Contextual Review

During my course I have learnt a lot about design in a more conceptual and abstract sense than I had previously been exposed to. A saturated introduction to Graphic Communication design during part one made me more familiar to a new way of thinking. But in my Illustration and Printmaking pathway I discovered an enthusiasm that perhaps was unfound before, as I became more and more inspired by the intricacies of printmaking processes. The diversity of the projects made generating ideas an insightful process and I enjoyed learning about the more abstract ways of Illustration and printmaking that have given me an idea of my future studies.

Previous Part One projects like Do, Undo, Redo gave me the opportunity to convey ideas through physical objects; in this instance clothes and materials. The fluidity of this medium was a refreshing way of working. Researching the Riot Grrrl movement and the concept of fanzines, my final approach to this was a punk inspired fanzine presenting the 3 different categories since the punk movement heavily promoted non conformity and self-expression. From researching the design collective Letterproeftuin and their attitudes to experiencing “the fun in the printing process” it made me appreciate the Drawing into Print workshop, and I have always enjoyed exploring traditional printing methods and how to implement them with my illustrated ideas.

Opening Part Two with Interact reminded me of Ideas Factory, in the way that it definitely opened my eyes to an unfamiliar way of approaching a project and reminded me of the retro futuristic ideologies I had previously explored . Looking into Chris O’Shea’s interactive installation of creating facial data with the general public was a catalyst to the project proposal as well as the Cobain statement “I’d rather be dead than cool” sparking endless points of discussion. Previously I hadn’t interacted with the general public in such an intrusive way, and challenging myself through this created unexpected outcomes. The cryptic and metaphorical outcome of the reflective mirror reminds me of the experimental work of Hito Steyerl that I discovered in part one.

Following on with Field Notes my familiar knowledge of observational drawing had been challenged as I was introduced to conveying a smooth narrative through my drawings. Mixing up the narrative and abstracting it slightly was an interesting way to represent one day of events through as single impactful mural. Barbara Walker’s methods of highlighting the forgotten and underrepresented “contemporary stories” had me thinking about how I might do the same through my future projects.

Narrative Flux was an illustrative introduction to how meaning within words can be found and interpreted in any way you choose, but taking this and making a story flow through illustrations alone challenged my interpretive skills. Zamyatin’s We was a book that haunted me just as much as it intrigued me through it’s satirical depiction of a totalitarian society and these themes of futuristic dystopia shine a light on the “gritty, intense, and at times, even nightmarish” modern dystopia in which we live. This later slightly influenced my Publication project with the “made you look” aspect that might the reader questioning the truthfulness of what is being shown coupled with the organic Fanzine inspired making process.

Although Illustration and Printmaking has helped me tap into the natural and liberating feeling of illustrating my ideas, it’s also taught me that I have a lot more to learn and explore, so continuing this self discovery in a BA course would be appropriate.

Developing concepts throughout the course so far within different pathways has given me a lot of insight into different forms of communication. Considering all the workshops, conceptualising and executing a creative process can be explored in so many ways through an Illustration pathway. I believe taking the Illustration pathway would be the best way for me to communicate my ideas heading into the future.

 Bibliography

Wikipedia. 2019. Riot grrrl - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl.

LETTERPROEFTUIN. 2019. LETTERPROEFTUIN. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.letterproeftuin.com/. 

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 Chris O'Shea. [online] Available at: http://www.chrisoshea.org/wellcome-face

Cobain, K. (1991). Stay Away. Sound City Studios, Van Nuys, CA: DGC Records.

Walker, B. (2020). Barbara Walker - Artist. [online] Barbarawalker.co.uk. Available at: https://www.barbarawalker.co.uk/index.php/info/biography/

En.wikipedia.org. (2020).

 Satoshi Kon. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Kon

Zamyatin, Y. (1924). We. New York: E. P Dutton.

Sagmeister, S. and Hall, P. (2009). Sagmeister: Made You Look. New York: Abrams.

How Not To Be Seen. (2013). [video] Directed by H. Steyerl.

En.m.wikipedia.org. (2020). Fanzine. [online] Available at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanzine