Evaluation

What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout this module I have been introduced to a lot of new evaluation techniques and group progress. advice crits. I now understand the importance of researching existing designers and how useful this is when designing my own work, knowing what is currently happening in the design world. The 'Blog, marry, avoid' task introduced me to a lot of designers and blogs that I have continually used for context and inspiration. The tasks that we have done have made me more aware of how people are going to respond to my work, they have made me question specifically who the audience is and how they will respond to the work.

What approaches to/ methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?


For the final publication I chose to base mine on Post Modernism, this pushed me to design in a way I haven't done before because I had to adopt and emulate the post modern style which forced me to work outside of my comfort zone. The main influence this module has had on my design process is that it has made me consider the purpose, meaning, desired effect of a product before I jump into designing it which results in a better informed, more successful design.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/ will you capitalise on these?

We have had a lot of sessions that require engaged group work, this has made me work better and contribute more to group feedback situations, which is something I have been poor at in the past. This is due to now knowing what questions will be worth asking and relevant to the progression of a design.
I will continue to think of constructive feedback in progress crits and keep referring back to sessions when Jo has asked us to think of ultimate questions/ why we crit.

What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?


I need to make more decisions as to 'why' i like a certain piece of design, because at the moment there is a lot that I like the aesthetic appearance but I need to deconstruct the elements that I like so I can apply these reasons to my own work. I also need to use the DIET evaluation system more frequently and more thoroughly as this will help me create more effective and successful design.

Identify 5 things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect from doing these?

Firstly I need to make sure to write more detailed lecture notes as I started to only write parts that I found interesting but this resulted in losing essential context, this will allow me to better understand the topics that are being delivered in lectures. I need to make posters or something that will remind me of evaluation techniques because I end up forgetting them which results in me doing a less thorough evaluation, but if I had what DIET stands for and some key points to 'why we crit' then my evaluations will be more helpful. Reading more of the books that I use for reference will help me gain a better understanding of the topics I am writing about. I will spend more money on the final product as I think that my publication would have looked and worked even better if it was printed professionally. I will keep my red book with me at all times, this will allow me to jot  down an illustrator or designer when they come up in conversation/ get recommended to me in a progress crit, this will allow me to keep a growing resource of designers and stop me from forgetting someone that could prove to be useful.

Attendance: 5
Punctuality: 5
Motivation: 4
Commitment: 5
Quality: 3
Quantity: 4
Contribution: 4

Revised Essay

Open publication - Free publishing - More context

Belly Band!

Printed Publication

Publication Assembly

I printed onto bulky newsprint, I added guides at the corners so all the pages are the same size. I arranged the pages so that the 2 facing double page spreads go back to back, this will help keep the finished book more flush at the edges. I decided to not to try printing double sided because there is a risk that the pages won't align and printing time is limited at the moment.

First strip folded:

Thickness of book:

Loose leaves

I stuck the strips together at one edge with double sided 

With left over paper I decided to make a belly band  to make the book look neater. 

I tried some hand drawn scruffy designs but they didn't suit the book. 

Preparation for Printing CoP

I measured a grid that I could drop my pages in so the book will fold together well

Pages dropped in:

I had to add a title page to make the numbers add up to an even book

E-Version of Book

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design

Black & White Version of Publication:

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design

More Pages

Neville Brody Quote Page

Page that describes the use of geometric shapes

Greiman page with new colour scheme

Page that has information about post modernisms role and influence with culture

Chantry page with new CMYK Colour Scheme

Evaluation

B/W CoP

I decided to make Black and white versions of all my spreads as I thought that this would make it look more hand made and less digital like a D.I.Y zine from the beginnings of Post Modernism

It makes it look dirtier and messier aswell like I have used a photocopier to layer the images

further page design

Publication Content

Post Modernism is a difficult area to define. It began in the late 1970’s inspired by the punk movement. In graphic design, it was generally a response to Modernism, it rejected order, function and any rules that came with Modernism. It began to take every aspect of design and push it to its boundaries, and beyond. It was a period of extreme experimentation that questioned readability, functionality, colour and communication. Post modern design was for the individual, it embraced culture and this shows through the design, where modernist design was aimed at communicating with the masses post modernism is focussed on creating a connection with the individual.

“I am for an art… that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum. I am for an art that grows up not knowing it is art at all, an art given the chance of having a starting point of zero. I am for an art that embroils itself with everyday crap and still comes out on top” Claes Oldenburg

Readability and legibility is an area of design that is constantly challenged throughout the postmodern era. David Carson’s design practice is focussed on exploring the relationship between communication and legibility. He uses legibility to make a connection with the reader, getting them involved with the deciphering and understanding of the work makes them a part of the work,  which is entirely different to the graphic design of Modernism, where the function of a poster is to communicate quickly and clearly. Pushing the viewers ability to gather meaning from a deconstructed design works to a certain extent but trying to read and understand text that has been changed beyond recognition becomes frustrating and annoying. This area of post modernism developed a lot of stylistic features that influenced what we know as Post modernism, the main one of these is ‘grunge type’. Grunge type is typography that has no apparent order or cleanliness, it is dirty and rough and in some cases barely legible.

