Project – “Streetgraphic / Street Narrative”Promoting research, creative thinking, experimentation, semiotics and visual narrative

Graphic Design

“The life of our city is rich in poetic and marvellous subjects. We are enveloped and steeped as though in an atmosphere of the marvellous; but we do not notice it.”

“Major cities are in a continuous state of flux caused by building and rebuilding activities and flows of artefacts, goods, commodities, and people, which dissolve and recreate different areas as sites of activity and use. Cities are characterised by tensions between this destruction and reconstruction of spaces, the coexistence of heterogeneous groups, and the different claims upon spaces which they advance and contest. The fusion between the physical form of the city and its social composition promises to help us understand how the question of the city’s identity and differences can become a topic of interest for the groups of persons who inhabit its spaces and who calculate ways and means of practically dealing with these changes.”Extract from culture cities project

You are required to research into the graphic language of the street, how imagery, artifacts and ephemera of all kinds bombards the senses with visual messages and experiences. In the first instance you should demonstrate your ability to select suitable subject matter for translation into graphic experiments. This visual research should take the form of traditional or virtual sketchbooks. Your research can be either static, moving image, internet, installation or a mixture of all. You should be able to demonstrate multiple ideas and employ a range of media and methods appropriate to the demands of the project.You should be able to justify ideas and be able to discriminate between strong and weak ideas/concepts. Your experimental work will form the basis of an exhibition exploring the role of the influence of the street on graphic language.

From your visual research you should develop the most appropriate concept and a produce a cohesive body of work which explores this concept. The presentation of this work may be a body of static images, moving image, virtual display, animation or physical installation.

STREET

GRAPHIC

BRIEF

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STREETGRAPHICRESEARCH KAREN O’LEARY

Karen O’Leary creates detailed maps of

famous cities by carving them on a single

sheet of paper. She first prints the map

onto heavy weight paper then

painstakingly cuts out the unwanted

regions to leave an extremly delicate web

of paper roads. I chose O’Leary as

inspiration for the street graphic project

as she literally creates a graphic from the

streets of a city which is quite powerful by

itself, however taking that to the next step

and cutting out all the negative space

from the cities leaving only the

delicateness of the inner streets in a

tangled web of paper is amazing.

I enjoyed the idea of this style of work but

when it came to replicating it, it was a

different story. The amount of precision

and finger strength needed to cut these

out by hand astounds me. I only did a

little A4 piece of huddersfield town centre

and the physical strain on my fingers put

me off further development, for that i

have tremendous respect for Karen

O’Leary and her delicate style.

“I love the idea of a completely familiar object made new and even more beautiful”

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STREET

GRAPHIC

RESEARCH - JING ZHANG

UK illustrator Jing Zhang created a series of city illustrations of Beijing, Tokyo, New York, Paris and London. The simple and well executed illustrations feature all the major iconic buildings of the cities and show the city as a compact little hub of destinations. I used Jing Zhang because the simple shape, flat and complementing colour worked similar to how i think my own style works. The use of simplicity in an image is very useful as you can make your design stand out but blend in when you need it to making it a verstaile form of design.

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STREET GRAPHICDEVELOPMENT

it was raining outside and it was just a misrable day in geneal in huddersfield so i made this to show my emotions of that day. its just a generic skyrise building composition made up from my imagination but it quickly became a nice piece and became a piece of work instead of a doodle. the outcome of this i was pleased with as its so simple and adding the black lines to make each layer look suspended annd then adding a shadow behind each layer made it an appealing bit of work even though is represents a bad day.

Google earth view of huddersfield streets and town centre, i drew it using letraset promarkers which are a fantastic and quick medium for sketching and painting. first time usigng them and the alcohol in them makes the ink streak free which worked really well. i used pastel colours but broke that colour pallete for the builds as i didnt want them to blend into the ground around them. i used 45 degrees and stretched the buildings out to make it more interesting.

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STREET

GRAPHIC

FINAL PIECE

My final piece for street graphic, an illustration to represent huddersfield in ym favourite illustartion method, the painstaking pen tool marathon. dont get me wrong i love using the pen tool for hours on end however this was especially nice to do as it encompasses my hometown of huddersfield. i took what i thought were the most significant buildings such as the train station, bus station, theatre and shopping centre as they are what i use most often, them to me sum up huddersfield.

i used the very common brick work pattern to frame the buildings just like they frame the town centre and it works really well. i never added colour or took it further as its simplicity of line sat very nicely and i didnt want it to look childish or too blocky by adding colour. i layered them up in such a way because on there own it didnt look how i imagined. i tried to replicate the packed hustle and bussle of huddersfield town centre by doing just that packing them in.

