Friday, May 23, 2014

Evaluation

This term has been a great mixture of experimenting new things, coming up with ideas and creating outcomes. I am happy with my final posters, I think they are in the best range of work I have created this year in Graphics. I have developed my skills in Photoshop, Indesign, drawing, photography and many other types of design. I think I have improved on taking a design further, I have taken themes and developed the colours, material and style of the first design to make it better. I have found a good way of working and trial and error is always useful. I am glad I got to focus on something special to me in this final project as it enticed me to find out more, this also helped me as I have been doing dance for over 15 years now and have connections in the industry. Many of my friends can dance, this helped me a lot with my photography. I feel that I used a range of skills in this project from drawing and sketching, computer skills, photography, and my graphic design skills have definitely improved. I based the festival in Paris as I have visited it recently, I have images in the beautiful City and it is a great location for a dance festival. Visiting different Cities during this project really inspired me, I went to Berlin and Paris. It was lovely to see the contrast and similarities with the art and to visit exhibitions of foreign artists. Artists and photographers who specifically influenced me for this project are: Robert Mapplethorpe (one of my favourite photographers), Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Patrick Mcgannon and Greg Gorman. Another general graphical influence is Steve Edge. I also found influence in books, performances, friends, fellow students and galleries.

I think the project went well in terms of what I could produce with the time I was given. I worked hard on the posters and I experimented with my different photographs and different techniques on the computer and sketching as well. It was hard to find a poster that looked right for what I was going for. I wanted it to have class as well as look fun and interesting at the same time as being inviting. After many tries I think I found the best layout, colours and image put together for the festival that was in my mind. This made me better and noticing what is good together and what clashes in graphic design.

I would have liked to do more on this project, if I had more time and money I would have focussed more on branding and made some dance related clothing and other merchandise. I also would have liked to make a short film of a performance, possibly of my choreography. Another idea was to make a model stage that would have been at the festival, where the dancers would have performed. If I were to do things differently I would have been quicker with choosing a final theme and been able to succeed in completing one of these more elaborate ideas. I also would have liked to have access to a more professional camera as my one takes good photographs but not to the professional standard that could be met with a more updated one. 

Final piece

Coming towards the end of my foundation, I was to produce the most important piece of work so far. This required me to do lots of planning and think of all my options. As I had done lots of practice work on posters, I thought I could create a final poster on the computer using my Photoshop and InDesign skills. First it needed designing. I experimented again with colours and layout and came up with a logo that worked. 


With this logo I branded some of my best photographs that I  had taken so far to see how it looked. 



Sticking with this colour theme, I created one of my final posters on the computer, using my own image but altering it to be more eye-catching and bright. Experimenting with typography and shapes I came up with the poster that would be part of my final display. 


To support and compliment this poster, I thought of doing a different style and creating something that explained a bit more what the festival had to offer. I kept the same colours so the posters complimented each other and included other images I had taken to pursue the fun and bright theme of the festival.


Seen as it was a festival and there was to be merchandise, I would have liked to have the time and money to do more for example make t-shirts, costumes, mugs, stall signs etc. But I did have time to create a festival ticket on Photoshop and Indesign. This gives the viewer more of an idea of the reality of the festival. 



Poster ideas

Starting to think of a final outcome of my project, I would like to think of ideas for a poster. This could mean many different things, based on dancing I thought of an idea to do a nightclub poster advertising a specific night themed on dance. Again I used a variation of different medias and tried out many different layouts, colours, images and themes.




I was inspired by a book based on the swinging sixties, this caused me to develop this idea into a 60's dance themed night, I continued to experiment with these ideas.




Somehow this idea did not work very well with me as my photographs and the ideas in my head of dancing are more on a contemporary, professional side of dance. My next idea was to make up a dance festival, this seemed more relevant as it could include a range of dances. I did some research and discovered that this could be a good idea if I followed the theme correctly. I experimented some more with layout, colour, names, logos for my dance festival.




Paris

I visited Paris for a few days to discover the City, I made the most of what the galleries and museums had to offer. I went to the Modern Art Museum where they display many pieces of work that inspired me. I loved the work of Matisse that was shown in the gallery. Feeling inspired I photographed my friends dancing around the Eiffel Tower, in the MAM and other recognisable locations around Paris. I came out with some great photographs, which I think I can take further in the project. With the mixture of me and my friends dance skills, I managed to take some great photos. 
















Logo playing

For more experimentation, I have been creating dance shapes and positions using different medias. I have decided to focus on Branding, creating logos, posters and designs for a dance-related company. I enjoy experimenting with colours, pens, paint, stencils etc, to find the most eye-catching and relevant images, logos and icons. With inspiration from books, websites and people around me, i have found some great ways to depict dance. 








Sunday, May 18, 2014

My photography

In relation to my project, I took a series of photographs from my dance class of the fellow dancers. 







With this, I also decided to do some dancing myself and photograph with a tripod in a location that could work with a festival based outside. Here are the best images: