INTRO: Semiotics - The Study of Sign

Icon - Something that resembles the actual object it represents

Index - Where the signifier and signified are 'linked'

Symbol - Where the viewer has to learn the connection between signifier and signified.

Context - Where, when and by whom a sign is viewed.


Using this in groups we were tasked with turning a basic fairy tail into road icons to retell the story (in our case we chose Cinderella). At first we wrote out the basic story in order, shortened to the key points to give us a starting point.

























With that we then turned each key line into an image to see what we had to work with in terms of scale and action going on within the story.

























Since we were tasked with using road signs we decided to try and keep the story as close to original road signs as possible to tell the story. Such as we didm;t want to make out own signs with the basic of what the original are. Such as triangle signs are mainly warnings, square inform and circle order.

And here if our final story. Due to timing we didn't have enough to add every signs as a road sign as such had 2 one with the glass slipper and the slipper being picked up. But overall the story really worked. We used motorway signs to give a sense of travel while the dance a walking stop sign. It really worked and people were able to determine what story it was when prompted to guess.

Storyboard Brief - Planning a Storyboard

The next brief which I picked to do was relating to a storyboard brief. Where I had to design and create a storyboard relating to a topic of my choice. For the topic I decided to go off my last project of a book cover for the book 1984 by George Orwell.
The reason why I picked this subject is the book is rather outdated as well as the film was last released in 1984 as of this I thought of making a short TV add no longer then 20 seconds. Relating to themes of the book while making a complete storyboard linking to a past brief.
What I wanted to convey with this is the feels of the book. Such as the dark and creepy tones of being watched while linking back to the sense of a technological world in a modern setting. I looked into this while doing my book cover and I was fixated with the idea of digital glitches. As technology plays a role within the book, however such things as CCTV and cameras had already been explored in a digital sense for the book. So I wanted to relate to them somehow but with a new original idea and I came up with the idea of glitches. These glitches would work even better as a moving image such as for a TV add and will be the main on screen focus that I will use. Along with this Since I'm going to be making a add based story board there ill be thought provoking quotes from the book throughout along with the obvious title slate advertising the subject somewhere within it.
When planning these things I had to also think about the choice of media, I'll be making my storyboard on paper with pen but with the inset of it being made digitally. As such I'll need to make sure to jot down any effects and camera angels which would be used. along with sound and music cues. While researching storyboards I didn't realise the amount of detail which went into them. As such I found a new found admiration for the work directors put into their work, such as Hayao Miyazaki. I found out that for all his amazing films he has been apart of making over the years from Spirited Away to Princess Mononoke he has produced the storyboard almost single handily. As such I was truly inspired to try and get my message across as strongly as possible.

After my research the first thing i did was to jump straight into the drafting of my first storyboard. For this I drew out a quick grid of boxes so my sketches. The first problem I came across was which camera angles should I be using where and how best to transition from one frame to the next. As such I found to start off the storyboard a fade in was perfect for what I wanted as The ad started off from a black screen so having the glitch come in from black with rising music would really catch the attention of the viewer. 

My main focus for this was to have a glitch effort moving in and then transiting in to a quote effect being glitch across the screen. For the famous phrase from the book, 'War is peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is strength'. Having each word pop up in and out of glitch would be a very striking and attention grabbing effect which relates well to the book and works well as a whole for this storyboard.

After this y thought was to zoom out from the phrase and glitch into the darkness of a keyhole and further away back to nothingness where you here the chime of the clock striking 13 and the title appears on the screen. Finally ending the storyboard with the title quote and fading to black. I feel this is a really well put together storyboard with timestamps between each one to indicate how long each frame should be with camera annotations through out. I feel this is the best way to do a storyboard as it means it can be handed off to an editor and they can see everything they need to produce an actual mock up.

After completing the first storyboard I had the bug and wanted to produce another one as I thought instead of just drawing it I could use some of the glitches I made from my previous photoshop work and add the onto the storyboard to give even more guidance and visual help to see the progress of the story. As such I released it would be more beneficial to me to make up a template page which I could then use as a copy sheet for whenever I needed more.

