10.6.10
20.5.10
Decibel Poster
AEG-Electrolux has erected a giant poster to monitor the noise level ‘live, as it happens’ on a busy road: Old Street Foundry in Shoreditch.
The poster is sited above a local night club and on a main route to local schools and local people have already started to take an interest - instead of just walking past the poster they are stopping and looking for a while before walking on. Local school kids are taking it a step further and are deliberately shouting at the sign in unison in order to make the numbers change. The Manager of the night club is finding the poster helpful too – he taking photos of the sign in the early hours of the morning to show the local council that he is not making too much noise!
19.5.10
I've not forgotten you blog!
Hello blog. I know you've not been getting a lot of updates in the last few days - but thats because other things have had to made the priority - things such as writing my VCT essays (I'm regretting not getting the A-Z polished off over easter!) and working on a design for my final piece. But don't be sad - I've been looking back though you and putting your best bits into the final piece. Thats right, you're going to break free from you digital cyberspace existence and venture out into the real world!
16.5.10
Article from Johnson Banks blog
18.03.10
What’s next for poster design?
What’s next for poster design?
The following is a recent electronic conversation between design journalist Yolanda Zappaterra and Michael Johnson on the state and future of poster design.
YZ: Will there still be print posters in the future, and if so who and what will they be for and what do you envisage them being like?
MJ: I hope that there will still be a place for printed posters, they remain a powerful way for people to reach out to certain audiences. The trouble is, whilst a decade ago, we were designing poster sets for all manner of clients because that was a powerful way to communicate in classrooms, corridors or train stations (in our case), there seems to be much less interest now. Why spend 20 grand or more on a poster set (with its incumbent postage issues) when you can put the information on a website for half that? That, I’m afraid, are the harsh economics of the situation. We’ve had to look elsewhere for regular sources of work.
Unfortunately we’re now surrounded by a dreadful standard of poster design, pretty much wherever you look. On the underground, endless ‘floating head’ cinema cross-track posters stare back at us and cultural institutions seem just happy to blow up a picture of the featured artists’ work then whack a logo in the corner.
Whilst the art of the poster still lives on in Holland and France, it seems that the poster in the UK barely stumbles along in student portfolios, gripped by hidden hands, usually showing a limited edition print of something inane like a cat drawing or a piece of geometric type. There’s very rarely a message, or a piece of genuine communication, if I’m honest.
But, on the positive side, there’s still a basic desire to print something out, wall-sized, stand back and just glory in the sheer scale of a poster. I don’t think that effect of scale will ever go away, that’s why I hope people will always love them. But I fear I’m in a minority.
I like to think that as long as there are walls, there will be people producing posters to stick on them, and that there will always be a need for such a 'throwaway' yet eye-catching marketing and propaganda tool. Do you agree, or do you think that eventually even the tiniest theatres will replace posters with screen-based advertising?
The digital screens themselves won’t completely replace the original printed piece, I’m sure. But as the printed form becomes increasingly rare, the time and budget to allocate decent budgets to decent posters (and decent poster designers) will inevitably diminish. Already we’ve seen the downgrading of ‘design’ as advertising agencies have ring-fenced outdoor advertising for their needs. Often they’ll use blow up the print advert and go home early.
If posters are eventually replaced by Blade Runner-style multimedia and interactive screens (as is already happening in tube stations), what skills should graphic designers be learning to ensure they're equipped for and even be in a position to drive the changes?
We’re already at a transition point, where companies have sprung up whose ‘job’ it is to animate traditional ‘still’ posters into moving, dynamic images with varying degrees of success. What will start to happen soon is that designers and agency creatives will start to realise that having a ‘moving’ idea is just as important as the static idea. (I guess you could argue that all we’re talking about is a moving poster, not a static one). Trouble is, you often end up with movement for movement’s sake, a bit like the early days of web animations. Until creatives come to understand this new challenge, punters will just do the mental equivalent of ‘skip intro’ in the way we did with all those dreadful website splash pages.
But once the idea of a moving poster becomes the norm, then I hope we’ll see a new wave of compelling digital communication for these new channels.
Do you think the skills associated with print posters (understanding of DPI, working with large scale etc) are being lost by emerging designers, and if so what does that mean for the expression and dissemination of counter cultural and protest graphics?
I would imagine that some of those traditional skills will start to be lost, yes. If you don’t practice, you never learn, let’s face it. As a rule though, posters were always most successful in their simplest form – two or three colours, simple design. That’s not a huge technical requirement, to be honest.
There's evidence that in art and international design, interesting new directions are being forged that draw on and reference the art of poster design. Such innovation seems less apparent in the UK. Is that true do you think, and if so, why?
I think the ad agencies here are going through a confused patch – they’ve become so obsessed with social media that large scale ideas or technological wizardry are more likely to be seen abroad. But to be fair, clients are currently running a little scared. Because marketing departments still tend to turn to their agencies for their comms, and attention now flips between on-line and on-tv, ‘outdoor’ and hence posters seem to get slightly ignored.
The paradox of course is that Cameron’s infamous ‘airbrushed’ poster has been the story of the election so far, and there may yet be the traditional ‘battle of the posters’ as we get closer and closer to polling day. Posters remain a potent way to distil an idea or a thought down, and that will never go away. Interestingly though, many of the ones we will see will only run a few times, in selected sites, and the parties will rely on media coverage to turn them into ‘stories’. And it seems, already, that electronics will play a far greater role in this election than ever before.
So, what’s next?
I think in design we’ll see a continued move to more DIY, limited edition runs. The ‘designer poster’ may go through a period when its only job is to decorate a wall, and its communication requirement will lessen even further.
Weirdly though, there really is a whole market out there for graphic/art posters – we’ve sold at least four hundred copies of our ‘Tree’ poster and it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw more of this. People do love huge pieces of paper, they always have, and perhaps we’ll all start being more honest with ourselves about this.
Last year there was the phenomenon of US designers creating posters for Obama – they just felt that they should. When you went to the site, you could just print out the pdfs at whatever size you wanted – the site visitor became the user/printer and even decided what size they wanted to make their ‘print’.
I keep coming back to the fact that all of the huge identity schemes we do now are almost always applied out onto posters in the early iterations – it remains one of the quickest ways to see if a headline, a picture and a logo can co-exist in an intriguing and memorable way. Even if it only continues to exist as a hypothetical exercise, it’s an exercise worth doing.
When taxi-drivers ask me what I do, to save long-winded explanations I usually say ‘logos, posters and stamps’. When you think about it, the common design link between all three is the need to communicate something very quickly with the minimum of means. Sure, one of them can be the size of a wall, and the others the size of a thumb-print, but I see no difference in the way I design any of them.
