Melbourne...Giddy Up.

Important Message from Sam.

hey guys,

Sams just emailed me about what's happening this week in Pro Brief. Basically, the other group is going to start putting the magazine together, so we need to bring in High Res PDFs of our Posters, as well as Word versions of our Positioning Statement. I know most of us already put the posters up on the server last week, so more importantly get these statements in. The other groups going to need them earlier in the day (cause their class comes earlier), so if we can, get this stuff in and on the servers ASAP (today, tomorow, first thing Wednesday morning).
Theres a very short turnaround with AGIdeas next week, and the zinefair is in May, so can we PLEASE please please get all this sorted out this week.

Oh and theres a lecture.

Thanks,
Sam.
via Daryl.

Reading Contemp. Essay.

Anyone else having trouble with it?

Taylor Print Quote

heya, a 4th quote just came in, again, way over budget- dunno how the other group got a $1500 job. i recon instead of 60printed pages, they told them 30 back and front (which is wrong).

quote

'we are all bound by the desire to listen, collaborate and create'.

Emily's Quote

Hey Krystal,
Here's an exert form my statement.

"Images stay in our mind long after the text has dissolved"

Inhouse

This is the quote i got back from "Inhouse Printing" in Broadway/Glebe. Except unfortunately, its more than our budget...

Quotes.

So late last week we emailed a whole bunch of printers, across the board in quality + popularity.

So far, we've only gotten two quotes back, but given it was the Easter weekend, I expect a few more to be coming in over the next couple of days. More interestingly, we're waiting on a quote from Whirlwind (which should probably be on the expensive side, but also on the better quality) and Kwik Kopy (which should be one of the cheaper ones, but probably not as good).

2 we got back so far are from Express Digital Print in North Sydney and Aviva in Ashfield.

(click to view full sizes)

another message from Sam herself.

Hay yo,

Just a quick note, our AGIdeas presentation tomorrow has been adjusted to 11am by Sam. This is so that another academic from the dept can be there.

Nice one.

A4 handout

Hey guys can emily and nic please send me their quotes they want me to put in the A4 handout from their poster designs. I also need your updated posters to add to it too

And whoever has the printing quotes, cud you please post them up here or just email them to me at krystle.a.cassar@gmail.com

Cheers

meeting?

Is this group meeting on today (tuesday) ? sorry cos i dont have any of ur numbers, so wasnt sure

Also where are you meeting ?

Group meeting

Hey guys. Yeah i think i'm the only one that has class at that time but i'll go to the group meeting first and i'll go to class afterwards.

yeah we are gonna meet tomo after the lecture. i think most people have a break then besides Than. doubt anyone will read this at 3.30 in the morning so ill try to message people.

Krystles Poster

Poster

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that I also need everyones finalised posters emailed to me by tonight, talie_88@hotmail.com. They should be in A4 size, and please make sure the file size isnt too big, otherwise they'll be hell to deal with when I'm making the slideshow.

So far I have, Emily, Claudia, and Daryl's posters.

Tah.

hey guys, like nic said we need some time before the presentation to work everything out.. tuesday arvo or wednesday morning is fine by me.. we're presenting at 1015 .. so let us know when everyone is free.

my poster

My design statement

Hey guys sorry for the late post.

What are we as designers? What are we doing when we design? How does our design have an impact on the world around us? To me, design is much too broad a discipline to give a specific answer. If design is how we express ourselves and our feelings, then at what point would design venture into the world of art? Or are we as designers just a bridge between corporate companies and the public? I believe each designer would have their own answer to these questions and that is what makes design such a personal thing. Each designer is different, whether it is their style, their views, or even their design techniques.

During my years as a design student, I was faced with a question. What is design without feeling? My answer to this was simple; design without feeling is designing without meaning. If your designs had no meaning, then how can you ever come to appreciate it? And ultimately, how will the audience appreciate it? This has been true to me throughout all of my design experiences. Whenever I designed something, if it was something that I simply did not care about, I never felt satisfied after completing it.

Without the passion for design, we create things that are lifeless, meaningless. As designers, we should be drawing on our passion, and our inspiration from all corners of our lives and everything around us and this means not shutting things out. We should be brave and venture into the unknown for once just to see what we would discover. Do something we wouldn’t normally do just to see what it is like. The more life experience we have, the more open our eyes are to the world around us and the people around us. Having a broad vision of the world makes us better not only as designers, but also as human beings. For what other species can sympathise and empathise like humans can? When we understand why we design the things we do, we can then start to design things that have more meaning to it.

