Visual Language - What Is A Line? - Brief

In the next visual language session, I had to write my own brief to use for the idea I am going with. After considering it, I think the idea in general to draw for this brief is most appealing because it is not always an option with other briefs that we do. Even so, thinking about it, if I were to hand draw the typography idea, each of them could still work with the brief being aimed at drawing, so I will explore each to see what I think will work the best in this style. To keep the brief more focused though, I decided to have a more specific outcome to work towards.

After this task was done, we then had to swap our briefs with someone else for them to re write our brief to see if they come up with anything better, or add anything that could be important to it. I swapped mine with Dom.

We sat and discussed each others for a while, and then had to produce our own Action Plans to follow for the brief, which we then discussed with each other what we were planning to do. I think if I manage to stick to mine then I will get a good outcome for the brief.

Visual Language - What Is A Line? - Briefing Session

After receiving the brief for what is a line, in groups we made two lists: one consisting of the kind of approaches we could take for it, and the themes we could explore.

From these then we had to come up with a variety of possible solutions to use to answer the brief using things from the list, even if some don't fit together as well as others.

• photographs > string = lay out string and photo it across
• screen print > mazes = draw out mazes and screen print them
• lazer cut stickers > family tree = print each person on stickers
• illustration > everyday objects = draw things seen every day
• moving image > journey = take pics of a journey from A to B
• life drawing > an event = draw things as they happen
• painting > the horizon = paint loads and connect by the line
• monoprint > hair = draw all lines of hair then monoprint
• typography > sentence = one long sentence as a line
• etching > music = draw music lines and etch them
• collage > train line = take photos and collage together
• embroidery > life timeline = embroid main events in ones life
• papercraft > teams = get people to papercraft then link
• book crafts > everyday objects = drawings put into a book
• moving image > sport = photos of a sport based on a line
• photography > dominos = from start to finish
• collage > row of chairs = all different types in a line
• mark making > maps = draw them using unusual objects
• digital illustration > hair = produce using digital illustration
• illustration > hair = draw hairstyles (Mr Bingo)
• photography > buildings = make into one line
• info graphics > silhouettes = make them simple and represent
• screen print > faces = have one colour of line running through faces

From the list, I then had to choose 3 possible solutions for me to do for this brief, the ones I chose were:

1. screen print > mazes = draw out mazes and screen print
2. typography > sentence = one long sentence as a line
3. book craft > everyday object drawings = line illustrations

Using the list of definitions from the brief:

A - "A formation of people, objects or things on besides/behind other."

B - "A connected series of events, actions or developments."

C - "The descendents of one individual."

D - "A mark indicating position, connection or boundaries."

I had to then fit each of the 3 possible ways I could answer the brief into the categories. They could go into one or more depending if they are relevant. I ended up with:

1. B C D
2. A B C D
3. A C D

Once this was completed, I then swapped my sheet with Charlotte, and then she had to choose which of the 3 she thought would be good to do, and give a short explanation why. She chose:

Typography > sentence = one long sentence as a line.

"Could come out really interesting and has potential to go further than this initial idea. Could go in the deconstruction was with a whole book with all of the sentences joined together - that is if I've understood it correctly."

I do like the suggestion that Charlotte has made, and I think it could come out with some interesting results. I may explore this, but I think the idea I am leaning most towards is the book craft one. This is because it is a nice light idea, and will be great to do more drawing. I will have a think about it and decide for next weeks session.

Papergirl Leeds - Do Day Designs

When I started the designs, we were still unsure whether we would be doing the day on the Thursday 14th or Friday 15th of April as Laura still hadn't confirmed yet, so I did the designs with the Thursday in it, and then I could change them if it turned out to be the Friday date - which it did. This is why some of the designs start of with the Thursday date and change to the Friday date.

Dom didn't get the files sent straight over to us and I needed to get things done so I redesigned each of them from scratch, and once we did get them through I had already done them anyway.

In one of the questions we asked if we should include anything about the Papergirl event on what we produce, and Laura said it would be nice to, so I reproduced their logo on Illustrator which could then be used where appropriate.

Hotdog Book
I decided to keep this the same as we had it before, but change the date on it to the right one. Also, because we have decided to do a blog this time to tie all the different places we have to advertise it together, I changed the 'how to share' page so that it just had the blog URL on it instead, and a quick explanation of it.

This is the file that was printed to then take to be exposed on the the screen printing screens.

Poster
Instead of having both the poster designs we used last time, we decided to have just one as this would be easier to screen print and save us a bit of money by not having to have another screen. We decided to use the one with the proper logo on it as we felt it was the most effective. I changed this quite a bit but kept the original look if it so they are basically the same. On this I also incorporated the Papergirl Leeds logo to tie us together more with the exhibition.

This is the file that was printed and taken to screen print to be exposed on to a screen.

Flyer
Prior to the day, we asked if we could have leaflets at the exhibition to also promote the day and we can so I worked on some designs that we could use for this. I didn't use the one's that were done for the cardboard flyers we were planning on doing last time because they didn't function properly without the URL and what not. I began the designs with the thought of having them double sided, but after considering it, it would save a lot of time and what not to just have them one sided and it would be easier to screen print them.

This is the file that was printed for it to then be exposed on the the screens at screen print.

