To print or not to print?

Choosing a medium to display my manifesto is causing me considerable headaches! On the one hand a printed object has sentimental value. With so much of our lives dictated by monitors, something tangible that you can view at your leisure has its benefits. However a screen outcome can add extra dimensions to a project and defies many of the limitations of the printed page. These dimensions however can create an exhaustive list of extra detail to create - the project could become unmanageable!

Considerations for progressing my manifesto

Below is the results from a mindmapping exercise I've undertaken on the text 'Graphic Design is an Opportunity...'

To play
To inspire
To Dream
To share your soul
For self expression
To support
To identify
To inform
To provoke
For learning

For fun

There are probably a huge amount that can be added to the list and I need to be selective as to the ones I feel most represents the reasons behind my manifesto.

Thoughts on how to display 'Graphic Design is an opportunity' - would like it be be something opportunistic... maybe photos of individual letters that I find at opportune moments... e.g. a letter G from some graffiti, an R written in the snow.

I might be biting off more than I can chew with this project though so I need to give this more thought

Individual Tutorial, Rob Ketterell

Had some quite positive feedback on my work so far. It definitely feels like I've got more direction over the last few weeks. Discussed cutting my thesis statement down to 'Graphic Design is an opportunity...' - Rob felt this was a good idea - I now need to write my words and decide how to display. Presently I'm torn between a book and a motion graphics piece. They both have there benefits. I think movement could add to the impact of my graphics whilst I also like the idea of a something tangible like a book that the viewer can touch and view at their own pace.
I also showed Rob my motion Graphics project from earlier in the module and we discussed how there is quite a strong connective thread in terms of content with my projects. The child in me >> its okay to be childish >> Graphic Design is an opportunity to play >> Graphic Design is an opportunity

Deconstruction of books, Rob Ketterell

This week we bought in our books and deconstructed them. Quite interesting seeing the different ways they are put together. One thing I learnt that I didn't know previously was that certain types of binding require varying amounts of give in the margins, perhaps even more binding in places than others. We also discussed the prelim pages at the beginning of a book and that it can really vary from book to book. I'm still unsure of what medium to present my manifesto at this moment in time, but I could perhaps present my manifesto as a book.

Consideration of Manifesto

This week I've been considering how to progress my thesis statement into a final manifesto. Some thoughts I've had on the way to display and content:

• Possible stop motion piece with alphabetti spaghetti letters moving into form words
• Change of thesis statement to allow for more scope? How about 'Graphic design is an opportunity'? This could be a real upbeat positive piece about all the benefits I feel graphic design is/does.

Definitely very vague at the moment!

Week 10: Review of Manifesto

This class focused on the key points of our manifesto. At first I felt as if I was on the wrong track but it seems I do have some kind of direction - the idea of non-linear design/thought process definitely leaves me feeling quite lost at times, but I guess that's the nature of it - you never really finish so you don't get that sense of completion. I feel that my manifesto statement - 'Graphic Design is an opportunity to play' does give me quite alot of scope and also encourages me to get my hands dirty a bit more. I am hoping to spend more time researching from now on as I definitely feel I haven't been doing enough of this. I also feel I don't have as much prior knowledge of the wider field as I would like.

Week 10: Collaborative project presentation

Some really interesting concepts were brought to attention by all of the groups. As I had missed the first session, I wasn't aware of all the introductory presentations from campus management so did feel that I had missed out on important information that could have affected our ultimate choice of problem and solution.
Our solution did go down quite well though with the only real criticism being the need to identify a way of increasing the demand for buses through keeping students onsite till later in the evening. It's a little difficult to tell whether it is the fact that there isn't much transportation that causes the problem initially though. Would people stay later if buses were laid on later? Its a bit of an chicken/egg situation.

Reflection on 'Graphic Design that makes me happy'

Unfortunately, due to sickness I was unable to attend the follow up class which looked deeper into our text. I did email John my text in hope of feedback which he kindly obliged.
He raised some interesting points for further exploration and highlighted relevant people who have researched some of the areas I might consider progressing further. I found his feedback incredibly useful in helping me re-evaluate much of my initial text from a new point of view. Some of my views are definitely conditioned by my working practice.

