Self- negotiated Introduction

Today we were introduced to the final brief of the year, a self-negotiated task that relates to our essay topics, mine being 'Subcultures'. It will involve creating our own brief from scratch and writing, designing and creating a magazine in relation to the chosen topic and question that we had written for ourselves.

Transformation

Today was about generating a central idea and developing it to create new ones. I was taught a new technique that I will definitely use in the future, I found it very helpful for creating completely new ideas. The technique is as follows:

• Generate a central idea - visualise the idea and create thumbnail sketches, surround the sketches with key words that also tell you about the unique points about the idea
• Transformations - explore the unexpected and invert one element from the image to explore different outcomes - continue this transformation technique to help generate a whole range of other ideas 

Industry Brief

Today we were introduced to the new brief, Industry. Linked with the Penguin Student Design Awards 2017, the outcome will be a book cover for one of the following:

• To Kill A Mocking Bird
• In Cold Blood
• The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4

I like the idea of creating a cover for all of these books but will be focusing on one by gathering plenty of research and planning to design an individual cover that stands out. 

Module Assessment

(a) Concept Development

Successful exploration of a problem or theme demonstrated through the development and documentation of appropriate creative concepts and alternatives

(b) Aesthetics and Language

Creative decisions are made in response to thematic projects and are based on appropriate aesthetic criteria. The ability to discuss these in relation to the work produced and other diverse sources is demonstrated. 

(c) Technical Response

Appropriate technologies are selected in response to thematic projects. The ability to discuss these in relation to the production of the work is demonstrated. 

(d) Integration and Synthesis

Awareness of the need to reconcile conceptual/critical issues with the contexts of genre and audience is demonstrated

Introduction to Phase 2

Introduction to Phase 2 of the brief.

I was introduced to phase 2 of the brief, A sense of place {2: place-making}. Using my primary and secondary research from my sketcbook I am thinking of focusing the proposal on one of three choices: distance, wayfinding or crowding in places (specifically looking at how the people and crowds affect the sense of place). I am leaning more towards distance as I feel this is a word that I have focused on more in my sketchbook than any other (or tried too).

A Sense of Place : Text & Image

Focussing on text and image within the brief : a sense of place. We looked at some examples of this in todays lecture:

'Library' - James Peel
Is a collection of translations of the word 'love' in 700 different languages. The piece also features reference numbers with a world map so that the viewer is able to see where the word comes from acorss the world. 3 elements - the archive, index and a map.

Experimental Jetset
Is a small, independant Amsterdam based Graphic Design studio. They focus on small printed matter and site specific installations - describing methodology as "turning language into objects." The studio has an online archive, like a taxonomy of their work. It features a varied amount of work that creates an index - arranged in a democratic grid, each project has equal importance, nothing stands out - they are all the same, meaning all their work is to high standards.

'Mmm - skyscaper, I love you : a typographic journal of New York' created in 1997 by Karl Hyde and John Warwicker. The journal features heavy use of layers and overlays to create feelings of energy and emotion, it makes the reader 'feel' as they respond to the visuals, they aren't concerned with langauge and written narratives they can see this through the drawings. The journal is the opposite to a modernist journal there is no structure, grid or importance of everything, the journal is post-modern abstraction of feelings.

'J Street Project' - Susan Hiller 2002 - 2005
Based around Berlin a street called 'Judenstrasse' meaning 'Jew's Street.' The project follows a democratic grid structure, each image is the same size and scale. (Similar to the typology of the Beckers) All the photographs taken (303 images) fit the wall, there are two images left over - making the viewer question whether this is an ongoing archive. Hiller added a map as an index of the writing - the same set of elements as James Peel.

'Crossing Paths' - Vivian Maier
Maier took photographs of things she saw and liked in New York, she deliberately placed herself in the space and time of the photograph. By doing this Maier created a narrative of the image, turning it into an event so the photograph eventualizes the place - makes it more interesting. Maier also liked to create reflected images by placing herself in the background using glass as a reflective surface in order to super impose herself into an imaginary stack of layers.

'Wanderlust' - Joseph Cornell
A fabric book showing structured grids, images and objects combining as composites (creating repetition), sequence of images as narratives and concertina's.

Ghostsigns
These are faded remains of advertising from the late Victorian era up until the 50's and 60's. The project has been created so that we can see how they used to look when they were first painted - using light projections to see them today. The project itself is research lead - looking into the companies and finding visual references so that reconstructions can be made and projected onto the buildings to see what the signs looked like 80 years ago.

