Today I had a one day project which was enititled the "Black Box" project. It began with the whole class being split into six groups, with each group being given a product name. Each group needed to produce visual clues as to what the product could be, without making the answer to obvious to the reader. My group recieved "Aqua Fresh" and began by generating ideas for possible clues which would link in with Aqua Fresh. We all contributed with our own ideas and discussed which clues we would use. Each member of the group then created their own clue. I produced a dipiction of a persons reflection in the mirror with mouthwash in their mouth which I felt was quite strong.

Once we had produced our clues we placed them in a black box (hence the title) and swapped our box with another groups box. We then had to look at the new set of clues and guess what product they were depicting. We eventually found that the clues were displaying the "Dorset Cereals" company. When finding out the company name we began carrying out the next part of the project, which required us to produce a piece of media to promote the company. We decided to create a poster and began generating ideas and developing them to create a final design. We produced a poster which used the individual main ingredients from their cereals, represented in the shape of the dorset cereals logo. I felt the final piece was a very effective and efficient design, using brand identity to represent its purpose of advertisement.

Yesterday I began the day with the last PAL session of the year. As it was the last session we carried out a vis com quiz between our group. Our group got the highest score on the quiz which was a result, so we were crowned the winners! We then had a small get together with the other PAL groups in the upstairs studio, with food and drink!

After the PAL session I then had my tutorial for the written essay in Visual Culture, going through what I needed to improve on and add in to my essay in order to bring it up to the required standard. I needed to include more refferences, context and terminology, and also include a relevant title.


Today I was given the task to take my best idea for Visual Thinking and develop and build on the idea to create three new designs. I was advised to create the three designs by sketching them. We had til our Visual Thinking tutorial in the afternoon to finish the skecthes and bring them along.

During this time I was also given my feedback for the Text and Image project. I managed to Pass the project and achieved some great feedback from Sally.

After recieving my feedback I began sketching out my new ideas. I found it very rewarding when deveoping the new designs and felt it opened up my mind to new design concepts.

I had my Visual Thinking tutorial later in the afternoon and felt it allowed me to see exactly where I would need to take my designs to achieve the finalised images. I realised that I would need to bring more elements into the poster designs in order to make the message more clearer to the viewer.

On Thursday the 10th of December I attended a talk by a graphic communication consultancy Bond & Coyne Associates. The talk was very helpful and allowed me to gain a greater understanding of the design industry and what it is like working for clients. I was also able to view some of the work they created which was of very high quality.

After the talk I was later able to discuss my work with them and receive some helpful feedback which was based around keeping the work simple and getting to the point.

Yesterday I carried out the one day group project, in which we were required to create a poster revolving around democracy. The project went very well and allowed me to improve on my team work and communication skills. Working in this way is something that would be used frequently in the design industry and therefore made for a strong learning process. Being able to mind map with others and generate ideas was a great experience. It was also good to be able to voice opinions and take on other peoples as well. I felt our finalised poster was a decent result to the project, however I felt we could have planned our time more efficiently to make further refinements and additions to the final design.

Today I started off the day by signing up for a visual thinking tutorial. I then carried out some internet research on war on want, looking at their website in detail. I looked at their main aims and also where they targeted their work. I also looked at the background to their campaign for sweat shops, and the reasoning behind their work. The information about how the workers are treated was quite shocking and put their campaign into greater light.


I then later had my tutorial which I felt went quite well. It gave me some insights into where to go with the second dimension, and how to structure it. I was also able to understand more about linking and connecting a message with the actions that a viewer will take when looking upon the advertisement.

At the start of the day I made sure to sign up for a visual thinking tutorial which would be taking place after PAL.

I then kicked things off with a PAL session, going through the essay writing for Visual Context. We got into small groups between our PAL group and discussed our chosen images that we were analysing. We went through the process of analysing the images with our PAL leaders and talked about how to make refferences to other work and link to the relavant termionolgy. The session was very helpful and gave me a stronger approach to the essay writing.

After PAL I then had the visual thinking tutorial which was very helpful, allowing me to gain feedback which opened up new research topics and allowed to gain new possible ideas.

I then had the rest of the day for self directed study, allowing me to create some more initial ideas and designs.

On Monday the 30th November we started the day with a PAL session going through different types of advertising, including viral videos. We looked at some specific sites that worked with these types of advetising in relation to the work we produced for anti brand in the Visual Culture lessons. The session was quite good and gave us a greater insight into different types of advertisements.

