Defining the Brief

OUGD505 Studio Brief 02

Outlining my own Brief

Problem

Because the majority of people who get Parkinson’s disease are over the age of 60, the disease is often overlooked in younger people, leading many to go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for extended periods of time. 

Aims

Focus on the early on-set people living with Parkinson’s disease and help them to feel more connected and less alone. With such a majority of people with the disease being over the age of 60, younger people struggle to meet others of the same age; my aim is to make this task easier through design.

Target Audience

Early on-set/ working-age people living with Parkinson’s.

Requirements

To get in touch with Parkinson’s UK and ask if I can use them as the face of my project.

Design Strategy

Ideas & Research

There are a number of alternatives to a standard exhibition for showcasing creative work. 

Some alternative spaces include:

- Libraries
- Cafes/restaurants
- Coffee shops
- Wine shops
- Hair salons/spas
- Fitness clubs/dojos
- Dance studios
- Record stores
- Bank lobbies
- Churches

Pretty much any wall is a potential exhibition space

Approach business spaces that relate to the work?

a good way of attracting the right crowd easily to an exhibition is to hold it in a venue that is already known for something similar such as industry, craft, discipline etc. Or relate the content of the work to the venue e.g. if they photos include dancers... hold the exhibition in a dance studio. This giving the work some context and creating an immersive experience that surrounds the audience.

Unused or empty retail spaces... (e.g. our end of year exhibition last year for the bank notes)

Could look to approach someone that owns or is renting an empty space that would lend itself well to the work we will showcase. Considerations include how to staff the space.

Hosting within a house...

A couple members of our team have previously been to an exhibition held in someones house here in Leeds. The idea behind it is that the venue is then free of charge. A room or two is cleared out to make room for a collection of work. There would then be drinks and/or food served in order to create a party vibe. 

A house could be a known place for exhibitions that people contact in order to hold a one or two day exhibition. The owner of the house would then charge a small fee and provide a service. The house would then become a part time venue for exhibitions/ parties.

"not only do alternative spaces offer places for artists to show their work but they also offer the public a non-intimidating way to enjoy art"

---------------------------------------

- A website that offers online exhibitions, art publications and awards

- Instead of using a physical space, an alternative would be to create a website or app that acts as an ongoing exhibition

- the website will showcase particular shows/collections etc each week or month

- the exhibitions would then be able to change from one to another quickly and easily

- this would also reduce costs including printing work and renting spaces.

---------------------------------------

- Online magazine called Aesthetica brings together exhibitions and all sorts to make it easy for people to find out about them. 

- The site features a number of articles about all different creative disciplines.

- We could create something similar where people at our college could visit in order to find out about exhibitions that feature work from the college

---------------------------------------

- The national archives website offers a whole variety of online exhibitions

- Again, this is a really easy and accessible way for people to see creative work instead of having to attend an event

Research Presentation

 Feedback 

- focus on finding an aim 
- what is it I want to achieve 
- do I want to just raise awareness
- or do I want to raise money / change opinions etc
- also keep focus of existing posters throughout project 
  > maybe target this through outcome?
- then present idea to people - prove that the design is successful
- stop people turning away etc

China Town

China Town in Leeds

I first assumed that because there isn't one now that there had never been a China town in Leeds which is surprising seeing as all other major cities around the country have an area dedicated to Chinese culture. But my tutor told me that there once was a China town in the city of Leeds but over the years it has disappeared to make way for other businesses and industries.

I managed to find a photo dating back to 1928 that shows the area of Kirkgate being home to China town.Pagoda style arches spanned the street, decorated with lions and dragons as well as lanterns hanging across shop fronts.




















As China town in Leeds does not exist anymore, I went down to London to visit theirs instead to get some visual aid and inspiration. The colours of red and gold are very typical of Chinese culture as well as the use of dragons, lanterns and pagodas. I will be using this imagery as inspiration when designing my print.

