During recent weeks, our groups have been introduced to a number of different theories and techniques relating to graphic and media design. Since the start of the course, we have undertaken seven workshops:
- Documenting Research
In this workshop we spoke about the surroundings of the uni and how much history it has. One of the main contributors of this session was the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. I researched into the establishment and was also given a group project. Each group was given a shop within the shopping centre. With this we had to do extensive research and look into its history and origins. We began by visiting the shop and taking lots of photos. We slowly caught onto themes such as ‘irony’, ‘childishness’ and ‘clutter’ which later influenced our project. After this we were asked to present a tabletop exhibition with as much information as possible. We decided to take the route of re-branding our shop, the 99p store. - Composition Design
In this workshop we looked into how viewers respond to design. we spoke about the gestalt theory and the laws of composition. From here we left the studio to take images of grids, repetition, symmetry and other well composed objects. This was the starting point showing how we as humans view layout. We were given text, titles, subtitles, dates and dots; all in a range of sizes. From this we had to place these components so that they are usually pleasing tot he eye regarding composition. This workshop allowed me to consider layout and composition much more and I think that this will help me in the future. - Grids and Anti-Grids
In this workshop we spoke about the concept of grids and anti-grids. These consist of columns and rows helping with the composition of text, image and caption text. Images can also be constructed by using a grid, all helping with the layout that is best for what the viewers see. I began by seeing what grids were in my images from the research workshop. I used this as inspiration for creating a publication relating to the store. after physically planning and organising my elements on a page, i went ton to refine this by creating a digital version and printing it onto an A3 spread. I was extremely pleased with the end results. - Typeface and Hierarchy
In this workshop we spoke about typeface and hierarchy. we began by taking about the difference between typeface and font. when choosing a typeface it has to be fit for a purpose, in context and about the tone of voice. we spoke about the difference between a ‘friendly’ typeface and a ‘dominant’ typeface. these can be suggestive of the context of the actual writing. We researched into the different styles such as serif and sans-serif and went out into our environments to photograph as many different styles as we could find. From here, we used this as inspiration to create a poster for an event of our choice. I chose to create a poster for a photography exhibition showing my work. I figured out what would and wouldn’t work and decided to go for a simplistic approach to create a leaflet and a poster. I chose to stick to a black and white theme. Also, I created the poster with an abstract feel and the poster with a more structured feel. The typefaces were extremely important in this task. - Autobiographical Colour
Personally, this was one of my favourite workshops. Each of us were asked to bring in ten personal items that mean something to us. From these objects we extracted colours that reminded us of the item. I began by photographing my objects up close as to focus on the hue. From the photos, I attempted to recreate the colours using watercolour paint. I noted down the words that reminded me of these colours and linked them to each swatch. I then extracted these colours from my photos digitally and set them out into a grid format with names and origins. I also made a title page in the style of a paint-by-numbers. As an extension to this particular workshop, I sampled make-up swatches onto a piece of card s and wrote the professional product colour names next to it. these colour names really interest me in relation to the colour of the product. - Power of Ten
In this workshop we started by watching and discussing Charles and ray Eames’ film “Power of ten, 1997”. This showed things zoomed in and out to the power of ten. I found this extremely interesting and it allowed me to view things in a different way by appreciating the smaller details. We also discussed what we as humans see and what we as humans actually understand, this showed how we convey meaning through imagery. The task required us to take photos representing ten given words. We then cropped these images to directly represent the words. We separated them into categories and discussed them as a group. - Into the Fold
This was another of my favourite workshops. we looked at form and structure and explored the relationship between this form and content/concept. we done this through paper folding and experimentation. We was told to work in groups and we had to choose any historical event. we was asked to create something that represented our subject whilst being analytical and systematic in our approach. Our group chose to build a sculpture representing the 9/11 attacks. we used statistics to create certain measured peepholes in our structures and also used another element by adding light. overall it turned out very well and we had some very good feedback.
All of the workshops were extremely beneficial and i personally found them extremely useful to remind myself of the basic principles of design. The hands on experience allowed us as a group, to experiment with many materials and to play around with our ideas.
chloforshort // GMD 