MANIFESTO DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
NICOLAI BYE
M A N I F E STO
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY N I CO L AI BYE
CONTENT Me as a Creative 8 Me as a Creative 10 Norway 12 Japanese Architecture 14 Illustration 17 Visual Activist 18 Workspace
Layout Design 24 Mood Board 26 Page Layout 30 Typography 32 Image Treatment 34 Colour Choice 36 Cover Workshop 42 Target Audience 44 Interim Review 48 Group Seminar
Workshops GIF Workshop RAW Photography Studio Photography Laser Cutting Print Making Book Binding
52 60 66 72 78 92
Personal Manifesto Who Am I Now? First Things First Music and Work Minimalism from Chaos Bibliography
100 102 104 106 108
Me as a Creative 6
Me as a Creative To start of the process book on the right foot, you’ll first get a look into how I see myself as a designer. Here we will look into how I work, what makes my creative process unique and some of my aspirations for the future.
Me as a Creative Introduction
For now, a little background information about myself. My name is Nicolai Andreassen Bye and I was born and raised in Norway. I am 20 years old and have been doing graphics for 4 years in total. Most of my years in graphics have so far been from my high school where I studied Media and Communication learning about all the main adobe programs used in the creative field. In the past I have worked on everything from illustration commissions to product photography. Last year, I took a giant leap by moving overseas to Farnham in England to further study Graphic Communication. Through my first year I have gotten a deeper understanding for typography, as well as honed my skills within InDesign and Illustrator.
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On my spare time I explore many interests as I like trying out new things. The main ones that have stuck around is illustration, photography and Japanese architecture.
Home Town Kragerø Kommune Kragerø, Telemark Age 0-18
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High School
Me as a Creative Norway
Hjalmar Johansen Videregaendeskole Skien, Telemark Media and Communication
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Norway Being from another country carries with it different values and norms than people from England. I was born and raised in a small town in Telemark, Norway named Kragerø. The town itself only habitat 10 000 so compared to British norms, its tiny. I would say my childhood was a good one, a loving mother and father and good friends. I went to all the “normal” schools where you only have mandatory classes and performed well.
After 16 years of living in my small town I started my studies in a neighbouring town called Skien. Skien is a bigger town but still only have a population of 55 000. Here I studied Media and Communication. I would assume this is what you call A-level or high school in England. Our study thought us mandatory classes like English and Norwegian, but mostly focused on media theory, photography, design etc. This is where I realised my love for design.
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Me as a Creative Japanese Architecture
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Japanese Architecture During my teens I fell in love with the nerdy world of anime. For those who don’t know anime is commonly referred to animation shows made in a peculiar style that originated in Japan in the early 20th century. Many see anime as a genre and that there isn’t much to it, but for the people who check it out know that is as far from the truth as you can get it. Anime have all genres you would know of like, horror, comedy, romance, thriller etc. Getting dragged into this hobby I naturally started to investigate the world of its origin. What I found was an incredible world of politeness and respect, but also a way of communicating nothing like
we see in the west. Out from all this the Japanese architecture is truly magnificent. Where you can often see amazing detail in their work. The reason why I found Japanese architecture so inspiring for this project was mainly because of their use of a lot of squares in their sliding doors and general buildings. I also found it interesting how they use sliding doors, so they can change the layout of the rooms accordingly to the occasion.
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Me as a Creative Illustration
Illustration
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Carrying on from the previous page with my interest in anime also came an increased interest in illustration. Through my childhood I had always been interested in drawing and found it fun, but when I got into anime I truly began practicing more regularly to learn how to draw better. Still this day I don’t have a style, but I am eagerly working towards one. My most recent illustration I have been drawing have been a combined style between cartoon and anime style, giving a soft touch to the general feel. The illustrations shown here are some of my latest works from my high school. For our finale year we were every 3-week given a word, and to this word
we were to make something. It could literally be anything. For the darker one the word was safety, and for the one on the right it was generosity. I think illustration can really give you an edge in making something truly become unique and your own. Cause everyone draws differently, of course you have people who can perfectly copy images, but when you draw in your own style and your own images then it becomes something rather unique. This is also a way to break open the stiffness that you sometimes might get from only using the adobe package.
Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic
Activist Pragmatist Theorist
Reflector
Perfectionist Dislike research
Digital/Screen Instinctive
Minimalist Chaotic Experimental
Block colour Music
I feel my learning style really shows that I am not one who are too excited about reading. That I prefer my research/inspiration to be visual in pictures or videos. Also that, I like to work on my own as well as getting feedback from people.
