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This is not a book stating what I think is wrong or right, or what I think is good or bad design, but purely a revealed plan about how I wish to produce.
Citation preview
6
Boundaries“I
hat
e sl
ick
and
pre
tty
thin
gs. I
pre
fer
mis
take
s an
d a
ccid
ents
. Wh
ich
is w
hy
I li
ke t
hin
gs
like
cu
ts a
nd
bru
ises
– t
hey
’re
like
litt
le fl
ower
s. I
’ve
alw
ays
said
th
at if
yo
u h
ave
a n
ame
for
som
eth
ing,
like
‘cu
t’ o
r ‘b
ruis
e’, p
eop
le w
ill a
uto
mat
ical
ly b
e d
istu
rbed
by
it. B
ut
wh
en y
ou
see
the
sam
e th
ing
in n
atu
re, a
nd
yo
u d
on’
t kn
ow w
hat
it is
, it
can
be
very
bea
uti
ful.”
- D
avid
Lyn
ch
7
Reminders
&
In the last two years I have been heavily referencing
online graphic design, a lot of which I believe to be
largely ironic and sarcastic. I only really became
aware of this fashion around the end of my first year,
but I would say I didn’t really understand it until later
on in my design education.
When I first came across this sort of humorous
attitude to design I was drawn to it, maybe because
it seemed so familiar and playful to me. I remember
when I was younger trawling through lists of
typefaces trying to find the one that stands out the
most, meticulously drawing and re-drawing lines
and shapes with the brush tool on Microsoft Paint,
stretching photos and titles to fill the whole page. To
me there now seems to be a wave of design covering
the Internet that is drawing on these nostalgic values
and exploiting them.
I see myself as an interdisciplinary designer who
allows the content to often dictate the direction and
format of the work. I keep and upload all my work onto
a Tumblr blog, ‘a feature rich and free blog hosting
platform…’, this is also an environment where I see
the majority of my design inspiration. Tumblr allows
you to ‘Follow’ blogs, thus constructing an infinite,
tailored Dashboard of design work. It also allows
users to ‘Reblog’ images, copying them onto their
own blog; this is how trends can spread so quickly
and effectively.
Ultimately I am writing this to help me establish my
own way of working, a sort of loose manifesto that
will help me develop my practice. Understanding
and researching this current design fashion I am
surrounded by will help me create an ethos of my
own to follow, a mindset that encourages a more
positive and productive method of creation.
This is a collection of things that I feel are relevant
to what I want to do. This is a set of boundaries and
reminders that encourage me to produce and think
about work in a constructive way. This is not a book
stating what I think is wrong or right, or what I think
is good or bad design, but purely a revealed plan
about how I wish to produce.
8
Boundaries
Last year I worked mainly on one project and a
few smaller ones within that one idea; this year I
want to change that. I wanted to create a lot more
physical outcomes, have projects running along
side each other and crossing over. I believe working
on multiple projects and concepts at the same
time creates a perpetuation of further ideas, it also
provides me with breaks to avoid saturating one
individual project and getting too close to my work,
something I believe I was guilty of doing last year.
As previously mentioned my main aim this year is
to develop my ethos about how I want to continue
thinking and working, I feel it is a very confusing time
to be a designer and this is why I am undertaking this
written project. This project is a collection of things
to help me understand where it is I sit within design,
and although this is in itself an individual project, I
plan for it to influence and help construct my other
on going projects.
Other than attempting to define an ethos, I am
working on various other projects, many of which
are collaborations. One project with Ed Chambers,
involves projectors and the juxtaposition of imagery,
Ed works predominantly with collage and we wanted
to see if we could exploit this. We considered artists
like Sanja Ivekovic, Patrick Kieller, Michael Snow and
Hollis Frampton and had ideas we wanted to work
towards but no real subject matter or justification
of why we wanted to do it. After a few meetings
we decided to work with the idea of ‘live collage’,
eliminating the personal and meticulous aspects of
the process.
Two identical batches of archive imagery whir
simultaneously on two individual laptops, changing
every 0.1 of a second as part of a Microsoft
PowerPoint slideshow. The rapid slideshows are
each paused spontaneously to construct a collage,
the juxtaposition is captured and the system repeats.
Initially we were going to set this system up and create
the collages ourselves but we felt we could remove
ourselves further from this, getting others to generate
the artwork, and ultimately the entire content for the
publication we want to produce. The project takes
the form of an interactive installation but we will
also document it as part of a publication and also a
short film. I am interested in the re-appropriation of
PowerPoint, using it for it’s mechanical uses rather
than its presentation properties.
9
Reminders
&
When someone discovers I am in a band they often ask ‘what do
you sound like?’, ‘who do you sound like?’, ‘what type of music do
you play?’, and although I should now be full of good comparisons
and made up music genres I still struggle to avoid the pretentious
‘we don’t really sound like anyone else’. I have always found it
difficult to place a name to the sound we create, but I wouldn’t say
it has been something we have purposefully avoided.
Perhaps it is because we see Abe as more of a ‘thing we do as three
individuals together’? Maybe Abe is the people we are collectively?
Abe has taken the form of audio and music, and this I believe will
always be its rawest form, however I am interested in how Abe
might exist in other forms aesthetically.
I see Abe as a shared pool filled with our thoughts, inspirations,
ambitions, ideas, emotions etc. From this pool I want to channel
and guide Abe into new formats and concepts aside from music,
this new media will not be inspired by our already existing songs
as such, but more the same substance that created ‘our sound’ in
the first place.
We plan to explore Abe in new ways to show aesthetically what it
is we are. We don’t know exactly what we will produce physically,
but we know we are not on about CD covers, music videos or flyers.
Abe is a filtered feeling between three individuals and we want to
explain it.
I am also working with two band mates as part of
an Abe (the band) Aesthetic project. Although this
is a joint project three of us are satisfying, we are all
working individually. This project gives us free reign
to work in whatever ways we want to attempt to
visualise the Abe aesthetic. The brief:
10
Boundaries
HyperTourism Postcard
HyperTourism Travel Agents
11
Reminders
&
In between projects I am working on a few concepts
that are helping me realise and clarify my ethos.
These are sometimes stand-alone pieces or just very
early stages of my other projects but I think they are
valuable and really help justify what it is I am trying
to say, some of my older work is also relevant to this
catalogue, along with work from other artists, old
and new.
This postcard was one of three I produced in my
second year for my HyperTourism project; a hyper
real holiday concept based inside a small, lo-fi, self-
constructed travel agents. The original postcard was
from Mallorca but I scanned it in and roughly ‘edited
out’ the text and crowds of people, exposing the
blank checkerboard Photoshop background.
It is interesting reflecting back on this piece a year
or so after. At the time I was very interested in these
current online trends and part of me wanted to join
in with them and work ironically, however the other
half always quite liked the aesthetic of the things I
was doing e.g. the wavy brush strokes. I was in an
in-between transformation. Some of my work used
techniques genuinely and some were used for a
more humorous effect, emulating what I was seeing
online.
