So we've just been given the brief for screen based communication 2. Which is to basically build a self-promotional website with examples of our work on.
To start this project I need to think carefully about myself, my style, the type of work I do, where I want to be after uni and distill all of this into awesome visuals which I will then have to turn into a well functioning website.
This is a bit difficult as I don't know If I have a definitive enough style to start trying to assert my design and illustration as a valuable commodity.
I'll have a look over my past work and decide which pieces to put on the site and try and use that as a starting point for thinking about forming a visual identity which I can then use to start designing.
Researching other websites (general sites, but with a focus on those of designers and illustrators) will be important to examine pages closely and get an idea of the conventions they follow, how people use them and what makes them convoluted, frustrating pieces of crap or thoughtfully put together pieces of neat, accessible design.
Im going to try and be more methodical in this unit than VCC2 which I felt I was a bit unorganised and chaotic in how I worked so I'm going to set myself some sub-deadlines within the final deadline-this is bearing in mind I have two live briefs (deadlines on Monday and 19th of March) and a set of screenprints (deadline Tuesday) to do simultaneously.
26th-3rd- Research and Forging my own Identity- brainstorming.
4th-10th- Identity, typeface, colours and style chosen. Generating ideas for layouts.
11th-17th- Layout chosen by the 15th. Start to mock up for crit on the 18th.
18th-24th- Act on advice at crit. Create a final version of front end design to start building.
Christmas & Boxing Day- Chill, get presents, eat too much, regret eating too much, wear paper hat.
27th-31st- Start building site.
1st-7th- Keep awn buildin'.
8th- Have my finished site built for today.
9th-14th- Polish off supporting work.
15th- Stroll on in and hand in my work with smug pride.
If I manage to keep to this I should be golden. I'm gunna try my best to to make my life easier more than anything.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Vis Com in Context
I'm relieved to have got everything done and handed in this unit. Although I keep remembering little things I should have explained or included in my sketchbook and improvements I could have made to my final pieces Im generally pretty happy with what I produced. I think the strongest part of my work in this unit was my ideas generation. The outcomes of the four projects were not spectacular or groundbreaking concepts but I felt they were quite neat, quirky ideas which fulfilled the requirements of the briefs. I also learned alot in the unit by not just using illustration by default for every piece of work but trying more graphic work (the business papers and sound project were mostly typographic whilst the mushy pea packaging was designed around the net of the package). I've learned alot of software stuff on indesign and illustrator and found I really enjoyed designing and making 3d packaging.
I fell down on my time management, my final presentation posters and also my sketchbook, all of which were interlinked as they were the last things I did. I tried not to get too hung up on the sketchbook as there was not a lot of time to keep one with such short sharp projects as the main emphasis was on getting the outcomes sorted and I feel trying to present all my ideas in a nice aesthetic way as I go can slow me down and can stifle ideas as I'm constantly second-guessing myself as to whether the idea is stupid. This worked well when I was working. I had a small notebook I could quickly and spontaneously scribble ideas down in which was conducive to the process of ideas generation. However, when I came to compile this into something which would communicate my ideas clearly at the 11th hour it became quite difficult to do retrospectively and resulted in a quite scrappy and hastily put together thing which doesn't show the amount of thought I put into the project. My presentation posters were also a quite last minute thing and kind of looked it. To stop my work from suffering from this rush I am going to make a pact with myself to try and have everything done and ready to print a week before the deadline in future projects and printed 2 days before the deadline giving me 2 days to write rationales and create display boards. I'm really going to try and keep to this as the stress of rushing at the last minute and depriving myself of sleep to get stuff done is not really a sustainable way to work, it takes too much out of you.
