Finally there.

morning everyone, welcome to my life

so here it is.. what this whole project has been building up to.. a poster and a couple of sheets of acetate (bloody expensive stuff)

ok so it might not seem like much, but within these two outcomes i have given the viewer the opurtunity into my life. by looking at this poster and layered acetate, they can see how much i worked, when i ate and drank, how much i was traveling. on these outcomes is a whole months research. me painstakingly writing down every time i ate a single grape, or showing how on one occasion i forgot to brush my teeth untill the evening. little things like this, the things everyone can relate to, but also the things that noone realy cares about, because they are.. well.. mundane. the same things people are publising every day in silly status updates on facebook or twitter, or the silly tasks people watcch when they watch reality tv shows like big brother.

in the poster i have also included some details in the top right hand corner as it is publishing my april, why not make an event of it. the informations open for everyone to see, like an exhibition.

Final Developments

right.. after abandoning the creepy face, and realising i wanted to do somehting with colour, i began categorising my daily tasks so i could then gain some kind of order to my data collection.

i created a graph in excell that i then put everything into.. all of this is on worksheets.

red is work
orange is travel

yellow is eating

green is mecessities like washing and brushing teeth

blue is drinking

purple is play

grey is nothing

and black is sleep

i then worked out how i could recreate this screen printing with 4 screens. red and yellow overlap to make orange etc

unfortunately the prints didnt come out too well, the colours didnt overlap as i thoiught they would.. even with me thinning the paint right down.

Gallery Day

so.. back from holliday and iv only been to one exhibition, so i went on spoonfed.com to find a load of galleries to go to. after about an hour of prining off maps and directions i had 8 galleries to try and get to in 1 day.

a 15 minute walk, one travelcard and a snickers bar later i was at the science museum to see the listening post. by mark hansen and ben rubin. in the piece they pull snippets of real time conversations from chatrooms, for computer synthesised coicews to read and LED screens to display.

rubbish photos, but you get the idea.

it was amasing how people thinking they were having a bit of fun chatting away to some random person theyl never meet, were actually broadcasting comments to the exhibition for thousands of people to witness.

as i was in south kensington already i thought i may aswell go to the V&A as i hadnt been in ages and i never know what i might find. although there was nothing realy graphicsy or directly related to my project there was some realy cool stuff in the glass room.

as i had decided to persue the idea of coding, and that i was probably going to use colour this piece stood out for me. although the artist arranges the colours only to look visually apealing, the structure of this sculprute reminded me of a 3d graph or table. if i wanted to i could create something very similar to this for my rinal piece, but with the colours each meaning a different task. i could either do this by what task i did the most, or chronologically showing what i was doing at each moment of april

the layering technique kept coming up in the glass room, convincing me more and more that this should be the aproach i take when coding my data. it is apealing, but has structure and if i use a key or include some kind of instructions people will be able to easily understand what i did in my month.

there was also this realy cool piece that was basically a mummy, but instead of contunuous bandages, it was bricks. i could make a mould of myself and fill it with colours showing what i did. or if i made it transparent i could reflect something through it.

another exhibition i went to was 'i could have been anyone' at SEA gallery in st johns street. it was realy cool because it was about how people percieve themselves, and looking at your surroundings through someone elces eyes, but i dont know how i would apply this to my project.

Idea generation gallery was realy cool too. there was an exhibition on called the art of conversation, where a group of artists created a chain mail type effect where each created a piece of art and the next person had to make a response to it.. the concept was interesting as it was focusing on the use of internet and communication over technology, but again there was nothing that i could directly apply to my project

^^^

'experiments' at GV art gallery in chiltern street was interesting, as there was such a wide range of work. there was one piece that didnt have a name or artist listed near it that was the cloud formations recorded by lazering them into the glass. obviously i dont have the funds to do this for my own project, but the idea of recording something in an alternative methid like this is something that i could apply

Morse code & Brail

when i began experimenting with using morse and brail as the coding format i thought it would be cool and ironic. however after my tutorial and a rethink, i realised that its not actually ironic, just irelevant.

[theres more detailing and experimenting of this in my sketchbook]

i found that with both types of coding although the actual format was pointless the result looked pretty cool. the idea of coding is definately going to be an element of my final piece as it will allow all of the data i collected to be a continuous flow, so people can easily see patterns within it.

Symbolism & Coding

while i was away i also kept seing adverts for an exhibition at rhe mojo gallery in dubai. obviously it was too far to go and visit but i had a look at the website, for the exhibition that i kept seing.

www.themojogallery.com/new-improved.html

although the exhibition has no direct link to my project i realy likes the artists concept of challenging the commercialism of today, and the ironic imagery tpo show this..

also the opening statement of the exhibition:

"We use brands - and their symbolism -

to help decode out increasingly complex consumer world.

we do it unknowingly...

untill someone challenges our aquiescence by changing the code"

this idea of coding is something i could definately apply to my april research so that all of my mundane tasks become interesting and appealing, meaning the outcome would fit the brief

Anatomy again

Ohhh and in that last post i forgot to put this guy in...

work of a graphic design student at the inuversity of newport. if i were to aproach the more sientific blueprints idea i could look into this style a bit more as the humour in the text gives a more lighthearted feel to the scientific anatomical layout.