12
Boundaries
Over my time at University I am aware that I have
worked in a rather personal, self-indulgent way,
coming up with projects and ideas that I wanted to
explore, concepts with no commercial constraints or
boundaries. I was working as freely and as creatively
as I wanted, thus removing me further from the
reality of client briefs and industry practice.
However in August 2012 I undertook a work
placement at Field Design in Sheffield. Field is a
small independent design agency consisting of four
members that specialises in print, web and brand
identity. It was here I started applying my conceptual
ideas to real briefs. One project in particular really
got me thinking about what values I can inject into a
piece of graphic design.
I was asked to design a poster for a Rocky Horror
Cabaret show. Straight away in my head I was
picturing blood-dripping titles, squished text and
over crowded flyers, but rather than discarding these
traditional elements that so often feature in these
scenarios I wanted to encompass them. I believe the
initial thought process to be extremely valuable; I
want to embody these connotations, consider them
and display them rather than remove them totally
and start afresh.
Naturally there were a lot of elements that the flyer
had to include, this helped maintain the spirit of a
‘typical’ Rocky Horror poster; red text and the use
of Wide Latin also embrace a feel of sleaziness. I
am aware of how certain typefaces, layouts etc.
that I have used could be perceived within a design
critique context; some designers might argue that
certain aspects are ‘bad’ or ‘incorrect’ but this is me
trying to explore these taboo aspects in a positive
way, using them genuinely and productively
13
Reminders
&
The Rocky Horror Cabaret Show Posters
14
Boundaries
Back 2 Back PostersProduced during Field placement
15
Reminders
&
16
Boundaries
When we last spoke I briefly asked you about your
thoughts on ‘post-internet design’ and categorisation.
Would you say there are any strong themes emerging
in design fashion at the moment?
Using satire branding, designing a kind of novelty
brand, referencing logos etc. (I’m guilty of this one! –
my catering company *Infinity Hospitality, and I also
design a series of business cards)
You also briefly touched on how your work relates
to the current trends. A few months on has anything
changed?
It’s still dominated by this web art thing, with visuals
of early web amateur graphic design, nostalgic
threads. But I mean I don’t always trust how sincere
it is. And like always, some people are doing this
really well, really meaningfully, and others are just
pursuing the aesthetic train of this stuff.
To me there is also deeper awareness/paranoia
generally about this, and a lot of people are self
consciously graphically spelling out meanings of
things, so there is a move away from pure buoyant
abstraction (which I’m really partial to). I think there
Much like I tried to achieve with my time at Field, Samara Scott is an artist that
manages to maintain the creativity and styles developed from her personal
projects and apply it successfully to her commercial work. I first came across
Samara Scott’s work in second year when a peer suggested I look at her work, Café
Chateau, as inspiration for the warped, lo-fi travel agents I was building. I then got
in contact with her through email just to ask her about her practice and find out
more about her and her way of working. Samara is a Royal college of Art Masters
graduate who makes ‘high impact elaborate and seductive scenery’. I decided to
get back in contact with her and discuss her recent work as well as asking some
more questions regarding the issues of current trends and intentions.
is a particular distaste forming for things that are
too pretty, it’s starting to scare people, so efforts are
being made to purposefully make things ‘uglier’ i.e.
– one example of many - I’ve started to see fonts like
comic sans being used etc. – this deliberate grasp for
the most ‘uncool’ thing. But then its always like this,
things are used because they are not tropes yet, and
they aren’t rapidly placeable, they can still float, but
people catch up, and sooner or later comic sans will
be perceived to have its own sort of language and
association of beauty.
To me your work is very tactile and uses a lot of
nostalgic materials, would you say there is a purity
and intended naivety to your practice?
For me these things are not separate, the purity and
naivety I’m discussing is really connected to and
all reels back to self expression, in this way its not
theoretical, or specifically research led but rather is
an expression of personal experience. I kind of find
talking about this a little dated and embarrassing!
It used to be something I shuddered to think about
talking about, but my work in its simplest form is
filtered observations – but that’s pretty blunt.
17
Reminders
&
It’s feelings I’m talking about! And to express this is
naturally tactile, nostalgic. It’s that which connects
the themes you mention in the question anyway.
I feel that making work in this open way – so the logic
can remain patchy, and its not instructive in any
way, it doesn’t direct you on a clear route (i.e. – this
is about Serbian politics, read here and you’ll get
your closure) – rather it over performs itself, pollutes
itself, opposes itself, and manages to hold a kind of
meaning open like dislocated footnotes. So by this
unspecificity it could open up a million things, it’s
unresolved, it’s not about answers.
In the heavily loaded tactility, the translations between
these things – the conscious and unconscious signs.
Everything contradicting, and also complimenting
simultaneously, in between this proposed spirituality
are signs of total superficiality… hopefully the impact
can remain more sensuous in those juxtapositions of
pearly/pebbled/brittle textures.
I guess what I’m saying is I’m playing with a
sculptural format which defies theorising because
of its personal intimacy – I don’t know if that’s good
or bad.
I think if you use something like a Davidoff perfume
advert as imagery in your work, people immediately
grab this as a stark opportunity for something
theoretical, to name something, to simmer the work
out in. But what’s interesting for me in motifs like
this is that it’s simultaneously poignant and generic.
What I’m prodding at with this is as a kind of portal
into feelings, for me this kind of imagery is ripe with
abstraction if you let it be.
There are powerful collective sensory experiences
in these sorts of cultural products of an era, and
I’m amazed at how personal and intimate and
resonating generic images can be.
Helen Marten puts it well, “import the idea of
something, exploit the emotional and social strains
embedded, and reassemble a look that is slightly off-
kilter but somehow foggily recognisable.”
I recently put it like this:
In this heavily loaded erratic tactility I want the
meaning to work like anecdotal footnotes, like fiddly
meandering translations. There isn’t an instructional
route through the work rather I’m more concerned
in devising a prodding, latent, unstable meaning.
Pollution! I want the associations to reel and swivel.
In that use of proverbial household materials you
can thieve out some universal emotional and social
attachments – and you can make people stay and in
that attention warnings and whispers slink through.
Would you say there is any level of irony or sarcasm
in your work?
No, and it makes me angry when people want to
see it like that. I mean humour, yes, obviously, but
when it’s this I’m laughing at myself too. Slight satire
perhaps, but I associate irony and sarcasm with an
exclusiveness or snobbishness, it’s bullying.
There are no instructions to the work I make, there
are no conclusions. I’m testing out my questions
at the same time. And yeah humans are pretty
weird, and gosh it’s so cheesy but it’s the only way
to explain it: I’m just really interested in looking and
expereincing, and noticing and playing out these
things into material spellings and mood boards.
I’m not claiming I know better. I don’t claim master
perspective.
It’s not exclusive to make stuff out of crap from under
the bed, or sandwich crumbs! It comes from a puddle
of nostalgia, a glued together collective disjunctive
lump of memory.