I often feel when everyone else turns on their pc to start looking for their inspiration online, I end up doing 1-2 quick sketches to catch my initial ideas before going further. As soon as the tutor gives us the base for what we are doing my mind starts visualising. Books, websites, cups whatever it can The way I enjoy working is brainstorming ideas that go on. I create designs in my mind from my past I immediately get from the brief. After this I like doing experiences. For to me it comes quite naturally online research for inspiration on sites like Pinterest. because I consume a large number of visuals through From here my personal preference is to get started movies and series and just generally how today’s with some initial sketches or get into the software and society is. Often, I sit and ponder for myself, coming start testing out the different design and ideas. After up with a couple of ideas for the brief before going these have been refined and worked on, I show them online. So, for things that makes me stand out I to a tutor, fellow student or friend for feedback on would defiantly say the start-up face what they think and see when they see my design. would be one of them.
Me as a Creative Learning Style
Visual Activist
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Me as a Creative Workspace
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My workspace today isn’t much to brag about, but it does its job. Currently my workspace is the place where I can place my laptop. Mostly my bedroom back home, but also the library and studio at university. Since its my own place I usually keep things everywhere leaving things half-done here and there, leaving it rather chaotic, but there are always two places that are clean my desk and my bed. This isn’t an accurate representation of how my room always look, every now and then I’ll have a quick clean up and it will be looking brand new in about 10 minutes. The reason why I don’t always clean things up straight away is to keep it handy in-case I need it for what I am working on.
I think my biggest complaint about my current workspace is that it doesn’t really allow for much creativity. I can use my laptop, but there isn’t anywhere to store my books, films etc. or spaces to draw or do craft on.
Workspace Today
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Ideal Workspace When it comes to my ideal workspace, do I have some big plans. Natural light is the most comfortable to work in for me so big windows would be the most desirable. In terms of the workspace itself, a big area with connected tables that leaves a huge landscape to have all my bits and pieces on, but also allows for crafting and drawing on the side. When it comes to colours, I would mostly want clam wood colours with some black, the only exception being my two couches in a sort of relaxing / meeting area. These would be my favourite colours purple and orange, but I would make them pastel to keep with the calm theme of the rest of the room. Ideally, I’d also have tons of storage for mainly tools but also my DVD collection, and a TV for said DVD’s or for showing a client the progress on a project.
Me as a Creative Workspace
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Layout Design Mood Board
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Mood Board Trying to find a style for my process book was like jumping into a sea of possible outcomes. Later I have a spread going into more detailed inspiration, but for now I just wanted a general feel for how my book was going to turn out. What I wish to take from this is the colour usage with one strong colour and the rest in black and white. I also wanted to use graphic elements with photos to create an interesting outcome. Negative space was also something very important to me as a designer that loves minimalism.
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Layout Design Page Layout
Page Layout
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For my page layout I wanted to focus on photographic aspect. I wanted tiny amounts of text and much more focus on design elements. I wanted the images and designs to tell the journey I had been experiencing and the text to fill in the details. What I wished to accomplish in my design was a clean and strong aesthetic. This is to appeal to my targeted audience which we will get more into later. In my inspiration I have considered negative space, not much text at all, nice and simple text furniture, big visible page number and very clear headings so you always know what you are reading.
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Layout Design Furniture
When it came to figure out my text furniture, I spent quite some time testing. These were some of the iterations I went through. Starting of with some quite basic ones that you have seen time and time again. The testing of the more experimental ones and finally the more refined and finished outcome that made it to the book. What I thought of while making my furniture was that I wanted to showcase my design idea throughout the book. The square, since my outcome is presented in a square. I also wanted to show my minimalism and use of colour, while still give myself a clear and easy way of showcasing where the reader currently is in the book. All of this was what lead to the finale outcome.
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Testing Furniture
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Layout Design Typography
Typography
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When it came to putt in type I was grateful for our first year at uni. We have just had an entire year focusing on making type look good and did it come in handy. For my book I use a sans serif typeface for my body text to give it that clean look, and to make it easier for the reader. For my headlines I used a slab serif font to create a diversity between my headings and my body text. I also choose to use a slab serif to have a little resembles to the past of serif typefaces, to remember a designer roots a little bit if you want. Since the focus of this book is learning about who I am as a designer.
For the page number I went with a typeface with a square-like feel to it to again reflect upon the book format itself. The reason why it works nice as the page number is that it doesn’t take too much attention, while still showing the feel of the book. I feel if I had used a similar typeface for the headings it might have become a bit daunting or overwhelming to read. What I hope to accomplish with this use of typography is to make the book easy to get through for the reader, visually pleasing and easy to manoeuvre through.
Mr Eaves Mod OT - Body text / Small Headlines / Byline
The quick brown fox Politica - Page Number
The quick brown fox Rockwell - Main Headlines
The quick brown fox
Layout Design Image Treatment
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Image Treatment For my image treatment I wanted to look back at my inspiration, looking at the negative space and Japanese architecture. What these two things have in common is that they leave a lot of room for flexibility. I wanted my image treatment to showcase and give me the ability to shape each page as I wanted it. Looking through inspiration online and I realised that breaking up my images into section or bits would be perfect for my goal, and of course there couldn’t be a more suitable shape to break my pictures apart with then the square. Mostly to reflect the book itself but also design. When I think of the square, I think of it as one of the most basic design elements.
It doesn’t have a top point or an extra strong base, it is an all-around balanced and structurally strong element. A little bonus link would be to Instagram, which is a software I use on a frequent basis, that is an image-based software that used to operate with only squared images.
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Layout Design Colour Choice
Colour Choice
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As from my inspiration I wanted my book to have one key colour to repeat itself throughout the book. For me it was important that this colour represented me in one way or another. I played around the idea of red because of the passion. Green for the growth in myself learning all these new ways of doing design. Even using different colours for each section. In the end I landed on the idea that what better colour to represent myself then the colours I like the most. Therefore we had purple and orange to work with. Since the finale colour became orange, let’s talk about purple first.
As Tom perfectly describes when he sees my pinkie-purple. It gives him a feeling of not luxury but more a feeling of relaxation. Which still is the wrong path, we want energy.
Now orange, the front fighter of colour for food and drinks, for summer and for fun. A colour greatly associated with joy seen in logos like Master Card, Fanta, Nickelodeon and Amazon. This reflects my design philosophy way better. A wilder approach to design with music and “chaos”. Even if this is the feeling I really enjoy and like it doesn’t really come across as too professional. Therefore it was important to Purple generally symbolises mystery, imagination, refine my orange to better suite a professional scene. When I asked Tom what he thought my orange for compassion and luxury. All these things are great, but it doesn’t reflect my view on design. My design the book communicated he said “earthy, orangy, view is more fun, I think design is something loud and wholesome maybe, natural.” A natural orange, still joyful. Not something that is to be a luxury item. very noticeable but not screaming in your face.
Optimistic Adventurous Creativity Fun
“Earthy, orangy, wholesome maybe, natural.” - Tom Northey
Imagination Compassion Mystery
“Relaxation maybe, it’s not quite luxury it’s more pinkie, and, I think it’s lavendory, ” - Tom Northey
Layout Design Book Cover
Paria Alizadeh Teacher Assistant
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Cover Workshop For the first workshop of this book we are going to look at the last one we did as it suits better for the design part rather then later. We had the lovely teacher assistant Paria Alizadeh to show us what makes a great cover and some key things to keep in mind while making one. We did exercises describing a books genre with just the title or cover image. This truly showed me how important each element of a book cover is. Another exercise we did was to make covers to a given word. My groups given word was space, so we came up with two outcomes. A more cartoon focused book and a more teenage focused book, made by the very talented Deise Carvalho.
After the workshop itself we started to work on our own book cover. On the next page I showcase some of the iterations I went through to make my own cover.
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Outcome
Layout Design Book Cover
I wanted my cover to reflect something about me and the book itself. For a long time was I stuck on using pictures of Japanese architecture and interior as the cover picture, but I had to finale realise that it didn’t look like a design book. What I did end up using was a close-up picture of a tatami mat which is traditionally used as flooring in Japanese houses.
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This would link my book to my Japanese interest but also work as an interesting pattern to have behind clear and clean graphic elements. This is to again show the relationship between chaos and minimalism. Where a picture usually is more detailed and deeper, the graphic elements are easy to understand and sharp.
MANIFESTO DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
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Layout Design Target Audience
Catharine Brooking Senior Lecturer
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Paria Alizadeh Teacher Assistant
Emma Mills Teacher Assistant
Target Audience My targeted audience for this book is my tutor and her peers that will be assessing my process book, but I am also aiming it towards a potential agency looking to employ a designer. Knowing my targeted audience makes it easier to make design decisions. It is important to try and keep the language professional as well as personal. Other ways I have made my book to be more appealing to my audience is by having a clear grid to work out from, using negative space to create more of a luxurious feeling and using modern, clear type that will be easily read and understood.