(autoflaneur)

Keywords:
Situations / narratives
Advertising / images
Signs / texts
Fringes / edges
Palimpsests / opposistions
Way finding / navigation
branding / inconpgraphy
movement / stillness
movement / typologies
inside / outside
frames / scale
image / text

Concertina Sketchbooks & Themes

Today's lecture related to the concertina sketchbook and themes from the brief. We first explored how to practice different techniques and ideas to help the development of creating new designs. There are plenty of other ways to start the development of a design such as:
Thumbnailing - a process to help plan for a design task, it encourages you to develop multiple solutions for an idea and consider the decisions
Morph Sheet - this is a single core idea that morphs into as many other different ideas as you can think of - having a central idea and creating multiple impressions of it. This is typically used more in Product Design to help create more developed ideas from one
Storyboard - following a linear narrative and creating the storyboard to help visualise the narrative
Maquettes - are models that describe the narrative to the body of work - they are easily moveable and adjustable
Drawing Process - thinking whilst drawing and creating a collection of ideas that super impose themselves. The sketchbook is an archive of thinking, ideas that solve problems. Thinking about themese without having to worry about the final form


We also discussed a theme within the brief, a system of objects. Within this, we explored typology and taxonomy.

Typology

 ' a classification according to general type, especially in archaeology, psychology, or the social sciences. '

      

 Typology is a study of material and form - they are viewed as objects and collections feel like catalogues          

Berndt and Hila Becher were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a collaborative duo in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. The work shows how grids are important in design, that archives are/should be symmetrical, there should be a consistent lighting and scale shown through the photographs. The archive is democratic and everything is presented in the same way, an objective matter.

Idris Khan is a British artist based in London. His work is created by using a collection of images (similar to that of Berndt and Becher) to super impose them together and create a 'ghost like' image, it also shows how consistent all the seperate images.

Karl Blossfeldt was a German photographer, sculpter, teacher and artist but was well known for his photographs of plants. He thinks about scale and lighting to create the consistency in his work. Using strong shapes, patterns, textures and multiple viewpoints/angles so that we see all sides of the plant in great detail.

Juan Fontcuberta (flora) is a conceptual artist who uses plain backgrounds, consistent lighting to create his monochrome images of plants. He uses Blossfeldt's work to create a new meaning by incorporating other plants and animals. As a collection Fontcuberta creates an image of an imaginary world

Donovan Wylie is an Irish photographer. His photographs of the watch towers in Northern Island show how the camera is posistioned at eye level for every image. The consistent aspects of the scene link back to the Becher's.



Taxonomy
'the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics'

Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer, best known for capturing motion through still images. He focussed on animal movement as humans were considered to be animals. 'Horse in Motion' is a series of images which proved that whilst a horse was galloping it left the ground. Muybridge also looked at the human form from multiple viewpoints, the way humans and animals move - within that there are multiple typology's which then become the taxonomy.

Neubau Welt Archive is a catalogue of objects. It is an attempt to describe the objects that he has encountered in his world, the objects tend to be things that we consume, they are all types, indexed and catagorised in the archive. Everything has a unique number so that it is easier to find. The archive is commercial as well as describing the world he imagines.

Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher who created The Arcades Project, an archive of fragments rather than a taxonomy or typology. Benjamin collected narrative fragments, writings, objects and quoted them to create the same design/layout as a book. He was drawing with language and drew in an imaginary place with a complex mixture of fragments - described as mythology.

Objects can be collected as types, described visually, described through language. Core idea about objects is about consumption.

Reading - The system of objects - New York Verso 2005
The Arcades project - New Edition, Cambridge
Neubau welt -  Berlin

Keywords: Material, Form, Taxonomy, Typology, Archive - use these to explore concepts wandering through, and in space. Document experience using drawings, photos and texts.

Sketching

Today carried on from yesterday's lectures. The morning consisted of making 6 'mini' sketchbooks, which each had 4 ariel drawings of a certain memory that I had chosen e.g. Travelling New York earlier this year, watching the sunset at Top of the Rock. Each drawing of the memory got closer - relating to the "Power of ten" video.
The afternoon we grouped together and created a bigger piece of work, combining all of our memories and linking them as best we could.
My group chose to take the idea of a roller coaster, showing how life has 'ups and downs' e.g. Visitng New York/Paris/Thailand was something positive and a negative was a memory of a car crash. It moves from New York, through Paris, Thailand and Huddersfield

Development of Maps

Today's lecture focussed on the development of maps over time. We looked at Jan Visscher's map of London, a panoramic view of what he thought London would look like around the 1600's. Today's culture shows how we use simple lines and colours to code certain aspects of a map or area compared to the developed detailed pieces of work that used to be created, work like Visscher. We were shown a video, "The Power of Ten, a dealing with the relative size of things in the universe and the effect of adding zero" which showed how places look from above, ariel shots.

Image, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visscher_panorama

A Sense of Place Introduction

I was introduced to the brief today, 'A sense of place'. I have a few ideas to explore, they mainly relate to my home town and city and I want to link them to my trip to New York earlier this year. I found New York to be one of the most exciting places I've ever been and want to compare how different the city is to being at home by exploring distance, the city and image.

Notes:

1st Brief : A sense of place

Engage in research and development in response to contemporary themes and to my own independent research

There are five themes to explore over phase one :
1. Exploring the city
2. The city as a species of space
3. The city as a system of objects
4. The city as an image
5. The city as a language

I will explore these themes in a sketchbook linking to my own ideas that were discussed in group activities.
1. Town / village
2. Distance