Poster- making of

I starded  to fixate the parameters, measurements and the main orizontals and verticals as I usually did  normally  in an project for athitecture.First I started to experiment which shape would suit  the island better in google sketch up by constructing platform connected by stairs as that would be the  skeleton of the construction,.I saw the word as an intreg And I did not treat each lelev separtly as the whole complex shold be link together not only by the style and arhitecture but also it shold be balanced and flow smothly .
One of the mai priorities was to find an angle that  will present the best features of the construction and lighten the most favorable part of it but still show the action on both sides , the reality on a side and the concet on the other.However the distracting element, the stars had to be enought tonned dow'n not to incarca the composition but clear enought to confer the concept of the passage between the word, You cold descend deeper in to the word level but the route you chose can infuence the experiences .The stairs system is meant to explore the reality ideea of decadere and they are not fulfilling the the usual  task .moreover the function part is not enphasisesed, there is not a plain clean route created by them but rather and descriptiv one :In life there is not a straight road, not even to damnation.

 My original ideea was o make each staircase from 12 stairs but that failed on the designing part, the clear number and stif format took away from the expresivity of the word so I had to erase that semnification and see them as mere gater thruthe others realm.
colorless,shapeless. an nd without any identity or accent the staircase are a reflection of the enviroment.The building are shattering them, the plant broke out from thei shape and people don't pay anyattention to them.They are the siple personification of the road in life , you don't notice your rod to shcool ,you just walk and look around, you don't even pay attention to the pavaj while you are on your way to an interviw.Just imagine how important is only the presence of him , you are constructing your future, walking and standing on concry on gorund, on a surface without a face, patata  by the environmen. This surfce is suporting your steps between you and your goals, life ,future, however is faceless, If al the passages in life will just give up, thnk about alunecari de teren,cutremure then we would be trraped in a single place, helpless and not being abble toinainta.
Humans are creatures of the ground.however we could not care less abut that. Our path in life is constructed on mere ground in reality and projected in our thoughts.
In concusion we walk on meaningless surface without a  personality thru our next stages in life,so the stairs, the impersonarea of the path is faceless as well ,shaped only by the sourendings


STEP2
Drawing
I started by fixing 2 puncte de fuge and tracing guide lines . and delimitating the margini  with a brief image of the word silueth then with the help of wo rullers and aA mecannic pen I draw a perspective of the levels ,connecting them by a system of stairs that were only on the designing stage ,as The stairs had to complete the drawing by linking each level but not no distract the viwe.
In order to make the image more expresive I moved the points closer together and I starded to exagerate certain areas making them pop.
After finishing the construction I took a short break and I let it all settle in ,taking my eyes from the paper a while In order to be able to coe back later and see it with a more obiectiv eyes. Along the year I leared how not to be attached by my work and see it as an outsider, as how my public will se it.Is the final product clear enought to transmit the chosed message but mysterious enought to make the viwer reseach more, is is powerfull enought , will it iese in evidenta  from the others.
After 20 minutues I came back and notice  some impotant pagination mistakes,I took some time to take a coloured pen and tace the modification ,as well as shifting the whole silueth to the right more, as the middle part was to veavy I needed a balance in the top part,a balance that will be only made by coulour and tones.This was not just a matter of how the word will present itself and by aestetic but follow a strict pattern and a concept, the 7 sin , the deeper you go in the word levles the more mesmarasing it should be as the oal was not to let the person leave and  imata his senses .By manipulating him with the wonder of the sins the indivudual  would be made to think that this is his own option and chose to wonder deeper and deeeper in to the word.Once you descend more the harder is to come back to the first level and  escape this odd labyrint

Step 3
Photoshop
After Scanning the word skeleton in the different part, top middle viw and the bottom due the large format of the page I reconstructed the drawing on a new page.The goal was to keep the quality as hight as possible so later I cuted the page in 4 equal part and I refined each part in parte to make the process quiker and allow my computer to work on optimal viteza.
Afer cleaning and curing the page of all the extra and useless lines I started to put together all the other already prepared arhitectural emlement ,from the human silueths to the building and trees and   find a saisfaing placement for each.The whole composition was alcatuita while the page was not yeat impartita.

Intros and Abstracts

Intros and Abstracts

This Wednesday Seminar with James Dyer was about Intros and abstracts.After a comprehensive recap of  the last subject,genealogy , a recapitulation more then welcomed because I always fell like I forget  some of the past information wile making space for new ones,we started to a quick task.As the last time,the task should be completed in teams of  2-5 members,however I took the time to remake it by myself as soon as I got home because sometimes I enjoy working alone and developing my own way of approaching a brief.I feel like usually we expect one of our team member to help us or to ''steal'' from her or his experience in order to cover our lack of  creativity or other attributes. Although nowadays skills related to team work and socialization are critical I consider that the only way to develop yourself as an artist in by focusing on working alone and being able to be independent, I work on being an graphic designer that  will make his own textures,prints,images,fonts and so on.

