Day: 1 October 2020

1 October 2020

The Good, The Bad… but not The Ugly

Introduction

Today I responded to ‘lettering in the environment’. The brief required me to explore the campus and the surrounding environment, whilst photographing as many types of typographic sources as possible. I personally decided to avoid taking pictures in the Typography building as I felt it was too easy to document. Instead I wanted to force myself to explore the surrounding environment. The University contains a range of newly implicated signage, giving the environment a clean and contemporary feel. I wanted to try and look for the forgotten and unloved pieces of typography, to find something to juxtapose the clean reformed style in the updated areas of campus.

I started by circulating around the old Typography building, finding disregarded engravings made by students from years past. The engravings weren’t perfect and had flaws in consistency and quality. This resulted in the type forms becoming distorted and containing characteristics that varied from its base inspiration, giving it its own personality. I found myself slightly put off by the type forms until I started getting closer and observing the minute details engraved by the student, something not as visible from a distance. From a closer perspective I realised that the form didn’t have to be perfect or a near replica. Instead I tried photographing the source from up-close, getting tight framing to only capture elements. It remined me that the form didn’t have to be as aesthetically pleasing as its inspiration but could be in its own right. Instead of relying on the entire form to be carved well, I could take advantage of close framing and enjoy specific elements, freeing it from being type and allowing it to just be a form. These engravings can be described as bad type by some, but the fact that the form would never logically be recreated for use made it even more unique. I continued to look for letter forms that had been abused and unloved to find the same unique qualities.

I found that some of the most inspiring sources were of metal signage. The signs are made from metal to endure the weather but over the years it can become dirty and the paint can chip and peal, generating unique markings and creating an overall texture to the sign. I think these elements, as well as close framing, allow the type to interact differently in comparison when it was originally displayed. The changes can result in type becoming less legible, becoming more of a form than a type form as well as creating contrasts in colour and tone from paint chipping. This can also be seen in a lot of signage painted on the roads. I found they offered a different style of texture due to concreate being more porus and tyre friction wearing away less aggressively. It resulted in a more organic and natural texture, leaving behind minimal speckle to big silhouettes.

I think these sources are a great source of inspiration and it would be useful to digitally scan them in and use them as textures in the future. After photographing all of the type I encountered, I grouped some of my favourite shots into three categories that I found were the most consistent in my research (Concrete, Metal and Plastic). I chose to group them via their matirial they were printed onto (or out of) as they shared similar characteristics of texture that I found interesting.

Conclusion

After completing the brief I realised how common these degrading sources of type are. It also confirmed a sad theory in that it takes a certain ignorance for these forms to still be present. This is because they need to be neglected and forgotten to gain their textures which give them personality. I think If I could respond differently, I would have photographed similar sources in the town centre and compare how the foot traffic and location could create variation in textures.

1 October 2020

Chocolate

The dangers of chocolate

In Sara’s project i was given the noun ‘Chocolate’ The first image, which is shown in the featured image, clearly conveys chocolate. The hearts and smiley faces represent how chocolate makes us feel which is usually happy, The hearts are also linked to valentines day as chocolate is a typical valentines day gift. The above diagram shows ideas linked to chocolate i could use in my images. The below image is almost identical to the first however, the Dairy milk has been replaced with the words Heart disease and the hearts and smiley faces have been replaced with skulls and bones, this represents the danger of chocolate and what health problems it can lead too.

In this project i used paper, Pencils, pens and tracing paper. I liked the outcome of the project and how theres a clear link between the two images, However i think i could. have improved by making the presentation of the images more neat and clean.

1 October 2020

Love

For Sara’s project, I created a series of images that capture ‘love’ in a meaningful manner. I decided to play with the idea of family and the love parents have for their child. I chose to use continuous lines to illustrate the parents with their baby. These lines link the family members together and can also represent the ‘timeline’, further playing with the idea of family love.

For the second image, I wanted to show the boy as a young child. Finally, for the third image, I portrayed the two parents standing beside each other. I wanted to capture the loss of the child, which left the parents alone with their heartbreak. I wanted to leave room for interpretation, and so my triptych can either be seen as the death of the child or as the boy had aged and moved away from his family home. On top of this, I decided to move the subjects to the left corner for my final image to help convey the emptiness they feel as a result of their loss.

To add contrast between the three images that I created, I decreased the saturation of the colour used in each.

If I were to do this project again, I would like to create more of a connection between my images to make them more of a single cohesive piece. I would also like to explore the use of animation to create a moving outcome rather than a 2D image.

1 October 2020

Burning Pages

Our first project required us to break the conventions of a typical book (the pages, cover and the binding) Rather than the ordinary text telling the narrative/theme, our task was to narrate the story through deconstructing the book physically. This allowed us to represent the visual dimension of the novel.

I chose the theme ‘Noise’. I discovered after reading the blub and researching about the book, that the narrative was very similar to the idea of the theme. In the theme, the brother and sister inherit family wealth and live a quiet life. They don’t understand the importance of this relationship until the very end where all they have is each other. Similarly, the novel explains how the different characters in the book have to compromise and see that even though there is a war present (set in WW2), that they have to stick together because in the end, your family is always there.

I have portrayed this link between the novel and theme through the deconstruction of the binding, pages and cover of the book. Firstly, the pages are tea-stained and burnt around the edges to represent the dangers and result the war leaves behind. As the pages continue, they get smaller and smaller. This signifies in the theme how the two siblings went into spaces which became smaller and smaller. At the end of the book, I have stuck a large amount of pages together as a whole to show the solidity and togetherness of family. I have also requoted what has been said at the back of the novel by the author on the edge of the pages I stuck together. At the very back, I have written down key words to summarise the book and the theme in a couple words which covers the blub of the book.