I once used to carry my portfolio around on slide, hoping for projectors when I arrived for interviews but quickly being reduced to a small lightbox (if I was lucky). Those years carrying a miniature portfolio proved to me that all ideas could be viewed 35mm across, irrespective of their actual, physical size. And all the great graphic designers whose work I carefully studied when younger were all consummate poster designers: Fletcher, Glaser, Scher. It was a right of passage to try and become half decent at designing them myself.
Zappaterra’s recent article on poster design, which draws on some of this conversation, appears in this week’s Design Week magazine.
YZ: Will there still be print posters in the future, and if so who and what will they be for and what do you envisage them being like?
MJ: I hope that there will still be a place for printed posters, they remain a powerful way for people to reach out to certain audiences. The trouble is, whilst a decade ago, we were designing poster sets for all manner of clients because that was a powerful way to communicate in classrooms, corridors or train stations (in our case), there seems to be much less interest now. Why spend 20 grand or more on a poster set (with its incumbent postage issues) when you can put the information on a website for half that? That, I’m afraid, are the harsh economics of the situation. We’ve had to look elsewhere for regular sources of work.
Unfortunately we’re now surrounded by a dreadful standard of poster design, pretty much wherever you look. On the underground, endless ‘floating head’ cinema cross-track posters stare back at us and cultural institutions seem just happy to blow up a picture of the featured artists’ work then whack a logo in the corner.
Whilst the art of the poster still lives on in Holland and France, it seems that the poster in the UK barely stumbles along in student portfolios, gripped by hidden hands, usually showing a limited edition print of something inane like a cat drawing or a piece of geometric type. There’s very rarely a message, or a piece of genuine communication, if I’m honest.
But, on the positive side, there’s still a basic desire to print something out, wall-sized, stand back and just glory in the sheer scale of a poster. I don’t think that effect of scale will ever go away, that’s why I hope people will always love them. But I fear I’m in a minority.
I like to think that as long as there are walls, there will be people producing posters to stick on them, and that there will always be a need for such a 'throwaway' yet eye-catching marketing and propaganda tool. Do you agree, or do you think that eventually even the tiniest theatres will replace posters with screen-based advertising?
The digital screens themselves won’t completely replace the original printed piece, I’m sure. But as the printed form becomes increasingly rare, the time and budget to allocate decent budgets to decent posters (and decent poster designers) will inevitably diminish. Already we’ve seen the downgrading of ‘design’ as advertising agencies have ring-fenced outdoor advertising for their needs. Often they’ll use blow up the print advert and go home early.
If posters are eventually replaced by Blade Runner-style multimedia and interactive screens (as is already happening in tube stations), what skills should graphic designers be learning to ensure they're equipped for and even be in a position to drive the changes?
We’re already at a transition point, where companies have sprung up whose ‘job’ it is to animate traditional ‘still’ posters into moving, dynamic images with varying degrees of success. What will start to happen soon is that designers and agency creatives will start to realise that having a ‘moving’ idea is just as important as the static idea. (I guess you could argue that all we’re talking about is a moving poster, not a static one). Trouble is, you often end up with movement for movement’s sake, a bit like the early days of web animations. Until creatives come to understand this new challenge, punters will just do the mental equivalent of ‘skip intro’ in the way we did with all those dreadful website splash pages.
But once the idea of a moving poster becomes the norm, then I hope we’ll see a new wave of compelling digital communication for these new channels.
Do you think the skills associated with print posters (understanding of DPI, working with large scale etc) are being lost by emerging designers, and if so what does that mean for the expression and dissemination of counter cultural and protest graphics?
I would imagine that some of those traditional skills will start to be lost, yes. If you don’t practice, you never learn, let’s face it. As a rule though, posters were always most successful in their simplest form – two or three colours, simple design. That’s not a huge technical requirement, to be honest.
There's evidence that in art and international design, interesting new directions are being forged that draw on and reference the art of poster design. Such innovation seems less apparent in the UK. Is that true do you think, and if so, why?
I think the ad agencies here are going through a confused patch – they’ve become so obsessed with social media that large scale ideas or technological wizardry are more likely to be seen abroad. But to be fair, clients are currently running a little scared. Because marketing departments still tend to turn to their agencies for their comms, and attention now flips between on-line and on-tv, ‘outdoor’ and hence posters seem to get slightly ignored.
The paradox of course is that Cameron’s infamous ‘airbrushed’ poster has been the story of the election so far, and there may yet be the traditional ‘battle of the posters’ as we get closer and closer to polling day. Posters remain a potent way to distil an idea or a thought down, and that will never go away. Interestingly though, many of the ones we will see will only run a few times, in selected sites, and the parties will rely on media coverage to turn them into ‘stories’. And it seems, already, that electronics will play a far greater role in this election than ever before.
So, what’s next?
I think in design we’ll see a continued move to more DIY, limited edition runs. The ‘designer poster’ may go through a period when its only job is to decorate a wall, and its communication requirement will lessen even further.
Weirdly though, there really is a whole market out there for graphic/art posters – we’ve sold at least four hundred copies of our ‘Tree’ poster and it wouldn’t surprise me if we saw more of this. People do love huge pieces of paper, they always have, and perhaps we’ll all start being more honest with ourselves about this.
Last year there was the phenomenon of US designers creating posters for Obama – they just felt that they should. When you went to the site, you could just print out the pdfs at whatever size you wanted – the site visitor became the user/printer and even decided what size they wanted to make their ‘print’.
I keep coming back to the fact that all of the huge identity schemes we do now are almost always applied out onto posters in the early iterations – it remains one of the quickest ways to see if a headline, a picture and a logo can co-exist in an intriguing and memorable way. Even if it only continues to exist as a hypothetical exercise, it’s an exercise worth doing.
When taxi-drivers ask me what I do, to save long-winded explanations I usually say ‘logos, posters and stamps’. When you think about it, the common design link between all three is the need to communicate something very quickly with the minimum of means. Sure, one of them can be the size of a wall, and the others the size of a thumb-print, but I see no difference in the way I design any of them.
I once used to carry my portfolio around on slide, hoping for projectors when I arrived for interviews but quickly being reduced to a small lightbox (if I was lucky). Those years carrying a miniature portfolio proved to me that all ideas could be viewed 35mm across, irrespective of their actual, physical size. And all the great graphic designers whose work I carefully studied when younger were all consummate poster designers: Fletcher, Glaser, Scher. It was a right of passage to try and become half decent at designing them myself.
Zappaterra’s recent article on poster design, which draws on some of this conversation, appears in this week’s Design Week magazine.
