Bridging Studies

For anyone interested in socially responsive design

2009-07-29T14:48:00.002+01:00

I think she's a student at LCC:

http://kateandrews.wordpress.com/

Extract from the website:

DESIGN THINKING:

Communication Design and all of its designers have the ability, intelligence and mindset to make the greatest impact to social challenges. With an enthusiasm for creative intelligence, education and research-led design, this website is heavily influenced by the growing recognition for ethically responsible and socially responsive design. It aims to integrate predictions of our future societies, with design research and observational comment. In conversation with the future of Communication Design, I hope to share my research in an accessible and thought-provoking method, with a critical (yet ever optimistic) outlook.

“For the designer to become a producer, she must have the skills to begin directing content, by critically navigating the social, aesthetic, and technological systems across which communications flow.” (Ellen Lupton, 1998)

Finished

2009-07-17T15:03:00.002+01:00

Well done everyone - we got there. Everybody handed in. Now Catherine and I will assess them. The exam board will be on Tuesday afternoon. We'll try and let you know how you got on as soon as possible. Have a nice rest now!

drn

Happiness in Graphic Design - Final version (Doug)

2009-07-17T12:33:00.004+01:00

Any comments are welcome (right-click on the link to save):

http://www.mineidoug.com/report/DM_Proposal.pdf

Thanks!

Doug

The Awesome Dossier - Adam Grant [FINAL]

2009-07-17T12:25:00.001+01:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More meme

Hand-in of proposals Friday 17th July

2009-07-17T11:59:00.000+01:00

Don't forget to hand in your proposal before 1pm today (Friday 17th July).

You can email is to Darren or Catherine directly (try and keep the file size under 5MB) or hand it into Darren who will be in the FdA office till 1pm.

We'd really like a PDF (or other easily open-able format) as well as any physical proposals you may hand in so send one in anyway.

Thanks for all your hard work - Bridging Studies was fun and educational!

You shoudl receive an email after the 21st July with your feedback assessment sheet and your grade. You need to get over 40% to pass Bridging Studies.

Cheerio,

drn

--
Darren Raven
Course Director
FdA & BA(Hons) Design for Graphic Communication
School of Graphic Design
London College of Communication
020 7514 8515
d.raven@lcc.arts.ac.uk

‘An investigation into drawing as a tool in the graphic design process’

2009-07-16T21:19:00.003+01:00

Abstract

Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it come into existence.

(Oscar Wilde, 1891)

Our experiences, knowledge and imagination directly affect the perception of what we see. Creating and developing a perception of what we have seen is a key role in our learning process.

Introduction

This report is about how graphic designers and students in the 21^st century use drawing in the graphic design process. This project shall focus on designers, who have put drawing at the centre of their practice exploring the meaning and purpose of this in their work. Using this knowledge this report strives to inspire and instruct a new generation of design students to use drawing within their design to enhance their practice.

While drawing is a symbolic, expressive tool, some design professionals and students are intimidated from using this fundamental skill in their design. Mostly, people use skills they are confident with and design towards their strengths. It is common for designers to become reliant on electronical technological advances in graphic design at the expense of drawing as a skill and as an aesthetic tool in the design process. This is ironic when you consider that after observation, drawing is the next fundamental step in the learning process; a process in which all designers began their interest in aesthetics. While it is important to identify ones strengths it is just as vital to develop new skills and tools to enhance our creative thinking. Returning to drawing as an aesthetic tool within design is a way to improve our creative thinking, which can be used as a vehicle to develop new products, new methods of marketing and new projects.

This report will identify selected very interesting process studies of well-known designers and artists. The chosen designers who embody their visions to their own or new practices. This report shall use such studies as a vehicle to improve student’s design practice. Through studying and practicing this appropriate creative skill students will gain a better understanding of this visual language and become motivated and confident enough to use it in their own design practice.

Relevance

The aim of this project is to remit to the thinking tool – drawing in education. This report will look into detail about the characterization of drawings – why and how people draw? , what abilities students should develop? , and what purpose they should be able to identify drawing for? Also it aims to look at methods of research and characterization - How people research? , what tools should be used? , and what is the best way to apply this skill?

Initial Plan

To begin with, this report will explain the definition of drawing. As Hazel Harrison claims ‘drawing is a process or learning how to see well’. Following this it is necessary to briefly mention the biological principles of vision; essentially how the human eye focuses on an image or an object.

Subsequently, the project will focus more on selected designers and artists who use drawing in their practice. Understanding the explored meanings of expression in their work will be an inspiration for the following steps of this project. The designers and artists are: Paul Klee, Lucienne Day, David Hockney and Claude Heath.

Before undertaking any experiments with professionals and students the report will confront and evaluate the research and reconsider the best application to this practice. From there, it will move onto the experiment that will be carried out with students and professionals. This experiment will be based on evaluation of research up to this point into consideration and consequently may be adapted accordingly.

In this experiment students will first identify 3 drawings. Secondly they will identify 3 objects. Drawings and objects will be chosen from a selection, which will be provided. The report shall also explain in detail why we perceive these objects and drawings to be relevant in this report. Thirdly they will have to think about an object or an idea that inspires them from those two exercises. They should draw only to express themselves rather than impress an audience. At the end, they will have to complete a survey designed for these tasks.

While the students work I will observe, record and document how they see from different perspectives and how their ideas progress. The purpose of this experimentation is to find out how people use their drawing skills. It also will be very interesting to see their differing applications while they work on the tasks. I will design a short questionnaire to find out their impressions and feelings from the task given.

Regarding this point this report will try to answer the following questions:

How designers/students sketch and document ideas?

Are they more familiar with paper based or digital thinking?

What is the best way to see?

How do they approach design problems?

Chapter headings

Chapter headings might be changed according to better understanding of the topic. As I research I shall gain a more thorough understanding of my topic and shall adapt my report accordingly.

Introduction

An overview of the report’s aim

Definition of drawing

A brief explanation of drawing and its usage

How do we see?

An introduction to biological principles of vision

Methods, research and characterization

Identifying types of methods, research.

Creative thinking?

Application of useful methods inspired by designers and artists

Strategy for experiment and analysis

An outlining of my plan for my experiment and its results

How drawing is useful for designers?

Reconsidering creative thinking usage

Conclusion

A summary and reflection of my report

The aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of relevant evidence, suggest possible improvements and areas in which this study could be developed further.

Action Plan

In preparation for the report,

· Gather a lot more information from different resources during the summer holiday.

· Decide on who I want to interview. Consider how I will arrange these interviews.

· Choose appropriate drawings and objects for the exercise and justify their selection.

· Make a plan and time schedule for the experiment.

· Design a relevant questionnaire.

· Discuss your ideas with other design students and professionals.

· Consider how I shall receive feedback from, during my research and write up.

· Decide on effective strategy.

Bibliography

Books:

Merleau – Ponty (2002) The world of Perception

Bruno Munari (2000) Design as Art

Kimberly Elam (1980) Geometry of design

Paul Klee (1961) The thinking eye; Volume 1.

Martin Kemp (2006) Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, experiment and design

Bo Bergstrom (2008) Essentials of Visual Communication

Dolf Rieser (1972) Art and Science

Mark Wigan (2006) Thinking Visually

Robin Landa (1998) Thinking creatively

Paul Laseau (2000) Graphic Thinking for Architects & Designers

Charles Darwent; Kate MacFarlane; Katharine Stout and Tania Kovats (2007) The Drawing Book

Electronic resources:

http://visualthinkingart.blogspot.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_language#Gestalt_psychology (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.drawing.org.uk/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://blog.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/vision_background.php (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20of%20art/wildetext.htm (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://idratherbewriting.com/2009/05/19/drawing-as-a-tool-for-thinking/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/oct/01/schools.artsfeatures (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/sep/30/artsinschools.schools (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/may/11/contemporary-art-drawing (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Graphic_Design/Drawing (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030420/ai_n12582469/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://depts.washington.edu/dmachine/PAPER/DTRS99-I/intention.html (accessed on 14.07.2009) http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/VisThinkTools/start.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/aad/research/ccdp.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

Reports:

P. Schenk (2005) Developing a taxonomy on drawing for design; School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

C. Stones, T. Cassidy (2007) Comparing synthesis strategies of novice graphic designers using digital and traditional design tools; Design Studies Vol 28 No. 1 January (2007)

M. Resnick, B. Myers, K. Nakakoji, B. Shneiderman, R. Pausch, T. Selker, M. Eisenberg (2005) Design Principles for Tools to Support Creative Thinking; October 30, 2005

The Subconcious Consumer (almost there)

2009-07-16T19:21:00.001+01:00

Title: The Subconscious Consumer
Target Audience: YouTube users

Aim

This report aims to explore and expose the subject of subliminal and emotional advertising that plays on the consumer’s subconscious (emotional) mind, to affect them to make snap and instinctive decisions without even being aware of them.

Overview
A recent three year, $ 7million neuromarketing study that measured the brain activity of over 2000 volunteers from around the world resulted in many startling findings concerning marketing tactics and to what extent did they work and also revealed that many conventional advertising strategies proved to be expensively ineffective. The many discoveries of this study include the findings that product placement on the TV and in movies are generally useless, sex does not really sell, warning labels on cigarette packs actually causes smokers to smoke more rather than deter them and most importantly, the topic which this report will discuss, subliminal advertising and that it is still being used today. The study done by New York Times and Wall Street Journal best selling author and marketing guru, Martin Lindstrom, is recorded and explored in his book Buy-ology.

The power of somatic markers
We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them. … companies plant instant shortcuts—or brand bookmarks—in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.

Summary of Chapter 7, Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

As most books that are written about this topic are written for marketers and advertisers, this report intends to raise awareness amongst consumers. The report is not aimed at alarming, changing behaviour or raising any arguments, but instead, it will approach the subject in an informational, ‘Did you know?’ way.

The reason this report aims only at raising consumer awareness rather than creating an argument or trying to change consumer behaviour is because it is more likely not possible. Subliminal advertising plays specifically on the consumer’s subconscious mind and therefore, being conscious about advertising tactics will only affect the conscious and rational aspect of the consumer’s decision making process. On the other hand, according to a recent research, (Lindstrom, 2008) experts agree that 85% of everything we do takes place in our subconscious minds and roughly 90% of our consumer buying behaviour is unconscious and that we can’t actually rationally explain our preferences in our buying decisions.

Format
This report might take the form of a short animation or film that could be uploaded onto YouTube.com under the website’s ‘Film & Animation’ or ‘Education’ category and could also be entered into relevant short animation competitions.
The purpose of making the report in this format is so that it can be more attractive, engaging and accessible to its target audience than a magazine or newspaper article. On top of that, as a YouTube video, it will have the potential of virally spreading very quickly to an even larger audience.

Possible chapters
1) Introduction – This will be an overview of what the report will aim to address

2) Subliminal advertising, what is it? – This chapter will present the idea of subliminal advertising and will briefly mention the many opinions (publications) of how and whether it works and exists. There will also be a very concise accounts of subliminal advertising being employed and its effects on the viewers. This chapter will not make any conclusions about the matter yet, but instead, will serve to give credibility to the subject at hand in the hopes of sparking a curiosity and interest in the audience.

3) The subconscious mind – This next chapter will begin to explore in detail how subliminal advertising works by firstly looking at the human conscious and subconscious mind. This will be approached by studying the science and psychology behind the roles of the two minds in the decision making process (in the context of a consumer).

4) Marketing tactics – This chapter is a continuation from the previous chapter exploring how subliminal advertising works by examining and revealing certain strategies that advertisers and marketers employ to persuade consumers in their decisions, and how these tactics go unnoticed.

5) Recognize this? – This chapter will smoothly link from the last by looking at case studies of actual companies and the tactics they have employed.

6) Conclusion - The report may conclude by asking the viewer a cynical question of whether or not what they now know will affect their next shopping decision.

Action plan
- Find out how informed the target audience already is about this topic, so that the report will still be informative and interesting. I plan to do this by asking people from of the target audience simple questions such as, “What do you know about subliminal advertising?” “Do you think it exists?” and “Do you think it works?” This simple questionnaire would most likely be done online to reach a wider range of people and could take on the form of a survey on surveymonkey.com.

- I will begin by reading Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom, and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to gain an understanding of the scientific and psychological aspect in the roles of the conscious and subconscious mind in the consumer’s decision-making process.

- I will be taking an in depth look at subliminal advertising, examining what it is, how and whether it works and instances of it being used in the past. I intend to do this by reading several books and magazine articles on the issue such as Subliminal Persuasion by Dave Lakhani and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

- I will look at various magazine and newspaper articles and TV and news programs where Martin Lindstrom explains the findings of his study.

- From the case studies made in Buy-ology, I plan to do research on them online to see if other sources have also made similar observations, or if companies and advertisers have admitted to employing subliminal advertising tactics in their work.

- I will also be looking at various short animations that have been produce to be informative, to look for different animation methods and styles that I can learn from. One particular animation I like is I Met The Walrus, that I found on YouTube by Jerry Levitan, director Josh Raskin and illustrator James Braithwaite. I plan to use the software Adobe After Effects to create my animation, and so I will be learning how to use it through the help of friends and online tutorials.

Bibliography

Books

Lindstrom, M. (2008) Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. New York, Doubleday.

Heath, R. (2001) Hidden Power of Advertising. Oxfordshire, Admap Publications.

Shrum, L. J. (2004) The Psychology of Entertainment Media. New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

Packard, V. () The Hidden Persuaders.

Gladwell, M. (2005) Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. London, Penguin Group.

Langton, R. L. ( ) Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing.

Norman, D. A. (2004) Emotional Design. New York, Basic Books.

