Claudia Gardner-Pickett

BA (Hons) Graphic DesignMoving Image / Design & Interaction

Year One.

Defacing Stamps. Researching Naughty Words.

Year Two.

Learning French, again. Filming on a Bolex.

Shooting Slo Mo. Persuading the Public to do the Hula.

Year Three.

Filling Pots & Pans with Plants. Scanning Faces.

Projecting Gardens. Shooting a Nude. Turfing a Book.

10 Things I Learnt at Art School

1/. Don’t try to be cool.

2/. Beware of the Green Eyed Monster. Ignore him & do what suits you.

3/. Work efficiently, not hard.

4/. Don’t work when at play.

5/. Ensure you play when at work.

7/. Sometimes you will feel like a fine artist - just embrace it.

8/. Like a river, lead to something bigger.

9/. Remember, this is not life or death.

10/. And, repeat after me: L’Oreal, Dr. Pepper.

Because you’re worth it, What’s the worst that can happen?

The National Trust

Astroturf Book

Long Projects: Nature, Ethics, Wellbeing

Shorter Projects

Other

Surrogate Nature

Dazed & Confused

Digital / Analog

Willie’s Cacao

Punctuation

Other Works

Cigarette Cards

Paid Jobs

Nature & Culture

Astroturf Book

The National Trust

Surrogate Nature

The Project

Explore and research the theme of nature and culture.

Aim

To produce a body of work fueled by a topic that speaks to a generation of people torn between love and fear of nature and technology.

Subprojects

Astroturf BookThe National Trust (D&AD)Surrogate NatureDigital/Analog

Self Initiated

Graphic Design ProposalsWorks in Progress

January - May

Astroturf Book

Human Relationships with Nature & Technology

The Brief

To visually communicate our relationship with nature and technology.

Aim

To collate articles, essays and stories and to produce imagery that supports the text.

Self Initiated

1st April - 11th May

Process

I began the process by reading essays on a web-

based magazine called Aeon.com where my attention

was caught by an article by Sue Thomas called

Technobiophilia. In this, she speaks of how nature and

technology can and should become symbionts and work

in tandem, in order for us to benefit from them most (an

example of this is that studies show that humans benefit

from seeing ‘nature’ whether it be natural, man-made or

virtual.

I went on to gather more essays, articles and stories

around the topic and began to design them into a

magazine format. The initial aim being that I would

redesign this afterwards to be read on a tablet device.

Throughout the process, I questioned what the benefits

of it may be of doing this and wondered if it may be

more interesting to make the analog book have f lipbook

animations and add sounds by using the devices often

found in greetings cards.

Visual Research and Design Choices

I looked at Garage magazine that used a program to

generate a random typeface (random and autonomous

things are, in my view, the most natural as they are not

mediated or designed.

I was interested in making my design very bright and

‘unnatural’ and was inspired by posters I’d seen that used

day-glo spot colours. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford

this for my own print! Still, I looked at artificial colours

achieved with E-numbers and saught to achieve a garish

look. In the end, I decided to make the copy alternate at

points between coloured and black, tying in to the natural

theme of growth and decay (whenever I reverted the copy

back to black, I felt as though I was killing it!).

I tried other methods instead, such as printing onto

neon paper and more prominently, experimenting with

heat-reactive foils. The effect of this was eye-catching and

made you want to interact with the paper, to see the foil

catch the light. The silver foils tied in perfectly with the

topic ‘technology’ and the brighter coloured green and

pinks tied in with the artifical. I went on to see if neon

pigment foils existed, as I was interested in tying the

aesthetic to the ‘artificial’.

I also looked into ways that I could print with UV inks

- so that I could reveal the human touch in images:

for example, the condor would look as though he was

f lying unaided until the UV light revealed the puppeteer

controlling it. Unfortunately, the book was professionally

printed with an inkjet printer and so the heat foiling

cannot be added to the actual book. Although I am

considering slipping some more tactile bits inside the

book.

I was interested in covering my book from the very

beginning of the process as I felt it would ref lect the

concept of our relationship with ‘nature’ and ‘artif ice’.

Research

A range of essays and stories on the topics of: automated

cars that when about to crash, decide whether to save

your life or another’s / condors (birds) that were raised by

puppets / f lexing definitions of ‘nature’ / a story written

in 1909 that predicts the isolation that technophilia

brings / biophobia and the detrimental effects it has

on society / the history behind perceptions of what is

‘wild’ and the value placed upon it / a new type of nature

formed by humans that is born of the merge between

the made and the autonomous. I feel these are all topics

that I can talk about and include in spoken debates now,

which proves that it has sunk in! In the book, I ensured

that the writers of these articles were credited and linked

to in the back. At one point, I received feedback from a

colleague who recommended that I cut the longer articles

down and focus on designing larger quotes of the most

interesting parts. I feel this has improved the design and

made it clean cut.

