City In Flux

Designers

Photography

ConceptsMaterials

Direction

Responses

Designs

Artist

Internet

SecondaryPrimary

Books

Research

ExperimentalsProcess

IdeasMindmaps

TechniquesSources

Outcomes

Medium

Sagmeister & Walsh

Sagmiester’s work is mainly photographic. I particularly like the way he combines imagery and illustration to create these mixed media pieces pictured opposite. Sagmiester also uses a lot of varied hand written typography within his pieces.

This contrast of strong imagery and soft hand written type creates a very aesthetically appealing piece overall. I believe this combination can be adapted to fit with my theme ‘City In Flux’ by simply changing the text and image.

After researching, I will attempt to create a response to Sagmiester, in this style.

SOURCE: http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/work/project/everybody-thinks-they-are-right/ SOURCE: www.tipografos.net

Max Bittrof

In comparison to Sagmiester, Bittrof’s work, is very much completely digital. Bittrof’s uses a lot of geometric shapes and straight lines. He also often works with collage as seen in the image on the right.

Bittrof created minimalistic work in a time where German design was detailed and elaborate, challenging traditions. His work shows how graphic design in Germany had developed due to changing political and cultural conditions.

As you can see from the images opposite Bittrof’s work has been inspired by Germany and the cities, we can see this through the images of skyscrapers and cars in the first image and the collaged piece using what seems to be an image of a factory, referring to industrialisation.

Next I would like to experiment with this collaged style using my own primary imagery.

SOURCE: http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/original-1920s-opel-automobile-poster-plakat-94-c-22ef0ed9dc?afRedir=true

SOURCE: http://www.nosbuesch-stucke.berlin/auktion/?tag=cat_12

Job Parilux, 2002

Milton Glaser

Initially I was completely drawn to the piece on the right. Here, Glaser has de-constructed the Brooklyn museum and repositioned the different elements to create this advertisement piece.

In both of the images opposite Glaser’s colour palette is very simple and sticks to around 3/4 main colours. This creates a very minimalist and consistent piece.

It is clear the image on the right has a direct link to my brief, ‘City In Flux’, as it has incorporated a specific part of the city as the main focus, the museum.

I could recreate this in the experimental stage by choosing a specific subject such as a single road or building, taking images of it, then cutting it up and arranging it in this style to create a whole new piece.

This could then become an advertisement, poster etc.

Visit a Masterpiece, 1986

SOURCE: http://www.miltonglaser.com/store/c:posters/835/job-parilux-2002

SOURCE: http://www.miltonglaser.com/store/c:posters/881/visit-a-masterpiece-1986

Ranjit Kandalgaonkar

Kandalgaonkar is currently working on documenting his interests concerning “The City”. Including peoples’ everyday lives in the city and the city in motion. His work is based in India.

Pictured below are a couple of examples of his work. However the image on the right was also created as a GIF which can be found here: http://cityinflux.com/yasex.html

Kandalgaonkar has used a variety of media throughout his work including photography and animation, mainly focusing on photography.

The way Kandalgoankar has captured motion within his work by using various slow shutter speeds creates an almost surreal effect and atmosphere. It is this effect that captures and intrigues the audience.

SOURCE: http://cityinflux.com/m

isc.html

Mimmo Rotella

Italian born artist and poet Rotella is best known for his ‘de-collage’ style, made from torn pieces of work.

His inspiration came from old billboards that over time, had decayed and torn. This style creates an edgy and urban feel, relating to the idea of a modern ‘City’.

The bursts of colour within hisW work is what attracts the viewer the most, this adds to the atmosphere of a ‘modern city’ as it creates a contemporary feel within the piece. This combination of old, vintage combined with contemporary, pop culture creates a sort of juxtaposition.

After looking into Rotella I will explore and experiment with different types of materials and techniques to create similar pieces and decide later what I would like to take forward to the developmental stage. I will also do this with other artists to allow me to see what processes are available and suitable for me and this project.

SOURCE: http://rogallery.com/Rotella_Mimmo/Rotella_Portfolio/rotella-art-I.html

SOURCE: http://rogallery.com/Rotella_Mimmo/w-396/rotella-magnificapreda1.html

Mariscal

Mariscal incorporates a lot of intricate shapes into most of his pieces, including geometric shapes. He also uses very bright, vivid colours, as seen in the two images on the left.

