OUGD104 Visual Language Evaluation

What practical skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?

Throughout the course of this module I feel that many valuable lessons and techniques have been learnt in terms of carrying out a design process both practically and theoretically given the decisions applied that help to inform an outcome. In specific reference to the 'What is a line?' brief, the most beneficial skill learnt in regards to taking an idea forward was the ability to edit and manipulate both audio and video footage using the software package Adobe Premiere Pro. Although I had already acquired the basic skills from my days in A-levels, I feel that since exploring what could be accomplished I have rapidly expanded and pushed my abilities further to produce a more professional looking selection of work. What's more, through being given a considerable amount of time in which to complete the brief I believe that I have been able to focus directly on improving my time management skills and thus keep a stronger sense of rhythm in relation to creative output and workload. This however could still be improved as at times I slipped out of routine, but with time management on the whole... there will forever be room to improve.

To look back further into module, the in class workshops such as Visual Literacy have most certainly assisted me in learning the benefits of simple crafting techniques and the advantages of working from cut pieces of paper. In addition, the ability to be able to workout how to draw in terms of perspective has also been very important, as well as the theories behind drawing icons and schematics.

What approaches to/methods of problem solving have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?

As previously mentioned, I have definitely developed a stronger sense of awareness and time management through being given a significant about of breathing space in which to complete the brief. To be more specific, as a result of keeping an on-going sketchbook that I have contributed to almost everyday I have learnt that a considerable amount of work and work related research can be built up even if you only re-visit it for smaller periods of time, but at a more frequent level. In my personal opinion, this has informed my design process mostly in the sense that I was able to make more relevant and selected decisions on how to take my project forward knowing that I had a varied and able bodied amount of research to support and back up my proposals. Furthermore, as with the previous module I have found the past four to five months really beneficial in correspondence to keeping a blog and gaining feedback from ever evolving updates.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

From my personal point of view, I am particularly fond of the resolutions created where individual clips of sound were amalgamated to produce a representative sound-scape of the journeys that I have been on. Furthermore, in documenting peoples interactive paths of conversation I feel that I have not only developed a particularly interesting and spontaneous approach to data collection, but a method that also be both serious and humorous at the same time. Had I have been more specific regarding my focus, I almost certain that this would have been the avenue to explore further in order to create a more comprehensive and engaging final resolution.

What weakness can you identify in your work and how will you address these more fully?

Although this wasn't directly specified within the brief, I would have definitely liked to have allocated more time to producing and developing a body of final resolutions as opposed to a sustained progression on my overall workload and research. With that said, I am otherwise fairly happy in terms of conceptual development and progress; I would have just liked to have produced a lot, lot more and given myself the time to exploit its potentials for an interesting resolution.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

1. Limit the range of ideas that I try to develop and instead develop a more focussed selection more comprehensively... hopefully an informed final resolution will be achievable this way!

2. Build upon my skills in Premiere Pro as I have come to realise just how much I like video and audio editing; especially when united for a single resolution.

3. Again; yes Fred, I would like to have managed my time slightly better! HOWEVER, I do feel that I have made considerable progress with this aspect since the previous module.

4. I certainly want to draw more; I should have done more within the 'What is a line?' brief, but it ended up going down a different route. I love drawing and can't let my enthusiasm with this go to waste!

5. Be sure to document the progressive stages of ideas; i.e storyboards and so on. I think a lot of what goes on in my head is lost to a desire to progress rapidly with a resolution.

Are there any things we could have done differently that would have benefited your progress?

Not really; I feel this module is really well structured and allows for a level of freedom that helps you to develop as an individual. In all honesty, I'm sure there's something negative to say somewhere but I haven't thought of it as yet... I do like a good moan.

How would you grade yourself on the following areas?

Attendance - 5

Punctuality - 3 or 4

Motivation - 3 or 4

Commitment - 3 or 4

Quantity of work produced - 4

Quality of work produced - 4

Contribution to the group - 5

Ketamine

As the deadline for my 'What is line?' brief sharply approaches, one aspect of the exploration that is proving to be of some interest relates to the body of found materials collected from the journeys that I have been making on a daily basis. To be more specific, it is quite surprising to discover just how many personal details are carelessly thrown away for wonderful people like myself to find.. not to forget that this includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, mobile telephone numbers and most alarmingly; credit card details. You would have thought that the kinds of stories you hear on the news would have had some impact upon people... oh well?