We had to compare our notes from last week and make a list of at least 5 keywords from the seminar,also we had to compose a definition  for at least one word.Also if we don't have a keyword that is mentioned  we should make a note of it and document it on our blogs.

NOT YET UPDATED

Abstract Writing

Abstract is a term related to an art that does not attempt to represent external reality,but rather seek to achieve its effect using shapes,colors ,texture and vague description.Abstract concept don't have a clear shape and can be interpreted different from person to person as beauty, as well as not having a strict definition the abstract expression can take any form.In literature an abstract is a short description of an intellectual resource and when writing one is important to remember its purposes ,as providing reader with useful information about a document as well as helping them evaluate and select a document that they would find attractive   

The ABCs of a good abstract:

  Accuracy–a good abstract includes only information included in the original document

  Brevity–a good abstract gets straight to the point, contains precise language, and does not include superfluous adjectives

  Clarity–a good abstract does not contain jargon or colloquialisms and always explains any acronyms

Task

Next we had to write an abstract about 250-500 words, ideally related to something that could help us with our studio proposal.As inspiration we took a look at the the black comedy Withnail and I abstract and we had to make observation about they writing style, quality and content.

Two scruffy looking men argue over the content of a bowl, one seems agitated and the other nervous. In retaliation, the more confident of the two threatens to do the washing, it sounds disastrous in the kitchen. They fear there may be a rat amongst the growing mould and decay which clogs the sink—a cleaning task not to be taken lightly. After the more proactive of the two burns his hand on the kettle, the dazed men seem both hesitant and determined to investigate their littered kitchen. For the sake of their civility gloves are donned, and pliers are wielded for protection against rodents. Their energy subsides as they find an innocuous lump of “matter” in the sink, prompting a tired and withered looking man to declare: “I feel unusual, I think we should go outside”.

A strong open will make the reader interested and wake in her/him the thirst of wanting to know more:

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. —Sylvia Plath,The Bell Jar (1963)

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. —William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. —Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)

We watching short pieces of movies for references,like Casablanca (1942)-to explicate clipped writing and its effect on the viewer ,as well as following were does the dialogue take us and what does it reveal.Moreover in order to create intrigue the dialogue should not be too fast,but full of content and should be used as a tool of developing a character and his relationships .

NOT YET UPDATED

Typography Seminar

In this seminar we had to concept and draw three typefaces on post on notes ,each one of us were assigned with three letters and had 15 minutes to finish them.I always liked typography so it was a fun exercise to invent a quick yet interesting style of each one however I wish I had more time so I took this ''homework'' back home and redesigned the letters.

The first letters I did were inspired by nature,I was looking thru the window at the landscape and because it was autumn the trees looked amazing so I thought that if I could transmit this environment in to my typefaces that would be enough for time limit. Unfortunately  my phone battery died so I could not take some close us pictures of the final result however I asked someone else to make some quick shoots of the entire letters range.

Below are some of the picture from the class together with my little sketches of the remarked letters

NOT YET UPDATED

Infographic Timeline Seminar

 PROBLEM SOLVING

Design & Communication; Exploring ways to interpret facts and observations through

INFORMATION GRAPHICS:

The designer is an observer, problem solver and illustrator of information…

Simplifying complex data to convey understanding through memorable design

- an essential skill for visual communicators.

Powerful and disturbing facts can use the language of information graphics  to emphasis important elements in new  and interesting ways. Although information graphics is considered a more neutral voice through which to convey information: the design outcomes are visually powerfully and expressive.

TODAY’s WORKSHOP TASK

GRAPHICS :

Create a GRAPHIC CV or

Curriculum Vitae meaning LIFE STORY

Use colour and graphical representation to consider the

important people you have come across in your lifetime:

Family, friends, influential musicians, writers, actors, artists and

map their significance over time and life events.

ANIMATORS :

Storyboard an Animated CV

or Curriculum Vitae meaning LIFE STORY

Using a timeline with symbols, objects and dynamic framing to

represent important people and life events.

I prefer this creative task as it pushes us to find a strong concept and develop it in less than an hour  it is very helpful especially when working against time and the dead line is just a few minutes away.Delivering an idea that is already shaped and ready for a presentation or is refined enough  to be presented can improve our quick response to a brief and also support us in being creative .


