Task 6 - Theory Into Practice

Look at the CTS blog that Garry Barker has been writing to complement the lecture programme this year. Write a short response to one of the posts on the blog. Use the ideas that Garry is discussing to mount a short critical evaluation of one piece of Graphic design that you have produced on Level 5.


Looking at this piece http://graphicdesigncontextualstudies.blogspot.com/2011/01/illustration-on-doorstep.html
and applying it to one of my books made for "Book Works" on level 5:

Open publication - Free publishing - More book

One thing I picked up on in Gary's post is " One other issue that is of continuing interest is the integration of contemporary technologies with older formats" as what I chose to do for my books was illustrate a number of characters and people using just their clothes to symbolise them and make them recognisable. The old format / technology was me deciding to hand draw each character initially and then integrate the contemporary use of the computer to aid the digitsing and adding colour to the images. This is how I prefer to work and more often than not I prefer the outcome of the work and feel I have a style coming on. I feel the drawings retain a sense of humanity - that someone hand rendered them - it's so simple to just use contemporary technology to create artwork but there is something quite lovely to me about hand drawn art. 
I also chose to keep the format simple and small so it appeared more like a 'zine' and integrate illustration with the use of type to enhance the image and give it purpose. 
This book actually sold so maybe it will one day feature in an exhibition (highly unlikely) but you never know. It's quite exciting to perhaps have my books profiled at an event. 

Task 5 - Sustainability & Capitalism

Read the text- Balser, E (2008) 'Capital Accumulation, Sustainability & Hamilton Ontario'. We have copies in the CTS office, 115.

Write a 500 word critical summary of the text which explicitly adresses the following questions

1. How is sustainability defined in the text?
2. What are the main characteristics or tendencies of Capitalism
3. Define a 'crisis of Capitalism'. Offer an example.
4. What solutions have been offered to the sustainability question? Are these successful or realistic? - If not why are they flawed?
5. Is the concept of sustainability compatible with Capitalism?

Task 4 - Communication Theory

Use Shannon & Weaver's model of the communication process to write a 300-400 word analysis of a work of Graphic Design. Comment on the ways in which the piece of Graphic Design attempts to communicate to a specific audience, using techniques of redundancy, entropy or noise. 

Laswell's maxim - "Who says what in what channel to whom with what effect?"

The piece of design I want to talk about us the coca cola advert in the centre on the tower in Times Square - a highly busy place to advertise in terms of noise. The channel in which it sits on the centre of the tower is a strong focal point in Times Square so it has prime location amongst the noise.

Coca Cola in my opinion uses high levels of redundancy in their advertisements - they are all very predictable in what they present in terms of colour (red and white), content (logo and bottle image). However it seems to be an effective method for them - everyone knows straight away when they look at the advert who it is and what is being sold. But then that is why the message is redundant - as we are bombarded by Coke adverts constantly, we take less notice and the message does't go in as much - however they have such a strong foundation and global awareness maybe the pieces just need a great level of redundancy - it is a deliberate tactic for combating noise and especially in such a heavily advertised place such as Times Square it seems to stand out amongst the rest of the adverts and the noise surrounding it. 

There doesn't seem to be a need for entropic methods in Coke's advertising as we all know it is a huge brand and doesn't need any extra gimmicks in their designs as the product and name should just sell the product to the customer. 

Viewers see the adverts and because it is so redundant in the message transmitted it has built an automatic response in people who often choose Coke as a brand probably because we are so bombarded with drinks messages that the Coke adverts combat the noise produced by the other adverts and is more well known.  They don't need to decode any messages as the imagery is straight forward.