Analysis

This involved reading over the articles many times to

understand the topics fully in order to make and choose

imagery that would communicate the main message. I

made many sketches for each article, in order to decide

which worked best.

I originally designed the book to be A4+ sized but later

redesigned it to be 16:9 when opened to connect it back

to a digital medium: the screen. This helped in other ways

- if the book were any bigger, the astroturf would have

been overkill.

The tactility of the material entices the user to touch

and stroke a book and raises a range of questions

about how often we stroke technology compared

to grass, about our views on the vulgarity of

astroturfing areas of land with man-made materials,

or how eerily satisfying touching artif icial grass can

be. Technically, the cover was hard to achieve and so

I opted for a slipcase, which I think works quite well.

I found the idea of bringing analog to life quite

interesting and set about animating the imagery.

I explored ideas of making the analog book contrast

against or work alongside a digital version of the

book. The digital book would perhaps be covered

in sandpaper, to question how comfortable society

is with caressing technology. If not, it would work

in tandem with the analog book, and they would

support each other. The digital book would, for

instance in the section about ‘biophobia’, show

insects scuttling across the page (accompanied by

sounds). This aims to add another dimension to the

experience of the text.

Ref lection

Overall, I am quite happy with the design, although

I am very aware that it could be improved. I feel as

though the book would benefit from more white-

space; that other tactile pages should be added; that

I should add my animation frames to the corners of a

sequence of pages, to make an integrated ‘f lip-book’;

add prompts or codes to scan in order to see the

animated GIFs; add a cloth-lining to make ensure the

book is not damaged in the long-term; add sound-

modules to the book’s pages - for instance the sound

of bugs scuttling across the pages in the article

about biophobia; add scent to the pages, for instance

the smell of a new car, as well as cut grass.

Deve

lopi

ng id

eas

of h

ow to

mak

e th

e bo

ok in

tera

ctiv

e

“Rea

red

By P

uppe

ts” b

y Li

zzie

Wad

e /

Con

dors

Rai

sed

By H

uman

s /

Hum

ans

Affe

ctin

g Na

ture

“Rea

l Nat

ure

Isn’

t Gre

en” b

y Ko

ert V

an M

ensv

oort

/ Re

al N

atur

e is

Aut

onom

ous

and

Unco

ntro

lled

“The

Tro

uble

with

Wild

erne

ss” b

y W

illia

m C

rono

n / P

erce

ptio

ns o

f ‘W

ilder

ness

’ in

Hist

ory

“Tec

hnob

ioph

ilia”

By

Sue

Thom

as /

The

Love

of N

atur

e in

Tec

hnol

ogy

/ T

echn

olog

ical

Nat

ure

Tom

Cha

tfie

ld o

n In

tern

atio

nal P

et N

ames

for t

he ‘@

’ Sym

bol

inside,they waited

- and for a moment -the machine, the moisture and the light gave birth

to a cloud

Berndaut Smilde - Nimbus16th December 2012 at 15:00

Platform 57

Artif

icia

l Exp

erie

nces

of N

atur

e in

Art

humansgathered in a dark

room, under an enormous globular light, which they accepted as their

surrogatesun

Olafur Eliasson - The Weather ProjectOctober 2003 - March 2004

Tate Modern

humansqueued for hours to stand in a rainy room, despite the fact that, outside,

it was actually raining

The Rain RoomOctober 2012 - March 2013

Barbican Centre

“Bio

phob

ia” b

y Da

vid

Orr

/ D

etrim

enta

l Aff

ects

of B

ioph

obia

and

Tec

hnop

hilia

“Bio

phob

ia” b

y Da

vid

Orr

/ D

etrim

enta

l Aff

ects

of B

ioph

obia

and

Tec

hnop

hilia

“The

Mac

hine

Sto

ps”

by E

. M. F

orst

er /

A P

rem

initi

on o

f Iso

latio

n ca

use

by T

echn

ophi

lia

“Aut

omat

ed E

thic

s” b

y To

m C

hatf

ield

/ T

he E

thic

s of

Aut

omat

ed M

achi

nes

T H AT C A R

M U R D E R E D M Y

H U S BA N D !

QUOTES FROM THE near

DA R L I N G, PA S S M E

T H E GA R D E N R E M OT E ?DA R L I N G, PA S S M E

T H E GA R D E N R E M OT E ?

My

own

work

insp

ired

by th

e to

pics

rais

ed.

“Nat

ure

is a

ll th

ose

thin

gs t

hat

fal

l out

sid

e th

e sc

ope

of h

uman

pow

er.”

- V

an K

ensv

oort

Generative and thus ‘natural’ lissajous curves made using code from generative-gestaltung.de/M_2_5_01

I decided not to include this topic in the book as I realised its topic didn’t fit well with the other articles.