“Taking the integrated whole apart, or destroying the underlying order that holds a graphic designer together” Phillip Meggs

Deconstruction is an integral part of Post Modernism, adopting a hand made, cut and paste ethos produced aesthetics that ignored all ideas of sticking to a grid. Neville Brody worked a lot with dismantling type and re-assembling regardless of if it was readable or even resembled anything similar to the original word.

The Cranbrook Academy began to teach deconstruction in design in the 1990’s, which was based heavily on theoretical understanding. Jaques Derrida heavily influenced this movement with his pairs of words that separated society into two opposing sides such as: Art/ Science, Mathematic/ Poetic, Mythology/ Technology. Katherine McCoy (Tutor at Cranbrook) said that “the emerging ideas emphasized the construction of meaning between the audience and the graphic design piece.”

The work produced at the Cranbrook Academy is very interesting. I can really appreciate how the ‘deconstruction’ idea gets the audience involved and engaged with the work, deciphering the message and understanding what is being communicated is like a puzzle. (see front cover of this book) Other examples of this include Allen Hori’s Typography as Discourse poster and Elliot Earls The conversion of Saint Paul.

“Design is more than just a few tricks to the eye. It’s a few tricks to the brain.” Neville Brody

Related to the idea of deconstruction, post modernism has a recurring theme of geometric shapes used in design work. April Greiman heavily uses basic shapes (square, circle, triangle) in her posters, layouts and publications. This comes from the influence of constructivism from around 1919, with designers such as El Lissitzky. Other designers known for use of geometric shapes include Kazuma Nagai and Jay Vigon.

Post Modernism is very interested in pop culture and consumerism. It uses familiar imagery to communicate with the viewer on a friendly level. This gives it a tone of voice that is ‘human’ in comparison to some older modernist design. It takes images from history and recycles and reuses them however it wants to. It looks to the past and the present rather than the future- which is what Modernism did. It breaks the boundaries of high and low culture by using imagery that everyone understands.

Art Chantry is a good example of this use of found and familiar imagery, he uses famous figures, layouts taken from advertisements and cartoons in his designs which create a humorous, interesting and friendly outcome.

“The messiness of human experience is warming up the cold precision of technology” – Cranbrook 1990

I like the theories and ideas of post modernism but I think that, in some cases, aesthetics are unappealing due to designers going out of their way to break rules even if this means that it doesn’t look good or work well as design. In conclusion, Post modernism is a style that incorporates defining features and ideologies. Mr. Keedy describes it well by saying  "First there is modernism with a capital "M," which designates a style and ideology…Then there is the modern, with a small "m." It is often confused with Modernism with a big M, but being a modern designer simply means being dedicated to working in a way that is contemporary and innovative, regardless of what your particular stylistic or ideological bias may be"

I think this well defines the contemporary design around at the moment it has no stylistic bias but it draws from past styles if it is relevant to the purpose of the work being produced.

Publication content - references

http://www.emigre.com/Editorial.php?sect=1&id=20

I found this essay: 'Graphic Design in the Postmodern Era By Mr. Keedy' very helpful with defining post modernism is.


He breaks it down simply by saying "First there is modernism with a capital "M," which designates a style and ideology"
"
Then there is the modern, with a small "m." It is often confused with Modernism with a big M, but being a modern designer simply means being dedicated to working in a way that is contemporary and innovative, regardless of what your particular stylistic or ideological bias may be"

This makes it clear that post modernism and modernism are very stylistically based and most contemporary design practice is 'modern with a small m' as Keedy puts it, it has no stylistic bias but it draws from past styles if it is relevant to the purpose of the work being produced.

http://gds.parkland.edu/gds/!lectures/history/1975/postmodern.html



Books

No More Rules: Graphic Design and Post Modernism (Rick Poynor)

Some People Can't Surf: The Graphic Design of Art Chantry (Julie Lasky)

Publication Layouts

Post Modernism- designer quotes

It’s not about knowing all the gimmicks and photo tricks. If you haven’t got the eye, no program will give it to you.
David Carson


The big problem is most contemporary design practiced today is not really graphic design, but graphic decoration.
Art Chantry


The challenge is for the graphic designer to turn data into information and information into messages of meaning.
Katherine McCoy


More designers should share space, share resources. Sort of an upscale communism.
April Grieman


I’m sure there are fine artists out there who keep the audience in mind when they work. But it’s not the accepted trajectory of the profession. Conversely, it’s very clear in design that what we do needs to be seen an understood by an audience.
Stefan Sagmeister


An electrician isn’t an opinion former, but a graphic designer is. My argument is that all graphic designers hold high levels of responsibility in society. We take invisible ideas and make them tangible. That’s our job.
Neville Brody


Design is mored than just a few tricks to the eye. It’s a few tricks to the brain.
Neville Brody


Be stimulated by rejection.
Bob Gill




http://ha065.wordpress.com/gamswen/postmodern-graphic-design/

Designerpages

Finished quote spread:

FInished quote spread:

Finished quote spread:

Neville Brody: