
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PHOTOS
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5 HOURS: Recall WHAT WAS THE WEATHER LIKE? Overcast and grey, showery but with spots of sunshine. I had to hide under the bridge on a few occasions.
WHAT WAS THE GROUND LIKE?
Nothing. The street was so quiet, the odd car but no hustle and bustle, no shoppers, no music from the shop fronts, just the wind in the trees.
Varying; paving slabs in all directions, tarmac, roots of the trees pushing through the ground.
WHAT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING FROM THE 5 HOURS EXPERIENCE?
DESCRIBE HOW YOUR MOOD PROGRESSED?
When recording traffic I was using a modified tally system, cars, bikes, vans, bicycles, each with their own symbol, and the 2 horses walked by.
Overwhelmed at the start, so much data to process, it was hard to figure out where to start, what to focus on, what can I capture in 5 hours? As I documented each element that I was thinking about, I started to feel like I could record information in more interesting ways. I also felt more relaxed as the day went on as I was ticking off each aspect that I wanted to record.
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WHAT’S A DEFINING SOUND OF YOUR 5 HOURS?
DESCRIBE THE PLACE AS AN EMOTION? Forgotten and sleepy. So many venues not open, no one there unless they needed to be, either delivering goods or going home to student halls.
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5 Hours - Part 2 BREIF: Make sure you have organised your recordings (sound, images, video, notes) neatly. You must analyse and interpret the information you documented and produce a piece of work which will give an audience an insight into your given area. A sitespecific piece. A comment or analysis of a given location. The starting point for this project must originate from the content you created, the recordings you made on that day. You can produce either one of the following – I) A Typographic Page of Words that has to be placed back into the location (No images are allowed). II) A One-minute Screen based piece, which explores a sense of place through image and sound.
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APPROACH: From the time spent at Frogmore Street, the thing that stayed with me the most was how quiet it was. At first I thought that it would be interesting to do the same observation at night and see how different the outcome would be, but with the current pandemic, all of the venues would be closed until further notice. This gave me the basis of my idea, that the street was quietly sleeping until the Coronavirus restrictions were lifted and the venues could open their doors once again and the street could be filled with people enjoying music once more. I decided I would make a print based outcome for this to give me an opportunity to work purely with type, which is not something I have done much in the past, and create a narrative or statement without graphic elements to accompany it. The sentence “Wake me up when it’s over” came to mind as I felt it summed up the sleepy feel to the street and it potential to be a bustling hub of activity. RESEARCH: I looked at some typographic designers to get some ideas for layout and content. I looked at the work of Craig Ward, Christopher Wool and Steven Heller. I liked the examples where the type was distorted in some way and how Christopher Wool’s work often contained a sentence or phrase that would be something that someone would say to another person, it feels like there is a narrative behind it that is open for interpretation.
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Initial ideas
Text made from Z’s
Distorting text to simulate dream state 74
Overlay experiment
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Concept development
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DEVELOPMENT: Developing the work, I was experimenting a lot with layering and colour, I had originally intended to have each individual element or variant be it’s own design with each of them then being layered over each other as a final ‘reveal’ however it started to get quite busy and as this was going to be a printed outcome, this layering was not going to have the effect that I wanted. So instead I worked on a series of variants. I wanted to incorporate more of the research that I had done in part 1 and also wanted to focus more on each venue, so I created a border for each design that corresponded to the rooftop profile of that venue I had drawn in part 1, I then chose a colour palette that reflected each venue and also adde a character or element that linked to the venue name or it’s frontage. In the end I focussed on The Hatchet, The O2 Academy and Basement 45 for the three different designs.. The final outcome is show overleaf.
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O2 Academy Frogmore St, Bristol BS1 5NA
The Hatchet Inn 27 Frogmore St, Bristol BS1 5NA
Basement 45 8 Frogmore St, Bristol BS1 5NA
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Self Reflection Self-reflection on module so far: Below is the assessment criteria of this module please answer the questions in relation to the work produced so far. – The extent to which research and analysis is evident in the translation of initial concept/s through to final outcome/s – The level of exploration and experimentation evident in the development of a personal methodology in Graphic Design; – The level of conceptual and technical skill evident in individual studio practice; – The level of synthesis evident between individual concept, form and function that is evident in the work. – The level of commitment and organisation evident in the development and presentation of a body of work. 1. What do you believe the combined objectives of the projects have been? To help us think about tackling different starting points in different ways, to help illustrate the variety of starting points and demographics that we will inevitably encounter in professional life. I think this module has been an opportunity for us to explore different ways of working and push ourselves to be creative on a broader scale and to push for better standards in our work.
