itap Lecture 01/03/2011 Ethics in Graphics

This weeks itap lecture was all about ethics within graphic design . I did an A level in Psychology and it all came flooding back to me, particularly the bit about there’s never a right or wrong answer when talking about ethics. But what is ethics? Ethics is about morality, what is right and wrong within society? Here in lies the problem. There is no universal rules for right or wrong. These social norms and rules differ throughout the hundreds of countries, societies and religions of the world.

But how do ethics come into graphics? Anything you say or do, anything you create will probably strike a nerve with someone whilst at the same time inspiring someone else. Everyone’s personal beliefs depend on a lot of things, where they grew up, the views of their friends, the views of their families, their religion, the school they went to. Graphic design is a way of visually communicating something to someone, and in the way this lecture was talking about, advertising. The purpose of a poster, an advert, a billboard is to inform and invite someone to act upon a suggestion. Now depending on this persons beliefs, they may choose to accept this invitation, or decline it. This is the important point, the person we are addressing has a choice. If they decide this doesn’t agree with their principles, they may decline, if it doesn’t, they may accept. Although as designers, we have an obligation to take ethics into account, and most designers will act in an amoral position, if we want to make something a bit sketchy or controversial, what’s wrong with that? The audience can always decline if they wish.

Some designers stick by their views by declining work. For example, Sarah Coleman has declined jobs from a cigarette company and fast food chain McDonalds because she didn’t agree with the product or ethics of the business. Some designers won’t even let the audience make up their mind by just refusing point blank not to design for them.

An example of a campaign that brings morality and ethics into question is something that Bal touched on in the lecture which was interesting. Joining the Army. Some people agree with the Army, some people don’t. The latter may argue that they are recruiting people to fight and kill, which in most societies, not just our own, is seen as immoral. However the former half will see it as defending the country, their honour, and their beliefs. However, surely if you are going to agree with second statement, people in this society should understand the intentions and actions of terrorists. I’m guessing if you went and asked Army personell they would not.

Another potentially touchy subject could be Plastic Surgery. So a young woman wants to get a boob job. Now then, if she was brought up in an atheist household with free spirited parents, I’m sure this girls outlook on this would be along the lines of ‘It’s my body, the technologies there, why shouldn’t I improve what I deem not good enough?’. However, what if this young woman had a strict Catholic upbringing with traditional parents, perhaps her outlook would be something more like ‘this is the body God gave me, I am happy with his decision, beauty is only skin deep’. As you can see it’s all about different countries thousands of miles away from each other, people in the same society, but different sectors can have vastly different views and opinion.

Personally I would like to think that I would be able to stand by my views and do something as honourable as Sarah Coleman. However. As a new designer, work may be hard to come by, Graphic Design for me isn’t about the money but I’ll have bills to pay, my mouth to feed so I may have to take some jobs that I might not agree with ethically, but aren’t we supposed to be amoral?
And isn’t someone else just going to do it anyway?

itap Lecture 22/02/2011 Bill Bernbach & Helmut Krone

This weeks lecture as on one of the most fascinating greats of the advertising world, Bill Bernbach. During the 1950’s, Bill Bernbach along with a few others managed to revolutionise the advertising world. They took American advertising from below top, to below bottom. Quite a feat, but more on that later.

He was one of the founders of DDB who are most famous for their Levi’s adverts. During this time he also managed to revolutionise the way that advertising agency’s were run. Beforehand, it was unheard of for a creative director and a copywriter to work together, however Bernbach saw this as something that could produce amazing work and to this day now, you won’t find a creative director without a copywriter and vise-versa. The team is now an industry standard.

It was with Helmut Krone during the 60’s that Bernbach created one of the most famous print campaigns ever. The Volks Wagon Beetle. This campaign really revolutionised advertising, but before this, you have to realise what they were trying to do, and why it is such a feat not just creatively. First of the Beetle was designed by Hitler and a lot of the target audience as well as Bernbach were Jewish. How on earth are you supposed to sell a Nazi car to a Jew? Secondly, the way in which all other cars were being sold was with this vision of the perfect American life, which frankly, during America in the 60’s, didn’t exist. People just wanted to buy into that idea. How could they change their minds? Honesty and a little bit of humour.