Visiting the Public Space

Leeds Town Hall

After deciding to celebrate Chinese New Year through my print, the decision to visit the Leeds Town Hall was informed by the fact that every year the Chinese community of Leeds put on a show here. The brief specifies to celebrate both an occasion as well as where the occasion took place. After taking photos of the outside of this iconic building, I then wandered in and asked if I could take some photos on the inside.

I had never actually been into the hall before and I definitely wasn't expecting to see what I did. The space inside is unlike anything I've ever seen. 

My tutor mentioned that there is a documentary all about this building and the influence it has had on a global scale. For my next bit of research I will find this doc and watch it to get a better idea of the history of the building.

Documentary - Vimeo
People's Palaces: The Golden Age of Civic Architecture

I found a documentary about the civic architecture of North England in which it mentions Leeds Town Hall. Described as a Palace, the hall was seen as a huge deal and brought beauty to an otherwise ugly town.

"the symbol for civic architecture in the North East"

Below are some screen shots taken from the doc. They are of the 4 corners of the entrance hall ceiling as you enter the building. Each corner represents a continent, which in turn represents the fact that the building is not only a symbol of the north but one on a much more global scale.

Arjowiggins Submission Research

Example Submission Boards

As this is my first time submitting the D&AD/YCN briefs I have looked up some examples of submissions from previous years to get a good idea what to include and what not to.

The example here has given me a good idea of how much I need to write about each image I include. I will also use it as a guide to structure my slides and order them in way that makes them clear and concise.

This example includes a bold, impactful front cover that introduces the project to the viewer in a fun and colourful way. This is a good idea in order to attract the judges attention as they flick through all the submissions.

The colourful and playful theme then runs throughout the submission boards to bring it all together.

This example is much more of a story telling. The boards don't include any text, instead the concept and final resolution is demonstrated through the use of photos showing how the product would be used.

Collaboration - Meeting

Catch up with group

We organised to meet up today to catch up with one another and see where we are at as the deadline is less than a week away.

The next step in the process was to decide on the words we will use to convey the intended message and back up that of the photographs. We explored all kinds of different slogans and phrases as well as considering humour and even film quotes.

Someone then had the idea to use the famous quote "why so serious?" as it is easily recognisable by everyone let alone our target audience. It also conveys the intended message of having fun and not taking things to seriously.


With this idea we then moved to a computer and began producing the final designs. We played around with a number of different typefaces, type size etc until we were all happy with the outcome. We all really liked the slogan and thought it would work well reading along the series of 3 posters. However we came across an issue when we put the posters next to each other with the slogan. As the middle word of the slogan is so small, it didn't have the intended effect and looked out of place. This has led us to reconsider the the slogan and instead revert to one of our other ideas of using three separate words that each convey the message in their own way. What we produced in the time we had today is shown below.

Moving forward, we will meet up again tomorrow to bring together the words we have come up with to use instead of the existing slogan. Once we have that decided, it will then be a matter of putting it all together for submission.

My experience:

My experience of the meet up today was different to the previous ones as there were times where I would make suggestions but because there are 4 of us involved, some of my suggestions were rejected to my disappointment. I've come to realise that a large part of working in a team is compromising with the other team members. Even so, we eventually all came to an agreement so I wasn't bothered by it.

Collaborative Development

Photoshoot

To kick start the project we decided to do a photoshoot inspired by our concept. The intended message is to have fun with it, be creative and let loose. This has been conveyed through pouring paint onto first year students in a fun and light hearted manor.

We have used paint colours that are similar to those of the three Adobe softwares. These colours will then be edited to resemble each software.

Edited versions:

Critique
feedback from group:

- Have multilayered imagery
> use a range of stocks or materials to create interactive posters
- Research 'Take It On' posters
- Come up with slogan to portray message
- illustrate this across the photos
- the development/learning is more important
- maybe take negative opinions of Adobe sweet
- Look at message adobe put out their already about software

Take It On - Sagmeister & Walsh

When getting feedback on our concept, we were made aware of a similar example by Sagmeister & Walsh. The example was a series of posters they designed for the school of visual arts in NYC that were then displayed on the metro.

