Graphics: Part 2

After missing a morning due to an appointment, I tagged along with a group activity for the afternoon that involved creating a product or franchise, and completing a presentation to show the rest of the class. Unfortunately, as I spent the whole afternoon catching up on the morning, I have very little show for what time I was in, especially as the majority of contributions that I made were verbal.

However, on the final day of our graphics rotation, we were set the task to create 6 15x15cm square designs, in order to represent better who we were. These designs found their creating roots in the 10 pages of preparatory 'doodles' and 'not-scribbles-but-still-kind-of-random-designs' we had to complete for homework.

Obviously this meant that I revisited a few of the conclusions I had drawn earlier in the rotations in which we had to ask ourselves the questions of 'who am I?' 'what does that mean?'. As I had already concluded that I am expressed best by showing what I love, I started by drawing my surroundings and working outwards and into relationships, and far more conceptual designs.

Above are a selection of the pages from which I drew my 6 designs, and below are the more refined plans I made for the 6 squares.

Whilst I experimented with various colours and sizes, I decided that the blue pen I had was not only a lovely colour, but by using it for all the squares presented them as a matching set far better than the content could. To draw each in a minimalist style effectively required me to use pencil to sketch in and measure exactly where I wanted each feature to sit - the sketching actually added a good sense of depth to the otherwise light and thin blue marks, and so I decided not to erase any of my planning whatsoever.

I feel that whilst this adds to the aesthetic, its also interesting to see how I worked - using the pencil sketches it is possible to trace back to how I lay each square out, which adds another type of depth beyond the 'visual' to each square, as the entire process is revealed.

The above photograph is not as clear as I had hoped when it was taken, however it shows all of my completed squares on display how they are intended. I put a lot of thought into how the diagonal, horizontal, and vertical elements of each square would sit together in order to create a neat, balanced layout.

Graphics: Part 1

The first day was spent with the aim to create a collage using a photo we had to bring in of ourselves.

However, before we created the collage, we were put into groups of four and instructed to draw one another, then ourselves, only with varying conditions. Those being with our eyes closed (after staring at them for a full minute), with our weaker hand, then with our mouths. Lastly, a self portrait completed without using any pictures nor reflective surfaces for reference.

As someone who created a rather accurate self portrait, I felt rather vain.

We then had to draw a picture of someone's ear. We put all of our drawings on the ground before returning upstairs and taking a photograph of all of them together.

In the afternoon however, we got on with creating the main product of the day; the collage. After photocopying and enlarging my image, I made it black and white, and produced yet another copy in green. I decided to stick with the theme of green and black and white - if not for the rather trivial reason that having dyed my hair green I am rather restricted to the colourless items of my wardrobe.

 Besides the use of our face, it was also required that we included at least one word of text - I used cuttings of a photocopy of an issue of french Vogue from 2007 using the words 'de la vérité'.

I find the image rather interesting, simply observing it as a product with little to no plan, but the result of letting my hands get on with cutting things up, sticking things down, resizing and then considering the tones of grey - completed mostly in a state of autopilot after a large lunch.

The bright tone of the green certainly adds a depth to the piece, and it is rather engaging.

It is also reminiscent of perhaps computer coding; black and green.

I don't know that I would change anything had I the chance to repeat the day. I might try to find a darker or plainer background for the selfie I used, however the spontaneity of the task prevented me from considering the picture too much. Why put excess effort into staging something that mightn't be used? Then again, I had every opportunity to manually cut out the background and replace it with a darker image, and didn't.

The day was spent exploring where my instincts could take me with these images.

Graphics: Research

Before commencing with the week of graphics, we were set the task to do some research in preparation. This included a trip to Waterloo station (to view the plethora of graphics on display), the Welcome Collection's exhibit on the 'Idiosyncratic A-Z of the Human Condition', and a display of film posters done by Hans Hillmann. A trip to visit the Malevich exhibition at the Tate Modern was also suggested, however I was restricted to the former three as they required no additional funding beyond the means to travel.

 

 

 

The idiosyncratic A-Z was a very interesting
exhibition, mostly because it was interactive
in a way that appealed to the user by skipping
instantly from the mundane to the most
profoundly private parts of who you consider
yourself to be.

Fulfilling the tasks, such as writing and discarding
your fears, drawing a self-portrait, or marking
your height on a wall, all proved to make you
consider yourself in a new way, be it a thought
you've never had, or a comparison you've never
had such an explicit chance to make.

Then, the gallery of film posters was a sharp contrast from the introspective to the minimalist advertisements. I very much liked the block colours, the line work, and the careful consideration with which the subjects of the posters had obviously been chosen. It's certainly not the first time I've given serious thought into minimalism - the idea of something intensely simple communicating an entire story or complex message is very personally appealing.

3D: Spaghetti and glue

The final day of our 3D rotation was spent wrestling with a very unusual and uncooperative material; spaghetti. The task was to create a structure able to support 3 plastic balls above the ground.

In the spirit of efficiency I decided that I would get something done using as few strands of spaghetti as physically possible. After 15 minutes, I realised that this would be possible yet exceedingly boring. I then adorned my frame with extra strands.

This final structure was not terribly large, however it comfortably held the weight if the three plastic balls it was designed to hold. It could have held a fourth, but it would need to be balanced awkwardly atop two others, and did not suit the structure.

Here it is fulfilling its purpose.

We then were tasked with covering this structure with paper as an attempt to protect the structure from a basketball.

As with every single other structure in the class, mine got totally wrecked. If I had the chance to revisit the task I would work an awful lot faster, as I think it would have at least remained somewhat recognisable if I'd had more time to work.

However I thoroughly enjoyed putting thought into designing the structures I could make, as well as considering the designs that my classmates came up with, as there was a huge difference between each individuals work that when considered, gave me a fresh perspective with which to view my own designs.

I found it particularly interesting how most if us considered our own designs to be the 'obvious' idea, despite the variety we created.

As it stands I feel that I did in fact go for a fairly obvious structure, and hope to continue my work by developing more ways of challenging and stretching myself in my designs and products.

Coding

Computer coding is something most users absolutely take for granted. The source page of a website is something that appears by accident and scares the hell out of your grandmother.

Despite the fact that I consider myself well aquatinted with HTML and CSS coding, I was glad of an official context with which to put it - as someone entirely self taught some of the meanings and references went unknown, and it was interesting to hear the elaborated information. 

The day was spent first creating a standard web comic before 'hacking' it. Or, changing it to fit a different story.

Despite the fact that we were moving at the pace of the slowest (which is mind numbingly slow when the 'slowest' doesn't particularly care about it in the first place) I still found entertainment in the work I was doing, and am pleased with my final result.

I am also going to keep note of the host we used for future reference.

3D: Bridges

After a morning presentation concerning the versatility of the topic, we were set the task of building 5 'spanning structures'. They could be big or small, for humans or decorative, so long as they connected a point 'A' to a point 'B'.

Starting small in my sketchbook (as I wanted more evidence than photos that this days activities had occurred) I made five pop-up bridges across the pages.

This was a fun little exercise that got me thinking about both the aesthetics and the function of structures I was making.

The second part of the afternoon was spent making a bridge out of cardboard that would support a toy car driving across, and be tall enough for a table to be wheeled underneath. Thankfully we were put into teams for this task.

Using bamboo, cardboard and parcel tape, my group constructed a simple, functioning bridge.

This was a good opportunity to work in teams that we were unfamiliar with; our team was very efficient, first drawing up a plan and diagram before starting construction, then taking shifts during lunch in order to be finished with time to spare.

This was also helpful practise for thinking about supporting structures on a larger scale - we had to consider the size, shape, and weight of the car, as well as how heavy the bamboo was as part of the structure and how much cardboard could be supported by how much bamboo. 

I had to veto the use of bamboo as part of the required barriers, as I was sure that they would be too heavy for our lightweight structure. As it turned out, bamboo was entirely inecessary anyway, as the job could be done easily with the remainders of our cardboard and yet more parcel tape.

The only thing that I would perhaps have changed would be the incessant need that others felt for flinging the elastic bands around the room. That and possibly the amount of work it was to get everything cleared up afterwards.

3D Design

As with any good Monday, we started our 3D rotation by destroying a few habits. One such was being at all precious with work.

To start with, we would put pen to paper to draw a squiggle. Or perhaps our house number. Or some random dots. Then we had to make it into something else.

Behold, a squiggly line turned into a structure that can support two people and a cat. 

Here we have my post code drawn into a bus shelter.

Then using the very piece of A1 paper we had been defacing with these designs, we had to build a structure to support a full water bottle 20cm off the ground.

I started with the idea to build sturdy stars out of the paper, however they would not achieve the full height, nor did I have enough paper. Having cut up quite a bit of my paper, I was left with few options and fewer ideas.

As a result I fell back on what I knew to be the strongest structure to support weight - a pillar. I then added rolls of paper to the edges for balance and support. My structure worked whichever way up you placed it.

It has been pointed out to me that I create the most sophisticated accidents they had ever seen, and I suppose the morning served as a learning curve as to embellishing those accidents; by all means people thought I had time to put much more thought into it.

After lunch, the task was set to build a structure out of cardboard that could support your weight. As the smaller members of the class started planning without preamble, there was an audible groan from anybody over 6 foot.

As I didn't wish to create another pillar, I went for the second strongest shape I could muster - the triangle. Rolling over the edges of the cardboard, I strengthened the corners with makeshift pillars. A second pice slotted into the form providing the third side. Stuck in place with two cross grain pieces of cardboard and I had a structure that could support my weight.

With 45 minutes left I decided that my piece should do far more than function to stand out. I spent a good while adding embellishments in the form of yet more cardboard.

 

At the end of the day, it supported my full weight off the ground, and then got put in the bin anyway, as there was no way I was taking that thing all the way home to throw it in the bin there.

It was an awful lot of fun to attack these tasks under my own steam, as these sorts of activities had only been used before now as 'team building exercises', which more often than not meant that I would be totally ignored for the entirety of the task.

Whilst I didn't learn any outright facts about he materials I was working with, I feel that I set a suitable tone with which to continue this week.