Jan 13th

TODAY I SCANNED PLANTS

I have been frustrated with life inside of the concrete jungle that is Central Saint Martins’ building and wanted to get back in touch with nature and bright colours! I haven’t see bright colours in so long!!!

I GOT FEEDBACK FROM DAVE HENLEY, THE PHOTOGRAPHY TUTOR

He said that the way I am feeling isn’t being communicated by my images. He said they are too romantic and that I should photograph the artificiality around me in a bleak way - artificial plants, artificial nature, etc.

“Nat

ure

is a

ll th

ose

thin

gs t

hat

fal

l out

sid

e th

e sc

ope

of h

uman

pow

er.”

- V

an K

ensv

oort

Genuine, organic glitches

“a hybrid through which nature and technology become symbionts, rather than opponents” - S. Thomas

Expe

rim

enti

ng w

ith

heat

tra

nsfe

r fo

ils

Fini

shin

g th

e B

ook

wit

h A

stro

Turf

I printed the book cover with a scan of astroturf. I was thinking to cover the book in AstroTurf

and sit in flush inside another piece, so that the book becomes disguised. I also experimented with the medium to see

if I should cover the book. This didn’t work out so well and so instead I decided to create a slipcase for it.

Digital / Analog

Experimentation (Work in Progress)

The Brief

Explore the theme of digital and analog.

Aim

To create a ‘natural’, screenless moving image piece.

Self Initiated

18th - 27th March Work In Progress

this as although it was man-made and machined, the spring mechanism felt quite ‘natural’ as you felt you knew why it worked and how it worked - compared to an animation fueld by complex software. I moved on to something else when I found the mechanism unreliable. I then ordered a Rolodex (a now outdated rotary file system) which didn’t work well as the rotation was not smooth enough to create a f lowing animation. I next tried a clockwork motor from a Meccano set. This would have worked well if the motor’s cogs hadn’t worn down so much (my grandfather got it second hand when he was very young).

More recently, I went on to look at light as a natural medium. I thought of using UV or glow-in the dark papers to make an animation that would come to exist ‘naturally’.

Process

The process was trigerred by the animation for another project, Cigarette Cards, which aimed to bring a dying object to life. I was interested in the way that by placing physical images next to each other in a sequence, you automatically seek the connection between them as thus end up animating them with the imagination. Screenless moving image also popped up in ‘Projected Gardens’.

I began by exploring options such as creating a f lipbook, a mechanical f lipbook, a lenticular print, and a hybrid image. I drew lots of sketches of the possibilities these held - could I make a screen from lots of mechanical f lipbooks; could it work in tandem with technology to perhaps only spin when the wind blows outside; or could an entire table of f lipbooks create a realtime replica of waves? Could I create huge 50-frame lenticular print of a landscape that changed as you walked past it?

Experiments

I tried using a spring-mechanised toy carousel to spin an image, like an old zoetropes. I liked

19th

TODAY I HAVE BEEN ORGANISING MY IDEAS FOR MY NEXT PROJECT

Today I felt that I needed to organise the ideas that I have accumulated from the research I have done on the topic of “Technobiophilia” and “Biophilia”.

The way I document my “thinking” and ideas is by making drawings on Photoshop and then printing them all out.

I went through and labelled them all, defining what topic they relate to. For example, some are labelled…

“HUMAN POWER OVER NATURE”….

“MAKING THE DIGITAL BECOME LIFELIKE”….

“CREATING ARTIFICIAL EXPERIENCES OF ‘NATURE’”…..

“BIOPHILIA”….

“NATURAL MACHINES”...

The topics that I like are “LIFELIKE” and “NATURAL vs CULTURAL”

Let me discuss these a little bit.

1. LIFELIKEThe ideas that are within this theme are ones that make the digital become more natural. For instance, what is a website had a lifespan and you could see it start to deteriorate? What if a (digital) “Vine” animation became an (analog) f lip-book machine? What if, a bit like SnapChat, a text message was affected by live data of sea-currents and the message could arrive in a year, a week, or not at all.

I am looking at how to instill “Natural Processes” and “Natural Qualities” into digital things…..such as:- Growth, Eff lorescence, Sensory Variability Information Richness, Age, Change and the Patina of Time, Complementary Contrasts, Hierarchically Organised Ratios and Scales

2. NATURAL vs CULTURALThe ideas in this topic are an exploration of the debate surrounding the topic of “What is natural and what is cultural”. This is fueled by research that suggested new ways of thinking (to me!) that a traffic jam is more natural than a GM tomato. The tomato may once have been natural but has become a product of culture and control. However, the traffic jam is uncontrolled and happens ‘naturally’.

18th

Today I have been thinking more about the idea of ‘natural’ or organic screens, animation and movement.

