As well as looking into visual memory for my professional project I have realised that a big part of it is going to be looking at visual learning.
Personally, I find I take in information better if there is a distinctive accompanying visual or even if the type is presented in an interesting way. I used to love illustrated encyclopaedias and visual dictionaries when I was young and can still recall the imagery in some of them and information alongside, like the illustration of the mountaineer holding up a cup and looking disappointed after the water to make his cup of tea boiled at 30 degrees because of the pressure at high-altitude.
Even though this is a pretty obscure piece of information which I will most likely never get a chance to use, I remembered it because of the weird expression on the guys face.
This is what I want to achieve in my visuals and I will therefore pay particular attention to the theory behind visual learning as well as memory and will study children's illustrated learning books heavily to find out what techniques they use that I can apply to my own project.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Monday, 15 February 2010
Development
It's coming up to the deadline of the PPRD unit now, for which this blog is going to count alot towards. I've been looking over it for a couple of days now, re-reading all my ramblings and realised that I have loads of planning and reflection (important parts of the unit) but not much talk of my development this year. At what is pretty much the halfway point of the year (give or take a few weeks) it's actually an ideal time to think about, with regard to this academic year, what I've improved on, what I could improve on and whether I've fulfilled previous goals I've set myself.
My development this year:
The most marked aspect of my development is my knowledge of the programs in creative suite. This is mostly because I now have my own mac with CS4 on and have been able to practise using flash, indesign, illustrator, dreamweaver and photoshop more. Although these programs are only tools with which to visually communicate, it helps ALOT if you know what you're doing with them as you can knock up ideas quicker and with much less stress.
I have also learned more about graphic design this year through having to create more graphic work as necessitated by the briefs we've been set. As a result of practicing it, I've found myself enjoying it more and personally think my design work has got better.
Owing to the fact that I now feel comfortable in graphic design, I find that I don't always turn to illustration in problem solving. Although I set out to be an illustrator and practise drawing whenever I could this year, I quickly realised that this would sometimes lead to visual solutions which did not address the needs outlined by the brief. Illustration is not the most appropriate medium to communicate everything and by cro-barring into often awkward and unsuitable projects, it only serves to diminish my own work.
That said I do need a specialism to carry forward.
I found that I actually enjoy drawing most when there is no really specific expectation of the outcome. Animal Farm was enjoyable because the brief was just; A2 portrait, something to do with animals. This allowed me to explore ideas in a really fun and free way and I ended up being happy with the result of my labour for the first time in a long time. With this in mind I am seriously thinking that illustration will not form the basis of my career as when working on briefs which are restrictive and narrow, illustration-for me anyway, is one of the most stressful things I do. This inevitably impacts on the work as well as being a big problem for me personally and I have no intention of entering a career that I don't enjoy for not alot of money.
I am thinking that, instead, I will pursue graphic design and maybe web design more and enjoy drawing as my hobby and possibly occasionally do freelance work.
So that's where I am at the moment. I am going to complete my professional project, which combines elements of both GD and illustration and decide on a more concrete route after this. This is turning into an essay so I am going to quickly sum up what I need to develop on.
I think I need to be more disciplined in my working day (I need to get up earlier and stay on task for longer without getting distracted). I need to return to reading books as research for projects. And finally I need to be more optimistic about my own work, I've found that as soon as I've finished something, I can't look at it and hate the sight of it. However, when I look back at it I find I appreciate it more and think of my current project, 'why can't it look more like that' and 'how come I've gotten worse at this'. I need to bear this in mind as it will allow me to keep a more positive attitude towards everything I do.
My development this year:
The most marked aspect of my development is my knowledge of the programs in creative suite. This is mostly because I now have my own mac with CS4 on and have been able to practise using flash, indesign, illustrator, dreamweaver and photoshop more. Although these programs are only tools with which to visually communicate, it helps ALOT if you know what you're doing with them as you can knock up ideas quicker and with much less stress.
