Studio brief 2: Critical feedback

The feedback session today allowed me to present my initial developments, with the aim of deciding which route would be best to take for the final print. 

A short discussion about the print festival itself very quickly highlighted the fact that many knew about the talks and music event, but there were quite a few people unsure about the exhibition that will be held at Colours May Vary. This made the concept of the exhibition poster design the strongest and most favourable in terms of developing something new. 

Figures 1 and 2 show a poster which showcases the style of each of the artists that have work in the exhibition. This was seen to be a strong concept as DR.ME have gathered a diverse selection of artists and this should be celebrated. It was suggested that it may be a little too busy, including large sections of each artists style may detract from the purpose of the poster. If there is too much happening then the logo in the bottom right which shows the date and location of the exhibition will not be noticed. The layout shown in figure 3 was thought to be the most successful as the white space shows confidence, allows the audience to focus on the logo and also the art work is not too overpowering. 

To address the problem that the visuals are a little 'too busy', it was suggested that the visuals are made up of marks. A mark from each artists piece of work would be enough to develop a strong concept and visual piece. 

in regards to colour scheme, figure 1 was seen to be more effective as it allowed for a sense of depth and character to be developed. The colour blue in figure 2 was chosen to represent the website colour that is used for the festival promotion. That day the new identity (figure 4) designed by 'somethingmore' was released on social media, so this will be the main influence for the colour scheme for the final print. As the final poster will be printed using the screen printing method, I will decide on the 3 or 4 most suitable colours to use on the poster so that the process will be possible. 

To ensure that the poster is viewed to be official, the Leeds Print Festival logo shown in the top left of figure 4 may also need to be kept as part of the final print. This would be a requirement when working with the festival as the client as it is an official public organised event. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 4

Figure 3

Dr Me: Collaging workshop

Visiting professionals Dr-Me held a collaging workshop with the group which focused on stop motion animations (gifs) being the final outcome. 
Graphic design is known to be very heavily computer reliant, making this workshop particularly interesting and engaging. The designers showed how handcrafted collages can be seen to be just as successful as computer work, spark creativity and be used to generalise animated outcomes. 
In pairs we were given a random word with which we had to make a collaged based gif that used 10 frames (fig.1).
The word was 'masseuse' and the idea was that the back movements would represent the circular motion that the hands most commonly move during a massage and then the man walking in front of the scenery would represent the calm sensation that you would experience during a massage. The tiger that starts to chase the man represents the build up to the knots that may cause pain and then it is removed. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows an animation made based on the 'Hyde Park picture house' using the leaflets collected form the box office. This is relevant to studio brief 2, looking at ways in which the 102nd year of opening can be recognised and celebrated.  

Studio brief 2: Initial ideas

Research had lead to the decision of designing a poster that either represents or advertises the Leeds Print Festival exhibition at Colours May Vary. The research was then focused on the list of artists that were having work in the exhibition, to see if there were any particular styles, common approaches or visual elements that would work well as a print. 

All of the visual developments are based on aspects from the existing prints by the artists in the exhibition. Figure 1 is a print representing the exhibition, rather than advertising. The large bold shapes and colours were chosen as they are associated with the outcomes of screen printing, one of the main requirements in the brief. The decision to keep a large amount f white space was to keep a fresh and modern look, showing how the traditional method of screen printing is now a method commonly used and often preferred. 

Ideas 2 and 3 use the same visuals, but in different ways and with different layouts. Idea 2 has the visuals as a small section, with the type as the most important part of the print because it would make up a series of prints that display the feedback and satisfaction of people who have been to Leeds Print Festival in the past. As the brief is about creating a poster which represents the events that have shaped Leeds, the coming together of creatives is something that should be celebrated as an event that has shaped the city and its creative scene. Idea 3 takes the same visuals, but uses it as a way to advertise the exhibition. The location is made evident through the use of the Colours May Vary logo, something that the people interested in this kind of event would recognise, targeting a specific audience suitable for the event. The white space around the outside works to frame the print and also draw enough emphasis on the logo in the bottom right hand corner, which may have got lost if it was overlapped on a full page print.  

Idea 4 takes visual elements from a variety of the artists that are having work exhibited at Colours May Vary, chosen by DR.Me. The print is to advertise the event, taking the well known logo like in idea 3, but with a much bigger emphasis on the visual outcome and less so on this logo. 

Idea 5 is based on the marks commonly made by artist 'Jordy van den Nieuwendijk' and then the layout represents the work by Nejc Prah. This idea more discreetly represent the artists that are in the exhibition, so if developed I would need to work on a way to ensure that each artist is accounted for in some sort of way. The ways in which I could do this is by the use of colour, marks, layout, typefaces, shapes or images. 

Feedback on the ideas suggested that idea 4 is the most interesting concept to be developed. The poster design could work as promotion, but also as a visual representation of the festival once it is over. It was thought that the design could be improved by using marks from every artist and not just a few of them. This would allow for a strong concept to be established and every artist in the exhibition would be accounted for, which was thought to be important. 

