Visual Systems

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VISUAL SYSTEMS



Visual Systems Kieran James


Visual Systems BA (hons) Graphic Design Level 5


Contents Page Visual Synthesis

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Brainstorms Initial Research Sound Experiments Ink Experiments Cutting the Pipes Our System Critical Evaluation

4 7 8 10 14 19 20

Industry Visits

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Research into Industry Industry List/Questions Critical Evaluation

26 27 28

Wayfinding

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Brainstorms Initial Research Initial Development Testing Light Streams Brownsea Island Photoshoot Final Vector Signs Final Designs Exhibition Critical Evaluation

32 34 36 38 40 43 44 46 48

Subvet

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Brainstorms Research Creating the Adverts Final Pieces Critical Evaluation

52 54 56 60 66

Visual Crypsis

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Brainstorms Research Further Research Development Homeless Photoshoot Further Development Final Experimentations Final Designs Social Awarness Campaign Making the Video Critical Evaluation

70 72 74 76 78 82 85 87 90 94 96

Display Book

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Initial Book Designs Perfect Binding Final Designs Critical Evaluation

100 102 104 106

Type Rules

109

Initial Ideas Final Design Final Book

110 112 114

Final Critical Evaluation

116

Bibliography

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A Collaboration between: Myself Charles Rodriguez Ravina Patel Christiana Wilson Will Curtiss

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Assignment 1: Visual Synthesis “...the systems approach involves the pursuit of truth (science) and its effective use (technology), plenty (economics), the good (ethics and morality), and beauty and fun (aesthetics).� Russell L. Ackoff

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Brainstorms

initial brainstorms, looking at what type of data i can record

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a brainstorm that looks deeper into the aub campus and how people interact with it.

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my recorded data, and trying to define a system and visualise the data.

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Initial Research From my Brainstorms I had 3 mains ideas that I wanted to work with. The first being an interactive map streaming the sound live from the AUB campus and representing it as colour or patterns. My second idea was to take forensic samples from round the AUB campus and using a microscope to get a snapshot of cells and bacteria, I thought this would provide a alternate look at the campus. My third idea was using to use tracking apps on peoples phones to see how they interact with the uni and find the most popular areas of the campus at different times throughout the day. I decided to go run with the sound idea and do some research into it and start to record my own data, I initially sat in certain parts of the AUB campus at various times and download a decibel meter on my phone and recorded the decibel data for 30 minute periods. I then took this data and opened it in the application numbers on my mac and made a graph using all the data. The problem was because there was so much data the graph it produced was massive and unusable as it crashed my mac every time I tried to make any changes to it or explore a certain part of the data. So I realised that I needed to record smaller amounts of data at frequent intervals throughout the day to see some sort of patterns among the data.

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Sound Experiments

My group then showed me some recordings they did with a programme called Audacity, and the way he visually represented the data was a lot more interesting, as he produced spectrograms.

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Sound Recordings

library

refectory

uh113

uh104a

I then downloaded the Audacity programme and re recorded the data but just did 5 second recordings at different times throughout the day in 5 buildings on campus so it produced a snapshot recording of one day on the AUB campus rather than the live stream I wanted before.

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Ink Experiments I then had the idea play the recorded sound through a speaker which I had squirted some ink onto and record it in slow motion and take frames of the video and use the ink patterns as visual representation of the data. We then had a group tutorial in which we showed the data I recorded and the ink patterns I had recorded and Will showed the ones he did, I thought that this would be enough for us to start making the final piece but we needed a system to apply to this data to then work on the idea. We then met after the tutorial to come up with a system for our data, and decided that if we play the recorded sounds through the speakers again but have paper underneath the speaker with a circular grid drawn out on it so we could record the data and see the spread of ink and then use these grids as our system. We then wrote our system down as ‘Using the average spread pattern from the ink experiment as a “grid”, we will identify concentrated areas, and represent the data using metal pipes to create an abstract wind chime.’ We decided that the final exhibition piece could be a wind chime because we thought that the final piece could have sound linked in in some way, due to the fact that our data was recordings of sound. We did some experiments with rolled up paper and thread to get a sense of what the final piece would look like.

playing the library recording through my speaker 10


I produced the ink splatter pieces from my sound recordings, I produced individual measurements from individual room recordings and also one grid with splatters from all rooms, with different colour inks representing different rooms. We ended up using the piece of paper with all the ink splatters from all the rooms recordings ink on it, and drew round the concentrated areas of ink on tracing paper. We then used the different diameters of the circles to come up with three size thicknesses that we would represent using three different sized metal pipes.

