Form and Function - Interview with Sam Winston
I found the conversation between Sam Winston and Susanna Edwards really interesting. The conversation started off with a discussion about how form and material contribute to message. Having studied Architecture I was taught the form followed function, however it seemed like Sam was suggesting that it was actually form follows message. So rather than the form taking shape because of what it will be used for, it is actually based around what the piece is trying to say. This really made me think about why I make decisions and how I decide what form a piece of work will be saying. I also took to heart what Sam was saying about playing with form, message and medium and to move away from the screen sometimes. This is definitely something I will take forward and try to do more.
This then made me think maybe I should try and make 3D models more, it is something I used to do a lot with architecture and it is a skill I haven't worked on in recent years, instead I jump to a screen quite quickly. I don't think this is always a bad thing, however I am going to try and change up my routine a bit. I am also going to take Sam's advice about making mistakes and sometimes them being the most interesting part. To challenge myself, for the workshop challenge this week, if a mistake is made I am going to leave it in and try and explore this further.
I also really liked the idea that what moves people is the unknown - this statement reminded me of the Ex-formation reading from a couple of weeks ago, the idea that to really touch and affect people's lives you need to 'unknow' things, and come from a place almost of ignorance with no preconceptions. Instead, we should show people how little we actually know and aim to 'awaken' them through the medium we choose. Sam suggests that instead of exploring through knowledge, we explore through our other senses and use touch and sound instead of basing it on assumptions we come to the problem with. This is another thing I think I should take with me moving forward, I am definitely guilty of using knowledge I already have and not focussing on other senses. This may open up more of design to me and make me realise some of what I am missing and become a better designer.
Sam also suggested that to explore a place you have never been before you should stand in a particular place and consider these 4 categories;
Process - traffic, buildings, what's going on around you
Materials - Physical buildings and natural environment
Language - found language in the environment and also your verbal response
Design - Everything else tied together
This along with Sam's idea that juxtaposition allows you to create new and interesting commentary on the world around us. That is a really interesting idea because it makes you realise that it's actually people's take on a place or story that is individual, not always the story itself. So, for example, thousands of people have written about and represented London so a new and interesting idea about representing the city is actually more about the person representing it than the city itself.
My final takeaway from this conversation between Susanna and Sam is to go and play, be curious, be yourself, make mistakes and have fun!
Austria Solar
This was an absolute masterpiece. It is such an innovative way of looking at a document that can usually be quite tedious - an annual report! As soon as I watched the video I felt like I wanted to really understand how this was made as it is the first time I have seen something like this on paper.
I found out it was done through a process called Photochromic Printing and involves changing the molecular structure of the ink so it reacts to UV light. This is done by electric polarisation of particles resulting in mechanical stress which will be activated by UV light making the ink visible (diagram left).
It was really interesting looking into the science behind a printing technique and not something I do enough. The innovation behind this report is mind blowing and just show's that by thinking outside of the box, and letting form follow message, you can create something truly unique. [1]
Witty Thinking in Graphic Design
I really enjoyed this reading [2] - I love hearing all of the different ways people look at design and the process they go through. Whether it's Thomas Edison sitting in front of a roaring fire with a ball in his hand so when he fell asleep, the ball would fall and wake him up and he could remember his ideas, or Noma Bar claiming that ideas already exist and they are just waiting to be found, it's all fascinating because it gives you insight into how people work.
After doing the reading I then went on to have a look through more of the book and loved what I saw. The witty, satirical, and sometimes humorous approaches to design is a really individual way of tackling projects and looking at problems. It relates to what Sam was saying about it's not necessarily the subject matter that is original, rather it is the viewpoint of the designer and the way you look at a problem and the message you are sending. Below are some of my favourites:
Workshop Challenge
Communicate an emotion you perceive your city or location is about.
Take the word and use an appropriate material, form or medium – 2D, digital, 3D or immersive.
You may choose to communicate the word directly or you may choose to create a juxtaposition, if there is a contradiction or tension
London Quotes
I was interested in seeing what notable author's opinions of London were, the people who observe and write are always worth listening to!
“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
― Samuel Johnson
“My Dad says that being a Londoner has nothing to do with where you're born. He says that there are people who get off a jumbo jet at Heathrow, go through immigration waving any kind of passport, hop on the tube and by the time the train's pulled into Piccadilly Circus they've become a Londoner.”
― Ben Aaronovitch, Moon Over Soho
“I don't know what London's coming to — the higher the buildings the lower the morals.”
― Noël Coward, Collected Sketches and Lyrics
London. It's like a great cesspool into which all kinds of criminals, agents and drifters are irresistibly drained.
― Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I
“One thing about London is that when you step out into the night, it swallows you.”
― Sebastian Faulks, Engleby
The quotes I have gathered show the variety of opinions about the ever-changing city of London. I think for this workshop challenge I am going to have to dig a little deeper and go more personal than this.
Instagram Poll
The first thing I decided to do this week was ask as many people as possible what they think of London, naturally (especially at the minute without being able to go anywhere) an Instagram poll seemed to be the best way to gather information from a variety of different people. I decided to go with three questions:
1 What word would you use to describe London?
2 What is your most vivid memory of London?
3 Do you feel at home in London?
The aim was to not only collect the different individual words but also some ideas of imagery associated with London.