Progress on my thesis statement

I became aware that my 'makes me happy' text is quite lighthearted really. Alot of what I like is pretty childish so I made the below as my thesis statement initially:

However on reflection I felt that it didn't have the positive feel I was hoping for and limited my future outcomes. I do not just like childish things and I wanted more scope for my manifesto. This led to my second attempt at a thesis statement:


The image in this second piece is made up of separate images of the letters, courtesy of Leo Reynolds. Credit: Leo Reynolds (www.flickr.com/lwr/)

Week 9: Coming up with a 'thesis statement', John Hammersley

Although a number of us had been off ill the previous week, John kindly briefly went through the class from the previous week. We swopped our 'Graphic Design that makes me happy' text with members that had been present the previous week for them to underline 3 key words that feature within the text. The idea is to almost summarise in a statement the basic idea behind the text and giving us a possible choice as a thesis statement to base our manifesto on.
My 3 key words outlined by Will were:

• Happy
• Fun
• Witty

All rather upbeat and lighthearted. Although I don't at this stage know how to turn this into a thesis statement, it does make me realise that I need to reflect this positivity in my manifesto.
We also looked at the finished designs of those who were in the previous week. Some really interesting pieces and through discussion and Johns critical eye, it became clear that we have to consider all our decisions regarding design thoroughly before implementing to ensure the final piece says exactly what we mean it to and doesn't contradict.

Week 9: Collaboration project

Although I was off last week, Malcolm explained to me the project that was set the previous week and let me join their group. The project task is basically to come up with a concept that in some way improves UWE but is literally just a concept rather than a creative task. We discussed a number of problems we had encountered which included:

- trouble finding our way around the campus
-Safety aspects of being on the campus so late
- Accessibility to the site

A possible solution for safety - the 'people bus'
The idea for pedestrians is that rather than walking alone, you would wait for others that also want to walk to make it safer. We discussed the idea of having 'people bus stops' where people leave together at indicated times from a stop that specifies itself as a people bus stop, or alternatively students could be bluetoothed if they are onsite when there are enough people to travel together using the people bus, e.g. towards the end of classes. There were a few concerns with this idea - there is no way to be certain that the people you are walking with are safe, unsavoury characters could use it as a place to target victims, and you could also be waiting for people who don't arrive making it less safe as you end up leaving later than planned.

A possible solution for finding your way around campus - more creative signage
Through the use of signage on the floor or huge posters to help new students find there way around the campus. Although this seemed like a good idea, it does seem like more of an improvement on existing signage rather than a complete solution.

It became clear through our discussions that safety and accessibility were often linked e.g. unsafe waiting for a bus in the dark that only comes once an hour so we attempted to find actions that would benefit both concerns.

Chosen solutions for safety and accessibility
Firstly lay on a shuttle bus that runs to and from Bower Ashton and town, perhaps just at peak times e.g. evening. Benefits - safety for those that stay late, encourage a more social aspect of student life - students will use the bar more often as it is more accessible. Pedestrians and cyclists would use the bus more often - you could have more bike space on the shuttle bus as well - this could work in conjunction with the cycle to work scheme.
A bus tracking system linked by GPS could also be put in place that would be displayed in reception and on the internet that could show where buses are on there journey, when a bus is full to keep the bus users better informed as to whether it is worth waiting for the bus or just getting a cab.

Motion Graphics: The child in me loves...

Please find below my motion graphics piece - as I had to compress the movie its not the best quality and is a bit jumpy. I also had some technical problems with sound, so please imagine that it fades out smoothly rather than the abrupt stop that it currently comes to!



The part that mentions 'simplicity', I feel should be changed to 'simple things'. Unfortunately I no longer have CS4 to amend the file but as this is just a work in progress, I figured it would be alright as it.

Graphic Design that makes me happy :)

As the viewer
As the viewer of graphic design, some of the qualities that make me happy can include (but is not limited to):

• Inspiration - when a piece of work really 'speaks' to me and prompts new thoughts and ideas. Often I find that really creative and colourful artwork inspires me
• Fun - Life is too serious. I feel happy when an element of fun is a contributory factor to design; I think this is what I like most about what I have seen of Airside's work. It is also why I like animated films.
• Colour - I tend to prefer work that has subtle amounts of bold and bright colour, although this doesn't have to be the case
• Imaginative - I tend to like magical things, I really enjoy design that feeds my imagination
• Witty - Humour or parody in design makes me feel included. This always has the effect of making me feel happy (unless the joke doesn't work)
• Clarity - I am definitely happier when a complicated message is simplified for me

