Week 12: New Steps

I actually cannot believe how quick this term has gone by. These twelve weeks have gotten us to delve into many different ideas, questions and theories revolving around graphic design; from acknowledging different perspectives, exploring different processes, and understanding how graphic design can communicate ideas and messages. It's only right that this last week of the term revolves around the topic of 'New Steps'.

The challenge itself is look into how we can shift design into new and different paradigms-

to take an interest that you're familiar with and explore how that idea could be disrupted or improved or retold through a shift of application.

Lecture Material

A big part of this challenge also involves looking into the potential future of design practice, which is further explored in the first lecture as different design practitioners are asked these questions:

What are potential future definitions of design practice? What are the sectors that might change or need to change?

In terms of branding, Simon Manchipp (co-founder of SomeOne) believes that 'the definition of branding is getting broader'. Which I have to agree with, because in general I believe that people from all sorts of different businesses and companies, have come to see how branding can have a major impact on their presence, and futhermore, their ability to communicate their story to a broader demographic.

Manchipp also talks about how more people are now acknowledging the importance of turning spectators and customers into fans and how design can play a big part in helping companies create exceptional user experiences; the kind that can convince people to come back and engage with their content time and time again.

Sam Winston makes a really good point when he talks about how 'design is a living enquiry into a problem'. He explains how the definition of design is tied to the problems that we face, and therefore the evolution of design will be tied to the problems we'll be facing in the future.

He goes on to explain how we live in an attention economy- how the most valuable asset is our audiences' attention and awareness and how it is becoming increasingly harder to capture it and hold it for long enough that our message is properly absorbed.

'The future of technology is inherently tied to the attention economy, and the future of design is inherently tied, at the moment, to technology'.

Technology is allowing us to create content that is faster, quicker, and more efficient in communicating to a broader range of demographics- yet this is why our attention to things has increasingly become worse over time.

This made me think of social media platforms such as TikTok- as its purpose is to allow people a quick and easy way to make, distribute, and engage with short video content.

Both Tom Finn and Sarah Boris have similar views as they both believe that the future of design will be much more vague and versatile; that a client will ring up and expect designers to have a multitude of knowledge and skills in different areas of design- from typography, to branding, to editorial, to animation etc. A design company perhaps wouldn't need as many people because of this, and many designers wouldn't feel the need to specialise in one specific area.

I find this idea both very exciting and frightening, because whilst I know it is incredibly important to continue learning and expanding upon your knowledge and abilities, that this constant need to keep up with such a fast-paced, ever-expanding and demanding world sounds borderline near impossible, if not exhausting.

In the second part of the lecture, another question is raised; What are the sectors that might change or need to change?

Simon Manchipp makes the point that whilst many different aspects are changing- like the channels/ trending social media platforms, that the general purpose behind what we do stays the same- to communicate stories and ideas that can engage with our audiences.

It's important that these stories and ideas, however, are able to connect with people; and this can be done by maintaining good understanding of what is currently happening or trending in and around the world.

Sam Winston believes that the main sector that needs to change is our tendency to separate one area of design from another. Whenever you're trying to expand upon your abilities, or try a different area of design, you always end up needing to start from scratch until you have a body of work to show for it. Winston explains that the people that are successful and do well in this industry, are those that also tend to break down the boundaries that had been created.

Overall, I agree with both of these views. that the general purpose of design will always remain the same, which is to tell stories and ideas that will hopefully engage and communicate with our audience. But the ways and means in which we accomplish this will always be changing- as it is closely tied to the evolution of technology and the ever-changing culture around us. Like Sam Winston had argued, I completely agree that the boundaries of design that have been created are in need of knocking down- in order for us to continue progressing, growing and creating content that is new and exciting.

Workshop Challenge:

How is perception changed when design shifts into a new paradigm?

Take a graphic design interest that you are familiar with and investigate how the idea can be improved, disrupted or retold through a shift of application.

This might be an opposing media or environment ( e.g from book to installation, packaging to performance) or an opposing time or fictional future (e.g. speculative design). You can tell the story of your idea in any medium, but ensure the shift you make with your project is apparent, courageous and driven by risk and a rationale.

So, in general, our workshop challenge for this week is to take a graphic design interest that we are familiar with and to investigate into how it changes when retold through a shift of application- whether that be an opposing media/ environment or an opposing time.

Case Studies

I have to say, at first I was a bit stuck on what to do and was wracking my brain for a quick idea that I could complete within the very short amount of time I had left before the deadline.

I decided to have a look at the workshop challenge video created by Regular Practice in hopes of getting some inspiration.

R. Matt, Urinal (Fountain)- Marcel Duchamp

As soon as I saw this piece, I knew that I was going to get my second dose of Dadaism in this course. Not going to lie, I love this piece- not just because of how odd and 'meaningless' it is, but because of the context behind it (which funnily enough, I think holds a lot of meaning). The fact that Marcel Duchamp used these 'readymade' sculptures as a way to free art from the traditional restrictions of beauty. In an interview, Duchamp had actually explained that the reason why he had chosen urinal was not only because he thought it 'had the least chance of being liked', but because he wanted to make people aware of the idea that to him 'art is a mirage'.

Marcel had quite literally chosen an everyday object, submitted it to the board 'Society of Independent Artists' in New York (which had claimed that as long as the artist had paid the application fee, their work would be accepted), and had presented it in a gallery with the signature R.Matt and the title 'Fountain'.

This had caused quite a stir and had generated a big debate as to if you could count it as a work of art.

An anonymous editorial believed to have been written by the artist Beatrice Wood argues that "whether Mr Mutt with his own hands made the fountain or not has no importance. He CHOSE it. He took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view—created a new thought for that object.”

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement- however I believe that not only was the 'Fountain' itself a work of art, but the whole process, to me, became a form of performance art.

The Secret Photographer- Vivian Maier

For years, Vivian Maier had been quietly and secretly taking photos around Chicago, LA, and New York, with no intention of showing anyone or publishing them in any way, instead she would store them in storage lockers, each one filled to the brim with photos, art books, newspaper clippings, film and other various items.

Due to financial difficulty, one of those storage lockers was auctioned off, yet it wouldn't be until after her passing, that her work would finally be discovered.

In 2007, Maier's ginormous body of work came to light after being discovered in a thrift auction house- and since the discovery, John Maloof has made it his life's work to archive and catalogue each and every piece.

Although she had never intended for her work to be seen, Vivian Maier has since become known as one of the most significant street photographers of the 20th century- she had taken approximately around 100,000 photographs spanning over the course of three decades which has allowed us the amazing opportunity to peek into the different eras of American history.

This story had really stuck with me, especially after seeing some of her photographs and truly understanding just how talented she was. At that point in time, these photos would have had a completely different meaning to her as you can definitely see how they were taken purely out of love and interest for her hobby.

But now, you look at them and they become time capsules- a brief glimpse into her life at that moment in time, and the kind of world she was living in.

This story had also made me think about all of the photographs and art pieces I had done in my life- and how there are still so many of them that I refuse to post, print or share with anyone else. This could definitely be a very interesting project to work on at some point in time, and if I had any more time to work with before my deadline, I would seriously consider going back through my archive and bringing those old photos and pieces to light.

Design Interest

The design interest I decided to focus on for this workshop challenge is illustration. Initially I wanted to choose one of my old film pieces that I did back in university and figure out a way to transform it/ retell the message using a different media. But I didn't particularly want to rush those projects as I feel it could be really interesting to properly delve into.

Illustration has been apparent in almost every piece of design that I have done for this course so far, and so I wanted to have a look into how it changes when retold in a different time. What does illustration look like in the future? What tools would you use?

The Future of Illustration

I started to delve into the 'future of illustration' as I wanted to get some more concrete ideas as to what it would look like. A lot of what I read just solidified what I had expected- that for one thing, there will always be a clear and consistent demand for visual content, but it is uncertain as it what kind of visual content.

Many like myself, believe that there will be a substantial surge in the demand for visual content created specifically for augmented or virtual realties, and that there will be a point where it'll become more common for illustrators to implement (or at least work alongside) aspects of artificial intelligence.

Overall, in my opinion, the future of illustration is mixed- on bright side, the development in technology is yet again allowing us to delve into things we had only ever dreamed of. It is giving us more access to tools to play around with. But at the same time, that could mean that the more 'traditional' and 'hand-made' methods of illustration are slowly starting to diminish.

Since the beginning of the digital era, it is plain to see that illustrators are continuing their practice but with tools such as tablets, digital pens, and digital art software instead- and this can be for a myriad of different reasons. For one thing, it can be more cost-effective (after the initial cost of the actual tools) as you're not having to fork out more money for materials every month or so. Another thing, is that digital art allows you to create very sleek designs very quickly and efficiently- which can then be copy and pasted time and time again; this is great for branding as it maintains consistency.

It has also become incredibly easy to post these design pieces onto different social media platforms- making it easier to distribute and engage with audiences.

