Welcome

My experiences with the Communication Design course has been fun throughout the entire course, it felt as if I was in class only a few weeks ago. I’ve enjoyed the few f-to-f classes we had when we were all playing around with type. It was a shame when we all had to move to online and I was a bit skeptical at first but I’ve actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I felt more engaged in the online lectures that I did in a real time lecture. This was solely only because lectures were recorded, it made receiving the information much more better. I felt more comfortable and prepared knowing I could watch it in my own time and it leaves me excited into doing my research after. Moreover, the fact that all of the projects had no limits on what we wanted to create was bliss as the freedom is something the other courses do not have.

Watching this week’s last lecture made me realise the sheer amount of knowledge we covered in these past few months. One of the key learning outcomes I have learnt in Communication Design studies is the understanding and meaning behind graphic design as a whole. From its beginnings to where we are now, it makes me feel proud to be in the design community as one day I hope I will be able to produce such works to contribute to our society that’ll leave its own mark.

sourced from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thisisamagazine/2382481598/ 

Ask Me Anything Final

Link to my zine:

https://issuu.com/yewch/docs/yewqiyap_s3760522_askmeanything

This is my final product of my Zine, I’ve put it under issuu recommended by Andy and it definitely is more pleasant to view compared to a pdf file. It illustrates how it would be if it was printed and an actual physical copy. At the start, I was struggling to figure out my composition even when I have planned it out. Putting it digitally enabled me to make quick and easy changes so I went ahead and scrap through my entire plan. However, by doing so made everything much easier, was just a bit tired trying out all the different compositions by the end of it. I really enjoyed the process of making this vine, and appreciated the feedback I’ve gotten from my peers and teacher. This made me confident in my own art style more and also has made me very interested in digital work (as I tend to prefer on paper). The exploration with the choice of colour and layout design in the middle page is one of my favourite pages in the zine. It gives the viewers a break from all the black, and also highlights some of Müller-Brockmann work. Coming to the end, I’ve realised that I still have much more to learn about graphic design in general but I am proud of what I have produced in this Communication Design course.

(For references, Keep Reading)

First of all, I can’t believe we’re almost done with Semester 1. It’s already June and it felt like I was just in my week 1 classes on campus a week ago :’) I found online classes was a struggle at first and would have love to work on paper for our last assignment: ASK ME ANYTHING. However due to the pandemic, I was forced to basically sharpen up my digital skills! 

Above is the first 3 pages, I stuck to a black and white theme because I thought it would be appropriate for a ‘Josef Müller-Brockmann Interview Zine’. This helped me kept a consistency of ‘gluing’ everything together. Moreover, I’ve decided to use Illustrator as my chosen software because I felt more comfortable. In terms of hard graphics, I would tweak it in Photoshop then bringing it in back to Illustrator. 

The image above is the last 3 page of my Zine. I love being able to incorporate 2 pages together even though here it doesn't show the question and answer separately, but highlights how everything flows within the zine. I felt as if it was nice to have a bibliography to note to anyone who didn’t know who was Josef Müller-Brockmann. Lastly, adding the title of the assessment on the back cover page because I thought it would be an important text to remember upon. It shows the course module because I want to be able to look back onto it and know that this is from the first semester of my communication design course. 

Blow it up, slime it down

Graphic Designer David Jonathan Ross and Oded Ezer created the Fit Hebrew font in 2017, it is based on font placement and space. According to Jonathan Ross, these hyper-stylized series of caps are meant to fill up the surrounding space with maximum impact. He is able to achieve this by expanding the range of widths of each letter. However regardless of the width, the space between the letters must always remain the same in order for the font to display a consistency. I thought this was interesting because I myself am a fan of this work, the chaotic and loud atmosphere reflects upon exactly like how I convey a message in my own art style.

Furthermore, looking at the fit font in use is even more appealing. Above is some examples of it from designers using the font in different application in media, my favourite is probably the Giacomelli’s work for his event in Brazil. It was to promote a type design event, using the fit font was very successful in this example. It just goes to show the different lengths the font is able to take from passing on a news to a sick t-shirt design.

Lastly, here is a screenshot from the main webpage of Jonathan Ross’ website. Even though the font was based through the Hebrew language, he also managed to fabricate it with the english language. Above is a screen capture of my name in the fit font, if I had to describe it in one word: Mazes. 

(Please Keep Reading)

In this week’s lecture, Andy and Karen talked about examples of parametric and geometric design. Moreover, they touched on the digital aspects of designs such as AI. An example such as the Eyewriter project is the first thing they’ve introduced to us in the lecture. I want to touch base on this because I felt as if this was a huge milestone for humans to conquer in the 2000s.

