REFLECTIONS ON LECTURES/SOURCE MATERIAL:

Message and Medium, Pencil, Pixel, Performance, Packaging

In this weeks lecture both Suzanna Edwards and Sam Winston look at the way they arrive at a solution through a process of exploration and discovery. Sam talks about his hands having their own sense of intuition that is connected to the sensorial experience of touch and the act of making. I've often felt this. It's like when golfers talk about muscle memory - I think your hands develop that in craft. Suzanna points out that making things that people already know about are just not exciting and that having fresh eyes on a subject and trust to embrace the unknown delivers new and exciting ideas. I think that goes without saying - you are only going to produce something new by trying a different approach or thought process. Sam sets out his process as one of a balance between the physical and tactile and language; the found and your own reaction to it. He sets about having no parameters for a project using time to explore and trust in the unknown, thinking of the space he is in as a newborn, with no preconceived ideas; just a sensory awareness. Having said this he uses a set time to stop and reflect just as you would if you were working on a commercial brief. I think having this time to experiment is overlooked by agencies, where the deadline is impending and experimentation is seen as a luxury. I have always felt that one day a week should be left aside for play to happen. SPIN seem to manage ok…

In the project this week where we explore the idea of the 'emotion' of the city we live in, he suggests first placing yourself in an area that interests you and then experiencing the environment with fresh eyes. For instance he alludes to his area of interest being print and uses examples of unconscious print found in the material world such as a tyre mark, or the using material of a city such as concrete. The whole thing is then intertwined with language to create a base for the creative exploration to begin. It certainly is an interesting way of drawing on elements to bring them into your practice. He also talks about social content and how you can bring your audience into the work so that they are participants for the final outcome, as long as they are also open to the idea of also embracing the unknown.

TAKE OUTS
— Play with tools and materials and understand their behaviours before you choose the right materials for the process.
— Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Embrace the unknown and you will get interesting and new outcomes.
— Lose all preconceived ideas and don't think about the outcome.
— Abandon all parameters in the experimentation process. Keep it fresh and stay open.
— Trust in the process. If you're uncomfortable you're doing something right.
— Think in a sensory way. Be aware, touch, see and listen. Keep a relaxed mindset.
— Keep time as the only structure.
— Look to see if the work you are creating has cultural or social associations to connect with you audience.
— Look for contrast, juxtapositions and emotion.
— For the final outcome: How does it engage with your intended audience. The client is society.

The examples shown in the resources made me think of the following project realised here in Dublin by Rothco:

THE BOOK THAT GREW
The roots of Ireland’s economy are in agriculture, but with agriculture-related greenhouse gas emissions projected to increase by almost 10% over the next decade, there’s an urgent need for on-farm adoption of GHG mitigation measures.

If farming is to survive, it must become more sustainable.

AIB, Ireland’s largest bank for farmers, in partnership with the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority – wanted to enable farmers to maximise sustainability, by changing how they see our greatest resource: grass.

The Idea

We used grass to grow a book containing 10 steps to enable farmers to achieve a ‘perfect’ 10 rotations of grass grazing per year, and produce 10 tonnes of grass per hectare – a truly powerful number that will massively improve the sustainability of even the most efficient farm.

In this instance, the medium truly was the message.

(Retrived from: https://rothco.ie/work/aib-10-the-book-that-grew/).

A SMILE IN THE MIND
Noma Bar: A belief that ideas already exist in our subconscious just waiting to be found. We capture serendipitous moments, or in Noma's case she captures sketches "like a photographer". She brings real life situations into her work creating visual connections between story and subject. I find this to be true to some extent. In my own experience I dip into either a well of stored ideas deep in the mind or I am not thinking about anything at all. Noma goes on to say that the creative 'sparks' fly when she is away from the desk. Cites Glazer and Rand as influences, using the transformation of one thing to another to create simple changes or interactions. She believes in pushing herself out of her comfort zone and has learnt to step back from the computer, which she sees as a controller of the process. This is hard to do in a busy office environment, but I have no excuse when working on my own client projects.

Michael Beirut: Describes the 'electric' moments he gets when an idea comes to him fully formed in his head. I often have the same experience but as Alan Fletcher later says, there is a difference between what you see in your head and how it translates onto the page. Michael believes there are two ways to get to the heart of a good idea: hard work and unconscious serendipity. He believes the work comes when you are trying to intertwine random connections to solve a particular problem, never forgetting that society are the audience in the process. What is the saying again: 95% perspiration, 5% Inspiration.