With this board I did something a little different from the last. Where as I hand drew everything this time I used images I already had in photoshop and used effects in photoshop to give the visual effect i wanted. For example the glitch effect I could put straight in and where I want static I could over lay it with the effect for noise and decrease the level to show the noise / static fading out. However to make this even more clear what I should have done is to write underneath the frame what is going on in each frame for validity. 

As for the scene with the text '2+2=5' I could;t show the sound effect of a keyboard / type writer going off so I still added in cues for sound effects and music above each frame saying where they should start, finish and fade. For time scale same as before I indicated between each frame about timing but on this one I was a little unsure about the timing for the zoom in of the title '1984' as Depending on the timing it could look rushed and jumpy. As such I put a time but a rough one of 1-2 sec instead of 1 sec along with a question mark to show that the editor has more freedom when editing this story together.

Out of having a completely hand drawn storyboard or a digital one I think I personally prefer a icing of the two and some effects are quicker done in photoshop then hand drawing and if the storyboard is being passed on to someone else who is going to interpret your own work. I personally would want to make their job as easy as possible. Whether this be by showing them the visual, explaining with text and giving queues on the likes of sounds, music and timing. I feel that is what makes the best possible storyboard as long as the topic is also good to go with it.

I enjoyed the research side of storyboards a lot more then I did actually making one. I loved looking up about all the different cameras angles and I could pictures myself shooting them but I didn't enjoy the process of having to put down each and every one. Planning a story board was a nice  journey however I don't see myself pursuing it in my free time. Looking back at amazing directors and looking at the amount of dedication and time they put into their storyboards is mind blowing to me and makes me look at the in a whole new light. As such I think going away from this project overall I have a new sense of enjoyment from watching more complex films with interesting camera shots and how they were planned out and the final film / projects come together. 

The North - Magazine / Publication Brief

My next brief was to design the layout for a magazine entitled 'The North'. The main thing I was tasked with completing was a front cover and a double page spread. To do this I did my usual design process but worked in InDesign instead.

For the theme of my magazine I was given a list of choices for which could help with adding in images. From the list I chose the theme of 'Abstraction' As in my previous briefs I had collated a collection of texture / close macro shots, as such I felt I could take this one step further an take a collection of photos focusing on even more abstract subjects. 

The first thing I did was to research layouts and what is used within them. Looking closely at the use of spacing, callouts, drop caps etc and how effective it is to use them in certain places.

After doing some research by looking at magazine currently in print and getting an idea of trends and how different design aspects can effect the readability of the magazine I went to work in designing a bunch of different design layouts since depending on the style I wanted whether that be a fanzine or a professional magazine I could get away with different designs. I did extra research over at Pinterest as always too.
While doing my research I came across Neville Brody an amazing British designer well known for his cover page design for magazines and records. His use of type and space is really something else and he was a big inspiration when it came to adding extra flare to my idea sketches. His work is very artistic in the sense its out of the box thinking. Its not con-formative but has a professional finish to it which I really like.

First when sketching my rough layout designs I started with the double page spread as I feel there is a lot of things you can do here. The main idea I was playing around was how much space I wanted as when doing my research I noticed a trend of how some more artistic or graphical magazines use a lot of open space to give off very bold and powerful page designs. As such I played around with leaving extra space around the edges and near the gutter to give an extra sense of width. Playing around with these ideas now gave me a great grasp of what I could do as well as what I wanted to do further down the line.

Since I had do many options for the double page spread I ended up jotting down a large collection of ideas which came in handy when I started to play around in InDesign. Next I started my front cover ideas. These I found a lot easier as the options I found to be a bit more limiting as you Don;t have to worry about the placement of your main body text but more just the composition of your cover. Such as the type working with my main image or images and whether I wanted to have sub text on the front or not. Since this was the 'first issue' of the 'North' I was more drawn to a strong image to be used on the front as this would draw the viewers in a lot faster then your typical over clutter covers with images and text all over the place. As of this I liked the ideas which were more graphical but with a formal feel.