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CABINET OF

CURIOSITY

CABINET OF

CURIOSITIES

BRIEF

Project – “The cabinet of curiosity”

Promoting: research, creative thinking, experimentation, semiotics and visual

narrative

“Derive ideas from the world around you, from your own background, from

your childhood, from relationships with others, from the social and political

environment. Don’t be confined to a pond...in which the water is always in

danger of becoming stagnant”

Ken Garland

Cabinet of curiosity

The ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ was originally a personal collection of things of

wonder (the cabinets were also referred to as Wunderkammer - or Cabinet of

Wonders).These cabinets reached the peak of their popularity in the 17th

Century; they were the personal and often idiosyncratic collections of

individual, wealthy owners and contained both natural and man-made objects.

The main function of cabinets was to provoke a sense of curiosity and wonder

in the viewer; in many ways they represented a world-view that valued the

‘wonder’ in an artefact much more than the need to analyse and classify that

artefact.

In the same way that certain artists attempt to capture experiences, or

ephemeral moments of time in their work, as in the boxes of Joseph Cornell

and animations of the Brother Quay, you are required to use your personal

experiences to build a cabinet of curiosity or shrine. This does not have to be a

literal physical cabinet but can be virtual, physical or static. In the first instance

you should collect written and visual information based around your personal

experiences and interests.

You should not be too literal with your work, merely developing a series or

collection of shallow, collaged, postcard images but think about your own

preoccupations and concerns.

You choice of materials should be selective and you should be able to justify

choices, image selection and composition.

Joseph Cornell did not merely collect elements of his experience and

haphazardly make art out of anything he found.. His work resulted from a

compulsion to hold onto every experience.....your final artifact should be a

memento mori, or a miniature theatre of the mind. If you are producing a

physical piece of work the construction should be made mainly from found

items, although the 3D laser cutter will be available in Queen St, South. You

may use new objects such as original artwork and written resources.

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CABINET OF CURIOSITYRESEARCH KERBY ROSANES

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Philippines-based illustrator Kerby Rosanes works mainly with ordinary black pens to magically illustrate his “doodle” world. The 23-year old artist considers his art as a per-sonal hobby which turned out to be his part-time freelance work after being recog-nized by various design blogs, international magazines and online communities.

Most of his works are characterized by whimsical lines, patterns, characters and little elements that are spontaneously com-bined to create massive compositions de-picting his everyday experiences or any-thing that inspires him.

CABINET OF CURIOSITYRESEARCH MATHEW SHLIAN

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“As a paper engineer my work is

rooted in print media, book arts

and commercial design. Beginnign

with an intial fold, a single action

causes a transfer of energy to

subsequent folds, which ultimately

manifest in drawings and three

dimensional forms”.

Matt Shlia’s work is incredibly

complicated and i could only aspire to

the level of how his mind works. His

ability to manipulate paper and make the

things he does astounds me and his work

varies from the delicate form of nature to

the harsh forms of landscapes to funny

little characters that you can create

yourself.

CABINET

OF CURIOSITY

DEVELOPMENT

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Creating a 3D bear able to be made up with instructions wasa task i took on thinking it would be fun, oh how wrong i was even though the final result made me smile the technicalities that came with it i thought id need a masters in engineering to finish it. fair enough creating a box with tabs but working out the angle of the leg on the front on back side took me hours on end so this project had me emotionally and spiritually broken until i finshed the little mammal. i thought a static card bear would kind of boring to a child and would be destroyed or put away after 2 minutes of

finishing it so i added the ability of movement so the bear could come alive by adding split pins the legs through the side of the bear abdomen. This worked well but was really fiddly and i struggled to get it right but after going in several different ways i couldnt get the same amount of movement from any other angle. The torso is made of 4 compartments each different in size but it helps makes the contour of the body more accesible with folding the bear into life. Even though it took many hours im happy with the outcome and quite proud i worked it out even if it looks simple.

The bears legs top are back legs bottom are front legs.

The body compartments and head.

CABINET

OF CURISOTY

FINAL PIECE

My final piece for cabinet of curiosity was a book of paper craft the book acted as the cabinet and they curiosity came in with wanting to build the animals inside. somethign about going from a sheet f paper to a 3D creature just makes me smile and i loved stuff like this as a child but i wanted to create a paper craft set with everything you need unlike ones i saw when i was younger. added in the pack are scissors, a box of split pins to make the animals posable, glue and a scorer.

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EARTH ARTIFACT

EARTH

ARTIFACT

BRIEF

Project – “Earth Artifact”Promoting research, creative thinking, experimentation, semiotics and visual narrative“For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals. Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination. We learned to talk, we learned to listen. Speech has allowed the communication of ideas enabling people to work together ... to build the impossible. Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking ... and its greatest failures by not talking. It doesn’t have to be like this. Our greatest hopes could become reality in the future with the technology at our disposal - the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking”.Stephen Hawkin

Background:The Voyager Golden Records are phonograph records which were included aboard both Voyager spacecraft, which were launched in 1977. They contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or for future humans, who may find them. The Voyager spacecrafts are not heading towards any particular star, but Voyager 1 will be within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation in about 40,000 years.As the probes are extremely small compared to the vastness of interstellar space, the probability of a space-faring civilization encountering them is very small, especially since the probes will eventually stop emitting any kind of electromagnetic radiation. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will most likely be far in the future as the nearest star on Voyager 1’s trajectory will only be reached in 40,000 years. Carl Sagan noted that “The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.”[2] Thus the record is best seen as a time capsule or a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life.

