The Table: Final Screenprinting

Today I spent the whole day at the Leeds Met Printmaking studios printing for the last time on the Table. This time it was the final part of the project (well almost) and we printed the data of the whole project (people involved, cost, dates, table data etc) on the four sides. It was a challenging process as we could not place the table on the printers so it had to be done on the floor. Dick and Sarah were there and once more they were of great help with all the printing. Unfortunately almost at the end of the day, while we were trying to print on the fourth side, we had a small accident and one of the legs came off! Nothing major though as the table is already in the woodworking studios and the nice people there will fix it for next week.
That’s all for now; back to the poster and the learning agreement..

Update/ The Poster

I am currently focusing on the writing of the Learning Agreement. I find it a bid difficult to identify the most important parts of this MA. Most of the experiences were (and still are) a vital part of the research and experimentations that I was doing all year.

I also started putting some ideas together for the exhibition poster for the MA Graphic Arts and Design course as well as the Contemporary Fine Art Practice in Leeds Metropolitan University.
The exhibition is going to run after the assessments for both courses which is the 20th and 21st September on H Block's 6th and 8th floor.

I will soon come back with some more ideas for the poster. Until then, just a first idea of basic typography. I particularly liked the character of this font (Politica) on its different weights. I believe it manages to promote the contemporary character of the course but at the same time, its clarity and legibility can also represent some of the core values of the course.

Experiments: photos & vinyl

I keep on coming back at these photos. Today playing with vinyl cut and stuck on top of a print. The feeling of the mat vinyl on top of the glossy paper has some really nice qualities. I don't really know what I want to do with these photos but it is an interesting process.

you can see previous posts about them here and here

MYMA games pt.3

Just a couple of photos from my games with MYMA stuff..

Experiments: 2d photos revisited

I recently had a projector at home. It is great fun to see photographs and work in such a big size. All I did was to pick the camera and started shooting pictures in between the transitions of the slideshow. Some new grids? I love the results without any particular reason.

Here you can see the original post on the photos.

The Book: Layout (pt.2)

Another layout plan of the A4 format for the book. This time with worked out distances, grids and text sizes. Still developing..

The Book: Illustrations

An almost complete list of illustrations for the book. There are a couple subjects still missing and the format of them is obviously going to change in terms of printing methods, sizes and shapes.

The Book: Layout

Possible variations of layouts on an A4 page. The grid is a simple grid that is formed of a 5mm edge around the page and a central grid line vertically on each page. The two horizontal lines are calculated from the golden section which manages to create a sense of calmness and legibility.

After a lot of thinking on the size of the book publication, testing different formats and page sizes, I come up to the dicision of most likekly going for A4 (page size). The basic standard size of A4 (210x297mm) is really easy to use, place, read, hold and get familiar with. I feel that any other kind of dicision for random shapes would be quite decorative and is something that wouldn't compliment my work. I have not came up with a final dicision though so we shall see..

Books layouts

Some book spreads from the three books mentioned below. Studies of grids pictures relating to text, different font sizes, hand-drawn sketches, architectural plans, photographs.

Three books

Trying to find intresting books for inspiration, what better choice can someone have but looking at these three great publications. Truth is I have never been able to read them all but I think this is part of them too. They are great sources of inspiration, books that you can easily open randomly and read jumping around sections and chapters. The information can be read in various ways, linearly or randomly, refering from page to page and to different subjects / section. There are hidden stories to be discovered, clues to understand and look for more. Parallel stories or short narratives that develop in secret ways (and grids).
I am particularly enthousiastic about the ways that they manage to hold all this information (they are 1330+, 440+, 530+ pages each). Obviously I won't even try to get up to these sizes (I don't even have so much work!) but I would be interested on designing the book in such a way that can be read in different ways.

the building (pt.2)

a short video with the H Block letters..

link to H Block Publication blog

the building (pt.1)

H Block, Leeds Metropolitan University

link to H Block Publication blog

The Book: Contents layout

One of the most important maps of the year, this is the book layout and chapter map. A basic version where the seven red chapters are the main ones (see link) and the light blue are the additional chapters/ sections. A basic outline of what should be included in each subject, is also noted as well as some basic questions for the articles that are needed to be written. This map should be extended and developed in the future, to include all upcoming subjects and sections of the publication.

MYMA games pt.2

a few photos from the pt.1 poster

The Book: Contents

These are the six basic chapters of the book in a chronological order as appeared and worked throughout 2006-2007. The sequence of events/ projects is an obvious development of thought and research. One thing results on the other and so the final is a conclusion of all the previous and so on.
The results of such an approach on experimentations and design process are fantastic. The freedom, the advantage of making mistakes and learning from them or just a process of thinking in a linear but adaptable narrative.
These sections should form the basic spine of the book but can (and should) be interapted with other elements / chapters. Research, writing, reading, random thoughts or just observations are the background stories of this process but nevertheless a vital part of it.

MYMA games pt.1

Having fun at home with a bit of tape and the MYMA blog archive. Just fun!

Music by Jean-Jacques Perrey - Mr. Ondioline (1960)

The Book: Ideas

I am still in the process of finishing the table while writing this. I try to understand and realise the basic concept behind the design of the book.

The whole year was an attempt to study different design disciplines and discover the interconnecting threats that they all have (should or shouldn't) with graphic design. Looking back at the process, from House X to the Underpass and the Table, I was trying to read the hidden information that was hidden behind and bring it forward.

It is part of my study to find intresting games of revealing information, communicating it by dis-communicating it, making it obvious but still discoverable. The Table managed to tell a story, House X celebrated itself and the Underpass will probably one day learn its own story from its users.

The book is trying to record all these processes and demonstrate the results of the experimentations that took place this whole year. How should it be laid out? In what form it should present all this information? How can it capture all the things that happened, the ideas that they were born and developed?

A book can be a lot of different things. It can be a monograph of a designer, a fashion-style catalogue of some work, a writing about the work, a fanzine, a series of individual pages. It can be all that and nothing together with hidden meanings, grids, layout, format.
Or it can be all revealed too. It can show itself how it was produced, what each page means, what are the relations between the images and the text, the images with the page, their position and grid methods. It can show and explain the process of its own creation, its story.

The book should be no different to anything else.
This book can be another attempt to reveal all the information hidden behind its glossy presentations of pictures and nicely formated text.

The Book: First Contents

Just the beginning of some ideas about the book. This is just a contents page (with a bit of extra fun) as they appear on this blog. The book should follow the same structure as this blog (or maybe not?). It would be a good idea to follow a chronological order in the book but at the same time, a more complex development could possibly represent better the way of working and researching throughout the year.

It is true that all events followed a linear progress and one would become the result of its previous and the generator of the following but it would be good to represent all the small side projects, ideas, experiments and research that was done simultaneously.

This is just the basic ideas and the first mapping attempts in order to realise the volume of work between September 2006 and July 2007. This should all change soon..

The Table: details

a few photographs showing details of the printout.

The Table: screenprinting

Today I spent all day in the printmaking workshops with Pete, Dick and Terry. The wood was ready to be printed and after a long night of last minute changes, text writing, drawing, stressing and coffee drinking I was there with the artwork and the table top.
Here it is then. Only a few things left now.
The legs are going to be stuck with the top in the next week and then the second phase of the screenprinting will take place, in order to print on the sides and legs.
A few mistakes already though, something which to be honest does not dissapoint me as it is part of this process which is totally new for me.