OUGD406: Studio 3 - Group tasks for over Easter & further development of given concept

Between us we thought of six concepts and routes to research over easter. I was given the spy theme to consider in more depth than we already had. We decided to each research one and discuss on the group chat our findings and adaptations to the concepts and agreed to help each other if anyone needed help on which aspect of the concept to develop. 

Spy concept:

I first went on to research room designs. This is one of the most important factors of the brief, the layout of the room.

If this concept is pushed further. I think the dark room, UV lighting would be the most interactive and engage the person with the art the most because it really highlights the work. It makes the environment not too distracting to the actual exhibition art. It looks futuristic and plays with the concept of secrecy. I think that UV would be a could idea to add to notes to avoid counterfeit. It's interactive and would make the person look like they're in a private place. That is exclusive to them. The rooms in the images above look very professional too. The one with the table reminds me of a bank and they obviously have high security so our exhibition design could work around the idea of keeping notes maintained in a secret environment like the room is a giant safe. 

OUGD406: Studio Brief 3 - Group Discussions and Feedback

Money can be fun.
Origami - money is art in your pocket.
Dimensional
Projection
Use of the floor, ceiling,
Lighting
Play around with layout of the book - exhibition panels
Absolutely no reason why you can't have music or sound
You can cut corners off

Ripped panel 7-9 ft tall links with origami idea

OUGD406: Studio Brief 3 - Notes/Research

From the first group meeting 9/03/15:

Our concept is to use origami and methods of folding or ripping paper to advertise and promote the exhibition. The idea behind this is that money can be used in innovative ways to portray that money can be fun.

Exhibition space:

Nick Bridgland, designation team leader for English Heritage in the north said: “Bank House is a boldly designed and executed office building by a well-respected practice. Its powerful street-presence is offset by the use of good quality materials. This architectural finesse and historic interest mean it fully deserves listing at Grade II.”

Read more: http://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/news/banking-on-this-piece-of-leeds-history-1-7075003#ixzz42WJUuJtZ

Our designs will feature ripped up or scrunched notes as we are redesigning money and it doesn't need to be perfectly folded. This would still work on the poster with the shadows etc.

We are going to meet on Friday 11/03/15 and next Wedneday 16/03/15 at 11am.

Over Easter:
Posters/flyers/paper folding/digital origami
Research into animals that are involved in money
Print off photo of a bank note and fold it that way or fold a bank note

Animals that are involved in money which could potentially be produced in a paper fold:
Lion £1 coin
Dragon £1 coin

Invites:
In an envelope or a little sleeve - Chinese New Year envelopes put an invitation inside instead of money.
Or a unique note, like it as been specially passed on to them
Like a bank note with a message.
Could add like a little box inside of it
__________________________________________________________________________

Alternative 60's spy idea:

A play on a license to kill - a license to print money
Make it a mission to go
Could make licenses as the invitation
It would be like a task, really hard to get around
Invite could be a top secret folder sleeve with a invite inside. However, "top secret" sounds childish so maybe classified or something that references money. That could be screen printed onto a a envelope or folder. Could literally just print the word money in bold in red, block capitals on the top because it's engaging and straight to the point.

__________________________________________________________________________

Alternative spotlight idea that could link in with the 60's idea:

Notes:
Contrasts with the cliches of an art exhibition you would imagine - white walls, open space etc. It's a bit boring like it looks nice and pristine. It would be good for fine art when you want to concentrate on the work but it's not interesting and engaging. It's not that interactive.

Black and white theme
Quite minimalist but highlights the actual work
Black background and a light focuses on the center piece
Dark room
Maybe UV lights
Mount work on to a black board
Some notes hanging around the space on thick black stock so that it is more interactive

OUGD406: Screen Print Testing For Money Brief

Range: Plike

Colour: Black

Substance: 330GSM

Range: Accent Fresco

Colour: Black

Substance: 350GSM

I chose the star design for my money design. This is because stars are something that the everyone in the world can "read" as the same instead of choosing a specific language. This was inspired by my research into fictitious currencies where I was inspired by the concept of creating an intergalactic note. There are 20 stars and 30 dots which equates to 50 symbols in total. This signifies that it could be worth infinite amounts. I want the actual size to be around credit card size because it can fit into a wallet and will be a generic dimension for everyone globally. I will also choose a thick paper weight of stock for my print so that it is durable and heavy like a card would be. I want it to be a really simple design so that it is non offensive and easy to comprehend.  The final print will have UV stars on it to avoid counterfeit and maintain security. This fits with the theme of stars in that you can only see them at night. 

Questions:

What stock should I use Plike or Accent Fresco? 

"Plick stock - satisfying to touch, more vibrant, would be more pretty to take out your wallet. It is immersive. Accent Fresco looks old and used, faded."

"I like the soft texture of pike also reminds me more of the night sky."

"Maybe thinner stock?"

What can I add to the design to make it more complex?

"Add number as it is perhaps too ambiguous :)"

"Create a star constellation which makes the number/value of note"

"Maybe add variations into pattern to give the notes a noticeable difference between each other - or look at colour?"

"Maybe add glow in the dark ink."

"More patterns? more stars? different shape of stars?"

Should I add more colour, if so which ones?

"Black and white seems good enough for me."

"You could add space like colours - purple, blue add a galaxy in the distance."

What do you first think of when you think of a currency that could be applied internationally?

"Some nature things? sky? or America!"

Which method of print would be most effective for my concept? 

"Screen print? Mono print?"

