Becoming

EGNM2008 JOSEPH CHEBUKAKA

EXPERIMENTAL JETSETBECOMING...



The images show how I went about creating 3D helvetica text using plaster. Started off with printing the letters then using plastic strip to make the stencil on which to pour the plaster.

EXPERIMENTS


I started off by trying out using the vj software (Modul8) to assist me with projec-tion mapping as it makes it so much easier to work with. Using music videos I managed to project more than one video onto different shapes.Creating 3D typography then using this technique to showcase my work. The content of the video to be projected onto the 3D object will be an animation using the same typeface as the physical object.

EXPERIMENTS


Gary Hustwit knew Experimental Jetset through Mark Owens who was their mutual friend. Gary contacted them towards the end of 2005 to talk about do-ing sum designs for Plexifilm, the DVD-label he was running. In 2007, he asked Experimental Jetset to design two posters for the forthcoming documentary film Helvetica. A year later, Gary approached them again to design a limited edition packaging of the Blue-ray version of the documentary.

Experimental Jetset looked at the whole concept of Blue-ray and based the packaging around the theme of obsolete formats. Emirgre magazine issue no. 57 was dedicated on this subject and its purpose was to save formats from ano-nymity. Another reason behind the creation of a record (Gatefold) sleeve pack-aging was because the director, Gary Hustwit explained to them that the film itself is like “A rock documentary but about typefaces.”

The spiralling disc idea came from a poster ‘meet the cast’ which they made ear-lier for Gary. Experimental Jetset used the Helvetica alphabet as it was shown on the poster they made previously for the film but also wanted it to refer to the idea of a 12” vinyl record. Spiralling the alphabet was meant to depict the way a record spins, but also to the idea of how a record is divided in tracks.

In addition, they liked the idea of Helvetica as a typeface spiralling out of control, revolving almost like a planet and hoped that the spiral-like disc would refer to rays, sci-fi radar technology which underlines the whole idea of Blue-ray.

Experimental Jetset thought it would be interesting to show the typeface without actually showing it. Although the forms on the sleeve are not recognisable as letters, you can still notice the shapes that are characteristic for Helvetica

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET by Joseph


This images shows the first attempt of me try to project an animation onto cut-out letters. Firstly, I started of by creating a stage on which the cut-out shapes will be placed after which I took a picture to help me create an animation for it.The placement of the camera was important because the projector will be on the same position to relay the animation. Using Adobe Photoshop and After Ef-fects, I managed to create a basic animation to see how it would look.

EXPERIMENTS


The images on the left gives you an idea of what the final piece set up should actually look like. Using the 3D helvetica text I created as the object to be pro-jected on and a table on which it will be placed.

IDEA FOR PROJECTION MAPPING


Field of study

Graphics – text/font

Design problem/question

To develop their graphic identity and sign system. To design a graphic manual, a ‘charte graphique’, for other designers to work with. These would be for a hall that was to be-come the location of 104 (Le Cent Quatre), a new French cultural institute Situated in the 19th arrondissement, 104 is a very ambitious project, housing several exhibition spaces, theatre halls, concert venues, stores, and apartments for artists-in-residence.

Context

They said it was a very complicated construction: because of all kinds of reasons (legal, political, bureaucratic and cultural reasons), they were only allowed to work on the graphic manual, while other design studios would then be responsible for applying this manual to all the different parts of the graphic identity (sign system, website, etc.).

Methods

They focused on the idea that 104, as a project, is never finished, always evolving, eter-nally ‘under construction’. So they created a sign system that would refer to the concept of the ‘work-in-progress’. They became interested in the concept of scaffolding.A scaffold (in French, ‘échafaudage’, in Dutch ‘stellage’ or ‘steiger’) is a structure that au-tomatically refers to ‘work-in-progress’; it is immediately associated with construction sites, and the activity of building in general.

They realized that a sign system based on the idea of scaffolding would be a constant re-minder of the continuous cycle of building, demolishing and rebuilding.There plan was to create a sort of modular system of street furniture, a family of abstract forms refer-ring to billboards, benches, traffic signs, pavilions and kiosks.

EXPERIMENTAL JETSET by Adam Alexander

Documents

Becoming