R PERSONAL P PLANNING R REFLECTION DEVELOPMENT D VISUAL COMMUNICATION YEAR 2 WWW.IRRELEVANTSUPREMACY.BLOGSPOT.COM
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contents in order(ish)
Uni work Thankyou - Samuel Morse Business Identity - James Jameson Graphic Systems - Graham Greene Short Stories Website - Irrelevant Supremacy
THANK YOU
Live Briefs. Aquascutum. Bentley D&AD Brighton Fringe Festival 2 Many Printers TLK lectures Networking Creative Process Miscellaneous/Inspiratons Cuttings Articles Logos Turntablism
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THANK YOU
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5 This was a project where we had to think of someone who we respected or look up to, to thank and then come up with an innovative and interesting way of showing it. It is with regret that I cannot show the work that complimented this concept but one way of me paying tribute to Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse Code, was to create a smart phone app. Thus combining the oldest form of
communicating with the most contemporary. Like I said, there were other concepts that I came up with for this project. I drew up some sketches and perspective drawings of a possible public event or murial that could be viewed by all. The idea behind it was similar to the Jewish Holocaust sculpture memorial in Berlin, Germany. The slabs would be laid out in the morse code ‘dots’ and
‘dashes’, with one of the ‘dashes’ serving as a point for a projection, where people could text in and view their message translated into the iconic Morse Code ‘dots and dashes’ accompanied with the noises that are more commonly used in Morse Code.
BUSINESS IDENTITY
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7 The brand identity brief asked us to come up with a business card, letterhead and compliments card for our chosen client. All the clients that were given out are deceased and are known for various accomplishments. I chose James Jamerson, who was a bass player for 95% of all Motown tracks and was influential in the field of bass guitar playing, being the first artist to take a double bass and flip it horizontally and play it like a guitar. He was very
talented but hardly anyone knew about him. He took on the label as an ‘unsung hero’ as all the attention would have been on the stars such as the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. I wanted to portray this in my work by making the image of him intentionally hard to see. Similar situation with the thought behind the typeface. The four bars running through the image represent the four strings
on a bass guitar that are all different thicknesses. Jamerson was hiding behind these strings throughout his career as a musician, whether it was intentional or not, and in a lot of ways, these four strings defined him and his legacy.
GRAPHIC SYSTEMS
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9 This brief was to chose an author from a list of 6 and design and create six illustrations for six the chosen authors books. The project was contemporary based, so rebranding to make old books modern was the body of the project. The Author I chose to study is Graham Greene, who is very well known for his powerful short stories, a lot of which do not have covers or any visual references. I chose six of these short stories
and skim read and looked for reviews on all of them to get an overview of the stories. Through my research I found that a lot of book illustrations centre around a pivotal scene in the story. So many of my illustrations base around just one event in the story, however curious and sometimes irrelevant the illustrations may seem in regards to the book title. I have kept consistency in my illustrations by portraying the naivety in the drawing and the line
but keeping an intellectual feel to the cover. This is maintained by using clear and strong graphic systems in terms of type, colour, layout and presentation. During this project I was able to tune my layout skills, a field that I feel passionate about and will aim to persue a career in. In this respect, I found this project very helpful, especially all the print specifications that need to be correct for your work to come out correctly.
PORTFOLIO WEBSITE
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11 Irrelevant Supremacy - It is an idea I have had for quite some time now but had never done anything about, until I began a blog last year and named it this. But there are many visual ideas that I have to take this forward with, so I wanted to name my website the same thing, to help get it recognised and get people involved hopefully. I am very happy that Visual Communication has enabled me to learn how to build websites, even though I was very
unhappy at the start of this module and even seeked help outside of uni in the form of specialised tutors to help me get my site off and running.
Having a multiple browser friendly website is essential as you cannot control from what device people are viewing your website from.
I learnt how important the position of files in the root folder is when I was uploading, as I changed them all into neat folders (should have done this before) so then obviously the paths to find the files had changed. So when I viewed them in a browser, nothing looked correct.
This factor will play a large role in the design choices I make for my website. Throughout the Dreamweaver sessions and the building stages I was constantly testing my website in multiple browsers.