I fell down on my time management, my final presentation posters and also my sketchbook, all of which were interlinked as they were the last things I did. I tried not to get too hung up on the sketchbook as there was not a lot of time to keep one with such short sharp projects as the main emphasis was on getting the outcomes sorted and I feel trying to present all my ideas in a nice aesthetic way as I go can slow me down and can stifle ideas as I'm constantly second-guessing myself as to whether the idea is stupid. This worked well when I was working. I had a small notebook I could quickly and spontaneously scribble ideas down in which was conducive to the process of ideas generation. However, when I came to compile this into something which would communicate my ideas clearly at the 11th hour it became quite difficult to do retrospectively and resulted in a quite scrappy and hastily put together thing which doesn't show the amount of thought I put into the project. My presentation posters were also a quite last minute thing and kind of looked it. To stop my work from suffering from this rush I am going to make a pact with myself to try and have everything done and ready to print a week before the deadline in future projects and printed 2 days before the deadline giving me 2 days to write rationales and create display boards. I'm really going to try and keep to this as the stress of rushing at the last minute and depriving myself of sleep to get stuff done is not really a sustainable way to work, it takes too much out of you.
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Deadline on the horizon
If I was from Wroxall on the Isle of Wight instead of Newport I would now be able to count down the days till the deadline on my fingers. It's 12 days till hand-in which is a bit scary as I still have to print the Thank You and Identity outcomes (and find some decent card stock to do this on) complete my mushy peas packaging, do the sound project and collate all my research and ideas in some sort of sketchbook which makes my design process intelligible to human beings and probably try and do some D&AD, ssn logo and get my screenprints ready. At some point I also need to get a working scanner and put all my drawings from summer up on my portfolio blog and renovate this boring, standard template thing too. Don't forget dreamweaver as well.
Good thing is although I have alot on my plate, there is no uncertainty about what needs to be done now (no whole days trying to think of ideas or doing testers) all I have to do is get on with it so I'm not panicking, I've made a timetable which although tight, is manageable and should, if all goes to plan, mean I get everything done and some good stuff to whack in the portfolio.
It was only on Wednesday that I got a chance to start the TED video project as I was getting ready for the laser cutting induction and doing business card stuff. I watched the videos and chose the sound one and immediately started trying to think of ways to communicate it. I didn't realise till the next day that although we have to hand in something paper based, It doesn't have to be a poster or flyer, it can be photographs or mock ups of a conceptual idea, a 3d installation for example. The boundaries were wide open and I set out to try and think of something original which would really deliver Julian Treasure's message about taking control of the sound around us in a manner befitting his cutting-edge ideas.
I got into my stride on Friday and started churning out ideas on how to do this. Some of these were good but unworkable, like the one where I would allow members of the public to take control of the sound around them quite literally by offering them a kind of control panel in an indoor public place which could change the acoustics of a room so that background noise could be made almost silent (by controlling flaps which would open to reveal a fibrous material which would absorb sound for example) or more echoey. Although this would have demonstrated how dramatically a change in sound changes moods and atmospheres, it only offers them the ability to improve the ambience in that particular place and would probably be more of a novelty than a strong, communicative piece. Other ideas were downright terrible but important to think of as they lead to other, better ones.
I've eventually settled on a kind of game in which the user has to root through a paper bag (which I will screenprint a design onto and try make it look cool) and pick out a card, from amongst 24 others with words representing different background noises printed on them (car horns, doors slamming, fans whirring etc) which says 'your focus'. This is an interactive metaphor for how difficult in can be to find our focus in a workplace with loads of accidental background noise. I would supply a stopwatch with which to time this and a smaller bag with just two cards in it (one would say; relaxing bird song or ambient music and the other would be the focus card). Obviously rooting through this one to find your focus will take seconds and after you compare the times it will show that by taking control of the noise around you you can focus more easily. For the last part of the game you will be instructed to write down the times you took on a leaderboard inside the bag which will add a fun competitive element but will also have stats on how background noise affects productivity and tips on how to counter this.
I now have to work to make this look good. I'm imagining this sitting on a staff-room coffee table so I want to make it look quite fun and playful but not overly silly and childish so people wouldn't feel embarrassed about picking it up. Since it's going to be solely typographic I am going to need to think about the typeface I choose very carefully I've been looking at some board games to get some ideas of what suggests playful and fun.
