Off with their header

These are the stages I took to create my blog header. I had originally sketched the concept out before easter and had crafted them on e lonely wednesday night.

However, the photos I took had been "misplaced" and so I just took the initiative and took them again myself after looking at how dull it was.

I used cardboard, as I am hoping to develop my craft skills more and apply it to more of my design work.

Loo-ndon Pt.2

Ok, I think its about time for me to organize my pictures into albums from my trip to London.

Here is the link to the pictures I took at the Rodchenko and Popova exhibition concerning constructivism, there was also a collection from the Domien exhibition thrown in, all pictures taken at the Tate Modern.

These will be updated, as I have at least 100 more to put up, these were things I saw all around and about, some nice work in the Brick Lane gallery too..

Re-proposing my first year experience

It became apparent that my previous idea of trying to help first year students to be more critical in their approach to work would be very hard, or in my opinion, very boring to do well visually. It also limited my ideas and confused myself into a scattered and unfocused concept.

So I decided to tackle a huge problem that still plagues the rest of the course and not just us, and the soon to be first years - TIME MANAGEMENT.

I chose this as I think it would be more beneficial to learn about time management from day one, rather than a third of the way through the course, as not only is it a professional practice, but if facilitated correctly, it can bring a balance to the new lifestyle that awaits them.

THE PROBLEM IS:

First year students may not be organised enough to appreciate the balance of work and play.

I AM GOING TO DO THIS ABOUT IT:

I will be informing the first years that by organizing/planning their time more effectively, they will not get swamped with work and reap the rewards from their efforts.

I AM GOING TO DO THIS ABOUT IT:

I aim to create an interactive, engaging and fun approach to managing time that can be transported from place to place by the student, is easy to access, and is easy to fill in, but does not feel like a chore. 

I will be using a combination of type and image to communicate this, as without the combination of the two, I dont think it will be done to a standard of visual impact.

Trucking well good typeface

Found this amazing typeface/alphabet, thought it would bring a smile to someones face, as to actually get such good pictures of the trucks and to get a whole alphabet is something to be proud of!

Starting to speak from experience

After much discussion, debate, serious reflection and deliberation about the experience of being a first year and what I had learnt during my rocky baby steps to being a pro designer, it came to light that these were some of the main issues I found that had some significace to my ever growing curve of education.

1. Be prepared to make mistakes
2. Manage finances effectively
3."Dont polish a turd" - if its a bad idea, drop it!
4. READ THE BRIEF, READ THE BRIEF AND READ THE BRIEF
5. All nighter? All righty!

These were narrowed down from what was a list of non-specific, or loosely based componenets of a phrase, or rather bits and pieces of a bigger problem. I chose to be more towards real reflection of myself, and to make it more informed to the first years, as I spent alot of it confused, disorganised and uninformed in my ability to make decisions.

So to put some focus into how I am actually going to address/approach this brief, here is my proposal, or rather my first proposal of ideas.

What is the problem?

People are not objective/critical enough about their work.

What am I going to do about this?

Warn them about the potential dangers of not achieving the standard for a resolution or their work in general, inform them of the positives of evaluating and making informed decisions when working, and to advise them about choosing a suitable method to achieve this.

How am I going to do it?

To produce some form of introduction pack to help the first years to document, evaluate and learn tips on how to be more critical, so some form of calender with designers on each month that encourages them to be more independent with their studies, with a do it yourself style booklet that is pocket sized and easy to write in, along with a top tips book that has reference to aid the first year in making decisions.
Or possibly some form of blog/website that has all the information archived in it for eas of access that may be useful, especially when they have to keep a blog.
But obviously there is alot more research and idea generation to go before I start to do anything.

In the Vallee of paper

After cruising quite a few magazines, and after a long session on his website, which by the way is something you could spend hours on, not getting bored. 

He has specialized in craft-based graphics, as he thinks that the overuse of digital design is taking away the aesthetics, and saying that digitalism sometimes overkills an image.

