University of CumbriaBA (Hons) Graphic Design, BA (Hons) IllustrationGRAP4050 - Design Fundamentals

On LocationProject: 1

What this project is aboutIt’s easy to assume that studying Graphic Design or Illustration is all about being taught new technical skills. Although skills are important (and we will teach you lots) they are not the most important aspect of becoming an effec-tive artist or designer. So what is?..Well, put simply, the best designers and illustrators have an ability to inject something of their own unique personality and take on life into everything they produce. This project is designed to encourage you to explore a very ‘open’ subject in a way that you find interesting and then creating a ‘brief within a brief’. If you feel passionate about what you’re doing there’s a good chance your audience will too! Designers and illustrators should be able to find interest in any subject. If the end result of a project is boring you are to blame, not the project. It’s not about being right or wrong, it’s simply about having something interesting to say and then expressing it in a creative way.

The Project BriefUsing the information and material you collected from your recent Keswick field trip you are asked to produce an ISSUU digital publication that captures your unique take on that day. At the heart of this will be your first-hand recorded responses that can include: photography; drawing; painting; sound recording; printed ephemera; writing; statistics etc. You will need to go through the mass of material you have generated/collected and have a clear understanding of what you want to communicate about your subject. You now face two problems. The first is refining and editing down your primary research material into a focused, digital publication as you can’t possibly include all the material you have collected. You will have to find 2D, digital equivalents for the sensual complexities and richness of the real world. The second problem is to create a well designed, visually aware publi-cation. We do not want you to design from the top of your head. You should be continually looking at, and being influenced by, the work of other designers and artists. As typography is a complex discipline at this stage we will limit you to the use of two fonts only for any text (including the title) in the final ISSUU publication: News Gothic MT and Baskerville.

What we are looking for (assessment criteria)EXPERIMENT: Examine and experiment with a range of visual approaches.Emphasis on quantity at this stageALTERNATIVES: Select appropriate media/materials in the development of alternatives. As you edit make sure you have more than one final ideaEXAMINE: Examine and consider the effectiveness of a range of approaches for the development of ideas, concepts and meaning. We want to see the designers and artists that have influenced you. Include them in your research worksheets

Deliverables1) Primary research material (drawings, writing, photos, photo contact sheets etc.)2) Design development sheets documenting the evolution and design of your ISSU publication. These should include lots of thumbnail visuals, examples of your influences, technical experiments, alternative ideas etc.3) A ten page minimum (5 double page spreads) ISSUU publication with a front and back cover

Points to considerThink about what interests you in the subject matter and how you can communicate that interest to an audience. Here’s a quotation from Alan Fletcher’s Picturing and Poeting:

‘As a small boy growing up he tells us how he noticed that the railings in the streets were not just simply iron railings but an array of regularly spaced spears with decorative spearheads, strange and beautiful, like weapons of fierce exotic warriors. Fletcher looks hard at one thing and it leads him to another. Is that tagliatelle or is it shredded paper? Are those black olives or are they splats of ink?’

The most unlikely subjects have immense visual poten-tial. This project allows you to explore this in depth.

You have to decide what information you are going to record:

• Will it be micro or macro, visual or aural? • Is your response neutral or highly personal? • What are the best ways/media to capture this

information?• How do you capture/incorporate thoughts and

opinions? • What’s the most effective way to capture a sense

of place.• How do you capture the passing of time?• Can you make decisions? • Can boring be made interesting? (Yes!)• Once you have collected a mass of informa-

tion how do you select, edit and turn this into a design for a final outcome?

• How is your personality reflected in the final outcome?

Blog ActivitiesCreate an individual, Blog specific response to your chosen location. This does not have to relate visually to your ISSUU publication. Think about what a Blog can do well and how you can exploit this.

Suggested reading/resourcesFollow up all of the artists and designers featured in the briefing lecture.The lecture can be found on Blackboard in the Year 1 Lectures folder