I have also learned more about graphic design this year through having to create more graphic work as necessitated by the briefs we've been set. As a result of practicing it, I've found myself enjoying it more and personally think my design work has got better.
Owing to the fact that I now feel comfortable in graphic design, I find that I don't always turn to illustration in problem solving. Although I set out to be an illustrator and practise drawing whenever I could this year, I quickly realised that this would sometimes lead to visual solutions which did not address the needs outlined by the brief. Illustration is not the most appropriate medium to communicate everything and by cro-barring into often awkward and unsuitable projects, it only serves to diminish my own work.
That said I do need a specialism to carry forward.
I found that I actually enjoy drawing most when there is no really specific expectation of the outcome. Animal Farm was enjoyable because the brief was just; A2 portrait, something to do with animals. This allowed me to explore ideas in a really fun and free way and I ended up being happy with the result of my labour for the first time in a long time. With this in mind I am seriously thinking that illustration will not form the basis of my career as when working on briefs which are restrictive and narrow, illustration-for me anyway, is one of the most stressful things I do. This inevitably impacts on the work as well as being a big problem for me personally and I have no intention of entering a career that I don't enjoy for not alot of money.
I am thinking that, instead, I will pursue graphic design and maybe web design more and enjoy drawing as my hobby and possibly occasionally do freelance work.
So that's where I am at the moment. I am going to complete my professional project, which combines elements of both GD and illustration and decide on a more concrete route after this. This is turning into an essay so I am going to quickly sum up what I need to develop on.
I think I need to be more disciplined in my working day (I need to get up earlier and stay on task for longer without getting distracted). I need to return to reading books as research for projects. And finally I need to be more optimistic about my own work, I've found that as soon as I've finished something, I can't look at it and hate the sight of it. However, when I look back at it I find I appreciate it more and think of my current project, 'why can't it look more like that' and 'how come I've gotten worse at this'. I need to bear this in mind as it will allow me to keep a more positive attitude towards everything I do.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Professional Project Tweak
Since my provisional idea for my P.P is more about visual memory and learning than the thing which the audience is being taught (I had thought perhaps foreign phrases and other useful skills) I am considering changing it so that the book contains an arbitrary sequence of words or numbers. This would place the emphasis more on the visuals and the memory aspect rather than the information being memorised. I'm going to arrange a tutorial to get some guidance on this as it's pretty important that I get straight what I intend to do before I rush in and start work on it.
Sketchbook Work
I've gone through my sketchbooks and uploaded a few of the drawings and odd bits I've done in the last year to my flickr. There's a live feed on the right with a link to my account.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Animal Farm- Done.
Having made a profit to go towards our end of year show and received positive feedback from alot of the people who attended, the animal farm print auction can definitely go down as a success. As well as the money made and the good exposure for the course, it was also useful experience for putting on future events.
Personally, I was pretty chuffed to have sold a fair few prints and hear some nice stuff about my work.
Now I have to turn my attention to the next four projects; PPRD, D&AD, the essay and my professional project. I've got next week to finish PPRD and get something together for D&AD, after which I can really begin to put my energy and focus fully into the all important professional project, for which I have begun to put together my proposal.
I presented the idea I have started to formulate in front of the class today and was met with a few confused faces. I'm going to put this down to my presentation skills or lack thereof and the fact that the idea is quite difficult to explain.
Basically, I want to create a book or series of books which aim to teach the reader something through visuals. This obviously doesn't sound like a particularly new concept but the way I aim to go about it is..
If you remember compiling revision notes for exams (one of the massive benefits of art school is that this is a distant memory) you might remember being told to highlight key bits in different colours to create visual distinction amid the sea of samey handwriting and hopefully enable you to retain these coloured bits of information in your visual memory.
my idea is based on this principle and basically aims to break down useful things to know and (provisional ideas I had were how to change a tyre, how to bake bread and basic phrases in foreign languages) make it really easy for the reader to assimilate the key information through a series of vivid and distinctive graphics that carry the key points.