His style of work is mostly illustrative. As seen in the image on the right it looks as if Mariscal has used a digital drawign aid to draw directly on screen whereas the Bizi Poza piece was handpainted.

This shows how he has explored a variety of media throughout his work.

Mariscal’s work is mainly based in Spain. Through his pieces we can see how Spanish culture has influenced him, for example the chosen colour palette reflects the county very well as reds, oranges and yellows are abundant in Spain more so in festival season.

SOURCE: http://www.mariscal.com/en/projects/129/The-Art-Book

SOURCE: http://www.mariscal.com/en/sketches/7/Priorat

SOURCE: http://www.mariscal.com/en/projects/134/Bizi-Poza

Primary Images

Manchester

Huddersfield

On the road

London

Experimental #1To the left is my experimental piece in the style of Max Bittrof’s piece he created for ‘Opel’.

I have tried to create a modern interpretation of Bittrof’s work as I thought it would relate better to our present time. This piece also relates to the concept of Culture.

I have kept his use of bold type and neutral images, but then added a more contemporary look by adding splashes of teal and lime, instead of orange, which I believe are more modern colours and makes the piece as a whole feel more relatable for the viewer as these colours are seen more in the present time.

I have also replicated the straight, clean lines that Bittrof uses, in my experimental response. I believe this adds to the contemporary atmosphere as it creates a more clean, modern and precise piece overall. This is reflected in modern design, for example in modern kitchens, worktops are often straight with sharp corners and edges with a clean glossy finish.

To create this piece I started by cutting and collaging 3 primary images in Photoshop, pictured below.

I then arranged these images in the style of Bittrof.

To the right is a further experimental piece I have created to try to explore different compositions and colours I could have used for this Bittrof response. This allowed me to explore various outcomes.

From this I will continue to experiment with the primary imagery I have collated. Keeping in mind to make sure I explore all possible outcomes and materials

Experimental #2

Here I have used my primary sources to create a collage.

I created this by scanning in old Danish magazines which I had collected from an art swap which I took part in recently with a Danish fine artist. I also scanned in a denim texture and packaging materials. I then decided to cut an area of the middle section out as I thought it would create an interesting effect and make the piece as a whole appear more intriguing, as it creates a fragmented feel to the piece. However after completing this I thought it took attention away from details within the collage.

I then started to experiment with cropping. I believe this made every element of the piece more vivid as they were now the main focal point of the piece, and not the white area. The sharpness of the denim and white packaging also creates contrast within the piece.

From this I can now see what materials work well together and how I can use different materials in different ways.

Experimental #3

For this collage I have again used all primary sources, including; magazine pages, and primary photographs.

Here I have started to experiment with Opacity, Layers, Cropping and Wacom drawing tablet. I had never used the tablet to draw before and so didn’t know what to expect.

To create these I started by importing my imagery and arranging these in a aesthetically pleasing way to create this collage. I then began to layer on digital drawings.

To finish I experimented with the hue/saturation and added opacity to some of the images

I later cropped the piece to create these smaller pieces which focused a lot more on my theme of ‘Signage’.

Overall I am happy with the outcome, however I do think the first finished piece looks too cluttered and messy, but by cropping certain areas I think it really highlights what the piece is about, which is Signage.

Experimental #4Sagmeister is a New York based Graphic Designer. His clients include the likes of The Rolling Stones and Lou Reed. His work has been exhibited all over the world, including in the US, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Prague and Berlin.

After researching Sagmeister previously in my secondary research I became extremely attracted to his work and the way he combines photography with hand rendered typography. It was this technique that inspired my own piece, pictured opposite.

Other artists such as Kate Moross also use a lot of hand drawn typography. Moross has always been my main inspiration since I decided to follow Graphic Design as a career. Her colourful, bold and chaotic work (and personality) is what is attracts me the most.

Moross’ work is completely different to Sagmeister’s, creating a contrast, however the concept of using hand drawn typography is still the same. It is this that I find interesting as it shows how the same concept can be illustrated in completely different ways.

