Integrated Theory and Practice: Visual Hierachy

Film posters:

Content is the most important thing to attract viewers, therefore the image tends to be the main thing that is used to attract an audience. In this Alice in Wonderland poster, the first thing we notice is the face. The contrast of orange and green emphasises this main point of focus, as well as it being in the centre of the page. Next, is the name of the film. It is quite small and in the bottom right hand corner, however being in white on top of a dark colour background, it stands out. Then is the type above the character at the top, also in white but on a lighter green background, and it is further away from the main focus, making it less noticeable. Then the date and place, and finally the film credits. This visual hierarchy shows how the size of an object or type can make us notice it first or last, as well as where it is positioned in relation to the main focus.

Magazines:

Vogue cover

This magazine would be on a shelf amongst hundreds of others, fighting for visual dominance. The first thing which stands out is the red title of Vogue due to the contrast among the green background and it being the largest type on the page. Next is the woman as a face will always attract out attention. Then the large '50' in red, despite it being a low weight typeface and then the 3rd red toy 'Kate Hudson'. After this, the white and black type catch out attention but are similar sizes. The huge amount of information on a magazine cover needs to be categorised into the most important and least important in order to not bombard the viewer with too much information at one time, which would risk them not being attracted by it at all. 

Some magazines, however, do not need to put so much information on at once as they can grab the audience's attention with perhaps a single image, like this Creative review (Jan 2010)

The black car on a yellow background instantly gives a striking visual effect, as do the bursts of red and white on the black. Our eye is then led up to the top left hand corner to the the 'CR' in black on white, again, a bold contrast and then the small type saying 'creative review', and finally the smallest type below that. 

If these two magazine were next to each other, the large block of yellow on a magazine stand would definitely catch someones attention first as yellow is the brightest and the larger the area of a colour, the more it stands out. 

Newspapers:

On this cover, first in the visual hierarchy is the largest typeface; the main headline. The black and white contrast causes it to stand out, but even more so that the yellow and blue 'GI DIET' advert, as it takes up more space on the page. 3rd would be the image of Kiera Knightley or 'Daily Mail' due to the contrast of light and dark. Next is the 2nd image, and finally the smaller heading, then the body copy. Newspapers tend to put more importance on the main story with a large headline, than on the newspaper name as it is all about who has the best, most shocking story to cause the audience to buy the paper. Also, whoever may be on the cover, the same applying to magazines, could influence this decision as they are often celebrities and people want to find out about their lives, so they are a large focus of the front page stories. 

Integrated Theory and Practice: Legibility

"The Bauhaus was a German art school which existed from 1919 through 1933.  No other institution has had the profound influence on 20th century design as the Bauhaus.  It was founded by architect Walter Gropius in the city of Weimar.   Founded on the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, the aim of the Bauhaus was to incorporate art and industry. In 1925, the Bauhaus moved to Dessau.  It was during this year that the young Austrian artist, Herbert Bayer, was appointed to head the printing and advertising workshops in Dessau." (http://www.type.nu/bayer/index.html)

'The new typography' was a huge influence on modern graphic design, being all about functionality and purpose, which meant being legible was its only aim to convey the message. The pleasing aesthetic was a by-product of this clean, straight forward approach in the early 20th century.

Herbert Bayer's poster for Kandinsky's 60th Birthday:

This piece uses bold, black type against a cream background and minimal use of colour. First of all, the typeface he has used is large enough to be seen from a distance, apart from the smaller details which would be legible of course from up close when the viewer has already been attracted by the poster. The contrast of black on cream, and black on orange gives a striking visual as the colours vibrate. Most of the text is in capital letters, which causes it to be harder to read, however it is in keeping with the block, grid format of this piece.

"The metaphor of “transparent type” was coined by Beatrice Warde, Monotype Imaging's famous marketing manager of the 1930s and 40s. She once wrote in an article that good type is like “a crystal goblet” which allows content to be more important than the container. Warde contended that the best types do not get in the way of the communication process: these faces are virtually invisible and allow words to make the statement–not the type." (http://www.fonts.com/AboutFonts/Articles/Typography/Legibility.htm)

"Helvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas'sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland. Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that could compete with the successful Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The aim of the new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of signage." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetica)

American Airlines
Designed by Vignelli Associates, in 1967

This logo is extremely legible with its helvetica "crystal goblet" font and striking blue and red. On top of white, the colours convey the red blue and white american flag colours but also are made all the more legible. Even though the words are not spaced apart, the difference in colour distinguishes them from one another allowing us to see it as two words. 

