Images as arguments lecture:
We began this lecture by asking 'what is an argument?' and were given three types of argument from this:
Rational, emotional and rhetorical. A rational argument is taken by philosophers who try and reason with evidence and solutions. They usually follow a deductive argument which has a logical form. An example of a deductive argument is: i) All people are mortal. ii) Socrates is a person. iii) Therefore Socrates is mortal. However, they may also follow an inductive argument which is based on empirical evidence (which is evidence that relies on the senses). Inductive arguments are contingently true.
Rhetorical arguments are used by Sophists (360 BC) which used persuasion. It was received negatively in Ancient Greek but it was re-evaluated in post-modern context.

We then moved onto images that could be used as an argument and we began by looking at the Gestalt Shift with the image of the rabbit/duck.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Duck-Rabbit_illusion.jpg

This image is labelled as an illusion as there is two ways of looking at it. From one perspective, it looks like a duck and from the other perspective, it looks like a rabbit. However, you can't see both animals simultaneously. It is an intensive experience as it has a logic of thresholds although it is still centred on representational form.

We then looked at another image that followed the idea of distortion and perception. It was Hans Holben the Younger who created the piece- The Ambassadors in 1533.

http://users.clas.ufl.edu/tharpold/resources/holbein/index.html

This image could be quite easy to create with photoshop in recent day, however, this image was hand painted. The image of the skull at the bottom of the painting can only be seen when it is looked at from the side. However, when you can see the skull, you are unable to see the rest of the image. 

The person on the left is a traveller and the person on the right is a member of the clergy. Both of these people are supposed to portray different views of what happens after we die. The inclusion of this distorted skull is supposed to signify that, whatever happens, you are still dead at the end. However, you have to look from a different point of view and ignore the other points of view to see the blunt message of the painting. This makes it a vanitas painting. 

A similar thing was recreated by Robert Lazzarini in 2000. He 3D printed a distorted skull from real bone. 

http://db.westcollection.org/sites/default/files/rlazzarini872_0.jpg

This followed a similar idea of distortion as you could only see the skull if you looked at it from a certain angle. Lazzarini was alluding to Holben's painting. 

This lecture was interesting as it give yet more background information to art which can support my studies and will come in handy when revising and referencing different time periods. I found it very interesting and shows how powerful image can be. 

7 Stages of Design Process Lecture:
In this lecture, we learnt about the 7 different stages of design process, which are:
1) Define
2) Research
3) Ideate
4) Prototype
5) Select
6) Implement
7) Learn

Stage 1 consists of asking these questions:
-What are the key elements of the product?
-Who is the target audience?
-What is the design?
-When will it be needed?
-Where will it be used?
-Why does the client think a design solution is required?
All of these questions should point you in a direction to follow. Even if it is the wrong direction, at first, these questions will provoke an idea and then that will progress.
It is important to realise that the product may not appeal to everyone and narrowing down your target audience will help you in creating a design as you will not be considering everyone.

The second stage is research, and this is where initial ideas are found. You will need to find both primary sources, which comes from your own experience or findings, and secondary sources, which come from other peoples experiences and findings. It is important to create your own information as you can't completely rely on someone else's knowledge to back up your design.

The third stage is to ideate. We looked at a quote from Gavin Ambrose, who said:
'Creativity  conveys a sense of pure inventiveness and lack of boundaries, yet design requires applied creativity towards a specific end'.
This introduced this stage nicely as this stage is about ideas and not vocabulary. It is advised to avoid preconceptions also. A range of examples were given that support the idea that, the simplest idea is usually the best one. I recognise Okham's Razor from studying Philosophy at A-Level and in the case of proving the existence of God, it worked to an extent. However, when applied to other concepts, such as an idea for a design, it is good to keep it simple and not over complicate ideas or concepts.
At the end of this stage, you should have some kind of rough language of what you are going to create. This may include sketches or thumbnails or trying out ideas.

