Amaya's project /

Amaya /

Rapture and curiosity. We expect both sensations when considering a book. However million of them have been published, we still want to feel utterly delighted and surprised, in a way. These books envelopes must be unique, stand out from the crowd; it is a key point in the process of catching our moody attention in the shelves of any bookstores or libraries. Once they are in your hand, it’s a balance of words, colours and format that will bring you opening it and discover what’s actually happening behind the cover.
Judith Schalansky achieved my ideal representation of a book. What her Atlas of remote islands suggests, is a total perfection, from it first idea to it realisation. Award as the most beautiful German book in 2008, it has been acclaimed for it delicacy and avant-gardism.
The subheading of the book (Fifty islands I have not visited and never will) highlights with humour the distance graphic designers may have to take with their subjects. Obviously it would have been impossible for Judith to go and visit these islands, but remains that thought which is: How can we talk about a subject we don’t know while keeping a total credibility? In information design, visual techniques of representation (eg. mapping) should be use conscientiously. And Judith takes a great care on pinpointing her island with a great accuracy. Each of them is represented on a globe, for an overall point of view; plus, she added the distance, in kilometres, from the closest countries. The visual system she uses to reflect hills and valleys, though it is fairly poetic, re-use some graphic codes we are familiar with, which makes it perfectly understandable (eg. The density of dots suggests a radical change in altitude / the thin fluo details, in contrast with the grey of the nature, represent a human activity. It could be roads, as well as habitations).
I also fancy the guideline she follows: a mixture of objectivity and subjectivity. One part is pure geographical representation of the islands, historical and social datas such as the number of inhabitants and a time-line of some main events. The other part, by contrast, is a narrative: a story about an event she picked and choose to describe in her words. However it is sticking to facts that actually happened, she gives it a touch of romantic that make it less down to Earth. Eventually her book gains a storytelling angle. It’s not anymore a simplistic representation of islands.
It’s in this field that I would like to heighten my efforts: How to create subjective mapping? Which means avoiding a content that would be purely sticking to a technical representation.
How to mix a subjective and an objective approach? Or how to condense divergent ideas about style in a single project.
How to follow a minimalist approach? Being able to convey lots of information with a purist representation.
How to build a book from A to Z? Judith did actually the whole book, from writing the stories to creating the type (Sirenne) and editing it with a great care on details (Pantone and colour settings).

Feedback dummy presentation Amaya

6min 45s

Some slides to follow what you’re saying.

Tell me more about the selection of a country.

So what? Interest more in visualization than in the subject.

Quality of infographics. Graphics have to speak strongly.

Infographics

Interesting article about info graphics in the Independent on Sunday today.

Thursday Meeting - Amaya

Amaya:

Global graphic design. Repetition. Standards.

It’s about globalization and graphic design vs. idea of originality.

Representing ideas by graphics. Play with statistics.

Infographics about design by country on google.

Aim for the end of MA: learn information design.

Suggestions:

General ideas: need to understand that make the process clear – focus on something. Show it with an example.

Something to make it more entertaining: music?

Check books about design by countries: libraries.

How internet (globalization) influences graphic design?

Write the script and see what you can do until the presentation.

What if you did a very typical survey in the class and ask them the highest references of graphic design by country.

A lecture by ANDREW WATSON
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Andrew Watson, in his quality of photographer, developped his lecture around the notions of research, prospection and experimentation. Along his various projects remains the idea of playing with his medium and investigate new ways of using it. One of his main project have been, at a starting point, self-initiate. However, he has been able to take advantage of technical issues to develop and achieve it brillantly. Watson was looking for a new interpretation of the White Horse of Segsbury. That Iron age sculpture have been already shoot many time, but he had the feeling that his black and white photographies could emulate it a bit more. Though he couldn't expected that archeologists were actually doing some important excavations there in the same time. Frustrated for a while, he nevertheless decided to take on that opportunity. That led him to a three month cooperation and a successful final exhibition. By working in pair with them, Watson learnt another kind of process clinked to the archeologists one. He finaly decide to photograph the excavations they were creating, following their scientifical rigour and high achieving technique.
He talked to us with the maturity of a professional photographer, in term of budget, partnership and perfectionism, but also with the freedom of an artist, discernable along his carrier, by the choices of his investments as well as in the grand quality of his pictures.

TUTORIAL 10/02

SOO-YOUNG

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Line / space / dots / Korean typography

Korean traditional patterns > Omnipresence of lines. Reuse that lines to use them in typography.

Patterns provides grids > grids which will be the basis of a new type, based on Korean alphabet.

Who : Korean designers. Because Korean typefaces are very old fashion. Revisiting and renewing an ancestral tradition of writing.

Against globalization, a come-back to Korean culture.

Check Tom Foley, Stephanie Schwartz, Phil Baines

Show more example of Korean typography.

Present a draft of typography.

PAULA

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Can we improve peoples eating habits and change the future of food?

Practice / Presentation report / Schedule

Jamie Oliver, nutritionists, doctors, questionnaires

Self-initiated project: Graphic system explaining the problems, translate nutritional table using analogies, visualization of food systems.

