LOUIS WHITEID: 0900517

STUDIO PRACTISE

UNIT ERGD 2009

Welcome to the Semester One Portfolio, Method and Madness.

CONTENT

Document 02Production 03-08

Shooting Stars 09-20Biography 21-24Henderson 25-34

Serial Thriller 35-42Document 45-46

Studio practise has always been the natural response to new formed ideas and skills learnt through Independent practises. The formation of knowledge and understanding between each portfolio has given new insight in to tackling projects and events. The new style of portfolio that I have learnt to produce, will link in with Independent practise and Contextual studies respectively. It is a great way of producing that further development and growth as an individual.

Ive been looking at the movement which is Modernism, and the styles of geometrics, colour and typography in my Indepedent practise. These styles have become my ideology in tackling each project that we have had in the Studio. The modernist ideology may not be

dominant in every project, but the pure thinking behind will be.

This portfolio is a contionous exercise of preforming under deadline condition ultimately. It enables us to translate our understanding of time management and structure back to our Independent practise. It is a very key underlining point, that I always knew but took it for granted. Until this year and semester, Studio practise and Independent practise have been always been seperate. That isn’t

the case this year.

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Other Focus WallpaperAn example of Independent and Studio practises combining. The indepedent project was to create a background wallpaper for Other Focus’s new website. Design was given two days to achieve a result, time management was key. Postmodernist geometric shape design.

What time is it? It’s 1:15pm Thanks

What the hell was I looking for anyways?

The initial reponse to an early starter brief, sprang the whole idea of the exploration of modernism. Back then I referred to it as Minimilism, which it is but the reference soon changed when it came to research and provided a wider range of ideologies to explore. The first starter brief was to catagorize a short comic story into a single perception and recreate it in that vision. For example some people recreated just the sound made in the short story. The idea of creating a minimilist view sprang from a mere reference to some minimilist posters I saw

on a design blog that day.

The idea was to create that different perception and this is what i came up with. It is very simple and straight to the point, no inclusion of colour or textures. I then recreated the story two more times to portray a different outcome. The initial story was that a man was on his laptop, and got up to ask what the time was. He then proceed to the fridge reuttering “What the hell was i looking for anyways”. The story has been structured as a simple method, an even simpler method would just be text. This brief was the early beginnings of a

great adventure into the word of Modernism.

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What time is it? It’s 1:15pm Thanks

What the hell was I looking for anyways?

What time is it? It’s 1:15pm Thanks

What the hell was I looking for anyways?

Thinking like a modernist was the first reaction to this new project at hand, it was welcomed well. The subtle style and direction of the modernist ideology shaped an angle that has crafted a multi disciplined piece. The project required a new intererpretation of an event shown through the median of motion graphic. This project in itself was going to be difficult, motion was never an easy task for

myself.

This immeidately challenged the zone I created away from my comfort zone. It proposed pressure and failure, something that

pushes great high risk ideas.

I chose to tackle the Twin Towers brief because it was a more rememberable event than the others, even if they occured in 2011. It was an international event. I felt that I could modernise these events in a different light, not depicting the actually event. Ive listed a few interesting statistics from this unsettling part of American history on the next page. The clear angle I wanted to take this down, was the exxclusion and avoidance of mass death. The brief stated you could fictionalise this. The form of time-based outcome was going to be stop motion animation. The inclusion of minimal repeated sound, with potential voice over will accompany and pan out a different

outcome of 9/11.

SHOOTING STARS

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Year the World Trade Centre was built: 1970

Number of companies housed in the WTC: 430

Number working in World Trade Centre on average working day prior to 11 September: 50,000

Average number of daily visitors: 140,000

Number killed in attack on New York, in the Twin Towers and in aircraft that crashed into them: 2,823

Distance, in miles, from which the burning towers were visible: 20

Maximum heat of fires, in degrees fahrenheit, at World Trade Center site: 2,300

Number of days underground fires at World Trade Centre continued to burn: 69

Number of days that workers dug up debris at Ground Zero, searching for body parts: 230