The series consists of students faces that have type illustrated or photoshopped onto in very expressive and impactful ways. This example is useful for our project as the brief specifies that we should try to avoid using type and covey the message/ advice purely through imagery. This is an example of using type but in a way that compliments the imagery without being to obvious.

From this, our idea is to come up with a slogan similar to 'Take It On' that will be illustrated on to the photos we have already. This message will further enhance the intended message of the series.

Existing Adobe Advertising

Looking into what Adobe themselves have produced in the passed, I came across the poster series shown below. The series was made up of photographs of peoples faces, very similar to our own, that are then illustrated onto using bold colours and imagery. The posters then share a slogan at the bottom reading 'The New Creatives Are Here'. These are very similar to what we aim to produce however ours will also differ in a number of ways including target audience and overall message.

Range of example adverts for Adobe Software

Finding it very difficult to locate any existing examples of Adobe advertising campaigns, I have come across the examples below although I am not sure if they were produced by them or someone else. Even so, we can take influence from aspects of the posters when designing our own.

American Apparel

American apparel released a series of adverts that received a lot of attention, both positive and negative. What we can take away from these is the bold use of type together with an image of a person to create a strong and powerful message.

VW Adverts

Similarly with the old VW adverts, they used simple imagery with only a few words or single word underneath. Often they used humour and satire to attract attention. One idea is it use humour within our own project to further portray the sense of fun and playfulness. 

Range of Issues

The Brief

This brief is very different from any brief I have undertaken so far at the college. The closest I have come to this brief is the live one I took part in for the Papyrus charity that helps young people who experience suicidal thoughts. That brief was my first experience of actually making a difference through my designs and is a key aspect of this brief. Before I specify what issue I want to research into, I will first brainstorm a number of them. One recommendation given by the tutors was to choose something that has meaning to me and something that I genuinely care about. This will help me to immerse myself within the subject and gain a strong interest in the work I produce.

Range of ideas

Parkinson's Disease

Following on from the advice given to me, one idea that came to mind straight away was to look into Parkinson's disease. A few years ago my dad was diagnosed with this disease, before then I hadn't really heard of it and wasn't sure what it really meant. Because of this, it made me think that the awareness and publicity around this disease isn't as big as something like cancer. 

The feedback I received about taking on this topic was firstly that I must be sure I want to use such a sensitive subject that is so close to home as it may be quite tough to talk about or explore further. My response to this was that I think it would be a good idea for me to research this as a subject to learn more about it and to eventually try to spread awareness for the cause. The other piece of feedback I received was that diseases can be a very broad subject, so it might be a good idea to specify my research into maybe looking at how the disease effects certain aspects of a sufferers life e.g. its effect on employment. This made me think of my dads situation as he had some difficulty trying to balance him wanting to work but also needing some assistance in terms of benefits. This would make a really in depth and worth while research project as it is something that would otherwise be overlooked but in fact has some really negative effects on peoples lives including my dad.

Racism in Football

A passion of mine and a big part of my life is football. From a young age I have always watched and played football on a regular basis. One aspect of football that is well known around the world for all the wrong reasons is the obvious and overt racism that still exists to this day. Moving on from racism is a huge part of society all over the world and for countries such as ours it has been a great success in eradicating this. However, football remains as one of the instances in which racism is still obvious and a big problem.

Inspired by the advice to keep things specific, targeting racism as an issue in general would be way too broad however looking at it within a certain sport would specify my research and final resolution. The other advantage of doing this issue is that it already gets a lot of publicity and this means that there are plenty of examples of how graphic design has tried to help. This would form a large and in depth body of research that would then influence my practical. I guess this could also be seen as a negative as it is more publicised than the previous idea.

Moving forward

After reading up about issues in the 21st century that interest me personally, I think that the idea I am most interested in exploring is Parkinson's Disease. Apart from being very close to home, the factor that swayed me was the fact that as an issue, it doesn't get much coverage at all, let alone graphic design and I think it is more worth while to explore something that hasn't been publicised as much as other issues in terms of design. This gives me an opportunity to produce design that hasn't been done before and that hopefully could make a difference as opposed to producing design that is similar to design already existing today which would be the case with something like racism in football.