"If you show people a completed picture it doesn't connect with them as much as when they connect the last few dots".

Michael Beirut
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Aziz Cami: The interplay between two subjects often creates wit, which creates a third element, a spark. Abstract thinking and play can conjure up new and exciting outcomes, and wit draws the audience in. I have always found it hard to bring the witty elements in and feel my work is lacking in this respect. He goes on to say for identities to work they have to be memorable and have an emotional connection.

Phil Carter: His ideas mostly come from unconscious connections. For him, inspiration can strike at any time whether cycling or falling asleep. He also feels that the right work atmosphere drives him to do his best work. Since I have been set up as a stand alone practice of one I have missed the camaraderie of the office environment, but not the distractions, politics or design by committee.

Ivan Chermayeff: He believes supportive clients make all the difference and makes an interesting point that for an idea to survive it only takes one individual brave enough to just go with it and not let it be designed by committee. I have often felt that an idea is essentially dead when it has to go through so many tiers of an organisation for approval. Unfortunately, when you work for a large client you are often talking to a person who has no power over the decision making process. Chermayeff believes that his best ideas are formed away from the office environment and he uses a notepad to capture them. He purposefully looks to add layers of difficulty for the audience to work through, adding wit for lively and friendly connection. He is comfortable presenting only one idea which he will keep close to his chest until it is fully realised and believes that the instantaneous ideas are always the best.

"First thought, best thought".

Alan Ginsburg
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"You do not arrive at a logical solution through logic".

Ivan Chermayeff
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Alan Fletcher: Uses the Swiss as a reference for typography and the American's for wit. His interest lies in juxtapositions which he calls 'cerebral acrobatics'. Similar to myself, he uses the wellspring of stored mental ideas and serendipitous moments. As a self confessed perfectionist, he uses a dogged, persistent approach but believes the outcome should still appear to be fluid and free of constraints. I still feel I am too rigid in my approach and hope that this weeks task will push me in a direction where I am freer and more experimental. Fletcher doesn't use a computer and believes the head and the hand are the only tools needed for communicating ideas. He is not precious about the outcome and is open to others input, as long as the idea works.

Shigeo Fukuda: Like Fletcher he doesn't use a computer and has a series of rituals, mostly involving the preparation of his materials before he starts work. Unfortunately, my own rituals involve cigarettes, coffee and emails and nothing as satisfying as deciding which pencil or paint to use. His ideas come from the day-to- day and culture in visual terms, with these objectives his ideas materialise naturally. He describes the process of making being deeper than sleeping or eating.

Abram Games: Ruthless approach: If an idea isn't working it is placed in his most valuable accessory, 'the bin'. He stimulates the mind by drawing and doesn't let time control the process. His imagery comes in a lateral flow of thought and is realised in a juxtaposition, supported by strong messaging. If he is blocked he removes himself from the process. He constantly questions the process to get to the heart of an idea ensuring that there is some degree of intrigue that will engage the spectator.

Milton Glazer: Armed with an understanding of his audience, he always searches for the narrative and storytelling aspects and then finds a way of disrupting expectations. He believes that trying to describe insight or the creative act is in itself indefinable because the creation of ideas exists beneath the surface of understanding and that if it were quantifiable it would not be surprising. He describes the process as similar to dreaming. I would agree with this as it is in the imagination that your ideas are formed. You almost have to be in the day dream state for the ideas to happen. Believes in making the viewer a participant in order to create something memorable.

"You need to put your mind in a state of acceptance".

Milton Glazer
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John Gorham: Interesting insight that the conscious brain only thinks about what it knows and that wit is a subconscious process. His answers to ideas usually come from accidents that occur in the process.

Sarah Illenberger: Sees herself as a visual storyteller and 3D illustrator. She works with complex social content and visual play to deliver a gentle approach, leaving different perspectives to be completed in the mind of the viewer. She believes that you should never be easily satisfied and should keep pushing, going deeper into the subject for the ideas to take form.

"It's so important to play… even if it doesn't work out that time is never wasted".