To create my piece I started by using the scanner to scan my own hand, I didn’t plan to use the image in this way however after seeing the scanned image I thought it would work perfectly for my concept ‘decay & desolation’ as it created a sort of creepy, eery and bleak atmosphere.

Then using my drawing tablet I started to add hand drawn typography. I decided to incorporate the word ‘Desolation’ as it related to the theme in an obvious yet simplistic way.

Initially I did want to incorporate typography however after a little of experimenting I thought the image looked excellent as it was and so for the first piece (pictured opposite) I just adjusted the levels, brightness & contrast and left it alone as a photography piece. You can see this development through the different versions I have created, pictured opposite.

Overall I am pleased with the outcomes and believe the middle outcome works best and looks as if it could be an advertisement piece.

I will now continue to experiment and explore new compositions and materials, inlcuding more traditional methods.

Kate Moross

Stefan Sagmeister

For this experimental piece I have combined hand drawn illustration with more traditional, physical experimentation.

I started by creating various marks and prints in my sketchbook. These were completely random as I did not know exactly what I wanted to do with them or which concept they would work best with.

To create this piece I first scanned in all the marks/prints that I had created. I then decided some of these marks/illustrations would work well for my ‘Culture’ concept and so went further with that.

After scanning these in I arranged them in a collage using Photoshop. To finish I adjusted the colours, contrast and levels to create a more vibrant and interesting piece.

I created this piece solely for aesthetic purposes; to explore the different materials and processes I could use and how they would look together.

And even though I believe the piece as a whole is not successful at all, I do think that it was a learning curve as I now know what works well and what doesn’t. So in a way it has helped me for the future.

In particular I do not like the combination of a ‘grungey’ background image with the bright illustrations in the foreground. I believe this piece could have worked better if I had spent more time on it and created better experimentation to begin with. Keeping in mind what theme/look I was going for, as at the minute this piece looks very confused.

I will now continue to experiment with materials and processes for the next 2 weeks. This will all be documented within this sketchbook.

Experimental #5

Experimental #6

For this piece I continued to experiment with scanned images.

Here I scanned in my iphone USB cord (pictured to the left) as I thought it would perfectly represent ‘Culture’ and how we have all changed as a population and have become so technology obsessed.

The image below is the original scanned image. I was surprised by how it turned out as there was a malfunction with my scanner which caused this effect to occur, creating I suppose a ‘happy accident’.

I then knew that this image would be the perfect base for a typographic piece, and so I brought my drawing tablet back and started to add type to the piece. I had found the quote “Distracted from Distraction by Distraction” online, I believe this went excellently with the concept of being controlled by our technology as social media for example can be seen as a ‘Distraction’.

I then started to duplicate the text to create this 3-D, chaotic look. I thought this combination of rough background imagery and rough/urban text complimented each other well and could also be related back to the concept of Decay, due to the grunge atmosphere they create together.

OverallI am extremely satisfied with the second outcome (pictured opposite (bottom)). I believe the quote reflects our tech-obsessed modern culture and the piece as a whole gives off a eery, underground city vibe, relating to both my Decay and Culture concepts.

From this I really like the idea of furthering the concpet of our technology obsessed culture, and I would like to explore this idea more in depth and perhaps focus my next developmental pieces around this theme.

Under The SurfaceThe Technology Behind The CityAfter my assessment, in my feedback my assessor said that my project is going well so far and the work I have produced and my process is good, however he said my project lacked direction and could do with more depth.

I have since decided to go down the route of looking at culture and the technology behind the city. I chose this after my assessor said that my last experimental piece could be furthered and end up a great piece in itself, I also find the idea extremely interesting as we often take for granted how things work.

For example computers and the internet are things we all use on a daily basis and are essential especially for a Graphic Designer. However we take these things for granted and don’t ever think about how these things all work.

I also believe that the theme of technology is very broad and could be extremely interesting to research and interpret in my own way. For example mobile technology, the public transport system, street lighting and other everyday technology are all things we don’t even take notice of, and it is these which makes the city function and keep society civilised.

I would also like to look further into the culture concept which I researched previously. I chose this as personally I find culture, and people in general, very interesting and believe that I would enjoy portraying this through my own work.

I will continue to look into this theme of culture and technology and will direct my experimentals in this way to explore this theme more. I am also hoping to experiment with more photography work.