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prototype of wind chime using paper to get a rough idea of how the final thing will look. 12


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Cutting the Pipes When they arrived we went to the workshop and used hacksaws to cut them down to size, and then drilled holes in the top so we could place the string through to hang them. Once all the string was threaded through and cut to the right length we were ready to start hanging them from the ceiling, but then we hit a problem as we were then told we wouldn’t be allowed to place that many holes into the studio ceiling. So we had to find a piece of board and that we could use to replace one of the ceiling tiles that we could drill into and let it hang in the studio. Once we found one Charles and Will went back over to the workshop to drill holes into the board in the same places as the concentrated areas of ink so the pipes would hang in the right position.

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After that was done it was just the case of threading the string through the board in the right places and getting it to hang evenly. We then had to remove a ceiling tile in the studio and replace it with our wooden board, untangle any strings and open the door to let the wind blow the wind chime and produce a sound that was representative of the AUB campus.

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threading the string through the board and building the windchime in the graphics studio.

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the final windchime buildt and installed in the studio

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Our System: ‘Using the average spread pattern from the ink experiment as a “grid”, we will identify concentrated areas, and represent the data using metal pipes to create an abstract wind chime.’ 19


Critical Evaluation For this project I focused on the sound of the AUB campus, recording sound from different rooms and buildings throughout the campus. Which I then played through a speaker covered in ink, and measured the concentration of areas of ink. We then took this data and represented it as a wind chime which we then hung in the Graphics Studio and the sound that was produced by the wind chime was representative of the sound of AUB mixed with the randomness of the wind. I have developed my conceptual thinking on this project and grasping what a system is and how its useful to define it and apply it to data. Also working in a team and taking on others ideas and working with them to come up with the best answer to the brief. My strengths in this project are the execution of our idea, creating something that is aesthetically pleasing, with good material selection that was appropriate to the system we made. It also relates back to the original data collection method of sound. Also the development of the idea was strong and diverse, we didn’t jump to the first idea, and when we were developing we kept pushing the idea, as the ink splatter patterns could have been enough as a date visualisation system, but we pushed it to create something different and relevant to our initial date collection. My weaknesses with this project was as much as we developed the wind chime idea, we should have looked more into the different sound it would make depending on other factors, not just due to the thickness of the pipe but also the length and how we could have applied another set of data to determine this factor and thus developed it further. To improve on this project I think I need to place it into an environment probably the AUB campus and see how the campus and people interact with it. Also develop in into an installation piece that people could interact with it and would make sound not based off of wind but the people of AUB and how they interact with it. This would involve fun theory, the idea that because its fun and interactive you could encourage people do more with it. To do this I would need to research into appropriate materials that would be cheap to make big 8 ft tubes that would still make sound when hit together but also be safe for people to interact with and not injure them.

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Project Development after Critique

I developed the wind chime idea further by placing it into an environment that was relevant, the AUB campus. I made some some mockups of how I feel it could work and feel as an interactive piece, which the people of AUB interact with the piece to create a new sound of AUB.

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A Collaboration between: Myself Tammy Johal Alexandros Kosmidis James Marshall Adam Hassen Akira Mimasu

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Assignment 2: Industry Visits & Research “I feel the designer’s role has changed in recent years from one of creating beautiful forms or clear identification for brands to one where the designer himself visualizes the possibilities of an industry.” Kenya Hara

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Research into Industries

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Final Industry List

Questions to Ask

1. graphic thought facility 23–24 Easton Street London WC1X 0DS T. +44 20 7837 2525 E. info@graphicthoughtfacility.com

What piece of work or project has been your favorite since working at GTF?

2. why not 22c shepherdess walk london N1 7LB T. +44 (0)20 7253 2244 E. info@whynotassociates.com 3. biblioteque 10–16 Scrutton Street London EC2A 4RU T. +44 (0) 20 7377 8060 E. studio@bibliothequedesign.com 4. wearegood 5 Cowcross Street London EC1M 6DW T. +44 (0)203 394 1558 E. hello@wearegood.com

What were the biggest changes to the way you worked in college/uni to the way you work now? What are the main differences between working for a corporate company like M&S or Habitiat, to working for museums like the design museum or tate? Are you working on anything really exciting at the moment which you could give us a sneak preview of? What would you say is unique to GTF? What is the difference between your first clients and the ones you have now?

