Wednesday 14 October 2009

The 10 Point Inspiration for Inspiration Manifesto























This is 'The 10 Point Inspiration for Inspiration Manifesto". Something I came up with for a design project when I was struggling to find any inspiration.

V Festival


Helvetica Decorated






















N, 1, P and T Helvetica decorated typeface designed with influences from 1930's - 1950's home and technology magazines.

Virginia Water Motor Company business card
















Logo design and business card as part of the stationary set designed for Virgina Water Motor Company

Live Practice, The all-inclusive "Open Music Event"


The Letter X

In Law, an 'X' is a mark inscribed to represent the signature of one who is unable to sign their name.


The letter X seems a highly impersonal and de-stylized mark to represent something that is such a personal aspect of identification. It becomes text, or a mark of typography rather than a signature which typically adopts a certain recognition based on handwriting and preference.

Similarly, the type-writer has no personal style or analogue influence to the aesthetic result of its typography. All letters are identical, and this applies whether the imagery is on the page or on the key indicators on the type-writer itself.

Is human influence suggested through notion of the 'X' replacing the signature?Through inscription? Typing? Writing? Signing? After all, in both signing an 'X' and typing one, human involvement exists in the function of the hand. However, it could be argued that both also suggest an absence. The type-writer has increasingly evolved from analogue to digital, resulting in what we now know as the computer, which is capable of functioning without human influence or supervision. The automatic age has introduced the idea that the formation of our identities no longer require ourselves. One of the many meanings of 'X' is 'the unknown', for example "There was 'X' amount of rainfall this year", therefore implying a representation of something unspecific, or something that may not actually be present.

Yet, in research I carried out, where twenty-four people were asked to sign an 'X' to represent their signature, asking them specifically to concentrate on developing their own personal style, I found that, despite the 'X' being an apparently crude mark due to its universal qualities to represent a person, human touch and personal influence were actually very prominent.

Therefore in my final piece, my aim was to incorporate both ideas of personal and impersonal and both ideas of absence and presence in one piece. To do this, my aim was to use the image of a type-writer, but instead of using standard A-Z generic text, the image would be altered by replacing these letters with just one repeated 'X', focusing on the personalised 'X' composed by individuals featured in my research.

Lucho - 'Christmas Knees Up'












































These posters publicise a music event headed by the acoustic/blues band 'Lucho'. The two posters work together as a series but have been designed to stand individually. There is a theme running through both of them, thereby meaning that they work as a single design piece when displayed side by side.

Reflective Practice Seminar re. 'We Are Here'

What did you achieve/learn?
What did you find difficult?
What did you find easy?
How did I feel?

The 'We Are Here' presentation allowed me to apply some of the skills that I acquired from last years assessments. These in particular being demonstrative skills, such as articulating my idea with clarity and confidence. Practicing these presentation skills allowed me to practice communicating effectively, and I realized the importance of the combination of a physical presentation and the commentary or narrative as a result of presenting my work. Some presentations will not communicate effectively when purely visual or purely audial, my presentation being one of them. Something I learned is that visual presentation and running commentary should be demonstrated in sync with each other, and this is something that I found difficult.
When presenting an idea, it is also difficult to avoid feeling intimidated by the audience, which then leads to nervousness, which then leads to presentation skills partially disappearing when under pressure. Something I would like to achieve over the next year is the ability to feel completely comfortable when presenting an idea or finished piece etc, to an audience, therefore presenting efficiently.
Other aspects of my presentation that I specifically remember learning is more practical, for instance the dynamics of using 'Quicktime' and presenting a movie, the importance of test running a presentation and technological preparation.
I didn't really find anything particularly easy, but hopefully, over the next year as a result of presenting on a more regular basis, I will feel that the process does become a lot easier to do.

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