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2. What have you found most challenging about the work you have been asked to produce? To think more laterally and research the brief on my own. When I have done professional work, I have the opportunity to interrogate the brief and get as much information as I can from the source, that then directly affects how I will approach a task and give me parameters to work from that will ensure I meet the needs of the client. With these briefs however, I don’t have the opportunity to get more information from the source so it has forced me to do more and better research, this has then helped inform creative choices. It has also been challenging to think more laterally and to leave space in my designs for interpretation. 3: What questions did these projects raise for you? How I better my process so it is as creative as possible. How I approach the brief as an ideas generation exercise. How I can best execute my ideas to the highest standard possible. Is everything aligned correctly?
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4. What is your understanding of your own personal design process? At the beginning I have definitely been approaching the briefs very literally, “this is what I’ve been asked to do, so this is what I’m going to present” but I have been trying to re shape my process to be more about what I think the best approach is rather than what I think is expected of the brief. I am also very detail orientated and can sometime get too caught up in the minutia of a design and perhaps over develop rather than either leaving more space for interpretation or looking at how effective the design is overall. I have been really happy to explore different processes during this module, I don’t want to get too attached to one style of working considering this is my first semester at university and I wanted to use this as an opportunity to push my skills and my process.
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98 Reasons To Be Cheerful
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100 Ways BREIF: Design a Black and white A2 poster with the sentence you selected. Text only. Black-White only. AND Turn the selected sentence into a live action Gif between 5-10 seconds.It must be a live action (although you don’t need to be in it if you don’t want to).
CHOSEN SENTENCE: 37. TUESDAY NIGHT CRUMBLE
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REFERENCE MATERIAL AND RESEARCH
We decided on a retro 70’s inspired look as crumble is a traditional family dessert. This also inspired the look of our GIF and we are looking to produce a old home movie style piece
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FINAL OUTCOME
Final A2 Poster
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Stills from GIF
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50 Photos Part 1 BRIEF:
APPROACH:
You are asked to produce one idea for EACH of the subjects from the list, there are 50 subjects you must do all of them.
For this brief I went though each of the 50 subjects and planned out what I could take for each one. I wanted to fulfil each subject with the best interpretation that I could realistically accomplish with what I had around me. I tried my best to come up with a few different options and then chose the idea that I think had the most interesting interpretation.
STRICT presentation requirements: 50 colour photographs 6x4 landscape (i.e. horizontal format) gloss finish. Leave your photographs loose, do not mount, cut or crop them. Ideally not digital if possible, the most successful will be the photograph’s produced on a 35mm SLR, you have to be more considered in your critical judgement and analysis if you have to commit to what you see through the lens rather than being able to retake the photograph several times, if using a disposal camera please remember you cannot focus on object at close range please take this into consideration.
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I wanted to be quite strict with my first roll of film, making sure I could tick off as many of the subjects as possible and then use the second roll to fulfil the rest and then take any alternative pictures that I think would be better.
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PROCESS: I had a couple of different ways of trying to capture the subjects in the list. Depending on my location I would either walk around Bristol trying to find an image or see if a setting sparked an idea. This approach was ok but not massively time efficient. From home I was able to think about each shot beforehand and then set it up, some were fully staged and others (the ones including animals) were captured either though patience or luck. I also tried not to have too many photos that were either in the same place or with the same subject matter, I wanted to get a range so I would change locations when I could, including at home, in the city, in the countryside, at band practice etc. When I had completed my first roll we had our first crit where others could see my work. Some of my photos were chosen for discussion which was great. The main thing that I picked up on during that crit was how others had approached the brief. I was very determined to plan my pictures so that they fulfilled the subject as best they could, where as other students look a much more liberal approach with their interpretation and many times throughout the session it was mentioned that good images leave room for interpretation. This is very different from how I am used to working, but I saw it as an opportunity for the remaining photos and my next roll of film, to be more spontaneous with my images and see what the results were. I chose a few more locations such as an old castle tower, church with graveyard, amusement arcade and beach so they were different again from my previous locations, I re shot a couple of my pictures and gave myself a little more freedom in composition. I think that being relaxed for this next set gave me an opportunity to be more creative and less restricted which I really enjoyed and managed to produce work I’m really happy with.
