Generating Emotion through text

Text is a great way to change the meaning of an image. You can change the focus point of an image and you can also generate great emotion.
Gillian Wearing is a perfect example for this. She did a project called "Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say". She took photographs of normal people, got them to write down their feelings or an issue they had with the world and took a photo of it. It was very successful and this idea rubbed off on a lot of people. The idea spread because it works. It completely changes the photograph by putting a bit of text on a piece of paper. Its real documentary photography.

This photo changes the emotion of the photograph. The sign reads, "I have been certified as mildly insane!"
Without the text on this photo it would just be an image of a random guy in the street however, by adding type you are generating emotion. You are adding a story to the image, taking the viewer on a journey. You feel sorry for the man. It just goes to show that you shouldn't judge anyone in life. That is what the visual arts are about, teaching people, understanding people, sending out a message and taking people on a journey. I love being able to make people feel how I want them to feel. 
If you can make someone feel an emotion while they are looking at your art, they will remember it, it will stick into their memories and they may relate to it.

How does text effect the meaning of an image

As soon as you add text to an image, straight away you change the effect it will have on your audience. Maybe for the best or visa versa. Generally, we use text on an image to give information. To inform the viewer of what is happening, or happened. Also visual heir achy comes into play. What do you want the viewer to pay attention to, the image or the text?
How big is the text?
What colour is the text?
Is it bold?
Is it subtle?
All of these have a different effect on the overall outcome. It isn't just the case of slapping a word in the corner. It is thought through. However, be real with it. Shocking images generally don't need any text, it will be pretty straight forward as to what is already happening.

The type on this image effects the image in a way in how it helps the viewer relate to it generating emotion. It brings meaning to the photograph. Whatever you put on the photo, that is going to be the story the viewer looks in to. Nothing else. So I look at this image and I feel sorry for the poor guy, he just wants to forget something. I only know that because of the type, without the type I would probably be jealous of him. He is in a beautiful location, by the sea, he seems to be free from issues, bills etc! Nothing between him and the great ocean. So by adding type, you are restricting the viewer from seeing a bigger picture. Good thing or a bad thing? Well it completely depends on what you want the viewer to see, as a Visual artist, this is your power. Superman can fly, Spiderman can make webs and catch bad guys, Johnny Bravo can pull extremely hot cartoon chicks! We can make people see what only we want them to see.

Selfish??

I don't think so.

Getting rid of Assumptions

Some people say the best designers are mad. They have outrageous ideas that will never work. Is this true? Or is it simply thinking outside the box and being different?
There are a number of ways in which to "break the rules"! Whatever your subject is, look at similes, metaphors to try and branch out and try and get that spark. These are different thinking strategies that will definately help to generate more ideas, yes, they will be more wacky and out there than your normal everyday ideas, if someone plays a word association game for example, take the word black, the first word you will say back is white. Keep going, say other words, Im going to say what is popping up in my huge brain associating with black.... Evil, Dark, Night, Stars, Badger. You get the idea, without taking the first idea, you get a wider range of ideas, fun ideas, strange ideas. Most of them won't work but you may get one idea that will make it.
An artist I like that uses this style is, Yuko Shimuzu.
She takes very known pieces of work, e.g The Great Wave. She incorporates different elements into the image which changes the meaning completely. Notions of Originality fits into this as well.

By changing the elements in the image, it reflects on the audience and changes the target audience.

It is different, a little disturbing but it works. If you break down her work methodology, you can see how she got to the idea by doing simple word associations, not going with the first ideas, think outside the box. Being different is very important. Unless she has very long hair in real life, then it isn't that impressive however, I am sure this isn't the case. She probably has no hair. Bald even. Who knows! None of the less, it works!

Managing a Creative Environment.
You should be able to tell apart certain professions. For example, if you take an office worker and an illustrator, their workspace should be very different from one another's. 
Artist's collect things, bits of inspiration. It is a great way to incorporate subject into your work. You are excited by your collections, they inspire you. Before you no it, you have a stack of findings. Put these up on your wall, on your notice board. Put your art work up. The more creative your work space is, you are more likely to do more work and it will be of a better standard. I'm not saying if you put up a few pretty pictures and say abra cadabra then your work will turn into something worth millions, doesn't work like that, but you will be driven and excited about being in a studio that is filled with visual ideas and reference that you will want to work and you will want to produce something amazing.