Stefan Sagmeister's poster for lou reed's set in the twilight reeling 1996

His use of hand rendered type adds a unique quality but is not entirely legible. However, information which is needed for the viewer to understand, such as the name and title, is legible enough. The rest is simply lyrics and therefore their communication is not as important but is instead simply for the aesthetic quality.

Integrated Theory and Practice: Visual Research

Keeping a sketchbook allows a designer or illustrator to note down ideas, lists and interesting findings, as well as record what they see and collect which inspires them in their work and everyday thoughts. When we see something that captures our imagination, such as an interesting building or a scene we see happening, we feel the need to remember it and so recording this is the best way to do so. Photographers may take a quick snap shot, illustrators or designers may sketch it or write it down and brainstorm ideas from this. We also may find things such as train tickets, leaflets or food wrappers which we like, and want to keep for future reference as they inspire us in either being well designed, imaginative or may just simply be attractive. Things we like are very likely to inspire what we create as we aim for a certain style for our final outcome to be like.

Director, graphic and moving image designer Johnny Hardstaff collects all sorts of information graphics, stickers, images, examples of artworks and then uses these as inspiration or reference for his designs, sketching along side these in his sketchbooks, drawing from these shape, colour, texture, layout and concept.  "Amongst his most notable works to date remain 'History of Gaming' and 'Future of Gaming' (two politically provocative short films designed to first engender then test corporate patronage, now inducted into the National Film Archive), the Radiohead film 'Like Spinning Plates' (long format two track experimental music video), a contemporary raft of innovative design based commercials (Sony / Asics / Orange / MTV etc) and the 2010 future noir short film 'DarkRoom'." 

http://www.johnnyhardstaff.com/index.php?menu=yes&section=sketchbooks

Simply recording what we see by sketching it is a useful exercise to improve our drawing skills and encourages us to look at the world around us, taking inspiration from this while learning about perspective, form, shape, texture and colour. We can then also experiment with different media to then translate into our work these initial ideas and research. I have selected a few videos showing sketchbooks by artists and designers which I find interesting. They show the thought processes and experimentation of their work, the development of a style and how they see things, then interpret them into a new visual representation for recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojJGp5HX-Bs&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9TiB0aYIlA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECu4nQGysT8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuPgOg83I4A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_5kRhNoOIY&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34NH_Vl2ry0&feature=related

If a designer or illustrator needs to create a piece of work about a certain topic, they would need to research into different aspects such as the history and context. Information is needed to gain a greater knowledge of what we see so that we can understand something and therefore draw or design it well. Reading books also helps with vocabulary in order to describe, as well as allowing a designer's imagination to expand and give them inspiration by creating a visual for their initial ideas about a subject. Secondary research allows us to expand our knowledge using what other people have found and collected, then put together to make it easier for us to find the information such as in a book or on the internet. When an illustrator or designer is looking for inspiration, they may look at other artist's work and their style as way of working as an influence as to how to go about doing a new piece of work. 

A designer may look at how colour can be used to attract attention to their piece of work, or how it has an impact on who the audience is. For example, a children's illustrator would need to research the stages of development in reading and learning to produce a book for younger children, as well as how to use colour well so as to attract their attention. On a page of Johnny Hardstaff's sketchbooks, he has researched colour blindness tests to see how colours interact with one another so he can use this in his work to produce a striking visual. 

In his sketchbooks he has also taken images for visual reference from which to draw from so that he can get a sense of colour, shape and form. 

Integrated Theory and Practice: Audiences

Children's Books

Children's books have illustrations mainly for younger audiences who are not yet able to read but can follow the story by what they see in the pictures. Some for the very young children have ways of helping them learn things such as colour, shape and animals. When they can read, the images become a visual accompaniment to excite them and add to the appeal of story books for their artistic quality.

When I was young I had a combination of new, and old children's books with a wide range of illustrations. Some of the one's I have always remembered most, however, were not even mine, but my mom's from when she was young. I think I may remember these best because of the simplistic drawings and bright colours, but also because they are hand drawn and seem so much less mass produced than modern children's books.

'Tilly and Tessa' from 1962 by Dick Bruna is one of those I will never forget. He also created the hugely popular Miffy character, which is easy to see from the style of drawing, and bright blocks of colour. http://www.miffy.com

Using only red, yellow, green and blue adds to the pure simplicity, reflecting the age of the audience for which is had been created. The geometric shapes he has used are easily recognisable for young children to help them learn form and colour. 

He was influenced by the french painter Henri Matisse; his early illustrations were based on his collage work. He has also been inspired by the Dutch graphic design movement De Stijl, particularly work by the architect Gerrit Rietveld. 

- Rietveld Chair

Another of these battered and tattered books i would never throw away is Walt Disney's Cinderella from around 1960. 