Here is an amazing example that explains the process and showcases different styles of info graphics.

The animation looks lovely, simple and playful. I loved the way they animated the text, especially in the beginning when the words were hanging by a small rope by the sealing. The only problem that I have with this is the typeface. Most of the times we don't really pay attention to it unless is terrible or is used in an artistic way. But I feel like here it just made to reading harder and in some certain parts, it was plain irritating.

My approach 

I mapped my ''Body Awareness'' from the age of seven year old to nineteen taking account of media influences such as magazines ,commercials, family observations, society beauty standards and role models along the years like  artists and tutors. Although it begun as a class task I realized how the my distorted body image have influenced my life and how even if it didn't push me to constant dieting I still feel that I have a very unhealthy relationship with my own body and with food.The chart had the goal to track my eating rabbits and pinpoint the moment when this body awareness started. 

 I remember the people in my life pointing out how my thighs are getting fatter or  my hips don't fit as it ''should'' in jean however I never felt unsure of my femininity or physical beauty  especially whit the opposite sex but there was something about constantly over analysis my defect when I was just by myself in front of a mirror.Moreover I have over 14 food journals were I tracked my food intake and I use to calculate all my calories by the end of the day for years ,however I didn't restrict my food intake so the big question was why I felt like I should write everything down and be in control with what I eight.

The first graphic shows my confidence divided in body image-what I thought and saw and my mind and skills,all calculated by reading my old journals and focusing on the important events as from the first day of school to my final exam in high school.The goal of this tracking system was to determine the exact moment or event that started my unhealthy habits related to food but also the life changes and the methods of getting back on tracks,

from obsessive calories counting to  clean plant base eating

First sketch:

Reflective thinking and writing

 Reflective thinking and writing

Wednesday Seminar was leaded by  Amanda Thinker, an academic skills coordinator,and given us a deep understanding of what reflective writing is and how we can improve our skills in this aria,mainly because the next phase of our project ''A sense of place'' is a essay she made an extensive presentation of the lesson from the meaning of the terms to the act of writing .

The main topic of the seminar was reflective thinking and writing outlined by five main focus points: reflection, when and where it happens,models of reflective learning, reflective writing  examples and the process and practice of reflection;all developed one by one with expressive illustrations and key word.

Reflection is an ongoing process of thinking and recording your own work while tracking your development in relation to your art.Keeping a description of your projects together with an analysis and evaluation of your work will serve later as a devises that can offer you new perspectives on yourself and they way you can create an alternative and novel solution.

My approach to this is a ''drawing'' journey where develop not only the concept behind my work but also my personal touch, from feeling that are awaken thru shapes and to secondary research,in this way I can connect the quality and even the style of my work to specific outside influences,such as weather,certain moods and environment.

Your Reflective Writing should include the following:

• a description of events, experiences and processes
• an indication of your feelings about these events
• both positive and negative experiences
• self-questioning about these experiences
• analysis of your work and evaluation of your progress
• suggestions for future practice
• an honest appraisal of your experience
• links to your coursework and theories
• extensive use of the first person (I) in your writing

The importance of the reflective practices is related mainly in our context to delivering a essay that can showcase our art as well as our further approach and proposals,this allows you to assess you work in a more detached light,as we all know the felling of typing the first words or drawing the one st line on a black piece of paper.

While analyzing  your past experiences in a specific domain you can draw specific point related to your approach however you have to focus on  both positive and negative experiences.

Reflection is an essential skill especially in graphic design as it helps your public as well as your tutor to see how you have developed your practice and ideas as well as getting a deeper understanding about your concept.

The stages of reflection

Reflecting before action. Weight up different courses of action before deciding what to do.

 Start by  keeping  a reflective journal throughout the process ,that can be a notebook,blog, whatever you feel more comfortable with as long as you are making time to "pause, record and reflect" on a regular basis.

Reflecting in action. Reflecting on action during an event as it happens like analyzing your performances,is this going well?how can I improve it? Don't be distracted by the outside influences and pay attention  at what is happening so you can later describe the event or process you have been through; pin point what do you find inspiring during the project;what critical incidents should you focus on.

Reflection on action. Reflect on action that have already occurred ,usually after the event have ended.

Here is a list of helpful questions that can guide you in your process:

• How do you feel about what happened
• What was good about this experience
• What did you learned from this experience?What new techniques,skills,abilities have you acquired?
• Which were the bad experiences and how you can improve them?
• What else could I do / have done?
• If so, is there a general principle here I could use again?
• If not, what could I try next, and why?