Following my idea sketches I went to work in InDesign playing around with different layouts. This was my first time using indesign so it took a bit of getting used to but its a very nice problem for working on layouts and I can see why people would use it for magazine and book cover design. I didn't find it difficult to use and picked up the basis very fast, I think this is down to the simplistic layout of the program and everything is in roughly the same place as Photoshop etc. However when working on a design itself such as the pattern I'd still be more tempted to use Photoshop. However once the piece is complete I could see myself then moving it over to InDesign for final touches if needs must and I got a little more comfortable with it. For this project since I didn't need to focus on the main body (which I just filled with place holder) and just the actual layout of the magazine. I tried to compliment what I thought would be in the magazine such as general information on the photos I;d taken a short interview as well as any relation information on the topic of Abstraction. Once I had a few experiments and a template roughly sorted I moved away from the PC again to take my actual photos for the project.

Since I have been loving experimenting with film, photograms and the darkroom in general in my past projects. I wanted to take it one step further and as such decided to only use black and white film for my abstraction photos. As such I thought about what would make a great abstract photos. So once again I thought about what would make up a great abstract photos and after doing some research online I came up with the idea of nature and rust. As both when photographed at close range have a whole other word of crazy and unique patterns which are hard to reproduce otherwise. So I loaded up my Pentax Super Me and went into the local woods by me and took a collection of nature photos while also visiting my local boat museum to take photos of ruse of the metal around there since I knew I'd be able to obtain such photos in these areas which were lucky so close by.
What I love about film photography over digital is the fact you really have to think about the photo before taking it and making sure the composition is correct in the photo as well as the basics of focusing and making sure the subject is light correctly. It really makes you think about your photo before you take it and as such I feel the photos I managed to take turned out really well.
Following this I went into the dark room to start developing this roll of film. Having a timer on my phone really helped with the development process as it meant I was able to keep on task when agitating the film while being developed. Once development, dried and cut into sections I moved onto making a few prints from my Film just to see how it had turned out. As from the negatives it looked like I had some really interesting shots.

First I complied the negatives onto photographic paper and made a photogram of them to make a contact sheet. Which over its counterpart above (which I had to scan in the negatives into the pc then compile in phtotshop) It has a real life to it and really stands out. After this I made two prints. The first being two prints of some rust pillars. As you can see I have two prints this is because when I did the first one I didn't think to test the right light for the still so I ended up over exposing the print. As such I took a strip of photographic paper and exposed it in 5 section intervals while exposing more of the paper each time. So at the end I had a stripped paper with one end having the print exposed for 5 seconds to the far end (completely black due to over exposure) being 25 seconds. This helped me indicate how long I should be exposing my print for. As such the first was 10 but the 2nd one I did at 6 seconds and it turned out much better. I did this same process for the wood print and 10 seconds seemed perfect so after the text that print turned out amazingly. This method is time consuming but I really enjoy the whole process of Film development from taking the photos to have a final print in your hands.
Now that i had my images and after developing them I scanned them into the space so I could import them into InDesign and onto my Final magazine layout.

 First is the front cover.
I wanted to go for a more professional looking magazine and since it was the first issue I wanted a very striking image which stood out with a bold text choice. I feel I accomplished this here really well. It really helps that the photos are in Black and White this time as it bring something else to the whole thing I didn't even think about. Lucky my lack of colour didn't damage the final thing. As for the subtext at the top of the page I feel looking back at it now it would have looked more complete if it had been but one or two sizes smaller as it seem to stand out a little to much and draws the eye away from the main subject of the photo and title.

Next was the first of my double pages. Since I had so many ideas I didn't want to just do two pages. For the 2nd page (first after the title) I wanted something which was a bit more toned down from the striking front page. As such I went with a design that is layered in your usual column style which I nice heading of the title again with a sub heading to introduce the piece as well as a drop cap to draw the eye to the start point. As for the section page I didn't want to over load the reader with images so went with a more typically design of equal columns with drop caps for new sections. I feel what is missing from this page which I did use in one of my experiments is the use of a call out to help break up the massive walls of text that would be presented. I'm really tempted to just go back and add it to the bottom right about now.

For the last two pages since I had toned things down I felt it only right here to bring back the interest with two equally large images of my abstract photography. This was mainly down to the feel that after the previous page a reader may be drained after all the reading or if they're just flicking seeing to well composition photos next to each other may make them stop and think 'oh' I'll check this out.
Like with 2nd page I started it off with a large portion to draw the eye to the starting point of the topic in this case a question and then followed that up with another drop cap do they are drawn even more towards this point. I did this to try and counter act the extreme presents given off from the image. Also for people who flick left to right there is a strong draw from the left side of the page which also may cause them to stop and take a look.
For the final page I did pretty much the same as the first but without the extra draw of the increased size. This was down to me not wanting the readers eye to be drawn all over the page at once. Throughout these double page spreads I've kept the spacing of each column and footer the same to keep a flowing design throughout which I feel is very important for the type of magazine I wanted to create and a mixture of designs wouldn't look very professional.

