Elective, Part Two.

Humans, Structures And Things That Grow.

Brief;

Buy an A3 sketchbook or make one by binding paper you have collected. Fill it with sketches, drawings, marks of humans, structures and organic things. Keep in mind the materials and processes from Part One of this elective. There should be no fewer than 30 drawings of each category meaning 90 in total. When drawing always consider the surface. The surface could be used to reflect the subject in some way. Then select your 3 favourite/most successful working methods and 3 favourite drawings from the brief and re-work them to A1.

DD2000; Design Discourse.

Design Discourse; Identifies and develops the student awareness of and skill in the use of language specific to Design research, investigation and design thinking. The theme also introduces an awareness of the distinctions between communication for academic and professional contexts.
- Review TWO talks by contemporary practitioners based on talks of interviews on the following websites and blogs; diegestalten.tv / ted.com / D&AD blog / AOI blog / aiga.org / itsnicethat.com / thisiscolossal.com. 

Design Discourse; Talking Type

About Type Navigator; The Independent Foundries Handbook.

'Type Navigator'

'Gestalten.tv met a true "Type Writer" and typography expert to find out more about the "GPS for fonts." Alongside Martin Lorenz and Lupi Ascensio of TwoPoints.Net, Jan Middendorp edited Type Navigator: The Independent Foundries Handbook, the essential overview of the modern typefaces currently available and the innovative people and companies behind them. Hear him talk about the need for a substantial guide within the ever growing landscape of typography and the current popularity of typefaces and fonts within the design community.' 

Jan Middendorp is a type writer and page marker from Berlin, Germany. This talk mainly focuses on his reasoning for creating a 320 paged, full colour book containing a range of typefaces from around the world. Jan explains that the first reason behind the idea of this book is because as a teacher himself, he often surveys his students on what kind of subjects they want him to talk about and what their individually interested in and in response they often refer to type and typography. 


Jan explains how he finds particularly amongst young designers and students that type and lettering; more or less everything to do with fonts is very popular at the moment and is becoming more contemporary and evolving with its audience.

'A slide taken from the interview'

Particularly with new technology, Jan explains that it is becoming much easier to make your own typefaces and produce something that can be sellable due to the rapidly expanding online market for digital typefaces. Typography has gained a new significance. Now with a contemporary audience relying and resorting to the internet, companies can produce typefaces which can be sold on the internet to reach the targeted audience. Jan explains that this is the reason why there are so many independent companies trying to sell fonts, launching different typefaces on a daily basis. It had been difficult to keep track of notable developments and due to the fact that in order to have an overview of all these companies and fonts, there needed to be a guide. Previous books on type and font were originally published by one or few companies, therefore they were limited in the variety of typefaces. Jan describes his book like an atlas, due to the fact that the landscape of this book is so broad. 


He continues his talk by suggesting certain trends throughout the book, referring to a European trend of making the same Sans-Serif, which is in response to another trend of finely crafted typeface; which will be most commonly used within glossy magazines. Jan compares the variety of trends within type to the variety of trends found within fashion or music.

'T page selected from the book'

What do you need to decide about font? 
In his talk, he also explains the reasoning behind certain people being attracted to certain typefaces and this is due to the fact that a lot of people say 'I need to use it first'. This is why you have fonts available for free download so the targeted audience can test different fonts before settling with the one they think is most successful. Jan explains why this book in particular will be successful because a lot of foundries have collaborated together to create a CD (that comes free with the book) to allow the audience to try fonts before purchasing any. 


This has a few advantages; firstly because it allows the foundries to become popular and recognised due to the fact that it displays their fonts and contact details. It is also great for the buyer of the book because not only are they provided with fonts to use for free but they also get to judge the fonts in an off-set print environment, instead of just looking at them on-screen. Type Navigator provides inspirational visual examples of fonts in use which also benefits the user. Jan also states that Type Navigator provides the necessary information needed, whether the user is in need of a specific type of font, is looking for fonts by a selected designer, from a certain country or even just wants to compare prices.  

'A slide taken from the interview'

Jan also explains that he found a niche market for this book. He demonstrates a series of booklets created by FontSmith, that he believes are beautifully created and published however are quite small in both actual size and in variety of fonts. However 'Type Navigator' contains a variety of text from a range of categories that has been written especially for the contemporary use of type. Jan finishes his talk by explaining that because you don't find books containing that variety or use of font anymore, he wanted to create a new exciting feel with the book. 


I personally like to explore different type within the majority of my projects and it's something that I hope to develop and involve within future projects, so having a collection of typefaces available in this format is something that I think I would benefit from.   