5. big fish 11 Chelsea Wharf, 15 Lots Road, London SW10 0QJ T. +44(0)20 7795 0075 E. studio@bigfish.co.uk

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Critical Evaluation We visited Graphic Thought Facility (GTF), a London-based graphic design agency for our industry visit. It was founded in 1990 by Royal College of Art graduates Paul Neale, Nigel Robinson and Andrew Stevens. We met with Andrew Stevens for our visit which was a surprise talking with one of the cofounders, when I thought we would have someone who was lower down the companies ladder to deal with some students. This showed us that they are really passionate about design and future designers as Andrew was directly involved. We spoke for an hour an a half in their studio, and was really interesting to see and hear all about the studios work over the years and how they’ve progressed and how the company came about, what sort of work they do the most and how Andrew sees things in terms of design. I wanted to visit GTF as they are diverse with their design style and areas of design, so I felt I could find something that reminds me of my work as well as looking to branch out into other styles and see how they fit in with studios body of work. The studio was not that big and didn’t look like much from the outside, and even when we got into the studio it was quite a small simple room, with a a few desks and iMacs. There was a small meeting area surrounded by a bookcase wall of art and design books and another one with some of the studios work. The meeting we had with Andrew Stevens was very informal and more of a conversation rather than an interview with us asking questions. He just asked us what sort of things we were interested in and what we wanted to know and he just spoke and grabbed examples of work that they’d produced to illustrate what he was saying. Which was a real insight into the company as a lot of the work we had already seen from out research into the studio but we got his commentary and thought process of the work as we were looking at it, giving us a greater understanding of the work. If I had the meeting again or for future industry visits, I would like to get more involved with the conversation and ask more about their influences and who they’d really like to work with and what designers and artist they are currently following and what they like about their work.

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A Collaboration between: Myself & Jeevan Panesar

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Assignment 3: Wayfinding “To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit: it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. To design is to transform prose into poetry.� Paul Rand

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Brainstorms

From my brainstorms and initial research the idea that I felt had most potential was the nature trails for Brownsea Island. My initial ideas for the nature trails was to have a environmentally friendly signage system for the island to help visitors navigate round, while helping he conservation for the red squirrel. Or a time based signage system that let you know how long it would take to walk to different sections of the island depending on your location, so you wouldn’t miss the ferry and be stuck on the island for the night.

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some initial sketches, trying to work out the logistics of the wayfinding system.

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Initial Research

But when I looked into Brownsea Island more, they already had a simple signage system and the advice they gave in regard to the squirrels was to leave them be and not feed them. So I needed a new angle and upon further research I found that Brownsea Island was and is the home place of the scouts, with the original scout camp being on the island.

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some initial research images from brownsea island, showing existing signs and totem pole-esque makers from visiting scout groups

I then decided to do a one off camp event for scouts to take place on Brownsea Island in the summer of 2015, and part of the camp would be a way finding adventure trail. I did some research into the sort of camps that scouts go on and what sort of things they do and navigation skills was part of it yet it seemed quite technical and boring, so I wanted to come up with a way of making it more fun yet still testing the scouts way finding skills. I looked into multi sensory signs and how blind and deaf people navigate through cities, and thought the same techniques could help me with my way finding trail.

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Initial Development

sketches of ideas for the scout badge and the making of the touch wayfinding wood blocks.

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final scout badge design.

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Testing Light Streams

We got an LED light and a camera, and took a photos with a slow shutter speed to test out some light stream photos and see what it would look like to have different types of lighting in the forest. We tried small lights positioned on the floor and long light streams that looked like rope lighting. The light streams look more aesthetically pleasing but were too strong to actually be used for way finding as would be too obvious, where as small lights on the floor that were activated by sensor would be a lot more practical and challenging. As we thought the light would turn off as you got to it activating the new one which would slowly lead through the adventure trail.

