'New' Poster

 This is a photo of my final poster.

This is a photo of the idea generation for my poster from my sketch book.

(All images are authors own)

I found the the generating of ideas for my poster very easy as I already had a concept set out from working with the film to work with. I decided to go with 3D type of the word 'New' that casted a shadow that shaped out the word 'Old'. I then pasted the word 'New' onto a music stave to represent the connection the film had with new things within music. The decision to make 'New' 3D was to represent the current 3D movement in film, bringing its font into present time, which then casts a shadow that spells 'old'. This is supposed to represent that everything that is new is foreshadowed by the old and, in turn, is some kind of reincarnation of the old. I felt as though this poster idea was the strongest in metaphorically communicating my ideas on the word new and what our film was about. However, because I did the poster by hand there were some problems with colour smudging and text not being level on the page. If I were to change anything about the poster I would make sure I gridded the page properly and to avoid smudging, perhaps used a program like illustrator to create the final outcome. 

The task to create a poster was one that I very much enjoyed. It started to make me think more about the audience and what may or may not work in trying to attract attention or effectively communicate something visually. I feel that the poster has strong visual communication, but I don't know if it would stand out in a high street for example. Although, the use of red for the word new, situated at the centre of the poster and dragging upwards to the top of the page, which is sat in a white space my work in turning a few heads.

Manifesto Project

This is a double page spread in my sketch book that contains things to do with my past/roots and a spider diagram of my hopes and aspirations, what I stand for. It was a helpful start to the making of my manifesto as it clarified to me what I could include within it.

I then looked at my blog on tumblr for some more inspiration and research into myself e.g. the things I like, my interests, views. I realised it was almost like an already made manifesto of images instead of text.

This was part of my idea generation that I started after looking at some manifestos and decided on concentrating on the concept of equality and acceptance. I found the idea generation process quite challenging because I initially went with an idea that I didn't feel as passionate about and therefore the ideas were lacking. However, was I reevaluated my direction I was able to come up with a few good ideas:

These were my four favourite ideas, which I looked into and analysed. In the end I decided that the 3rd idea was my favourite as it worked well with the 'Open your mind' slogan I had become attached to. The idea that the characters eyes are covered is symbolic of disallowing yourself to judge with your eyes and the literal translation of her open mind within the illustration works effectively I feel.

I decided to develop my final idea using illustrator in order to develop my computer skills. It was my first time using illustrator and I found it to be really easy to grasp and effective in making vivid images that aid the aesthetics of a design.

 Using illustrator, I decided to try out lots of different backgrounds to find one that worked well with my character. Some of them clashed, some took away the attention of the character and some weakened the colours that spouted out of her head. I found the space background to work the best as it related to an earlier idea I had about people being cosmic, such as the universe. Although, I did worry that the space background wasn't very innovative/over used, but it worked that best for me.
 

FINAL MANIFESTO

I feel this is an effective manifesto both in a metaphorical way and visual. However, I feel my type sizing does look a bit messy. If I were to rework anything in my manifesto it would be type size and placing. Apart from that though, it clearly depicts the ideas that are important to me and the mentality and strive to have/keep. When getting feed back most people enjoyed the manifesto, but some found the word strange staggered the flow a bit. I made the decision to keep the word strange in because it was important to me that attention was brought in some way to the idea that people/things can be strange, but they still deserve equality, acceptance and love from us all. Overall, I am happy with the resulting image and what I gain personally from this project, which was a clearly view of what I stand for, improved illustration skills and a sharper knowledge of what works/doesn't work when dealing with typography. 

New: A Deceptive Concept

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

This is a link to a video my group and I made using the word NEW as a trigger for a concept.

My role in this film was to put all the film components together on iMovie from the research other members of my group done. I think the film was effective in conveying the message we were trying to communicate, which was that the line that separates old from new is so blurred that the idea of new is now distorted/deceptive if essentially we are just recycling the old. I do feel, however, that that the constant changing on music, although it had a purpose, was a bit distracting and uncomfortable. If I were to change something about the final film I would perhaps include fashion trends within music that illustrate the idea of recycling the old and stick to perhaps just two songs that communicate the idea through sound to avoid the constant track changing.

As a group, we brainstormed some ideas that connected with the word NEW, such as, new life, contemporary, technology, definitions etc. However, when looking at things like new trends we discovered that the term new is actual quite deceptive as they usually recycle/reuse old ideas. For example, in fashion you get vintage wear or in music you get genre replication etc. From this discovery we decided to work with deception as a concept and concentrated on music as we found it to be a topic that a lot of people could relate to. The process of working as a team to generate ideas was very helpful as it allowed me to widen my channel of thought by bouncing off other peoples ideas. It also help to refine ideas at an earlier stage as there were more of us to find holes or weaknesses in the concept and aright them.

This is a print screen of the work I did on iMovie to help knit each component of the film together, including images that other members of the group had provided, together with kinetic typography, music and a panning effect. Through using iMovie I was able to effectively, easily and quickly producing the film, which was helpful seen as we only had a week to plan and make it. I didn't experience any difficulty.

This image, used near the end of the film before the credits, was made by me on a word document. I simply used wordart and filled the inside of it with an image of the word old repeated, which I made. 

Graphics: Ear

I then drew my friends ear in graphite and charcoal. I think it came out quite well, considering the short amount of time allocated to draw it. However, it is lack some detail e.g. the upper piercing.

Graphics: Faces

These are four faces I drew using different techniques. The first face was drawn in pencil, whilst my eyes were closed. The second face was drawn using a red felt tip in my mouth, third in charcoal using my left hand (I am right-handed) and fourth a self portrait from memory, continuous line drawing in pen. I found this exercise very useful in opening my eyes to how different graphic styles can be produced. Although the images didn't turn out "correct" they did instead exude a strong character.

The Kemistry Galley Visit: Comment

The work of Milton Glaser and Seymour Chwast was shown today (24.09.13) in the Kemistry Gallery as their first exhibition in London in 40 years. Their work, although coming from the commercial world of NYC, Push Pin Studios, seemed to carry an air of hippy mentality with comical vibrations, using text such as, "WAR IS MADNESS", " End Bad Breath" and "WE ARE ALL AFRICAN". They all lean towards the very hippy philosophy of peace and love.
Another admirable thing I noticed about Glaser and Chwast's work was it's strong visual communication and it's amiable, pull-you-in graphic style.

When looking at their more personal work, e.g. sketches and notes, I was able to see aspects of their process and, as an artist, use this to perfect mine. For instance, certain doodles or sketches that I do which may have no significance at the time can be used for endless ideas in the future. Nothing is superfluous.

Lecture 1: Gillies and Cecillie

(Excuse the low clarity)

This image is of Cecillie of Gilles and Cecillie, a graphic design duo from France and Norway, who came to Ravensbourne to do a talk on their work. They both travel around the world doing commissioned work for wall designs, advertising, packaging design etc. They have worked for HIV charities, Paul Smith ('Psychedelic Spaghetti') and more. Cecillie conducted the talk solo and left us with some wise words, "Be your own brand - Be your own own project." This was all in preparation for our future essay, entitled, "Creative" is a Business.