Research and Epistolary.

Research and epistolary.

Research is a driving force towards what you do.

Knowledge – the learner recalls or recognizes information

Analysis – The learner separates information into component parts

Comprehension – The learner changed information into a different form, format or media

Application – The leaner solves problems by using appropriate knowledge and generalisations.

Experiential learning: Synthesis > evaluation > knowledge > comprehension > application > analysis > (repeat)

Process is more important than the end product. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcomes we may not know where were going, but we will know we want to be there.

-       Research is our step into the unknown and we need to explore this.

Martin Venezky – Creative practice doesn’t just straighten and clarify the world, it reflects the world we venture beyond problem.

-       The idea of research will result in all of us being a genius atleasy once a year.

Research doesn’t have to be right, you need to embrace failure. Fail quicker so that you can get it right the next time.

Ideas is what we are about and we need research to further our ideas. Ideas aren’t things that just happen. We need to see things and look at things that are external to us. This could be going to the cinema or even to the library.

What is research?

Research is the process of finding facts. These facts will lead to knowledge. Research is done by using what is already known.

Research is about finding out how, why and what if?

-       If you don’t ask question you are not finding out any research.

Primary research:

-       Research that is developed and collected for a specific end use, usually generated to help solve a specific problem.

-       Secondary research is published or recorded date that has been collected for some purpose other than the current study.  (The analysis of research that has been collected at an earlier time. )

-       Quantitative research 0 Deals with facts, figures and measurements and produces date.  (generates numerical data or date that can be converted into numbers)

-       Qualitative – Explored and tried to understand peoples beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behaviors and interactions.  (can’t put this research into date)`

What is information?

Information is the result of processing, manipulation and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.

Data that has been processed to add or create meaning and hopefully knowledge for the person who receives it. Information is the output of information systems.

Information should be sufficient, competent, relevant and useful.

-       There has to be enough information and relevant information in order to prove something

PROCESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUTCOME.

Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing. - Wernher von Braun.

OUGD501 - Study Task 4 - Practical investigation

Theme / Content:
TECHNIQUE
I will produce art work that has a similar message to the May 1968 rebellion. Using their methods of screenprinting I intend to create posters that will help promote my essay.

CONTENT
The content will be very minimalistic relating back to the May 1968 posters. Vibrant and eye catching. 

COMMUNICATION
I will be using the French language to help communicate a french rebellion. The sentence(s) will be in French and relating back to technology therefore, when you want to translate the words on the poster you will have to get your phone out and translate it. This will relate back to essay about the French student revolution and how my essay is about going against technology using methods used in the past. 

Methods:
RESEARCH / ANALYSIS
I will look at rebellions that have and haven't worked in the past. Especially focusing on the May 1968 posters.

EXPLORATION / EVALUATION
I will need to keep it simplistic and engaging just like the May 1968 posters. I will explore different printing methods that will hopefully explore the best way to promote rebellion

TESTING
I will hang these posters around and see if they are attracting people to stop and think. I will also continuesly be asking my peers to see if they understand the posters as well as finding out the best printing method for a 'rebellion'.

1.What is your research question?
How has rebellion affected the way we see graphic design?

2.Do you have a hypothesis (an assumed conclusion that you will endeavour to prove)?
I will debate what form of rebellion is best used within Graphic design and did any of the methods work and if so do designers still use these methods. For example does Screenprinting still work to create a visual impact.

3.What are the contexts of your research interests?
Does using different print methods work for a visual impact.

4.Sources of primary/secondary research.
Majority of my research sources will be secondary as these events have happened in the past and im finding out which one is still in use today and what worked best in the past.

5.How will your practical work relate to your written work (synthesis)?
The practical work will have to be the best ways to  visually explore rebellion. Throughout my essay I will be talking about different methods used for rebellion and one of these methods will be used for my practical. Therefore it will relate very nicely to my essay.

6.What methods will you use to research, develop, create and test your work?
I will be placing these posters in a way that the students may have done in May 1968. Therefore researching into the student rebellion is important as well as testing my work on peers and people outside to see if it makes an impact. 