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Brownsea Island Photoshoot We focused on the five main senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell, and split the trail into 5 sections and each sense would feature predominantly in each section of the trail. As this was the scouts we wanted to keep the mediums that we used to make the adventure trail to be simple, environmentally friendly, and non technical. So for sight we wanted to use lights and I looked at non toxic glow in the dark paint as well solar power lights. For smell I found some 100% natural, bio-degradable smelling powders, that also have a really strong vibrant colours. For sound we looked at wind up stereo system, or even more natural nut casings scattered along a path that would crunch when walking on letting the scout know they were on the right path. For taste we wanted something fun and also provide the scouts with a bit of energy so thought about having a small clue set in a jelly in the shape of a squirrel to represent Brownsea Island. And for touch have carved wooden blocks in the shape of arrows stuck on trees that would have to be felt in the dark to find the correct direction to go in.

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a photoshoot where we tested out our whole multi-sensory trail for the first time.

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initial sketches of the wayfinding signs, to let the scouts know which sense to use.

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Final Vector Signs We created signs to go along with each section of the trail, with a symbol of which sense you had to use for the following section of the trail, we painted them with black paint first, then a glow in the dark layer so that the signs could be seen during the night when the majority of the adventure trail would take place.

the final vector signs used to depict what sense to use.

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Final Designs

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the final poster to advertise the event to scouts.

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Exhibition We set up the exhibition showing a selection of the multi sensory clues and had photos of them working in their environment, along with a poster design for the event. We also had a map of the island with the route planned out and where each sense came into play.

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the exhibition, showing a small selection of the work that was on show that day.

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Critical Evaluation For this project I created a one off camping event for scouts that takes place on Brownsea Island and uses multi sensory clues to test the scouts wayfinding abilities to navigate a set path round the island. We focused on the five main senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. I feel that we achieved a strong wayfinding system that was clear and suited to its audience. I learnt to take on a lot of the work and do all the initial research and idea generation by myself, as for half of my project my group was absent, so had to take on all of the work load. I also learnt about way finding systems and how people navigate round and when signs and directions are needed and when they’re not. My strengths for this project was the fun aspect of the normal, boring map skills and navigation aspects of the scouts. Also the Multi sensory aspects of the adventure trail were strong as it was a different technique to the wayfinding problem. Also the design we did for the scouts was modern and cool, which isn’t what people associate with the scouts, but from our research we found that this is there new approach to design and social media and I feel we emulated it well. The weaknesses with the project was that because of the multi sensory aspect, it felt quite separated from each other and there was a clash of styles, so if I had more time I would have refined the design and kept the style universal, so it all worked harmoniously together. Also the function-ability of the adventure trail would depend on the weather, as any rain or strong wind may interrupt the course on the part of the trail that rely’s on our weaker senses like smell and sound. To improve on this I could incorporate more naturally occurring things like the position of stars, to help navigate, but this would also depend on weather. Also I could make it simpler and make it so its on a smaller scale for young children and package it up to be sold, so parents could buy it and set it up for their children in their garden, like an easter egg hunt.

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final exhibition pieces, showing all multi sensory clues

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Assignment 4: Subvert “There is a better way to do it. Find it.” Thomas A. Edison

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Brainstorms

I started looking at various brands associated with the starting points from my brainstorms, and after initial research into each one I made a list of areas and brands that I wanted to explore further and what their subversion of their brand had been.

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my initial list of areas i found interesting, i decided to go for hugo boss and produced some development sketches.

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Research I decided quickly on Hugo Boss and their association with the Nazi party from 1931, designing both the SA and SS Nazi uniforms, using French and Polish prisoners of war as forced labour for producing these garments. I felt that this association was relatively unknown by the general public so I wanted to design an advertising campaign substituting Hugo Boss models with well known members of the Nazi party such as Hitler and Goebbels.

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hilter and nazi uniforms, to play around and have fun with. also some hugo boss adverts to manipulate.

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Creating the Adverts I initially played around and manipulated some existing Hugo Boss adverts, by cutting out Hitlers head and placing it over the existing adverts. I also changed the aftershave featured in the advertisement by calling it ‘fascism’ and played on the tagline of the advert. Also I manipulated some of the suits and created modern versions of the famous brown shirts, as if the Nazi’s had won the war and this sort of clothing was common place. spoof hugo boss adverts, subverting the sophistication and class by replacing the models heads with hitler.

