Context Blog : 2012

Friday, 21 December 2012

DESIGN PROCESS - SOFTWARE WORKSHOP PHOTOSHOP - POSTCARD RESEARCH

In response to the given brief which is to produce a set of 5 double sided postcards that explore my given shape which is a circle I have decided to start by researching existing postcards which could influence my final series of products.

Existing postcard designs:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Art-Educators-Workshop/6475205

I think that these postcard designs are fairly interesting in terms of the way the designer has used only 2 colours along with stock. The colours have been separated with the orange/pink being on the right hand side and the majority of the black ink being aligned to the left.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/2012-Southeast-Tech-Portfolio-Show-Campaign/4046529

This designer has designed a series of products, one of the products being a postcard, the use of one colour along with a consistent stock portrays the message well and precisely.

I feel that these postcards are successful as they rely purely on colour to outline the content on the card. The use of colour is fairly wide in terms of the different colours that have been used. The overall design is fairly vector based.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Postcards-Collection/6714589

A more illustrative approach to producing a postcard, the basis of this design could have began through the use of photography by actually capturing the women in this posture and then working from that photograph.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Oxford-Postcard/6699583

A postcard that uses purely photography, the content of the postcard is giving snapshots of the location Oxford, in Britain, it is portraying the outdoors the greenery and some of Oxfords iconic architecture.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Postcard-I/5475787

The se of shapes within this series of postcards is fairly interesting, I like the way the designee has taken the content and merged it using the theme of shapes.

Thursday, 13 December 2012

TYPOGATEAUX 2012 RESEARCH

As apart of the typogateux contest we were asked to produce a cake, however before doing so we were asked to carry out research and create a body of work that would inform the product.

Below are some existing type based cakes that inspired me and my group into producing the one we did.

http://www.kochi-kochi.co.uk/typography.php?descat=24

http://redhooded.net/category/image/

http://blog.howdesign.com/typography/cake-type/

http://dessertgirl.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/inspiration-board-typography.ht

http://www.berliosca.com/2010/06/helvetica/

http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/typeface-cupcakes.ht

http://ilovetypography.com/2008/02/03/sunday-type-frodo-type/

http://allie-mae.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/blog-post.html

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/rainbow-layer-cake/4969fed8-141e-45f5-9a04-e03addd20fbb

Monday, 10 December 2012

Research Brief: Morecambe & Wise

During the briefing this morning we were verbally given our next brief which would continue over the christmas period and into the next term. During the briefing we were all given a area/theme to research into, everybody was given a different theme/area to research into, the theme I have been given is 'Morecambe & Wise'.

Once given my brief I drew to a conclusion within my thoughts that I knew briefly of this comic-double act however not enough at all to create a body of research. So the first step I took into becoming more aware of 'Morecambe & Wise' was to carry out some brief background reading on their history as a double-act. As you can see from the spider diagram below I have outlined some of the main points within their career and some general reading into the pair's life.

Information collated from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morecambe_and_Wise

Once carrying out brief background research on the pair I decided to find watch a couple of video's of the Morecambe & Wise and get a custom to their work and the career which surrounded there lives and created fortune and fame during the time that they aired on British Television.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morecambe-%26-wise_skip-dance.jpg

A image and freeze frame of the 'famous skip dance' which occupied British Television screens from 1941-1984.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/images/episode/p009y39r_640_360.jpg

http://wwwcdn.channel5.com/assets/images/000/020/208/large_size_Morecambe-_-Wise_blackbg.jpg?1323684940

The Morecambe & Wise christmas show which aired in 1980.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdH8gWnxHys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiQYU9mUyF4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysfvM9uhFdg

As we can see from these videos which were aired on the BBC the show seemed to be fairly popular during this period of time, the show was so popular that some of the guests who starred in it ranged from 'The Beatles' to 'Cliff Richard' to the great 'Tom Jones' names that to this day we know and still admire.

Once findings some clips and watching there talent on Youtube I decided to type into google 'Morecambe & Wise' and see the google listings of their name.

Once reading through these listings it became apparent that Morecambe & Wise have their own website in which contains news which has been backdated from 2007 up to this very day, archives a gallery full of images along with an section where folks can purchase dvd's, books, video's etc. of there comic-act from decades ago.

www.morecambeandwise.com

As discovered in the initial spider diagram Morecambe & Wise's career began through performing in Theatre around Britain. Some of the venues which opened the doorway to a lifetime full of fame and polishing there talents were:

Nottingham Empire Theatre
Swansea Empire Theatre
Windmill Theatre
Glasgow Empire

Wednesday, 5 December 2012

Context of Practice Lecture Notes - Alfred Hitchcock

Context of practice lecture notes delivered on 5th December focusing on film theory in specific 'The Auteur' and Alfred Hitchcock:

Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Context of Practice: Art, Graphic Design and 'Value'

Seminar notes from Tuesday 4th December 2012:

Thursday, 29 November 2012

Context of Practice lecture - 28/11/2012 -Typography

Lecture notes from COP lecture on the history of typography, session 28/11/2012

Monday, 26 November 2012

Harvard Referencing Task

After learning how to to reference our sources of information in accordance to the Harvard referencing system we were then set a task to source 5 different books that would assist/support our essays in relation to the 5 essay questions given during the session last week.

