100 photos.

I absolutely love photography, so when I found out we had to take 100 photos for the next brief I was really happy and eager to get on with it. As I got going though, I began to forget about the categories and started taking pictures of everything I liked or found interesting in some way, not entirely sure whether this is a good thing or not but I've covered each category to some extent.

I've had my camera with me everywhere i've been this week, and i've took more than 200 photos. So, I thought the next part was easy, but I obviously thought wrong. Out of the 234 photos I took, i've chose 64. I'm probably just being picky but I've looked over and over the rest and there are no more that I like, so i'm really annoyed. I've printed and cut out 45 already, so hopefully it wont be hard to get another 30 odd photos before tomorrow.

Anyway, heres 36 on a contact sheet..

I do really like the ones i've got and i'm really exited to find out what we're going to be doing with them.

Also, I got a job this week which i'm really happy about. I'm designing all the posters, christmas menus, offers etc for my local pub, which will earn me a bit of money as well as giving me more experience. I shall post my designs regulary to keep you updated.

The Black Panther.

The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas exhibition at Urbis.

A few of us took a trip to Manchester this week to see the Black Panther exhibition. I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition, it really made me think. I absolutely loved the work, I wanted to buy a print but unfortunately couldn't afford to.

To be honest, I didn't really know much about it before I went. Also, I had never really looked at Emory Douglas' work and had no idea what high impact these had on the Black Panther movement. I was really impressed and learnt quite a lot.

Documenting an object within a space.

Unfortunately, I missed this lesson. But from what I understand, everyone was given a shape or object, and they had to document that object within the classroom. I've had a go myself, choosing the shape, circle, and documenting it within my flat.

Not entirely sure whether it's right, but I had a go.

Illustrator.

My A1 poster of Jonny's font.

I was really looking forward to putting my letters into illustrator, but over the weeks I seem to have lost my enthusiasm. Probably because I found the recycling brief more exiting, but anyway, here it is.

I still need to add a bit of colour, however i'm a bit unsure about that at the moment. I prefer it in grey.

I'm not entirely happy with the outcome. I'm not really sure why either. Maybe it's just not me. Anyway, going to play around a bit more and see what I can do.

Ok, so after spending hours experimenting with different colours, gradients and textures, I just couldn't find one that I liked. So, i've ditched the 'paint brush' idea and done for a clean, crisp outline.

I really don't know which one I like best.

Message & Delivery - Mail Shot.

I've struggled with this brief, mainly because i'm still a little unsure of what a mail shot should consist of, but i've enjoyed it none the less. Especially designing my envelope, which I think I may have spent just a little bit too much time on.

I've gone for a newspaper theme, basically trying to get the message across that newspaper has other uses, and that we can recycle it ourselves. My envelopes are made out of newspaper and are also reusable as i've included a button to close it and a clear plastic wallet on the front for you to slip the address in. I really like the idea but it's a bit fragile and I have doubts it will survive in the post.

So, when I was thinking of other uses newspaper can have, the only one that kind of stood out was that it could be used as wrapping paper. So I wrapped one of my books up and took some photos.

At first I thought it was a good idea, but now I think its a bit naff. Maybe I should of found a different use for it. Anyway, it gets my idea across so it'll do.

Ok, so here's some of my final ideas.

I'm a little unsure about it at the moment, it looks a bit empty. But i'm still playing around with it anyway so hopefully i'll come up with something better.

Visual Literacy - Semiotics.

Investigate, document & discuss examples of how graphic designers have used visual devices to communicate messages, ideas or concepts in their work.

Visual Synecdoche

This term is applied when a part is used to represent the whole, or vise versa. Quite simply, the main subject is substituted for something that is inherently connected to it.

Examples:
- Statue of Liberty: New York
- Big Ben: London
- Apple: Macintosh
- Pyrimids: Egypt

I thought this was quite a good example of a synecdoche simple because of the Eagle and it's association with America. Also, stars and stripes are immidiately associated with America obviously because of the flag.

Visual Metaphor

A visual metaphor is used to transfer the meaning from one image to another. Although the meanings may not have no close relationship, a metaphor conveys an impression about something relatively unfamiliar by drawing a comparison between it and something familiar.

Examples:

- Big Apple: New York

- Mouse: Computer device

- Light bulb: Idea

- Red heart: Love

Visual Metonym

A visual metonym is a symbolic image that is used to make reference to something with a more literal meaning.

Examples:

- Yellow Cab: New York

- Black Cab: London

- Cross: Church

- Kangaroo: Australia

I've really struggled finding examples of these, so I apologise if some are wrong.

Abc3D.

I want this book!

The whole alphabet in 3d. It's amazing. I've actually bought it. ^_^

I shall post some pictures when it arrives.
Friday, 21st November 2008It's Arrived!
Here's some pictures. Enjoy.



Pretty cool. Although, I now just want to take it all apart to see how it's put together, best not eh.

The Final 3.

(See previous post for self evaluation.)

Although it was a nightmare to print onto this paper, it looks really good, and fits into my subject area really well.

No news is good news.

My subject was: Recycling

After researching this subject through reading week, we then had to produce designs for a set of 3 high impact posters that deliver a personal identified message derived from our research. These posters were to be 2:1 format presented at A3 scale.

To start this brief we were given a few quick exercises to do, which allowed us to visually get all our ideas down quickly and effectively. After choosing 10 objects and words that we thought were associated with our subject, we had to produce as many pieces as possible which contained at least 2 of our words and images. This helped me a lot as i've always struggled to get all my ideas down onto paper.

Here are my ideas..

I particually liked the idea of using instructions to get a message across. So this is what I began to experiment with.

To limit my palette, I chose to only use the colours green and brown for obvious reasons. Also, my stock would be recycled paper, which actually turned out to be a bad idea as it was a nightmare to print on!

I decided on the idea of using instructions to show the process of recycling. Basically the cycle of a can; can is put into the bin, can is then waste, waste is then melted and turned into liquid, liquid is then used to recreate the can.

Final Ideas.

Image. Image & Text. Text.

I'm quite pleased with my ideas. I feel the image poster and the text poster works really well, it's simple and gets my message across effectively.

As for the image and text poster, I feel I could of improved this slightly. I don't think it shows the cycle well, basically because it isn't a cycle, it's just steps/instructions. I could of overcome this by simply having an arrow going back up to the can. I also feel the text is a bit cheesy, but is this a good thing?

Visual Language.

Visually exploring the relationship between image and frame.

Again we had to pick a word from the dreaded 'randomizer'. Using coloured squares and lines, we had to visually present this word on a 15x15cm square.

Comfortable

I basically tried to make it so the shapes fit together geometrically (using only vertical and horizontal lines). I don't feel this has worked particularly well.

Repeat

Mirror

Lost

This lesson helped me a lot. I struggled to find ideas but it really made me think.