For example in that Davidoff flyer I wanted to rustle
out all that teenage desire, in the blurred muscles
and that chlorinated faux salty sparkling splash, the
foam. I mean its ridiculous – but I really did believe
in that; I use this stuff because it makes me feel
something strong. I’m not being ironic or satirical –
I’m still absolutely marvelled by how powerful that
image could be, and still is – and marking that change,
that instability in these iconic things and how the
reuse of stuff can resonate… their slippyness.
18
Boundaries
Recently you have worked with Lucky PDF, what was
that like?
I mean lucky pdf boys are my friends, and they went
to some of the same collages as me, and live in the
same area, so I know them socially. And I respect
what they do in a lot of ways. I mean for me, they
offered me a platform (with a space and budget) to
make something really quite ambitious. In some
ways I had to give over a lot of control in this, and
there is this strange blurry lines between your work
and theirs which sometimes is difficult.
But I admire them so much, their practice is
incredibly strategic, which totally relates to their
conceptual stance. And my work with them ended
up leading onto being invited to do some of my most
exciting projects so far like the solo show in march
at arts&jobs.
Lastly, what are you currently working on? Any plans
for the future?
Ahh I’m in Istanbul, doing a show here in about a
month, relaxing a bit, soaking things in for a bit, I
have projects coming up online with legion tv and a
solo show at Sunday painter next year. I’m planning
to go back to moving image for a bit.
*Infinity Hospitality is a catering company set up in
collaboration with chef Olga Winterbottom. We have been
invited to serve kinds of food at various social events. We
recently installed and catered a ‘breakfast’ for the opening of
Sunday Art Fair 2012 where we displayed marbled crackers
(streaky handmade incredibly coloured swirly biscuits which
are almost like landscapes and all sorts of coloured dips -
lemon curd, orange blossom mascarpone, beetroot yogurt
etc.) arranged in ornate glass vases customised with white
industrial sauce pumps.
This is our blub:
Infinity Hospitality caters for events in a spirit like fashion
designers or interior decorators, trading on what’s visually
flirtatious in basically functional materials; enjoying the
flippant status of our product as an accessory. And our
materials are incredible. Food is dense with sensory appeal,
and heavy with cultural connotations. Take some examples
of it’s texture. Think about the synthetic foods that ornament
Charlie Sheen’s penthouse apartment in ‘Wall Street’, his
trophies of sophistication. Think of the false but suggestive
glitter of the Ferrero Rocher. What Infinity Hospitality
produce out of this pool of motivations is something highly
decorative, and elaborately presented; treading the line
between a naive pleasure in our vibrant palette, and the
humorous treatment that sharpens this.
Although our food is visually challenging, and mimics
aesthetics and patterns where food is conceived as a sculptural
material – and has a relationship with painting and sculpture
– we are also interested in it being a real thing – that doesn’t
enter too much into performative or interactive concepts
– but food delivered with an atmosphere, responding to its
19
Reminders
&
context We also put on our own events (Night at the Embassy,
West World, and Café Fashion – where we serve toasty’s and
cocktails named after, and emblazoned with Italian brands)
Business cards
This is a series of editioned works that I have made – often
relating to a particular show or event. These include
personalised chocolates, mood rings (changes colour to
forecast your feelings) engraved with my mobile number,
and a silicon swimming hat emblazoned with my phone
number in the London Olympics 2012 font – launched to
coincide with the games. These are objects that work on this
border between corporate language and real intimacy. I like
the double casual ness of the objects and the utility of them
– the repeating of my mobile number starting to work like a
purist slogan and logo.
Infinity HospitalitySamara Scott and Olga Winterbottom
Lucky PDF SetSamara Scott
20
Boundaries
Infinity HospitalitySamara Scott and Olga Winterbottom
21
Reminders
&
I generally agree with most of the points Scott has
made throughout the interview. She seems to be
very aware of how and where her own work sits
within design, and also how she wants her work to be
perceived by others. It is comforting to see that Scott
bares similar worries to myself about the use of early
web amateur graphic design and nostalgic trends,
“But I mean I don’t always trust how sincere it is. And
like always, some people are doing this really well,
really meaningfully, and others are just pursuing the
aesthetic train of this stuff.”
This is what I am very interested in, the fine line
between the genuine and the purely fashionable.
Scott talks about self-expression and feelings being
the basis of her practice, she works honestly and
personally to create work she is interested in without
looking for answers, the work remains unresolved,
“…I’m playing with a sculptural format which defies
theorising because of its personal intimacy – I don’t
know if that’s good or bad.”
Scott is not concerned with whether or not her work
fits trends or works against them, and although she
is working personally, she is not unaware of what
is going on around her. I too strive to produce in a
similar manner, considering trends and fashions,
not just replicating and copying the already existing.
When Scott quotes British artist Helen Martens
talking about “a look that is slightly off-kilter but
somehow foggily recognisable”, I can’t help but think
about the Rocky Horror Show poster I designed
during my time at Field Design, I believe it is
important to maintain those traditional elements,
and still exhibit them in a fresh but familiar way.
Samara Scott
22
Boundaries
30-LoveAlyar Aynetchi
23
Reminders
&
Alyar Aynetchi is a graphic artist who studied at The Royal Academy of
Arts in the Netherlands. He is an artist whose work sits within the trends
I am looking into. His piece entitled 30-Love is a colourful composition
that exists under ‘Visual Experiments’ on his Cargo website. We see two
basic tennis rackets glossy with artificial shading amongst a few tennis
balls with drop shadows. One of the tennis balls is dramatically warped,
replicating a motion you might achieve with a ‘wave’ effect or ‘smudge’
tool on Adobe Photoshop.
Personally I am still yet to come across a situation where I feel it is best
to use the Photoshop effects and filters, maybe I have not experimented
enough in this department, but it seems that these processes are now
receiving the most use, whether ironic or genuine. There seems to be a
limit of sophistication to some of the design enhancers we can produce
with, and these exist within design’s most popular and highly regarded
software. Is it then no surprise when visual artists and graphic designers
exploit such factors? After all these Adobe rebels are using the tools most
available to them, it almost becomes Bricolage (the construction of work
from materials that happen to be available) in that the artists are using
what is at their disposal, what comes to hand and these could be Adobe
software, effects and filters.
The type looks as if it had come straight from the settings of the default
WordArt, with no apparent consideration for kerning as the thin, pink
outlines of the V and E harshly collide. The piece is finished off with an
artificial paintbrush mark that almost resembles an artist signature, the
stroke runs from green to blue in colour, something that would be extremely
difficult to achieve in reality, much like the shine and shadow. This faux three
dimensionality conjures up connotations of Walt Disney’s 1982 sci-fi Tron,
also the fluorescent colours and gradients remind me of Peter Saville’s work
for New Order in the 80s and 90s, I find it strange how such an image can bare
such visual similarities to the work of some of the most successful creatives.
