EclecticCassindrles

Just a first year's attempt at an online journal (b. comm design)

[eclecticcassindrles]

Reflection

What a hell of a ride that was! This semester I really enjoyed the communication design studies subject. When we were on campus I absolutely loved the lectures, the energy of both Karen and Andy was amazing, and what we were listening about was so interesting I actually looked forward to the next lecture as soon as one ended. Now when it came to online uni because of a certain pandemic called covid-19, I kind of struggled to keep up with work. It’s really hard to maintain motivation and drive and focus when all you do is have online uni and work and stay home. Like all fun no play gets boring real fast. But we survive and we move forward. 

 Starting with the first assignment “Hello my question is?,” well I thought I knew what I was doing but turns out I had gotten a little bit lost, and that's okay. I had made my typeface using batteries, and I was only mildly satisfied with my end result but hey there's always time for improvements, you live and you learn. For the last assignment “Ask me anything” I had a much better time and thoroughly enjoyed the project. It was a such a change having so much freedom in an assignment, choose your topic, your questions and the way you want to present your work, that’s a lot of freedom, and I loved it! 

I just want to thank Karen Ann and Andy for taking us along this amazing course and teaching us, building our knowledge, skills and even the way we think. Ending on a high note, this was a pretty fun way to journal and to be able to see other student’s work, definitely one of the most fun forms of reflection I've ever had to do.

[reflectionsofeloise]

Graphics #2

Moved on from painting to Illustrator, where I selected some GORGEOUS bright colours ~ inspired by Richard Bernstein’s personal choices in his works, and started creating weird gradients. 

This technique of using points and lines was sort of working, but it was taking to long to figure out so I went hunting for a tutorial and found this one, teaching how to use a gradient mesh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hJlffeGkmo, in conjunction with the direct selection tool to place the colours in the mesh I created. 

and being happy with these colours and this reflective-ishness, I moved on to creating the front cover. 

I really fancied this photo of Bernstein, seemed like an appropriate front cover image but it was really low quality, which took away from the fullness of colour. (https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographs/Xrh11n/Richard-Bernstein-NY-1969)

Found this other image (https://richardbernsteinart.com/richard/about.html) which is higher quality, and not as dark, which suited the colours and the theme more, as I found black to be too harsh of a contrast. 

Next came the title! I wanted to follow along that Interview magazine style. 

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/564075922059249454/ , https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/250020216785835280/ , https://www.thesloaney.com/events/fashion-illustration-gallery-richard-bernsteins-cover-art.html 

Using my Wacom and this free brush set https://www.brusheezy.com/brushes/51128-free-photoshop-marker-brushes-24-deadbeat-marker , I tried my very best to draw something legible, yet still messy. 

Definitely need to keep working on the typeface but here’s some colour options I’m playing around with for now (▰˘◡˘▰)

[fillystick]

THE EFFORT IN THIS OMG

Drawing each graphic one by one… wow this must have taken you a lot of time! I really admire your creativity and how you implement your own style into this assignment. Well done!!

[acesvg]

I FINSIHED MY ZINE!!!!!!!!

So I did mine on Bauhaus. More specifically Walter Gropius and the ideas behind the building or art! I feel like I haven’t written much information but also I favour the story written by illustrations ya know? I didn’t want the reader to be bored but rather engaged through the design.

I think my favourite page is the “why build in dessau” one.. just for the design aspect hehe

I strayed away from the rules of Bauhaus when designing this zine BUT I kept the colour scheme. As I was gathering information I kept coming across the decision of colours in this movement. Here’s a few notes I took.

So this gave me the idea to use colour as my main connection to Bauhaus for this zine.. the straight rigid lines just BORED me .. It needed some.. oomph?

There are some things that I didn’t like. For example the page on “what’s unique about Bauhaus” .. it feels like a children’s book and I don’t know how to .. fix(?) .. it. I like the left side but yeah I think I’m just all burnt out LOL.