Another manifesto
10 lessons to make you a better graphic designer by Craig Oldham
Graphic Design isn't interesting.
Design is a joke.
Limits are possibilities.
Ideas are whores.
Apple. Apple.
Find faults not friends.
Eat with your eyes.
Never become a professional.
Graphic Design isn't interesting.
Design is a joke.
Limits are possibilities.
Ideas are whores.
Apple. Apple.
Find faults not friends.
Eat with your eyes.
Never become a professional.
It's always better to be honest.
Value freedom not genius.
Value freedom not genius.
Content
Ok so the main problem seems to be content. How can I tackle this? How can I generate content? Can it be done in advance of the show or can it be done at the show?
ask questions, collate answers
use a game
use sound, image, video, paper+pen, collage, reflection/mirror, touch
pop up studio, create work live
use interaction
any influences from decode?
ask questions, collate answers
use a game
use sound, image, video, paper+pen, collage, reflection/mirror, touch
pop up studio, create work live
use interaction
any influences from decode?
I just dont get this stupid brief! It doesnt work. How can we push our format without something relevant to say? How can I design posters without a powerful occasion or significant subject? How can I solve this brief with no content? Am I moaning again or is this brief stupid? I want to communicate, but instead I have to be an author. I want to come up with simple, rational solutions, but instead I have to come up with something to say. This isnt how I want to work.
Poster quotes
"Good posters are obvious both in content and form" Uwe Loesch
"A poster's impact is undisputed. One simply cannot avoid looking at a poster, once one has seen it." Uwe Loesch
"Posters are time capsules, a social artifact documenting a specific place and event." Robynne Raye
"A poser should communicate and illustrate an event concisely and beautifully." Kayrock
"Posters are becoming so much more sophisticated that maybe you don't have to read it–or there isn't anything to read in the first place–but still the message gets across." Jonathon Ellery
"Only a witty and risky manner of dealing with the subject makes the design unique." Philippe Apeloig
"A poster should stand out on a wall of other posters and demand attention by saying something others do not." Wolfy
"Posters need powerful occasions and significant subjects" Roman Cieslewicz
What can I print on? Paper, coloured paper, old posters, maps, books, material, wood, clear materials
"A poster's impact is undisputed. One simply cannot avoid looking at a poster, once one has seen it." Uwe Loesch
"Posters are time capsules, a social artifact documenting a specific place and event." Robynne Raye
"A poser should communicate and illustrate an event concisely and beautifully." Kayrock
"Posters are becoming so much more sophisticated that maybe you don't have to read it–or there isn't anything to read in the first place–but still the message gets across." Jonathon Ellery
"Only a witty and risky manner of dealing with the subject makes the design unique." Philippe Apeloig
"A poster should stand out on a wall of other posters and demand attention by saying something others do not." Wolfy
"Posters need powerful occasions and significant subjects" Roman Cieslewicz
What can I print on? Paper, coloured paper, old posters, maps, books, material, wood, clear materials
15.5.10
Another consideration
Ok I read, re-read and interrogate the brief - I think I am cutting through to the crux of the problem: produce a piece of graphic design that shows off the potential of your format (posters).
So I have the idea: to rationalise the project and ask others to define the content. Now what I need to do is get behind my ideas and make them work. What will make this interesting to the design community? Is it their involvement - is being part of the process enough to make it interesting? Is it the content? Is it the way I communicate the content?
Lets say I have a large collection of postcards with opinions and feedback on the potential for posters, how can I communicate this content for an exhibition piece?
Display the postcards directly - pin them up, find an alternative way to mount them - some kind of pockets for them to sit in like christmas stockings? put them in a book, make a movable display.
Project them, photograph them, read them out and record them,
Collate them and put the information into a poster.
Display them individually, scatter them around
Put them in a box
Cut them up, collage them, hang them from the ceiling. Arrange them to spell a word out or phrase - what would the would be? Poster, future of poster, examine.
So I have the idea: to rationalise the project and ask others to define the content. Now what I need to do is get behind my ideas and make them work. What will make this interesting to the design community? Is it their involvement - is being part of the process enough to make it interesting? Is it the content? Is it the way I communicate the content?
Lets say I have a large collection of postcards with opinions and feedback on the potential for posters, how can I communicate this content for an exhibition piece?
Display the postcards directly - pin them up, find an alternative way to mount them - some kind of pockets for them to sit in like christmas stockings? put them in a book, make a movable display.
Project them, photograph them, read them out and record them,
Collate them and put the information into a poster.
Display them individually, scatter them around
Put them in a box
Cut them up, collage them, hang them from the ceiling. Arrange them to spell a word out or phrase - what would the would be? Poster, future of poster, examine.
14.5.10
Weekly update
A week since the last proper project post. Postcards have started to come back from industry and friends, plus I got around 20 filled out by students. I am not entirely happy with the responses. Most are quite conceptual, silly or throw-away: there is not much substance. I blame myself entirely: the answers are dependent on the question. I definitely still feel this is a useful process and there are lessons I can learn. However I am now having a rethink about my idea to simply collate the answers, present them on a poster and post them back.
As Craig Oldham says "designers always struggle without a brief to define their content". I don't want to try to add superflous style to content that isnt interesting. Roman Cieslewicz has said "posters need powerful occasions and significant subjects"
As Eames said "The degree to which a designer has style is the degree to which they didnt solve the problem".
If you ask the right question, you get the right answer. I need to ask the right question. I should be being brilliantly simple.
"I designed all single-color print projects in black. Just before the design went to print, I would ask Michele Piranio, the studio manager, to choose a color. Michele became a part of my objective design process. She negated the need for me to make a subjective decision and became another standard, helping me rationalize as many decisions as possible within the design process." Daniel Eatock
Lets think of some questions...
What is the potential of posters?
How can posters be used and applied in new ways?
What is interesting to you/me about posters?
How can posters be manipulated and pushed in ways never thought of or seen before?
What is a poster?
What is the future of the poster?
Does the poster need to change?
What makes a poster effective/interesting?
How important is the content of a poster?
Posters: content or form?
Who are posters designed for?
Who looks at posters?
Who benefits from a poster?
Why should the poster evolve, who would it benefit?
How does a poster look if you're blind or illiterate?
As Craig Oldham says "designers always struggle without a brief to define their content". I don't want to try to add superflous style to content that isnt interesting. Roman Cieslewicz has said "posters need powerful occasions and significant subjects"
As Eames said "The degree to which a designer has style is the degree to which they didnt solve the problem".
If you ask the right question, you get the right answer. I need to ask the right question. I should be being brilliantly simple.