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To take my photos I used my Vivitar V4000 which is a fully manual only, 35mm camera that I bought in 2005. It’s great because I have full control over the images however it does take longer to prepare for a shot and often requires a tripod.
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1. Meeting Place 2. Stir up 3. Ground work 4. Level out 5. Repaired 6. Endurance 7. Attention grabbing 8. Glance quickly over 9. Painstakingly accurate 10. Strikingly different 11. Breach of social conventions 12. Support 13. One way or another 14. Below 15. Avoid 16. In the existing circumstances 17. Stitch 18. Oval 19. Trespass 20. Makes less clear 21. Transfer of power 22. Sound the same 23. Drawback 24. Imagined state of perfection 25. Tilted in a particular direction 26. Inform 27. Move by slow degrees 28. Following 29. Demand as a right 30. Outlook 31. Test 32. Omitted 33. Disordered state 34. Area of high level ground 35. Spike 36. Temporary fault 37. Glossy 38. Left high and dry 39. West 40. Status 41. Embellished 42. Methodical procedure 43. Thin coating 44. Bind 45. Enquiring 46. Upheaval 47. Flag 48. Playground item 49. Dig up 50. What’s left
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50 PHOTOS: Recall WHAT WAS YOUR CONCEPTUAL METHODOLOGY (e.g. LITERAL/ LATERAL)? I tried to plan most shots before taking them, I would think of maybe a couple of ideas for each, starting with the obvious then trying to think more laterally. I didn’t want to take photos that featured the same kinds of material or locations so once I had planned and taken a number of pictures I would then think of another location or perspective.
DESCRIBE YOU PRODUCTION PROCESS (e.g. INTERIOR / EXTERIOR, CLOSE UPS / FAR AWAY SHOTS, etc...) The photos that I wanted more control over I took indoors, setting up each shot before taking it. I tend to gravitate towards close ups but wanted to be aware of this so I could keep the whole collection quite varied. I also had some of the outdoor locations in mind so would head out for walks to capture certain shots. Simultaneously to all planning, I would also have some unplanned shots in mind just incase I came across a good opportunity.
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CONSIDERING THE CRITS 4 THEMES (COMPOSITION, AESTHETIC, COMMUNICATION, INTERPRETATION), HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR PHOTOS RELATE TO THESE CATEGORIES? I think different photos fulfil each of these categories in varying proportions. Some photos I spent more time on the interpretation, others on composition. In each photo I would almost always start with the interpretation and work from there. Once a plan had been made based on interpretation, I would then think about composition and communication with aesthetic being a product of the others.
LIST 5 PHOTOGRAPHERS YOU LOOKED AT (OR ELSE YOUR SOURCE OF INSPIRATION / REFERENCE). I must admit I didn’t look at any particular photographers and this section highlights that I should always do some research. At the time I felt that there were many restrictions to the brief, what equipment I had to use, how good I am at using it, the subjects for each photo, what I had access to photograph and the time frame to get all of these photos taken and developed. I suspect research could have sparked new and potentially more interesting ideas. Something to consider moving forward.
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50 Photos Part 2 BRIEF - Part 2:
RESEARCH:
Edit your content first. Make a good selection of your 50 photos.
During our session we were shown many publications with a variety of ideas for how to execute this brief. One of my favourites was the RUBBISH FAM ZINE, I really liked the cut outs which revealed a small amount of the photo below, it’s really playful and exciting. Then on the inside I really liked the simple parings of photos like it was a gallery.
For the end of term (final hand-in), turn these photos into a design outcome. This brief is completely open. It can be screen, print, web, whatever you want. You are free to interpret this as you want, you can add text, shapes, etc... Ideally, we would like to follow you week by week in the process. You could consider creating a narrative with the material you have. You could also consider themes, composition, aesthetic , communication, interpretation, colour, method and production of the final outcome. Design using your content, starting off from your content.
APPROACH: To create a print based outcome that has some level of interactivity to it.
