30/11/16 - What is Research?

Research
- About Practice
- Into Practice
- Experimental Learning
- Knowledge, Analysis, Comprehension, Application, Evaluation, Synthesis.

Process is more important than the final outcome, it's about exploring possibilities, and stepping outside of your comfort zone without being scared of failure.

Intelligent people ask questions!

- Ideas are a kind of currency for design.
- Systematic and stimulating approach.
- It's all about being intuitive.

Research is carried out by using what is already known.
How, What ,Where and Why.

Primary - Collection, Physical Experimentations, Doesn't already Exist

Secondary - Already collected, analysis

- Cumulative, Qualitative

- Assimilation, General Study, development, communication.
- Cyclical process and constant experience.
- Analysis, research, Evaluation, Solution.

23/11/16 - Digital Culture

Digital Production and Distribution
- Connections between knowledge, theory and practice
- More significant than writing/printing - 'We shape our tools, and then the tools shape us'
- The difference between figure and ground, meaning and message.
- Ipad - Enhances learning experience
- Obsolete, old work stations
- The amount available, decreases the novelty
Retrieves the ides of the chalk slate, learning in different ways, in the same rooms.
The new aesthetic is the blending of the virtual and physical.
The Digital Aesthetic. Blurring the lines between reality and digital.
VR - Virtual reality headsets.
Utopia driven by post industrial technological development.
- Dystopia, a community which is undesirable and frightening.
Blade Runner - Bleak Future
- The return of the polaroid - nostalgia, reflects the idea of human development and the analogue aesthetic.
- We always retreat back to what we know.
- Constructing and delivering new information, we seem to be connected but we are still alienated.

16/11/16 - Print Culture 2

- There is beginning to form a noticeable return to older production methods and analogue techniques.
- More people are being taught how to produce via these methods and they are becoming more accessible.
Why?
- Anyone can do it.
- Engages the senses, it is a retreat from the screen and instant results which digital design holds.
- Slower process means you are enjoying life more, experiencing it at it's fullest.
- We as a generation are obsessed with speed and getting things done as fast as possible, and these techniques provide a more relaxed take on life and design in general.
- We want instant gratification and immediate results, we have no time to actually learn skills or reflect upon what we have done or learnt.
- Digital design can be seen as dehumanising, whereas analogue techniques add that human touch which we all crave, these techniques are a rebellion against this.
- Slow Movement - Carl Honore, SLOW, 2004
- Increase in quality of life, it's about people reclaiming their lives.
- About changing logic, not nostalgia.
- Slow Food Manifesto, ideas of the tediousness of fast food, it's better to have locally sourced methods on a smaller scale, similar to these analogue design techniques.
- Such as learning to cook, you actually learn processes and a computer doesn't do it all for you.
- Ideas of slow fashion, is cheap, whereas independent producers are much better.
- Slow design is about recycling, the individual within the environment and sustainability.
- Sociocultural can live in harmony.
- Handmade design is basically humanist politics.
The likes of Anthony Burril, Experimental Jetset, the Print Project, which reclaims old printing presses, putting them to good use again.
- It's about resisting to the logic of the rest of the world, to be different, human and social values need to be re introduced to creative practices.
- At the moment it's about how social relationships and design have been commodified.
- Such as Barbara Kruger's 'I shop therefore I am' campaign.
- Glastonbury Free Press
- Digital Print - Provides infinite sharing of human knowledge
- Regressive, people against technology, analogue techniques seen as refusing t accept the development of technology, the likes of Luddites.
- Interconnected society of free creation.


In conclusion, the re emergence of analogue techniques have come about as reactived art, adding that human touch back into design again.

