Evaluation

PPP in Level 05 was a more fruitful experience for me compared to Level 04. I was more engaged with the creative industry and definitely more concerned with the development of my own practice through the various readings on designers and orientations in design. This need to learn about the history of design and its past orientations was inspired by an article in eye magazine titled 8vo: type and structure. Specifically this passage,

http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/8vo-type-and-structure

By understanding how to design effectively and how to use typography, I can better communicate my ideas and become a better designer.

Conducting an interview with Hamish Muir was very unexpected considering his prominence within the industry and reputation, all through mailing the interview to his wrong office. It was interesting to know of his thoughts on design given that he studied under Wolfgang Weingart and worked with Wim Crouwel. The posters design as its creative report demonstrates my learnings of design over the year. To me it represented an opportunity to convey my knowledge on design and go out of my comfort zone as it was for someone who is known for their consideration to formal aspects. When placed alongside my work created during the year, it is a stark difference that marks a shift in my attitudes towards design. I've become more concerned with expressing concepts solely through typography and layout of content.

One of the highlights this year was going to OFFSET in Sheffield, which was my first proper design conference. Seeing all these professional designers, illustrators, photographers, etc in one place was beneficial in better understanding the nature of the creative industry. It was only in hindsight how important figure Ben Bos was in graphic design after reading up on modernism.

Moving onto Level 6, basing the dissertation around what I've read and continuing my own personal readings will help continue my understanding on how to design. With the briefs being so open next year, I must be capable in bending briefs to allow me to create the design that best exercises what I've learned and more importantly to be conscious of building a professional portfolio.

By this point, I've identified studios that I would like to work for. That being Bureau Mirko Borsche, Studio Laucke Siebein and madebyanonymous. Mirko Borsche and Laucke Siebein aligns with my interest in typographic solutions and unconventional design. The work they create is engaging and contemporary, often working with clients within the creative industry that allow this form of design to be taken to its full potential. madebyanonymous are a Singaporean design studio that also base their solutions through typography. But unlike the previous two studios, the art direction is more restrained, taking a pragmatic approach to layout rather than unconventional. It is also worth mentioning Thesues Chan's studio WORKWERK which was the first to expose me to more expressive designs. However unlike madebyanonoymous, his projects are focused around the production process rather than its content. This can be seen in WERK No. 20 GINZA THE EXTREMITIES OF THE PRINTED MATTER and his most recent WERK No.24: ROSE WYLIE and FRASER TAYLOR "COLLISIONS".

Overall Level 05 was a pivotal year on the course that saw the change in my approach and understanding of graphic design.

Issuu submission

For the issuu publication submission, the interview has been turned into a simple and straightforward A4 page format, that retains some design elements of the full scale poster.

Re adjustments

The unsatisfactory screen printing quality has forced an adjustment to the overall design. Not only that but having the opportunity to send this off to Muir himself requires a better presentation.

The removal of the red on "typo" creates a more even visual hierarchy for the posters design. This allows for the entire quote to be better communicated. The red is now used on the cover's text that is a subtle addition of colour. The thinner line above "space" visually lightens the bottom of the poster focusing the attention towards the centre. Finer adjustments were also made such as the stroke of each line. For example, the line above "space" is 4mm whilst the outline of "of the z-axis" and "to extend" is now 1.6mm and 0.8mm respectively. This ensures a thoroughly considered design that is related to the overall theme of 8. The exposed grid is now laid in between the black graphic and text to communicate a layered composition of content, creating the z-axis.

Previous halftone

Adjusted hafltone

Detail

The size of the dots of the halftone in the previous design allowed too much negative space which loosened the shape of the letterforms, lowering legibility. The halftone is now made up of two images with a high density overlaid on the original, creating a unique halftone pattern. The letterforms are now more easily distinguished.

The removal of a screen print on the back produces a consistent print quality that doesn't compromise the overall design.