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The posters were also really interesting and I thought it would be a good way to show different ideas in isolation and give a different opportunity for interactivity.
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COLLECTION IDEAS
HANDS VERTICAL RUN DOWN
EYES
THINGS THROUGH THINGS SILHOUETTE
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LANDSCAPES
COLOUR
OPENED
HORIZONTAL
CIRCLES
LEFTOVERS
POWER SUPPLIES
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CASTLE
MUSIC CAREER
NATIONALISM VS RACISM
END
OPPOSITES
PLAY
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COMPLEX STRUCTURE
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SAFETY
TOWER
D SPECKLED
READING FOR PLEASURE
OPEN
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WHAT MAY COME
OUT WAL
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COLOUR
AMUSEMENT
ENDURANCE VS IMPERMANENCE
JOY IN INSURRECTION
LKING
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INITIAL IDEAS From the collection ideas I started to think about what I could do with them, trying to focus on the ‘WHY’.
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PROCESS: After creating some collections that I was happy with I started to think of what format this publication would take. I loved the Rubbish Fam Zine approach of having lots of different things to look at and pull out so I decided to create 3 main elements, a booklet, a poster folded in a certain way and a large poster, each with their own sets of images as collections. I decided to make interactivity my ‘why’, to create something that had personal meaning but was more about interacting with it from going through the different elements to folding open pages and revealing the images below. I wanted it to be fun and intuiging above all else. Next I wanted to see if I could use the cut out technique that I had seen in the Rubbish Zine so started to think of images that would work well laid over the top. Finally I wanted there to be extra parts to the publication so I wanted to include one of the original photos and a strip of the negative.
DEVELOPMENT: First I had to figure out how the pages were going to work and how I was going to fold my poster as well as considering how all of them were going to work together. I made a basic mock up of each element and used the booklet as a template for the pages.
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DEVELOPMENT: Once I had my booklet figured out and had decided exactly which images were going to feature in the publication I began to lay out the booklet, referring back to the original mock up, adding pages and changing orders where I needed to. I worked on a name for the publication and worked on a basic title logo that would be featured inside. I decided on Divide & Wander as I felt it summed up the publication quite well, the publication it’s self is divided up into sections and the images inside have a political element plus an element of adventure. Also with it being a play on ‘divide and conquer’ it already has a familiar feel and is nice and easy to say.
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DEVELOPMENT: I wanted to get that film colour blur that you get on the front of Rubbish’s Flash And Blood edition, so I tried to recreate it using paper and soy sauce in a baking tray and then using a gradient overlay to get the desired colours.
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MOCK UP: First mock up printed in black and white and at about half the actual print size. I left the pages intact, knowing that I would be cutting out certain areas on set pages. The mock up gave me an idea of how the layout it working but it also through up the issue of sizing. With spreads that are 4 panels wide, to print up to size would have meant I would need to print on A2 which would make this quite expensive to print, so instead I changed how I planned to bind the booklet, moving away from saddle bound and looking at binding the pages individually, I originally thought about binding with thread but moved to screw posts instead as I think it fit with the more rustic almost industrial feel of the publication.
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BOOKLET FINAL PAGES AND SPREADS
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DEVELOPMENT: With the booklet ready to go I then moved focus onto the posters, I decided to keep the large poster intact, rather than having a quarter missing, this meant I had a couple of large flat areas that I could fill. The folded poster I wanted to have a ‘reveal’ when you open it up, so I laid out the images on either side and folded the middle so you couldn’t see it. Each column of images had a stark contrast to each other, one was very grey and showed imagery that I don’t particularly associate with, such as a St George’s flag and barbed wire. On the opposite sides were places, people, movements that I have more connection with, with the poster part folded you could also see the text “My Home”. As a whole the images work together as a complete set but when you pull them apart to reveal the rest of the sentence “My Surroundings Feel Less Like Home” you can see the disconnect for each column further. The back of the poster was originally the ‘Punk Starter Kit’ design but I moved that over to the larger poster and created a different piece that sat in the space better. Finally I made a 4 photo collage for the reverse side of the large poster.