Study Task 02 - Triangulation and Referencing

26/10/16 - History of Type 1

Language has to be agreed and negotiated by a group of people to be understood.both the sender and receiver of information or language need to be able to understand.
'Type is what language looks like.'
typography is a mechanical process both print and screen based and is ultimately the order and way in which letterforms are laid out, it is the visual form of human language.  Whereas type is the fundamental individual letterforms or glyphs which make up words or language. When type was created it meant that the spoken word could become the written word. The creation of the written word was primarily driven by trade between people and countries. it was the culmination of language and alphabetic forms.
The Rosetta Stone is evidence of the different languages and ways of communication between different groups and how that came about.
The Greek alphabet is the nearest neighbour to our current alphabet now, and our language now actually originates from mainly Germany.
When Johannes Gutenburg invented the printing press in 1450, it meant that type could become a physical thing and when William Forster in 1870 installed the framework for schooling of children, meant that everyone could actually begin to learn how o eead and reap the benefits of type as a physical hing, such as books and newspapers.
The creation of the Bauhaus between 1919 and 1933 meant that the arts and crafts industry came together and began to become industrilsed and type began to shape the future.

Study Task 01 - Finding Research Sources

BA (hons ) Graphic Design

Context of Practice 1

Finding research sources

CoP Theme: Technology

Search terms/key words: Analogue, Handmade, Technology, Printing.

L    LCA Library	1: Fingerprint – Chen Design Associats 2: Tools beyond the Mouse - Wray 3:
Google Books     (preview)	1: Exploring Digital Prepress – Reid Anderson 2: Handmade Nation – Faythe Lavine 3: Smart Works – The Design and the Handmade
Google Scholar	1: Handmade nation: The rise of DIY, art, craft, and design - F Levine, C Heimerl - 2008 - Princeton Architectural 2: The new handmade graphics: beyond digital design - A Odling-Smee - 2002 - RotoVision 3: Objects for use: handmade by design - PJ Smith, A Busch - 2001 - Harry N. Abrams
Websites	1:  It’s Nice That – Nostalgia in Branding             ttp://www.itsnicethat.com/news/nostalgia-in-branding-design-opinion-co-op-natwest-131016 2: Creative Bloq – The future of handmade design http://www.creativebloq.com/future-handmade-design-5132895 3: The Guardian – Art of Craft https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/01/rise-designer-maker-craftsman-handmade
JStor	1: Experiences in Making Drawings by Computer and by Hand -       Colette S. Bangert, Charles J. Bangert 2: The Impact of the Printing Press- Jeremiah E. Dittmar 3: Computers, Printing and Graphic Design - Kenneth G. Scheid

Study Task 01 Research - Fingerprint, Chen Design Associates, 2006

Are we really producing better work because of technology and computers?

Handmade elements can activate a surface and install passion and energy into a piece. 

It can reassure the client that human understanding is the foundation of the message. 

if you were a graphic designer before 1980, you created all your work by hand. Working together to produce a piece of purposeful art. Brought a mix of intellectual and physical challenges.

The intense focus on technology can cloud creative focus.  

Find ways to work within the computers capabilities rather than your own.

‘I was using my hands again which was really liberating’

I wanted to leave her something I had made with my own hands. 

Need to create an image that reveals something about the artist as well as engaging the viewer. 

Letterforms created by the hand communicate directly to the reader on a personal level.

Wanted to create an object that would be cherished more than simply another CD.

Handmade elects and processes add something more interesting and personal to the world of mass consumerism. Scrapes everything back to basics. Makes things stand out in the world we live in, in a sea of ubiquitous packaging/design.

It creates the possibility to create a new different complete look very time.

Create casual and informal products.

OpenType technology - Randomly change letterform in a document. therefore they will be different each time it’s printed.

There is a profound beauty in all things handmade, due to their irregularity. 

Ed Fella, Lawrence Weiner, Paula Scher, Cy Twokmbly, Philip Guston.

How we express who we are, our human imprint. Debbie Millman.

Raw and unpolished. Inspiring. Encourage teens and children to express themselves. 

Combing handcrafted and mechanical sharp edges. Simple and laborious all at once. 

Nostalgia, incorporate sparks of reality into your designs. 

When work is handmade m it has a clear and unique voice.

Our urge to use our hands is a reaction to technology, mass production, conformity and authority.

Hand written, hand drawn elements feel closer to the heart of the author, more personal, honest and genuine. 

The worth of handmade products is more - rarity, authenticity, humanness. 

Would a love letter have the same power if it was typed?

