DSM Crit 1

24/11/14

Before the crit I had mind mapped lots of ideas, I felt that even though I had a few they weren't concrete. 

Today we had a discussion with the members of DSM about our ideas for the city council branding. 

There was around six of us, and we initially discussed our thoughts on the council in general, there was a pretty unanimous opinion that it was boring and nobody had initially understood what they did.

after discussion, I had thought more about my ideas and I felt that I was leaning towards an idea of the council being more human and simple.

I discussed the idea of human and the idea of people and faces, and then talked a little bit about how I could do this, and I thought a mailshot maybe a good idea. 

They liked the idea, and me and Caitlin had looked at the council as a whole, and the others had looked at finer aspects and expanded on that and so there was a diversity in the group which was good. 

Progression:

To progess on I will be looking at how I could make the council more personal and how they can be more human and down to earth. 

I will need to look at a design way of doing this.

I feel that the brand will almost come from the aesthetics,

Another point that DSM mentioned was that we didn't need to call it a 'council' and this is an interesting point that I will look into/ 

Final Crit: 8/12/14
2 Weeks

Design Manchester: The Science of Imagination (2014)

Design Manchester
The Science of Imagination
24/10/14

This year I decided to attend Design Manchester's Core Festival Day, I felt that this would be good for my own development to hear from professional and well-aclaimed designers, and I thought that it would be interesting anyway. 

I was looking forward to seeing Adrian Shaughnessy especially, as I had recently read a book of his for my context of practice written piece (How to be a Graphic Designer without losing your soul.) 

The first speakers where Unit Editions

Unit Editions
Adrian Shaughnessy & Tony Brooks 
(Sam Stevenson wasn't present)

Unit Editions 
http://www.uniteditions.com

Are a publishing company, they publish books, made by designers for designers.

They talked about the idea of publishing books on design and the history of design in the age of the Internet. 

What does it mean to be a graphic designer in 2014- An enabling ability to not only answer the brief in hand.

They had become frustrated with the mainstream publishing industry, they felt that they had so many restrictions (especially when it came to designing the front cover) they also made little to no profit from a lot of work. 

And so they began there own publishing company

Why start a publishing company when all the content in the books can be seen online anyway ? 

There is no context online, and things can be deleted or lost online to never be seen again and then it will be lost forever. 

( I support this point, and I had never thought about it like this)

With the arrival of Amazon and Google Images, many publishing businesses caved in.

However designers still want books and journals.

They then showed a quote from Umberto Eco.

Their first book was about studios, 'Studio Culture' 
they initially sent this to distributors and say from this they learnt that it was unsustainable for their business. 

And so they set up online and this is how they sell their publications, nearly all online or in specific bookstores.They also sell and advertise through Facebook and Twitter, which allows them to talk directly to their buyers and audience.

They say that they only exist because of the internet- ironic

There are no compromises without the commercial book distributers, you can make your own print and paper choices. 

'If your going to chop down a tree it has to be worth it, we have that responsibility' - Tony Brooks 

Making books that assist graphic designers, not pastiche

'Type Only' took on a swiss modern style, 
and showcased typefaces from a designer who 'designed digital typefaces before the computer' 

computers now produce 'supergraphics'

'Type Plus' showcased the manipulation of type and image

Unit Editions also consider their packaging of the books, and feel they consider everything. Including special tape to wrap their boxes, and they use recycled card.

We rephotograph everything that goes in our books.

Creating a book requires a huge amount of work, the research process is enormous and so is the design process.

Heavily rely on archives

Insist on a contemporary style no matter what the subject

Adrain Shaughnessy then went on to talk about FHK Henrion, whom they had created a publication about, and whom he admires. 
FHK Henrion 1914-1990
(most important British Graphic Designer of the twentieth century)
invented the concept of the professional graphic designer

in his earlier years he designed a portable sewing machine, it was never made, as no manufacturer would make it as it was to risky.