PROFESSIONAL UNIT
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13 I am going to design and create a book of accounts of the homeless, their lives and their stories. I have always been intrigued by their stories about how they have ended up homeless, and have always wanted to know. By doing this I am hoping to raise awareness to this issue. I am aware that many of them may be addicts- I have grown up with a good education about this topic due to a few members of
my family being a subject of alcoholism. its a topic I feel passionate about and feel I can help as well as create a visually aesthetic book that could have a selling point in major book retailers. The outcome hopefully is to trigger an emotion in the person reading the book. This obviously carries elements of risk with it and I will be ver careful when going about this. I will need them to sign
a basic release form just explaining that the information will be used for a non commercial reason and that they are happy to do this. I am essentially buying their story off of them so a cash payment of ÂŁ10 will be agreed beforehand. The conversations will be recorded using a dictaphone and photographs taken on a Canon 500D.
WORK RELATED UNIT
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15 Last week marked the start of the new unit named Work Related Learning. I am doing this unit as apposed to the bridging essay as my intentions are to leave the course at the end of this academic year. This module is to help and aid us in finding work in the creative industry. The final outcome will be an illustrated report about our experiences in this module, that will include interacting with professionals and
attempting to find work/ placement in our desired creative paths. I discussed my passion for layout and was told that editorial and magazine layout would be a sound place to start my research. This passion has grown since being at university, to such a stage now that I will study the layout of books and magazines more so than the content. I have had some thoughts on who to contact, in the way of magazine and
newspaper companies, both well known and not so commercial. Also to contact Luke Lobley, editorial director at Wonderland Magazine, who came in to our uni last year for a lecture.
DESIGN BLOG
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17 I had never have even debated keeping and maintaining a blog before starting my university education and I am very happy that I have. I have enjoyed being able to keep a diary of my own development and have definitely benefited from it. From being able to look back on posts I can draw a real comparison on how far my work has come in just two years. I have used the blog not only to evaluate and assess
my work,but to use as a holding place for any inspiring creativity that I come across such as the examples I have given in this document. This process has ecouraged me to go out of my way to look for work that I can reference and include in blog, thus broadening my understanding and research ability. I strongly believe that I will continue blogging after my education, as it has been a pleasure as apposed to a course requirement.
AQUASCUTUM
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19 A collection of commissioned freelance work for Aquascutum. I was given drawings and strict details of the styles that they wanted and it was my jobs to manipulate them into vectors. The work will feature in their catalogue for Spring/ Summer 2011. I was presented with a chance to do some freelance in October 2010. A live brief had been sent to my tutors who then asked if I would be interested in taking
it on. After meeting the client I agreed to take it on as work outside of my studies.
The vectors shown (left) are a few examples of my work that will feature in a commercial catalogue.
The paid job was for the luxery clothing company Aquascutum. For their seasonal catalogue, portraying all the new seasons stock, there are vector images of all of the clothing in all the different colour styles. My job was to follow sketches and work from detailed specifics and turn them into vector images using Adobe Illustrator.
This work, balancing it with my uni work, taught me the importance of time management and helped me become more efficient when it came to working. Some of the vectors were very complex and took a lot of time making tiny adjustments due to the strict guidelines that were set by Aquascutum.
BENTLEY
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21 Off of the work that I and my client produced for Aquascutum, he offered me to help him out with the same work for a range of Bentley Golf and Leisure Clothing. I was obviously happy to have a second paid live brief with a very well known brand. Being able to mess around with the Bentley Logo in illustrator was a pleasure. The first task I had been given to complete for this brief is to create a 3 page template document for
Aquascutum/Bentley to show retailers and flagship stores with the intention of getting the clothing line in various shops to be sold. I was sent the logo’s with the dimensions and was told that they were very strict guidelines and not to touch the dimensions of anything. The brochure needed to be black and white, with the logos clearly shown, with a selection of styles for menswear, womenswear and
accessories. I do not have the styles to work on yet so I have just replaced them with the positions of which they will go.