The black and white part of the book also gives it more of a serious tone to it, leaving out colours that could interfere with the communication and highlight what’s important. The reason I leave my research in their original colour is to show how the original creator wanted it to be shown. Even my choice of book and shapes can be linked to my audience. How I earlier talked about the square being a foundation for design works, and that I am willing to take the challenge of designing a book in a square format rather then your normal A4 format.
Layout Design Interim Review
Interim Review
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The interim review was a half-way point. To look and reflect upon all the workshops you had done until then, and to review some of the spreads in your process book. Catharine Brooking started out the lesson with having a brief look at other student’s previous works. This gave us a huge insight to what they were looking for by commenting on what was good and what was missing. Everything carefully noted down to use in my own process book. After this we went into groups to do our reviews.
This to me was the most helpful guidance throughout the entire project. If it hadn’t been for this review my process book would most likely be half the size it is now. As we will get more in depth on the next page, this is where most of my book became a reality.
46 Layout Design Interim Review
Emma Mills Teacher Assistant
Feedback For most of the lecture we were going around the table in our groups. My group isn’t very chatty, so I took the initiative and commented truthfully what I thought about each design. Some feedback might have been a bit rough but that will hopefully help them see what could be better with their design and help it look its best. I would often take pauses to ask if others had any inputs as well which they did. This lasted mostly the entire day with the tutors walking around the groups. I would say luckily for me our group became last.
Emma Mills, a former student herself that now studied to becoming a teacher, would look and thoroughly go through my spreads with the criteria in front of us. It was thanks to Emma that I realised how much the project was asking us. When they say “add everything” they really mean everything. With her help I managed to compile a list of the things I needed to put in my book which I found so helpful. She also gave good feedback on what I could improve visually in my design
Layout Design Group Seminar
Group Seminar
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We had two group seminars throughout the weeks with workshops. These were sort of a little meeting to check-in on us. To see how we were getting along and if we had any questions. It was mostly Catharine that led these meetings with her assistant Emma. This is where I learned about research, or more accurately what counts as research. I have never been to fond of books and historical research, I am much more of a person who likes to get my hands dirty. Don’t get me wrong, I find the past fascinating, but it can become a bit tedious in longer periods.
So, when Catharine explained to us that primary research is just as much research as secondary research I was delighted. She also emphasized that we should be doing contemporary research. Look at what is happening right now and not just what was in the past. This was a huge change from the first year where we would be discouraged from doing online research and be pushed towards books instead.
Catharine Brooking Senior Lecturer
Emma Mills Teacher Assistant
WORK SHOPS
Workshop GIF
Adam Thomas Software Technician
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GIF Workshop To start of the workshop chapter, we are starting with the GIF workshop. In this workshop we had Adam Thomas to show us the interesting world of short animated videos. Thanks to his charismatic personality and goofy attitude he made the workshop entertaining and easy to follow along. We learned a little bit about GIF’s history how it started out as a way to share short videos to now be used everywhere. After quickly showing us a couple of examples, he went straight into Photoshop to quickly show us an easy way of making small GIF’s utilizing the timeline window.
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Workshop GIF
Contemporary Research
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As mentioned earlier GIF in its earliest days was a way to share short videos online. While today we can see GIF’s everywhere. On agencies websites and Facebook to Snapchat and Instagram. GIF’s are often used as a way to express very specified emotions. We mostly use emotes (small still images of facial expressions) when we text, but software like Facebooks messenger let’s you search up popular GIF’s and send them. These GIF’s usually features people with very expressive faces (A quick example would be Jim Carry). One of the most known and often used GIF is the Michael Jackson eating popcorn GIF.
These replicate more the old-style GIF of small videos while messenger has another type of GIF’s they call stickers. Stickers are usually animated toon character doing a small and repeated motion. Like the skeletons we can see to the right. Instagram also has a similar kind of sticker system that let you put small animated GIF’s for your my stories.
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Iterations For my outcome I choose to go with something I knew I would be capable of completing. So, I have taken my old typeface from year one, which is quite square-like making it fit perfectly for the book, and I wanted to make it spell out “WELCOME�. A little and sweet message. Now, since I am only doing letters it leaves a lot of room to be creative with the letters. This is where all my iterations come in. After loads of different colour and background testing I choose to stay with the Japanese theme for my finale outcome.