Henrion in the 50s also recognised that TV was also a designers medium

Walter Landor, was the giant of identity design in America at the time, 
Henrion was the British equivalent 

He was in the war arrested in Britain for being a German, and then after his time in jail he designed for the British Ministry of Information, (war propaganda)

Before Henrion design was 'crayons and airbrushing'

He used dot screens and created posters

As well as this in the 50s he pioneered exhibition design.

He designed KLM airlines identity (which is still used now, the only airline to of not changed its identity in fifty years) 

He not only designed but he studied neurology and semiotics unlike graphic designers of the time, he understood how we receive messages.

His identity design work was his best and 'incredibly relevant' 

'Design Manuals' 
a showcase of design manuals, showing the evolution of the manual
required a huge amount of research and permissions
had to be a big book 
popular as they where things no one had ever seen or had access to 

Called it Manuals 1 to allow for the second, third etc

Things to come 
'Don't Go to Blackpool'

Technology Will Save Us
Daniel Hirschman

Head of Kit Experience
also owns his own separate design company

one side is learning how to use technology
the other is bowing to push its potential

is amazed at how little we have been taught to respect technology- consumer society
learning happens everywhere

All gadgets they make are built so anyone can make them and learn
Playdough for instance is conductive

'DIY Thirsty Plant'
'DIY Speaker Kit' (you can discover how sound transmits)

User centred design approach
Methodology
Insights- Prioritise, Prototype & Design, Resources & Scaling, Measurement

'DIY Gaming Kit' (to teach coding to all ages)
nothing is hidden or concealed
develops critical thinking, debugging, problem solving, computational thinking
Give a focus to people to achieve a result
Also make online resources available
Co-Learning
21st Century Skills

Hirsch & Man (his design company)
Corner Shop experience
doing things in reality not CG brings a more lifelike effect
Siemens- 'City Shapes' model in the London store
Cadburys 'Joy Jacket' how do you show the joy of eating chocolate. 



Supermundane
Rob Lowe
Supermundane (means out of this world not super, mundane !)
London Based
'Anorak' magazine aimed at 6-12 year olds girls and boys
aimed to encourage imagination

Fire and Knives, a cooking magazine, 
no photography
a multiple booklet style 

usually designs his own typefaces

also designed 'Cagoule' but only made 1 issue
likes line colour and movement
experimentation with styles, lines and geometric illustrations, re-introduction of type

Superalpha,
designed the whole alphabet out of tiny illustrations
also does murals 

did a huge one in the MoMA in Frankfurt, Germany 


Rejane Dal Bello

graduated in 2000, the millennium
was grounded in web design

studied at the DDC (Dutch design college)

created an identity for an open top bus in New York
Identity = Equal 

got into hand drawn type and did the Virgin logotype.

doesn't find herself pinned to one area of design

also designed the Alzheimer 's typeface for the campaign 

she designs with social considerations
worked as a social worker too

completed a very low budget project, for a new hospital set up in Rio de Janeiro 
'Pazho'
painted signs by hand
sustainable, not loud, simple and respectable suits the hospital 
signage, toys, stickers, colouring books
 Created the book 'Dr Giraffe' 
a self initiated project 
helps mothers explain to their children what is happening to them in the hospital
for serious illnesses, such as cancer


Daziel & Pow
Ross Philips 

worked at Fabrica in 2001
with Andy Cameron

created mirror mirror for Topshop 2003
encourage personal shopping
live feedback from famous people and stylists, SHOW studio
and it is still useable without the digital part

video grid
Read Aloud, performing and reading
used out of copyright books

(people like to look good when they are being filmed, so really got the set up and lighting perfect for this, so people are comfortable)

started with Alice in Wonderland

each person/group read a line, film this one line at a time
unmoderated

Consultancy 2009
Jimmy Choo- Shoe,Shoe,Shoe 3 mirrors with cameras so you can see the feet, full body ands leg

Mulberry- Love Blossoms

Dalziel and Pow 2013
Retail design agency- interior and graphic design combined
realised digital needs to be incorporated

