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Summary

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Over the past 8 weeks, I have learnt a lot about the history of graphic arts, and have developed many skills during the process, mainly researching into past artists work and seeing how they shaped the graphics arts industry, from Avant Guard to postmodernism.

Although when I began this research blog, I had a dislike to the work I was studying, being the type of art that in the past I had disliked in the past I grew to like such as Shepard Fairy’s work that I learnt was more than just branding and a seeming cult type movement, it actually had meaning and was there to try and open our eyes to what’s around us.

What got me most was the counter culturism, I actually liked a lot of the work involved especially from the psychedelic work of Bob Masse and Bill Graham, i loved the art style and the colours they used as well as the way they use their work to express and provoke society in a sense of rebellion and going against the norm. I love the way they work with bold colours that shouldn’t be seen together, such as yellows next to purples yet it adds to the effect, my favourite artist was Bob Masse who used one of my favourite artists as inspiration, Alphonsa Mucha, an art nouvaue artist who’s art is one of my favourite to look at and I happy to see that someone has taken on his work and made something interesting out of it, by keeping the style of Mucha yet using colours to bring it into the counter-culterism movement. making it elegant and fun at the same time.

I prefered the works where I could explore my own interests, such as task 2 where I compared two images that I liked and had similar relations to my own work. I also enjoyed the publish or perish task of choosing my own images that I enjoyed and wanted to describe and look into more detail about how, I got to look into things I liked and share them with other students on the blog. It also makes me look at things more closely such as how a piece of art is put together, the colour schemes used and why they are used. As well as how they the piece works as a whole and if it completes it’s purpose, a lot of the work I have studied has influenced my own work, and has given me new inspirations and ideas that I can work with in the future with my own artistic career and has made me think about what really goes into a piece and what I’m really trying to say with my artwork, as well as it’s purpose, and makes me want to continue this research further as I progress with my study.

One thing I would do better next time is to research more into my artists and give more analysed reviews, as well as being more organised with posting my blogs and understanding the work more.

Summary Post

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Over the last ten weeks, I have been able to constructively analyse a range of art from different disciplines and time periods and have learnt about different movements that have helped to shape the world in which we now live. In particular, I have learnt how photographs and animations can been turned into short filmed, enabling space for greater comparison, such as within ā€˜Terminal Barā€™. I have been able to see how art has influenced and aided these movements, from propaganda posters which were mass-produced to stand alone photographs which have become symbols of revolution. From this project, I have been able to obtain a better understanding of just how powerful art can be and the wide range of topics that it can be used for.

Adding a deeper meaning to my artwork is something that I wish to continue with, working different layers of subtlety to create a piece which is ultimately stronger. By looking at this project and all the different forms of art, I have begun to realise that I need to think more about the smaller details, like the choice of the typeface, colour and symbolism which will all aid to produce a more powerful piece. I should also research my chosen topic, before jumping straight to the design. This way, I believe I would be able to produce a piece which is more informative and that I could hide information also, incorporating it into the visual design. I feel also that I now have more courage to start experimenting with different techniques and disciplines, after looking at all the different results which can be produced.

I feel that I have been most influenced by the subcultures of the 1960ā€™s; how they denied following the set rules, how they challenged and experimented with colour, typography and a new way of living. I found it fascinating to see how it was able to accumulate to such a grand scale despite not having all of the technology we have available today. Additionally, I enjoy learning of current protests today, how meaning and symbolism has been translated into our own consumer society. One particular example of current protests is the company ā€˜Adbustersā€™ who commonly play on phrases set by big businesses and highlight negativity or corruption. Ā I admire all the courage and defiance put in to making these pieces of art and hope to bring these ideas to my own future work, particularly with the theme of veganism. I was amazed at how one piece of art could spark such a radical change.

Overall, I do feel that this project has been beneficial for me. I have gained a greater knowledge of the history of art, terminology and of all the disciplines available on this course. I have also been able to reflect upon my own work and compare it to professional practitioners, gathering inspirations and targets for improvements.