But I chose some of his work to put up as you can look at all his amazing installations and photographs of past projects on his website.

This is part of a montage/photoshoot/animation used for MTV:1 UK, if you scroll to the bottom you can watch the video.

MTV-One from Julien Vallée on Vimeo.

Typographic architecture

After finally visiting the website Lorenzo told us to have a look at - ilovetypography.com - I came across this amazing poster entirely handcrafted by Cameron Moll, using only letterpress and 100+ hours of effort.

Characters from Bickham Script Pro, Engravers MT and Epic typeface families form the edifice featured in the artwork, the Salt Lake Temple in Utah. It certainly has changed my view on type alone being used for image, as not only has it broken my perception of the simplicity of the communication derived from the single components of the image, but as the combination of many elements of type to create something so intrinsically magnificent.

Crafty cuts and cigarette butts.

Thanks to Martyn and his was new issue of IDN, I came across this design company who have multidisciplinary techniques and can approach multiple briefs to attain their own status within the creative industry. First bitten then never shy, some of the first things I saw them do was working for Neon magazine, which is a Berlin based magazine similar to IDN and Wired.

This set of images they made were for the Super Mario Fashion Story feature. They used a whole load of crafting materials and it looks brilliant, despite the content not quite up to scratch with the latest graphics card, the finesse in the craft makes it worthwhile.

Catrin and Adrian seem to be well connected and have published alot of illustrations, editorial pieces for Neon. This illustration is about big things (like cars) getting less noisy and little things like mobiles getting louder and louder. I love the use of cardboard to draw more attention to the vibrancy of colour used to essentuate the text.

Loo-ndon

So maybe this post is a bit late, but its the thought that counts, also remembering to ask your girlfriend for the photos taken might help too.

Basically I went to the big smoke at the start of the Easter 'holidays' to visit some friends and family with my girlfriend, where we stayed right next to the history museum in a big house shared by a miscellany of artistic miscreants. The house itself was Victorian, and alot of the old features included, upon closer inspection of the front room however, it became apparent that the front room's door was curved as well as the wall it sat in.

Moving on from non-design related banter, the real point of going to London was to see the Rodchenko and Popova constructivism exhibition at the Tate Modern. Since we had done lines to death, and being a huge fan of Darwin, I was in high hopes of seeing that too.
We walked to the Tate and took alot of snaps on the way, as you can see on my album.

The Tate was full of surprises, as we not only attended the constructivism exhibition, but there was a large collection of artwork by( check notes )

In the first room of the R+P exhibition there were a large collection of paintings and illustrations from 1917-18, this is where I almost started running around the room whooping with joy. To see such things in their original forms really put a smile on my face.
For example, Rodchenko's experiments in faktura ( the connections made by the materials used rather than the aesthetics)
which led to his 'Black on Black' series, of which 3 pieces were on show. I also soon found out that despite trying to wangle a few sneaky snaps of some of the exhibition, it was strictly forbidden. Well played Tom.

"Russia has given birth to its own art, and its name is non-objectivity" - Rodchenko (1918)

The second room more focused on the design directive the art world was taking at this point in time (1917-19) dating from the earliest years of the Revolution. Popova at this time was designing for an embroidery company called 'Verbovka', where she combined the avante-garde with traditional art and handicraft skills, which were intended to move away from the idea of the unique works of art.
Similarly, Rodchenko designs for an aircraft storehouse brought together geometrical elements quite like Kandinsky, creating a symbol of unity/means for the communist party to work with.
Their work at this time was focused on the means of easy to see mass production that could be viewed by everyone.

"The line has Revolutionized our view of the pictorial surface by changing the idea that form is no more than a patch of colour" - Rodchenko (1921)

Moving onto rooms 3 and 4 (1919-21), it became apparent that the work shown was taking a progression from some of the original pieces in the first 2 rooms, reflecting the changing political and social events that were running alongside this ever-changing Russian design revolution.
During this time period a series of debates concerning the subjective approach to art, and the expression of one's self, over the functionality, practicality and availability of art and design practise.
This later became 'Construction' which was not just an aesthetic style that could be represented on canvas, but rather the process which went into the piece.

