Wooden chair

I found this article in Shortlist, Issue 55, 30 October 2008, page 5

I also read that the Urbis has an exhibition of Emory Douglas entitles Emory Douglas and The Art Of Revolution. Might have to go have a look see on Tuesday.

On the weekend I was in a second hand furniture shop looking around and saw a lamp. I did a double take and then realised it was exactly like the example Mike showed us of an Art Nouveau inspired design. I got excited and explained all this to the person who was with me at the time. He just looked at me as if I were odd. So I took a long time deciding on which piece of furniture to get as payback :) Moving on....

I had plans this weekend to get a riggle on with all my briefs, including Contextual Studies. It didnt happen and now I have just finished the animation for Room 101 and have to set about the task of sorting the audio out and then tweaking the animation to match. I am not looking forward to listening through 1.5 hours of recorded bus sounds trying to find the right bit of audio.

I did some further work on The Space sign on Thursday and I think I have resolved the design. I costed up some material to actually make it and have sent off an email asking various questions but as yet, not had a reply. It has been two working days after all. I want to use metal, something shiny like Aluminium and have the logo in the bottom right corner of the sheet, cut out with lights installed behind it.

I have thought of a potential problem with the Pure Screen work and that is if I can not install the fonts on this pc. I might have to go to college this week and use the macs. Another reason to buy a mac!

Hit play...

I have no idea if this will make it to the final version of the animation for Room 101 but I kinda like the animation, simple though it is. I still find working with moving image difficult and setting out a narrative seems to completely escape me. I was right in thinking my original idea wasnt strong enough, but the next version wasnt either and so I have taken on board all the comments in the production meeting and set about putting them into action. I really do wonder why Im on this course... just give me a static website!!

Anyways, without much more waiting, here is my small piece of animation. In my opinion its too pretty to make it in...

This made me giggle...

After doing an random search for New Media Design I came across Hot Girls Guide to Graphic Design and this image, which I thought was funny enough to share.

Its like a joke I dont get...

Even though I enjoy Contextual Studies it does feel like its a joke everyone gets except me. I understand what Mike talks about in class but it seems that the minute I walk through the door I dont. So, in an attempt to get my head around all this stuff I have pulled out all the stuff I have so far from Contextual Studies, put some music on and will attempt to make sense of it all. The results, successful or otherwise are below.

I have already blogged about DVD Studio Pro lesson earlier this week, still feel a little buzz about it. On Monday we have a production meeting ... this concept has been floated around quite a bit from last year but has only been successful a couple of times and not many people did the show and tell. I have had a rethink on my original idea for Room 101. It still revolves around the bus but the narrative is different. I have yet to storyboard it and I have played around with the graphic look and feel but since then I have had another rethink on the graphic look. If things go well I will have a mood board by the end of the day :)

The Bauhaus (1919 to 1932)

The Bauhaus was based in Germany and attempted to bring art and design together in a time when design was kept lower in the canon. Although artists could design they didnt advertise it because design was considered not as important as Art. The Bauhaus took the ideas of Morris and the Arts and Crafts Society further and allowed women into the school. All the student were given the opportunity to experience every aspect of design and then, given their strengths, allowed to specialise. The design emerging from the Bauhaus were primarily dominated by machines, could the design be made by machines.

The Bauhaus design emerged after the first World War and all prototypes were designed primarily for function and believed that design should be used to improve society. Using the concept of mass production and machines to provide objects that were cheap and functional. The results were straight, almost clinical without decoration. It was said the reason for the success of the Bauhaus design was as a result of those who survived the war were attracted to the clean feel after living so long in dirty trenches etc.

Although the Bauhaus was closed in 1933 by Hitler and the staff and students dispersed to America the impact and influence of the Bauhaus design can be seen in what is now called the International Style.

Key features of Bauhaus

• cheap industrial materials
• machine mass produced
• standardised parts
• prefrabricated construction
• functional above all else
• linearity (sharp edges)
• geometric, abstract shapes
• minimal, white/pure colours
• undecorated ("honest")
• assymetic composition
  

Art Deco

At the same time as the Bauhaus style was popular, Art Deco was its rival and also began in the 1920's. It captured the desire for a new/fresh start after the war and optimistic view of the future. A symbol of hope and was all about looking modern - the Space Age look (futeristic modernism).

Key features of Art Deco

• the sunburst
• go-faster stripes
• science fiction
• lightning bolts (zig zag)
• streaming
• jazzy geometry
• mondern art/cubist effects
• industrial materials
• exotic sources
• stepping
  

In the beginning it Art Deco style could be categorised as Art Inspired Geometry (adapting art styles to look modern) and Exotic Historicism (modern-looking, exciting strange styles). With the new inventions, developments and international travel Art Deco can be summed up as "optimisism". Towards the end of the Art Deco period the styles could be described as Streamlining (inspired by the fast trains and planes) and Moderne which was the growing influence of a practical Bauhaus style.

