Daisy Oh Magazine

final major project documentation

Daisy DuDley, June 2010

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<IntroductIon>

introduction

My final major project is a publication made in collaboration with Ana Rachel and Martina Dahl. The outcome of this project is a magazine titled Oh! which aims to showcase the work of young creatives from a variety of fields. The magazine will be launched and sold at our degree show, commencing 24th June 2010.

All work has been produced collaboratively unless stated otherwise. Throughout this PDF our personal work and photos are shown in purple, references and the work of others are in black and white and orange indicates a link to a web address.

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4. Aims & Context6. Format Research8. Theme Ideas Generation12. Target Audience14. Gathering Content17. Screen-printing Flyers18. Pricing Research20. Sponsorship22. Blood, Sweat & Fears24. Print VS Online26. Amelia Gregory Talk28. Artists’ Newspaper30. Pick Me Up32. Mini Projects

40. Ice Mini Project44. Interviews & Content52. MAD Designers Are Go54. The Flat Plan56. Layout Experiments & Design66. Visiting Richard67. The Art of Communication68. Generating Patterns74. Final Stages78. Oh! Extras82. The Final Product & Video Link84. Reflections on our Magazine86. Reflections on our Collaboration

contents

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<IntroductIon>

aims & context

The aims of this project were to work collaboratively on all areas of design and project management of a magazine from start to finish. We wanted to create a polished piece for our portfolios that is appealing to our target audience of young creatives and potential employers.

My personal aims were to develop my skills and interest in magazine design and to have an opportunity to apply my existing knowledge of design and the magazine industry to a live context.

The brief for this project was entirely self-initiated. We had been discussing

the nature of collaboration

Collaboration and teamwork is a key element to this project. Having worked closely together on previous design projects, and consulted one another on almost all personal work, we felt confident we could successfully do so again. We felt that through working together we could achieve the huge task of producing a magazine from scratch successfully, as well as have a more enjoyable experience of the project.

for a while our mutual interest in creating a magazine together. We had got as far as deciding some initial factors such as the theme, format and type of content. We didn’t necessarily want to showcase just our own work therefore we started talking to peers about whether they would be interested in contributing. We wanted the magazine to have a tactile feel and therefore we would need interesting stock not just standard glossy paper. We felt our magazine needed a theme to keep it focused and pull it together, after a bit of brainstorming earlier in the year we came up with the theme of Changes.

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Martina, ana & Daisy = MaD

“Team Building – come together as a team by

learning about each other and sharing knowledge”

X Teams

http://mmmaaaddd.blogspot.com/


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<research>

format research

Through previous research and personal interest I came across Newspaper Club. A service which helps people print their own newspapers in small runs and at affordable prices. We had collected examples of other publications which are printed as newspapers or on newsprint and liked the idea of doing it ourselves. Since the standard formats advertised on Newspaper Clubs’ website were quite restricting I set about contacting Ben Terret one on the club’s founders. Ben had previous links with our course so we felt we could approach him quite casually.

They offered us an affordable rate to we felt confident starting down the route of printing on newsprint.

inspiration froM other Magazines printeD on newsprint anD exaMples of publications by newspaper clubFile Magazine, Quiet Press, Gym Class Magazine, Various examples from Newspaper Club and Folk Ways by Uniteditions

http://www.newspaperclub.co.uk/newspapers

http://file-magazine.com/

http://www.nousvous.eu/

http://www.gymclassmagazine.com/

http://www.uniteditions.com/shop/udr-01-folkways/

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<Ideas>

theme ideas Generation

love

Move • Rethink • Progress • Develop • Turn around • Crop • Step back • Smile • Change hair colour • Wear something different • Eat something different • Extend • Contract • Observe • Read • Multi-task • Process • Build • Invert • Roll • Fold • Shorten • Cut • Disarrange • Splash • Drop • Open • Twist • Fire • Lift • Rotate • Dilute • Blurring • Layers • Seasons • Nature • Things which are faded • Sun damage • Shifting families • Melting • Loss/gain • Hidden elements • Preparation • Stages • Mortality/life cycles • Reincarnation • Surprises • Shock • Reflection • Not wanting changes • Physical changes • Travel • Globalisation • Conscious and unconscious changes • Tibetan sand paintings • Permanence • Control • Moving • Fashion • Maturing • Mixing things together • Developing • Make up • Fashion • Altering • Beauty • Trends • Recycling • Love • Technical • Nature • People • Nostalgia • Memories • Photos • Internet • Media • Chemicals • Brave/Courage • Languages • Seasons • Time • Patterns • Colours • Forms • Thoughts • Evolution • Knowledge • Getting older

Changes =

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golbalisation

love nature

thoughts

iDeas generationOur combined list of 30 words/concepts we associate with changes and my initial mood board ideas for visualising the theme

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<Ideas>

inspiration for communicatinG our theme throuGh desiGn

using Decorative Display typeFrom Amelia’s Magazine

series of thuMbnails to show changes froM one to anotherFrom Great British Editorial

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/

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three eleMental shapes anD patterns to signify our three-person collaborationBy Peepshow scanned from Color & Layout

http://www.peepshow.org.uk/

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<research>

tarGet audience

Our Target Audience:• Young creatives• Potential employers

Profile:• 20 – 35 years old• Resident in cosmopolitan cities such as London, NYC, Berlin, São Paulo, Copenhagen• Interested in the arts andpopular culture• Interested in seeing new things

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iDeas on target auDience anD their potential interests

<admIn>

GatherinG content

We knew we wanted our project to be about designing and launching a publication rather than generating our own content for the magazine. We decided to contact friends we knew who worked or studied in creative fields we identified as of interest to our target audience.

Oh!A collAborAtive publicAtion for young creAtives which investigAtes the theme of chAnges




pDf i coMpileD that we sent to our contributors

Dear friends,

we are making a magazine to showcase the work of young creatives across a range of disciplines. it will be printed on newsprint in tabloid newspaper format, in full colour and 24 pages long. we will be printing between 500-1000 copies that will be distributed at the lcc graphic Design Degree show as well as in a range of other london locations (shops, cafes, galleries etc.) therefore we hope you agree this is a great opportunity to promote your talent! unfortunately we are unable to pay you for your work but you will get a copy for your portfolio.