OUGD501 - Study Task 3 - Establishing a question

Suggested Research Question. 

How graphic design relates to rebellion?

How Could The Research Question Be Investigated Through Practice?
After going to the May 1968 rebellion lecture with Richard Miles I was very surprised as how much this topic caught my attention. I want to look at rebellion and what different 'styles' of rebellion there are and which were successful and which were not.

Which Of The Module Resources Does This Question Relate To?
Rebellion, Typography, Printing methods, Consumerism, Advertising, Environments

Which Academic Sources Are Available On The Topic?

McQuiston, Liz. Graphic Agitation. London: Phaidon, 1993. Print
McQuiston, Liz. Graphic Agitation 2. London: Phaidon Press, 2004. Print.
McQuiston, Liz. Visual Impact. Print.
Pretty Ugly. Berlin: Gestalten, 2012. Print.
Hundertmark, Christian. The Art Of Rebellion III. Mainaschaff: Publikat, 2010. Print.
Singer, Daniel. Prelude To Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 1970. Print.

What Graphic Design would you make in response to this, and why?
For the practical side I want to explore rebellion. As I am getting further into my rebellion essay I will learn the different techniques used in the past for rebellion and create something that will benefit my essay. I will be learning a lot about what worked in the past and what didn't. Everything that I will learn from my essay will be used forward towards my practical; using techniques that worked and print methods that I could use further in my own designs.

OUGD501 - Study task 2 - Parody and Pastiche

Parody:
Parody is 'mimicking' or copying a style of work of a writer/artist and exaggerating it. 

Pastiche: 
An artists/writers work that imitates someone's work. 

Linda Hutcheon believes that parody is the answer to help us consider how design relates to the outside world. She claims that postmodernism is a parody of modernism. "Its Contradictory dependence upon independence from the modernism that both historically preceded it and literally made it possible" (Huctheon, L, 1989,). This means that without modernism there wouldn't be postmodernism. Hutcheon argues that postmodernism is both parody and pastiche as "It is incorporated and modified, given new life and meaning." (Huctheon, L, 1989). Therefore, postmodernism rejects modernism but without the existence of modernism there wouldn't be an existence of modernism. 

Fredric Jameson believes that both parody and pastiche are very different and not the same. Parody is replaced by pastiche and therefore just imitates past work. "postmodernism is pastiche and celebrates what it is imitating "Pastiche is, like parody, the imitation of a peculiar or unique, idiosyncratic style, the wearing of a linguistic mask, speech in a dead language. But it is a neutral practice of such mimicry, without any of parody's ulterior motives, amputated of the satiric impulse, devoid of laughter"(Jameson, p17).  Jameson believes that parody is replaced by pastiche and that it is just an imitation of the styles of the past. 

The two tones of voices are very different. Hutcheon tone of voice is a lot more positive saying that parody is similar to pastiche however parody is more of a mockery. Whilst Jameson was very more strict and said that there is no way that the two could be the same for post modernism. 

Examples of what I have understood to be parody and pastiche. 

Quentin Tarantino - Kill Bill - A pastiche of kung fu and other mixed martial arts styles.

 

A clear parody of the Mona Lisa by Duchamp (on the right) 

The Flipped Classroom

The flipped classroom – Richard.Miles@leeds-art.ac.uk 

France May ‘68

- A volatile period of revolutionary civir unrest

- General Strikes and occupations of factories and universities

- Spontaneous and wildcat

- Catalysed by student action at the Sorbonne, which was occupied and declared as an autonomous people’s university “open day and night, at all times, to all workers”.

- Anti- authoritarian and radical against disciplinary specialization and ‘education as initiationw’

- Egalite! Liberte! Sexualite

- Education for al and even student wages.

May 14^th. Started to make revolutionary images around France for the people in university. The student were standing up for what they believed in.

Visually communication a revolution

Althusser’s lesson

Rancieres first full book.

