Brief 4 : Ancient Aliens Pyramids From around the World

Today I watched and took notes from the video shown below, a documentary about pyramids from around the world. It provided some really good information and contextual research to draw from whilst at the same time covering a lot of the theories both me and Oli want to tackle.

The documentary really helped to highlight how many pyramids their are around the world for me and Oli to base our brief on, Focusing on Egypt and Giza it would be nice to stem out and cover a variety of different cultures.

Below are a variety of screenshots I took interest in for reference material to draw from etc.

Peer Feedback : 20/02/2013

Portfolio Feedback :25/02/2013 Joe Gilmour

Today I had a portfolio surgery with Joe Gilmour and found it really useful. My portfolio boards can be seen below, I've realised I need to really tailor and tweak my portfolio as in its current stages I wouldn't feel comfortable showing it designers or studios.





Things I took from the Crit;

-Make sure all your margins are accurate and stick to a specific gridding throughout the whole portfolio. At the moment you can see different spacing between my images which needs to be tightened up and aligned properly.

-Work to a Portrait format and concentrate on using big images that show a lot than lots of small images that show completely nothing.

-It has to flow as a whole body of work and keep the viewer interested so I need to knock out projects that dont expose the potential I have as a designer. As many printed examples of publications as possible so that the viewer can flick through and feel how a project has been put together rather than trying to figure it out from an image.

-Strong project at the front, 2nd strongest in the back, third strongest brief in the middle.

-Attach business card in the front and in the back, Make sure typeface is consistent and weight/size etc.

Portfolio Boards (To be completed)

Brief 6 : The Rise of Computers

This brief is the one I'm least happy with after drafting so far, As it covers interesting subject matter bit is kind of repetitive in relation to my other briefs, this is the one that needs tweaking the most.

Brief 5 : Extinct Animal Pack

This brief is again focused on printed outcomes so I can really direct the projects that go into my portfolio. Based on research, I will investigate animals that have lived on the earth and died out to become extinct, producing a series of printed outcomes to be aimed at museums and students interested in geology, archaeology and history.

Brief 4 : (Collaboration) The relationship between the Pyramids and the Constellations

So far this brief is the one I'm most happy with and I feel its the brief could take off from the point go because Im so interested in the subject matter. It is a collaboration between me and Oliver Cassell another designer on the course, exploring pyramids and mega-lifts around the world to produce a publication and all the corresponding launch material to follow.

Brief 3 : Global Warming isn't cool.

This brief was inspired by my crit with fred, when he explained to me that studios and designers love it when briefs expose a lot of personal viewpoints and opinions of the designer it was create by. This brief is personal and will be an exploration into the data released about global warming with printed responses.

Brief 2 : The Rising Of Djent

The rising of Djent is another brief I've also written combining my interests outside of college and personal hobbies with a passion for print. This brief will involve creating a lot of printed media tailored to a research driven brief, which I think will be perfect material for my portfolio.

Brief 1 : The Universes Pupils SB

I've written the brief below to tailor my interests outside of graphic design and my decision to focus on handmade printed medium. This brief will be an extension of the clothing company I started to put together in the last module, extending this further to produce a sub genre of the brand based around northern skateboard culture.

Stament Of Intent

This is my Statement of Intent so far and Up to date with The briefs I've written for my proposal stament in the post below.

Crit : 28/1/2013

In todays Crit We each analysed the stages we were at with our brief writing and the progress made so far. From this point onwards I need to really start to look into each of my briefs and begin properly, I have alot of good ideas floating around and research visits/context built up but It need to be pulled together. 

After re-writing my Briefs I mainly got advice on where to go with what I was doing and peoples opinions on the briefs i've selected, So Far I think I've picked out a selection of briefs that suit me but I think considering my time management skills I think there is room for refinement in terms of the briefs I've chosen to do. 

