Publication Development

Design Publication.
After deciding the concept for my publication, and deciding what I am going to do with it, I started to work on the images that I am wanting to include in the publication. For each section I want to include spreads about the briefs that I have produced, why imagery is important to this subject and the studios that I have been to during third year that relate to this.

The first section of my publication is about image making and why it is important therefore I decided that it would be good for me to include my 100 days of...monster challenge as the main purpose for this brief is making an image a day. After researching into different things for the publication, I found Ricky Gervais's flanimals book. This lead me into thinking about dissecting my work into stages, like he dissected his flanimals and explained them. Doing this would show my methodology and the way that I work. Showing how I go from nothing to the image that I create, then also showing how I apply it to different areas of design.

Development.

The process of image making for me after the research and the thinking of ideas for a brief or project, would to be doing the initial drawing either on paper or digitally drawing it, although I would usually digitally draw things. Then I start to decide on the colours that I think are appropriate. Next is the adding of the contours, making the image less two dimensional where appropriate. Then finally I add the details that finish the images off. This will bring them to life a bit more. This is such an important process in the way I design. I think that dissecting the the images and annotating them, showing the stages that I go through will work really well for the publication, showing different examples of the way that I can then apply this to different areas of design.

After dissecting the first monster I started to get a grid system going about how I would produce the images for my publication. I wanted to create my book in the way that I would create any other piece of design, therefore each illustration would form a piece of information graphics about my images.

I think that showing how some of the briefs that I have been doing have developed is important, as it shows past the image making process, and shows how the image making progresses into how it is applied and adapted. I think that this is a really important part of my methodology, therefore it needs to be included in my publication.

For each of the areas of design I will include two double page spreads about a brief that I have done during the third year, that shows my methodology. Starting with the development process, then into the image making, followed by final pictures of the brief itself and the outcome that I have made.

This structure and grid system has been applied throughout the whole publication, so that it all fits in together as the publication is forming. I think that having the publication be in a certain order and have a grid system to it is important as it enforces the way that I work, as I like stucture and works in an order.

I decided that I would create the layout for the image making process pages in the illustrator and using a grid system in there so that it was easier for my to figure out where each of the images are going and how they will be annotated. Also it would help when I was actually dissecting the images.

Starting the publication with my statement/manifesto is a good idea, as this will introduce the reader to who I am as a designer and what I am interested in. Then moving onto the net page of my methodology in a diagram, also reenforcing this by repeating it on the back page. This will give the reader a good idea into what the entire publication is about.

Showing that the grid system is the same throughout works well for me, as it shows that my methodology is consistent throughout my design process, through keeping my grid system consistent throughout also.



This is the final digital copy of my publication, I am really happy with it and think that it is a really good way of showing me as a designers, as well as the process that I go through. As well as this being a publication showing my methodology, it can also be a good thing to show to studios, as it shows a lot about me, my designs, and the process that I go through to get there. This would give the studios a thorough understanding of me as a designer.

Publication Ideas

Publication Ideas.
Thinking about my methodology and the way that I work then applying it to a publication is quite difficult. It is easier to see the way in which others work, but creating a publication about myself is something that I don't enjoy doing.

Something that I have found that I really enjoy and it is something that I have only just discovered that I like doing. I think that this could be a good way for me to show the way that I work. Although it would be really hard to include any information in it such as body copy. This is becasue people read at different paces.

Therefore I started to mind map me, and what it is that makes me as a designer and how I get there including the inspiration around me. Both personal and professional things contribute to the way I design, therefore doing this allows to to see further into what I should be doing.

Going back to the animation, I started to think about what I would include in it. I think that it should be about the way that I work rather than about what I do. Therefore I am more into image making and then applying it to some different areas of design, rather than being specifically into just packaging or just branding or just animation. An animation that tells a story about how important image making is, why I use it, then showing how I use it, applying it to different areas of design, starting with branding and running through to animation.

Tony Broomhead Crit.
The feedback I received for my publication ideas was to create a video of myself creating an image digitally. Either doing this and making it into an animation, or taking screenshots throughout and creating a publication just in case I am wanting to make a book. 

After the Tony Broomhead crit I decided that I would look again at the brief so that I would decide what I going to do with my publication. Doing this I realised that I need to include more information about how I work and showing examples of this, also showing examples of studios and how what I do is applied in design.