A critique of Althusser’s response to May ’68 and his essay ‘Student Problems’ (1969)

Jacques Ranciere - Proletatian Nights

Rancieres philosophy, collectively figured, could be interpreted as an attempt to figure out what happens when one refuses one’s ‘proper’ place in the established social order.

Picture on his book is questioning why the revolution failed.

Philosophers became poets and artists during the night.

The ignorant schoolmaster

-        Joseph Jacotat – teacher, exiled from post-revolutionary France in the Netherlands, working a job on half way.

-        His students couldn’t speak French – He couldn’t speak Flemish

-        His lessons were centered around a newly translated copy of Fenelons

-        His students read the original text alongside the translation and were left to figure out the differenced for themselves.

-        An accidental pedagogical experiment which led to the principals of ‘Universal Teaching’

OUGD501 - Study Task 1 - Authorship & Graphic Design

Design & Authorship - 

Barthes.R. (1968) The Death of the Author in Image Music Text, Hammersmith London, Fontana Press,

Looking into Roland Barthes' The Death of the Author Barthes makes a theory which is known as the Auter Theory. This theory is accepting that a reader can understand the text written through the artist or writer and that no writing is original. "The voice loses it's origin, the author enters into his own death, writing begins." This means that the reader gains more power whilst the author begins to lose power and therefore enter his own death. Therefore giving life to the interpretation of the reader, meaning it is created by the culture of the reader. "The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author.”

"Once the author is removed, the claim to decipher a text is quite futile" When relating it back to graphic design it means that the reader can have different thoughts. Therefore one person could interpret the meaning of a message differently to another. Relating it back to Massimo Vignelli's Canon which is a modernist book. Vignelli who is a modernist believes in function before form therefore the Auteur theory shouldn't be related to his work. Therefore, Vignelli's work should be easily understood. "Succeeding the Author, the scriptor no longer bears within him passions, humours, feelings, impressions, but rather this immense dictionary from which he draws a writing that can know no halt." This means that the Author doesn't carry his passion through the words/designs of his work/writing. The Author has its own stance to the reader although they may be related to each other. In simple it means that no design or writing is original as it has had inspiration from other artists/work.

However, this could be seen as a problem for someone like Vignelli. Vignelli work focuses on one meaning. To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on that text”. Vignelli art work is very famous therefore the viewers opinion on his work is affected by the viewer knowing who Vignelli is. Therefore his art work is about himself rather than the viewer. This goes against the Death of the Author.

Notes on “Death of the author” an essay by Roland Barthes:

- Reader vs. Author

- Everyone different interprets text and writing, therefore the meaning could be different. 

- The reader has their own opinion rather than the opinion of the writer. 

- There is nothing original but actually an influence of something before. 

- We all have different intelligence

- What we might interpret something it will not be interpreted the same. 

- Eventually an author is a myth

The auteur theory, which was derived largely from Astruc's elucidation of the concept of caméra-stylo (“camera-pen”), holds that the director, who oversees all audio and visual elements of the motion picture, is more to be considered the “author” of the movie than is the writer of the screenplay. (As taken from www.britannica.com/art/auteur-theory) 

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Final Posters

Here are my three final designs that I am very pleased with. At first I really struggled with this brief and couldn't come up with a concept that would help promote HeForShe. I really wanted to do a poster that involved influential female celebrities because I believe that the media do not promote these females as much as they do with men. Throughout my posters I wanted to show that women deserve equal rights as well as showing that women do have a powerful voice.

Throughout my text I enlarged the words that are most iconic and create a separate message within the quote towards feminism. I wanted the text to support the image and help understand the viewer what the message behind the poster is.

I decided to use three female celebrities that I believe are the right people to look up to. These celebrities are all very accomplished people and have stood up for what they believe in. I didn’t know much about Emma Watson, Michelle Obama and Amy Poehler but I know now that they are very inspirational people and have helped woman have a say for better. 

