DAY ONE

Day one was led by me. I had to make the most of my time, as the others arrived to Colchester at mid-day. I spent the morning trying to contact the police station, to see if I could photograph the knife amnesty box. They didn't get back to me until the evening, with bitter sweet news that I couldn't photograph inside the box, but I could hold a discussion with an officer who is currently leading a project on knife crime via phone call in the near future. I have further emailed them to organise this. For the rest of the afternoon, I took Dea and Vicky to two of the galleries in my town, which are great at curating new exhibitions frequently, as well as involving and interacting with local artists to support one another and spark collaborative projects, The first gallery we visited is called The Minories. There was a textiles exhibition on display, and although that is much more fine art and not communication design, it was interesting to see the ways in which artists focused on tactility and the physicality of touch. One artist in particular caught my attention through the way she utilised textiles to create a tangible campaign poster [right].

[In The Minories shop, I got to talking to the supervisor about my current part three project, and even previous projects. This casual conversation led to her proposing the idea that the shop sell copies of my "Good Grief, Charlie Brown" publication! I am currently in discussion with her about prices and the best way to print in bulk. This whole experience taught me to speak to everyone and anyone about my practice, and to get into discussion about theirs too. She spoke a lot about upcoming things that I can be involved in, and I realise now how "networking" doesn't have to be intentionally seeking people to promote yourself to, but connections can come from simple human communication].

 Afterwards, we continued on to the other art and design gallery in Colchester - Firstsite. There was an interesting exhibition about witch-hunting, but what interested me more than the content was the way in which the installations were kind of interactive. There was a chalk wall, upon which the artist encouraged the viewers and visitors to write. This must be a great way to see firsthand, what sort of things cross the minds of the viewers in response to the work on show. Moreover, there were ribbons hanging that represent all the people exicuted in the local area in the past for witchcraft. You could walk through it, and fully see and feel how many lives were effected. I feel inspired by the interactive nature of this, although it is quite fine-art - I should consider ways in which to lend to graphic communication design in this way...

Cooking together in the evening reinforced the importance of teamwork in the commune project. Walking around my local area with the others throughout the day heightened the origins of the word "commune" for me. "Commune", coming from "community", lends to my chosen subject of the knife crime epidemic in London, as it is very much as issue that effects certain communities more than others, and places toil on community spirits, etc. Community experience will be a big part of my part three project, especially when thinking about what communities and places I can contextualise my work in. 

In the later evening, we didn't utilise the time in the way I had set out to. Perhaps I was too ambitious in the amount that I wanted to achieve in the day towards my independent research project. There is sometimes just not enough time in the day. We could have watched a film such as "New Generation - The Film" [http://www.mtv.co.uk/life/news/this-new-film-talks-uk-knife-crime-in-the-most-powerful-way]. Ultimately, this is something I can continue in my own time.

DAY TWO

Day two was led by Victoria. She, like myself, focused on the research side of her project, to build a firm foundation of facts and information to respond to, rather than creating things actively in the commune period. We spent time together, watching documentaries and sharing our honest thoughts and opinions on the matter of the abuse of the power of the church. It felt nice communicating our honest ideas and sharing things that we feel Vicky could do with her project. This type of positive contribution is sometimes absent in the classroom, as students want to keep their best ideas for themselves, but considering all our topics are so different, we could give each other our best ideas freely. I believe this encompasses what we set out to do, defining our "commune". 

DAY THREE

 Day three was led by Dea. They decided to lead the craft activities that both Victoria and I regretted not making more time for in our day, which was very generous of Dea to share their time like that, and shows how close we had become across the few days. I used the last day together to complete the more craft based activities along the theme of forensics, as Dea wanted to provide a calm atmosphere in which we could individually paint, collage, draw, etc. 

In general, I think the commune project was successful in the sense that we completed a lot of the main secondary research towards our part three topics, as well as spent an intense amount of time together, which gives a similar insight as to what it would be like working tightly with a team on a brief in the real world of design. We definitely could've forced ourselves to produce more work outcomes and content, together and individually, but equally it is important that we got a lot of the research out of the way, so from now on we can concentrate on creating.

I found today's task of creating an A3 poster that communicates the overriding motive as to why we have chosen our part three topics quite challenging. The hour time constraint was most difficult for me - in this time I had to fully understand why I had chosen to investigate the knife crime epidemic in London, consider how I can summarise that on a poster, as well as create the piece. I knew I had an interest in the subject because it is so current, as well as wanting to take a more serious issue to respond to in my practice, rather than my usual comical approach, however it took a lot of consideration as to vocalise precisely what fascinated me about knife crime, especially as it doesn't particularly concern me. 

Where does my fascination lie? How can I experiment how the tone/voice of the poster sounds? How can this be in image form? 

PEER ANALYSIS OF POSTER

What is my poster communicating?

"Your poster clearly communicates the subject of your project because it's straight to the point but in a really impactful and powerful way since the main sentence doesn't tell all from the get go. The use of large font to start and then changing to the smaller one makes the statement more emotional, but strong since there isn't any beating around the bush." - Victoria

My poster utilises the nature of design to emphasise the affects and scale of the knife crime epidemic in London. Through the somewhat metanarrative manner of the poster, I am communicating that design is not the solution to violence in a community, but through using it as a catalyst to promote awareness, we can work towards improvement. 

How can I improve the poster so it communicates more clearly and powerfully?