Overall I really enjoyed this project as magazine layout isn't something I ever thought of myself doing but I found myself really enjoying the process off putting together different types and images in a way which creates a final product. As such I can see myself at some point making a little collection of prints by myself into a self made magazine and experimenting with page layout. Maybe even experimenting with dust covers that fold out to make poster and such other 3D styled packaging for magazines.

Graphics: Illustrator shoes.

Carrying on with my elements of design brief and still working in Illustrator my next task was to research Sarah Beetsons work and bring in an object to draw in Illustrator. Since I was looking into Sarah Beetsons work it only seemed right to take her work with shoes and draw my own shoe.
What I enjoyed most about her work is the very clear clean lines with a nice 60's feel as of the bright use of vibrant colours.

So before even looking into Illustrator I took a photo of my subject so I had a static image I could look at and draw from since I wanted the image to have a 2D feel to it since I planned to use just lines to make up the basic shape.

Taking the photograph into Illustrator I used it as a template to create my basic shape for the shoe as seen above. I did this by drawing sections at a time on different layers using the pen tool as the node feature allows for easy shaping and corrections to the base drawing. After I had the basic shape down after alot of small fixes to make sure certain sections didn't over lap (which would be more noticeable when colours added) My next step was to add stitch lines and air holes to the main shoe and use the same technique of adding line spacing to my base line from the pen tool to give off the grip texture on the front of the shoe. I feel this really brings the shoe to live. The extra detail such as that and the shoe lacing eyes really make this piece jump out I feel.

 The next step was to add colours to each shape. Doing this allowed me to focus on any missed imperfections I may have over looked in the original line work. 

With a focus on colour and clean design I ended up making a sleek red and blue/purple shoe after such went for a more unique colour scheme looking back at Sarah Beetsons work again for guidance. After finalising the 4 pieces I added some tonal colour as backgrounds to help the final pieces pop off the page. I feel this worked really well with what I was aiming for.

3D Final Concept - Glass Work

After completing a set of Design sheets, my next step was to look back at these ideas and develop the ones I liked the most and what i thought would work the best into a final piece. At this stage I know i wanted to work in either clay or glass so I started to tailor my designs with one of those directions in mind.

In the end, I ended up with 5 designs I felt would work and while drawing these out I came to the conclusion i wanted to work with colour in my piece so inturn turned my mind to a more solid glass piece. So stopping with my final piece for the moment I went and did a quick test with a few glass layered glass pieces to see what sort of effect the end piece would look like.

I did this, as first i wanted to see what the coloured glass would look like when layered in between to clear pieces. The main reason for this was out of my final designed I really like my bottom left piece. Which didn't just include crushed glass and clear, but also wire to help with the forming of a coloured pattern. After solidifying my idea, I went back to the Glass room and started on collecting the scrap glass I needed to work on this piece.

I decided instead of adding a mould to curve my piece, I'd just leave the piece flat. This was mainly down to the fact I didn't want the crush glass to have a chance to move even if just a little bit, for the fact the design could be lost if that happened.
As well as that, i decided on using bits of cut glass leaving space between each for the top layered, instead of one solid piece which i used in my test. I wanted to try this out as I feel it would give a more ridged effect to my piece making it more interesting to look at. This come into my mind when I was thinking whether or not I could set the piece on a mould.

Not the best photo, but this is my final piece after spending its time being in the kiln and I am very happy with the way it came out. The glass on the top most layer moved a little bit from being perfectly straight with the back piece but I much prefer this effect as It gives the piece more characteristics which I didn't even think to give it. I really like the way the shattered glass isn't the same in each space too. I think this will be down to not being anal about putting in the exactly same amount into each space. Overall I am very happy with this piece and have learnt a lot while working with glass. I know it will be hard to try and recreate this effect as well there are a lot of variables working in glass but that adds to its charm I think. I'll definitely come back to glass work again later down the line and try out some more experiments and tests.