Welcome Week Project - Like and Dislike

During welcome week we had a small project over 3 days called Like and Dislike. It was a very open project, the only rules were:
We had to be in groups of 5 or 6 with people we didn't already know. 
And we had to create something to show on the last day. 

My group decided to concentrate on fruit and veg. We made all the fruit out of plasticine, the things we didn't like were made in red and placed out of the bowl. And all the things we liked were made in green. 

This idea split the group a bit because some of the people wanted to jump onto a mac with nothing and create something out of thin air. Others wanted to create something physical and different that showed off the thought process behind the idea and not just some fancy work on illustrator. 

In the end I think everyone was happy and Rob (our tutor) even mentioned our work along with others in the review. 

Freshers Week!

Well, freshers week is over and I am knackered! 

I had such a good time! Technically this was my second freshers week because I did a foundation year 0 at NUA last year! 

This time round it was so much better! Mainly because I already knew people. I am living at home for uni so it's not like I could make friends with the people in my flat or anything. 

I went to a couple of new pubs and clubbing 3 times this week. I had uni from 9:30am to 4:30pm most days so 3 nights out was all I could manage! I met lots of new people and it's also nice to see old friends as well! 

It actually feels like I'm at university now, I've gone from having 22 people in my class (half of which didn't turn up) to having 150!! Our studio space is so nice and light and we have proper graphic design work to do. 

Overall I am really enjoying uni and I'm glad to be back! I've felt a lot happier this week, when I walked back into work on Saturday a couple of people mentioned I seemed happier. I'm glad to be back doing something I enjoy. 

Contextual Studies - Week 1 - Semiotics

Contextual Studies Research Task

Tuesday, 22 Sept

Choose a single magazine advertisement and analyze the intended message. What design elements and ideas does it use? The questions below are a short guide to areas you might consider when analyzing your chosen example.

Write approx. 1⁄2 a page of notes and bring this along with an A4 copy of the advertisement to the first week’s Contextual Studies session.

•  What are the important objects/images within the advertisement? What might they mean or signify? How are they used by the designer? How does their placement within the image influence the message? e.g. type, colour, illustration, photographic image. 


•  Does the advertisement reinforce of counter the expectations of recognised advertising language, e.g. a fashion advertisement may have an ‘attractive’ model in a glamourous location; a family car advertisement may be collecting children from school or be shown outside a supermarket. 


•  Who created the advertisement? Try to consider all of those involved in the process. How might their background or aims influence the advertisement? 


•  For whom was the advertisement intended? Look carefully at the clues and try to be as detailed as you can. Clues can include: other ads in the same magazine, the type of articles in the magazine, the price range of the product and the individual images in the advertisement. 


•  Ask family or friends if they think the message or the meaning of the advertisement is different to your own interpretation? If it is different, why might this be? 


•  How would you advertise the products or brand in a different way? For further questions refer to, A D.I.Y. Semiotic Analysis: Daniel Chandler 
(Link)

 
You will also find the rest of Daniel Chandler’s website (Semiotics for Beginners) helpful in developing a stronger understanding of the Study of Semiotics. (Link)

This advert is very different to any normal advert. There are no photos and the whole thing is in black and white. All of the information on this advert is put into black boxes, which plays with the hierarchy a bit. I did find it a bit hard to see what it was about, I had to read all the information instead of the message being instantly clear. Having the whole advert in black and white makes it really stand out from the rest of the book which is very colourful. The type is all very modern and only uses san-serif fonts. The typeface for the logo and the typeface for the copy are very similar which also doesn't help with the hierarchy. 

This advert doesn't follow the expectations of recognised visual language. It is very different and quirky but this suits the target market well. The main difference is that there are no photos or animations at all. There is no information about what films would be shown or what films have won awards. It is all a bit of a mystery, which adds to the excitement of the film festival. 

This advert is targeted at people who already enjoy film and like to keep up with the industry. It has been printed in a magazine called ‘Little White Lies’. This specialises in movies and films. The magazine costs £6, which is expensive, but it is beautifully designed and laid out. This is obviously something people would collect and keep. I think this advert is intended at both men and women because the rest of the magazine caters to both. It must be aimed at people who are willing to pay more to see a film or go to an event. 

I really like this advert overall! If I were to change anything I would make the intended message clearer. The position of the logo and the fact the copy has been put in such a similar font makes the hierarchy a bit difficult. Other than that I really like the black and white and the rest of the lay out. 

A Baker's Dozen - Final

This is my finished booklet, printed out and handed in. I'm quite proud of this, there were a lot of first in this booklet. First time I've made a booklet in InDesign, first time I've created an image on photoshop and first time I really had to think about the design being the same on every page. 

