OlYKA

22 Sept 2013. Los Angeles. One of the most anticipated events of the year will take place at  Nokia Theatre.

65th Emmy awards will find their honors. The world of advertisement is excited to see whether Wieden + Kennedy will take an award again, the 5th year in a row. 

Among the nominees also are  Grey, BBH, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Design: Universal or Cultural?

Recently, I came across a trailer of an anticipated film on modern russian design. The film will be focused on the development of design in Russia, the importance of the industry and future of people who create russian design. 

Studying design in international settings, far away from my own country it made me think of whether design is a product of universal or cultural creativity.

Design is art, and, as every type of art it should evoke aesthetic moment in the perceivers. The blue sky, the sea, the sunset, symmetrical features are  universally accepted as beautiful. In design too, as in other areas of human creativity, there are some universal tools to express perfection. 

However, what is different is the message that designers try to convey in their work, the chosen means of communication. The products that might gain success in United States could fail in Russia and vice versa. 

For our last workshop in Graphic Design studio with Nathalie Roussel  we were to create a new calendar for Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Louvre Abu Dhabi is a developing project that is due in 2015. Located a new cultural center of the capital on Saadiyat Island, the museum is promising to be completely different from its analog in Paris. Based on the idea of straight geometrical forms and light, the building itself will be a piece of art.

 For our exercise we were offered to design a new calendar for the anticipated museum. Given a presentation on the design of a current Louvre Paris calendar we were encouraged to design something new or to re-evaluate the already existed design.

When the results of our 90-minutes work were presented at the end of the session, I realized that I was the only person who was least risky with a new design.

However, my choice was not the lack of imagination. I have noticed that when I start to design something, even from the process of brainstorming I try to analyze the marketing value of the design and, a product itself.

After evaluating the concept of calendar, I decided that, first of all, it should be something practical. It should contain enough space to write in, not just a line for one word. In the 21st century of developing technology people put quick reminders into their smartphones. Thus, the calendar should give them a possibility to write down all the necessary information. I did the research on the calendars that are used in UAE (as the customers’ circle will be also extended to Arabic audience due to the location of the museum), and it turned out that they pretty much coincide with my perception. Furthermore, looking at high sales of Louvre calendars in France, it was assumed that the design is well sold, recognized and established.

Thus, as we were to design a product for the public use that should also be highly sold, my choice was to leave the already existed design adjusting it to three official languages of the country: English, Arabic and French.

Last week we have been given an unusual task: redesign the professional document. Usually, when the work incorporates text and design, the easiest way is to do it is Adobe InDesign. However, the challenging part of this assignment was to create everything in Microsoft Word format.

 At first, it did not seem complicated to me. I came up with the idea for design and did some sketches. Nevertheless, as soon as I started working I faced all the difficulties of working with graphic data in text editing program.

 My design was based on images organized in different order throughout the document.

Thus, first, I needed to separate each image from the text in order to make it easier to reposition graphic objects. There were some other challenges like the layout design of each page, images chosen and etc. Due to the fact that we got used to graphic editing programs that make our life easier, it has become harder and slower to work in Microsoft Word that once, used to be the only program for working with any kind of data.

Recently, having been introduced to several examples of "offensive" art, I have started to think of what makes blasphemous images blasphemous. 

In different religions and countries blasphemy has different definition. However, in general, something is considered blasphemous if it is sacrilegious against God, or other sacred things.

There are no universal rules for identifying blasphemous images. However, most commonly, they display sexuality/nudity and bodily fluids. Generally, they underline society’s tensions with the concept of human body.

I have always admired artist’s bravery to create works using religious symbols, borrowed from different religions, including my own. Russian artist, Alexander Kosolapov has become one of the main internationally recognized representatives of blasphemous art coming from my own country. His work This is My Blood has been identified as a satire of modern consumerism. Living in a cosmopolitan world and being affected by the society of consumption I could not help noticing the irony in the images like this. For me, images that convey ironic or sarcastic messages using religious symbols or figures will always be offensive. However, I tried to take into the consideration different  points of view, thinking whether these art works should be accused of blasphemy. As S Brent Plate noticed, what could be considered offensive for one,is absolutely acceptable for another.

People and their values, and sometimes government playing the role of a defender of social views, construct their own representation of what should be considered sacred and what is profane. Without this set framework of views and values blasphemous art would never exist. 

Thus, to be considered blasphemous the image needs both an artist and an accuser.

As part of the constant practice in our classroom we were offered to design a poster for Synthetic Biology and Microbial Ecology genomics symposium that will be held in the following June by NYU Center for Genomics and Synthetic Biology.

Studying genomics on a very basic level for my psychology classes, I did not have a clear representation of what Synthetic Biology and Microbial Ecology was dealing with. Thus, I started the brainstorming process with defining these areas of science to have some understanding of what should be reflected on the poster.

In addition, in order to see on which level design job has been done for this kind of event, I tried to find previous flyers for the lectures and symposiums organized by NYU or other respectable scientific institutions. Then, analyzing what could have been corrected on those samples, I started to think about my own design.

In my work I tried to reflect the idea that all the biological objects around us are constructed from the materials that could be understood on the molecular and atomic level. Knowledge gained from this kind of analysis could be used in construction of new useful objects. Thus, you can see the butterfly separating into different pieces turning into the molecular representation on my poster.

