GRAP2199 with Sam

Communication Design Studies

[samtullydesign]

Final, last, concluding, terminating, ultimate, endmost, closing, finishing post:

What I take away most from GRAP2199 is that we should aim to push boundaries as much as possible with our work. I feel that’s what Andy and Karen have tried to instil in us, that designs that are unconventional, strange and out of the box are what we should strive for - because they will inevitably be interesting!

Through the lectures we’ve been exposed to a multitude of incredible movements and styles, such as the Bauhaus, Memphis group and the Swiss style to name a few. 

Through our Tumblr’s I’ve been exposed to even more fascinating inspiration and research shared by my classmates. I also loved being able to see the progression of other people’s work as due dates loomed, the blogs became a behind-the-scenes catalogue of what everyone was doing.

Needing to post regularly was hard for me at times, I’m a terrible procrastinator and my method is often to leave things to the last minute. This course has required me to get my act together (at least partially) and I really hope that I can continue to take charge of my studies and stick to deadlines and work in progress checks.

GRAP2199 has encouraged me to think out of the box, which is something I want to permanently integrate into my workflow. Thanks for caring so much about what you teach, Andy and Karen :)

[bauhaus-movement]

Tapestry design by Gunta Stolzl, produced by the Bauhaus in 1926.

[samtullydesign]

I wish Ikea sold stuff like this so I could put it in my house

[samtullydesign]

An interview with Warwick Levy, creator of Australian clothing label Lonely Kids Club

[samtullydesign]

Andy and Karen, if my zine is covered in cat hair, I’m sorry. 

These pics only show a handful of the times in which Bean felt like interrupting my project. The last photo is him grabbing a bobbin of thread and BOLTING away. Look at that face though.

[samtullydesign]

Week 11

Pictured: “<Color> wheel” by Jason Salavon. 

A combination of images retrieved by searching for specific colours on Bing image search. Most of the time searching for a particular colour would yield expected results, however as Salavon points out that isn’t always the case:

“While the results mostly conform to expectations (e.g. 'orange' predominantly returns images of orange things), there are some important exceptions ('+blue +violet' yields alot of flesh-tone and is most definitely not safe for work).”

This is one of those pieces that I look at and marvel how someone was inspired to do this. It’s so beautiful and so strange.

Source

[samtullydesign]

Ask me anything final zine

After a long few days of pricking myself with sewing needles and trying to stop my cat from stealing bobbins the zine is finally complete! My absolute favourite part is the front cover, I’m really pleased with how the clothing tag came out and the extremely interactive, tactile appearance it gives.

My inexperience shows in the actual construction of the zine. The sewing is irregular in many places and whilst the 200gsm paper held up pretty well, something thicker probably would have been better. On the bright side sewing the binding together helped add to the zine’s structural integrity.

Taking my own photos for the layout helped me plan how to make the elements interact with one another, for instance a physical thread emerges from the picture of a sewing needle. 

I’m pleased with how the finished product connects to the life of my creative, incorporating pieces of his world such as shirts, fabric swatches, sketchbooks and threads.

[samtullydesign]

Week 10

Why Design? 

Left: The original Rainbow Flag created by Gilbert Baker in 1978, composed of 8 colours. Baker refused to trademark the design, believing it to be a symbol for the LGBT community. Due to these intentions, that’s exactly what happened and the Rainbow Flag is easily the most iconic LGBT symbol. Right: Current-day flag, now composed of 6 colours. In 1979 the pink stripe was removed due to fabric unavailability, and eventually the indigo stripe was switched to royal blue. 

I find it fascinating how this design underwent many practical revisions over the years, I was always under the impression it had always been just 6 colours, but that’s not the case!

Sources: 1. 2. 3.

[samtullydesign]

Constructing my zine

I wanted to incorporate hand sewing into my project to further connect to my creative’s world as a clothing creator. I am terribly inexperienced at sewing, so it was a questionable decision.  

By far the worst part was sewing sixteen tiny pieces of felt into the zine for the fabric swatches page. It took me much longer than it should have!

My zine also incorporates hidden flaps, answers that emerge from behind other pieces of paper, a clothing tag and a hand-sewn binding. 

Despite the fact that I never want to see a bobbin again, I’m glad that I pushed myself to sew parts of my zine together because it really helped communicate the life of my creative.

[samtullydesign]

Week 9

Memphis Group, the highly influential Italian design and architecture collective. Memphis pieces drip with colour, shiny plastic, amazing, asymmetrical and astounding shapes. Their influence still echoes within modern day creations, as pictured above:

Memphis Group x Adidas Originals “Post Modern” Pack (2014)

Gorman “Walala” range (2015)

BMW & Memphis Design (2017)

Sources: 1. 2. 3.

[samtullydesign]

Interview with Warwick Levy, creator of Lonely Kids Club.

