#willitblendbrief

The only other experiments I could find about the same pair of words were Abigails's experiments. She created several experiments that I believe demonstrate her distinct style while exploring various mediums.

Observing her interpretation of the words and her approach to blending them made me realise that collaboration with peers and the ability to see each other's developments is crucial. I particularly enjoyed the use of photography to create collages that address the words she was blending. The physical animation also impressed me with its uniqueness and creative thinking.

(my comments are under "anonymous" or bottom ones)

I selected designs that caught my eye and commented on them to practice my reflection skills, not only on my projects but also on the projects of others. I believe it's crucial to continue learning and to explore the work created by other creatives to stay up to date with current practices and gain different perspectives on similar subjects.

Illustration: I was told that it wasn't necessary to use a textual explanation in my illustration as it is quite self-explanatory. I agree with this comment and believe that without it it would be more intricate and open to discussion.

Colour: My group said that my idea was well communicated and they picked it up from the first sight.

Photography: one of my group members mentioned that it isn't clear that I'm showing the mankind by placing a male hand. I was also told that from far it doesn't look like tree bark.

Animation: I agree with the feedback I received about my animation. I think I could've pushed it further and developed more pages for the flip book to make all transitions smooth and clear.

Type: I'm quite satisfied with the way it turned out. Although, I agree that detecting wing shapes might be challenging. But I think this should be left to a discussion, as wings were not a part of the words I was blending. In my opinion, the chosen shapes can be seen as pathways of earwigs, where the chaotic lines depict uncontrolled movements of insects.

Daniel is a very inspiring artist and photographer.

Exhibition Catalogue really pushed me to think outside the box and consider the way printing my photos/illustration might change the direction of my outcome.

Or like this installation Diameter Ditto brings new ideas to viewers: "It’s funny that the diameter of the toilet paper tube (empty of paper) is the same as the water pipe that feeds the toilet cistern. It is even more poetic that the diameter of a full roll of paper is the same diameter as the waste pipe (soil pipe). The work is a celebration of this serendipity" says Daniel.

The definition of earwigging is "earwigging is said to come from the old wives’ tale that an earwig could burrow into a person’s head via the ear and poison the brain" (from this website).

I used this story to create a flip book as a part of my animation experiment. I used the screen of my iPad to see the drawing underneath the new page, which enabled me to adjust the facial expressions and earwig movements to match the proportions. I filled the bug with colour to draw more attention to it and put it in the centre of the story. Without highlighting the bug, the illustrations looked excessively detailed, making it challenging for viewers to follow the storyline at the pace of someone flipping through the book.

For typography my goal was to create some letterforms that would blend two terms into one. I had ideas about replicating the curvature of paths that earwigs run in; I also considered making the bodies of earwigs into letters or taking parts of their bodies to use as a basis of my font.

During the research stage, I came across an article about earwig facts and found one that was talking about their wings. Their wings are very unique and they don't follow the rules of origami when earwigs fold them. Because the method is different I decided to find letterforms within their wings and put them together into "unlawful origami".

"The essence of visual storytelling is the combination of emotional reaction and narrative information. The colours, typography, style, balance, format of an image will generate that first instinctive smile or frown, attracting or repelling the gaze for reasons we don't fully understand" (from Visual Storytelling by Andrew Losowsky)

There has been a significant increase in the use of visual storytelling in infographics and in campaign design. Visual storytelling allows designers to explain complex information through images and a couple of words that define the subject. This way targeted audience consume information quicker and remember it for longer, as pictures are remembered better than words.