Theme: the theme of this issue is ‘changes’, you can interpret this word as closely or loosely as you like.

Format: images and text emailed to [email protected] should be 300dpi and in jpeg, tiff or photoshop format.

Info: please provide with your work your name, email and website/blog (if you have one)

Timescale: the deadline for submitting work is Monday 19th April 2010 (5 weeks from today!)

thanks a lot,

martina, Ana and Daisyx

(please be aware that we will try to include all contributors’ work but this unfortunately cannot be guaranteed)

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<mInI project>

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screen-printinG flyers

As well as notifying contributors of the project we wanted to raise awareness in general. We constructed the design of the flyer together and I screen-printed them onto newsprint and card. I used bright colours and a blend to make them eye-catching. We gave these flyers to peers we thought would be interest in the project as well as leaving them in selected locations such as around university and at exhibitions/events.

(left) the screen-printeD flyers(above) oh! flyer at sketchbook Magazine event

http://sketchbookblog.tumblr.com/

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<research>

pricinG research

Should we sell our magazine and for how much?

Having received a quote for printing we decided we didn’t want our magazine to be completely free. Partly because printing was going to cost a lot of our own money but also because we felt charging would encourage people who were actually interested in the magazine to buy it rather than it be picked up by anyone and everyone.

“I would begrudge paying £5, I think the £2-£3 mark is about right.”Amy Stapleton, graphic design student

Throughout the project we noted the retail price of similar publications to get a gage of our market. We also spoke to people in our target audience about how much they would be willing to pay.

Initial thoughts are to sell our publication for £2-3 dependent on the retailer’s cut.

I emailed our degree show shop organisers to arrange them stocking our magazine.

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gyM class Magazine, black anD white printing, 16 pages

£3 £1

£3.99

Quiet press, colour printing, 12 pages

Magculture Magazine, colour printing, 16 pages

http://www.gymclassmagazine.com/

http://www.nousvous.eu/

http://magculture.com/blog/

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<admIn>

sponsorship

We felt a good way of covering our printing cost would be to get a sponsor. We set about thinking:• Who sponsors similar publications?• Who would want to appeal to our target audience?• Who would want to be associated with our theme/content?

We made a list of potential companies/brands and sent them an email that we tailored to suit the recipient’s interests. The people we contacted included:

11 BoundaryAbsolute VintageAtlantisBeyond the ValleyBody ShopCass ArtsHoxton Street Studios

JottaLondon Graphics CentreLushOfficeSea Whites of BrightonToni & GuyWork Hard Fish Hard

http://www.cassart.co.uk/

http://www.workhardfishhard.com/

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From the people we contacted art suppliers Cass Arts and men’s fashion brand Work Hard Fish Hard responded with interest with our enquiry. After further communication we sent them a PDF outlining our intentions and what we wanted. It was hard to know how to price the cost of advertising since we have no previous issues to provide circulation figures and sales. We came up with two rates £700 for full back cover and £400 for full inside back cover.

Unfortunately after much emailing back and forth our potential sponsors stopped replying. This was a shame but hopefully we may be able to get sponsorship for future issues since we will have the first issue to promote.

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<event>

blood sweat & fears19.03.2010

Blood Swear & Fears was a ‘live magazine’ event. It was the final major project of a Central Saint Martin’s fashion communication and promotion student and consisted of a pop-up space off Carnaby Street containing live fashion shoots, interviews, artwork, music and film screenings. This really set the standard as to what is achievable within the realms of a final major project and made me reconsider how ambitious we could be with ours. I really enjoyed this interpretation of a magazine format since it directly visualised a report I did earlier in the year on how the boundaries of what defines a magazine are being challenged. The event has been translated into a printed publication which I look forward to seeing.

http://bloodsweatandfears.co.uk/

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iMages froM visit to the ‘live Magazine’

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<talk>

We went to the Sketchbook Magazine pop-up shop which included a gallery space and shop as well as talks and workshops. Throughout their residency they had some really interesting speakers from the publishing, design and primarily fashion industry. I was only able to attend two of these talks but have since done some freelance work (designing the magazine’s digital newsletter) for the editor so may be involved in projects with them in the future.

The first talk I attended was a Print Vs Online (in the publishing industry) discussion between Adrian Shaughnessy (graphic designer and author of ‘How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul’, Susanna Lau (Suzie Bubble, fashion blogger from Style Bubble and previous editor of Dazed Digital), Becky Smith (co-founder of Lula Magazine and Editor of Twin Magazine) and Sandrine Maggiani (trend director of stylesight.com).

print Vs online discussion at sketchbook maGazine pop-up shop31.03.2010

http://stylebubble.typepad.com/

http://www.dazeddigital.com/Default.aspx

http://www.twinfactory.co.uk/

http://www.stylesight.com/

http://sketchbookblog.tumblr.com/post/502951478/print-vs-online-panel-at-the-pop-up

http://sketchbookblog.tumblr.com/post/502951478/print-vs-online-panel-at-the-pop-up

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iMages froM the eventThe MAD girls listening to the speakers, Adrian Shaunessy and Susanna Lau. Ana admiring newsprint publication Folk Ways designed by Adrian Shaunessy.

It was great to have the opportunity to hear such highly regarded figures chat together on a subject I’m passionate about. The key points that came out of the discussion were;

• That there is no clear answer as to whether printed or digital mediums are better and that they should work together; publications should be multi-talented.• Beautifully designed editorial is only possible through printed magazines –quite a bold and interesting statement, I agree with this to an extent but feel the quality of online magazines is increasing rapidly.• Readers want to interact with their content so designers have to re-think everything• Online tools makes target audience’s interests more measurable, Adrian Shaughnessy mentioned using website flickr so gage imagery with the most views – could we use this method?

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<talk>

amelia GreGory talk at sketchbook maGazine pop-up shop14.04.2010

http://sketchbookblog.tumblr.com/post/536329768/the-inspiring-amelia-gregory-talks-about-her-work-at

http://sketchbookblog.tumblr.com/post/536329768/the-inspiring-amelia-gregory-talks-about-her-work-at

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The second Sketchbook organised talk I went to alone and that was about getting started in the magazine industry by Amelia Gregory founder and editor of Amelia’s Magazine. I had been following her work for a while and was interested to hear about the process of launching a creative magazine from scratch and her transition into a web-only concept. The key points I took from her talk were;

• The management element of running a magazine is hard and detracts from the creative fun.• The importance of joining facebook and twitter to communicate with other creatives (I have now got a twitter account and use it to link people to our blog and communicate casually but non-intrusively with designers, printers and artists I’m interested in)• Work hard and be nice to people.