Ariely, D. (2008) Predictable Irrational. New York, Harper Collins Publishers.

Brafman, O., Brafman, R. ( ) Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behaviour

Lakhani, D. (2008) Subliminal Persuasion. New Jersey, John Wiley & Sons Inc

Magazine
Parade Magazine: How Subliminal Advertising Works, Martin Lindstrom, 4th Jan 2009

Parade Magazine: Buyer Beware, Martin Lindstrom, 30th Nov 2009

WIRED Magazine June 2009

Films
Czech Dream

New aim and target audience

2009-07-16T19:10:00.002+01:00

Since considering more who I want to aim my report at I have refocused my aim and added format ideas. Advice please!

The aim of the report is to raise awareness of the contrasting characteristics of printed and online magazines and consider the implications of the reader’s relationship with these formats. A further aim is to discuss new and future magazine format options and consider their impact on publishers and consumers. This would be of interest to magazine industry professionals (editors, designers, marketers, publishers etc.) and avid magazine readers or collectors.

The report will be produced as a magazine article in both a printed and digital format, therefore design features will be applied appropriately in reaction to my research on the two formats’ contrasting features.

Maybe the last draft need to go over the grammer

2009-07-16T18:48:00.001+01:00

Abstract

This report will cover over a few chapters that would hopefully answer the question on: Do we need sexuailed images to be interested in a product. “ Do the sexualised images put us under pressure?”. This is a very big topic to cover, so the report is going to break it down by focusing on the advertising and editorial content they use in lifestyle magazines. In the report, when it talks about the term “ sexualised” It refers to “the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature or a person to become aware of sexuality”. Some of the areas that the report is going to try to cover are:

• Who are these sexualized images aimed at (who are their target audience),
• Does the use of sexualised image have a different effect on men than it has on woman?
• If the designer didn’t use a sexualised image would the reader still be interested?
• Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

This report will be based upon many experiments and interviews that will be carried out with people from various age groups and with different interests to provide a more substantial base of knowledge. The answers and thoughts provided by people participating will be very useful when trying to come up with the conclusion to the question.

Chapters

LOOKING BACK AT THE HISTORY OF MAGAZINES

This chapter will look through the history on when the emerge of sexualised imagery in magazines first came about, and sets the context of feminism and post-feminism opinions.

The report will look back in history on when sexualised images become such an everyday thing and look at a time if it was not ok to look at sexualised images in magazines. The report look at the opinions of different people who worked in the magazine industry on the views on magazines contents.

Interesting people to look at :

Betty Friedan, female American writer, activist and feminist who wrote for a magazine company call Mc Calls. Friedan work looks for the social definition of women’s role in the pages of women’s magazines, she saw the portrayals of women both editorial and advertising.

Courtney and Lockerets were another two people who analyze how people looked at women, they believed that there are four general stereotypes of women being shown in the 70’s in print advertisement:

Quotations

“ A women’s place is in the home; women do not make important decisions or do important things; women are dependent and need men’s protection; and men regard women primarily as sexual objects” (sex stereotyping in advertising p.10)

¬¬ Pingree, Hawkins, Butler and Paisley developed a scale for sexism and tested it against advertisements during the 1973-1974.

Quotations

“ The most stereotypical level, level one, shows women as sex objects. Level two keeps women in their places by showing them in traditional activities. Level three shows professional women whose first place is in the home. Level four shows the sexes as fully equal and level five shows men and women in individual, nonstereotyed roles”. ” (sex stereotyping in advertising p.10)

Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer’s attention, doesn’t really generate positive feelings among viewers but that was not the case 40’s year ago. The media has changed so much over the years, in the late 60’s women in magazine weren’t used as sexual objects but instead their lifestyle of motherhood and the care of the home and husband were splashed over the magazine covers. The report will go through different resources picking out key elements in history, which made an impact of the way magazines portray images of people. Maybe doing a timeline to break down these events down would be easier way to understand all the information.

WHY DO MAGAZINES USE SEXUALISED IMAGES

Advertisers tried to understand and explore the deep unconscious and subconscious factors that motivate people to buy products. Advertisers try to use word triggers and picture trigger to evoke desired responses. The report is going to explore why and if sexualised Images makes people buy things?

Quotations

“The business man’s hunt for sale boosters is leading him into a strange wilderness: the sub-conscious mind.” (Wall street Journal, page 1)

Do magazines use sexualised images as one of their tactics to attract men and to twist their minds into purchasing a particular product. Companies are implementing the same tactics in the advertisements that target women by sending out the message of "Buy (this product) and he will notice you".

COSMOPOLITAN VS NUTS

In this report it will have different comparative analysis of sexualised imagery of both women and men in youth lifestyle magazines. It will then go on to visually deconstruct and comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines

Experiments
(The period of three issues)

• How many editorial about sexualised topic does cosmopolitan have compare to nuts?
• How many sexualised images do they both use?
• Who are the target audience for these magazine?
• If a designer changed the sexualised image to something different would it have the same affect on the reader?
• Do men and female have different points of views when they look at this sexualised images
• The numbers of men/women featured in each magazine?

ARE WE UNDER PRESSURE?

Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image? People in advertising say that all they do is hold a mirror up to society, reflecting who we are. So is it a surprise that most of the advert we see has a sexualised nature about them? Sexualised images in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. In the report it tries is to see if majority of magazines reflect reality and that the image of women in advertisements is significant in influencing women’s perception of themselves. Great advertisers consider not only the attention- getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers.

MAGAZINES FIGHTS BACK

The report will possibly conclude with a series of considerations for magazine editors.

Here are some questions that might be asked them:

• Do you think there is a lot of sexualised imagery in lifestyle magazines?
• Do you think an editorial with a sexualised images will sell better then an editorial without? And why?
• Do you think sexualised imagery put the reader under pressure?

Magazine’s choose carefully when picking images for magazine because for a man some images does not provoke the kind of anxiety that it may do in many women. Does the use of sexualised image have an different effect on men than it has on woman?

Action Plan

• Researching on the history of sexualised images used in lifestyle magazines. Resources: Books, journals, the Internet and magazines. It will be used as a general background and back-up to support my theories.
• Create a timeline of important events that influenced magazines
• Research the demographic of lifestyle magazine
• Research about lifestyle magazines are trying to achieve
• Comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines. Resources primary research: Experiments, surveys/ questionnaires
• Pure pressure that lifestyle magazines have on society
• Contact Designers who are working in the magazine industry. Possible interviewing methods – face-to-face interview, phone interview and email questionnaire.
• Gathering and analyzing the information.
• Design my report looking at influences like “ creative review, id magazine

Bibliography:

Books

• Designing Pornotopia – Rick Poynor (2006)
• Picture of women sexuality written by Jane Root (1984)
• Channels of Desire written by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen
• Sex stereotyping in Advertising - Alice E Courtney/ Thomas W. Whipple (1984)
• Female Fetishism – Lorraine Gamman & Merja Makinen (1994)
• Was it good for you, too? 30 years of Cosmopolitan" - Linda Kelsey (Robson Books, 2003)
• Marie Claire
• Nuts
• Cosmopolitan
• Editorial Design – Yolanda Zappaterra (2007)
• Design writing Researching – Ellen Lupton & Abbott Miller (1996)
• The will to knowledge – Michel Foucault (1976)

Websites

• www.google.co.uk/search?q=history+of+sexualised+images+in+magazines&hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G&tbs=tl:1&tbo=1&ei=4x5eStv7B96rjAfhgOXdDQ&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sexualisation 'harms' young girls http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm

• http://www.idsgn.org/posts/now-and-then-sex-still-sells/

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/upload/article_sexualized_images.pdf

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27595678/

What title shall I have?

2009-07-16T17:28:00.001+01:00

Colours and Colour Combinations - When you want your design to communicate through colour.

or:

Communicating Through Colour - What do we associate with certain colour combinations?

What do you think?

Hopefully, the final proposal Texxt

2009-07-16T14:00:00.004+01:00

Cover

Abstract

Synopsis

Design so far:

Ethics In Graphic Design

Abstract:

“Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. To some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse.”

- Paragraph from the First Things First Manifesto, 2000

“Our discussion on the ethics of designers always gets impaled on the issue of whether a client’s desire for profit can be reconciled with our ethical desire to do no harm or, put another way, can we serve a client and the public at the same time. The difficulty of these questions explains why the AIGA and other design based organizations have found it so difficult to define a designers obligations to the public.”

- Since Then, Milton Glaser

This report shall deal with the subject of ethics and their role in the graphic design industry. In the course of the report topics relating to how designers feel about the nature of the business – if they feel it is too commercially driven and if they feel it produces enough socially aware work – and it’s relation to ethical practice will be discussed. In order to do this individual designers and design studios would be contacted to find out their feelings on ethics and opinions on how (if at all) they incorporate them into their professional practice.

The report will also aim to find out how different designers feel about the role of ethics in their commercial work and also if they undertake pro bono work or actively seek ways to use their design skills to produce work for social benefit. Personally, I believe that ethics are important to design companies in the form of an ethos on which they run their business. Generally a design company will have a set philosophy that becomes emblematic of the spirit of the studio. This would provide another angle from which to investigate the topic of ethics in graphic design practice.

Further to this, the report would also look into how clients and companies feel about the ethical positioning of graphic designers – does it bear relevance to their selection, do clients actively seek designers that have an ethical standpoint?

Chapter Headings

1: Ethics today

The report would aim to, in this section, use the information from gathered research to establish how different designers feel ethics feed into their practices. This section would aim to show just how important companies feel their philosophies/ethics are to their business.

It would be interesting to show if they feel ethics are relevant to clients and can how hard/easy it is to stay true to your ethics in industry and maintain a successful profession. This section would also like to investigate how clients and the commissioning companies feel about the role of ethics for graphic designers. Do clients consider a designers ethical standpoint when they commission him/her, do they look for someone to fit in with their own corporate ideology. A possible topic could be do Unilever (who are actively promoting how they have become more green and sustainable) want to associate themselves with green and sustainable designers? Or do charities like Oxfam and Concern look for designers with a track record of socially relevant projects?

2: Historical Context

This section would give a brief over view of previous art and design movements (Modernism, the Arts and Crafts movement) that had ethical pursuits at the core of the philosophy. A historical context showing the relationship between consumerism, globalization and the role of graphic design in society could also be shown in this section (possibly through use of info graphics). This section would be brief but informative, showing how ethics have been applied in the past and the way they have changed over time.

3: Pro Bono/Socially Aware work

This section would focus on Pro Bono/Socially Aware work to see if designers undertake any jobs outside of their commercial practices. Stefan Sagmeister made the graphics for a Ben and Jerry’s campaign to lower military spending; he also began a charity for homeless people in New York. Milton Glaser produced the “I LOVE NEW YORK MORE THAN EVER” symbol post 9/11 to give New Yorkers something to take pride in. It would be interesting to see what unknown designers are undertaking similar work.

This section could also include opinions from designers on ethics, if they feel elated by the consumerism that drives their work or do they feel slightly depressed that their skill set is used mainly to produce high quality work for low quality ephemeral products.

4: Conclusion

In the conclusion, the report shall go back over the information in the body of the report and summarize what was said. Based on the feedback from designers and clients, the conclusion would either express just how relevant ethics are in industry.

Personally, I believe that ethics are very important to lots of people, especially with the green campaign and sustainability issues and also how people are becoming more aware of the dark side of globalization, indicated I think by the rise in popularity of Fair Trade food stuffs and ethically sourced products.

Action Plan:

Primary research would be gathered by getting in contact with graphic design companies/designers and asking them questions about their ethics and company philosophies, their feelings about graphic design and it's social relevance. The aim would be to contact as many as possible so as to assure that there would be a significant body of information to work with.

Questionnaires would be developed for students who may give feedback on how they feel about what ethics means to the graphic design industry. These questionnaires may also be relevant to non-designers, to see how they feel ethics should effect how designers work and assess their work.

Research in books would provide a solid bedrock of research for the project – books like Citizen Designer by Steven Heller or books on professional conduct and practice may help. For the cultural/historical context there would be a need to research books on various disciplines that were ʻsocially awareʼ. Essays by designers such as Milton Glaser or Stefan Sagmeister would also be relevant research.

The philosophies/purported ethics of designers/studios could be analyzed through a website such as wordle.com. This website creates a graphic based on inputted text (via the user). Popular words are displayed in large typefaces whilst less repeated words are shown as smaller – effectively showing the most prominent themes across a variety of philosophies.

Relevant images may be the use of examples of widely acknowledged socially aware design, or even widely accepted examples of graphic design that has no social relevance at (if even possible). Or the pro bono projects of designers could also be shown.

Bibliography:

Below are a selection of books and website links that I have encountered so far which cover the areas of ethics, social responsibility, pro bono work and essays on “good” or “ethical” design. As I encounter more articles/essays these will also be added to the bibliography.

Heller, S. (2003) Citizen designer. New York: Allworth Press

Shaugnessy, A. (2005) How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul. London: Laurence King

Lucienne, R. (2006) Good: an introduction to ethics in graphic design. Lausanne: Ava Academia

Hall, P. (2001) Made you look, New York : Harry N. Abrams

Glaser, M. (2006) Design of dissent. Gloucester, Mass: Rockport

http://miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/mg_index.html

http://www.typotheque.com/articles/how_good_is_good.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/philippe_starck_thinks_deep_on_design.html

Some images to cheer up!

2009-07-16T13:36:00.003+01:00

(And of you can't, look again) by Paul Smith

Colours!

Quite a nice way to quote, huh?
(all from ffffound.com plus the top one is a photo at the Design Museum)
Ana R.