 

Bernbach and Krone, like many advertising moguls take their inspiration from Fine Art, and as you can see from looking below and the examples coming, he took inspiration from artist of the time Mark Rothko.

One way that Bernbach and Krone revolutionised advertising was the use of white space. Such as above (top left), good adverts then were seen to be the ones with lots of detail and really quite busy. They really were genious’, when this campaign was released, there was nothing like around at the time.

All the car ads before the VW Beetle were for the big burly muscle cars and tried to sell the ‘life style’. The Beetle ads were just honest.

 

And a little bit funny.

More importantly about the above image, how many times do you see a poster successfully advertising a car without actually showing it?

And again, finally, honesty.

15/02/2011 Design Canons workshop

This week we were joined by Nathan Monk of SMILE who gave a talk about designing for digital. We got a mini brief to work on over the next week which was was simply to ‘help and independent coffee shop chain to go digital.’

We had to specify this criteria, come up with a strategy and then create some taster 

visuals.

Criteria

Our group specified that it was a shop that sold packets of speciality coffee’s from all around the world (not a cafe). The company, who we collectively named ‘The Coffee Emporos’ want to reach out to more people and create an online shop that is easy to navigate and not overloaded with with information.

Strategy

To create a website which allows the user to browse for new speciality coffee by Country and Region via an interactive globe on the home page.

To boost sales and create new customers there will also be a ‘find my taste’ option where you answer a variety of questions about what certain aspects of coffee you normally like (ie strong, weak, rich, flavoured, spiced) and the website will suggest a new coffee for you.

Here is a hyper map of the initial website.

So far we have met back in our groups and discussed the name, the general look and feel we want The Coffee Emporos to take on when we create our visuals which we will discuss and post early next week.

Itap 15/02/2011 So-Me

This weeks Itap was a visual documentation of Art Director So-Me’s life and work.

I’m going to talk about So-Me in regards to Creative Strategies and idea generation which relates to the project I’m on at the minute. Coming back from Tuesday’s session I was hyped, excited and inspired. So-Me has a very distinct personal style and this is why people want him. A lot of his stuff is hand rendered, especially the type and a lot of the images. It really brought home to me how important it was to create and find your own working style, not only to create recognition and familiarity but if you have a style you work in, it becomes so much easier to create ideas. You concentrate more on what will work with your style, instead of having a million different options running around in your head.

So-Me plays on his own style a lot and the way in which he gets his ideas seems to make the process extremely quick and efficient for him. Like a DJ who mash’s up other people’s work, his own work, samples and borrows from everywhere, So-Me does this in a visual way. As he knows people want his style, he just needs to come up with the base idea. A lot of what he does is samples and takes pieces of past and modern day culture and just adapts it.

For example with this Uffie branding that So-Me created, you look at it and can tell by the way it was executed it is So-Me but you can’t ignore the massive nod to pop art and the way that he has borrowed that and adapted it to the artist he is branding

Another flat piece of So-Me is the Justice cross. This particular one with the yellow hue, go back a few years to this T-Rex piece and the sampling and inspiration he took is just screaming you in the face.

He also re-samples a lot of his own work. He created this sleeve for the Ed Banger Records Vol. 2 and if you look at the cd sleeve for the Kanye West video he art directed, it’s just another version. It’s importing to note that he isn’t copying these pieces of himself and other people, he’s just adapting them and mixing them up, just like you would with a recipe, he’s paying homage more than anything.

I’d also recommend you take another look at the Justice D.A.N.C.E video and just take in all the visual references you get from The Buggles, Beethoven, Snow White, Disney and I think I even spotted a slight reference to QOTSA aswell.