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double page advert showing a modern look at the nazi sa uniform.

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the hugo boss logo with the ‘o‘ replaced with a swastika.

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Final Pieces

I ended up looking at GQ’s ‘Men of the Year’ edition of the magazine, sponsored by Hugo Boss, which named Tony Blair as Philanthropist of the year 2014, a questionable award for a man responsible for the deaths of many in the middle east while in power. So produced a subverted edition of the GQ section, ‘Men of the Year 1933’ featuring well known Nazi members and their relevant ‘awards’.

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double page advert showing a modern look at the nazi sa uniform.

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double page feature hitler being the man of 1933.

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Critical Evaluation For this project I looked at the fashion brand Hugo Boss and their association with the Nazi party, designing both the SA and SS Nazi uniforms. I designed an advertising campaign substituting Hugo Boss models with well known members of the Nazi party such as Hitler and Goebbels. I then ended up looking at GQ’s ‘Men of the Year’ edition of the magazine, sponsored by Hugo Boss and produced a subverted edition of GQ’s annual section, ‘Men of the Year 1933’ featuring well known Nazi members and their relevant ‘awards’ with the relevant adverts. I learnt a lot about companies and what they hide, whether it being a despicable past, lying about what is in their products, unethical practice or false advertising claims, and how they hide such things about them. The strengths of my project was the concept and that it fitted together well with, not only the design and mock adverts featuring hitler, but the use of colours and the way I used it to emulate Nazi propaganda, just a modern take on it. Also the final outcomes not only where they aesthetically pleasing, professional and humorous, but it subverted the GQ ‘Men of the Year’ section well, not just by copying what they’ve previously done but using their style to recreate and mock the whole idea of it. The weakness with this work was some of the layouts were slightly off with some of the body text being hard to read and also a lot of the body text was lorem ipsum filler text as I didn’t have enough time to write original body copy for the magazine layouts. To develop this work I just need to sort some of the body text out by altering the layout and slightly moving some of the images, also I could write some more body text out that subverts the concept even further, so its not just the design subverting the brand.

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final subvertion exhibition piece, a gq mock magazine layout for ‘men of the year 1933’

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A Collaboration between: Myself Jeevan Panesar Tammy Johal

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Assignment 5: Visual Crypsis “Any system was a straightjacket if you insisted on adhering to it so totally and humourlessly.� Erica Jong

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Brainstorms

From my brainstorm I had a few ideas that I wanted to run with, the cold activated floor panels to warn people thats it may be icy seemed the strongest idea to go with. I wanted an element that changed due to some sort of variable, whether it be interaction from someone, or a naturally occurring element like sunlight of time.

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initial brainstorms looking at my previous systems, crypsis and elements that change.

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Research We started to research into thermochromic ink and heat activated paper, to find out the best way to achieve this and if it was even possible. We found a lot of information and found out that using thermochromic ink you can make ink disappear when it gets below certain temperatures, like the cold activated graphics on the coors light bottles and cans.

inital research images, looking at elements that change due to a variable.

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Further Research We then had the idea to go look at homeless people and how during the winter they are out on the street in freezing conditions. We were all aware that homelessness in bournemouth is a bigger problem than other places in the UK based on the large number of them you see. We found out that bournemouth has one of the highest populations of Homeless people outside of London. We initially wanted to make the council aware of this and make them do something about it, but upon further research, we found out it already does quite a bit and spend almost ÂŁ2 million a year on tackling this problem. So we decided to go bigger and force the government to make a change and finally sort out homelessness in a big western country, our goal is to inspire people to sign a petition online and raise awareness among the general public.

existing up to date ad campaings from the homeless charity crisis and their logo.

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homelessness statisics and a banksy piece looking at the long term solution of homelessness.

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Development

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research into thermochromic ink and initial sketches. also idea development and functionality.

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Homeless Photoshoot

some photos from a photoshoot round bournemouth town centre looking at homeless people.

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Further Development

When doing our initial development and sketches we focused on three areas that we see homeless people, benches, sitting against sides of buildings and lying on the floor. This got too complex and with too many areas to focus on so we chose just to focus on benches and people interacting with them to reveal the message.

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initial bench sketches and trying to work out a message to place on the bench.


idea development of the shape of the revealed area once it has become visible from the body heat

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development of text on benches by using a chair and printing type on to it, to give us an idea of perspective.

