PiTCh : "webwear"

• alternative, more environmentally friendly approach to treating hair and body lice.
  • disposable
  • safe
  • chemical free, non-polluting
  • designed for everyday use - both hight street and high end fashion
• designed to normalise the idea of lice and open social views
• use of natural materials and production processes reject the digital takeover of the future
• fashionable -- buyer can choose from a selection of hair colours, textures and types to suit all fits and fashions (e.g. brunette, blonde, curly, stright, afro, etc.)
• Where does the hair come from? All sustainable sources:
  • donation points
  • donors
  • hair salons

FeEdBAck frOm peeRs

• Visualisation style lends to the concept of futurism
• Small descriptions and labels add to the greater understanding of product
• Bold colours lend to the genre of Futuristic art, and the piece has a clean finish - final idea is clearly presented
• Good materiality - using images of hair as a collage - but don't feel limited by materials. Could have used a more textural media: hair, string, fluff, thread, etc.
• Perhaps think about the disadvantages of the product and how to overcome them from a stronger approach to the idea

Was it clear what I was communicating with my visualisation? How did context, materials, use of drawings, and presentation contribute to the communication of my idea?

By keeping the background of my piece white, with bold coloured silhouettes highlighting the garments, I think it drew attention to the fact that my idea is made for people to use and make a statement with. I drew abstractly to somewhat reflect the hat in action, especially with the conjoined face [top left] emphasising the scale and practicality of the hat. By drawing/painting figures with dungarees and hats collaged ontop, scale is further presented, as well as, in theory, how the products would be worn and styled. I think my use of media is appropriate, however if I wanted to give my work more of an edge, or a bolder statement, I could have used more of a textiles media to reflect the materiality of hair more accurately. This is something I will consider in future projects - visualisation should not be restricted by materiality, whether 2d or 3d. By placing my figures in a minimal surrounding, I wanted to reflect my views of the future - a clean, almost empty enviroment, digitally futuristic and dystopian. I purposefully gave my figures no faces to reinforce this idea of dystopian society, in which identity is compromised for the price of technological advancements. Through this, in hand with the underlying influence of my allocated process - suspend - I hope I have communicated my idea clearly.

How did the pitch help you focus your idea? How has peer feedback helped you evaluate your project?

Undertaking this initial pitch has taught me how to structure a verbal presentation instictively and quickly. Improvisation had to contain relevant information, and by bulletpiinting what I wanted to say quickly beforehand, I had time to process my thoughts, thus focusing more on verbal communication for the pitch - speaking clearly, at a good pace, and allowing the visualisation to reflect the foundations of my explanations first. The time restrictions of a 2 minute pitch and 3 minutes of questions was challenging. It meant focusing my main points in the speech to minimise confusion for my peers so that their questions and feedback could be more direct. Explaining my idea over and over would have been a bad sign. If I had to do my pitch again, I would have explained my idea not chronologically, but catagorically (first futurism, then hair and suspend), drawing it all together at the end to heighten the impact of the final idea. 

Reflecting on the project as a whole, I have learned how to visualise my ideas properly, not just so that they look nice, and lend to the images of my idea in my head, but also make sense to others. This will be the basis of all projects in the future, especially as a graphic communication design specialist student - communication is key. The format of the pitch task has given me an insight as to how it could be in the future of the design industry, pitching my own ideas to real clients. This is another major skill that I can build upon through the rest of the foundation course.

What technical problems did I encounter today in making my 3D outcome? How could these have been avoided?

One thing I found challenging when translating my designs from drawing and stencil to a 3D sculpture was the fact that the whole basis of my created alphabet is that the lettering is made up of only the shadows and folds - it is intentionally out of proportion/oppositely aligned. Thinking about how I could portray a letter that reflects what I have on paper, whilst also having the cardboard support itself and stand freely, I manipulated the angles of my chosen letter - X - to compensate. Thus, what would be the shadowed outline of the lettering on paper is actually somewhat a flap on the 3D piece, and the inner body/centre crosspoint of the X of a 2D design significantly sticks out on my 3D, to balance with the long, disproportioned legs of the letter. I had to give the actual design a full outline otherwise the piece would not be attached together once translated from 2D to 3D. The main way these issues could have been avoided is if my designed font had a proper outline or body in the first place, however that goes against the whole intention of illusion and ambiguity upon which the type is based. 

What type of location would be appropriate in which to photograph my 3D outcome? Give reasons. 

Because my 3D outcome is jarred outwards like a kind of fold or corner, I think it would be effective if I were to find a wall or street corner to push the piece into, as if it were part of the original architecture. Alternatively, I could enhance the fact that I have created a large letter X, and place it in a location that creates more of a narrative with the connotations of X: for example, surrounded by treasure, lending to "x marks the spot" as on a pirates map, or with two people behind the X sculpture sat kissing, reinforcing the way in which a simple x can mean a kiss in modern society. Lastly, a different approach to photographing the letter appropriately and with impact is if I were to create/find a location that was very dark, with a strong source of direct light that could cast shadows through the windows of shape I cut from the lettering, like the folds on the 2D version.