As a result, a possible idea that I had in mind for a final resolution centered around the notion of contacting all of the numbers that I have acquired so far and to obtain their views on the question set by the brief; subsequently converting the results into what would most likely be a typographic piece.

I'll be honest with you now, the idea did not work in the slightest...



As you can see I opted to send a text message in order to outline who I was, what my reasons for communicating them were and to ask for their response. It would also more importantly keep the information received by each number consistent and allow me to not have to speak anyone that might end up giving me an earful of abuse. I can't really imagine the kind of replies I would have gotten should I have rang each person up directly...

Either way only one person replied for which their response was "Line of ket!" It was someone occupying a room at my halls; Liberty Park. Most probably a met student using vital oxygen that I may need at some point in the future? Never mind, it was worth a shot!

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Re: Bill Fontana

I think I may have just stumbled across some absolute pieces of gold. These videos encapsulate everything I want to explore within my own video and audio editing journey; even to the point of the location setting... train stations.

I really like the ways in which they have been edited as despite not being of a linear fashion, they appear to be very effective in portraying a pleasant representation of the environment that the sounds were recorded in.

I do find the imagery boring however, but nevermind...

Time to get experimenting!

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Sentence Drawing Responses

Completed these drawings in response to the design I found in Dataflow earlier in the week. Pretty fun, but also the most time consuming thing I have ever done in my life. I adhered to the rules set similarly to the original. Each word was allocated 8mm and the line turned right ninety degrees each time I had to map a new sentence. The bodies of text used were the conversations taken from my sketchbook as shown previously.





My only regret is that I could have gotten more done!

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VJ (continued)

In addition to the video by Coldcut posted earlier last month, I have also managed to stumble upon a few more VJ'ing beauties whilst watching the VJ book's accompanying disc that has a whole host of contributions from artists such as D-fuse, Scanner, The Light Surgeons and also Coldcut themselves - (credit again to Ollie for lending me it).

Despite that out of the 3 relevant videos on the disc not being hosted ANYWHERE on the internet, I have in fact managed to pursue my search and unearth this alternate video by HFR-LAB:



Although it doesn't make use of sounds from the environment as much as I would like to myself, I feel the creative use of video depicts the sense of a journey alone and is a technique I'd like to explore further considering my video editing skills are relatively poor at this moment in time.

Had I have been able to find 'Memories [edit]' by D-fuse, Scanner and Shelley Fox as well as 'Reel 9 [edit]' by The Light Surgeons then it would have easier to display how audio and conversation have been merged and incorporated into the mixes to create an engaging piece both by sound and image...something I aim to achieve given the audio acquired from travels to and from home

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Note: The original HFR-LAB video I intended to show can now be found here.

Sentence Drawing

Just flicking through Dataflow today and came across this gem of a design, highly relevant in relation to my conversation and discussion documentation quest.


The basic idea with this was to map out the entire contents of a book though proportionally allowing a certain measurement for every word within a sentence. The whole sentence could then be mapped with its given measurement on the paper. After each sentence was complete, the line turned right 90 degrees and the next sentence was penned etc etc. Each colour represents a category that the sentence relates to and wah lah... The result is what you see here.

Best get experimenting to be honest.

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Re: Dan Eatock

Since stumbling across this guy a few weeks back, I have found his work to be quite inspirational and exciting due to it's quirky and often quite amusing nature. It's probably fair to say that I should have posted a little bit about him a lot earlier than I have; but after all, I am a student and the guidebook says I can always use that excuse within any given situation.

One of the most relevant pieces of work in terms of 'What is a line?' in my opinion is Black > Blank, where as outlined on his website:

'A laser printer containing a new toner cartridge constantly printed a black A4 document, sent from the computer, until the toner ran empty and a pure white sheet emerged un-printed. As the pages exited the printer they were stacked face up. The completed stack contains the entire contents of the toner cartridge, the bottom page is black, the top page is white, between is the transition, demise, depletion, expiration of black to blank, full to empty.