Workshop GIF
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I originally thought of only spelling the word “WELCOME” for my finale outcome, but as I was playing around with the layers in photoshop I stumbled upon an interesting shape. I realised if I took the letters O, W and M it made and shape that reminded me about the detailed wood work from Japanese architecture. What I learned from this workshop is that GIF’s are easier to make then one would think. Although easy to make, they can create quite a visual impact on websites as moving typography furniture, or simply to make something more interesting by adding motion. Humans are naturally attracted to movement, so it wouldn’t surprise me if we just see more GIF’s as the years passes by.
Workshop RAW Photography
RAW Photography
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For this workshop we had the very educational Adam Thomas to show us the basics of RAW Photography. This will be important for a designer because photography, when mastered, can easily let you show your own aesthetic simply through your photos. Also, you can show off your designs from projects in new and interesting ways. When it came to the workshop itself you could almost feel Adams passion for photography. Through all his stories and experiences.
Something else he was brilliant at during the lecture was to keep us interested simply by using humour. This made it easy to get through the tiny lecture and showcase of settings on the camera before we started to take our own photos.
Adam Thomas Software Technician
Workshop RAW Photography
RAW
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Nicolai Bye 2nd Year Graphics
In Practice For the practical part of the workshop we unfortunately only had 4 cameras for 10 students. Luckily, that wasn’t a problem seen as I get along with the class. In the end I ended being paired with Lucy, which was great since we both had been doing photography in the past. This let us focus more on having interesting angels and compositions in our photos, instead of fighting with the settings. After we had taken some photos, we went back to our laptops to start playing around in the Camera RAW program. I managed to get the introduction to the most important panel before I had to leave for a doctor appointment.
When I got back to Uni after the summer holidays, I brought my old DSLR from home. I hadn’t touched it before this workshop, but with this I will defiantly be using it more. I feel like the RAW Photography workshop was a little reminder that I really enjoy photography, and how much better your photos become with a proper camera instead of just simply your phone. I absolutely found this workshop eye-opening and enjoyable.
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Workshop RAW Photography
Secondary Research
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Looking a bit back on what photography used to be and what it has evolved into today, we can see the title “Photographer” have been watered out a little. This is due to the increasing number of platforms and accessibility to take good photos. Not further back then one or two generations you had to complete an examination before you could technically call yourself a photographer. This examination was meant to show that you truly understand the basics of photography. While today you can simply grab your smart phone, snap a couple of pictures and put them on Instagram and now you are a photographer. The most common ways you see pictures being taken today is after all from a phone, but for the occasion
you want to create something more special you have Adobe Photoshop that lets you create images that never really existed in the first place. I have personally taken part of an amateur examination, and what I mean by that is my old high school teacher did this test himself and he recreated it for his students. After that experience I would say I’m a bit sad that the respect for the title “Photographer” have died out a little given the things you had to know in the past to become one.
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Workshop Studio Photography
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Studio Photography Once again, we had the very talented Adam Thomas to show us the magical world of studio photography. After making us all confident behind a DLSR camera, it was time to kick it up a notch. With this workshop Adam took us on a detailed trip through our photo studios and how to book them. He showed us quick and easy how to get access to all the tools the facility had to offer and how to use it correctly. The goal of this workshop was to give us the necessary induction to the studio so that we could start using the space for our own good.
After giving us a quick tutorial on how everything was used, he split us into groups to spread out over the 3 different product tables to shoot some photos of our own.
Adam Thomas Software Technician
Nicolai Bye 2nd Year Graphics
Workshop Studio Photography
Lucy Frankland 2nd Year Graphics
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What We Did I paired up with Lucy, Shannon and Alana from my class. Luckily, we were all confident with each other, so we could just have fun shooting our different designs. I had brought the spreads I was going to use for the Interim Review as I thought these would not only show a design I had made myself, but also be interesting to have backlit. Me and Lucy had both done photography before so setting up the sensor to the lights, and setting the lights correctly was not a problem at all.
Through a lot of goofing around and laughter we all ended up having a good time and getting some pretty good pictures for the outcome, while almost going blind because of the room being pitch black and the blitz being bright as the day.
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Outcome For my outcome I had brought four spreads from my process book at the time. I mostly tried to make interesting pictures by spreading them out in a fan like matter and taking pictures from different angels with a small aperture. Personally, I find the backlit paper interesting the way it shines through the layers. I feel like I am more likely to use the studio again for the future, seeing the beautiful outcome that you can achieve with a little bit of knowledge and a camera.
For me this was a quick and easy workshop that simply made me able to use the studios now. I think this will really come in handy for future projects when we might be doing stuff like labels or other physical objects I might want professionally photographed.