Here is someone's work space. It isn't too messy stopping him working but there is a lot of material in there. If he is stuck on an idea, he could look around his room at his work and other work he has collected and get inspiration and maybe help him spring up a new idea. Your work will be reflected on what it looks like, so it should reflect off you as a person meaning your work space should reflect the same feel as well. You will feel good when you are in your studio, its your own little world where you can get away from it all.
I have my own personal studio. It is how I want it and I get inspiration from it. I don't like to fill my space up with everything I own. I consider myself as a minimalist. Less is more. This is my analogy and I stick to it in my work. This doesn't mean I don'y collect things and have as much things as others, I just store my material differently. I like to have a clear head and I like to have a clear space, if my place is cluttered, me head gets cluttered and I find it hard to think. People work in different ways and its important this happens. If everyone worked in the same way, all the ideas would just be getting used all the time and nothing new and exciting would be happening. So keep your style. Be proud of your studio. Be excited to put that photo up on your wall.

Productions and Outcomes

Interpretation
We are in a world where change is always happening, there is always something different taking off, a new lead, a new way of doing things.
As a designer, it is so important that you are aware of everything around you. 
Today, we have the power to manipulate something and change the meaning of the story to who we wish to aim it at. I am going to look at the same movie but one has a very different twist on the original and explain the reasons for the change.
I am going to discuss Star Wars. Star Wars was released in 1977 and it is without a doubt, the best science fiction film that has ever been released, I am not a huge fan of it but I am aware it has changed the way we look at films and it is a very powerful film. 

This is the cliche image when you think of Star Wars. The battle. However, I am going to compare it to this.

This interpretation of Star Wars is Family Guy. A humorous take on the legendary film, straight away you can see the content has changed. For starters, it is cartoon where as the original is obviously real actors. Family Guy already have their own audience, but by doing Star Wars, it is grabbing a huge audience on top, the Star Wars geeks! They are going to want to watch this and compare it to the original. The storyline has stayed the same but the meaning has changed, it was made in a different time to the original so the take and the reaction will be different. The Family Guy take is very funny and it takes the mickey out of the original, but it is the directors interpretation on the film so it is going to reach out to a certain audience. Over time, you can see it change and the media change to get a completely different message.

Delivery

When designers design, they have to be aware on what they are designing and who it is for. This opens up to a big issue they need to resolve. What platform are they working to?

There are a number of platforms and all used in different ways;

Editorial,

Publishing,

Online,

Advertising and Branding,

Textiles/Fashion,

Installation and Interventions.

All very different platforms, so which one to use? It's simple, just decide what you are doing, is it an advertising campaign? If yes then you work on the advertising platform and so on. This would be anything from T.V ads to huge billboards all over the country. When you choose the platform, you then choose the audience.

You should be able to tell what the poster or website etc is for by looking at it.

Some designers use video and time lapse to show their work, it shows the journey they have gone through. Basically a camcorder playing in the corner and then speeded up, very simple but its very interesting t watch this piece of work taking place. Its qwerky! For example, take Blu's work. He works on very different platforms but has the same style in all of them.

Two different platforms, side of a building and a website. Two different ways of getting his work out there. But they are both the same style so you know straight away who's work it is so you can relate to it. Blu also works on video and stop start animation. He is a very determined artist and very interesting to watch his pieces take shape. This is all a way of representing yourself through platforms to show you are versatile and experimental. People like to see use of different materials, it keeps them interested and wanting to keep looking at your work.

So be experimental, be brave and take risks, all the best designers do.

On that note, Goodnight and don't let the bed bugs bite!