"I designed all single-color print projects in black. Just before the design went to print, I would ask Michele Piranio, the studio manager, to choose a color. Michele became a part of my objective design process. She negated the need for me to make a subjective decision and became another standard, helping me rationalize as many decisions as possible within the design process." Daniel Eatock
Lets think of some questions...
What is the potential of posters?
How can posters be used and applied in new ways?
What is interesting to you/me about posters?
How can posters be manipulated and pushed in ways never thought of or seen before?
What is a poster?
What is the future of the poster?
Does the poster need to change?
What makes a poster effective/interesting?
How important is the content of a poster?
Posters: content or form?
Who are posters designed for?
Who looks at posters?
Who benefits from a poster?
Why should the poster evolve, who would it benefit?
How does a poster look if you're blind or illiterate?
13.5.10
Manifestos
There seems to be no shortage of designers and studios keen to publish there manifestos, spout mantras and tell us which books to read. Is this a case of preaching or simply offering advise? Are they methodologies, pearls of wisdom or pretentious bullshit? Manifestos in design are interesting. I never know how much to buy into them. Are these really the rules designers and studios live by? Would they work for me? Would they help make me a better designer?
Incomplete Manifesto (Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations)
1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
3. Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to
be there.
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
5. Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
6. Capture accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
7. Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
9. Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
10. Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
11. Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas
to applications.
12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
13. Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
14. Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
17. ____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas
of others.
18. Stay up late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.
19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
20. Be careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
21. Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
22. Make your own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
24. Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.
25. Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
26. Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
27. Read only left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."
28. Make new words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
29. Think with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
30. Organization = Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
31. Don’t borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
32. Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
33. Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
34. Make mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea – I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
36. Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
38. Explore the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces – what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference – the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals – but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
40. Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
41. Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
42. Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.
Daniel Eatock Manifesto
Begin with ideas
Embrace chance
Celebrate coincidence
Ad-lib and make things up
Eliminate superfluous elements
Subvert expectation
Make something difficult look easy
Be first or last
Believe complex ideas can produce simple things
Trust the process
Allow concepts to determine form
Reduce material and production to their essence
Sustain the integrity of an idea
Propose honesty as a solution
Embrace chance
Celebrate coincidence
Ad-lib and make things up
Eliminate superfluous elements
Subvert expectation
Make something difficult look easy
Be first or last
Believe complex ideas can produce simple things
Trust the process
Allow concepts to determine form
Reduce material and production to their essence
Sustain the integrity of an idea
Propose honesty as a solution
Incomplete Manifesto (Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations)
1. Allow events to change you.
You have to be willing to grow. Growth is different from something that happens to you. You produce it. You live it. The prerequisites for growth: the openness to experience events and the willingness to be changed by them.
2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.
3. Process is more important than outcome.
When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to
be there.
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child).
Joy is the engine of growth. Exploit the liberty in casting your work as beautiful experiments, iterations, attempts, trials, and errors. Take the long view and allow yourself the fun of failure every day.
5. Go deep.
The deeper you go the more likely you will discover something of value.
6. Capture accidents.
The wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask different questions.
7. Study.
A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.
8. Drift.
Allow yourself to wander aimlessly. Explore adjacencies. Lack judgment. Postpone criticism.
9. Begin anywhere.
John Cage tells us that not knowing where to begin is a common form of paralysis. His advice: begin anywhere.
10. Everyone is a leader.
Growth happens. Whenever it does, allow it to emerge. Learn to follow when it makes sense. Let anyone lead.
11. Harvest ideas.
Edit applications. Ideas need a dynamic, fluid, generous environment to sustain life. Applications, on the other hand, benefit from critical rigor. Produce a high ratio of ideas
to applications.
12. Keep moving.
The market and its operations have a tendency to reinforce success. Resist it. Allow failure and migration to be part of your practice.
13. Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
14. Don’t be cool.
Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort.
15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.
16. Collaborate.
The space between people working together is filled with conflict, friction, strife, exhilaration, delight, and vast creative potential.
17. ____________________.
Intentionally left blank. Allow space for the ideas you haven’t had yet, and for the ideas
of others.
18. Stay up late.
Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world.
19. Work the metaphor.
Every object has the capacity to stand for something other than what is apparent. Work on what it stands for.
20. Be careful to take risks.
Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future.
21. Repeat yourself.
If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again.
22. Make your own tools.
Hybridize your tools in order to build unique things. Even simple tools that are your own can yield entirely new avenues of exploration. Remember, tools amplify our capacities, so even a small tool can make a big difference.
23. Stand on someone’s shoulders.
You can travel farther carried on the accomplishments of those who came before you. And the view is so much better.
24. Avoid software.
The problem with software is that everyone has it.
25. Don’t clean your desk.
You might find something in the morning that you can’t see tonight.
26. Don’t enter awards competitions.
Just don’t. It’s not good for you.
27. Read only left-hand pages.
Marshall McLuhan did this. By decreasing the amount of information, we leave room for what he called our "noodle."
28. Make new words.
Expand the lexicon. The new conditions demand a new way of thinking. The thinking demands new forms of expression. The expression generates new conditions.
29. Think with your mind.
Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.
30. Organization = Liberty.
Real innovation in design, or any other field, happens in context. That context is usually some form of cooperatively managed enterprise. Frank Gehry, for instance, is only able to realize Bilbao because his studio can deliver it on budget. The myth of a split between "creatives" and "suits" is what Leonard Cohen calls a 'charming artifact of the past.'
31. Don’t borrow money.
Once again, Frank Gehry’s advice. By maintaining financial control, we maintain creative control. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s surprising how hard it is to maintain this discipline, and how many have failed.
32. Listen carefully.
Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.
33. Take field trips.
The bandwidth of the world is greater than that of your TV set, or the Internet, or even a totally immersive, interactive, dynamically rendered, object-oriented, real-time, computer graphic–simulated environment.
34. Make mistakes faster.
This isn’t my idea – I borrowed it. I think it belongs to Andy Grove.
35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You'll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.
36. Scat.
When you forget the words, do what Ella did: make up something else ... but not words.
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it.
38. Explore the other edge.
Great liberty exists when we avoid trying to run with the technological pack. We can’t find the leading edge because it’s trampled underfoot. Try using old-tech equipment made obsolete by an economic cycle but still rich with potential.
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms.
Real growth often happens outside of where we intend it to, in the interstitial spaces – what Dr. Seuss calls "the waiting place." Hans Ulrich Obrist once organized a science and art conference with all of the infrastructure of a conference – the parties, chats, lunches, airport arrivals – but with no actual conference. Apparently it was hugely successful and spawned many ongoing collaborations.
