Collaboration Project: Fashion Promotion

[Authors Own, December 2013]

This has been my most exciting week so far of this foundation - as its combines everything I love; Fashion, graphic design and promotion! I choose to create an editorial for TANK magazine and explore theme of 'The elite female' which was inspired by Isabella Blow and her work and tank magazine itself. For research I visited Isabella Blows exhibition at somerset house - which not only was stunning to view but also quite inspiring as a creative, as you could really see her influences and inspirations and how she would use them to create a masterpiece that really stands on its own platform. My final outcome for the two weeks, the 'Elite' editorial I am very pleased with personally as it really captures what I was originally going for, shown in my mood boards. It also got quite a lot of positive feedback with one of the tutors saying that "its almost perfect" which really pleased me, along with some constructive criticism where they think I could improve a little more on directing the model more, I am happy with my outcome for the amount time we had to create it.  I have enjoyed it so much that I have taken it as a possible degree choice.

Design Workshops

[Authors Own, November 2013]

For me these workshops we attended have allowed me to try out techniques and processes that I may have not done if I was doing this project alone. Overall I really enjoyed the lazer cutting workshop as its something I have never done before and for something so simple and easy to use that gives off such a professional and clean cut finish to a piece, learning about it and how to use it has been and will be very useful for me in the future. Surprisingly although the light box/ type play workshop may have been very easy to do - I do think that it has given me some really interesting and professional looking designs. Overall I have taken away new skills from these workshops that will help develop my experimental thought/ idea generation process.

Manifesto Project

[Authors Own, November 2013]

At first the manifesto project seem slightly confusing yet challenging as I always try to create a final outcome which is nothing like the 'norm'. Looking through the examples given, and researching other existing manifestos, for me, I thought they all look very similar and quite easy to replicate so I started to develop mine pretty simple and slowly making it more and more interesting and graphic - trying to really push the boundaries of what people have already done. At the end I cam up with a concept that links to my design and the idea of a manifesto which was 'Elements', in which i played on the idea of a periodic element table and each separate box having it very own unique 'element' - which in my case would be a unique element to my manifesto, each element representing what I believe I should do and aim towards as a creative. I gained quite a lot of positive feedback from my peers which I was happy about for example the colour link to nature I used and the concept behind it all, I also got some improvements that I could do to further develop the piece on for example to size of the text. Although this was just a task set for us - I really think it has help motivate me as a designer and what I have written in my manifesto I will now stand by.

Project 2: Graphic Film

The word my group was given was CHANGE.



The Change Film: The Importance Of Change



[Authors Own, November 2013]

In this task I was assigned into a team of 6 and was given the challenge  of creating a graphic film on the word we was given. For me being thrown into a task with other students in my class that I barely knew was quite daunting at first however looking back it has really taught me how to creatively discuss and create work with others who don't have the same ideas as you. I personally don't think we achieved the best we could as a group as are ideas clashed a lot and wasted a huge amount of time that could of went in planning and executing the film. However I am quite pleased and proud of our finished film and believes it really highlights a really important rule of design and reflects the word change well!
In regards to my poster I am extremely happy with it - it is simplistic yet effective and the feedback i received from it was all positive where my peers found it difficult to come up with any improvements - which is a good sign! Overall this task has taught me the skill of leadership and direction in a team of creatives, which is a valuable skill that I hope to develop as my design career goes on.

Well Hello Graphics - Let Me Introduce Myself...

[Authors Own, October 2013]

Exploratory Stage Evaluation

Rotation after rotation, from making a 3D sculpture out of spaghetti to seeing my fashion designs walk down a runway. I have throughly enjoyed each rotation as it has given me an insight into each subject area allowing me to really think about what I want to do in the future. It has also taught me a variety of skills that are specific to each pathway and across pathways that have developed my skills and creative thinking which will further enhance me as a designer.

I did find it quite tricky getting back into the flow of creative thinking having leaving school from earlier on in the year however the introduction we had to the foundation diploma settled me right in allowing me to get back into the routine. 

I came into the first weeks with a confident idea into what pathway I will choose - which would be Graphics, however during the last rotation, Fashion, I changed my mind as I enjoyed it so much - I got along with the tutors very well and I was challenged throughout the week to finally creating a piece that I was genuinely proud of. However I have chosen the pathway that I think I have been most interested in - for the long run, as I believe it will teach me new methods and further develop my design eye and software skills. 

