The most fantastic thing I have seen this week, an advertisement for 'Mini'. This whole feature, appearing to be created in 3D however is actually made in stop motion. The story behind it is 'a breathtaking race between David Against Goliath'. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76mErv__Nqw) directed by Jochen Hirschfeld with animation by Weirdoughmation in Germany. Agency is Webguerillas and production by Living Room Pictures. (http://www.stashmedia.tv/?p=4840) I watched this after a friend had told me about it, wonderful piece. My favourite parts are at 28 seconds when the marker is getting ready to chase after the pen and the ink decreases to symbolise a car using up petrol, and at 46 seconds when it turns into a scene from the 'matrix' when the pen dodges the falling marker.
Sunday, 27 September 2009
Saturday, 12 September 2009
Tolerance
A new brief issued on the 7th September '09 .... named: Tolerance
Involved in this brief is to find a way to promote tolerance for a Manchester festival. As this covers a broad spectrum of issues it is easier to focus on little, less serious issues of tolerance that could had a comical appeal.
That is when I remembered a particular scene from the film 'About Schmidt', where Warren Schmidt decides to sponser a child "Ndugu", and writes him a letter.
In this letter (at about 3 minutes into the film) Schmidt introduces his wife ... and all the things he has had to tolerate from her through their married life.
They are only little things, but sometimes it can be the littlest of things that can be the most irritating!!
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Pinhole Photography
Looking back 3 years ago, when I first came to Stockport college and beginning the Foundation year, there were 5 weeks where we were given the chance to get involved with each subject before we picked the one we wanted to study. These subjects were:
Photography
Visual Communication
Textiles
Fine Art
3D
My favourites of the five were Photography and, of course, Visual Communication that I later decided to pick.
Even though I didn't pick photography, I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and the reason I did so much was all down to Pinhole Photography.
Involved in Pinhole Photography is combining a cardboard box with a piece of negative paper placed inside of it, facing cardboard with nothing but a pinhole in it, covered by tape to secure the light.
Exposing the paper to light for a certain amount of time will create an image on the paper. Careful not to expose it for too little or too long expects alot of practice, but when getting it just write the results are an accurate image appearing on the paper when processed.
I remember vividly enjoying this time in the first 5 weeks, and enjoyed working as a team.
When I picked Visual Communications, and then after that choosing Graphic Design as my pathway for a degree, I did not expect to use Pinhole Photography again.
However, in first year the chance came up again, and we were invited back to photography to use pinhole photography with our graphic design work.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, and these are the results
I hope to use this technique sometime in my final year.
Photography
Visual Communication
Textiles
Fine Art
3D
My favourites of the five were Photography and, of course, Visual Communication that I later decided to pick.
Even though I didn't pick photography, I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, and the reason I did so much was all down to Pinhole Photography.
Involved in Pinhole Photography is combining a cardboard box with a piece of negative paper placed inside of it, facing cardboard with nothing but a pinhole in it, covered by tape to secure the light.
Exposing the paper to light for a certain amount of time will create an image on the paper. Careful not to expose it for too little or too long expects alot of practice, but when getting it just write the results are an accurate image appearing on the paper when processed.
I remember vividly enjoying this time in the first 5 weeks, and enjoyed working as a team.
When I picked Visual Communications, and then after that choosing Graphic Design as my pathway for a degree, I did not expect to use Pinhole Photography again.
However, in first year the chance came up again, and we were invited back to photography to use pinhole photography with our graphic design work.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, and these are the results
I hope to use this technique sometime in my final year.
The Notebook (the summer project not the film!)
Summer Project '09
"Don't don't. Do."
And I intend on doing just that this summer.
When I first received this project it didn't hit me at first just how much this could possibly suit me and my lifestyle.
I've tried to keep a diary before, but it never worked. It lasted a week and as I would keep it at home, intending to write in it before I went to bed, but as I remain restless until my head hits the pillow I just fall straight to sleep.
And so when receiving this project I decided in the same day to make some changes, firstly...
1) to buy a top market notebook from Paperchase
2) to buy a bigger bag to carry it in
and I did just that..yesterday.