The pastel coloured tonal illustrations are obviously for older children to understand but the colours and shapes are still eye catching to the younger audience. However, even babies have face recognition so they may be able to see that it is pictures of people. 

Classic Illustrations such as those by Beatrix Potter can never be confined to an age group as they are timeless. 

The detailed water colour and ink pictures personify animals into scenes from the stories while still being realistic enough be recognised as the animals they are. By simply looking at the images, a child would understand what is going on in the story due to the interaction of the characters, the setting and objects. The colouring is natural and subtle, creating a realistic world to which a child is transported while reading the book. 

A similarly classic style of illustrations is the work of Shirley Hughes in 'Alfie' books. 

Shirley works in pen to produce her detailed drawings, adding tone and colour: "I reach for a pencil at a very early stage and draw the main characters. That's when the story starts to take shape. A good picture book is never words with illustrations added later to make it look more attractive. As with a movie, the word and image develop together, independently."

"The rough dummy is the essence of the book... I use very smooth thin drawing paper which I can just see through, so that I can place one idea for a spread over another and compare them. At this stage I draw in pencil and go over it with felt pen which gives a good clear photocopy. Unfettered by the tensions which are imposed when you are doing the finished artwork... you are drawing very unselfconsciously, concentrating entirely on the storyline and the characters. The resulting sketches, not surprisingly, have a vitality and economy of gesture and expression which it is quite hard to reproduce again when it comes to the finished work." 

(http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000015904,00.html)

Jane Hissey's pencil crayon drawings in her 'Little bear' children's books are extremely realistic and memorable, and the lively colours are attractive to children.

For learning colours and their associations at a young age, 'Kitty's colours' illustrated by Lisa McCue was one of my favourites. The tonal crayon and watercolour is cartoon-like with a realistic yet stylised quality.

Modern children's books often have interactive parts such as pop ups, textures, moving parts and noise makers. 'On the Farm' has pop up and interactive pages amongst the bold, lively illustrations which are simple yet offer a sense of texture through mark making and tone, such as that on the wood and straw.

'My first storybook' for ages 4-8, illustrations by Gill Guile, has learning strategies such as cartoon animal silhouettes and objects labelled and illustrated in bold colours and tonal ink work. For the stories, the illustrations are also cartoon style with simple, attractive colours, tone and a stylised quality of rounded shapes.

Children's comics, being mostly illustration, are all about expression of movement through mark making, characters and form. With minimal line work the Dennis the menace comics have been a staple for children for decades due to the timeless characters and iconic style. Being printed in large amounts, they were cost effective and efficiently produced as they were typically in just black ink. It would not be suitable for young children as the drawings are quite stylised and can be difficult to understand without being able to read the speech bubbles and captions that are critical to the communication of the story.

Integrated theory and practice: can recontextualized ideas be contemporary?

If we think of a single image, perhaps a piece of fruit, what message can it convey if used in a piece of art? It could symbolise abundance of life, nature or simply be food. On its own it could mean anything, but nothing has a real meaning without a context. It needs a setting with other imagery to convey a message. 

The Painting of Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach from 1526 depicts a scene from Genesis in the Bible with a life-like style including the two figures, animals, the forbidden tree of fruit and the snake. All of these images have clear meanings due to the text it refers to; the figures being the origin of humans, the fruit being temptation and sin, the animals being the bounty of life on earth, and the snake symbolising evil, or the devil.

This was painted in a time when religion was a very large part of people's lives and art was a way of communicating ideas in a realistic way with paint before photography was invented. Paintings were largely of religious figures and royalty, or people very high up in status, so representation was key. The richness of tones, fabrics and colour were a great indicator of wealth and objects in the painting were subtle hints, as was body language, about the person rather than just their appearance. 

Adam and Eve are both naked in this image as they have not betrayed God and so do not feel the shame and need to be modest. It also gives them a sense of innocence and naivety as if they were babies. Adam looks hesitant about the fruit, his limbs awkwardly positioned and scratching his head, whereas Eve seems a lot more confident in her stance, her arm up holding onto a branch and her facial expression looks as though she is smirking, with a slight smile. This is a representation of how Eve tries the fruit and is then banished from Eden. The snake, curled around a tree above, centred between the figures implies he has control over them but is not in their direct sight. 

The deep, rich colours in the painting echo the essence of abundant life in the garden. The tone of the sky, however, indicates either a sunrise or sunset. As a sunrise, it could suggest the beginning of life on earth, but as a sunset, it may represent the end of human life without sin.

The same image and layout has been re-created in the piece 'Adam and Eve' by Photographer Ron O'Donnell in 1989.