40. Avoid fields.
Jump fences. Disciplinary boundaries and regulatory regimes are attempts to control the wilding of creative life. They are often understandable efforts to order what are manifold, complex, evolutionary processes. Our job is to jump the fences and cross the fields.
41. Laugh.
People visiting the studio often comment on how much we laugh. Since I've become aware of this, I use it as a barometer of how comfortably we are expressing ourselves.
42. Remember.
Growth is only possible as a product of history. Without memory, innovation is merely novelty. History gives growth a direction. But a memory is never perfect. Every memory is a degraded or composite image of a previous moment or event. That’s what makes us aware of its quality as a past and not a present. It means that every memory is new, a partial construct different from its source, and, as such, a potential for growth itself.
43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.
7.5.10
Letterpressed postcards and envelopes in the post to industry. I have sent them to my favourite studios and designers as well as friends and contacts I have in the industry. Here is the list of where all the postcards went:
Design community
Pony
Biblioteque
Fraser Muggeridge Studio
Print Club
Its Nice That
NB:Studio
Research Studios
Troika
Blast
Spin
Daniel Eatock
Johnson Banks
Unreal
ICO Design
Craig Oldham
Moving Brands
SEA
Sara De Bondt Studio
Form
North
Young
Intro
Sawdust
Village Green
Farrow
Why Not Associates
Trevor Jackson
Rob Ryan
Creative Review
Grafik
Baseline
Company
The Brand Union
Redwood
Sheldrake Green
Big Fish
Chris Davidge
non designers
My sister!
Elizabeth Phillips
Charlotte Macey
Design community
Pony
Biblioteque
Fraser Muggeridge Studio
Print Club
Its Nice That
NB:Studio
Research Studios
Troika
Blast
Spin
Daniel Eatock
Johnson Banks
Unreal
ICO Design
Craig Oldham
Moving Brands
SEA
Sara De Bondt Studio
Form
North
Young
Intro
Sawdust
Village Green
Farrow
Why Not Associates
Trevor Jackson
Rob Ryan
Creative Review
Grafik
Baseline
Company
The Brand Union
Redwood
Sheldrake Green
Big Fish
Chris Davidge
non designers
My sister!
Elizabeth Phillips
Charlotte Macey
6.5.10
The ethos behind this project
Rationality and simplicity. I have been highly influenced by the work of Daniel Eatock. I found myself returning to his site time and again during my research. I know of him before, but it is only know that I am really discovering his work. I like the simple, stripped back, minimal approach, and the real emphasis on rationisation. That is what helped formulate my ideas for this project: I found I couldn't answer the question "What is the future of the poster?" so instead I opened it up and got answers form others...
3.5.10
Weekly update
So, the making stage is in motion; currently prototyping and implementing my idea. This means I may well be updating the blog less frequently - but hopefully each update will coincide with substantial developments.
Since my last post I have had a tutorial and spent many hours in the letterpress workshop. My idea The future of the poster is... got the go-ahead from Ben in the tutorial - I talked it through with him, he then helped me set some type. The first stage of the idea involves letterpressing a postcard which I will be sending out to to industry. Here is a breakdown of my idea
1. Design and letterpress postcards to send to industry. The postcards say "The future of the poster is... please complete the sentence". Each postcard will be sent out in an envelope, the postcard itself will be have my address and a stamp attached and I will ask participants to return the postcards
2. I will also be getting design students (the future of the design industry) to complete the postcards
3. Next, I plan to design a series of posters with my favourite responses. Probably screenprinted.
4. Finally I plan to design a master poster with all the responses on. Hopefully litho'd.
Since my last post I have had a tutorial and spent many hours in the letterpress workshop. My idea The future of the poster is... got the go-ahead from Ben in the tutorial - I talked it through with him, he then helped me set some type. The first stage of the idea involves letterpressing a postcard which I will be sending out to to industry. Here is a breakdown of my idea
1. Design and letterpress postcards to send to industry. The postcards say "The future of the poster is... please complete the sentence". Each postcard will be sent out in an envelope, the postcard itself will be have my address and a stamp attached and I will ask participants to return the postcards
2. I will also be getting design students (the future of the design industry) to complete the postcards
3. Next, I plan to design a series of posters with my favourite responses. Probably screenprinted.
4. Finally I plan to design a master poster with all the responses on. Hopefully litho'd.
28.4.10
News in brief!
So I had a productive day started with a serious amount of research on the excellent Typographicposters.com. I have developed a concept that I will be presenting tomorrow: The future of the poster is... Got some serious work to be cracking on with now, the idea is to letterpress the project!
Steve and Darren sent me some good links which I need to follow up on when I get the chance...
Digital Paper
Johnson Banks on the future of paper
Steve and Darren sent me some good links which I need to follow up on when I get the chance...
Digital Paper
Johnson Banks on the future of paper
Poster crisis
So its make or break time. All of a sudden I'm questioning whether or not posters is the right choice of format. I like branding and typo and I wanted to get some printed work so maybe printed matter would have been a better choice - I will decide by lunch time.
The problem with posters...
is their longevity - they are designed for impact, to catch attention in a matter of seconds. How can I keep people's attention?
Is the future ambient media? interaction? technology? When I say the future I mean the future of the successful poster - paper pasted to wall will never die
The fly poster - this phenomen bugs me and fascinates me in equal mesausures. It seems mindless, antisocial and illegal - but they argue that all posters are anti social...
So what is the future of the printed poster? I think the answer has to be a more considered approach. A printed poster has to compete against so much right now and surely that will only continue in the future. More consideration needs to be put into location, interaction, catching attention
So I guess the main areas that interest me are time based posters or posters that evolve, change, dissolve etc
And poster with interaction - adding to, taking away, instructions to the reader, interaction from the reader...
The problem with posters...
is their longevity - they are designed for impact, to catch attention in a matter of seconds. How can I keep people's attention?
Is the future ambient media? interaction? technology? When I say the future I mean the future of the successful poster - paper pasted to wall will never die
The fly poster - this phenomen bugs me and fascinates me in equal mesausures. It seems mindless, antisocial and illegal - but they argue that all posters are anti social...
So what is the future of the printed poster? I think the answer has to be a more considered approach. A printed poster has to compete against so much right now and surely that will only continue in the future. More consideration needs to be put into location, interaction, catching attention
So I guess the main areas that interest me are time based posters or posters that evolve, change, dissolve etc
And poster with interaction - adding to, taking away, instructions to the reader, interaction from the reader...
27.4.10
Fly posting
Alternative terms for flyposting: bandit signs, snipe signs, or street spam
It is an advertising tactic mostly used by small businesses promoting concerts and political activistgroups, but there have been occasions where international companies subcontracted local advertising agencies for flyposting jobs in order not to get caught in illegal behavior, as a form of guerrilla marketing.