As one of my personal dislikes is to remain static throughout the day and feel like I'm wasting the day.. and biggest likes is to go out and see and meet as many people and places as I can, I began to discover a sudden urge to start writing things down that I realized were important parts of my day.
I sometimes get confused as what to write in my notebook, so I look at the brief again..and in particular this paragraph:
"Consider the notebook as an extension of your mind and of your studio. If the notebook is with you all the time, you can afford to be a little unfocused. Later on you'll look at what you wrote and saved and drew and you will realize that without even trying, you created a time capsule that is, itself, a manifestation of what mattered."
It has only been one day since I started it, so I will share a few parts that I have written so far with you.
This includes a visit to The Trafford Centre Tea Dance that involved watching older couples dance around the stage to jazz, while we ate. And at 6.15pm my friend said
"I can't imagine being that old and being in love."
As having parents that are lucky enough to be in love and will be for quite some time (well..forever), I replied
"It can happen, but I think sometimes you have to be very very lucky."
Later on that night, at 00.05 am I quote from the film 'P.S. I love you' where Daniel Connelly says
" We are so arrogant arn't we, so afraid of age that we do everything in our power to prevent it. We don't realize what a privelage it is to grow old with someone."
So I feel that this answered my friends earlier comment, and would not been able to make this link if I hadn't written it down at The Trafford Centre.
I can't wait to make more links and realizations throughout the remainder of the summer.
"Don't don't. Do."
And I intend on doing just that this summer.
When I first received this project it didn't hit me at first just how much this could possibly suit me and my lifestyle.
I've tried to keep a diary before, but it never worked. It lasted a week and as I would keep it at home, intending to write in it before I went to bed, but as I remain restless until my head hits the pillow I just fall straight to sleep.
And so when receiving this project I decided in the same day to make some changes, firstly...
1) to buy a top market notebook from Paperchase
2) to buy a bigger bag to carry it in
and I did just that..yesterday.
As one of my personal dislikes is to remain static throughout the day and feel like I'm wasting the day.. and biggest likes is to go out and see and meet as many people and places as I can, I began to discover a sudden urge to start writing things down that I realized were important parts of my day.
I sometimes get confused as what to write in my notebook, so I look at the brief again..and in particular this paragraph:
"Consider the notebook as an extension of your mind and of your studio. If the notebook is with you all the time, you can afford to be a little unfocused. Later on you'll look at what you wrote and saved and drew and you will realize that without even trying, you created a time capsule that is, itself, a manifestation of what mattered."
It has only been one day since I started it, so I will share a few parts that I have written so far with you.
This includes a visit to The Trafford Centre Tea Dance that involved watching older couples dance around the stage to jazz, while we ate. And at 6.15pm my friend said
"I can't imagine being that old and being in love."
As having parents that are lucky enough to be in love and will be for quite some time (well..forever), I replied
"It can happen, but I think sometimes you have to be very very lucky."
Later on that night, at 00.05 am I quote from the film 'P.S. I love you' where Daniel Connelly says
" We are so arrogant arn't we, so afraid of age that we do everything in our power to prevent it. We don't realize what a privelage it is to grow old with someone."
So I feel that this answered my friends earlier comment, and would not been able to make this link if I hadn't written it down at The Trafford Centre.
I can't wait to make more links and realizations throughout the remainder of the summer.
Friday, 8 May 2009
The Spirit
I remember quite a few months ago me and my friends went to watch 'The Spirit'. Even though the story wasn't the best and a few of my friends weren't fans, a particular scene from the film has long since stayed in my head.
I really liked when 'the spirit' was running over rooftops of the city, and that mostly everything was black apart from his red tie.
I think, for me, I appreciated the way each scene of the film WAS like a comic strip. Each angle was taken so if it was screen shot, it would look like it had just come out of a comic strip. And I thought that was very clever.
So The Spirit..I salute you!!
I really liked when 'the spirit' was running over rooftops of the city, and that mostly everything was black apart from his red tie.
I think, for me, I appreciated the way each scene of the film WAS like a comic strip. Each angle was taken so if it was screen shot, it would look like it had just come out of a comic strip. And I thought that was very clever.
So The Spirit..I salute you!!
Contact Report: LOVE
At the end of my meeting with Adam Rix, he asked me to stay in contact for when I had any more further questions or enquiries. I decided to email him to invite him to view my blog. Here is the report.