At the moment I'm thinking Cooper black, Futura bold or extrabold or maybe some sort of rounded geometric like VAG rounded.
Good thing is although I have alot on my plate, there is no uncertainty about what needs to be done now (no whole days trying to think of ideas or doing testers) all I have to do is get on with it so I'm not panicking, I've made a timetable which although tight, is manageable and should, if all goes to plan, mean I get everything done and some good stuff to whack in the portfolio.
It was only on Wednesday that I got a chance to start the TED video project as I was getting ready for the laser cutting induction and doing business card stuff. I watched the videos and chose the sound one and immediately started trying to think of ways to communicate it. I didn't realise till the next day that although we have to hand in something paper based, It doesn't have to be a poster or flyer, it can be photographs or mock ups of a conceptual idea, a 3d installation for example. The boundaries were wide open and I set out to try and think of something original which would really deliver Julian Treasure's message about taking control of the sound around us in a manner befitting his cutting-edge ideas.
I got into my stride on Friday and started churning out ideas on how to do this. Some of these were good but unworkable, like the one where I would allow members of the public to take control of the sound around them quite literally by offering them a kind of control panel in an indoor public place which could change the acoustics of a room so that background noise could be made almost silent (by controlling flaps which would open to reveal a fibrous material which would absorb sound for example) or more echoey. Although this would have demonstrated how dramatically a change in sound changes moods and atmospheres, it only offers them the ability to improve the ambience in that particular place and would probably be more of a novelty than a strong, communicative piece. Other ideas were downright terrible but important to think of as they lead to other, better ones.
I've eventually settled on a kind of game in which the user has to root through a paper bag (which I will screenprint a design onto and try make it look cool) and pick out a card, from amongst 24 others with words representing different background noises printed on them (car horns, doors slamming, fans whirring etc) which says 'your focus'. This is an interactive metaphor for how difficult in can be to find our focus in a workplace with loads of accidental background noise. I would supply a stopwatch with which to time this and a smaller bag with just two cards in it (one would say; relaxing bird song or ambient music and the other would be the focus card). Obviously rooting through this one to find your focus will take seconds and after you compare the times it will show that by taking control of the noise around you you can focus more easily. For the last part of the game you will be instructed to write down the times you took on a leaderboard inside the bag which will add a fun competitive element but will also have stats on how background noise affects productivity and tips on how to counter this.
I now have to work to make this look good. I'm imagining this sitting on a staff-room coffee table so I want to make it look quite fun and playful but not overly silly and childish so people wouldn't feel embarrassed about picking it up. Since it's going to be solely typographic I am going to need to think about the typeface I choose very carefully I've been looking at some board games to get some ideas of what suggests playful and fun.
At the moment I'm thinking Cooper black, Futura bold or extrabold or maybe some sort of rounded geometric like VAG rounded.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
TED talks
Just watched some of the videos of the TED talks and am pretty set on trying to communicate some of the key ideas in Julian Treasure's talk on the underestimated effect of sound in our lives. The talks were mostly fascinating and I think I will lose alot of time on TED, which if you, like me until today, have never heard of, is a website with loads of video talks by people who have some kind of new idea or message in the fields of, well, pretty much everything (science, maths, technology, music, design, architecture, global warming, political issues are the most extensively covered).
Stefan Sagmeister's one was funny and inspiring (The logo for Porto's Casa De Musica with colours that reacted to any design it is used on was one of the best pieces of design I've seen for a while) and Jeff Hawkins was enthused and captivating in his talk on how studying the brain will shape future technology but Julian Treasure was the most salient (he works as a business advisor and sound marketing expert so his talk is very well communicated) and put forward ideas that could quite easily be actioned and have a tangible impact on the quality of people's lives. I know I'm getting a pair of quality earphones to take into uni to listen to an ambient playlist (I'm not up for birdsong all day) after learning that workplace noise can bring productivity down by two thirds! Maybe I'll get triple the amount of work I usually get done finished and have triple the amount of free time!