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

Idea 4

Idea 5

Studio Brief 2: Rationale

An A3 traditionally printed poster to celebrate how Leeds Print Festival has played a part in shaping the identity of the city of Leeds. The print is based on Leeds Print Festival’s exhibition held at Colours May Vary, advertising the event in isolation to the rest of the festival. Within this poster each of the artists involved have been visually represented so that the poster can be a celebration of the festival, but by also including the logo it can also be an advertisement for the exhibition to be published in the weeks running up to the festival. The colour scheme is taken from the Leeds Print Festival 2017 poster, allowing for the clients requirements of a consistent visual identity to be taken into consideration. 

Studio Brief 2: Exhibition research

The exhibition for Leeds Print Festival is being held at Colours May Vary, Munro House. The exhibition will run from April 1st - April 10th, 10am - 5pm. The exhibition is being curated by DR.ME and will include the works of many artists. The images below show a piece of work that each artist has produced, chosen to best reflect their personal style. 

The artists with work in the exhibition:
Aliyah Hussain

Bráulio Amado

DR.ME

Elana Schlenker

Guy Featherstone

John Powell-Jones

Jordy van den Nieuwendijk

Louis Reith

Nejc Prah

Palefroi

Qubik 

Rob Bailey

Steve Hockett

Supermundane

Studio brief 2: Primary research

Today I went long to Leeds Print Festival which was a day of professional talks, hopefully gaining knowledge about practitioners who specialise in prints. The day mainly focused on the running of their business, freelancing and advice which was interesting because it is getting your work out there which is the hardest part and most daunting to me as a university student currently. 

DR.ME

Having already heard a talk by DR.ME and been part of one of their collaging workshops, I was interested as to what they would choose to talk about today. The talk they delivered focused on curation and the different events they have been part of and set up. 

'The waiting room' was one of the first curation opportunities for DR.ME. It was a 1 day exhibition each week that they selected art of artists who were not big, but who they just genuinely liked and screen printed all of their work as posters. This was a way of showing an interest into other peoples artwork, but also displaying their own design style and ability to hold small exhibitions. 

I found the idea that taking no for an answer in curation is not an option valuable, showing that you have to be passionate and consistent or you will not be able to build up a reputation in the field. A letter of rejection they received from Stefan Sagmeister did not stop them including his work in the exhibition, instead they created a print based on the rejection letter. 

Ali Hanson 

Ali Hanson is the art director from It's Nice That. Graduating from Leeds College of Art, he then worked his way up to be the first in house magazine designer. 

The Graduates 2016 - The expansion of the company has allowed for a graduate scheme to be put into place. A PDF booklet is published each year on the website offering guidance to those about to graduate. Although I am not about to graduate, I still found the inspiration and procrastination section really useful. It listed a number of websites and videos that they think are useful for inspiration.

The explanation on Printed Pages was interesting as he spoke about the design process of the magazine in detail, informing how I approach future briefs. Printed pages is a magazine published twice a year, sold for £10 and it is simply a physical embodiment of the online content. 


The S/S 2016 issue is based on the youtube video 'don't hug me i'm scared'. The idea was to treat the characters like celebrities; holding a photoshoot that captured the glamour of being a celebrity and presenting the characters in a way that allowed them to look alive and connect with the audience. I learnt that the process to making a magazine is a pretty long one, starting by making a list of intended content is a way to ensure that the design style works well to communicate all of the media included. To ensure that the design is consistent throughout the magazine, the pages are printed off 23% of the final size and stuck up across a wall to make sure it all flows. 

Pat Bradbury 

I found this talk particularly interesting as working abroad is something that I would like to do once I have graduated. Pat was an art intern in Vietnam, working in a school to make a mural in the playground and other illustrative pieces around the school. The work with the children was to allow them to see the creative process behind any final piece and allowing the children to determine the final outcomes to be something they could engage with around school. One of the pieces that I thought worked well was the collaging piece; it was all of the body parts of imaginary creatures and instead of finalising the arrangements, the pieces were made to be magnetic so that the ideas could continuously be created and changed by the children. 

One piece of work relied on the fact that he had set himself no rules, something most artists do not agree to be effective. The collaged piece was left n the floor for a year and he kept on layering to create an abstract piece. The piece was then used as inspiration for a set of individual prints. 

Things I took from Pat's speech:
- Apply for residencies and interns abroad
- Travel as much as possible
- Be experimental with approach then feed into something you cannot control e.g. a scanner, photocopier etc. 
- Take a phrase of word to drive the visuals
- Personal projects show passion and often get the most positive attention

Macroy Smith

Macroy is the director and founder of @peopleofprint, the website started as a directory in 2008, sharing the designers, illustrators and printers that he was personally inspired by. The website is now in a book form, printed by Thames & Hudson, but Macroy didn't like how they now owned the  name 'people of print'. He created a magazine called Print Isn't Dead and by using Pure Print as the printers, he is able to use fluorescent inks in order to overlay in the same way that screen printing would allow. 
The Posterzines are magazines meet posters - a mini monograph magazine which folds out to an A1 format poster. It has been given it's own ISSN number and is noted as a publication because of the way that it fold in on itself, differentiating it from a pamphlet which is folded like a concertina. 

ADVICE:
- You're free to do what you want to do
- Always use animated effects
- Share your passion 
- Don't sell out (all the time)
- Business is business
- They can't be competition if they are on your side
- Make something from nothing
- Solve a problem 
- Don't fear the fall 
- Look at the numbers
- Ask questions
- Pressure makes diamonds
- Winners focus on winning, losers focus on winners