Therefore I have decided that I will create a book type publication that will have a hard back. It will start by going through image making and why it is important, how it is used and why, then moving through the different areas of design that I enjoy doing such as Brand, Packaging, Animation, Info Graphics, and Editorial, talking about images used in these areas, studios that I have visited or been in contact with and how they use images in their design, and the brief that I have done and used images for in these areas of design. Including my manifesto/statement, my methodology and stages of how I go through the image making process, this will show the way that I work well, showing the influences made through graphic design.

Publication Research

Image Making.
Research.
I decided that my publication would be about image making as it is what I do and the way I work. I think that it is important to use images in work, it is a way which is universal, things such as toilet signs and no smoking signs. It doesn't matter which language you speak, you are able to see what they mean. With image making it means that there is no language barrier which is so important. This is something that I need to include in my publication, as well as showing how I actually work and the process that I go through. Therefore I thought that it would be necessary to do some research into image making and the importance of it.

Source

Reasons Why You Need Illustrations Publisher: Dmytro Nesterov (Marketing Department Officer) In this article I want to discuss a few reasons why you may need illustrations for your business and why illustrations can be better than photographs and video. If you are running a business you are very likely to need custom illustrations to be designed for various business purposes. Here are a few reasons why you may need illustrations and why illustrations are important in our life. Conveying a message. Use illustrations if you want to convey an idea which is difficult to express or it would take a lot of time to explain and describe what you mean. The human brain functions in such a way that it perceives visual information more quickly, fully and holds it longer in the memory. Even when reading a book most people draw a kind of illustrations inside their heads using imaginations. Sometimes we need to convey messages which importance does now allow relying only on imagination but needs crisp and concrete visual representation. These are various technological advanced illustrations, sketches, flowcharts etc. it can also be useful for people with little attention span and for those with hearing disabilities. Education. Illustrations and various kinds of images are used for education purposes from the very beginning of human’s life. A child begins perception of the around world as a number of objects since babies can think only non-abstractly. That is the reason why illustrations are used to educate children and to develop their imagination. That is why it is important to have good illustrations for children’s books. Illustrations help children associate words with objects and sentences with illustrated actions and what is important illustrations designed for children’s book are purposed to fascinate children with reading. But, certainly, this is not the case with only children. Illustrations are widely used for teaching people of all ages foreign languages, for presentation of complicated scientific, engineering concepts etc. illustrations are needed for all kinds of instructional literature for better understanding of the material. Advertising and Attracting Attention. Even if a person is not interested in the product you advertise at first, when he/she eventually comes to buying the product, he/she chooses the one he/she saw being advertised somewhere rather than similar products of your competitors who failed to advertise their goods properly. And this is especially important if you are launching a new product or company and trying to build brand awareness. Using visual presentations is a must in this case as visual information is better to remember. Today people spend more time in the Internet activating their visual perception and that is why a presentation of an advertised product by means of various kinds of illustrations is not only one of the cheapest way to advertise online but also one of the most effective. You can also use video and photographs for advertising purposes, but illustrations, however, have a few important advantages over other types of visual advertisement, at least on the web, and namely: Illustrations are mostly GIF or JPEG formats and are visible at once when a web page is loaded, unless images are disabled in the user’s browser, unlike embedded videos which require turning on and if triggered automatically are irritating and annoying; Illustrations allow implementing almost any idea and this implementation is limited only by client’s and illustrator’s fantasy which is not the case with both photo and video advertising as brining into life certain ideas requires bigger budgets and longer time here; Illustrations give possibility to easily represent something which is quite difficult or impossible to film or to photograph (e.g. biological process, extremely small objects, non-existent in real life or deliberately exaggerated objects etc.); illustrations are easier to customize, modify, change, seamlessly add or remove elements; illustrations can be previewed in preliminary sketches before the final illustration is done; high quality illustration requires less expensive equipment than a high-quality photograph or video; illustrations do not necessarily require models and can be done with participation of a single person; Illustrations can be more easily adjusted for printing and using in other media. Furthermore, illustrations (just as well as photographs) can be used to draw attention to certain information. Illustration is something a person sees first even before reading the text which is next to the illustration. Very often presence of illustrations determines whether a text will be noticed and read. Likewise, a good book cover illustration can determine the general success of the book, unless you are a well known writer who does not even need an illustration on his/her book cover to be noticed and purchased. Source

Someone emailed me recently to point out that illustration isn't included in Design Observer's list of "categories" — the list you can see below, on the right of your screen. Art, typography and photography are there, but not illustration. Is this omission a simple oversight, or does it tell us something significant about the current state of illustration?