What am I trying to achieve with the photo?

When photographing my X, I either want to be able to enhance the unusual scale and angling of the piece through my images, or as mentioned briefly above, create a somewhat comical narrative. To do this, I will ultimately have to position my piece in a location that heightens the environmental and social context. 

What were the challenges of translating a physical form to a digital form on Adobe Illustrator? How did I overcome these difficulties?

When using Adobe Illustrator for the first time today, the initial trial was learning to use the software. The main difficulty I faced was creating curves. The angling was challenging and I tried to improvise slightly off of my cutout template, because they were not as neat as what I had the potential to create digitally on illustrator. Therefore translating the physical copy into a modified visualisation in my head, then to the digital version was ambitiously hard. I felt I overcame this by carrying out some more smaller sketches, adapting the digital work even once I thought I had finished to further refine it, and constantly referring back to work and designs I had already developed. 

Describe how you have used the following to begin to create a believable world:

Camera angle and P.O.V. -- I used neutral, sometimes high angles to create a similar point of view to that of the cereal figures, giving the impression that the viewer is amongst them, small and surrounded by the environment. Yet I also used arial view or directly pointed low angles to reflect the viewpoint of the human/predator, looking in and preying on the cereal figures. These contrasting viewpoints expose the conflicting perspectives within the animation, both of which the viewer experiences, emphasising the difference in size between the cereal and the predator. 

Cropping -- I cropped out any aspects of the surrounding scene that may reveal the illegitimate nature of the model world. I also zoomed in and out in certain shots to give different levels of intimacy to the animation, contributing to making it more believable. One thing I could have considered when making my environment was the orientation - naturally, I chose horizontal quite automatically, however one student's work really struck me as a great use of vertical positioning [other students' work 2]. The narrow, steep staircase is really impactful in hand with the small door at the top to create illusional scale, the red lighting to add to the haunted atmosphere, and the dangling hands creating shadows that further the overall aesthetic of this design.

Depth of Field -- The depth of field in my short stop-motion animation is relatively deep, especially at times in which the camera positioning is low and the viewpoint is more neutral, imitating that of the cereal figures. I think the depth of field is often heightened by aspects of lighting, such as the shadows from the "tv" when the torch shines though against the back wall, emphasising the size and shape of the space. 

Day two of this project, On the Street, consisted of the styling exercise, Do/Undo/Redo. I feel that the biggest success of the day was the communication between myself and Hanna, my partner in the task. We discussed what words we wanted to combine in styles and pretty effectively created an outcome with shared input. I think that the exploration of the words set in the brief was also successful, the images are rather self explanatory and present the designated key words clearly. I could have taken more photographs of the combined styles in different, perhaps more appropriate or consistent locations, to create a thematic journey throughout the looks. This might have created more of a character to the model though, which goes against what I aimed for, because I wanted the model to look different in every shoot, in order to represent different types of women. 

STyLeS:

• androgynous x gendered
  • For this look, we combined the concept of typically "masculine" suits with delicate, typically "feminine" silk under garments. I asked Hanna to model without shoes, the rougher, more playful look lending to the schoolboy aesthetic. Furthermore, by having her hold the lacy bra, the dominant male style of the outfit juxtaposes the accessorising feature of the bra. 
• shapely x graphic
  • My interpretation of graphic went down the path of "pornographic", in hand with Hanna's word, shapely, leading to shaping body parts, more specifically sexual organs, out of stiff material and cling film. I used red tape to create x's on the padded breasts and private parts, to draw on the pornographic aspect of the style. Incorporating lingerie as part of the outfit, but as a belt type piece rather than its intended purpose, furthers this idea of shaping the body in a graphic way.
• colour blocking x covered
  • Unintentionally, layering these brightly coloured clothes resulted in Hanna modelling a very covering outfit. All of the coloured garments are plain, reinforcing the blocking aspect of the title, "blocking" also connoting with "covering" in a synonymous way. 
• oversized x undersized x exposed
  • The oversized nature of the large denim dungarees, contradicted by the tight wrapping of the clingfilm (which is also transparent) is what makes up this piece, and draws it to the keywords we associated it with. I like the way that we chose to photograph inside the college lift, where the large, full length mirror allows the look to be captured in a reflective, almost 360 view. I wish we took more photographs of this style in the studio setting, capturing it in a full frame, full body length composition. 

Carving the relief plate

The carving of the relief plate was hard at first. I discovered later on that I could carve deeper than I expected, which resulted in the strong contrast and clear finish shown in my final print. I struggled transferring the traced design onto the clean plate - I initially started tracing it the wrong way, which would've resulted in a mirrored version of my design (and although I cannot read Chinese, the type would have been in reverse and unauthentic). Eventually, I completed the engravings, and although I wish I could have included more details, the outlines and intended design was clear and strong.

