Leeds Print Talk

Crit

Today's crit was around the table with my group CP1A. I presented my table etiquette work and I received some good feedback. Everybody felt it fit the target audience and was very John Lewis. As I have pretty much more or less finished (except from getting it properly printed in the digital print suite) I have enough time to take this brief on further it was suggested to me to perhaps create a mobile App. As one problem would be the leaflet would get scruffy and eventually put in the bin, and that would be shame. So by having a mobile app this would resolve the problem. I've done a quick search on my iPhone app store for table etiquette. I only found two apps, on 'table manners' but unfortunately they aren't free so I won't be downloading them.

 

Above are the 'table etiquette' apps I found. If I have extra time I will definitely have a go at creating an app. 

Brief 4 - Communicate Brief

Admittedly, I have really struggled with my given word cutlery. From a recent survey I did I found that less than 40% of people did not know the correct way of setting a table, especially on special occasions, such as christmas. 

Communicate Brief: 

To design a piece of work which solves the problem of people not knowing the correct way to lay a table. It will inform and educate, this will be solved in an engaging and interesting way and aimed on a specific audience. 

The product will be aimed at young couples/new home buyers/ basically anyone buying home ware purchased from John Lewis. It will reintroduce/preserve table etiquette. 

The final piece of work will be a folded A3 leaflet. It will have the correct formal way to lay a table, the do's and don'ts at a dinner table and a bit on wine folly. The leaflet will be placed in the buyers bag to look at when they are home. 

Brief 4 - Communicate Crit

In small groups we discussed our ideas and were asked to ask the following questions: 

• Is it appropriate? 
• Is it achievable? 
• What is the purpose? 
• Who is the target audience? 
• What is the outcome going to be? 

I've really struggled with my given word cutlery. My initial ideas for this brief are to re-brand an existing cutlery brand, hold a cutlery exhibition ( design leaflets/business cards) or something to do with cutlery etiquette.

Cutlery etiquette could be interesting to do, from my survey people are unfamiliar of table layouts etc. I would have to do my research in to table manners. Something suggested from the crit was to do a 'do's and don'ts at a dinner party' which could be interesting to explore. 

My work plan for the week: 

Monday: 

Book a printing session for Wednesday 22nd (day before module deadline) 

Decide and write a brief

Research table etiquette

Mock-up a template design 

Blog 

Tuesday: 

Hand Essay in 

Carry on research into table etiquette

Beginning designing 

Blog 

Weds: 

Design 

Presentation 

Thurs:

Design and final tweaks. Print 

Studio Brief 04 - Design Process - Communicate

cutlery double-page crit

Today's crit has been really useful, we laid out our work and asked three questions we felt were relevant to get informed feedback. 

Q1. Do you think my initial designs are suitable to the theme? 

Q2. How would you make cutlery interesting? 

Q3. Finally, any suggestions? 

1. Your drawn layout looks good so far but will look very different when created. 
2. Possibly close up photography used as full page images 
3. Are you left aligning, centering your header? 

1. It's quite hard to understand what they would look like, I'd have to see colours, fonts, etc. 
2. Maybe with interesting angles in pictures or laying out test in the shape of cutlery etc.
3. When I think of cutlery I think of shiny and silver: try to use that colour palette and the ormament you find them in the layouts 

1. Yes really like the first page and the ven-diagram 
2. Talk about that bloke that bends spoons or that kid in Russia who can stick cutlery to him
3. Just make it fun 

1. I guess... I really like the venn diagram...
2. I'd like to see beautiful collections of old cool cutlery 
3. Again yeah I think weird and wonderful collections are the way to go. 

1. Yes very well laid out. I like how its not too cluttered
2. As someone said in the comments its about layout not content
3. Try place text in the shape of cutlery, maybe an interesting effect

1. Yes, I think you should keep it minimal.
2. Facts, old photos, use your photo's!
3. Love the illustrations. Go with them 

1. Yes but one that you have not pursued is the arrangement around the plate. This seems like it could be simplified down to a dental image or theme and applied effectively.
2. Look at the function of each piece and translate into layout in some way? 
3. Look at place settings and how they might translate into layout

I could look at table etiquette which could be really interesting.

1. Yeah I like them, the first page is well organised like a dinner table would be 
2. Look at the funny ones splayd. etc- but I think you don't need to worry that cutlery isn't interesting. It's about layout more than context.
3. Put in some text and see if it works on the page. 

Something I was worried about, making cutlery interesting to look at and read! but yeah it is more about layout than the context. 

1. I think it's difficult to tell without images or type to work from.
2. I'd make cutlery interesting by mixing up their uses. Eg: using a fork for soup. 
3. Perhaps consider colour? 