Flyposting is commonly seen as a nuisance due to issues with property rights, visual appearance and littering.
So why is fly postering so wide-spread and popular. How effective is it? Is it ill-considered mindless advertising or does it work?
Ads of the World
After some basic research it is apparent that flyposting is illegal, carries a fine and is often run by unsavoury types. So...better be careful if I plan to deface any existing posters or put up my own. Info on fly-posting
Is the street poster dead?
Thats what I want to find out. What is the future for it. When is a street poster successful?
26.4.10
The medium is the message
The message of media today is its own ubiquity-it's everywhere, all the time. We no longer just make or consume media. Rather, we are media. read more
Marshall McLuhan said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself...concentration on the medium and how it conveys information — rather than on the specific content of the information — is the focal point of "the medium is the message."all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways
Marshall McLuhan said that a medium affects the society in which it plays a role not only by the content delivered over the medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself...concentration on the medium and how it conveys information — rather than on the specific content of the information — is the focal point of "the medium is the message."all media have characteristics that engage the viewer in different ways
So maybe the medium is the message is useful for this project...lets analyse HOW the poster conveys a message,
STOP WORRYING ABOUT CONTENT
McLuhan describes the "content" of a medium as a juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind. This means that people tend to focus on the obvious, which is the content, to provide us valuable information, but in the process, we largely miss the structural changes in our affairs that are introduced subtly, or over long periods of time.
As the society's values, norms and ways of doing things change because of the technology, it is then we realize the social implications of the medium.
STOP WORRYING ABOUT CONTENT
McLuhan describes the "content" of a medium as a juicy piece of meat carried by the burglar to distract the watchdog of the mind. This means that people tend to focus on the obvious, which is the content, to provide us valuable information, but in the process, we largely miss the structural changes in our affairs that are introduced subtly, or over long periods of time.
As the society's values, norms and ways of doing things change because of the technology, it is then we realize the social implications of the medium.
7 rules to be broken?
When it comes to graphic design, perhaps the most exciting type of project to undertake is the poster. Unlike other larger, more complex mediums, the poster is generally a simple attempt to attract attention and communicate basic information about an event or a product. Sometimes staring at a pure, blank art board is an exhilarating feeling. Other times, it can be a frustrating task deciding how to start. Whether you are a designer looking for inspiration or a novice needing a few tips, this post brings you the tips you need to make your next poster your best poster.
Montana Meth Project
1. How to Get Attention
Your first task is to decide on captivating photography or an interesting main element that will make people stop and take notice. Some posters use shocking imagery to get a point across like this one, designed for the Montana Meth Project. As you can see, the subject matter certainly makes an immediate impact. Other posters will use plenty of white space and an interesting question, or some creative word art to make you stop and think. This first step is the cornerstone of your project and it’s very important to choose carefully.
2. Simple is Nice
Your poster should say what it means through pictures and colours rather than through words and written details. Keep text to a minimum and make full use of your website, if you have one, to inform people of further details. If you bog down your poster with text, your poster will not look as interesting to people passing by.
3. Fonts are Fantastic
If your fonts are a little unusual or unique, this will add to the depth of your design. Try to avoid common fonts that might be used on a standard document or for an everyday purpose. On the other hand, don’t use fonts that are crazy to the point of being hard to read. Many times it’s a good idea to use a sans-serif font in a headline. It’s important to limit the number of fonts you use on your poster. The more fonts, the more potential for confusion. If you have the ability, it’s also a nice touch to use your text in a non-standard way like this poster for a James Chance concert.
4. Move the Eye and the Information will Follow
It’s important to design a poster with information consumption in mind. Always try to start with the most important information in the largest font and work your way down in the order of importance. Display this information in such a way that the eye follows this information down the page as if you were writing a short story. Use cues in your main design element to point at important information or provide direction.
5. Colour Correctly
Try to use a colour scheme that is fundamentally correct. Respect the basic rules or colour theory. You can even start designing your poster based on a pre-determined colour pallete. Match or compliment the colours used in your primary imagery to add consistency to the piece. Colour Lovers is a great place for ideas and sample palletes.
6. It’s a Balancing Act
Basic design and layout skills dictate that good design displays good balance. Try to ensure your poster follows this ideal. To tell if your layout is balanced, divide your page in half and compare the number of elements on either side of the page to each other. Try this diagonally as well. Adjust your design accordingly.
7. Break All the Rules
Sometimes good design means breaking out of the formula to produce something unique. If this is your plan, it’s important to know what rules to break so you can break them like a pro. Hopefully these tips will help you design something that is both different and good.
Defintion
I think its about time I had a clear definition to work with, so...
the poster is generally a simple attempt to attract attention and communicate basic information about an event or a product
the poster is generally a simple attempt to attract attention and communicate basic information about an event or a product
Innovative things...
Some more good links:
One of my favourite pages from the website of the fantastic Mr Eatock
I like the stuff from Simon Mitchell
Studio AV is an interesting concept
I like the stuff from Simon Mitchell
Studio AV is an interesting concept
25.4.10
Unthinkable + possible = wow project
I need to think about what is impossible, what is unthinkable and then find a way to make it happen...
Some of the outcome from my concept challenge with Fernades:
*a poster that is made to be deconstructed, pulled apart and altered by the viewers
*a poster like a pop up childrens book - with things to touch, turn, pull, open, switch etc
*technologies? moving image, interaction, augmented reality, live feeds, social networking
*a poster that bursts out of its format all the way to the door of LCC
*making the poster a 3D interaction - breaking it down to layers and hanging it or building cube.
Some of the outcome from my concept challenge with Fernades:
*a poster that is made to be deconstructed, pulled apart and altered by the viewers
*a poster like a pop up childrens book - with things to touch, turn, pull, open, switch etc
*technologies? moving image, interaction, augmented reality, live feeds, social networking
*a poster that bursts out of its format all the way to the door of LCC
*making the poster a 3D interaction - breaking it down to layers and hanging it or building cube.
The power of the poster
I spent the holidays taking photos of hundreds of street posters. I came to the conclusion that the poster has lost a lot of its power to communicate. The simple rectangular poster pasted to the wall, has to compete with too much. There are so many new mediums and formats; the poster hasn't evolved.
This poses the question how can I evolve it? How can I make it interesting? What is the future of the format? How can I be innovative?
There are many ways to be innovative with the traditional poster - content, format, size, location, design etc can all make a difference, but I feel this project is demanding something more...the goal is to apply it in new ways...
This poses the question how can I evolve it? How can I make it interesting? What is the future of the format? How can I be innovative?