"Perhaps the only thing I would change would be the colour of the background." - Victoria 

Likewise, I am not happy with the colour choice of the background for the poster, in reflection. In the hour time span we had to create the poster, working under the clock I knew I wanted to choose a lighter, more optimistic colour to juxtapose the dark message. Initially, a yellow would seem fitting, however I found it really jarring and unappealing as a colour palette against the red blood. Maybe I should've used a typically dark colour, such as dark blue/navy, to lend to the night sky and darkness...

I think, furthermore, I could have chosen a different typeface. Although I do feel that the digital styled font reminds me of negatively connoted cyber activity, which could lend to the sense of criminality. 

Where might I place this poster to investigate how it functions as a piece of communication design?

"I could definitely see this poster all around the tube or on billboards around London. " - Victoria

Because my poster draws on the nature of design in terms of using the technicalities as a way of communicating the message of violence, I could start by placing the posters in an environment where, firstly, designers and artists will pay attention - such as CSM, itself. This could work in hand with the organisation at CSM, called Design Against Crime, which uses the means of graphic design to voice the effects of crime throughout University of the Arts London. 

However, as Victoria said, the target audience is the greater community of London, so public spaces would be an optimum position to place them. For this to be affective though, I feel the poster would have to touch less on the "A3 paper, size 10 font" as a way of emphasising the issue, as people not involved with art and design may not see this as a way of heighten the issue. 

~ to do ~ create a weekly time plan...

Write one sentence to sum up the aim of your project

Using interactive design as a means of communicating the important message of the subject matter through collaboration with the public audience.

Write one sentence to sum up the subject of your project

The accessibility of the knife crime epidemic in London.

Who is the intended audience?

 The greater community of London - leaning towards a more mature audience, considering the topic is quite heavy.

What site will you explore this week? (both for making work and displaying work)

Informal memorials for knife crime victims, such as those in Tottenham, Southwark, Peckham and Brixton.

~ to do ~ collect two materials for Thursday, clarify an assignment for Monday's crit session...

After class today, I went to brixton, where a lot of knife crime has happened recently, in the hopes to find a few temporary memorials for those injured or lost. I was aware of how sensitive this can be, but also understanding that this is something that journalists and reporters seek to find. I came across a youth centre where a young man of 23 was stabbed to death only 6 days ago, and it was still taped off as a crime scene. Candles were still lit by the roadside, and flowers were fresh. This was a raw and current incident - it really opened my eyes to the reality of this issue. 

I was surprised at how difficult these memorials set up by family and friends were to find, considering how frequently these fatal stabbings are happening. Something for me to build upon would be to visit other areas of London as well, to collect a wider range of imagery - perhaps I could transfer this into a map or something, as a later stage of my project?

Experimenting with and exploring the use of paper as a material today has shown me that in order to produce a decent outcome, reaching the ambitious level of ideas that I have in mind, I will need to spend more time on this. Perhaps I should/will continue to develop these ideas into next week as well. This, luckily, still fits with my initial project plan timetable, as I took documentary photographs this week, and can continue to explore these in a poster campaign/interactive way next week. Time has always been, and for now probably will continue to be, my biggest challenge. 

My beginning attempts are pretty crude; especially with my "animation" experiment. I was more focused on the process and act of creating motion, that the details such as typeface are poorly designed (I am aware of this, and have plans to refine everything). I had to create the method myself, screen recording my actions on photoshop to create a short video, rather than generating the effect on premier pro, which I haven't quite figured out how to do yet. I suppose the nature of me figuring out how to create a motion image/gif-esque video shows my persistence, resilience and problem solving, however dampens my potential to make something really well designed and aesthetically pleasing!

CRIT - REFLECTION ON LAST WEEKS PROJECT

SELF-ASSESSMENT

What area of practice are you working within?

Documentary photography, progressing into the boundaries of graphic design to create prototype campaigns to raise awareness.

What was your idea this week?

To understand the sheer size of the issue of knife crime in London through looking at statistics, the effects of this in the present, and the nature of memorials for these victims.

What was your subject this week?

Statistics of fatal stabbings, and current crime scenes. 

What was the medium you explored this week?

Photography (mainly), and graphic/layout design.

What constitutes success for your outcome? (i.e. what did you aim to achieve?)

To gain a better understanding of the reality of this issue, so I can authentically progress with my chosen subject. I also wanted to trial the beginnings of my ideas - everything I have produced this week is a beginning step, a work in progress - in order to refine my ideas and collect a broad range of work that I can turn into a final curated space that envelopes my entire message and topic.

What site do you aim to place your work in?

The documentary images and campaign posters are very much intended to go in a public space, e.g. transport, streets, shops, adverts on tv, online, etc.

How do you intend your work engages its audience?

Through the shocking statistics, raw images, and bold statements that question the public and evoke feelings of a newfound awareness to this issue of London's knife crime epidemic. Also, the interactive elements drawing the audience in to actively get engaged with the message.

PEER-ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK

What does the work communicate?

Raising awareness about knife crime

What context does the work suggest? (i.e. it is a piece of graphic design, fashion communication, fine art, journalism?)

Advertising

Graphic Communication Design

Photojournalism in documentary photography - showing the realities

What aspects of the work are engaging and memorable?

Provoking 

Engaging

Interactivity

Relevant

What aspects of the work are not clear or effective?

