Graphics Week

Week Three - Graphics

We started this week learning about about the different disciplines that stem from the very broad term "graphics" such as typography, packaging, web design, branding, advertising etc. I think this was really useful; it gave us an insight into what we could go into if we chose Graphics and what kind of job we could get into. We then watched a short clip of David Carson giving a talk and another one of him being interviewed which was really interesting; I love hearing about artist's thoughts and ideas.

 

We had a session of typography - I really enjoyed this. We inked and collaged 4 simple backgrounds. Then we took letters we liked from packaging like golden syrup tins, Marmite jars etc and drew several thumbnail sketches of the the letters in different positions. We picked our favourite thumbnail of each of the 4 letters and drew them on the backgrounds. But there was a twist - one we had to draw without taking our graphite pencil off the page, the next we had to draw with our left hand, another we had to draw using a stick and ink - holding the stick at the very end (this was really fun!) and one we had to fashion out of masking tape. I thought this was brilliant - it was great to use unusual techniques and media. And some produced interesting effects that I actually really liked - I thought the stick and ink technique looked really good.

 

We received our brief for the week -  We began to generate ideas using spider diagrams to explore different ideas or interpretations of the words. We then used thumbnail sketches to develop a typeface that expresses or convey a idea of each word. After that we used collage to explore colour and shapes that we feel reflected the feeling of each word. I like this way of working; it makes sense to me. I enjoy going through the process of designing. We then put the words and backgrounds together and saw what went well together. Finally we used Photoshop to make our design look more professional. I'm quite pleased with the end results. I have enjoyed this week - I've found out a lot about Graphics and how the course may work. I liked finding out about the different graphic designers and how the communicate with their target audience.