Semester Documentaion by Asmina Shaikh

semester 4 document

Asmina Shaikh Semester 4 | Graphic Design National Institute Of Design

contents Typography 2 Colour And Form 2 Convocation Visual Language Basic Graphic Design Introduction To Theatre Illustration Workshop Open Elective History Of Design Introduction To Printing Technology

Tarundeep Girdher Rupesh Vyas Tridha Gajjar Debashish Chakravarty Tridha Gajjar Attanu Bhattacharya Abhishek Singh Steve Rigley Tanshka Kachru Bharat Suthar & Tridha Gajjar

1 11 17 19 25 31 33 37 41 43

Typography Day 2011

Alpaviram Newsletters

Khel

In Retrospect

Acknowledgements

typography 2

Assignment 1 In this assignment we were to choose a typeface for a given occupation (gardner in my case). The chosen typeface and its particular font used along with the placement of the word in the square had to reflect the qualities or an attribute of the profession. While doing the explorations for this assignment i discovered many new typefaces and also how they affected the meaning of the word that was being written using them. It was a very interesting process to conciously notice how the weight, posture and size made a difference in the perception of the quality of the profession. I also began to relate the physical features of the typeface to the abstract quality of the profession.

assignment 2 In this assignment for a given quote and with a given typeface we were required to make a layout to emphasize a part or an idea of the quote and bring out its meaning . While doing the explorations for this keeping in mind the constraints of the typeface, I discovered how size, posture Some people make the world happen;

More watch the world happen; most wonder what happened.

It’s your choice ,which group you want to belong to.

and weight can bring about hierarchy in a block of text and how that affects help emphasize something over each other. The variations in placements and the breakage of the quote emphasised something different respectively.

Some people

make

the world happen;

watch

the world happen; most

wonder

what happened. It’s your choice ,which group you want to belong to.

some people make

More watch

the world happen;

make the world happen; watch the world happen; Most wonder what happened.

Some people More

most wonder what happened.

It’s your choice ,which group you want to belong to. It’s your choice ,which group you want to belong to.

assignment 4 The assignment required us to change the emphasis of the quote by keeping the spirit of the final layout from assignment 3 by using 2 typefacesfrutiger and goudy old style. During the process of exploring in this assigment, I noticed how the emphasis Some people

could be changed by increasing the

make the world happen;

wat c h

the world happen; most

WonDer what happened.

contrast between words by merely using the interaction of the two typefaces. The difference in the features of the two typefaces brought out completely

i t ’s y o u r c h o i c e

,which

group you want to belong to.

different visual perceptions of the same text. By experimenting with the size and the wide variety of fonts it was interesting to observe the changes in

so me peo pl e

make

the emphasis. The interaction of the

th e wo rl d happ en

wat c h t h e w o r l d h a p p e n ; most

wonder

what happened.

typefaces also affected the hierarchy of the text and I faced problems in creating an appropriate layout which

i t ’s y o u r c h o i c e , which group you want to belong to.

determines the flow of the text.

some people make the world happen;

more watch the world happen; most wonder what happened.

some people

make the world happen

wat c h

the world happen;

most

WonDer

what happened

i t ’s y o u r c h o i c e , which group you want to belong to.

it’s your choice ,which group you want to belong to.

assignment 3 By choosing a layout from the explorations of assignment 2 , keeping the emphasis the same, make a different layout. With the constraints of the typeface and the same emphasis it was an interesting process to play around with the placements and orientation to retain emphasis and figure out some people

most

make

w at c h

WONDER

the world happen

the world happen;

what happened

different ways of doing the same. The breakage of the quote also played an important role in deciding the layout.

it’s your

c h oic e ,

which group you want to bel o n g t o .

most

some people make

wat c h

WONDER

the world happen

the world happen;

what happened

i t ’ s y o ur

c h o i c e,

which group you want to belong to.

most some people make the world happen

it’s your

more w at c h

WONDER

the world happen;

choice ,

what happened

which group you want to belong to.