Direct and meaningful communication between artist and designers.

Designers seek that connection between people.

Through the use of our hands that we make our work felt. 

Visual layering represents the never-simple nature of life. 

Always try to reinvent so nothing goes to waste - similarly to the recent trend of companies returning to their old logos.  

When stuck or clueless about a design project, turn to the basics of handmade ideas.

Intent of collage is to create one image with multiple meanings - Vignelli’s idea of ambiguity.

Using stuff around us in general life, not making everything flat.

Choosing a font meant choosing a way to draw. 

Each living page to live on it’s own.

Design that has meaning, felt as well as read, touched as well as heard

To receive something made by hand shows value and intimacy. 

Think of all the handmade aspects used in making a film.

Get to do something you love, surrounded by the smell of ink, oil and glue. 

People will look at the detail. - Ross McDonald.

Handmade designs - limited edition, one of a kind. Personal touches create that intimacy that you find in a child’s drawing on a fridge door. 

Interactive experience. 

Makes craft and texture come alive, initing and engaging the reader. 

Hatch Show Print - Nashville 

Just because something is invented, doesn’t mean you have to buy one and use it. 

Handmade is the antithesis of digital design.

Fascinated with the engineering design process.  Jim Sherraden. 

Physical exertion of setting type, rewards of time intensive sweat and labour, show the benefits of human investment over the machine. 

Personal and cherished designs, imperfect an ultimately disposable.

Believable and honest interpretations. 

Fits budget, publicity needs and communication.

Explore opportunity and individuality. 

Embrace human element of design, it is essential o communicate mutual respect and understanding.

Study Task 01 - Research - It's Nice That and Creative Bloq

Jenny Brewer it’s nice that.

There is a purity to mid century design that comes from it’s simplicity.

Less sophisticated manufacturing.

The advancements in design led technology means we can create anything, but just because we can doesn’t mean we should. - Dan Witchell, Futurebrand

We crave simplicity.

design from the 60s and 70s produced some beautiful examples.

Resrticitons in technology played a part. - Stephen Gilmore, North

With pre digital processes forcing a greater economy of form, to try and do more with less.

Graphic design was a more specialised craft, which afforded the designer more time and respect.

Return to simplicity and stripping back of clutter.  - Michael Johnson, Johnson banks

 Wonderful opportunity for radical, contemporary identity design. the faster technology changes the more opportunities for expression there are.  - Tony Brook, Spin

‘What we had before was stronger and who we were back then was better.

Design has always been a reflection on the past and looking to improve things for the future.

Interested in the ideals of 50s and 60s design, the power design had to change the world.

These design characteristic of economy, simplicity and the use of new technology are more relevant than ever.  - Tim Williams, DesignStudio

creative Bloq -

Driven by a love of craft and materials

Whilst technology may seem at odds with handmade crafts the evolution of both share a trajectory.

Mass produced, machine made and digitally crafted work have given up some ground to the imperfect, tactile and subjective nature qualities of handmade design.

Alienating aspects of technology. 

technology places control and ingenuity back into the hands if the individual.

Analgoue techniques are noe a common sight in branding and advertising.

Theu have become big business with the recession bringing out the make do and mend spirit.

Although they are a pastime, more to do with heritage, sustainability, qualities abundant in the craftsmanshipp of handmade design. 

Sagmeister - Machine made made sense in the 1920s in order to reflect the cultural climate.

More human, subjective approach is the more effective way to communicate.

The digitalisation of design revolutionised graphics in the 90s.

Manual craft is supplanted more and more by digital techniques. 

The digitalisation of design has affected aesthetic development.

Anthony Burrill - It doesn't seem satisfying making things on screen anymore. Handmade it=ntrigues people. 

How can you design anything without knowing how it is produced. 

]more control.

forcing new ways to integrate manual and digital methods. 

use the computer to assist and translate. 

precesnse of handmade elements in digital context

Can be achieved in minutes on the computer. 

A sense of honesty in the handmade process. 

Handmade elements set up a relationship with the viewer.