Jan Middendorp; www.dorpdal.com 

Interview; http://www.gestalten.tv/motion/talking-type

Word Count; 770.

DD2000; Design Practice.

For my new Contextual Studies module, I have to update my illustration blog with research areas titled; Design Practice, Design Product and Design Discourse. These include discussing and reviewing certain aspects of the 'art world' such as gallery visits, lectures and inspirational artist work. Any post relating to this particular brief will have DD2000 in the title.


Design Practice; Investigation into design activities related tot he invention planning and design problem solving. Design Practice focuses on people and process across a range of design disciplines and the concept of multi-disciplinary design. 
 - Review the lectures of TWO practitioners who will deliver visiting lectures to you this year. (600 words)

Design Practice - Ben Tallon

21st January; my illustration class attended a lecture given by Ben Tallon. Ben is a multi-award winning illustrator, designer and Creative- Director who previously graduated from UCLAN and has commissioned illustrations for clients all over the world and exclusively niche projects. The main focus of his lecture was to talk about his work and answer our questions about the industry however he also spent the day at UCLAN to provide us with a brief during our editorial week. 

'Personal Illustration'

He firstly spoke to us about his working method and how he became comfortable in the industry. He presented examples of his own art work, giving a short summary about each piece, who the client was, what he enjoyed and what he was inspired by. His work is quite contemporary, I find he combines line techniques I've seen before with fresh ideas and compositions, for example the layering techniques used in 'personal illustration'. His talk was mainly helpful due to the fact that he was comfortable in his own style, and eventually after trial and error found certain clients that his work really linked well with. It was also relevant to the work we were producing ourselves during our editorial week. It was refreshing to hear a personal review on someone who was involved in the editorial industry, who had developed as he worked within the industry and understood how it worked. He provided us with a glimpse of what art directors look for in a rough and what would be expected of your work. Also he explained what was to be expected of timing and deadlines, for example certain clients set different deadlines for the work needed as Ben explained he could have from three hours to a week to complete one piece. 

'Adidas Illustrations'

An aspect of his talk which I found most helpful and reassuring was when Ben explained how he'd made his way into the industry. After much hard work after completing his degree, he rented his own studio and slowly began working with an agent and publications. He encouraged us to continue exploring illustration, even in aspects were not so comfortable in ourselves and explained that time away from illustration can be really motivational because you can be inspired by anything. He also explained how he personally finds it easier to work through amounts of work by taking breaks to refresh yourself, so everything doesn't seem as hectic.

'Lufthansa Airways Illustrations'

When he first left university, he explained that he found it useful to get feedback other practitioners, particularly because it helped deliver samples of his work to clients that would actually be interested, instead of sending all of his work to clients that his style, or particular topics just wouldn't relate to. He also believes that constructive critique can really help improve your personal method of work and style, which I have found useful in the past. He also added that to be successful within the editorial industry, it pays to be quick and decisive in order to meet the deadlines and have a finished piece that you are happy with.

After the lecture, he gave us the final article to illustrate for our editorial brief. This one was from the Big Issue on providing help for certain people who needed it, the homeless, people in debt etc. We had to put a rough together before a group crit at the end of the working day. Ben also spent his time throughout the day by seeing how everyone was getting on in response to the brief and trying to give helpful advice to improve our ideas. Tutors went through each piece, depicting the good aspects and also the areas that needed improvement. It was helpful to have a different opinion, plus as Ben is comfortable in the editorial industry his advice was much appreciated. 

You can see all of the responses to this brief on the Preston Illustration blog; Preston Illustration. 

There are several examples of Ben's work throughout this post. The main aspect of his work which I am most attracted to is his ability to hand-craft experimental mark making with drawn typography. I find he has quite an adventurous and playful style particularly within the textured backgrounds of his work. I find his line techniques quite loose, creating a freedom within his illustration. Also in comparison to his backgrounds, the lines create an interesting contrast. I chose particular illustrations that were vibrant with colour.

Also here's the link to Ben's website http://bentallon.com/ :)

Word Count; 737.

Elective, Part One.

Experimental Drawing.

Brief;
Choose 10 objects, each no bigger than a tennis ball. Each object must be drawn 10 times, life size, using a different method/different materials. That's 100 drawings. Some might take seconds, one might take an hour, the rest in between. We're looking for interesting, exciting, experimental ways of making a mark/drawing and equally as interesting surfaces to draw on. Consider the paper you work on and the materials you work with, as white paper is very standard. Your drawings should be on paper no bigger than A4. One drawing per sheet and presented in an appropriate way.