assignment 5 This assignment requires us to first choose a black and white image relevant to the quote used in the previous assignments and then create layouts using both. I approached the task with a fresh start and tried to play with a different emphasis. I attempted to use the image in a way that aided to emphasize what was being empasized in the quote.

colour and form 2

research To researh on such a vast topic such as textile and colour seemed a difficult task. Hence, we decided to look at certain aspects of the topic. Majorly we attempted to find out how the colour palette evolved for textiles in india and what relevance did they have in the particular period that the colour was specifically important.To aid to this process we chose to study the evolution of natural dyes which was the most common method of colouring fabric.We looked at myths and stories about certain colours. It was interesting to notice how a colour made people percieve and attach meaning to it. We also noticed that the pallete for textiles in india has grown from being whites and browns to a wide variety of colours.

assignment 1 We were given a topic to research on - textiles and colour and were required to come up with concepts that gave form to our research. After a tedious process of learning how colour and textiles relate to each other we came up with a few concepts such as: An abstarct representation of the timeline using the pillars in the institute in the form of an installation An istallation using translucency of fabric and overlapping drapes From the above concepts we took the concept of the timeline of how the colour palette evolved for textiles over centuries to create a calender and use the hierarchy of the months in a calendar to represent the evolving colour palette of textiles. The timeline runs througtout the the calendar and the colours of the calendar also relate to the palette of the time represented on that particular spread. It was a challenge to empasize equally both the dates of the month and the information and bring together both in a single layout.

12 12

12 12 12

20% gray 65% gray 80% gray

IU_\f

01 02

03 04

During the Vedic and Upanishad Era that

05 06

stretched roughly from the mid second to mid

first millennium B.C., clothes were decorated

2000 B.C.

with gold borders.

Cotton from the Indus valley civiliza-

White cloth was preferred, while women used dyed cloth. The ‘vratyas ‘had a preference for

01 02

February 2011

03 04 05

15 16

tion have been proven to have existed 07

1500 B.C.

Phoenician shellfish dye industry

occupied most of the Mediterranean

12 13

29 30

by archaeologists.

region.

23 24 25

W\_\f

dark blue cloth.

642 - 413 B.C. Shoes and sandals were dyed in different colours.

26 27

January 2011

500 B.C. been used around Indus Valley and

001 B.C.

also of cotton fabric and string.

Excavations at Mohenjodaro revealed an

15 16

actual piece of cotton dyed in madder red.

is worn by sindhi muslims and hindu potters.

12 13

April 2011

Nila – Indigo, colour of Krishna, likened to a

23 24

001 B.C.

Cotton plant first discovered in

India.

25 26

004 - 006 A.D.

show influence of the west in textile pat-

terns.

29 30

nuances of colour was developed from Islamic

influences.

17 18

The rajasthani pila or piliya has been associated with spring, blossom or joyful happiness.whrn a child is born the mother or the

a yellow odhni ornamented with a lotus, a symbol of fertility.

Yellow- colour of spring (vasant)

Nila and Myrobalan ochre were the basic co-

indio for dark green, iron shavings with vin-

11 12

24 25

with the addition of pomegranate rind with

egar for black and turmeric for yellow.

015 A.D. Ancient dyeing processes of madder and indigo and the use of the

July 2011

5DŵQ

Ajanta paintings from the post-gupta period

015 A.D.

lours that were to continue till recent times

5ĲƢ]

March 2011

plain and printed cottons.

August 2011

South India made famous for excellent

parents bring a set of clothes which include

21 22

rain filled cloud

013 A.D.

A new delicate – toned palette with infinite

century

The ‘patola’ of gujrat dates back to 5th

Wool may also have been used.

Auzarin and indigo dyed chandrawali odhni

cotton poplin of medium weight is use.

Spindle whorls, presumed to have

IƲ]d8

ZdGƨ

medieval herbs

29 30 31

patterns similar to the ‘plangi’ technique.

007 A.D.

cochineal, lac discovered.