The self-initiated project which help finding the final idea.

Target: Children or parents? Who educates?

JAMES

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The concept of heritage and patriotism.

Ideology and beliefs, which have been passed out today.

Stage of development: Type of heritage, understanding people devotion.

Outcomes > A book.

Cynical or not approach to the patriotism.

The Wave, Il Divo, Steve Bell,

CHLOE

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Vanitas > invented by Dutch painters. Is art the ultimate solution to cope with the taboo of death?

Thanatophobia.

Methods: Transfer, drawing on papers.

Coming with her own vanita’s lexical.

Collecting testimonies. Last Dance (book about death) / Damien Hirst, Great Ormond Street Hospital

A book including 3 parts : Children adults and elderly person

>Art therapy

MARTHA

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Mistake and perfection

Take picture of imperfection of human bodies, nature, types

Interviews, Amelie Bonhome > Collected drafts

Questionnaire > For people of our course.

Focus group, qualitative analysis.

Outcomes > Collection of all the imperfection in the world.

Daniel Eatock, theory of relativity, golden section, Bruce More, Paul Adam,

ANNA

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Food, the medium. Meaning of emptiness > The reason why we eat.

Food exhibition, childhood museum.

Develop what happen when you eat.

Audience > Children and parents

Teenagers

Questionnaire, cultural probes, interview (later on), workshop.

Eating behaviour (book)

Think about the presentation > performance ?

Ferran Adria

PABLO

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Walkman. Sony.

Relate objects with time and people.

No precise focus right now.

Outcomes > Chris Heathcote,

Do a story / compare-combine two objects /

Old shoes

RITA

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How? History of medical illustration, information design, dvp of outcomes.

What communication design around Dementia already exists?

Who’s ? 3 different targets.

Final outcomes ? a personalize object, genealogic tree (stickers)

CAROL

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Can communication design reveal messages in contemporary dance?

Research in dance audience shows.

Emotions in dance. Music / dance / visuals.

Pete Brooks.

How music videos enhance music.

Maybe change question?

AMAYA

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Break down the mecanism of repetition.

Between inspiration and plagiarism, where does our influences comes from, and how much they alienate us.

Mapping some recurrent cliches in graphic design.

Question people (through interviews) about how close they feels / how much distance they take with a global graphic design

Examinate how the local become international via a mecanism of repetition

> Paul Rennie / Mac Candless / Otho Neurath / Edward Tufte / David Boyle

A lecture by PETE BROOKS -

Well known in his area, Pete Brooks is now additionally teaching at St Martins, in his quality of Scenographer. He quickly dedicated himself to a post modern dramatism, experimenting via films as well as performance and theatre. In order to bring that last one to a widest audience, he tried in his way to put the pieces of fragmented culture all together. The post-dramatic landscape of 1984 have been the starting point of his carrier. In-between minor's strikes and burning discussions around an hypothetic nuclear war.

At that time theatre remained more powerful than novel or cinema. But moving images had also that huge impact on audience. As he noticed, it was rather more difficult to convinced through dramatics. Often obscure, hard to understand. In an other hand, people where expecting pleasure when going to the cinema.

Pete Brooks defines himself as a story teller. He created cinematic frames and narrative using what he called as their "substance". As an example, Hamlet doesn't have any substance. It's an idea contained in a book.
He built himself a notoriety with his radical approach of filming and representing. His Hotel Methuselah has been applaud by professionals as well as amateurs.

Since constructivists broke, in the early 20th Century, the whole illusion of theatre, Brooks have been to give brilliantly a new angle to his camera. By mapping and renewing totally the scenographic structures of his emotional narratives.

A lecture by KEN HOLLINGS -

Ken Hollings started his lecture, as usual, by drowning us in a auditive and visual document. A way of introducing a correct atmosphere. The day lecture dealt with panic and crisis.

A theoretical lecture containing a wide range of references and knowledge, from ancian Greece to Western contemporaneity, from books to branding, from science to philosophy.

The framework of his discourse was the labyrinth, it projection and it interpretation.

Thus, when Ovide explored the great myth of transformation in his book the Metamorphosis, he obviously dedicated a chapter to Dedale and his son Icare, who escaped from their own labyrinth by turning themselves into flying machines. Or how the first ingenior ever run away from a death sentence by flying-over an intricate self-production.

"The labyrinth you don't even know you are in". Of course bring us back to Plato's cavern myth, where humans deliberately choose blindness instead of the experiment of lucidity.

And that similar labyrinth we will find later-one, in a world-renown Microsoft campaign : "Where do you want to go today ?" The magic carpet they offer you to get rid of your chains, and repeat the same shema than Dedale thousands year before. Our screen will bring us overseas. Except that this last emancipation remains virtual.

But when it comes to affect people mind, Stanley Loogan process is a brilliant example of our natural insanity in crisis situations. 50% will continue until the point of extermination. What motivated us ? What would we fear the most ? Will we remains stuck in our conformity ?

Welcome to the labyrinth, this is where we are going to be for a little bit of time.