The fourth stage is the prototype stage. This is about testing the feasibility of  each idea and how they work with the guidelines from the brief. This stage is about exploring what the outcome may look like. This is an example of good animation that probably was defined in the prototype stage.
Tine Milk - Olympic Film from Echoic : Music and Sound Design on Vimeo.
At the end of this stage, you should have a comprehensive layout or a 'comp' for short. As well as this, you should know what idea you want to take forward.

Stage six is implement.
This is building the output and defining the details and refining what has been trailed and clarified. This stage is where the outcome forms and you finish your work.

Stage seven is to learn from the project.
This means you should encourage feedback and reassess your work. Note improvements and things that work well so the next brief you work on, the outcome can be even better and more efficiently done.

This lecture gave a very interesting insight on how to work through a brief and I think that I will stick to a structure like this as it is solid and easy to follow. I enjoyed learning about a different way of working and definitely took the stages on board for the next time I am given a brief.

Final After Effects Session:

I have thoroughly enjoyed all sessions that have involved After Effects, including this one. In this session, the aim was to create a whole animation with the whole group. We were given this example by Adam Gault for inspiration.It is a great animation with a lot of character and detail.


https://vimeo.com/44893686

We began by choosing a creature that lived underwater and were told to recreate it using different layers for its body parts. I decided on an orca.

This is the image I created on Illustrator for the animation. We were given a specific colour to use as a background so that had to be taken into account when creating the creature. This worked well as it was very bold black and white. I then had to take it into After Effects, without a background, so I could start animating it. This would be fairly simple to do as I am now very familiar with how After Effects works and how to animate an object, as long as I have converted the individual layers across to After Effects. I could then animate different parts of the orca. This meant I had to have two compositions, one for the individual layers, and one for the whole orca. This meant that the parts of the orca would move as well the whole object would move across the screen, within a 10 second time period. 

Using the transform controls, I could move the orca in a swimming motion so it could swim across the screen. However, some of the parts of the orca were hard to move because they did not align properly with the fins, body or white spot on the orca. This meant that I had to alter the position of the orca so it would look right as it moved. However, I screenshotted how the tail looked at different periods in the animation to show an idea of how the tail moved and also how I've altered some of the positions of the layers. In the first screen shot, you can see how I can select each part of the orca individually. 

Once done, we sent the videos to Sara, who composed a video of each completed animation and put them into one animation. 

The session refreshed all things that I have learnt from After Effects this year and was, as always, highly beneficial. I love using After Effects and feel I have picked it up quickly.

Gentle Ease Lecture
This lecture was about drawing and After Effects and there was many videos that were shown to us to show what we could do with drawing and After Effects. Personally, my most familiar way of working is physically and I especially enjoy drawing so this lecture instantly grabbed my attention.

Dryden Goodwin: Skill was the first example we were shown that really interested me. I like the fact the conversation between the people and the drawings are so heavily personal to each other and also illustrate the conversation so well by just capturing the essence of someone's appearance or an item that is involved in the conversation. It couldn't be reflected any better by using a different material. The looseness allowed it to be openly interpreted as well as move with the conversation.

Dryden Goodwin: Skill (2014) from Forma Arts on Vimeo.
I love this style of drawing and even composed a sketch of my own in his style to try and grasp this loose and incredibly textured way of drawing.

I really like the way the pen is used to allow the face to come alive with expression and I also like the way the video is composed.

The second video we were shown was by Johnny Kelly and it is called Forest: Just one day.

This was also all hand drawn, like Goodwin's pieces. 

Forest: Just One Day from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
I like the hand-made look of this video and how it reflects the music so well. I feel like the video brings a whole new element and experience to the song. It looks very minimal but probably takes a lot of work to do and is executed beautifully. The shapes and objects on this paper-looking background move to the tone of the music and what the song is doing. This simplistic style also works well with the simple tune over the back of the song that is played almost throughout. I like the style this is drawn in and the way it flows together also.