There was obviously a reasonable amount of Kandinsky's work, but since it was not the real focus of the exhibition it was given a side room as to not distract the less aware of the spectators.

5x5=25 was the farewell to painting, the 5 top constructivists at the time, (Rodchenko, Popova, Stepanova, Vesnin, and Exter) each contributed statements and five covers to each of the 25 handcrafted catalogues. These held my attention for quite some time, as I had never heard of this particular works, and the use of paint, but facilitated in such a way that the lines produced were avant-garde in appearance, but upon closer inspection were indeed freehand.
Despite the casual aesthetics that were meant to of been rejected, the catalogues and art produced still had an artistic taint to it. I know I keep plonking in quotes that I found, but this cracker was found was staring at me in the face when I saw the 5x5=25 section -

"When I look at the number of paintings I have painted, I sometimes wonder what I shall do with them. It would be a shame to burn them, they are over 10 years of work in them.But they are as useless as a church. They serve no purpose whatsoever." - Rodchenko (1927)

The next step was advertising and graphic design, but I only mention this as we are all aware of the advertising techniques employed by the idealistic commissionists. However, I will mention that the futurist poet Mayakovsky ran a partnership with Rodchenko to crush the privately owned companies advertising ploys, as to use their own form of "well-constructed" advertising.
When confronted about the capatalist ideals behind advertising, Mayakovsy argued that "It is necessary to employ all the weapons used by our enemies."
By keeping projects full of a sense of dynamism and urgency, this maintained them to not stray away from the ideological hallmarks of constructivism.

I will finish with a rather surreal experience of what the Soviet workers club might of looked like, as there was a fully functioning one installed within the exhibition. It was initially showcased at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. The club itself stripped away the formalities of bourgeois comfort, instead it replaced it with geometrical functionalism with things such as bookcases, space to read, 'Lenin Corner'(this encouraged the study of the late leader of the Soviets) and chess tables, as to encourage the proletariat to spend time productively.
This all boiled down by the 1930s however, and the Russian socialists had their very own artistic style - Socialist Realism.

So, all and all, a great start to my weekend in London!

{PICTURES//LINKS}

OUGD104 Evaluation

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Since the start of this module I have learned to create a much more direct, and impactive message delivery when using image. 

Although my work may not be as firmly focused as it should be, I think that the early stages of this module have taught me a great deal, by crafting my imagery, I was made to make informed decisions. In effect, how the actual meaning of my image would come across to a wider audience.
On another note, I do greatly enjoy the handcrafting side of design, and with my new work ethic, my new skills had paid off. (I got recognized! - competition)

I have been getting to grips with a more formal way of thinking in terms of material usage and composition, which was evident when developing an understanding of symbolism, and iconography. I have come to grips with aesthetics of type, how it can be applied to themes, feels, or tone of voice in accordance to briefs/decision making, and have burning hate for impact.

I now know I am obssessive compulsive when it comes to researching and I think by my recognizing this, I have become more independent in my decisions as a designer, also I think I have not taken advantage as much as I would of liked in workshops, and weekends, as alot of what happens out of college affects my work. But I hope to continually better myself with the new challenges ahead.

2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

My methods of research always include many cross-referencing, to ensure maximum efficiency of knowledge, as to not get caught off guard in questions, as I learnt early in on the course that you must be well-informed! I have now, tried to implement such facts into fiction, or rather pictoral myths, within my development, as I soon realised that the research process ALWAYS influences the end target audience/viewer, and design process.

The development of research along with design becomes evident when ideas join 'hand-in-hand' with each other, and the once sticky, unresolved idea that was functionless, combined with the correct research, be it a quote, some statistics, or even something pre-existing which proves to suit a purpose, can bring a project off the ground.