During class one of the ways we discussed about creating ideas was this one of adaptation and sampling and it’s so refreshing to see it done so well and in such an inspiring way!

itap Lecture 07/12/2010

Integrated Theory & Practice - How adding text to an image can change the meaning and context & how adding text to an image can influence people emotions

During this itap lecture we were discussing what influence text can have on people’s perception of an image. We were given 2 principles to talk about, however as I believe they are very closely linked I will talk about both principles together.

When we all see a single image on it’s own, the way in which we perceive it will be determined by our own past experiences and life. Out of its original context it could mean anything and without any text to guide us, our emotions related to the image are controlled by these past experiences and life. The house below for example, it could remind us of anything in the world. It may remind you of your family home as a child, depending on how you were raised, it may fill you with happiness and jollity, or it could remind you of sadness and bad experiences. You may start to imagine another little girl or boy living their and wonder what their upbringing is like. It may remind you of the house you rented at university and prompt you to get back in touch in with your friends, it may fill you with joy and perhaps relief, knowing all those exams and assessments are in the past! The image may even remind of the first house you raided when you first joined the police force. This may conjure up those feelings of nerves mixed with excitement you felt in the pit of your stomach.

Take this image below, what does it mean to you? We could add many different types of text to change the context and meaning of this.  ‘Summer 96’’ would change this picture to mean somewhere someone spent their summer of 1996, filling you with joy and the thought of sunshine. ‘For Sale’ implys that now it’s a piece of land up for sale, perhaps making you inquisitive and imagining what could be. However this image is actually from a collection of photographs of crime scenes. Putting the name of the deceased and a date will change this into a murder scene, different emotions will fill you.

 Once you know what the image is from and you know the context, you can look at the image and know what it is about.  You can use this to your advantage or disadvantage, some images are only powerful once you know what the context is.

Bibliogprahy of photgraphs (top-bottom)

Image 1: Paul O'Donnel presentation

Image 2: http://historicbuildingsct.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ebenezer-avery-house.jpg  

itap Lecture 23/11/2010

Integrated theory and practice - Ideation Fluency & Managing a Creative Environment

The first idea I am going to talk about is that of Ideation Fluency. This basically refers to the way in which ideas are created. More specifically easily produced ideas that fulfil the requirements asked. To get ideational fluency, we need to work with the right tools and practices. The three main of which are:

Classification:

Organising the ideas. You organise them by recognising both obvious and hidden common denominators, breaching your usual boundaries and generating diverse connections and letting these influence your work.

Brain storming:

This where you have a set subject to base your idea around and gives you an opportunity for spontaneous, impulsive thinking allowing you to create ideas fast and plentiful.

Mind Mapping:

I have to admit, before this lecture I associated brain storming and mind mapping as the same thing, as this later explains, I incorporated links and channels on my brainstorms.  Mind mapping (as I was told) is a way to create ideas the allow you to organise the thought processes as a network, by encouraging association between different thoughts. Below are some examples of mind mapping and I can see how effective it cold possibly be. During any forthcoming projects I will be sure to use this technique as I really do believe it will help.

 

 

A new potential way that I always find useful (if it is applicable/realistic to what the subject is,) is to put yourself in the context, the surroundings of your subject. So you’re doing a project that you want to be influenced by the beach, you’re not going to get the best results just sitting in your work space looking through your holiday snaps. The best way would be to visit a beach and encapsulate yourself, sketch, collect, take pictures, note smells, sounds and conversations that you come across. Take everything you have back to work space and work with it, as soon as you can, whilst everything is fresh in your mind! (If you’ve not thought of anything whilst there!)

The second principle I am going to talk about is Managing a Creative Environment. Yes, a creative needs to have a, well, creative and inspirational mind, however you can be heavily influenced by your immediate surroundings. Your work space. For me, if I’m doing a stint of work, and I did it before typing this up, I have to have a clean desk. If I’ve not got a tidy desk and room I can’t think straight, it’s all cluttered. A tidy desk is a tidy mind! A good workplace can assist the production of creative ideas, their development and their implementation. Some people may like it messy, some tidy, mines normally some form of organised mess if not tidy!