Bishndi- red grounds patterened with black circular forms and black dip dyed edges and yellow veils with red dots are worn by the young mothers to denote that the newborn child is male. Dyeing known to the people

008 A.D.

The bridal costumes included red silk

garments, lac dye on the feet and the

15 16

Red is believed to be a colour evoked between lovers.

manjistha dyed pati.

09 10

30 31 May 2011

descriptions of the bridal costumes in his book ‘Samaraiccakaha’.

dyers to import at low prices.

1488 A.D.

19 05

Discovery of the cape of Good Hope. Opened

up trading to the Fareast. Indigo introduced

so that unwanted colour is discharged to

thus replacing the native Woad.

achieve pure colours and lines. This is worn during gangaur to mark spring.

07 08

1492 A.D.

Discovery of America and colonisation in the 16-17th century gave impetus to dyers.

September

2011

13 14 15 16

In the 14-16th century the Aztec and Maya civilisations used ‘Cochneal’ as a dye (Crimson) dried bodies of insects known as ‘Coceus Cacti’ that lived on a cactus found

in Mexico and Central America.

U_ƫX\

Practiced in jodhpur by the chadwa community where the women tie and the men dye the fabric. This catered

1631-1633 A.D.

to the royalty and used colours like saffron , red and

The East India co. Began importing of

magenta, peela(yellow) for marriage ceremonies, black

Calico from Calicut to England. They

for diwali and phagania for holi.

thought fabric was linen, not cotton.

19 20

22 23

24 25 26 27

December 2011

13 14

1700 A.D. Lac dye was discovered in India.

16 07

04 05

In the 14-16th century the Aztec and Maya civilisations used ‘Cochneal’ as a dye (Crimson) dried bodies of insects known as

09 10

‘Coceus Cacti’ that lived on a cactus found

in Mexico and Central America.

1856 A.D.

Perkins discovered the first chemical

November

26 27

dye. ‘Mauveine’ on silk.

ƑSbƫX\

2011

12 26

2011

21 10

16 27

October

Fine cotton or silk dyed using kaccha dyes

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Writer Haribhadra Suri gives detailed

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Discovery of passage to india enabled

012 A.D.

1377- 1856 A.D.

of Sindh 4500 yrs back.

01 02

Early dyes in india: ccuecuma, safflower,

June 2011 01

ƑbQƫX\

01 Evidences of tie dye in the white circular

23 24 25

26 27 28

28 29 30

29 31

assignment 2 In this assignment we had to do another application of the research which could be an installation or a documentaion form of another aspect of the research. Another aspect of the research included the study of the relation between cmyk and rgb colour gamuts by using wool and the principle of optical mixing. We created different combitnations of percentages of all 4 cyan, magenta, yellow and black to create a range of rgb colours by placing the 4 coloured threads next to each other. We discovered a variety of different percentages or formulae of the 4 colours to obtain a particular rbg colour. This concept has its foundation in the colour cube which represents the relation between rgb and cmyk colours which is inverse in nature. The end product was an informative poster to represent the concept of the colour cube and the use of optical mixing of cmyk colours which give rgb colours.

This attempts to look at the relationship between hues existing in the two colour models. ie. RGB and CMYK. When mixed in equal proportions, two subtractive primary colours produce a secondary colour. Red, green and blue are the secondary colours and black is the combination of all three primary subtractive colours. By physically 'mixing' the threads colored cyan, magenta, yellow and black we understood how through optical mixing new colours were visible and how altering the sequence and proportion of the individual yarns affected the apparent colour. The basic form of a cube was taken and different shades variants of the hue were experimented with.

This assignment attempted to look at the relationship between hues existing in the two colour models. ie:RGB and CMYK when mixed in equal proportions, two subtractive primary colours produce a secondary colour. Red, green and blue are the secondary colours and black is the combination of all three primary subtractive colours. By physically 'mixing' the threads colored cyan, magenta, yellow and black we understood how through optical mixing new colours were visible and how altering the sequence and proportion of the individual yarns affected the apparent colour. The basic form of a cube was taken and different shades variants of the hue were experimented with.

assignment 3 This was a study of a single artwork printed in different resolutions, with varying bit depths and modes. For this we printed a single artwork with resolutions ranging from 300 dpi to 1200 dpi for both cmyk and rgb modes and for different bit depths varying from 1 bit to 32 bit. We discovered that the colours change for the two modes as the rgb gamut is much larger than the cmyk gamut. Also the common printers available limited us to print upto 1200 dpi for cmyk and 300 dpi for rgb modes. We also learnt that for images for 1 bit are only black and white , for 2-4bit are in grey scale and colour is introduced only from 8 bit channels upto 32 bit channels.

convocation

Convocation For convocation we took up the task of reforming the nidus store of which i chose to do informative tags for products on sale. We decided to make them a little more engaging for the buyers by adding brief descriptions of the products, a provision for including the colours in which they could be sold, the price and a lttle about the designer. We chose to use the colour palette of nidus and also explored various yet cost effective ways of making the cards. It was a teious task to create a database for the same. Simultaneously i also contributed to the display window of the discipline which showcases works of students that reflect ideas of the discipline.

visual language

Assignment 1 The task was to find a poem or a song that describes us the best and create a self potrait based on the song or poem. The potrait must represent you as you want the world to see you as. It was challenging to form an idea about myself and give it a form that could be representated on paper. The poem - daffodils helped me to metaphorise certain ideas i posses about and draw them in the most natural and obvious style i was comfortable with. The freedom to use any medium was another added advantage to draw what i wanted the world to see me as and form a baasic identity for myself.

Assignment 2 The task was to execute a self portrait through one of the three styles- baroque, impressionism and surrealism. The portrait must capture both the essence of who you are and the style. Through this portrait I wanted to convey that I am a content person. I am a simple person. I look at the world from its positive side but that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imply that I am unaware of the bad side of it. I imagine my mind as something having entities to reach out to the world and absorbing everything, experience everything. But before I imbibe anything I filter in things that I take in. I felt that surrealism would be the best style to illustrate my idea of myself.

Assignment 3 The task was to execute a self potrait using â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;garbageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; choosen istinctively, reflective of your id.

A Self Portrait Out Of Garbage The idea that I wanted to portray about myself in this particular portrait was that I am a happy person, always trying to look at the world in a positive way. But I am also aware that the world is not always a happy place but in times of crisis I push myself to keep hope and look at situations optimistically. Also I am a direct and a simple person, not very difficult to figure out. I picked up materials that appealed to me instantly, without any planning of how I would put them to use. So I ended up collecting a lot of material such as waste dyed yarn, a used paint can, some waste bamboo, and some texts from the newspapers, price tags, sugar packets, tea cups and pieces of cloth. After I ended up collecting all the material I struggled to put it together to convey what I wanted to. Using the paint can and the range of colourful yarns I put them together in a way that all the threads came together into the paint can and towards the other end the threads were spread in all different directions. This symbolises how my mind accepts what is right and the bright colours symbolise that I look at the brighter side of things. It also depicts the idea I tried to portray in my second portrait that I imagine my mind as an entity trying to reach out to the world and experience everything so that it is able to filter it before taking in anything. I have always been a little uncomfortable with abstract and virtual ideas and I find it difficult to believe that ideas in the virtual are close to reality. Hence, I have always thought of my mind as something in search of everything in its tactile form, something I can experience. The process of creating three self potraits with a layer of certain constraints added at each level, helped us understand the formation of a visual language created for any context. I learnt that a visual language has a core idea for itself around which influences from its surrounding contexts and the future predictions affect its formation.

basic graphic design

Assignment 1 This assignment was an attempt to study the structure of letterforms and integrate them. The possibilites of integrating two forms depended on the characteristics of the forms.The initial process was a lot of explorations at a small scale of letterforms from different typefaces and so on. Through a process of elimination i narrowed down to an integration of two letters namely ‘u’ and ‘f’. After this i looked at several possibilities of using different typefaces , orientations and compositions and again through a similar process of elimination decided upon a single form. Then follwed processes of form refinement and vectorisation until i arrived upon a final result.