The professional world of illustration is widely believed to be in poor shape. As Steven Heller noted recently: "I am an advocate of illustration and saddened by its loss of stature among editors who feel photography is somehow more effective (and controllable)." There are, of course, many reasons for illustration's fading stature other than the commercial world's hard-nosed preference for photography over the arty vagueness of hand-rendered imagery. The ubiquity of software that allows graphic designers to generate their own imagery is another factor, as is the rise of illustration stock libraries. Yet perhaps illustration's current status owes most to its near-total eclipse by graphic design. To understand the contemporary state of illustration, we need to look at its relationship with graphic design.

There was a time when graphic design and illustration were indivisible. Many of the great designers of the 20th century were also illustrators and moved effortlessly between image-making and typographic functionalism. Traditionally, most designers viewed illustration with reverence; many even regarded it as inherently superior to design. And with good reason: design was about the anonymous conveying of messages, while illustration was frequently about vivid displays of personal authorship. Like artists, illustrators signed their work, and some were even public figures (no graphic designer ever enjoyed the fame of Norman Rockwell, for example). As Ed Fella, a practitioner with feet in both camps, sagely noted: "Whereas graphic design is more anonymous, all illustration is sold for its particular and individual style."

But during the 1990s, illustration's "individual style" became a liability. Visual communication was colonized by tough-minded, business-driven graphic designers who gave their clients what they wanted: branding, strategy and the precision-tooled delivery of commercial messages. Even amongst more idealistic designers — designers who embraced theory, political activism (no big-name illustrators signed the First Things First manifesto), and notions of self-authorship — it became apparent that highly expressive graphic design could achieve some of the conceptual and aesthetic impact of illustration. The outcome of all this was that designers seemed to lose the habit of commissioning illustration, and most illustration was relegated to mere decoration.

Buy why?

It's a much-touted nostrum that we live in a visual world. Sure, the media landscape is saturated with images, but these images are nearly always accompanied by words signposting us to some sort of financial transaction. Graphic design's eclipsing of illustration is explained by illustration's lack of verbal explicitness. Graphic design is almost exclusively about precise communication, and its facility to combine words and images makes it a far more potent force than illustration. Milton Glaser has said: "In a culture that values commerce above all other things, the imaginative potential of illustration has become irrelevant... Illustration is now too idiosyncratic."

I was made aware of the main reason for graphic design's supremacy in the commercial world from an unlikely source. In his book What Good Are the Arts, the English academic John Carey sets out to discover an absolute measure for artistic worth. Dealing with the visual arts, Carey concludes that there is no defining yardstick: anything we choose to call art, is art. It's really a matter of personal choice. But halfway through his book Carey puts the case for literature. He sets out "to show why literature is superior to the other arts and can do things they cannot do."

For Carey, literature is the pre-eminent art form: "unlike the other arts," he writes, "it can criticize itself. Pieces of music can parody other pieces, and paintings can caricature paintings. But this does not amount to a total rejection of music and painting. Literature, however, can totally reject literature, and in this it shows itself more powerful and self-aware than any other art."

The attributes Carey applies to literature also apply to commercial communications. Words rule. Explicit language coupled with explicit images (devoid of ambiguity and nuance) is the lingua franca of advertising and marketing. We seem to have reached a point in Western culture where the abstract is no longer tenable. We demand explicitness in everything, which perhaps explains the contemporary appetite for endless news, reality television, the depiction of graphic violence and hardcore pornography.

Graphic design's ability to deliver explicit messages makes it a major (if little recognized) force in the modern world: it is embedded in the commercial infrastructure. Illustration, on the other hand, with its woolly ambiguity and its allusive ability to convey feeling and emotion, makes it too dangerous to be allowed to enter the corporate bloodstream. Our visual lives are the poorer for this. Source

All of this research will really help me further understand the importance of image making, and it will inform my publication, when I start producing the content.

Publication Crit

Publication Crit.
During the crit today with Tony Broomhead I decided that I wanted to discuss my publication as it is something that I have ideas for, although I'm not sure what I am actually going to do for it. Therefore it would be nice to be in a crit with peers who I can speak about my ideas with, but also so that I can get an opinion from an outsider of the course. Before going into the crit I had done a few different things to try and think of ideas. I thought that getting it all written down would help me through the crit.

My ideas.

I am thinking about making an animation that runs alongside a publication including image making in the publication and how important image making is to my practice. Including Branding, Packaging, Editorial, Information Graphics and Animation, I will show how important image making is to these processes to me and in general. This is my methodology when making graphic design, considering the imagery.

During the Crit.
Animation 
- could include a coversation over the top.
- use someone elses voice.
- interview over the top of me making an image/animation.
- keep it fun and laid back not too serious with the voice over.

Flip Book 
- create a flip book showing how an image is made.
- show my process with a small animation at the bottom of moving people.

Record Myself
- make an animation of me making an image, showing how I make an image.
- quicktime player.
- screen shots.
- publication and show screen shots of how I make an image, my methodology.
- live drawing something I am interested in - pugs.

Overall
Doing screen shots of the me creating a brief will show my methodology, this would link with both publication or animation, whatever I am wanting to do. Create a video of the image making process that I go through.

After The Crit
After the crit I have decided that I am slightly more clear with the idea of the brief, although I am more confused about actually what I am going to do, and the content of whatever I am going to make. I know that the publication is whatever I want it to be as it is my methodology, although I am still not sure what to do for it, and how I can get across my methodology in the best way. Overall I think that I need to continue doing more research to find out what would be the best thing for me to do for my publication.

Ditto Workshop 2

Ditto Press.
The Method Part 2.
Before this session we were told that we would have to try and think of our methodology that we currently use. This is something that I thought about but didn't actually make or produce anything for. A lot of people, almost everyone had thought about it but didn't have anything to show. Therefore we all took time out to draw up what we thought our methodology is.

I decided that my methodology was to receive the brief then think into my initial thoughts, move on from that to the extended thoughts about the brief, leading from my initial thoughts. From this I start to look into ideas that I could take forward from this. After doing this I would lead with my ideas that I think might work, then create visual research by drawing, doing/photographing, and online imagery.

The Crit.
During the crit we were all made aware that our ideas and what we thought our methodologies are, were very generic and really standard. This is something we were told not to do specifically therefore we went away again to try and change this, or add something to our methodologies so that they were different and individual.

• Do something specific for me that would work with every brief.
• Something that a client would hire you with for their briefs.
• If not everyone will end up with the same research and same things.
• All taught the same methods, therefore we will all work in the same way.
• Its a competitive industry which needs individuality in it.
• Try to go out and experience things but not in a standard way.

I went away and thought about something that would help me decide on what I would do with a brief, adding it to the end of my research method, not just replacing it. The idea is to have this origami idea generator. I would have my normal research methods, but have words and ideas inside, so that I could chose two or three, and put them together, this would create different research that I may have never put together before.

Next Time.
Moving on from this I will refine my idea further and create something that will look nicer as well as do the job. I will also need to come up with a name for my methodology. This is something that no-one else has come up with from the day, therefore I think that it will be unique to me. This is what I will move forward with. For the next time I will make sure it works by testing it on a few different briefs to see how it works in context.

Plan So Far.

Thoughts.
So far during level 6 I have many different briefs on the go. The first brief I started was '100 days of..' this is quite a large brief but has a large time scale so doesn't take up too much time to create 1 monster a day, as long as I keep on top of it, which I have done so far, this is somthing I will be using for my Context of Practice practical. I also started my Quentin Tarantino Boxset at the start of the year too. After starting these briefs I then received two different live briefs that need to be done to a deadline, one of which is quite small(Christmas Sushi), the other being quite large(Wide-Eyed Records). To take a break from the others I entered a competition brief for Tigerprint, this was quite a small brief and didn't take up too much time, but gave me a break from my others. As well as that me and my collaborative partner have started our collaborative brief (Pops), I also have tutorials breaking up the week for CoP, this is really important so I need to prioritize this especially as the essay deadline for our draft is on 11th December. Also we are being set different live briefs throughout the year, and although we don't have to do them, I think that it would be best if I did, as it would be doing different kinds of things and doing it for an actual design studio.

Plan.
I think I am spreading my time to thin and I should prioritize certain briefs before others. Some which have a deadline sooner and that are live should be done sooner.