For example take this workspace, my Mother would probably say this is still messy. However you can see that everything has its place and it organised into papers, inks, crayons etc. I think as long as you know where everything is and can find what you need in an instant, that is a workplace which can assist.

 

 Broadening from your immediate environment, make use of resources, their there for you to use! Most of us on this course are living in Birmingham or the surrounding areas. Birmingham is England’s second city, explore! The galleries, museums, cultural events and resources in this city are immense, too many to mention, if you’re having a creative block. Don’t just sit at your computer looking at blogs, go out and see some work for real, look at it from different angles, touch it, hold it (only if you’re allowed!) and get a real feel for the work. This will clear your block and allow those creative juices to flow, in your appropriate workspace of course.

Bibliography of images - (top-bottom)

Image 1: http://www.mindtools.com/media/Diagrams/mindmap.jpg

Image 2: http://live-the-solution.com/wp-content/uploads/globalwarmingrecent.jpg

Image 3: http://arcticboy.arcticboy.com/view2.php?q=Pictures%20Of%20Mind%20Maps&url=http://pkab.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/retriement.jpg

Image 4: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/410457969_165885c25f.jpg

itap Lecture 09/11/2010

Integrated Theory & Practice - Procuctions and Outcomes

Chosen prinicples - Interpretation & Delivery

 This weeks itap lecture was all about artistic production and outcomes. One of the priciples I am going to talk about is ‘Interpretation.’ How do illustrators amplify the meaning within a simple message? Meaning how do they make people know it was them, who they were and when they were doing it? If a number of different people from a number of different times and cultures try to interpret the same message, you will get differences. The creatives are all influenced by their time, their culture and the place that they live. Technological advances will also have an effect. To give you an example I will use Snow White. Originally written by the Brother Grim, later to be interpreted by the Walt Disney corporation. The first group of illustrations below were all created within about 30 years of each other. As you can see from the Theodor Hosemann lithograph to the George Soper Lithograph there are noticeable differences. All of these groups are Lithograph prints as at this time lithography was relatively new and people wanted to experiment with it. As time goes on in the images you can see an increase in detail, from criss cross hashes on trees of the first image to moss detailing on the third. Colour intensity also dramatically increases, from dull beiges and browns to vibrant red and yellows, representing the discovery of new ways of creating a lithograph print. If you look at the huntsman in the first image and compare it to him in the fourth, their clothing, hair and overall appearance is distinctly different. This relates to the change in fashions over that 25 year period and proves how society has a direct effect on an artists representation of something. The target audience may also change, although this has always been a fairy tale story, the maturity of some of the prints may suggest it was aimed at adults rather than the now present child audience. As the times go on, in my opinion, the images seem to catch a younger and younger audience.

 Left - right: Theodor Hosemann 1847, Anonnymous 1852, Franz Joltner 1905, George Soper 1915 

Looking at the second group of illustrations they are distinctly different. The first, an original poster for the 1937 Walt Disney film, lithography has no longer been used, Walt Disney has chosen to illustrate this piece in a new, yet as we see it, traditional way.  There has been a massive leap in technical skills and materials as the image has crisp lines, bright colours, a massive array of colours compared to the Franz Joltner image above and it’s a film poster! Showing that leap in technology. You can also see changes in the characters, specifically the dwarfs. If you take the dwarfs on the Disney poster and compare it to the second image above, they are no longer similar looking dressed all in black, Disney has given them a new form, cute, cheeky, little people who will please the new audience, families with small children. They now all have personalities and clothing matched to them. For the second image in this group Disney hasn’t really changed much, the dwarfs are the same form but the main difference again, is that leap in technology. Without this leap and the computer generated graphics used in this second poster, this and the former would look near enough the same. Finally we look at the illustration for the NYDailyNews. The film has been adapted to ‘Ho White’, but if we concentrate on the physical differences you can see although they have used a traditional illustration, the characters are very life like in their mannerisms and detailing, something that may not have come along if it was for films such as Shrek, which is still a cartoon but the characters and sets are very much life like.

