#graphic design practice

[rimii-yuki]

June Bride with Namie's Kids 🪼🐈🐈‍⬛

Twitter (X) | Bsky | Pixiv

[sunnysynthsunshine]

Logo recreations of Paradise Kiss,The Mighty Boosh and Mtv

[rikkestraarup]

Week 6 Exercise 4: Making an advertisement, where we should use imagery as a fun wordplay. I chose the bike helmet from the company called nutcase  and played on the fact that they are called nutcase. 

[arimarveri]

Ayy look I made a superhero.

[bethanylf-art]

Potential Graphic Design Practice Sources

DCMS

DCMS (more)

DCMS (blog)

Vivienne Westwood

Paul Smith

Norman Foster’s UK Work

Charlotte Day’s Work (LUSH, flowers, etc.)

Owen Gildersleeve (LUSH, paper, etc.)

Steven Sugar (Lead Background Designer on Steven Universe)

[bethanylf-art]

My (Second) Trip to Norwich

I went back to Norwich to have a private tour of the university. A 3rd Year student named Hannah showed me around but, unfortunately, any photos I took that trip were wiped when I had to restore my phone weeks later. I lost my photos from the middle of April up until early May, but I found pictures online of the Illustration studios. This uni is so different compared to the Institute- much bigger class sizes (dozens and dozens compared to my humble class of 11-13), lecturers who are in the industry, “speed-dating” that pairs students with people in the industry, and more. There’s also more of a sense of independence since the university buildings are right in town and student accommodation is a walk or bike ride away. It will definitely be nerve-wracking if I get accepted.

Source(s): Reviews about Norwich

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2013/02/norwich-university-college-of-the-arts/#QP2brf2TflyH7B9y.97

https://asiancorrespondent.com/2013/04/norwich-university-of-the-arts/#VTTgiXpeRKTlVAA5.97

[bethanylf-art]

London Exhibitions

House of Illustration’s Made in North Korea: Everyday Graphics from the DPRK

Our first destination was the House of Illustration. On display were decades of North Korean graphic design, and yet the overall look of the exhibition remained practically the same. I was very fond of the colourful yet secretive and even idealistic portrayal of the nation. I think pastels look quite sweet and stem from retro popular colour palettes, and as a history lover, I thrived in that tiny exhibition- I even purchased the book about the exhibition that was on sale in the gift shop. Unfortunately, the posters are not in the book, but a great deal of the exhibition is. All of the posters and comic books, however, are available as thumbnails (along with their English translations) on the exhibition guide. Photos were not permitted for this exhibition, but I am glad I managed to purchase something from the shop.

British Library’s Listen: 140 Years of Recorded Sound

I was not expecting to see an exhibition like this in the British Library, but I wanted to note it in my blog anyway- just in case I would want to use it as research and part of my development for any of my projects. The exhibition focused on recorded sound, and though I found it all interesting, I snapped photos of displays that I thought I could possibly use for- at least- my photography module. 

“Music on the move” is a perfect development opportunity for my photography module because it involves moving- and being fit- in ways that we do not really think about. The tutors noted at the beginning of the module that we, as creative people, should think outside of the box of ‘athlete doing sports or working out’- we were advised to think about how normal people exercise and even how normal people move/get fit without trying to work out. I feel like the concept of carrying a boombox and walking from one place to another is definitely a form of indirect exercise and could bring an innovative idea about advertising a Fitbit to life, especially if I include my mixed media/illustration concept.

I also made sure to take photos of this display informing about the beginnings of “the record shop”, continuing with the vintage/retro/historic trend I kept observing in exhibitions thus far.

There was also an area to look at old texts from around the world, including the Magna Carta (which I don’t think was actually on display), but photos were not permitted for this exhibition. I loved looking at the old texts though, for I enjoy text and history. There was a suffragette journal from a prison where the author would write and even draw her experiences as well as so many beautiful examples of penmanship and book covers that involved jewels.

Campaign Against Living Miserably’s Project 84

CALM is a charity that dedicates itself to preventing male suicide. Walking to the National Theatre, we found these sculptures or mannequins standing on the edge of the ITV Studio 8 building. We walked down further towards the theatre and found another taller building in the distance with even more statues lined up on the edge of the roof. I wanted to include this in my blog to mention how controversial or shocking art can highlight an idea or topic, in this case, male suicide in the UK. The statues, standing like real people, at first cause distress to an audience, and then serve as a cautionary tale of sorts, informing the masses about an issue that needs to be addressed. Shock, in my opinion, is a great and effective way to grab attention, but it is harder to keep the attention. Shock (and shock in art) can be blown off as nonsense or shocking for shock’s sake. However, when shock is applied creatively as an art form (visual art, music, performance art, etc.), audiences tend to take notice of not only the shock, but the message implied- but only if there is well-thought out connotation. People, I believe, are also more likely to keep their attention on shocking art that not only has a meaning, but also a meaning/idea/issue that they- the people- care about, or never really considered before but would want something done about it nonetheless. Male suicide could be a perfect example of this, obviously being an issue but perhaps not very looked upon until this statue project was publicly exhibited.

National Theatre Posters

When we found the National Theatre, we observed posters from all throughout the establishment’s history- that were made for the theatre’s shows specifically. The impression that I got was that the theatre posters have had their fair share of trends over the decades (possibly due to personal designer stylisation and/or designers adhering to what the theatre wanted) but still had a specific, distinctive style for that theatre. Many- if not all- of the designers involved had produced a poster for multiple shows. Depending on the poster, there was a lot of play with typography and composition, which could be tricky due to the amount of information that needed to be applied to the poster in order to be effective.

There was also developmental work on display, showing me a glimpse into the process of some posters, which I was excited to see. I love to look at processes because I believe seeing bare-bone development (as well as the steps to completion) helps a student understand how something works just as much- if not more- than simply a final piece.

(Some things I do to watch others’ development is to look at their sketchbooks as well as watch Adobe Live and speed art on YouTube.)

Banksy Print Gallery

Finally, we found a somewhat hidden- and small- gallery of Banksy prints. Though they weren’t original pieces of walls that Banksy had tagged himself, these prints were signed by him. I believe some of his sketchbooks and produced false currency were also on display. I liked the way his graffiti was translated onto paper/poster- it made me think of how some forms of art and design can be put on prints for mass production. Merchandising and print production are definitely something I want to get into, considering I wish to become an illustrator, at the very least. This includes running a booth in comic villages/artist alleys at conventions, where artists sell their own prints, zines, stickers, pins and other produced merch.