In the print studio

In the studio, I learned all about printmaking, which is a medium I have not explored before. The different tasks, such as inking, pressing, and doing both "clean hand" and "dirty hand" jobs were divided between the group to create a systematic flow of production. I saw, first hand, how the amount of ink needed to create a strong print really depends on the detail and gradients of the carvings. Because my relief plate had deeper engravings, with only a slight use of gradation on the edges of the background, I could apply more ink to the plate to give that bolder, blacker effect. 

I explored the idea of using coloured paper to enhance my illustration. I chose red, to lend to the oriental design - red  as a colour holds many different significances in Chinese culture, and when I was immersed in the chinese supermarket environment, red was a recurring theme, especially in decoration and packaging. This subtle experimentation opened my mind to how colour can change and manipulate the atmosphere presented. In comparison to the white cartridge paper, the red had kind of dark undertones. It certainly made the illustration feel different in mood, as if it were captured at night, perhaps because the black ink was not as contrasting to the red, making everything seem darker. 

"as you make your bed, and so you must lie upon it"

Having been given our quote to base this interactive project around, Jie, Mogana and I began brainstorming about potential meanings of the quote. What I found most interesting was that because of the language barriers, the girls somewhat interpreted the word "lie" as in to tell a lie, rather than to lie down. We all felt really inspired to follow this alternative approach to the quote. In the context of "as you make your bed, and you must lie upon it", accepting the consequences for your actions can more often than not be avoided by lying. Thus, we thought about guilt, innocence, truth and lies. Our initial visualisations were these photographs, following the style of a prison mugshot: police department, student number, name, crime committed (the truth behind the lie told, for instance, "did not make the bed", comically following the origins of the quote) and date. 

What methods/techniques/processes would you do differently in the future, or if you could do the project again?

 I would have suggested to the group that we use a tripod, to prevent the constantly changing frame in the visual record of the public interacting with our concept. I think we should have also stayed in the location longer so that more people had the chance to interact and participate. On that note, we could have been more engaging with the public, perhaps more confidently approaching passers by, or if we had considered costume maybe people would have drawn closer. Small details lead to the smooth execution of the project. 

Is the success of the project dependent on how many people interacted or the concept itself?

 I think the success of the project is relative to how the participants - whether one or one hundred - feel after putting their lies to rest and clearing their consciousnesses. The concept is so personal to all those that interact, that as long as they feel they have benefited from the experience, then I believe the number of people involved is irrelevant. Perhaps if more people did interact, then the visual impact in the video could have been more effective, and, as previously mentioned, I would have spent more time collecting more lies in the bed sheets and 

Was the response of the public what you expected? Did the project live up to the expectations you preconceived before undergoing the task?

 People were actually more reluctant to interact than I expected, considering the task was very short for participants to engage in. We even thought about target audience, and specifically chose Granary Square because there are a range of ages and types of people in the area, not to mention CSM, so we thought art students would be keen on helping other art students with this project. The results of the project were relative to those that  I expected, considering the short time span to complete the task in. Because we were dependant on the interactions of the public, it is difficult to rely on people, especially those you do not know. 

In what way did the roles we allocated one another determine how/what we each contributed to the interactive project? Would you do a different role if you could have?

 I think we should have probably rotated our roles in the process and production of the interact project. In this way, we all could have contributed to the outcome, and perhaps the results would show a broader reflection of how we worked together, rather than how we all carried out individual tasks... 

Moving out of the restrictions of the classroom and onto the streets of the nearby surrounding area, although still limiting, I used the urban setting to think about the public positioning of sex workers. Street corners and doorways are very stereotypical ideologies of prostitutes, yet I chose to begin my quick visualisation shoot with my model standing openly in the frame of the door. I was inspired, also, by Juergen Teller's "Go Sees" series, in which the aspiring models are framed in the image by his doorway. Developing this idea, using the doorway as a prop, or catalyst to the narrative is something that I could experiment with in the next stages of the task. 

Using the street setting helps lend to the everyday nature of sex work and prostitution, as well as the cliches surrounding the subject. But above all, it provides an alternative insight to the behaviours of people in public, compared to in private. This comparison of public and private sexuality is a theme of which I wish to develop in the final presentation of my images, perhaps creating side by side displays of intimate and open sexuality based situations. 

In these images [above and below] I shifted my focus to the body of the model, purposefully avoiding the head in the shot. By reducing their identity to the physicality of their figure, rather than a recognisable and distinct face, it reinforces the concept of questioning how much a body is worth, not including facial beauty, personality, etc. In my sketchbook, I used a grid viewfinder to trial different compositions and cropping alternatives to these images. If I were to recreate these images, I would have taken more close ups and detailed shots, in order to explore how the atmosphere, tone, and mood of the image and model can transform by including and excluding specific aspects of the image.