Be careful about how sensitive the subject it.

Find a location where there are diverse people that it could reach out to

Make clear that its interactive, tangible, to be used by audience. 

IDEA GENERATION AND RESEARCH SESSION

What will be the idea of proposition that you will explore this week?

Developing my initial campaign poster designs, transcending into the world of interactivity through using different materials.

Heat sensitive paper, mirrors/reflective plastic, police tape, forensics inspired materials...

Thinking about building a collection of diary-like hand written entries across the whole time period of this part 3 project, to turn into a book that shows my personal experience of the research while all these crimes are occurring. 3 fatal stabbings have happened in London since I began unit 7, and I think it would be interesting to draw together all my responses to these to somewhat create a linear timeline - my project progression, and these violent crimes. This book could also contain scanned pages of the Metro newspaper, which I read on the tube to CSM everyday, and always has London based news. 

What is the subject you will look at and how will you look at it?

I am going to continue to look into the London Knife crime epidemic, focusing on how I can re-contextualise crime scenes, by bringing a positive message to them through my campaign posters, rather than focusing on the negatives all the time. I heard on the news this morning, that ex criminals are speaking out against the governments movements to improve knife crimes, because they are not acknowledging the progressive community actions as much as they are on the violence and fatalities. 

What medium will you use?

Mainly graphic design. I am considering illustrating some of the posters, as I am struggling to create the sort of imagery I want on photoshop using first-hand, second-hand, and digitally created images. Using illustration will also give a more personal touch, and will allow me to use various colours, as well as monochromatic tones, that I may find difficult to choose digitally. I will scan whatever work I do to digitally refine it. This could last more than a week, running over into the week of progress tutorials. [?]

What will be your time plan for the week using your progress tutorial as the end point?

Monday - [currently at the CSM library] Having looked in the materials library for inspiration on how to add interactive elements to my campaign posters through tangibility and materiality, I am going to purchase/look more into the use of thermal paper, police tape, mirrors, scratch cards, etc.

Tuesday - begin to create outcomes using a combination of my digitally designed mock posters, newly hand drawn campaign posters, and the materials I plan to use (if sourced already...)

Wednesday - continue producing work

Thursday - continue producing work

Friday - continue producing work

Saturday and Sunday - think about contextualising my work, user-testing, and examining responses to the interactivity. 

CONTEXT - clarify the context you are working within. Find two examples of these practices out in London currently (i.e. in the street, in magazines, exhibitions, etc.) and visit them to analyse the ways in engages its audience, it's form, tone of voice and visual language. 

Interactive design - [as a broad statement, I hope my work comes under the category of interactive design, although the roots are probably more identifiable as photography, graphic design, or advertising. By adding interactive elements and audience participation, it elevates to a level of interactive design in a sense]. 

TUTORIAL SESSION WITH MICHELLE. [NOTES]

• Integrate research - how has it influenced the work that I have done/will do?
• Contextualising research - continue to reference initial bibliography, actively engage in intended research and reflect throughout.
• Public spaces link with interactivity well - think about this when choosing a location to either place my work or user-test.
• The experience of an interactive/animated poster would be enhanced by use of sound.
• Grand Visual Company - create interactive videos for bus stops !!!
• Consider ways to trigger interactive experience without audience initiation or intention, e.g. automatic responses, motion sensitive, etc.
• Diary/newspaper book idea - more like a record of experience, not really linked to the actual content of my project, but is a nice linear comparison and timeline to compare the structure of my project with the actual occurrence of these violent events in London.
• Awareness of the knife crime issue is already raised - how can I shift the campaign focus? What should I emphasise?
• People generally don't touch posters ! or not without instruction, which defeats the point of interactive design, if it is forced... Instead, I should work with animation for the poster concept - more interesting and technically challenging, fit for a better outcome. 
• Consider and focus on the relation between each poster, animation, publication, booklet, etc.

SHIFT THE FOCUS OF POSTERS TOWARDS ANIMATION AND PROTOTYPING INTERACTIVE SCENARIOS, I.E. BUS STOP PIECES. THEN USE THE MATERIALS IN A DIFFERENT CONTEXT, TANGIBLE AND INTERACTIVE - HEAT SENSITIVE PAPER IN BOOK OR PUBLICATION FORMAT, WET SENSITIVE OBJECTS (?)

THINK ABOUT SCALE !

Today, a day of self directed work, was spent trialing and failing with creating an animation. I was set on creating a tearing paper effect, developing from my extremely crude initial attempt [see research of methods], which I created by screen recording myself on photoshop - not ideal ! I have had no experience working with animation before, and so the only way I could comprehend creating a moving piece would be on Premier pro, using images in a stop motion kind of way. This didn't work for the smooth action of tearing paper, and so I tried a different idea of splattering blood [see research of methods]. This piece is an improvement, and encourages more interactivity, which I can prototype and trial on people, however is still not the refined effect I am aiming for in the end. 

After many frustrated attempts, I realised the best software to create my desired effect would be Adobe After Effects, and so I plan to embark on my exploration using this - something I have not done before - over the rest of the week and the weekend. Hopefully I have something interesting to show for my progress tutorial on Monday 11th. 

This experience has taught me great resilience, and I admire how hard I tried to create something using the applications that I knew. However if you don't know that you're driving down a dead end road, you keep driving. And seemingly that is what I was doing. Now I have turned around, and will use Adobe After Effects to see what I can produce. I am also now more aware of how important it is to use the correct software for every individual task - no wonder there are so many slightly different adobe apps - even if it means using one you aren't as comfortable with...

