OUGD205 evaluation

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this module, both for the variety of skills that I have developed, and for opening my eyes to different aspects of graphic design that I would not have thought about before. It has very much introduced me to a new way of working. 

At first, the idea of having week-long briefs running at the same time as other studio briefs was daunting as I am bad at managing my time in the best of situations, but as they started to run regularly, and I got used to the fast-paced rhythm of the module, I got a lot better at the decisions that I needed to make almost instantaneously. 

The layout of the briefs and the idea sessions in the time-tabled slots very much helped with the time management issue. I normally spend a lot of time coming up with ideas, and generally have the time to chop and change what I am going to do. This was the area that I learnt the most with this module, coming up with ideas and sticking to them, as there really wasn't enough time in the week to do what I normally do, and it was very beneficial. Each of the pieces is generated from ideas that I have developed from my initial burst of ideas in the sessions. It has very much changed the way that I look at briefs now, writing up my own parts and sticking to my ideas without straying off. 

I also found that it opened my eyes to a whole new area of design, each brief carefully thought out to really get the most out of our time on the module, opening up the opportunity to work in any sort of media we wanted. I really tried to stretch myself where this is concerned, not sticking to one way of producing a final piece like I have in the past. I generally like sticking to what I am confortable with... working with vectors in Illustrator. However I have covered photography, hand-rendered type, hand drawing, crafting out of paper and card. I have learnt a lot of processes which I have never used before, including learning how to scan drawings in and adapting them on the computer using Adobe software. 

I also found that the 2D to 3D to 2D brief startled me more than I thought it would. The idea that I could not just run to a mac and create something on there was tricky at the beginning, but, funnily enough, this was the brief I enjoyed the most in the end. I think I took far too much time setting that one up, but it did not feel like work. I really enjoyed going back to crafting and creating things out of physical objects. 

One issue with this module was certainly with time management. It took a lot of time over Easter to catch  up with things that I had missed or done roughly. By that point, I became a bit of a perfectionist, spending hours re-doing previous briefs, following up on the feedback I was given and making the pieces up to scratch... but this, accompanied with my placement, ate up my time and I ended up completely botching my final piece. If I could do it again, I would pay far more attention to the self-initiated brief because, I spent all my time knitting the binding that I then didn't do the content. Which was utterly stupid. There was not one day in this Easter break where I was not working and I really feel bad about the result of the brief. I did not take the time into consideration, and the sheer magnitude of the task I had set myself for such a short amount of time, in which I was doing so many different things that my mind was all over the place.
I am finally happy with all my final pieces minus the self-initiated brief. I think this module has resulted in some pieces of work I would be happy to put into my portfolio, which I definitely did not have at the beginning. 

Things I would do differently

Consider time more appropriately. Think more about the tasks I am setting myself for the time allocated. 

I would re-think my self-initiated brief idea. I think I would have liked to have taken the 2D to 3D to 2D brief further. 

Researched more. 

ATTENDANCE - 4

PUNCTUALITY - 4

MOTIVATION - 3

COMMITMENT - 4

QUANTITY - 4

QUALITY - 3

CONTRIBUTION - 3

This rapidly became my favourite module of the course so far. The fast structure helped with my time skills and decision making process. I also learnt a lot to do with processes and finishes which I will take on with me into other briefs. 

Jumpers - More images

Some more jumpers that I found...

I am starting to worry about the amount of time I have taken to collect images and knit the binding...

Trip to Granny's - Learning to knit

Half way through my placement in London, I realised that I am letting my college work stray a bit. However much I have tried to keep up to date with my blogs and all sorts, a lot of my attention has been centred around my days at DLKW. So... when it came to the weekend, I decided to take a trip down to Sussex to visit my Granny with the sole intention of learning to knit. She has been a knitter all of my life so knew she would be integral to my progress in my jumper work. As well as teaching me to knit patterns, I was hoping that she would also have some old jumper gems I could photograph... and she came through!!

Getting here on Saturday morning, apparently I was completely disillusioned about how easy it is to knit... especially the kind of patterns that I need. Turns out it took a solid weekend to get what I needed. But here we go. 

A beautiful old set of knitting needles. 

Ah I was spoilt for choice on the wool side of things!!

