Gronk Design

With week four came the submission of our first assignment. Time management isn’t my strongpoint- especially combined with moving back home to canberra, losing my job and all the rest of it. phew. Basically, I chucked this assignment together in a day or so. This was almost helpful, though; I found myself forced into making decisions, what the page structure will look like, the main plot lines and what the secondary characters will look like. I created an established storyline and figured out what should happen where. I am not entirely happy with the style i proposed, but I will work on that as the process continues. Im looking forward to the continuation of my research, reading more graphic novels and working on my own too. 

Week 3 - I didn’t attend class this week but I spent the time I had exploring storyline and character work. I figured out my two main characters: Tilda and Kelly. Additional characters: 2 coworkers, an uber driver, three old men. I finalised my storyline and started blocking pages. I decided I would utilise ink and fineliner pens along with a pop of acrylic or watercolour to include colour in the work. 

Week 2 - Initial concepts and ideas This week I began brainstorming storylines and concepts I wanted to explore. The vital points i wanted to include were: -Semi-auto biographical, similar to stories like Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir “Fun Home” or Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis.  - Science fiction related, channeling novels like Paper Girls, as well as the classic comic vibe. -About my experiences in melbourne, my POV as an outsider. My lifestyle working in a pub, late nights late mornings, unexpected friendship and the varied things we bond over. - Personal; something I’d be proud to share with my family and friends - Visually respectful of my style, but maybe push myself.

Storylines filled my brain about waking up and not knowing what day or time it is, not relating to melbourne people, thinking of cultural differences as “Alien”. I workshopped this idea, without being able to figure out exactly how to represent myself as different from those around me.  

17 original posts made by me

3 reblogs from other students

When I started this degree I didn’t know where I sat as a designer. It was pretty overwhelming but I suppose I had a simple personal objective to grow as a designer, strengthen my skills and find confidence with myself in the field.

I’m pleased to say I definitely achieved these goals. My technical skills have developed and I’ve gained a bunch of confidence through collaboration and sharing with my fellow student designers. I’ve learned style isn’t visual and my own design can be individual to me, as well as interpreted differently by others (and that’s ok!).

The history of design has been really interesting to me this semester, from the early type and gothic/black letter through different historical context, to the relatively quick advancement of Modernism, Postmodernism, Conceptualism and now the present. Skills i’ve developed are mainly with research, collage and and zine making.

Design-Ethics and the morals necessary in design was a movement that was particularly interesting to me; specifically the First Things First Manifesto published by Ken Garland. With over 400 graphic designers on board of this manifesto, this collaboration and community is inspiring to me as a developing designer.

I’ll sum up this post with one of my favourite things Andy and Karen introduced us to: Inspirobot. https://inspirobot.me/

(firstly, @robydoescommdesign shared a post similar to this that inspired me to make this one. thanks for that xx)

I wanted to share some images and links to other artists I was considering interviewing because sharing is caring and I think it’s important that we’re all constantly finding out about new and different creatives.

Okay, initially Nort.TV was an artist I wanted to talk to about their work. Very little info about the artist themself is shared online, they have an instagram @nort.tv and an online store, but no personal information.

Nort.tv’s work has character, invokes an instant emotive response with me and has a very stylistic illustrative quality. I love it so much I got one of his little mermen tattood on me (with permission of course.) https://www.instagram.com/p/BmEw0NvHCwz/?igshid=12x6xndqtpo8k

Next is Lucy Dickinson who is a RMIT fashion graduate and a designer working in New York, USA. Lucy Dickinson is Currently working with Discount Universe, another Australian brand. Her designs blow my mind and considering she studied at RMIT I thought she would be interesting to interview. She was my second option but my first replied and agreed to be interviewed 🤩 http://www.lucydickinson.net/vamff and her instagram is @6ft.germ

Hannah Miller aka Hanecdote is an artist I’ve been following for several years and who’s art has developed an insane amount within that time. Primarily a hand embroiderer, Hannah’s art focuses around feminism, sexual liberation, London, Grime and mental health awareness. PLUS she has two really cute cats called Mew and Ginger. Hannah’s instagram is @Hanecdote and her shop is https://shop.hanecdote.co.uk/

Finally a creative who I know but barely my last resort, Melanie with Cecilia Fox floral studio. Mel is my cousin’s partner and I am so lucky to have her around; i’m not lying when I say she is spilling with creative energy and knowledge. Her arrangements speak for themselves, so i’ll just link you to them. The studio instagram is @cecilafox and their website is http://ceciliafox.com.au/.

Special mention to the creative I chose to interview and who got back to me, multidisciplinary artist Oliver Levi-Malouf aka Etcetera Etcetera. Drag artist, instillation artist, film maker, Etc covers all the bases. On instagram as @Etcetera_Etcetera. 2nd photo by @tophiebearrr on instagram.

This is just a quick summary of my Zine and the struggles and triumphs of the process :)

My artist is Oliver Levi-Malouf aka Etcetera Etcetera, a drag performer and visual artist based in SYD Australia. They’re super inventive, fun and colourful and i had a lot in mind when interviewing Oliver about their process and varied creative outlets.