Design

2009-07-16T01:58:00.002+01:00

These are design try outs for the proposal. For the actual report I was thinking of making a website, as my subject is related to digitalisation, internet etc. So for the proposal I was thinking of creating a pdf file that reflects a website layouts.

Proposal - Final Draft - Adam Grant

2009-07-15T23:15:00.000+01:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More meme

Saskay Bennett 2 draft please help

2009-07-15T22:21:00.000+01:00

Abstract

By the end of this report I would have cover over few chapters that would hopefully answer my question on: “ Are we to blame designers on why we see so many sexualised imagery around use?”. Do we need sexuailed images to be interested in a product. This is a very big topic to cover so I am going to break it down by focusing on the advertising and editorial content they use in lifestyle magazines. When I talk about the term “ sexualised I refers “to the making of a person, group or thing to be seen as sexual in nature or a person to become aware of sexuality”. Some of the areas that I am going to try to cover are:
• Who are the sexualized images aimed at (who are their target audience),
• Does the use of sexualised image have a different effect on men than it has on woman?
• If the designer didn’t use a sexualised image would the reader still be interested?
• Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

I have based this questions on the fact a lot of lifestyle magazines have a lot of sexualised images, so I what to know is this to appeal to increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer’s attention.

This report will be based upon many experiments and interviews that I will carry out with people from various age groups and with different interests to provide a more substantial base of knowledge. The answers and thoughts provided by people participating will be very useful when I come to the conclusion to my question.

Chapters

1. I will look through history on when the emergance of sexualised imagery in magazines first came about, and sets the context of feminism and post-feminism opinions.

I want to look back in history on when sexualised images become an everyday and look at a time when it was not ok to look at sexual images.
I will look at an female American writer, activist and feminist who wrote for a magazine company call Mc Calls called Betty Friedan, which in the late thirties portrayed women as autonomous heroines seeking to fulfill their own goals but as the forties progressed, the self-sufficient heroine gave way to the glorified housewife, praised. The magazine was aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now". Friedan work looks for the social definition of women’s role in the pages of women’s magazines, she saw the portrayals of women both editorial and advertising.

Courtney and Lockerets were another two people who analyze how people looked at women, they believed that there are four general stereotypes of women being shown in the 70’s in print advertisement:

Quotations

“ A women’s place is in the home; women do not make important decisions or do important things; women are dependent and need men’s protection; and men regard women primarily as sexual objects”

¬¬ Pingree, Hawkins, Butler and Paisley developed a scale for sexism and tested it against advertisements during the 1973-1974.

“ The most stereotypical level, level one, shows women as sex objects. Level two keeps women in their places by showing them in traditional activities. Level three shows professional women whose first place is in the home. Level four shows the sexes as fully equal and level five shows men and women in individual, nonstereotyed roles”.

Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer’s attention, doesn’t really generate positive feelings among viewers but that was not the case 40’s year ago. The media has changed so much over the years, in the late 60’s women in magazine weren’t used as sexual objects but instead their lifestyle of motherhood and the care of the home and husband were splashed over the magazine covers.

2. Advertisers tried to understand and explore the deep unconscious and subconscious factors that motivate people to buy products. Advertisers try to use word triggers and picture trigger to evoke desired responses. I am going to explore why and if sexualised Images makes people buy things?

Quotations

“The business man’s hunt for sale boosters is leading him into a strange wilderness: the sub-conscious mind.” (Wall street Journal, page 1)

Designers use sexualised images as one of their tactics to attract men and to twist their minds into purchasing a particular product. Companies are implementing the same tactics in the advertisements that target women by sending out the message of "Buy (this product) and he will notice you".

3. I am going to do different comparative analysis of sexualised imagery of both women and men in youth lifestyle magazines. I will then go on to visually deconstruct and comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines

Experiments
(The period of three issues)

• How many editorial about sexualised topic does cosmopolitan have compare to nuts?
• How many sexualised images do they both use ?
• Who are the target audience for these magazine ?
• If I change the sexualised image to something different would it have the same affect on the reader?
• Do men and female have different points of views when they look at this sexualised images
• The numbers of men/women featured in each magazine?

4. Do these sexualised images put the reader under pressure to mirror the image?

Is it human nature to be curious about sex? People in advertising say that all they do is hold a mirror up to society, reflecting who we are. So is it a surprise that most of the advert we see has a sexualised nature about them? Sexualised images in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. They concluded that majority of advertisements does not reflect reality and that the image of women in advertisements is significant in influencing women’s perception of themselves. Great advertisers consider not only the attention- getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers.

5. The report will possibly conclude with a series of considerations for magazine editors.

Here are some questions I might ask them:

• Do you think there is a lot of sexualised imagery in lifestyle magazines?
• Do you think an editorial with a sexualised images will sell better the and editorial without? And why
• Do you think sexualised imagery put the reader under pressure?

Magazine’s choose carefully when picking images for magazine because for a man some images does not provoke the kind of anxiety that it may do in many women. Is the media is guilty of sexism in their coverage of celebrities? You will see more advert and cover of women then men. Does the use of sexualised image have an different effect on men than it has on woman?

Action Plan

• Researching on the history of sexualised images used in lifestyle magazines. Resources: Books, journals, the Internet and magazines. It will be used as a general background and back-up to support my theories.
• Research the demographic of lifestyle magazine
• Research about lifestyle magazines are trying to achieve
• Comparatively analyse an issue of Cosmopolitan and an issue of Nuts magazines. Resources primary research: Experiments, surveys/ questionnaires
• Pure pressure that lifestyle magazines have on society
• Contact Designers who are working in the magazine industry. Possible interviewing methods – face-to-face interview, phone interview and email questionnaire.
• Gathering and analyzing the information.
• Design my report looking at influences like “ creative review, id magazine

Bibliography:

Books

• Designing Pornotopia – Rick Poynor (2006)
• Picture of women sexuality written by Jane Root (1984)
• Channels of Desire written by Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen
• Sex stereotyping in Advertising - Alice E Courtney/ Thomas W. Whipple (1984)
• Female Fetishism – Lorraine Gamman & Merja Makinen (1994)
• Was it good for you, too? 30 years of Cosmopolitan" - Linda Kelsey (Robson Books, 2003)
• Marie Claire
• Nuts
• Cosmopolitan
• Editorial Design – Yolanda Zappaterra (2007)
• Design writing Researching – Ellen Lupton & Abbott Miller (1996)
• The will to knowledge – Michel Foucault (1976)
•

Websites

• www.google.co.uk/search?q=history+of+sexualised+images+in+magazines&hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=G&tbs=tl:1&tbo=1&ei=4x5eStv7B96rjAfhgOXdDQ&oi=timeline_result&ct=title&resnum=11

• BBC NEWS | Health | Sexualisation 'harms' young girls http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6376421.stm

• http://www.idsgn.org/posts/now-and-then-sex-still-sells/

• http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/upload/article_sexualized_images.pdf

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27595678/

Cover design

2009-07-15T21:20:00.006+01:00

Hello,

could any one help me to move on with the design of my cover please? My proposal is about 'how is drawing used in design process today'. Any suggestions or comment would help! Thank you!

Something like this...?

Changing Magazine Formats

2009-07-15T21:07:00.001+01:00

How are the formats in which people read and receive magazines changing and how does this affect the magazines’ environmental impact?

The aim of my project is to research and evaluate different magazine formats, consider the future developments of magazine formats and consider their environmental implications.
I will research the differences between printed and online magazines in terms of the publisher and reader’s relationship with the medium. “No screen in the world can replace the feeling one gets when sitting comfortably in an armchair enjoying the Sunday paper” (Patrick Burgoyne, MagCulture, 2003 p.18) I want to look at the influence of new technology on production and distribution methods of magazines and how this is changing the way we read and receive publications. I also would like to consider the environmental impact of the printing industry and question the benefits of using electronic alternatives “a medium-sized server has roughly the same annual carbon footprint as an SUV vehicle doing fifteen miles per gallon”(Nat Hunter, Grafik Jul 2009). As my research develops I am likely to refine my report to focus more specifically on either the future of magazine publishing or the environmental impacts and briefly touch on the submissive topic. However, I feel they are both worthy topics of interest and so would like to initially investigate both.

Printed verses Online Publications
In this chapter I intend to discuss the benefits and downfalls of both formats. Articles such as New-Style Entertainment: Online Magazines from international design magazine Novum (June 2005, p.76-81) and Download Me... (MagCulture, 2003) outline in detail the printed verses online debate, “quote to be added”.

Magazine Case Study
I intend to do a case study of a magazine which has both a printed and online version. I will interview industry professionals on topics such as; how do the readership statistics compare between both formats? How do they make their online revenue? What contrasting design features do they apply for each format? Do their reader profiles vary between formats? How do they advertise their online publications? etc. The title I am considering choosing for my case study is Dazed & Confused Magazine. I think this would be suitable because it is a popular fashion and lifestyle magazine which is likely to be both brought on opportunity and have a collectors market. I have industry contacts through the mentorship scheme in both the printed and online design departments which I feel would be ideal for me to interview on my subject.

Survey
In this chapter I shall discuss and analyse the results of my survey I wish to conduct based on people’s consumption on online and printed magazine. From this primary research I hope to gain quantitive results on areas such as the average number of printed and online magazines people buy/read a month? I also would like to obtain qualitive results such as why readers prefer a particular format and how they feel about future format options. Using my research I shall compare my findings to notions proposed in articles such as Download Me… (2003).

The Future of Publishing
Looking at how new technology such as eBooks and eReaders are changing the way we can read publications. Also the implications new web services such as http://www.zinepal.com/ where you can “create your own printable magazines and eBooks from online content” and the Blackwell’s Espresso Book Machine which “could herald the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented his printing press more than 500 years ago.” (The Guardian). The book We the Media (DanGilmor, 2004) explains how the development on online mediums such as blogs and forums has changed the way we consime information “add quote”.

The Environmental Impact
I’m really interested in the relationship between graphic design and climate change and would like to have a section evaluating the environmental impact of printed publications and discuss the what alternatives and improvements can be made. From this I would see how the online alternatives compare and discuss issues such as are website like zinepal.com progressive because they allow the reader to print only selected material or are they just allowing us another opportunity to an unnecessary paper and glue to landfill? I will use books such as Cradle to Cradle (Braungart and McDonough, 2008) and online resource www.lovelyasatree.com to gather information on environmental impacts of the printing industry.

Action Plan
· Read and seek out more books/articles about the readers relationship with a printed publication(magazine) and how it changes when reproduced digitally
· Research facts and statistics on how many people are reading online publications.
· Interview people from publishing industries (publishing houses/magazines) about their opinions on the different mediums and find out about how they make their online revenue (Case Study?).
· Talk to people/companies actively conscious about the environmental impact of printing and get their opinions, e.g. Three Trees, Amelia’s Magazine, Sublime (get more)
· Research survey techniques and do a survey of how people dispose of their publications/magazines
· Set up course magazine sharing system
· Research in more detail energy and waste in printed and online publications and make comparative diagrams.

Bibliography
Books
Cradle to Cradle
MagCulture
Inside Magzines
Paper Trails
We the Media

Magazines/Journals
Grafik Articles by Nat Hunter on ‘How to be Green’
Novum Mag article on online mags
The Future of Printing
Seven steps to online publishing success.

Websites
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-blackwell
http://www.dolectures.co.uk/brainfood/?tag=481
http://www.threetreesdontmakeaforest.org/facts/digital.html
http://www.shrinkpaper.org/
http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/amelias_blog/2009/06/beyond_the_green_machine_1.php
http://www.recyclenow.com/why_recycling_matters/how_is_it_recycled/paper/paper_the.html
http://www.pdf-mags.com/
www.thisisamagzine.com
www.dazeddigital.com

Colour and Colour Combinations

2009-07-15T16:44:00.002+01:00

Second draft:

TITLE / QUESTION

Colours and Colour Combinations

– -When you want your design to communicate through colour.

or:

Communicating Through Colour

- -What do we associate with certain colour combinations?

What do you think?

ABSTRACT

Regardless of whether we understand the physics involved when light-waves bounce from the surface of an object and into the eye and mind of the beholder, we are all persuaded, moved, aroused, challenged, inspired, repulsed, warned and informed by colour and combinations of colours. And though each of us perceives colours uniquely, there is an amazing amount of commonality in our reactions to colour across time and culture. Colour selection must therefore be made in consideration of the cultural norms and associations of the intended target audience, particularly if a design is to be seen internationally. (Krause, 2002)

This report will provide a brief introduction to colours and colour combinations and it will be investigating the emotions/associations/meanings that various colour combinations are charged with in the western society. The report will be directed to first year design students who wants to get a better understanding of how you can let your design communicate through colour. Many texts about colour are hard to understand since they are quite science orientated and designers might get lost in all the complicated words.

This report will be based upon many experiments and interviews carried out with people from various age groups and with different interests to provide a more substantial base of knowledge. The answers and thoughts provided by people participating will be very useful for a student when they are contemplating use of certain colour combinations within their designs, no matter if it is designing an advertisement campaign or a magazine cover. This report will also investigate if designers always have to think of these hidden meanings or if sometimes you can choose colour combinations purely based upon your own taste and if you do how will they be looked upon? Are there some rules that have to be followed if you don’t want to send out a complete wrong message?

POSSIBLE CHAPTER HEADINGS

Introduction

The introduction will present the chosen topic to the reader and what they can aspect fro the reading. It will highlight what key points will be investigated. The introduction has to grab the reader’s interest so short interesting facts and starting points should be briefly stated. I want people to keep this question in mind throughout the report “Can you ignore what people think about colour and still make good design that communicates the desired message?”