I asked Amelia at the end how she went about securing contributors, printers and advertising for her very first issue. She said she luckily had a lot of existing contacts, had a launch party and invited these people which generated sufficient attention. She also had a simple PDF which she showed to the printers/advertisers which is what we went on to do. This gave me encouragement that everyone is in the same position at the beginning before

aMelia giving her talk anD with sketchbook eDitor wafa alobaiDat

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<talk>

“This week we will sit down with the newspaper and look at the work of artists who use the language, visuals or format of newspapers in their practice.”

We went to a Monkia magazine event at Donlan Books and met Eleanor Vonne Brown who told us about her forthcoming talk on newsprint magazines! It was focused on artists who use newspapers in their artwork so was potentially very relevant. She showed us loads of interesting examples of work such as artists who use rubbers to manipulate newspaper printed images into new visions, and who re-write entire issues into a continuous stream of text.

Whilst a lot of the work was visually beautiful the content of the talk was more geared towards the notion of the newspaper as fine art rather than as a means of graphic communication. The most relevant aspects of the talk was Eleanor’s images and information on News International Press which has community presses used for producing small print runs. News International Press could be a printer we investigate in the future as an alternative to Newspaper Club if we are ever in the position to print their required minimum 1,000 copies.

artists’ newspaper at donlan books28.04.2010

http://www.donlonbooks.co.uk/

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Monika Magazineis printed on newsprint but has a heavier cover stock

http://monikamagazine.com/

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<exhIbItIon>

pick me up29.04.2010

We went to the Pick Me Up Contemporary Graphics Fair which included lots of inspiration and great work. Highlights of the event were work by independent publishers NoBrow Press and live studio work by Rob Ryan and Print Club London. Several of the people exhibiting ended up being involved in our professional interviews section spread of the magazine.

http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual_arts/pick_me_up/

http://www.nobrow.net/

http://www.misterrob.co.uk/

http://www.printclublondon.com/

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DocuMentation of the visitFun use of colour in a generic exhibition spaceWork from Print Club LondonSignage by Anthony BurrilWork by Nobrow PressWalls of Rob Ryan’s temporary studio spaceRob Ryan tiles and badgesAna flicking through Nobrow Press publications

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<mInI project>

mini projects

To accompany our ideas about generating visuals and content through collaborative processes we came up with a series of mini projects. We each devised one to direct and participate in with the others.

My mini project was to do with generating random and anonymous narratives. It was inspired by the childhood games when one person writes the beginning of a story on a piece of paper, folds it over and passes it on to the next person who writes more. It was also influenced by a project I came across called Rotary. This involved projections of slides they had brought on eBay combined with bold typography. It made be think about the unique image quality of slides and how by using an image from an unknown source or

anonymous to you leaves the image absent of any narrative and therefore open to any interpretation.

I knew my parents had boxes of slides from their youth of people and places unknown to me so I asked them to send me a varied selection. I scanned them and derived a series of rules for generating narrative. I numbered the scans 1-40 and presented the participants (Ana, Martina and Myself) with these instructions:

http://www.rotarymagazine.co.uk/

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My Mini ProjectThe aim of the exercise is to generate random and unexpected narratives for images. The images were not taken by any of the participants and are therefore disconnected from any preconceived concept or story. Each participant should choose a number between 1-40 and look at the corresponding image.

Variation 1:From this image write down a contextPass the image, but not the text, onto the next participant, they then write what character one said (in the context of a narrative to go with the image)

Pass the image, but not the text, onto the next participant, they then write what character two said (in the context of a narrative to go with the image)

Pass the image, but not the text, back to the first participant, they write the conclusion to the narrative.

Variation 2: Both text and image are passed each time so participant can see what previous person wrote.

Variation 3:Only one word is written each go, text and image passed, does not have to follow context, conversation, conclusion framework.

Variation 4:Only three words it written each go, text and image passed, does not have to follow context, conversation, conclusion framework.

Variations 5:Each participant writes one statement but in their native language.

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<mInI project>

DIVING DEEP DOWN

BLUE SKY SAND

SAND WATER NOTHING

ANDY DEAD WAXANDY SAYS HELLO

NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS

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visual outcoMesText and image play from my mini project

DOG EATS CAMERAMAN

GIRLS WATCH BOYS

TURQUOISE EYESHADOW FASHION

DON’T SHOW CURVES

VEJO ROSTOS NAS NAS FORMAN.DET VAR EN MYCKET GAMMAL DORRFORWARD INTO THE DARKNESS

DESERT CAR MOUNTAINSBUMPING UNDER BUMS

FRESH SEA BREEZE

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<mInI project>

RUSH BLUE HIGH HEELS

THEY HAD REACHED THEIR DESTINATION“THIS IS THE BEACH WHERE IT HAPPENED”“I LOVE THE CLAMNESS AND PEACEFULNESS OF BEING BY THE SEA”AND THEY DECIDED TO RETURN TO THE HOTEL.

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GENOM BERGET

TILL PARADISET

GLIMPSE INTO

ANOTHER LAND

NADA SE COMPARA

A NATUNGA

HE REALISED THEY WERE GOING NO WHERE“WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PEE SO OFTEN?”

“COME ON! HURRY UP!”

AFTER SIX HOURS THEY CARRIED ON IN THE SAME DIRECTION

More visual outcoMes

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<mInI projects>

ana’s mini project – illustrations

Ana’s mini project consisted of one person starting an illustration and then passing the file on for another to continue. We each chose one colour and each round we reduced the tint of this colour by 10%. Even though we only created one illustration from this project it led us onto our collaborative patterns which became a key element of our magazine design.

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martina’s mini project – photoGraphy

For Martina’s mini-project we gathered a selection of our cameras and headed up to Hamstead Heath. The aim was to find an interesting visual and take a photo/video of it with every camera we had, therefore showing our different points of view on the same object. This was a really fun day but I think we needed more time, and greater variety of locations to get the results we were hoping for. This is an activity I hope we will repeat in the future.

