The last 9 weeks the appointed Research and Communications tasks have given me a clearer insight into the contemporary history of Graphic Arts. Not only have I gained inspiration from further research into influential artists and designers, but I also believe I have acquired a contextual knowledge about the roots of design which I was previously unfamiliar with. In particular, I feel like I have learnt extensively about different art movements in the 20th century, and the way they changed and impacted present day Graphic Arts – I feel I have focused mainly on Graphic Design as I found the evolution of graphics to be much more distinct.

One art movement which I found particularly striking was the work of the Postmodernists – the idea of breaking away from perceived ideas of “art” to a more abstract and visually experimental style was something that immediately appealed to me, as I love to experiment with bold and unusual colours and divulge away from realism in my work. The work of artist Shepard Fairey (2015) really helped shape my studio practice research – the brazen illustrative style of the propaganda-esque images combined with the warm hues of the deep crimsons and burning oranges tie together to create a visually stunning piece of design. His work has helped shape my research and is a style I would like to replicate in my own illustrative design. In my Illustration rotation work, I have already begun trying to incorporate his stylistic use of flat colour to show depth and tone, a technique that is simple yet can be extremely effective and which works well within the cartoonish comic I am working on – while the use of the analogous colour palette something I am looking to incorporate further on.

I can see the connection between Research and Communication studies and studio-based practice, focusing on a range of styles and movements to inspire me and open my mind to different influences and design methods. I find looking at others work to be extremely beneficial to my design thought process, encouraging me to experiment and divulge into new ideas I haven’t yet looked into. This semester, I’ve found the work I’ve done in Research and Communication has had some connections to the other 3 briefs I have been set also, for example when working on my graphics rotation I took inspiration from the “International Typographic Style” or Swiss Style, recreating its bold minimalistic typographic style in my own work (Experimental Jetset Studios, 2005).

I found this module to be a great source of inspiration, while also giving me a deeper knowledge on each of the four pathways. I feel like it has encouraged me to experiment with different mediums I hadn’t thought to look into before, particularly in regards to photography and motion graphics, both of which I didn’t previously have much interest in. Inspiration is what breeds better design and I believe researching the pieces and people that shaped design into what it is today will make me a better designer.

Biography:

• Fairey, S. (2015) Mark Art Not War. [image] Available at: https://obeygiant.com/prints/make-art-not-war-offset/ [Accessed 3/12/17]
• Experimental Jetset Studios. (2005) DTC / Te Huur. [image] Available at: https://www.experimentaljetset.nl/archive/dtc-te-huur [Accessed 3/12/17]