Eye Writer

In 2003, A legendary LA graffiti artist named Tony Quan was diagnosed with ALS (a disease which left him almost completely paralyzed except for his eyes). The Eyewriter project gave him back his purpose and ability to draw even if it's with eyes. He described using the Eyewriter the first time as if he was “taking a breath after being held underwater for 5 minutes”.

Above is a collage showcasing Tony Quan using the Eyewriter and his work being displayed on a building using LED lights. To this current day, the project is available to almost anyone. It is inexpensive and is distributed to ALS patients in need all over the world.

More info Video link (was also presented in the lecture): http://www.eyewriter.org

Out of the 5 designers/type/art movements, I’ve decided to go with my first choice: Josef Müller-Brockmann. I remember being introduced to him during my foundation course in RMIT so I sort of knew a bit about him. But this assignment made me really go the deep end of researching onto Müller-Brockmann. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical at first because I consider my work to be almost the opposite of Brockmann’s. I was wondering how this would affect my overall design but I wanted a challenge so I went for it anyways.

The first week of my progress was really focused on developing a cover page for my zine. I’ve decided to really take my time on this because I wanted it to be eye catching. In the third cover from the left is my take on Müller-Brockmann’s work interpreted to his name. However, Andy mentioned that the multiple use of colours might be too distracting as he preferred the other 2 in black and white. As I’ve mentioned previously, being skeptical and scared that my work did not suit the designer’s work I’ve chosen when I know I wanted the zine to be related to him.

..Hence week 2! (Please Keep Reading)

Colors Magazine

The Colors Magazine was established in 1991 by designers Oliviero Toscani and Tibor Kalman. The concept of the magazine was to challenge serious issues in the world. For example, the fight against aids, climate change, cultural appropriation to lighter topics such as toys, fashion and shopping. Keep in mind that it is always viewed with a non-conventional eye. 

Below are some images of my favourite Cover art done by Colors Magazine

Other Mediums...

Interesting outtake of selling a perfume brand with the idea of using diversity in our community. Commercial (United Colors of Benetton): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odkGhyNvgk0

Short clips on a "Survival Guides” - especially enjoyed the sound that accompanied the animation. Will use this outcome for my Colour course during the making of our GIF. COLORS The survival guides (Happiness): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65kPGhsH-2Q

References:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/may/27/mondaymediasection4

http://www.benettongroup.com/the-group/comunication/colors-magazine/

According to Wikipedia, Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. 

When did it all started?

The movement in conceptual art reach beyond the two decades from 1960s and 1970s. However, its origins first came about when an artist name Marcel Duchamp submitted an already made male urinal to a prestige art exhibition in 1917. Although the original sculpture is destroyed, there are replicas now that represented its cast from before. Below are images of the infamous “Fountain” and many other works he have worked on previously.

How to Work Better: Peter Fischli and David Weiss

Peter Fischli and David Weiss’ created a mural that played with the notion of being creative, productive and working better. As a team, they also opened up an exhibition on this whole idea. It is a building that slowly winched its way up to six stories. It is essentially, the first comprehensive overview of their work and collaboration in which lasted 33 years. 

In 1979, they started working with a group of photographs that they called “Sausage Series”. It was a series that trademarked their wit and humour. This is by using unexpected materials, the idea of accumulating a series and their interest in popular culture. In this process, they reframed events that people tend to see happen all the time, as part of everyday life. 

(Please Keep Reading)

In class this week, we teamed up in groups of 4 to produce any positive word that’s collaged by previously printed material. (Magazines, newspaper, etc)

For our group, we’ve decided to choose a 4 letter word so we could spilt the work evenly (one letter for each person). We only spent 15 minutes on this activity but I made more in my own time as Andy suggested my E looked almost too forced.

Overall, I really enjoy working as a group because it is interesting to see different outcomes and styles put together. This helped my thinking in the sense that when I was looking through the magazines, I was only focused on finding models to work with. Therefore, this made me look back onto our first project on looking out for existing objects and manipulating them (eg: rotate, resize).

(Please Keep Reading)

Memphis Group

In 1981, Ettore Sottsass is a designer that founded the Memphis Group with other designers and architects. The name was inspired by a Bob Dylan song titled Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again which was played on repeat during their first meeting. This creative movement was a reaction against the status quo as the group challenge the established notions of good design at the time.

Making the exact opposite of the authenticity of modernism made  them a hated group between the Bauhaus and Fisher-Price.

*Descriptions such as as "bizarre", "misunderstood", "loathed" were used to described the Memphis Group.

They’re widely known for their design of:

Laminate and Terrazzo materials, which were usually found on floors, were incorporated into tables and lamps. (This means that people weren’t able to tell what material it is made out of, making it unessential)

Squiggles, aka the Bacterio print, was designed by Sottsass in 1978.