Martina on the heathour 9 Different caMeras(left) illustration proDuceD froM ana’s proJect

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<mInI project>

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mini project – ice cubes

Whilst brainstorming ways to visually represent change we came up with the idea of using ice cube letter forms to create a display type. Using coloured drawing inks I experimented with a number of conditions such as the concentration of ink in water, mixing and not mixing ink drops and using half one colour (freezing) and half another.

I took a photo of the ‘project’ ice cubes every 1 minute. It took a lot longer than I anticipated for them to melt. It was also hard to get the lighting right as the sun went down. Ideally something like this would be shot in a studio but it would have to have the freezer there present.

I used this as a test to see what would work best if we were to use this concept for the finished magazine. My conclusions were;

• A higher concentration of ink works better (10 drops)• Letters which can lean against each other work well• The letters start melting quickly but take a long like (over 1 hour) on melt completely so a warm day or heater may be useful• The left behind water is less visually interesting than anticipated because it quickly mixes together and is a primarily water• Warn house mates that they’re not edible in advance

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<content>

interViews

We knew that we’d like to include a typographic interview section in our magazine. Set we about devising a series of short questions to be sent to professional we admire from a range of creative fields.

All of the questions were to do with our theme Changes, however we purposely kept them short and relatively open ended so they could be interpreted as professionally or personally as the receiver felt fit. I had seen several of these people’s work at recent exhibitions or spoken to them at events so I felt confident in approaching them.

Our Questions –

What is the biggest change you’ve experienced? What future changes do you anticipate within your creative field? How do you know when a piece of work is finished and doesn’t need any more changes? What is something you would like to change?

elizabeth peytonDaisy De villneneuve

http://www.gavinbrown.biz/artists/view/elizabeth-peyton

http://www.daisydevilleneuve.com/

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aMelia gregoryrob ryan anDy gilMore

becky sMithrosie lovellkatie sokoler (color Me katie)

I sent these questions to a range of people including:

http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/


http://www.birdbrid.com/

http://www.twinfactory.co.uk/

http://rosiesdelicafe.blogspot.com/

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

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<content>

Not all of the people I emailed replied but I was really pleased that some of them did. Ana and Martina contacted several other interesting people so between us we had what we felt was a really good selection.

rob ryan’s answers

What is the biggest change you have experienced?Having children, life is never the same…

What future changes do you anticipate within your creative field?Return to painting one day.

How do you know when a piece of work is finished and doesn’t need any more changes?It’s not when it ‘feels right’ it’s when it feels ‘just right’.

What is something you would like to change?This constant need to change everything all the time.

exaMple paper cut by rob ryan& exaMple illustration by anDy gilMore


http://www.birdbrid.com/

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andy Gilmore’s answers

What is the biggest change you have experienced?The biggest change that I have experienced in regards to my work would have to be in colour. For the better part of my life I found working with colour to be quite intimidating – digital or analog. Colour requires more decisions than I was ready to make at the time. In having worked in print-production, I came to learn about colour as a numerical value which somehow simplified the process and as a result of this it has become much more intuitive for me.

What future changes do you anticipate within your creative field?I anticipate that the iPad and similar technology will take over print media – motion will be required for image-makers as page layouts become more interactive. More labour, less pay.

How do you know when a piece of work is finished and doesn’t need any more changes?I think I rely on intuition for this. It’s hard to say for sure.

What is something you would like to change?America.

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<content>

Luckily we sent the request for contributors well in advance so by this stage we had almost all of our submissions in. Submissions I received from the contributors I contacted:

illustration

It was great to see the diversity of approach in terms of style and interpretation of the theme

alice parsons of owlstation

alice parsons of owlstation

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toM clohosy coleeve lloyD knight

http://www.tomclohosycole.blogspot.com/

http://evelloydknight.blogspot.com/

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<content>

photoGraphy

stephanie JeDrzeJewsk

http://stephjed.blogspot.com/

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Milo belgrove

eleni Mettyear

http://drizzholla.blogspot.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elenimett/

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<desIgn>

Having received our contributors’ submissions and professional answers we were ready to start designing.

We made rough print-outs of all of the submissions we had between us and laid them out. To help ourselves get started we each made a list of our three favourite submissions and three least favourite submissions. Work that was in all of our bottom three was excluded immediately whilst others we discussed. We realised that with 24 pages we certainly didn’t have enough space to include all work so pieces that either weren’t high enough quality or not to our (and our potential target audience’s) taste were cut.

Me laying out our subMissions

mad desiGners are Go

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starting to group work

Having to tell friends that their work will not be included was challenging and a big learning curve surrounding detaching professional practice from personal relationships. Luckily I feel all of them understood and were very supportive.

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<desIgn>

the flat plan

The next step was to make a flat plan, we included elements such as the editorial and about us section and then started to group the submissions considering how they related to one another and the subject matter. We also thought about practical elements such as the show-through with our newsprint stock and which areas get the most attention.

“The single most important tool in producing any publication is the flatplan. This ingenious exploded diagram of a publication, similar to a film storyboard, enables everyone involved in its production to see pages, content, print sections or signatures and pagination at a single glance.”Yolanda Zappaterra, Editorial Design

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our flatplan was a very useful tool

<desIgn>

EVERYONE FANCIES A CHANGE SOMETIMES: Of sheets, of government, of scene. It takes seven years to change every single molecule in our body. The only thing that does not change is that everything changes.

I have a headache. And through it, I can feel that this is not going well. I only have two biscuits left. ‘Fruity & nutty and extremely chocolaty’. They are indeed. Since 1853 Fox’s have been providing me with heart attack inducing delights. I’ve eaten my daily intake in a packet’s worth of time, and am feeling less inspired by change then ever! Things don’t change: I never do work at home, and ‘just one’ always means ‘just one packet’. Greed and slothenlyness. The two most desirable characteristics in a state supported breeder. Good old student loan.