Throughout the weeks I have had difficulty with my sketchbook as everything I do as a designer is usually electronic, therefore I feel as if my sketchbook isn't strong enough in the field of drawings and paintings; on the other hand these few weeks have almost forced me to step out of my comfort zone and try out thing I wouldn't normally do - for example life drawings or paintings - as a designer I am willing to work on my weaknesses and turn them into a strength.

I have also really enjoyed going to the lectures put on for students as it has inspired me to open my own business in the future; they have given me a great insight into the real working world of design.

Overall I had really enjoyed these first three weeks, I have made so many new friends and possible collaborative designers for the future. Although I am slightly sad to see our group spilt into own own pathways - I see it as an opportunity to meet even more designers. In the next stage of this foundation I will look at my weaknesses from each rotation and work on them so I can successfully complete the year and become a proud student of the course. 

Life Drawing Session

[Authors Own, October 13] 

The life drawing session was at first very daunting for me, as I think that its one of my weaker areas in design. However as we got going and started to create sketches under a strict time constraint, it almost forced me to do it, as we had many other drawings to do. My first drawings were very weak and I wasn't too proud of them, but as we kept going  - I do think my drawings became stronger and I started to develop a drawing style of my own. It also shown me through an experiment of different materials that I really enjoy and produce some of my most loved sketches out of Graphite sticks. Overall I did quite enjoy this session and believe I need to continue practising to really develop and strengthen this weakness.

Fashion Pathway Week

[Authors Own, October 13] 

[Authors Own, October 13] 

[Authors Own, October 13] 

[Authors Own, October 13] 

The fashion pathway week I enjoyed the most out of all of the rotations surprisingly, although I have a budding interest in fashion, I didn't think I would enjoy the week so much. The week allowed me to push my creativity to new levels as the pieces had to look good enough for someone to wear. This week I think the creative mannequin dressing worked really well, as we had to work with something we didn't create forcing us to think even more and how to style it so it works whilst working in pairs. Coming up with new and unique paper textures was the most difficult for me - I started to run out of ideas and had to use creative methods from the 3D/Graphic rotation to come up with new concepts, once I  over-comed this problem I really began to enjoy it even more and carried on experimenting whilst at home.  If I was to do anything differently I would experiment even more and spend more time on my final piece so that it fits the model even better. I would also spend more time when photographing my model in my piece - allowing me to find the right location and style her better.
This week has again re-einforced that putting in that extra time whilst at home really does help, also by researching and being inspired my fashion designers can really enhance my ideas.
Most importantly this week has highlighted the importance of collaboration and how by working with new people can really present you with designers for future projects to collaborate with.

Lens Based Pathway Week

[Authors Own, September 13]

This week there were some aspects I really enjoyed, I have also learnt a few key things within the lens based world that are helpful and key for me to know as a creative designer. Day three of the rotation I throughly enjoyed and learnt the most from - Seb offered the class to come and talk about our stories, which I did, and in my talk with Seb we challenged, explored and pushed my story trying to really maximise the potential of my story - I think this really worked well as I got a view from what the audience would think, reflected in Sebs views. I then was able to see the weaknesses of my story, leaving me with questions to overcome and make my story better for example:

- why was was seeing her reflection so important for my protagonist?
- my story is heavily reliant on text, how can I avoid this?
- even if my protagonist saw her reflection - why would it make her feel better? some people see their reflection and are still not confident in themselves?

As a result I came up with a whole new story, with the help of my previous story, which I believe is much more strong and captivating. The new story I believe will also get a wider audience emotionally attached, which in the real world of film making would be positive as it allows the film to attract more people which will result in the film making more money. It also includes the factor of life and death, which through this week I have learnt it is one of the most important factors as it most often controls and moves a story and its audience.

The new developed story: 

[Authors Own, September 13]

If I had to do any thing differently I would try to get peer feedback sooner or whilst creating my story so I  am able to develop my story quicker, as if my story was developed quicker I may of had time to actually try to shoot a quick film - so time management is definitely something I need to manage better.
To prepare for next weeks task I will try to work on my time management - trying to get the tasks done quicker, so I can push my work more.