As the creator
As the creator of graphic design, my needs differ and I feel happiest when:

• I feel like I'm adding something to the message or enabling the user to understand more clearly
• I'm set a really challenging task or have a really difficult client but overcome the obstacles and satisfy everyone's needs
• The client respects my opinion and doesn't try to entirely control the creative process
• I feel I'm contributing to a worthy cause
• I can't find too much to criticize about my own work after the project has been completed

Graphic Design that makes me unhappy :(

Quite often when I do not like graphic design, it is due to a number of factors which can include:

• Bad grammar and spelling - I don't think a rough piece of work has to have perfect spelling and grammar but a finished piece should. A piece of work should be checked sufficiently to eliminate as many errors as possible
• Too many different fonts in a design
• Mixed or unclear messages
• WordArt or Word in general used for graphic design

Week 7: Defining your aims, Rob Kettell

This week we discussed in more detail manifestos and it could mean. It could be a rant, a statement of intent, it could be very broad or very personal. I need to consider my influences and reasons why I am influenced and the properties I want my work to have. In sum I need to create my own yardstick with which to measure myself by.
We watched a number of short videos by well known designers/artists. One that particularly stood out to me was Paula Scher and her concept of 'serious play'. The idea behind this is that truly great pieces of work come about through an almost childlike process and that seriousness and solemnity are two very different things. To be serious is to be earnest or thoughtful, whereas solumn work is the kind designers knock out ten to a dozen, stealing ideas from others, or working to a confined set of rules.
This spoke to me as I am aware most of what I do in my current employment is very solemn - I have design and brand guidelines to adhere to that are very rigid, but the designs I enjoy of others are usually lighthearted and fun.
From this I decided to build my motion piece around the idea of 'the child in me loves' in a similar style to my visual influence - Airside Creative Agency.
For next week Rob has asked for us to write a piece of text entitled 'Graphic Design that makes me happy' which we will decipher next week in class.

Week 6: Motion Graphics, Rob Ketterell

Unfortunately Jennifer was ill this week, but Rob talked us through our influences with us further.
It became clear through the class that I had perhaps been overthinking the content of the motion graphics piece. Ultimately we are trying to find out about ourselves through this module and the outcome for this motion graphics piece does not necessarily have to do with the manifesto. I just need to get on with it!!!

Research Skills task

John had requested that we write down our search terms and provide (as well as the terms) the source we searched, the hits and relevance and to type it all up on A4. I began this task and immediately found it incredibly daunting. I started searching under the main heading 'manifesto' which bought up 75 results in the source Art Index Retrospective alone. I've decided to put this to one side for now and get back to my motion graphics piece

Contemplating my motion graphics piece

I really struggled getting my head around what to do my motion graphics piece on as I am still unsure of my manifesto.
Regarding my influences, my original list is very general - my favourite books and films are those because of the story rather than visual style. I don't feel I am very knowledgeable on art and have been more inspired by popular culture than anything else.

Some ideas I've had so far:

• George Orwell is one of my favourite writers, and his books tend to be quite political, moving and hard hitting. Would creating a propaganda style motion piece fulfill the brief? Or should I focus more on his style of writing rather than what he is writing about? This could be quite challenging!

• An album cover I particularly like the style of is Zero 7, When It Falls. The cover was designed by Blue Source (a creative group that doesn't exist anymore). Although quite contemporary, the cover looks like it has in part been influenced by a kind of 60s psychedelic style. Could I apply this style to my motion piece?

My other concern is I'm not sure what the content of the motion piece should be. Should it describe the manifesto or just introduce the viewer to ourselves?

Week 5: Research Skills, John Hammersley

Alot of what we discussed during Johns class was stuff I'd heard previously but it was good to refresh my memory. The key points I will take away from this class is that I need to be selective, summarise and reference. It has been quite some time since I've undertaken 'serious' research and the class reinforced the fact that I need to be more disciplined in my approach. I'm aware that I've been focusing too closely on the mini projects and not doing enough reading. I don't have much time free to commit to my work so I need to be more realistic in what I can achieve.

John set us quite a large task to complete using UWEs online resources facility, hopefully I will find the time to dedicate to this!