The clocks have changed. We’re now in spring time. My cousin who I didn’t know existed until my grandmother’s funeral in late 2008 has just had a baby boy. I’m watching Vanessa Engle’s BBC program women – on mothers. ‘What a lot has changed’ the wistful sidekick next to me wistfully sighs. I suppose this is true: The past 21 years have provided ample evidence – I have grown from pre-conception to a real life human being. I sense that that’s not what the sidekick meant though. He is talking about The Grander Scheme of Things. I suppose that this is true too: Our class system has come under fire; access to education is on the top of governments priorities; women have careers and babies. Yet things still stay the same – within each group of friends, whether pikies, trendies, crusties or Goths there is always the ‘Piggy’, the ‘Ralph’, the ‘Jack’; The ‘Ralph’, the ‘Bart’, the ‘Nelson’; The ‘Geek’, The ‘leader’ or The ‘Bully’. We are reducible to types. It is disproving this theory that becomes my mission. I am… an undercover researcher – a spy… I am – irreducible! Erudite! Unassailably unclassable, and, on a mission.

And so, myself and my wistful whisper of a sidekick become stalker and stalk-ette. It makes a change from the

mess of being a stalkee. Being prey isn’t fun. But now, knowing my secret status, ‘being prey’ is impossible! reducible! – it is merely a cameo in The Grander Scheme of Things . I’ve been here before – thought this before. This very thought? I’m not sure. It’s mixed up with pop psychology, paranoia and a profound sense of déjà vu. The man sitting over there - He doesn’t know it but I know him – he’s from The Lives of Others. The anti-hero. You may know him too. What a great spy… What a lot I have to learn.

I’m going to talk to him: ‘It will change’, I think – I say: ‘You’ll see.

Stalking stops with talking. Talking to strangers. Seeing them change under my dappled gaze, breaching the covenant of their anonymity, and watching it drift away. Only the closer I got to the strangest of sorts, the less I know: The monk in corn blue cassock sitting with an Italian leather clad muscle man in a sandwich bar in Temple. I followed them all the way down King’s Bench Walk – you may know it – it’s a cul-de-sac and they found me out. Or the beautiful Parisian man in South Kensington’s ‘Yog’ charming a client in a crisp beige suit as he ordered his frozen yoghurt and we slobbered a little in the queue behind him – he, my limited French tells me – was actually a pimp pimping out a woman to another man who wanted a pimp’s services.

Relationships with strangers are the strangest of things: You create their personalities which they then disprove in a wink of a coalman’s eye. Toast cools and becomes stale, hardened bread, Eggs boil ne’er to return to their runny yolk, but chance meetings do not become predictable. Rah’s with bleach blond hair do perform volte-face when they turn their face and are transformed into an older eccentric with an elephant lip. It’s ok, I can write him into The Scheme – only he keeps on interrupting. ‘So what are you here for?!’ He demands of his friend. ‘Money I bet!’ The IRA man he’s with returns (in a remarkably plummy English accent for an Irish Republican) Bang on, I am here for money. Just two or three old chap. ‘Two or three hundred thousand?’, ‘Cash, or cheque?’

COMPOSITION WITH

CHANGESWords by Kitty Brandon-JamesPhotos by Eleni Mettyear

STALKING STOPS WITH TALKING

My first impressions are wrong, again, and my characters are not performing to script. Perhaps this is the beautiful thing. – Within each car there is a different person or group of people, a different life, a different network and a different mission – To the insider that car is just a carapace with an engine whereas to the outsider it is the ‘carapace’ that is the beautiful thing. Is it green is it red? Do we go, do we stop? I cannot reduce these people because they keep proving me wrong. They keep changing my measure of them, writing and re-writing their own destiny. I like this thought. It is on this that I will stop – before I change my mind.

It’s just an English blip, quintessentially English some say.’ ‘Quoi? Merde alors, la pluie!’ (so he’s French, not German… I pull out the stops) : ‘Non, non, Vous voyez – il va arrêter bientôt’ ‘The rain – it will stop.’ ‘Bah.’ Grunts he. ‘Les Anglais sont fous.’ This is not the first time I have tried to bridge animosity with talk of the weather. Stranger stranger still is its ability to bring people together or keep them apart. To install civic pride, national characteristics : the chaleur of Hispanic peoples or the cool reserve of the Nordics. The English, however are just ‘crazy’ and the French are constant in this judgement.

examples of my first layout experiments flaunt Magazine issue 105

Photography by MILO BELGROVEWords by SOMEONE SOMEONE

< CHANGE >

PARK LIFEMi, ipis aut etur, cuptas re omnimillor sin re conserovit, voluptatur seri nonsequo ius voluptatatur alis cupta dolorehende re, netur sust volupta enditiu ntoreptae volorectas ellabor epelit ditium dis aut quam experit magnis estiae de doleculparum harciat umendus vel intibus min comnistrum as ad mosant omnimusandis dis sunt earchil iunte rere sed quatus velit, que experum essimod milis maio.

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Photography by MILO BELGROVEWords by SOMEONE SOMEONE

< CHANGE >

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I was inspired by a design feature I saw in FLAUNT magazine which used a top bar which dropped down and listed the artists of the page.

My layout using top bar feature

http://flaunt.com/

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<desIgn>

19<OH! MAGAZINE >18 <CHANGES>

ELENI METTYEAR

Something I’d like to change is to stop the digital take over, and bring Polaroid film back. . .and save the world.

Student. Brighton, [email protected]/photos/elenimett

MILO BELGROVE

A future change I anticipate within my creative field is a lot more young (under 30’s) professional photographers and a lot less money and creativity due to image banks and dinlos that just photograph with no agenda or creative input. Essentially the death of photography along with film.

Something I’d like to change is I’d like Eliza Fawcett back in my life please.

Student/Photographer. Brighton & London, [email protected]

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<OH! MAGAZINE ><CHANGES> 54

MARIANA LOMBARDO

The biggest change I’ve experienced is a change of dimension. An opening of consciousness that enabled me to see everything and everyone with different (and new) eyes. But I’m still learning …

I think the creative processes are becoming more and more bureaucratic, at least in Brazil. But I also believe that there is no space in this linear way of creating, even in the fashion industry. I believe in the future there will be a market for small labels and independent designers. I feel that people are craving simple and sustainable things.

Stylist and fashion researcherSão Paulo, [email protected]

RODGER LEHMAN

The biggest change I’ve experienced was breaking away from my religious roots and realizing there was a whole community that could include me.

I’d like to not be human, but I don’t know if that will be possible within my lifetime.

I think that the major change, especially within the narrative illustration field, has already started and that is the acceptance of media such as graphic novels as legitimate forms of communication on a deeper level.