Here are the results...
I found the results of what word describes London really interesting. On the whole it was really positive - with popular words being "diverse" "intense" "lively" and "exciting". I was also really surprised by the number of people saying they feel at home here as a vast majority aren't from London, they moved here after graduating university. This suggests to me that London has an openness about it that makes people feel welcome and at home. After this extremely scientific instagram poll research i chose the word open - it feels inclusive of everyone (linking to the holiness element) and an overall positive thing which is similar to the insight gained from the other questions I posed to my friends.
Ideas
My initial idea was to include bridges in my design - this is because in my Instagram poll so many of people's memories in London involved bridges - watching fireworks on them, walking across them etc. Bridges are also a really recognisable part of the city, particularly Tower Bridge.
My first thought was to make the p and the e in the word open part of the bridge, the centre of tower bridge that opens to let boats through. I chose the red because it is the London Underground colour so adds another layer to the face the word is about London. It is also a lively vibrant colour which again draws on ideas from the poll. The image on the left was my first sketch and the one on the right was a mistake, I merged the shapes and thought it looked fun so included it here, plus after Sam said mistakes can be interesting I decided to include this.
I am not happy with this idea as a response to the workshop challenge, I don't think it represents openness or the city of London well at all. I am going to stick with the idea of bridges and play with the opening Tower Bridge to see how I can develop this concept...
I then decided to go out of my comfort zone and merge graphics with photographs. The idea was a ship coming into London via tower bridge and being welcomed into the city. I used the blue and red from the London Underground roundels to anchor the idea more in the city. In the third image (left) I wanted to explore juxtaposition, showing the ship with the word open while simultaneously showing the bridge closed. This is a commentary on our internal view of London being an opening and welcoming city but being extremely intimidating to some people.
I feel like I have developed this as far as I can and I'm not happy with it at all - I don't think it get's across the ideas I have about London and the juxtaposition around the word open. I feel like I need to start this workshop challenge again - still taking into account the instagram polls and using the word open because I think it's the perfect word to describe London. I am, however going to scrap the imagery of the boat and bridge and instead explore other angles.
British Visual Satire
From the reading and lecture this week I really enjoyed the satirical aspects of the Smile in the Mind book. This made me think about cartoons I've seen around the city and in newspapers. After much googling and searching in books I own I found out they were called British/ London satirical caricatures.
Prints have always been used to disseminate political and for social commentary. In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation triggered the development of anti-Papal or anti-clerical visual satire by artists like Hans Holbein the Younger. Prints disseminating political satire have a long tradition in Britain, dating back to the political and social shifts of the Enlightenment. [3]
I found it really interesting the British Satire actually has roots in Italian Renaissance painting, using the exaggerated forms similar to those of Carracci. The illustrations were originally etched but in the 1830s etching gave way to lithography and wood-engraving, and with this came the decline of the print-shop and its replacement by illustrated magazines and newspapers which is still the form these satirical images take today.
[4] [5]
These are some examples through the years I found at the Kent cartoon archive. 4 is from 1975, 5 is from 1994 and 6 is from 2009. It shows that although politics is a constantly changing landscape, the satirical nature in which artists respond is still in a similar fashion.
As London is the heart of politics in the UK and all of these cartoons shown here originated in London it is a really interesting medium to respond to the workshop brief in.
[6]
Further Ideas
I also decided to look at it from a different angle, using the research I did on the London Satirical Caricatures. I thought about showing both good and bad elements of London being an open welcoming city.
4 things to represent the bad side of London are:
Knife crime - London recorded the highest rate of 179 offences involving a knife per 100,000 population 2Fin 2019/20, a slight increase on a rate of 169 in 2018/19. [7]
Pollution - Taking the Northern line is equivalent to smoking one cigarette a day.[8]
Covid 19 - London has the highest number of confirmed cases of the virus in the UK with 712,959 registered cases. [9]
Wealth Disparity - 50% of London's wealth is owned by the top 10%. The bottom 50% own only 5% of London's wealth. [10]
4 things to represent the good side of London are:
Cycling - 22% increase in cycling in London since 2019. [11]
Southbank/ The River - Attractions like the London eye, theatre district, the Tower of London and Borough market are all within a stones throw of the river.
Green Space - 47% of Greater London is ‘green’; 33% of London is natural habitats within open space [12]
Theatre - There are 39 theatres in the West End and they are visited by over 15 million people every year (pre covid!) [13]
I then sketched out possible configurations and layouts for my two images depicting both positive and negative sides to London. I really like how these sketches turned out so I am going to refine and develop these further. I like the black and white sketchy nature of these images too as I think it takes into consideration my research into London satirical caricatures which is another way it is rooted in the city of London.
This is a refined version of the good elements of London. I made sure to keep the sketch line drawing elements as a call back to the satirical caricatures.
I drew the bad aspects of London in a similar fashion - I then experimented with the colour. I wanted to retain the black and white aesthetic and I like the inversion on the black background with white drawing, it provides a much bigger contrast than the white background and black drawing.