But finally, it can be argued that it is more eco-friendly; in the second part of the lecture, Sarah Boris had actually mentioned as well that a lot of people 'are becoming more conscious about the environment' and that 'companies are less willing to invest a lot in print'.

Its safe to say that tablets, pads and digital pens have become the tools of a 21st century illustrator- but will that ever change? And if so, what would come next?

With this in mind, my idea for this challenge is to create an advertisement poster for a new product- a product that caters to the future of illustration.

When I think of the future of illustration, I think automatically to what I had seen at the NXT museum, and then I think of Virtual Worlds. So wouldn't it be cool if illustrators had a tool that would allow them to draw directly within these VR worlds- a tool that could aid them to draw whatever they want in this virtual landscape.

Where you could quite literally draw worlds into fruition.

Speculative Design

Björn Öberg

Björn Öberg is a very talented illustrator from Sweden who utilises his beautiful illustrative skills to highlight important topics, issues, and ideas.

He creates a lot of pieces that reflects upon current culture, contemporary affairs, and political events; but he also creates a lot of speculative art that encompasses his thoughts revolving around the not-so-distant future.

These illustrations stood out to me because of their really interesting take on how technology with evolve in the future- and how new technology such as VR headsets, AI robots, and projectors will play a huge part in the progression of these different industries.

Tech Advertisement

I decided to start looking into different modern-day tech product advertisements as I wanted to see how they marketed these sleek, futuristic tools.

What I noticed first was the simplicity of the adverts- the block colours, block text, gradients and aesthetic lighting. It can be quite easy to overcrowd an advert, but when you are presenting the viewer with a product that is quite complex in and of itself, I can understand why it is important to keep it sleek and straightforward.

As I was looking into designing a pencil-like tool, I felt like I had to have a quick look into the Apple Pencil to see how it was advertised. As I had suspected with any typical Apple advertising- the advertisements I came across were very simplistic.

Keeping to its sleek, minimalistic, and no-fuss branding, Apple doesn't need a whole lot of text, colour schemes or fanciful imagery. When it comes to my own designs, I am definitely not a minimalistic person as I really love to add different textures and include lots of small details- so although I don't plan on making my advert as minimalistic as Apple's, its definitely given me some food for thought.

Using AI

I've not used AI image generators a whole lot for a few reasons, for one thing there's still a part of me that doesn't like it. In general, I've seen how it can be problematic and how in a way it can really discredit the hard work that goes into making a beautiful piece of design. Another reason why, is because I find that some of the images that come out are really odd and, if anything, quite uncanny.

Because I was thinking up a new product, I wanted to see if I could use AI as a way to come up with a basis for this design. And if there is a chance that I'm going to be using AI more in the future, I better start playing around with it and getting to grips with what it does.

I decided to use Nightcafe as I knew that they offered free credits for the first few searches- I ended up getting some interesting results with some of the prompts I used:

Although it was definitely a bit odd in some cases (like what on earth has happened to some of their hands?) it still gave me a rough idea as to what kind of tools could be used as an illustrator using VR- specifically the top middle one with the pen/ stylus.

The World at Your Pencil

Without further ado, I decided to get on and create the pencil. I decided to give myself a few hours on this exercise as I wanted to try and get this challenge finished as soon as possible so that I could get on and focus on my studio pdf (which is due in a few days). As much as I wanted to spend more time on it and flesh it out a bit further, I had to be realistic with what I could do in the time I decided to give myself.

My idea for this pencil was to keep it simple, but to have it mimic that of a real wooden pencil. I did this for a few reasons, for one thing, I liked the idea of having a pencil with two functional ends, one for drawing and the other end for erasing (I think this would be really helpful and efficient). I also just wanted to have an aspect of tradition in the product- to remind ourselves just how far we have come in this world.

At this point, I decided to have a play around with colour schemes, lighting and imagery. I wanted to take some aspects of the Apple advertisement and utilise the white, minimalist style, but at the same time I wanted to develop on it.

I wanted to make this product feel like it was something special, something that could give you the ability to do anything, to draw anything, to create whatever it is that comes to your mind. The options are limitless- and while I feel like white is good at conveying the vastness (of having a blank page), I feel like having a lot of colour can also convey something more cosmic.

At one point I tried to utilise one of the AI generated worlds as perhaps an example of what you could do in VR illustration (again if I had more time I would have definitely tried to draw a little world that I could use- might be something I try at some point in the future).

However, at that point I felt that the multi-coloured background was too much and that I needed to tone it down a little bit.

