S.A. Animation

S.A. Animation from Sam Atack on Vimeo.

Personal Logo Design

I wanted to create my own personal logo to give myself a more professional appearance, especially for creating my CV and online portfolio for placements. I wanted my logo to be very simple, crisp and modern to give a clean  and professional look.

My initials are the main focus of the logo, which I feel makes it more personal to myself.

I chose the colour blue to represent myself as I feel it gives a relaxed feel to the logo, yet I personally think it also shows confidence and trust. 

Cereal Box Net Design

'First Things First' - Design Manifesto

Key words:
Advertising and marketing
Techniques and apparatus
Lucrative, effective and desirable
Skill and imagination
Perception
Inessential 
Reversal of priorities
Growth of commercial culture

My Thoughts:
I agree with this manifesto in terms of i think that graphic designers are wasting there talents in trying to sell dog biscuits etc. as they are not using what they have learnt to there best ability.
Also the manifesto says "we propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication", which I think would be a better approach towards graphic design as it would stop people working in the way they do and create something that people will respond to and make people think in a different way.
For example, instead of advertising a product in a way that just percieves as "buy me", the advertisment may remind the viewer of their childhood, something that grabs their attention and feels more personal. I feel that advertisements with a bit more imagination make it seem more interesting, rather than trying to show off how good a product is and trying to get people to buy it. 

History of Animation

In this module, a lecture I found interesting was about the history of animation. We looked at different techniques used in animation and how its progressed over the years.

The zoetrope, and old 2D animation process was one of the techniques used. This is animation in its purest from and only capable of making short loops. This can also be produced in 3D, I found the DisneyWorld 3D animation by Pixar very impressive as the flashing lights makes you able to see the animation clearly.

Another technique that I looked at is Rotoscoping, which is a process that traces live action. It was first used, hand drawn, in 1915 by Max Fleisher. Rotoscoping is very hard to create life like, stable and slow movement, and is always very jumpy. Koko the Clown was the first ever rotoscope, and the process was popularly used in Snow White.

We also looked at a Cel animation, Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914. This technique produces a more fluid animation, which was very basic but smoother. This animation just basically showed us what they can do. There is no story to the animation, as it just shows the movements of the dinosaur.

An interesting animation that we looked at was by Emile Cohl, 1908, which was one of the first ever animations created. This is a anti realist animation which shows a very chaotic scenario. You can't really tell what happens as you can't see a narrative, and looks like scenes warping into other scenes.

Conditional Design - Participation

In this seminar, we experimented with games from the 'Conditional design workbook. Amsterdam: Valiz.'

For the first task, in groups of 4 we took it in turns to try and make the circle as round as possible until we had made the 'perfect circle'. We found this quite challenging as the bigger the circle got the harder it was to make it perfect. This questions our perception of what is perfect and highlights that each individual may have a different view of this. This is the result of the investigation.

'The Beach'- In the second task, we took it in turns to put a dot in the middle of the largest space on the page until it didn't look empty but not too overcrowded. 'Beaches are ordered without being controlled. No one is in charge.' Leadbeater.C., 2007) This emphasises the uncertainty of result for this exercise. Uncertainty being a key aspect for animator, William Kentridge. This serendipitous approach to working can often lead you to an end point you would have never firstly considered. We each played a part in the creation of this piece therefore, it was unpredictable where other members of the group would put a dot.

 This is the result.

Through observing the results of other groups, we discovered how each group had completed the task differently.

 This shows that people create different outcomes to others when given a task. We all don't see everything the same. This links back to my summary after reading a chapter of Umberto Eco's book, the 'Open Works'. This is also demonstrated when presenting our own approach to design briefs as nobody's work is ever the same. Our interpretations and influences are different therefore, when completing a design brief, we will never conclude with a same end result.

Reference:  Maurer, L.. Paulus, E., Puckey, J., & Wouters, R. Conditional design workbook. Valiz. Amsterdam. Retrieved from https://workbook.conditionaldesign.org/

Leadbeater, C. (2007). The Beach Ethic. In D. Garcia, B. Ferran, C. Brickwood & T. Putnam, (Un) Common ground creative encounters across sectors and disciplines (1st ed.). Amsterdam: Book industry services.

'The Poetics of Open Works' - Umberto Eco

My Summary and thoughts:

Umberto Eco was one of the first people to create the reader response theory. This theory looks at the reader’s experience to the work, rather than what they want you to interpret from the content. This is because everyone has their own interpretations on things even though they are listening/seeing the same thing.

“Open work” suggests that the composition is incomplete, which allows the viewer the opportunity to create their own conclusion from their point of view, and study it in more depth. This theory has changed the way that we perceive things.

When it comes to my design work, I understand that people may see things in different ways to others, which is why I like to make the message I want to get across clear in my work.

Semiotics definition: The study of signs and symbols and their use of interpretation.

Key Words:

Freedom, Communication, Symbolism, Imagination, Semiotics, Observation, Experience, Interpretation

Analogue Communique

This task was to write I am... and finish the sentence with something that defines us. I started by making a list of things that explain who I am. 

I thought about using my own handwriting which I is unique to me. 'I am what I am' signifies that handwriting is part of an individuals identity as everybody's handwriting is different. I found this task to be personal therefore I wanted to show this through typography.

I went on to explore how emotion and feeling can impact my handwriting. I have emphasised the feeling of tiredness and how it can impact the appearance of my writing. I thought about how we feel and act when we are tired. I began to loose concentration and the letters became abstracted. I wanted the type to reflect how I felt. The lettering shows the lack of control and begins to fade, much how we feel as we start to fall asleep.

Feeling cranky or grouchy is also expressed within this style of writing. When tired, its common to become tetchy and easy to snap. 

This shows my development of the 'I am what I am' idea. I have experimented with different media and tools such as pen, ink, paint and paint brushes. By doing this, I have found that type can be impacted by the tools and media used to create it. I will remember this when thinking about how I wish to create my final outcome.

I have scaled up my design to one letter per A3 piece of paper. This has developed my thoughts on the composition of the piece. I consider the emotion of tiredness to show a lack of control, crankiness and sometimes boredom. I have used a black paint to write the words ‘I am tired’ which appears to be a boring colour and significant of night time (the time we sleep). The letters are gestural and can be seen to suggest the lack of control and liveliness. People can become tetchy when tired therefore the fluidity of the lines appear unordered and in some way grouchy and unpredictable. 

I have structured the letters so the word ‘Tired’ drifts out of line, representative of the way we drift off when tired. Also, expressing the ideas of loosing concentration and control.

Character and Front Cover Design

Children's Cereal Box Design - Creating Characters

After Effects - Animating Characters

Animated Character from Sam Atack on Vimeo.