I really like the outcomes so far however I think they are missing something. I'm going to make an animation with the aim of making London seem nice and open then overlaying the negative drawing and creating a sense of discomfort. I want it to look uncanny, at first you might miss it with a blink then it becomes a longer look so you can see what you are looking at more.
This is the first video I tried. I like the effect and I do think an animation like this is the best way to go. I like how uneasy it makes you feel when you're watching it. To me it also shows how uneasy it is watching all these amazing things being shared about the city you live in in an attempt to drum up tourism, while they completely ignore the negative aspects that actually make where you live a little scary at times.
I then added some sound effects to indicate the opening of the city (a doorbell) and the closing of the same city (door closing). After making this I don't think it needs the sound effects and it's actually more impactful without them. My next experiments will be with colour...
While I want to keep the black or white line drawing I thought I would try and vary the backgrounds by using the 'bad London' illustration as a white drawing on a black background. I really like this effect, I think it shows a bigger difference than my previous one which is both back drawings on white backgrounds. I think it has more of an uncanny and unsettling feeling which is what I am going for with this workshop response. I really like this but I feel like I need to experiment outside of my black and white colour pallet.
I decided to put the white drawing on a red background to ramp up the uncanny and unsettling feeling. I think it does that but I prefer the black background as it is more in line with the research on London Satirical Caricatures I have done and the overall aesthetic I am going for.
Final Piece
Summary
I really enjoyed the lectures and reading this week. It allowed me to do research into process (Photochromic Printing) and also some historical cartoon research (British Visual Satire) both of which I found incredibly interesting and gave me pause for thought. I took a lot of what Sam Winston said to heart and think if I could take on a couple of his approaches, such as describing things through senses, I will be a better designer because of it.
It took me quite a long time to settle on an idea this week. I think part of the reason is the sheer amount of things there is to say about London, both good and bad. I think it was a good way to start - by doing a poll of people who live here and seeing what they thought. I did want to focus on bridges and openness at first but the process took e in another direction which I am much happier with.
I have chosen the black and white inverted animation as my final response for this week's workshop. I really like how this has turned out because I think it reflects the juxtaposition I wanted to get across - London being open in both a good way and a more sinister way. I think the overall look is really close to what I wanted to achieve as it is in the style of the London Satirical Caricatures which originated in the Victorian era. I think it gives you the unsettling idea that the positives you see isn't all there is here.
I think to push this further I could actually use a different word for the negative, possibly closed? That way it could really accentuate the difference between the two. On the other hand, the fact that both say open just with vastly different meanings could add to the success of the animation. I could also add an electric buzz in the background when the image changes to give a more uncanny vibe.
I think another thing I could do is look more at the process the satirical cartoons went through originally, etching them rather than drawing. This could add another layer to the meaning behind my open animation for London and would be a really nice callback to the way the medium I was inspired by in the first place.
There are definitely things I can do to improve this piece but overall I am really happy with it.
Peer Review and Discussion
References
[1] Colour Change. (2020). FAQs – Photochromics. Available: https://www.colourchange.com/faqs-photochromic/. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[2] McAlhone, B., Stuart, D., Quinton, G., Asbury, N. (2016) A Smile in the Mind; Witty Thinking in Graphic Design. London: Phaidon.
[3] British Cartoon Archive. (2021). The Database. Available: https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Overview.aspx. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[4] Jensen, J., 2021. https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=27452&pos=1. [Newspaper] University of Kent, The Next Few Years. Kent.
[5] Garland, N., 2021. https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=NG5669&pos=2. [Artwork] University of Kent, Britannia between Death and the Doctors. Kent.
[6] Bell, S., 2021. https://archive.cartoons.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=78787&pos=3. [Newspaper] University of Kent, A sphere, projecting against a plane. Kent.
[7] Kirk-Wade, E, Allen, G. (2020). Recorded crime. Available: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/#:~:text=Knife%20crime%20by%20police%20force,31%20in%202018%2F19).. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[8] Ismail, N, Kane, H. (2019). 11 things you probably didn't know about the London Underground's Northern line. Available: https://www.mylondon.news/news/north-london-news/11-things-you-probably-didnt-16894413. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[9] Stewart, C. (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the UK as of April 5, 2021, by country/region Published by Conor Stewart, Apr 6, 2021 On January 31, 2020, the first two cases of coronavirus in the United Kingdom (UK. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102151/coronavirus-cases-by-region-in-the-uk/. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[10] Trust for London. (2020). London Key Facts. Available: https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/key-facts-london-poverty-and-inequality/#:~:text=50%25%20of%20London's%20wealth%20is,only%205%25%20of%20London's%20wealth.. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[11] Cycling UK. (2020). Cycling UK's Cycling Statistics. Available: https://www.cyclinguk.org/statistics. Last accessed 6/4/21
[12] Greenspace. (2020). Key London Figures. Available: Key London Figures. Last accessed 6/4/21.
[13] Thomas, S. (2019). Every West End Theatre: The complete A-Z list. Available: https://www.encoretickets.co.uk/articles/every-theatre-in-the-west-end/. Last accessed 6/4/21.
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