OUGD405: Design Processes- Frame (Photoshop)

Most important elements of the brief other than mandatory requirements: 

"Explore a range of concepts in your research and development of your own ideas. Consider the usage, functionality and display within commercial outlets when resolving this problem."

"Not all your investigations should take place on the Mac. Digital image capture methods such as scanning and digital photography allow you to import media from a range of sources (photographs, photocopies, drawings, tracings, found material etc.)"

This means that within this brief when researching and also creating my own designs I will look at ideas which use other techniques such as photography and hand rendered artwork. 

Research:

What is a photo frame and what are they used for? (definition) 

Picture Frame: a framework in which a picture is mounted 

framework - a structure supporting or containing something

moulding, molding, border - a decorative recessed or relieved surface on an edge

And so from looking at these definitions I wanted to further research into what exactly a "frame" means:

a border or case for enclosing a picture, mirror, etc.

a structure for admitting or enclosing something: a window frame.

Usually, frames. ( used with a plural verb ) the framework for apair of eyeglasses.

to conceive or imagine, as an idea.

This was a photo frame I recently purchased for my room, it is a brand rather than a store in particular and is a representation of how the backing paper of photo frames are designed. The photographed used in particular is meant to remind the buyer/ consumer of family or friends however it feels disconnected from the viewer. The dimensions and all necessary information however have all been included in a simple grey sans serif font which does match the colour scheme and audience somewhat- it isn't meant to look expensive or upper market. From looking at these types of frames I feel as though I do prefer the high marketed brands or better designed brands because the design is much more clear or creative. 

http://www.wilko.com/search?q=photo+frame&searchsubmit.x=-976&searchsubmit.y=-145

These are also examples of lower budget frames much like the one photographed above from my room. The photo frame on the left includes further photography which isn't connected to the consumer/ target audience, therefore I don't think this is as successful as the frame on the right. The colour palette used matches the frame and could be used on a variety of frames much like this. All the measurements are clear and the design within the frame is simplistic (vectors). However this frame's design I feel wouldn't engage an audience incredibly well because there seems to be minimal connection between the design and the frame. 

John Lewis

http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-frames-black/p324487

I find this use of backing paper especially interesting because as a photo frame, there is no use of image only text. They have cleverly used a famous quote which would represent what type of photographs the customer would put into the frame- rather than forcing photographs with no emotional connection. 

Next

http://www.next.co.uk/search?w=photo%20frame&srt=24

From looking at a wide range of Next's photo frames I found that the majority included either generic photographs of families on holiday/ weddings or much like other stores including the quote "live, laugh, love". However I did find these examples above to be incredibly interesting because they were more artistic and matched their frame. Both frames are white/ decorative and the designer has on the whole created the backing papers well, by using an off white and muted colour palette including purple tones this holds the ideologies of femininity and therefore appeals to its target audience- the majority of photo frames have a target audience for women, elderly people or those interested in photography/ art. 

House Of Fraser 

"Shabby Chic" 

http://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/Shabby+Chic

"In a muted colour palette of washed out pastels and faded neutrals, the collection encapsulates the brand’s love of vintage and admiration for the ‘beauty of imperfection'"

These frames portray the brands identity through its use of colour and imagery. As a whole this brand's target audience is women, through their stereotypically feminine products and use of a muted colour palette (white, grey, pastel tones such as pink). The vector images created on the backing paper of these frames include the logo along with a decorative design which frames the logo. The use of negative space around this highly detailed and intricate design allows attention still to be with the frame. These backing papers are highly successful as they work as a brand- the colour can be changed and processed to fit all types of colour palette (for example those including wood or metal shown above in the screen shot). 

Selfridges & Co

"After 25 years masterminding the redevelopment of Chicago department store Field & Leiter, Harry Gordon Selfridge arrived in London in 1909 with his heart set on opening his dream store.

With his revolutionary understanding of publicity and the theatre of retail, nothing stood still in Harry's empire. If something was new and newsworthy, Selfridges had it first and the store flourished under the direction of its charismatic Chief."

http://www.selfridges.com/en/StaticPage/Our+Heritage/

These photo frames follow along with the idea of history and heritage of Selfridges. As a department store they sell a wide variety of products including a vast choice of frames which include decorative frames and also traditional-looking wooden frames. All these are brought together by the idea of Selfridges as a brand, by using certain type of photography in black and white they continue the ideologies of history. These photographs are on a film camera from when the original store was open in London and therefore the photograph is in context because it is of where it is being sold- and not just a generic photograph of a building. 

From looking at existing photo frame backing papers I have found that when creating my own I need to consider:
The type of frame it is, the shop/ or brand if chosen, the media used/ stock and also its target audience and how the audience will relate and chose this frame. 
From my research I have already thought of a few ideas which include looking at more natural frames (wood) and hand crafted frames which would suit a hand rendered design. I thought about looking into vector graphics (illustrator) and creating a photo frame inside the frame (using photography terms- frame within a frame which is a form of composition). Looking at DSLR black and white photography which would suit a higher market shop/ frame. From thinking of these ideas I will further look into artists who have created similar work to gain inspiration of the media used and stock. 

OUGD401- Animation (chronologies)

Animation

Animation is derived from the latin word animare meaning "to give life to".

Animation requires an individual to artificially create a series of images that give the illusion that movement has been given to an object or form. 

This series of images when played back fast enough fools the brain into thinking that movement is taking place, which is called "persistence of vision". 

The documentation of movement had started in 1650 with the invention of "The Magic Lantern" by Christian Huygens which worked as a form of projector. In 1824 The Thaumatrope was created as a popular toy which could flip two images together (opposite) to create the illusion of movement. The Phenakistoscope was a wheel of images which created the illusion on movement when spun in front of a mirror, it was invented by Plateau and Von Stampfer (of Belgium and Austria respectively) independently of each other in 1831. The Zoetrope (1834) was also a repeated use of imagery but this was put into a form of circular drum which contained slits within the sides for several viewers. 

Although Pierre-Hubert Desvignes is usually credited with inventing the flip book/the Kineograph (1868), John Barnes Linnett of London was the first to patent a design. These flipbooks with designs of a dancing skeleton and a windmill are made to Linnett’s patent.

George Méliès: A Trip To The Moon 1902

Influenced the music video for rock band Queen: song "Heaven for Everyone" features clips from the original 1902 short film and is known to be inspirational to a wide variety of other popular culture. 

Windsor McCay: Gertie the Dinosaur (1908)- known for being one of the first animations to use key framing (the starting and ending points of any smooth transition) and registration marks. 

 Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)- a documentation of news which took 7 days to make its way around the world which was certainly incredibly astounding for its time. 

 1928 - Animation became commercially important but still not regarded as high art. Cartoons became mainstream but were now commercially viable p and profitable. 

'Steamboat Willie' was the first animation by Walt Disney and was the first animation that was synced with music correctly: 

1.7 million spent on Snow White and 1,000 worked on the animation:

Disney was also used within world war 2 including "education for death: the raising of a nazi" and "victory through air power" these were both used to convey a message and create a response. The first to created a hatred of hitler and the second to force the government to give more money to buy aircraft. 

Within this animation Chuck Jones cleverly creates a character and personality and shows this across the whole animation. He also breaks the fourth wall by directly talking to the animator. 

The Golden Age of Animation came to a close in the late 50’s early 60’s when the practice of having Block booking animated shorts with a feature film came to an end. Cinema houses wanted to show double bills and matinees to compete with TV.

This rise in popularity of television meant that broadcasters demanded large quantities of programming on low budgets, something than was difficult to achieve through animation without making some big changes to production methods.

Simplifying backgrounds, reusing animation walk cycles and talking mouths (lip-syncing), ultimately lead to the slow decline of ‘quality’ feature animations that were replaced by much cheaper mass produced shorts by companies such as Hanna-Babera.

Used computer generated backgrounds along with traditional hand rendered animation of the characters. 

Toy story was one the first fully computer animated films and was/ is still a great success. 

These are from the "digital" age which are completely created on the computer. Avatar was made on an incredibly high budget with a large amount of marketing.

OUGD401- Print (chronologies)

Print Lecture

Print: Initial Definition

to produce (a text, picture, etc.) by applying inked types, plates, blocks, or the like, to paper or other material either by direct pressure or indirectly by offsetting an image onto an intermediate roller. 

to reproduce (a design or pattern) by engraving on a plate or block. 

to form a design or pattern upon, as by stamping with an engraved plate or block: to print calico. 

to cause (a manuscript, text, etc.) to be published in print. 

Print is somewhat permanent and can be seen as true:

"I love a ballad in print alife, for then we are sure they are true"

Shakespeare

Communication changed by the introduction of print. 

"Communication. Reproduction. Distribution"

This means that a piece or pieces of information can not only be created and known by one  person, but instead of word of mouth it can then be created into several copies and therefore more people have received such information (distributed). 

"knowledge is power", "mass communication"

The use of print is a response to a human need to share and learn information not only in images but also in text. 

Print can include a variety of different methods such as etching, mono prints and lino type.

Print has a variety of different forms of history which can relate from Japanese wood block prints, 

Print is also argued to be between form and function- communication versus beauty.

William Morris 

19th Century Textiles Print Designer- Victorian Aesthetics- to show wealth and beauty

Shepherd Fairy 

Print can also be used to create a message and a form of communication. 

This was created to change the representation of a certain WWF wrestler (Andre). Obey has now become incredibly iconic and is now a brand. 

OUGD401- Task 5: An Analysis Of Garamond

Garamond

This font was initially crafted by the French publisher Claude Garamond in the 1540's, it's an old style font as it contains characteristics such as fine proportions and a difference between upstroke and downstroke- making it rather a humanist font. However humanist fonts are made up into several categories, one of them being Garalde which belongs to Claude Garamond. Humanist font's were created to replace the fonts which were used around this time (blackletter). I have chosen Garamond to further research and analyse because I am interested in history and more traditional serif font's as I find more elegant, structured fonts to be appealing aesthetically. 

Blackletter fonts were used for its beauty (form) rather than readability (function). Humanist fonts were created to made texts readable and easier to understand, to communicate clearer messages through function rather than form. Garamond however still contains beautifully crafted serif's and is also incredibly readable, making it an old style font which is still used vastly. In this element of form versus function; Beatrice Warde "The Crystal Goblet) 1930 states 'this particular job was not "How should it look?" but "What must it do?"' this is a clear description of how typical modernist fonts work, however old style and blackletter fonts were before this time, even though Claude Garamond was considering along with other creators of humanist fonts the idea of readability rather than their form first. 

"Because of the soundness of Garamond's designs his typefaces have historical staying power, and they are likely to remain the day-to-day tools of professional typographers, as long as wertern civilization survives. Reading a well set Garamond text page is almost effortless, a fact that has been well known to book designers for over 450 years." 

http://www.pointlessart.com/education/loyalist/typeTalk/garamond/biography.html

  

As Claude Garamond was a publisher his reasoning for creating this font and his work was to make texts readable. In Beatrice Warde's "The Crystal Goblet" 1930, she explains the difference between form and function in a charming and elegant manner; she states 'The most important thing about printing is that is conveys thought, ideas, images, from one mind to other minds'. Garamond's work was much like this as he wanted clarity in his designs as well as large page margins, a quality composition, excellent paper and printing and superb binding. Garamond's work contains that of form and function as it is a readable font however it does still contain an element of elegance and beauty through its serif's and line weight. 

Garamond is known for being one of the most readable and legible typefaces used within print as I have seen it used in many books and novels I have personally read. On a blog named 'thebookdesigner' I found that Garamond is one of the most used and loved typefaces for printing: "The one used most frequently now is the version designed by Robert Slimbach for Adobe. It’s known for its graceful, flowing style and humanistic elegance."

http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2009/08/5-favorite-fonts/

Garamond is mostly used within print for books and therefore fulfils Beatrice Warde's ideas, "Type well used is invisible as type, just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas" many books such as the Hunger Games Trilogy and Harry Potter use Garamond as their chosen typeface and therefore show that this font is still widely used now.

OUGD401- Context Of Practice Seminar

The Crystal Goblet, Or Why Printing Should Be Invisible

Beatrice Warde 1930

"The most important thing about printing is that it conveys thought, ideas, images from one mind to other minds"

"If books are printed to be read we must distinguish readability from what the optician would call legibility" 

"Type well used is invisible as type, just as the perfect talking voice is the unnoticed vehicle for the transmission of words, ideas" 

"That is the first thing he asked of this particular object was not 'How should it look?' but 'What must it do?' and to that extent all good typography is modernist" 

Beatrice Warde explained how the difference between form and function can be similar to that of a flagon of wine. If you choose the goblet which is made "of solid gold and contains exquisite patterns"- this metaphor describes that you a lover of form (beauty). If you chose the goblet which is "crystal glass, thin as a bubble and as transparent"-you are a lover of function because it has been "calculated to reveal rather than to hide the beautiful thing that i was meant to contain". 

However, even though I somewhat agree with her points of view on type, I don't fully agree with modernism, this is because sometimes type has to be used for a purpose and to be carefully considered. Type shouldn't be used to simply just be invisible it should contain elements of function and form; I agree that typography is how language should be expressed, but the choice of typography that is used is carefully considered by a typographer or graphic designer- their work and thought processes should not be undermined. 

On Typography

Herbert Bayer 1971

"The Bauhaus urged the contemporary artist to take part in the issues of his time by solving those problems that only the artist can, that is giving form to our environment, to the spaces we live in, to the goods we use, to communication."

"My purpose to abandon capital letters in all Bauhaus correspondence and printed matter was adopted with great courage by Gropius. It became, however, a case of severe criticism. The Bauhaus was, after all, a school."

Herbert Bayer created this typeface "Universal" which was meant to hold no cultural connotations and be a neutral typeface which could be used by everyone (internationally). 