I also made the front and back page greyscale as sort of a tribute to Walter Gropius himself.. and you also get a burst of colour as a surprise if you were to have a physical print but yeah

Overall I’m really proud of myself .. at the beginning of this course I had NO idea how to use indesign (or what it even was lol) and l made a freaking zine !! Never doubt yourself!!

Also I feel like I used a post/anti- modernistic style on a modernistic movement .. the irony

[fillystick]

ZINE OUTCOME!

Seeing all the interesting works done by others, I thought I would also share what I did for my zine.

“I was fortunate. Early in life, I understood that my world was a two-dimensional one. At sixteen I knew that my work would be in black and white.”

I made my zine in relation to Adrian Frutiger’s aesthetic, I didn’t put any pictures for the zine (only a picture of Mr. Frutiger himself ) to keep the focus on the typefaces. I played with page space, font size, and typography while designing this, with each page using the typeface that is being interviewed for the texts. (The Univers page would be using the Univers typeface for all texts... etc.)

Some likes and dislikes: I really like my cover page, which is inspired by the negative space typography technique. The font used for the cover page is Frutiger, I felt like it was the best option to represent him. It became challenging in the end to come up with new layout choices with the same black and white aesthetics, but I think I pulled through! Each section of the interview gives a different vibe, they aren’t repitive when it comes to arrangement but still had harmony throughout. I still wish I had more creative ways to deliver this, however.

Feedback is welcomed and please share your zines too!

[adriansfolio]

OMG its another Adrian, but I like how you made the focus on your zine on type as his famous for his typography. I like to colour contrast of Black and white and just sticking with those two colours. Love it good job :) 

[bygabb]

Project 3 : Ask Me Anything

https://maurakurnianto.wixsite.com/basquiat

Here is what my zine currently looks like, I decided to do an interactive zine. 

My subject of choice is Jean-Michel Basquiat. At first I was only drawn to his art style and the story behind it, but his take on the art industry fascinates me. His journey to being recognized in the art industry was not easy and I decided to dig a little deeper for this project. I have to say, he’s now one of my favourite artist! 

Click the link above and let me know what you guys think!

[eclecticcassindrles]

Final Zine - Blackletter - Part B

So this assignment has finally come to an end. I’ve got to say I really enjoyed this project. In the beginning I was quite unsure of what we were doing because I set myself the task of interviewing blackletter, and let me tell you its a bit of a unique experience trying to interview something when it isn’t a real person that you can talk to. Had to do some research into what zine actually was, because from class I recalled the format of a zine, however, not what it was supposed to actually look like. When I first formulated my questions they were not very conversational and interview like, thanks to Karen’s feedback in class I was able to be a bit more free with my thinking and told myself to ask the questions like I'm talking to a friend. Once I got the questions out of the way I really had fun creating the layout of my zine. I’m proud of the first half of pages, however, I found it harder to keep the style I was going for, going. I think this was a pretty successful first attempt at a zine, can’t wait to improve and make more in the future!

[eclecticcassindrles]

Final Zine - Blackletter - Part A

Couldn’t fit all the pages onto here but here's the first lot. Scroll over to the next post to see the rest!

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week 12 - Summary (LECTURE)

We’ve reached the end. This last lecture went over everything we looked into throughout the semester. It’s crazy to see a whole semester of learning compacted into one video. I’ve learned so much from this subject, there were so many things I was unaware of beforehand and now I feel great knowing I have all this newfound knowledge about design, its history, movements and all the amazing designers that have existed.

Karen Ann and Andy also went over the work of several female designers. It’s sad that we all struggle to think of female designers because of how male focused design used to be in the past. But things are changing for the better, one day I hope the struggle ceases. We need more equal representation, so many great designs being created by all people, recognition is due equally. 

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week 11 - What’s next for design? (LECTURE)

This was one of my favourite lectures! It's so amazing seeing all the new technologies people are using to create designs and artwork. The eye writer, pictured above is a low cost creative technology that enables graffiti writers and artists with paralysis to draw using only their eyes. I think it’s bloody amazing! To have that kind of technology available these days is astounding and it’s so amazing to see artists being able to continue doing what they're passionate about, when they may have never had the chance again due to their accident. 