I want the images to really lodge in the mind's eye so to speak as my rationale is that this is one of the most effective ways of learning something. The emphasis is firmly on memorising this information rather than using these books as a manual/cookbook/phrasebook and I am interested in reading up about the psychology of learning and visual memory to get a bit of background into this area as it underpins what I will create.
I know I have to think about it further and refine the idea as whilst writing this I have noticed some flaws but I think it has the potential to be a really interesting project and a good vehicle with which I can create a body of varied and experimental work.
Personally, I was pretty chuffed to have sold a fair few prints and hear some nice stuff about my work.
Now I have to turn my attention to the next four projects; PPRD, D&AD, the essay and my professional project. I've got next week to finish PPRD and get something together for D&AD, after which I can really begin to put my energy and focus fully into the all important professional project, for which I have begun to put together my proposal.
I presented the idea I have started to formulate in front of the class today and was met with a few confused faces. I'm going to put this down to my presentation skills or lack thereof and the fact that the idea is quite difficult to explain.
Basically, I want to create a book or series of books which aim to teach the reader something through visuals. This obviously doesn't sound like a particularly new concept but the way I aim to go about it is..
If you remember compiling revision notes for exams (one of the massive benefits of art school is that this is a distant memory) you might remember being told to highlight key bits in different colours to create visual distinction amid the sea of samey handwriting and hopefully enable you to retain these coloured bits of information in your visual memory.
my idea is based on this principle and basically aims to break down useful things to know and (provisional ideas I had were how to change a tyre, how to bake bread and basic phrases in foreign languages) make it really easy for the reader to assimilate the key information through a series of vivid and distinctive graphics that carry the key points.
I want the images to really lodge in the mind's eye so to speak as my rationale is that this is one of the most effective ways of learning something. The emphasis is firmly on memorising this information rather than using these books as a manual/cookbook/phrasebook and I am interested in reading up about the psychology of learning and visual memory to get a bit of background into this area as it underpins what I will create.
I know I have to think about it further and refine the idea as whilst writing this I have noticed some flaws but I think it has the potential to be a really interesting project and a good vehicle with which I can create a body of varied and experimental work.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Animal Farm + PPRD2
I'm now fully over my food poisoning and have managed to get together a piece for the animal farm silent auction. Instead of trying to rush the 5 birds out of 10 I had left to draw in a day I have decided to just draw one puffin, but big. So with this simplified contingency I now just have to buy some nice coloured paper and trace the line drawing a few times and I'm done, it can be framed, put up in 60 million and hopefully bought by someone. Should be an awesome night for the course.
The course is at a bit of a strange juncture at the moment where we have several projects finishing (animal farm on wednesday, the PPRD deadline coming up and D&AD) but also some beginning; the all important professional project and the essay. I confess that I haven't really thought much about either of these and as such I'm gunna put in a brainstorming session tonight to get the ball rolling.
I've got a few more bits for PPRD to finish but I've also accrued some little bits I can submit for it during animal farm such as the temporary tattoos I designed and my various illustrations for it, alot of which I haven't used.
I also have a presentation layout on indesign which I have developed from the one I used at the PPRD crit so that I have a standard presentation sheet which I can use when sending work to clients. I have adapted this to A3 so I can also use it for my portfolio sheets and presenting larger work to clients. This is really useful as it will save time as well as providing me with a way of presenting my work in a uniform, professional way.
I am going to adapt this into an invoice design and use it as the basis for any other documents I will frequently need. I'm also thinking about possibly creating letterheads, comp slips and maybe a business card but only if I have time as it is unlikely I will need them just yet....
Im planning to go through my sketchbook work and scan and upload a selection of drawings to my flickr just to show some of the self initiated work I've done.
