ITAP Lecture 9

A brief history of production

The first book ever to be printed in Europe was in 1445 by a man called Johannes Gutenberg who printed the 'Guttenberg Bible'. His invention of the mechanical movable type printing started the printing revolution and is very much regarded as one of the most important events to take place for the development of graphic work. The pages were created using letters made from a hard metal punch, which were then laid out onto a softer copper a bar and hammered into that. This was then placed into a hand held mould and the piece of type would be cast by filling the mould with molten metal. This cools almost immediately so then the piece of type can be removed from the mould. The metal is covered in ink and pressed onto paper to make the page. This can be used again hundreds and thousands of times to create identical pieces.

Expert

My favourite expert is Stefan Sagmeister. This is because I think a lot of his work is really interesting. Most of his work also represents things he has learnt in his life. For example this image shows his latest book 'Things I have learned in my life so far'. When he was younger he had acne which made his skin quite bad and it always bothered him, so he uses his face a lot in his work and edits it so you can't see his skin. This example shows one of five covers from his book. His work also has a meaning and always sends out a message. He does it in a way which is very clear and gets the point across straight away which I think is important in Graphic Design. I also like the way his work communicates well with the audience. A lot of his work is very opinionated which may cause some debate and in a way this is a good thing as it makes people talk about his work, I think Stefan Sagmeister's work is very inspiring and I have related to his work in a few of my previous projects.

ITAP Lecture 8

How text can change the context

Adding text to an image can have a very great effect. A few words can completely change the meaning of an image. For example this image shows an image of a pipe and underneath it says 'This is not a pipe'. I think what the artist means by this is that it is an image of a pipe. Text may be added to an image to explain something or to express an opinion or focus on a subject. You may look at an image and think of it in a certain way, but once text is added it will make you look at it from a different point of view and change your perspective.

The way text is used to persuade or influence

Text can have very powerful meanings and have ways of putting across certain points of view. Text in advertising is usually used in a way to persuade or influence the audience to make them buy a certain product or support a certain campaign. This image shows two examples of a political poster by the conservatives. They show an image of Gordon Brown and state two bad things that have happened while he has been in power. This persuades the audience not to vote for his party and they are more likely to vote for the conservatives instead as they would assume that because the poster is by the conservative party, they would not let the things happen that Gordon brown has. Another way text can be used is to persuade or influence emotionally by making the audience feel a certain way such as guilty, happy, motivated etc.

ITAP Lecture 7



Developing Ideational Fluency

Developing ideational fluency is the amount of ideas and the different ranges but not necessarily the quality of the ideas. Whilst thinking of ideas you should not worry about how good the idea is and how well it will work, you should just write it down and look at it, this way more ideas can be produced. The best way to do this is by brainstorming or mind-mapping. By doing this, you are basically getting your imagination and ideas down onto a page, then by seeing these ideas written down they can inspire you and help you to think of even more ideas. They can also help other people to understand how you came across your ideas and how they developed. By brainstorming you will start thinking spontaniously and keep an open mind for ideas you may not usually think about. The ideas may be quite unusual and not fully understood by other people until thought about for a certain amount of time. This is a good thing as it makes people start to think about your work and makes them curious.

Overcoming Mindsets

This is a way of thinking when you need to keep an open mind and maybe even think of ideas that slightly go off the subject. If you don't do this the final result will probably be predictable and will not surprise the audience. To do this you need think about the rules you stick to while designing something for example the shape and the media used, you then need to challenge this rule and start bending it by thinking simply thinking what if? and why not? The key is to play around with the idea and do things you wouldn't normally do. Experiment with using a different media than you normally would and question certain subjects. The outcome you get may be very satisfactory.

ITAP LECTURE 6

Interpretation

Different artists interpret things in different ways. The time and place has great effect on the production. For example, the film 'Alice in Wonderland' has been interpretated in many different ways over the years. These are 2 examples of different interpretations. The first image shows the Walt Disney version made in 1951. This is a very child - friendly version and was seen as one of Disney's finest productions. It shows magical creatures and doesn't make them too scary been as the target audience is young children. The second image shows the newest version of Alice in Wonderland made by Tim Burton in 2010. The characters in this film are much more exaggerated and extraordinary which not all children would understand and may find quite frightening. It is also more lifelike as it is made with real actors in make-up however it is still very make-believe and magical. This is made in a more modern time now more children watch less cartoons and more realistic, animated type of films. The kind of things children find scary has also changed since the Disney film was made so the director was able to direct it to adults as well as children.

