comm design journal ✷☆❥❃✧✿❊

lily sinclair rmit student journal ✧✷✿❃☆❥❊

[strawberry-trellis-deactivated2]

[eleventhquarter]

I had to

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this is amazing, next level dedication. The design is so simple, and is so modern and YOU, but is such a nice nod to the original

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semester one done!

And just like that 12 weeks are done! Maybe because I’ve been sitting at home for most of that, or because I’m constantly looking ahead to the next deadline, but time seems to have flown by.

I would have to say Comm Design Studies was the class I looked forward to and enjoyed the most this semester; I loved the design history lectures (thanks Karen and Andy) and always left my friday classes with some new knowledge or inspiration or idea (thank you Bailey)! Learning about type, and type design, different design movements, and the origins of these was so interesting. I was introduced to so much new information, and felt that I was constantly learning which I LOVE and missed so much since finishing high school (don’t miss high school though, that is for sure). 

The assessments we did involved so much creativity and freedom to follow a path that interested us, which is completely different from the VCE type of assessment that I was used to. All of a sudden I was in charge, and I was controlling how and when I was working and learning and creating; it was the best! 

Shifting to online learning was also a big change, but I think it worked out ok. Although I missed out on that face to face feedback, workshop activities and WIP checks with my teachers and peers, the transition to university felt less daunting from the comfort of my own couch. It meant that I didn’t have to get the packed train, worry about what i was going to wear, or where I had to sit. It allowed me to feel less scared to speak up and contribute in class, and ease into feeling comfortable with my peers and teachers, which was quite good. HOWEVER I am reallllly looking forward to a potential return to face to face class before 2020 ends (maybe, fingers crossed).

here are some pics of me #workingfromhome, practically on top of my heater (my house is a 100 year old esky essentially), glamorously working amongst my dog Astro and the washing, and enjoying the company of my other pup Annie a.k.a Fatty.

[zachary-rmit]

Week 11 // UH OH

From the tutorial in Week 11, I’ve realised I am NOT on the right track for this zine. My current drafts look boring and basic. After checking out other students work, I’ve realised I need to spice it up just a little.

Look how boring that is! Can’t believe I’ve done this. I’ve kind of shot myself in the foot for choosing such a basic font though, as representing it has gotta be a bit boring to be accurate.

But here’s new inspiration for my zine! I want to add texture, maybe do some cool effects on the fonts, etc… I just need it to look way more interesting than it currently is. Bit stressed but it’ll be fine. 

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Going to reuse some of the stuff I’ve already done, but attempt to make it look much cooler. Maybe print and scan it a couple times so it gets a nice photocopier texture. Make it melt a little. Do whatever. Just need something.

Pray for me #prayforzach

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Think your zine is looking good so far! Don’t be so harsh on yourself! loving these examples, and the warped and repeated text kind of look, and looking forward to seeing the final product!!!!

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work in progress

some WIP for my ASK ME ANYTHING task on Tupperware - I found this free layout photoshop file on Behance (which I have never been on before but it is GREAT and so helpful) and added my photocopy images onto this mock up zine layout. 

Some feedback from my class suggested I should add some text to either the zine or overall layout to make it more like an archived document or something like that... not sure how I’ll do that just yet but better hurry up and decide because due date is looming.

[eleventhquarter]

Week 11 \ Lecture

Quoted from Andy. 

I thought I would add a picture to go with it as the saying made me giggle and I could just image it being belted out by grandpa Simpson.

Image: https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/104083888/Angry-Abe-Simpson

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👏🏼

[a-bab-ette]

This photo was sourced from https://thedailyomnivore.net/2010/06/28/ 

This is an artwork created by TEMPT1 using the Eyewriter machine. The artwork was created using the Eyewriter software that tracks the wearer’s eye movements to develop an artwork. 

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week 12 exercise

Some quick exercises we did during class today to help refresh our eyes and brains after looking at and working on our projects for so long!

here is the original: 

here are my versions (5 minutes to do each): emphasise image, emphasise text, distort it.

this activity was super fun, and it meant that I got to try out some different tools and effects that I probably wouldn’t reach for or find a use for in any of my actual work! Playing with colour could have also been effective here, so next time I’m in a creative rut maybe I’ll give this another go!

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week 11 ✿ what’s next for design?

our lecture this week looked into how we can use design for good, and for positive social change, and how we are currently in a ‘hybrid state’ of design between a material world and a digitised world.

I was introduced to the concepts of Parametric and Generative design - where parametric describes design that has rules for computation of design and type, and generative design is not deterministic in this sense, and creates itself.

This brought to me the thought about how heavily I rely on digital design programs for my work, where so many things are predetermined or restricted. How much does this limit the authenticity of my work, and how much of my ideas are decided by these programs?

Andy and Karen raised these questions, which really encapsulated this: “How much of the design is authored by YOU? How much is authored by something else?”.

Within this discussion, there was great focus on AI technology, and its abilities, limitations and possible disadvantages and dangers in terms of design.

What stood out to me were the seemingly perfect human faces, that were completely computer generated! I looked into other versions of this, and found some scary accidents... maybe they are slightly reassuring that the technology isn’t flawless just yet... 