Weird, but it works I guess?

Another piece that links into my personal focus quite well is the radio advert completed for popular T.V show Big Brother...

Listen here.

I've drafted up an idea to mimic this as an experiment using the phrase 'What is a line?' The result should be a series of twenty four ways to say the same thing. I'll keep you posted when I get it complete.

Lastly, I also quite enjoyed the idea behind his piece '£1 Recording'

£1 Recording

1. Using a ten pence piece dial your answer machine from a public telephone
2. Let the answer machine record the sounds from the public telephone for the duration of the ten pence piece
3. Repeat (step one and two) ten times from ten different locations

The total duration of the piece will depend on the locations and time of each call

Total time = £1

All really inventive ways to document sounds through a connected series of events in my opinion. Could really work in relation to journeys on public transport and the conversation observations that have been developing throughout my sketchbook work...

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Sketchbook Update

I thought it'd be relevant to post a few of my favourite images in relation to the sketchbook work that I have been keeping over the duration of this brief. A large amount of my initial responses were mostly collage based as you might have guessed and the main aim was to just develop a broad sense of initial ideas and to see where it might take me.


As an ever developing and progressing body of work however, many of my most recent contributions have begun to construct a way in which I am able to document discussion and conversation between multiple groups of people in any given area. Obviously given the fact that I am not the quickest writer in the world and definitely not educated in shorthand, the sentences that I have managed to record have often produce a very disjointed and sometimes quite funny body of text.





As a result of this, I'd be very interested in perhaps continuing with this direction of recording method and to see what sorts of dialogue can be noted down in longer or even shorter durations of time. They could make for some very engaging final resolutions that's for sure...

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Wakefield Westgate

Another audio/video mix here, this time completed using sounds captured from my train journeys home, that being Leeds to Norwich. I chose to focus the response more towards the style of 'Timber' by Coldcut and the Sacla pesto television advert. Obviously this is not a patch on the standards that they have produced, but in the most achievable sense I have tried to convey a stronger feeling of rhythm and tempo. All linear editing and primarily speech orientated. You'll see why I have titled it 'Wakefield Westgate' when you watch.



.ta x

Sacla Pesto

Saw this on the box the other day and thought it'd tie in quite nicely for my research into 'What is a line?' Sequential sounds edited using video and audio combined; not too distant to what I am trying to achieve within this module.



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What is a line? - An Intentional Statement

To give some clarification on the 'What is a line' front, I have finally narrowed down my direction of focus towards two main areas; even though a third might act as an on going sub-exploration if you will? In opting for the stimulus dictating the notion of "a connected series of events, actions or developments" the most promising direction for me so far is increasingly appearing to be that of sound-scaping (possibly VJ'ing to some); as a method of documenting audio and video simultaneously. As already researched, many adverts on television tend to use this, not to mention the many artists within the music industry that I have yet to document on this blog. In reference to this specific idea, I intend to research into minimalist composers as this form of music lends itself well to the direction in which I intend to take this project; the notion being that music can be created in linear sequences where no two notes/drums are hit at the same time.

In addition to this, I am very interested in documenting the journeys that I will be embarking upon over the duration of the coming two months. I'm keen to pursue this through the forms photography as well as illustration, but more significantly through found materials that will allow me to produce collaged work within sketchbooks and notebooks. What's more, video recording may also be of some relevance should I cross reference my ideas back to the processes mentioned above.

Finally and perhaps less importantly, I am quite intruiged to document the deconstruction of various items, objects and events as a way of flipping the idea of progression on it's head. Although this is interesting on a more abstract level, I am not ceretain as to how much I may persue this path given the time available.

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Timber by Coldcut

Cheers to Ollie for introducing me to this... Another video which pretty much hits the nail on the head with what I want to achieve throughout this unit; more so than anything else I have come across so far to be honest.



I have some sounds collected from my journeys to/from home. That's about six hours worth of train traveling each time I visit. Stayed tune for an update soon.

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Video Experiment 01 part two

The alternate edit of my original video experiment as promised. Think it works a lot better than the first draft; the audio aspect is much stronger and suitable to what I want to achieve. Still room for improvement however, but I'm not going to polish a turd... time to move onto bigger and better ideas.