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Final Experimentations We found some thermochromic ink that turns clear when warmed above 20C so the would be activated from peoples body heat. So we designed a a bench filled with homelessness statistics and would paint it with the thermochromic ink, so it looked like a normal bench until someone sat on it for a couple minutes and the ink started to turn clear and reveal the image underneath.

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final developments of our ideas, with other locations aswell as benches.

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Final Designs

sketches for the final design of the graphic to go on the bench, working out spacing.

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final sketch and photoshop version of the final design.

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Social Awareness Campaign

the social media page mock ups adding to the realism of an actual campaign to fight homelessness.

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the final design placed into more locations.

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Making the Video

We then filmed people interacting with the bench and created a video for the homeless charity Crisis to be shared online as part of an online campaign to help homeless people this christmas, inspiring change.

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video plan sketch, to help me visualise the final online video.


screengrabs from imovie and the final video, showing the development of the video.

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Critical Evaluation For this project we looked at the Homeless problem in Bournemouth, and how its one of the highest populations of Homeless people outside of London. We decided to focus on the government to make a change. Our goal was to inspire people to sign a petition online and raise awareness among the general public, by designing a heat sensitive bench that reveals homeless statistics when sat on. Which we then filmed people interacting with it and created a video for the homeless charity Crisis to be shared online as part of an online campaign to help homeless people this christmas. I learnt more about working in a productive small group than I had before and how as there were only three of us we could work as a close group and meet and build on ideas and develop together, but it often felt as we couldn’t completely delegate separate section of the project to each other, so it felt as if we were all working on the same work and just picking the best outcomes. The strengths of this project was the concept using heat sensitive ink to reveal a message when interacted with, especially as the user didn’t know they had interacted with it until after the message was revealed. Also the context of it being on a bench which a lot of people associate with homeless people sleeping on, so an appropriate location. The weaknesses were that functionality of the bench and the fact that people may not look down to read the statistics and that the only section that will be revealed to them would be the section that they sat down on. Also the fact that after the person stands up the text on the bench would start, albeit slowly, to fade away and disguise itself as a normal bench again. To develop this project I would need to experiment with thermochromic ink in different temperatures and locations to see how they react. Also find a way that it would show up at night when a lot of homeless people are settling down for the night so become more visible, as I feel this would affect people on a more personal level and make them want to make a change more.

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Assignment 6: Display Book “The grid system is an aid, not a guarantee. It permits a number of possible uses and each designer can look for a solution appropriate to his personal style. But one must learn how to use the grid; it is an art that requires practice.� Josef Muller-Brockmann

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Initial Book Designs

my initial book sketches, working out grids and type sizes. I started with some initial sketches of my book design and quickly decided on 210mm x 210mm layout with a 3mm bleed and a 5 column grid. I did this as square books have a nice balanced feel, and you can produce big image spreads as well as simple spreads with body copy and nice white space. I chose Helvetica Neue at 8pt for my body text fitted to a baseline grid with 10pt spacing and Futura Medium at 18pt for my header text, as I am not a fan of oversized headers as they normally cause more problems with spacing and line length. Using my 5 column grid I will use a maximum of 3 columns for body copy as I can get about 60-80 characters per line, as this isn’t too much on the eye.

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I drew out a quick page plan just to try and visualise and organise my content and get a rough idea of how many pages I will be using. I feel that this helped me to pick what content I felt was necessary and cut out all irrelevant content. Since I drew this out I have changed the page plan and cut out a lot of pages as my book was heading towards 150 pages and I want my book to be a concise recording of my journey for this project. I am aiming for about for approximately 100 sides.

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Perfect Binding I decided to perfect bind my book, as I felt a nice simple, clean binding would be appropriate, for the style of my book. I also like the simple wrap a round cover and cutting it so its flush with the edges of the paper. I did a session of Perfect Binding to refresh my memory of how to do it, so I don’t make any mistakes on my final book.

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Final Designs I have taken inspiration from International Typographic Style and Swiss Style for my layout and font choice as I feel that sans-serifs are nicer to read and to look at and I like the simple clean layouts of Swiss Style books such as Grid Systems by Muller-Brockmann and Typographie by Emil Ruder.

screen grabs from my indesign showing my design process and working toward the final design.