The next video we watched was Flow by Jane Cheadle. This video was recorded within her own studio which makes it a personal experience.

flow from jane cheadle on Vimeo .
This video is basically an experiment with materials alongside music which is what the previous video did but this is done in a very different way which appears to use stop motion, and uses it well. It is amazing how the white lines appear to circulate on this black circle along to the music. This is a very textured and ambiguous piece and is incredibly beautiful although looks very complex. I like the way the circle appears to be animated although it is only a series of pictures. It is a very dramatic piece in black and white.

The next video that I found very interesting was Little Boy by Jordan Baseman.

Little Boy from Animate Projects on Vimeo.
This video is deliberately difficult to watch and has an incredibly powerful extract of an interview that introduces it. Watching this video is a highly intense experience of noise and colour which could be interpreted in a number of ways. The powerful thing is, although you want to stop watching it, it is still making you feel emotion and reflect on the short speech about 'the flash' at the beginning. Out of context, you would wonder what this meant and why it is so distressing. Within context. it is even more powerful. This piece is about the disaster in Hiroshima in 1945. The chilling thing about explaining the bombing as 'the Darkness' is almost what the rest of the video is expressing. This unknown and powerful darkness that was probably so intense and terrifying that it can be reflected through a disturbing collection of sounds and ambiguous images that appear on the screen. Ms Setsuko Enya recalled the devastating memory of the Hiroshima tragedy and this is how Jordan Baseman interpreted it.

We then looked at a music video created by Drew Tyndell that was called General Elekriks: Angle Boogie.

General Elektriks: Angle Boogie from Drew Tyndell on Vimeo.
This is a very handmade and energetic piece that looks like it was made quickly and loosely but it was actually made through a process called Rotoscoping which is an incredibly time consuming, frame by frame process. However, this creates an entirely different illusion of it being created quickly and with a lot of energy. This is a clever way of creating animation.

We then looked at more of Tydell's work and the series of 'Loop' videos he made which use a similar process and have a very similar style and energy. This ones called Loop 4:

Loop 4 from Drew Tyndell on Vimeo.
He has made several of these videos and they look effective played one after another

My Mother's Coat was the next video we watched which was made by 'Moth' and is a highly emotive animation.

My Mother's Coat from Moth on Vimeo.
This again is a very loose and reductive style of working which tells a story. which is very rich in emotion, through very little lines and symbols to represent what was being said in the poem. The sullen tone of the poem compliments the style of the animation. It then switches to photograph and real film of the author and the child that the poem is addressed to which makes it more emotive and is really the opposite to the incredibly minimal style that was before. Its important that the artist has interpreted the poem themselves before creating this piece which makes it personal to the artist and reflects what they feel about the poem, adding another level of depth and emotion to the animation.

The final video we were shown was Le Meurtre teaser by Tom Haugomat and Bruno Mangyoku.

LE MEURTRE teaser from tom haugomat & bruno mangyoku on Vimeo.
This another reductive piece of work but uses more block colour as well as using negative space effectively. Although its colourful and simple style, it is very dramatic.

Overall, this lecture was very interesting and it demonstrated to me the different ways to use after effects and different ways to incorporate physical drawing into animation. I am very interested in doing this in my work.

Typography 3:
In this workshop, we had to select a final typeface to take forward and create a sentence out of. I decided on this:

However, I wanted to make it more rounded and more even so I decided to take my time as well as experiment with different weights for my final typeface. This was the final result:

I tried to be exact in my letter spacing and also the sizes of the letters however, this is very hard to do freehand and I did struggle with achieving a perfect looking sentence. However, it has vastly changed from the draft of this typeface. I like the fact it is round and more friendly, but I am not happy with the 'i' as well as the 'q' and the 'b' because they look different and sloppier than the rest of the letters. I also struggled with the 'b' 'o' and 'q' because of the circular spaces within them. I am overall happy with my final result and definitely feel that a thicker weight looks better in comparison to the thinner weight on 'fox' but glad that I experimented with both. It could be neater and more precise and even more adventurous but I do like it as a basic looking typeface. 

Overall, I thought the typography tutorials were incredibly beneficial as I love working with pen and paper and it refreshed my drawing abilities. However, I do feel like my style, which is quite loose and freehand, does not compliment doing typography because it takes a lot of attention to detail. It did allow me to practise this way of working which is also very useful.  