Workshop Laser Cutting
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On the journey through our workshops to learn new and fascinating ways of working within our field we had a workshop learning about laser cutting. With this workshop we got an induction on how to use both the machines that are available to us on the campus, what to do and not to do and how to book them to use for our own projects. What I quickly came to realise is that laser cutting is very straight forward if you remember all the tiny details that can either make or break your outcome.
After a safety and machine induction we started cutting out small business card sized name cards. This experience really opened my eyes for what can be achieved with a laser cutter. I don’t know if it will be relevant for any future projects, but maybe I will do some fun art pieces in my own time.
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Workshop Laser Cutting
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As far as research goes for this workshop it was mostly primary research. Seen as I was most likely just going to use this for the embossing plate for print making, I didn’t go to deep into the field and how it looks today. However, when being there with my classmate Lucy, we did experiment with the settings to get the ideal raster engraving settings. We did this by doing tiny test squares on the wood we were going to cut in. Simply by taking a small area of 2cm x 2cm and writing the word “TEST” you could get a good feel of how deep the current setting would cut.
Something I noticed from the induction was that the laser makes some orange sparks as it is cutting the wood. Recently having the RAW Photography workshop, I was intrigued to try and get some interesting high-speed pictures of the sparks. So, for the day of the laser cutting I brought with me my DLSR. I was not disappointed with the result I ended up with.
Lucy Frankland 2nd Year Graphics
Workshop Laser Cutting
Outcome
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For the outcome we were making a plate with our initials. We were going to use the same plate in the print making workshop that we had later that week. Me and Lucy had misunderstood the brief because, we thought that we were supposed to engrave the wood, but apparently what almost everyone else did was cut their letters out and then glue them back on a clean plate.
Either way the engraving turned out nicely and worked fine for the embossing. If anything, we learned that engraving a A5 size piece of wood takes a long time. We booked the laser cutter for 2 hours and still was a bit overtime by the end of it all.
Workshop Printmaking
Printmaking
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This was probably my favourite workshop of them all, and I was very excited for it, maybe a bit too much. We had the very knowledgeable Tony Lee to guide us through the process of screen printing, embossing / debossing and press printing. The aim of the workshop was to induct us in all the before mentioned printing methods. Tony was really into what he was teaching having made tons of interesting screen printings himself where he had used many different layers for his outcomes.
For the first part of the day he effectively showed us how to make a screen ready for the screen printing and how to properly use the screen to get the best results.
Tony Lee Technical Staff
Workshop Printmaking
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Secondary Research Before going into the workshop, I want to take a break and appreciate and research a bit more about printmaking. If we look around us today screen printing is used to create that extra dimension to a piece that lets you play around with the touch to the piece. By using different paint and materials for your outcome. We see mostly screen printing today used on things like posters and clothing, but for print making have been practised for many centuries.
A style I found interesting was a Japanese art style that flourished between the 17th and 19th century called Ukiyo-e. This was a style that utilized woodblock prints, like what we ended up doing later in the day. What they would do was to carve out all the layers in an art piece for then pressing it onto the paper. I also learned that one of my favourite pieces The Great Wave off Kanagawa was made using this method.
Workshop Printmaking
Screen Printing
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This was the bit I was a little too excited for. Leading up to this I had understood from my classmates that what you needed was black and white files that you could make into individual layers. Now I thought I was generous with the number of layers I brought to the workshop. I soon realised that everyone had brought one or two layers, while I had brought 7. Which resulted in me having my very own screen.
This was maybe for the best because spreading over the 4 outcomes I made I spent the entire rest of the workshop and lunch to finish them. After I got an understanding of how it worked, I couldn’t stop. I absolutely loved getting my hands dirty and doing something. Which I now see fits perfectly with my learning style.
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Outcome My outcome and research became one and the same thing. Moving from the top left to the right. I could gradually see how different the first stroke all the way to the fourth stroke was. With this I could have a bit of first-hand experience on how important it was to not only fill your screen with paint before pressing the paint on, but also how important it is to make sure everything is perfectly aligned every time.
When it comes to my outcome, I was mostly satisfied with outcome number three since this was the cleanest outcome out of the four. This has no lacking in colour from the print and is the most aligned with the layers. This experience has truly given me a new way of expressing me that I really enjoy. I can absolutely see myself using this for a future project.
Workshop Printmaking
Embossing & Press Print
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The second half of the day with the workshop Tony showed us an easy way of using the electronic press for embossing and press print. He also showed us the old school press that our university are lucky enough to have. Initially I had no idea about how embossing worked and was quite surprised about how easy it was. Tony showed how you make the paper you want to use soaked so that it will form after the plate you put under the press with a tiny plastic sheet between to keep the paper clean.