SOURCE: iStockphoto/Noel Powell SOURCE: http://thebitcoinmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/technology.jpg

SOURCE: https://edseminars.apple.com/event/iT0NN-921mE

SOURCE:http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug01/kordis/london/tube.html

Secondary

Further experimental pieces

#1

After deciding to continue with the Culture concept I decided to carry out more primary research more specific to each idea, this one being technology.

Using the imagery above I have created two very different experimental pieces.

The first, pictured opposite, is a typographic piece. Here I have combined imagery and type using photoshop to clip the images into the shape of each letter. As you can see I have tried to experiment with 3 various possible layouts.

The process of this piece was pretty simple as I had used this style before.

I began by using the type tool to add the text. I then imported the images and placed them on top of the text, I adjusted the opacity slightly just so I could see the text underneath and then arranged each image so that the composition was right for each letter. I finished by selecting each letter, then selecting the image layer, then selecting the inverse option and deleting the rest of the image, leaving me with the image cut into the shape of the corresponding letter.

Overall I am satisfied with this piece however I will not be using it for my final outcomes as it wasn’t really a style I engaged in.

#2

Again like the previous piece, this piece was also quite simple.

To create this I simply imported the scanned primary image (seen previously) and added a block colour layer on top of the image. To finish I changed the colour blending mode and adjusted the levels.

I have created 4 various possibilities (pictured opposite) to show the different outcomes that I could create.

In conclusion like the previous piece I do not think I will be using this style for my outcomes as I think it’s too simple and not really my style.

I believe this piece was merely for aesthetic experimentation rather than and actual design. However I do think it has helped me find what kind of styles/techniques I like which will help me when creating future pieces.

Social Groups & StereotypesFor this concept I would like to focus on stereotypes and social groups, for example: the stereotypical group of students, stereotypical serious business people and regular groups of friends.

I decided to do this as I personally, am genuinely interested in people and society as a whole and how various groups of people have different cultures and lifestyles.

For example the stereotypical student would be seen as poor, a heavy drinker, a party animal and eating noodles whereas the stereotypical business person would be seen as a serious person, doesn’t have fun and is rich. It is this contrast and message I would some how like to portray for my outcomes.

I see this outcome as being hugely photography based, maybe combined with a little bit of typography or hand drawn illustrations. I will look back at artists such as Ranjit Kandalgoankar who worked with motion and photography and other artists such as Mimmo Rotella.

https://ldnreportage.wordpress.com/tag/friends/ http://photo.elsoar.com/handsome-businessmen-using-touch-pad-16-hd_photos.html

http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/photo-gallery/24172910/im-age/24240410/Chloe-Moretz-took-sweet-snap-group-girlfriends

http://www.cheaterville.com/?page=articles&id=100170

#3

This piece was inspired by the concept of ‘Stereotypes’ within a City.

For this piece I focused on the stereotypical business man.

I started this piece by researching everything related to business/business people. I then compiled a list with everything that I had found.

I decided I would like to try and experiment with illustration as I knew drawing wasn’t a stong point of mine. Also Kate Moross who I have mentioned previously is a massive inspiration to me and I wanted to try this illustrative style.

Using the drawing tablet I started by drawing the head. For reference I used an image I had taken of a man in a suit.

I then began to fill in the rest of the body using the image as a template and referring back to the list I had initially compiled.

I was extremely satified with this piece and really began to enjoy this technique. I do think I will continue to experiment with this style for my final outcomes which I will create after these experiments.

#4

This piece was based on the idea of a student night out.

I have used one of the source image pictured previously to create this collaged style piece.

The image and overall piece represents a student night out as it is simply an image of cheap wine, which doesn’t need an explanation.

The colours used I believe will appeal to younger adults (students). To create these colours I grouped the bottles together and then adjusted the hue.

Overall I think this is an effective piece and clearly represents what it is supposed to and I may experiment further with this collage style.

LanguageI chose language as a concept as part the overall theme ‘Culture’. I decided to look further into this concept as it is something I am interested in and in a modern city there are hundreds of languages that are spoken, relating to my brief ‘City In Flux’.

This concept also reflects the city’s state of flux as it shows how city’s have diversified and changed in term of culture and migration.