A lecture by MISCHA HALLER -

Mischa Haller is a London-based Swiss photographer. As an extremely prolific artist, he choose to build his lecture in a narrative way, from his first impacting project to his last realisation. Haller has collaborate a while with the Independent magazine. Additionally he have been part of the brand new visual identities of some of the main UK's cities.

As a photographer he intentionally tended to work in pair with graphic designers, producing some official leaflets and advertising, and fine artists (His last creation is exposed on a wall in Bethnal Green Rd).

Although we must be nothing but impressed by the quantity of projects Haller have been involved in, I personally regret the lack of diversity of his main works. He obviously worked for clients whom rigidity and conformism required a certain adaptability. Thus I have been glad to notice how he managed to offer them an alternative display. Eg, when dealing with cold season and britain landscape, he highlighted as much as possible human presence, movement, colours.

A real sensibility which embodies the humanity in his work.

Haller, therefore, shouldn't be renown for his main production, a huge but non diverse panel of conformist photographies. Coming back to his first photo-book, we can see his ability to be a gorgeous rough story teller. A fine artists which have been corrupted by commercial works.

Colours in culture

I'm sure you already know this.

But I have to post something to create a label :p

Rapid prototyping

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A lecture by Ben Kenezevic

Rapid prototyping is a pre-production of rapid manufacturing, also known as the layer technology, the freeform fabrication, or the 3D printer. That time compression process uses additive manufacturing technology, which consists in joining materials layers upon layers to create a 3D object.

It was originally invented in 1980 to create models and prototypes. However it promptly became the cheapest and quickest way of producing high-complexity objects. Rapid prototyping is nowadays renown for 3D constructions, and used by technicians, designers as well as fine artists. 30% of his worldwide production is used by the car industry. But product, medical and aerospace design remains main producers of that layer technology.

It permits to realize shapes which would ordinary be impossible to create. It has no geometrical limitation. Undercuts, hollow forms, thin wall castings…

That fully automated process is everything but time-consuming (70% quicker than any other technology), which helps reducing from half the cost productions.

The stereolythography, the fused deposition manufacturing, the 3D printing or the laminated object modelling are part of a wide range of additive technologies (using the layer system), which means, declensions of rapid prototyping process. Each of them use very specific material: metal, plastic, polymer, paper or even wax.

Except for the 3D printer, they all produce unicolor objects. However it remains possible to inject colours in the resin, and give the illusion of another material (e.g. Metal). A CAD file (computer aided design), which should use vectors, for a fine result, should be saved in .STL before being proceeded by the machine. Everything is automatic, and contingent on the complexity and the size of the object, the process could take from few hours to some days.

Rapid manufacturing is a technology that leads to astonishing results, due to his various applications. From solid to flexible materials, from simple to intricate shapes, used as well by artists and scientists, that cost-friendly process should remains for a while the leader of the pre-production area.

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Visual complexity and crime prevention

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A workshop with Paul Ekblom and Reading University

In education, a workshop is a brief intensive course, a seminar or a series of meetings emphasizing interaction and exchange of information among a usually small number of participants.

Last Thursday, Sadhna Jain and Annegrete Molhave, a former Phd student of St Martins, introduced us to Paul Ekblom, expert in crime prevention. The purpose of the workshop, in addition of meeting the Information design students of Reading University, was to try a representation of the complexity, through Ekblom researches.

The main idea was for him to condense all his researches in a web-based site or in a DVD.

This multimedia application should have contained: Knowledge about crime and safety, knowledge about what works and how to make it happens, and more than all how to involve people in implementing the action.

He introduced us to SARA, a problem-solving model which could be applied for any kind of issues: Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment.

Ekblom actually developed and went deeper in that process by creating the 5Is.

-Intelligence

-Intervention

-Implementation

-Involvement

-Impact

Follows a wide choice of innovating solutions

A huge process, which had to organize, represents all his ideas, and which should be both interactive and user-friendly.

He asked us to look in representing an appropriate complexity:

“Theories should be simple as possible but not simpler”, Einstein.

A free-access database website may helps reducing the impact of crime and disorders in the communities.The result of the day was a wide range of approaches and solutions developed by each group, and a nourishing debate with Ekblom on our ideas and a possible sustainability of the projects.

First term project / Amaya //

Master subject / Amaya //

Study Proposal_

What? Information design

Each country develops strong and unique graphic codes, which result from a mix of cultural, social and historical background. Some relevant countries (due to their characteristic graphic design’s approaches) will be picked up and compared. (Quantitative + qualitative analysis)

The project will tend to examine the impact of globalization in some countries, and will demonstrate how some others use and maintain their cultural identity.

The analysis of those results should leads to information design content. How can cultural probes be turn into datas?

The areas of research are not restrictive. It could be anything crossing graphic design in a way or another. Typography, ethnography, art history, patterns & printing methods, chromatic scales, creative people…

The project could equally be extended to the impact of culture on the graphic designer’s originality. Are we 100% reflection of our common background? Or are we a mix of both personality and uniformity?

HOW CULTURE ALIENATE US ?

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