Bright, multi-colored objects with a rejection of typical shapes. Often, instead of chair legs being rectangular, they’d be circles or triangles.

(Please Keep Reading)

To find historically significant design person/object/typeface to interview with 5 questions (and of course answers)

Filipino Marinetti

Of course, he would be one of my first top 1 due to this week’s lecture. Really impressed by his approach with text in the olden days.

Josef Müller-Brockmann

The concept of Grids.

Max Fleischer The creator of Betty Bop and Popeye.

Andy Warhol

What would you make if you had the technology we had today?

Conceptual Art

-If it wasn’t for the “Fountain”, what do you think would be the cause of your origin?

(Keep Reading for update)

After watching today’s lecture, I’ve become very fond of Filippo Marinetti’s works. Marinetti grew in many different places around the world including places such as  Egypt, France, Italy and Switzerland. This explained why he wrote in both French and Italian later on in life.

The poster: Parole in Libertà (freed words) by Marinetti is an important stance especially in the italian futurist movement. It radicalise the way that language is being used and its one of the first few times when type is taken on as a voice. This broke the all of the traditional ways in Western Europe in Italy, as it is considered as a sense of harmony in futurism.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_3O0zOiX-w

This youtube link is to the poem he wrote about sound reproduction of the war violence during the Balkan wars in 1912-1913. In the title “Zang Tumb Tumb”, falling bombs can be already heard in the stretched vowels. Marinetti emphasises that the poem purposes were not to be read as a protest against war but he was simply impressed by the mechanical, modern and industrial warfare.

(Please Keep Reading)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx-CLB1JCoY&feature=youtu.be

(CLASS ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE ﾉ)

Due to our current situation (Covid-19), being forced to stay at home makes us view the world only through our screens. However, this class activity enforces us to take a look outside simply on our windows and observe the world around us. We were looking out for typefaces within current infrastructure and rotate/ crop them in order to be seen correctly. 

Below are screenshots taken from a course module ‘Communication Design’ Week 7 of our workshop in Google Slides, showcasing a series of photographs from my classmates and I. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFn-QPaGimk&feature=youtu.be 

(LECTURE ABOVE ノ)

Who designs design?

My own research on the Bauhaus School 

The architect Walter Gropius created a new school in Weimar called the Bauhaus. In this school, students were encouraged to experiment across many disciplines such as painting, weaving, dance, printmaking and so forth. With this idea in mind, they created a radical new kind of typeface. However, the school did not last long. In 1928, the Nazis believed that the Bauhaus was not following german traditions. They despise their modern products, especially the new typography. 

This made Bauhaus spread their ideas across all over the world. Gropius then bought Bauhaus to mythic status. 

It's meant to be interpreted and reinterpreted, this is because Bauhaus was not born as a style. It was a revolutionary idea.

(Please Keep Reading)

This activity focuses on the theories on modernism and grids. Revisiting the idea of “Divine Proportion”.

Below is a series of letterforms I made in class on a whim. Using only triangles and squares, it limits the the shape of what I am able to achieve - The ‘S’ highlights that when the curviness of a letter is removed, it may be hard to visualise and recreate its form. 

However, after class I made more letters from the alphabet A-O with an additional cut of of semi-circles. This gave my letterforms more of an affirmation to its originality.  (Please Keep Reading)

The Divine of Proportion

The usage of grids helps balance and align your design on a page. It achieves cool effects such as diagonal typography. The use of empty space is also another element in design that aids the structure, guide and shape on the page. It felt as if it was an urgency for Tschichold to educate teachers and educators the manual for design. 

(Jan Tschichold - The New Typography, 1928)

(Please Keep Reading)

Black Letter C.1450 - Printing Press

It all came about when Gutenburg Bible was published. This is when the Black Letter style font started expanding throughout the world in printshop (later known as Press).

Geometric Specification - An important shift away from humanistic writing

Down below are some of the most famous designers known to type:

Luca Divina Proportione, 1509.

Francesco Torniello, 1517.

Geoffrory Tory, 1529.

Research - Claude Garamond

Garamond is an old-style serif typeface that was created by engraver Claude Garamond in the 16th century. Ever since then, People who make lists of the most readable fonts tend to pick Garamond first. The font has a few distinctive characteristics such as an 'e' with a small eye and the bowl of the 'a' which has a sharp hook upwards at top left. The founder of the font, Garamond was an apprentice of a famous French humanist and an engraver (Geoffrory Tory), best known for adding accents on letters in French. For a 500 year old design, it is perpetually connected with innovative and fresh usage in modern storytelling. Books such as Harry Potter, Dr. Seuss and The Hunger Games books is all set in Adobe Garamond. This is because the font is ideally suited for book design, it works seen from a distance or up close as it is often used for printing body text and books.