Introduction.
Task 1:
This week's challenge was to create a Quadriptych (four images), answering the following questions: Who am I? What is it that I do? Where am I? Why did I choose design? All these questions seemed straightforward initially, but they turned out quite complicated when I started thinking of the answer.
The "answer" to "who am I" is my identity. My identity is a designed art piece of memories, experiences, feelings, skills, relationships, and values that define me. It's what makes up a "self." Thus, I focused my quadriptych on my skills, typography, and editorial design.
Learning objectives:
Analyze different types of studio practice
Communicate what graphic design means to me
Create a piece of work that communicates who I am, what I do, where I am, and what graphic design means to me.
Participate in and reflect upon debate on the ideas wall.
Document and communicate my working process on my blog.
Manage my independent learning through good planning and self-direction.
Mood board:
Process of creating my mood board
I created this mood board as my personal way of collecting thoughts, ideas, colour schemes and moods in one place. I browsed through Pinterest for inspiration, downloaded the images that captivated my attention, and made a digital collage to help me define a coherent design concept without the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture. This starting point has helped me choose the type of quadriptych I was to pursue.
Mindmap:
Process of mind mapping my ideas
No matter how confused I feel at the start of every project, I always start with a mindmap as it puts everything in the right place. The visual representation of every connection I discover imprints on my mind instantly. Thus, designing this mindmap gave me many legible ideas concerning my project and helped me finalize my four images.
who?
why?
what?
where?
who? why? what? where?
Sketching:
Designing Process:
Final Design:
Who am I?
I am a Saudi Arabian graphic designer based in Oxford. Typography and editorial design are two things I aim to pursue in the future. Thus, I decided to show who I am by creating a typographic poster using a font I designed to make this challenge personal and unique.
Why I chose design?
I chose to study graphic design to improve the world using colour, typography, illustrations, and simple art. I love to create a design where I don't have to explain to the people what it means but have them understand it without any form of spoken language. That is what design is to me. Therefore, I created a word search puzzle with words that best describe what design is to me. The word search idea is to symbolise that every problem has a solution if you only look closer, focus, and aim right.
What do I do?
I create typography and layout designs. The illustrated typeface is called "Fidget"; it was for my final major project. It represents the essential activity which children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) need to do to be able to focus and learn in school. I used Play-Doh to express the freedom of movement and fidgeting within the font. The typeface is created to incorporate the aspect of learning through play. Each letterform's instant fluctuation and crookedness communicates the message of evident ADHD symptoms such as hyperactivity and inability to stay still or ordinary. I wanted to show what I do by displaying something I've created and putting it into action.
Where do I live?
I have lived all my life in Saudi Arabia but came to study graphic design at Oxford Brookes University. I had to overcome many complex challenges in life and the design industry, which pushed me out of my comfort zone and enabled me to prosper in many ways. The cultural shock I have experienced over the past four years has shaped me into who I am today. Being an international student was a huge responsibility, as I wanted to prove that I could do anything if I worked hard enough. I am proud to say that I did. Thus, I designed a crunched-up map to show the difficulties I've gone through and used pink to show how I've flourished and thrived despite the hardships.
Case Studies:
Intro Design:
Julian House and Adrian Talbot are creative partners with different approaches towards design. Each of them thrived in their way. They operate in a peculiar way where they tend to avoid collaborating with one another. They focused on what they were good at, combined their talents, and made it one. I love how they both made Intro Design without losing their identity. Reading and listening about what they do helped me design my "what is it that I do" quadriptych. I could focus on what I specialise in and showcase it in detail.
Regular Practice:
Kristoffer Soelling and Tom Finn, owners of Regular Practice, a typography-focused studio based in Hackney Wick, use their passion and geeky attitude of type to seek out new processes and ways of working. Their design practice is centred around solving problems for clients, a more pragmatic approach that finds the most precise route to an end goal. As a typography enthusiast, I had never heard about the type-centric practice of drawing type and using it more than a graphic designer requires, so learning about that was quite interesting.
Sarah Boris:
I would love to meet Sarah Boris. I am so amazed by the things she has said and done. I dream of being part of Phaidon Press, and knowing Sara have worked there inspires me. But what captivated my attention was the way she defined Design. Sara said, "Design is a function and an aesthetic for me. It's a way of living. It's a way of communicating," I felt a connection because that's what I think about Design. I ask myself whether I live to design or design to live; my answer is Design is my life.
Sam Winston:
I have ADHD, and I struggled alot and kept getting in trouble for being who I am; however, rather than making it a problem, I based my final major project on it and won an award. The person I could relate to the most was Sam Winston. He talked about being a human with dyslexia. I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my "who am I" quadriptych when I listened to his words. He quoted, "Instead of that becoming a problem, I guess I was fascinated by that, which led me into design, typography, and language and writing."
Contextual Research:
Studio Culture:
“You can't just click your fingers and get an audience. You've got to crack on and keep going and show your commitment.”
By Derek Yates, Jessie Price
Communication Design:
“Designers need to keep challenging, but their ideas or opinions often come from a narrow point of view. While they are working in my studio, I ask them to work on my ideas and opinions, and after they leave my studio, they can fly off in any direction they like.
By Hideki Nakajima, Nakojima Design
Browsing through these books, I've come across these quotes and needed to throw in my opinion. The first quote motivated me to get up and do the work because every goal I want to attain can't happen without me just saying I want to do that and expecting people to see me saying it. I must do it to get my audience and pay my hard work off. While the second quote informed me of the workplace, I should or shouldn't involve myself. I have to work in a place where I am challenged every day, but id rather have my opinions and ideas awarded and not someone else'. However, throughout all this research, I have learned a lot about who I am, what I do, why I do it and where I live.
Intel Visual Life - Michael Wolff
click to see the video
Michael Wolff describes graphic design as three muscles—the muscle of curiosity, appreciation, and imagination. He defined curiosity as inquisitiveness and questioning. Being curious pushes a person to ask why and never be able to stop. Understanding this helped me design my "Why I chose design" quadriptych. Moreover, the second muscle he mentioned was appreciation; he describes appreciation as noticing and seeing things as they are. I never knew appreciation could have multiple definitions, especially in art.
Nonetheless, the third muscle cannot attain without curiosity and appreciation, as its the muscle of imagination. It's only through imagination that things come to life. Knowing this helped me capture my week's challenge and think of something imaginative. Watching Wolff's video gave me an insight into what kind of designer I want to be and the muscles ill be using nowadays to help me reach my goal. I learned many things about what makes us; as Wolff said, "It's only through the tiny parts that the whole gets delivered." Being a good designer is having the ability to set an emotion, which is the most critical component that moves people, not just persuades them and makes them think that I moved them but moves them.
Peer review:
Self-Reflection:
I enjoy complicating things for myself. I don't know why I do it, but I do my best work when I'm under a lot of stress. The idea of this project was quite simple at first, but the more I kept thinking about it, the more challenging it got. I can answer the question of Who am I? by saying my name, but the project's concept was more interesting than that. After every project, I love to self-reflect to be truthful to myself and to see what I could've done better; so, for this project, I gave it more than it is. I put much effort into creating an excellent design but needed to catch up in my research and blogging. I could have managed my time more efficiently, which is something I've learned from, and I will try to do better next time. However, I learned a lot about who I am and enjoyed the process of creating my quadriptych. I am proud of it because of the effort and dedication I've put in.
