Sete Dias // Cristiana Couceiro

I think this is a woman after my own heart. Well, clearly not... but she could have it if she wanted to given her design work. Collage combined alongside digital references and a slight nod to the Russian constructivists that I love so much; you can't get much better than this. Love the colours, love the composition - grid structures combining type and image. I think I'll have to stop there, I'm getting a bit hot under the collar. Here's some imagery.





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Jacob Arden McClure

I won't lie, I found this guy's work whilst browsing through some third year research blogs. Absolutely love it. I think it's an established fact by now that I have a major soft spot for collage and this is by no means an exception.




Really like how the majority of the compositions seem to have been put together digitally; an aspect I really need to start getting involved with... I can't keep cutting up my treasured 1940's newspapers and books everyday now can I really!?

I'm also really into the way that digital graphics themselves have been bought into use; again something else that I MUST get going with.

Lovely stuff

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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.