Week 5: Motion Graphics: Jennifer Leckey

The class was really interesting and we looked at a lot of pieces that were really inspiring, and very technically proficient.
Jennifer had thought that we'd had 3 flash workshops already (which we hadn't) so we were all left feeling unprepared. Add to this the fact that I'm still not entirely clear of my subject area means that this week has left me feeling pretty overwhelmed.
The project set for us this week was to create a 1 minute motion graphics piece that ideally has some relation to our manifesto (final outcome for the module) using some element from our influences. Quite a scary prospect!

Week 5

Found this week quite hard to get my head around. I tried to attend a flash class in the morning which unfortunately wasn't on as the staff at the epicentre weren't aware that it was supposed to be. A real shame as time is a resource I don't have a great deal of.

My influences

Music
Dub be good to me: Beats International
Why?
Introduced me to dance/alternative music
My teacher was the lead singers mother (I was 12) and they were both lovely!

Book
A clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess
Why?
As a genre I quite like dark books - other books such as The Rats and The Wasp Factory are also some of my favourites
I find it really interesting how a writer can make you empathise with the 'anti-hero'
Use of language - it really draws you in that you have to learn Burgess' made up slang
Never watched the film, think the story is so complex, you need time to understand the characters. I just think its really interesting to look at things from a whole new viewpoint
Powerful imagery in how things are described

Film
Waking Life: Richard Linklater
Rotoscoped film that takes place within a dream
Introduces you to really complex ideas in a very beautiful way
Good use of animation to illustrate the magic of dreams

I tend to prefer magical films and animations. Another favourite of mine is The Iron Giant, originally written by Ted Hughes. I love how poetic and moving the story is and the underlying morale of the story - 'you are who you choose to be'

Visual Artist
Airside Creative Agency: started by Alex Maclean, Fred Deakin and Nat Hunter working across disciplines of graphic design, illustration, digital interactive and moving image
Why?
Their work often seems to be quite fun - visually, I definitely love all light hearted things and this appeals to the child in me
They do allsorts, products, digital work, design. I like the idea that there creative team get different types of projects to do to feed their creative nature
Still a fairly small company but very successful. Its nice to see a smaller company make such a big mark. It's something I aspire to

Week 4: Using language affectively week 2, John Hammersley

Another challenging but interesting class with John. One thing I've learned from this class is that bias can be placed by the proposer to influence a point of view - A simple sentence can lead the reader into the kind of answer the proposer was looking for. Different theories have different bias and we need to be aware of the writer’s bias as we are researching.

Week 4: Criticism of 50 things

From our discussion of last week we criticized each other’s work based on the agreed factors that makes good design. We all presented our projects in very different ways and it was really interesting to see each other's interpretations. It became clear that perhaps not all of our chosen factors were as important as each other depending item we were discussing. For instance – for one piece of work, ambiguity seemed more appropriate however we had as a group decided that clarity was a key factor. If through ambiguity you can draw the viewer in, this seemed appropriate.My piece of work was considered and fortunately had moved on a great deal from where it was a fortnight ago (phew). The class suggested ways of making my facts clearer to follow – something I was aware was a problem but couldn’t find a suitable way to achieve and also suggested that I move away from the small gatefold booklet and progress it to 3 separate posters. This would definitely affectively deal with the problem of clarity and would be far more attention grabbing.
Unfortunately time constraints have prevented me from recreating my project as the 3 posters, however, if you're curious about my 50 facts, please click here for my emotional, habitual and lifestyle facts, here for facts about my experiences and here for facts about my characteristics.
For next week we've been tasked with coming up with a list of influences for visual, music, writing and film, and reasons as to why we are influenced by our choices.

Reconsideration of my 50 things

I tried to implement some of the feedback from week 2. From this it became clear that I needed to make more of the way I had presented the facts in an analytical way. During the redesign it became clear that there was too much information and that not all of it slotted into nice neat categories so I decided to divide my facts into sections that gave a wider picture of who I am and how the facts affect me. The design became far more information led than self analytical and was in part influenced by a music video I have seen by Royksopp which shows a slice of London life and details all the information in the video down to water usage and mass transit.
I also simplified the style so that the project became more about what I’d learnt about myself through the process rather than a bold garish poster that doesn’t truly reflect my personality. The process taught me that I strive to make sense out of the nonsensical and my decision to reflect my facts this way is evidence to this.