NOTES FROM PROGRESS TUTORIAL

crudeness of animation poster - if it becomes too slick its not genuine enough ? 

Designing the tear with the text, and placing it on top of other peoples content - rather than going to crime scene, “tearing the sense out of everyone else’s communication”, tearing away from what they’re trying to say - violent act of diverting attention. Sticker campaign? Contextualise

How do I use the aggression of the tear to make a mark in the environment around me? Focusing on the publicity of an interactive project - sticking the sticker on billboards etc, or placing it on bodies, buildings, etc, so that it becomes more of a campaign. Interaction through the mass appeal, make it a trend.

FONTANA CANVASES

VIVIAN WESTWOOD - slashed t-shirts with safety pins - translating the violence from the garments into the design.

Does the tear become the statement, and the text says something else? Not such a direct written message about knife crime. Allow the tear to state the obvious.

What do you hope the effect of the project to be? Not just raising awareness, but how can I shift the focus of what I’m trying to say from raising awareness to how can we solve? Just names of victims to lend to act of memorials 

Grenfell tower three red billboards campaign, topical response aligned with Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri film…

NEED TO CAPTURE THE SENSE OF “WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT KNIFE CRIME IN LONDON?”

Would be interesting to look at the way that the knives tend to be an icon of boundaries between gangs, so the symbol of a tear could reflect a wound, but also a tear between gangs and boundaries, … ripped paper does show the detached nature of the police force in these violent societies

17.5 thousand people and 8 police in one area of Finsbury Park - shocking statistic, but equally don’t want to draw in on one statistic that doesn’t show the bigger picture

Similar to the way we memorialise war victims and soldier, danger of glorifying the act of violence. 

PECKHAM PEACE WALL - screen printed, permanent, takes peoples voices and vocalises it as a collective piece. 

Interact, as a previous project, was something we were in control of how the information was collected and then dealt with. 

Outpouring of genuine emotions in the labels of the flowers left at memorials - could I do something more permanent with that?

Get over the anxiety of doing something in the space. // IT IS EXACTLY PEOPLE IN MY POSITION THAT ARE THE REASON NO PROGRESS IS BEING MADE IN THE SITUATION. PEOPLE WHO DON’T FEEL THAT ARE INVOLVED IN SITUATIONS OF INJUSTICE AND CRIME FEEL LIKE THEY CANT RESPOND, BUT IT IS THE LACK OF RESPONSE FROM THOSE NOT INVOLVED/OTHERS THAT MAKE THE VOICES OF THOSE WHO ARE MORE QUIET !!

DESIGNERS ARE THE VEHICLE TO MAKE THE VOICES OF OTHERS HEARD - WHAT I NEED TO DO TO PUSH MY PROJECT !!!

COLLECTING FINGERPRINTS - using that as a positive mark rather than a negatively connoted policing.

Interactive performance kind of documentary piece of public people sacrificing their fingerprints to stand for one of the many “unidentified” deaths in London last year.

Need to go back to interact project as a reference point - what can I do to collect information that engages the audience in this real topic - something of a gesture that they’ve taken part in or a mark of community. 

Ask 100 people in the street to say the name of the victim - record the voices, make a voice installation, background ambiance, online archive, track played and placed at the site - inspired by the audio walks piece. 

Fraser Muggeridge - banners on housing estate

Look at how design takes the format of almost everything - public spaces 

FOCUS ON IDEA OF FINGERPRINT - HUGE POTENTIAL FOR THAT RIGHT NOW.

SCREEN PRINTING ONTO POLICE TAPE - GENERATE IDEAS FOR NEXT WEEK ! Drawings, photographs, straight from indesign, photoshop. Silkscreen…

Pick a previous started phase project and resolve it first… Begin to conclude and be confident in my ideas. 

In 1 hour initial poster, strong because the “I” is very powerful - my attempt to do something about the problem. What sized paper would I need to fit all the names of the victims? Could I explore that? Tile the image using A3 sheets, or create a long roll of names to hang, or make like vinyl as with displays on walls and in shop windows. 

Look at the language that people use to memorialise and do something with it. Don’t want to end up with an art object that doesn’t really say anything. 

All people can do is leave flowers, but I have a language that can speak higher volumes as a designer. 

NEED TO SET MYSELF A VERY SPECIFIC GOAL EACH DAY. 

Would be very easy to visit another crime scene/informal memorial and record what messages people have left. 

Interrogate what I feel about the subject and be confident to say it - clearly something I care about, with a definite validity, but otherwise it just becomes another campaign in a wave of outrage that sinks and not swims. 

Power of a fingerprint - the action of making it, but also going away from the scene with it still on your finger.

Investigate the language of the crime scenes. Glendon Grove // Gordon Grove. IRONIC SIMILARITY. Test (?)

Since my progress tutorial on Monday, I have redirected my focus, concentrating on projecting my personal voice and opinions through my communication. I have created a series of campaign posters, drawing back to the most basic form of graphic design, which clearly presents my opinions on the Home Secretaries new policies to tackle knife violence, through the satirical and sarcastic toned voice of the government. 