Stickers
For the stickers we just wanted them to be the Do Day logo so that they could be stuck anywhere and people would wonder what it is and maybe go on to try research it. The website that Lisa found that did them at a decent price just needed the file of just one that would then be used for them all, so we sent just the logo.

The file that was sent was this one:

Badges
Using the same website as we did for the stickers, they did a decent price also on badges so we also ordered some of these. For this, we decided to have it say 'I do' in the style of the logo because these would go in the bags, and hopefully the people who receive them will do something and wear it. Which then will hopefully make other people ask what it means for them to then explain the idea of Do Day and what it's about.

The file that was sent was this one:

T Shirts
We decided to design t shirts for us to wear on the day as a little extra promotion for the day so that if we were to go anywhere other than the exhibition people may see them and be curious as to what they are about. I decided to leave the date off these, so that just incase another Do Day did come up it would be possible to wear them again. To save money on these it was decided that they would be made using the t shirt iron transfers rather than screen printing them because we already have enough of the paper to do so, so this will save us some money.

Bags
To keep the actual bags that will be used for the goodie bags linked to the rest of the stuff, I thought it would be a good idea to have the logo printed onto one of the sides. Because it would be too expensive to buy the bags, and would mean we couldn't have everything else, I decided to sit and make them. I made them 25cm x 25cm. It took absolutely ages to do them, I think the first 20 took about 3 hours, so I think if by any chance we were to go on and do it again it would save so much time to buy them and mean there would be more time for other things.

To print the logo on to the bags, instead of printing out a separate file it was decided that on the screen with the poster on it, the rest of the poster design would be masked off so that only the logo would print.

Papergirl Leeds - Ideas

On the Thursday morning me and Lisa sat for an hour or so discussing the ideas that we had thought of prior to this that we could do. The main one that we had was to put together a goodie bag to give out to anyone that attends the event, and it would have a variety of things in it such as the hotdog books like we had for the last day, and posters and what ever else we come up with.

We explained the whole situation to Dom and Matt about Laura getting in touch and what we had planned and neither were fussed about doing it S they were going home. So me and Lisa will be doing it on our own. Dom agreed to send us over the files to be able to edit them and what not.

The ideas we have to put in the goodie bags are to have things like badges and stickers, sweets, balloons, hotdog book and poster. Before we make any definite decisions on what to put in though we need to get prices for things and see what we can afford. We have decided that we will stick to a budget of spending between £10-£15 each.

Also, whilst we were discussing this, we put together a list of questions to send through to Laura that we needed answering before we could do anything.

Now that we knew what we needed to know and had a rough idea of what to do, it was decided that Lisa would get some prices for things while I redesigned the posters and hotdog book. As well as design the flyer and what ever else we needed designing. We originally decided that we would have everything done and ready to screen print for the following Friday so that it gave us plenty of time to get things dine as well as do our elective. Although we found out that the print room wasn't going to be open that day so had to get everything ready to do for the monday before it instead, so I had the weekend to get things redesigned and what not. It was a push, but needed to be done.

Communication is a Virus - Papergirl Leeds

A few days after the presentation and studio deadline for the Communication is a Virus brief passed I received a message on Facebook from Laura Jordan, who is the organiser of the Papergirl Leeds exhibition that is happening in Leeds during April saying how she liked the idea of the Do Day project, and asked if we would like to Do another one and use their exhibition space.

I contacted Lisa when I got the message to see if she would be interested in doing it and we both agreed it would be an amazing opportunity and want to do it. So we decided to have a think about it and put our heads together the next time we were in Uni to discuss it more. Also we need to ask Dom and Matt if they would like to get involved too.

Communication is a Virus - Presentation/Feedback

Matt and Dom put together the Presentation ready for our time we were due to present. Before they started it wasn't decided who would talk or anything so we were quite unorganised and didn't really know what to expect but it didn't turn out to be too bad. Dom talked and we each answered the questions at the end. Even so, I do believe that overall the presentation didn't really reflect as well as it could have the size we went to and effort we put in.

The initial feedback we got straight after the presentation was really positive from the other group that we were getting feedback from. Amber raised a point that we didn't really come across as being involved as much as we could have been with the whole day, but I think that came down to the split in the group and the fact the whole presentation was unorganised.

InDesign - Article Ideas

Before I start to consider how I want my DPS to look, I began noting down some ideas for what the article could be about, then once this has been decided I can look into similar magazine DPS's that would feature similar articles to this.

Ideas:

Interview

• as a designer
• 20 years ahead, established/successful
• talking about a particular project
• 'found' design - talk about his work being an inspiration to other with interview with him too

Profile

• talk about his work
• as a designer
• as a DJ
• particular project
• selected student
• as an inspiration

'Real Life' Story

• particular event
• experience
• looking back at LCA

Dreams/Ambitions

• talk about what he wants to achieve
• goal in life

Other Peoples Views

• other peoples opinions of him put into an article
• as a student

Out of what I have come up with, I quite like the idea of having the article talk about him as being a 'one to watch' student who is looking at a successful career in design, so kind of like a profile of him. 

I will look at different magazines to gain inspiration such as Creative Review, Computer Arts, Design Week, Grafik, etc, as well as looking on the internet.