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/messing around in Darrens worshop

James Derwin / Event / Immersive Worlds Contemporary Art Exhibition

I went to go and see this free Contemporary Art Exhibition when I was back home in Devon over Easter. The Spanish Barn in Torre Abbey is only 5 minutes from where I live, so it's always a nice surprise when there's something going on. The work shown there was quite interactive, but if the viewer did not choose to interact, it remained quietly in the barn, making it feel a little bit spooky. Artists showing their work were:  James Derwin, Phil Dixon, Linda Khatir, Michele Whiting, Clem So, Rik Pitman, Beth Jenkins, Carl Cashman, Sarah Baker, Daryl Mearing and Helen Tranckle. Here's a quick photo from the exhibition; me surrounded my a chandelier made from old reading glasses.

Positive & Negative Space: Content Analysis and Representation led by Paul Bailey

'How do we identify what is positive and that which is negative about London on a
day-to-day basis? How do we digest this information? Do we always experience
an equal measure of both?
You will visualize your findings utilizing simple info-graphic methods.'


I've always had an interest in well-presented and clever infographics, so I was quite looking forward to Paul's workshop. We were told to bring in a daily London newspaper, which we ended up dissecting by determining between the positive and negative in the content of the paper, and marking these with post-it notes. After this, we swapped papers with someone else and looked in to how they had overcome this task.

After completing this, our main task was to analyse this content and then represent a positive/negative visualisation using our own infographic methods. We highlighted how we sorted the content using a key stating whether the information was negative/positive/neutral/image or text. We were shown a quote which I found very interesting and appropriate in how to approach infographics by Christina Van Vleck:

'Giving shape to meaning... distilling information down to its most essential and meaningful elements; 

sorting and organizing until the patterns come to the surface; bringing clarity and focus to what initially feels overwhelming; providing a layered visual experience encompassing both the big picture and, at closer examination, the smaller details. '

_Christina Van Vleck

Content Analysis and Representation

Rules: The Architecture of lines led by Karl Foster


'A geometric line used as a graphic enhancement in page assembly - the term is
used to distinguish ruling lines from a line of type. A line can be used to represent
almost any idea that a designer can conceive.
In this workshop you will use the power of line to express your understanding of
3D structure.
Using the materials supplied by your tutor you will create the very fabric of London.'


Today's morning session with Karl was quite enjoyable, and a nice, relaxed start to the term. Again, not really knowing what to expect from the above brief, I was pleasantly surprised. The group were split in to teams of 6 and then given the brief to 'design a new iconic landmark for London to act as a major and permanent visitor attraction. Londoners can enjoy a ‘must see’ destination, which will help to regenerate London.'

We were given paper craft straws to construct whatever landmark we wanted, which we had to fix together with the materials provided. Our team created a pyramid-based architectural building by all creating pyramid structures and then assembling them together in order to make a more visual piece. We worked well as a team, as everyone was involved and no one took over too much. As for the result, I think we were all pleased with what we had come up with as although we had a basic idea, there was some free-styling involved, so the outcome had an element of surprise to it. What I like about the structure is that it works well from many angles and viewpoints, which gave us the idea that the building would be based in the Olympic Park as a viewing platform. Below are a few photographs of our structure, and what some of the other groups in the session produced today.

Point, Line & Plane

Point, Line & Plane: Mono-printing led by Rachel Ortas

'Your will explore and experiment with different mark making techniques using
mono-printing, which is a fast and effective way to achieve strong, graphic results.'

Shade

Shade: Silhouettes led by Darren Raven

'A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline

and a featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black or some

other solid colour or texture. The silhouette is a powerful tool in graphic

communication – it’ s both specific in what it conveys and yet vague in leaving out

most of the details for the viewer to fill in for themselves.

In this workshop we will work with silhouettes to produce large images that,

similarly to silhouettes themselves, cause the viewer to fill in the gaps.'

In this workshop with Darren, we used silhouettes to create images to represent London using illustrator to work with vector images that we found on the Internet, and that were already downloaded. The key to a successful piece of work was to keep it extremely simple but also witty. However, I found working with these vector images a little bit boring and decided to take a more traditional approach to the word 'silhouette' using the traditional method of cutting to produce images.

After researching silhouettes on the Internet, I came across a few designers that really inspired me to make my own work. 'Famille Summerbelle' creates some amazing paper cut designs that feature such delicacy, and are extremely attractive to look at.

Repitition/Interruption

Repetition/Interruption led by Katy Oswald


'The action of repeating something over and over is called repetition. This is
true for any item that needs to be remembered or needs to make an impact
on someone. Our minds learn through the repetition of thoughts, ideas, and
visual clues, which is what makes the technique of repetition a valuable
communication tool. As well as design elements such as using typography
that is uniform in size, alignment, and weight rules of repetition we will also be
looking at repetition of theme, viewpoint and of form.
Inspiration will be taken from artists such as Berndt and Hille Becher, Warhol,
Muybridge, Banksy and more...
In groups we will explore Repetition/Interruption using the following media
01. Using the word ‘London’ as a piece of typography either on the lap top or
printed out.
02. A Camera
03. A pencil/crayon.
0.4 A sheet or sheets of coloured paper.'


This was quite an enjoyable, relaxed session, which also had a very open brief so the results produced from this workshop could be extremely varied. Here are a couple of ideas I created using the word 'London' repeatedly.

And a few photos I took around Elephant and Castle featuring repetition...

Composition

Composition: Dual-platform Formats, led by Paul Bailey

'How can you compose a piece of design to satisfy two functions 1) poster 2)

dust-jacket? You will explore the use of grid systems, experiment with folding

techniques and enter the exciting world of designing for dual-platform formats.

This workshop will assist you the wrap-around dust-jacket element of the MP01

brief.'

Paul's workshop was one of the most valuable to attend in my opinion, as I was completely confused as to how the dust jacket would work well as both a attractive book cover and a poster. First of all we looked at the presentation Paul had made about grid systems, which encouraged me to get more information about these from the library. Then, we were given a folded piece of card and some paper, which we could modify however we wanted to create a dust jacket/poster. Here is what I produced during the session.

However, I will continue to play with ideas to make it as successful as possible. One of the best things about the workshop was seeing all the different outcomes that were possible to make from one piece of paper, and inspired me to be even more creative with the dust jacket.

Contrast

Contrast: There are least two sides to every story led by Karl Foster

Before attending Karl's workshop, we were sent a list of all the workshops which announced what to expect from the sessions.This is what the briefing to Karl's workshop stated...

'Methods of creating contrast among elements in the design include using

contrasting colors, sizes, shapes, locations, or relationships. For text, contrast is

achieved by mixing serif and sans-serif on the page, by using very different type

styles, or by using type in surprising or unusual ways.

London is a city of many contrasts. In this workshop you will be producing a series

of images that reflect the personality of London and it’ s many contradictions.'

The work we produced in this session however was not at all what I expected! We looked at the different areas of London and contrast by investigating in to Coats of Arms. There were some online sites, for example the V&A site which allowed us to quickly construct a standard coat of arms. Here is one I quickly made in the session. 

'Per fess sable a chevron argent three roses gules.'