.

Cinema 4D:
This is the most challenging tutorial I have come across as I find the program highly complex.
The task was to generate a 3D name on Cinema 4D which I had trouble rendering at the end. I followed most of the steps well but if I missed one thing I found very difficult to catch up and find my place.

This is a portion of what I created. I managed to make a cube move backwards and forwards and added texture to objects. I also  made the lines of MOL appear smoothly. 

This command box shows what I did to the objects. Such as sweeping, adding light, bending objects and adding textures. This was a great introduction to the basics of Cinema 4D and I did enjoy it. I was happy that my animation worked although did have an issue when rendering it as the lighting was wrong. However, it did allow me to know some of the basics. 

I didn't follow the tutorial very well because of the complexity of the programme. However, I will look more extensively into Cinema 4D and improve my skills. This was helpful because it highlighted areas I need to improve on as well as revealed what I can possibly do with the programme. 

Photoshop creative workflow:
I find these sessions the hardest to follow and I don't achieve the level of work I would like to within the time I have. I have minimal experience with photoshop and am new to it this year, which is not the case for a lot of the other students. However, this tutorial helped me in some ways although I found it hard to keep up. We used artboards, RAW images and learnt how to layer over images.

Here, I edited an image that was flat and changed the colours. I was familiar with this tool and how to use it but was still useful to refresh my skills.

We then changed it into a monotone image and learnt how to do this so we could layer colour over it or add colour to the monotone picture. 

I added a blueish overtone on my image. This was also interesting to do as I had never done this before and was a good skill to know about. 

I then got a cityscape landscape to work on and this is where I expanded my skills even more. 

I then brightened up the image which revealed a lot of hidden detail compared to the image which was under exposed. Then, 

We then looked at removing large sections of the image by selecting areas of the photograph. When doing this, it doesn't work 100% of the time because of reflections but it is a good skill to know. 

We then learnt how to do this using a very simple line and gradient. It looked effective but was hard to achieve and I was unable to link the PS file to the AI file. However, I did learn a lot from this tutorial although it was difficult for me. 

This is my non-destructive self portrait using three layers. I used these three images:

Typography part 2:
This week we had to develop our previous typefaces and draw up rough alphabets and select the best option to carry over to task 3. I enjoyed this task and did manage to create a few typefaces that I was happy with.

This is the first rough alphabet I began to produce. I realised the letter sizes and spacing weren't right and scrapped this font as I didn't like the look of it either. However, I have a loose style and this really is apparent in this typeface. I decided to move onto a new alphabet. 

This style is vastly different and I was still to keen on how it looked. However, after some guidance, I started to measure letter sizes and spacing. After i got the hang of how to do this, I felt it made a big improvement to how my letters looked. I decided to move on from this and begin a new alphabet, working roughly and quickly to try and achieve a typeface i was happy with. 

I then created this the top typeface to elaborate on the previous font. I liked how this looked and liked the negative space within the letters. However, after a brief experiment with this, I moved onto a different font that had more in common with the first font I did. I liked this, however, it was suggested to not add the doted lines that went along the straight line of the letter. I did this but then preferred it with the line as I felt it was more unique. I enjoyed doing this one as it wasn't as tedious and let me work quickly and loosely. 

This is the final font I produced and the one that I'm most likely to take onto the final stage of the brief. It is clear and bold which I like. However, it needs to be tidied up and the letters aren't all the same size and not all space correctly.  

I did enjoy this task because it let me work loosely and quickly and explore a range of techniques and styles. I will have to work with more detail in the letters and be more careful with spacing and letter size to refine the font and conclude the brief. 