Testing

Artists test their work by sharing it on blogs, websites, galleries, social websites etc. This is an example of a page on Kate Morross' blog where she posts her work to become more well known and make her work recognised. Also by posting work on a blog you can get people's comments and reactions on your work. This way you know if you are communicating messages clearly and if people are understanding your work and finding it interesting. It is one of the best ways to make yourself and your work popular and if someone sees your work and likes it they will most likely remember your name and pass it on to other people.

ITAP LECTURE 5

Story Development

Joseph Campbell's term 'monomyth', also referred to as 'the hero's journey' is a basic pattern found in many narratives around the world. In other words, the same sort of story comes up time and time again in different films. For example, in the recent film 'Avatar', when character 'Jake Sulley's' brother is killed in a robbery he decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of 'Pandora'. When he is there he learns about the intentions of the greedy corporate to drive of the native's in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange fr the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake starts to try and gain the rust of the natives using an Avatar identity. But as he starts to bond with them and falls in love with the alien 'Neytiri' he starts to try and fight against the Colonel's ruthless extermination tactics. This turns into an epic battle for the fate of Pandora. After many lives are lost the Avatar's eventually win their battle. A typical story of good triumphing over evil.

Three-Act Structure

The three-act structure consists of a beginning, middle, and an end. Usually in a 2 hour film this is structured by 30 mins : 60 mins : 30 mins. The first act is to establish who the characters are, their relationships, where they live etc. Earlier in the first act, an incident occurs that confronts the main character (the protagonist) which leads to a dramatic situation which is known as the turning point. The second act, also referred to as 'rising action', shows the protagonists attempt to resolve the problem only finding themselves in worsening situations. Part of the problem is that they do not yet have the skills to solve the situation. Therefore they must learn these skills and become aware of what they are capable of. They are usually aided by others as this cannot be achieved alone. Finally, the third act shows the resolution of the story and answers questions being asked throughout the film. One film that shows this layout is 'The Matrix'. It starts by showing how Neo is living his normal life but then things happen to him that start the story. He is then introduced to a new world, 'the real world', where a battle between the human's and machines is happening. He is brought into the world as the leader believes he is 'the one'. Finally he shows defeat against 'the agents', which are computer programmes designed to kill human beings, and it is then he becomes to realise that he is 'the one'.

ITAP LECTURE 4


Drawing in your RVJ

Drawing is a very important part of design as it gets your ideas from your head onto paper or an RVJ so that they can develop further or into other things. Drawing and creative thinking are the same thing, when designing you shouldn't draw just to make a nice picture, you should draw for ideas and get all of the different ideas in your head down onto paper so you can see the journey of your thinking, these drawings do not have to be perfect as long as they communicate your ideas. Drawing also doesn't have to be just pencil on paper, you can use all different kinds of medias from pastels and paints to sticking down 3D and textured objects. Drawing is about exploring your ideas, techniques and methods to create peices of art. It is also about exploring your imagination and showing the development from what your original ideas turn out to be.


Cyclic Design Process

The design process is the same each time. You think about the brief and what you're going to do, you plan what you are going to create, you make the final outcome, then evaluate what you have done. While designing something this process can happen time and time again until the very final piece is created. You could come up with hundreds of potential ideas before finding the final solution that will work for example Thomas Edison designed over 10,000 prototypes of the incandescent light bulb until he found one that worked. While designing you should constantly ask whether it could look better and if it could work better.

ITAP LECTURE WEEK 3

Legibility

Legibility means how well you can read the text and information on a poster or website for example and how well it communicates. This image shows how the colour yellow is very legible on black but against a white background it becomes quite hard to read which makes it illegible so it would not be suitable to use on a piece of visual communication because people just wouldn't look at it. If something isn't legible the audience won't take their time to read it therefore you can't communicate the message. Big bold headings would be legible as they are easy to read and draw your attention.

Tone of Voice

Type and images can have a 'tone of voice'. It is obvious that this image is showing 'peace' and it communicates this well as you know what it's about as soon as you look at it. Another example is text written in large letters in a bold simple font can be seen as 'loud' or 'shouting' where as a soft font can be shown as a whisper, if these were the other way round it wouldn't look right. It is important to think about this while creating a piece of visual communication as you want to communicate the right message to the audience and using different fonts for different moods for example will help you do this. Symbols, images and colour choice will also suit different moods and subjects but it needs to be approached in the right way, for example the colour red could be seen as anger and it could also be seen as love. You also need to be careful not to offend as some symbols or colours can mean different things in other religions.