Number of body parts collected: 19,500

Number of bodies discovered intact: 291

Number of victims identified by New York medical examiner: 1,102

Number of death certificates issued without a body at request of victims’ families: 1,616

Number of people still classified as missing from the World Trade Centre that day: 105

Number of people who died when American Airlines flight 11 from Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, crashed into the

north tower of the World Trade Center: 92

Number of people who died when United Airlines flight 175

Value of US economy: $11 trillion

Estimated cost of attacks to US based solely on property losses and insurance costs: $21billion

Estimated total losses to the world insurance market from the World Trade Centre: £25bn-£50bn

9/11 STATISTICS

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Number of British victims: 67

Number of articles written over the last year in the UK press mentioning 11 September: 27,920

Number of specific mentions of Britain in threats from Al Qaeda: 1

Days after 9/11 that the ‘Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001’ was passed: 63

Votes for and against the Bill in the House of Commons: 458-5

Number of defeats in the House of Lords before a compromise was reached: 8

Number of Muslims in the UK: 1.8m

Proportion of those deemed to be practising Muslims: 42%

Number of ‘terror suspects’ imprisoned without trial after the ‘Anti-Terrorism’ act was passed: 11

Number of days after 9/11 that Bush signed the Aviation Security Act requiring all checked-in bags to be screened for bombs and

explosives by January 2002: 39

Percentage of bags checked in screened for bombs and explosives prior to the bill in the US: 10%

Number of bags carried each day by airline passengers in the United States: 3,000,000

Size (in inches) of toy soldier’s mini replica Armalite rifle, intended as a present for her grandson, confiscated from British tourist Judy

Powell’s bag by airport security at LA International Airport: 5

Percentage of fake weapons undetected at America’s leading Airports: 24

Cost of Frequent Flyers Bra manufactured by a Tokyo-based lingerie company in response to a number of security alerts relating to bra

underwires: £20

There had to be a layout, organisation was key. With a mass of different near positive outcomes other than not happening, I had to focus on one, develop and bring it to life. I formed this idea of a massive shield surrounding the Twin Towers just before they were hit. Its a strange idea, but it was something simple that I could bring out with confusion. Less is more. Plastercine, Camera, lighting and

a set-up was all that was needed.

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The idea was there, the implementation was the next step. The motion was going to be very gritty, grime, glitchy and unparrell. The lighting was important in creating emotion, the dark setup created darkness and a void of dispair. The use of filters on the camera also generated a glitchy, colour infused blur. After experimentation I created the scene I

wanted, and the production began.

The Twin Towers are made of plastercine and don’t contain much depth apart from unwanted cracks. The focus was on the physical representation of the towers more than a realistic view. The towers were not so much disguised by the blur effects and the glitchy nature of the motion, but the disfunction of them added to that image. The other props like the aeroplane and the accompanying physics, were variously made of different materials. This add to the unrealistic view of the motion, which brings me on to the

sound.

The projection of sound was an important part of the overall perception of the motion. The sound went through some development to get a unique sound that surficed. The current soundtrack is of a record that has skipped repeatedly, with the inclusion of human voice and human mutters, the illusion of panic surronds the motion and gives the audience a

completely different outlook.

This project I believe falls under the madness part of the course plan. It was our last project that bared the weight of all four projects. The time spent on the methods of inquiry and research was minimal compared to the others. A maximum couple of unstructured days helped the beginning and ending of the process of finding out who

exactly Betty Friedan was.

This brief was done at the family residence instead of at and around university. This change of scenery was because through immediate recon of who Betty Friedan was as soon as i received the name. I found that people from different backgrounds, 18-23 years old couldn’t recall the name. Not to say there aren’t any other ages groups around univeristy but it was about taking unfamiliar methods of inquiry, working at home may give a different outlook on things.

At this point i had no idea who Betty Friedan was. I started by asking my 25-30 year old cousins and family friends who she was. There was a hinderance of a book, but that was the only solid information gathered. I then asked my parents. Both middle age now. My father had heard the name but couldn’t recognise what she did. However, my mother knew who she was and gave me the name of a book, called The Femme mystique. She said that they analysed the book in her English Literature lesson back when she done her O levels. She also stated that all of the sisters, my aunties, read the book in collaboration as a way of bonding about their experience with boys,

along with other early generation books.

