A Question of Research

The most interesting part of this book is that it says "for no problem is there an absolute solution". This is a really interesting way of looking at something and something I have never thought of before, I have spent most of my education expecting there to be an answer to something and most of the time getting an answer or finding the answer. However, if I relate it to this project there isn't really a set answer for the question we have been given, I have spent most of this project expecting there to be an answer and going in circles never really finding one until suddenly I read this and realize that there doesn't need to be an answer only something that I am happy with. So that is what I will do, I will do something that I am happy with and not worry about it answering the question we have been given. Maybe this is how I should approach briefs from now on, just allow myself to be freer with them. Graphic Design theory: readings from the field. Armstrong, Helen. N

The next book I looked at was this collection of essays and thinkings from the field of Graphic Design, I thought this would be useful for me as it features loads of writings from well known Graphic Designers and would hopefully give me more insights into the theory and how Graphic Designers use their practice in everyday working. Starting right at the start of the book I found the introduction/forward to be really insightful and useful for me to understand, and place within my own workings. If this is what the rest of the book is like then I think this could be a very useful book for me to use throughout this project. The part that most resonated with me is about how students in Graphic Design are now being taught the "how" rather than to use "why", pointing out that students are taught how to use software, solve problems, or get clients. If I think about this quote and put it into my last 3 years taking a BA in Graphic Design here in Portsmouth I think some of it

 This is now my third project update, before this, I would have said I was confident feeling like I knew what I was doing, what I needed to research, and what it was going to look like. However now after thinking more and more about my manifesto idea, I have decided to throw it out and this has caused me to feel a bit lost again, while I know I want to look more at theory and do something around that I'm just not sure right now. It's tough on me having had what I felt was a good idea a few weeks ago to now feeling like its a bad idea and deciding just to throw it all out, but while writing this I need to remember to keep pushing at it all the way back to the start of this project I felt a bit like this lost and not sure of where to go next. However, I fixed that by just starting and looking at things, in the post where I decided to forget the manifesto I said I wanted to look more at theory so that's what I will do and just start it. I'm sure I'll get somewhere at s

 See when I started to think more about my Manifesto and what it would be about I began to think if it was actually useful for other people and if it even answered my question, I have these ideas of grandeur that the manifesto will be amazing and solve so many problems. I decided to do a mindmap where I tried to list who exactly the manifesto would be for and if it would even be useful. As you can see I couldn't really put that much down on the page when I tried to think who the audience for the manifesto would be, yes maybe artists would find it interesting but even then would it help them, would it resonate in any way. I'm just not sure it will do that nor now that I think about it will it even be appropriate for the project question, yes some of the manifestos I have read in my research read like theory books and give a new way of thinking but I don't think it works as well. Throughout this research I have found myself more interested in the theory and rule books on grap

 Having read all these rule books, manifestos, looking into my own methodologies and attempting to improve my own drawing skills I have decided to try and create my own Manifesto for how I feel we should create Graphic Design and what a Graphic Designer should be when it comes to their own work. I got this idea especially from the "365 rules for Graphic Design" book as I felt that when reading it that it was attempting to box us in and tell us by creating these rules upon rules that we have to follow, this was when I started to think about why we actually need them and that there aren't really any of these rule books for artists and painters so why should we be different.  Maybe our best designs can come from having no rules at all, just being able to create our own designs that we want to.  I found this website from a college in America that outlines how to write a manifesto and what points to follow when writing it, some of the most interesting points they outline are t

When I started creating the poster I also decided to record me creating it too, this allows me to look back at my decisions and design choices when making the poster at such a quick pace. It was definitely hard to try and create something in this quickly but I think the time limit forced me to lean on what I have learnt and allowed my methodologies to show themselves properly. Looking through the video I can really see how I quickly begin leaning on these rules and ways of working that I have read about in design books.    The first thing I do is to copy the type in and then lay out a grid system for the design, I first learnt about grid systems in the first year of  my BA. Here we were taught to use a grid system in our designs to effectively lay out a page and have the type look correct and fit into a overarching system, I have already looked at Grid Systems in this  blog  but it is interesting that I have learnt to use this and now almost am unaware I am using it. A page in the desi

Before starting the poster I made sure to create things that I would need beforehand, all this included was writing a short paragraph that would be included in the poster giving a bit of information about how I'm feeling in relation to the project. This is what I wrote; Since the start of this project, I have been confused and stressed trying to understand how exactly I am going to approach and answer the question and project that is laid out before me. These feelings were overwhelming and made me feel like I was constantly going in circles at the start. But now having persevered and kept working away at it I now feel I am finally getting somewhere, I have a direction I want to head in and a way of really improving and changing the way I work. I am now more positive than ever when it comes to this project and what sort of outcome I will create. This is exactly how I feel about the project currently and it's actually quite nice to have this sort of breakthrough in my thinking to