Graphics Pathway Week

[Authors Own, September 13]

I throughly the Graphics week in whole - for me this week challenged me to look and practice beyond my comfort zone in graphical design, meaning that all the work done throughout this week I wouldn't normally of done, which has highlighted many different design aspects to me.
This week I think that the creative and unusual character/ font design has work really well, I think its very simple yet very creative - in which every method provides a totally brand new font concept, this method of experimentation allowed me to come up with various font concepts quickly, which in the case of graphic design and its intense and short deadlines, could be very useful.
The most successful element of the work in my eyes was the collage I created, it gave off a sense of high fashion and was compared and linked to high end designers like Givenchy and Balenciaga by my colleagues. It was the most successful to me as its sharp, unproportioned look gives off a very edgy yet strong image that can be easily identified and could be used as part of recognisable brand image for an advertising campaign. Moreover the character/font creation was the task of the week that surprised me the most - its simplicity and accidental nature of method is really helpful, something I would have never done before. If I had to choose anything that I would have done differently it would have been to work on my final exhibition poster using the computer - even though I purposely forced myself to not use photoshop or any other editing software - as I wanted to steer myself away from 'the norm'; however in this case I believe using the PC would have given me a much more 'finished' and professional exhibition poster. To prepare for next week I will firstly go into next week with the same willingness to try out and push my creative limits by method that might seem strange. I will also try to put into practice  any relevant skills learnt from this week into next week to further develop my work.

3D Pathway Week

[Authors Own, September 13]

[Authors Own, September 13]

The 3D week has been extremely enjoyable, at first I thought that I would find this week quite tricky when building creative structures in a short time period that also adheres to the task brief and other tasks set as I have not really had any practice or knowledge of the '3D world' - however Geoff really allowed me to challenge common design ideas and to really stretch my methods of coming up with a new idea - which I believe has had a positive effect on my work!
A task that was set for us on one of the days proven to be really helpful in my creative thinking; where Geoff got us to start of our design ideas with simple starting points for example a series of lines, in which we had to create the plan view of a shopping centre; that particular task really highlighted the fact that I shouldn't always start with something that is the 'norm' but try something wacky and see what you can make out of it - which in this case served me well.
Furthermore when completing the main tasks of each day, shown through the slideshow of images above, I think I successfully carried them out whilst stretching my creativity. Surprisingly, although I found the spaghetti structures the most difficult to complete - it was the task I mostly enjoyed and felt satisfied with as I began to see the structural potential it had to possibly become a real life building - once worked at. I also really enjoyed working alongside my classmates, especially on the large bridge task, as not only was I able to see how others work and think creativity but I was able to collaborate and we were able to highlight and use each others strengths to complete the task - which in the real world would be a highly successful skill to possess.

Gerhard Richter: The Cage Review

[Authors Own, September 13]

The Gerhard Richter exhibition shown in London’s Tate Modern ‘Transformed Visions’ room 11 on level 3, curated by Mark Godfer, consisted of the ‘The Cage Paintings’; 6 oil on square canvas based paintings which together make a coherent group, which are named after the American Avant – Garde music composer John Cage.

Richter, born in Dresden 1932, is an art academy trained significant contemporary artist. In 1961 he migrated to West Germany to study in where he became interested in Avant –Garde where he became to collaborate with fellow artists such as Konrad Lueg. As time went on he began to really speak through his art in which he would started to challenge societies views and use societies issues and events to help inspire his work.

Cage, an American composer, born in 1912, was known as one of music’s most influential composers of the 20^th century and became of the leading figures of the post war avant-garde. His music spoke volumes and meaning, which really reflected in the figurativeness of the Cage paintings (Bernstein, 2001). In both Cages and Richter’s work I believe the artist leave the meaning of their work very open, leaving it entirely to you to find meaning and almost scan for something that reminds you of a certain ‘thing’ that will link to a fugitive meaning that may even be linked to the title of the work, which in this case is caged.