This took the investigation to other family members, including my uncles. They gave me advice on what to look for and who exactly she was. It wasn’t the case of just the book that she wrote, more about her efforts for the feminist movement that have been cemented in history. It was great to get small parts from someone, then gather mass information from another, it gave a sense of perspective of Betty’s influences. Little did I know till I asked, that the members of my family were influenced by her words and actions.. It was a brief conclusion to potentially an explorative project but one aspect Im proud of was the latter use of the Internet. This research would usualy take a matter of seconds at any location on any device, but the process of discovery portrayed personal views of Betty, that wouldn’t be found on the internet. On the next page are some of the

information gathered through this process.

BIOGRAPHY

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Betty Friedan born in 1921 in the USA

Died 2006

Feminist

Feminine Mystique published in 1963

National Organisation of Women President

Women strike for equality

The Feminine Mystique is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century

The second stage published in 1981

Equal rights amendment

Women’s movement

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The design of any direct mail will be the initial contact between company and potential client. Being out of the age group for the intended target audience and out of the expense margin of actually investment, it gave us an advantage in recognising common knowledge of Henderson’s and Investment banking. The conclusion that was made, contained promise of minimalist design but understanding and depth in the idea. The representation and implementation of the stock exchange into the direct mail was the concentration. Henderson’s is evidently a global organisation, but from research made, the majority of the public have not heard of them, but make that link from the word “Investors”, to money to the indication of the Stock Exchange. Analysing the stock exchange for a couple of hours, the changing nature of stocks and the frustration ultimately presented an angle with the design. Stocks go up, and they go down. The representation of this on a graph, are triangles. We believed a direct mail piece and brand values will benefit from this geometric shape, and add that immediate understanding. Less

is more.

The punch line we wanted to explored was Ups, Downs + Ups. It’s witty and gives the idealistic view of investors. It provides the reality of stocks going down and going up, but loosely implies that things will be remain positive if you join Henderson’s. Making brand values for an organisation that specialises in investments was a task in itself. It’s none of our areas of current interest or expertise’s. This again gave us an advantage in the sense that it allowed us to generalise these values, with things that we currently know. Along with background research of Henderson’s,

the collation of this information gave the brand values.

The brand values that we decided on were Personal, Safe, Knowledgeable, Understanding and believing in Equality. We believed they fit the current trend in investment banking, being solid qualities that suffice public trust in this current economy and culture. These are all outlined in the booklet containing in the packaging. These are delivered in a witty way again, its to take the cooperate ride or die impression away and just ease the reader into the opportunity of investing. They are delivered witty in respects to the company,

each get the point across, not overall distracting witty.

A value the investors stand by, is the use recycled paper. Thick 180gsm 9Lives 55 gloss & silk is the paper that we researched to use for our packaging. The creation of our mock design was done on 180gsm card, and crafted using’s a simple double net. The booklet will be standard 9lives 55 gloss & silk, and it sits just smaller than A6. The booklet is small and compact because we had to remember it will be used to leer the viewer into picking up the phone, emailing or just looking at Henderson’s website. The call to actions will be

provided on the back of the booklet.

HENDERSON GLOBAL INVT.

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The design of any direct mail will be the initial contact between company and potential client. Being out of the age group for the intended target audience and out of the expense margin of actually investment, it gave us an advantage in recognising common knowledge

of Henderson’s and Investment banking.

The conclusion that was made, contained promise of minimalist design but understanding and depth in the idea. The representation and implementation of the stock exchange into the direct mail was the concentration. Henderson’s is evidently a global organisation, but from research made, the majority of the public have not heard of them, but make that link from the word “Investors”, to money to the indication of the

Stock Exchange.

Analysing the stock exchange for a couple of hours, the changing nature of stocks and the frustration ultimately presented an angle with the design. Stocks go up, and they go down. The representation of this on a graph, are triangles. We believed a direct mail piece and brand values will benefit from this geometric shape, and add that immediate

understanding. Less is more.