I decided I really wanted to do a simple design, but not too simple to not get the essence of the kind of jumpers that I am portraying in the book.

So off my Granny went, embarking on a slow, frustrating lesson of how to do it. And the results are better than I could of expected. 

This is all I need. Such a weight off my mind. 

The back

She kindly let me keep the needle... and the balls of wool that I used so that I can use them for other things... such as... making my own typeface. 

This idea came to me as I got more and more frustrated in the knitting process. What am I going to do with this? Is this a waste of time? How could I make this more relevant to the work we've been doing... type!! 

I am going to do some experiments when I get home/back to London where there are more materials... but I really like the idea of writing in wool. Either by sewing it into paper/material... or even sticking it on paper. 

I was thinking of creating an entire typeface and working with that separately. But this might not work... time to experiment. 

Jumpers - A few image ideas

I have taken a range of photos and am setting out to edit them in different ways to see what they look like... these are a few.

Image - Jumper Jumper Jumper!

Things I need to take into consideration...

stock
size
format
scale

Ideas for how to get so many jumpers...

I have been thinking of ways of how to collect the amount of jumpers that I need. 

I have started to notice more and more people wearing them... which is going to help. 

I am going to go out into the public with a camera and ask people if I can take pictures of them in their jumpers... I think this will look a lot more authentic as I don't want these obviously posed. 

I have decided against doing an actual photo shoot as I actually want these to be natural. 

I am also thinking of ways to hide people's faces. I want the focus to be on the jumpers, not the models. 

I am going to go to a few boutiques and charity/vintage shops with some friends and get them to try all the jumpers on. I am going to take a large amount of photos and then choose my 20 favourite from them.
I also have a few myself that I would like to use, and I know other people, including my housemates that I could use as well. 

I was also thinking of creating some flyers to put around the college asking people with jumpers similar to the ones that will be on the flyer to get in contact with me so that I can take a quick photograph of them wearing them. 

Jumpers! Jumpers! Jumpers! - Action Plan

By the 31st March

Sort out jumpers - 12-20 of them. 

Models? owners of the jumpers?

Set exact locations for photos - studio or in the environment?

Decide on photography style.

By the 2nd April

Decide on type. 

Quotes/lyrics?

Decide on typeface.

Make them meaningful. 

Work in context. 

By the 7th April

Knit and try out different ways of binding the book.

Decide on stock. 

Layout decisions. 

Learn how to knit. 

By the 14th April

Print

Sort out order

Start the knitting process. 

By the deadline

Finish and put it all together!!

Brief title - Jumpers! Jumpers! Jumpers!

The Brief

Design a book based on 'grandpa' style knitted jumpers using a range of media, including hand-drawing, photography, typography and crafting. 

Considerations

Book binding

Legibility of type

Relevance

Locations for photoshoots

How many people/jumpers do I need?

What type? Quotes? Lyrics?

Layout

Drawing patterns

Target Audience

People who enjoy/ are interested in fashion.

People who enjoy interacting and owning nice, visually appealing books. 

Background

Putting together a book of images, with relevance and in an informed way. 

How to make this graphic design rather than useless?

Making something both graphic design and a visual delight. 

The actual design of the book.

Mandatory requirements

Sketch books.

Design sheets. 

Blogs up to date. 

1 finished book. 

Photographs. 

Drawings.

Typography. 

Bound by knitting a few lines of stitches, joined by a needle and sewn into the pages of the book. 

Deliverables

A book of photographs, drawings and quotes.

Bound by knitting and a knitting needle. 

Deadline

Tuesday 26th April

Bibliography - Jumpers, Jumpers, Jumpers

I have chosen to look at a range of books for this part of my research. 

I want to fully know what I am aiming to do before I set out in trying to make this book. 

This means a knowledge in knitting patterns, a wide range of different styles and prints on jumpers, learning to knit (simply) and a knowledge of fashion photography. 

These are my initial 5 books.

'Traditional Island Knitting' - Pam Dawson, 1989, Search Press Ltd

Information about the origin of the kind of jumpers that are rapidly coming into fashion at the moment. 

Wide range of patterns and styles. 

Information about where the initial designs came from (shetlands, iceland etc)

How to re-create the patterns, step by step guides. 

