auahastudio

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NAU MAI HAERE MAI

Don’t waste your time scrolling down, choose from the menu bar on the right to head straight to either design research or design studio. 

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Testing out die-lines + different packaging styles

This is my first attempt at re-developing the packaging from the original. I wanted to have the 4 sides drop down once you lifted the lid and have the instructions on the sides. I also wanted to show the patterns on the side + have the “Māori activities game - hīnaki edition” under the whītiki logo.

But I felt it was still too big and tall so I want to adjust the height

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Shooting final packaging

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Whānau conversations about my design research

My whanau is such a blessing. My entire whanau and I speak te reo māori, however, my elder sister and brother special in tikanga māori and te reo māori as a career and are now teachers and contract to teach for universities. My mum and dad are just proud parents who always love listening to our achievements and have all mention that going home to Rotorua to research will be so rich, and in Particular Te Puia. So I will return home for a couple of weeks to really execute this research! My sister and I sat down and came up with my sub-title as she said “western substances” didn’t make sense for my research essay. So we changed the sub-title from “Combining traditional knowledge with western substances” to “Striving for in excellence in māori and western realms” as this is what I am trying to achieve which also reflects the title “ka raka te katau, ka raka te mauī” really well.

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List of traditional artists - Interviewing for next year.

James Rickard - Kai whakairo (Master carver) - From Rotorua

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mapuna/audio/2018840074/master-carver-james-rickard

Arekatera Maihi - Kai Tā moko (Tattoo artist) - From ōrākei

https://toitudesign.com/katz-drifting-perspective/

Leilani Rickard - Kai raranga (Weaver) - From Rotorua

https://naturaaura.com/

I have worked in the same company as all three of these amazing artists while I was at te puia. All three are masters within their practices, and I cannot wait to embark on this journey to talk to them! Also known as aunty, uncle and kartz :) 

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A2 poster developments

Above - I began to think of ways to represent duality as my first toki poster was too literal. So I though to illustrate and keep it simple.

My final, I decided to use the silhouette of a person and incorporate duality by overlapping the circles. The left is a pakeha male chatting / exchanging knowledge with a maori woman. This represents both western and maori realms and together they make up the brain and knowledge that this person being me I guess in this context. I used black and white so the eye could focus better when looking at the image! 

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“Raka te mauī, Raka te katau”

After a conversation with my family about my research project, they suggested a this whakatauki (displayed in the title) - The explanation behind it is that ones right has is equally as strong on their left. For context, this will draw on me building strong knowledge in both Pakeha and Maori worlds.

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Further title brainstorming

I went into the library last night to see what other authors used for their books! I had feedback from David to think a little bit more about my title “the origin of graphic design”

I didn’t find much to be honest but found good artist models for my poster!

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Packaging - Laser cutting

Yesterday I explored laser cutting! It was so fun and interesting. The recurred complimented whitiki so well, however, I do think it needed to be explored further to perfect certain elements such as weight of paper, whether or not embossing is more ideal or not!

I tried embossing but I think laser cutting really ties in well with whitiki as it gives it a more natural feel!

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BOX EMBOSSING / LASER CUTTING PLAY

I went into WM to test out laser cutting. I chose a relatively thick cardboard to laser cut but the material just tore away just to how thick it was once I folded the edges. So I then bought a 300GSM black paper to build my box. Even though i loved the thickness of the other box, I’d love to explore this further to find the ideal cardboard to make a box! Because the results were amazing but the folding wasn’t.

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Title progression

I changed train of thought just now.... - this thing of feeling "blank" and questioning where my traditional knowledge fits in a western space, I feel a little bit lost and on a journey to discovering where I fit in, and through making these connections I eventually will find myself whole .. I am unsure The title could be something like: filling blank spaces??

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Design research title

I am finding it quite challenging to find a title for my essay. Its at the tip of my tongue but I can quite grasp it. 