Although I did struggle at the start I really enjoyed developing my ideas and making a set of 3 posters that work together for a good campaign. I really enjoyed this brief and hope to carry on with Context of Practice next year. I also hope to improve with my initial ideas as this is something that slowed me down throughout the year.  

Idea development

Here are two ideas that I have decided to take forward. However, I will be designing it for Emma Watson, Amy Poehler and Michelle Obama who are 3 very powerful motivational speakers who have spoken out for feminists. I believe these three women are people that people have not heard enough about. I myself did not know a lot about these three speakers until I did my research and found out how inspiring these people are. 

Throughout my posters I wanted to bring a message. I wanted the lines to represent objectification and how the media uses women. I also wanted the lines to show that it is not important how you look but what you say. Here we have a motivational woman who has spoken towards feminism. I wanted my posters to show that its about the words not the looks.  I wanted my text to be positioned in the top right so that the person involved would be the center of attention. 

Initial Ideas

This was a very hard starting point for me. I really struggled with coming up with a concept that wasn’t digital. I really struggle drawing sketches of people and this is a brief that I wanted to focus on people and equality. I really wanted to use photographs of existing celebrities in order to maintain the same concept as HeForShe using celebrities to endorse gender equality. 

Throughout my initial ideas I wanted to use people in various ways to try send a message. My first initial idea was to create a cartoon caricature however, I decided to go against that idea because it could be seen silly and could be seen as a joke rather than something serious. 

I wanted to create something that used iconic celebrities that are not seen as role models for young teenagers. I want my posters to be inspiration quotes that people can read and follow. 

In general this was the hardest stage for me because I struggled with ideas and my sketches were hard to understand without going on the computer. 

Further Research

This campaign was started by Emma Watson who believes in gender equality and believes its time to stand up. It is a campaign to encourage men to stand up for women's rights. She believes that if you think men and women should be equal than that makes you a feminist. It is a campaign that has spread worldwide and has used subtle advertisement to help it spread. It involves using high profile celebrities holding up a piece of paper saying #HeForShe. This makes people want to get involved because their celebrities have promoted it. 

Poster research

This is a poster that uses illustrations to mark the soul that is coming from the brain. Although this poster isn’t about gender representation this is the sort of style that I have come across and would like to expand on. I think the illustrations draw your attention to the female and this is an idea that i’m trying to get across. 

Here is a poster that uses the idea of a woman holding her breasts. They are very female hands and show how a woman is being objectified as food. The womans breasts are transformed into two massive burgers and the hands are positioned as if a woman is covering them up. 

This is an approach that I would like to go down. Showing how men can be seen in any size, shape or colour. Whereas we see how a woman is ‘suppose’ to look like before she can enter the door. This shows how the media uses gender and how you must look like something to be accepted. This is also backed up in cartoons where the men are normally tall whilst the women are skinny. 

This is a birthday cake that is shaped in the figure of a woman.  women are considered consumable objects that can be violated. They are rewards. Violence here is seen as something funny and acceptable. Out of all of the pieces to take out they use the bum which again shows the womans body being used as an object. In this case a piece of cake with a candle ontop of it. 

This advert uses real trousers whilst changing the man into a typographic layout. This is an advert to sell the mans trousers and avoids using an male stereotypes. I like this poster because it doesn’t use a male model to help influence you to buy their trousers. The advert is very clever because it makes you focus on the trousers and therefore your getting what you see. 

After speaking to a few people in general around my class I found out that a lot of the female people in my class have been told to smile whilst none of the men in my class have ever been told to. This is again something that uses gender stereotype as people believe women need to smile whilst men can get away with things like this. It is also very illustrative and makes it personal with the reader. 

This poster is the one that caught my eye the most. It uses a female woman who is naked and has illustrative work around her cover her up. This is the main approach I would like to take forward because it draws you to the women and this is the center of attention. I also like how the text is there in the bottom left covering her bum with text whether or not it was intended. What I like about this poster is how it fuses a photograph of a naked woman with illustrations going all over the page filling up the necessary parts of the woman.