I believe that I have also gained some knowledge that by researching too much and not making directive, formalized decisions it can have epic repurcussions on my work.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I believe that I have gained alot from not being able to be in access to suitable programs of design all the time, as it has given me time to get to grips with more functional layout considering type, and the basics of handcrafted design. I say this in confidence, as along with some of my other fellow peers, I was a runner-up in the Recognitionday competition.

But despite this, I would seriously like to expand on this aspect of design, as I have been itching to use more cardboard and mixed media into my design work (where appropriate) and I think with the easter holidays, I will begin to experiment with my own ideas, and create something that I can happily call my own.

I would also say that in conjunction with question 2, I feel as if another major strong point in my work would be the research element, as a keen reader, and enthusiastic when considering book design. I do think that by making more informed desicions earlier on based on a medium quanity of research rather than maximum quantity, I could achieve alot more, by doing a lot less.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

I would say the digital aspect of design, I really feel as if by almost dismissing the digital tools available, I am becoming more and more distanced from the basic elements of contemporary design methods.

I think that to improve on this, - as I said previously - is to spend time over easter getting to grips with the relevant software more, and to read up on some basic tutorials, as to make sure I dont go through great lengths to achieve something when it shouldnt.
I would say, focus, and direction. 

I have a habit of 'going-off-on-one' or being disjointed and erratic in my method of delivery. However, in admitting this, I feel that although I have had a turbulent year so far, I am confident that I can prove myself better by keeping a focus, drive and designer mentality that should steady my work.







5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. TIME MANAGEMENT - I know you hate it, but its true for me, the travelling thing exhausts me, and the fact I work too much, but have recently cut down my hours has given me more breathing space. I would also start things when we get set them to avoid great stress and worry on my part.


2. KEEP A FOLDER - on me at all times to ensure that i keep all briefs on me and am aware and reminded of deadlines constantly.

3. READ THE BRIEF, AGAIN, AGAIN, AND AGAIN - To fully comprehend my directive and my awareness towards a target audience, I must always refer back to the brief. This is apparent with the what is a line brief as I spent alot of my time in sketchbooks, researching, and not knowing what I was doing, simply as I forgot to look at and find the brief.

4. PRESENT MORE CLEARLY AND EFFECTIVELY - As to make sure that other people know what I am on about, and to boost my professional practice performance.

5. SPEND MORE TIME FINDING REFERENCE TO MY WORK - This will greatly impact my visual impact/aesthetic/style and will also keep my blog from looking like a jumble sale of disjointed and loosely connected threads. By spending more time researching visual references to my work such as artists/designers, it will benefit my knowledge of the design world.


6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas:

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor

Attendance = 4

Punctuality = 3

Motivation = 4

Commitment = 3

Quantity of work produced = 1

Quality of work produced = 3

Contribution to the group = 3

Movement

A series of events portrayed by Huntley Muir. By demonstrating this he shows motion, a passage of time, and done in an expressive way, it reminds me of my old expressive drawing classes and also displays skills shown in figure drawing. This I am not so good at.

I found this at debutart.com a great website full of illustrators and artists situated in an agency in London.
He also has a great website with some other lovely illustrations. They are prime, just prime.

I Know Lego Has Been Done, But...

Michel Gondry is still worth a mention for this display of stop-frame mastery, never have I seen lego put to a better use. He has worked on many a film, including Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind.

The next one is just for laughs, as it seems like a near impossible task.

Some alternative approaches to a line

After a gig in Carpe Diem on Saturday night, Craig and I found ourselves in a strange place, and no it was not Craig's flat. After being approached by a similar denizen of the night, with exchanges of what could most probably be described as words, we met Rose. 

We talked briefly about our interests and how we were both in the Art and Design world, we commented on a lovely design of a beermat, then exchanged details via the medium of drink-based comforts. (beermat)

Anyway I checked out her website and it turns out her work has some relation to the What is a line? brief, she had some installation work based on 'Timeline' and 'Archive' which is a collection of what looks like the contents of my bedroom but organised.

I particuarly liked her interactive installation using post it notes, doing something a

long the lines of word association.