Julian Treasure's awesome talk about how sound affects us
Stefan Sagmeister's one was funny and inspiring (The logo for Porto's Casa De Musica with colours that reacted to any design it is used on was one of the best pieces of design I've seen for a while) and Jeff Hawkins was enthused and captivating in his talk on how studying the brain will shape future technology but Julian Treasure was the most salient (he works as a business advisor and sound marketing expert so his talk is very well communicated) and put forward ideas that could quite easily be actioned and have a tangible impact on the quality of people's lives. I know I'm getting a pair of quality earphones to take into uni to listen to an ambient playlist (I'm not up for birdsong all day) after learning that workplace noise can bring productivity down by two thirds! Maybe I'll get triple the amount of work I usually get done finished and have triple the amount of free time!
Julian Treasure's awesome talk about how sound affects us
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Laser Cutting Induction
Today I got a look at the process of laser cutting during our group induction. After spending all morning slogging it out unsuccessfully with illustrator trying to persuade it to allow me to invert a path (so that it would cut out the negative space around my type rather than the type itself) I was a bit annoyed that I didn't have my final idea ready to be cut. This wasn't as big a deal as I thought as no one had anything finished ready so it ended up being quite a chilled out, enjoyable afternoon that I got a decent tester out of that proved I didn't need to invert my text anyway cause it looks more pure and uncontrived as it is.
Some of the stuff you can do with a laser cutter is awesome, you can engrave and mark various surfaces which creates a really distinctive aesthetic. It contrasts massively with an ink print in the way that it is tactile and has added depth and because of its relative rarity due to expense, it has a premium, exclusive feel which I think suits my business cards for the distinguished composer Debussy.
It was really worthwhile getting to know the potential of the machine as my outcome for 'Identity' seems much more attainable and aside from finding a nice, grainy pastel coloured card and drawing a few more shapes, I've sorted my layouts I'm pretty much ready to print.
I've also adapted my mushy pea packaging net to fit a smaller 300g pot so now it is 579 x 108 rather than 597 x 124 which is a bit smaller but still allows only 4 to size B2 3 to size A2 but 7 to size A1 so as long as A1 is viable on a relatively thick (450 gsm upwards I think) sheet of biodegradable (or if not recyclable card) this will have been a worthwhile improvement.
Some of the stuff you can do with a laser cutter is awesome, you can engrave and mark various surfaces which creates a really distinctive aesthetic. It contrasts massively with an ink print in the way that it is tactile and has added depth and because of its relative rarity due to expense, it has a premium, exclusive feel which I think suits my business cards for the distinguished composer Debussy.
It was really worthwhile getting to know the potential of the machine as my outcome for 'Identity' seems much more attainable and aside from finding a nice, grainy pastel coloured card and drawing a few more shapes, I've sorted my layouts I'm pretty much ready to print.
I've also adapted my mushy pea packaging net to fit a smaller 300g pot so now it is 579 x 108 rather than 597 x 124 which is a bit smaller but still allows only 4 to size B2 3 to size A2 but 7 to size A1 so as long as A1 is viable on a relatively thick (450 gsm upwards I think) sheet of biodegradable (or if not recyclable card) this will have been a worthwhile improvement.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Identity
As I have my laser cutting induction tomorrow, I need to get my business stationery from the identity project ready. I drew Debussy from the hat to design a business card, compliments slip and letterhead for and after researching him and finding out how he ignored convention to produce music which was dreamy and experimental I decided to mirror this by subverting the assumption that business papers should be straight edged and rectangular and go for shapes which would be completely random and unique for each individual piece.
I would do this in practice with some sort of algorithmic shape generating computer program which sounds pretty technical but is definitely possible as I've seen it in some computer games where it is used to generate random level maps (worms 2 is one example).