* LENTICULAR PRINTS* PRINTED FRAMES (MUYBRIDGE-ESQUE)* HYBRID IMAGES* FLIP BOOKS* ZEOTROPES * MOTION WITH ORGANIC THINGS, LIKE LIGHT

24th

TODAY I SPOKE TO JAMES ABOUT THE FLIPBOOK IDEA

We thought of ways to put many stories into one filpbook:-

* Draw with invisible pen, reveal with UV light* Change motor direction* Use both sides of the paper* Cut into the paper and back light it* Create different lighting moods* Add and change sound* Distort the image with a magnifying glass* Flip the image with a magnifying glass* Use mirrors* Use different kinds of papper* Insert subliminal messages* Scene 1 / 2 / 3* Create alternative endings

20th

TODAY I WENT AND SPOKE TO ANGUS IN THE ‘4 DIMENSIONAL’ DEPARTMENT

He showed me the part of a “Flip Clock” that acts like the mechanical f lip book I would like to create.

Angus also guided me through the process of creating what I want.

The complex version of my idea involves using data inputs such as RSS feeds of weather reports, Processing, Arduino, a Stepper Motor, Gears plus the “f lip book”.

The medium-hard version uses a simple button to control the f lipbook, instead of a data input.The easy version is a “f lip book” that is controlled by HUMANS.

If I want to make a LARGE FLIPBOOK, I would have to consider the weight of the materials and the cog size.

Angus told me to look at….ProtoPic, SparkFun Tutorials, Bildr Blog.

Expe

rim

enti

ng w

ith

my

gran

dfat

her’

s M

ecca

no c

lock

wor

k en

gine

26th

YESTERDAY I FOUND SOME MECCANO IN THE LOFT I tried to make the clockwork engine work...and broke it. My uncle then came round and miraculously fixed it, after taking it all apart and us working together to put it back piece by piece. Today I tried attaching something to the piston that spin, in the hope that it would spin fast enough to animate something. But alas, the cogs are too worn down and the piston rotates irregularly.

27th

TODAY I HAVE BEEN TRYING OUT A TOY CAROUSEL INSTEAD This works reasonably well although it only spins fast enough for a short period of time. I added some “frames” in the form of paper sheets and it spun a lot slower with these attached - too slow, unfortunately. I will have to experiment with lighter materials.

Expe

rim

enti

ng w

ith

Ligh

t

The National TrustD&AD

Proposal for Interactive Campaign

D&AD New Blood

Jan 28th - Feb 24th

Co-owned by Hannah Musgrave

The Brief

D&AD set the task to update The National Trust and promote it to a younger audience of 25-40 year olds.

How did you seek to solve this?

For a while we were exploring ideas that could only exist in print however they did not convince or persude action. Neither did we feel they encouraged us or our audience to visit The National Trust.

It seemed necessary to use new media and steer away from traditional in the hope to appeal to our target audience. Having previously taken classes in basic Processing (a programming language) we were aware of the possibilities of interaction design and the sense of play interaction brings. Therefore we began to explore other mediums like websites, social media campaigns and interactive installations.

How does this installation appeal to the target audience?

We drew upon the social habits the London lifestyle can provide; the monotony, the phone dependency, the excessive time spent commuting and used it to our advantage. With this installation, we hope to interrupt these habits, if only for a moment.

How did you begin to tackle this task?

We began by researching the existing National Trust material - their magazines and booklets, sites, apps and social media. From this, we gathered that The National Trust needed to shake off its old-fashioned image. We had both grown up enjoying The National Trust, however our image of it and their own image didn’t match up.

In order to solve this problem, we aimed to reintroduce The National Trust in a way that would connect the brand to the modern world, but still celebrate it’s history and beauty and retain its essence.

Sue Thomas’ essay ‘Can we get all the nature we need from the digital world?’ reveals that replicating nature in a digital format (such as a computer-generated virtual reality nature space; the Koi Live wallpaper for phones) always has positive effects on the consumer. “The visual simulations [meet] a human desire to experience nature and reap its psychological benefits (pleasure, stress reduction, and so on)”.

How does this installation create brand awareness?

Despite having both grown up with visits to The National Trust, as we’ve got older we have not independently made a visit. Why is this? London provides multiple car-free routes that lead to their sites, but we and others, weren’t aware of any. We sought to solve this lack of awareness by first encouraging audience participation and secondly informing them of how to reach a National Trust site from where they are.

Advertising by the National Trust is something that we feel goes unrecognised in London. There-fore, by including the public and situating the in-stallation in places with high levels of foot-traffic, we aim to create a recognisable and memorable campaign, in contrast to the passivity offered by a billboard.

