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