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FINAL OUTCOME LOOK THROUGH: https://vimeo.com/498934857
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A2 Poster
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On My Radio BREIF:
APPROACH:
Listen to the radio show you have been given, ideally we would like you to listen to it on an analogue radio. If it is a daily show you must attempt to listen to it for the week, if it is a weekly show be sure not to miss it, ideally we would like you to tune in to listen when the radio show is programmed. However if you do miss it you can catch it on BBC iplayer.
I wanted to create a screen printable design that featured all the strange and unusual veg that people must have been growing this year due to the seed shortage. I was aiming to print tea towels with this design on it.
Strict Guidelines: You must listen to it.
There were 2 main areas of research for this project, how the design was going to look and also what veg were going to be featured.
Consider: Why we have asked you to listen to it.
PROGRAMME: Gardeners’ Question Time
RESPONSE: This is a programme that I have listened to a lot before so am already quite familiar with it’s contents. From listening to the programme, the thing that stood out for me the most was how many more people have taken to gardening this year during the pandemic, the programme would often reference that there are an estimated 3 million more gardeners in 2020 due to lockdown. This reminded me of my own experience in the spring when we were trying to get seeds and found it impossible to find any seeds for the usual veg varieties and so had to buy alternatives that didn’t work out so well.
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RESEARCH:
After searching through many articles about gardening and it’s popularity, I couldn’t find anything about the more peculiar veg that I assumed would have been grown in 2020. Most articles covered the main veg that was bought in that time but there was little to no mention on any of the alternative veg or growing in general that I could use as the basis for the design. Furthermore as I was hoping to screen print this design onto fabric I would be limited to a single colour which means that any alternative veg that looks the same but is a different colour (yellow courgettes for example) wont translate in the design. In the end I had to abandon that idea and move onto a different approach. I did some research into veg grown from scraps and thought about creating a similar outcome but with scraps instead. Again my research did bring up some examples of veg etc but nothing that sparked anything that I wanted to pursue.
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RESEARCH: Next I started to research gardening design in general to see if there would be something that would generate an idea beyond my own notes etc. I found some pieces that gave me the idea of the radio as the watering can.
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DEVELOPMENT: I began to create these poster ideas that focus on the how long the show has been running for and that it is always been there to help you grow.
Tea Towel design idea
However after discussions during a tutorial, it was highlighted that this was more an advert for the radio show and not an interpretation of the programme, it was also mentioned that many of my design outcomes had been print based so it may be better to do a moving image based outcome for this project. Finally, with campus facilities closing early due to COVID, it was impossible to get it screen printed in time.
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DEVELOPMENT: I decided to carry forward the idea of the radio as the watering can and make a series of images that I could then animate. I also adapted the phrase ‘Helping you grow since 1947’ to ‘It’s Never Too Late To Start To Grow’, this is in reference to the length of time that the programme has been running but also to the number of new gardeners that started in 2020. I decided to create the illustrations in the ‘rubber hose’ style as another nod to the longevity of the programme it is also a fun animation style which hopefully matches the light heartedness of the programme.
Initial development set.
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DEVELOPMENT: Rather than just creating a set of stills I wanted to try my hand at After Effects for the first time and make this into a short motion piece to accompany the illustrations. I learned some basic effects, movements and transitions. With my initial attempts I think I was trying to animate too many elements but without having the skill to make them look good, so I focussed on only a couple of elements for each illustration and really simplified the movements so they look more like illustrations “brought to life� rather than amateur animations. As I got more familiar with the programme I added a couple of extra elements and changed the colour and saturation to give each illustration a sense of time to highlight how long the radio has been running for.
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FINAL OUTCOME:
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Although I didn’t continue down the path of the tea towel, I feel these square could make a good set of coasters instead to continue the idea of something for the home. You could make a cuppa and listen to GQT and pop your mug on one of these.
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ON MY RADIO: Recall AFTER LISTENING TO THE RADIO... HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MOOD WHILST LISTENING TO THE RADIO SHOW? DID IT CHANGE? There was a very cheery nature from the get go, which became quite infectious. I found myself falling into the audience laughs and smiling quite a lot.
WHEN YOU WERE LISTENING TO THE RADIO SHOW, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU HAVE LIKED TO HAVE BEEN DOING? I was working on some illustrations while I was listening, to be honest I would have liked to have been doing nothing while I listened, the show is on at 4pm which is always a point in the day where I feel least productive, so having a chance to take a break and just sit and listen would be great.