I have also made new plans, restructuring the rest of the weeks left for this project. I have come to terms with how over-ambitious I may have been, and so I now realise it is unrealistic to teach myself entirely new software, for example, whilst also producing a broad yet in-depth range of work in the time span of this 8 week project (which is already just over 3 weeks in!). Therefore, I am not going to spend anymore time on animation, and I am going to only work on using heat sensitive materials, not wet sensitive as well. Digital as well as analogue outputs may still be possible.

Below is a copy of my newly considered project time plan:

morning crit session: NOTES

The work can be the attempt !

Would my work be more effective in another form?

• posters, as the most basic form of graphic design, are often overlooked because they are so predictable, so ignored in the settings they are placed in. This can be, in most instances, really ineffective. - consider how to transcend the basic form of the poster. But also appreciate it as my starting point.
• place this work in unexpected environments - it is great that I tested it in the real world, placing the poster in locations I would aspire for it to be properly, however these tests have successfully shown what isn't working. The impact of the message would be more effective if the viewer is caught off guard looking at the piece, or if it is in an area so surprising. 
• The more minimal posters are better. 
• I have all the pieces of content collected, and the large print of the one poster I chose is the noisiest - too noisy, emptier posters make more of a statement because the imagery stands alone. Furthermore, the individual police tape wrapped objects on their respective stand alone posters present a clearer message. When they are together, in the still-life styled set up, do they make sense together as a collection of objects? The juxtaposition of the bear and the technology doesn't read as smoothly as when they are independent of one another. 
• Remove elements of the posters - i.e. the hands - and see how they work in that context.

things to consider and develop:

Look into BBC News, man that encourages kids/teens to hand their knives over to him in exchange for vouchers and gifts.

Vinyl cut stickers, floor mats, window stickers, etc. of the. "Our policies are pointless, just hand it in" slogan and symbol.

Temporary tattoos of the "our policies are pointless, just hand it in" slogan and/or logo. - think about the striking statement of a knife logo placed upon the human body. 

Place prints on balloons, to place in crime sites, linking to the idea of temporary memorials, symbolism of death and gifts for victims. Floating balloons with this statement symbol would interrupt the flow of the memorial with the striking message of preventing these crimes in the first place.

Today's class was about finding appropriate sites to place our design work in the real world around us, and see what sort of response it gets. After considering what I plan to do with this phase of the project, and in reflection, taking into account the positive feedback I received about the strength of my campaign imagery and language as being a bold and memorable visual series, I an going to continue to develop this in the form of more typical campaign outputs. This means focusing on getting my work out there and everywhere, constantly popping up unexpectedly in environments and circumstances that may not connote with the message, in order to create more impact.

I plan, this week, to dissect my campaign posters ("Our policies are pointless, just hand it in" etc.) to isolate the strengths as their own thing, as some feedback I got was that everything was effective, but when place together on one big poster the messages overlapped and lost impact through the noise. Therefore, creating stickers and stamps of the slogan, perhaps badges and stickers of the photographs of the youth objects wrapped in police tape, and returning to the original torn paper effect design to form vinyl cut stickers of my campaign logo, will be the aim of these next few days. I think that my visuals are recognisable, clearly present my message, and have real potential to stand out in the overflowing clutter of design work in the world. Thus, I think I should try to build from this, rather than finishing it off this week and moving on immediately to another design. Who knows, maybe the more content I produce for this particular campaign, the more real it could become ! Having attempted to contextualise my posters from last week outside my local gallery - Firstsite - a member of their curation team asked for my details, as they are putting together an exhibition of campaign work and graphic designs that are not politically fuelled, but socially, and asked if I would be interested in getting involved. This has shown me the importance of putting my work out there into the world I live in, and want to make a change in. If this opportunity follows through, it will be interesting to compare the effect of having this sort of piece in an everyday, public environment, to a gallery setting.

And so, I am currently brainstorming ideas for more youth objects I could wrap in police tape, to build this motif of imagery. Headphones on a hooded figure, football/football boots, a bike, a phone - some of these things I would have to photograph with an interaction of someone (i.e. hands) in the image to provide context to the wrapped, almost unidentifiable object.

Over the independent work time this week, I was faced with some trials. My plans to print on large vinyl cutouts came to a stop rather quickly, firstly because the CSM print store is closed for easter break, and secondly because the various different places I tried thereafter were going to charge me minimum £50. I had to quickly think of a solution, an alternative to vinyl, that could still plaster my work around the environment I choose. I went with my second idea - stickers - and bought some sheets of sticker paper to print them myself. I think they look pretty professional, considering I hand cut them. It saves me a lot of money to spend on future outcomes for my part 3 project which may be a bit more ambitious. What I would improve though, would be the finish of the paper. If I were to buy personalised stickers from StickerMule online, they would've had a plastic/waterproof varnish. This is something I would change about my own outcome, and would effect the durability and longevity of my work in the outside world.

[Here are my notes and comments from todays critique session:]

Think about progressing my work contextually, with an intervention of a location.

How do I document my intervention? ideas:

• stickers on people
• stickers in locations
• present in a grid layout to show mass of public engagement, interaction
• record numbers, quantity, statistics

Decide what I think is important stats to present. Numbers, comparisons, etc.

How can I visualise the mass of interaction with my stickers?

Locations that I fly sticker in should reference the message/meaning of the stickers. Or that will be seen so frequently - stickers on handrail in underground station, on peoples backpacks, all around...