The things we design may not always get the reaction we want it to. Not everyone will love your designs and this is one lesson that took me awhile to learn. This is something all designers need to realise. As designers, we should not let comments offend our work but rather take those comments as constructive criticism which is something our teachers have told us a million and one times. But like I said, it took me awhile to get over this as I think it would for a lot of people. It’s only natural.

What we all need to realise is that as designers, we never stop learning, we never stop growing and the more willing we are to accept new and unfamiliar things, the better we will continue to get. If I were to describe my age as a designer, I am a toddler at most, being nurtured into the world of design. Soon, my life as a designer will really start and I simply cannot wait to see what is waiting for me.

poster design.

totally cant tell what it is on the thumbnail, and i still have to drop in some more text. Let us know what you think.

Also just thinking if we needed to meet up sometime before our presentation. maybe tuesday arvo or wed morning.
I have no idea what the hell i'm meant to be doing.

statement

Bound by the cause.
Nicolas Chua.

Over the past years I have spent as a designer, one thing has become clear to me as I strive to improve my skills and understanding within the industry. Collaboration is a crucial, if not unavoidable part of design. Whether it is collaboration with clients, designers or even with people within our culture, all of these interconnections not only prevent us from going insane in our own solitary work but also allows us to develop who we are as designers.

The image of us as isolated figures, stranded behind a single computer has been replaced with one of a dynamic studio setting where creativity and interaction thrives. It is a setting where individual designers are able to bring each of their own skills and perspectives to the table, allowing for an infinite number of creative possibilities. That is the beauty of design. It gives people the freedom to collaborate with one another despite possessing different values, skills, cultural backgrounds, social status and even geographic location. We as designers should be encouraged by this unique position the design industry is in, eager to engage with each other in effort to gain inspiration and grow in our skills. It is impossible to think we can do so otherwise. If design is about communicating and materialising the world around us, how then can we achieve this if we are unwilling to engage with the people within that very world?

We as designers are not separate entities but a body, bound together by a burning need to express ourselves through design. Although we each hold an individual role within the industry, our most creative and unique outcomes evolve when we interact with one another.

This can be summed up in three words, listen, Collaborate and Create. That is what design is all about.

emily's poster

The background is actually black, so im not sure what happened there.. and it got a pixelated when i made it into a jpg.. but this thumbnail is just for you guys to view here so i guess it doesnt really matter..

AGIdeas tickets

Hey Guys,

Uni has sent us a link to pay for the remaining $90 for AGIdeas tickets, so if your going to melb and havent bought your ticket yet, check your student email cause they've provided us with a direct link to IPay :)

See you all on wed

Message from Sam.

Yo Zooheads, got this message from Sam, hope it helps clear up some confusion about whats due this week.

"Learning Contract
The learning contract was also not a formal binding studio contract as such (like the other projects). You did not take on a formal role as project manager, junior designer etc as such as this was not a client driven project. So, what you have to do is make an to make evaluation of the project in your own words (and any team exchanges you had re creative development of ideas and what you got out of the project) and how you as an individual you approached the brief – what were you asked to do. It is not however the creative rationale for your visual response - this goes into the report. It will be more reflective and reflexive than a contract as such. Im looking for insightful and thoughtful commentary. I hope this helps. No more than 1/2 page. I will also be assessing you on your in class contributions, engagement and creative development of your process. Please read the assessment criteria for more information.

Creative Report
Ive received a few emails re who the client was etc and related research. This was not a commercial project – no official client. There was an audience though - you and other semi-professional designers, design students etc. The research that you need to do for the report relates specifically to your own position on design and how this influenced the ways in which you responded to the brief (statement and poster). What did you read (references), who/what were your precedents, what visual imagery or approaches or designers have inspired you and influenced the techniques/mediums you ultimately employed in your poster? This is really important stuff as it informs your creative response. You need to show these.

I Hope this helps,

Thanks,
Sam"

thanks Krystle :)

emily's design position

This is my finished design position, no more typo's and a few corrected sentences..

I love the feeling of a good idea. All good design starts with an idea, but it can be so hard to actually get one! When you finally get that light bulb and the design starts flowing it is a really exciting experience. Then, after numerous sleepless nights, and stressful days, you get to go to the printer and pick up your most recent creation. It makes it all worth it, and you soon forget the stress and anger you once felt towards the project.

To be a successful Visual Communicator, I believe it is essential to design with purpose, because design without reason is pointless and a waste of time. We have been given an opportunity to speak to the greater public, and in order to get our work out there and sell more copies, we need to say more than, ‘these colours looked pretty together’.