Portraits

Following this idea i thought id have a go at making, or atleast start some rough verson of a blueprint of myself. With the skills i learned at my placement i used illustrator to draw (with the pen tool) my face and features.

from this experiment i realised how hard it was to get the right level of detail in my face, as a lot of the detail that appears naturally is in shadows. too much detail and it wont look like a blueprint, not enough and it wont look like me. another problem with this idea is that it wouldnt be possible to include my april data collection and keep the idea in context

Also when i was away i stumbled across a realy nice little exhibition called 'castillo san jose' where one particular piece stood out.

in this piece, the artist Zhang Huan has calligraphers write the names of his ancestors, personal stories and random thoughts on his face, while being photographed at regular intervals. the idea that his present state, is crafted and influenced by his history is an ide that i very much believe in and find inspiring..

continuing this idea, but in a more modern illistrative way is Mr Bingo's 'Euroman'. although the piece focuses on his love of football. the ilistrative style is interesting visually as well as being informative of his passion of football. i could use a similar aproach to show my month.

Blueprints & Anatomy

Following my last idea i had a browse on the net for ideas of how muh detail i could go into.. creating blueprints could be a good idea, as it woud alow me to be more realistic and detailed then if i were to make myself into a toy

i could also look into a more scientific aproach. if i were to do this i should definately look for human anatomy books in the library.

PLACEMENT

Before I came away I completed a 2 week work placement with the design creative 'lemoncreative' (http://www.lemoncreative.co.uk). The company works with clients such as Hornby designing for Airfix and Scalextric products.

Here is some of the work I created whilst working for lemoncreative:

^ Scalextric Service Sheet ^

^ Hornby Maintenance Sheet ^

^ Airfix Packaging ^

The more I think about the placement, the more relevant it seems to this project. We were taking a product that they were selling, and displaying it in a way that would be appealing to the masses. Although it may seem a bit blunt, in reality, people on networking sites take themselves (the product) and display themselves in a way that they think will appeal to others (the masses).

Could I somehow take the skills I learned in the placement and apply them to this project?
Could I make myself the product, and display myself in a way that I feel would be appealing to others?

I could simplify myself into a mere object; creating service sheets, operating and maintenance sheets, a paint guide, mood imagery, and packaging for myself.

How much detail of myself could I go into?
Am I a plastic miniature?
Am I a life-size model?
Am I completely myself: A living human selling my personality, my appearance, to the masses?

EARLY INSPIRATION

When browsing the internet for info-graphics I stumbled on Feltron.com
The site of designer Nick Felton.

Felton specializes in infographics, condensing a whole year into a short book by categorizing everything, similar to how I have begun this project.

As everything is displayed with such clear graphic imagery, it is easy to get a general overview of his life. He has used a continual colourscheme & general theme through each journal, so even though the layout and general feel of the journal is different each year, each still holds the simplicity in the way that he displays the information.

He has obviously been extremely strategic in the manner that he has recorded his day to day tasks, as although it is about his personal life, it is informative as the final outcome is unbiased so is interesting, even for someone who doesn’t know him!

DATA ENTRY

So... on the first of April, as planned, I started noting down in my little Camberwell sketchbook everything I ate and drank, my expenses and income, my exercise and sleep patterns, the time I spent working and chilling (including books/music/internet) and the people and places I go (including where, how far and the means of transport). All of this data has the time it occurred next to it so I can easily collate the data when the month is over and see any patterns.

Here are some pages:


I realize the range of this data is pretty vast, and may seem random in the data form that it is currently in, but with no concrete idea of how I am going to use it yet, I thought it was best to have too much data than not enough. As I will be recording it for a month it needs to be useful. Wasting a whole month on recording data that I can’t use would be stupid!

STRANDED

Because of this volcano spitting ash everywhere in Iceland, my flight home from my family holiday has been cancelled, and the earliest flight we can get back is 1st May. So for the whole of april im stuck in Lanzarotte with limited internet, no books, no studio, no tutors, 1 gallery, and lots and lots of volcanos!

INITIAL PROPOSAL

Since beginning the course I’v attended a range of workshops. Screen printing and book binding workshops taught me processes that I applied to produce a set of zines. Letter press and handmade type workshops showed me the range of type that can be created, and the broad array of media that can be used in the development and outcome. The course has allowed me realisation that the pathway of graphics is a lot more open and experimental than I believed, allowing me a broader approach to graphic design.

People are broadcasting mundane tasks on status updates via Twitter and Facebook. Celebrities sign themselves up for reality shows such as Big Brother, their own television series, to then have their lives torn apart by critics and psychologists. People’s lives are no longer private. It interests me how willingly people submit to this, and allow all of their personal business to be so openly shared and assessed by complete strangers.

Within this project I thought it would be interesting, instead of rebelling against the lack of privacy, I’ll embrace it and be completely open with my life. For a month I’ll document all things I do, this could include how many cups of coffee I drink, how many hours a week I spend arguing and how many new people I meet for example. This project will be an opportunity for me to experiment with info-graphics which is something completely new to me, as well as allowing me to take a step back to observe my own life, and as I’ll display the information I find in a clear graphic way, I’ll make my research interesting to other viewers. In order to ensure I collect the right information, I’ll conduct research into the things people want to know and see about people’s lives, and the information they actually get. When collecting my data, I’ll need to be extremely strategic and consistent in my method of recording it, so that I can then assess and display all of the details affectively. I’ll need to devise an interesting way to display all of the information, for inspiration on how to do this I’ll use the internet and the college library to research into info-graphics and artists that produce work in this category to. I’ll also need to decide the media and format of the final outcome. In order to make this clearer I’ll look into workshops and tutorials within Camberwell, for example screen printing and letterpress could be useful to me when creating block colours and type within the final outcome; however I could also do this using vector graphics within illustrator.

In order to evaluate this project effectively I will use a reflective journal to instantly record any feelings I have regarding the project. I will also keep a blog which I will update weekly; this will allow me to use images, links and text so I can have a broader method of evaluation. Finally I will create an action plan timetable so that I can review my time keeping skills, as well as allowing me to see when I planned to complete tasks by so that I can complete the work to deadlines, and stay on task.