Representation:
In this lecture, we began to look at how Kant thought in comparison to Leibniz.
Representation is an example of Kantian thought. He thought in a structured but also provocative way.
Leibniz, however, thought in different degrees of intensity.
Kant believed in a universal structure yet Leibniz thought there was an individual structure.
Kant was almost the father of modernist thinking, yet Leibniz thought in post-modern idea, especially, individualism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant

http://www.brentmblackwell.com/obsessions/men/Leibniz.html

We then looked at two major collages: the Bauhaus, which I have been introduced to in previous lectures, and the Black Mountain Collage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus

http://archives.ncdcr.gov/Public/Digital-Collections-and-Publications/Resources-By-Subject/Black-Mountain-College

Bauhaus is purely focused on design and the BMC (Black Mountain Collage) is art based. Bauhaus was a modernist institution and was linked to modernism. Design, which was taught at Bauhaus, was put on the same prestige as artists. The ethos of the Bauhaus was all about function and universal principals of design, which was very much a Kantian way of thinking.
The BMC studied the history of art and had more of a progressive education. This means that it was loose and offered a lot of support. However, unlike the Bauhaus, it did lack structure. It was incredibly liberal and had open working spaces and taught humanities subjects. This structure and ethos drew a lot of students towards it. Artists such as: Rochber, Rockborne, Twombly and Vanderbeen come out of BMC and all the styles are very different from geometric, which comes out of the Bauhaus.
Bauhaus is all about conformity and follows a particular agenda. Although, both are modern collages, Bauhaus is firmly in modernity whereas BMC is leaning more towards post-modernity and has one foot in each.

Josef Albers is significant to both institutions. He was a professor in Bauhaus and then went to BMC as he preferred the ethos and principal of BMC. He did, however, link both institutions together.

Although they seem almost opposites, modernism and post-modernism are not. Johannes Itten said 'the basic cause at the Bauhaus' (the curriculum of Bauhaus) . Preoccupied with nature of physical world and its relationship with colour. However, putting new things together to create new experiences is were a new word could be discovered. This is where they cross over.

Josef Alber was a student of Johannes Itten and was majorly influenced by Itten. Alber and Lazlo Maholy rewrote the curriculum but still have Itten's basic model.
Alber was majorly interested in what colours look like together and liked material processes. He wanted to teach people that colours were relative and believes that variations of colour can be charted. Eg. A red square on a blue background looks different to a red square on a yellow background. Alber believed this was universal, like Kantian thought.

This lecture was incredibly interesting as it explored examples of the difference between modernity and post-modernity. It also widened my understanding of artists and art institutions which were heavily influential on artistic periods.

After Effects: 3D Animation

In this tutorial, we were taught all about more ways to use After Effects, especially looking at the 3D aspects of After Effects. We were given an example of what the outcome may look like when doing this task:


  BBC Today Programme - Stephen Hawking from Jasiurb on Vimeo.

With the use of cameras on After Effects, you can make it seem as if you are flying past the graphics. Although this is animated, most of the actual graphics are static and none of the images or text actually move yet the camera moves past them. This meant, we started with a still image that we were then going to animate.

I decided to use lyrics from a favourite song of mine, Only Ones Who Know by the Arctic Monkeys. I made it look simple and reflect the tone and mood of the song. Overall, the still image looks effective although, the next step, After Effects, was where it began to get difficult. 

In the image, every word and image was on a separate layer so that I could position each word and object differently for the animation to work. When I had inserted all my layers into After Effects, I then had to click the 3D box. I firstly made the moon on the string twist and spin although this wasn't that successful as you couldn't see it properly when I added the camera. However, it looked effective on its own. 

That meant each layer had a 3D cube in the final box. Then, this appeared on the composition:

This meant that I could now animate my objects and text to make them look 3D and begin animating these aspects. I could now drag text and objects closer or further away from the front and that means, when I add the camera, I can look through these different aspects of the composition. I then had to add the camera and make it so the camera could pass all the letters. The camera was a separate layer with its own functions and settings:

Camera Settings

Camera Functions

I had to set the camera so it looked through all the words in order, beginning with 'only' and ending with 'know'. This was the most difficult part and I found it really hard to execute well but I learnt how to move and use the camera and the 3D effects. This was my final product:

 https://youtu.be/LPEe_rib3G4

I am not entirely happy with the over all product. I think the main fault is the positioning of the text as it doesn't go from one word to another smoothly and clearly. I also think there would have been a better way to include the spinning moon on a string. Overall, the tutorial was helpful as always and introduced me to many new aspects of After Effects. Although the workshop was a challenge, I enjoyed it and hope to improve my skills on After Effects.