Illustator/Bartender. New York, [email protected]

STEPHANIE JEDRZEJEWSKI

The biggest chance I’ve experienced is my transition into different creative mediums, until I settled for the one I loved the most - fashion photography. Now I view everything as if it were a photograph.

Student. London, UKStephjed.blogspot.com

Further experimentation with using top bar to link work and create flow. This feature was effective on minimal spreads but looked too busy on others so was eventually scrapped. However I quite liked it so decided to apply the feature to this PDF, as you can hopefully tell.

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<desIgn>

After we had all done a few rough layout ideas we came together and discussed what we had so far, what was working and what ideas we should develop further. We created a template document with a standard grid, and typeface style sheets to apply to our initial designs. These changed a few times throughout the process as issues such as font size arose. We created a colour pallet based on colours that complimented the work. However we made them lighter and brighter thank normal because of the off-white paper we were printing on.

our griDworking harD

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stanDarDiseD style sheets

creating a colour pallet

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<desIgn>

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A N D Y G I L M O R E

What is the biggest change you have experienced?

The biggest change that I have experienced in regards to my work would have to be in Color. For the better part of my life I found working with color to be quite intimidating – digital or analog. Color requires more decisions that I was ready to make at the time. In having worked in print-production I came to learn about color as a numerical value which somehow simplified the process and as a result of this it has become a much more intuitive for me.

What future changes do you anticipate within your creative field?

I anticipate that the i-Pad and similar technology will take over print media – motion will be required for images makers as page layouts become more interactive. More labor, less pay.

How do you know when a piece of work is finished and doesn’t need any more changes?

I think I rely on intuition for this. It’s hard to say for sure.

What is something you would like to change?

America.

birdbrid.com

J O N F O R S S / N O N - F O R M AT


Moving from London to the United States in 2007. Moving to a new city is always a challenge, but moving to a new continent is something else. Apart from the obvious changes to my personal life, this move has also meant huge changes in the way Non-Format works. Where we were once sitting side-by-side, looking over at each other’s screens, we now have to rely on email and Skype to allow us to work together as closely. The biggest change may not actually be the move across the Atlantic, but the developments in the technology that has allowed us to continue our long and rambling conversations. Now that’s what I call progress.


Less ink, more pixels.


When it feels right. Or, more often than not, when we’ve hit the deadline.


The deadline.

non-format.com

A D R I A N S H A U G H N E S S Y


I was tempted to say the arrival of the Apple Mac in the 1990s. This was a major change for anyone who had been trained in traditional pre-digital methods. But an even bigger change was the arrival of web design. This changed the way designers think and the way they approach the task of designing. For a start, web design is interactive, which means that usability is as important as style. It also means the designers can have audio and motion. But even more important is the fact that for the first time in history, graphic designers are designing for a medium over which they do not have total control; users of websites can change the fonts and the appearance of web layouts. Browsers and screens can change the colour of layouts and the sizes of type. The arrival of the web was a massive change for designers who had previously been used to micro-controlling everything on the printed page. The last thing to say about websites is that they are never finished: unlike a book which cannot be changed a web page can be changed indefinitely.


Well, design is in a state of constant flux. Anyone who can’t deal with change will get left behind. That’s not to say that all change is good, but it’s the nature of the culture we live in that change is inevitable as technological progress accelerates. All types of digital design will grow in importance, and designers who love material things (stuff they can touch) will have to learn to deal with immaterial things (stuff they can’t touch). I also predict a rise in the importance of social design. For the past four or five decades designers have used their skills almost exclusively to sell stuff. I see a new appetite (and audience) for design that makes the world a better place to live in for everyone and not just those who can afford it. We still need well-designed shampoo bottles, but why do NHS waiting rooms look like prison cells?


In my view, no piece of work is ever finished. Sometimes you design something, you look at it and think, yes, that’s perfect. But I defy any designer to go back to a piece of work they did and look at it again without thinking, I could do that differently/better now.


I’d like to stop the disappearance of second hand book shops.

twitter.com/AJWShaughnessy

S I S S I & L I S A / E D H O L M U L L E N I U S


From being employees to having our own business. Nothing is better than being your own boss.


Everything is about to change, we are in the middle of a creative revolution. To stay creative you have to welcome the change into your life, but still remember who you are and why you are doing what you do.


Gut feeling.

What is something you would like to change if you could?

To have more time to experiment and make things not having to think about economy and time schedules.

edholmullenius.se

R O B R YA N


Having children, life is never the same…


Return to painting one day.


It’s not when it ‘ feels right’ it’s when it feels ‘ just right’.


This constant need to change everything all the time.

rob-ryan.blogspot.com

A M E L I A G R E G O R Y/A M E L I A S M A G A Z I N E


Growing older and realising that life is about constant adaption; although I think that this happens gradually.


Well obviously the internet is totally changing the way in which journalism operates and I think it will continue to do so. But if you’re clever it needn’t be a problem; it’s possible to adapt slowly.


When I feel it is done… I don’t have some grand checklist but I am a perfectionist, so it has to be what I consider error-free.


I’d like to have a family. That will obviously mean a massive change to the way I work. I’d also like to earn a proper living at some point.

ameliasmagazine.com

H E N R I K / S A N D B E R G &T I M O N E N


Falling in love it changed my life completely.


Time, Time to be able to concentrate more on our own work our magazine Livraison.


I am never finished, each work is like running a marathon and when your done you never wanna do it again.


The world, make it good again

sandbergtimonen.se

M A R I T M U E N Z B E R G


Moving to another country and communicating in another language as well as email and mobile phone technology.


That even if there are certain predictions something else happens. The book will not die!


You never know! You just have a deadline at one point and have to live with what you have at that stage.


The english weather.That I need less sleep.That there are cures against all illnesses.That people respect each other.The list is endless so I guess that I would have time to write an endless list.

marit .co.uk

changesquestions

& answers

swappinG roles

Whilst one of us would start a spread we would frequently pass in on to one of the others for advice when we got stuck or for fresh input. This worked really well to stop us getting too ‘bogged-down’ on one page.

Martina starteD playing with type. which her anD ana experiMenteD with further

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A N T H O N Y B U R R I L Lanthonyburrill.com


The birth of my children, it changed everything completely, in a good way.