D&AD
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23 Ben Mercer and myself decided to go with the client of Diesel for this years D&AD briefs. It is an illustration brief, that asks to “Create an illustrated interpretation of a musical track that is experienced by the viewer in an unconventional and pioneering way” Our challenge was to choose a band or artist and create an illustrated response inspired by two of their tracks. In doing so, we’ll be facing the issue of the downfall in album art
head on and demonstrate your vision of a brave new world for illustration in music. Our illustration is going to be video based and our idea consisted of representing the notes that are universally heard in songs as food. For example an #A note would be represented by an apple, an #E note would be represented by an egg. We were heavily influenced by their strapline ‘Be Stupid’, hence
why we combined the idea of a note being ‘hit’ with the concept of the food getting smashed in time with the relevant note.
BRIGHTON FESTIVAL
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25 Here are the final illustrations that I completed that will be included in the Brighton Fringe Festival this year. They will appear on posters, in handouts and on their website: The client didnt want anything fancy. The theme is ‘Lights, Water, Action!’ so they wanted some exhibition photos in the style of an old and dated celluloid strip. I could have included some really aesthetically pleasing visuals, with intricate
detail or experimental features but the client gave me strict dimensions that were not very big so in order to get the best results, I made the designs clear and simple. And sometimes you just need to accept that you dont have to always try and show off all of your skills at the same time. The work will feature and already is featuring in the build up to the Brighton Fringe Festival both in the form of posters and web reviews.
2 MANY PRINTERS
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27 On January 14th I was scheduled to DJ at an event held by Moon Street that was the launch party for an up and coming tshirt company called ‘2 Many Printers’. Before the event they asked people to enter in tshirt illustration ideas for them to print on the night and then to be sold. Unfortunately mine wasn’t chosen, but some very very good designs were chosen so I am gracious in defeat.
E-CREATIONS
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29 In January 2011, I took part in a live brief workshop with the creative director of E-creation. He briefed us on a business idea that he wants to get started. We had to sign an information disclosure saying that we will not steal the idea or pass on the information to any separate parties. The creative director presented us with his business idea and told us that it was in the very early stages. On the 24th we talked about possible
ideas and came up with the URL and website name. For obvious reasons I cannot reveal any information about the website name as it took us a long time to find one we were happy with that wasn’t already taken. But eventually we came up with one and then on the 25th we talked about website navigation, layout ideas, hierarchy within the website etc. But we spent most of the day coming up with the branding and identity of the new company. This was the
most helpful part of the experience as we got to see first hand the ideas generation process from a creative director and see what he looks for and how they respond to ideas.
NETWORKING
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31 TLK takes place at Bournemouth Arts University every couple of weeks where industry experts will give an insight into their jobs. This event featured representatives from successful and well respected design agencies such as Redweb, Thinking Juice and Screen South West. They discussed how networking has improved their businesses and helped them gain clients as well as work. It was interesting to hear such conflicting
ideas on what I thought was a straight forward subject that had quite universal views. All three of the creative industries experts had conflicting ideas on the subject, which of course is helpful in some respects but also very confusing in others as we, the aspiring designers, are left without a straight answer. One of them said he hated networking and avoided doing it, others said that all of his work had come from persistent
networking and focusing on becoming a contact of as many people as possible. There was a also great enlightenment into the lengths some applicants will go to to get that all important job. The best one was a guy who bought a web domain and name, which was www. iwanttoworkatredweb. com and simply sent them a letter saying visit this website. All his portfolio work was on their.
CREATIVE PROCESS
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33 TLK takes place at Bournemouth Arts University every couple of weeks where industry experts will give an insight into thei jobs, It was given by a panel of designers from the companies Revolting, Redweb and Salad Creative, with the freelancer Peter Leon. The talk covered the creative process, with topics such as researching, inspiration, pitching, handling clients and any general questions from the audience. The talk was
very insightful and another reminder of how ruthless the design industry is, and just how seriously you have to take it. This is by no means off putting. They talked in extent about handling clients and problems that they have had in the past, and even flagged up problems that we, as young designers, are bound to run into. Points of the talk that I picked up on most was the fact that coming up with an idea that answers the brief is commonly solved through
‘streams of consciousness’. The panel talked a lot about how they would often send their design team out of the office and tell them not to return for a few hours. Then when they have all returned, subconsciously they have picked up little bits of information from anything around them and this has triggered thought processes and ideas. Much more effective than sitting in an office, driving yourself mad.
