ART 470

Reading #15 +16

2009-12-09T01:29:00.000-08:00

Self-promotion is an ongoing cycle which every designer has to continue, whether he's working independent, in studio or as an apprentice. Letting people know about your work is equally important as having a good portfolio. As a design student it helps me look at various magazines for inspiration, and ideas, but for marketing myself, I believe in attending all the design meetings, conferences, putting up on websites or even sending work in competitions helps to advance.
Design is a field of competition and the more upfront we are with the publicity of our ideas and works better response we would get. Its inevitable to say that, learning from past experiences is essential in self promotion. Because, without correcting oneself and updating regularly all efforts for publicity would be in vain.
Last but not the least is creating good work, and from my personal experience, there are no short cuts to it. Its only the creative process, the effort we put in starting from research continuing through the application of design in the real world. Hence, hard work and satisfying clients through good design will keep clients happy, which would yield money and when promoted the work is effective then everyone recognizes the true potential and automatically your business would grow. Thus the key to be a successful designer is continuous learning and hard work.

Reading #12 +13 +14

2009-12-09T00:38:00.000-08:00

Combining creative philosophy with business ethics is the essence of a graphic designer. I totally agree with this statement of Shaughnessy, since a designer doesn't work in a shell as well as the success of his work is measured by no. of people's response. Hence the creative environment should be surrounded by people with common belief in hard work, trust towards co workers, full dedication to each project regardless of the budget, being envienvironmentally responsible, and last but not the least is plagiarism. Getting an inspiration from anyone's creation is a positive sign but copying it, is totally a fraud.

Words of wisdom

Build trust with client, try to maintain longer relationship with them, be truthful in your work and in all the deliverables and meet their expectations, if not completely then at least have a common ground.

Reading #9 +10+ 11

2009-12-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

In the following chapters of "How to be a Graphic Designer without loosing your soul", Shaughnessy emphasized on the importance of learning from the environment. Finding the first job is difficult, especially in today's economy, but the drive to learn and to take advantage of from whatever is around should be the primary goal. Learning continues throughout a graphic designer's working life and each failure should be analyzed critically to uncover the mistakes and avoid them in future. Hence, working in a company, as an apprentice, or as a freelancer should be decided with care, as they not only mold your carrier but also your personality and thoughts which represent in your works.

Having a good portfolio is an asset, but its equally important for an individual to market himself and his work. Poor communication, inappropriate presentation of one self, and unpunctual are all the signs of lack in

interest in the job. The key to successful job interview is same as a key to any effective design- research and attention to details. While being interviewed one's every action is seen under a microscope by everyone you interact with for an interview. Knowing about the companies past works, being polite and respectable to all the employees are the traits for a favorable response from an interview. These traits might sound trivial but they are very crucial for any interview or even while presenting an idea to a client.

Working in anywhere one should be equally truthful to work and his college as one would be himself. This mantra and a positive attitude towards the critiques is my learning from the undergrad school. I choose graphic design as my major because I liked creative works and now as a senior student I not only enjoy creating design but I like to create works that helps me to express myself and connect in ways which were difficult or impossible to reach.

Reading #8: Intro+Fwd.+Chapter 1

2009-11-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

I like the way the book- "How to be a graphic designer without loosing your soul" is written. I find the author, Adrian Shaughnessy, is smart to write this book in direct speaking form, which gives me of an impression as if someone's talking to me rather than preaching me in a traditional manner. Besides his style, I also like the subject he took, i.e. talking about practical and common issues of working life in a graphic designer, that aren't taught in school, but are learnt through experience. Hence, its awesome that someone as successful like him is sharing his know-how of the graphic design culture.

As a student and an immigrant from India, I completely agree and feel with him on the cultural awareness issue. Its so vital for a designer to know about the society they live

in and the people they are designing for, that it opens totally a new realm of ideas. The capability to connect and understand the behavior, works, lifestyle, language, politics, issues, and other such areas helps the designer to create a work that touches the audiences heart and allows them to reciprocate as desired. For instance, below are examples of Mc Donald Ads in different countries and with different approaches.

I think communication is key to success in any field. I like the new technique (tell but not show) that Adrian suggested to boost up confidence and increase the chances of winning through clear and

effective conversation with the client. Sketching ideas roughly, using technology, or hand drawn even, listening to client's point of view and orally presenting are

vital to educate the client and make them comfortable and feel safe about their design selection. Any bottle necks in communication would not only yield poor results but also failure in the team moral.

Reading #6: Conveying emotion through Design

2009-11-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

must see things in a new way
trigger emotions, reminding of old memories
shows passion and gut
Element of unexpectedness
skillful work- good design
beautiful

some hindi type inspirations

2009-10-26T22:46:00.001-07:00

2009-10-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

visit my flickr photo stream for the updates on the Thesis project.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34282312@N04/

Reading #5: Directed storytelling

2009-10-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

In the Directed storytelling article, I think that author is true about that a design should add meaning rather than bragging about the product or even telling how to use. An effective ad, not only communicates the message but is also retained in audiences mind. They are able to touch the soft point and simultaneously add another level of meaning to the product/ service.