The rainbow barcode of kung fu panda is something I never knew existed, the way the average colour of the scenes were grouped together to make a colour barcode is such an awesome idea, it’s amazing what people think up, the brain is full of wonders.

I find these machines that Karen Ann and Andy have created to be so inspiring, it’s so cool to know people who have experimented and explored all these unique ways to create designs and artwork. Makes me excited to be studying in the field of design because I'm constantly surrounded by amazing work and so many amazing ideas. There’s so much new technology being created for all sorts of purposes, its a great time to be alive! 

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week 10 - Indesign (WORKSHOP)

Oh my gawd they blessed us with the formats, yess! In one of the practical classes we spent the class folding out zines from a4 pieces of paper, we made both the 8 page and the 16 page zine, kind of messed with my head during the process but ay we got there eventually. Before the “Ask me anything’ assignment I had never heard of a zine before, I mean I probably have seen many, but I'd never known them by their name. I’ve decided on making a 16 page zine, I’d like to spread everything out and the more double spreads the better! I'm excited for this assignment, we have a lot of creative freedom which is always exciting!

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week 10 - Why we design? (LECTURE)

We first talked about conceptualism and the idea of found art. This can be seen in Marcel Duchamp’s work whereby he signed a urinal and photographed it. The idea that a regular object used in everyday life would be signed and photographed as art is interesting, the thought that someone would think to do that is intriguing to say the least. It’s such a common and ordinary object to sign it and photograph that the mere act of doing so is a statement. 

It’s a good and a bad thing that the media has such a huge impact on our lives these days. We are constantly seeing advertisements and messages wherever we go, some of them enhancing our lives while others bring us down or create controversy. Why we design is such an important idea, because what we design affects other people. In this lecture we looked at a whole bunch of Benetton’s advertisements, all of which had a shocking impact on the audience at the time. The brand showed through their advertisements that their product was for everyone and they way they did this certainly created talk and attention. 

Thinking about the question why we design, I suppose my own answer would be, we design to convey a message. We design each piece with purpose and intent, to have a certain effect on the audience to make them think or feel what we want them to. 

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week 8 - When did the future begin? (LECTURE)

This lecture was all about futurism. During this time of futurism, artists created a sense speed and movement in their designs, an acceleration which showed the design as portraying an event, not a still picture. I love the way the angled lines in Luigi Russolo’s Dynamism of a car create a direction of moving forward, it makes me think of the superhero the flash and the idea of something moving and changing right before my eyes as if it was driving right past me. I’m kind of inspired by it I think I might have to create some artwork that uses angled lines like his to create movement in my own designs, I really like the idea and the effect it has. 

In the lecture we also looked at Parole in Liberta and the idea of words having a voice and breaking free. It’s interesting how when you arrange words around in in different positions and angles they seem to appear like they're jumping out at you, and you read them differently as if they have more weight and meaning behind them. When I see the way designs have an effect on the way you perceive something it really makes me fall in love with design all over again, I love the way you can design things to create whatever feeling or effect you want. 

Bruno Munari’s collage work showed how his additions to existing designs created a sense of his own thoughts. From his work you could see how he saw things, like a little window into his brain very much like the little circular windows in the pages. He let you peer into his work like a window to his mind. It is quite controversial, the idea that in collage work people just take other people’s designs and property and make it into their own. Personally I don’t know just quite how to feel about it but I am very impressed by the effect Munari’s work gives off.  

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week Seven - Architexture (WORKSHOP)

For this week’s workshop we had to look outside our window and to the built world to find type. I live in the suburbs so it was kind of hard to find many things just out side of my window so I took a walk around the outside of my house and I found pipes and rails became my best bud. 