Art Nouveau (1890 - 1914)

Art Nouveau is often discribes as an International Style and nature-inspired design, was short lived before the first World War.
Key features of Art Nouveau

• organic
• anitHistoricist (no copying the past)
• whiplash
• flatness (turn it 90 degrees and the design has gone)
• coordination
• stylised
• novelty
• assymetry
• themes
• total look

There is a Japanese influence in Art Nouveau - asymmetry, flatness, cropping and odd views. C R Mackintosh based in Scotland is the only UK artist using this style. Britian didnt like this style considering it as the last phase of old style, yet today it is considered a forrunner of modernism and an ally of science and a source of non-Bauhaus styles.

The New Look

The New Look, often referred to as the tulip look, appeared after the second World War and as a result of a desire for a softer, non-geometric form of design. With the new technology and materials as a result of the war, plastics such as acrylic, perspex, nylon and polyethelyne were used with the new moulding processes to produce the tulip shaped style. Introducing experiemental shapes, colours, textures, patterns and themes.

Dior was the first fashion designer to take this tulip to the catwalk and although the initial response was controversial, with many women feeling it was a step backwards after the efforts of the women during the war, it obviously took off.

Tis a rare thing...

It is a rare thing that I find myself actually wanting to write a blog, rare still that I find myself wanting to write something entirely positive about college.

For the first time since I started this course I felt I have actually had a proper lesson on some software, DVD Studio Pro to be exact and although there was some technical difficulty towards the end, it was a thoroughly enjoyable class and I left college with a sense of achievement. I accomplished something and it was worth me dragging my sorry arse out of bed this morning. Thank you Dave, you made my week!

Im a duck

Bare with me...

I have been doing alot of thinking about what to do with both brief, Room 101 and the DVD Studio but when I look at my sketchbook there isnt alot in there. I have felt that alot of this last week has been alot of behind the scenes work - thinking. See where I was going with the duck comment?

We did get a chance to see DVD Studio Pro and what it can do and I still have the feeling that we have been kept away from the software side of things. We are new media designers and as such I was under the impression we would not only be able to design something but take it through to completion and use the appropriate software, in an appropriate manner and with some level of competance.

Our lesson with Mike was great as usual. Of course it was great, I got a distinction for my last assignment in Contextual Studies when I was only expecting a pass.

The presentation to the first years wasnt too bad. Im never comfortable presenting to a large audience and thankfully here wasnt too many questions.

I have decided on my narrative for Room 101 which revolves around my absolute love for travelling on the bus to and from college. That was a sarcastic sentence by the way. I get to see a wide range of people and not many of them I would choose to actually meet. I have designed a series of sterotypical characters which are seen on my bus and with my trusty zapper I will send all offensive items to Room 101 and the bus turns into a happy, chillied bus :)

First blog as a second year NMD student!!!

Well, this is the first blog of my second year at the new and improved (?) Manchester College. Glad to see things havent changed that much over the summer break, well except maybe me. I didnt do a right lot over the break but was able to get a "do you want to design a website for me" job which can be seen here. Im happy with this site for a couple of reasons and they are mainly from a technical point of view. I created it in Flash and used alot of actionscript 3.0 coding to get it all working. It still has a menu which I dont like and no preloaders, both of which I want to fix. I love the fact it is all created in one timeline with about 6 frames (not including the actual photo content) and it refers to xml files and the images are completely manageable by the client. It has inspired me to relook at my own and the terry pratchett site I did last year. Using actionscript makes the files smaller and makes more sense to me - but that's me I guess. As a result of this website someone else might be interested in having me do a website for them. Probably the biggest compliment I can think of.

We have to present one of our briefs to the first years and I had to do mine today. I still hate and will probably always hate having to get up infront of alot of people and talk. I usually turn bright red and this is never a good response as it is very obvious to everyone you are nervous. But I have done it and it seemed to go down OK.

Contextual studies was fun and we learnt about the Bauhaus and Art Deco, we also got our marks back for the piece of work we did last year and to my total surprise I got a distinction. I only expected a pass but there you go. There were a few bad points but its a distinction never the less. We have alot of writing to do this year and I dont want to find myself in the same position as I did last year. Got to bite the bullet as they say. I wish the whole course was as well planned as Contextual Studies.

We have been working on our personal logos and yearly plan which doesnt seem to fit in with what Mike is planning in Contextual Studies but I will wait and see what happens. We have our first warm up brief "Room 101" which I am currently playing around with some ideas. With any luck tomorrow we will get the "DVD menu" brief.