We then carried out self directed study until the Visual Culture session, in which we carried out the brand/anti-brand presentations. My group was looking at Nike and Burberry, with my half of the group workin on Nike specificly. We presented the presentation as a whole, working up from the history of the brand and where it stands in the world today, and then moving onto the anti-brand work. I felt our presentation was quite successful and allowed us to get a taste of presentation work. We were also able to gain feedback on how to improve our presentation and how to approach it in future.


On Tuesday the 1st of December I had a session in my cyan group which focussed on research, going over the different types of research and methods. The group was split into a further three groups, with each one discussing what we would research (Research Topics) and placing this information down onto a large piece of paper. We used a mind map, listing down things such as the target audience, design methods, where to advertise, Strategies etc. We then swapped sheets between the groups and went over which research topics were actually research methods. After this we went over the differences between primary and secondary research, summing up with how we could use research most effectively.

I then had a session in the afternoon in my cyan group, looking at different advertisement videos from different companies. We looked at some very powerful videos, discussing why they were so powerful and the techniques that had been used. It allowed me to gain further knowledge of advertisement techniques and how to gain attention from the viewer as well as influence them.


Today I had a Tutorial for Visual Thinking which was carried out in small groups split between the whole class. We started off by going around the group and finding out what each person was intedning to do for the start of the project, mainly focussing on the research methods that would need to be carried out and what would need to be considered when carrying out the project. We took all of these into account and made relevant notes on feedback sheets that we had been given. We then went through the research methods and also how the target audience would need to be considered, thinking about the age and also their money income. We also discussed what things would appeal to the target audience including what magazines they read and the ways in which these magazines sell products to them through advertisement. The tutorial was very helpful and gave me a great amount to think about for the project.

Ok, time to recap blog posts once again....

On Monday the 23rd of November I began the day with a PAL session in which we went through a whole list of work which we would need to include in the text and image project. This is was extremely helpful as it made for a good reference to check if I had forgotten to add in certain pieces of work.

After PAL we had a session going through Type Classification 2, in which we went through the type classification sheet which we had previously been given to complete. We went through each part of it, discussing key aspects and given examples of where they could be used and found. The session was very helpful and allowed me to gain further knowledge of key terms in type.

The day was then finished off with a Visual Culture session, which looked at an introduction to Post-Modernism and Visual Culture. We began by watching the first part of the film "Blade Runner," making notes of key areas dealing with post modernism and carrying out a contextual analysis of the film afterwards. We went through how elements of retro and old fashioned objects had been placed within the futuristic film and also how stereotypical views had been used. The session was good and aloud me to gain a greater insight into post-modernism.

On Tuesday the 24th of November we were given the day to work on our Text and Image project so it was ready for hand in the next day at 12 oclock sharp! The day was quite stressful involving a lot of last minute touches to my sketchbook and a great amount of printing as well.

On Wednesday the 25th I finally handed in my Text and Image project, allowing me to feel free from stress!

On Wednesday I had a tutorial for Visual Equations which was conducted within a small group. I found the tutorial quite helpful, however it seemed as though some of us had missunderstood the brief as the feedback given in this tutorial differed from that in the last one. We felt that we were able to take the brief in different directions and be more open with it but this wasn't quite the case. However I was able to find out which style of designs were most suited for final pieces and how to take the ideas further, whilst still working towards to specifications of the brief.

Yesterday I started the day with a PAL session, in which we went through pieces of our Text and Image work with our PAL leaders to show them how we were getting on with the unit. We were intended to show our Quark work but unfortunately Quark was not loaded onto the macs in the room we were in. Instead we went through different areas of the unit and discussed the processes we went through and how we felt about our own progress.

Later in the day we then had a Visual Context session which was based around Politics of Representation, focussing on race, ethnicity and the media. We watched the first part of a film entitled "In the heat of the night" which made use of this. I made notes on what aspects stuck out in the film, including the stereotypical view of a corrupt police officer and also the lazy police chief. I also made note of how the blame of a crime was placed onto someone because of their race and through prejudice. We went through aspects of the film together, talking about how the music affected the narrative style and how juxtapositions were created.

Today I had my Promo Print Crit which was carried out in groups, with one doing the crit and the other one doing self directed study. We worked in mini groups, with each one analysing different areas of design. I found the session very helpful as it allowed me to see everyone elses work and give feedback of my own. I was also able to gain feedback for my own work which was both from other students and tutors.