Because Etc Etc is a drag persona, I wanted to reflect the fashion and self made aspect of my artist’s personality through the structure of my Zine. Their words said a lot but i wanted the peice to say a lot to, to represent my artist itself.

Oliver is an open book; a queer and gender non conforming artist with lots to share about their identity, sexuality, fashion, creative process and politics. I reflected this through my zine by making it zippable. A zipper runs around the perimeter securing the pages closed until someone wishes to open them.

This idea actually came to me through a discussion with Karen about Ye Olde books that were published and sold without being cut, leaving the first reader to slice open the pages themselves. Like this:

https://collation.folger.edu/2016/08/uncut-unopened-untrimmed-uh-oh/

The back cover of the Zine is a fabric transfer, and the pages are stitched in to the margin. My zine is almost completely handmade, some parts printed but constructed by hand, by me. That was really important to me. Some words Etc shared with me really stuck: “I will act, reflect, interpret and act again. This gives me the power of always working and always growing.”

Week 9 Workshop

In week eight we discussed the bauhaus in a lecture and later on in the workshop too. The week before this, I’d been in Canberra over the weekend and visited the National Gallery of Australia. I took a couple of pictures of posters and descriptions and wanted to share them here!

NGA has this exhibit up for 2019 to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany by Walter Gropius.

1) Oskar Schlemmer Utopia: Dokumente der Wirklichkiet (Documents of Reality) 1921

2) Paul Klee The Bright Side Postkarte zur Bauhaus-Ausstellung 1923, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Postkarte zur Bauhaus-Ausstellung [Postcard for the Bauhaus-exhibition] 1923, Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack Postkarte zur Bauhaus-Ausstellung 1923

3) Wassily Kandinsky Kleine Welten II (Small Worlds II) 1922

4) Lothar Schreyer Bühnenentwurf für ‘Sünde’ [Stage design for 'Sin'] 1921

More info on NGA’s collection at https://nga.gov.au/collections/europeamerica/gallery.cfm?displaygal=5a&mnuid=

Thinking back to brief one “Hello, My Question Is”, I remembered a project I had started. I didn’t go with this idea for the final task because the execution wasn’t quite there, but the idea is fun so I thought I’d share it.

My question surrounded permenance and the shelf life of design and language, and I had been thinking about images as a form of type which drew me towards the idea of emojis. A new and modern language that is replacing words more and more every day, as Karen and Andy talked about in one of our earlier lectures. (🔥🍆 🐐 🐍) Plus every day objects resemble letterforms, so why can’t emoticons? Well, they can. While some letters were easier to find than others, I managed to find at least one emoji that at least resembled a letter of the alphabet.

My name Tilda Barrie appears like this:

🚏💈👢🌛🖇 ⛄️⛺️🌾🥀🛢💅🏻

Gronk Design appears like this:

🛒🌾📯🥅🎋 🥩📧⚡️💈🛒🥅

I would love to see everyone else’s names / usernames in this funny lil Gen Z experiment. I wonder how much longer emojis will be around for?

Here’s my emoji type library:

A 🙏🏿🦷🦟🌲🗼🧲🖇⛺️

B🧞‍♂️⛄️🧬🔗

C🌜🛴🗜

D🥩🏑🌛🌗

E💅🏿📧

F🎏

G 🛒

H🏗.

I💈🛢♟

J🏒🏑☂️

K🎋

L👢🤙🏻💪

M ⛩〽️

N🥅🖇

O📀🧿📯🙆‍♀️🧶

P🏸🏓

R🌾🥀

S🦎⚡️

T🌱🚏🤸‍♀️🎚

U🥃

V🖖✌️

W☠️⚓️

X✂️

Y🏋️‍♀️

While we wait for our own building 9 maker space to come together, the gang and I decided to check out the Maker Space down on Franklin St.

We did a quick induction and tested out the Emblaser 2, which is the lazer cutter and engraver in the space.

I’m super excited to use the equipment for future projects, but for now i’m savouring this little peice of cardboard we made (or watched being made, really). Shoutout to Andy for letting us tag along, Keiern for the help, and my girl bridget for the sexy pic of our creation.

Ok get ready for an obscure mid 2000s, Australian/American mermaid movie reference:

Aquamarine.. Anyone?

Anyway, this week we went hunting for letterforms around RMIT. I was keeping an eye out for punctuation, brackets and colons, but here’s my prized possession.. a W.

It started out with a orange segment... how did it end up like this. It was only a segment.. IT WAS ONLY A SEGMENT

Introducing “Stronk bold” the newest font in town. Using wedged orange segments and blue triangles to construct the letterforms of the final type.

Collaboration is Key!

We begin with just orange - with the aim to give all letters a similar sense of movement through their structure. Outliers are letters that feature the shapes on 45 degree angles - the N, O, T, U, V, W and X.

Then we incorporated the triangles. Aiming to construct every letter using both shapes, we subsitiuted some orange for blue, and re-made the letters to accomodate.

Must design be permanent? 

I struggled to find a great background for Brief 1, white looked boring and orange was too overpowering. These were unedited practice shots and some behind the scenes from photography day. I absolutely loved how the circular table looked, but the words were almost illegible and the scale was off.