OUGD406 - Studio Brief 02 - Study Task 1: Book Analysis

Study Task 1: Book Analysis

Name of book : Graphic Design Worlds/Words 

Author(s): 

Silvia Sfligiotti

Andrew Blauvelt

Max Bruinsma

Ellen Lupton

Carlo Vinti

Steven Heller

Emily King

Alice Twemlow

Sergio Polano

Maddalena Dalla Mura Giorgio Camuffo

Edited by: Giorgio Cammuffo & Massalena Dalla Mura

Publisher: Mondadori Electa (Acc) 

Binding: Paperback

No. of Pages: 336

Purpose/Concept:

Graphic Design Worlds wants to shine a spotlight on graphic designers for the general public, highlighting the role they play as interpreters and actors of contemporary social, cultural and economic life today, producers of creative universes and potential catalysts for change, both locally and on a global level. 

Context:

The book brings together words and texts that have accompanied the great effort that has gone into organising this event. It also compares the different visions of these worlds through the voices of historians and critics who have been observing them, studying them and spending time with them for years.What was once generically called "graphics" and has more recently been catalogued under the umbrella of visual communications is today considered an expression of contemporary culture closely interwoven with a number of different fields and disciplines. A phenomenon that when viewed in close-up reveals alternative ways of interpreting the world, work, relationships, and hints at educational models that transcend professions and individual projects, addressing society as a whole. Yet despite this richness the world of graphic design remains largely undiscovered and unstudied, especially beyond the narrow confines of the profession itself. Graphic Design Worlds/Words investigates the works and history of the some of the international contemporary scene's most interesting graphic designers as a prism offering a multifaceted glimpse of the fields they work in, the interlocking networks behind the scenes and the vital links in today's world.

Classification:

Graphic Design

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 01 - Design Is About Doing: Secret 7

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 01 - Design Is About Doing: Secret 7

All my digital designs were based on The Supremes - Reflections. The lyrics were part of my inspiration to these designs as well as the melody. 

My first design was based upon the elements of reflections. I looked at photographs of broken glass and attempted to create an abstract depiction of the glass however I felt that this did not turn out quite as well as I expected so I instantly discounted this.

My second design was based around similar principles of the broken glass idea, however I incorporated a reflection of a sunset into the background this created an idea of a broken reflection of a happy way of life, linking back to the lyrics "Reflections of you and me, Reflections of the way life used to be."

I developed another design based on this idea. 

Next I took this idea of a broken reflection again and included the artist Diana Ross into the image. I cut the image of her up into various sections to give an illusion of a mirror reflecting different angles of her face which is a link back to the different elements of love. I then added a painted heart on top of it to symbolise love itself.

In a crit I was told to discard this, but I decided to keep it as it clearly shows that the song is about love. However I felt the smaller heart worked better and it wasn't as empowering over the cut up images of her.

I created my final 3 designs on the love ideology. I placed a painted heart onto a similar textured background. I wanted it to be a reflection of love at its simplest form with bright eye-catching colours that make you feel something.

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 01 - Design Is About Doing

OUGD406 - Studio Brief 01 - Design Is About Doing

We were given a brief to produce a 7x7 inch album cover for one of the following tracks and submit it into a competition named Secret 7. 

LIVE BRIEF: SECRET 7” http://secret-7.com/ Design a 7" record sleeve for one of the following 7 artists: The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be The Supremes - Reflections The Maccabees - Go Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers St. Vincent - Digital Witness Underworld - Born Slippy After listening to each of the tracks I chose two of my favourite which I felt I could be most  creative with these were;  The Maccabees - Go  & The Supremes - Reflections  I created some quick sketches of ideas I could possibly create.

OUGD404 - Study Task 03 - Type Setting

Type Setting

We were asked to Re typeset Lewis Carrolls - A Mouses Tale using a postmodern approach and modernist approach.

OUGD404 - Study Task 04 - Bookbinding

At vernon street  we completed a book binding workshop where we learnt three different methods in which to bind books together. These were, Pamphlet stitch, Japanese stab stitch and the concertina fold bind. 

The first method we learnt was the pamphlet stitch. I found this the easiest one to do. We got our spreads folded them and then marked out where we position the holes for the stitching. There were three holes measured evenly across the spine. We then added the cover which was a lot thicker and simply stitched where the holes were in a certain way using a needle and thread. The thread was visible on the outside of the spine.

The next binding method was the Japanese stab stitch, I didn't really like this particular binding method as I felt it didn't really display the page spreads as well as the pamphlet stitch did as you loose about 2cm of the page as well as it being particularly difficult to turn the pages. This method uses single sheets instead of spreads with a single sheet on each side for the cover. This stitching method is more difficult but once it's learnt it is just repeated. 

Finally, we learnt the concertina fold. This involves sticking spreads together back to front to make a ziz-zag kind of shape.  We also created a hard back cover, which I felt looked the best. This was made with board and then some cover cloth wrapped stuck around it. This method allows the book to be read in a different way.