Init

ial B

rain

stor

m o

f Ide

as:

Fun

way

s to

get

to

the

Trus

t /

His

tory

Ret

old

/ N

atio

nal T

rust

Tea

Bus

30th

Hannah and I developed the approach of giving The National Trust an edge. We created quick mock-ups of our ideas using Gregory Crewdon’s photography. I am a big fan of his and thought that his style of work could bring some drama to our campaign. We thought of slogans such as:-

"Danger: Too much fresh air may cause lightheadedness"

"Beware: Good views may be addictive”

"Caution: Strong winds may lift your spirits"

Hannah and I decided to stick to one of these concepts and agreed that being in nature may be addictive is a strong idea and could cover a few situations.

We found Gregory Crewdson’s photographs to be quite ‘epic’ and found a few in which the subjects are in awe of nature or are seen bringing nature into their homes.

The slogan we decided on was“CAUTION: Exposure to nature may be addictive”.

28th Jan

Hannah and I started brainstorming ideas. We have both grown up with the National Trust as our parents would take us on visits and feel that they have a lot to offer, but aren’t selling themselves in the right way. We came up with lots of ideas, not being afraid at this point whether they were fully-formed or not. We thought of a ‘national trust bus’ and also about bringing a sense of danger to the brand, to give it an edge that would appeal to younger people.

31st

Today Hannah and I were exploring how best to communicate the idea of someone being ‘addicted to nature’.

We imagined all of the ideas listed below to be shot in the style of Gregory Crewdson.

As a test, we mocked up the ideas with Crewdson’s photographs.

- sleeping with them in your bed- leaving your wife in the middle of the night to watch the wild nightlife- jumping the fence to admire a garden- planting trees in the middle of the night- little kid hangs out window to feel the rain storm- take holy water from a Church to water your plants- adult pushing plant in a buggy- sticking hand out of the top bus-window to feel tree’s leaves- kid grabs handful of plants when in buggy

Having done this, we have decided that it would be great to take our own photos - but in a similar style to his work.

5th Feb

Today we started the photoshoot!

Today Hannah and I transformed her kitchen. We put plants and f lowers in the pots, pans and cups. We then lit the scene and Hannah modeled.

The idea was to convey the character as having gone a bit stir-crazy, and having brought plants into her domestic setting, all the while, she gazes out of the window, longing for something better.

Feb 6th

What are you longing for?

Weve got what you’re long-ing for.

Find what you’re longing for.

Found

Reintroducing yourself to nature

Nature is calling you

Long lost love

Reignite the passion

Natures waiting

Just one of those days

Hungry for nature?

Need a day out

Days out may be addictive

If only she knew.

Look into the set to dis-

cover

Look out of windows and doors

Dolls house

Zoom out

She didn’t realise how close she was

Right under nose

Divide house into urban and county

Urban bubble

So far but yet so close

____

Don’t miss out

Lack

Quick!!!! Withdrawal symp-toms

Go crazy

Go stir crazy

Nothing beats the real thing

Epidemic from missing nature

Domestic bliss ruined by nature withdrawal symp-toms

Lack of nature ruins urban dreams

Domestic nature

The real thing

____

Computer to get you off of one

Amazing people

Cultivating amazing people and amazing places since 1890

Recipe for disaster..suc-cessful su day

Day of rest….

Day of rest?

Look upLook DownLook around

Sunday fun day

Worth its weight in gold

Be a tourist in your own country

Get to know England

This is your playground

What you do not save will be lost

Enough selfies

Disposable camera

Oxygen vs Carbon Dioxide

Life is about balance

Rest?

You’ve gotta get up to get down

Trust in us

Knackered? Get knackered for a good reason.

Down time. Play time.

Everyone’s happy

There are other ways to lose yourself

Escape

Lose yourself

Feb 10th

Today Hannah and I were wracking our brains for new ideas.

We are not completely satisfied with the concept that fueled the photoshoot.

We feel like we need to push our ideas further to avoid proposing a poster-based campaign. We are going to try to find a way to involve the viewer and make the concept an ‘experience’.

Feb 11th

We’ve got it! We have an interactive idea!

11th

Today Hannah and I went to Camley Natural Park and the tube platform in King’s Cross. We filmed each other acting out how the user would interact with the installation and later we mocked up the images.

The

Con

cept

: Rec

onne

ct in

Rea

l Tim

e

Invo

lvin

g a

Use

r /

Invo

lvin

g a

Gro

up o

f Use

rs

An interactive solution that resituates peoplefrom urban settings into National Trust sites.

Why will our concept succeed?

Our concept capitalizes on our audience of 25-40 yr olds understanding of the relationship between body and screen interaction.

Projecting commuters into virtual walks of various National Trust sites will provide an instant and immersive reminder of the beauty and importance of reconnecting with nature.

By situating our campaign on the underground we take advantage of the 2.7 million journeys taken per day, and accomodate to our audiences modern lifestyle in which we spend 42 days per year commuting.

Concept:

Once the participant is stood on the logo and positioned in front of the green screen poster, they will be picked up by the camera opposite.

Taking into consideration a modern commuter habit of looking down at our phones, we have placed The National Trust logo on the f loor, aiming to attract commuters attention and curiosity.