Primark, Berlin 
moving signage wall, used map of berlin city centre 
and reliefs of this too 

Argos
realise that they are in an advantageous position having physical store space unlike amazon, but weren't using digital and online barely at all

designed 6 concept stores
got rid of the catalogues and replaced with screens
multi-platform
Screens instead of posters
Broke all the serving counters up into separate modules so staff could walk around freely, feels more open
all the content on the screens are unique to store

The White Company (Bespoke and Traditional)

created delicate projections to advertise the textile and tactile
No screens but moving images
projections onto surfaces
projectors where hidden in books etc
it was easy to project as most of the surfaces where white
doesn't always have to be passive, some projections where set off by sensors

Micheal C Place
Build
(in conversation with Angus Montgomery from Design Week)
'Technology as a tool"
understanding how things work, even print
I-D magazine placement
music focus
worked at Designers Republic, Sheffield
and Trevor Anderson in London 

moved back to DR
Typographical interest

left to make own studio, wanted there to be no hierarchy

D&AD Judge too 

Generation Press

Long projects take around 4-5 months
average is around 2 months
take 2 weeks sometimes

doesn't pitch especially for clients who won't pay, because they are a studio of four it takes two away from other work all day, for work they might not even get
doesn't believe in unpaid internships

Five Years in the Forest (2009-2014)

Neubau Studio

http://neubauberlin.com

Stephen Gandal - Founder

Cristoph Grindburger

& Benjamin Gandt

Stephen was born in Austria 1969

in 1979 received Help! (The Beetles) record from a friend but it had no sleeve and so he designed his own, this is where his passion for type came from.

The start of creating typefaces

Letraset (1980)

1989-1995 studied in Vienna studied there in Neubau

Letraset became unpopular and Stephen bought lots of the catalogues from the university he studied at

Letraset includes, type, grids, gradients, icons

Neubau Studio opened in Berlin 2001 (in the centre)

Neubau 55ms

Using different grids

Neubau Welt 

1247HD Vector Silhouettes

2002-2005

first archive of Neubau

categories of illustrations

lots of different sectors

more detailed than previously

trees had anchor points of over 80,000, had to merge into one to be able to save the file,

used freehand not illustrator, but had to change to  illustrator to be able to work with lots of anchor points

Neubau Modul

2039 Grids and Patterns (2005-2007)

lengthy project always take longer than projected i.e. 1 month usually takes 6

looked at the opposite with vector shapes with four anchor points

Metric system

Pattern Plates

Neubau-ism 2008

how could the two books be put together? 

through an exhibition,

used glass and projections, and keyboards where coded so audience could interact

next publication was about trees

most difficult thing to illustrate in the first book

hard to vectorise a tree

Neubau Forst (2009-14)

required the biggest team

20 designers, 60 months, 390,000 hours

internships helped out a lot

684 trees & tree modules

biggest book, 400 pages

Production ?

Used a locator grid, in accordance to the letters of the studio NEUBAU, got 72 points to locate trees from in the city

Overall style and standardisation 

how to photograph trees document point on location

take photos of separate bits of the tree, merge images together for a high res image

to vectorise

took 7 months to photograph

documented the changes of space and time

Vectorise the tree

naturalistic look

1.image

2.grid

3.expand

4.mask

5.outline

6.inline

took a lot of attempts to get right some took 3 months

Vector and the mask

used to create modules. you can build up any tree you want from this

user can create new stuff

normal street trees

Numbering systems, code, for all modules

S for Summer

W for Winter

Species and height of the tree, reference of origin

had to contact the local authorities for the information of the tree, who where very reluctant to give information as they thought they where an architecture firm looking to build over the trees

Can create a whole forest from the digital trees

Why Trees? 

All of the internet ones aren't realistic and architects use them in thier pitches, so this is a new and best resource for them. 

Publisher= Lars Muller Publishers

Paper vs CO 2, paper outweighed the amount of energy it would take to run a website of the content.