I nelieve this piece could work excellently as a typographic piece as I could record and rework conversations for my outcomes.

I am still unsure how I would like to present my final outcome however I was leaning towards a series of A2 posters that could be printed onto acetate or a booklet created out of different materials.

http://www.koreaittimes.com/images/imagecache/large/Culture%20artwork%20by%20AagaardDS.jpg

http://idevie.com/tutorials/photoshop/typography/week-ly-dose-of-inspirations-typography-art

http://webdesignledger.com/wp-content/up-loads/2009/09/typography_art_6.jpg

http://webdesignledger.com/wp-content/up-loads/2009/09/typography_art_24.jpg

#5

This typographic piece was based on the cultural concept of ‘language’.

To create this piece I have used the extra source imagery I had collected (pictured above).

To create this I simply cut and arranged the images in a collaged way. I decided to go back to this style as I wanted to see how else I could create collages.

I believe this piece was quite successful. I especially like the way the two texts are completely different, this creates a contrast within this piece. The use of bright colours against the monotone background also adds to this contrast effect.

As you can see I have created two different variations to explore various layouts I could possibly use and what looks best.

Overall I am happy with this finished piece however I do not think it is as strong as the illustrative piece and so do not think I will use this style/layout for my final pieces.

#6

This piece was also based on the ‘language’ concept.

I decided I would like to continue with the illustrative style however this time I tried to re-create a similar effect by only using digital media.

To create this piece I began with a base image of lips to use as a template. I then be-gan to add text and used the warp tool in PhotoShop to manipulate the text to fit within the shape of the lips.

I decided to use various languages to show the variety of languages spoken within a city, including Chinese, Arabic, Polish, Spanish, German and of course the main language, English.

I am extremely satisfied with this outcome and will most definitely continue to explore this illustrative style. I also find the colour scheme used very aesthetically pleasing as it adds a bold characteristic to the piece without being to shocking for the viewer.

Final Outcome Ideas.

Format

http://www.designerdan.co.uk/2011_03_01_archive.html

http://abduzeedo.com/poster-mockups-photoshop

For my final outcome I have decided to continue with the illustrative style.

After researching various layouts and outcome ideas I have decided to create a photographic piece for my final outcome, as pictured opposite.

I think this combination of illustration and photography will create a modern, contemporary piece overall.

For my final pieces I have decided I would use this photographic style but will also try to find models/scenery that reflect the concepts for each idea.

I intend to create 3 final outcomes or more depending on how fast I can work.

Message/Thoughts: How will my development so far will feed into my outcomes?

For my final outcomes I would like to focus on the theme of Culture within the city.

I personally have found researching this concept extremely interesting as I enjoy learning about people, society and our lifestyles, and would like to focus my work in this way.

Within this theme I have looked into a variety of sub-themes, including: technology, social groups, language and social opinions/politics.

As you can see through my experimental work I have tried to research these themes thoroughly to gain a broader knowledge of what culture means within a big, modern city such as Manchester or London.

Technology:For this theme I explored the idea of how technology has taken over our lives and how we are so dependant on it for our everyday lives. Especially as Graphic Designers we depend on the internet, computers, cameras and all sorts of communications so much and we can often take these for granted. For my outcomes I would like to try to show the technology and electronics behind the city in a simplistic yet obvious way.

Social Groups:Within this concept I would like to focus on stereotypes and social groups. For example the stereotypical group of students, serious business people or elderly. This could be a heavily photography based concept. As I have stated previously I enjoy learning about people and so think this idea could have potential as I am genuinely interested in it.

Language:Language is also something I am interested in and in a modern city there are hundreds of languages that are spoken. Furthermore I believe this would work excellently as a typographic piece as I could record conversations or parts of conversations and re-work them to create brand new interesting pieces. Whether that be in the form of a series of posters or booklet/magazine.

After completing my development I have decided to continue with the culture concept. Looking more into social groups and stereotypes.

My development has helped me in the sense that it has helped me find a specific style that I enjoy.

I believe this part of the process is the most important as it gave my project direction and allowed me to progress from my experimentals.

Outcome ideas:

#1This outcome was inspired by the stereotypical student. I have used the same process I had used for the ‘Businessman’ experimental piece.

