Contextualizing Design

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

Bibliography.

Everything is connected: 

- SteamPunk Computer - http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/39-amazing-steampunk-computer-mods-200834/ - 07/01/15

- Scanned image of the Anime/Manga Bleach characters from a Magazine -http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/toushirou-hitsugaya/images/33966927/title/bleach-scans-photo - Accessed on 07/01/15

- Image of the Anime/Manga Deadman Wonderland characters http://www.zerochan.net/1038708 - Accessed on 07/01/15

- Image of the Anime/Manga Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic characters http://www.zerochan.net/1817336  - Accessed on 07/01/15

- Image of the Anime/Manga Fairy Tail characters http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page - Accessed on 07/01/15

Telling Jokes:

- someecards,ecard, http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy05MDkzNGIxYzg2ZTdmN2Iz - accessed on 07/01/15

- funnyquote,funnyquote, http://funny-quotes.picphotos.net/keillor-can-t-help-falling-in-love-love-help-meetville-quotes/meetville.com*images*quotes*Quotation-Erin-Hunter-time-Meetville-Quotes-103633.jpg/ - accessed on 07/01/15

- bleach scene, bleach, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/295196950549080573/ - accessed on 07/01/15

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

Conclusion

Seeing how everyone started from the very bottom and moved their way to the top has helped me believe that I could do the same thing with effort and determination. Like the futurists believed in their cause and the Bauhaus fought for theirs, even though they were shut down their legacy lived on, and it’s still living on. Whatever you choose to create, in some way or another it will continue to go on and grow, even if it’s just a friend that was very taken by your work, like I am with my inspirations. From now on I am going to evaluate my work progress more, and recognize what I need to do to become a “good designer”. 

By Roxanne Reed

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

What I learned from Super Mario - Failure.

• Not knowing limitations can be a good thing. • Failure isn’t a bad thing as long as it isn’t the last thing you do. • Licensing can be incredibly lucrative. • Treat your customers with respect. • The best design is often the most practical, seamless, invisible kind of design.

(Taken from Power Point during Seminar - 07/01/15)

In 1633 playing cards were banned from Japan, therefor Japanese gamblers created 'hanafuda' which were painted flowers instead of the usual playing cards.

(Image taken from Power Point during a Seminar, pg.5  - 07/01/15) 

In 1899 Nintendo were placed as founder of these cards. The ban lifted in 1902, and Nintendo were the first to produce western style playing cards. 

In the early 1960's they got the license to reproduce American style characters on their cards e.g Popeye. 

Nintendo then expanded further out of just cards and created games and toys. They then started releasing games consoles, then expanding into arcades. Games like Sheriff were popular. 

(Image taken from Power Point during a Seminar, pg.16 - 07/01/15) 

In 1997, Nintendo released their first 3D 3rd person display arcade game named Radar scope, and was successful in japan.Nintendo then took the risk of expanding to america and sold 1000 Radar scope games and shipped them over. 

The only problem was that, it didn't compete to games like Pacman. 

So they had just sent 1000 of these new arcade games....

(Image taken from Power Point during a Seminar, pg.19 - 07/01/15)#

and sold practically none, huge loss of money? yes.

So what did they do? They hired their first artist  Shigeru Miyamoto who had no technical know how to solve the problem. He created, Donkey Kong! 

So what would eventually come out of Donkey Kong? Super Mario! Donkey Kong was a difficult game that pushed you to the limits, this is also where you first see Mario, though he wasn't always called Mario. He was called Jump Man. 

He later became an iconic figure, so due to profits and the sucess of Donkey Kong, Jump man evolved into Mario, and so forth the games were all created. 

See? How Radar Scope went from an absolute 0 to Donkey Kong which was one of the most popular games to Mario which everyone all over the world knows and has played. 

It makes me realise, that I within my own subject area will have problems, and i'll probably come across failure during my journey in illustration, but i have to turn it around into something positive, otherwise how will i achieve anything? 

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

What makes a "good design"?

Good - Using these definitions as a starting point, we can explore and discuss ethics in design through three lenses: legalities - the rules that govern the profession—copyright law, piracy, plagiarism, fair use integrity - principles of right conduct spec work, crowd sourcing, responsibility to clients and contracts morality - the general nature of moral choices to be made by a person sustainability, social responsibility, cultural influence

(Taken from seminar on 6/11/14 - 07/01/15)

So, what makes me a good designer? I have to consider my own rules and regulations to my work. If someone ever asked me to design something that made me feel uncomfortable, i'm not sure i'd go through with it. If i'm uncomfortable with the request then i'm obviously not the right choice of illustrator for that particular person/company etc. I have no religious ordeals, but if someone were to come to me, and request i draw something that would offend another religion, then i'd decline, it's not in my nature of myself and my illustrations to make offensive pieces. I draw because i want to inspire, to project my visions onto paper. I'm not set out to offend, so when it comes to designing my own work, I will think through my moralities, integrity and legalities. 