M o v i n g I m a g e

The Three Act Structure
ACTION!!!
When you are born, you have a beginning, middle and an end in your life. The same with books, with everything really, and it is no different in Film. 
In film it is broken down to Establish:Crisis:Resolve. The start of the film is all about setting the scene, knowing where the film is taking place, introductions to characters. The crisis (middle) is pretty self explanatory, a crisis is going to happen, a war for example and then resolve, where you see the outcome and how everyone lives happily ever after! Or do they in some cases?? This can also be broken down into time, generally it looks like this....
30:60:30, the middle and end don't need as much time as the middle, this is down to the crisis is the main part of the film, its the action, what people want to see. 
Let me take one of my favourite films and go into more detail, Avatar. If you don't like Avatar, then get off my blog!!
Okay, now we have said goodbye to the unfortunate people who can't appreciate an amazing film we can get down to business.
As you are more than likely aware, Avatar is a long film, the duration is over three hours, so where the normal case is 90 mins - 120 mins, this is longer so the timings for the three acts are going to be longer. 
Avatar and many other films have something called a Protagonist. This is the hero, the main man, he is the dogs b******s! Lets face it, we all want to be him. You cannot have a three act structure unless you have the hero. This is because it all follows suit, the story. The end of Act 1 (the beginning) ends when the protagonist makes a commitment, this is what leads us into the crisis, (Act 2) the training and the war. This is the part of the film that people want to see, its exciting, emotional, it draws you in. In Avatar, he protagonist commits to more than one one film, so which is the cut off point, is it when he is going to and make the natives move to a different location or when he stands and fights as a native and betrays his own race? The cut off point is when he decides to betray his own race, this is the crisis, you see people die, things close to them get blown away. There is a inner story, and this what you watch, you see the hero grow as a person, mentally and physically, you get attached to him (the training)You want the hero to win, and the thing I love about Avatar is that you want the "blue monkeys" to win the war, you want them to defeat the humans which is our own race! It is a powerful film to do this. Then the resolving of the crisis, what happens next? How does it all end? Again, should last around the same time as it started. We need to no what happens at then end of the film so we can all sleep at night knowing the blue monkeys are victorious!!

Character Development
Why do we represent protagonist and villains the way we do? It is because we all stereotype. By doing this, we can appoint the characters to the audience before we even introduce them. For example, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vadar. The protagonist (Skywalker) is in white and the antagonist (Vadar) is in all black. This is going back to basics and subliminal messaging. It is easy for us to pick up on this. In Avatar, you have the purity in the Avatars, the lack of clothes, the native spirit, where as in the human, the antagonist has scars on his face, his voice, everything is representing the bad guy! Easy for us to see who the good guys are and visa versa. 
There are different elements to character design.
1. Appearance- what they look like? The costumes? Colour?
2. Action - what the character does?
3. Interaction - how does the character relate to the characters ad the events in the story?
4. Rely on stereotype- we do this as much as it is cliche.
When all these are answered, you can develop your ideas and create the perfect protagonist/antagonist.
You also look into the dialogue, the way they talk, the vocabulary. E.G Darth Vadar's breathing. A typical stereotype of the antagonist. All in black with a scary helmet breathing heavily = scary!
Its what goes into the designs and how they convert to the movie. It should be obvious for the viewers to make judgement on the characters and realise who is who. If this isn't the case then the film is hard to follow and it confuses you.
THATS A RAP!!

Reflective Visual Journey

Work by Hand
You may be asking what is a Reflective Visual Journal?
The answer is in the title, its a journey of your visual ideas. Every artist, no matter what your profession is has to have an RVJ. This is where your thought process starts, your general ideas, your inspiration. Without this, you will not succeed.
An RVJ is never write or wrong, it is your perception and it is personal to you and  your project, so you put in what you feel is necessary.
I personally feel that the best way to work in an RVJ is to sketch/draw. This enables you to generate ideas quickly, sketch scenarios, brainstorm, see the idea visually and see it develop just by using a pencil! As you are drawing. Even if you are doing doodles as you are on the phone, you are creatively thinking, always generating thoughts. You can visualise and understand your ideas a lot more if you see them through an image rather than a block of text, its more pleasing on the eye, you can see it in front of you developing. As i said earlier, your RVJ is personal and you decide what content goes in it, you are free to explore what you wish. If you are shy or self conscience about your drawings, you can have pure confidence in your RVJ, it is your diary, your own little world that no one can say, I don't think that is appropriate. No one has the right. Drawing isn't always about using a pencil, you can use collage, work into different media types. Be open minded as explore different ways of solving situations. This is the place to do it.
People will understand what your ideas are just by looking at some sketches, obviously you will need to annotate but your sketches will be the priority.
So the moral of the story, go wild, be expressive and take risks. It will turn into its own little masterpiece.