Designing with purpose opens doors to so many opportunities. We are able to challenge norms, change perceptions, and break stereotypes. If we take a good look at our surroundings, it’s easy to see just how much of it has been designed by a visual communicator. We have the power to influence the world through our work, and with this power in mind, I believe all briefs should come with the instructions ‘handle with care’. Designers have a responsibility to ensure that creations enhance our community; we need to be honest and true with our designs and ourselves. Our world is becoming more and more artificial; and we have the power to keep it real.

The value of design can often be overlooked and minimalised. Images stay in our mind long after the text has dissolved, the images we design are what the general public engages with and responds too. We need to remember the power of image and make sure that the message we are sending is the right message.

Krystle's Position Statement

Sam told us the Learning Contract is different for the MCA zine groups. So instead of what it says on the outline, we just have to write a paragraph statement of your own personal evaluation of the project so far. Like what you think about the brief, the collaboration/or no collaboration, working professionally with a real live brief etc

Btw heres my position statement:

My personal accumulated view of studying design at university, humorously reminds me movies such as ‘X-men’ and ‘Sky High’ in relation to realising, improving and developing their special and unique supernatural powers. Being in a course filled with student designers, we each have our own unearthed specialties and strengths in the way we design, whether it be in illustration, photography, graphic design, online web, animation or “side-kick” (surprisingly, some may still be searching and finding their way around the disciplines). Similarly in both these movies, a large portion of the general public don’t fully understand, respect or appreciate the amazing gifts those students were blessed with.

Even today, there are many people who fail to notice or recognise how big and engulfing the world of design is. Its all around us, whether big or small. Its in the road signs that navigate drivers, its in the product labels shoppers pass by in the supermarket aisles, it’s the way their office building has been architecturally designed. Everything human made has virtually been designed. I myself have only been able to fully comprehend and value this insight, after studying this course at university. But now that I do, it still amazes me, and at the same time, it also can be a tad daunting to realise as visual communicators, we are responsible for shaping many consumers thoughts and our own sustainable practice in design. Everything we design therefore should be part of the solution, part of making the world a better place.

I’m convicted in my beliefs, whether in regards to my faith, or striving to do my best to align my design methods and practice with designing for ethically sound purposes. I understand that good design serves a purpose. Any thoughtful designer should also be aware, that design problems are opportunities for design solutions. I believe designers should begin to work in a more socially and ethically responsible way, to understand the systems that influence their design. Today, with an increasing demand in this visually responsive world, I believe it’s important to realise that, we as a community of informed designers have the abilities to control and shape the minds of our consumers, in a positive way.

learning contract?

hey, just a question about the individual learning contract..

what the hell is it?

daryl's poster

(click to full view)

Claudia's Philosophy

In the world of design sometimes one plus one equals three. You never really know just what you’re going to get. For me it’s a paradise for individuality, abnormality and an outlet you might say.

Good design is about creating an experience, while also informing the audience no matter how brief or in depth that information may be. Three years on from beginning this thing called a visual communication degree I finally understand what the teachers have been telling me for so long. When I first began studying design I was naïve and thought that design was in fact the final outcome and that final outcome had to be aesthetically pleasing or it failed. The sustainability and social responsibility issues behind design never even crossed my mind.

Design to me was always been about ideas that were both wild and unbalanced. Whether you had a thousand at once or a splash of just one, you never knew how to execute it in the right way so that it was exactly how you imagined. Perfect. Studying visual communication has changed this notion in my mind. Now design is about the experience, the process the experimentation and the impact that the final work produced will have on the outside community.

It is important for me as a designer with the world in front of me to work with these ideas rather than against them to attempt to show the public that designers aren’t just self-indulgent people who don’t care, but rather, people with a passion and new ideas that are somehow translucent, letting in the light but blocking out the rain.

Now that I am at the conclusion of my studies, I can’t help but be amazed at the work I have produced. It is always a natural process that yes sometimes does take a lot longer than others, simply because there will always be those times when the umbrella of your mind turns solid and blocks all ideas out. None the less a journey that has changed the way I think. I have grown and understood concepts and mediums I would have otherwise not even considered and only now realise the importance for designers to create using both traditional and technological mediums or anything at their disposal. Whether a brief is boring or not, it is up to people like me to make it much, much more.

Daryl's Design Philosphy

As a God-believing, type-obsessed, freelance, meat eating photographer, and sometimes-graphic designer, I’ve many influences reigning over my life and work. There’s my beliefs as a practicing Christian, and there’s the sway of other designers I may, and will collaborate with. More importantly, there’s the wrath of the demands of prospective clients.

