Tuesday 11 March 2008

Listening Week...

This inaccurately labeled "reading" week has proven to be very different; and I don't just mean from other reading weeks, I mean from anything I have experienced before!

I have always used music to set the tone to suit the circumstance; for example working environment, driving, etc. but never before has it been the focus of my activities.

From talking to some of the other students I am fortunate in that whilst it is not exactly my taste, the music I had was very similar to the 'Chilled Euphoria' albums that I have have in my collection.

My sketchbook is now filling up nicely boasting around ninety annotated logo's and three mood boards. I think that everyone's reactions were very similar this morning ... "Mood Board?!" but after a quick group discussion and some advice from the ever artistic Gary Benn, we were all on track.

From the work I have undertaken with logo's so far, I have found that as a general rule of thumb, the simple logos are much more affective and often more attractive. Logos like the ones belonging to 'Intel', 'McDonalds', 'Coca-Cola' and 'Volkswagen' to name but at few are almost intently recognisable with just a passing glance.

Intel
I am looking forward to the self study task(s) this week if it is in keeping with that we have done then we certainly are onto a winner!

The developmental process we have undertaken here is very different to methods I have adopted in the past. It is very interesting to see how even just mind maps and mood boards allow you to interpret your own understanding of what you do and break it down to its rawest and simplest entity - only then can you begin to move forward.

Thanks for reading.

--
Quote of the week

"Education: That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding." - Ambrose Bierce

7 comments:

Mark Torrington said...

I see you have picked the VW logo.

German car manufactures logo all work well. VW and AUDI can be read back to front great I suppose this is useful when looking through your mirror at the car behind. Come to think of it the swastika can be read back to front too. What is the history of the swastika? Does it now represent good or evil?.

I feel it was a peaceful symbol used in the wrong context.

Greg Carrick said...

I had the exact same reaction to you about the mood boards and had no idea what they were.

I have to agree, I’m amazed at how the mind maps and mood boards helped me to break down my own understanding and thoughts of the music.

Andrew said...

I have to agree with Mark on the subject of the Swastika, I've studied it in both Relgious Education and History, from both sides. Hitler really did bring it into the wrong context, I guess their were no great logo designers in Germany around this time, or they might of come up with something original!

Imagine the price of a regimes/political parties, logo nowadays, we're talking big money.

You really had to think of the moodboards as a visual representation of the CD Review you did the previous day, to really get the feel for it. Both are really good tool's and I think great ideas by Steve for us to explore the meaning of the music and our own creativity. He's trying to get our design juices flowing and building up for when we get back to college. Hoping for a surge of great work. Personally I'm ready to not dissapoint, I hope your in that same boat too Shaun, sounds like you are from the post!

Rebecca Bradley said...

I also agree that the simple logos are more eye catching. As some of the logos that I found had to much creative work going on with them and didnt look as good.

Webomatic said...

Hi

I agree in some part that simple logos are more eye catching however it depends how you define simple. Just typeface logos are simple but I think one with colour would spark the eye more making the person look closer at it and drawing them in. As both mark and Andrew said the Swastika was meant to be a good symbol however it was used in the wrong context making everyone assumes that it was bad.

Mind maps and mood boards are defiantly good, they also helped me breakdown my work to the point that I could easily understand it. As Shaun already knows there is a program which simplifies mind / mood boards making them more easier to understand its called mind genius, this is a program which is accessible on all pc’s at collage.

Thanks Martyn

Shaun Bellis said...

Hi Everyone

Thank you for the comments; you have set something off her Mark ha ha.

I had never noticed that before about the logo's being readable forwards or backwards; now that you have mentioned it I have noticed it with many different logo's also.

The simplicity I was referring to was not limited to typographical ones; sorry if I wasn't clear.

Great comments everyone - thank you

--
Shaun Bellis

Gary Benn said...

Me? What did I do?

Thank you anyway.

It would be nice to see the results of my teaching? Post an image of one of your mood boards.

My new sketchbook is also looking quite healthy! LOTS OF COLOUR!!! I am hoping to fill the entire thing before we return to college.

Hope you found the PDF useful. Now the only thing to do is to know how to check the things explained in it and how to avoid it in our own work. This is going to be my task for the holidays.

Mark please dont forget the greatest German car manufacture B M W!