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RECALL THE MOST MEMORABLE SOUND YOU HEARD. The amalgamation of all of the virtual audience members cheering or laughing with that low bit rate distortion. It’s probably the first time I’ve listened to anything with a virtual audience in it.
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Ways to ask a question. BRIEF:
APPROACH:
In your pairs you must come up with four responses to ‘One way to ask a question?’
Between me and my partner Corin, he was far more successful in getting responses to this question, for me no one was answering their phones or checking messages but I did get a few responses, it did however take some time to explain what I was asking of them as at first they were asking me questions rather than giving me examples of how.
You will need to get the answer to this question from someone else. Try and get a range of responses from a cross section of people and ages e.g. phone a family member for a response, someone you know at work etc. Everyone’s 4 responses to "One way to ask a question" will be compiled on a computer during the day. If your answer has already come up on the list you will need to get another response to this question. E.g. How many ways are there to ask a question? How do you approach people to ask this question? How do they respond? What is your question? As you are working in pairs/ collectively so teamwork / negotiation is vital.
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Finally I got a few suggestions, with hand gestures making the list.
Corin’s List: 1. Ask a group of people using a flip chart. 2. Look confused / inquisitive. 3. Get an aeroplane and write it in the sky. 4. Politely
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30. Spell it out with chips 31. I think of what I want to know and who I am asking. I would then use language to make a leading question. 32. I would ask it as an open question, so not to get a one word reply. 33. Begin with small talk. 34. Speak clearly, maintain eye contact. 35. Nervous cough before speaking MY RESPONSES:
36. Wait for opportunity then be sure and direct 37. Pin me down on the floor 38. Interrogation / Threatening question 39. End with “Many thanks, regards … (name)” 40. Wait till they stop talking 41. Write something on a piece of paper and pass it to them 42. Smush your eyebrows together 43. Be direct 44. For a living 45. Say their name first 46. Doing a poll 47. In a poetic form 48. Adjust mask then speak 49. End with: If that’s cool with you… 50. Hand gestures. 51. Raising hands on Microsoft Teams 52. In an interview 53. Using intonation 157
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Book Interpretation Borrow an Non-Fiction book from someone you know (flat mate, friend, relative etc.). It can be about anything. The subject is irrelevant. It can be any size, can be instructional, historical, bibliography, poetry, craft etc, as long as it’s nonfiction. Don’t go looking for something specific, just get a book immediately. The only rule is that you can gave it as a physical copy. When you have a book photography the cover an put it on the padlet, there is a column call Book. This book is the information you will be working with for this brief. Read and examine the book, read the content. Can you understand the subject? Is all the information new to you? Examine the book, for example, what condition is it in? What does the condition tell you about the book/ subject/or the people who have loaned it? What type of stock/ font has been used? Is it image or mostly text? What is your opinion of the book/subject? Do you see the book as information, narrative, object, language, etc? Your brief is to interpret your book from your personal perspective. Your outcome must clearly communicate this interpretation of the book.
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Consider how will you interpret the book and its content, please be aware that this brief comes at the end of a module in which you have explored your lateral thinking, ideas generation, type & image, design methodology and your design process. Consider your design approach; be innovative, open, experimental, diverse and intelligent. Pay attention to detail and finish, consider your audience. BRIEF: Represent your interpretation of the book in ONE of the following formats: A 90 second moving image piece or up to 5 minutes documentary video (must include type, image and sound) OR A multi-page publication (min 8 page) consider size, stock, binding and print finish
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MY BOOK: VIVIENNE WESTWOOD
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APPROACH: We were asked to bring in 5 items that we felt represented the book. The book contains a a short biography and then a chronological gallery of photos that represent her story as a fashion designer from the early punk days to the early 2000’s (when the book was published).
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I chose these 5 items as I felt they summed up the content best, fabric, a punk vinyl, pin badges, a needle and thread and some film negatives.
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Initial sketches and ideas generated during a tutor lead session.