! SMALL STICKERS HEIGHTEN THE MESSAGE IN LARGE QUANTITY !

With my posters: less text makes more impact. How can I create ima[act from dissected images on the stickers?

VISUAL IMPACT

Certain use of language changes the way the image is seen. Remove anything that isn't necessary, e.g. smaller text, smaller symbol...

The viewer is passive, the poster is (hopefully) not. Consider locations that have passive audience.

Address the idea of digital space to site my work (?) Or at least mask out images into something that represents digital space.

From this, I plan to focus on photographing my stickers in action. I intend to gather a reasonably sized selection of people that I can photograph wearing my stickers, to then layout in a grid design to emphasise the scale of interaction and engagement in supporting my campaign.

Over the weekend I prepared designs to screen print onto a roll of fabric, with the intention of creating my own police tape. I have replaced the recognisable "POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS" with messages that I found frequently repeating on the memorials for victims of knife crime that I visited as part of my documentary photography and firsthand research. These include things such as "We miss you", "an angel has gone", and other heartfelt, loving, tragic notes. Through translating these words and messages into the visual language of police tape, I am demystifying the realities of knife crime in London, while simultaneously redefining the idea of memorialisation with my graphic communication design. Today, I prepared the screen, but did not have time to print. This time factor was something I was unrealistic with, as I planned to complete everything today, in order to photograph and record my screen printed outcome at a site for Thursdays crit. Now, I will have to begin screen printing tomorrow - baring in mind I have never used this practice before, so this is all a learning experience - and then prepare my portfolio for Thursday the following day. It is unlikely that I will have located my police rope and photographed it in the real world within that time. 

Today I was faced with some challenges while screen printing, that I will have hopefully overcome by the end of the week. My designs are so large and narrow, because of the nature of police tape, that I had to use the largest screen to expose them on, which is too large to clamp on at the screen printing worktop stations. The tutors and I made a makeshift device on a table, securing the screen to a thick sheet of card and then taping it down to the table. This worked successfully for a while, until the screen needed washed, and the ink dried too fast before we could disassemble the setup. Therefore, we used the jet wash to clean it, which unfortunately washed some of the exposed design off of the screen. To overcome this, I continued to print the parts of the screen that remained usable until the roll of material was covered, leaving space for the parts of the messages that I missed out. I will have to finish this when the studio is next open on Thursday. Again, this has set back my time and plan to contextualise my work on a site - this task is now top of my agenda to complete during the spring break. 

This week I experimented with siting my screen printed police tape in various locations. I have made two test films [see experimentation tab]. The physical dimensions of the tape made it quite hard to suspend it between posts, etc. as it is only 8 metres long. I worked with locations that could support juxtaposition to the context of knife crime, but also lend to the recent surge in young offenders, as well as the type of locations these attacks have been occurring, e.g. parks, road sides, fields, and residential areas more so than dark streets.

I asked my peers for some feedback on these video trials:

• the footage with interactions/evidence of people in the surrounding environment is more impactful and attention-grabbing as viewers can imagine themselves in similar situations - it is more evident of interaction, something my project has drawn on quite a lot.
• the alleyway movement from test one is not as strong - it feels staged, unauthentic, etc.
• some say the videos would be more effective with an ambience type of sound: park sounds, birds tweeting, cars driving past, distant wind rumbling, etc. to add to the impressions of the environment
• others were in support of my idea to have the names of the victims create a soundtrack to accompany the slow footage of the memorial tape. This could be really impactful.
• the videos are missing something without sounds // the silence creates an eerie atmosphere but makes it hard to sustain attention on watching.
• combing the successful footage from both tests to create one - playground scenes, and park bench scenes. // alternatively, take these two successes and make individual videos for each to isolate the sites.
• the second test video is too stagnant - less interaction with people in the environment, unlike that of the first with the children playing in the background...
• interaction with children on playground equipment is really powerful - authentic, less staged, creates a strong juxtaposition between content yet heightens the idea of knife crime effecting a younger generation more so than every before. 

From this feedback, I have begun to collect voice notes of people reading the names of the victims. This has been inspired by the memorial at the 9/11 Twin Towers site memorial, where there is a dark room in which the names of the victims are read continuously for the entire duration that the memorial exhibition is open. I have also taken reference from Janet Cardiff's audio walks, that has a similar evocation of an ominous atmosphere. 

For the second week of the spring break holidays I decided to focus on concluding my sticker campaign by engaging with the general public one last time. This has rolled over to beyond the time frame of a week, because I unfortunately didn't receive as much public participation as expected, and so will continue to push this idea until I can create an outcome from it. I have been placing disposable cameras on the street in various different locations, both busy and less crowded. Accompanying the camera is a selection of my stickers in a labelled envelope, encouraging passers by to take a casual photograph of themselves/each other wearing the stickers, building an authentic and intimate documentation of the types of people my interaction attracts and the engagement with my knife crime campaign. For the first two attempts, I rushed to produce a format that would be tolerated by the windy weather that week, which somewhat ruined the appeal and attraction of the concept. [see below].

Clearly, this lacks design !