"Art like morality consists in drawing the line somewhere" - Gilbert K Chesterton  (http://bourildesign.net/taking-chinese-herbal-medicine-three-other-ways-than-pills/art-like-morality-consists-in-drawing-the-funny-kids-health-care-insurance-quotes-and-sayings - 01/01/15) 

(taken from power point presentation during a seminar - 07/01/15) 

This picture above is of the news week and time magazines front covers when the situation with OJ Simpson arose. A lot of speculation happened from this, as the Times front cover was considered racist and morally wrong because they had shadowed his face. My personal opinion is that, it was just a coincidence. Why i think this? The subject of the situation. I would question the designers thinking if it were a happier subject, but it wasn't, it was a murder trial, that in itself is dark and disgraceful. The artist also stated that he wanted it to be more "compelling". At the time same of being all for the image having nothing to do with racism, i also think that the artist should have taken into consideration what he was doing in the first place,i can see why people got offended in the first place, even i myself know that darkening the face of an individual who has already dark skin would be taken the wrong way by so many people because it's a delicate subject. Even trying to write about this i'm being careful not to word it in the wrong way. 

But then what can we as designers do? What happens if it really is something that you don't intend to offend anyone and your work is just harmless? Should it be okay for us as creators to have to limit ourselves because somebody out there will disagree to what you have done? What really is that line that you cannot cross? 

During the seminar, we watched a video about a man named Cody Wilson who created a perfectly usable gun via a 3D printer. I think it's good how technology is moving along, and how we're coming up with new ways and easier ways to create once very complicated things to build, but that also raises awareness that if this man, Cody Wilson was able to build a 3D printed gun, that works, then what's to stop someone else from coming up with the same design. I know for a fact that anyone can buy a 3D printer, many people i know have one, what happens if a citizen who happened to have a 3D printer, got angry one day, created a gun and well you know what happens next. This would cause a lot of concern for the public and probably create havoc, and again Cody could possibly be blamed for the loss of a life, if it were to ever reach the absolute worst scenario of course, so in effect it would be an innocent artist being the blame for a death. 

(taken from power point presentation during a seminar - 07/01/15)

Throughout my creative practices so far, because i feel i have limitations i haven't been able to fully explore my own style. I want to explore the anatomy more, but i feel releasing almost nude sketches would eventually turn into an argument with someone at least. 

What am i insinuating?

This is probably the most recently doodle i'v done. It's my own personal work, but because she had cleavage showing, when i uploaded it to my Facebook page some people got offended. This was nothing but harmless, and yet i felt i had to take it down because she had the top of her cleavage showing. How can we be designers if we're not allowed to design anything? 

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

Telling Jokes

Jokes, they can contain imagery and text that some may find offensive. Humour is subjective. Some may find jokes funny that others may find totally boring and idiotic. 

(Telling Jokes Powerpoint presentation Oct 2014 pg.6, 07/01/14) 

There are magazines that like to involve comical images for the audience, especially "The New Yorker", 

(Telling Jokes PowerPoint Presentation Oct 2014 pg.10, 07/01/14)

The new yorker has a very specific type of humour, and alot of people would consider them offensive, whilst others would find them very humorous. 

There is a rule, if it's to much of a safe joke, it's not funny, if it's over the violation barrier, then it's not funny, there has to be a medium. 

(Telling Jokes PowerPoint Presentation Oct 2014 pg.13, 07/01/14) 

So what do you have to do to create a joke that's not to boring but not to excessive? 

Create an expectation first, something you know is going to happen. 

(Telling Jokes PowerPoint Presentation Oct 2014 pg.24, 07/01/14) 

This above is too simple, anyone would understand it, but there's nothing un-expected about it. 

If you were to add something un-expected to it, it would look a little something like this;

(Telling Jokes PowerPoint Presentation Oct 2014 pg.27, 07/01/15) 

Look what happens, it becomes funny, well for me it is anyway. Other people may not find it funny, they may like more indecent jokes for example sexual innuendos ;

(someecards,ecard,07/01/12, http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMy05MDkzNGIxYzg2ZTdmN2Iz)

or sarcastic jokes; 

(funnyquote,funnyquote,07/01/15,http://funny-quotes.picphotos.net/keillor-can-t-help-falling-in-love-love-help-meetville-quotes/meetville.com*images*quotes*Quotation-Erin-Hunter-time-Meetville-Quotes-103633.jpg/) 

(bleach scene, bleach, 070/01/15, http://www.pinterest.com/pin/295196950549080573/) 

Just facial expressions can be funny too...

I personally am a huge fan of sarcastic jokes. People i know can find me to be over the top at times with sarcastic comments, especially if you're someone who's straight to the point. The people i associate with mostly hate sarcastic jokes, but love literally things, such a videos of people foolishly dancing, or someone tripping over. 

The way in which i tell/like my jokes shows in my work also. 

I took a sad, and what some might see as a disheartening situation, and added some humor into it. It's something un-expected. Whether it goes over that violation or not is up to the reader, i personally think it's right in the middle, in the right place. 