Sound Visualisation

This lecture was given to us after we were assigned our second brief.

We began with this quote:

'If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration' -Nicola Telsa.

This is another way of explaining the importance of sound, which will be key for our project.

We began looking at the first way of visualising sound which was telegraphy in 1840. This created notation marks on paper which could be sent. However, morse code, invented by Samuel Morse was the first graphic representation of sound. Combined with telegraphy, this creates texts. This was a turning point in visualising sound.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

Although it isn't very visually appealing, it is still used today and is an example of how sound can be visual. 

The next example of visualising sound was mathematic notation which was called Bach. I did not fully understand this example but understood that it used maths to visually represent notes in music. The method was famously invented and used by Joseph Schillinger who used mathematical equations to translate music, art and design. A famous piece of his was the Skyline Melody.

http://villa-lobos.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/new-york-skyline.html

This technique took real life images and turned them into musical phrases. This meant that it worked on two levels and literally was visualising sound. This technique is aesthetically pleasing to see and hear.

John Cage also composed music and his music sheets were incredibly visual. For example, Sub Rosa:

http://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/unclassical/song-books.html

This follows a very literal example of how to visualise sound. However, it is outdated and has moved on from this.

Brian Eno was the next example we were given. He created an album 'music for airports' in 1978. Although this isn't literally visual, it is background music (also known as musak) and is not supposed to be listened to as you would regular music. This may make a place seem more pleasant and relaxed but people aren't supposed to be drawn to listen to the music and it isn't really supposed to be heard. In a way, this makes it visual as it has to fit with its environment and create a mood that will compliment a situation. This is an interesting type of music and is a concept to take into account when doing this project, particularly focusing on how music sets a tone.

Oscilloscopes were the next example we were given. These machines work with using frequency and oscillation and are still used today, although deemed old fashioned. 

Karl Ferdinand was the inventor of this in 1897. 

http://www.rigolna.com/products/digital-oscilloscopes/ds1000d/

These machines use sound and vibration and translate them into waves which symbolise voltages. Again, this machine had no use to be graphically visual but is another way to visualise sound and this concept could be taken further. For example, the use of sound waves can be very visual and interesting.

Leon Theramin invented an instrument out of oscillating devices. The instrument is called a Theramin, which was one of the first electronic musical instruments. Although this music doesn't create image, you do have to move your hands around in a pattern to work it, which makes it quite a visual instrument with a very distinctive sound.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léon_Theremin#/media/File:Lev_Termen_playing_-_cropped.jpg

This could inspire other ideas such as how to physically visualise sound as it is an interesting concept and, it is true that not only modern concepts are the greatest.

Mary Ellen Brute was friends with Schillinger and Theramin. She created animation using oscilloscopes in 1953 which were far more visual that Schillinger's and Theramin's inventions. For example:

http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.2/articles1.2/moritz1.2.html

Harmonics and vibration was the next part of the lecture and for this we looked at Robert Hooke (1860) as he made the discovery that the motion of the glass plate he was experimenting with moved perpendicular to the flour on the plate he was experimenting with. The flour turned oval. This discovery showed that vibration could be visualised and was groundbreaking. It was rediscovered by Ernst Chladni in 1871 and started to discover the theory of sound.

We then looked at Hans Jenny who coined the term Cymaticas. It was known to occur on a surface, such as a plate, where you can visually see the vibrations on the surface. It has been used in the video, Science vs Music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3oItpVa9fs
This is an excellent example of how sound can be visual and how amazing it could look. There is a lot of information of how to make sound physically visual within this video and although it is edited, it still looks very effective.

This lecture was a great introduction on the brief and I really enjoyed the information. However, a lot of the examples were physical and it would be nice to have some digital demonstrations. In another way, it is good to have more ideas that move away from solely working on a computer and these examples definitely have inspired me to do so.

