PDF: task5
My list of words with opposite meaning is as follows:
Drunk – Sober, Heavy – Light, Solid – Liquid, Straight – Curved.
I chose to make the task with the pair Straight – Curved because I thought it was fairly easy to express the meaning of the words visually in opposition to each other.
I have figured this will be my last blog post reflecting on presentations, sessions and readings. All the task and design problems are simply too time-consuming for me to be able to focus on something else in this module.
We had a couple of presentations about Punk Rock and British Post Punk. The presentations made me think about how these characteristics in these periods are beeing reflected in so much more than just designs and visuals. The later presentation about Post Punk was focusing a lot about the context of designs and how it was closely related to music, political orientations etc. Following the presentations, we had a discussion about
Following the presentations, we had a discussion about how things like punk-rock took part in the transition from modernism to post-modernism. How the thought of “less is more” became “less is a bore”, and the systematic, simplistic and organised way of expressions was replaced with collages, loads of different references and original combinations. Back when I attended film school some years ago I did an assessment where I discussed if the post-modernistic way of thinking is decreasing in popularity again. Some scientist actually suggests that age of post-modernism has ended and that we, in reality, are living in an age of “post-post-modernism” where the tendency as again a more simplistic way of living and expressing our self. The claim is that humanity is fed up with the diversity and ambiguity, and want an easier and simpler way to deal with our societies jungle of semantic signs and references. Personally, I think this might be proven true in the future sometime. If we listen to today’s top-trending pop songs, for instance, I think it’s hard to ignore how many tracks has become more and more “uniform” and how they share more and more similar characteristics again (an electronic beat for instance).
PDF: problem1
I tried to group the “modest exciting” photographic objects from my student accommodation together by shared characteristics and similarities. Not mutch more to say.
Sources:
Open multiple image files as layers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAyczd4Q-18
Resizing and cropping layers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61yEOZsFL34
PDF: problem2
The words I came up with that had no “obvious visual reference” was: expectations, crudity and consciousness. I chose to work with the word “expectations”.
I tried to make the text express how you can gradually build up big expectations for something, and how you suddenly can lose your excitement when it (the event, happening, relationship etc.) doesn’t live up to your imaginations. I tried to use points, lines and planes to emphasise this feeling by making the letters bigger, thicker, angling them more and more upwards and have a “line of emotions” go through the whole word. It eventually ends up in a “lower state of mind” than in the beginning.
PDF: problem1_combined
Animation: https://www.dropbox.com/s/999k9wevxl17oi6/problem1_v6.mp4?dl=0
It’s necessary to download the video file from dropbox and play it in a video player to watch the animation. It’s made in Photoshop.
Sources:
Timeline animation in Photoshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-0uUEtLfN0
PDF: problem2
Finding a random free magazine at the library, I cut several 5 inches pieces, scanned them to jpeg-files, and imported them into photoshop to organise them into some sort of a “story”. I also clicked the “random article” at Wikipedia, and made use of the first article that appaired. I early realised, my mind wanted to make some kind of a chronological story with a certain continuity, rather than a poetic pice based on feelings. It ended up as some kind of a historical throwback to the wild west. I used only one article but cut some pieces here and there, to try to make the text compliment the images to a certain degree. I also tried to use the layout and colours of my own inserted text, to compliment the “story”.
Sources:
How to make background for text: https://affinity.serif.com/forum/index.php?/topic/12071-how-do-i-change-background-fill-on-text-box/
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville_Theater_ambush
PDF: problem2
I only found one figure to play with, but I tried to place it to compare it to different objects using different angles. The bunny is apparent in every picture and can be used as sort of a measurement to determine other objects’ size.
PDF: problem2
Here I tried to find some sort of balance while playing around with a big variety of fonts, sizes and differently placed paragraphs.
PDF: task4
For me, using Photoshop is something entirely new. I started out by just using the provided psd-file with different shapes, and played around with rearranging, rotating and scaling just to get a feel of how the tools worked. For the first document, I ended up just making some kind of a human-like creature by arranging/scaling the shapes. In my two next documents, I tried to be aware of what I had read about rhythm, balance, scaling and colour when I started making original designs. These two designs developed into what they became while experimenting. I didn’t have any specific thought about what they should represent. In my last document, I tried to plan in advance approximately how each prototype-“logo” should look like, and what dey could potentially have been used for. I imagined a logo for an environment-focused organisation, a film distribution company, a convenience store chain, and a fitness centre.
Sources:
Cropping shapes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpisHB7oo38
We started off the session with a presentation about modernism, and how this period influenced designs and layouts based on Bauhaus and Maholy Nagy. For a long time, I have known about the main characteristics of modernism and how it influenced people’s visual expression. For me, it was especially interesting to see examples of pre-modernistic posters and then some examples of modernistic ones. By beeing presented this, we could visually compare main elements of the two periods. It was interesting to see how modernism kind of “cleaned up” all the mess seen in earlier designs and made the whole design more “readable” for the common eye. It’s also interesting to see how post-modernistic designs have abandoned the minimalistic and systematic expressions, often used in modernistic ones and made the designs more “messy” again (though in a less chaotic manner than pre-modernism).
