Friday 30/03/12

My plan for the next week or so is to gather all the information I have on the "Typical Englishman" such as typographic elements, photographs, labels etc and organise them into my sketchbook to create some sort of image-based message that I can then use to make a more graphic illustration.

I then plan to move forward from that and look at how I can use these elements on created backgrounds like Michelle Thompson:

 

Decision more or less made that I am gonna be looking into the 'stereotypical englishman', including things such as Tea and Toast, Fish and Chips, Wimbledon, Pub, The Mini, Caravans/Camping, Telephone Box, Police etc.
And designing this in my own way.

(Britain Yesterday & Today - Janice Anderson & Edmund Swinglehurst)

"Everyone's trying to be someone they're not"

This is a quote I could use for one of my stereotypes, as it is often something I see a lot in people..

Anyway, true or not, it's still interesting.

A good artist for this would be John Stezaker:

The idea is that people are hiding behind a front plenty of the time - masking who they really are

if the last part was unclear...

.. what i meant was that i can use the imagery of "the typical englishman" by setting out and taking my own photographs that I could then later use in my designing.

Martin Parr - Signs of the Times

To create his bookSigns of the Times: A Portrait of the Nation's Tastes. (1992), Parr entered ordinary people's homes and took pictures of the mundane aspects of his hosts' lives, combining the images with quotes from his subjects to bring viewers uncomfortably close to them. The result of Parr's technique has been said to leave viewers with ambiguous emotional reactions, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

Biscuits

Brew

Caravan Holidays

Deck Chair/Union Jack

Granny Shopping

Old Men/Bowling

Reading Newspaper

Martin Parr set out to complete his Signs of the Times by taking photographs of strangers typical daily routines. For my theme of Stereotypes I could set out to do my own photography with the same idea. However I would then use my photography in a typically illustrative way using graphics and typography to express the specific stereotype.

Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Stills

Sherman began making these pictures in 1977, when she was twenty-three. The first six were an experiment: fan-magazine glimpses into the life (or roles) of an imaginary blonde actress, played by Sherman herself. The photographs look like movie stills—or perhaps like publicity pix—purporting to catch the blond bombshell in unguarded moments at home.


The protagonist is shown preening in the kitchen:



and lounging in the bedroom:



On to something, Sherman tried other characters in other roles: the chic starlet at her seaside hideaway:



the luscious librarian:



the domesticated sex kitten:



Other artists had drawn upon popular culture, but Sherman's strategy was new. For her the pop-culture image was not a subject (as it had been for Walker Evans) or raw material (as it had been for Andy Warhol) but a whole artistic vocabulary, ready-made. Her film stills look and function just like the real ones—those 8-by-10-inch glossies designed to lure us into a drama we find all the more compelling because we know it is not real. 


In the Untitled Film Stills there are no Cleopatras, no ladies on trains, no women of a certain age. There are, of course, no men. The sixty-nine solitary heroines map a particular constellation of fictional femininity that took hold in postwar America—the period of Sherman's youth, and the ground-zero of our contemporary mythology. In finding a form for her own sensibility, Sherman touched a sensitive nerve in the culture at large. 


So really the inspiration I get from Sherman's work is yet another way of looking at stereotypes - I could look at the way the stereotypical celebrities act/pose/live and reinvent it into everyday life with normal people? just an idea...

STEREOTYPES

... Or something that relates to how Pop culture / Fame makes us perceive things.

STEREOTYPES

One way to go about looking for stereotypes could be to devise a list of different groups/types of people/person and go around asking people what the first images come to mind.

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch was an artist of the Dadaism movement; post WW1 Germany experienced a new form of government backed by American money. Moving away from imperialism to capitalism opened the door for rapid industrialisation and consumerisms. This created an explosion in two areas: first a rapid growth in media, second, a redefinition of social roles of women. Dada painters questioned the political situation.

Hannah Hoch created a group of photomontages using images from magazines and juxtapositioned the modern German-woman with the colonial German woman. By doing this she challenged cultural representations of women.

Hoch was one of Linder Sterling's inspirations as a contextual artists. You can see the similarities between the two designers and how they looked at contextual imagery and re-arranged it to express a different idea. Through her images Hoch creates an unsettling view as she addresses the fears and hopes for new possibilities for the modern German women.

Art historians suggest that Hoch represent a scene of anger and frustration, arguing that the modern German woman felt a threatened by the rapid industrialization and modernization of their society.  

 

In Dada Ernst Hoch questions the role of women in the new society. A pair of legs with money and a man's eye placed between them are the main focus of the picture. A bow like machine links money with a gymnast who symbolizes the modern athletic woman. At her side a bare backed woman playing a trumpet symbolizes women's femininity.

Hoch juxtaposes the modern images of mental (symbolizing machinery) against the woman's flesh (symbolizing femininity) raising questions regards women's sexuality in the modern world under the watchful eye of the male gender. 
 

 

 

 

The Secret Public: Linder Sterling and Jon Savage

Secret Public pgs. 6-7, T.V. Sex, Linder Sterling, January 1978, offset printed fanzine




She-She, words by Linder Sterling, 1981


Go-Go, Jon Savage, photo montage, early 1977

FMP

After completing the first part of my Foundation course, i have had many chances to research various artists/designers which have helped me to progress throughout. Most recently I have studied Linder Sterling - a late 70's Punk graphics designer who pushed to publish a set of montages that expressed the stereotypes of being female. Her work really interested me as it always had a message behind it.

This is where I came up with the idea to use a similar approach when beginning my Final Major Project (FMP).
I would like to present something that helps express the stereotypes of the modern day. To do so I am beginning research into various artists who have done similar things - and also start to open my eyes in everyday life to see what stereotypes inspire me.