When I was choosing the information that should be represented on the poster, first, I was thinking only about basics: name, time, date and place, and the logo of the organizers. However, after we got more details from the “client”, I caught myself wondering whether I should also reflect the names of the guest speakers due to the fact that apart from the technical information about the posters the program of the symposium was also sent out with the highlighted names of the speakers. Then, I saw that on the previous posters for this event the names of the guests have also always been mentioned. Therefore, I decided to include them into my design thinking that it might attract more people to come assuming the speakers are probably very recognizable in their scientific circles.

When I finished my design I could not help but felt that there is something wrong with it but I still could not figure out what exactly was wrong. Nevertheless, I really liked working on this project because it made me learn new things and gain the representation of working with the clients who you do not have a chance to meet in real life.

SRI LANKA'S VISUAL CULTURE

Spending a long weekend in Sri Lanka, gave me many reasons to think about traditionalism and westernization that are so closely mixed in Sri Lanka’s visual culture: advertising, architecture. 

The proposed logo is designed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Emirates NBD.

Yesterday we had a great opportunity to attend a workshop of Massimiliano Sagrati, a guest designer and art director of Humus_Design, a company located in Rome, Italy.

A theme was restaurant logos. So, we were advised to do some research on our favorite dining places, and analyze the work that the designers have done for them. In the beginning, we were introduced to logos that were created for some fashion brands and a dental clinic. Then, the most exciting, and, at the same time, challenging part began: practice.

Our task was in the period of an hour and a half to design a logo for one of the new restaurants that is located in the heart of Italian capital, near Vatican and Castle Sant Angelo. Frizzo was the name of the dining facility. Industrialism, antiquity and joy had to be combined in one definition in the design production. (Frizzo means joy and sparkle, from the Italian)

First, I did some research on the concepts, the location. However, the more I thought about what should be incorporated into the work, the more frustrated I became. How all this things could be combined in one recognizable and unique logo?

I decided to bring the idea of laureate wreath, an internationally recognized symbol of antiquity, into the letter F merging it with R, represented in industrial typography.

Unfortunately, my lack of much experience in InDesign or Illustrator did not allow me to finish the work on time, making the presentation unsuccessful. I had all the ideas in my head and in my sketchbook but they were never correctly presented to the client.

However, this small failure gave me an opportunity to think more about graphic design. Is the simplicity better the complexity and, if not, in what cases? How to make the design meaningful even if it is simple? If the design is created for a one-word company, is it better to work with the word as a whole rather than taking specific letters out of it?

The more we practice, the more we think of the things that we can improve. The more we learn from others and personally grow. 

WHAT IS HOME?

After the meeting with the director of the production of Odyssey, Ruben Polendo, there were so many things to think about before starting the design campaign for the play. However, there was one topic of the conversation that could not leave my head: what is home?

I tried to think about it long before this lecture and I always had troubles identifying the particular place that I could call home. Being born in Latvia, moving from one city to another in Russia, spending a year in Alaska, and, finally, coming here to Abu Dhabi, I have always thought of home as people who are associated with love, care, support and feeling of confidence. 

Odyssey might be also viewed as an attempt to understand what is home. Trying to answer this question again, I talked to people from our NYUAD community-family who, apparently, have the same problems identifying this term. I came across this video shot by a film and media student from Georgetown university where third culture kids tried to answer the same  question. After re-watching it several times, I realized that people are struggling to understand what is home: we live with our parents, move out, create our own family. Thus, do we have several homes? And if yes, how is it possible?

When most people think about graphic design, the first things that come to their mind are the opportunities that are offered by developing technologies and software that is improving constantly providing designers with more tools for creation. Thus, many graphic designers have forgotten when they were holding a sketchbook and a pencil in their hands last time.

I have decided to dedicate this post to the importance of sketching.

It is obvious that both empty sheet of paper and a new document in InDesign have the same challenges: you have to come up with a new idea. However, the experience is not the same.

For me, the most important part of sketching is the possibility to take your book anywhere, wherever you go.

Sometimes the ideas come to your mind unexpectedly: you see the element of architecture that might be later included into your digital illustration, or you experience the “aha” moment that should be recorded immediately and sketching is the best way to do it.

Moreover, every artist has his personal style. I did not realize it myself until I actually started drawing. Through the lines that you create by hand you establish your own identity that is sometimes impossible to reach by technological methods.

Sketching is not supposed to be perfect but it trains you to pay attention to small details or to empathize certain elements that might be the most important part of your work after all. 

NYU Abu Dhabi is associated with a strong theater program that keeps surprising the audience by its talented actors, designers and script- writers. This semester is not an exception. One of the most promising upcoming productions is The Odyssey.

When I think about Odyssey, of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Homer’s masterpiece that has become a classical example of early Western literature. For me, Odyssey also has a metaphorical meaning of finding self, overcoming the obstacles opening up for new adventures and challenges. Therefore, I started to wonder how this poem has changed people’s mind and representations.

First of all, when one hears the word “odyssey’, he has a clear representation of a strong, courageous and fearless man. Thus, it might be often seen on dvd- covers, web-advertisements and playbills.

fashion of antiquity represented by drop-down dresses for both women and men made from light materials framed by beautiful complicated flounce.

Starting my blog, I first want to begin with a basic introduction.

I am a student at New York University in Abu Dhabi with a great interest for Art History, Design, Advertising and Film. My life passion is traveling that always gives me inspiration for creating and learning from others, as I am a photographer, painter and filmmaker myself.

  My first entry will be dedicated to our institution’s visual design of common materials and the improvements that could be made.

Recently, interning in Sama Fitness Center, I was thinking that it would be great to create a certain format of announcement flyers that would make the department materials stand out.