I was most proud of my pipe that forms the shape of a y, initially I took the photo and was like that has a bend that’ll make the letter j and then I was pleasantly surprised that it looked more like a y when I cropped it. I was also proud of my lowercase h, had to stand on a chair in the garden to take a photo of it, the pipes were off a neighbours shed aha, was worth it though! I was quite surprised at the assortment of letters I found, I did not expect to find an s,x or y like they're very curvy letters and it’s usually more common to see things with straight block forms, strange that ha.

The order of the pics, unintentional or intentional you tell me haha, left it in for a bit of a joke, let’s see if anyone notices. Found this workshop quite a fun one, however, did freeze my ass off to get the pics, it’s bloody cold in Melbourne right now, we are officially in winter, don’t know how we made it to June so fast but it’s real chilly!

[baileydremel]

THE ADVENTURE SERIES: ZINE MACHINE

What if there was a machine that would create a randomly generated 16 page A6 zine that is completely unique. Hmm

In a previous practical class we got feedback on our spreads, so I decided to work on finalising my zine before sending it off for submission.

I looked back on the slides and saw a comment from a fellow student about my spreads. I was really pleased to see some nice feedback from another student and it really pushed me in the right direction with my zine.

Fig 1. The comment I had received. Thx. Also enjoy my crudly scribble over the name.

I worked on my zine over the weekend so that I had finished it before the due date because I have been burned before with submitting assignments at the last minute and technology simply and logically saying ‘no’.

With all the feedback I was given, I now have a near finished zine. Here it is!

Fig 2. My near finished zine. 

I first took all the feedback I was given and made adjustments as such. I reduced the tint for some of the images, lined up everything to a central line and make the type on pages 8 and 9 more free flowing. That was the feedback section done and dusted.

There’s a story to how this ended up like this.

First, lets talk about page 12 (third row fourth image). Inside the number 4 (yes, that is the number 4), I added some notable images that had used Futura such as Barbara Kruger and Ford. This was a bit of a pain to make at the start but ended up working very well. It cost me though…

Secondly lets talk about the references. I initially was just going to have a single reference page where I could put all of my references down that I used for my research and my images. That’s what I would normally do, but little did I know that I had about 2 references for my research and about 16 REFERENCES FOR IMAGES, HALF OF THEM ON A SINGLE PAGE (page 12). I ended up changing how I was going to do my image references and I just put them at the bottom of each page that had images in it (in footnotes). Some pages, such as 8 and 9, would have their reference on the next pages as I got all the images from the same source. For page 12, I just said to refer to page 15 for reference as half the page would just be the references to the images.

I still need to make some adjustments, but they are not critical and are just decorative choices. The red tint is still strong on some of the images and somethings could be cleaned up.

Also, while looking through the zine after showing it to a group I am a part of and I saw something on page 12.

Fig 3. Page 12 in my zine.

Can you see it?

It struck me as soon as I looked at it.

The rectangle from page 13 erupted out the side of this page. ARGH! That was the first thing I had changed when I saw it because I am a perfectionist and that was interrupting my flow.

To top this post of, I will talk about the final page, or the back cover of the zine.

Fig 4. The back cover of the zine.

I realised that I hadn’t really showcase Paul Renners typeface fully (as in all the characters and symbols). I chose for my back cover, to showcase that by integrating his typeface into the letter F of his typeface. It turned out really well and I like how it looks. The final thing to note is my name. At the end of every publication or thing I make, I have a little signature that I like to add to it. It is made out of my own handwriting and is like a stamp of approval to me. I only add it to stuff I am proud of and I was very proud of this zine. 

This was an absolutely fantastic project as I needed an excuse to make a zine and this was the perfect time to make it. It would have been fantastic to actually print it out (on good, high quality paper) and share it with my peers. It really opened my eyes to what I would need to consider when making a zine and really helped me master InDesign. 

It really makes me miss the trips to Sticky Institute to get zines and talk with my friends about our projects. I miss that. I miss not having the time on the train where I can just listen to my music and read a zine. I miss that too. I miss everything about the Uni experience. I am glad I stuck through this transition and I am happy I got something out of it. I hope things go back to normal soon.