FREELANCING
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35 The topic of this TLK is freelancing and the speakers include Jane Richardson (Aquent), Chris Wharton (freelance web designer) & Joel Lardner (freelance illustrator). As with all other TLK sessions this will be broad and the information will help anyone that may want to begin a freelance career. At a time when jobs are few and far between, not just in the design industry but all over the country,
freelancing is an option I have always thought about. I have already had a little bit of freelance experience this year with the clients from Aquascutum and the Brighton Fringe Festival and found it very beneficial. I think being a freelance designer, your standards must be very high and you must have the ability to be very organised and have exceptional time management skills.
CUTTINGS
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37 A few paper cuttings that I have gathered during the year. The first event named ‘SANDBANSKY’ was found in the centre of London, made by a sculpturer called Zara Gaze. She created this masterpiece in the middle of the night, saying that “there are a lot of miserable commuters, its nice to make them smile for a minute” The second cutting focuses on the incredible intricate work of Dalton
Ghetti, with the main picture showing his mini Elvis carved into the tip of a pencil. He has a collection of over 100 pencils, claiming that he never uses a magnifying glass and prefers to give them away rather than selling them. The third, headlined ‘hun, drawn and cornered’ is a remarkable story about the war hero Len Smith. Armed only with pencils and a sketchbook, he drew detailed sketches of enemy lines, and positions,
risking his life, sketching from dangerous positions. In one of his most daring missions, Len crept within yards of a German HQ and drew a bomb damaged tree so accurately British experts made a hollow steel replica to use as a listening post from inside.
TURNTABLISM
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39 I began DJing about 18 months ago and have played at various events and locations around Bournemouth. My passion for it is only ever growing., and I believe that there is huge potential to be very creative through turntablism. This is something I am always striving to do and I hope this is apparent in my mixes Below(right) is an example of one of the events I have been a part of this year and I have managed to
become a resident on a student night called ‘Moon Street’, that showcases the best unsigned illustrators in the area. I am given the honour of providing the sounds to try and best compliment the work. The company that runs the nights is Technicolour Moon - a collective of illustrators that take on various commissions and host many Room 2 events at student nights.
DROP CLOTHING
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41 A promotional photoshoot that I took part in for up and coming south coast business Drop Clothing, run by Ben Darvill. They are a company covering all bases of urban culture and subtlely connecting music with their designs and clothing lines.
GAP LOGO
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43 Gap made a bold move this year when they changed their logo unannounced on their website, causing alot of debate. The statement from Gap was: “We chose this design as it’s more contemporary and current. It honors our heritage through the blue box while still taking it forward.� Now it is understood that Gap will return to their original design. leaving Laird&Partners to take the fall for the unsuccessful design. They probably had
a lot of different proposals to show to Gap, in which they chose this one and now the design agency are taking the fall for it. I always try to find a meaning in design that has been deemed unsuccessful because at some point in the process, someone deemed it to be the best possible solution to their problem. So i tried to find positives in this radical change and came to the conclusion that maybe Gap want to be a more logo driven company,
and it needed a dramatic change for this to happen. A lot of gap clothing is of a high quality but tends not to have anything to distinguish the fact it is from Gap. I am still unsure on the topic but I think their idea to scrap the new logo altogether was wrong. People dont like change, and usually take a while to come round to it. Look at the London 2012 logo.
MYSPACE LOGO
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45 Myspace have launched a new logo this year and with a company that has very much fallen in popularity since the rise of facebook, I feel this was a smart move. My first reaction was that I didnt like the fact that the brand name was only partly shown, but after assesing the possibilites that are now available in regards to advertising, I think it has every opportunity to be successful.
By portraying a blank space that makes you feel like it should be filled, they may be in danger of people relating it to the apple branding, where apple show the ‘i’ infront of all their products and software.
AUDI AD CAMPAIGN
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47 This was the new ad campaign launched by Audi in October 2010. the advertisements involve a series of vector graphics outlining various references that are related to driving or the road. The emphasis is on the fact that this new range of cars are the smallest audi have ever produced with the strap line ‘A big idea, condensed’. This made me wonder whether people subconsciously think that
the fact it is a smaller car would have direct links to how economically friendly the vehicle is. The cleanliness of the advertising campaign would certainly make you believe so.