Poster design

the grey representing the colour of the tracing paper

Having the interview be spread across the poster is now reduced to one A4 spread that is seen as one compact design element on the poster as opposed to disorganised segments. The smaller use of type also contrasts against the large amount of block colours on the poster. The scanned in cut outs were largely altered to suit the flow of content on the poster. The original scans created layouts that were visually busy and forceful. Having just one large graphic allows more the tracing papers characteristic to be more explicit in communicating the basis of the posters concept.It was formed to help create structure and guide the readers eye along. The main quote was chosen to be the subject of the poster as it is principle exercised in its design. Furthermore it is a principle that is shared from 8vo till the current MuirMcNeil. The placement of the content creates a visual zig-zag that is a play on the word 'z-axis'.  For "the potential of the z-axis to extend", these were an demonstration of how type can be used to communicate an extended z-axis. Hence the use the halftone and outlined type to allow the reader to see through the page that contrasts against the flat "to extend". The thin outlines of the text and border create contrast against the black weight. Having "the typo/graphic" placed onto the large shape breaks the flatness of the solid colour and continues the idea of seeing through the page. "Typo" set in red breaks the monotony of the design acting as the focal point of the poster. The placement of "space" is to communicate of the word's definition. Setting the quote in all lowercase makes it easier to read as a consistent x-height is maintained.

Printing these out, the effect of the tracing papers characteristic can be seen effectively. The design of the poster is seen through the folds, creating its own cover design and the content for the subsequent ‘pages’ inside, which was a concern as the viewer naturally reads the poster as it unfolds. There was a concern to have the content look 'correct' in relation to how the reader unfolds. The exposed content of the interview gives the reader context and as a result of the folding, it generates curiosity from the reader as the reverse type and layered content, making the reader want to unfold the poster to understand its message.

Given that concept behind using tracing paper was to demonstrate an extended z-axis, having a design on the back of the poster will take advantage of the translucency and create visual depth due to the softened look from the front.

The new additions to the posters design will be screen printed on the back as double sided A1 printing isn't possible. Done in white, it is meant to differentiate itself from the front's design, helping to convey a double side printing technique. These additional design elements give the posters content more structure and solidity on the page rather than looking like its floating.

The screen print however did not produce a desirable finish. The white ink dries a lot quicker than other colours, slowly blocking parts of the screen which limits a uniform print finish. This is very evident in the print quality on the cover, where quite a lot of the text is illegible due to fading. The end result is a print finish that isn't professional and doesn't effectively communicate the purpose of its design. That being said, the poster's concept and design is appropriate in demonstrating some of the points mentioned in the interview with Hamish Muir and their work done at 8vo.

However to send off the poster to Hamish Muir, a better print quality is required to show my professionality in design.

Initial mockup

Designing straight onto screen is often a restrictive process that results in a means to an end. In effort to keep with the cut and paste processes used during the time of 8vo, a physical mockup of the poster's interview content was made to see how content will look like on the tracing paper. It was however not as rigorous as the detail 8vo went into when creating their full scale mockups.

Through each fold of the poster, the interview is laid out giving it more of a function as the reader unfolds it. The purpose of fragmenting the interview is to create an active reading experience from the reader, which also helps gives context to the approach 8vo took when designing. 

When seeing the poster in its entirety, the idea to have the interview featured on each subsequent fold, did not effectively create an aesthetically pleasing poster composition. The 'poster side' is left with vertical forms that don't engage the viewer. Furthermore by composing the interview this way, the posters A4 segments are very noticeable, which doesn't help to form a larger design in A1. The vertical forms sit with no real function on the poster's side, the design on both sides must compliment each other in order to fully take advantage of the tracing paper's translucency. The vertical alignment of the interview elongates the poster visually, which can be seen as a design restriction to be worked around however it does make it awkward for the reader to have to read the entire interview horizontally. Overall it highlight the difficulty in designing for two sides simultaneously. 

 When entirely folded, the effect of the tracing papers translucency creates a collage of the posters content to create its own cover.

Moving on from this initial mockups design, the cutouts of the interview were scanned in which resulted in graphic forms that can be used as a way to compose the layout of content.

Converting it into vector shapes, the result is a structure for the poster that can used to place its content. These can then be adjusted to make it more proportional on the poster.

By utilising these scans, the design of the poster is then informed by its content and has been a result of its design process. This aligns with 8vo's principles of "form follows content" which is a more formal and typographic based attitude to graphic design.

Initial ideas and outline of design

Due to the translucency of tracing paper and the poster being folded, the contents of the poster will be visible from behind. Hence a careful designing of the content is needed to allow readers to view content appropriately and to not compromise the design of the overall composition.