Visual Language

The list for visual language is endless. The opportunity to explore is out there, you just have to choose to take it or not. This can be through text, different font faces, quick exciting sketches, brainstorms, basically anything you can record and put pen to paper and start generating your initial ideas. This is key.

When you are thinking visually, you use the right part of your brain, you see things visually as this enables you to communicate in a different way, in a different language!

However, it isn't just images that come into the scenario. Type is in there as well. It isn't Times New Roman type though, its a visual typeface. You can tell a lot from the choose of type face someone uses, you know what mood they are in, how they are feeling. This is the beauty of this subject, you can portray yourself in whatever way you wish. Be mischievous, break the rules. It is exciting for others to look at your work, they can interact with it, they can touch it, see it. It all becomes a lot more personal and independent.

For me, the main criteria for visual language is using a mind map. I don't just mean the topic in the middle and then words around the outside. I like to be involved in the mind map, see what they see, see where the ideas are growing, its a journey. Use of colour, type, get excited about your project. See different solutions, at the end of the day, when you are doing a mind map, you are solving a problem. It is an equation, work it out. But do it visually, you will feel better bout your work, you will be excited about your work. Have fun!!

Typography

Legibility

When it comes to typography, you need to ask yourself a question. How do you want it communicated?

I have two different examples of typography. However, I can only read the one. They are different type faces, and this is the impact typography has, there is such a broad choice when it comes to choosing the correct one. You need to no what impact you want to make, do people need to read it? If yes then it is obvious you need an easy to read typeface like Helvetica for example.

It isn't only in art where this takes place, it is in books, documents etc. There are standards and rules in place on the size of the font. typeface and spacing, this is all to make the font legible for the readers.

Colours are also a big decision. Some colours do not work well together where as others do, for example, and the most obvious, black and white. Its the most common use of type, black on white background. Im using it right now, and it looks good, its legible, easy to read. 

No problem. 

However, if say you change the black writing to yellow, it will become illegible and people won't be able to read it so it will be a big waste of time. So, basically don't use yellow type on a white background, put yellow on a black background, sure that works, but not white. Capeesh!

Visual Hierarchy 

In the design industry, you will here of the term, visual hierarchy. Basically this means, what the designer wants you to see in what order, and this is done in many of ways.

1. The size of the images.

2. The colour of the images.

3. The amount of images on the page.

4. The placement of images.

Ok, she size of the images is probably the most important, lets take the top campaign. What do you see first? 

1. The car.

2. The ash under the car.

3. The typography.

This is all happened in about 1.5 seconds for me, it is different for other people. The designer has power on the audience.  The designer decides what you see first, second and third. The bigger the object is, the quicker you see it and more tempted to look at that.

The colour is important, the first colour I see is the orange glow from under the car, although it isnt what I see first, it was the first colour I taken in. It stands out and it is vibrant, this gives you an understanding on what the campaign is about. There is only one image on the page which makes it more striking and pleasing on the eye, and also the placement. It is slightly off centre but balanced out by the typography on the other side. So why is the type so small? Simple, the image itself is strong enough by itself. It is a powerful image therefore the type isn't really needed. It gets the message across quickly. 

Smoking is expensive. Buy a car instead!

The other image I have used is a 'Where's Wally' poster. I have used this to show how different it makes the image when you don't have a visual hierarchy. Your eyes don't know where to look, in this case, that is the whole point but in an actual campaign, this isn't a good option to use. It keeps the piece in order and you have a stable design that is managed.