The new medium of photography allows a much more realistic image, however this piece seems even less real than the painting done centuries before. The tree is made of paper and cardboard as well as a real trunk, and the people are collages of photographs of real body parts. By this O'Donnell may have intended to mock the belief in religion by making it look unrealistic and strange. In a modern society, religion seems to be a smaller part of peoples' lives than in the 16th century. The way in which this piece is composed, mirroring the position of the figures by the tree in Cranach's painting, makes a reference to old beliefs and society in that it has definitely changed, so as to make the comparison more apparent. A doll with gold wings floats above the figures, carrying what resembles a piece of fruit. This could be intended as comical, making fun of the belief in angels. Where the snake would be, a twig wraps around the branches, blending in with the tree. This may imply that the demon does not really exist but instead the 'angel' is bringing the fruit to Adam and Eve.

One of the most noticeable ideas in the piece is that the figures are headless. This could suggest that Adam and Eve have no identity, that they are ambiguous characters, taking away the belief that they are real figures. 

This iconic image has been recontextualized into a new era of different beliefs and new attitudes towards life and religion. Society in our modern world has different values to that of the 16th century and therefore the ideas represented in the bible, such as the origins of life, now seem less significant. Therefore, art work displaying these ideas tends to trivialise and mock them, showing contemporary representations of old ideas. 

Integrated theory and practice: Notions of originality

Is anything really original anymore? From abstract images to traditional sculpture, styles and concepts have been recycled by many artists over the years.  A piece of work may be original to the artist as they created it, so it means something new to them as an individual. However, the messages it communicates will almost certainly have been explored in many various medias by other artists in the past. This becomes more and more difficult as time passes because of the endless amount of artists and therefore pieces of work being produced which are 'original'. The initial concept an artist aims to put across can be so broad that it encompasses many ideas which will inevitably have already been explored, but it is the context, media and flare combined which sets aside one piece of work from another. If a piece of work is simply a portrait painting of a person, this is definitely not original due it having been repeated for centuries, even though it is of a different person or character. If the artist paints the figure with an interesting use of colour or shape, this can be seen as original to those who have never seen anything like it before. The notion of originality is in the mind of the viewers, so if they lack certain knowledge of work produced in past years, a piece of work with this new concept or quality will seem original even if it has been copied. Context can make something seem original, such as in the sculpture/installation piece by Damien Hirst 'The physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1991) in which he has suspended a tiger shark in a life like pose in formaldehyde inside a tank. 

This was one of the many pieces he produced in this way which also included a cow, sheep, pig and fish exhibited in tanks, although some were also dissected. A shark in a tank does not look original as we have seen it before at sea life parks. However when we learn that it is in fact dead and in formaldehyde, it takes on a whole new meaning.  It aims to shock and intrigue. The tank no longer looks the same as those in an aquarium, but instead cold and clinical. Being an installation rather than a painting, the piece allows people to see it up close and stare into the eyes of a defeated predator; a creature which many people may have never seen before in real life. This fascination with medical science is not a new one as animals have been stuffed, mounted and preserved since we had the technology to do so in order to examine them. This has also been used for the purposes of decoration. However the idea of exhibiting dead animals as an art piece puts the display into a new context all together. In the audience's life time of medical advances in technology and the ability to extend lives significantly, it almost alludes to the idea that life is ongoing and even though the shark is dead, it still seems as if it is being kept alive artificially. This would make sense with the title of the piece 'the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living' as the viewer cannot detach what they see from the memory of a live shark. The blue tint also adds to the life-like quality as it resembles the shark's natural sea life environment.

The significance of displaying such a powerful creature, which has now been reduced to merely an object to stare at, reflects a modern society in which celebrities are exhibited like the shark, powerless to stop onlookers and judgements. Again, this idea reflects on the title in the sense that even after a celebrity is dead, many can still stare at their image which makes it impossible for them to fade from existence. 

Hirst's animal Installation work is well known amongst the contemporary art world, but also among the larger public who may not have a great knowledge of art, but may have seen it in the media due to its controversial nature, as some may believe it to be morally wrong and distasteful. The most publicised work is most well known and therefore, will be more likely to seem original. Similar concepts produced by lesser known artists are then no longer original, even if they thought of the idea first. Although, it can never be proven that someone thought of an idea first. There are over 6 billion people on the planet, so it must be virtually impossible to think something that nobody has ever thought of before, but a piece of art work can still be original to those who do not know any better. We should not strive to be original, but aim to be different instead.

Test!

Olaf Breuning- easter bunnies
I just love this! so simple, so clever, so cute :P
easter island figures with bunny ears- is this original? yeah! nobody else did it and took a picture-... or one that i've ever seen anyway :)