I began by collating a list of all things related to students and student life and then began to create this illustration in the same way as the experimental as said above.

I looked to Pinterest for inspiration for the typography and found excellent vintage style fonts. I also found that these were used a lot for chalk board art.

#2I then furthered the first outcome idea as I really was not happy with it as I thought it was too simple and not effective at all.

I decided to refer back to the ‘businessman’ experimental for inspiration.

I then to came back to this piece and decided to add more illustrations to the piece so that it look fuller and more chaotic but in an interesting way that would attract the viewer more than my first attempt.

As you can see I have created 4 various possible outcomes as I tried to experiment a little with colour palettes to see what I colours would work best if I were to use this design as part of my final outcomes.

Overall I am satisfied with this piece however I prefer using the manipulative style of the ‘businessman’ piece rather than this poster style.

#3This piece was based around the stereotypical ‘hipster’ look.

The process again was as mentioned previously; starting with researching idea then illustrating these in a creative way.

A lot of my work has been inspired by what I have personally seen around me. Including inspiration from friends, family and passers by. This piece itself was inspired by the large ‘hipster’ scene on Manchester’s Urbis site and it was here where I had collected my research and list of related things.

I have also experimented with colours again to see what alternatives I could possibly use.

Overall I am extremely happy with this outcome as it is something I had not tried before yet is still interesting and engaging for the viewer and clearly portrays the concept.

#4This piece was based around the concept of a stereotypical rock/scene girl.

Again the process was exactly the same as the previous piece. I also decided to stick with the monotone colour palette as I thought these simple, minimal colours really focused all of the viewers attention on the illustrations rather than being distracted by chaos and colours.

Overall I am extremely pleased with this outcome and will most likely be using it as part of my final outcomes.

#5This design was based on the idea of a stereotypical dancer.

I decided that the main image would be ballet shoes as I thought they very clearly represented dance in an obvious way and could be easily associated with the concept.

As you can see I have also created a second, inverted version simply for aesthetic purposes to see which looks best and most striking.

In conclusion I would definitely like to use this design as part of my final outcomes.

I also believe the inverted version on the black background is most striking for the viewer and will work best for my outcome.

#6This design was based around the idea of homeless people in society.

I decided to choose this theme as these people are a major part in society and cities in general, however they are often overlooked and seen as nothing.

Furthermore my other pieces so far had been quite cheerful and I wanted to create a piece with more meaning and perhaps an underlying political statement.

Overall I have still not decided which pieces I will take forward for my final outcomes however this is definitely a very strong contender as I think the meaning behind the piece is extremely powerful and could appeal to a younger audience, who could then be inspired to make a change in the future as we are the next leading generation.

Final outcome designsFor my final outcomes I have experimented with having a person holding the poster as I had mentioned previously however after creating a mock up I instead decided just to have the posters pinned up on the wall with clips.

I decided to do this because after experimenting with layouts I found that having the person in the back removed the focus from the actual piece itself and caused a distraction.

I have since removed the person and decided to just have it so it was just the piece pinned up on the wall with bulldog clips. I find this simplistic layout to be extremely effective as the viewer is now attracted to the piece and not the background image.

I also found that by presenting my work as though it was a photograph of the poster, added a complexity to the otherwise, simplistic piece. I think this because it’s much more interesting than just presenting the illustrations as posters and the fact that it is pinned up adds another element to the piece overall.

In conclusion I am extremely pleased with the outcomes. I believe the illustrations themselves are truly representative of social groups and stereotypes within a city and also believe the final layout and presentation overall to be engaging and effective as a whole.

However I do believe the presentation as a final piece could be more interesting and unique. I will now research into more different and creative ways of presenting my work and try to take my designs off screen to create something more physical and to make the message and design stand out.

Other possible presentation methods:

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Arts/Arts_/Pictures/2012/6/11/1339436526856/Geoffrey-Farmer-s-Leaves--008.jpg

http://www.gosiawlodarczak.com/Images/Special/RMIT.jpg http://asset0.itsnicethat.com/system/files/052012/4fa934d-85c3e3c04f400414d/img_full_width/DIARIESCROP.jpg?1354579274

http://www.woostercollective.com/2007/06/01/on-the-wall-help-er-02.jpg