Task 11/12 Summary

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Research and communication module is a subject that Iā€™m quite familiar with as Iā€™ve done this before in college although the level of difficulties are different I find that some of the task are challenging and also interesting sometimes I felt uninterested and donā€™t really enjoy doing so i struggled with most of them but after i got into it Iā€™ve realised that this is a very useful skills to have in term of research as part of the course.

Different tasks requires research from different resources and influenced me to use that in my in this module and project works. Iā€™ve found that ive been relied on the internet research most of the time like Pinterest or wiki pedia after the introduction to the Online Reseorces teach me how the research process could be done in many different ways like primary, secondary and incourages me to use the WSA library because thereā€™re a range of many interesting books in there that you canā€™t find it on the internet. Iā€™ve also learnt from the task Acadamic integrity which I think very important how to references the sources that I|ā€™ve used because referencing the books and online article is different which I always forget about this very important part most of the time so referencing is not as difficult as I imagine itā€™s more about getting in the routine of doing it every time Iā€™m doing any researches or used other peopleā€™s works.

I donā€™t feel very motivated when it comes to written the task my thought of doing itā€™s make me felt dreadful I just donā€™t know what to write for analysing the images or how will I make it sounds interesting so Iā€™ve found that choosing the images or topic that Iā€™m interested in have a lot of impact on keeping me writing about, easier for me to come up with what to write without realising how much I already wrote. The task that most difficult for me to write about is ā€œReflective Writingā€ because I found that I have to read the article over and over again to really get into what it trying to say and understand it completely which is difficult because of the language and lots of the vocaburay in the article that i donā€™t understand like ā€œiconographicalā€ so I have to translate and google the definition of it which sometimes when i sum up the whole sentences it doesnā€™t makes sense so Iā€™m not sure of my interpretation of it is 100% correct or not so I have to keep doing the same thing throughout the article which take me quite a long time to finished reading because I have to stop reading in order to note down and translate the word. So I have been stuck on this task for quite a bit because i donā€™t know what to write about it so I have a read of other people blog who did the same task and this had diffinitely help guide me and give me some ideas on how to write about it.

In conclusion reflecting on all the task that Iā€™ve done Iā€™ve learnt a lot from this module in term of using different sources for research gave me variety and wider range for inspirations I have found that it have massive impact on my own work (projects) also what interesting is to see how each student responses diffently in the same task.

500 Word Summary

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Within both my practise based and essay based research I have found that the work of Christoph Niemann has helped me considerably for multiple reasons. A large amount of inspiration comes from how he develops an idea from simple graphic drawings into interesting and charismatic designs, his approach to observing and drawing inspiration from the murmur and constant shuffle of people watching and taking elements and designs that come forward from this process have helped me to simplify my ideas as well as relax my approach so that character can find its way into a brief to provide a more colourful vantage point than before.

So far, I have found this to be my most enjoyable learning experience due to the approach of the tutors and the briefs, my experience of each pathway within Graphic Arts has been enlightening and exciting as to the new possibilities alongside the ability to combine each discipline to create future projects. I find that even within workshops and small adventures into private research that the short documentary episode on Christoph Niemann comes to mind, whether it as to how I can approach a new topic, brief or attitude within Graphic Arts or if it is in regard to new practise based skills that be transferred from each discipline and reapplied to create new designs and more progressive responses.

My approach to research is unlike my approach to practise based challenges, within research I try to absorb as much information on a topic whether it is relevant to the current task presented to me. . Out of the topics that have been taught to us I found that the strongest influence on my work came from looking into the counter culture movement and looking at post modernism as it is still very relevant and visible in design today.

Being able to look into images and work that are relevant to my interests is especially new as it enables me to discover different artists and how they work independently alongside how they work within their correlating movements or time periods, being encouraged to look into areas and movements of art that I may not have interacted with is particularly useful as it enables me to discover styles and issues that are discussed as well as celebrated that can potentially aid my work and encourage my practise based research to be broader and more eclectic.

When combining my approach to practise and essay based work alongside my inspiration from the works of Christoph Niemann I have discovered new movements and styles to incorporate into my work in a way that collaborates multiple styles so that I can completely understand my own individual style. Theory and practise can sometimes provide conflicting ideas that affect how a project moves forward, having the background research completed for a brief can better your approach to a final outcome, practise can consistently and continuously be improved whereas an approach to research stays more or less the same if the person completing research doesnā€™t see the benefit in their final outcome.