Brief:Over the next few weeks you are required to submit visual and written proposals for a new version of the ‘Golden Record’ entitled, ‘Earth Artifact’. This should not be a slavish reproduction of the original golden record, but should be a more contemporary version, which should be reflected in the content and the format/media channel of your choice. You should document all stages of the research and design process, which should demonstrate a critical understanding of the design challenge. You should be inventive and demonstrate your ingenuity in solving this design challenge. It is important you generate several design solutions, taking one justified idea forward to a final solution.

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EARTHARTIFACTRESEARCH INFO-GRAPHICS

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Infographic spread for the Italian magazine IL of Il Sole 24 Ore.

There is no better way to explain how infographics are an effective marketing tool than in the form of an easy to follow infographic. We explain what an infographic is and how the visualisation of data takes precedent over text heavy stimuli.The eyes are an extension of the brain and well over half of the population are visual learners. With this in mind, publishers and businesses can benefit from the change. There is a demand for data that is quickly transferable, coherent and visually interesting.

EARTH

ATIFACT

RESEARCH CHEN ZHI LIANG

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Chen Zhi Liang is a designer i found on behance.com and his work is really quite clever, i knew i wanted to do an info-graphic and that it would be simple vector illustrations such as this. An info-graphic is

simple and gives information its supposed to be easy to read and understand and his style conveys that very well. he has also done some specific info-graphic work but i prefer these illustrations for inspiration.

The Rhino is critically endangered yet the poachers dont stop, killed just for there horns there deaths are unjust.

IUCN

is finding some 3 Rhinos a month are

being killed

The total Rhino

poulation is estimated at 18,000

The golbal tiger population has declined an estimated range

from 3,402-5,140 tigers, revised down from estimates of

5,000-7,000 made only a few years earlier.

The Bali, Caspian and

Jarvan tigers are already

classified as extinct

The poulation of tigers

has decresed by 95% in the last century

EARTH

ARTIFACT

FINAL PIECE

For the Eart artifact project i didnt really like the idea of the record and boringly recreating the video or making a collage of the contemporary world we live in. Because the heme was so broad i decided to narrow in on animals and how in the 1970s when voyager was sent off soem species have gone extinct and this really made me think. i wanted to show that issue as my artefact by creating info graphics with not too much information so it wasnt intimidating or too much to read if you were walking by. the design aesthetic is simpe and clean and

have made the importance of some facts shown by enlarging the statistic values or the emotional words. i chose the animals which are most well known as they are more relateable, yes there are much more endangered species out there but if its not a main one it doesnt seem to catch much attention. i tried to use the animals who were devasted recently between 1970 and now as thats the point of the project and when i explored these facts it really hurt to see just how many animals we know, might not be around in another 40 years.

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Around 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the world

Further global warming will lead to the extinction of polar bears, with the

ice caps melting and there natural habitat being destroyed.

TYPE TRANSCRIPT

Herbert Bayer

Chromatic intersection

Herbert Bayer born 1900 is

one of the individuals most

closely identified to the

bauhaus movement in weimar,

germany. Together with Walter

Gropius, Laszio Moholy-Nagy

and Wassily Kandinsky, Bayer

helped shape a philosophy of

functional design that

extended across disciplines

Below is the piece i used of Bayers as inspiration for my type

face, i saw links in his work to how i would create a typeface and

i did. At first i went wit the two circles on the right as they were

straight and had same thickness in the lines which would make

my type unified. i quickly saw 10 letters emerge unlike the other

source material given so i went with this piece.

ranginf from architecture to

typography and graphic

design. Bayer went on to

create an impressive body of

work, including freelance

graphic commisions,

Modernist exhibition design,

corporate identity programs

and architecture and

enviromental design.

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After drawing out my first designs for the font i found it interesting but lack luster ive always liked to work in flat perspective axonemetricly which just means 45 degrees either left or right you know its 3D but because the perspective is off it makes you think about it for a second and i enjoy the look on people faces. the transfer from paper to illustrator was an easy one and i enjoyed being hunched over with the pen tool. Holding shift made it extremly easy to make my type 3D and it quickly came alive, its not so much a type you could use day to day but thats not what the brief was about, it was about taking the inspiration found in an artists or designers work and making type from it and i think i did that quite well even with adding the 3D which is nothing to do with Bayer. Its called MAFONT because its my font.

MAFONT

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