There are many ways to be innovative with the traditional poster - content, format, size, location, design etc can all make a difference, but I feel this project is demanding something more...the goal is to apply it in new ways...
Goldsmiths - but is it art?
Just caught the end of Golsmiths - but is it art? TV show, I am so please to be out of that bullshit world of fine art! The guys on the show had literally disappeared up their own arses. Use your creativity for good, for change, for fun, for communication, to help people or make them smile. Don't get stuck in some bullshit fine art world, trying to "make it as an artist" and sell your work for £10,000 - that kind of mentality makes me cringe!
22.4.10
Ideas generation with Darren/Steve
Really helpful workshop with Darren and Steve today. Trying to get us to to come up with ideas for wow factor projects. Watched a really inspiring Ted Talk with Tim Brown then a video from BERG with film and animation/graphics integrated.
Then we did concept challenge, although my group worked on books, the design thinking was helpful and I will be applying it to posters...
links
IDEO
Tim Brown Ted Talk
BERG
Then we did concept challenge, although my group worked on books, the design thinking was helpful and I will be applying it to posters...
links
IDEO
Tim Brown Ted Talk
BERG
21.4.10
Screen printing
One of my main reasons for choosing posters was to help address the lack of printed work in my portfolio. I am very keen to produce some screen printed work during this project. I have signed up for a screen printing refresher this Thursday 2-7.
20.4.10
Reading
I've been reading more of the Design Basics series by Gavin Ambrose to help with this project. I have just finished Typography and have already started Design Th!nking. I love this series - the books are so easy to read and full of loads of really good examples - which helps get you up-to-date with the industry and the good design studios.
Blogs, blogs, blogs
Creating a blog
Blogs...oh blogs! Blogs are infuriating. On the face of it they seem like such a good idea: aren't they simple and free with pre-designed templates? You think to yourself "I can do that, its much easier than web-design, and its sort of like having a website - maybe I can even make it look like a website". Then reality strikes, what blog software do you pick? Do you go for Blogger or Tumblr or Wordpress? And then how do you make it look any good? And what about the content - should you write it like a diary or do you have a different approach.
The truth is I never really liked blogs, I don't actually really read other people's. Does anyone? Maybe the odd person does but the best you can hope for is people stay long enough to look through your pictures!
FMP bloglist
Spent the morning creating a bloglist. The goal is to bring together all the second year students FMP blogs, so we have a collective library of research and thinking. Link to bloglist here
FMP Blog
Finally came up with a solution for my FMP blog. This is FMP blog mark 4, but I'm finally happy. After countless hours testing and customising templates in both Blogger and Tumblr and several unsatisfactory solutions I resorted to building my own from the basic Blogger setup. Learning to build a blog isn't particularly hard, most of the answers can be found by googling and a lot of the coding can be cut and pasted. There were quite a few blogs I took inspiration from, here are a few: James Brooks, Anders Stockman, Hugh Barrell, We Are Re:, Sean Parker, Clinic
Blogs...oh blogs! Blogs are infuriating. On the face of it they seem like such a good idea: aren't they simple and free with pre-designed templates? You think to yourself "I can do that, its much easier than web-design, and its sort of like having a website - maybe I can even make it look like a website". Then reality strikes, what blog software do you pick? Do you go for Blogger or Tumblr or Wordpress? And then how do you make it look any good? And what about the content - should you write it like a diary or do you have a different approach.
The truth is I never really liked blogs, I don't actually really read other people's. Does anyone? Maybe the odd person does but the best you can hope for is people stay long enough to look through your pictures!
FMP bloglist
Spent the morning creating a bloglist. The goal is to bring together all the second year students FMP blogs, so we have a collective library of research and thinking. Link to bloglist here
FMP Blog
Finally came up with a solution for my FMP blog. This is FMP blog mark 4, but I'm finally happy. After countless hours testing and customising templates in both Blogger and Tumblr and several unsatisfactory solutions I resorted to building my own from the basic Blogger setup. Learning to build a blog isn't particularly hard, most of the answers can be found by googling and a lot of the coding can be cut and pasted. There were quite a few blogs I took inspiration from, here are a few: James Brooks, Anders Stockman, Hugh Barrell, We Are Re:, Sean Parker, Clinic
15.4.10
BRAINSTORMING WITH RYAN
Today I met up with Ryan Tym, my mentor. It was very productive, we discussed
Printed poster research - not an effective medium for communicating a message, printed posters have become a nice piece of art and design but not much more
Future for the medium - moving image, projections, sound
Poster political party - personify posters, give them a voice
Interactivity
The research book, printing it as a folding broadsheet or dust jacket
Printed poster research - not an effective medium for communicating a message, printed posters have become a nice piece of art and design but not much more
Future for the medium - moving image, projections, sound
Poster political party - personify posters, give them a voice
Interactivity
The research book, printing it as a folding broadsheet or dust jacket
27.3.10
PROJECT GOALS
Printing - letterpress and screen print
Better relationship between type and image
More personality in my work
More concepts, more experimentation, more creatvity
Badge-making
Self promotion - badges, business cards
Better relationship between type and image
More personality in my work
More concepts, more experimentation, more creatvity
Badge-making
Self promotion - badges, business cards
EXHIBITIONS
Been to plenty of exhibitions over the Easter holidays...
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot @Barbican
Identity @ Wellcome Collection more
Playgrounds @ V&A (friday lates)
Decode @ V&A
Lyrics and Type @ East Gallery
Homework @ Kemistry Gallery
Usugrow @ Stolen Space
Kicks n Canvas @ Redchurch Street Gallery
Noma Bar @ KK Outlet
Van Doesburg @ Tate Modern
and after flirting with the idea of maps I think we're sticking with posters.
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot @Barbican
Identity @ Wellcome Collection more
Playgrounds @ V&A (friday lates)
Decode @ V&A
Lyrics and Type @ East Gallery
Homework @ Kemistry Gallery
Usugrow @ Stolen Space
Kicks n Canvas @ Redchurch Street Gallery
Noma Bar @ KK Outlet
Van Doesburg @ Tate Modern
and after flirting with the idea of maps I think we're sticking with posters.
Considering the possibility of a design group like Platform 13 and Troika. Possible group members...Iz, Joe, Rob, Fernades, Obie...?
22.3.10
POSTERS OR MAPS?
My recent focus has been on finishing this term's projects - but I've been carefully considering if posters really is the format I want to pick. I have had my head turned by maps...
15.3.10
BLOGGING
15.3.10
I've spent the last few days really exploring free blogging software and pushing its intended use. I am using it to create an online portfolio of my work - a simple website, hosted for free.