Moving forward then, I will be investigating Parkinson's Disease in general as well as the publicity it already receives. I will be speaking to my dad about the matter to get some inspiration on where to take my research and practical investigation.

Design Practice 02 Lecture

Appropriation
Lecture notes

- fountain by Marcel du Champs
- real fine art thinker of the modernist period
- first people to pioneer their practice
- taking everyday objects and positioning them as fine art sculptures
- this became regular practice despite uproar of reaction
- Mona Lisa, LHOOQ
- Hannah Hock, associated with dada movement
- created exciting collages using pages from newspapers, magazines etc
- pioneers of this form of approach for creating images
- incredibly experimental, subjective, questioning
- design often related to restrictions, rules, guidelines
- fine art has never had these barriers
- Raoul Haussmann, self portrait
- appropriating images from mass culture as a means to bring it back into the hands of the people
- anti-art sensibility 
- Richard Pettibone, 'Andy Warhole, Marylin Monroe, 1964'
- Bloomberg business week - cover art

Cultural Appropriation

- used when thinking about fashion
- when western society use symbols of distinct cultures and races for general use
- e.g. Katy Perry dressed as a Geisha
- Sanaa Hamid, photography 
- appropriation of icons and sybmols
- it's only a scarf
- Arabic Vogue magazine, Gigi Hadid
Parody
- Banksy 'Kate' 2005 - politicised
- comment on celebrities
- Absolute impotence - ad busters
- using visual language against them
- Obsession - for men
- poking fun at men's fashion industry
- this sort of parody doesn't require any thinking, very instantaneous effect
- not a perfect approach by a long way for these reasons
- these examples are all of the same technique which doesn't actually achieve an awful lot, they are just quick and fun
Pastiche
- Stranger things, star wars poster
- Stranger & Stranger
- packing design for products used by famous hair stylists in Brooklyn
- rustic but detailed 
- cleverly appropriate codes to communicate gentlemanly class

Chinese New Year in Leeds

Chinese New Year Celebrations

Welcoming the new year for the Chinese is just as special as in the Western World and this is celebrated extensively all around the world. This includes Leeds as every year there are a large number of events around the city celebrating Chinese culture and traditions.

This is a celebration that happens year in year out and so there is an extensive amount of content and material to explore to inform my print. I will be looking at previous years and how the new year has been celebrated and then bring this content forward to design a print relevant to this year; the year of the Rooster. 

Previously, the new year has been celebrated through galas, shows, exhibitions, dinners and other celebratory events. All the events have been aimed at people of all ages and backgrounds to bring people together for a celebration.

Leeds Town Hall

The Leeds town hall has been home to a number of events celebrating the Chinese New year. The poster on the left, for example, advertises a show put on my the Chinese Association of Leeds. 

Every Year for a while now, the Association has used this public space for a variety of different shows and galas.








Review of the show online:

Over the years, there has been an official poster designed for celebrating the Chinese New Year in Leeds City centre. These posters have been typically Chinese, however They all have a tremendous amount of room for improvement. 

What I am aiming to do is to redesign the official poster for this years celebrations, taking into account the history of the celebration in Leeds. The design will be typically Chinese whilst taking inspiration from events that have been held in the city of Leeds.

Chinese New Year

The Leeds Students and scholars association joined forces to host a Chinese New Year Gala in Leeds Town Hall. The aim was to create a sense of warmth and familiarity for Chinese people in Leeds whilst giving everyone a chance to explore Chinese culture. The event was full of dancing, music and competitions.

Chinese Culture Festival

The Leeds corn exchange was home to the Chinese culture festival this year. Food, drink, dance and performances were amongst the array of activities put on to celebrate the new year as well as painting and calligraphy lessons.

Along side an East Asian inspired stall from the Yellow Sunrise, the corn exchange shop that's famed for its world influences.

Below is a video of the 2014 new year festival show put on in Leeds full of dancing, music, performances, martial arts and more. The aim is to celebrate and promote the culture of China.