However as I am not a computer programmer I need to create the shapes myself. It's actually really difficult to do this so it looks truly random. Drawing the shapes whilst not looking has proved the best way of doing this so far but you can find yourself drawing what you think a random shape should look like and the resulting shape looks far from random. They have also been likened to countries by some of the people I have shown whereas I wanted them to look more cloud-like to allude to the floaty dreamscapes evoked by Debussy.
To achieve this I tried to photoshop photographs of clouds so that I could get a definite edge which I could use as the basis for my shapes. After doing this though, the clouds looked exactly like countries on a map anyway.
I thought of inkblots and paint splashes but they look like paint splashes and ink blots not random shapes, people may think the cards are for Hermann Rorshcach or Jackson Pollock because the forms would be so recognisable.
I think as hand drawing has worked best so far I will explore it more with different variables, a paint brush might give me a more cloudlike edge as opposed to a precise fineliner. If I listen to Debussy whilst doing this and try to draw as unconsciously as possible I should get some good results.
I still need to source some pastel or light coloured card with a nice coarse, organic texture which is quite visible for this to work as well as I want it to. The texture will give the stationery some depth and the pattern of the fibres will further the random, organic feel of them so it is important that I find the right material, It also needs to be suitable for laser cutting which could be another headache.
I would do this in practice with some sort of algorithmic shape generating computer program which sounds pretty technical but is definitely possible as I've seen it in some computer games where it is used to generate random level maps (worms 2 is one example).
However as I am not a computer programmer I need to create the shapes myself. It's actually really difficult to do this so it looks truly random. Drawing the shapes whilst not looking has proved the best way of doing this so far but you can find yourself drawing what you think a random shape should look like and the resulting shape looks far from random. They have also been likened to countries by some of the people I have shown whereas I wanted them to look more cloud-like to allude to the floaty dreamscapes evoked by Debussy.
To achieve this I tried to photoshop photographs of clouds so that I could get a definite edge which I could use as the basis for my shapes. After doing this though, the clouds looked exactly like countries on a map anyway.
I thought of inkblots and paint splashes but they look like paint splashes and ink blots not random shapes, people may think the cards are for Hermann Rorshcach or Jackson Pollock because the forms would be so recognisable.
I think as hand drawing has worked best so far I will explore it more with different variables, a paint brush might give me a more cloudlike edge as opposed to a precise fineliner. If I listen to Debussy whilst doing this and try to draw as unconsciously as possible I should get some good results.
I still need to source some pastel or light coloured card with a nice coarse, organic texture which is quite visible for this to work as well as I want it to. The texture will give the stationery some depth and the pattern of the fibres will further the random, organic feel of them so it is important that I find the right material, It also needs to be suitable for laser cutting which could be another headache.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
To do list
These small projects have been fun but because the deadlines are suggested deadlines, not actual deadlines I've maybe tried to do too much and I have loads of bits to tie up from each one. It helps me to write down what I actually have to have done as I know I can't overlook or forget anything.
I have to finish;
-Thank you- downsize seed packet to credit card size
(I am doing this as I am trying to market the seed packets towards young people and those who are unaware of the bee situation who would be given the free packets at festivals and events. By making the packets a smaller size it is more likely that they will be kept as they can easily be put in a wallet or pocket unlike most of the other printed stuff that gets thrust into your hand and gets screwed up and thrown away ten minutes later cos you cant do anything with it.)
-Debussy- get designs ready as .ai files for laser cutting tutorial at 1.30 tuesday and choose card for this.
-Mushy peas-redesign net and create graphics.
I need to get moving...
I have to finish;
-Thank you- downsize seed packet to credit card size
(I am doing this as I am trying to market the seed packets towards young people and those who are unaware of the bee situation who would be given the free packets at festivals and events. By making the packets a smaller size it is more likely that they will be kept as they can easily be put in a wallet or pocket unlike most of the other printed stuff that gets thrust into your hand and gets screwed up and thrown away ten minutes later cos you cant do anything with it.)
-Debussy- get designs ready as .ai files for laser cutting tutorial at 1.30 tuesday and choose card for this.
-Mushy peas-redesign net and create graphics.
I need to get moving...
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