Right...really shouldn't have left this til friday. But am going to attempt to recap back on what I did from tuesday. Here goes...

On Tuesday we were split into our two groups, with one doing presentation skills and the other doing Quark Express introductions. The group I was in were doing the second part of the Quark Intro. We moved on to the actual presentation of our work and text into our booklet design, going through how to implement text boxes, boxes of colour and image boxes. We also went over the shortcuts we had learnt previously and some new ones as well. There was also further knowledge gained for text, including how to change the leading, letter spacing, removing hyphons, and basicly how to change the general formatting of text. I felt the session was very helpful but felt I had to work quickly when arranging my images and text. However working quickly is often needed as a designer.

For Wednesdays lesson I had the tutorials for the Visual Equations project. I felt it was a very rewarding session as I was not to sure where to take the project. I had a starting point idea for the combination of urban and countryside, however I wasn't sure if it was a decent starting point. The tutorial was quite helpful and I managed to gain some great, possitive feedback on my idea, and possible places to go with it. Felt alot beter about Visual Equations after this!

After the tutorials we were then split into groups again, with my group doing presentation skills. We began looking though other students skecthbooks from previous first years, and going through the different ways in which they had chosen to assemble and display their work. We also looked upon various final outcome displays, and also the presnetation styles for more writen based work. The whole session was great as it showed us what we would need to be aiming for in our work. Was slightly scary though when seeing the quality of work...eek

And yesterday (Thursday) had the London trip which was pretty much amazing stuff. Walked through Oxford Street,trecked around Camden, bought a few sketch books from the London Graphic Centre and finished off with the Paula Scher talk. Brilliant!

The Paula Scher talk was very interesting and well presented, showing how her career in design began and what challenges and decissions she had to make throughout. Overall the talk was very successful at allowing me to gain a greater understanding of an existing designer and see exactly how she was thinking and what she was intending to produce when viewing her work.

Started off the day with the PAL session, going through some aspects of reading images. We talked about the 2000 word essay which we would have to produce for Visual Context and how the first part of the essay went, in which we had to write 800 words. Our PAL leaders showed us some of their images that they analyzed and the essays that went with it, allowing us to have an inside look at what we would need to produce. The session was pretty good and helped to give me some further knowledge for constructing my essay.

I'm now sat upstairs in the studio and have just been typing up some research for letterpress which I felt would be helpful to include. Have got the Visual Context seminar next and will be going over the visual piece I had to create in response to the dada poem...

Had the seminar for the visual piece and was able to gain some great feedback. We were also able to see where other people had taken their ideas for the task. It was quite good to see that everyone else had done something different and thought outside the box.

Today I had a further session on letter press in order to create some differet designs and experiment with different techniques. One of the main things I wanted to carry out was the use of embossing, which I felt went very well, allowing me to create some textured designs. I also experimented with mixing colour which I felt was greatly inspired by the work of Alan Kitching.

Alan Kitchen:

My work:

Today I began with a session on Visual equations and the briefing for our sixth and final project of Text and Image. We went through some key terms for different design techniques and their meanings, going through how they could be used within our final project as well. We then finished by going through the brief and discussing what we would need to consider when carrying out the project, thinking about the different approaches and the different types of visual recording we could use.

For the next part of the day I had my group crit on the final glyph designs which I felt helped me gain relevant feedback. The overall approach of my designs was successful, however... the leg on the pigeon glyph design was slightly curved! So I would need to go back and smooth out the lines. So overall a very successful crit!

I then finished off the day by doing some more book binding, working to make a book which I could use for my text and image progect.

Yesterday I had a group session on Quark X Press, introducing us to the basic concepts of the program. We started by firstly going over what we had previously learnt in our grids and layouts session and then began creating a series of different grid designs that would be used for our book in the promo print project. We then selected the best design which would be used for our book and began working with Quark to create it. We opened up new documents and began going through how to create the grid lines for our designs, learning key parts of Quark including how to set the grids on the page, how to set the columns and also how to include text boxes in the document. I found the session very informative and something new which I haven't worked with before.

After working with Quark I then had a letterpress crit which went very well and allowed me gain some helpful feedback on my work. My work was seen as very expressive and a great representation of the text used.


On Monday I started the day with a session on CV writing which I felt gave me a greater insight in how to develop a stronger CV. It helped me to gain knowledge of how to target it for the specific job that I would be looking for, going through presentation skills, the information required, the order to place it in and the writing style.