I had to use pretty heavy duty tape to secure the wire-like string to the camera to prevent anyone taking it, which ruins the aesthetic of the camera - it is a bit diy, not necessarily a bad thing, as it is definitely a personal project, but this could make it less eye-catching and approachable. I also used the same tape to secure my stickers in the envelope to the unusual textured surfaces. I admit I was in a rush to begin collecting photographs that I didn't take any time to consider the design of the instructions to accompany the camera. This is something I could redesign this/next week, and investigate and observe the level of participation accordingly as a result. I did put my instagram handle on the sheet as well, but had a moment of panic thinking perhaps this form of engagement could be considered fly posting/inappropriate in certain locations, so I hastily scribbled it out and ran away (oops!). This furthers the poor design of the project.

Ultimately, I am looking forward to continuing this type of engagement for the remaining time of the project, hopefully to the extent that I have enough photographs to create a small publication of images, or a format in which viewers can see the result of my interactivity with the public in the light of my sticker campaign, which as a project, summarises my views on this knife crime epidemic that is the root of my unit 7 project. 

I have also finished my illustrations for the interactive memorial book I have slowly been working on over the past couple of weeks. I plan to print on acetate to create more of an engaging and interesting effect that deals with the issue of the unidentified victims. I used a generic face to base the illustration on, each layer of acetate holding a line or detail of the person's identity, but representing one of the unidentified victims. I also plan to incorporate the heat sensitive paper, making the book more interactive while simultaneously making the message and meaning more poignant. I will be able to comment more on this when it has been printed. 

Do you agree/disagree with the comments and observations made by peers?

I agree that i could have a few more examples of contextualising my work in a broader sense in my sketchbook. I could be more ambitious as to where and how i place my work in the real world, suggested by both peer review feedback sheets.

I don’t really agree that I should “combine [some of the pieces from a linked series] under one general portfolio slide/label to give the presentation more weight”, as the series has different strengths that i have emphasised purposefully by putting similar pieces on separate portfolio slides. 

On that note, some of the pieces speak for themselves, such as the sticker campaign context, or the most successful of my campaign posters, and so giving them a label somewhat destroys the power of the message that comes from the work itself, rather than from the work as a portfolio slide.

I also don’t agree with the suggestion to explore documentary photography more. I appreciate the suggestion, especially as I am situated in the photography and moving image pathway, however that is the exact reason that i used it as a starting point rather than a full phase of my project. i took this part three project as an opportunity to explore the rest of GCD as a broad subject, considering that it is the course i will be studying next year, and so I felt limiting myself to photography is something i wanted to stray away from. I have used photography as a key medium in the development of my skills across other subject areas, such as my graphically designed posters, or illustrated screen print work, but it is no longer my soul focus in GCD.

How has the feedback made you think differently about your project?

my feedback has caused me to redirect my focus to the roots of my project - interactivity in relation and exploration of the topic of knife crime in London. having so much time to develop a project by yourself makes it easy to forget what it was your actual intentions were to begin with, and so this critical feedback drawing towards the final decisions for our projects has really helped me concentrate on my original ideas.

How will it inform what you do next ?

I will be thinking more about the notion of interactivity, and how my intentions were to take inspiration and guidance from the “photographic object” and “interact” projects from part two. I will be making more physically tangible outcomes for the last part of this part three project to redirect my focus towards this. I think i made it overcomplicated by using the word “interactive”, however it is important to remember that this could be as simple as being about to touch the work, be immersed in it, for example through sound and installation, or to put it into public and see how people engage in it. Gaining public response or user testing will be part of the remainder of this project.

response/action plan/overview of reflection and personal improvement

For this week i plan to prepare work for the exhibition that draws on the idea of interaction through immersion/tangibility/object form. I am going to reprint my police tape but in a smaller dimension (perhaps only 4 metres instead of 8) so it is easier to include in a gallery environment. i am also going to try screen printing onto foil balloons, as my experiment using stickers on the balloons was not as clean cut or effective as i had hoped. Lastly, i am going to adapt my soundtrack for the film i have made contextualising my original memorial police tape (8m). i am going to finish the idea of using people reading the names, but have also considered changing this and making the soundtrack more explanatory by using recent news reports about knife crime as the audio, making the filmed scene context less ambiguous. I also want to try being more ambitious with where and how i place my work in the real world, however this may be something i continue to work on post exhibition, as i have a lot to complete/refine/develop beforehand...

Today I created my finished video piece of work that may hopefully be selected to go in the Lethaby gallery. I managed to create, get peer feedback, and modify the piece 4 times before finalising all my refinements and feeling happy and confident with my work.

Here is some of the feedback I received and how I took it into consideration:

• create video compiled of most successful shots from both test films
• create all audio tracks first, in order to ensure film footage fits to track
• shorten video draft
• add siren and park ambiance at the end - lends to suggestion that the issue continues, crime continues, the government do nothing...
• "teenagers and others are dying" as last audio voice
• cut out man walking across frame in background - make first shot walking towards edge of frame, second shot as an empty frame
• smooth audio together with blending and fades
• drone pitch/noise underneath entire video to bring audio together, add to ominous atmosphere
• adjust sound levels to consistent across video
• add my name at the end

ScReEn pRiNtinG ReFLecTioN

 Today I had some issues screen printing, which I have since overcome, but caused a bit of a setback. I read online that it would be better to screen print on inflated balloons, and so I got them filled with helium before going to class today. When I arrived, I learned that with the screens available it would definitely be much easier to print on uninflected balloons. The shop couldn't deflate them, and they only had 2 more of the colour I wanted, so I got those to test with today, and plan to get more for tomorrow...