• Continue doing the '100 days of' as this is not largely time consuming, it also gives me something to keep focused on an up to date with everyday, and at the end I will have a large amount of illustrations.
• Put the Boxset to the side as there is no immediate deadline and I can pick it back up after a few live briefs are done and my CoP is more on its way. I think this is something to pick back up when I break for Christmas.
• Tigerprint has been finished and submitted, it has been blogged and finished, the only thing left to do is mock onto things and create design boards for it, this is something I will do closer to the 11th Dec.
• Wide-Eyed Records is a live brief and is something that needs to be completed before the 20th Nov, therefore I will prioritize this. I will also split this brief into two as the branding and logo needs to be completed before the 20th, and the posters for later in January.
• Christmas Sushi, this is a brief that won't take up too much time, and will be a nice break for me in the longer briefs. This is also a live brief which means that I will be able to get feedback from it for doing it.
• CoP is really the most important thing to me right now, it is something I am going to set days aside for each week so that I can always have time for it. This is specific for my theory part as it is something that I struggle with, my practical is consistent and it will be done over a course of 100 days, and then more to develop the campaign.
• My collaboration with Adam hasn't got very far so far. There hasn't been a lot of communication with each other and we have only just established what the brief actually is. After my two live briefs are completed I will be able to focus more on the collaborative, starting ideas and designing on the 23rd Nov, as I should have both my Christmas Sushi and Wide-Eyed Records part one done by then.

Establishing a plan means that I can organise my time better, as currently I have too much on, and nothing is getting done on time. This will work so much better for me, and everyone else who is involved in my briefs including my collab partner and my clients.

Ditto Workshop 1

Ditto Press.

The Method.
For this brief I have decided that I will look into what people do to research their subject. Doing this means that I will find my own personal research methodology, and create a plan as to what I do when I am researching a subject. To do this I need to find a methodology that would work for any subject matter. After doing this I will test out my methodology with different subjects to see if they will work for each of them. This will be very interesting and will help me greatly with my research methods in the future.

Research Methods.

• Interviewing people, interrogating the subject.
• Googling the subject to see what comes up.
• Reading Books on the subject.
• Reading articles on the subject.
• Finding other things related to the subject.
• Looking at existing design around the subject.
• Photography on the subject.
• Experiencing the subject in some way.
• Asking different audiences about the subject, which will find different view points.
• Find and read different forums online about the subject.
• Mind map my thoughts and what I already know on the subject, what comes to mind.
• Find an audience and what they would like to see on the subject.
• Analyse the brief.
• Focus groups about the subject.
• Structured observation, watching people and how they react to things and their behavior.

Things I need to think about with my methodology.

• How I work and how I think.
• Something that is interesting and works for me.
• Doesn't have to be printed.
• How do I want to work?
• No individual topic - research anything.
• The methodology must work for everything, all subjects I use.

My research process (first thoughts).

1. Analyse the brief.
2. Pinterest/Behance the subject matter.
3. Collect books from the library to read and make notes on.
4. Photograph the subject/Experience the subject.
5. Make a mind map of different ideas.

Anaslysis.
When we were first given this brief, I was confused a lot between the research process and the research topic. This is something that I have been made more clear on. The brief itself is based on working out what our own individual way of researching is, regardless of the topic or theme. I first thought that I wouldn't be able to use the same methodology throughout different topics as I would approach them in different ways, although I have found that I do go through the same process to starting a brief. After reading through the brief I do have initial thoughts and ideas for an outcome, and usually form the research around the outcome I have in my head. This is something I need to stop doing, I need to research further into a certain subject before I find out what I am going to do for a brief. This is how my research methodology will help me. In the future if I use my methodology I will find out more information about the subject before researching my end outcome.

Action Plan.
For this brief I will figure out what methods I use and in what order I use them in more detail than my initial thoughts. I will also try to communicate this in an interesting way that works for me and that is most helpful for me. This will help me with future briefs also.

Tutorial.
The tutorial was really helpful as it clarified why we were doing what we were doing, and that how we currently research isn't wrong and we don't need to change how we do it, but we should be using a methodology within this process, this is what I need to think about so I am aware of what I am doing and how. This will fulfill this brief, and will be something I will think about leading up to the next session of 'The Method' with Ditto Press.