STARBUCKS LOGO
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49 At the turn of the year, the global corporate giant Starbucks unveiled a new logo that marks its 40th anniversary and starts the next chapter in its history. “Throughout the last four decades, the Siren has been there through it all,” Howard Shultz, Starbucks’ president and CEO, said in a post on the company’s website Wednesday. “Now, we’ve given her a small but meaningful update to ensure that the Starbucks brand continues to embrace
our heritage and also ensure we remain relevant and poised for future growth,” he said. The new logo will rollout beginning of March. Shultz hinted that Starbucks’ patrons can expect more “evolution starting this Spring” but didn’t offer any details.
HUMOR
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51 Sampling, silhouettes and a confident international style are the hallmarks of Humor – a young, casual Danish brand that takes its inspiration from underground electronic music and its accompanying street style that’s an integral part of the scene. Described as a kind of ‘fashion Lego’, Humor provides the bricks that allow the wearer to create their own identity through happy mixes of colour and an innovative,
laidback silhouette that compliments the confident attitude and fun-seeking lifestyle of the younger generation it belongs to. Referencing elements from workwear, sportswear and classic club wear, hippy Scandinavian knitwear meets Shibuya street style resulting in a look that is colourful and dynamic sometimes chaotic - but never boring, grey or predictable, making Humor the perfect choice for hanging out during the day or going to a club at night.’
I found out about this brand late 2010 and really appreciate the amount of creativity and thought behind their innovative products. Their clothing is revolutionary in terms of patterns and stitching for clothing that can be sold commercially and globally and is not restricted to specislist lines. I believe clothes present so much more than worth or current trends. It can express an entire lifestyle.
NATHALIE STAMPFLI
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53 Stumbled across an innovative soap dispenser that really shows the kind of thinking that is needed for my professional project. Designed by Nathalie Stampfli. “Today, most of the soap we use is liquid soap, which contains a lot of water. Block soap instead is more concentrated and therefore has some ecological benefits:You don’t transport unnecessary water around. In place of plastic bottles you can simply use paper for packaging. “
“The solid blocks can easily be piled and allow a greater space efficiency in a truck.” The conventional bar of soap is grated when pressure is put on the lever, leaving your hands covered in fine shavings of soap that cleans just as well as liquid based soap that is more commonly found in public tiolets.
LNDN TIME CAPSULE
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55 The Notting Hill Gate tube station, that was closed at the end of the 1950’s has been opened again to reveal a selection of incredible advertisments that are still up. This fascinates me greatly, to be able to see first hand where people used to walk and what companies were doing to tempt the customer in the 50’s. The typography and imagery used is in the posters is so effective. The blocky colours is
what strikes me and grabs my attention most. This signifies first hand how dramatically design trends change throughout time, and how it takes a drastic comparison like like to appreciate the advances in my chosen industry.
COURSE REFLECTION
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57 Using such work as my blog for reference, I can draw a real comparison between the level I was at at the beginning of my university education, and the standard I am now working to. This is entirely down to the thorough thought processes and indispensable skills I have been taught as a result of studying on Fda Visual Communication. I am now in a position where I am proud of my work and the way it can be presented, a position I can honestly say, was worried I would not reach for a while yet. But I feel I have got as much as I could have out of the course. The freelance work that I picked up helped me with key skills such as professional communication between client and designer, ones that can only be achieved
i a hands on and live environment in my opinion. I was a little disappionted that as a result of this work, my studies suffered and I did not achieve my desired grade bracket. But from the experiences I gained, I cannot be too upset about it.
large groups, an area of my transferable skills that need some attention.
I feel, as a course, we were particularly lucky to do an entire project on website development. A topic that not many other courses related to Visual Communications such as illustration get any tutoring on.
And now coming to the end of my time in education, I have began the work related learning unit, that has helped me realise my passion for layout and the many possible opportunities there is in this field. think this passion was realised during the typeradio unit where we were to design a 4 page magazine layout of an interview; one of my better marks on the course.
The critique system was something that was new to me coming into university. At first I did not appreciate this opportunity to get feedback and ideas but have matured and understood the logic in why we have them. It also helped me greatly wih my inablity to talk to
I look forward to completing the Fda course with a grade as high as my abilities will allow, and then attempting to find a job in the creative industry. I am not completey disregarding the idea of coming back to get a full honors but for the moment I feel ready to do something different.
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