'ELLE Knitting Book 2 - 50 Exclusive Designs from France' - Sandy Carr, 1986, Century Press

Patterns and shapes of jumpers. 

Fashion photography. 

How the fashion in these jumpers evolved. 

'The Sweater Book' - Amy Carroll, 1984, Verona, Dorling Kindersley London

Brilliant patterns and designs.

Hand drawn stitches. 

Types of photographs I would like to re-create. 

'The Country Diary Book of Knitting' - Annette Mitchell, 1987, Exeter, BPCC Paulton Books Ltd

Patterns. 

Recurring trends.

Illustrations. 

'Tina Barry : Photographs - Theater of Manners - Tina Barry, 1997, NYC, Scalo

Beautiful photographs. 

Natural photographs. 

People unaware of the photos being taken.
Very un-posed. 

Jumper book - Presentation boards for crit

These are the presentation boards I am going to use in the crit this afternoon.
They clearly show what I intend to do. 

Book Works final piece and evaluation

I like the way that this turned out. My poor time management made it not possible for it to be sold at the book fair... and for it to have been produced to the best of it's potential. 

I spent far too much time drawing intricate crosses which have been lost in the process of getting them onto the computer for manipulation. 

I really like the personal feel to the book, with intricate diary entries from 70 years ago to put it into context. 

Especially the poster on the back with the love and loss poem written by hand behind the strongest cross. 

If I had more time I would definitely address my photography of the pages of the diary. However I did not have a proper scanner at home, and was not allowed to take the diaries back to Leeds with me.
This is very much a concept and if I have more time I will definitely be finishing it off as it could be a brilliant piece of work. 

I think the strengths lie with how far I have taken the shape of a cross. Looking into all different types of crosses applying to different religions and cults.

Book Fair - development

So after deciding to use the diaries for the book, things started slotting into place well. I stuck with the hotdog fold idea and then played around with the opacities to make the crosses stand out more. 

These are the extracts I am using. 

This is the back cover. 

A poem in the back of his diary which I thought was beautiful and sums up the general idea of religion and war that I am trying to convey. 

Book fair - gold

Whilst thinking of an appropriate front cover for the book, I suddenly remembered those scratch boards I used to do as a kid... where you scratch away a black surface to reveal gold... making a nice picture of a horse or a penguin. 

I thought this could be perfect, making the book look like a sort of prayer book... 

So I ordered some blank ones... and then bought some graphite paper to get the images of the crosses across. 

Unfortunately, after a couple of hours of tracing and scraping... the result looked terrible and cheap. What a waste of money and time, I even bought gold leaf to stick down.

Back to the drawing board...

Book fair - Continuation - My grandfather's war diaries.

So I have been thinking about how to improve my book on crosses that I made for the book fair. How could I make it more meaningful... and make it look better at the same time. 

When I started really thinking about it, I started thinking about my Grandfather, who was the most religious man I ever met. And then it struck me... his diaries in the war! I wanted to incorporate these, so I dug around and finally found them.

They are perfect for what I am doing as they really put the crosses into perspective. At the beginning I wanted to incorporate prayers as type for this book, but using these diary posts would make it all the more poignant. 

Each sunday, he wrote about religion, all throughout his time fighting.

The front covers. 

I really think that I could make a really poignant piece of design out of these. Experimenting with the crosses I have already drawn and vectored... 

Hot-dog Fold Template and thoughts.

This is the template I am going to use for the layout of my book. 

My document...

I now need to pick and choose which crosses I want to appear on there... and what my message is. 

I was thinking of making a montage of crosses...

A bit like this image. 

All the crosses together

These are the crosses so far in one document. 

I love the way they look together. 

I was thinking maybe a hot dog fold... with my favourite, with the most inspirational quote. 

Time to get designing...

This is the cross I intend to be in large. 

Crosses - More of them

So I've been concentrating on more crosses with more detail. A lot more ornate. 

These are my initial drawings.

These are the Tif files. 

I have taken a lot of care erasing all of the parts of the images which aren't lines so that I can place them on any required background. 

These are a big improvement on the original style of drawing that I was considering... 

These are a couple of simple vector images that I started off with. 

The next part is to get some inspirational quotes/parables/sayings/sentences and choosing a typeface to accompany the images... and decide the layout of the book.