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Critical Evaluation For my display book I selected a 210mm x 210mm layout with a 3mm bleed and a 5 column grid. I chose this as I have made a square book before and it is a comfortable size which allows for big full page images with room for nice balanced body text with a nice line length of about 60-80 characters at 8pt type. I chose Futura Medium at 18pt for my header text and Helvetica Neue at 8pt for my body text fitted to a baseline grid with 10pt spacing, so that the body content doesn’t feel too tight, and has room for each line to flow onto the next. I have taken inspiration from International Style and Swiss Style for my layout and font choice as I feel that sans-serifs are nicer to read and to look at. When making this book I struggled with organising my content and ordering it in a way that tells a story, also the hierarchy of content, such as what I should include where and what should take precedence over other content. Also finding a nice balance between text and image so it doesn’t feel too heavy either way. My strengths with this book is the work that I’m including as I feel all the work I’ve produced this year so far has been strong bodies of work. Also the general design of the book, as I feel that it is has a uniform style and looks consistent throughout. My weakness with this book is that with earlier projects I hadn’t documented it as well as I could have and a lot of my research and initial idea generation was not written down or on loose paper which was lost. For my next project I am going to keep a sketchbook so that all my work is documented and in order, which will help me build more of a consistent journey when reflecting back.

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A Collaboration between: Level 5 BA (hons) Graphic Design

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Type Rules A collabarative project to create a type rules book outlining the type do’s and dont’s

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Initial Ideas

For the type rules book my group was given Vertical Letters and Explore Your Fonts. Firstly I drew out some ideas playing around with the idea of vertical letters and writing everything vertically so it became unreadable to illustrate the point that vertical letters is a bad idea. I then moved onto explore you fonts and with this I thought about displaying the same word in about 12 fonts so it would have a practical use as you could use it to find a good font that was relevant to a project. I played around with different style and have the word greyed out with the font name and a bit of information about said font worked quite nicely.

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initial sketches and development of our section of the type book, with my fisrt indesign mockup.

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Final Design

We then displayed all of our work out in a group and picked the best elements of each bit of work and decided on a final design, we just then had to produce it on indesign. After we did this we just had the last odd edits to sort out and then sent it to Ben Gilpin and Sam Brown, who compiled all of Level 5’s into the final type rules book, called ‘Can You Read This!’

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our final designs of our type rules section, along with the final pages in the book.

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Final Critical Evaluation For this Visual Systems unit, I have achieved a vast amount of work in only a small period of time. Achieving 6 assignments, a collaborative type rule book and a collaborative pop up shop project with Visual Communication. I have worked in groups and independently, giving a nice mix of workloads, I feel my outcomes for each project have been strong and my research and development has been intensive. During this project I have had to learn about systems and learn how to think more conceptually. Wrapping my head round systems was one the hardest things about this project as I had never used of identified a system before and I was thinking too deep into the concept of systems, rather than keeping it it simple and just defining a few elements of my project that it would have to adhere to and building my system from there. I didn’t realise at first that a system could be anything that had defined terms or rules such as a colour system or a grid system. My strengths with this project were the final outcomes, as I feel after a lot of work and conceptual thinking I got my head around the briefs and always had a good concept, and executed the design to a professional level. Also I feel for each project my research had been in depth and from a range of sources, I wasn’t afraid to venture out and capture primary research like photography. Also I wasn’t afraid to try new things out and experiment with materials, such as with the Visual Synthesis project and the wind chime we made from scratch. My weaknesses with this whole projects was documentation of my work, as I didn’t keep a sketchbook and just did stuff on loose paper, so a lot of it was in the wrong order and some of it was lost, so there was more research and development I had but I couldn’t include in my book. Also after my critiques I should have developed my projects further from the feedback I got from tutors and peers, but I didn’t have time and only managed to develop the Visual Synthesis project, and Subvert, but that was because there wasn’t much to develop, just sorting out some type and layouts. To improve on this unit I would like to have made more physical mockups of final pieces, like I did in the Visual Synthesis project with the wind chime, as it looked more aesthetically pleasing just generally nicer to see it like that rather than a photoshopped mockups thats printed, for example the Visual Crypsis project. Actually using thermochromic ink and applying our design to a bench in town centre would have just worked a lot better than photoshopping our design onto a bench.

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