Introduction to the use of colour in design

Colours are categorised into Additive colours = RGB and Subtractive colours = CMY but then there is also artist primaries Red, Yellow and Blue which is used as the basis of most colour theories. A designer use all three, first when starting a project on a sketch basis they probably use RYB then when working on screen with the design they work in RGB, finally when they might send it off to a printer they have to change it into CMYK. (Stone et al, 2006)

The colour wheel and how it can help you when combining colours

The colour wheel is a tool that can be used to select harmonious combinations of colour for design. Selecting a colour combination that works will depend largely on the message that is to be conveyed. Colours tend to generate a specific response or association from the viewer, and so an understanding of these reactions will help a designer to create effective colour combinations that will enforce their intended message. (Ambrose et al, 2005).

This section will look at the relation between different colours. Two colours can whisper, speak or shout at each other, all depending on their place and relation to each other in the colour wheel. There are many ways to use the colour wheel when choosing colour combinations and wanting to achieve a certain effect.

How strong are the messages hidden in various colour combinations?

In this section a lot of the research gathered through experiments and interviews will be brought in to make the reader gain a better understanding of the impact and associations connected with different colour combinations.

What message do you want to send out with your designs?

Colour can be used in many different ways within a design. It can highlight specific information that might otherwise have been lost: it can draw attention; it can make the viewer feel compassion; love or hate; it can suggest femininity or masculinity and it can provide a cultural key to interpret and receive information, this is written by Ambrose and Harris in the book Colour (2005, pg. 49) In order to succeed in sending out the right message with your design you have to be aware of the various messages different colour combinations are charged with.

Conclusion

Conclusions made from my reading and the experiments and interviews conducted. Summarising the report and connecting the end to the beginning. Possibly answering the question “Can you ignore what people think about colour and still make good design that communicates the desired message?“

ACTIONPLAN

The first stage of this report and the extensive research that has to be done prior to the writing is a lot of reading. When a better understanding of the chosen subject is achieved the next step would be to conduct a series of interviews and experiments. To be able to gather useful data from these surveys and tests there has to be a substantial understanding of various techniques and methods suitable for that. Alongside with the reading, interviews and experiments a broad visual research will carried and documented mainly with a camera, images taken here can be of good use when doing the experiments but also in the final report. Personal observations and thoughts will be well documented during the process.

Design aspects

My research can easily be linked in with my studio work and I want to make a series of booklets where all the information gathered is presented. The final report itself is also going to be designed as a small booklet and where the information should be well structured and easy to read. The more technical facts that have to be included and little points of interests shall be put in small textboxes to highlight them and make them more readable. A good use of colour, images and graphic diagrams are obviously vital for the report.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AT THE MOMENT

Ambrose, Gavin and Harris, Paul. (2005) Colour. Singapore. AVA Book Production Pte.

Krause, Jim. (2002) Colur Index. China. Regent Publishing Services Ltd.

Albers, Josef. (2006) Interaction of Color. Singapore. Yale University Press.

Munari, Bruno. (2008) Design as Art. Great Britain. Clays Ltd, St Ives plc.

Feisner Anderson, Edith. (2001) Colour. Hong Kong. Laurence King Publishing Ltd

Wong, Wucious. (1997) Principles of Color Design. United States of America. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Bergström, Bo. (2008) Essentials of Visual Communication. China. Laurence King Publishing.

Otto & Olaf, Marti, Nacho. (2008) Colour and layout. China. Harpers Collins Publishers.

Stone, Terry Lee, Adams, Sean, Morioka, Noreen. (2006)Colour Design Workbook.

This list will grow a lot longer and will also include sources from the Internet and sources relating to interviewing techniques and methods to use when carrying out experiments.

ARGH! - Julia

2009-07-15T14:52:00.003+01:00

The design and I of this report are not getting along very well at the moment! I can't really think of anything that can represent observation through a design perspective..I have tried writing on top of a newspaper as newspapers are observers of the world that report back to the public, but I'm not sure its really working. I've also had a play around with laying out the proposal in a newspaper style but again i'm not fully convinced..Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as the design block is not budging!!!

3D ILLIUSTRATION

2009-07-15T11:51:00.002+01:00

Any opinions of the assessment criteria

2009-07-15T11:48:00.003+01:00

Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions, improvements etc.

all welcome thanks,
drn

Ana R

2009-07-15T11:47:00.004+01:00

A bit about the content
Printmaking is the process of transferring an image from one surface to another. Each piece produced is not a copy but an original because even though it can be printed more than once, it is not a reproduction. It is a process that allows space for surprise, discovery and happy accidents where one can learn something new each time, where experimentation and possibilities are endless.
This project will investigate the role played by printmaking in the education of art & design students. The main idea of this report is to raise evidence that the printmaking facilities enhance students education. Nowadays, institutions have been focusing on improving their digital studios more than in keeping their craft workshops running, not to say that in the current downturn of the economy, colleges started thinking about cutting costs and therefore specialized spaces are under threat. This report can become useful for other institutions in terms of understanding how printmaking performs but the initial idea is to collect information with the aim of supporting the workshops at the London College of Communication. Printmaking is an important process to establish knowledge in the art & design field, it enables students to experiment with colour, media and processes as well as to understand the whole process of designing – from creation to competition. This process, of printmaking, is one of complete artistic input. From the early stages of making the image, to choosing the method of printing, the media, the inks to be used, how to handle the equipment and everything else in between. Without this experience it is very unlikely that students will understand how things happen and, more importantly, what they can do to achieve the desired outcome.

Quotes

"An interesting analogy for why visual artists choose to work in print is a musical one. When an artist picks up a pencil to draw, they are a soloist, using a single instrument to explore ideas. When they work with the gamut of oil and canvas, they are a full orchestra, exploring not only all the ideas they have worked on in their drawing but working with a wide range of ‘instruments’. Printmaking is the improvisational chamber music of the visual world. Here the artists can explore ideas at a basic level through drawing or carving on a plate and then by interacting within a limited arena can slowly develop, shift, and add to the image with increasing richness."
Words taken from Printroom website ( am trying to get a name!)

"My experiences of printmaking and letterpress at University contributed greatly to my understanding of design processes. On my BA it helped me to develop an awareness of process and the importance of being organised, relating different materials and how a combination of processes can produce different outcomes. I developed an understanding of the beauty of paper and other materials. So much that I went onto do an MA in printmaking and forgot graphics for a few years! "
David Sims talking about his education, July 2009. David is a Senior Lecturer at LCC and is currently undergoing a project entitled “Learning through procces” which relates to the subject of this proposal.

"These studies sharpen the senses, teach you how to really ‘see’, to give structure to your work and strenghten your confidence in your sensibilities and instincts."
Ken Kerslake, interview for World Printmakers, 2002

"One of the greatest losses of the recent past, in various art schools, has been the replacement of traditional printmaking equipment (such as etching presses, direct and offset litho, relief presses) in favour of the computer. I believe that to substitute one for the other is short-sighted. Print is a wonderfully versatile medium; its techniques have distinct charactersistics and qualities. So the advent of digital technology should enhance and broaden options available to the printmaker rather than replace them."
Tessa Holmes, Printmaking Today, Winter 2004. She is Director in Graphic and Fine Art Print Imagemaking at the London College of Communication

The action plan
The idea is to gather information through a relevant literature review including books, magazines and web sources and to design a qualitative interview. First year students, recent graduates, industry professionals, tutors and technicians will be interviewed with a set of questions that will leave space for them to express their experiences. There is the possibility of designing an open discussion where a small group of people would corroboratively speak about the topic which can be interesting in terms of letting the subject flow more naturally. A quantitative questionnaire might be used if found necessary.

David Sims (Senior Lecturer at LCC), Tessa Holmes (Director in Graphic and Fine Art Print Imagemaking at LCC) and Richard Hollis (Graphic Designer) will be some of the interview subjects for this report.

Interview questions will include:
• Which aspects of education have you valued the most? Why?
• Have you used printmaking facilities at you University? If so, how often?
• What is the role of printmaking in the education of art & design students?
• How has your printmaking experiences helped you with your design process?
• How do you compare computer and digital printing with hand made techniques?

Chapter headings
• About printmaking (a quick overview about the processes and use)
• The role of printmaking in art & design education
• Interviews/analysis
• Conclusion
• Bibliography

(I will also add a category explaining how I wish to design the report, and there is the bibliography which I am getting proper Harvard style info)

I think I will be able to screen print the proposal, which I'm very excited about! I will be printing an A2 black and white sheet, folding it down broadsheet style and if everything works out fine I will manage to get a screen I have back from from a friend and do some experimental screen printing on the poster side. Fingers crossed!

Interesting Typography link that might be useful?

2009-07-15T09:12:00.001+01:00

TYPOGRAPHY
Web Design is 95% Typography
"Information design is not about the use of good typefaces, it is about the use of good typography. Which is a huge difference. Anyone can use typefaces, some can choose good typefaces, but only few master typography."
(Oliver Reichenstein - Information Architects Japan)
http://informationarchitects.jp/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/

Second draft

2009-07-15T03:21:00.004+01:00

Title

‘An investigation into drawing as a tool in the graphic design process’

Abstract

‘Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Arts that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.’ (Oscar Wilde, 1891)

Human vision and perception lead us to think what we see. Our imagination helps to understand a meaning of given experience or knowledge that makes sense and plays a key role in our learning process.

Introduction

This report is about, how do graphic designers and students in the 21^st century use drawing in their process. Also this project would focus on designers who have put drawing at the centre of their practice and explore what that means for their work. This report will become useful for primarilly new generation of students and will inform how benefitial understanding of drawing is.

While drawing is a symbolic thinking tool, some of design professionals and students avoid or do not like this fundamental skill of thinking process. The reason being to this is that drawing is regarded as a crucial step in the learning process. Mostly, people use skills they are confident with and design towards their strengths. But why do people avoid advances of thinking tools? Creative thinking is very important. Everyone knows that. Its advances could help them to new products, new ways of marketing, new services, etc. Why? Creative thinking is a skill that everyone could learn. Even though it is quite difficult. There are very interesting process studies of well-known designers and artists who embody of theirs visions to their own or new practices. It is very essential to follow it and explore it further. Learn from it. By practicing an appropriate creative skill, especially students could learn to motivate themselves to the better understanding of this visual language.

Relevance

The aim of this project is to remit to the thinking tool – drawing in education. This report will look into detail about the characterization of drawings – why and how people draw; what abilities students should develop and what purpose they should be able identify drawing for? Also it aims to look at methods of research and characterization - how people research; what tools should be used; what is the best way to do it?

Plan

To begin with, this report will explain the definition of drawing. As Hazel Harrison says ‘drawing is a process or learning how to see well’. It is a necessity to mention the biological principles of vision briefly, how human eye focus on an image or an object.

After that, the project will focus more on selected designers and artists who use drawing at their practice. Understanding the explored meanings of expression in their work will be an inspiration for the following steps of this project. The designers and artists are: Paul Klee, Lucienne Day, David Hockney and Claude Heath.

The next step of this report will identify the designers’ and artists’ work. Before undertaking any experiments with professionals and students I will confront and evaluate my research and reconsider the best application of this practice. From there, I will move onto the experiment I am aiming to do with students and professionals. First I let them identify 3 drawings. Secondly they will identify 3 objects. Thirdly they will have to think about a random object or an idea that inspire them from those two exercises. They could draw only to express themselves. At the end, they will have to complete a survey designed for this tasks. While they work I will observe, record and document how these people see, how they move from first idea to another. The purpose of this experimentation is to find out how people use their drawing skills. It also will be very interesting to see their reactions while they work on the tasks. I will design a short questionnaire to find out their impressions and feelings from the task given. Both drawings and objects will be selected regarding to my founding.

To this point I will try to answer the following questions:

How designers/students sketch and document ideas?

Are they more familiar with paper based or digital thinking?

What is the best way to see?

How do they approach design problems?

Chapter headings

Chapter headings might be changed according to better understanding of the topic. I must get a lot more information from books and different resources.

Introduction

An overview of the report’s aim

Definition of drawing

A brief explanation of drawing and its usage

How do we see?

An introduction to biological principles of vision

Methods, Research and Characterization

Identifying types of methods, research

Creative thinking?

Application of useful methods inspired by designers and artists

Strategy for experiment and Analysis

The plan of my experiment and its result

How drawing is useful for designers?

Reconsidering creative thinking usage

Conclusion

A summary and reflection of my report

Action Plan

In order to the report, gather a lot more information from different resources during summer holiday.

Decide on who and how you want to interview.

Choose appropriate drawings and objects for the exercise.

Make a plan and time schedule for the experiment.

Design a relevant questionnaire.

Discuss your ideas with others.

Get a feedback.

Decide on effective strategy.

Bibliography

Books:

Merleau – Ponty (2002) The world of Perception

Bruno Munari (2000) Design as Art

Kimberly Elam (1980) Geometry of design

Paul Klee (1961) The thinking eye; Volume 1.