In the beginning of his text Bayer states; "typography is a service art, not a fine art, however pure and elemental the discipline may be". Through reading this turned into a class discussion as to how to define fine art from graphic design, and if there is a difference at all. As a group it was agreed that to define graphic design apart from fine art it was to explore its purpose and target audience. It is considered that graphic design works on a commercial level and is targeted for a wide audience, and is the art form for the masses. Fine art is considered to be for a smaller niche of people and a specific audience of people who are in the general community of fine art. However I find these stereotypes to be a form of myth, fine art due to its origins was made for and by the higher classes, therefore it seems to have kept its wealthy aura.

Myths:

Ambiguity or complexity of meaning (art)

The designer as a wage labour (graphic design)

Cultural Significance (art)

Express & Individuality (art)

Creativity/ Problem Solving (graphic design)

Function (graphic design)

All these mentioned above are myths which surround these art forms, when actually there is no real difference between art and graphic design- these are socially constructed ideas about how they are different. Both artists and graphic designers create work which portray some form of message to a set audience.

OUGD401- Illustration

Pictures at work, illustration in action, emotional experience of image.

Illustration is the difference between decorating through image and communicating; it is the strategic image making used within the context of visual communication to convey meaning of concept. Images have always been used to communicate messages because they seem to make sense of text without the need for an understanding of written language.

Illustration is the idea that an image alone cannot communicate anything, it must be a concept and be in context to mean anything. This is similar to other art/design forms such as Graphic Design. (For an image to mean anything it must have a purpose)

"As a result, the aesthetic of an image, its formal qualities, its media and composition can communicate as much as the semiotics of the signs and symbols employed. I would argue that good illustrators not only communicates through use of sign and symbol, but also by the very aesthetic of their chosen media and its application."

These two images express the quote directly, they are both created and crafted by the same illustrator however the use of colour and how it is applied affects the overall aesthetics as well as the connotations that it provides. The first is a children's book that connotes happiness through its use of bright colour however yet through the same method an incredible difference has been created through using dark tones to signify war. 

"Born from an individual image making process and creative practice that is unique to it’s creator, illustration often communicates with a specific tone of voice. I would argue that it is the authenticity, craft, consistency and individuality of an illustrators visual tone of voice that will inform their success as an applied artist."

Example: Malika Favre

http://www.malikafavre.com/Vogue-UK-1

Vogue UK- Perfect Chemistry. Animated Illustrations commissioned for november 2013.

Her work suits to be on the cover of vogue because her illustration tends to portray beauty, elegance and is also highly provocative. Her work shows how illustration is still highly used even through stereotypical doubts that illustrators are not needed as much. Illustration is still as strong as a design form and will continue to develop to keep its place within design. 

Even though I am studying Graphic Design I do still have a passion for Illustration and Photography and with projects further ahead I would thoroughly enjoy collaborating with other students from other courses.

Illustration is not only used within advertising and brands but it can also be commissioned to portray a fact or express a concern. 

This image created for the Guardian newspaper was created by Laura Carlin to subtly express the loneliness that women feel due to domestic abuse through court cases. It subtly expresses this due to the use of colour; muted tones for the whole painting expect the singular woman in focus- inked in black.

"It is this combination of both an individual visual aesthetic and use of functional visual symbols that allows illustration to communicate both an explicit message whilst also being able to convey more subtle, nuanced or abstract sensibilities."

Examples of Illustration: 

Book/Novel covers- 

The Folio Society.

http://www.foliosociety.com

"Great books should be outstanding not only in literary content but also in their physical form: this has been the philosophy of The Folio Society since it was founded in 1947 by Charles Ede, with a dream of publishing beautiful books that would be affordable to everyone. Our pleasure in reading is enhanced by the book itself, in which typography, illustration, paper, printing and binding all play a part in creating a harmonious whole. In a world of declining publishing standards, where most books are cheaply printed, and bound using low-grade materials, The Folio Society resolutely sets store by traditional values of excellence; for our designers and production personnel the term 'quite good' means 'no good': only the best is good enough."

Having a personal love for traditional and classic literature, to be introduced to this website and company was extremely fascinating; to see how artists have portrayed a book within a cover of image and typography is incredibly interesting. 

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an incredible network of creatives including writers and artists- just as much as it is a magazine. The contacts of artists and writers is astonishing and their self worth and bold nature of the magazine is always portrayed within the cover to create innovative designs and engage the audience. The cover on the right from 2004 captures the moment of two people engaging eye contact due to reading the same book which the audience truly engage with, this is because it captures a small romanticised version of city life (New York). 

Much like Graphic Design, Illustration can be used to express an opinion or communicate an idea, this image is incredibly striking and emotive due to its unique approach to connecting animals with nature, therefore expressing the title and article- the use of artwork can make people read the article and can be the difference between attracting an audience, or not. 

Steve Powers

His work includes beautifully crafted hand painted signs and also now studio based design work which all include considered typography which communicate messages, his work is not only for brands but he also works conceptually. I personally love the idea of creating artwork traditionally due to my love for design from older era's.