Hello Adam
Just a quick email saying thanks again for your time on Monday, I appreciate it as
I know you must had been busy. I have just updated my blog with my portfolio visits
so if you would like to view it, the link is http://katspeak88.blogspot.com/
Regards
Katherine
Hi Katherine,
Hello Adam
Just a quick email saying thanks again for your time on Monday, I appreciate it as
I know you must had been busy. I have just updated my blog with my portfolio visits
so if you would like to view it, the link is http://katspeak88.blogspot.com/
Regards
Katherine
Hi Katherine,
No worries - I'll take a look at your blog. Feel free to send anything / any questions etc.
Good luck with everything...
A
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Practitioners report - Music and Fake ID
The first practitioner I am going to look at is Music, a Graphic Design company based in Manchester. Music have been an independent Graphic Design company for one and a half years, and at Stockport College we were lucky enough to receive two visits from them. The first visit was from Anthony Smith who started his talk by giving us some information about what he did after he left Bolton University in 1989, and because of the recession he explained it took him a year to get a job in Graphic Design. This gave me a better idea of what to expect when I leave, that it may take quite a long time to get a job in something I want. I found the talk overall was very down to earth and honest, and Anthony had brought in work at the end for us to look at, which was different from any other lecture as previously we had just seen work on the big screen.
The second visit from Music was from Craig Oldham. He started his talk off with a 'parental warning' on the screen saying that he is going to swear, but “that is just how it goes” he stated, so I knew this talk by Music was going to probably be even more outgoing than the first. Craig had not been out of University for that long, so he wanted to give us an outline of facts of what to expect when we did leave. He explained that he could just see two words explaining 'Graphic Design' and these were 'Emotional' and 'Logical'. Things like logos for toilet doors and symbols are logical, whilst practitioners such as David Carson are emotional with their work.
This leads me on to my second practitioner I am going to discuss, Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees from Fake ID, who are in my eyes without doubt emotional designers too. Currently in its tenth year, Fake I.D. has produced a diverse range of work, recognized in numerous books and magazines, including commissions from Aiwa, Anthropologie, COLORS and Emigre. Stockport College was privileged to have these designers come and visit us, for a 1-day workshop and a lecture/performance. Working with Yvan and Joshua on the project named LSTN (Line, Sound, Text, Noise) made me realize that these designers were in fact more emotional in the work they produced. In the talk they delivered they discussed some of their ideas, and that some of the work they produced was '4th wall' between audience and performance, and breaking this ‘4th wall’ would create interaction between audience and performance. One of the memorable quotes I can remember from the talk was when Joshua described some of the things that occurred when they started designing saying, "The line between Art and Life disappears".
This results in creating a link between these designers, and the designers at Music. Both agencies undertake independent projects. I remember when Craig was showing us his work he showed us a typeface that he had created independently and not for any company but just because "it was in my head, so I put it down on paper". He then went on to say something quite inspiring, which was "Graphic Design is a job. A designer is a lifestyle choice." Therefore it shouldn't be something you do it should be who you are. And I’m sure Yvan and Joshua at Fake ID would agree. Their whole lecture was not about their work, that they said "you can view that anytime on our site". The 'performance' was something I had not really seen before, and it was a good way to end the year off by seeing something different. It was another independent project that they shared with students that could be used as inspiration for commissioned work.
Hearing what these practitioners have to say has enlightened me and even changed the way I think about my own work. I have always found it difficult in past briefs to organize images and type on a page so it looks dynamic, you could say in a similar way to the works of David Carson. Sometimes, I have found that I cannot place something in a peculiar way, as it just doesn’t seem logical. However, after Craig’s lecture I realized that I was perhaps in fact just a logical designer, and more of a problem solver. That is just in the design process though, I am quite an imaginative and emotional person, and my work has sometimes even been described as ‘surreal’ for instance in conceptual studies, I think it is just when putting pen to paper my logical thinking takes over.
As both design practitioners each do independent studies as well as commissioned work, this has made me want to begin my own projects on the side. I think this would be a good idea as it shows that you’re not just doing it as a job, it is because you enjoy it.