24
Boundaries
Take Me to Your DealerNic Wilson
25
Reminders
&
I Got a Natural ShineOleg Dubrovsky
26
Boundaries
HyperTourism Wallpaper
27
Reminders
&
Last year I began experimenting with the idea of
displaying a process, showcasing the way something
is produced as part of it’s aesthetic. This wallpaper
was initially a screen printed poster based around
the idea of Tropicália, a Brazilian artistic movement
from the late 1960’s, the project then started to go
in a new direction and this poster was resampled
to create the wallpaper for the HyperTourism travel
agents I created.
I scanned in the original poster and then used the
‘clone’ tool in Photoshop to create a stuttering,
abstract pattern. Normally the clone tool is used in
a subtle way to correct blemishes or make things
seems smoother or clearer, normally the process
is invisible, the corrections are never seen. I was
interested in the idea of using something that is
normally so discrete in an obvious way and almost
celebrating the changes it has made, making it clear
how the artwork has been created, displaying a
process for its aesthetics.
I have recently related this concept in my mind
to the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Completed in
1977, Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, much
known for their Structural Expressionism or Late-
Modernism style, and ultimately bridging the gap
between modernism and post-modernism, were the
architects responsible for the exposed skeleton the
Centre displays. The revealed plumbing, wires and
staircase boast honesty, wearing itself on its sleeve;
you can’t help but question the structural aesthetics
of the building, and construction in general.
28
Boundaries
Berberian Sound StudioPeter Strickland
Hyde Park Picture HouseLeeds
29
Reminders
&
Much like The Pompidou Centre, Peter Strickland’s
Berberian Sound Studio, 2012, questions the idea
of the process as the image. Berberian Sound Studio
was screening a stones throw from my house at the
Hyde Park Picture House, and I had to buy a ticket.
I had seen the title dotted around the Internet and
eventually got round to watching the trailer. I have
worked with film in a few projects and it is an art
form I am getting increasingly excited about in both
the watching and the production side.
I believe Berberian Sound Studio supports similar
ideas and concepts to those I plan to embody in
my own ethos. As well as this, film is a medium that
I work with and plan to use more in the future, a
number of my projects involve moving image and it
feels natural and relevant to think about Berberian
Sound Studio in more depth.
Berberian Sound Studio is a film about cinema, and
specifically sound. The film revolves around naïve
English sound engineer Gilderoy (Toby Jones) who
has been commissioned to work with Italian film
producers Francesco (Cosimo Fusco) and Santini
(Antonio Mancino) on a film called The Equestrian
Vortex. This seemingly delightful, rather mundane
proposal however reveals itself to be a giallo (Italian
for yellow, stemming from the trademark yellow
covers of cheap mystery novels in the 20th-century)
style horror film, packed with dismemberment,
trichotillomania (the pulling out of hair), witches
and goblins. We learn about sound design in a
whole new way as we see the smashing of melons,
the snapping of leeks and the tearing of radishes to
recreate nightmarish sounds, “sounds a little watery,
is there any fresh marrow?”. The majority of the film
takes place in an increasingly claustrophobic sound
studio which is packed full of amplifiers, sound racks
and other machinery.
As the film progressed I became very aware of my
surroundings - Hyde Park Picture House is a one-
screen cinema that seemed to heavily resemble the
one in the film. When we were faced with close-ups
of sound plans, timetables and flickering sound
dials I couldn’t help but think about the wires and
knobs running the film I was currently experiencing
myself, a sort of perpetuating loop. This reminds
me of Bromberg and Medrea’s French documentary
L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot, 2009, a film that
discusses its own manufacture and production.
L’enfer is a documentary about Clouzot’s failed
attempt to create a film; we experience real archive
footage from the reels Clouzot filmed, entwined with
interviews from the producers of the attempted film
as well as re-enactments of missing scenes. The idea
of reflection and the displaying of a motion picture’s
construction is a concept that really resonates
with me, like Strickland, Bromberg and Medrea, I
too aim to question the aesthetics and function of
production in my work, featuring heavily the process
of the work as part of the work. L’enfer displays a
genuine irony on show here, nothing emotionally
fabricated, a stark contrast to the false artwork I am
noticing.
Both films also discuss the issue of health. Whereas
L’enfer’s Clouzot suffers a genuine heart attack
during filming, Berberian Sound Studio’s Gilderoy
experiences a more physiological break down.
Throughout the film Gilderoy receives letters written
by his Mother from home, thus gradually resulting in
his homesickness and overall disillusion. This could
refer to Strickland’s time teaching English as a foreign
language abroad before his full-length debut Katalin
Varga, 2009. Towards the end of the film Gilderoy
spirals further and further out of his comfort zone,
getting more wrapped up in The Equestrian Vortex.
At one stage we see a female scream artist in the
recording booth with Gilderoy and Francesco at
the mixing desk, as they become more and more
impatient and dissatisfied with the quality of scream
Gilderoy slowly turns up the feedback volume up in
the actresses headphones until she breaks down.
The film plays along a fairly straight narrative of a
vulnerable outsider becoming overwhelmed and
ultimately absorbed in something dark and thrilling,
however towards the end of the Berberian Sound
Studio the film reverses back on itself, turning on
it’s head throwing the viewer totally off course in a
sort of David Lynch-like fashion. It reminded me of
Lynch’s Inland Empire, 2006, where we see a lead
actress for an up and coming film become immersed
by a supposedly cursed film script, the characters
and film set then start to mix into each other and
blur with reality, causing the viewer to lose any sort
of grasp on the plot.
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Inland EmpireDavid Lynch
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I left the Picture House very perplexed trying to
connect and make sense of what just happened, but
to no avail. After weeks of trying to recall the details of
the transformational twist, I felt I was trying too hard
to analyse it, and perhaps it is just meant to be read
as a general representation of Gilderoy’s absolute
absorption, and ultimately his departure from the
green grassy hills of his hometown, Dorking.
Berberian Sound Studio certainly demands another
watch at least. The film’s ending will divide audiences
and will throw up the argument between ambition
and pretentiousness, a subject musician Brian Eno
discusses in A Year With Swollen Appendices: The
Diary of Brian Eno,
Berberian Sound StudioPeter Strickland
“I decided to turn the word ‘pretentious’ into a
compliment…It’s the way we make our thought
experiments, find out what it would be like to be
otherwise.” (Eno, 1996: 381)
It can be difficult sometimes to perhaps gauge
when a creator is producing something a bit too
self-indulgent, but I think ambition is what pushes
the boundaries of film, music, art forward, without
exploring new ground and new ideas we are not able
to progress from convention. What really interests
me is that this is a film about another’s production,
this is a concept that I am exploring within my own
work and documenting through my writing, work
questioning the aesthetics of production.
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Petra Cortright is an ‘Internet Artist’ that I came across on Tumblr a year or so
ago, Her work, for me, really epitomises what I mean when I discuss the new
online trends and styles. At the time I was becoming familiar with this new wave
of design and use of visuals, but even then Cortright’s website homepage still took
me by surprise. The welcome page is a Christian Cross symbol made up of around
30 smiley emoticons, most of which loop as gifs. Below this is a continuous line of
downward arrows which self scrolls taking up to about 20 seconds, the viewer is
then greeted by a link which reads ‘CLIKC HEER’, already the viewer’s patience is
tested even before seeing any of the artist’s work or even homepage.