More collaboration between people, the further blurring of boundaries between disciplines.


When it feels right. It’s good to leave a piece of work alone for a few days if possible and re-look through fresh eyes. I can always find small tweaks that need to be done, it’s important to keep the work fresh and not overwork it.


I’d like the world to be a fairer and happier place.

A N D Y G I L M O R Ebirdbrid.com


The biggest change that I have experienced in regards to my work would have to be in colour. For the better part of my life I found working with colour to be quite intimidating – digital or analog. Colour requires more decisions than I was ready to make at the time. In having worked in print-production, I came to learn about colour as a numerical value which somehow simplified the process and as a result of this it has become much more intuitive for me.


I anticipate that the iPad and similar technology will take over print media – motion will be required for image-makers as page layouts become more interactive. More labour, less pay.




America.

J O N F O R S S / N O N - F O R M ATnon-format.com








The deadline.

A D R I A N S H A U G H N E S S Yuniteditions.com









S I S S I & L I S A / E D H O L M U L L E N I U Sedholmullenius.se






Gut feeling.


To have more time to experiment and make things, not having to think about economy and time schedules.

H E N R I K T I M O N E N / S A N D B E R G &T I M O N E Nsandbergtimonen.se


Falling in love. It changed my life completely.


Time. Time to be able to concentrate more on our own work, our magazine Livraison.


I am never finished, each work is like running a marathon and when you’re done you never wanna do it again.


The world, make it good again.

M A R I T M U E N Z B E R Gmarit.co.uk








The English weather.

R O B R YA Nmisterrob.co.uk






It’s not when it ‘feels right’ it’s when it feels ‘just right’.



A M E L I A G R E G O R Yameliasmagazine.com









M A G N U S L E N N E S K O G

The title of this illustration is Men, Doing Stuff Together and portraits how manly friendship within a business

environment stands in the way of a much needed change. I would make it illegal for people to change

tracks whilst listening to an album. That way everyone would have to listen to every song from start to finish.

changesINTERVIEWS

Graphic design student London, [email protected]

14 15

A N T H O N Y B U R R I L Lanthonyburrill.com


The birth of my children, it changed everything completely, in a good way.


More collaboration between people, the further blurring of boundaries between disciplines.


When it feels right. It’s good to leave a piece of work alone for a few days if possible and re-look through fresh eyes. I can always find small tweaks that need to be done, it’s important to keep the work fresh and not overwork it.


I’d like the world to be a fairer and happier place.

A N D Y G I L M O R Ebirdbrid.com


The biggest change that I have experienced in regards to my work would have to be in colour. For the better part of my life I found working with colour to be quite intimidating – digital or analog. Colour requires more decisions than I was ready to make at the time. In having worked in print-production, I came to learn about colour as a numerical value which somehow simplified the process and as a result of this it has become much more intuitive for me.


I anticipate that the iPad and similar technology will take over print media – motion will be required for image-makers as page layouts become more interactive. More labour, less pay.




America.

J O N F O R S S / N O N - F O R M ATnon-format.com








The deadline.

A D R I A N S H A U G H N E S S Yuniteditions.com









S I S S I & L I S A / E D H O L M U L L E N I U Sedholmullenius.se






Gut feeling.


To have more time to experiment and make things, not having to think about economy and time schedules.

H E N R I K T I M O N E N / S A N D B E R G &T I M O N E Nsandbergtimonen.se


Falling in love. It changed my life completely.


Time. Time to be able to concentrate more on our own work, our magazine Livraison.


I am never finished, each work is like running a marathon and when you’re done you never wanna do it again.


The world, make it good again.

M A R I T M U E N Z B E R Gmarit.co.uk








The English weather.

R O B R YA Nmisterrob.co.uk






It’s not when it ‘feels right’ it’s when it feels ‘just right’.



A M E L I A G R E G O R Yameliasmagazine.com









M A G N U S L E N N E S K O G

The title of this illustration is Men, Doing Stuff Together and portraits how manly friendship within a business

environment stands in the way of a much needed change. I would make it illegal for people to change

tracks whilst listening to an album. That way everyone would have to listen to every song from start to finish.

changesINTERVIEWS

Graphic design student London, [email protected]

they passeD it to Me anD i playeD with colour anD aDDing lines

for the final version we all tweakeD the Details anD Martina changeD the line colour

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<desIgn>

art-workinG

Some submissions required a fair amount of art-working to make sure they would print well. This was a laborious process at times but balancing the work between three people helped a lot.

cleaning up subMitteD scan to reproDuce well in printBefore and after my art-working

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notes and test prints

Doing test prints of our layouts and making notes was a key part of our production process. It was really useful to have three people to triple-check things and give a different opinion. We used these sessions as opportunities for a change of working environment such as the park or a cafe.

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<feedback>

VisitinG richard

Fellow MAD member Ana is, very impressively, assistant to renounced designer Richard Hollis. We took this as an opportunity to have him look over a mock-up of our magazine and give his opinion. He gave us advice on a few typographic details and the order or some pages but generally seemed positive about our approach. It was such a fantastic opportunity to meet him and get his advice and we felt very encouraged that what we were doing suited our ‘potential employer’ branch of the target audience.

exaMples of richarD hollis’ Design work

http://www.richardhollis.com/

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the art of conVersation10.05.2010

We visited The Art of Conversation: London – Berlin, an interesting project in which graphic artwork was produced through designers in London and Berlin passing on their ideas to one another through Skype. Some of the outcomes produced were interesting however to me the exhibition mainly reinforced the power of the internet as a creative communication tool.

iMages froM the art of coMMunication exhibition

<exhIbItIon>

http://www.theartofconversation.org/face.html

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<desIgn>

We had an idea early on of using pattern to visualise the three of us working together to create one piece. We started generating some patterns and sending them to one another via email, the receiver would add another layer to the document, draw their pattern and pass it on again. This produced some fun results but we decided to have a more intense, ‘patterns-only’ session to generate visuals worthy of going in our magazine. Before our second round of patterns I created a mood board to try and help us generate some fresh ideas.

GeneratinG patterns

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(left) our first patterns(below) pattern inspirations taken froM patternity.co.uk

http://www.patternity.co.uk/

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<desIgn>

pattern using circles

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pattern using triangles

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<desIgn>

During our review with Richard Hollis he mentioned that we should have something bold of the cover to give the publication a ‘solid’, eye-catching feel and to counteract the white space on the inside.