Below are a few rough potential ideas for the poster's design

- Having tracing paper be physically cut and layered onto the poster to build the translucency of the tracing paper to give depth, stuck with spray mount to provide a clean finish.
- In terms of poster design, large amounts of copy are rarely displayed as posters are meant to be visually engaging and relatively quick to read. To create this, one side could be a 'poster side' whilst the other as the interview. Outlining the rag of the copy as shown below will help prevent the interview showing on the 'poster side'.

- The poster could be made from two individual pages, where the tracing paper, with selected cutouts will be laid on top forming the frame around each element of the content.

Despite these ideas it should be noted that the overall design of the poster should be designed in its entirety rather than splitting it into 2 sides. This is reduce confusion and allow myself to create its design in the perspective of how it will be best seen.

Creating an outline of the poster's design will also help focus its aesthetic.

- The use of only of one typeface, Haas Unica.
- Two weights, light and black, to create explicit contrast.
- Type sizes be in the multiples of 8 or at least 4 to create a design that is entirely based around 'eight' of '8vo' and octavo.
- A 16 by 16 grid which on A1 is approapriate. The size of A1 is chosen because in one of Muir's responses in the interview, he says that proper posters are big and furthermore, when A1 is folded eight times, it creates an A4 page which relates to the size of Octavo, keeping the poster appropriate to their work.
- 4 colours maximum. Black, Grey, Red and White. Black, grey and white are neutral colours that compliment the 'frosted' light grey of the tracing paper. Red is chosen because it has become a recurring colour within my work. This colour can help build a portfolio that is recognisable through its use of red.

Disobedient Bodies at the Hepworth Gallery

Finally got a chance to visit the Disobedient Bodies exhibition that I was looking forward to going for a while. The exhibition features a curated collection of works from different fashion designers and artists as well as his collaborations with them as well. In some ways it relates to DR.ME's talk at Leeds Print Festival about curation.

The way the exhibition is designed makes it more of an experience and insight into the different experimentations and concepts within fashion. Most exhibitions usually focus on creating a space where the artworks speak for themselves. In Disobedient Bodies, curtains hang from a height, effectively sectioning off the exhibitions into spaces that are thematically arranged. The result is a more intimate gallery experience that goes as far as encouraging the viewer to interact with the art pieces.

Reading through the descriptions for some of the work, the rationales and approaches to their concepts can be likened to the design approach taken by unconventional designers, as seen in Rei Kawakubo's concept behind her 2D clothing. "The collection played with ideas of flatness and reduction, and can perhaps be read as a comment on the way in which our experience of the world is increasingly negotiated via two-dimensional images." Taking an abstract idea and translating it literally into the content of her work, in the same way those designers base their typographic manipulations directly from simple concepts.

The collateral made for the exhibition, namely the guide, is presented in a straightforward layout that effectively manages to hold a lot of the exhibitions information in a format that is easy for the reader to follow. Having no 'cover' on the front and the use of Univers give the booklet a functional design that doesn't detract from the attention of the artworks. It is a piece of design that can be used for inspiration for further exhibitions.

Creative report - initial concept

For Hamish Muir's creative report, the concept of the practical will be based around his answer "the potential of the z-axis to extend the typo/graphic space." This is the principle that formed the design attitude in 8vo and subsequently carried through to MuirMcNeil.

In 3d terms the z-axis goes in and out of the plane. When translated to the work of Muir, this relates to the visible process of layering information on the page to give the illusion of depth. Thus it can be said that through the exercise of layering, 8vo and MuirMcNeil effectively test the potential of the z-axis in each of their designs, whereby the z-axis goes out from the x-axis of the page (following the diagram above whereby the z-axis is the orange plane and x, blue). The opacity of traditional stock prevents the z-axis from extending through the x-axis. Therefore to extend the z-axis, the idea is to design a poster using tracing paper. The translucency of the stock effectively extends the z-axis to infinity, with the potential to have content on both sides to better replicate depth and to create 'space' on the page. This interpretation of Muir's answer has been informed by the research done in CoP on 'ugly design' and its designers. Their approach to briefs often highlight a small detail that has been interpreted literally or conceptually.

A poster design for Muir's interview is appropriate given his explanation on how posters are an "opportunity to explore scale, type, form and colour in specific ways" and the range of poster designs made by 8vo and MuirMcNeil. Given one of 8vo's most recognisable pieces of design work being their run of Octavo magazines, the poster will be folded into 8 leaves, following its definition.