We are then led into a tirade of more emoticons and
other gif animations. We see squabbling ravens,
rotating globes surrounded by candles, plants,
computer cursors and our fair share of smileys. With
all this going on it is hard to know whether to take
Cortright seriously, and even harder to know if she is
taking herself seriously. One would believe websites
are normally designed to help navigate around
certain content in the easiest way possible, American
graphic designer Milton Glaser once stated:
“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever
means you can control or master.” (evi.com)
Cortright’s homepage becomes almost unproductive,
baffling the viewer into confusion; I can admit I
have lost my cursor once or twice…for me however
this is a familiar feeling. I remember when I was in
my young teens experimenting with a free website
builder (a website company called Moonfruit) and
just filling the thing with flashing titles and sounds,
not ironically or anything, I just wanted to make
the ‘best’ website I could, which meant making
it as busy and as fun as possible, and although I
get the impression that humour is intended here,
subjectively I don’t think she is doing this through
innocence. There is a pseudo-naivety to her work, an
exploitation of a format, the medium almost works
as an audience filter, a test to those who encounter
it, who dares proceed?
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Her work mainly consists of lo-fi webcam recordings
of various bedroom-set performances, these echo
the DIY nature of the website itself and much online
art we can see growing today. Only Cortright will
know how she intends her work to come across, but
I feel she is well aware of the connotations of her
productions. I see some design that (I feel) quickly
pokes fun at the dilettante, but perhaps this is
something more. Maybe depth and time is something
to consider, commitment surely plays a huge part? Is
it possible for a practitioner with a whole archive full
of this kind of work to still be ironic?
HomepagePetra Cortright
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Song About Andre C. FilipekJohn Ray Alt
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Unknown Source
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‘Diamonds’Saturday Night LiveRihanna
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As discussed previously by Brian Eno, there will
always be a balancing act between the populist
and elitist, high and low art within culture. This is
something that I believe resonates with Rihanna’s
live performance of Diamonds on Saturday Night
Live in November, 2012. The performance took
place in front of a large green screen to allow digital
manipulation of the backdrop and visuals post-
performance. The show was then released publicly
displaying a lot of the themes and icons that I would
associate with this ‘Tumblr’ design fashion and also
‘Seapunk’, a subgenre of music, fashion and design
based around the sea, water, dolphins, palm tress etc.
I attempted to find the artist behind the Diamonds
visuals but to no avail, however some viewers were
convinced that they had been pinched from LA-
based producer Jerome Potter aka Jerome LOL,
“Last Saturday we played in Tijuana
and got back really late, like six,
and I saw a few tweets at me like,
‘Holy shit Rihanna blah, blah blah
stolen visuals.’ So I checked it out.”
(thefader.com)
Although he admits there to be
similarities with his work, he
doesn’t see it as a direct rip-off but
more “borrowing from this whole
scene”. Potter also states that he
feels Television broadcasting may
not be the best platform to display
this “kind of stuff”,
“If you’re watching music videos
that have that style, you’re seeking
out those YouTube pages and
choosing them as a viewer. But
in this case, SNL is presenting
something to you as opposed to
you searching for it. That’s what
the Internet is; you choose your
own content. On TV the producer’s
giving content to you.”
It could be argued that the art is imposed on viewers,
revealing it to a whole new audience who will not
have come across this fashion before, consequently
removing the meaning even further from its original
source. The foundation of this movement becomes
distant and we lose perspective.
Rihanna is regarded as one of the world’s most
popular current artists, and she has a lot of power
when it comes to fashion influence. It is interesting
for such an iconic, mainstream artist to expose
something so niche to such a wide audience, this
is almost reminiscent of MTV. In 1981 MTV was
launched as a channel that purely showcased
music videos, over the last decade or so we have
seen a change and MTV had become centred
around reality TV and shows for teenagers and
young adults. Perhaps the artists behind Diamonds
saw an opportunity to push the boundaries of
live performance in the same way MTV wanted to
expand into new territory. MTV allowed music to
exist alongside visuals in the same way that Rihanna’s
performance introduced a new visual experience
that has been absent on live television chat shows.
Andrew Blauvelt’s article Tool (Or, Post-production
for the Graphic Designer) also debates some of the
ideas picked up from Rihanna’s performance about
authorship, amateurism and accessibility. Blauvelt
is an American graphic designer and curator at The
Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis, the same centre
that published ‘Tool’ in Graphic Design: Now in
Production, 2011.
Blauvelt talks about how the Internet and
sophistication of technology has shaped graphic
design, quoting Ed Fella saying, “the only thing left is
the coffee” (Fella in Blauvelt, 2011: 23) in the opening
paragraph. It is no secret that graphic design has
become much more reliant on the computer, and
to me people are no longer seeing graphic design
as a profession but more of a piece of equipment or
software. I agree with Blauvelt when he mentions
the “recasting of graphic design as just another
tool” (Blauvelt, 2011: 23), a sort of dehumanisation
of the profession. Because design software is so
widely accessible, anyone can become an expert,
the profession is diluted and the tool becomes the
designer.
Technology is moving things forward, however
according to The Internet Fax Research Institute it
is believed that 87.5% of Japanese businessmen still
see the fax machine as a crucial business tool and
58.6% of houses in Japan still own a fax machine.
Yutaro Suzuki, an employee of Japan talent agency
HoriPro Inc., says, “It takes longer but my feelings
and passion come across better.” (bbc.co.uk)
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‘Diamonds’Saturday Night LiveRihanna
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Walter Benjamin talks about ‘aura’ as ‘the difference
between the singular object and the mechanically
reproduced’ and announces that there is a ‘loss of
aura with advancement of technology’. I think this
relates back to what Fella said, the ‘craft’ (physical)
has almost vanished from graphic design, it has
become less of a specialist subject, there is less
emphasis on design as a skill, design is becoming
reproducible and flat. It seems strange that
something that people study and ultimately aim to
get a degree in, is something so widely available and
so often attempted.
Graphic design is now so widely available for
anyone, and in today’s ‘do-it-yourself’ culture we are
surrounded by a range of dilettante work. Blauvelt
mentions that he has noticed “a flood of amateur
work”, and I think this is key to the initiation of this
new stylistic wave. Because there is this optimism and
enthusiasm for production, everyone is attempting
to create, and this ultimately results in a lot of ‘bad’
or ‘unsuccessful’ design which leads to elitism and
hierarchical opinions. Much of the online design I
see today plays on these ‘failed’ aspects i.e. choice of
typeface, scale of text, image filter, and reuses them
in an ironic and sarcastic way, Samara Scott touched
on this point stating,
“…efforts are being made to purposefully make
things ‘uglier’ i.e. – one example of many – I’ve
started to see fonts like Comic Sans being used etc.