We felt our patterns would be effective to use on the covers of the magazine because they are bold and eye-catching yet have a hidden representation of our collaborative way of working. Throughout the design for our magazine we used a line feature next to the folios, we decided to keep this on the cover to lead the viewer in. We played with deconstructing the pattern and having it as if it was fading away. However decided to go for solid colour for maximum effect.

using clipping Masks to Make a MastheaD out of patterns

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our MastheaD on the front cover

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<desIgn>

final staGes

Surprisingly the order of the layout of our magazine didn't change that much from the original flat-plan. I think this is because we had quite a strong vision of what we wanted from the project. Final tweaks to the design and spelling and grammar checks took a lot of time and energy...

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Because I am the only MAD girl whose native language is English I was given the role of ‘checking things make sense’.

Doing final checks

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<results>

Sending to print was a stressful process, all of the time and work that had gone into the project built to this moment. After half an hour of loading on Newspaper Club’s website service the upload failed! (Due to us having more pages than their standard

sendinG to print

amount). Luckily they were casual about us sending the file another way and we met the deadline. It really emphasised the importance of technical elements when producing a magazine rather than it being all design based.

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first Glimpses

The magazine was delivered to Ana’s address so I got my first glimpse of the magazine via the powers of Skype.

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<extras>

oh! extras

We designed some Oh! stickers and postcards to send with the magazine and to use at the show. We also designed a light with our MAD logo to use at the degree show.

We designed the stickers together and then I sent the artwork and instructions to my father’s company who produced them as vinyl stickers for us. We were very pleased with the processional results and range of colours we were able to get.

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(above) stickers on envelopeOur stickers can be used on envelopes when sending our magazine through the post(left) sticker anD light artworkThe light will be used as part of our display at the end of year show

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<extras>

cards

We screen-printed some A6 postcards to send to professionals as promotional and courtesy material. We simplified our back cover pattern to three colours so we could use it for three layers of printing. I did the background then Ana (who is the screen-printing maestro) did the next two layers whilst Martina and I assisted.

ana the screen-printing MachineChecking registration and printing

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prints Drying anD cut as postcarDs

<results>

the finished product

cover, exaMple spreaDs, back cover anD extra proDucts

to see a full colour flick through of oh! Magazine click here

http://vimeo.com/12286273

http://vimeo.com/12286273

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<reflectIon>

reflection on our maGazine

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I am really proud of our magazine and what we’ve achieved in the last few months. The process from having simply an idea, and following it through to a printed (and sellable) product is so rewarding. I think the magazine fulfils all of the roles we wanted it to such as showcasing young creative’s work and appealing to our target audiences. I am really please that I will be able to include it in my portfolio whilst applying to magazines and studios and think the extra features of the stickers, cards and light help pull it together as a package. There are a few minor details with the printing and finishing that are not quite perfect but they were beyond our control.

Despite my happiness with the finished products we did encounter several obstacles along the way. Firstly the shear volume of amin involved in the project and what to do when sponsors/printers/contributors don’t do what you thought they would. As mentioned before, something I found really challenging was having to tell people their work wouldn’t be included.

It felt so unfamiliar to be on the receiving end of work rather than producing it but I think it made me a bit more open to the situation of not taking rejection too personally and the divide between friendship and professional relationships in design.

Another thing that we didn’t do to the extent that we had planned was to test prototypes of our magazine with our young creatives target audience. We didn’t want to consult our fellow students too much because we wanted the finished product to be revealed at the show, also we had hoped to use the UAL Magazine Club I attend as a focus group but this wasn’t possible because of everyone having final exams. I feel between us we are aware of our target audiences’ interests enough to have produced an appealing product but when we want to produce a second issue we will have to expand on this more.

All in all I am very pleased with the visual out comes of this project and am excited to see how people react to it.

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<reflectIon>

reflection on collaboration

Collaborating with Martina and Ana on this project has been such a great experience. I had confidence we could pull it off from the start but we had never done anything on this scale before so I’m so pleased we did. I think working together on this project has been enjoyable and successful for a few reasons. Firstly we are lucky enough to be good friends, with similar passions and interests, whilst I appreciate this is unlikely to occur to the same degree in the work place, it really has helped us keep motivated and inspired towards the same goal.

For the most part of the project we used Ana’s spacious flat as our studio. This helped us feel like this was more of a professional project than university related (and gave us constant access to Martina’s home-made bread). Martina was staying with Ana as well. Being the only group member not ‘living in the

studio’ I was sometimes worried that I was missing out on late night changes or that they might think I wasn’t pulling my weight for leaving to get the train. However, I do feel we did all work equally hard and this was just caused by stress and annoyance at public transport.

Another reason I think the collaboration worked well was our complimentary skills. As planned none of us directly took on formal roles, we are all at about the same level of competence in terms of design software and were able to share tips and short-cuts with each other. Being able to share tasks made mundane jobs go that much quicker and the rate of progress felt much more rapid than working alone.

We had no set roles however on reflection some of our personal skills came in handy –

m a d

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Martina:• Good eye for detail• Master at generating patterns• Contacts with some very talented creatives who generated beautiful work for us

Ana:• Great at typographic details• Always questions ‘why’ we’re doing something and pushes the standard• Master screen-printer• Very welcoming host, her and her boyfriend let us dominate their flat for months

Daisy:• Only English member of MAD so checked grammar and language• Has a Dad who has a laser-cutter for making stickers• Very interested in the magazine industry and independent titles so up-to date on news and events

All in all I am so grateful to have done this project, not only because it had given me a portfolio piece I feel very proud of but also because I got to spend time with, and learn from, two great designers and friends.

follow our future progress anD proJects at: mmmaaaddd.blogspot.com



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<bIblIography>

Where possible all publications, artists and events are represented as direct links to their website. Additional sources are below:

Acona, D & Bresman, H. (2007) X Teams, Harvard Business School Press, Boston

Emeyele. (2008) Great British Editorial, Index Books, London

Otto & Olaf. (2008) Color & Layout, Harper Collins Publishers, New York

Zappaterra, Y. (2007) Editorial Design, Laurence King Publishing, London

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Documents

Daisy Oh Magazine