;(

Ps. I noticed the Ask Me anything project hashtag I’ve been using also looks like ask meany thing project. Huh.

[eclecticcassindrles]

Seriously in love with this layout, the red and black really hit you in the face and capture your attention. Everything is so cohesive yet bold, well done 👏

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week Seven - The Triadic Ballet

After watching the lecture for the week, I found myself really intrigued by the little snippet of the triadic ballet, so I decided I’d sit down and give it a watch. I’ve truly never seen anything like it before. It consisted of three parts made known by the coloured backgrounds. In the first part with the yellow background, the dancers exuded energy, some showed more noticeable ballet dancing while others put on a performance jumping about and moving around highlighting the structure of their costume. 

In the second part with the pink background, there were a lot more props being used, a big white hoop, ramps, stairs, and musical instruments. I really enjoyed the part with the three dancers, I loved their colourful costumes, I loved the big hoop skirt with the spherical baubles and I loved the way they looked like little toys robotically moving together for something like a puppet show. 

In the last part with the black background the energy was toned down. There was a more eerie and dark feel to the performance. It was interesting to see how the performance had changed so dramatically, after two similarly bright and energetic parts led to a slower and more gloomy ending. 

Throughout the Ballet I took notice that all the dancers that weren’t wearing masks had their faces painted white acting like a mask, it really helped me to see them as characters, with unique personas, it led me to forget about the fact they were just humans in costumes. I think it was a great costume choice, it had a huge impact on the way I perceived the dancers. 

Overall, I’m glad I ended up watching it, the Ballet had amazing costumes that were so unique and brought so much to the performance. I was very entertained throughout and loved the music as it changed in pace but was relaxing and invigorating when accompanied with the performance. 100% would recommend watching the Triadic Ballet you really don’t know what to expect after each scene, its intriguing, makes you want to keep watching that's for sure!

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week Seven - Bauhaus (LECTURE)

The bauhaus was a school of design located in Germany, its approach to teaching design influenced all other schools of design during the time. It was founded by Walter Gropius and was a male dominated institution as Walter Gropius believed that women couldn’t think in 3 dimensions, so the women working in the Bauhaus worked on only 2 dimensional art activities such as weaving and painting. I find it kind of ironic that back then it was so male dominant when today our communication design course is very much the opposite, with our course having upwards of 75% being females. 

Something important to note about the Bauhaus is the efficiency of form. As can be seen above, the chess set pieces by Josef Hartwig were crafted to represent their moves as well as to fit compactly into their packaging. The furniture pictured on the right shows how space has been used to create storage in an efficient way, every aspect of the design has been crafted to maximise organisation and storing of different objects, from the smaller draws to the larger cupboard doors.  Also important to focus on is the idea of reducing to essential, everything serves a purpose, nothing is just a decoration. 

Pictured next are some postcards from a Bauhaus exhibition, my personal favourite is the middle postcard. I love the use of black, grey, and red, the design is very minimal but very visually interesting. There’s curves and circles which contrast with straight lines and there’s even text written on a curved path which also contrast with the text written on a horizontal path. I’m just drawn to the design, it’s so bold but balanced very nicely, it has a satisfying pop of colour and shapes. 

More people that were influential during Bauhaus include Paul Klee, Oskar Schlemmer responsible for the Triadic Ballet and Wassily Kandinsky a painter. 

[eclecticcassindrles]

Week Six - shapeshifters (WORKSHOP)

For this activity we cut an a4 piece of blank paper into a square, we then used this square to make a grid to make our other shapes. I chose to use a combination of triangles and wedges. (from a circle) Originally I wanted to follow some rules to make my type match in a way, but this idea got harder to replicate as some of the letters were more intricately shaped. For my letters A though to D and also G, I used both triangles and wedges, overlapped shapes and left gaps, these were the rules I wanted to follow. However, when it came to E and F I couldn't find a way to make gaps as so many of the shapes were overlapping in order to create the shape. I very much enjoyed the design of the letters with gaps, I feel like the gaps really help to separate and create contrast which is visually interesting to me.