1. Your layouts are great simple straight to the point.
2. I would look into the different type of colours used in cutlery. Are colours important do they link with the idea
3. I like the simplicity, look into books about cutlery and link them with your work. 

Probably the easiest place to start by looking into existing cutlery books and how I would improve them to inform my designs, yet I hadn't even thought about doing that! 

From the crit I got some really useful feedback, people especially liked the venn-diagram and the idea of keeping the layout minimal and not cutlery. I think I need to re-evaluate my initial designs and looking into colour. 

Research into page layouts

Starting to look at what page layouts I like, the grid systems, colour and type involved. The first three images are from printed pages magazine. Printed Pages is an 84-page saddle stitched publication featuring 10 articles (profiles, interviews, photo essays, essays, etc). They try and add an element of depth and discovery to the quarterly magazine and less so on current/exclusive content. I especially like the title pages how its been ripped then photocopied in. 

Something to consider is the use of colour? Possibly not fluorescent for cutlery.

Kind of took this photograph only because it has a knife in and i'm doing cutlery...

I like how the photographs are grouped together to form a collection. 

Printed Pages

Printed Pages

I love the layout of this one (the one above) its pretty minimal yet formal. 

Pretty and minimal.

Grid Systems

To understand grid systems in more depth I got a book out from the library. The grid is a controlling principle in the form we know it today still remained to be invented. The present volume on the function and use of the grid system is intended to provide the designer operating in two and three dimensions with a practical working instrument which will enable designers to handle visual problems and solve them in terms of conception, organisation and design with greater speed and confidence.

The use of the grid system implies the will to systematise, to clarify the will to penetrate to the essentials, to concentrate the will to cultivate objectivity instead of subjectivity the will to rationalise the creative and technical production processes the will to integrate elements of colour form and material the will to achieve architectural dominon over surface and space. Every visual creative work is a manifestation of the character of the designer. It is a reflection of knowledge, ability and mentality. 

The grid is used by the designer for solving visual problems in two and three dimensions. the graphic designer and typographer use it for designing anything from advertisements to books etc. By arranging the surfaces and spaces in the form of a grid the designer is favourably placed to dispose of text, photographs, diagrams (etc) in conformity with objective and functional criteria. Information presented with clear and logically set out titles, subtitles, texts, illustrations and captions will not only be read more quickly and easily but the information will also be better understood. 

Before the type area can be determined, the designer must know how much text and image there is going to be. As well as overall the look and idea of the finish. 

There are also only two types of grids. One that has an even number of columns and one that has an odd number of columns. Being able to choose the right design for what you are presenting is really important. The rule is: the fewer the differences in the size of the images, the quieter the impression created by the design. As a controlling system the grid makes it easier to give the surface or space a rational organisation . 

The golden ratio is equally interesting and useful for designing. Golden Grid System (GGS) splits the screen into 18 even columns. The leftmost and rightmost columns are used as the outer margins of the grid, which leaves 16 columns for use in design.

COP- the photograph as a document

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

William Edward Kilburn- The Great Chartist Meeting at the Common 1848

William Kilburn took this photograph (The Great Chartist Meeting at the Common) in 1848. The position of the photography is he is looking onto the event, not disrupting, using a plate camera. He is using the camera as a protest,  whilst people are participating in a strike. Documentary photography, is a genre,  and is used as evidence of what happened, so as to visualise history. 

Jacob Riis, 1890 'How the Other Half Live' 

How the Other Half Lives (1890) was an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. It served as a basis for future "muckraking" journalism by exposing the slums to New York City’s upper and middle classes.

Bandit's Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street, 1888

The photographers presence is known as peoples faces are looking towards us, it is exposing the activities of working class. The people in the photograph look worried and somewhat threatened, perhaps because they had never seen such technology like a camera up close, it might've been very alien. Jacob used these photographs to educate, however it is bias as it's staged as the people are looking towards us. 

Lewis Hine

Russian Steel Workers, Homestead, PA 1908

Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940) was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. Similarly to Jacob Riis, Hine is exposing the working class, with a bit more dialogue and depth. Here we see Russian Steel Workers as hard workers, not just another immigrant. It was a good case for American citizens. 

FSA (Farm Security Administration) 

Initially created as the Resettlement Administration (RA) in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty.Photographers and writers were hired to report and document the plight of poor farmers. They were sent out with an image in mind of what to capture and would often move objects around in their houses to get the 'right' image- it creates a somewhat visual irony. 

Migrant Mother (1936) Dorothea Lange

The Migrant Mother (1936) taken by Dorothea Lange rises above the poverty, despite the conditions embodies human emotion. The image gives us context. It is perhaps the most iconic photograph of the Great Depression. 

Magnum Group 

Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris,London and Tokyo. According to co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually."

Studio Brief 03 - Page Layout (InDesign)