KMartin Kemp (2006) Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, experiment and design

Bo Bergstrom (2008) Essentials of Visual Communication

Dolf Rieser (1972) Art and Science

Mark Wigan (2006) Thinking Visually

Robin Landa (1998) Thinking creatively

Paul Laseau (2000) Graphic Thinking for Architects & Designers

Charles Darwent; Kate MacFarlane; Katharine Stout and Tania Kovats (2007) The Drawing Book

Electronic resources:

http://visualthinkingart.blogspot.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_language#Gestalt_psychology (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.drawing.org.uk/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://blog.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/vision_background.php (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20of%20art/wildetext.htm (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://idratherbewriting.com/2009/05/19/drawing-as-a-tool-for-thinking/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/oct/01/schools.artsfeatures (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2003/sep/30/artsinschools.schools (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2009/may/11/contemporary-art-drawing (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Graphic_Design/Drawing (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030420/ai_n12582469/ (accessed on 13.07.2009)

http://depts.washington.edu/dmachine/PAPER/DTRS99-I/intention.html (accessed on 14.07.2009) http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/VisThinkTools/start.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/aad/research/ccdp.htm (accessed on 14.07.2009)

Reports:

P. Schenk (2005) Developing a taxonomy on drawing for design; School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

C. Stones, T. Cassidy (2007) Comparing synthesis strategies of novice graphic designers using digital and traditional design tools; Design Studies Vol 28 No. 1 January (2007)

M. Resnick, B. Myers, K. Nakakoji, B. Shneiderman, R. Pausch, T. Selker, M. Eisenberg (2005) Design Principles for Tools to Support Creative Thinking; October 30, 2005

For Catherine (Doug)

2009-07-15T02:55:00.002+01:00

Hi Catherine,
Could you please have a look at my new overview? I just wanted to know if it reflects the ideas we talked about yesterday. Thanks a lot! Doug
----

Title:

Happiness in Graphic Design

Question:

‘What makes graphic designers happy in their work?’

Overview:

According to a research carried by the Design Council (DC)(2005, p.10), there are approximately 185,500 people working in design in the UK. From the same research, we learn that ‘In 2003-04 there were 56,785 students on design courses in the UK’ (DC)(2005, p.58), and that an impressive 52% of design business in London recruited at least one designer the year before the research was carried out (DC)(2005, p.58). These facts clearly show a significant interest in the subject of Design in the UK.

This report will particularly focus on one of the disciplines within Design — which makes up more than half of all UK design business (DC)(2005, p.15) — graphic design.

We often associate graphic design with experiencing creativity on a daily basis: through brainstorm meetings, coming up with original ideas or designing something new. Also, reflecting upon graphic design might lead us to think of its often pleasing working environment: a modern-decorated space, where people are allowed to work wearing jeans and t-shirt, while music plays on the background.

However, for some people, the positive aspect of working with graphic design is that their work can be recognised and appreciated by others; almost like pieces of art. In addition, many people wish that not only their work would be noticed, but also that they are recognised as designers — graphic design, then, becomes their ‘Identity’.

Considering that graphic design can be seen as a job, as well as a person’s Identity, it becomes relevant to report on ‘happiness in graphic design’ in order to expose feelings and opinions about the matter — and hopefully learn from it.

Through research on the social and psychological aspects of ‘work & happiness’ and a series of interviews directed to graphic designers, this report will explore the relationship between the assumptions (and expectations) about working with graphic design against the reality of working in its industry.

You didn't see me...right?!

2009-07-14T23:45:00.002+01:00

Emma 3rd proposal

2009-07-14T23:40:00.003+01:00

Working Title/Research question.

How do you create an experience?

Chapter Headings

· Introduction – This paragraph will explain the outlining questions that will be raised within this report. It will provide a short explanation into how these questions will be answered a

nd the process that will accompany them. This will also give a reason for focusing on the point that is being covered, which is how current exhibition designers create an experience and the process they individually follow.

· Current experiences – This chapter will be one of the main focus points of the report. It will look at the current designers that create exhibitions and the processes that they follow. There will be a variety of design groups and individual designers; they will be interviewed about how they go about the process of creating an exhibition from the beginning to the end. The next step after interviewing them would be to analyse the information gathered and work out any similarities and differences between the companies.

· Influences – There will be a short reference to retail and how they use the space diff

erently, but maybe both exhibition designers and retail are influenced by the same attention grabbing techniques. It will be interesting to look into how retail, design their layout to get the buyer into the store and then to stay and buy. They provide floor plans and visual merchandisers to create these surroundings. Another area that will be briefly studied would be the history of exhibitions and their design. This will be researched and then explained within a timeline, which will show a difference or continued similarities from 1851 and maybe even further back to now.

· Do’s and Don’ts – The gathered information from the design companies and individual designers will be analysed, this will then provide an outlined process that maybe they all do and don’t do. Then the next step would be to produce a ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ list. The aim of this report is to see whether exhibitions have a certain process that are followed no matter the design company or exhibition. There will be differences depending on the type of exhibition; however there should be similarities within the layout of the work, the colours and type used. All this information given will provide the reader with a better understanding of how the design companies design an exhibition.

· Summary – This section will look back at all the information given and researched and will provide a conclusion. The information gathered is to provide the reader with a better understanding of the process and detail that goes into exhibition design. It is an interesting area that has a big impact on the audience that is it providing for. Whether it is historic information or art, the audience has to walk away feeling that they have just had an experience. This report will explain how they are provide with one.

· Appendix – There are a number of books on exhibition design, however the ones found so far are not up to date. The only current books, look at existing exhibitions or case studies of past exhibitions. That is where the idea for a Do’s and Don’t list came from. As well as studying books, the Internet will also be used to gather information. Mainly about the location and current work provided by the design companies. Once the companies are gathered, the next step is to go and interview as many as possible to get a wide variety of information. Visiting galleries and exhibitions is also something that will be done to gain a good understanding of an experience and the commonly used elements within the space.

Brief Synopsis of content

There are thousands of exhibitions around the world, each one of them different from the last. But what makes them dissimilar? How do the designers create a brand new experience each time? Every space, audience, content and brief are different, so how do design companies produce the right outcome for the right experience.

Over the course of this report, questions will be answered as well as information gathered for the reader to gain, a good understanding of how exhibition design is executed. There are many design companies that work on making the right experience for the audience. This report will look into the work process of these companies and create a ‘Check list’ or ‘How to guide’ for anyone who is abo

ut to create an exhibition.

The main step in this report would be to obtain information from the current period. This report will look into current design companies that are working with exhibition design everyday. They are at the centre of the action and how it has developed since the 19^th century. These companies a

re the main focus and will be the main resource for this report. Interviewing them and creating a great database of information and process, is the aim. Getting first hand accounts will be a great way to collect do’s and don’ts, which will then be used to create a better understanding of the process.

There are many books written about exhibition design and the areas that have to be looked at, from the beginning, to the end, however they aren’t up to date. It would be great to compare these two resources and see whether they have changed much due to current climates and technology development. Creating a time line may be a great visual way to see the differences. Seeing whether current designers still reference these books in their design process will also be interesting.

An area that could be looked into, linked to exhibition design, would be retail and how the space is used differently in this situation, to react with the audience and create an experience. Researching floor plans and the use of space could be interesting.

All of this information will hopefully provide the reader with a better understanding of ho

w the whole experience of an exhibition happens. From before you walk in the building, with the advertising and the leaflets, to when you leave and can’t stop thinking about what you have learnt from the experience and information.

Action Plan

This report is mainly resourced by research from books, internet and personal interviews. The first step that has to be taken is to gain a good strong understanding of the terms used as well as the term ‘Exhibition’.

“For the immediate purpose, a working definition of exhibitions might be “the advertisement, in three dimensions, of a company’s product or service”. (Exhibition Design, Theory and practice, Arnold Rattenbury (1971).)

“Exhibition design is, above all, about the planning of interpretive spaces.” (Designing ex

hibitions, A Compendium for Architects, Designers and Museum Professionals, Bertron Schwarz Frey (2006).)

Then the next area to look into briefly would be the history of exhibitions and the design that has been provided. This will be gathered by looking into books as well as the Internet, however an area that can be visited would be exhibitions that are looking into the history of the ‘Great Exhibition’. A visual time line will be produce to communicate the information gathered about the history without it taking up too much of the word count.

Visiting a mixture of galleries and museums will provide a diverse bank of resources and will allow this report to compare any differences and similarities that may occur as well as understand the different elements that go into an experience.

Once a good understanding of the history and overall elements that go into an exhibition have be research, I will then go into current design companies that focus on exhibition design and interview them to see what their process is of creating an exhibition and especially how they make it into a memorable experience. The aim of this is to gather a checklist of what the designers do and in what order they do it. This information will then be analysed and compared to other companies responses to see if it generic.

I will also look into, briefly, retail design. I currently work in retail and aim to contact the head office and see if they would provide me with any floor plans that they have used as well as answering some questions about why they place certain items in certain areas.

Bibliography

Books:

Exhibition Design, David Dernie

Exhibition Design, Arian Mostaedi

Designing Exhibitions, Giles Velarde

The Great Exhibitions of 1851, A Nation on Display, Jeffrey A. Auerbach

Retail Desire, Design, Display and Visual Merchandise, Johnny Tucker

Exhibitions: Universal Marketing Tools, Alfred

Visual Merchandising and display, Martin M Pegler

The Wayfinding Handbook, Info design for Public Places, David Gibson

Wayfinding, Designing and implementing Graphic Navigation Systems – Craig M Berger

Designing Exhibitions, Bertram Schwarz Frey

Exhibition Design, Theory and Practice, Arnold Rattenbury

Design Week, Signs – Vol 24 No. 25 – 25^th June 09

Websites:

Holmes Design – www.holmes-wood.com

Stills Design – www.stillsdesign.com

Together Design – www.togetherdesign.co.uk

Alan Farlie – www.rfkarchitects.co.uk

Bisset Adams – www.bissetadams.co.uk

Design week – www.designweek.co.uk

(I think that I might be repeating myself too much, so please let me know if I am. Thanks)

Also Here is an idea for my cover and page spreads.

Am I running out of time?!

2009-07-14T21:09:00.002+01:00

Not sure why, but i'm kinda beginning to panic...I've spent most of today writing, havent even started thinking of the design!

I know it sounds funny as well, but i've been going through alot of ppl's drafts, and copy pasting them into Word to do a word count, coz i'm stuck at 700ish words, haha..(as it turns out, most ppl are as well)

Anyways, this is draft 1.5 of my proposal.

Title: The Subconscious Consumer
Target Audience: Young, middle class adults of the public who are in their 20’s and early 30’s.
Aim: To explore and expose the subject of subliminal and emotional advertising that plays on the consumer’s subconscious (emotional) mind, to affect them to make snap and instinctive decisions without even being aware of them.

The power of somatic markers
We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them. … companies plant instant shortcuts—or brand bookmarks—in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.

Summary of Chapter 7, Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

Approach
As most books that are written about this topic are written for marketers and advertisers, this report intends to raise awareness amongst consumers. The report will not aim to alarm, change behaviour or raise any arguments, but instead, it will approach the subject in an informational, ‘Did you know?’ way.
The reason this report aims only at raising consumer awareness rather than creating an argument or trying to change consumer behaviour is because it is more likely not possible. Subliminal advertising plays specifically on the consumer’s subconscious mind and therefore, being conscious about advertising tactics will only affect the rational aspect of the consumer’s decision making process (experts agree that 85% of everything we do takes place in our subconscious minds).
In this light, the report may conclude by questioning the viewer whether or not what they now know will affect their next shopping decision.

Format

This report might take the form of a short animation or film that could be uploaded onto YouTube.com under the website’s ‘Film & Animation’ or ‘Education’ category and could also be entered into relevant short animation competitions.
The purpose of making the report in this format is so that it can be more attractive, engaging and accessible to its target audience than a magazine or newspaper article. On top of that, as a YouTube video, it will have the potential of virally spreading very quickly to an even larger audience.

Possible chapter headings
1) Introduction – This will be an overview of what the report will aim to address
2) Subliminal advertising, what is it? – This chapter will present the idea of subliminal advertising and will briefly mention the many opinions (publications) of how and whether it works and exists. There will also be a very concise accounts of subliminal advertising being employed and its effects on the viewers. This chapter will not make any conclusions about the matter yet, but instead, will serve to give credibility to the subject at hand in the hopes of sparking a curiosity and interest in the audience.
3) The subconscious mind – This next chapter will begin to explore in detail how subliminal advertising works by firstly looking at the human conscious and subconscious mind. This will be approached by studying the science and psychology behind the roles of the two minds in the decision making process (in the context of a consumer).
4) Marketing tactics – This chapter is a continuation from the previous chapter exploring how subliminal advertising works by examining and revealing certain strategies that advertisers and marketers employ to persuade consumers in their decisions, and how these tactics go unnoticed.
5) Recognize this? – This chapter will smoothly link from the last by looking at case studies of actual companies and the tactics they have employed.

Action plan
- Find out how informed the target audience already is about this topic, so that the report will still be informative and interesting. I intend to do this by
- I will mainly be reading Martin Lindstrom’s book, Buy-ology, to get more in depth with the topic, and also read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to find similarities in their findings. I will also be looking a range of reading materials to get a broader perspective on the subject.
- I will also be looking at various short animations that have been produce to be informative, to look for different animation methods and styles that I can learn from.

Bibliography

Books
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing by Richard L. Langton
Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour by Ori & Rom Brafman
WIRED Magazine June 2009

Films
Czech Dream

(need a lil help with action plan!)

Images to compliment proposal

2009-07-14T20:10:00.002+01:00

Images i've created that could accompany the proposal.