I was looking forward to interviewing Warwick because I knew his responses would be really honest and down to earth - and that’s exactly what I got! I’m happy that through 5 questions we managed to cover several topics integral to his life as a creative.  

1. What LKC item brings you the most happiness? Why is that?

I think the classic sloth jumpers. It really put the brand on the map and it's so synonymous with LKC. It was the first real wow product I ever made that people recognised on the street etc. I also just made some tees with my dog Louie on it that are currently making me very happy.

2. Would you say procrastination is something you struggle with as a creative? If so, what are your methods for overcoming it?

Yes. Hugely. The brand arose from procrastination in some ways and I only overcome it by making to-do lists and forcing myself to get things done. I like to leave everything to the last possible moment.

3. If you hadn’t decided to drop out of your construction degree and pursued Lonely Kids Club, do you think you would be a different person now? In other words, do you feel that your clothing label has helped shape you as a person?

Yeah I would have taken another 4 years or so to finish the degree or dropped out later and wasted even more time. Before starting LKC I was really seen as a failure by a lot of people so that may have still been a thing. LKC has definitely shaped me as a person, it's how I grew up and came to realise that I can like being myself.

4. Lonely Kids Club often promotes messages of mental health awareness and acceptance, to the point where it is an integral aspect of the brand’s identity. Would you say this was always a prominent aspect of your clothing or something that became more prominent over time?

I think it's a reflection of myself and mental health is something I openly struggle with. I think it's my way of externalising what I'm going through to help others and create a positive message from an otherwise negative situation.

5. You’ve recently gone back to school to complete a graphic design course. Have you found this has impacted your approach to design in any way?

Haha it got too much and I stopped going after a few weeks. It all got too stressful and overwhelming to manage. My bad!

Image retrieved from: Source.

[samtullydesign]

Week 8

The International Typographic Style (aka the Swiss Style). Who can resist a beautiful sans-serif typeface? This style’s exquisite use of negative space and form creates impactful and stunning compositions. I find it so hard to swallow that this style emerged in the 1920′s, it looks so fresh and modern. 

Sources: 1. 2. 3. 4.

[samtullydesign]

After making some rough prototypes with felt and paper, I began to sketch a more concrete idea for my final project. Once I had the layout organised, I started creating the zine in InDesign so I could do some test prints. 

Prototyping was essential for my zine because I was going to have several different elements that needed to work together. I knew I was going to incorporate hand sewing, felt, thread, photography and hang-tags into the zine. 

It took some trial and error to construct it in such a way that everything fell into place - for instance having hand sewing on one page without ruining the page behind it. Additionally when I was taking my photos I had to plan in advance how they would interact with the zine.

But I got there eventually and was ready to construct my final piece.

[samtullydesign]

Week 7

Before this course I had never heard of The Triadic Ballet, but I’m so glad we were introduced to it! The costumes in particular are so mesmerising and whimsical, they remind me of children’s dolls that have come to life. I also adore this David Bowie costume that is clearly inspired by Schlemmer’s ballet, the outfit looks like it came from another planet. 

Sources: 1. 2. 3.

[gwensadrummer-blog]

[karinasisoukrmit-blog]

Comparison of types; completely different perspective when you see the slight contrast 

[samtullydesign]

I can't believe how similar these two typefaces actually are! Helvetica looks so good and Arial is blegh; how can they be so similar?

[samtullydesign]

I agree with what another student has expressed on here - I can't stop finding letterforms in things even though we don't have to anymore. It's fun!

[samtullydesign]

Sourcing inspiration/materials. I went to Lincraft today hoping to find some fabric swatches I could look at as research. They didn't have any. But I was able to source some materials to use as tester fabric swatches. First I looked at the scrap fabric bin hoping to grab a good arrangement of cheap, colourful fabrics. The fabrics in the scrap bin sucked and they weren't even cheap. Then I found these rolls of felt that had a pretty decent range of colours, but weren't exactly what I was looking for. I settled on buying 10 single sheets of felt for about $10. I tried to select a graduated, almost analogous array of colours to mimic the appearance of fabric swatches. My selection consisted of mostly purples and pinks. In my final presentation I'd like to link the chosen fabrics to my creative's life and clothing label. But for prototypes the pink and purple felt will be fine.

[samtullydesign]

Prototyping with swatches of felt.

I bought a pair of cheap “pinking shears” to get the signature zig-zag edge on my fabric swatches.

Unfortunately these cheap scissors aren’t able to cut through felt. Proper pinking shears are quite expensive ($40) so I’m considering either switching to paper or just cutting the felt with regular scissors.

The other tool I’ve experimented with is an eyelet kit. Using a hammer I was able to punch holes and metal eyelets into the card stock. It’s inexpensive and I’m pleased with the result.

I still don’t have a clear perception of what my final submission will be, but the prototypes are helping me get closer to figuring it out.