Design Diary Brief

BTEC 1ST YR  EXTENDED DIPLOMA IN ART & DESIGN

DESIGN DIARY SUMMER  PROJECT:  NEW DESIGNERS

PART 2 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Unit 5: Contextual Influences in Art and Design

               

This project is part 2 of the work to cover unit 5 and in addition to your first year essay and the review of our art exhibition will cover the criteria required for this. The Design Diary is an ongoing resource that can be added to at a later date and something that will be taken to interview to show you are aware of the history and the contemporary context of your specialist area.

Ø   From your visit to New Designers pick 4 artists or designers from your chosen specialist area that you are strongly drawn to. At least one of these should be from the ‘One Year On’ room which is practitioners who have been out in industry for a year already.

Ø   Answer the questions 1-9.  Present this written work within your design diary.  Produce 15 A4 pages showing a coherent analysis of this work.  Inventively present this, using photographs, postcards and other information Comments should be in as much detail as possible and have the analysis and evaluation of an essay.

Ø  Make your own responses to this work by producing 2 responses to each artist/designer- 8 in all.  Spend time on these trying to create as professional a look as possible.  Use manual or digital ways of working to respond. 

Try to answer the following questions, many of the exhibitors will be in spaces and you can talk to them directly.  If you cannot find out the answers to these easily try being creative, try emailing the artist (you can pick up business cards in most spaces) or using face book, or following a blog/website to gain information on them. 

Start by identifying your practitioner and the institution/course they have just been studying on.

1.        What is their work like?  How would you describe it?   What makes them stand out from other exhibitors for you? What techniques or processes do you think they use?

2.       Who do you think has influenced them and what is their work like?   Have things such as - politics, music, fashion, changes in materials or technology processes had an effect? Can you identify influences and compare or contrast their work to other practitioners?  

3.       What themes or ideas are in their work? How do these designers communicate messages or meaning within their work?  What logos, slogans, visual imagery or mark-making do they utilise to produce their work?

4.       Who are some of the clients they have worked for?  What internships do they have planned?  Can you document this work and give examples of large and small commissions/ jobs they have covered?

5.       Give evidence of quotes, opinions and comments from other people if available .  These may be from catalogues, newspaper cuttings, websites, TV programmes, blogs, face book etc.  The more variety of information,  the more interesting your diary.  You should find this easier with the “One Year On” designers, but often a little persistence will unearth good information.

6.       Why have you chosen these artists/designers to analyse?  What relevance does their work have on your own interests?  Do you use similar techniques? Do the concepts/ideas they promote appeal to you? Is it that you find the markmaking original, messages in adverts inventive, appreciate the quality of drawing in a digitally printed textile design etc.?  Please elaborate as much as possible.

7.       What materials, processes and technology have they adopted that have shaped their ideas and given the work a distinctive style.

8.       Produce 8 sustained responses to the designers you have looked at (minimum 6, 2 for each artist/designer) by making samples, experiments, drawings, typography in the style of this work to show your interests.  Present this in an appropriate way next to your analysis.

Presentation:

Within the presentation of your selected work you should concentrate on good page layout, effective composition, choice of colour and materials.  You may present your thoughts anyway you wish as long as it complements and reflects the topic.  Images should be varied in the way they are presented, some photocopied, some hand-drawn.  Assemble your text and image and be prepared to move items around until you get a balanced composition.

Do:        

o   Type out your opinion on paper, put acetate over the top of images to layer them.

o   Combine an image and text effectively, varying scale, surface and repetitive effects.

o   Print out good quality images on good paper (matt or glossy photo paper ideally).

o   Title things accurately and consistently giving dates and media.

o   Analyse intelligently and articulately (this may mean writing ideas in rough first).

o   Give your opinions backed up with others’ quotes and comments - put quotes in inverted commas (i.e. “.....”). List/credit your sources wherever possible.

o   Assemble images and related works so that the explanation is related rather than arbitrary.

o   Consider - cutting, tearing, photocopying onto acetate overlaying, using Letraset, painting, scratching on to images, using fold outs, tracing paper sections, overlaid text, collage, photographs - Polaroids, digital print-outs, etc.

o   Use Pritt Stick or another card and paper glue to stick things down that won’t buckle your images.

Don’t:

 o   use illegible fonts because it looks a bit different, keep it simple.
o   use felt pen in handwriting over images.

o   use paint straight out from the pot without mixing it and thick textured paint over everything.

o   use tissue paper in large quantities.

o   use PVA to stick anything down as it makes everything wrinkled.

o   slant images on the page.

o   Use sponge, glitter or double mount.

o   print out others’ opinions and present them as your own.

o   try to make the presentation so busy that the written text is illegible - this is not what is required.

o   download information on artists and simply stick this into your sketchbook. Instant referral!

Minimum Submission Requirements:

• 15 x A3/A4 sides of  your  existing design diary documenting 4 artists\designers from New Designers.   This should include at least 8  sustained visual responses to the artists/ designers you have looked at. 

               

Deadline:  Sept 2015 first day back  Part 1 and Part 2 ( the design diary as well as review of one person within our own exhibition) is  due back  for first day back at College  in September when books will be submitted for final  marking for unit 5.  Make sure you allow yourself enough time to complete this project.  Start it early, whilst the exhibition is fresh in your mind - don’t leave it until the last minute.