.cya x

Video Experiment 01 part one

Completed this a couple of nights ago, it's my first real experimentation using video editing software since my first year of A levels; I'm a bit rusty so many apologies for that. The editing style I was trying to aim for was in the vain of Prodigy's video for 'Smack My Bitch Up' that I posted earlier this month as research. I'm a big fan of the choppy and slightly disorientated outcome. For my own video I decided to use a favourite music track of mine on top of the originally recorded sound (Early Grave by Architects). I simply made this decision as it was the track that I was listening to on the recorded footage. In all honesty, I'm Not really sure if I like the final result; it's a bit gimmicky like a music video... it's a bit of a silly thing to say I know; but it just didn't turn out as successful as I would have liked. It's also not really the path I had intended for this project to take. Overall, it would have perhaps been more successful to just use the natural sound from the journey itself. I'll post an alternative once complete!



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Re: Prodigy

If you don't know of this video I'm sure you've had your head in some sand for the past decade! Highly controversial, but I like it and it lends itself well to what I want to achieve within my 'What is a line?' brief.



Sadly as anticipated, this is the only clip I could find anywhere on the internet as it has been banned from most places.That's what the world is coming to I guess? Really like the editing style. Scratchy, chopped and confusing to the eyes. Would like to try documenting some of my journeys in this format; it relates well to The Chariot videos posted previously as well. Nice Nice.

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Re: The Chariot

Ok, I am quite into a band called The Chariot; might know them might not? I don't know. Either way, here are a couple of their music videos shot using just still photography. Think it ties into well some of my 'What is a line?' ideas as it's theoretically all linear based editing such as in conventional animation. If you don't like the noise then just mute it and watch the style.





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Contemporary Time Lines; sort of...

Well well well, where better to nick a bit of inspiration from than the very home grown talents of third year BA Graphic Design. Kyle Bibby, I have never spoken to you; but I have seen you and have heard a lot about you. I might salute you soon as well; dig this.


Kind of taps into my love for beards, moustaches and general facial furniture. Also gives me a few ideas in regards to using moving image/animation. What is a line? I hear you ask... It's a documentation of time of course!

P.s Kylebibby.co.uk - worth a look.

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Re: Olivier Kugler

It brings back a few memories looking at Kugler's work; I haven't done so since my early days of A-levels. Really nice to see a few new additions on his website. Anyway, I just absolutely love his illustrative approach combined with use of colour, the latter of which I believe is done digitally. I feel his style and techniques fit in perfectly regarding the context of the 'What is a line?' brief. I have a few ideas for documenting journeys as a connected series of events myself so this may well be influential within those.





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Re: Egon Schiele

Right... excuse me whilst I just take a deep breath. You see, after posting numerous videos in response to 'What is a line?' I feel that I am about to do something of which I should not speak; something that will probably get me into some strife with my fellow course mates and something that will bring shame upon my name... I'm going to pay respect to a Fine Artist and for once admire the talents and stylistics of such a creature. However, with the familiar name of Egon Schiele I'm hoping many will find it in their hearts to forgive me as I personally feel his work is not only unique and extremely effective, but also particularly influential; even to a Graphic Designer. His use of line is bold, daring and quite abstract, which overall culminates to a very successful method of drawing - a style I admired throughout my years of doing A levels in both Fine Art and Graphic Design. So with that said I'll leave you all to judge for yourselves, but to me... I have to say that I love this guy!





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Re: Geoff Fetridge

Just some more research looking into 'What is a line?' and yet again this is another video that I have seen thanks to Amber. REALLY liking this hand drawn animation stuff, definitely going to consider doing it myself in the near future. It looks really effective whilst maintaining a simple approach to illustration and in my opinion holds a really fresh and contemporary vibe within it's style! Here's some info on the artist straight from the horse's mouth as it were; The Directors Bureau.

'Geoff Fetridge is a graphic artist and director in Los Angeles, California. Originally from Canada, Geoff moved to California to earn his MFA for Graphic Design at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1996, Geoff founded his own design studio, Champion Graphics. He also worked as the art director for Grand Royal Magazine from 1995 - 1997.'



Enjoy. x