Proposal Statement 2

This is my second up to date proposal statement, I've still been refining and improving my briefs in relation to how I want to focus my FMP on getting the most out of my time left on the course. I'm finding it difficult to aim the briefs at who I want to be by the end of the year In terms of a designer, So I'm in a process of refining briefs.

Crit - 24/1/2013

Today I attended a crit with Fred Bates, to discuss my proposal for FMP and the briefs I've been writing over the past few weeks. The briefs I'd chosen to do were all in contrasting fields of practice and jumped from subject to subject in a rather (Branding & Identity, Personal Briefs & competition briefs), I'd structured this to work broadly and not pin down my practice, which isn't what the marking scheme for course is asking for us to do. Instead we need a body of work for the FMP that directly shows our skills as a designed, all linked together to create an overall body that shows what you are passionate about within design. I think because I work in a variety of different areas and try to keep doing new things I haven't specifically picked an area of practice within graphic design to focus on because my work is very scattered.

I'd gone into the crit thinking I was a graphic artist who works with illustrator, who was going to complete a range of briefs from branding and identity to other personal briefs, but the way they were written wasn't direct enough. I think that I need to pin point the type of designer I want to be over the weekend and come back with a fresh set of briefs and ideas to work with. I found the crit unmannerly but hard hitting, I need to go away and come back with a better plan for my FMP.



Proposal One

Feedback

Proposed Briefs: Collaboration Initial Ideas/drawings

Looking at the relationship between pyramids around the world and their relationship with the star constellations I've started to produce some of the initial Ideas below. I've been looking into interesting facts about the Pyramids of Giza and their architectural structure, finding out about Egyptian God's and theories behind the building of these amazing structures. I've mainly been working in my sketchbook jotting down notes and recording different bits of information that I think may be appropriate for out brief.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/piramides/esp_piramide_8.htm

http://www.robertbauval.co.uk/articles/articles/gizaorion.html

http://doernenburg.alien.de/alternativ/orion/ori00_e.php

Sketchbook Pages;

I started to work digitally with some photo collage, cutting and pasting bits of images to produce some artwork. I've been trying to work digitally after spending most of the week concept building and drawing in my sketchbook. I wanted to create a 3 colour screen print to give me the chance to experiment with spot varnishes before starting our brief. Defining a specific approach to work in across the breadth of the brief means I'll have a head start in the production of illustrations for our publication.

 After working digitally I decided to take my image to print, giving me the chance to experiment with the idea of spot varnishes with the use of foil blocking. I separated out my image into three layers of black print, the first layer to be run through the guillotine with my selected foil block only then to be put back through the printer for the other layers of black to be printed around the foil. I'm happy with my results so far However some of the foil stuck to areas I didn't want it to stick to, this is something that could be corrected by using more block shapes rather than a halftone. The halftones fine nature means that the foil doesn't bond with the ink as well.

Week 2 : Group Crit

Below is the feedback from my first crit, written by my group. The main things I've picked up from this weeks crit is that my briefs need to be more direct and focused, I need to scale down the amount I aim to produce and make sure my work ties in with my proposed rationale.  I think, as a designer I'm confused as to which area I fit into, I'm unsure how people view my work and I need to figure out what sort of consistent practice I want my work to fit into. 

Proposed Briefs : Collaboration ( Development )

To balance out my competition briefs and personal briefs I've decided to work with Oliver Cassell on a collaborative project looking at the relationship between megalifts (pyramids) and the constellations. We aim to produce a 3/4 week brief as a series of publications, each derived to a certain culture and their relationship with pyramid constructions. This brief will be a publishing and editorial brief derived from well conducted research, and will give me a chance to work with a range of print processes specifically looking at spot varnish and foil blocking. 

I've started doing research Into the pyramids of Giza, and looking at facts that you wouldn't necessarily be taught in school, uncovering documents and published articles about unusual chambers alignment with the stars and architecture. I've mainly been working in my sketchbook and on paper as seen below. 