On a final note, her website is so well laid out and looks very professional! I feel inspired to do so much more! Cheers Rose!

History CAN be fun... Sort of

I found this a while back but just found the files on photobucket, just some snapshots from the BBC history website, which includes arather good interactive timeline that summarizes key points in Britains turbulent and somewhat bloody history.

Mechanical Development.

Many technological advances have happened throughout time, and would be nearly impossible to list in detail every one that has happened and the knock on effect of the invention and how these things constantly shape, re-create and influence us still now.

From the first steam locomotive, boiler, boats, canisters, almost anything that can contain, change, manipulate, or develop, in man made progression through the production of metals in factory production, taking away manual labour. But instead his artwork is very much relative to our own affinity with living with machines in an aesthetic harmony... Or he just makes a point on the human beings ability to grow, develop and produce.

After searching inventions and a long browsing on google I happened to come across Stephen Halleux, who works with a variety of media, but mainly metal, putty and plastic.
The handcraft of his work is really techy but it looks like something that would be great to have a go at.


The development/concept sketches are rather good too. Really easy to visualize what the end sculpture would be.


Heres some he made earlier.

Mapping

I found this really awesome blog with so many mapping processes on it, all working within the handmade graphics that I think is really something special.

The personal feel to the work is great, and using other people to make your exhibition makes it easier, if not alot more interactive with your audience and helps your work to be spread.

Plus its a great practice to try to connect peoples thoughts, memories and object association from such a wide selection of subjects, and it makes the subject matter interesting.

3 Golden Rules, and Intending to make a statement

Right, well basically, being far too over-indulgent made me lose the plot abit, in terms of going overboard on research, as I always tend to do.
However after my much needed crit, the feedback in form of 5 questions made it far easier to find specific points as to broaden, or rather narrow down to a final resolution.

Since I was looking at "A connected series of events, actions, or developments" but somehow got tangled in my own web of mass confusion, stress and poor time managment, that made me unclear as to what I was really doing.
My previous posts/statement was only focussed on one area of development that I am unfamiliar with: timelimes, data collection/mapping.

On the other hand, oor Asken, or rather Willhelm, gave me what I wanted; something to roll with. He suggested that I look at the Bayeaux tapestry, and use it to further my work. So I got out books on medieval art, and am currently looking into how all these factors will be in my final piece.

I intend to condense British history from the Anglo-Saxon - Present/2000 into either a series of hanging tapestries, or one continious piece. I will be most probably creating it digitally from my own drawings, and designs, but it will be dependant on how it sits in context to my area of enquiry.


Rule 1

I will restrict myself to only 6 colours to my final piece as the Bayeaux is quite limited in its palette.

Rule 2

To make things easier for myself I will use a template for my characters so all I have to do is design the elements of the characters, similar to dolls.

Rule 3

I will not do any more reasearch, or refining, as this would greatly
slow me down, as it has in previous projects.

The significance of balance.

Sorry to go all fine arty on the reader, but my affection towards current fine art trends are somewhat jaded. However, for the artists of the Renaissance, beauty was a consequence of harmonic proportion.
The aesthetic appeal of any entity, - be is man made, or natural - could, they believed, be traced to the perfect balance among its structure.
These men also believed that the ancients has possessed the secrets of true proportional harmony, and since the rules were specifically mathematical, they sought to draw out some truth concerning the many thoeries. By studying, measuring, and analysing the surviving buildings of ancient Rome, and combing the works of the roman writer Vitruvius.
Also new trends were being set about this time, as instead of anonymous craftsmen offering their services to the glory of God, as like in the Middle Ages, instead we had artists now with a sensse of individualists with their own beliefs and skills to use in practice.

Francesco is remembered chiefly as an architect and an architectural theorist. He translated Vitruvius and wrote an original work on architecture, Trattato di architettura civile e militare, which discusses city planning and military architecture, anticipating some of the theories of the high Renaissance. By 1477 he was in the service of Duke Federico da Montefeltro, in Urbino, where he may have participated in the design and decoration of parts of the palace of Urbino, and built 136 military fortresses.