Task 6 // Modes of Practice

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From one of my drawing workshops, I was able to create a mode of practice using cotton buds, using the tip for mark making, creating an image of dots with acrylic paint. It was inspired by Seuratā€™s pointillism work, although he used a brush to produce those marks. He was one of the pioneers of pointillism, a technique that developed in 1886. However, Iā€™ve evolved the style of pointillism using cotton buds. It is a very feasible practise to do as the material is a day to day item. I will be working with this method in my contemporary project. Although it was a challenging to do the style pointillism as confuses the mind to blend the colours and place it accurately. To develop this further, I used a hole puncher in some areas to make it look chaotic. I want to keep working with this technique as challenges with me in doing complex techniques.

Reflective Summary – Alex Low

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Reflective Summary

 

Over this first part of my semester I have been set certain tasks to investigate different aspects of design. The first part of my project was to gather ideas from the barbican due its shape, form and architecture. When I first went to the barbican I didn’t find the place very appealing for inspiration, but it was a good start for my drawing skills for combining shapes. This has had an impact on my drawing skills for observation, patterns and shapes as well proportioning the design which is something I need to improve on. The second part of my project has had a good impact on my 3D design skills. The final outcome of my idea was to create a 3D model asset and by using primary research to develop my idea is an aspect of good design; ā€˜ā€™10 principles of good designā€™ā€™ -Quote by Dieter Rams who talks about each key principle about a good design…

 

  • Innovation
  • What makes a product useful
  • Aestheticā€™s
  • Making a product understandable, etc..

 

Innovation can be a key method in design, it incorporates a transformation in design which can have an impact on 3D design. By following a different area of 3D design could change how I do things differently in the future. One thing I could focus on on the future is how to use new methods with more original style, which would be helpful from my 3D modelling skills.

 

Saul bass – Ā a famous artist for typography and motion graphics. Typography is something that can be crucial in 3D design, as it is arranging the style and appearance of a certain shape/form of art. Motion graphics can teach me how to manipulate something in 3D into an illusion for animation. Although my skills are very limited in animation, it is also something I can improve on for 3D design purposes.

 

Limitations in drawing can be problem for me, using more innovative ideas can help improve my motivation for drawing more and making my designs more broader. At the start of my project I came with the idea of making a creature using Mudbox for 3D sculpting. When it came to the thought process my drawings didn’t give me enough to work with to establish a theme for my character and his overall form which then I came out with something very cliche which hadn’t had enough input into it.

 

ā€˜ā€™Is it possible to make anything new?ā€™ā€™ By identifying new resources to create an idea can be helpful. When observing a structure, think about the culture around it, itā€™s overall form and typography. When this research is introduced to a 3D asset it will look more original.

Harvard referencing – Alex Low

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Bibliography

 

Ā Ā eLearning industry. 2017. 6 reasons why interactive narrative learning is an effective eLearning strategy. [ONLINE] Available at: https://elearningindustry.com/interactive-narrative-learning-effective-elearning-strategy-6-reasons. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

 

whatculture.com. 2015. 12 best video game story lines ever. [ONLINE] Available at: http://whatculture.com/gaming/12-best-video-game-storylines-ever?page=3. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

 

wikipedia. 2015. Avant garde. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant-garde. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

 

giant bomb. 2017. Indie (concept). [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.giantbomb.com/indie/3015-2911/. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

 

Rolling stone. 2017. ‘cuphead’: Why 1930s Animation Continues to Grip Contemporary Culture. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/cuphead-and-the-surreal-influence-of-1930s-animation-on-modern-culture-w504847. [Accessed 1 December 2017].

 

Build Box. 2017. 10 Things Every Indie Game Developer Should Know. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.buildbox.com/10-things-indie-developers-should-do/. [Accessed 3 December 2017].

 

Springer Link. 2017. Human – Computer Interaction. [ONLINE] Available at: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-0-387-39940-9_192. [Accessed 4 December 2017].

 

Blackboard Learn. 2017. Week 5 Human computer interaction – attached file history-hci.pptx. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_177716_1&content_id=_3619490_1. [Accessed 5 December 2017].