After sourcing these books we were then asked to reference these books in the Harvard referencing manner in order to practice this way of documenting text that we would use to support our essays in the near-future.

Chosen five books:

Harvard reference:

Best S. & Kellner D. (1997), 'The Post modernist-turn', 72 Spring Street, New York, A Division of Guildford Publications Inc.

Beazley M. (2001), 'Pioneer of Modern Graphic Design A complete history', 2nd,2-4 Hernon Quays, London E14 4JP, Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.

Levenson Micheal H. (2011), 'Modernism', Grand Rapid Michigan, Integrated publishing Solutions.

Appignanesi R. & Garratt C. (1999), 'Introducing postmodernism', 5th, Grange Road, Duxford, Cambridge, CB2 4QF, Icon Books Ltd.

Kolocotroni V. Goldman J. Taxidou O. (1998), ' Modernism An Anthology of Sources and Documents , 22 George Square, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Harvard Referencing Seminar

Session notes on Essay writing, 5 proposed essay questions along with Harvard referencing guidelines 20/11/2012 :

Monday, 19 November 2012

STUDIO TASK 2 - Beauty, Style & Taste

After being put into a group and discussing our findings an justifying are reason of why we liked or disliked our partners a5 designs we then were set two tasks.

Task 1- Summarise briefly why you like and don't like in response to aesthetic rules (What & Why).

LIKE

Brief summary

The reason that I feel that this piece of design is successful in accordance to the set of aesthetic rules is firstly due to the fact that is abides by the 'colour scheme should be simplistic' rule, thee designer here has clearly just used black type on a white background un order to compensate for the subtly challenging interpretation of the typography on the page, the use of contrasting simple colours allows for the focal point to be easily detectable on the page. I also feel that the design is not over-clutttered although the type on the second and third line requires a level of unraveling I feel that the type has been structured and positioned in the centre of the page with a clear left alignment. Although the piece is not entirely 'clean and crisp' I feel that it is engaging from the perspective of the audience as it gives them a visual puzzle to unravel mentally.

DISLIKE

Brief Summary

I strongly dislike this piece based on its aesthetical value firstly due the fact that firstly it is pixelated thus repelling against this rule of 'the design should be clean and crisp', the fact that when in a print format the type is illegible decreases the visibility and readability thus reducing this aspect of 'clean and crisp. Although it fulfils the rule of 'there should not be more than 3 fonts in one piece' I feel that the typeface used is not relevant to the image that is being presented to the audience. The colour scheme also seems to be black in white the same as the previous design however the colour does not seem relevant to the context as the context is not interpretable or understandable.

Once deciding upon the three most important aesthetic rules from the list we compiled as a entire group we were then set a task to select three of the most important and crucial rules.

Task 2 - Take 3 aesthetic rules and identify 3 examples of graphic design that fulfil these rules

Rule 1: The elements on the page should be structured.

http://lisathatcher.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/023_nevillebrodywork.jpg

http://www.behance.net/gallery/LOGO-DESIGN-III/5971431

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_06OnHwKw9VPhb9x4kwzuIJ8Z923DhA6E0mVcjKr3HdYv-x0HQlao1hfwjK-bsrgr0HFr4lrADx6J6yXbHMZY514zi16NZ7RZg-EMRv6LFhREhug30KHRE0jufkWj8BH6He5J1gcMqK4/s1600/the-black-keys-brothers.jpg

The reason that these set of images fulfil the 'the elements on the page should be structured is due to the fact that all type which has been used in all three pieces is centralised to the middle of the page helping establish the focal point for the audience and creating a grid-like finish for the pieces. In terms of the positioning the type in the first image has been put into a circle-like shape in the second image it takes a rectangular form and tin the third image a square form rounding of the beginning and end of the lines.

Rule 2: The design should be clean and crisp.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Logos-2012/6025521

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Accent-(Free)-Display-Typeface/2624657

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Metropolis-1920/3244285

The reason I have chosen this set of images to fulfil the rule of 'the design should be clean and crisp' is due to the fact that these images have spacing around the type and image, this spacing around the type and image creates clarity thus making the piece of design clean and crisp. The use of minimal colours also adds to this sense of simplicity, there is no confusion or over complication or mis-connotation through the colours used.

Rule 3: The design should not be over-cluttered.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/YO/5194195

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Shelton-Slab/6041495

Although of these images shown above have more elements than the image chosen for the other two rules, the reason I have chosen these three images is due to that fact that I think that this proving this rule makes much more sense with more elements on the page. These images work as a set and fulfil the rule due to the fact that they have a substantial amount of type and image to communicate a message however these elements have been structured in a grid.

Task 3 - Identify 5 more examples for each rule of non- graphic design, it can be sculpture, design interior, film etc.

Rule 1- The elements on the page should be structured.

Industrial design- http://www.behance.net/gallery/Write-a-Bike/716663

cinematography - http://www.behance.net/gallery/Moiss-Broggy-Documentary/5674915

Digital photography - http://www.behance.net/gallery/Impossible-Spaces-/4483347

Installation - http://www.sagmeister.com/taxonomy/term/80#/node/225

Installation design - http://zeospot.com/tmw-technical-museum-entrance-by-querkraft-architects-a-nice-tree-illumination-interior-and-seating-area-design/tmw-technical-museum-illumination-tree-installation-design/

Rule 2 - The design should be clean and crisp