We didn't get marked on this piece, we all had to put the project on the table and then walk rounds and look at everyone else's. It was good to see what everyone had done. With people coming from all different places and from all different backgrounds there was a good mix of projects. Some were on blogs, some in sketch books and there were some other booklets as well. 

I did catch two of my tutors looking though my booklet and laughing about one page which I can only imagine being the photograph page! 

A Baker's Dozen - Photograph

Part of the summer project was to recreate a famous photograph. I could of picked anything but I found it hard to choose because I'm not that into photography so didn't know anyone famous. I chose to look at celebrities and this was the first photo I thought of. 

I really love this photo and how carefree this photo is. I decided rather than making a replica I would pay homage to the photo.

I made my poor friend Jenny stand in the middle of our studio like this so I could take this photo. I then edited out the background and put the image into black and white. 

Using google images I found this background which I thought worked well. I really like that is it so funny because the rest of my booklet is very to the point.

I am quite proud of this because it's the first ever image I have created on photoshop. I normally just crop, resize and tidy up photos. The more I learn about photoshop the more I enjoy it, it's such a powerful tool!

A Baker’s Dozen - Poem

I thought I would show what goes into each page of my booklet. It may look simple but there is a lot of though behind everything that I am not about to show off. This is a step by step guide to how I finished my poem page. 

I started looking on the internet at different poems. I wanted my poem to have something to do with graphic design but I wasn't sure how to start. I came a cross this blog where someone had written lots of limerick's about graphic design. I liked the structure of this type of poem and though it would be quite an easy one for me to do. 

I followed the structure of the limericks to create my own poem which ended up being about me in a way. I typed it into work so I could then import it into whatever program I liked to edit the text.

I next when onto Dafont and found a couple of fonts to try in illustrator to bring my poem to life, visually. The fonts from Dafont are not for commercial use but as it is only a uni project there is no problem with using them.

I played about with a could of fonts and decided I liked the script front better for this piece.

I made to text 70pt and coloured it to C=7 M=5 Y=5 K=0 which is one of the colours use for the background of this blog and my website. I decided to uses these colour on this project because it doesn't have a target market or anything, its just got to express me. 

This is what the final page looks like. I will have to see if it prints okay as I've positions the poem over the centre fold. Over all I'm really happy with this page, now time for the next one! 

Summer Project

BA (Hons) Graphic Design / Graphic Communication / Design for Publishing

Summer Project Brief 2015 - A Baker’s Dozen


Welcome to your course.

We are really looking forward to working with you over the next few years. Over this summer break we would like you to start as you mean to go on. We want to encourage you to keep your eyes open and immerse yourself in design and visual culture to support you in your future studies.

To start this process we would like to suggest that you undertake the following tasks, which are all designed to promote inquisitiveness, visual awareness and research skills essential to support your future creative practice. Whatever the task you are asked to explore beyond the obvious and record your activity.

Enjoy this process; it is primarily for you to draw from in the future, but it will also help to introduce you and your way of working to staff and fellow students – so do it your way! It could be drawings, notebooks, animation, graphic booklets, photographic, film, illustrative or a combination of media. Whatever approaches you adopt for each of the tasks you are encouraged to be inventive, informative and visual.

You will be asked to bring this with you for the Induction week at the start of the course. It should become a resource that you can continue to add to throughout your time at NUA.
This is an open brief and the course team are looking forward to seeing your responses.


Good Luck. Best,

Martin Schooley
Course Leader Graphics Norwich University of the Arts

A Baker’s Dozen

Read some books – at least one fiction and one design related. Hit the library and browse some titles – don't just go on what is on the shelves at Waterstones.

Look at a manifesto or designers statement of your own choosing. This may follow on from looking at the following:
Milton Glaser – 12 steps to designer hell
Ken Garland – First Things First
Bruce Mau – Incomplete Manifesto for Growth Dieter Rams – Ten principles for good design

Plug into a creative/design blog or a few, start here perhaps...
Collate – www.thisiscollate.com
September industry – www.septemberindustry.co.uk 
It’s nice that – www.itsnicethat.com

Watch a series of films/documentaries by the same director/film maker.

Read some poems – write a poem.

Go to an exhibition or a museum.

Gather a collection and document it.

From a design perspective, show 3 things you love and 3 things you hate and tell us why.

Recreate/reinterpret a famous photograph.

Listen to music from 5 different decades or 5 different centuries.

Follow recipes to create a three-course meal you have not cooked before, record the process.

Using a dictionary, discover 5 words that were previously unfamiliar to you, write them down, with definitions, and then use them appropriately within conversations. Document your experiences.

Investigate and illustrate, using type and image (on A6 blank postcard) a little known or unusual fact.