Proposed Briefs : Branding & Identity

Throughout this module I want to heavily focus my practice on branding and Identity as I think my skills lie within client led design. I want to be a Graphic Artist who works with branding Identity Illustrations and publications so by selecting the four briefs below I will dedicate a lot of my time to branding whilst working with other creative people from around the college.  I've made sure that the briefs I've derived all have similar but very different outcomes, for example My print with Beth Owen (photographer) wants me to look into printing on plastic where as my brief for fashion designer Georgina Fay Verity wants me to look into holograph printing and look book design. 

The first branding brief is with the photographer Beth Owen who in return is photographing my work ready for my portfolio and website. She concentrates her work on backstage photography and finer macro close up shots. She wants mr to produce a logo and identity, business card/token and photographic sleeve. 

Georgina Fay Verity:

Rob Garner Rugby Coaching:

Garner and Sons Security:

FMP Proposal : Contextual Boards

Above are some contextual boards I've put together to gain feedback in terms of the approaches I'm thinking about at the moment. I've collected a selection of images of the style of work I aim to produce or the outcomes I'm thinking about in relation to range.

Proposed Briefs : Competition

Alongside my personal briefs I've selected the competition briefs below, to help to fill my portfolio and give me lots of smaller briefs that I can work on over a long period of time and turn around reasonably quickly. The other briefs i've chosen are rather weighty and will taken up 3/4 weeks of my time period given but these briefs will run for a length of 3-4 days to a week, helping me to keep up momentum and motivation offering short spurts of new subject matter.

The 4 briefs below are all reasonably similar, and work with the same outcomes, they're short poster competitions I thought would help me with constant development of image making in the process of becoming a graphic artist. The companies they are for are;

http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/graphic-design/

-Posterheroes Social Communication Contest

-BICeBé 2013 International Poster Call

-2nd International Reggae Poster Contest 2013

-Poster For Tomorrow 2013

Below is an ISTD brief chosen to help me develop my typographic knowledge and skills within developing a typeface. Type is something I haven't neglected in the past 2 and a half years but instead I've focused mainly on working with image, type skills are essential and I've chosen this brief to help me to build some good examples of type manipulation for my portfolio. 

The brief wants you to create a typographic experience that brings your chosen unsung heroes and heroines to life in a submission supported by high quality research and intellectual rigour. I want to look into online heroes, and how popularity and people being put under the spotlight from the internet, researching into hackers that have released information for the moral good of others, heroes that don't get mentioned.

Proposed Briefs : Personal Briefs

I've split my FMP proposal into 4 different types of brief; Personal, Collaboration, Competition and branding and identity. Below are my personal briefs, written to work alongside competitions and collaboration but be a continuation of my personal development as a designer. 

The first brief is the most open out of the three briefs I've written as I want my ideas concepts and final products to be completely derived from an informed design process rather than pre-concieved ideas that naturally happen when brief writing. I've written this brief almost to trick the way I think and keeping my starting point rather broad. This is a typographic response from a series of research into data processing.

Below is a brief I've written which will be a short 3 week brief run alongside my other projects, but I've chosen a subject matter to really get me interested. I'm excited by educating people with weird and usual facts, so I thought picking a subject I could really get my teeth into would help. I aim to produce an informative publication/pack working with 2 colours to educate people of unusual extinct animals and creatures you could almost never imagine roaming the earth. I've written this brief so It gives me a chance to go back to areas such as screen print and laser cut whilst working mostly with image making.

This last brief is a personal extension of a brief completed before Christmas, were I designed and produced my own clothing company looking at garment printing and working with fabric. The brief below is an extension of this, continuing my progression with screen print but exploring how the online promotion and presence of company can impact the way they grow and prosper.

Final Major Project : Preparation and Proposal

Below is a copy of my FMP Proposal in the stage its at for this weeks first crit. I've tried to write and select briefs to balance out the key areas of my practice I want to develop and pursue. I've cross referenced this with some contextual areas I want to study and designers I would aspire to be like or approach in the future.