My current titles have been / changed:

- What makes maori art maori? - The evolution of graphic design - The origin of māori graphic design - Contemporary design meets Te Ao māori - 

I had feedback on my title and its almost there, it just needs to be more playful and not so literate, but I cant think??!!! I’ve picked up a dozen books to try and find inspiration for my wording as well as poster design! 

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Priority list studio:

Stepped back, realised how little time I have left and now starting to plan out what is achievable from here on out!

- Typeface - finding alternatives and giving myself 1 day to do this

- Logo tweaking (Tweak the ‘h’) + revist pattern for logo

- Colour palette - From harakeke

- Packaging tweak (Gift box rather than hanging) 

-------- above done by 10th ---------- aim to 

- Adding more content to box about string game (illustrate how to) and add a different activities onto another 2 boxes for variation (maybe how to make a bracelet or hinaki or something easy the consists of string)

- Illustrate instructions for packaging (how to make string shapes etc)

- Placement of type on the box and where (On a sheet of paper or on box?) and where to put patterns (maybe all on the inside?)

- Print layout as mock up - Go buy 300 gsm paper and print out

---------- above done by 12th ----------- aim to 

- Advertising (where to sell: Museum / art gallery stores / kiwiana stores for tousits?) - take photos and add to tumblr and slides

- Edit slides about updating the small tweaks & print

--------- above done by 14th --------

Tumblr blog updates as I go and finals on 15th! 

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Re-set, Re-start, GO!

After the formative, I really thought about all of the feedback and began to re-visit some aspects of the project.

First, the colour palette and wanting to dig deeper into where the colours were derived from, and changing them to harakeke inspired colours instead. I liked exploring the bold colours, but maybe with a little more time and thought it would’ve worked out. Secondly, the logo and what do I want it to communicate? I am not going to change a lot, but I will maybe tweak the pattern of the logo and simplify it. Thirdly, the body text! I was being lazy and chose helvetica, but I want to look into any type that may resonate with te ao maori that is also clear too! 

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Formative - Studio

This formative we presented had so much depth and mythology, however, we were still missing the core purpose in terms of what you use the string itself for! The slides were designed all black to make it sleek and so that whatever was on top was easy to read. There was a lot of connection back to te ao māori, however, I think lacked the purpose for the string. I think something we can learn from is to allocate someone to researching the string itself and a purpose for it. Our roles consisted of Me, Te Auta and Phillipa on Design system and logo. Tom on packaging and material, Thomas and kristine were not present but slotted into places really last minute, Amanda as researcher. I think if we had seen more of our members and if the same thoughts and efforts were put into all areas and not just the design system and logo, our feedback and overall product its-self would’ve been different. However, overall it is such a different product in my opinion. It just needs more clarification. I think a lot of things were rushed as there was too much time being spent on the depth and not the string itself???

The feedback given: 

Mark: - Needs to be sold, what is the string itself, wanted to see more of what the string is from the beginning. 

Aakifa: - Good depth, appreciated the type shown in Māori alphabet. Look at another type-face. (forgot what else she said)

David: - (actually forgot what was said)

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BOOKS TO READ:

During my interview with Nina and Tiki, they showed me these books to read into. My questions had a a lot to do with making connection to traditional design and the best way to do that is by reading. This will give a better content and depth to my work by doing so.

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HAUMI VISIT & INTERVIEW WITH TIKIRAU AND NINA.

Today I went into Haumi to interview Nina and Tiki. They are two māori graphic designers who work for a māori design studio called “Haumi”. I visited them in the break but no specifically for my design project.

I asked these questions below and asked their permission to record via voice memo on my phone.

- How do they go about incorporating te aō māori in their process

- Does their mahi always consist of māori patterns etc for them to consider it as Māori graphic design

- Is there a māori framework that they refer to

- In their opinion what makes māori graphic design māori

I will upload their answers in another post. But overall it was REALLY pivotal for me to visit them. I have so much to learn and so much to read.