 

Blackboard Learn. 2017. Week 6 Artificial intelligence – Attached file AITalkMin.pdf. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_177716_1&content_id=_3619494_1. [Accessed 5 December 2017].

 

Legal zoom. 2017. The disadvantages of copyright. [ONLINE] Available at: http://info.legalzoom.com/disadvantages-copyrights-23119.html. [Accessed 6 December 2017].

 

Blackboard Learn. 2017. Week 9 Own – attached file own_slickdeck 2017.pdf. [ONLINE] Available at: https://blackboard.soton.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_177716_1&content_id=_3619496_1. [Accessed 6 December 2017].

Essay/blog week 9 – Alex Low

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Week 9 – Own

 

What do you see as the positives and negatives around copyright?

ā€˜ā€˜Culture builds on the pastā€™ā€™. A quote by Lawrence Lessig which means a majority of things that we see nowadays has been inspired by the past. In certain cases it is a positive aspect of copyright. ā€˜ā€™Fair useā€™ā€™ includes using certain a work for certain purposes like criticism, commentary, reporting and teaching for a certain subject matter. Ā 

 

Negative aspects of copyright would be when the author of the work is seeking public attention for his/her work but it is being obstructed due to copyright protection which will prevent the work from being sold as quickly as possible due to other individuals trying to perform, reproduce or be displayed as their own.

 

Is it possible to make anything new?

Most creative industries try to come up with new ideas everyday without attempting plagiarism. A new idea can be developed by identifying new resources for research purposes. For example making an idea original, innovative and less mainstream. Research methods could involve using more primary based research which could be observing parts of our culture and taking less inspiration from ideas that have already produced.

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Essay/blog week 6 – Alex Low

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Week 6 – Artificial Intelligence

 

Some definitions state that AI is when a system thinks/acts like a human and other definitions state that it is when a system thinks/acts rationally. Why do you suppose AI developers wish to hold up human intelligence as a standard rather than pure logic?

The Turing test was devised by Alan Turing and was an experiment based the capability of a machine being able to understand intelligence. This experiment involves two different parties, both using a keyboard and a screen, without knowing if the other party is a machine. Based on a certain subject; each party will test each other to see which is a machine. If the judges are fooled by the other party, then the computer has passed the test and has achieved true consciousness. This test states that the machine can act and think like a human. Ā 

 

A lot of people are scared by the prospective of AI. What do you think would be the ramifications of us achieving true “strong” AI?

The AI could think rationally without a proper justified reason which is why it not safe to introduce too much information to a computer. The other ramification of a ā€˜ā€™strongā€™ā€™ AI is its capability of gaining greater consciousness to its surroundings.

 

Introducing an AI to a neural network will train the computer to do certain tasks. What happens when the AI acts above those tasks?. A neural network is the same way biological neurons work inside a human brain. A neural network can be used for predicting things. If the AI was to think rationally by its own predictions, it could have consequences, which is why human intelligence should be at a certain standard.

Essay/blog week 5 – Alex Low

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Week 5 – Human Computer Interaction

 

Select one example to outline the key concepts of human – computer interaction. Reflect upon the role of the ā€˜humanā€™ , the ā€˜computerā€™ and the ā€˜interactionā€™.

Human – computer interaction can be used to educate a human’s mind for a design aspect. One aspect would be ā€˜usabilityā€™ so that the person using the computer can be satisfied on how to use the computer. Making sure that the computer technology is easy to use is key, when it comes to interaction. This technology can be used for may other aspects as well, such as in – car navigation systems, mobile phones, household appliances, etc. The person using these computer based devices, should be able understand how to use them, how they work and most importantly how effective they are.

 

Discuss the relationship between games design and human – computer interaction

When it comes to games design, human – computer interaction is used a lot. For instance, a CGI model based from a human’s shape and figure is a way that computer interaction and link to a games design aspect. When playing a game the human can interact through VR (virtual reality) or a hand held controller.

 

A person can also interact with the use of, hearing and visuals. The hearing can consist of sound waves, vibrations and electric impulses. The visuals are more to with colour, patterns and font aspects.