(B7) Research Brief: Tutorial and Research

Tutorial Feedback:

Needing to work on B7 with more direction, currently struggling with it.

• Might relate to personal projects, look at these s a source of inspiration for the project. What kind of things would you like to do on your own terms, and this can be experimental.
• But it needs a focus, so exploring this in relation to type, or grid systems, layout, or something like that. But the outcome doesn't need to be "an outcome" it can be a body of experimental stuff. 
• Either way it doesn't matter as long as you're documenting it, could go in the direction of developing a brand strategy and I want to do this because x, y, z but also the justification can be in exploring creatively how different design principles work within this theme. 
• What to do with this imagery? Simon said there isn't anything wrong with documenting the imagery in the way that I currently am doing, found it more interesting when there's no dialogue around it.
  - I thought about adding text but personally like it without text, think this could be an area to explore as a potential avenue to see what impact is has on the imagery, does it help anything or does it take away?
• Could you take away the pre-printed elements of a completed sudoku puzzle to leave the pencil marks, leaving the human trace and engagement with the puzzle. 
  - Like this idea, showing the engagement of the human with the puzzle rather than the puzzle itself.
• As a collection of imagery would make for a very interesting publication, keeping with the black and white vibe. Can see it being an interesting arty book, lack of explanation allows someone to engage with it in their own terms and interpret what it is.
  - I agree with this idea of allowing the audience to interpret it themselves. 
  - I project what I think onto the book, but when you do a sudoku everyone approaches them in the way they think is best, feel the ambiguity of the book dialogue allows you to approach the book how you naturally approach it. 
• Got lots to go on, can pick out some of the best ones, bunching them together into certain themes. 
  
• Using a combination of the open, white space images and then others that are more intense. Simon mentioned how he prefered the ones that were almost entirely graphic with more white space (see below). 

• Focusing in on the imagery in the corner with lots of white space. But then with others having super noisy imagery that takes up the whole page, having a mix of the two. 
  - Allowing the work room to breath, think about the way I'm presenting the imagery and what impact this has on the audience.
• Next step is thinking about how to curate collection of imagery so there is an experience in how you engage with it from one page to the next.

  - Thought about this with progress book, but think more about using imagery to document not having the book as a way of documenting how I made the imagery. 

  (Simon) The question isn't about the process of the imagery but this abstract suggestion of the experience/process of sudoku, going from difficult to fun to whatever. 

Asked about residencies for book design and production:

- Pointed me towards Dom and Mike Ainsworth to email them about that.

- Not sure about left field ones but if you follow publishers in the UK many provide internships in the same way a branding studio would. Had a studio who did an internship at ID then went on to wired. 

- Twitter has a better algorithm to present jobs and internships for junior designers (more corporate).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Research:

Gabriel Barbu: Kajet Issue 2:

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/gabriel-barbu-graphic-design-060919

Brought in after their debut issue, Gabriel was tasked not only with designing issue two, but also with setting a new visual tone for the platform as a whole. Operating under very open, almost non-existent creative guidelines Gabriel and collaborator Ana-Maria Dudu embraced the issue’s theme of utopia, using it to push their work both conceptually and creatively. “We sought to visually convey the ideas of a reformed future and devise a way to conjure radical imaginations. Ultimately we took it upon ourselves to visualise alternative interventions and imaginary worlds inside Eastern Europe,” he muses. “We also tried to create a system in which all graphic and written components sustain each other, and when you think about it, that’s kind of utopian in itself.”

I can't find any imagery for Kajet Journal 2, however what I find most interesting is the concept of presenting the idea of utopia visually. I feel this is what I'm having to do with the sudoku brief, develop a concept and theme and then curate this through visuals. The way the theme of utopia is also presented through the way the elements "sustain each other" is really interesting, having not only the visuals demonstrate utopia but the format too. 

Aurelia Peter: Through the Mask

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/aurelia-peter-through-the-mask-graphic-design-110320

“A central aspect of this seems to be the ability to experiment with the new and to maintain an open attitude,” she adds, two factors that sit alongside a drive to follow paths that are yet to be discovered. “In this respect, I do not attempt to approach a defined destination, but rather I try to find an individual design concept and visual language for any particular assignment.”

Taking the ritual of masks as the starting point for the project, Aurelia divided it into three parts: the fact that rituals are a form of communication, the fact that masks can be part of a ritual, and how masks can be used to convey what ritual is. Consequently, the thesis is split into three parts.