The above poster resonates viewer's mind, because the message and the image is so powerful that it communicates the effects of Climate Change and the urgency to take actions.

Another point that the author well made was the understanding the audience by trying to adopt it or be part of it. There are always hidden cues in every demographic or culture, knowing them well is very important for its effectiveness. Following are the ads for Simyo mobile company, all aimed at the gay community in Spain-

I dropped my mobile…will you pick it up for me?” (Referring to the phone’s portability.)

“No ties. Today with you, tomorrow we’ll see.” (Because the company doesn’t require a contract.)

“I want my number to end in 5.” (According to Miguel, this “comes from a vulgar

Spanish saying that connects the sound of ‘cinco’ [five] to anal sex”; the phrase

refers to the chance to pick your own phone number.)

The above process of data collection is very time consuming as well as costly, hence for a small scale designer, it would be more easy to gather data directly from asking his target audience. This process is called "Directed storytelling", where the leader asks few questions to encourage the speaker to talk about his/her experiences and then data collected is analyzed to generate ideas and concepts for the design.

I am going to incorporate this kind of research for making my thesis project, the where my audience- Indian origin parents living abroad- are going to asked questions like;

- What websites they visit for teaching their kids Indian literature?

- What do they like in them and why?

- What don't they like in them and why?

- What information they would like it to have?

- What are the activities they do with their children, relating to art & craft?

- How do they teach about Indian literature/culture to their kid/s?

- What kind of activities kids enjoy the most?

The research for my project is going to be in a very informal setting, so that the participants are relaxed are able to narrate their personal experiences. Till now I've been able to interview only 5 Indian mothers in America, and I'm able to some similar picture, but I'll wait for the whole process to be complete and then analyze and incorporate those concepts to the project.

Type inspiration

2009-10-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Some more imagery

2009-10-21T11:22:00.001-07:00

Story for my thesis project

2009-10-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

The Monkey and the Crocodile

Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very happy.

One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.

The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told the monkeythat he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his wife. The crocodile's wife loved the rose apples and made her husband promise to get her some every day.

Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile's wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey shared a true friendship. The crocodile's wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose monkeys, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.

The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife was determined to eat the monkey's flesh. So she thought of a plan.

One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey's heart. If her husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend's heart.

The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile's wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the monkey's heart, she would surely die.

So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could rideacross the river on the crocodile's back. The monkey happily agreed. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife's life. The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to save the life of the crocodile's wife, but he had left his heart behind in the rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.

The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkeyscampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.

Reading #3 & 4: Audience as Co-designer & Cultural Probes

2009-10-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

Participation is the key to success for any design project. This includes communication within the design team as well as communication with the target audience. Knowing the target audience well has been the mantra of all the advertisers, but recently more changes have been made to this theory, i.e. involving the people for whom the design is aimed at. In this new process, the target audience becomes a part of the design team, but the designer is in control of concept and final form. Hence, audience are facilitators and not dictators, while working in collaboration with the design team.

This kind of involvement is very fruitful incase of cross culture, cross generation, or when the designer isn't part of the target market. It results in a better match to audiences point of view, which is reflected through their(audience's) identity- effective incultural codes, symbolism, and other narrative strategies. Also, a democratic process like this encourages people to make design a more success. For instance, in a new of Microsoft ads. where the camera follows a woman on a quest to find a laptop with "speed, comfortable keyboard and a 17-inch screen" for $1,000 or less. This "I am a PC" ad campaign for Microsoft have been really successful and have made people realize where the money is well spent. Unlike their previous ads. where they used celebrities,this campaign used the audience participation to raise questions and hit the soft point, which they had been struggling at for a long time.

Hence, a clear communication happens when the encoder and decoder share same culture, generation or a part of the audience. And the traditional methods of data collection through observation, interviews, surveys aren't just adequate enough for any design project to be effective completely.

Background information of Thesis project

2009-10-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

Indian parents raising their kid/s in America or anywhere outside India find books as the best way to read Indian children stories. Since these books are difficult to find outside India, there has been a growing need for a collection of Indian fables and poems. There are lots of website like www.indiaparenting.com, http://oaks.nvg.org/indian-fables.html, www.indolink.com/Kidz/mythology.html, and many more catering to such audiences. But all of these sites are so badly designed and so text heavy that its very unappealing and doesn't encourage the viewer to look further more than what they are looking for.