They are then projected into moving footage shot in and around various National Trust sites.

How It Works

‘How do I get to The National Trust?’

Tailored information for each station will be displayed in the bottom left of each projection alongside the underground logo.

For example at King Cross it will state ‘Sutton House only four stops away’...followed by directions.

1. 2. 3..

Involving the Public

‘How could the installation involve groups?’

We propose that the concept could be expanded to involve interaction with groups of people providing a shared experience.

To accomodate groups, alternative formats could include rows of green screen posters as well as wider posters situated in spacious public areas.

‘How could the installation encourage interaction?’ The installation could be altered to superimpose seasonal clothing, change the footage with the seasons, play natural sounds from each setting, allow the user to positively affect the landscape, i.e. virtually “touching”.

Another extension of how the campaign could be shared more widely would be the use of a livefeed broadcasts the live use of the installation.

Hammersmith f lyover, Piccadilly Circus and Elephant and Castle roundabout are a few areas we believe the livefeed would be well situated.

Expanding Brand Awareness

Live Feed

Sharing Happiness

FacebookTwitter

This installation aims to be a refreshing relief in a stress inducing environment, recreating the positive effects nature has on our well being. Users will want to share this on social networks and they can do so by using the hashtag #reconnect.

The #reconnect will also be situated in the

projection, to develop a social media following.

Surrogate Nature

Proposal for Social Good

Self Initiated

6th - 16th March

The Brief

To explore the idea of improving wellbeing by providing a surrogate to real nature.

Aim

To propose a concept to be employed by places where people would benefit from the calming effects of natural scenes but can’t necessarily access them - for instance: hospitals, hospices, and even offices.

The Project

A self-initiated project that stemmed from the research and development of the proposed campaign for The National Trust.

This project began by reading an essay by Sue Thomas, Technobiophilia, that stated “that you can gain equal benefit from walking in a forest as from viewing an image of a forest or, as in my case, from watching virtual goldfish as opposed to real ones”.

I was keen to explore an concept that aimed to improve wellbeing - be it of an individual or a group.

Therefore, I filmed ‘natural’ spaces and then projected them in an old person’s home.

To further this concept, it would ideally be projected into ‘stressful’ spaces such as hospices, cancer wards and hospitals. The concept is beneficial as it brings nature to people who would benefit from it most, and yet, are unlikely to have access to it.

6th March

The idea is about projecting gardens. This idea stemmed from research that stated the artificial nature is linked positively to wellbeing - just as ‘real’ nature is. Knowing this, how can artificial nature be used for social good?

By projecting accomplished gardens into urban ones, this concept plays with the boundaries between dreams and reality and aims to improve urban spaces by appropriation.

Nick Robertson and I both liked the concept of imposing one environment onto another.

Could the user ‘donate’ their garden?

Could the user project it into steam of fog, which created a ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ screen?

Could the garden be extended by the projection, giving scope for a larger, more impressive ‘space’ to be visualised?

Could the gardens be ‘night gardens’ and be linked to dreams of a setter place?

Could the gardens be live streamed from accomplished sites such as The National Trust?

Could it be a special ‘event’ that the National Trust could specially light up their gardens at night, for us to project them into our own?

Above left: Abelardo Morell

Filming at Myddleton Gardens in Enfield

16th

Today I created a photograph that represents the concept.

I chose to soften the edges of the projection to make it easier on the eye. The organic shape is more pleasing that the usual rectangular shapes we are used to with screens.

I shot it in my grandmother’s bedroom to suggest that it may be soothing to watch as you are about to drift off to sleep. Saying that, it may help people who usually have trouble sleeping.

The next step is to project the gardens into hospital spaces!

Cigarette CardsRevival of a Dying Collection

(Work in Progress)

Self-Initiated

Work In Progress

2nd - 4th Feb

plus23rd - 24th Aprilwhen Tim Marshall offered me more of his own collection.

The Project

To bring a dying collection to life.

Aim

To animate a collection of cigarette cards, belonging to my grandfather.

Process

I had already completed a project about collections in the first year, in which I used my grandfather’s stamp collection to great effect. I was keen to see what else he has hiding away.

He led me upstairs and presented 3 OXO tins, stacked on top of one another. Opening the tins, I found 2 had old coins with some interesting shapes and sizes from the past. But the third tin had smallbcards neatly arranged, fitting perfectly among 2 old cigarette packets.

I saw instantly that I would be able to animate them and so I set about ordering them.

Experiments

I tried animating the cards by placing them in the same spot for each frame; as well as animating their placement to, for example, make them look at if they are travelling.

Improvements / Ref lection

To improve this, I would like to communicate the history behind the cards. I aim to animate my grandfather’s hands passing me the box and us start to play the game that he and his friends used to play with the cards when he was 11 years old.