I reverted back to a plain light grey background and instead decided to keep the coloured light on the pencil. Upon inserting the text, I created this really lovely gradient effect which allowed me to add that pop of colour without it being too over the top.

I wanted to add in another small segment of text just to really hammer in the purpose of this pencil as I wanted the viewers to know that this pencil was created specifically for VR.

Finally, I decided to play around with the shape of the mask and eventually settled on what has become my final piece.

Final Piece

Overall, given the fact that I gave myself a very short amount of time to complete this challenge, I am actually really proud of what I came up with. It was definitely a little out of my comfort zone in some ways- the minimalist style is definitely something that I am not used to as I love my textures and minuscule details.

I absolutely love the colour scheme that I went with and how it matches the colours of the AI/ VR world.

I do think that I could have definitely gone further- if I had a lot more time I would have actually looked into potentially 3D modelling the pencil, or even just coming up with a series of advert of people actually using the pencil.

All in all, I feel like this piece does represent an aspect of what I envision for the future of illustration- something that is vast, limitless and powerful.

Reflection

As I have said (several times) during this weeks challenge, if I had more time I would have certainly tried out a few more ideas- perhaps I'd look into how exactly the pencil would work alongside the headset, or maybe I'd look into other potential tools (like a ring or a glove instead of a pencil).

But the main thing we can take away from this, is that the future of illustration is incredibly vast, and although it is easy and very important to speculate and theorise what it will be like and what we should expect, the truth is that we'll never know what it's like until it has happened- all we can do is roll with it and maintain an open mind.

With the steady development of VR and AI technology, I am both looking forward, and slightly dreading the future of graphic design; although this new technology will give us a lot of new and exciting tools to play with, there's still the possibility that the more material/ traditional forms of graphic design will start to diminish- which I sincerely hope it doesn't.

What I have discovered over the course of these twelve weeks, is that I have an interest in how the traditional forms of design can merge with the new, which is something I would love to investigate into further throughout the rest of this course.

References

About Vivian Maier (no date) Vivian Maier Photographer. [Online] Available at: https://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/ (Accessed: April 24, 2023).

Boris, S. (2023) Week 12: Lecture Case Studies. Falmouth Flexible. [Online] Available at: https://www.citethisforme.com/bibliographies/6200ec7d-7fb9-4030-b947-8c5e12a6ac9b

Contributor, G. (2021) The Future of Illustration: A Design Student's Perspective, PRINT Magazine. [Online] Available at: https://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/the-future-of-illustration/ (Accessed: April 25, 2023).

Finn, T. (2023) Week 12: Lecture Case Studies. Falmouth Flexible. [Online] Available at: https://www.citethisforme.com/bibliographies/6200ec7d-7fb9-4030-b947-8c5e12a6ac9b

Howarth, S. (2000) 'Fountain', Marcel Duchamp, 1917, replica 1964, Tate. Edited by J. Mundy. (2015) [Online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573 (Accessed: April 24, 2023).

Manchipp, S. (2023) Week 12: Lecture Case Studies. Falmouth Flexible. [Online] Available at: https://www.citethisforme.com/bibliographies/6200ec7d-7fb9-4030-b947-8c5e12a6ac9b

Mann, J. (2017) How duchamp's urinal changed art forever, Artsy. [Online] Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-duchamps-urinal-changed-art-forever (Accessed: April 24, 2023).

Marcel Duchamp (no date) Artsy. [Online] Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artist/marcel-duchamp (Accessed: April 24, 2023).

Ogbonyomi, by: D. (2022) Ai and the future of Digital Art and illustrations: 5 amazing ai changes, IllustAC Blog. [Online] Available at: https://en.ac-illust.com/blog/digital-art-and-illustrations/ (Accessed: April 25, 2023).

Saunders, J.D. (no date) The Future of Illustrations in 2023: Resources, Black Illustrations. [Online] Available at: https://www.blackillustrations.com/blog/the-future-of-illustrations-in-2023 (Accessed: April 24, 2023).

Staff, C.B. (2015) Industry Expert Reveals What the Future Holds for Illustration, Creative Bloq. Creative Bloq. [Online] Available at: https://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/industry-expert-reveals-what-s-next-illustration-21514274 (Accessed: April 25, 2023).

Winston, S. (2023) Week 12: Lecture Case Studies. Falmouth Flexible. [Online] Available at: https://www.citethisforme.com/bibliographies/6200ec7d-7fb9-4030-b947-8c5e12a6ac9b