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Thinking over the semester

Coming into the course I was expecting publication design work. Perhaps making books that push convention, critiquing what’s out there or redefining books from a commercial perspective. These expectations were flipped over, as we began discussing the very idea of the book. It was great discussing an often commercial object in a purely conceptual context. It both validated and questioned many of my own ideas of what a book can/should/can’t/will be, and I learnt a lot from these conversations with everyone.

I loved these discussions, but I often felt a listener with little to add to the conversation. I guess that’s because I came into the course looking to learn, hoping to glean insights on where the book industry is going from peers and teachers. Because of this I often felt lost, unsure of my own opinions, and questioning where design will go, and whether I want to be there when it inevitably does. This course has given me plenty to think about. While that wasn’t what I chose the studio for, it has greatly informed where I want to take my career and imbued great awareness in how art and design is viewed as currently vs how it can/should/will be.

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This project continued my exploration of a book as self-contained object. I struggled to decide on an idea, unsure of what really explores the ‘post-digital era’. Following the positive nature of ‘Bang’ I wanted to create a book that champions something in this post-digital world, something we use all the time without thinking. Too often the fear mongering of mass media and superficiality of social media bogs us down, creating uncertainty and insecurity. ‘Why not make something fun’ I said to myself. In my own time I hope to expand this book into a series of objects, covering #, @, retweets, sharing, likes and all sorts of other social media symbols, a collection of clickable things we use everyday.

Not a great photo of test printing black on black paper through the RICOH printers at uni, and it works! Looks like a spot uv treatment for the entire book. Thinking of printing the entire text block on black Optix paper, reflecting the hidden nature of background code, and the difficulty in understanding it.

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Thinking of separating the chapters into individual books. They would literally be a piece of social media that can be held, a book functioning more as an object rather than a conveyor of information.

Love how Studio Mut use varied page sizes to join and separate text. More here: http://www.studiomut.com/projects/fondazione-sandretto-the-man-who-sat-on-himself

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A portion of the txtedit code of a PNG image of an @ symbol. Content for the book? Different chapters could be dedicated to different symbols, like an encyclopedia of social media symbols. Sections could be broken up using screenshots from instagram, facebook etc.

‘The Unknown Language’. The internet gives us an illusion of meaningful content.

This is me as I realise EVERYTHING’s due week 12.

A celebration of the age of information. A positive take on the post-digital era? ‘Bang’ could be used in crowded areas, as a vehicle for spreading information, or on the confetti could be written phrases of encouragement, like a collective fortune cookie.

Distorted information? Taking the truth for granted? Digitisation of knowledge? I’m a little lost in my thoughts for the final assignment, so here are some experiments in Photoshop featuring the spot healing brush. I imagine a book completely ‘spot healed’, completely gibberish but appearing to be regular text at first glance.

Mind. Blown. My brain hurts after power-learning a bit of coding. Might use processing in the future to generative art or texture making. This software could bring together collaborative art and work in a single digital publication that self-updates. Much like a situational library on an international scale.

I never thought game designers would prototype games this way! This experience ended up funner than I thought. The combining of different games produced prototypes with vastly changed game mechanics. There’s a lot learnt through this process. Ideas change and develop incredibly fast within a group, and it was satisfying to make something tangible in a short span of time.

Awesome anaglyph photographs changing the way a book can be perceived and used. Does it compress our reality? Does it simplify our reality too much? The finishes and layout make me slow down, stopping to feel the book and look closer at each image. As an alternate method of using a book, it’s really effective, but I want to create something that gives more freedom to the reader. They can read, write, draw, turn the page as quick as they want without losing the core ideas of the book. They’re not forced to stop, or look in any one part of page or book.

Loving how animation can change how we view traditionally print design media. Motion adds so much life to minimal typography.

Brings me back to sitting in the library reading Magic Eye with friends. It was the coolest book around, being the least ‘bookish’ compared to the novels we were forced to read as primary school kiddies. This was probably around this time I realised I’m a visual learner. Understanding the value of written work and the insights it conveys, there’s nothing quite like being immersed in something visual or picture-based, as it guides you along a loose tale that may or may not resolve to your expectations. Magic Eye was just a theme of stereoscopic images, but it gave me a childhood memory - an experience - that I never had with written books. Perhaps this experiential approach could produce a book that defies convention and gives the reader a precious memory?

I believe the instructions for this prototype is intended for novels and other narrative-based texts? I thought I’d experiment using a law textbook. The result was jarring: the process of censoring and appropriation alters the meaning and context of the book, yet this book originally described the strict rules of government, law and the rights of an individual. It’s funny how a document so precise and vital to a functional society can be easily defaced to ridicule with a few changed words.

Face-o-mat is Tobias Gutmann's analog portrait booth. He meets people from diverse cultures and draws abstract interpretations of what he sees in faces.

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