When initially walking into room 11, where the paintings are displayed, I felt someway captivated by the paintings electrified and pulsating colours and brush strokes. I quickly saw the link between each painting through Richter’s artist method and choice of colour palette, in which I personally enjoy looking at. By having each painting positioned separately around the room, 2 on each wall, gave me the feeling as if I was being charged, the splashes of colours in each painting for example the reds, yellows and blues, really brought the room to life and highlights the movement in each piece, whereas the grey tones really help to illustrate the movement between each piece; linking each painting together. For me I get the message that Richter is trying to put across a message to us as designers of our own that we shouldn’t always get caught up in trying to make our work like other designers/ artist that we look up to – he wants us to be brave and try out new things, not to be scared if we make a mistake and take it as inspiration or see it as another path that we could go down with our work. More profoundly I believe that he wants us to be inspired by what happens in our everyday lives and our interests and let it influence and reflect in our work both visually and emotionally; which I believe I need to start to practice to help develop my work. Living, learning and working in London; experiencing the great range of cultures, lifestyles and overall atmosphere of city life can be easily related to the cage paintings and the concept be applied or serve as inspiration for future projects. Gerhard Richter’s cage paintings inspired by music has really inspired me to create a response to the artwork as a keen lover of music myself, in which I can easily see myself combing other mediums of art like expressive dance or even drama. Lasting I would like to leave you with this quote from Richter when he was asked if he always thinks about how to make a timeless object.

“ Its not that I’m always thinking about how to make something timeless, it’s more of a desire to maintain a certain artistic quality that moves us, that goes beyond what we are, and that is, in that sense, timeless.” (Richter, 2008)

Bibliography

Gallery

Tate Modern, Transformed Visions Gallery, 2013

Book

Bernstein, Hatch. (2001) Writing through John Cage’s Music, Poetry, And Art. USA. University Of Chicago

Richter, Gerhard. (2008) Panorama. London. Tate Publishing Limited

New York City Memory Poster

Software skills day:  New York City Memory Poster 

Containing (At Least) : 

- 1 Edited photo using Adobe Photoshop 

- Altered text using Adobe Illustrator 

- Copy describing the memory 

[Authors Own, September 13]

Here I created a poster using various Adobe software to reflect my memory of visiting 

the 9/11 memorial site last year. Creating this poster was fairly straight forward as I was familiar 

with the Adobe software that we were asked to use, apart from Adobe InDesign, in which I learnt valuable tips and tricks to help me as a designer for future problems like printing settings for print work or whether its for the web along with its resolutions - vital information that can make a big difference to my work in the future.
In the posters title text, I edited in Illustrator, I was aiming to embody the tall skyscraper effect that the new york skyline is famous for. The most important aspect of the title that I tried get across is what i did with the letter 'T' in 'CTY' where I almost shaped the 'T' into the silhouettes of the two twin towers, which is reflective of my memory represented in this poster. The high contrast along with the black and blue colours used were to show the gloomy yet inspiring feeling I felt whilst at the memorial site. 

Empty Filled Cups: Timeline

Empty Filled Cups

Timeline

[Authors Own, September 13]

The story behind it

_________________________________

At first looking at my timeline you may think its just photograph of cups with water filled to different levels of each cup, but behind this image is my interpretation of a timeline made up of this weeks events.

If we start with the cups, I used clear plastic cups and positioned them side by side in a straight line to illustrate to the viewer that although each cup, that represents each day of the week, are separate they are part of the image as a whole, so clear comparisons of each day can be made through the water level in each cup; The link between each day is also highlighted in the cups 2 rows of design. When positioning the cups I thought about how close together I should place them to reflect how I felt during this week, and decided to position them quite closely together as I felt that the week felt very fast moving, each day I would think about what we would be doing the next day, when I came home from the sessions would carry on working on what we had been doing that particular day or preparing for what’s ahead; which is represented in the tightness of the cups, where I felt like somehow each day was connected to each other in some way.  The water levels are representative of how much I felt comfortable and content in each day. In the timeline it is shown that on Monday for example that the water level is quite low, below the halfway point, this was due to me being nervous and not knowing anyone, which the darkness and deep grey colours signify in this case. Looking within at the rest of the remaining cup you see a bright streak of white on the right hand side, which represents my excitement and energy that is carried away with me after the days events; making new friends, the feeling of moving into university and so on. As the days go on the water levels vary, on Tuesday I felt quite comfortable, although I had an self directed study day, thinking about the university and the previous days events really helped me to feel more content. This is shown through the lighter shade of the water and again the luminous white steak on the right hand side of the cup. Wednesday is probably the most significant day of this timeline, on this day we had a trip to the serpentine museum and V&A where through art, represented by the bold red strike of paint, I began to feel much more elevated and sated with being apart of the course. It was on this day where my excitement really began to kick in both for my course and generally university life as I met many other faces from not only my class but from other classes. This excitement and wonderful feeling is represented through the lighter shade and brighter streaks of white that runs through the cup. On Thursday, I had a self directed study day however the excitement still rang loud however I began to miss being in university and working with my friends, shown through the water levels. By Friday I felt fully comfortable in both work and social elements of the weeks events.