The course is at a bit of a strange juncture at the moment where we have several projects finishing (animal farm on wednesday, the PPRD deadline coming up and D&AD) but also some beginning; the all important professional project and the essay. I confess that I haven't really thought much about either of these and as such I'm gunna put in a brainstorming session tonight to get the ball rolling.
I've got a few more bits for PPRD to finish but I've also accrued some little bits I can submit for it during animal farm such as the temporary tattoos I designed and my various illustrations for it, alot of which I haven't used.
I also have a presentation layout on indesign which I have developed from the one I used at the PPRD crit so that I have a standard presentation sheet which I can use when sending work to clients. I have adapted this to A3 so I can also use it for my portfolio sheets and presenting larger work to clients. This is really useful as it will save time as well as providing me with a way of presenting my work in a uniform, professional way.
I am going to adapt this into an invoice design and use it as the basis for any other documents I will frequently need. I'm also thinking about possibly creating letterheads, comp slips and maybe a business card but only if I have time as it is unlikely I will need them just yet....
Im planning to go through my sketchbook work and scan and upload a selection of drawings to my flickr just to show some of the self initiated work I've done.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Don't buy inexpensive shellfish....
....if you're in the middle of an important, busy project with a fast approaching deadline or ever really. After 3 days of horrible, horrible food poisoning, getting my one-off illustration finished is going to be very much an uphill task and with the lack of screenprints, it unfortunately is not certain that I will have anything ready for animal farm.
Everything seems to have conspired against me getting any work up for our fundraiser.
However, I do have 4 and a half days to finish the piece (which sounds longer than it is) and though I feel about 92 years old (I haven't left my bed for three days) there are some changes I can make so that it is more time efficient and I will hopefully have some form of the illustration finished for the exhibition, barring any anvils falling on my head, the ebola virus or a surprise decision by parliament to criminalise the use of pencils.
Everything seems to have conspired against me getting any work up for our fundraiser.
However, I do have 4 and a half days to finish the piece (which sounds longer than it is) and though I feel about 92 years old (I haven't left my bed for three days) there are some changes I can make so that it is more time efficient and I will hopefully have some form of the illustration finished for the exhibition, barring any anvils falling on my head, the ebola virus or a surprise decision by parliament to criminalise the use of pencils.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
D & AD
Some brilliant ideas came out at the first brainstorming session I had for D&AD today. I'm working in a group of three (Me, Jon and Mike) on the brief to design a campaign to publicise the new ikea catalogue (and persuade people to improve their homes with Ikea products) and we worked pretty well together, all having good individual ideas and contributing good input to those of others. We decided on an idea which we are going to take forward and develop which I'm confident is a pretty strong one.
This was after we filtered through a fair few others, none of which were actually bad, that didn't quite tick the many boxes needed to fulfil the brief; it had to encourage people to improve their homes, it had to be broad, it had to assume a non-aggresive voice yet be instant and direct, it had to be playful, cheeky and rebellious and hardest of all, considering Ikea's myriad quirky and original ad campaigns, be innovative and outside the box.
We now have a pretty clear plan as to what and how we will present this idea which I don't want to put up on here because I would shoot myself If I saw some nice young student walk away with a D&AD pencil having googled D&AD + Ikea, found this page and pillaged silly our idea. It's actually nice to have so much faith in an idea that I wont risk putting it up on this obscure, hardly-read blog.
This was after we filtered through a fair few others, none of which were actually bad, that didn't quite tick the many boxes needed to fulfil the brief; it had to encourage people to improve their homes, it had to be broad, it had to assume a non-aggresive voice yet be instant and direct, it had to be playful, cheeky and rebellious and hardest of all, considering Ikea's myriad quirky and original ad campaigns, be innovative and outside the box.
We now have a pretty clear plan as to what and how we will present this idea which I don't want to put up on here because I would shoot myself If I saw some nice young student walk away with a D&AD pencil having googled D&AD + Ikea, found this page and pillaged silly our idea. It's actually nice to have so much faith in an idea that I wont risk putting it up on this obscure, hardly-read blog.
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