His architectural masterpiece is Santa Maria del Calcinaio, Cortona (commissioned 1484), which, however, is now greatly altered. As a sculptor he is best known for four bronze figures for the high altar of Siena Cathedral (1489–97) He also designed fortifications, battle machinery, and weapons and is thought to have originated the land mine.
Which can be linked with the domino effect catastrophe theory. Geometry and mathematical precision has always been the fundamentals in which deeper human consciousness and elevated sense of higher communication, sharing one message, or perspective of compositional elements that they knew pre-existed.

Peoples perception changed forever.

Luke Insect

This guy's work is actually great. taking the "crafty-collage" aspect of visuals to a new high. His pieces are everywhere ranging from collabs with The Prodigy, to the new CD with the independent, Mongrel. Which is amazing by the way!
His website is well designed too, a heavily endowed myspace site is part of his folio also.
Here is some of his work...

Maria.

One of my arty mother's mates, Maria Slovakova, has some lovely line illustrations. Not only this but one of my most fondest memories is going down the pub with my mother and her boyfriend to hear some of Maria's poetry, alongside David's(my mums BF LOL!) music and enjoying the fact that the age old pub is plastered with Maria's pieces and experiments.

I like her work as it is abstract visual language in a way and it also looks great. Her approach to the "work ethic" is brilliant. From what I've seen of her, she has gotten known quite quickly and her freelance work ranges from vans to plates.

...Anyway, here is her work, she recently had a show in London, she is also on twitter

I do History, I do

Well after some fruitless labour and some successful dead ends, I thought I had Reached some sort of cul-de-sac regarding the line brief, but after what seemed like a doomed crit, Willhelm Asken once again pulled a great idea from the charred remains of the Middle Ages.
Using my foolish self-indulgent research into historic values of our country, he said I should use the Beveaux Tapestry as a format for my resolve to the brief.
Anyway, this is what I did prior to the brief, which is when I was considering using stopframe to bring history to life, these are some of my concepts for the viking era. Enjoy.

Henson Henson! and no its not the muppeteer

I have been a long standing admirer of Keaton and his amazing line drawings, prints, and design work. He mainly works in the music industry, designing t-shirts, album artwork, posters and most other things that fall under music products.
His way of utilizing lines in his drawings gives them a unique feel, and generally almost all his work is great to look at.
His simple way of making the macabre acceptable really makes me smile. He has alsorts of cool stuff to look at on his online portfolio, and hes quite a funny guy.

Mars Volta

Here is a little bit on the Mars VOlta artwork.
STORM THORGERSON.

Whats linear composition? Its Papergraphic, thats what.

That fffffffffffffffound or whatever it is. Is actually a real find. After much scrolling and wishing more people used cardboard and paper, I came across this amazing artist called Yulia Brodskaya, who is Russian and hails from Moscow. She was at first afine artist, then headed on to study graphic communication and design. She has worked for and won many competitions and clients throughout the years. She is also a recognised member of the worlds Typgraphic Designers(2006). I love her work, as it shows a great sense of individuality and would be something I would like to explore myself, but instead use a different media to work with.
Anyway here is some of her work.

Viking Frame Invasion

Well, after doing some research on historic moments in time, and considering the sequence of events that had an effect on a country/society/culture, I first settled on our ancient ancestors, the Celts and Vikings.
I chose to "re-enact" the thought process regarding this moment in time.
It was my first time using stop frame, and I did it straight after work, and just had time to edit it today. Admittedly the quality is less than desired, however my mother thought it was great. So there. I also love cardboard.
Anyway here it is, tracks by 'Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By - Lifeboat

Cardboard IS cool

After a quick, short search session on YouTuve, there was limited animations regarding, or rather facilitating the use of cardboard in animations. I chose this video that was on an IT blog, dont read it, its WELL boring. I found it useful and relevant, as it informs, and relates to me, i use bittorrent, and this explains how filesharing works, if you thought it was straightforward you should ask Wayne....(the guy in the vid)

Reading Week, Schmeading Week.