Above: Pierre Facheux

TODAY I RECEIVED FEEDBACK FROM MY TUTORS

ESTEBAN GITTON SAID….

The sound is wrong and doesn’t tell any story. Perhaps you could use audio that contrasts the image. E.g. Sound of health warning from NHS.Look at the history of the cigarette packet. Contrast ‘then’ and ‘now’.Look at La Jetée for use of storytelling with only images.Consider zooming in to details Consider creating a narrative about my grandad as a young boy?Consider using an 11 year old male actor for that.

5th March

MICHELLE SAID…

Consider revealing the true narrative. None of the story is shown in the video - we know nothing about you discovering this box and what your Grandfather did with these cards, or how he got them - or how old they are. Could they jump out of the box you found them in?

Could you use your grandfather’s voice?

Could you show your grandfather’s hands passing you the box?Did your grandfather have to smoke to collect these?

Did your grandfather have to smoke to collect these?

What are the moral aspects of these cards and them luring customers to keep on smoking (see film ‘Thank You For Smoking’).Could you use the ruined voice of a long-term smoker and talk of the reper-cussions of smoking?

Could you comment on the culture of smoking?

23rd April

Tim Marshall saw my animation on the internet and let me photograph his own card collection of planes,native Americans and cars.

Willie’s Cacao

Storyboard for Advertising

The Brief

Storyboard a short moving image advert for Willie’s Cacao. It must be inspired by the brand’s story and ref lect the lengths taken to source natural and exotic ingredients.

Self-Initiated

22nd - 24th March

Co-owned by James Gardner

he tries and tries to reach it, but has no luck. Tagline: Never stop wanting.

Story Options

We explored variables of details within the story:-

Should the boy be on a ship-island and be on lookout from the top of its mast for lush, tropical islands?

Should the boy be on a generic-candy island and be seeking out better quality treats?

Should the boy be on a giant brussel sprout - the ultimate opposite to treats?

Should the boy ever reach the island? If he doesnt, what are the connotations of this, if the character is ‘Willie’?

Intentions for Production

The piece is intended to be shot on James’ BlackMagic and composited with 3D computer animations.

Intentions for Aesthetic

The visuals were influenced by Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, Avatar, Wreck It Ralph, James and the Giant Peach. The aesthetics suit the idea of exploration and adventure.

Our Approach

Create a story that features a character searching for his luxurious ingredients.

Target Audience

25-40 year olds who want a better quality chocolate, who appreciate the efforts of an individual and want to support smaller businesses.

Research

Willie, a British chocolatier has made huge efforts to produce his own quality chocolate. He “emigrated to Venezuela to purchase El Tesoro....planted more than 50,000 cacao trees of the Criollo cultivar, and built up an eco-tourism venture. In 1998 he started making 100% cacao bars for locals from the farm, with moulds made from a clay pipe.”

Storyboard

Story 1: the protagonist is Willie as a young boy. He searches for better, richer lands. Once found, he tries and tries to reach it, but does once he sacrifices something for it. He then shares the luxury treats with the world.

Story 2: the protagonist is an ordinary young boy. He searches for better, richer lands. Once found,

Boy is disheartened and disappointed that he still hasn’t found what he has been searching for for all his life.

He perks up when he thinks he has spotted something.

Yes! Indeed he has spotted a lush island growing humongous cacao plants and tropical fruits.

He climbs down from the look-out and tries to run and jump on to the lush island.

He fails. He tries stretching. He fails. He tries a slide. He fails.

He tries a pogo stick. Then a fishing rod.

No luck. He thinks of a new idea. He climbs back down, looks up at his mast realising that he must sacrifice it in order to get to the island.

He brief ly seems sad to leave his little island and to have sacrificed his mast that allowed him to travel. But he sees the lush island and can’t wait.

A bit older now, he sends out the chocolate treats that he has concocted to other islands via balloons.

“Never Stop Wanting”

/

“Never Stop Wanting.Never Stop Giving”

Efficient Exercise

Tool

The Brief

Conceptualise a tool that will encourage people to exercise quickly and efficiently.

Aim

To produce a conceptual ‘tool’ aimed at young women who need some encouragement and reminders to exercise.

Self Initiated

7th - 9th March

Design Choices

I was influenced by the colour palette and typography used in Wes Anderson’s films and the opening titles of ‘Girls’, directed by Lena Dunham

Target Audience

Young women 18-24 like myself who need a kick up the bum.

Development of Concept

I also questioned whether the concept would need to be an app at all. I considered instead a website that allows you to play a youtube playlist of my prompter videos alongside existing workout videos. This would all fit neatly into the partioning of the website. The third partition would be Spotify, allowing you to play music to your workout.

Process

Personally, I wanted an app that would encourage me to exercise efficiently.

