Jade Navan Caitlin

During the seminar we where given helvetica in bold, thin in both negative and positive. The were asked to deconstruct them and then create our own letters.This was a follow on from the film, and highlighted how perfectly formed I feel helvetica is due to the way it can be used in so many situations. 

The Helvetica movie is a  documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.People who were interviewed in the film included :  Erik Spiekermann, Matthew Carter, Massimo Vignelli, Wim Crouwel, Hermann Zapf, Neville Brody, Stefan Sagmeister, Michael Bierut, David Carson, Paula Scher, Jonathan Hoefler, Tobias Frere-Jones, Experimental Jetset, Michael C. Place, Norm, Alfred Hoffmann, Mike Parker, Bruno Steinert, Otmar Hoefer, Leslie Savan, Rick Poynor, and Lars Müller. These are all influence designers which have helped more graphic design forward.  The interview with Massimo Vignelli was  my favourite part when he was showing us the work he did on American Airlines. Really inspired me as I am interested in rebranding, and creating something as timeless as he has. 

Postmodernism is a 20th century concept in art circles which marks the rejection of modernism. It features a lot of earlier style and conventions, in addition to using a different series of media, styles etc. to create something new. The whole purpose is to get people to ask questions, this is something I defiantly like about the movement/concept.  Above is a piece by Wassily Kandinsky, he was a painter who rejected the values which modernism was based on. Joining the  Postmodernism  movement his work is expressionism which follows no real form, has no subject or reference. In this piece the viewer can see collection of unorganised shapes, lines which seem to have no actual relevance or meaning. The painting is actually just  Kandinsky's representation of his  rejection of the modernism movement.  

After the lecture we then did an activity in the seminar. This consisted of taking inspiration from the design lecture and creating piece which would depict what the word read. I did a series of sketch and then after the lecture created the piece below using my Photoshop skills. 

During the lecture we had we Tracey, we looked into the way design actually makes us feel. In  particular the idea of emotion, illusion and perception. She highlighted that sometimes what we want to see something can colour our perception of a piece of work or topic, this is known as the Rosenthal's expectation effect. The video clip below shows a video of this effect in action. We focus on the eyes and face of the character and as we move round our brain processes it as if the head is rotating round to look at you. 

During this lecture we looked in to the Christmas advertisements that where currently coming out and ones from previous years. This was following from the Semiotic lecture which we just had, we where looking for how they used this particular concept to find out how they have invoked reactions form the audience. I looked at the Sainsbury 2016 Christmas advert, this one uses semiotics in a way which the audience can relate to. The busyness of Christmas and how the character feels as if he is pulled in every direction and how stressful that is. The song paired with the animation enforces this message and lets the audience know that the best gift they can give anyone is themselves; because at the end of the day that's all they want at Christmas.  Sainsbury's OFFICIAL Christmas advert 2016 -The Greatest Gift from Malcolm Hadley on Vimeo .

Semiotics is the study of signs and the interpretation of their meaning. We use signs to communicate with our audience, as a graphic designer, this is something that will come to play a lot when I am working. I will need the context and cultural background for what I'm trying to say to come across appropriately. What is happening around the sign is very important as well.  Above is three different situations a thumbs up has been used. Each can be interpreted differently because of the context, the first can be seen as signifying 'good job' I think this because of the suit, it is something that can be  associated  with work and professionals. The second implying the diver is having a good time and that he is okay, although you can't see a facial expression you know he is posing for a photograph which tells me he wants to document he's having a good time. The last photo is of a hitchhiker looking for a lift, he is using he thumb to signify to drivers what he ...