Ultimately, design, and even life, is all about being open minded. Open mindedness is about being flexible, about growing, and being open to new ideas. It’s about collaboration, and learning from past experiences and constructive criticism. An open minded person never dismisses ideas, and looks not at just some, but always all of their options, and decides on the best way forward from there. An open minded designer is a product of the world; of many minds (which are always better than one), with their eyes forward and not down at their feet and selfish ideas. They’re listeners, taking in the needs of a client, of friends, of those that surround them, and translate all these influences into a cohesive single voice. They’re adaptable, and pleasant to work with, but strong-willed and full of ideas.

Visually, an open minded designer is always looking for new and innovative ways to implement their ideas. They’re explorers, pioneers, hunters and inventors. Never stale, never boring, never comfortable. Never an imitator, but always a collector of past successes and ideas.

It’s my eternal goal to be an open minded person, and designer.

Design Philosophy

Imagination may be the most difficult, and closest to God-like work of the human mind. It is the nearest we come to conception out of nothing. It is a challenge put to us, as designers, to create something that has never existed before and does not yet exist in any human mind. All of this we do, because we are like God and because we as human beings are infinitely worthy of the ever-new.
There is no secret answer to a great design or visual communication that meets the needs and wants of everybody. There is perhaps one key element to a successful design process... It is a passion for quality. The passion for quality within design is an on-going, thriving, and deeply-rooted commitment to create only exceptional, flawless work. The passion for quality is what detaches the phenomenal and professional designers from the mediocre and amateurish. For the capable and skillful visual communicator, this passion for quality is binary. First, visual communication must be well-executed; and second, it must never jeopardise the client's message. The first concept is the simpler of the two. Any good design idea will be ineffective if poorly executed. The second application of a designer's passion for quality lies in his or her dedication to the needs of the client; whether designing for an exterior client or
freelancing for yourself, there will always be someone's needs who need to be met.

Paying critical attention to every minor detail will lead to work of the highest possible standard. Designing only with a clear sense of intended purpose will lead to visual elements that function perfectly together to communicate the client's message in a professional yet dynamic and unique manner. These two principles, combined, form the one underlying philosophy that an uncompromising passion for quality will procreate work with aesthetic stability; work in which the whole metamorphs into more than the sum of its technological parts, design that comes alive. When a designer's passion is visible through his or her work, the result is a piece that has being, that has body, that begins to beat and breathe.

My Task 1

Hey guys,

Well we all survived the in class, read your work out loud session..

I thought it would be cool to post our work here so we can see where everyone is at. It's a very individual project atm, but we can all help each other out with feed back.

So here's mine..

I love the feeling of a good idea. All design starts with an idea, but it can be so hard to actually get started. When you finally get that idea and the designs start flowing it can be really exciting. Then, after numerous sleepless nights, and stressful days, you get to go to the printer and pick up your most recent creation. It makes it all worth it, and you soon forget the stress and anger you once felt towards the project.

However, I believe it is essential to design with reason, because design without reason is pointless and a waste of time. We have been given an opportunity to speak to the greater public, and we need to say more than, ‘these colours looked pretty together’.

There are so many opportunities throughout the world of design, if we look around us, almost everything you see, has been designed. We as designers have the power to influence the world through our work, and need to use this amazing tool with extreme care. In my opinion, designers have a huge social responsibility to ensure our creations enhance our community; we need to be honest and true with our designs, and not make things look more aesthetically pleasing in order to sell more copies. Our world is becoming more and more artificial; and we have the power to keep it real.

The role of designers can often be over looked and not seen as an important contribution to the community. What people need to remember is we are the voice that the greater public hears. People remember the images more than the text, visual communication can be used to greatly influence the greater public, we need to make sure that the message we are sending is what we are ready for them all to see and be impacted by.

Happy Designing!

email subscriptions.

yo yo yo i just added an email subcription service>>>>>
which will forward new blog posts straight to whatever email (doesnt have to be a google account, make it the one you check regularly). Great way to stay up to date with whats happening.

Easy as typing in your email, then activating it through a link that will be sent to your email. no trouble at all yo.

Task One

It says part of Task One is to research and discuss as a group the following issues:

- Design Ethics
- Social responsibility
- Sustainability
- Community

So just thought I’d post up a few design images I came across for each of the topics for discussion…



DESIGN ETHICS














SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
















SUSTAINABILITY
















COMMUNITY

DG Design Network comp

all the info for the DG Design Network comp is HERE. everything you need is on there, including the Call For Entries, and the package you need to put it all together.
for those who cant remember wtf it was, its the alternative to doing the AGIDEAS comp in melb.

theyre due in on Friday the 17th of April, so try and get them in by Wednesday the 15th in class i guess?

HERE YO.

LIVE BRIEF Task One: Design Position

from thanh

might help in the research section . click - stepmagazine.

We're gonna win.

I think we should win.