I have noticed that people don’t have time to exercise. Although they would like to exercise, they may be put off by the idea of long runs, trips to the gym that take a chunk out of their day and the 30-minute-a-day government guideline.

Research

Research by Jamie Timmons, professor of ageing biology at Birmingham University, has shown that high intensity 3 minute workouts had a great impact on health.

Analysis

I tested 3 existing apps, namely HIIT Tabata Workout and Interval Training.

Overall these apps are quite simple and effective but still something is lacking: the appeal to use the app again, the user experience. There is also no visual encouragement from the app to keep a high intensity level up. The aesthetic is not always pleasing, except in HIIT.

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Dazed & Confused

Sting - Entry for Dazed Digital

The Brief

Create a 2 second sting with the Dazed logo to be added onto the beginning of videos on the site.

Open Competition set by Dazed Digital

31st January

Process

I wanted this to be spontaneous and therefore I quickly filmed the television screen whilst a nature documentary was on. I decided to film up close, so as to abstract the images. I felt that an abstract piece would suit the very short time frame of the sting. I selected short and sharp clips and abstracted them further by adjusting their colours. I kept their original sound, which is quite jarring - and animated the duplicates of the logo on an offset loop.

Research

I drew on primary research, knowing Dazed quite well and having visited their site and read their magazine several times over the years. I knew that their market was artistic, edgy and fashionable youth - and so I aimed to make a piece that was aethetically pleasing but a bit off-kilter and uncomfortable.

RAW FOOTAGE

EDITED

Punctuation

Hemingway’s Longest Sentence

The Brief

Explore the world of punctuation.

Aim

To visually communicate the severe consquences of a lack of punctuation.

Self Initiated

1st - 2nd May

Design Choices

This was just a one day project, however in hindsight, I would have tried making a set of scales, like in my sketches that constrasted this long sentence with the shorter one. Instead, I have chosen to print the entire sentence on a 3-meter piece of paper; each word underneath the next. I titled it ‘Punctuation’ as it was more to the point and contrasted the length of the copy that was to follow. I am pleased with the fact that this object becomes experiencial: the act of unrolling a 3 meter sheet to find that it is in fact just one lone sentence will emphasise the anti-climax of this sentence.

To this day, I have not read the entire sentence, and I don’t think anyone ever has, or ever will.

Process

I began by researching the longest sentence, and the shortest. Although I had never read anything by Hemingway, I knew from watching Midnight in Paris, by Woody Allen, that his sentences were always rolling. I was impressed and disgusted that his longest sentence was 424 words long. Would anyone ever get through to the end of it? Imagine the shock as you turned pages upon pages, to find that the sentence would ‘never’ end! I wanted to communicate the enormity of the sentence by putting into another form.

Research

A great piece of information is that Hemingway’s longest sentence was 424 words...and in contrast he is also known for a piece of ‘f lash fiction’ in which he wrote:

‘For sale: baby shoes never worn’.

This made me think of how powerful a few well chosen words can be: these 6 words tell a thousand - that a mother has lost her baby and too poor and too distraught, she sells them ina newspaper.

Paid Jobs

Designing, Videoblogging, & Assisting

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Central Saint Martins Degree Show 2014 Pathway Rep and Member of the Curation Team

Central St. Martins & The Courtauld Gallery Assistant on ‘Animating Art History’ Course for Teenagers

Chocolate Films Facilitator on an Animation Workshop for Children

TATE Britain Portfolio Advice Day - Assistant Videographer + Editor

Bauer Media / GoThinkBig.co.uk Online Video-Blogger for a 4-day Event at The o2 Arena

Central St. Martins & The Courtauld Gallery Assistant on ‘Animating Art History’ Course for Teenagers

Bauer Media / GoThinkBig.co.uk Illustrator for banners on the website

Action On The Side Makeup Artist on a short film produced by James Doherty

Jobs

2014

2013

Animating Art HistoryAssisting Michelle Soloman and working alongside Mumu Ali (2014) and Katy Beveridge (2013)

to guide 17-18 year olds through a stop-frame animation course over the course of 11 weeks.

GoThinkBig @ Campus PartyGoThinkBig chose myself and UCL student Nadira to make a video blog of the 5 day technology event.

We were tasked to interview the big names at the event and publish the videos online each day.

Curation of Degree Show

GoThinkBig / Bauer MediaI worked for 4 days as an illustrator next to ex-CSM student Fran Marchesi

making banners for the website to accompany the daily written content from GoThinkBig.co.uk

Other Works

Past and Personal Projects

Make-Up

Self-

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Treasure in the Woods

Same Word,

Different Meaning

English words that became naughty.

Deface Her Face!

Asking people to be cheeky and deface the Machin stamp. (Stamps from my Grandfather’s collection).

Bad Queenie by Ray the technician

PressureSe

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Pho

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Vis

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Thank YouThe blog of my process & progress can be seen at

www.finalfinalfinal.tumblr.com