– this deliberate grasp for the most ‘uncool’ thing.”
Designers are jumping on the amateurs and taking
a humorous approach, and to me I see this as a very
negative thing, resulting in a lot of cynicism. Scott
goes on to say,
“…I associate irony and sarcasm with an
exclusiveness or snobbishness, it’s bullying.”
Some designers want to exaggerate this lack
of expertise and professional knowledge in a
hierarchical manner. American architect Robert
Venturi’s 1972 publication Learning from Las Vegas
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writes about ‘vernacular form’ as the idea of the visual language
produced by people who are not trained in design. He opposes the
modernist theory of objectivity and suggests that there is a lot to be
learnt from the ‘lived experience’ and the ordinary.
This manifesto I am writing is about discovering an ethos that
allows me to use typefaces, techniques etc. in a naïve way but also
with the acknowledgement to how the work could be perceived by
designers who are more in tune with what ‘successful’ design is.
Chris Milk’s The Wilderness Downtown, 2010, is an online interactive
film for the Canadian band Arcade Fire. Blauvelt says how the film
exploits “the browser capabilities of Google Chrome” and also uses
Google Maps. The participant is asked to type in the address of
where they grew up and are told to ‘allow pop-ups’ for this page.
A hooded character then runs around the desired neighbourhood
followed by swarms of birds, the viewer is then prompted to ‘write
a postcard of advice to the younger you that lived there then,’ as
the song, We Used To Wait peaks, the street is bombarded with trees
and even more birds. In the corner of the main browser reads, ‘This
is a Chrome Experiment’ not only is it exploiting an already existing
format in a new way, but it is using it for a new purpose.
It could have been very easy to turn this concept into a film that
plays for the viewer but this use of web browsers allows the viewer
to resize, minimize and arrange the composition of the whole thing,
really questioning the aesthetics and function of Google Chrome
and the Internet in general. I am interested in the idea of using a
tool in a new way and displaying the aesthetics of a process, and
I believe Milk’s browser art works in a similar way to Jon Rafman’s
Google Earth orientated series 9-Eyes, an ongoing collection of
photographs retrieved from the online virtual globe, where we see
outrageous compositions but still featuring the navigation/zoom
tool and the Google watermark. Artists are flaunting the process
as part of the work, celebrating new uses for familiar technologies,
“What supposedly distinguishes humans from their primate
ancestors is their ability not to use tools but to integrate them into
everyday activities, find fresh uses for them, and to create new
ones.” (Blauvelt, 2011: 23)
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Ed Fella
9-EyesJon Rafman
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A common trend that I see appearing in contemporary graphic
design at the moment is the re-appropriating of the scanner.
Designers are finding new uses and purposes for already existing
tools and equipment. As well as transferring imagery and text to
a computer the scanner has been used to distort artwork, simply
by dragging and moving around the piece whilst the scanner is
functioning.
The same specific imagery and techniques are populating the
online design environment and to me, thematically, it still remains
unclear for the choice of certain objects and subjects, especially
when put together in a video or a poster, but there is something,
a quality that pleases, a feeling I can’t really justify. Throughout
Rihanna’s performance we are bombarded with Greek pillars, never
ending horizons and Roman busts, subjects that are repeatedly
appearing in a lot of design work flying around on the Internet,
on Tumblr especially. You can also spot rotating globes and the
blank chequered Photoshop background, aspects that also feature
in some of the design by other artists I have already showcased. It
makes me think about the reasoning behind the choice of these
themes, is there an intention or is it purely fashion? Should one
follow a trend even without awareness of origin and concept? It
reflects the trends of post-modernism in that it is deliberatively
avoiding the popular and the ‘high’ end of art, and moving more
towards the vernacular.
I have grown up alongside the development and maturation of
computers and the Internet, witnessing the sophistication of
software and the web, could this perhaps explain my relationship
with this type of art? Maybe, but it seems like more than just
nostalgia. Perhaps these topics have been chosen for precisely
this reason; that despite their context they hold values that satisfy
physically and aesthetically. French theorist and philosopher,
Roland Barthes, talks about a ‘writerly perspective’ by which we
all individually apply our own interpretation and experience
to a subject. Barthes also suggests that we can see subjects as
a ‘text’, ‘an activity of language production and interpretation,
which is experienced in the moment.’ People will view Rihanna’s
performance differently, to some the visuals may seem familiar,
they will understand that the visual artist is acknowledging
the current wave and trends of design, to other viewers the
performance will be purely new. Viewers will read things differently
depending on their own social and cultural experiences.
Professor of Graphic Design at North Carolina State University,
Meredith Davis states that “we can never be entirely ‘innocent’ or
free from the inherent biases of our own positions within culture”
(Davis, 2012: 190). She compares it to a goldfish being asked
to describe the nature of the water in which it sits, but instead
describes the room outside of the goldfish bowl. It can be difficult
The Wilderness DowntownChris Milk
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&
to describe something so close culturally because we are part of it
and yet when we aim to analyse something outside of our culture
we are only judging and interpreting it through our individual
experiences.
The rate of change and importance of fashion, as a whole, is
something that I believe will continue to intensify as technology
advances; it is becoming easier to distribute information across
the internet, thus allowing trends in design, music and clothes to
‘catch on’ and spread. I am an
avid user of Tumblr, a ‘free blog
hosting platform’, and I see
a lot of recurring trends and
styles spreading very quickly.
With the Internet it is so easy to
share art you like and for other
people to see it and for them to
share it, it’s like a sort of intense
online bubble of regurgitated
imagery, which as a designer I
can’t ignore. Blauvelt states,
“It isn’t about what is trendy
(forms) as much as what is
trending (topics).” (Blauvelt,
2011: 26)
Although I agree that topics
contribute vastly to design
trends, I argue that form is
just as integral. For example
a Gif, a file type that allows
the movement of a graphic
image, is a form that has been
taken and heavily reused as
a graphic medium. Another
example would be a Meme,
coined by British Evolutionary Biologist and author, Richard
Dawkins as ‘an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person
to person within a culture’. This concept has almost been hijacked
by today’s Internet culture and used as a quick, instant visual pun,
often found with Impact typeface at the top and bottom of the
image. As well as form and topic I think program and process is also
playing a large part in the aesthetic trends of design. Using non-
design software like Microsoft Word and Paint to produce a poster,
or a T-shirt, is more proof of an inventive and resourceful design
culture. Contemporary designers are embracing the low side of art
whether it is for a genuine purpose or a satirical one.
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Felt Tip Printer Calibration Page
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Throughout this year, in between projects, I have
been working on a few small individual pieces that
have helped me visualise and clarify my practice and
what it is I want to embody in my work.