Experimental learning cycle

We took a look at the experimental learning cycles of Kolb (1983) and  Pedlar (2001) where we had to follow an experience from a specific event,reflect about it and draw observations,develop and analyze what you learned and then apply and experiment.The cycle can go on an on in order to refine the reflection.

Ways to reflect on your learning:

1: Description of the activity,experience,process ,critical incidents that were an important learning experience

2: Analysis and reflection on the above experience

3: Possible documentary evidence of this learning 

There are no rules about how to write and structure a reflective evaluation; however, there are a number of things you'll need to avoid as writing  too descriptive and without  much analysis,also it should not be too personal, also your writing should not just provides a general overview of events, without highlighting any critical incidents.The final statement should capture something meaningful and let an impression for the entire essay.Other problems that can occur during the process are:if there is little or nothing said about things that did not go well for you - only positive events are discussed or if there's no detailed discussion about what you've learnt, and how things could be done differently in the future

Reflective writing examples

Account A

Account B

The first example was not suitable for reflection as it was too personal, written in a conversational style,it only resume the events without any analyse  the final statement in meaningless where as the account b was a proper example as is not only telling a story ,it focus on the critical incident,the style if formal.The second example is also setting targets for improvement and identify weaknesses,strengths and key skills.

Task

Group Exercise :Recording Reflections on a sketchbook,journal and post it on the blog,focusing on your work experience,motivations,influences,the process of a design you've working on or the process of research.Sort the information in three parts:What happened,How do I feel about it? What did I learn?

The topic  can be anything from a response to a film to imagining a artwork  that you have seen that links to your practice.

My approach

Theory Lecture Week 9: Message and Meaning

MESSAGE

&

MEANING

This lecture followed the subject of communication and its structure,from the message itself to meanings,

“The difference between poetry and practical messages is that the latter are successful only when we correctly infer the intention.” 

- Michael Rock

As graphic designer our goal is to  deliver a solution that is not just aesthetic but has a strong story behind.If lets say that you create an animation,that will only have a lasting impact on the public if the viewer understood your message and can relate with the concept.Moreover this way the message should be constant under review, improvement, refinement in order to achieve a higher rang of success among the audience.

The Message is in itself a piece of communication that is transmitted by words,sound,signals or by other channels from the sender to the targeted audience.

The Meaning is the idea that being being communicated  by the message,however the receiver can interpret it in an unwanted way or incorrect; looking at a blade one can say war but someone else, surgery.In communication using a vast range of devises can help the sender transmit a clear message words,shapes,forms,sound can improve the quality of the message constructing in this way  a whole image of the idea transmitted.

The result should be tested in different environments as some can fail in some instances but make a statement in others,Take as example a image,is futile to use it in a radio transmitted message  but can make a statement on print design or even television.

The sender is the one who encode the message,converting it in symbols in order to deliver it across the channel to the receiver.As a designer you are the encoder and your job is to design a concept in form of a message and sent it to  your targeted audience.

Encoding can be improved be mentally visualising  the communication from the receiver point of view ,what would you like to buy as a customer ,what would you like to see as a viewer as well as understanding where receiver is (like in front of the TV, outside,etc ).The larger you knowledge about the public the higher the rate of success so social sites as facebook ,twitter you can gather more information  and build a better designer-customer relationship based on feedback.

The sender should ask him or herself a range of questions meant to improve the quality and select the best communication device:

Is the message urgent? 

Is immediate feedback needed?

Is documentation or a permanent record required?

Is the content complicated, controversial, or private? 

Is the message being communicated to someone inside or outside? 

The Channel is the way in which the message is transmitted by the sender to the receiver,called also a medium it can has its strengths and weakness in different areas and situational effectiveness. In the best scenario,with advertisement using a vast range of channels can rise the success rate of viewer satisfaction and help the message that is being deliver to be more clear as this method will take away from the confusion.

Signal and Noise. The more interference,noise there is in the message the harder it will be for your public to understand the meaning ,so improving the quality and diminishing the distraction will not only help the message delivery but the overall quality.Even if the main concept is strong and its development has been made in a professional way ,the channel or the method on which the artist coshed to transmit it to the public can take away from the work itself .You can work on a print and then broadcast it on the radio because in not the adequate format.However using all the channels can dilute the meaning and distract the viewer from the key message.

Design and authorship

The designer is the message setter ,however  in a company the can be someone else hired to set key world,meanings ,messages an so on and the designer's job is to manufacture a interface or a look for the already chosen meaning.Often this task is already given by the client.The roles of author and designer traditionally sat apart with the designer taking the creation part ,defining the way in which  the message will be delivered ,not what the message actually contained.