UK:AUSTRALIA:

The identification of the use of a triangle as a geometric form that represents our interpretation of Henderson’s, was the first step in unravelling this brief. The design went through development after development before we came to a final design. Even then we weren’t pleased with some aspects of the

design, and tweaked it again.

The design was downsized frequently to accomodate the mail delivery criteria. Each time this was done the idea developed, and

our methods of creating simplified

Direct Mail, its the personal.

Ups & Downs & Ups.We mean business.

X

X

We understand, what you may not. But if you do, we still know better.

X

LoyaltyPersonal

SafeKnowledgeableUnderstanding

Equality

Making brand values for an organisation that specialises in investments was a task in itself. Its none of our areas of current interest or expertise’s. This again gave us an advantage in the sense that it allowed us to generalise these values, with things that we currently know. Along with background research of Henderson’s, the collation of this information

gave the brand values.

A value the investors stand by, is the use recycled paper. Thick 180gsm 9Lives 55 gloss & silk is the paper that we researched to use for our packaging. The creation of our mock design was done on 180gsm card, and

crafted using’s a simple double net.

The brand values are listed below. These values will be presented in a small booklet

inside the box design.

We put our trust in you and guide you all the way.X

Any situation that occurs we can solve in the best means possible.

X

FINAL NET

The design implements the triangle in the manner of representation. The final packaging will be black with the logo on the box embedded. Two foldable triangles on the bottom and the top to imply the up and down of the stock exchange. The other triangles will not be labelled, they are support, and a

packaging method.

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The final physical outcome of the direct mail was made so well. The vision of the final design developed numerous times, not in a tedious way, but in a way that ended the project on a high. I was proud of the team work put into this, each involved in the bigger picture and

it shows.

The direct mail will be posted like this but with a nice posting paper. The band around the piece will contain posting information, accompanied with logo and the Henderson name. This demonstrates the recognition factor of the piece, and

keeps it relevant to the call to action.

The concept of this brief was excellent, which I had more time to develop my own idea. It was again a step outside my comfort zone, sound has always played a big part in my life, but portraying and

manipulation was a different thing.

The way I tackled the project was by keeping it close to home. We had to produce a notion, and continue to pass it on and adapt the final notion. It took awhile to come to terms with the complexity of the project parameters, but when I got there, it all made sense. I got the idea from my mother, of all people, it randomly came upon. The story behind the idea sprang from the relationship between my mother and father, they both are teachers at the same school. They travel there together, have lunch together and leave together. I went to their school to do some work and I was with my mother, something occured with a student, it was a story per say. I experienced this also. That night when we were at dinner, my mother brought this story up, but told it in a different way to the original. She told it in a way that made her look better off. It wasn’t completely true but it was an

adaption of the truth.

Speaking from past experience, when talking to a girl, you leave out elements of another girl to protect the feelings of the girl in subject. Its very simple, but I wanted to look at how spouces convey stories of their days to one another. As stated its not a complex science, but the means of convey a story are drastically changed to either

protect, better and involve the subject.

Through photography Ive looked at the portrayal of emotion and how the spouce may respond. The photography may be deemed irrelevant, but they tie in with what has been said. Its not as simple

as it looks, just like telling a story.

The images on the next page are just brief annotations of what I would like to further portray. The examples are from family and friends, past and present dates. The text is taken from one persons point of view.

SERIAL THRILLER

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There’s this absolute bitch at work that’s getting on my nerves.

Babe no, listen, she went and said that she felt disconnected from the whole office when she got promoted. She got a new office away from everyone, why does she have to come back. She’s just so annoying. She likes to steal food, I don’t like her especially. She

needs to go back to where she came from.

The office down the hallway.

It was so funny girl; this bus driver had this really weird hat.

Yeah I no its just a hat, but basically Samantha grabbed it after Farley Hill and just dashed it out the window.

Nah apparently he looked at her weirdly, and his hat had something like “Deathcore is cool”. It’s getting dashed.

Don’t care.

