RESEARCH QUESTION IDEAS

COP 1

1. Focus on a specific graphic design discipline

2. The question must be open ended.

3. The question must allow for suitable theoretical research as well as visual exploration.

4. Position your research within contemporary graphic design practice - make it work for you.

5. Do some quick preliminary research to gauge how much literature is currently available...do the same to explore what is currently happening within the industry.

6. Consider what primary research methods could be used to support your research.

COP1 = I really enjoyed learning about the handmade print methods as it has something that I have always been interested in and find intriguing. So I think this is something that I could take further in my second year. However handmade print methods is quite a large area to cover so I would need to narrow down the subject area first in order to find a suitable question for my essay to be on. 

Possible question ideas :

Why is printmaking important in our culture and time?

Is the commercial aspect of printmaking an important cultural consideration?

Below I did some quick preliminary research, which shoed me that there were multiple articles and literature that is available related to my subject.

COP READING

These were the 3 texts that we were to read, I also made notes on them as I knew that if I did not I would not retain the information as well ready for the next session. Images of my notes is below :






     

End of Module Evauation

Throughout this year I think my researching skills and how those skills are used has improved. Before this year I only ever used the internet to do my reading and research, however since branching out I believe it has better informed my design process and the decisions I make after. For our first essay we were set one task was to look into books, journals and articles. I think this helped me get the ball rolling rather than going straight to the internet. Thus showing me that the internet is not always the best source.

I think my writing style still needs improvement however I have learnt how to reference correctly in my essays as well as using text to base my writing off. I haven't done this before so I found it difficult to do. I have never been good at writing essays but I feel like I am slowly improving. However if I was going to do this whole process again I would ask for more help and give in as many drafts as possible. One of my biggest weaknesses is that I rarely proof read which can make the difference from a 2.2 and a 2.1. This year has taught me that I will need to get on top of that because what we learn in this year from the lecture series we could go back on and use in 2nd or 3rd year. 

In regards to my practical work I believe that it is relevant to what I was doing and it was so much fun and interesting to learn more about the handmade print methods as it has always been something I have been fascinated about. I learnt they take more time than you expect and things can go wrong! I don't think however that I have challenged myself enough but hopefully with my ISSUU presentation it will get me off to a good start for the second year. 

For the second year I need to remember a couple of things; manage your time better so that you can be more effective and up to date on your work. Keep on doing drafts of essays and go to the lectures - they serve a purpose! 

Overall I'm satisfied with the work I've produced for this module but I could benefit from better organisation skills so that I receive all the feedback that I can get to strengthen my arguments in my forthcoming essays.

ISSUU presentation Studio brief 3

http://issuu.com/leahratcliffe/docs/cop2.pptx

here is the direct link to my presentation.

Essay drafts and feedback

These were my drafts and feeback I got on them is below. 

Outcome Study Task 8

After looking at all the feedback and different designs I had done I decided I would letterpress my favourite quote. On the right you can see where I have tested out 4 different types. After looking at them all closely I decided I would pick the top font as it was the one that represented what I wanted to do the best. I then moved on to put all the letters in the correct way and line the up all perfectly. I actually found this task a lot harder than I thought it would be due to the fact I had never done it before. However saying this it did not stop me because when I did the first press of the practice types I found it very satisfying. This made me think of Pepin Zurburg when he said, ‘the computer does nothing for you, it only makes things a lot easier’. Because as I experienced it first hand it made sense, I could recreate what I did by hand but on the computer and it just took less time but was more rewarding.

The thing I found most difficult was  making sure that everything was lined up correctly with the correct spacing and making sure the letters didn't fall out - to do this there had to be the right amount of pressure being put in the correct spaces.

As you can see I tried pressing it many times, quite a few times it did not come out properly but I managed to get there in the end. Despite the process taking a lot more time than a computer I am still heavily interested in using it and wanting to make more things by hand, which related to something Odling-Smee said;  ‘Despite being slow, labour-intensive and costly in comparison to modern printing methods, and increasing number of designers (and often their clients) want to use it. ’ .

In reference to the brief I believe that i have taken a step in the right direction, it is going to take a while for some people out there to appreciate the handmade print methods but this is somewhere to start. I have also shown that it can be used in some like an exhibition which is where my series of hand made printed posters could go. ‘Some are using letterpress and silkscreen technologies to produce small-batch or one off products’ (Meyers, 2009) I believe that I have made an example of what Meyers is talking about.

Feedback / further developments Study task 7

I then decided to take the advice of my peers and look more at the posters as if they were a series and how I can make them look like one withot it looking taccy and unproffesional.  I definately prefer the look of the black on one bold colour as it gives it more class. However in general I do not believe that these posters are finished.

I could improve them by getting the correct amount of space around the text so that the text doesn’t just look like it is either floating or that it is out of space.

At this stage in my developments I have gone back to black and white because I believe that the colour is a bit more suitable for the younger generation however for it to be put across as the people who appriciate print that could be more vast but they could be a minority. Due to this fact and the aesthetics and meaning of my project I believe the best design decsision for this project was to strip it back to black and white, which is still striking, and let the quotes talk for themselves.

Due to striping the posters back I thought it would be best to revisit the fonts to doube check that futura was my favourite.  I looked through multiple different fonts, out of the majority of them these three were my favourite. Futura, Impacts and  Rockwell Extra Bold. Again I went back to my peers to see what they thought, much like me the majoirty of my peers liked the way that Futura looked with all of the type, it didn’t look out of place and it was the best for this job.