Jokes are confusing, when you think of it, they have to be unexpected, safe but dangerous, not too normal, nor weird, obviously depending on the person reading/watching/creating. That's why i think a joke will never be perfect, everyones idea on a joke are all so different, everyone is raised differently, some look at things differently and some take offense to things that someone else may not. That's why when designing, you must always think about your audience, and who you're creating it for. You and the audience have to connect in some way for them to understand what you're trying to portray, so when stating a joke in for example a Graphic novel, the person reading it has to be on the same level as you are, otherwise it's not deemed as funny and it may even be viewed as immature and idiotic or just embarrassing. 

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

Everything is Connected

In this lecture, we were given a power-point on "how everything is connected" for example, how in the years of 1914 - 1915 the way the soldiers in the first world war dress dramatically changed. 

(Pictures taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

Also the fact that movements such a the futurists had made a dramatic change on the way the art world was thinking. They wanted to get rid of libraries, museums, anything to do with history because they believed that everything should be new and modern. They'd shown art in a way that the world wasn't used to. 

Henri Matisse Woman with a Hat 1905 (Picture taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

An architect named Antonio Sant’EIia was also part of the futurists, therefor the futurists also worked on archetecture, Antonio Sant’EIia wrote a part of the futurists manefesto stating "the decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials". (The Futurists Manefesto - Quote taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

(Picture taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

Personally i think what he meant by this was that it doesn't have to look ornamental for it to be adequate, a simple looking building is sufficient. 

Antonios works then went on to be the inspiration for the film "Metropolis" by Fritz Lang. This then continued onto Osamu Tezuka's Adaption published in 1949, which later released an animated adaptation in 2001.

So who rebelled against the futurists? 

The Bauhaus. Founded by WIlliam Morris, it soon shut down because of pressure from the Nazi party, because it was classed as un-german like, it was degenerate and the nazi's wanted to look deeper into their influences that were though of as probably "jewish". 

Bauhaus influenced Dieter Rams who created many designs for Braun in the 70's. 

(Picture taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

Dieter rams work inspired John Ive, who is Apples head product designer. 

(Picture taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15) 

What rebels against the simplistic "old but new" technology? 

Steam punk ofcourse. 

(Picture taken from - http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/39-amazing-steampunk-computer-mods-200834/ - 07/01/15)

Everything is connected. If it werent for the futurists stating that everything should be modernized; " We stand on the last promontory of the centuries!… Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed." (The futurists manifesto - Quote taken from Seminar presentation - 07/01/15)  no-one would have rebelled against them "The Bauhaus) hence John Ive wouldn't have designed Apple the way it is today, it could have been completely different, steam punk wouldn't be around to rebel against Apple and so forth. 

I personally love Graphic novels, especially the Japanese comics (Manga). I love them because they're different, they're so creative, they have so many possibilities in each and every story line i read, and they inspire. I love the colours, the concepts, mainly the fictional stories interest me. My work is based around Manga, that's my main inspiration. You have freedom within the stories i'v noticed, anything you conjure up can become a reality. My favorites are Bleach, Deadman Wonderland, Magi: The labyrinth of Magic and Fairy tail;

(Scanned image of the Anime/Manga Bleach characters from a Magazine - http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/toushirou-hitsugaya/images/33966927/title/bleach-scans-photo - 07/01/15) 

(Image of the Anime/Manga Deadman Wonderland characters - http://www.zerochan.net/1038708 - 07/01/15)

(Image of the Anime/Manga Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic characters - http://www.zerochan.net/1817336  - 07/01/15)

(Image of the Anime/Manga Fairy Tail characters - http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page - 07/01/15)

These are all that inspired me to draw, and to do what i do, there's one problem though, you can tell manga through it's distinctive characterization. Why can't a Manga have a character with normal sized eye's for example? Is it going against the origin of Manga and it's culture, would the Japanese be offended if someone were to attempt Manga but in a different way or it just wouldn't get the same response as it would normally if you were to include the usual attributes. 

My style at the moment is very much like the typical "Manga" style..

but i hope to keep evolving, and eventually come up with my own completely unique style. (the @koujakshiri watermark is my instagram account) 

That's what is worth rebelling against. Being different is productive, in a way i agree with the futurists, why keep to  the past when there's so many opportunities in the future. Manga originated from Zen cartoons of the Medevil times and animal scrolls of the 10th century. So from just scrolls from the 10th century to Manga in 2015 where it's publicized all over the world and has many many anime adaptations (animated adaptations) even live films are being created now. So trying something different with the style in which Manga is portrayed may not be a bad thing, it might be a leap into the future and the start of a new craze. 

[contextualizingdesign-blog]

Introduction

In this module, I am going to explore more so into my ability to analyses my own work and others, allowing me to better myself at contextualizing my work based around contemporary and historical practice. This module could possibly open my mind to a different way of thinking and help me discover what it takes to be a top creative thinker. 

I look forward to observing how my understanding is to certain seminars, methodologies and practices there are within the area of design i have chosen to go down, as well as other areas.  I will be critically evaluating, analyzing appropriate critical and theoretical texts, as well as Identifying relevant sources of information to the visual and textual analysis of design. 

Over this module i will be introduced to many new concepts and ideas that will spark debate, which will then form this blog dedicated to my own ideas and opinions based on the concepts i have been shown.