Excuse the bad photo. As I was looking into timelines and how historic events shifted and shaped the world we know and hate today, I looked at all my old history books that I had left. I gave most of mine to the local library, as I thought I would not need them again. Now who is laughing? So gathering what resources I had, I began to read through and pick out key moments, relics, clothing, and also the surroundings, and how to incorporate them into my work.
Reading week? Yeah I did some...
At this stage though, I still have alot to do, as with ever mounting briefs and time speeding up as it always does, I may need to find a quicker solution, but without leaving any important research factors out. I did however - and still do! - find reading up on all this quite fasinating, especially when it comes to touching up on the old history skills.

Bookbindings

This was a documentation after our bookbinding induction at vernon street with Roger.

Just thought I would put these pictures up, considering right after I made mine I gave it to my Gran for a notebook. Sorry. These images are other peoples bookbinding but still I am showing the process.

Coma-induced historic assesment

Being a major fan of the Mars Volta, and trying to find any excuse to put a post about them on my blog that relates to my work is something I can finally do now.
Due to their cryptic, well constructed lyrics, that often incrminate humankinds mistakes and constantly infringe on them,

" ...one day this chalk outline will circle this city, if it was not for the asphalt that cushioned his face, it was a room full of charlatans, that judged his pas mistakes..."

They reguarly use a narrative in their albums, which has a great effect of an epic, opera style overture in their music, combing vital elements of audio, and visual, not just in their videos, but as a whole act. I am making a particular example of the first album, De-Loused in Comatorium, was a narrative of a man who fell into a coma, and reenacting some of history's most important moments, then critical assesment of the world, and how all actions are based upon the "cause-effect" which, obviously supports the "catastrophe theory" element, I was aiming to address.

Anyway, the man (Cerpin Taxt) flows along this albums phantasmal thread, the movements make you squirm, excited, scared, and even in some cases, feel reflective, however alot of the time, they feel unjustly powerful. The particular song I chose has a great video, that by itself is a huge power trip, and works as a story with no music. Try it.

Our antihero is has now woke up from his coma, after scrutinising the horrors of the world, realised that his existence has been nothing but a pebble in the never ending ocean of the constantly evolving galaxy. He deemed himself unworthy and wishes his existence to be made "...invalid..." this seemed to be a major turning point, not just for the story, but the music takes a huge shift at this point.

http://www.wired.com/science/space/multimedia/2009/02/gallery_dwarf_stars

I found a

"100 Things we didn't know last year."

Just the final note as we say goodbye to the module, I went to Laing's area of residence, and made me look at news on the internet, and I thought I would put this fact that related to my subject manner, and will most likely relive it in some way over reading week.

27. It costs $100,000 to hunt a rhino in South Africa.

OUGD102 Evaluation

1. What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

During this module I have learnt how to bind a book using the perfect bound method, and how the process is far messier than japanese bookbinding. However, I did not use this method for the final resolution, it was a valuable experience nonetheless.
I have developed my skills in data processing and collecting, despite me not using graphs or charts, and only using spreadsheets, but I really do not like doing data processing, and I think its quite therapeutic.

I really think my research is my strongest point.

2. What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

The problem solving process for me has been a very long, twisting, turning, looping, and in some cases burning road. My ideas to solving the resolution was hard, due to ever changing rifts in my research and being unable to cope with flimsy pretexts considering factual basis. I found however, that once I had a book for the book brief (ha ha...) to use for the backbone of my research, the metaphorical juices really got going, however, due to constant time restraints, and lack of financial backing, my approach felt - not rushed - but hasty.