You’re Harsh

I don’t know what to do, I’m drawn between a career at Argos and attending a university course I don’t actually

like at this moment in time.

Yeah its one of those ones, where Its deadline time and I know deep down I won’t pass anyways, so who am I

kidding.

It’s easy to say that though, Argos can actually take me places in the long run.

Okay fine, Ill hang on for the deadline, but career prospects in Argos appeal to me more.

I want to get some new Pirelli tyres on the BMW dear.

There on special offer

No, but they will help the performance of the car, it will be easier for you to drive back and fourth to get Christopher

from school

They are a reasonable price for four Pirelli tyres.

Thanks hunny.

Books

Berman,C.M,2004, Avant-Garde Graphics 1918-1934, South Bank Centre, London

Fraser,T.,2010, Colour in Design pocket essentials, East Sussex, ILEX

Banks.A.,2010, Colour in Design pock essentials, East Sussex, ILEX

Collins,M.,1990, Post Modern Design, Hong Kong, John Wiley & Sons

Papadakis,A.,1990, Post Modern Design, Hong Kong, john Wiley & Sons

Finke.D.G.,2000, White Graphics, Minneapolis, Rockport Publisher

Gandl.S., 2007, Neubau Modul: Electronic and Analogue Patterns, Die Gestalten Verlag

Grunberger.C., Neubau Modul: Electronic and Analogue Patterns, Die Gestalten Verlag

Wigan,M., Thinking Visually, Ava publishing, London

Wolf,H., Visual Thinking, Rizzoli International Publications, Italy

Internet

Abdzeedo, 2011. Abdzeedo Daily Inspiration [online] Available at: < http://abduzeedo.com/ > [Accessed 28 September 2011-].

Behance, 2011.Behance Featured Projects [online] Available at: < http://www.behance.net/ > [Accessed 28 September 2011-].

From Up North, 2011. From Up North main [online] Available at: < http://www.fromupnorth.com/> [Accessed 28 September 2011-].

From The Guardian, 2011. From World News [online] Available at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/aug/18/usa.terrorism>

[Accessed 7 December 2011]

My Links

Shooting Stars brief: http://vimeo.com/30367794Shooting Stars experiment: http://vimeo.com/33545430

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Understanding the relationship between each portfolio, has given my work context and purpose. Ive made one portfolio this year but in two different views of the spectrum. As stated in my other evaluation, this understanding was the stronghold in any progression made on the course, it may seem simplistic but the basic questions build up to a conclusion. With Independent practise looking at the theories and culture of Modernism, I wanted to portray my findings and give

them a greater context in my own work.

We get projects throughout the studio year which eventually end. That is the underlying point. The projects end but the confidence, self determination and courage will overlap into new thinking on future projects. From experience I never take this for granted because not every project will project that ongoing enthusiasm. When this occurs, ive learnt to self motivate myself through different medians, like reading design magazines/websites and getting away from my laptop. Ive importantly learnt more about how I respond and react

to projects.

The projects given immediately put me out of my comfort zone, a challenge was ahead. Each project posted a new feat, tactic and skill that shaped my thinking. The areas explored were motion graphics, collaborative live brief, sound/conversation design and alternate methologies. Nothing that im new to hearing, but to actually do them is a different feeling. With the huge collaborative live brief, the trait of time management loomed each week, as other projects came into action. This pressure and multi project juggling is something that brings out the best. However, it is easy to frail away from the challenge, there is a need for willpower and self confidence that has

to provail in those types of design ventures.

The first semester Studio practise has been one of living out of the comfort zone. It helps to push the boundaries of my design theories, and increases the design universe around me. The Studio practise was overshadowed by the intrigue of Independence. Thats just natural, the freedom given for the Independent portfolio was always going to be appealing. However, each portfolio and contextual studies kept that focus on the bigger picture. The studio practise grounded my imagination, and took care of my though processes and grasped styles of time management Im not too familiar with.

The constant progress out of my comfort zone has given ways and means to re-enter that zone and create another mindset.

FUTURE PROSPECTSLEARNING & EXPERIENCES