Assignment 2 In this assignment we were required to choose an object which was important to us and shoot it from different angles, after which we had to choose an angle that would have some significane of a quality of certain nature and the quality could be associated with a particular issue. The next step was to draw a simplified version only in black and white of the object from a grey scale picture of the object. After a few attempts of simplifying the object into b/w a final one was to be vectorised using a vector software and the image was to be used to make a poster highlighting the issue. for this task i considered options for the objects and ended up choosing a ring. i took pictures of it from a lot of possible yet unusual angles and then went through a process of attaching various attributes to certain angles of the ring.i also studied the symbolism the object in various cultures. after finalising a particular angle i looked at the possible issues that could be highlighted using this image which included domestic violence,preservation of antiques, preservation of tradition, etc. i then simplified the image into a black and white image and vectorised it. this was then used to make a poster highlighting the issue of domestic violence.

TURN YOUR BACK TO THE MESS, MOVE ON

SAVE YOURSELF FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Assignment 3 This assignment was an attempt to design a signage for a particular situation or a problem identified by us in any local or global context. I chose to design safety and precautionary signs for welding areas. After doing a brief research for any pre exsisting signs and references to design the signs I concluded that the most obvious objects to show eye protection for welding was the eye mask used to do welding and for hand protection the welding gloves. The challenge was to simply these the most informative and easy to understand way. The result was a sign saying eye protection (mask) and hand gloves is necessary. I began with an exploratory approach and arrived at two appropriate signs.

introduction to theatre

We were first given a theory input in the hstory of theate and how it evolved and different kinds of threate forms. We also learnt about the technicalities involed in theatre. After this we did a few play readings and attempted to replicate the emotions in our voices during the play readings. A few of us also looked at production which involved creating sets that added to the theme of the play and make the costumes and props of the actors and their make up. The production team also learnt about how sturctures represented abstract ideas in a very physical form or how diiferent usage of the stage emphasized the emotion in the play. The final outcome was a mimed play- hayvadana for which we also did a quick set and some props.

illustration workshop

During our workshop in comic book illustration we got an insight into the process followed in creating both the story and the illustrations for a comic book. We began with a very unexpected exercise in introducing ourselves as some character along with a background for it. After which we were randomly grouped together to form as set of 4-5 objects or characters without any connections. The challenge came after this when we had to build a story with all the characters and refine it till the extend that every character had its history and descriptions resolved. During the process of building the story we also looked at how one character could gain more importance over other and so on which made it more contextual and interesting. We then created story boards for the story with quick sketches of the pages and the frames that it contained.

The final task was to panel out a page from the story and draw thumbnails for the rest. The final page was drawn, inked and coloured and simulated how it would look like in the book. This one week of intensive work in some what actually undergoing the process involved in creating a comic book helped us understand the tedious work involved and made the art more precious. We then explored drawing them out and created mood boards for the story by approching it in a very unusual way like thwoing paint around and drawing little details that we imagined.

open elective digital analouge pendulum

Open elective I took an elective called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;digital analouge pendulumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which looked at a possible theory of shifting between the digital and analouge worlds. The theory proposes that we always shift between the two worlds and strive to strike balance between them. Also both the digital and the analouge affect each other the effects of which are interesting and need to be analysed.It also looked at possible discoveries of combing them to come up with innovative solutions to design problems.

The first task was look at any attempts to combine the two- digital and analouge methods within the range of our design disciplines and share them with the rest of the group. I discovered an interesting project proposal done by firm in mumbai for public signages in mumbai. They studied the symbols used by dabbawallas in mumbai to transport the dabbas from one location to another. The coding system had very interesting and also very contextual meanings to it which makes it very individual to that city. This helped the firm use this semiotic language to create a public signage system to identify all the local train stations and major parts of the city. It was complete system to include this system in various signages like railway station names, bus stops, tickets,etc. This was a good example of how a very analouge method of handpainting certain symbols to identify different locations in the city was taken to a new level by digitising them to serve a purpose at a much greater level.