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

My research is the strongest point in my work, easily. Due to the amount I could gather, my research just kept on growing, also I think the way I made a seemingly mundane topic seem interesting. I think this as the research I gathered was very statistical, and all examples of the limited material I found were mundane to look at, and the reader most certainly lost interest. I helped this along by making something - according to my crit - quite enjoyable to a large age group, the simplicity in my design would reflect this.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Well to start with the ongoing documentation of crits and such, as I merely documented it in my sketchbook. Also the development of ideas, and design concepts as my ideas constantly kept changing as well as my research, and this seriously set me back. Also the chance to experiment with stock and colour, as I just mentioned my research was really hard to focus on one idea, and the fact I kept on setting my concepts on an insanely high level (eg combining elements, so instead its 300 things instead.) I also think that i should have found a focus earlier on that meant I could explore the end product more, to achieve EXACTLY what I wanted.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. TIME MANAGEMENT! I am aware of it now, so I can better myself.

2. Spend more time on my blog, as I feel it has not really benefitted from my efforts.

3. Take more care over format and measurements to save me money and time.

4. Always keep a file to document all crit notes, sheets and briefs.

5. Be better informed earlier on to save myself from being very very very very stressed.

+6. DONT STRESS AS MUCH.

6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: 

5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
1 2 3 4 5
Attendance 4 
Punctuality 4 
Motivation 4 
Commitment 3
Quantity of work produced 2
Quality of work produced 3 
Contribution to the group 3

Intent of linear progression.

I think that since I have been reading alot of facts, and collecting, categorising and collating data, I am going to look at timelines. This concerns religious progressions, or campaigns, or inventions that turned the way people viewed - or interpreted the world - on its head. So obviously I will be looking into data flow, and how to graphically achieve this. It is a subject I am not fully capable of, in terms that I am breaching yet another of my comfort zones: Time Management, and how the effect of time, technology and ideals have changed, and continue to shape the ever changing course of post-post-post human perception, and communication.

As a starting point, I am going to visit the library and find some books i can start my research on, including data flow, and visual timelines on a more abstract level. I also have a huge selection of history books concerning political development, murderers from different time periods (and effects on popular culture) dictatorships throughout the entirety of human consciousness and even books on inventions that helped to spark industrial revolutions, or just helped people to navigate the sea better.

This is my starting point. Let the chaos (theory) begin!

"Catastrophe theory is....er... "

To question our existence based on some one else's own questioning of our existence is all very well and dandy, however it seems no one has really questioned the feasibility of recording, or visually performing such a task, however I think some sort of book is in order. As I think that a good idea to drive on is recorded events, like a timeline, or, as I am into, parts of our history and prehistoric existence.

Anyway, enough of the warble, as I watched "monkey business" and enjoyed some desert baboons hunt some fennec foxes - whilst easting my tea, I saw this Citroen advert. It is a series of disasters and catastrophes in it, which can be theoretically implied upon my chosen focus with the brief thus far. Its almost like a book or catalogue into how these sequential events may or may not happen in the same sequence, but each action, depending on its influence or effect, determines, or rather strips away the sense of patterned, or pre-cognitive outcome.
However if all else fails, I will just have to find a bally good illustrator or graphic artist to use as a basis for study.
Heres something I did when I was smoking a fag. Yes it is with biro, yes I'm not sorry, and yes, you are looking at some low resolution, but i thought it had something to do with what i was hearing that made the outcome....my own little history.

Strangemaps, Maps, Book Maps, Mapping on a bit am I not?

I found this great interpretation of my worse vice: smoking, and how our "cousins" from over the sea managed to monopolise a harbinger of death, the idea was so simple, but probably cost them alot less than i t would for us, I mean to start with there is at least 100 Fags there, which would total well over 35-40 pounds. Besides that, i like the type, it matches that of the evil brand Marlboro. Also a load of great map design on this guys blog on StrangeMaps.
Great use of sans serif, the "informant" typeface, the utilisation of superimposed imagery makes this book something special, and unique, despite someone most probably has done this typeface before, it still holds the readers attention. After cruising on some of Wired 's back catalogue, I found this book which book has 175 items highlighting 3,500 years of cartographic progress, Wired gave it 5/5, but then again, who does'nt like maps? Second thoughts, better not answer that one.