The individual pages

Photo of completed booklet

Week 3: Using language effectively, John Hammersley

This lesson was very interesting, but a little tricky to keep pace – i definitely at times felt out of my depth. Within the class we broke down words into as many possible chunks as we could within the time frame. I had been aware of morphemes, graphemes and phonemes but not of the technical terminology or of the precise rules that should be applied. I wasn’t aware that morphemes can only be made from the way a word is pronounced e.g. you can’t have ‘arch’ from ‘architecture’ but you can have ‘arc’. We then looked at a paragraph laden with metaphors and made it more prosaic and turned a mundane one more abstract. I have never really considered a metaphor at its most basic level – simply ‘jazzing’ up a sentence (I managed to sneak in a metaphor!) I definitely found it easier in class to remove metaphorical content than to make it more abstract and metaphorical however listening to some members of the class read out their more metaphorical abstracts definitely helped me to understand this better. There is definitely room for improvement for me on this one.

Week 3: Intention, Context and Audience, Rob Kettell

This week during class we discussed further the differences (or not) between artists and artisans and through discussion I realised that the lines are not so defined. The reading material that was given to us from the previous week held some subjective opinions on the subject which led into a discussion on subjectivity and objectivity. I realised that I need to be more subjective in my opinions and discover my position on matters such as what makes good design.
However, objectively as a group we came up with a number of things that we agreed makes a good piece of design:
Clarity
Attention grabbing
Memorable
Relevant to audience
Fit for purpose
This led to consideration of our manifesto. What is the intention and context of our manifesto? What is its relevance and who is its audience? These are not questions I am yet ready to answer so I need to look at the bigger values – what kind of work do I want to engage in or contribute to?

Working on the badge

What should have been a pretty simple project turned into a very complex one. Every single aspect of the font, shape and colours used where considered several times before choosing my final design. Hmmm... if I were a typeface, what would I be?

In terms of the badge shape I wanted an original shape, nothing too familiar. I went for a vague reference to a speech bubble shape as I quite liked the asymmetry of it. I definitely found it quite difficult to choose a font as I don’t feel I fall neatly into any given ‘type’ (scuse the pun) in order to categorise myself! In the end I chose the Qlassik font as I didn’t want anything too hard, and as the badges purpose is to indicate who you are, I wanted the text to be clear and legible
Unfortunately when it actually came to the day that we had to bring in the badges, I had a moment of clarity. To my friends and loved ones I am not ‘Pandora Taylor’ - I am simply P, perhaps I should have kept it very simple and just used the letter P, instead of the formal 'Pandora Taylor'

Week 2: 'This is me' workshop – discussion and presentations, Rob Kettell and John Hammersley

The workshop was quite scary but definitely very insightful. We were critiqued on our work on our 50 things. I became aware as we discussed our projects in pairs that my work didn’t truly reflect me, but that the idea of analysing myself through the design was a good one. The critique reflected that and gave me some ideas on how to move the project on for our next submission.
We were also given a mini brief to create a badge in a font that we feel reflects ourselves.

Week 2: Class reflection with Rob Kettell

This week we discussed practise and difference between applied and our own practise. I did find this quite interesting and am definitely looking forward to the challenge of practising for myself as apposed to working to a clearly defined brief. I’m aware this is quite different from the experience I have. We also discussed our reading set from the previous week and discussed the difference between artists and artisans. I would definitely say I fit into the category of artisan but would love to one day consider myself an artist. Perhaps that's what I'm looking to achieve through my MA.

Working on 50 curious things

My first challenge was to come up with 50 things that were not only interesting but also that I didn’t mind these people I had only just met knowing! The first 30 weren’t too tricky but I did have to get help with my last 20. I did also go through the list a few times and swopped a few things round!
To a certain extent find the process quite therapeutic and thought I could use this as an idea for display – I decided to rate myself in terms of ‘weird and wonderfulness’
See below for the outcome (click on the image for a larger view):

Week 1 of my MA

Our first class! And our first brief! The class highlighted a number of aspects regarding practise that I hadn’t really considered. In my experience I have always worked in a manner whereby I obtain a brief first, then evolve the project in a linear fashion. This course will enable me to work in a more reflective manner for a much more considered outcome.
It also highlighted that I should collect things of interest and reflect in my learning. I am aware that everything around me has an influence, but I had never considered collecting things – I will have to learn how to be more disciplined in my approach!
A journal is also something I’ve never had to do before and is a little scary for a person as naturally disorganised as myself :( I try honestly I do
My first brief:
Come up with 50 curious facts about myself
Display as I would like on no more than 2 sheets of A4