Next we were to come with concepts that could be hypothetical or ones that could be executed to try and use this theory. After a lot of brainstorming i came with a concept that would help bring back the lost art of diary writing for kids using a very contemporary idea of social networking sites. I proposed to build a set of pages along with other interactive elements inspired by facebook to make ones own diary by adding in elements like stickers, tags, small sections on the page like ‘i like’,

to make

it more interesting for the user to put down his/her experiences. Te final outcome was a dummy of the kit of this diary which i called ‘meezone’.

history of design

This course gave us a deep understanding of the birth of art and design through centuries. We looked at the various important art movements and developments in the feild of design. We also attempted to relate scientefic development and artistic movements to the effect they had on design. Some parts of the course also looked at how these feilds have evolved in india. The study of characteristic features of each period was one of the main objective of this course. We were then asked to pick a topic that related to our design discipline and do an in depth research on the same. The end result of this was a brief presentation to share our understanding and analysis and write a 500 word essay to document the same.

introduction to printing technology

This course introduced us the vast field of printing and the technical yet important aspects of printing. It also gave us an insight into the complex procedure followed to print an artwork and the various factors that affects it. It gave us an overview of the different options of methods of printing and suggestions for which ones are relevant to the different kinds of jobs. It also made us aware of the difference in the view on screen and in print and the precautions to be taken to avoid bad results. The module made us more sensitive to be able to choose the right option to avoid wastage and reduce cost. This course also included field visits and practical knowledge of the most commonly used printing method-offset printing and post press operations including various methods of binding which helped us to understand the theory much better.

typography day 2011

One of the most exciting events of the semester was the typography day 2011. This was a 3 day conference organised by nid which gave us the platform to interact and learn about typography from a lot of people including typographers, graphic designers, professionals and students from various institutes from all over the world. We worked towards planning and organising everything for the event which was a part of the golden jubilee celebrations of nid.I contributed to design the mementos which were to be given to the speakers. After a brief process of brainstorming for ideas we came up with a few ideas of which I chose to build on an idea which was a tin plate hand painted by street painters in truck art style to make it very indian. After analysing various factors such as cost and time we deicided upon a vectorised image of the same neatly framed.

I also contributed to the newsletter ‘typehype’. I took efforts to research for different sections of the newsletter and also wrote an article about the dying art of handpainted street graphics to highlight the pliht of these artist. Another exciting part of working for typehype was live reporting the evnt foor the next day’s newsletter as it gave me a chance to interact with a lot of designers and speakers for the event and share their views.

Alpaviram newsletters

The alpaviram newsletters were three newsletters for each day which were hand written. I took up the task of doing the layouts for each of them and writing them by hand. I worked with a team of students from animation who did illustrations for the same and i worked in coordination with a team of students from film and video communication to publish a newsletter on all 3 days of the south east film festival organised by nid. An interesting part of the process was that i realised the importance team work as none of us could do anything without the consultation of the other. We also figured out a cost effective way of printing the original on brown paper by using electrophotography to save on colour printing.

KHEL

As a part of the nid theatre club - ‘Khel’ I was part of ‘Naam Enclature’ which was a story about names. We performed this play at IIM- ‘chaos’ and also in NID.

in retrospect A step ahead, this semster has given me a little advanced inputs in the feild of graphic design. Most of these have their foundation in the core modules i took previous semester and i tried to link them and form connectons. Courses such as typography 2, colour and form 2, introduction to printing technology, etc made us aware of all the minute details of a graphic design job. This was a founding step somewhere close to how actually jobs are done. Other enrichment courses like visual language and theatre helped me add another layer of depth to the design process. Looking back it has been a very eventful semester full of events which helped me interact with people from various backgrounds and an intensive module in taking a step further from the basic understanding of graphic design.

acknoledgements Course Faculty Gd Batch Sem 4 Bharat Suthar Imanuel Suresh Pragya Mishra Vinu Chaitanya Rohit Keluskar Fazal Thanveer Reuben Disilva Alpaviran Newsletter Team Lalu Kalpesh