When I went to visit Anthony at the Music studios he asked me what I would like to see in a piece of Graphic Design, and I replied that I like to see a great idea, one that get a reaction from the viewer either emotional or comical, and he agreed. Fake ID was similar in what they wanted to see from us when we started the workshop with them. The brief was to write a narrative accompanying an image, and at first I was just seeing the image and almost started to describe it. However, this wasn’t what they wanted to see and told me to take what I was seeing at the moment, but pushing it further, perhaps even rewinding and imagining a beginning to the story that I was currently imagining. With this is mind I started to think of more ideas, and it had great results. The idea I created was something that would not have been thought of if it had not been pushed, and so this is a process I am going to apply to my work in the future.
(1013 Words)
The second visit from Music was from Craig Oldham. He started his talk off with a 'parental warning' on the screen saying that he is going to swear, but “that is just how it goes” he stated, so I knew this talk by Music was going to probably be even more outgoing than the first. Craig had not been out of University for that long, so he wanted to give us an outline of facts of what to expect when we did leave. He explained that he could just see two words explaining 'Graphic Design' and these were 'Emotional' and 'Logical'. Things like logos for toilet doors and symbols are logical, whilst practitioners such as David Carson are emotional with their work.
This leads me on to my second practitioner I am going to discuss, Yvan Martinez and Joshua Trees from Fake ID, who are in my eyes without doubt emotional designers too. Currently in its tenth year, Fake I.D. has produced a diverse range of work, recognized in numerous books and magazines, including commissions from Aiwa, Anthropologie, COLORS and Emigre. Stockport College was privileged to have these designers come and visit us, for a 1-day workshop and a lecture/performance. Working with Yvan and Joshua on the project named LSTN (Line, Sound, Text, Noise) made me realize that these designers were in fact more emotional in the work they produced. In the talk they delivered they discussed some of their ideas, and that some of the work they produced was '4th wall' between audience and performance, and breaking this ‘4th wall’ would create interaction between audience and performance. One of the memorable quotes I can remember from the talk was when Joshua described some of the things that occurred when they started designing saying, "The line between Art and Life disappears".
This results in creating a link between these designers, and the designers at Music. Both agencies undertake independent projects. I remember when Craig was showing us his work he showed us a typeface that he had created independently and not for any company but just because "it was in my head, so I put it down on paper". He then went on to say something quite inspiring, which was "Graphic Design is a job. A designer is a lifestyle choice." Therefore it shouldn't be something you do it should be who you are. And I’m sure Yvan and Joshua at Fake ID would agree. Their whole lecture was not about their work, that they said "you can view that anytime on our site". The 'performance' was something I had not really seen before, and it was a good way to end the year off by seeing something different. It was another independent project that they shared with students that could be used as inspiration for commissioned work.
Hearing what these practitioners have to say has enlightened me and even changed the way I think about my own work. I have always found it difficult in past briefs to organize images and type on a page so it looks dynamic, you could say in a similar way to the works of David Carson. Sometimes, I have found that I cannot place something in a peculiar way, as it just doesn’t seem logical. However, after Craig’s lecture I realized that I was perhaps in fact just a logical designer, and more of a problem solver. That is just in the design process though, I am quite an imaginative and emotional person, and my work has sometimes even been described as ‘surreal’ for instance in conceptual studies, I think it is just when putting pen to paper my logical thinking takes over.
As both design practitioners each do independent studies as well as commissioned work, this has made me want to begin my own projects on the side. I think this would be a good idea as it shows that you’re not just doing it as a job, it is because you enjoy it.
When I went to visit Anthony at the Music studios he asked me what I would like to see in a piece of Graphic Design, and I replied that I like to see a great idea, one that get a reaction from the viewer either emotional or comical, and he agreed. Fake ID was similar in what they wanted to see from us when we started the workshop with them. The brief was to write a narrative accompanying an image, and at first I was just seeing the image and almost started to describe it. However, this wasn’t what they wanted to see and told me to take what I was seeing at the moment, but pushing it further, perhaps even rewinding and imagining a beginning to the story that I was currently imagining. With this is mind I started to think of more ideas, and it had great results. The idea I created was something that would not have been thought of if it had not been pushed, and so this is a process I am going to apply to my work in the future.
(1013 Words)
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