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DEVELOPMENT: What I found most surprising about the book was that Westwood is seen as (and is) such an innovator in fashion however her approach to her pieces is deeply rooted in classic tailoring and dress making, and in the book she states “I’m not trying to do something different, I’m trying to do the same thing but in a different way”. I really liked this phrase and used it as my basis. I had originally intended to create a motion piece but after running through a few ideas I instead settled on creating a set of photographs that focussed on silhouettes. Many of Westwood’s pieces have very striking and recognisable silhouettes so my aim way to recreate them using everyday items (the same thing in a different way). I wanted to try out projection on white fabric as well as making shadows that resemble her pieces out of small objects. For the projections I wanted to use baroque paintings and pottery designs, as these feature in her work and is also a reflection of her appreciation of the classics.
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INITIAL IDEAS
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DEVELOPMENT: After taking the initial photos I decided to bring in more fabric and items to play with and went though the book to find some of the most distinctive silhouettes that I thought I could try and recreate. I brought all white fabrics including curtains, a bed sheet, a towel and a table cloth; and to make the shadows I bought toilet roll, post-it notes and yoghurt pots, amongst other things. I set up two stations for photography, one against a white wall for the shadows and the second in front of a projection screen. I made 8 shadows and 5 projections, choosing my favourite 5 shadow images to match the projection photos. I then edited the images in photoshop and laid the images out pairing a projection image with a shadow image. I also took photos ‘with the lights on’ as a way to reveal what was really being photographed, so showed what was making the shadows or what fabrics were used in the projections. Finally when it came to printing and binding the book, I decided on an A4 portrait with a 20mm column on one side where I could stitch the pages together. I left the excess thread in reference to dressmaking. I had it printed on silk stock to give it a glossy high end magazine feel.
MODELS: AMY WRIGHT RHYS WHITE
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FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/viv_west_interpretation_brief_web
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Final Reflection I believe it was Chris Do (although I may be wrong) who said that “Art is about asking questions and design is about answering them”. Before starting the course this year, that is a statement that I firmly stood by and thought summed up my approach to design implicitly. Design for me was always about answering questions, more over, answering somebody else’s questions, creative problem solving, and not so much a tool for self expression or most importantly, raising questions. I felt like if the above mantra was true then this module has been more about exploring graphic ART rather than graphic DESIGN. However as I have developed over the last few months I have realised that these 2 things are interchangeable rather than separate entities and because of this I feel that my process has changed to be less regimented in just fulfilling the brief to its more literal or logical conclusion but now I am more playful with the brief, and do my best to leave space for interpretation, although I know I can improve on that.
giving space to text and images when needed and not just arbitrarily. I hope that his module file lay out is testament to that. I have also really enjoyed having the opportunity to print my work and create physical outcomes, especially with the 50 Photos project. From my professional experience prior to starting this year, I was very much in the Branding and Brand Identity camp, spending a lot of time researching that and feeling like that is the logical progression outside of university as I am already doing some work in that area. However I have tried my best to be more open and through these briefs have started to understand the real breadth that graphic design covers. At this time I am happy exploring what options there are and what I think I might want to focus on. Again this goes back to graphic design and graphic art idea, there is space in graphic design to be artistic and I hope to explore that more.
On a technical level I feel there are a couple of areas that I have improved on, my Adobe programme knowledge is better, I got to tryout other programmes too such as Brackets and Processing that I really enjoyed, and feel I could spend years just mastering those!
Overall I am happy with what I have produced for this module, I know I can always do better and will strive to do so as I continue through the degree as long as I can keep creativity and communication at the front of my thinking. I have enjoyed a lot of the briefs and have put a lot of time into executing them as best as I can.
My first design breakthrough was after handing in my zine and getting feedback about spacing, and basically giving everything more space as a way to create tension and hierarchy, after re designing that it completely changed how I approach layout design. I am much more comfortable
There are a couple of things that I would have liked to have done differently, most notably with the On My Radio brief where if I had the time I would have still liked to have made a screen print and even fabricated a working radio watering can, but time and COVID weren’t on my side.
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FINAL OUTCOME LINKS: SUMMER ZINE FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/option_c_-_issuu_web
INDESIGN REDESIGN FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/protest_and_persist_article_web
PICTURE SOUND FINAL OUTCOME: https://vimeo.com/467050424
50 PHOTOS FINAL OUTCOME LOOK THROUGH: https://vimeo.com/498934857
BOOK INTERPRETATION FINAL OUTCOME: https://issuu.com/nathfiction/docs/viv_west_interpretation_brief_web
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