As you can see in my picture, this was a workshop where I feel people let themselves go a little. Everyone was going to become a little dirty anyway and we seemed to enjoy our time. So, I would say the day was filled with great energy from the entire group.
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Outcome For my outcomes I had been a little lucky with a previous mistake done in the laser cutting bit. Because me and Lucy had done engraving instead of cutting out, our letters weren’t high enough from the base to leave out the background. This, interestingly enough, created an extra layer of texture as a background for my outcome, which I think works especially good for the embossing with the smooth letters and rough background.
The only thing I wished I had done differently would be to have a thinner paint on my plate when I did the press print. I used to much paint, and a rather thick paint so it didn’t turn out as clean as I would like to, and it made it difficult to show the different colours I tried to use.
Workshop Book Binding Room
Book Binding Room
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This was pretty much a re-induction from the first year. We had already had an induction from before, but since we have gotten a new book binding room, we had to be re-inducted. The workshop was led by the very kind Tipu Miah. He quickly and efficiently went through the machines, so we could as fast as possible move over to trying out the machines for ourselves.
Much like first year I don’t see myself using this room much outside of project that demands us to use it. I just personally would rather have my projects professionally printed by a separate company as I believe more in their accuracy rather than my own.
Tipu Miah Technical Staff
Lucy Frankland 2nd Year Graphics
Workshop Book Binding Room
Deise Carvalho 2nd Year Graphics
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Primary Research After a quick induction we got a lot of time to try out all the different machines. Luckily was there a lot of free paper to use. One of the new machines that was in the new book binding room was the perfect binding. While last year you would get a big nasty white spine, this year, with the new perfect binding we stick the wraparound piece directly on the book itself. Another new machine that is available to us is a folding machine. This is probably the machine I am most likely to use as it automatically folds a piece of paper in several different ways.
Workshop Book Binding Room
Outcome
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The outcome for this workshop was supposed to be our summer project with a cover using the book binding room to attach it. From what I had understood was that it wasn’t something we needed to worry about, the problem arrived when I skinned both of my hands and were unable to use them for a month. Because of this I didn’t get time to design the summer project, but I still got most of the content that would be in it. Because of this I took the freedom to make one of my favourite iterations from the book cover workshop to fit a potential summer project cover. Still staying true to the square format of my book.
On the outcome itself I did two different version. One that used folding and stapling and the other used the perfect binding. The perfect binding was way easier and quicker with a cleaner spine. The stapling one stapled a little unpredictable and left the staples which for some project might be desirable. Mostly what I learned was to respect the heat from the perfect binder, and that I will most likely in the future use a professional company to do my own printing.
PERSONAL
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MANIFESTO
Who Am I Now? At a start of this all I knew about myself was that I enjoyed design and like minimalism. I had no idea how much more there was to know about my own design philosophy and how important it is to know ones learning style. Before this project I had nearly never heard about learning styles.
Personal Manifesto Who Am I Now?
One of the things we were asked to investigate in the start of the project was what the value of design was to us, which led me to this answer: Design is one of the most valuable and most powerful things ever to exist in this world of screens. Graphic design is for information, consumption and engagement. I think that design is meant to sell to us, inform us and fascinate us about the world we live in and in a creative world we can only imagine.
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Something else this project has helped me understand is my unique style and how I learn. These two are closely related as how I see my uniqueness is through loving minimalism but with chaos, which fits my learning style that is a Visual Activist. Basically, I’ve learned I love to work in a noisy environment, I like to have life and fun around me as I think design isn’t something quiet or boring. I see design as something joyful, energetic and most enjoyable with others.
Personal Manifesto First Things First
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First Things First For a project that is all about in the end writing your own manifesto, nothing is more suitable then looking at one of the most known manifestos throughout time that was written by Ken Garland and 20 designers, photographers and students The First Things First Manifesto. We were asked to analyse and give our perspective on the manifesto.