Poster

BRIEF: The poster has been and still remains an important and powerful means of communication both in commercial, political and artistic settings. It is a vehicle that has carried the visual language of some of the greatest graphic designers, artists and illustrators to the masses.

For many, posters become iconic symbols and they adorn the walls of bedrooms across the country. The artwork of the poster becomes by association the visual representation of everything a film, a band, a political message, or a lifestyle embodies for an individual.

You are required to design a poster for the Roman Polanski film Cul-de-sac.

Your poster should reflect the feel of the film and the dynamics of the characters relationships.

As always consider the interaction between type and image and also consider the 'hierarchy' of type.

Draw upon everything you have learnt so far this year and utilise the techniques and processes you have developed.

No imagery from the film to be used.

Sharon Jones was my inspiration for this poster. Her printed works gave me the idea to present all three main characters in one. The bare legs represent the woman Teresa and her flirtatious personality; the top hat represents Dickie the Gangster; and the cigarette represents George. Although from the poster it isn't clear what the film is, it rises many questions of what it could be about - which in a sense is what i spent a good amount of time doing before and after watching the film.

When researching for artist/designers for inspiration for this project, I came across Nate Williams. His silhouetted shapes. obscure patterns and simple colouring really leant itself well to the films mysterious style. Although i am happy with the link between Williams' style and the film, I wouldn't choose to continue working in this way as it doesn't express my strengths.

Record Sleeve

BRIEF: 20th Century witnessed the birth of the Album or the LP and with it the phenomenon of the Record Sleeve.  The artwork and the sleeve itself, the physical object, becomes by association the visual representation of everything the album embodies for the listener.
You are required to create artwork for one of the titles listed on the attached sheet. Respond to the music and lyrics and produce a body of work in the sketchbook.

'Sadness Is A Blessing' Lykke Li
The song had an overwhelming musicality to it. The idea of using mountains helps reflect the mountainous highs and lows that the song goes through. I came across an artist who used similar ideas in her work, however she used digital editing to create the mountains. Instead I wanted to work with the layering of papers to help recreate a similar effect.

I found it difficult at first to respond to the sort of "live" brief we had been given. So I literally just began my ideas by just getting something stuck down on paper to help my ideas flow. So to begin with i wasn't too impressed with the outcome of my initial ideas.

For this record sleeve I chose to use photoshop to create a design. The  layout was easier to rearrange and i found out that there are many positives to using the programme. The mis-shapen box where the title lays was actually a mistake, however I found it interesting that I could get that "accidental" design on the computer so I kept it as it fits well with how i like to work.

Penguin Books

BRIEF: Using the Marber Grid format - famously known design for the Penguin book covers - produce a set of Graphic/Illustrative/Photographic design ideas for these book titles:


"Twist And Shout"
"The Divided Self"
"An Ideal Home"
"Objects Of Desire"

For this project I wanted to explore new artists and designers, and generally just try out different skills to see what I could come up with.

The Divided Self

Twist And Shout

An Ideal Home

Objects of Desire

For this set of books i used very basic skills of photocopying to just try out the scale of the Marber Grid. Although the design is very basic and not altogether professional, I think I portrayed some interesting inital ideas for the titles of the books.

The Divided Self

An Ideal Home

The concept of designing these book covers was to explore much more simpler techniques. However, because I had started off so simple, I found it very difficult to come up with designs for all the titles. Although I do like working in this way, it doesn't necessarily serve a purpose for most ideas.

Objects of Desire

Twist And Shout

These Book covers were inspired my illustrator Oliver Jeffers - who works illustrating children books. By taking this style of work and recreating it in my own way I found a new skill which i would like to experiment much more with in the future.

Objects of Desire

Twist and Shout

The Divided Self

An Ideal Home

This set was inspired my comedian/artist Noel Fielding. Although Noel's work isn't used for design purposes, I still found his ideas very intriguing. When I stumbled across his art work I was compelled to use the brash colours and painting effect he used. Although the outcome wasn't exactly perfect I still found it interested to experiment with these new materials.

This set of books was completely different to how I am used to working. But the whole idea of using this designer as inspiration was to see if I could come up with any further ideas from exploring. Unfortunately after I finished this set I was not interested in trying out the techniques further - so instead moved onwards.

With the inspiration from researching new ideas, i came across  an artist who used delicate drawing skills to reflect an idea. I enjoyed working delicately, however the process soon became tedious when coming up with new ideas - a skill which would maybe involve more planning before beginning.

Using the inspiration of Michelle Thompson once again, I produced my favourite set of books. I Find the colour separation and use of greyscale effective in her work so I recreated the idea using my own skills. What I would like to continue to do from this is incorporating the use of digital editing using photoshop to help develop ideas and skills further.

BRIEF PART2: We would now like you to create your own designs without using the 'Marber Grid'. You must still keep a consistency throughout the set.

Recommended Reading: With the choice of design books we were given, I researched ideas in "Penguin by Design" and "Penguin by Illustration". Doing so helped me to focus on different ideas and look into new techniques by other designers.

For this set of books I used my old skills combined with new ones and produced a set of books which I was happy with however they didn't meet my expectations. With all the research I did, I didn't use the opportunity to express my new ideas for the project.

I really liked the way that designer/illustrators Marion Deuchars worked, as he used a combination of quirky, abstract and collaged design. But I didn't get the opportunity to try out new ideas. On the other hand, I find I really enjoy working in my own style, and the more practice I get the greater the range of ideas  I can get.