Career ladder

Glass ceiling

sex sells and typography

2009-07-14T19:41:00.002+01:00

found this quite relevant topic about sex in advertising:

http://www.idsgn.org/posts/now-and-then-sex-still-sells/

Heres one for typographers, the 10 commandments of type:

http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/books/the-ten-type-commandments/

all yours,

Luca

SUSTAINABILITY - LUCA PAULINA (NO TITLE/QUESTION AS OF YET)

2009-07-14T18:33:00.001+01:00

“Not even the awfully destructive powers of the military, among whose ranks stand the most terrible warlords of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, can boast such widespread damage as that which the collective endeavours of designers have wrought while undertaking to solve the worlds problems.” Edward Denison

“Few professions can match design for causing so many problems.” Edward Denison

Project aim

To highlight how sustainable design students and tutors are at the London College of Communication, the report will look in depth at projects that are set for students, attitudes to sustainability, carbon footprints, comparisons between projects/courses, sustainable materials sold on site at college shops and looking to the future and solutions on how design students and courses at the LCC can become much more sustainable.

The report will include an easy way to measure sustainability for tutors and students to make sure they understand the importance of being environmentally conscious.

Target Audience

The target audience will be tutors and heads of the university, the report will show the sustainable and non-sustainable areas of courses and student projects to make sure the target audience can adjust and improve to become more environmentally friendly. The ultimate goal of the project is to pitch or brief Sandra Kemp and inform her on the effect and the solutions of sustainability at the LCC.

The target audience has been chosen so that once the report has been read and studied it can provoke a change where it counts. Tutors have been chosen because they have a huge influence and opinion on the students they teach, by targeting the tutors they can then feed this inforamtion down to students and inform them with first hand knowledge that can be backed up with case studies and statistics.

The second chosen target audience is the heads of the university, they have been chosen because if the LCC is to change to become more sustainable then it will need to change its roots. By focusing on providing relevant information gathered directly from the LCC they will be able to see what needs to be changed and the solution to the problem.

Information

The report will include interviews with tutors from a variety of courses to gain an insight of how they teach and if they are concerned about sustainability. The report will show case studies that make comparisons between similar projects highlighting the sustainability of the project and how/if it could be improved. Instead of looking at industry projects the report will mainly focus on different year groups, this will show a great in-sight into student behaviors and will show if more which year groups are more sustainable compared to each other.

Points of Interest

The reports main focus points will be:

Case studies from the FdA for Graphic Communication year groups will have a major factor in the report as the different year groups will be used as a ‘control’ to base all of my info on and around, the report will include and look at work from multiple years to show a better understanding of how each year group looks/focuses on the issue. It will also look at BA students to see if their design attitudes differ from those on the FdA.

The report will provide an insight into how many sustainable products are being sold at the on-site college shop, the shop is used by nearly all students so therefore it should have varied stock to suit most design styles and attitudes. The report will look at the percentage of sustainable to non-sustaniable goods sold and find out what students and tutors are using to complete projects and teaching.

One of the main aims of the research report will highlight the attitudes of tutors and students, by looking at different year groups and courses this will show us where we need to advise and enlighten so that they understand what the problem is and what solutions are on offer and how or what their part in it can be. By showing statistics from the other points of interest the report will direct tutors and students to considering stock and materials in not just an aesthetic way but also to consider the sustainability factor of certain materials and stocks.

Carbon footprints will also be used so we can show over a period of time how sustainable a project, or class or event will be. By doing this the report will show accurate figures that can back up most arguments for and against my main research areas. The report will show the target audience how they can measure their footprint (for example: when setting a project) and adjust it to make it more sustainable.

The report will also show solutions for tutors and students so that they can be more sustainable, it will also show how they can implement these solutions into projects and teaching, for example it will list what materials to look for such as chlorine free paper or recycled paper, this will highlight both the benefits and the negatives to make sure students and teachers understand what materials to choose.

The research paper will also look at the future of sustainability, it will show gathered information from the above and how we can change to become much more sustainable and how we can promote this in our work to limit our emissions and increase our sustainability. Interviews with tutors will be used to find out where they see sustainability being used throughout the LCC in the coming years.

Design

The report will be designed using only renewable, recycled, environmentally friendly, chlorine free oxygen based papers. It will also use environmentally friendly finishing techniques for example embossing/de-bossing and vegetable inks. The book will be hand made and will be printed en masse via screen printing techniques using sustainable binding methods too.

The design of the report is critical to its success, if the publication is inconsistent and contradictory then the report will not be taken serious. The materials for the report will sourced from local suppliers when possible and will be assembled and printed by hand en masse in house at the LCC to make sure its sustainable.

Amy Draft 3

2009-07-14T16:57:00.004+01:00

Really struggling to work out where I'm going with this today.

This is the latest draft, there is still a long way to go but I think I need some more advice!

I was thinking about packaging the proposal in a juxtaposing book cover, for example a really cheesy blurred photo with italic typefaces. It's taking ages to blur a photograph into the right style. Any alternative ideas?

Title: ‘Judging Books By Their Covers: An Investigation Into The Influence of Book Cover Design’.

Abstract:

The aim of this report is to research how important book covers are and how much the design encourages sales. Book cover designs often reflect the fashions and trends at the time of their publication and by tracking one single book, it is hoped that the trends and styles of their era will be identified. To do this fairly and successfully it is important that it is a book that has been re-published numerous times, and by only one publishing house. This will ensure that the book covers only reflect the changing trends rather than different publishers’ unique styles.The book that will be analysed is *.

Within the report the issue of stereotypical cover design will be examined to see how and why particular colours and typefaces become representative of a genre. For example the use of pastel colours and italic typefaces on a romance/chick-lit cover. It is also interesting to look at why certain authors and illustrators collaborate and how a successful partnership creates a sort of brand. There are a couple of questions to consider, such as

‘Do the illustrations on the cover draw you to the book more than the author’s name?’

‘Can the two people within a successful author-illustration partnership ever entirely separate themselves from each other, or are they always going to be seen as one?’

A couple of such partnerships/collaborations that might prove interesting are Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, and Jacqueline Wilson and Nick Sharatt.

The authors and illustrators are recognisable as a pair, so what happens if/ when Wilson’s books are illustrated by someone else? Will anyone know that the books are still being written by the same person?

Chapter Headings:

My report will be written in a series of chapters, these chapter headings are listed below.

1) History of Book Cover Design

This chapter will consist of a brief and concise history of the design of book covers. There will be some references to ‘Penguin A Cover Story’ as this provides a lot of information as to how the design of book covers grew in importance and how it was affected by social and economic factors. There will be some visual examples of how much the designs have altered over the past 70 years. Some data will also be included to show how important a good book cover is and to justify the expense of designing them.

2) The Influence of Book Covers and Author-Illustrator Collaborations.

Exploration of a variety of book covers over the years and the use of data to explain how the cover affected book sales.

Discussion about author-illustrator partnerships, and how such collaborations tie the two professions together, is this always a positive outcome or does it put them in a box?

The Guardian Newspaper interviewed Quentin Blake in 2007 and this extract will be fine tuned and included in the section about collaborations

‘Was there a danger that he might become so synonymous with Dahl that he could illustrate for nobody else? "Apparently not. I've worked with lots of writers - Russell Hoban, Joan Aiken, Michael Rosen. I find I do little shifts, not just between writers, but between books by the same writer, to give each work its identity."’ Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/sep/28/art.booksforchildrenandteenagers

3) Book Covers Now: content genre = cover genre

It is interesting to see how much the genre of the content influences the design of the cover. Are such stereotypical covers designed because they are the most appropriate of because they need to fit in with the same genre on the bookshelves. There will be some experiments with mixing up book covers to juxtapose their content. I.e a horror-style cover for a romance book. Would it stand out on the shelves so much that it will be chosen over the others, or will it stand out so much that the consumer will make assumptions that it does not belong to the romance genre and therefore ignore it. Is it best from a sales perspective to make a book stand out from the others or to merge in?

4) Designing the Perfect Book Cover

This chapter will be working towards a conclusion for the entire report. It will recap and re evaluate the information unearthed and discussed in previous chapters. Hopefully it will bring together or the information, positive and negative and this will result in a conclusion of what makes a good book cover and how it can be achieved. It is important to consider the factors from an aesthetic, informative and buy-ability aspect.

Action Plan:

Contact Sophia at Dorling Kindersley for information and attempt to secure and interview.

Talk to a book-seller, to discover how they can identify the genre of the book by the cover.

Take a trip to a large bookshop to see how books are displayed, which ones stand out most and which are successful/unsuccessful.

Draw a product graph to see if and where there is a gap in the market for a particular style of book cover. If so, why?

Contact a successful illustrator eg Nick Sharatt and ask him his opinions on his work with Jacqueline Wilson, has this been a negative effect in relation to his future projects? Does he feel pigeon-holed? Does he think he will always be trapped as her illustrator?

Visit the exhibition ‘Snozzcumbers and Frobscottle! The Wonderful World of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’ at the V&A museum of childhood.

Research and use statistics abut book sales and design such as the information at http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

Bibliography:

Websites:

Wikipedia

www.penguin.co.uk

www.bookcoverarchive.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/memake/3308996062/

http://top7business.com/?id=1631

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/14/excellent-book-covers-and-paperbacks/

http://covers.fwis.com/

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens/jacquelinewilson/home.htm

http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

Blogs:

http://nytimesbooks.blogspot.com/

http://blog.bookcoverarchive.com/

http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/the_penguin_blog/2009/01/for-cover-lovers-out-there---a-great-book-of-cover-design-that-features-a-lot-of-great-design-including-many-penguin-design.html

Books:

‘Penguin by Design. A Cover Story 1935-2005’ by Phil Baines

What is Publication Design? Bhaskaran Lakshmi,

Front Cover: Great Book and Cover Design, Powers Alan

Buy.Ology

Images:

http://sottai.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/roald-dahl-the-bfg.jpg

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/childrens/jacquelinewilson/home.htm

Interviews:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2007/sep/28/art.booksforchildrenandteenagers

Nick Sharratt

Sophia from DK

Other:

Information and/or interview with Sophia from DK

Interview with a member of staff from WhSmith’s Book Department

A trip to Borders/Waterstones to see how books are displayed

Group survey to discover favourite/most interesting book covers and what makes a good book cover.

Focus group to test reactions of juxtaposing book covers and content.

Does this work? Why/why not?

The Subconcious Consumer

2009-07-14T16:25:00.004+01:00

1st Draft (2nd draft already in the making, please comment!)

Title: The Subconscious Consumer

Target Audience:

Young, middle class adults of the public who are in their 20’s and early 30’s.

Aim:

To explore (and expose?) the subject of subliminal and emotional advertising that plays on the consumer’s subconscious (emotional) mind, to affect them to make snap and instinctive decisions without even being aware of them.

The power of somatic markers
We make hundreds of snap decisions each and every day. Yet so many of them happen deep within our subconscious, so fast and far below the surface we’re barely aware of them. In Buyology, you’ll read how companies plant instant shortcuts—or brand bookmarks—in our subconscious to help us decide what to (or what not to) buy. And yes, your brain too holds some of them and they’ve probably influenced everything from the make of the last car you decided to buy to the brand of coffee you brewed this morning.

Summary of Chapter 7, Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

My approach:

As most books that are written about this topic are written for marketers and advertisers, I intend to approach this topic in an informational, ‘Did you know?” kind of way for consumers. I don’t think I will raise any points or arguments in my report, but rather I would treat it more like a documentary that just states the facts of what’s going on.

Format: This report might take the form of a short animation or film.

Possible chapter headings
1) The subconscious mind – This chapter will introduce the subconscious and conscious mind and the science behind their roles in the decision making process.
2) Marketing tactics – This chapter will reveal certain strategies that companies employ to help consumers make those snap decisions of what to (or what not to buy)
3) Recognize this? – This chapter will contain case studies of actual companies and their tactics.

Action plan
- Find out how informed the target audience already is about this topic, so that the report will still be informative and interesting.
- I will mainly be reading Martin Lindstrom’s book, Buy-ology, to get more in depth with the topic, and also read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell to find similarities in their findings. I will also be looking a range of reading materials to get a broader perspective on the subject.
- I will also be looking at various short animations that have been produce to be informative, to look for different animation methods and styles that I can learn from.

Bibliography

Books
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing by Richard L. Langton
Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour by Ori & Rom Brafman
WIRED Magazine June 2009

Films
Czech Dream

Jason Kang

Carly draft3

2009-07-14T16:00:00.001+01:00

ABUSED TYPE

Does it really matter if a design uses "bad" typography?

Overview

Typography is a big area of graphic design, transcending all aspects of graphics. It is a significant part of our environment, proven in the evidence we see around us everyday be it advertisements, packaging or signage. It plays an integral role in our culture, allowing us to communicate visually with each other through written language. It is our tool of communication and it is 'a powerful tool for anyone who has something to say' Spiekermann & Ginger, 2003, p.7).

When we communicate messages through design it is important to make good use of typography. The impression of a message can change depending on the way it is presented. There are many aspects to consider such as choice of typeface, use of space, colour, setting type, and alignment to name a few. Selecting an appropriate typeface and applying good typographic skills will enhance the design and allow the intended message to be conveyed correctly.

It is interesting, knowing how important typography is, yet there are so many typographic designs out there which fail to use it appropriately. This typographic abuse is often due to designs being created by people who do not know the set typographic conventions or do not think carefully enough when manipulating a typeface. A high percentage of amateurs manage to break most of the typographic conventions without even realising it. It is true that some designers break the rules on purpose and it is acceptable, but only if communicates the necessary intention, however it is important to know the rules of typography before you break them.

Therefore, the aim of this report is to educate non-designers on the common mistakes they make [according to the professionals] and to find out whether it really matters if a design uses "bad" typography.

Quotes

"Typography is an art that can be deliberately misused"— Robert Bringhurst

"I would question anyone who thinks that effective design, no matter how it looks, is not in some way good design" – Jonathan Baldwin

Chapters

Introduction

An overview of what the report aims to do. It will explain why this is a valuable topic and why non-designers should listen.