Research and Development

Children's Book

Teenage Book

An understanding and knowledge of ‘an audience’ can enhance and focus the communication.
Understanding the audience is one of the most important things to get a hold of in the design industry. It is a huge part of the project. The reason why it is so important is because you need to capture the age group/sex and keep them entertained and intrigued. This can be done in a variety of ways. Colour? Typeface? Size? Just to mention a few. You have to do the research and collect information/data. 
As you can see from the two examples I have above, they are very different. This is because they are targeting different audiences. The top one is targeting young children, you can see this by the bright colours used, fun little animals and by the type face. The bright colours will attract the young children and they will want to interact with the book, also the animals is a very clever idea, kids love animals, they would rather talk to a mouse than a human. Again all this is collected in the research, through doing questionnaires and trial and error. This type of research is called Primary Research (collecting fresh data).
The other book is targeting teenagers. There are no bright colours, no little animals. There is one image, an eye. This draws in the audience and leaves them wanting to find out more, this book is targeting teenage girls, its a female eye, also the typeface is too fancy to be for the males.
The main thing when you are considering your audience, are three questions.
Who are they?
What do they like?
What do they value?
When these questions are answered, you will no how and what to draw/photograph or design.

Jill Calder

The notion of ‘inspiration’ derives from constant inquiry, based on research, observation, recording and experimentation.

The key to a good artist is getting inspired. You have to do your research and look around. By collecting and documenting your inspiration/finds, you can come back to them at a later date. They will still inspire you but maybe in a different way. However, the only way to improve is to experiment, try new things, explore the different range of media. This is still classed as research called experimentation. You don't jump straight into your final piece, you have a beginning, middle and an end, with lots of ideas, developing them, getting inspired, working in the same way as an artist. Everyone has to get inspiration. All this research is called Secondary Research, this basically means you are collecting information that is already out there, for example, looking at books, the internet, galleries, flyers, anything you can get your hands on. To have a wide range of research, your design will benefit because you have looked into a lot of different things and got a clearer understanding of the chosen subject.

Jill Calder is an illustrator, she is constantly collecting Visual research, observational drawings. This helps her remember what she was thinking at the time. When you think of great idea, write it down on a piece of paper, your hand, some loo roll! Anything you get your hands on because you will forget. Its the same when you take a picture, draw something, its not going to be there forever so you have to act on it and all this is documenting your movements. Your journey through a project. 

Integrating Theory and Practice

Gabrielle d'Estrees - 1954

Mario Sorrenti – YSL ad Campaign - 1998
Notions of Originality


Nothing is original. The thing about art is that someone else has already been there, done that and got the t-shirt. People just change the meaning and context of the image. This works as it turns into a contemporary image. Breaking down the image and taking key elements and changing the content. In this example, to sell something. By using Kate Moss, this works for the new audience. It turns into a sexual image, Kate Moss is a very attractive model and having her tweaking the guys nipple, it gives the male audience a nice image if they want to purchase the clothes. Lets face it, Kate Moss playing with your nipple, go on then!
The intention is straight forward. To sell. This is made clear by the logo on the image but also by the sexual tension in the image, both models are looking straight into the camera to give you the, i'm ready look, drawing you into the image. Sorrenti has used a photograph, this changes the media of the image, again making it contemporary. This is his own perception of the image, putting his own twist on it. In Gabrielle's image, both the models are topless however, in Sorrenti's, only the male model is topless. Either Kate Moss wouldn't go topless or Sorrenti likes the tease of her wearing her top to leave more to the imagination. Sex sells. Especially in advertising.
The main message with the image to sell, it is pleasing on the eye and will attract both male and female audience, meaning people will want to buy into YSL so a job well done!

Alison Jackson-2003
Recontextualised ideas and concepts in contemporary culture


Alison Jackson is a cheeky photographer and image manipulator. She takes famous and respected people, mainly from the royal family, and puts them into scenarios where they wouldn't necessary be associated with. So here, the respectful Princess Diana. is swearing. When did Princess Diana ever swear? She didn't.
The image has been manipulated. Alison Jackson has taken the image and recontextualised it to make it contemporary. She has also made the hand in focus to make this the key part of the photograph. Ok, I don't think anyone in there right mind will actually think this is Diana's hand, but its the humour that catches the audiences eye. Its funny to look at famous people that have been manipulated. Especially people who are respectful people. If it was a picture of Liam Gallagher, it wouldn't be funny because he is known for his rebel behaviour, you wouldn't even need to manipulate the hand in his image...it would already have the middle finger up! The audience will be around 18 - late 20's I would imagine. Tis is a qwerky way for Alison Jackson to get her name out there and be contemporary,  this is her goal.