Printing was a learning curve also. I tried first by flooding the screen before printing, but that created a smudged font, rather than the clean cut I wanted. Second time round without flooding made the crisp clean lines I desired, thankfully. I also planned to print on both sides of the balloon, but was rather hasty and flipped it before it was fully dry. Thus, when I went to print on the other side, the print on the surface was tacky and stuck, ripping some of the text off. This can be prevented tomorrow. 

Lastly, inflating the balloon was successful, as the text didn't distort after the balloon was filled.

Tomorrow I will be able to work efficiently and correctly, leaving the balloons to dry over the weekend and filling them up just before the final exhibition !

My second attempt at screen printing went well today. I even experimented with printing on silver balloons with blue text to provide some variety. Some of the text came out a bit more smudged/thick than planned, but that was to be expected, as I was using the screen multiple times without flooding, in order to achieve the effect I wanted. It was a risk, which mostly paid off...

I have left the uninflected balloons to dry over the bank holiday weekend, and will inflate them next week before the final exhibition. If any distort or fail after inflation, I have made enough to have a full body of work in the exhibition if some have to be taken out/not included. I am happy with the results of this part of my project, and it feels pretty conclusive for me.

Today we dropped off all work to the Lethaby Gallery, in preparation for the tutors to set up the Foundation Exhibition. I have not inflated my balloons yet, so that they can be as full as possible for the duration of the show, which is open to the public from Friday. Until then, I can be getting on with sketchbook annotations and preparing my portfolio for assessment. 

I am interested to see how the tutors set up my work in a gallery space, considering it was not made with that as an intention ever. Will there be an element of interaction incorporated, e.g. headphones, so that people can experience my work properly? Will it function effectively inside, as it is made for outside installation? Will people be drawn towards the obvious visual language of the police considering the work is in a formalised gallery environment, considering the recognition of police pushed passers-by away when I set it up in public? 

Successfully inflating the balloons today in order to drop them off at the exhibition, I am ready for the private view tomorrow night ! A couple letters cracked, however I made enough to overcompensate for that - a factor I had taken into consideration already. I am happy that my own efforts have resulted in success, cheaply, rather than paying £60+ to get someone else to screen print them. The workers in the Card Factory where I bought the balloons and got them inflated even commented on how appropriate they would be for a funeral. This shows the potential platform my balloons could reach if I were to sell them to the right target audience, through a card store. 

The private viewing of the CSM Foundation Exhibition was an interesting experience in the light of my communication design work. The pieces I created over the course of this 8 week unit 7 project were never particularly intended for a gallery space, but rather out in the public, functioning in the everyday world. 

The way in which my work in the exhibition was set up was with the screen playing my short film, and headphones attached and hung beside, as well as my balloons floating the other side, actually went in hand quite well with the interactive roots to my unit 7 project. The act of having to wear headphones to experience my film somewhat puts the viewer into an immersive state, shutting off the world around them to engage purely in the video. Furthermore, the tangible, physical manner of my balloons goes in hand nicely with this idea of "interaction", stemming from the part 2 project of the photographic object. It was interesting to see how people engaged with the balloons in ways I never imagined - taking selfies in the reflection of the silver foil balloon, and posing alongside the bunch. This engagement relates quite strongly to my research of Lou Macnamara's installation-like set ups regarding the topic of war, with which she invited people to pose and take photos infant of her composed war background. This was a comment on modern culture, the selfie epidemic and our inability to consider the meaning of things before rushing to photograph and share the work...

Did the people taking selfies in the reflection of my balloons realise they floated as a symbol of memorial for the victims of knife crime in London this year? 

This week I focused on the finishing touches to my unit 7 project. This has mainly been through the final contextualisation of my "final outcome", thinking about the best ways to reach my target audience with my design work and message. I brainstormed in my sketchbook on Monday, thinking about, firstly, who are my target audience? I think it is fairly safe to conclude that the main target audience has no real age restrictions, but geographical focus - since my research topic has been based around London knife crime, who else should I direct my pieces towards except Londoners? 

I then began to think about how I have collected so much of my research into the topic, almost everyday on my way to college - reading one of the free newspapers on the tube. Where better to reach my target audience in a lowkey and accessible way, ensuring they have no real distractions so to fully engage in my work, as well as making it a tangible, physical product, than to locate my work in the newspaper? I decided to create a template inspired by the Metro layout, and I wrote an article summarising my project, as well as providing key information such as a flyer to my theoretical "film screening" and the numbers to call if you want to report a crime.

I wanted to make the image of my tabloid look a bit more authentic, rather than a clean cut digital design, considering I don't really have the time to print a full newspaper and site it on the tube for photographs. Thus, I placed newspaper pages behind it to create a rougher edge, and re-scanned the work to give it the same scanned effects as to the newspapers I have used in my project. I then edited it slightly on photograph, adjusting the grain, levels, contrast and colour balance to match the scans of actual newspapers I have previously referenced. Lastly, I situated my tabloid in a grid layout with the key reports I used for my research, concluding my project nicely by directly and visually relating my outcomes to my research. 

In terms of my portfolio, I have printed and am still to mount the photographs before submission on Tuesday 7th. My final evaluation concludes and summarises my project fully, reflecting on where I could've done more had I more time, my strengths, weaknesses, and relation to intentions. Finally, my bibliography has been updated to include everything I used along the course of this 8 week project.