This documentary was all about the typeface called Helvetica, wich is a sans-serif font developed by swiss typography designers during the 50’s. The movie gave insight into how important this font has been (and still is) in everyday life in the modernistic and post-modernistic society. It is basically a well-balanced typeface design, which proved to be easily read as well as expressing a sort of peaceful vibe. This made Helvetica a big “hit”, and in today’s post-modernistic society we still see this typeface all around us every day used in signs, headlines, books etc. In post-modernistic thinking, there is often an idea of that the design of the typeface itself should contribute to the overall visual expression. Because of that, Helvetica is sometimes viewed as boring and old-fashioned nowadays as the design doesn’t really convey any significant “message” in itself. All in all, this documentary made me more aware of how important an “apparently insignificant thing” as a specific typeface can be in everyday life and has been part of my life without me even noticing it.
Common sign using Helvetica
This was our firs introduction to photoshop, where we got some brief instructions and practice using layers and moving content within them. I think it was especially useful to learn about “smart objects”, and how they can be used within photoshop while they are still linked to its original file wich make the smart object change in photoshop if the original is changed.
Photoshop is the only software I’ve had plans learning for a long time, but never really gotten into yet. With my background in film and photography, I’ve used plenty of other central software used in creative fields like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere and Photoshop Lightroom. To learn the basics of photoshop would not only help me throughout this module, but would also contribute greatly to my opportunities as a photographer and filmmaker. Sometimes It’s not possible to manipulate a picture to a certain extent with Photoshop Lightroom alone, and sometimes it would have been useful to be able to insert custom made photoshop layouts in a editing software like Adobe Premiere.
Sources:
Helvetica sign: https://visionsofcarrie.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/4121776353_9df2ea983d_b-2.jpg
PDF: task3_v3
I decided to go on using InDesign also for this task as I want to get more familiar with it. I started out watching a video about how to work with grids using margins, columns, and guides. At first, I just played around a little without looking at the examples provided for the task (http://gdbasics.com/html/grid/designProblem1.html), which resulted in an improvised first version of the task where I divided a document into nine rectangles without any spread (gutter). Inspired by the colour wheel I placed complimentary colours on the opposite sides of the document with a row of grey tones splitting them apart. It didn’t turn out to be something visually great, but I learned the basics of using margins, columns, and guides.
In my second attempt, I tried to follow the provided example closely to make something very similar. I made a new document and made it a symmetric square because it would fit my nine smaller squares I was supposed to fit in.My first problem was how to perfectly align nine squares symmetrically inside my document. I didn’t want to place them approximately by hand. I googled a bit and found a solution using a script in InDesign named “MakeGrid”. By using this script I could easily make a symmetrical grid within a certain selection (my document), choosing numbers of rows/columns, gutter etc. After making nine squares, I selected each of them and made a nine square grid within each of them. Wen filling colours I started out copying the example for the first tree, before trying original combinations I found interesting.
In the second part of the task, I also started out copying the example before doing original but similar designs. I imagined the darker areas as images/illustrations, and the brighter ones as blocks of text. Even though I didn’t use nine symmetrical squares in these layouts, I still used the “MakeGrid” a lot to start off with the intended amount of rows/columns. I often adjusted their size, placement and spread later by hand, wich means I didn’t always get the same margins in my design. Because this only was supposed to be rough drafts of design, I figured it was ok. Because I have worked quite a bit as a professional photographer, I couldn’t help but start to imagining the layouts as promoting different situations using pictures with accompanying text. In four of the drafts, I actually fitted some of my recent pictures. One of them as a sort of promotion for Brighton’s west pier, two of them as “thank you notes” after a wedding, and the last one as an article about me as a photographer.
Sources:
Colour wheel: http://hgtvhome.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/hgtv/fullset/2011/7/18/0/HGTV_Color-Wheel-Full_s4x3.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.616.462.jpeg
Dividing frames into grids: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/331696
Working with grids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIj_2GpjXuE
Gradient tool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb995r7zE8w
Managing pages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82uq5_HixKY
Placing and formatting images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YL2QSai9Ng
PDF: task2.pdf
To do this task I used InDesign, and I found several youtube videos helpful as we never did something similar in our workshop with Indesign. We did go through the same processes in Illustrator, but it was still a god thing to have the videos guide you through the steps in the right software. When I chose posters i chose the ones who was the most thought provoking for me while I was browsing through them. I did not focus that much on the aesthetics. I did not figure out why the edge of the second last poster showed up a little in my last one. I made sure they were placed properly like the others. I have to get this cleared up by consulting my tutor.
Website where I found my five posters:
Video sources:
I have never made a website or blog before. As a professional photographer, I’ve had plans about making my own website for years, but have never had the courage to start the process. Hence this blog should be a good exercise for making a proper website at a later point. When I chose my overall theme I wanted something simplistic, uncomplicated and tidy. I got rid of all buttons I felt I didn’t have use for in this blog (such as sosial network buttons). I think this simple WordPress blog will serve it’s purpose as something to just give an overview of my study work rather than being all fancy, impressive or shiny. The featured logo that’s in front of the header image is the log I use as a photographer, and I just wanted to use it because I could.
This first session’s practical work was supposed to be an introduction to Adobe In Design. Unfortunately In Design wasn’t able to start up om most of our labs computers, witch resulted in a session where we tried to use Adobe Illustrator as if it were In Design. This wasn’t an optimal solution. These two applications are slightly different, and is ment to serve to slightly different purposes. I think this was causing trouble. Even our tutor didn’t manage to do all of the basic tasks we were supposed to do. This could be due to some mysterious technical problems, but I felt that this emulation of In Design using Illustrator also caused trouble. We focuses mostly on how to use grids, squares, gradients and inserted pictures, but it turned out to be more theory than actual practical work for most of us as. At the end of the day, this session wasn’t very useful.
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