I've become quite obsessed with exploring its potential, pushing in different directions and challenging the accepted traditions of its function. I like the immediacy of the blog. I like that its free. I like to use it as an editting tool. I like to manipulate the code and the appearance. I like to make it look and feel like something different to a traditional blog. This has led to me to using a blog to create an online portfolio of my work.
I've spent the last few days really exploring free blogging software and pushing its intended use. I am using it to create an online portfolio of my work - a simple website, hosted for free.
I've become quite obsessed with exploring its potential, pushing in different directions and challenging the accepted traditions of its function. I like the immediacy of the blog. I like that its free. I like to use it as an editting tool. I like to manipulate the code and the appearance. I like to make it look and feel like something different to a traditional blog. This has led to me to using a blog to create an online portfolio of my work.
11.3.10
VCT
VCT / Posters : Influence & Impact
Is the poster dead? An interesting VCT session with Monika. I didn't necessarily agree with everything she said, but she raised some good points and discussed some key issues. She showed us some excellent contextual examples and I liked the way she structured her talk (replicating her structure would be good a starting point for constructing my own VCT essay).
Monika talked about poster design over the last 120 years, finishing with present day examples and posing the question "what is the future for the format?". We started at the end of the 19th century looking at posters in Paris; then jumped to propoganda posters from WW1, contructivist Russia and the Vietnam war. This brought us to the 90's; we looked at David Tartakover (an Israeli nationalist and celebrated poster designer) and the Benetton adverts. We finished by looking at Shepard Fairey's Obama Hope posters, Troika and Aleksanda Macasev, and discussing how the format can be used to speak to people today.
Monika's talk focused on the poster as a medium for messages, as a vehicle for shouting your message. I believe in many cases the poster exists as something ornamental and decorative. Many posters are consumed for enjoyment and decoration, and they are designed in this way too. I feel this is a whole different side to the format which Monika didnt explore.
VCT / Printed Matter : Paper vs Cloth
This was a bizarre talk from Wendy! I thought that "Printed Matter" would be helpful with regards to my choice of posters...I thought maybe we would talk about substrates, inks and printing processes...I was wrong! We talked about cloth.
I have to say, I feel the link between cloth and printed matter is pretty tenuous. There were some useful concepts to take away from the talk such as taking inspiration from areas outside your subject area, looking at a broader contextual history than purely the history of design and challenging the medium of the format. However I left the lecture pretty confused and without having gained much new information on printed matter!
Is the poster dead? An interesting VCT session with Monika. I didn't necessarily agree with everything she said, but she raised some good points and discussed some key issues. She showed us some excellent contextual examples and I liked the way she structured her talk (replicating her structure would be good a starting point for constructing my own VCT essay).
Monika talked about poster design over the last 120 years, finishing with present day examples and posing the question "what is the future for the format?". We started at the end of the 19th century looking at posters in Paris; then jumped to propoganda posters from WW1, contructivist Russia and the Vietnam war. This brought us to the 90's; we looked at David Tartakover (an Israeli nationalist and celebrated poster designer) and the Benetton adverts. We finished by looking at Shepard Fairey's Obama Hope posters, Troika and Aleksanda Macasev, and discussing how the format can be used to speak to people today.
Monika's talk focused on the poster as a medium for messages, as a vehicle for shouting your message. I believe in many cases the poster exists as something ornamental and decorative. Many posters are consumed for enjoyment and decoration, and they are designed in this way too. I feel this is a whole different side to the format which Monika didnt explore.
VCT / Printed Matter : Paper vs Cloth
This was a bizarre talk from Wendy! I thought that "Printed Matter" would be helpful with regards to my choice of posters...I thought maybe we would talk about substrates, inks and printing processes...I was wrong! We talked about cloth.
I have to say, I feel the link between cloth and printed matter is pretty tenuous. There were some useful concepts to take away from the talk such as taking inspiration from areas outside your subject area, looking at a broader contextual history than purely the history of design and challenging the medium of the format. However I left the lecture pretty confused and without having gained much new information on printed matter!
10.3.10
INITIAL RESPONSE
This is a great brief! I am immediately excited about the format posters & folding broadsheets.
I have always liked posters. I have a collection of music posters, exhibition posters and folding broadsheets. I like making posters for events and publicity - I like the DIY aesthetic and the language of the vernacular. I have been caught fly-postering by the police! I feel posters will be a format I can immerse myself in and subsequently allow me to have fun producing exciting, personal work.
I have always liked posters. I have a collection of music posters, exhibition posters and folding broadsheets. I like making posters for events and publicity - I like the DIY aesthetic and the language of the vernacular. I have been caught fly-postering by the police! I feel posters will be a format I can immerse myself in and subsequently allow me to have fun producing exciting, personal work.
"Show the design world how the format can be used, applied, manipulated and pushed in ways never thought of or seen before"
Thats a tall order, but to approach posters in this way will definitely push me, and I think I can produce some exciting work.
"Who has done interesting work with the format before?"
This will be a good starting point. Off the top of my head I will look at Typographicposters.com, Warhol, music posters, exhibition posters, political posters and more - and try to narrow down my research and focus. I find the more specific you can make a brief the more potential you have to push the boundaries.
"What process and techniques can you explore and investigate?"
This is my main reason for picking the format. I want to experiment with letterpress and screen printing. I want to do lots of this project physically, working with real things - away from the computer screen. I also want to experiment with projections, photocopying, hand-mades and off-set litho. As well as exploring substrates and inks - i.e. things I can print with and things I can print on.
"What process and techniques can you explore and investigate?"
This is my main reason for picking the format. I want to experiment with letterpress and screen printing. I want to do lots of this project physically, working with real things - away from the computer screen. I also want to experiment with projections, photocopying, hand-mades and off-set litho. As well as exploring substrates and inks - i.e. things I can print with and things I can print on.
9.3.10
THE BRIEF
We got the brief for our FMP...Brief is Formats. Deadline Tuesday 1st June.
The brief in brief
- Explore the potential of my chosen format.
- Be creative and innovative with the format,
- Use and apply it in new ways
- Use the most ambitious & appropriate skills & processes.
- Content: something about the format itself
3 things to highlight
- Creative thinking / Research skills / Practical ability
Produce
- A piece of graphic design
- A supporting research document (15 - 20 pages)
- VCT essay on my format
The brief in brief
- Explore the potential of my chosen format.
- Be creative and innovative with the format,
- Use and apply it in new ways
- Use the most ambitious & appropriate skills & processes.
- Content: something about the format itself
3 things to highlight
- Creative thinking / Research skills / Practical ability
Produce
- A piece of graphic design
- A supporting research document (15 - 20 pages)
- VCT essay on my format
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