One of these is a hand drawn version of a printer
calibration sheet; recreated with coloured Sharpie
felt tip pens. This is just one version of the work (felt
tip pen) but I think there is a quality in felt tips that
is nostalgic to me and a lot of people. When we get
past a certain age and we are no longer interested in
colouring books we sort of forget about this medium,
there is no regular need or use for it. The overlapping
of pen marks and bleeding of the ink brings real
feelings of childhood for me. However ‘colouring
in’ is something that is normally so free and easy
and the strict restrictions of the calibration sheet
has almost removed that. Taking something digital
and recreating it manually with a material that is
normally so liberally used really makes you question
the aesthetics of the computer formality.
For this piece to be successful you would have to
have seen a test sheet of calibrated a printer before,
however seeing it recreated with a different tools is
removing it from its original context, warping the
rigidity of the calibration process. As it is viewed as
a piece of art you can not help but assess and judge
the composition and eye flow but this is something
that has not been designed to work aesthetically.
It is interesting when you are analysing something
that has a mechanical purpose, something that is
designed purely to function not to attract or appeal.
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UntitledFrank Stella
Ocean Park No. 24Richard Diebenkorn
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Initially to me this image produces connotations of
structure and machinery, things that are strict and
rigid, however the medium that sits within these
boundaries provides a softer side, connotations of
childhood and play, ‘staying in the lines’ is a phrase
that comes to mind when I used to ‘colour in’, this
seems ironic when you consider the original image
is produced by a machine that could not make
those human errors. The artwork reminds me of
American painter Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park
paintings where he attempts to create vivid grid
like compositions but we see the paint not totally
conforming within the borders. Frank Stella uses
crayons in his work, displaying the strokes heavily
like we would see with an oil painting on canvas.
The artwork questions authorship. This is a copied
version of the Kodak ESP 3250 printer calibration
sheet, it has been replicated in a new medium and
given a new purpose and context, but is that enough
for it to be a new piece of work? There is no correct
answer for this. I think on it’s own the image can be
hard to understand or read but once it sits within the
context of this book I think it communicates much
more clearly. Felt tip was the first medium I tried but
I think paint could potentially have a large effect too,
I think the brush strokes would be more vivid and
also prove difficult to be as accurate. The image may
potentially be used as a poster so the placement and
use of text will have to be carefully considered if the
image is to maintain its purpose and concept.
I think the image is fairly open and it can be read in
a few ways. Firstly if the viewer has some knowledge
of the print process then they may know that it is a
recreation of a printer calibration sheet, allowing
them to work with the idea of technological
process and playfulness. American architect critic,
Charles Jencks, talks about ‘double coding’, ‘the
idea that objects can inspire plural meanings, that
the things will mean different things to different
people depending on their own knowledge of visual
language’.
The image is also colourful and abstract so it can still
communicate to viewers who have less knowledge of
where the image has originated from, it has multiple
entry points.
The viewer will question the aesthetics of the
calibration process. Because the process has been
redone in a new medium and shown in an art context,
viewers have to consider the artwork differently. The
new context means that people have to consider the
aesthetics, that is just instinctive. Hopefully viewers
will then consider the way it has been produced,
from a machine, the layout and colours are not
set out or chosen for any visual purpose, they are
chosen for a functional reason to help setup a piece
of machinery. I think this image relies heavily on the
context within it sits; in a gallery space I think this
could be even more effective.
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Character and Crayon Duvet Design
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Mr Sparkle - The SimpsonsMatt Groening
The ‘character’ is an exploration of something
nostalgic for me, but at the same time something I
want to keep fairly shallow. It is meant to be a neutral
representation of ‘a’ character and ‘all’ cartoon
characters, it is not human, nor an animal, just a
motif I could replicate, intensify and exaggerate. I
felt dwelling too long over the characteristics and
personality of the ‘character’ would only take it
further away from its pure and natural state, it wasn’t
important, it wasn’t aesthetically about the design
itself, but more about what it could communicate
and the forms it could take.
Initially I was going to print the crayon design onto
a duvet but due to printing constraints this wasn’t
possible, I then thought about screen printing
the design but I wouldn’t be able to achieve the
pencil crayon tactility. It seemed best to go with a
totally different design and medium, so I decided
to experiment again with Sharpie felt tip pens. The
‘character’ was drawn multiple times with different
colour combinations whilst holding three felt tips
together. This was a technique I used to try when
I was younger, I like the inconsistent, snagging of
the pen nib, sometimes barely even touching the
surface. A duvet is something I very much associate
with childhood, the design can reflect a favourite
television show or film at the time, and as a form
a duvet can become a cloak, costume or part of a
den. To me it is as much about the concept and idea
behind the process as much as it is about the final
outcome aesthetic; I am trying to produce artwork
that has richness, which embodies the ethos I am
developing.
I wanted to carry on working with pens and crayons,
and my work experimenting with the printer
calibration sheets allowed me to realise this. I had
been meaning to work with crayon for a while,
and I had this idea to do these abstract ‘whooshes’
for a while, I had designed a ‘character’ as part of
the Abe Aesthetic brief and the two worked well
together, it was only at a later date that I realised the
composition reminded me of Mr Sparkle from Matt
Groening’s The Simpsons.
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Character Duvet
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For some of the images I used in this work I really
struggled to track down the creator. With Tumblr
once an image becomes popular and is reblogged
various times it gradually gets removed form its
original source, in the same way Rihanna’s SNL
performance took something from an existing
setting and exposed it to a new audience, thus
diluting the primary context. Each time it gets
regurgitated, it warps the idea of ownership; the
artwork temporarily becomes someone else’s, until
the art is reblogged from the secondary source
and the process repeats. This reminds me of the
appropriation of Paula Scher’s work, the original
is not credited or is very hard to track down. In this
digital whirlpool authorship is forgotten and we are
surrounded by the anonymous and the imposturous.
I believe contributors to this system are aware that
this is the case, online art has become something
instant and impactful, a pang that peers will ‘get’
instantly and want to distribute themselves. An
exaggerated example of this would be a Meme
mentioned earlier, a visual pun designed for humour
to be circulated rapidly.
Looking back through the images featured it is
difficult to really distinguish what is intended as
negative and positive design. I only know about my
own work because I created it, my intent was to be
positive and productive in my artwork. An artist’s
work could easily come across in a different manner
but it doesn’t mean that is what is intended. Barthes’
1967 essay, The Death of the Author, supports this,
stating that the ‘scriptor’, as opposed to author,
“is born simultaneously with the text” (Barthes,
1967) and “to give a text an Author is to impose a
limit on that text”. Once a piece is created it is out
of the creator’s hands and is open to interpretation.
Someone might see my design as humorous or
ironic, even though that was not the intention as
social and cultural aspects will play a part in a way
a piece of design is read. The modernist approach of
seeking out form and finality can never settle, social
and cultural aspects will always be shifting, and
because our understanding of design relies on this,
it cannot be permanent and will always be moving.