Abused Typography

The first chapter will focus on finding examples of "bad" typographic designs in the environment. The collated examples of abused typography will be analysed in order to compile a list of the common mistakes non-designers tend to make, acting as a guideline of what-not-to-do for amateurs.

Typographic Conventions

The second chapter will explain why these typographic errors are classified as bad, referring to the conventions of typography. The found examples will be shown to professional designers to get their reactions. It is important to outline the rules and retrieve designers opinions because in order for people to understand what is "bad" they must first understand what is acceptable.

Good Designs

Chapter three will compare a poor design with examples of well designed typography. The aim of this chapter is to show non-designers the vast difference that following the conventions make to the appearance of the design.

Following Conventions

This last chapter will take one or two of the found "bad" examples and focus on redesign it, applying the typographic conventions in order to show how it can be improved. The new design will be used as an experiment alongside the original to investigate whether the conventions are beneficial.

Conclusion

A reflection of how the experiment went. The conclusion will discuss whether or not the experiment of redesigning an example was successful or not – whether poorly applied typography really does make a difference to the communicated message and whether the target audience noticed the difference.

Action Plan

In order to write my report I will need to carry out a wide range or research. This research may not all be useful, however by achieving all the tasks I will be able to select the most appropriate information to use. My research will consist of:

Learn the detailed rules of typography by spending some time in the library reading books and articles on the subject.

Interview designers/ typographers to find out what rules they always follow when dealing with typography. I also want to find out the things they would stay clear of in order to see if this corresponds to the errors non-designers make.

Collecting visual evidence of bad typographic designs; gathering leaflets and taking photographs of designs in the environment e.g. take away menus and shop signs in Walworth Road, London.

Asking shop owners what message they think the typography of their shop sign communicates and asking the same question to people to see if it is actually sending out the intended message.

Gathering opinions from designers on the "bad" examples I find.

Interviewing non-designers to find out how much they know about typography. This would be useful to information to relate to the results of my experiment. If people choose to pick up a professional designed publication over a "bad" designed publication, it would be useful to see if they know why they find it more inviting.

Watching the film documentary: Helvetica to learn why is it such a well used typeface. Learning what is so good about the typeface may help me explain how a good typography will enhance a design.

Investigating how Hoefler and Frere-Jones created their typeface Gotham. Gotham is based on bad typefaces, learning from what they class as "bad" may help me to spot my own findings of "bad" designs.

Taking photographs and collecting examples whilst I am in New York over the summer. Gathering research from different another city will provide me with wider range of typographic examples.

Choosing one of my examples and redesign it using the typographic rules in order to show amateurs how it is done.

Bibliography

Films

Helvetica (2007) Produced and Directed by Gary Hustwit. London: Plexi Productions under the license of Swiss Dots in association with Veer. [Video: DVD].

Books

Pao, I and Berger, J. (2006) 30 Essential Typeface of a Lifetime. Taiwan: Long Sea International Book Co. Ltd.

Jury, D. (2002) About face: reviving the rules of typography. Miles: RotoVision.

Squire, V. (2006) Getting it right with type. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Spiekermann, E & GInger, E.M. (2003) Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works. 2nd ed. Berkeley: Peachpit Press.

Felton, P. (2006) The Ten Commandments of Typography. London: Merrell Publishers Limited.

Articles

Rawsthom, A. (2007) Helvetica: The little typeface that leaves a big mark. The New York Times: Style, 1st April. Anon.

Websites

Molinaro, R. (2009) Abused Typefaces. [Internet]. Available from http://artequalswork.com/2009/01/abused-typfaces/ [Accessed 19 May 2009].

Anon. (2008) Gotham: Barack Obama's favorite font. [Internet]. Available from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow6ajKO0XsM [Accessed 9 July 2009].

Hoefler and Frere-Jones. (Anon) Gotham: An American Vernacular. [Internet]. Available from http://www.typography.com/home/index.php [Accessed 9 July 2009]

Johnson Banks. (2009) Poverty Over. Available from http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughtfortheweek/ [Accessed 14 July 2009]

designed proposal ideas

2009-07-14T14:25:00.010+01:00

I have no idea what i am doing tbh, I have been looking at imagery of men and women and thought of displaying my proposal in a paper folded doll fashion. Each dolls could have a different part of the proposal on.

And then I thought of working with scale and doing men bigger than women and having it as a long poster looking thing, and having 4 men and 6 women ( representing the fact that 60% of graphic design graduates are women and 40 are men, but men are have more recognition, hence being bigger.

these made me laugh

Somehow using the man/women symbols??

I tried drawing my own illustrations which i could put alongside the proposal but i really am not the best at quick drawings. I really don't know what to do in terms of layout. I liked these from my research, individual cards, could just have women shaped cards. feeling a bit lost atm, think i might go back to trying to finish the written side of things. I don't like having to write and design something at the same time, it conflicts too much, so i think i'm going to have to get one done before i do the other.

Some useful words for developing linkage

2009-07-14T13:57:00.001+01:00

Hi People!
For those like me who struggle a bit when trying to find words that sound more academic and serious!
Hope it helps!
Ana R.

When you want to add to your argument or emphasize a statement

...and, also, as well as, moreover, further, furthermore, in addition, additionally, next, secondly, thirdly.

When you want to make comparisons

...similarly, likewise, in the same way, equally.

When you want to highlight contrast

...although, for all that, however, on the contrary, conversely, otherwise, yet, but, even so, despite.

When you want to show differences or similarities

...yet, even so, despite, notwithstanding.

When providing reasons

...for this reason, to this end, for this purpose, because, since, so that.

When explaining results

...as, as a consequence, as a result, hence, therefore, thus, inevitably, so.

When providing examples

...for example, for instance, in other words, by way of illustration, such as, this demonstrates.

When drawing conclusions

...as has been noted, finally, in brief, in short, to summarise, consequently, therefore, in conclusion, so, in other words, accordingly.

Initial ideas for visuals - Happiness in Graphic Design (Doug)

2009-07-14T12:27:00.004+01:00

I have amended the title of my report to 'Happiness in Graphic Design'. I thought 'Job satisfaction' didn't quite translate what the report is about (and it sounded a bit too technical).

The tone of voice of my report is to be like a designer talking to another designer, with a story-telling tone to it.

Here are three initial sketches of how I intend design my proposal. Please let me know what you think.

1. Cereal box: 'Do you wake up looking forward to go to work?'. What graphic designers enjoy about their work? The proposal would be at the back and on the sides of the box. Or inside if needed.

2. Mac idea: Design a SIMPLE flash interactive movie, where the user can click through a couple of Apple-themed pages to read the report. The idea is to make the proposal familiar to my target audience, designers.

3. Tube adverts: A couple of pictures of tube adverts replaced with the content of my report. The idea is a a proposal that is self-referential, but that also gives the feeling of 'reflection' to the reader. Like the 'school of life' or 'wardrobe' tube posters.

What we're marking you on

2009-07-14T11:21:00.003+01:00

Thought it might be helpful for you to see what we are marking you on. Here are the learning outcomes and the assessment evidence/criteria...

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Select and use appropriate research methods to produce a research report proposal, action plan and bibliography. (Research)

2. Make an informed selection of a focussed area of current creative industry practice to investigate for your research report. (Subject Knowledge)

3. Apply appropriate design skills in the production of a coherent and manageable proposal, including devising a working title/research question. (Communication and Presentation)

ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE & REQUIREMENTS

A designed research report proposal of 1000-1500 words, to include:
• working title/research question
• chapter headings
• brief synopsis of content
• images that relate to content
• an appropriate and considered page layout
• action plan
• Harvard referenced bibliography.

You can go 10% above or below the word limit. (The bibliography is not included in the word limit.)

Catherine

Type S p a c i n g Cover

2009-07-13T22:28:00.003+01:00

This is my cover so far, I am am working on the feel of the report at the moment. I want it to be simple in layout and colours to enable the type and content to talk for themselves.

I have decided to present my report in the style of a booklet. The booklet format is both practical and relevant to the content of the report. It will also fit in well to my portfolio.

Mock up of Proposal Layout Amy

2009-07-13T18:29:00.006+01:00

This is an indesign mock up of how I am planning on presenting my proposal.

The text of the proposal will be at the top and base of the page, and in the recognisable Penguin orange (or blue etc depending on which is easier to read).

This is the style of Penguin's original 1935 design.

The issues I'm expecting to have with the real text (and not the placeholder text that is used above) is that there are too many headings and spaces and it won't create such a tidy solid shape or colour. But this is what I have in mind at the moment, feel free to advise me!

Amy

Lucy

2009-07-13T15:20:00.001+01:00

Report proposal 2009
Title

(An investigation into the) A comparison of Spanish and British Graphic Design over the 20th Century

I propose an investigation into the graphic design world, comparing and contrasting the differences in Spanish design and the design in the UK. Taking into account cultural differences and how this affects the work, how freelance differs, the concept of a design studio and the current opinions of how design is perceived by non-designers and designers in both countries. Asking the question of how outside factors (culture, the economy, tourism, aesthetics and demand) influence the way designers work, live, and think.

I will do this by sending out surveys to designers that I know who live and work in both countries, interviewing these designers to create first hand knowledge of their opinions. Also I will collate information from websites, books, and reports that I find appropriate for my subject. This will involve generating enough substantial evidence to pull conclusions together about the design industry. I will ask a company that I did my work experience with to fill out a questionnaire, I will call them up and do a phone interview with the managing director and in house graphic designer. This will give me the opinions from a commercial point of view, mixing this with the other side of the spectrum whilst looking at the opinions of the average person. I then will look at two or three specific designers from each country and compare them and their style and how it relates to each country (whilst referencing to sources that show evidence of the graphic design industry in both countries). Hopefully resulting in defining the few exact differences between each style relating to its/their origin. Comparing and contrasting throughout, using the specific language associated with a comparison essay.

Looking back at the likes of gaudi, (more famous Spanish artists from the time of gaudi, Juan Miro, Fransico Goya up to the end of the reign of franco) and relateing the intensity of how, a country that is infamous for its fine art (holding some of the most famous artists of all time to its name) is not known for its graphic design throughout this period in any way shape or form. Why is this? A full investigation into this will take up probably a lot of the bulk in the form of a chapter in my report. I will look at the book “Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design” by Emilio Gil, which has so far, proved to be extremely helpful. Stating that:

“…how it was possible that a country with an artistic tradition as rich as Spain’s-with names as famous as Gaudí, Picasso, Gris, Miró, Julio González, Dalí, Clavé, Bores, Tàpies, and Saura- that had so expertly tapped the creative vein of the so-called greater arts would leave the fate of Spanish graphic art, considered a more vulgar occupation, in the hands of second-rate (sic) professionals and attributed the situation to the country’s lengthy political and economic isolation.” Introduction to “Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design” Emilio Gil, Introduction written by Anna Calvera

Chapter headings (Suggested)

Aim of Report-State what I intend to investigate

Introduction to design differences between Spain and UK-looking at and analysing key trends from each country, 1939 - present day.

Development in graphic design from 1939-1975 - once again comparing UK and Spain (on their development throughout this time.)

Key designers/design agencies and how the world around them influences-(compare and contrast)- relating my survey results to the work each company or designer produces and reflecting this to the publics view of design in each area to analise whether what the designers are producing is in result to the demand of the average consumer. (Focusing on the role of the designer in a consumerist point of view).

Then moving flowingly on from influences, to how Spain became only recently became know for its design and how in the last 80 years how much it has evolved. Looking at how this happened (moving on from the times of Franco), why it happened (the need for advertising?), and who it has the most influence on.

Conclusion-drawing together an overall anaylsis of the evidence that I have acquired throughout my report… answering my title question to perfection to round up and close the report.

Quotations (just a few ideas)

“ The ideas of graphic artists are images. Their graphic though. Their immensely iconic desire to communicate.” Introduction to “Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design” Emilio Gil, Introduction written by Anna Calvera

“…how it was possible that a country with an artistic tradition as rich as Spain’s-with names as famous as Gaudí, Picasso, Gris, Miró, Julio González, Dalí, Clavé, Bores, Tàpies, and Saura- that had so expertly tapped the creative vein of the so-called greater arts would leave the fate of Spanish graphic art, considered a more vulgar occupation, in the hands of second-rate (sic) professionals and attributed the situation to the country’s lengthy political and economic isolation.” Introduction to “Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design” Emilio Gil, Introduction written by Anna Calvera

Suggested bibliography

Bo Bergstrom (2008) Essentials of Visual Communication

Emilio Gil (2007) Pioneers of Spanish Graphic Design, first edition published by Index Book, S.L, Barcelona

Bruno Munari (2000) Design as Art, Published by Penguin Group

John Berger (….) Ways of Seeing, Published by Penguin Group

Charles Harrison & Paul Wood (2008) Art in Theory 1900-2000

Grafik magazine (issue February 2009)

Eye magazine

Electronic Links

http://www.designobserver.com/archives/entry.html?id=6599

http://www.designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2009/mariscal

http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm

First draft

2009-07-13T14:47:00.001+01:00

What I am trying to achieve

In my report there are going to be a few questions that I would like to cover based around the question “ Does sex sell”. This is a very big topic to cover so I am going to back it down focusing on the advertising they use to sell magazines. Some of the question I am going to try to cover is, why do designers use sexual images to get their message across? Where did the search for a perfect world come from? I have based this question on the fact people use sex appeal to increase the effectiveness of an ad or commercial because it attracts the customer’s attention.

I am going to do different experiments comparing a women magazine to a men magazine.
• Cosmopolitan Vs Nuts
• How many articles about sex does cosmo have compare to nuts
• How many sexual images do they both use
• Why are sexual images of women more popular then men images

Chapters

• Advertisers tried to understand and explore the deep unconscious and subconscious factors that motivate people to buy products. Advertisers try to use word triggers and picture trigger to evoke desired responses. I am going to explore what Images makes people buy particular products.

“The business man’s hunt for sale boosters is leading him into a strange wilderness: the sub-conscious mind.” (Wall street Journal, page 1)

Designers use sexual images as one of their tactics to attract men and to twist their minds into purchasing a particular product. Companies are implementing the same tactics in the advertisements that target women by sending out the message of "Buy (this product) and he will notice you".

• WHS Smith a family company starts Playboy stationary and Aero chocolate start using model best known for their sex scene are they using sex to enticed people, so has the media won. Great advertisers consider not only the attention-getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers. I want to look back in history on when sexual images become an everyday and look at a time when it was not ok to look at sexual images.

Studies show that the attractiveness of the endorsing model provokes positive responses. Nudity and graphic erotic content, while still increasing consumer’s attention, doesn’t really generate positive feelings among viewers but that was not the case 40’s year ago. The media has changed so much over the years, in the late 60’s women in magazine weren’t used as sexual objects but instead their lifestyle of motherhood and the care of the home and husband were splashed over the magazine covers.
• I want the opinions of women who work in that industry on the way women are portrayed in the magazine world.
• When did women magazine moved away for looking a women as mother images to sexual desires?

Betty Friedan an American writer, activist and feminist wrote for a magazine company call Mc Calls, which in the late thirties portrayed women as autonomous heroines seeking to fulfill their own goals but as the forties progressed, the self-sufficient heroine gave way to the glorified housewife, praised. The magazine was aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now". Friedan work looks for the social definition of women’s role in the pages of women’s magazines, she saw the portrayals of women both editorial and advertising. Courtney and Lockerets were another two people who analyze how people looked at women, they believed that there are four general stereotypes of women being shown in the 70’s in print advertisement:

“ A women’s place is in the home; women do not make important decisions or do important things; women are dependent and need men’s protection; and men regard women primarily as sexual objects”

¬¬ Pingree, Hawkins, Butler and Paisley developed a scale for sexism and tested it against advertisements during the 1973-1974.

“ The most stereotypical level, level one, shows women as sex objects. Level two keeps women in their places by showing them in traditional activities. Level three shows professional women whose first place is in the home. Level four shows the sexes as fully equal and level five shows men and women in individual, nonstereotyed roles”.

• I want to look if using sexual images and talking about sexual issues a bad thing.
It’s human nature to be curious about sex. People in advertising say that all they do is hold a mirror up to society, reflecting who we are. So is it a surprise that most of the advert we see has a sexual nature about them. People portray porn as an ugly thing, so with that they show them in a ugly, cheap way with poor lighting and harsh settings but what if you take out of that setting and place in a beautiful setting with beautiful people ,what do you what do you get, I can tell you an ADVERTISING. Sex in advertising has stirred controversy for many years, an advertiser must be careful when incorporating it in a campaign. They concluded that majority of advertisements does not reflect reality and that the image of women in advertisements is significant in influencing women’s perception of themselves. Great advertisers consider not only the attention- getting power of an advertisement or commercial, but also what kind of emotional response it provokes in customers.

• Why do designer use sexual images of women and not men ?
• Who are the target audience for these ads?
Magazine’s choose carefully when picking images for magazine because for a man some images does not provoke the kind of anxiety that it may do in many women. The media is guilty of sexism in their coverage of celebrities. You will see more advert and cover of women then men.

• Talking about Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan that is a prime example of using sexual images and even talks about sexual issues to sell their magazine is the cosmopolitan. The cosmopolitan first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s. Also known as Cosmo, its current content includes articles on relationships and sex, health, careers, self-improvement, celebrities, as well as fashion and beauty. Paul Schlicht told his first-issue readers that his publication was a "first-class family magazine", adding, "There will be a department devoted exclusively to the interests of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children, etc., also a department for the younger members of the family." If you look at the cosmopolitan, all you see slashed across the pages is sex ,sex ,sex and even more sex. The cosmopolitan has turned it back on everyday family issues and started to focus on what the everyday reader wants, sex! Going through a cosmopolitan magazine their isn’t a real different between the issues they cover to the issues a men magazine called nuts covers. The magazine borrows some of its dirty glamour and sense of danger, while in return it confers legitimacy, making sex a topic of interest and discussion like any other day activity.

• Talking about Nuts magazine

Action plan
Need to be done

Natasha my first draft

2009-07-13T14:32:00.007+01:00

Title:

Serif or sans serif

A choice of 2 possible questions not quite sure which question yet???

Are serifs merely an unnecessary encumbrance from the past soon to be phased out for good? Or do they really improve the overall legibility of a text?

As history has marched on, the structure of type has changed but does that mean we have no need for the discipline of using serif and sans serif typefaces?

An abstract:

From recent findings and the discussion I had with my group today I have come to the conclusion that I could possibly look into how sans and sans serifs typefaces have changed and how or why they read different.

The feedback I received was interesting, useful and pretty much straightforward. The group all stated that when reading books or any large piece of text they do notice that a sans typeface is more commonly used for the main body text than a sans serif and asked why?

Do you think it would be harder or simple to read both within a piece of text as headings and body text? What about the people with learning difficulties such as those with dyslexia how would they read the two different typefaces?

So I have decided to conduct a set of experiments using the two different typefaces. Basically I would as a number of students maybe also non-graphic design students to see if they also have the same opinion as the professionals. Using two sets of paragraph one in a sans typefaces and the other in a sans serif I will see how the legibility is and time them to see just how long it takes to read both pieces.

Possible chapter headings:

The history

A couple of well know typefaces in sans and serifs

What do you prefer san or a sans serif typeface?

What typeface?

Action plan:

Firstly I would like to continue researching a little more to be more specific in what I want to achieve from my findings/experiments so I am more confident writing my report and designing it. In order for that to occur I need to:

- Find specific evidence that will help me answer my question such as:

Typographic books, blogs, online interviews or face to face etc.

- Conduct interviews, experiments, and investigations maybe over a series of days to see what I come up with. So each person is treated fairly and not rushed or pressured to answer my questions.

- Journals or a diary

- observations, filming

Bibliography:

Websites/blogs:

www.Linotype.co.uk

http://www.ilovedesign.com

http://www.ilovetypography.com

wikipedia.com

Books

1.‘The ultimate sourcebook of classic and contemporary sans serif typography’

By Cees W. De Jong

2. ‘The Thames & Hudson manual of Typography’ by Thames and Hudson

Natasha

2009-07-13T13:27:00.000+01:00

No title as of yet!

Abstract

As an illustrator I have always been interested in using a variety of materials in my work and creating imagery from materials that can be found around the home, in addition to this I have a particular interest in the use of light as a creative material. The report I plan to undertake will embody both of these principles and be an exploration of a material (light) in practice and on a budget.

So far the majority of artists working with light which I have looked at have created work with either expensive materials or on a large scale, as a student you have to use materials creatively as you don’t have a great deal of money to spend on resources and expensive equipment therefore you have to use what you have access to, to best effect. Therefore in my report I plan to investigate how it is possible to work with light on a small scale (eg working just in a bedroom) and how it can be done on a tight budget.

Through carrying out my report I aim to broaden my knowledge and experience of working with light for creative and aesthetic illustrative purposes and hopefully inform and inspire others to do the same. The target audience for my presentation will be other students/designers/illustrators and this will be reflected in the tone of the presentation which whilst remaining informative, like a kind of public information film, will have an informal tone and playful aesthetic.

Because of the nature of light as a material it makes sense to make the format of the report be something that can be projected, like an animation or film rather than something tactile and paper based. The presentation style will also reflect the ethos of the experiments carried out eg it will be done in a low-tech manner (handmade, animation, all made in the bedroom style etc).

Sections:

The report will be broken up into two main parts: the first half will provide scientific and historical grounding and the second half will explore practical application.

What is light?

In the first section of the presentation I will give a very brief introduction to light in scientific terms and cover some basic principles of how light behaves when it interacts with different substances and surfaces- reflection, refraction etc. I will not go into any complicated science keeping things simple and presenting this information in a playful and engaging manner illustrating the ideas through animation.

History of a material: Who has worked with light and how?

In the next section I will give an overview of creative practitioners who have worked with light from the past right up to the present, highlighting individuals and or movements that can be regarded as pioneering. I aim to present this historical context in the format of an animated timeline sequence.

Experiments:

The practical section of my report will consist of the documentation of my own creative visual experiments with light. The way I present this information will take a similar form to the write up of a scientific experiment, by this I mean I will break up each visual experiment into the following sections: equipment used, location of the experiment, methods used, observation and results.

Conclusion

The final part of the presentation will be a summation of the points raised throughout and discuss how the experiments have (hopefully!) shown what can be achieved working with light and on a tight budget.

Action Plan

- Research the science behind light, select relevant important information that can be included in the presentation, consider how I can dissect the facts and present them visually and in an engaging manner.

- Carry out more in depth research into practitioners working with light so I can construct a ‘timeline’ and select a number of notable movements and pioneering artists/designers who have worked with light that can be used as key examples/case studies

- Research ideas for my experiments

- Define a budget for my project and through further investigation establish how many experiments I plan to undertake.

- Source any equipment I need as cheaply as possible, eg, charity shops, ebay, gumtree

- Carry out my experiments and record the relevant information and results.

- Look at examples of public information films to inspire and inform the format of my presentation/animation/film- The National Archives ‘Public information films’, National Film Board of Canada, and also work that has been produced on a small budget eg Oliver Postgate

Bibliography:

Books

Light and Vision, Conrad G Mueller & mae Rudolph, Time Life International, 1972

Artificial Light: New Light-based Sculpture and Installation Art, John B Ravenal, Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2008

The Art of Light and Space, Jan Butterfield, Abbeville Press, 1996

Websites

http://science.howstuffworks.com/optics-channel.htm (accessed 08/07/09)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/light.htm (accessed 08/07/09)

http://ltc.smm.org/artandscience (accessed 08/07/09)

http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/iconlight.html (accessed 08/07/09)

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O5-Lightart.html (accessed 09/07/09)

http://vizproto.prism.asu.edu/classes/sp04/young_k/jamesturrell.html (09/07/09)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/ (accessed 12/07/09)

Films

Imagine: Let there be light, presented by Alan Yentob (DVD recording) BBC 1, 2008

First draft

2009-07-13T07:33:00.004+01:00

Title

Is drawing a powerful tool in design process?

Abstract

I decided to write my report about how do graphic designers and students in the 21^st century use drawing in their process and what impact it has on their creativity. This report will inform primarilly new generation of students about how benefitial understanding of drawing is.

This report will explore my interest in how human vision and perception lead us to think what we think and how our imagination helps activate meaning of given experience and understanding of knowledge that makes sense and plays a key role in our learning process.

The project will aim to look into detail about the characterization of drawings – why and how people draw; what abilities students should develop and what purpose they should be able identify drawing for? Also it will look at methods of research and characterization - how people research; what tools should be used; what is the best way to do it?

To begin with, I will explain the definition of drawing. As Hazel Harrison says ‘drawing is a process or learning how to see well’. It is necessity to mention the biological principles of vision briefly, how human eye focus on an image or an object.

Then I will undertake an experiment with professionals and students on thinking process. I will observe and document how these people see, how they move from first idea to another. I will design a short questionnaire to find out their impressions from the task given.

From this point I will try to answer following questions:

How designers/students sketch and document ideas?

Are they more familiar with paper based or digital thinking?

What is the best way to see?

How do they approach design problems?

Chapter headings

Chapter headings might be changed according to better understanding of the topic. I must get a lot more information from books and different resources.

Introduction

An overview of the report’s aim

Definition of drawing

A brief explanation of drawing and its usage

How do we see?

An introduction to biological principles of vision

Methods, Research and Characterization

Identifying types of methods, research

Creative thinking?

Application of useful methods

Strategy for experiment and Analysis

The plan of my experiment and its result

How drawing is useful for designers?

Reconsidering creative thinking usage

Conclusion

A summary and reflection of my report

Action Plan

In order to my report I will gather a lot more information from different resources during summer holiday.

I will decide on who and how to interview professionals, educators and students.

I will decide on what exercise I would like to use for my experiment.

I will design a relevant questionnaire.

I will think of a strategy that suits best for the report experiment.

Bibliography

Books:

Merleau – Ponty (2002) The world of Perception

Bruno Munari (2000) Design as Art

Kimberly Elam (1980) Geometry of design

Paul Klee (1961) The thinking eye; Volume 1.

Kenneth Keele (1977) Pioneers of Science and Discovery

Bruno Munari (2000) Air Made Visible

Martin Kemp (2006) Leonardo Da Vinci – Experience, experiment and design

Bo Bergstrom ((2008) Essentials of Visual Communication

Electronic resources:

http://visualthinkingart.blogspot.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_language#Gestalt_psychology (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.drawing.org.uk/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://blog.fluidhive.com/ (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEC/CC/vision_background.php (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception (accessed 12.07.2009)

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/phil%20of%20art/wildetext.htm (accessed 12.07.2009)

Reports:

P. Schenk (2005) Developing a taxonomy on drawing for design; School of Art, Design and Media, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

C. Stones, T. Cassidy (2007) Comparing synthesis strategies of novice graphic designers using digital and traditional design tools; Design Studies Vol 28 No. 1 January (2007)