Many Indian immigrants enjoy celebrating Indian festivals. It would be awesome if their children could get involved with them too. Hence, the crafts and the activities would allow the kids to participate and learn more about their occasion. The inspiration for such a section came from

Martha Stewart website and Pbs kids's website, which educate kids while they are having fun. The research for this

project includes the survey from these websites and lastly from an analysis of the questionnaire by few Indian parents (audience).

Goals+ Audience+ Deliverables of Thesis Project

2009-10-14T14:39:00.000-07:00

Goals- To facilitate the viewer with all educational material that increases their knowledge as well teaches their kid/s about Indian culture in a fun and in a more entertaining way.

Audience- Non residential Indian parents and all other parents, interested in Indian crafts and stories.

Deliverables- website design , drawings for the stories, craft projects, flash animation.

Overview of Thesis Project

2009-10-14T13:01:00.000-07:00

My thesis project is mainly for Indian-American parents, who are trying to raise their kids in America bilingual (hindi and english). The main format of my project is going to be a website, which is going to have a clean and a simple look. It is going to include information on Indian fables, other short stories (Krishna's stories,Panchatantra, Jataka tales, Akbar and Birbal stories). These stories and poems would also be animated in flash, so that they can be viewed and enjoyed by younger children too. The website will also have simple craft projects for children of all ages, and these would change every month according to the Indian festival. For instance in November (Diwali time) the activity would include to make a lantern out of paper, and the viewer would be allowed to share their comments on the activity as well as a picture of their finished work. There's going to be another section of drawing and coloring, which are going to use characters from the poem and stories section. These could be printed and used to learn the stories in a more involved way.

The color palette is going to be very earthy and have colors that would remind of Indian art. Above picture is the inspiration for my colors. Similarly, the illustrations are going to be hand drawn and have very casual and ethnic look to it. The numbers and type are going to be computer generated and would be a little casual too. Following are some more examples of the drawings and craft work involved.

Reading #2: Fluxus Movement

2009-10-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

It originated in the 1960’s in New York and later spreaded to Japan . The Fluxus style reduced gestures and mixed the ideals of the Dada, Bauhaus, and Zen movements. Its artists sought to presume that all media and artistic discipline was a ‘fair game’ in terms of combinations and fusions of different styles. The Fluxus movement was the precursor to many avant garde developments over the years following

the art period. Although conventional art and media had been in ‘flux’ long before Fluxus, Dick Higgins was the first to name this development as an actual art movement. Higgins coined the word intermedia to explain a new development in artistic activity –between the media. His intent was to create an art theory of blurring and mixing different art principles and values (ie Futurism, Dada,Russian Constructivism).

The artwork of the Fluxus period is known for it’s minimalist but expressive approach to gestures, and it’s attempt to base art on scientific, philosophical, or sociological ideas. One of the best known artists of the Fluxus movement is Yoko Ono, who with many other Fluxus period artists all over the world sought to generate a solid Fluxus network. The artists of this movement were ini

tially considered pranksters because of their playful and unconventional style. To this day they are a network of radical visionaries that attempt to uproot social, political

and aesthetic perceptions. Other famous Fluxus artists include Joseph Beuys, George Maciunas, and Robert Filliou. They avoided any limiting art theories, and spurned pure aestheic, producing such mixed-media as found poems, mail art, silent orchestras, and collages of such readily available materials scavanged posters, newspapers, and other epherma. Their activities resulted in many events or situations, often called "Aktions" — works challenging definitions of art as focused on objects --performances, guerilla or street theater, concerts of electronic music - many of

them similar to what in America were known as Happenings.

2009-10-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

card design: concept

Poster design: concept

Mood Board

Reading #1: Loving Laura More

2009-09-30T13:46:00.000-07:00

In the article "Loving Laura More", Andrea Grover highlights the idea that design isn't always for selling a product and making money, but through social interactions it can satisfy community's need. Here, Andrea narrates how Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July used a common person's (Laura Lark) life into a program that connected people all over the world. Sometimes its hard to be creative, especially when there are specific rules or limitations, but through LearningToLoveYouMore.com both (Harrell and Miranda) are able to inspire people to be more creative and create more (within rules). The assignments ranged from the quirky to the profound ones, but all their project offered humbling and heart-expanding experience of recognizing that the globe is dotted with original and inventive humans, busy thinking, suffering, wondering about love and making work that turns the world into a more recognizable and yet more startling place.

Another such artist I think is, Stefan Sagmeister. He's one of most

important living designer in today's world. Sagmeister talked about social responsibilities of an artist in his article "How Good is Good?" where he stated, what design can achieve and what should be the priorities of a designer. In his book "Things I

have learned in my life so far" is another good collection of his experiences which he shares with the reader and allows him to incorporate same lessons in their work or life. Just like Harrell and Miranda, where they gave assignments, here Sagmeister shared his life and experiences to encourage thoughts and evoke ideas.