Sarah Illenberger
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Christoph Nieman: His foundation in graphic design is used to structure and inform his illustrative process. He starts with a complex idea and then declutters to let it visually reveal itself. He believes it is vital to keep experimenting

"It's a tough decision to say I'm going to sit here and play for a while. But it's the most important thing you can do".

Christoph Nieman
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TAKE OUTS
— Note down your ideas as they happen. Once they're gone, they're gone. Always carry a notepad.
— Use the environment, cultural and social landscape to influence your ideas.
— Don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone. Look for the layers of difficulty. Embrace the unknown. Go deeper.
— Use transformation and juxtapositions to create one thing from another.
— Step away from the machine – nothing to see here.
— Leave something for the viewer to complete so they are willing participants.
— Create memorable, emotional connections.
— When wit is appropriate, bring it into your work.
— Find clients who share the same vision as you, are supportive, smart and brave.
— Ensure the outcome stays as fluid as the process.
— Include others in the process outside of your profession. Collaborate and use feedback constructively.
— If it's just not working, move on or come back to it later.
— Fail, make mistakes and look for accidents in the process.
— Declutter complex ideas to reveal the thought processes.
— Don't let time control the process.

Workshop Challenge:

COMMUNICATING AN EMOTION ABOUT YOUR CITY
I first thought about this on a particular cold, wet and bleak day. I was feeling tired and all my thoughts were fairly flat so I concentrated on writing up my notes instead and a after a visit to the loo I suddenly thought of the idea of hunger. I wasn't sure if hunger was really an emotion in itself but according to a report by the American Psychology Association: "Many people feel emotional when hungry— or “hangry”—yet little research explores the psychological mechanisms underlying such states… we hypothesise that people experience hunger as emotional when they conceptualise their affective state as negative… Study 3 uses a laboratory-based experiment to demonstrate that hunger causes individuals to experience negative emotions and to negatively judge a researcher, but only when participants are not aware that they are conceptualising their affective state as emotions". (Retrieved from: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/emo-emo0000422.pdf/Jennifer K. MacCormack and Kristen A. Lindquist. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). So perhaps hunger in itself is not an emotion but 'hanger' or hunger and anger is an emotion.

Using hanger as a starting point, my idea is that the city is on one hand an all consuming money driven greedy beast that you easily can get swallowed up in. Imposing buildings, new construction and vulture funds dominate, and the city pushes out further the small independent businesses and creative spaces in favour of global corporate business. This makes its residents hungry or hangry for more societal reform, social justice and recognition for the role they play in community building and creative society.

EXPLORING THE EMOTION OF HUNGER OR 'HANGER'
Applying techniques discussed in the lecture and source materials I opened myself up to play and the unknown. Starting with imposing cityscape sketches I moved to look at abstract streetscapes, overcrowded populations going from light to dark, painting and reverse printing, using woodblocks to simulate street and landscape, abstracting people and building shapes, and creating mono prints in a continuous stream of consciousness.

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When I started looking at collage towards the end I found some interesting juxtapositions between faces and landscape which I want to explore further. I also loved using the woodblocks to draw with the ink. These 'block stripes' almost have a typographic language all of their own making and are also dense and claustrophobic in appearance.

I also came across the following imagery in my scraps folder which I would like to incorporate in some way because you can't talk about Irish society without talking about Catholicism.

IDEA DEVELOPMENT FROM EXPERIMENTAL MATERIAL
Exploring hand distorted type and different juxtapositions with experimental assets and found religious imagery.

It's strange but without meaning to, this has now evolved into a societal statement about the church and the community or flock. I would like to explore this further and think (again not intended), I will make a record sleeve.

Workshop Challenge: Final Execution

TURNING THE GRAPHIC IN A REAL WORLD APPLICATION
I was massively inspired by the talk by Chloe Scheffre where she combines handmade typographic elements and images with stunning results. Made me think of Fei Beitler's work from one of the earlier parts of the module.

So as not to directly ape her work I looked at some reference material for interesting image crops and type combinations. These influenced the work you see above. Although one thing that stood out for me in the examples I found was the refinement, so I have paired back slightly for the final piece.

FINAL EXECUTION

Really happy with this outcome. It feels fresh and original because of the process. Sorry Chloe, had to use that holographic foil from the HERE magazine :)...