Other feedback:

"How will you know how much the piece is worth?"

"Fun, creative idea however not very clear for quick money usage perhaps include price etc with UV light so can be checked if necessary?"

OUGD406: Studio Brief 3 - Initial Group Discussions - Mind Maps

Our concept is to create a the theme of origami and ripped pieces of money as the basis for our promotional work such as posters and leaflets. The idea is that money is art and that it can be fun. We want a humorous tone of voice to show that it isn't too serious and that the body of work is by students. We were originally going to produce everything as origami so that they all work in accordance and demonstrates that people fold money and contain it in different ways but then people might think that the exhibition is based on origami instead of money. So as a group we have decided to experiment with rips and other methods of creating paper based smaller scale pieces of art which will work with the theme that money can be playful. We are going to experiment with different types of origami and paper folds still as this is the main basis for our idea. Were also going to create a folded type face so that all of the promotional work has a distinct theme that is unique to this exhibition. We debated having helvetica because it relates to first direct arena but this may have been too minimalist and distract from the idea that the exhibition is a separate thing to the arena. The t shirt at the top is an example. We could make folded outfits to show that it is serious but if we drew a tie on it because of the hand rendered aspect it's slightly more playful and fun which reiterates the theme of the license to print money brief.

OUGD404: Folds For Book 2 - Feedback

The concept of my book is going to be short stories. It is going to be a photography heavy book based on short lined stories from possessions that once held a memory to someone. I wanted to keep the design very minimal and experiment with the negative space. Here I printed out test pages to see which fold would be better for the book which included both the image and caption. This helped me gain feedback on composition, text layout and image layout.

Feedback:

"I like the last one because it's like a mystery."

"The 4th fold gives a feel of uncovering someone's story. It's more interactive."

"I think I like the first one because it's a classic fold and it looks very minimalistic inside. I also like the fourth one too because I like the fold and how you have positioned the text."

"Half sizes."

"Look at the placement of the middle pages."

"Have them as inserts."

OUGD406: Studio Brief 2 - Three Concepts For Crit & Feedback

First Concept: Space 

For my space concept. I based this around a method instead of thinking of it first. I knew I wanted to create a universal money to reference the theme of space. This could perhaps be similar to a card in how you can pay online and it transfer over the different currencies. Apart from this would be applicable in shops too. I wanted this to be a screen print so that I could use metallic paints against a dark background. The "money" would have a holographic element which would either be foil or a metallic element to work in accordance with the metallic paint. This would also be the aspect which avoids counterfeit. I'm not sure whether the images should be more illustrative or photographic but I think this concept would appeal to all age ranges and target audiences apart from maybe elderly people because they are more reluctant to give up traditional printed money. However, with new and rapidly growing methods such as Apple Pay and Bitcoin having printed money, physical money is less common.

Second Concept: Constellation 

For this concept I wanted to create a glow in the dark screen print. The glow in the dark paint element would be the aspect which avoids counterfeit and the amount of stars or dots on the note depicts how much it is worth. The background would be dark to contrast with the UV aspect and the stars and constellations would be white so that they are still visible during the day. 

Third Concept: Illustrative 

For this concept I honestly just wanted to draw more. Before coming to uni I spent a lot of my free time doodling and drawing so I gave myself a small task with this one which was to do the illustrations as sketches in 20 minutes as a rough time scale. 

The concept behind this one is to maybe monoprint a background for example the other day I monoprinted leaves because it is generic and could be used as a background for all the notes so that they have some balance between them. Then I would overlay the image on to them but maybe with lino or copper etching as the print technique because I want detailed and accurate drawings. The animals that I put on the notes references the hierarchy of the food chain. The closer to the pinnacle the animal or plant is, the more money it is worth. For example a lion would be £20, the deer would be £10 then the fox would be £5. I added a tree incase I wanted to increase the currency and units and did not want to use insects. I wanted to also use a UV element on this concept to avoid counterfeit. The UV would be contained within the animal so I might draw it's brain using the UV aspect but that may be difficult if I was to do a tree.

 Feedback from interim crit:

"The hierarchy concept might be a problem because of people might question whether or not they have as much worth as a tree because of society structure."
However, I don't actually understand this comment because the hierarchy is to show the food chain working in accordance with the price of the money. It was not a comparison with people's worth or societal structure.

"The space concept is stronger than the animal one."

"For the animal one or drawings, screen printing would be a nice method."

"You could put information on one side and the illustration on the other."

"You could put an animal on one side and a hamburger on the other."

I feel like my ideas haven't really progressed since the crit so I'm going to speak to other students one to one and gain more in-depth feedback. I thought that the crit groups were too big. This made the concept of receiving and giving useful feedback difficult because it was hard to hear other people speak. I did find discussion helpful though instead of having to present your work and having people feed back at you.

Feedback from asking people outside the crit:

"More interested in the space concept."

"You can wave your watercolour into that."

"Could be like the northern lights."

"Screen printing might not be your option."

"I think this could look really good."

"I think the animal one could look nice if it's just shapes."

"If it was laid out with the animal shapes and not the head."

"The space one seems like a stronger concept."

"I think they're both strong but it depends how far you can get with both of them."

"Space more to do with the customer than yourself. Someone else would understand it (the space concept) easily than the other one because only you understand it."

"Malika Favre. If you're going to do the animal concept. If you did block colours successfully that would look amazing. It would be easy to distinguish between them like in your purse."

"You could put something cute on it. Like people's favourite animals."

"If it's to do with society then it references the market. Marketing is marketing."