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The ‘scriptor’ could see something meaningful in
something considered ‘bad’ or ‘tacky’ and use it for
it’s honest properties, just like someone could see
something meaningful in a piece that was intended
for sarcasm, Scott really sums it up,
“…in that Davidoff flyer I wanted to rustle out all
that teenage desire, in the blurred muscles and that
chlorinated faux salty sparkling splash, the foam. I
mean its ridiculous – but I really did believe in that;
I use this stuff because it makes me feel something
strong. I’m not being ironic or satirical…”
Touching on Jencks’ ‘double coding’ theory,
hypothetically two designers could each design
a poster that look identical but they hold opposite
intentions and values to each other, as well as the
viewers who encountered them.
There is a very defined graphic style at the moment
and it is impossible to ignore, in order to work
within design you must be aware of what is going on
around you, whether you plan to work within it or
rebel against it, the fashion will influence you. When
designing I can’t help but think about how my work
is going to sit within this hierarchical age of online
snobbery, how people will perceive it, both graphic
designers and non-designers. I am serious about
what I do, and I am serious about what I am going to
do, my aim is to further understand and justify the
context of my practice as a whole.
Compiling this document has allowed me to
view and analyse my own work alongside other
examples that I believe sit in and around a wave of
design I am very interested in. This has been a live
project, running parallel to my other work allowing
itself to be influenced and altered throughout,
attaching interviews and essays from other sources
I believe have helped me deepen my research and
understanding even further. I plan for this document
to serve as a constant reference for me as I continue
my practice. It is by no means a finalised conclusion
but rather a small, open-ended manifesto about how
I wish to produce and think about design.
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Books
Barthes, R ‘The Death of the Author’ (1967), Aspen,
no 5-6
Barthes, R (1980) The Pleasure of the Text, Hill &
Wang, New York
Baudrillard, J (1994) Simulacra and Simulation, The
University of Michigan Press, Michigan
Blauvelt, A & Lupton, E (2011) Graphic Design: Now
in Production, Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis
Benjamin, W (1969) Illuminations: Essays and
Reflections, Schocken, New York
Benjamin, W (2008) The Work of Art in the Age of
Mechanical Reproduction, Penguin Books, London
Buchanan, P (1992) Emilion Ambasz Inventions:
The Reality of the Ideal, Rizzoli International
Publications, New York
Caws, MA (2001) Manifesto: A Century of Isms,
University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
Davis, M (2012) Graphic Design Theory, Thames &
Hudson Ltd, London
Dawkins, R (1989) The Selfish Gene, Oxford
Paperbacks, Oxford
De Botton, A (2003) The Art of Travel, Penguin
Books, London
Eno, B (1996) A Year With Swollen Appendices: The
Diary of Brian Eno, Faber and Faber, London
Fletcher, V (1983) Dreams and Nightmares: Utopian
Visions in Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution
Press, Washington, D.C.
Jencks, C (2002) The New Paradigm in Architecture:
The Language of Post-modernism, Yale University
Press, Connecticut
King, E & Obrist, HU (2012) M to M of M/M (Paris),
Thames & Hudson Ltd, London
Millar, J (2000) Jane and Louise Wilson, Ellipsis,
London
Novitskova, K (2011) Post Internet Survival Guide
2010, Revolver Publishing, Berlin
Robertson, M (2006) Factory Records: The Complete
Graphic Album, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London
Venturi, R, Brown, DS & Izenour, S (1972) Learning
from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of
Architectural Form, The MIT Press, Massachusetts
& London
55
Reminders
&
Exhibitions
Gaiety is the Most Outstanding Feature of the Soviet
Union, 21 Nov 2012 – 9 June 2013, Saatchi Gallery,
London
Korean Eye 2012, 26 July – 23 September 2012,
Saatchi Gallery, London
The Nine Eyes of Google Street View, 26 July – 29
August 2012, Saatchi Gallery, London
Films
8½ (1963) Fellini, F, Cineriz
A Walk Through H: The Reincarnation of an
Ornithologist (1979) Greenaway, P, British Film
Institute
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Strickland, P,
Artificial Eye
In Marge We Trust, The Simpsons (1997) Groening,
M, 20th Century Fox Television
Inland Empire (2006) Lynch, D, Studio Canal
Katalin Varga (2009) Strickland, P, Libra Film
L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot (2009) Bromberg, S,
Medrea, R, Lobster Films
La Prisonnière (1968) Clouzot, HG, Les Films
Corona
(nostalgia) (1971) Frampton, H
To Illustrate and Multiply: An Open Book (2008)
Snow, M, MOCA
Tron (1982) Lisberger, S, Walt Disney Productions
56
Boundaries
Websites
9-eyes.com
Jon Rafman’s 9-Eyes series
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19045837
Article on the use of fax machines in Japan
beachlondon.tumblr.com/post/33369110746/chez-
baz-chez-chaz-day-1-infinity-hospitality
A brief look into Samara Scott and Olga
Winterbottom’s Infinity Hospitality
burnaway.org/2011/12/theory-in-studio-walter-
benjamin-and-the-concept-of-aura
Information on Walter Benjamin’s Aura theory
capdevila.co.uk/work/london2012mascot.html
Helios Capdevilla’s London 2012 Mascot
cargocollective.com/alyar/Alyar-Aynetchi
Alyar Aynetchi’s website
centrepompidou.fr/en
Pompidou Centre website
evi.com/q/what_did_milton_glaser_say
Milton Glaser quote
field-design.com
Field Design’s webiste
frieze.com/issue/article/class_act
Brian Eno quote about pretentiousness
jonrafman.com
Jon Rafmans website
luckypdf.com
Lucky PDF’s website
moonfruit.com
Free website builder
ofluxo.net/alyar-aynetchi
Information about Alyar Aynetchi
ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/73429297.html
Article on Rihanna and Azealia Banks green screen
performances
oliverlaric.com/versions2012.htm
Oliver Laric’s Versions
petracortright.com
Petra Cortright’s website
plato.stanford.edu/entries/benjamin
Information on Walter Benjamin’s Aura theory
samarascott.com
Samara Scott’s website
thecityofabsurdity.com/inttalkart.html
David Lynch epigraph
thefader.com/2012/11/15/interview-jerome-lol
Interview with Jerome LOL
thewildernessdowntown.com
Chris Milk’s The Wilderness Downtown website
trendlist.org
A website exploring current design trends
ubu.com/film
Source for video artists Hollis Frampton and
Michael Snow
57
Reminders
&
vimeo.com/55487879
Eike König talk at Here 2012
whosjack.org/samara-scott-qa
An interview with Samara Scott
wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV
The history of MTV
wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Scher
Information on Paula Scher
wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Diebenkorn
Information on Richard Diebenkorn
wikipedia.org/wiki/Seapunk
Wikipedia Seapunk definition
wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropicália
Wikipedia Tropicália definition
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_
embedded&v=n8X-MhY8LmI
Andy Warhol screen tests
youtube.com/watch?feature=player_
embedded&v=tfDCNpaPBiA
Saul Bass: On Making Money vs Quality Work video
youtube.com/watch?v=2LT23ixDaJo
Rihanna on Saturday Night Live
iwishiwasgucci.tumblr.com
oliverrogersrogers.com