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[stellaa-r]

things that don’t exist + the week 11 lecture

This lecture both creeped me out and excited me about the future ahead in design especially when Karen and Andy referenced the ‘People that don’t exist’ which is successfully grotesque. Upon further research there are even cats and artwork that don’t exist and a shop selling this AI artwork (does this mean it does exist?!)

I don’t quite understand it but it made me question whether or not it’s ‘good’ for the world of design and art? Humanistic labour is totally upheaved here, other than the initial coding, which kind of unnerves me about the future!!

This quote from one of the Week 11 readings; Generative Practice. The State Of The Art was a point i found really interesting;

“Concepts like emergence, network theory and multi-dimensional parameter spaces defy reduction to simple principles, and artists using code quickly find themselves only partly in control of the software processes they create. So chaotic behaviour, glitch or visual complexity seem like likely outcomes.”

In regards to the glitches and pixelations which occur in these GAN processes, although they are creepy in a way, I almost feel better about them then the hype-real perfect faces, art and cats as it shows the flaws and glitches and proves its not an entirely perfect system. 

https://thiscatdoesnotexist.com/

https://thisartworkdoesnotexist.com/

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Stella has raised what I agree is a really important question as we shift into normalising this sort of technology in art and design! loving these really abstract images too, what a cute cat :/

[brookelle-lawless-deactivated20]

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A Graphic History of Fiorucci 

https://www.fiorucci.com/eu/a-history-of-fiorucci

[slothmonkeeringbinder-deactivat]

This is a logo design for my Image and Identity assignment. “Free to Flow” is my attempt at re-branding the Period Poverty Campaigns into an amalgamation, worldwide. 

The upside-down triangle is used to represent females, as they are the demographic most affected by the issue, and the red represents menstruation. 

So far, this is my favourite, but my next idea is working with gradients (I can’t resist a good gradient) so we shall see.

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loving this! colours are harmonious but also bold, and your manipulation of type works so well. Super important issue too!!!!!! looking forward to see this when it’s finished!

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Australian punk and rock albums/posters from across the decades - references to the early 70′s UK punk image and design.

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work in progress

for my ask me anything zine, I wanted to show a style that represents my design era (1950s/kitsch catalogue) but also has a more modern twist, to reflect my style or the new technologies and methods I've learnt in comm design studies over the semester. Here I had a go at some photocopying, where you move the page around during the scan to warp the final print, similar to some of the techniques that were seen in the punk posters we looked at a few weeks ago. 

I tried using the ‘collaged’ version of the poster I made in photoshop as one of my design options, but my class all suggested that using the original 50′s style design showed that authentic style the best.

I still need to try this with the other interview pages, and work out some ways to maintain at least a bit of legibility, so my interview can actually be read, and how the whole zine will be presented!

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#reflections #inspiration

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week 10 ❊ why do we design?

this week’s lecture looked at why we design and how this changes. 

the idea of conceptual art was introduced using Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain from 1917. It is an example of how conceptual art can be seen as a way for utilitarian objects can be contextualised as an artwork, and that this was sort of the beginning point for where conceptual art/conceptualism took off. The advent of photography, and other forms in which information could be recorded removed the need for artworks to function as a ‘recording’. Objects and art were no longer restricted to functional purposes. They no longer needed to coincide with traditional forms of art; ANYTHING could be contextualised by an artist as a product of their creativity if they chose to do so. Objects and art were no longer restricted to functional purposes. It is hard now, in a digital age flooded with media and art available to us, to think that conceptualism would have been so provocative and outrageous.

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Another point from the lecture that I really found interesting were the ideas presented in Ken Garland’s First Things First manifesto, from 1964, that there can not be a ‘zero sum’ when you look at advertising. It means that you cannot fully remove ads, but you also cannot fully have advertising that is sincere, so you just have to approach advertising with an understanding of usefulness and criticality to gain only what you need. I think this concept seems very progressive for the sixties, maybe when advertising had a very idealistic style. The manifesto could be an indicator of that shift from modernism to post-modernism and the realisation of the flaws of a modernist, ever-consuming society.

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The lecture ended on the overlap of activism in art and design, and how this can be manipulated into an advertising context.

The Guerrilla Girls were a standout in this area for me. Their work was relevant then and is arguably still even just as relevant today. Their approach to gender bias and racial discrimination and mis/underrepresentation in art and art exhibiting was really empowering and daring (and needed)!

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Finally the focus shifted to this idea of activism in an advertising context. I found looking at the Benetton ads, particularly, was quite conflicting - I understand the importance of spreading awareness of the issues in their ads, but it just seemed insensitive to have such horrific and upsetting images of people dealing with tragedy and hardship, with branding stamped over them. It didn’t come across as very sincere; as if they were using these people and these tragedies, and profiting from it with no care.

Some of these sorts of activism ads are still popular now, where large corporations feel more than happy to take tragedy and make it into their selling point. If you wan’t to know what I mean, keep your eyes peeled for any Westpac ads on telly - they really know how to do it...