 Left - right: Walt Disney 1937, Walt Disney 2009, Anonymous 2009

The second principle I am going to talk about is that of a works ‘Delivery’.  This simply means what platform and/or media is this piece of work? There are so many different types that you could chose from, billboards, posters, art instillations, poetry, fashion, editorial, the list is forever long. It is never just a coincidence that your idea becomes either a poster or an art instillation, it’s very much thought about in the design process, designed around what platform you intend. An example of a creative that uses many different platforms is Tracey Emin, not an original choice I know but most people are familiar with her work. The first two examples below come in the form of an instillation, The Bed, a very famous piece of Emin’s work and The Tent. With The Tent, I believe that it is more about the work inside than the actual tent. I think that Emin decided to use this platform as it encourages the viewer to enter the tent, a small enclosed space, perhaps to give the viewer and the work a feel of intimacy and closeness, something you don’t often get with a painting simply hanging on the wall. Emin clearly thought bout what she wanted the viewer to feel when viewing her art when thinking about which platform to use.

 The Bed

The Tent

The other two examples below are of some of Emin’s painitngs. I believe she used this media and not say a poster or an editorial post as she just wanted to express herself. The roughness and subject of the piece’s are very personal, and although the world will still be able to see it, it’s not over exposed if it was say on a billboard with an un-appreciating eye driving past.

 Like the reasoning above, I believe that is why Emin uses the poem as a platform for the piece below. Again, something very personal, perhaps Emin couldn’t express what she wanted using images and a poem felt more suited.

 The way in which we decide what platform to use has many different variables, it may be something that a client has specifically asked for, but it may also be something extremely personal.

 Bibliography of images (top-bottom-left-right):

Image 1: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9j2jxPDhltePWlr4zT8KhLyA2RthDIPEAiFBp8uDmZoL8-KIqzW6D4GRrpKKogCcUsMrVQnkmZwJ25SBTmCvQgxhtZhyphenhyphenQtkUkC7vAAhHz2Npj1s8ePRAxQkb4yAcuIe-bJ0dj8XETpn7G/s1600-h/SnowWhite_Hosemann.jpg

Image 2: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_1.png

Image 3: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2s21jcsnownMBgHz98M83HtQiYFyBVDluMYwHa4718JfHfgvE2caF9wfeNshlgfehE6Nt8RKVFBN4L-s6HBdh2IZc4PhVCzu15BsPBbSHfhe-9VZChGbgOXhLpy5i8iL3DDNLd5mcuFJ/s1600-h/SnowWhite_Juttner.jpg

Image 4: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBVQuUmwlYKhfqXncmKAA3j3rIpHJzT0T4iO8jM1lv8g1twYuEZjmAJmZ9DBN9FuKv3V9KgJxEIm1mwmHU-6-JXDopaFM3PVu3ISh5S3rMGEtZkmiO1k5qm57G7N-2SMZi8KrI_VZfV2g2/s1600-h/SnowWhite_Soper.jpg

Image 5: http://www.davekehr.com/?p=417&cpage=1

Image 6: http://www.disneylicious.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=273

Image 7: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2009/10/16/2009-10-16_beer_ad_showing_ho_white_in_bed_with_seven_dwarves_.html

Image 8: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/imgs/artists/emin-tracey/tracey-emin-my-bed.jpg

Image 9: http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images_424046260_129602_tracey-emin.jpg

Image 11: http://artobserved.com/artimages/2009/05/tracey-emin-masturbating.jpg

Image 12: http://static.royalacademy.org.uk/images/width360/tracey-emin-red-girl-2007-1981.jpg

Image 13: http://www.rca.ac.uk/UploadedImages/Tracey%20Emin.jpg