Typography
In this week, we were given a small brief to use examples of typography and use these to create our own typeface. Personally, I like working with paper and pencil  and feel it is far quicker and easier to visualise the ideas in my head. I began by looking at a few examples and experimenting with the letters I was given, 'a', 'n', 'e' and 'g'. The examples below are a few ideas that I initially thought of before I looked further into the examples we were given.

I then developed these by using different styles and worked quickly and loosely to get some basic ideas. I like the first one as it is quite roughly done and effective. However, not all the letters are the same hight nor are they the same size. This is something I need to develop as I work on different typefaces. I enjoyed working with a range of styles that used the letters I was given and for some interesting results. I also discovered, some letters were harder to do than others. Such as, 'S' and 'G' whereas 'A', 'N' and 'E' were a lot easier.

This is the most developed typefaces that I created in this workshop. I really like working loosely and struggle to do geometric lettering as it is too time consuming. Perhaps I need to experiment more with alining the type as well as making it more geometric. I feel this was a good exercise as it allowed me to work freely and with pencil and paper, which is good as well as working on a computer. My favourite typeface is the one I created one at the top of the final sheet of paper which is very fluid and unique. The bottom one on the final page is unclear. I need to do more working on kerning and letter size because this is where I failed with this brief. However, I did experiment with a lot of styles and get a lot of ideas down which will help in my next typography session.

The Meaning of Life
Art, Design and Consumer Culture.

We began the lecture by looking at this example:

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/images/BarbaraKruger-I-Shop-Therefore-I-Am-II-1987.jpg 

Barbara Kruger made this piece of artwork that plays on the famous quote by Descartes, 'I think therefore I am'. It plays on the idea that consumerism defines us as a culture and we define ourselves by what we buy. However, in this society, we follow a cycle of: wanting, buying and then forgetting about it. Before the consumerism culture, religion was. Religion used to drive people and move people but now, money is the new religion and people follow this. Not working results in leisure activities and living for the weekend and buying luxuries that we don't need. 

Values and activities have changed and this is apparent through media and shift in subcultures. Understanding culture is key to graphic design because we need to be aware of social aspects so that we can produce design that is relevant as well as contemporary. 

Consumer culture is a desire to satisfy wanting. This is recognised as a bad way to live (in the western world) and is displayed in a beautiful way by Chris Jordan. This piece that he did was made out 78,000 plastic bottles and shows how much waste is created by our consumerism society. This amount of water bottles is equal to 1/10,000th of the estimated number of people in the world who lack access to safe drinking water. 

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#water-bottles

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#water-bottles

http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#water-bottles

We then talked about aesthetic theory which questions what art is and what is beauty? These questions were posed by Theadore Adorne.

Graphic Design mixes fine art with social science and combines communication, technology, perception and behaviour. Design can't be understood without the communication system which links strongly with our social culture. 

We were given a short quote by George Bernerd Shaw, 'The reasonable man adapts himself to the new world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man'. This means that we should be changing the world to fit our needs and this is how progress, in all aspects of life, happens. 

Survival in the 21st century means:

Technology is advancing,

Advertising has dominated image,

Attitudes change,

Devices change us,

Digital immigrants and digital natives (digital immigrants are the older generation who have not grown up with this advanced technology, for example, mobiles. Digital natives are the younger generation who have been born into this technological age and don't have to adapt. 

The western world is is a mixture of rich and poor, however, the virtual world is all online. Because there is two major worlds, online and western, that means everyone has 2 selfs: an online self and a physical self and these can be very different. Reality can be escaped through the online world as you can filter and alter what you say and choose to show about your life. 

All of this comes from a natural human desire to communicate as we need to share information in order to survive. Human nature is driven by collecting, organising and sharing data.

This lecture was incredibly useful as it gave us a broader understanding of how society works and what society wants, with particular reference to the Western World. As a graphic designer, knowing your own society is key as you need to be able to sell to it which means working with needs and wants from the majority and keeping that in your mind for whatever work you do.