making the world a better place to see. Imagen your everyday sign. They are clear, understandable and gives information. Give that to a Graphic Communicator and say, “do what you want” and I promise you, wherever that sign leads, you will be way more interested in going there looking at that sign, then the one that was previously untouched by a creative thinker. I feel graphic students, and new What do you think it reveals to you about the people to the platform often get lost in the aspect of Creative Industries in the 1960’s? paying your bills. They get lost in project after project only focusing on the product and the pay check that I feel First Things First reveals a group of visual follows. Wouldn’t it be an experience taking communicators who feels suppressed by something ordinary or mundane and create advertising. That they are limited, or the public think, something truly extraordinary just because you have that designer can “only” do commercials. the skills and expertise to do so. I do feel we have The manifesto tries to address this and inspire people who act upon these urges to change the designers to stand up against this trend and work visual where world we live , in the most exciting ways for things that matters in society. Charity, imaginable, but there are not many of them. magazines, exhibitions etc. For me, the graphic way is a way to do what I love and pay my bills. What I would like to see for the Do you still think this view is current in our future on the other hand is a much more visually society today? engaging everyday then the one we live in today. Out from the 2000 version of the manifesto I will say the view is pretty much the same if not worse for the visual communicators. Today many are educated and brought up with the idea that adverts pay the bill for a designer. This is then where most of our visual creators end up at. They need jobs and money, which unfortunately means that the important, less fortunate cases are left behind. How do you feel personally about the role of designers and Graphic Communication in our 21st Century society? Personally, I feel like there is something untouched with Graphic Communicators in the 21st century. For way to long have it all been either about persuasion or information, and it still should be that too, but I feel like there is such a lost opportunity in
Music and Work For me and the way I work, music goes hand in hand with work. As I have talked about loads of times, I love high energy music, when I listen to this kind of music it makes me energized and I feel like I am more productive. During the discovery of our self we were asked about our relationship to music. How important is music? What and when?
Personal Manifesto Music and Work
Really whatever music I like at the time, and if there is nothing special that speaks to me, I always have my genres that I fall back to. Something with beats and speed, or something soft with a warm positive vibe. Anything that gets my heart pumping and my head nodding, or when alone, my body dancing, is what I want to listen to while I work. If I am home or in a class and I’m not going to interact with people, that’s the times for music. While on the other hand when in a group or meeting it is not appropriate. Then I will happily interact with the people around me.
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Minimalism from Chaos Nicolai Bye - Manifesto
Personal Manifesto Manifesto
I believe that a graphic designer’s job is to communicate information in an engaging way. For me the engagement comes from the design being simple, clear and with some surprises. Being a visual activist, I often find myself lost in my own thoughts. Thinking about a new design, a beautiful scenery, a recent movie or what I want for dinner, all of which is clear as sight in my mind. This gives me a competitive edge in the industry for being able to visualize ideas on the fly and having the activist part to go full out with trial and error. It’s out from this I develop my own idea of Minimalism from Chaos. For my mind and activist learning style might lead to what others could only see as chaos, I see as inspiration and a fantastic way to create quick visualized work that can be evaluated not just by me but also my peers.
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more than enough fulfil the same purpose. Creating that extra dimension of fun, engagement and loudness that I think design should have. When it comes to the topic of what influences me, I almost have to say everything. Being a visual activist everything interests me. Every single little quirky detail of anything will fascinate me at some level. Be it the pattern in cut wood, the roof of a building or the texture of dried oil paint. Getting close and seeing everything at a different scale then most do is a truly amazing experience.
Being form Norway and studying in England, I have already pursued one of my most desirable inspiration sources. To travel around the world and be influenced by all the different cultures and When you think about Graphic Design it isn’t communities. How they differently communicate to something quiet or boring, it can be if needed, but the public and how their life is like compared to my the general idea of design is something I see as fun. own. Since I have always been a very independent For that reason, when I work, I always play music. I person, I’ve never had a problem with moving around can’t imagine something more boring or tedious then and get to grips with new places. This gives me a working in silence only hearing tapping keyboards. load of different experiences and memorise that I am also quite peculiar in the music that I choose. will influence me for the future and give me a larger While most probably would choose something world view. One of my all-time favourite places is a soothing or maybe a bit of pop, I go full out with place I have yet to visit. Japan, and Japanese culture energy filled music, commonly referred to as party is a world so different form our own that it is hard music. Music that makes you want to shake your to imagine. From buildings to commercial, the way head and hips and have a good time. These are the they communicate to their audience is so radically exact feelings of joy I want to have and express as different from the west that it becomes I create my designs. Of course, I don’t always have so fascinating to investigate. that opportunity in a proper workplace, but at those times an engaging and debating group of people will
BIBLIOGRAPHY Me as a Creative
Layout Design
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Personal Manifesto Bibliography
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Workshops
Personal Manifesto
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“The aim of this unit is to give you the opportunity to apply a range of specialist graphic practices and techniques to explore your personal design philosophy and define your own personal voice as a graphic designer.� This process book takes you through my journey into learning about my own design philosophy and understand how I work and what I enjoy doing.