Computer related image is mystical and abstract, handmade is closeness to reality means the audience is able to relate to images quickly. 

can adapt and imprive almost everything mass produced.

making by hand isn’t just about archaic tools and materials.

Bringing handmade into there and now

It isn’t about nostalgia or making things look old, still looks contemporary. 

The areas where digital and analogue intersect that are the most experimental and innovative. 

Digital design can create cheats and illusions no substitute for the quality of the end product.

About an ethical way of working.

the handmade in design is bound up with wider cultural changes relating to consumption. 

We are rediscovering our hands as tools and making us active participants in designing the future. 

12/10/16 - History of the Image

Between visual image over the years; continuities and similarities can be seen and found.

The earliest from of visual communication can be found in the Lascaux caves in France, which were mark makings from prehistoric times, it is the earliest survival of human image making. 

Seems to be forms of communication to a higher power, almost a feel of a spiritual and spectral communications. 

Discussion of the fact that art institutions of galleries, museums, universities have an authority over us and force us to feel and act a certain way when looking at images and paintings, because we feel we have to convey these emotions. 

Galleries and Museums have similarities to Churches and places of religious interest; as we take a pilgrimage or a journey to view them and look at them.

Another discussion is the 21st century take on viewing art and images; it has turned into a mass culture of smartphones and if we haven't documented what we have seen then we haven't done it. If it isn't documented then it doesn't exist. An example of this is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.

Capitalism has turned art into mass consumerism, paintings and art can be bought and seen everywhere, it degrades art, have they lost their value? Institutions have created this power of visual communication and turned it into a money-making market. 

Idea of Graffiti and resampling art, with the likes of Banksy, once graffiti is out into a gallery it becomes something else; something of a higher power. 

Government's use of visual communication turns the visual image into a weapon, or propaganda.

Art is used as a weapon against art.

The people of the world use art to speak or get a message across to those in higher power. 

Branding- Everything can be branded these days, universities have become commercialised and are now in competition, trying to 'sell' themselves, same with cities. 

Advertising is used to boast, tell us that we can never have that perfect family or perfect lifestyle, yet even though they are diminishing us and putting us down, we still buy into these corporations. 

The idea of photography, specifically war photography can cause organisations and higher powers to reconsider their decisions. The idea that photography can immortalise people - moments before their death. 

Conclusion - Art, Images and overall visual image is becoming more institutionalised and commercialised. Art institutions seem to have authority over us, Governments using artistic image as a weapon. We can't have our own feelings towards art a much as we used to, art isn't as unique or rare as it used to be. Art is being used for many wrong reasons. However image represents revolution and changing times, it is underestimated how much impact a mark, painting, image, photograph can have in this day and age. 

5/10/16 - Visual Literacy - Language of Design

Visual Communication - we can construct multiple meanings from a single image or symbol; without it even being within context. We can then begin to put it into context when comparatives or other parts of the image are displayed.

It is global, although me may not be able to speak other languages, we can speak the language of logos, brands and symbols which are well known all around the world. 

Visual Literacy comes from the English, literacy as we would read pictures and images just as we read a book.

The language of design is an agreement between a group of people that one thing will mean something else, just as with words.

Visual Syntax is how the image is structured and Visual Semantics is the meaning or how the image can be interpreted. 

Semantics - How an image fits within it's context and the relationship between the form of picture and the meaning behind it.

Semiotics - Study of signs and sign processes; Symbol, Sign, Signifier.

Visual Synecdoche - Part of something is used to represent a whole, however this only works when an image is globally recognised. E.g Big Ben - London.

Visual Metonym - Symbolic image with a literal meaning e.g Yellow taxis in New York.

Visual Metaphor - To transfer meaning from one image to another e.g Apple - New York.

Something unfamiliar can be compared to something familiar.

We work on our knowledge that we already have to create meanings for new images and symbols; by placing them into context.

Conclusion - Visual communication of symbols, pictures and images can be read just as a book can. We can create multiple meanings of shapes and symbols just by placing them into context, or using certain shapes and colours. We can also build on what we already know to make the unfamiliar meaningful by comparing it to something familiar. Designers can speak a global language.