Cryptic, but it’s all part of Aurelia’s plan to keep the “magic” alive. In order to help make sense of the project, Aurelia has placed an index at the beginning of the book, and has included a grid and navigation system that gives the various “expressions behind the mask” – achieved through use of a black rectangle, multiple appearing faces and individual signs that show the mystique of the object itself. The takeaway? “Look behind the mask,” says Aurelia, “we can use the ambivalent relationship of the mask to protest ourselves.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RSEhf-8kjk

Decisions about the publication were made in response to the topic masks helping the book become part of the concept. The book is structured around 3 forms of mask, each is derived from a basic shape: triangle, rectangle and oval, a grid for the book was defined by the facial parts:

The book is cryptic to retain the mystery of a ritual, the publication attempts to illustrate the phenomenon of the mask.

Aiming to immerse the audience in the context of the mask, navigation system helps provide orientation, index feature to help the audience understand the content more. 

Find the process for developing the publication to be really interesting, the way the content and format work together to produce an outcome where all elements synthesise together to make a cohesive outcome. The use of an overall topic and theme to direct the tone of the publication and visuals for the project, generating rules and restrictions to guide the process.

> Think about this in relation to own project, how can the rules and themes surrounding sudoku guide the visual development of the publication.

Edward July:

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/edward-july-graphic-design-240220

“It’s important to settle a starting point from the conceptual perspective,” he concludes, “as it often organically leads the process. Should the work be generic straight forward or more poetic? To be honest, I always end up just experimenting and playing with the design to try and find something that will finally satisfy me.”

Arcana Imperii:

Poster interpreting the concept of Arcana Imperii (latin for secrets of the state). Graphics inspired by dazzle camouflage on ships used in WW1.

Silk screen print, A1 format, 2018.

- This was a passion project and this is evident in the outcomes, they explore colour, shape and composition to produce unique outcomes. The imagery is really exciting and conveys a sense of chaos and confusion even if you don't know the context of the imagery.

- The way of approaching imagery here is what's exciting, and something I should think about moving forward with the design of my publication as well as when I'm designing the imagery for the publication, really consider the composition and how this impacts the audience.  

Tools for Expression:

Alongside the printed page, written language is represented in various forms. Public space is called with messages of all kinds written by the individuals that inhabit it. Through these interventions of self expression, different forms of written and oral language have been born that go unaccounted for in the history of communication. Each of these methods has its own formal and conceptual qualities, as well as its own history and background. These tools represent an untold history of graphic design that has existed and developed alongside the popular communication tools of print publishing, radio, television and the internet. 

- This idea of presenting an untold story/history is really interesting, where does this sit within the context of my project? Showing the human behind the puzzle. Thinking about formal and conceptual qualities within the project and how to present these.

Formal Qualities:

• Grid
• Numbers
• Openings

Conceptual Qualities:

• Movements
• Locations
• Feeling

Danja Jankovic: Things that Block the View

https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/dunja-jankovic-things-that-block-the-view-art-publication-280820 

For the artist Danja Jankovic, there is almost something “fetish-like” in the almighty medium which is the book. It’s not just because of the feeling of flicking through sleek pages, nor the feel of the paper or the smell of the ink and the way the eye darts around the page. As Dunja tells us “I like the idea of going back and forth, and the fact that after going through the book, you can go back to the beginning and everything will feel a bit different.” She adds, “The book is always lying around, you touch it, leave it, pick it up again.”

for us viewers, it’s hard to predict what’s going to be on the other side of the page when it comes to Dunja’s work.

Dunja takes this one image and experiments from there. One work leads to another until suddenly, “there’s hundreds of images named something like 22aooooooooooeeefg1.psd separated in a few folders,” she jokes. From there, it’s a case of curating and editing this mass hoard of imagery into something a little more refined. 

She sees “the book as poetry” and lets the work rush out of her in a creative explosion which is meant to be felt and experienced, rather than understood. “Or rather,” she finally goes on to say, “the understanding should come out of an intuitive feeling instead of rational thought.”

'her abstract compositions speak without words and together form a vibrant experience in the form of a book.' - https://hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.com/038-Things-that-block-the-view

- The work has such an interesting concept behind it, the reasoning for the work is very personal and is directed by thought and feeling as well as design principles. I find the tone of the work to be rather uplifting and joyful whether this is what Jankovic was wanting to communicate isn't the main focus, the point is that's how I view it and that's neither wrong nor right. 

- I want to communicate something similar to this in my project thinking about curating the imagery to develop something I feel is strong and impactful while leaving little (or no) dialogue to allow the audience to interpret it how they feel. 

- The physical production as well with smaller pages helps push these ideas forward, they encourage a new way of thinking about the work and how it could be interpreted. I need to think about these practical elements as well as the visual ones.