Moreover I chose to edit the platform in which the cups are sitting on very dark with reflections of the cups within it to almost embody water like atmosphere and texture to imply a that the week has almost been like floating on water – you have to be very cautious and balance your feelings out equally so you don’t end up drowning.

The typography in the image were the days of week, similarly to the water levels in each cup, the tracking and size of characters represent my creative journey throughout the week; the tighter the tracking of each character and the larger the character size illustrates my creativity satisfaction level I believed I have reached and my overall mood, which can see that throughout the week that I felt my creativity has developed through the various sessions and my overall feeling about the course has become even more positive! 

BLADE RUNNER

Here is some vector based designs I created, using iconic blade runner visuals, that could possibly go on wrapping paper or even Film merchandise like t-shirts, bags and cups.

V&A

[Authors Own, September 13]

Memory Palace was probably the most surprising exhibition visits so far although we wasn't allowed to take any photos or do any sketches within the exhibition - the idea behind it interested me the most and gave me ideas for future projects - by fictionalising your story, or in my case - my memories, could give a very interesting spin on my work. I liked the idea of the glossary that came in the Memory Palace booklet - it almost played the 'bible' role for the fictional story, where the audience of the exhibition are taken into the world of the writer and are lead to believe what the writer thinks.

SERPENTINE

[Authors Own, September 13]

[Authors Own, September 13]

[Authors Own, September 13]

The Serpentine Gallery gave me the chance to experiment with different mediums and angles, I did enjoy experimenting with the light and structures that the serpentine offers.
Whilst at the serpentine I wanted to experiment with the various moods and feelings that video and photography could trigger using the the scenery and the serpentine structure. The light glares fascinated  me on this particular trip - reminding me of some of the scenes in 'Blade Runner', only this time with the glare effect i captured in the GIF I created and the videos recorded, the effect has a happy, more optimistic feel to it, whereas in blade runner they use glares to create a much more gloomy and mysterious atmosphere, shown in the images below.

DESIGN MUSEUM

[Authors Own, September 13]

I found 'The Future Was Here' exhibition very interesting as it allowed me to think of design in a whole new way and highlighted the many different methods used to create products and designs used around the world. More importantly it has shown how design is moving and developing in the world and how an individual has the power to create and alter a product by themselves.

Mass production will fade out as individuals seek to customise products - people want there products to become much more personal; making their products more special. 

I throughly enjoyed talking with the in house staff, who encouraged me to constantly try out and  research into methods of design. I was inspired by the visit and will allow the inspiration to reflect in my work. This visit will also allow me to think about how my work could develop and how I can maybe incorporate customer interaction into my work.

The Burial

[Authors Own, September 13]

10 ITEMS

[Authors Own, September 13]

Reflecting back on this task, I throughly enjoyed searching and selecting ten items that reflect me as a person and the treasured memories of my past and present. When drawing the ten items I was slightly uneasy, as I don't believe that drawing is my strongest point. However on the other hand I felt that this task not only got me back in the habit of sketching after a long break, but it has also improved my skills as I want to advance my skills moving into uni. Fellow students have seen these sketches and have given me positive feedback, alongside some constructive criticism which has not only allowed me to see where I could improve but highlighted the many different methods I could of used to capture the memory in a much more interesting  and meaningful way for example collage or even photography  which I could now use in future work. I think the 'outline effect' used in Memory 1 were successful as I wanted to keep it simple yet effective.  I also think I begin to become more comfortable with shading to give the picture life / a 3D effect. Furthermore I did find starting/ scaling my drawings quite difficult at first - as the proportions were too large or small at points - this problem cost me quite a lot of time; to avoid this problem in the future I need to just keep practising on a day to day bases so the skill of drawing almost becomes second nature.

In this blog I will explore and create a personal reflective log of events during my foundation within the theme of memory.