Anthony Burrill

UK designer ,I don't fancy him at all as a artist but he has been given to us as an example of a designer who occupy the position of an author too for his works ,creating his own messages.

 His style is pretty plain but recognizable, Anthony's focus is on a text usually written in a basic font on a solid background.In my opinion even if the meaning of his work are not disturbed by any noise and is straight forward I don't see any depth or remarkable skills and it seems as an endless teenage  like  quotes that are posted daily on facebook .

But you can see more about him and his works here: http://anthonyburrill.com/ 

Burrill has his works permanently hold in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York and has exhibited in galleries around the world including The Barbican, The Walker Art Centre and The Graphic Design Museum, Breda.

Richard Linlkater 

Richard is an American film director and screenwriter known for his humanist films which mainly revolve around personal relationships and development, suburban culture, and the human condition in different forms,that he is trying to relate to.

His personality is as like one of  modern philosopher that is continually asking questions about authorship, sometimes without a resolution or a answer but with the goal of defining this term and creating a more articulated and comprehensive image of what the authorship is in fact.

Among some of his most notable films include  coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused, Boyhood ,and Waking Life ,a movie that transcend the boundaries of technology and what seems to be a dream.Wiley Wigging travels through a series of encounters and observations in a world that is pulsing and continually transform is something else with endless possibilities and ideas that ultimately leads to the question - Are we sleep-walking through our waking state or wake-walking through our dreams?

I just love the idea and the movie is like a breath of air,a cartoonish reality ,where you can't stop wandering if the producer was sub the influences of hallucinatory drugs,the camera is continuously moving like hold by an unsteady hand and it gives you the feeling of dizziness,the sound is altered from time to time ,the shapes are distorted;one moment the character is looking at the sky and then he is levitating ,head down.

Below you can find the official trailer

                          

Kurzgesagt

Founded in 2013 by Philipp Dettmer & Stephan Rether ,Kurzgesagt (German for „in a nutshell“) is a Munich based youtube channel and design studio engaged in information design projects with a distinctive approach on design and animation.

Their list of award is endless: Red Dot Best of the Best, Information is Beautiful Gold, Spark Award Gold, Spark Award Gold, German Design Club Gold, German Design Club Silver, Lovie Award Bronze, Fast Forward Science, Educational Film Festival, SDN Best of Newspaper Design, Annual Multi Media Award, Fast Company Innovation by Design 2014 Finalist

We watched together the animation ''What is light'' and it was such a inspirational animation that graved me new ideas about how I can showcase my own animation related the A sense of place, with the use of prim plans,smart mapping,and form that are always transform in to the next focus point.

Links:
Site: http://kurzgesagt.org/projects/
youtube channel: thttps://www.youtube.com/user/Kurzgesagt
tumblr:/http://kurzgesagt-design.tumblr.com/
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kurzgesagt
site: http://kurzgesagt.org/projects/

What is light animation

Receiver or decoder is the one who receive the message from the sender and can interpreter the meaning of the message depending on age,experiences, attitudes, knowledge skills, culture and perceptions.

In part two we watched a documentary about Marshall McLuhan- a Canadian philosopher of communication theory and a public intellectual  viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory however he was seen as an outcast because of his beliefs of how media influences the new generation .

McLuhan’s  best seller  was The Medium Is the Massage, published in 1967.The Initiator was Quentin Fiore, he adopted the term "massage" to represent  the effect each medium has on the human sensorium, taking count of the effects of numerous media devices in terms of how they "massage" the senses.

McLuhan described the key points of  how peoples have viewed the world and how these views were changed once with the  adoption of new media.  He draws under attention how when faced with a totally new situation we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects and relive the most recent past '' We march backward into the future''.

An audio recording version of McLuhan's famous work was made by Columbia Records consisting in a collage of materials gathered together with  McLuhan' statements.The scenes are interrupted one by another ,the speakers are overlapping with discordant sounds ,music and record of people wandering around the city streets.The tiring discontinuity,the constant jumping from sequence to sequence could be considered a conscious attempt to convert the disconnected images seen on TV into an audio format.

Overall the 44 minutes documentary was extraordinary tiring, the scenes were cut short by random images of advertisements,cities views,magazines,you could not pay attention at all to the speaker message because he would say  four words and then someone else would complete his sentence followed by the first person again furthermore sequences of persons walking on the streets and more images were drop off after every 30 seconds.This is what I would call ''noise'' ,where the meaning message is almost unreadable.