I then had a session on Meaning and resistance in Art and Typography, going through further terminoilogy and reading of images. We looked at an historical overview of 20th and 21st century practices as well as moving into narrative theory and narrative construction in relation to visual design. There was also a small clip shown from a Wallace and Gromit film, entitled Curse of the Were-Rabit, showhing footage of how some aspects of horror had been influenced from previous events in other media, therefore showing a use of cultrual meanings and social identities through some of the techniques used in the film. We also watched the first 20-30 minutes of another film entitled Corpse Bride which was quite a result! It to also showed the same aspects as the previous clip.

I also handed in my 800 word analysis which was on an advertisement for Office clothing company.

Had a Library skills session at the start of the week on Monday which was very helpful. Was able to gain some further knowledge on how to carry out research more efficiently. We were split into groups of three and set a task in which we were given a piece of paper with writen information about a certain subject. We then had to decide in groups how we would go about researching the subject, thinking about the process we would go through. We discussed our research process between all the groups and gained constuctive feedback.

Was intorduced to the Promo Print project on Tuesday and found the session really interesting. Learned quite alot about grids and layouts, starting with how to define each of them: Grid being invisible and used for the designer, and Layout being visible and used for the viewer. We went into deeper detail and began going through the specific terms used within grids and layouts when implemented into documents. I then began creating thumbnail sketches of diffierent designs for layouts, taking into acount everything that we had learnt. I finnished up by taking personal items of mine, and arranging them onto a piece of A3 paper, bringing all of what I had learnt together.



Today I had a session focussing on book binding which was brilliant! I managed to create two books, the first using a simple format and the second being a little more advanced. The second book required the use of threading which I found quite tricky at first but managed to eventually get the hang of it. It was a slightly harder process than the first, which was made up of card, paper and the use of glue and tabs to interlink the book. In all I found both processes very helpful, especially for creating my own skecth books.

I then had a further letterpress session afterwards in which I created a few more designs, experimenting further through the use of different techniques and styles. Pictures to come

soon...

Went into uni yesterday to finish off my glyph and create a few experimental designs with Adobe Illustrator.

Had a further tutorial on Adobe Illustrator this morning, working along the lines of type, and the different techniques and styles that can be used. Found most of the effects created were really effective and deffinitely helped towards my knowledge of illustrator.

Had quite a good session on letter press later in the day. Managed to get around seven different designs done, using different types, colour inks and paper. Overall found the session very successful and was able to experiment quite freely. Will have some photos to show soon...

Carried out some more work with text and image today whilst working in a group. Was asked to create a typeface and display this typeface in areas of the University. We were also given different colours of parcel tape to use to create the text when displaying it in the Uni. Will get uploading photos soon...

So... to recap some previous events:

I guess I'll be starting with the trip I took to Poole, which allowed me to create a few illustrations, take quite a large amount of photos and observe the key areas of the town. Managed to get quite a good variety of different photos using some interesting camera angles as well. Not to bad for a Mobile phone camera. Was pretty happy with my illustrations as well, which I felt reflected the trip quite well. Overall quite a beneficial day!



Had the first PAL session which went very well. Discussed elements of the course and spoke about any worries we mite of had. Turns out nobody had any worries!

Was introduced to semiotics through a lecture. Received a handout with information about semiotics and got reading. Quite interesting stuff!

Created an interesting design for the Poole project through using cut and paste techniques. It was a basic style, using a background coulour and then building up a sort of silhouette shape over it with a darker colour. Felt it was a very successful piece and different from what I had created before in the project.



Had the crit session for my Final illustration. Presented my work to the group and managed to gain a sound amount of feedback. I am currently working on finallising the illustraton and using the feedback to help. Hopefully be completed very soon.

Recieved a tutorial in Adobe Illustrator. Managed to understand the basics quite well and found it quite rewarding.

Began creating a Glyph through the use of Adobe illustrator. Learnt some more useful techniques. Felt slightly more knowledgeable with Illustrator after this.

Well I think this is most of what was missed out on. Will add any others if I manage to think of anymore. But for now I think im up to date!

Welcome to Dan Vis Com.

This is my first Blog post and will be followed by a recap of previous areas of study in Vis Com which I carried out at earlier dates, due to me creating my blog just recently. In fact it was created just yesterday after quite a helpful PAL session which gave me a great amount of info to starting a Blog. Anyway, further info to come...