Introduction to Theory With Dr Anna Powell

'All designs begin with little ideas'

Today was our first lecture for the 'Theory as Practice' module. The module lead, Dr Anna Powell introduced us to Theory or 'How to have an idea'. The aims of the lecture were to: 

• Define theory and consider why we should theorise our practice.
• Discuss how engaging with theory and critical discourse can support or inspire practice.
• Discuss why we should take critical perspective in relation to our own work.
• Look beyond commercial design: Think about ideas, authorship and identity in relation to practice.

‘There is no reading of a work which is not also a re-writing’. (Terry Eagleton  literary theorist). 

Visual Communication

 The colours of the shell logo is iconic, the combination of
bright yellow and red is not only to add a striking appeal
but the reason behind the choice of colours is down to shell's
home initially being in California and the company was keen
to stress their links with Spain to the Hispanic population.

To begin we discussed visual communication. Visual communication is the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or viewed. This is Primarily presented or expressed with two dimensional images including: signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, industrial design, advertising and animation. It explores the idea that a visual message, with or without accompanying text, has a power to inform, educate, or persuade a viewer. 

A brilliant example of a piece of visual
communication is the logo for Shell 
Petroleum. Now think what you like 
about them as a company, but they
 have a vivid and instantly 
recognisable branding. its simple and modern identity has managed to lodge itself into people’s brains so perfectly. The current 
logo for shell is a clear, crisp, minimalist 
design that will always be popular.  

A picture speaks 1000 words

Two quotes shown during the lecture in relation to visual communication I found to be very interesting were stated by John Berger and Lynell Burmark. Those quotes were: 

'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak.' (John Berger, 1972).

‘...Words [spoken] are processed by our short-term memory where we can only retain about seven pieces of information. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched.‘ (Lynell Burmark, Thornburg Centre for Professional Development).

What is theory and why study it?

We were shown an interesting concept, the praxis triangle. The praxis triangle is an equilateral triangle that symbolises balance between three points, in the case of the module the triangle consists of, Theory, Practice and history. It's vital that the three must be present when designing for the design to be considered a solid outcome. 

Theory provides integral structure and framework which can be used to explore or support ideas, develop hypothesis, or as a basis for critique. Theory is about asking 'why?' not just 'how?' something should be designed.

Some noteworthy vocabulary were provided during the lecture, below are the vocabulary and their definitions.

Theoretical Framework - Structure to support a theory

Critique - Detailed analysis and assessment of a subject

• Hypothesis - A supposition or proposed explanation with limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation   

• Meta - Referring to itself or to the conversations of it's genre

• Analysis - Detailed examination of the elements or structure

• Genre - A style or category of art, music or literature

• Synthesis - The combination of components or elements to form a connected whole.

I found this list of to be very helpful, I believe that vocabulary like this will be useful throughout the duration of this course alongside personal development.
  

Daniel Eatock and Conceptual design

Daniel Eatock is a London based artist that is formally trained in graphic design that practices “a rational, logical and pragmatic approach when making work.” His 2012 series of complementary objects, One + One, demonstrates this utilitarian method establishing a range of formal, practical or conceptual conceits connecting two otherwise independently existing objects.” Aka, object mash up. below are two examples of his One + One series

The combination of a megaphone and goldfish bowl?

The combination of a shuttle cock and an egg?

I find Daniel's work to be interesting and inspiring, one his pieces that I liked in particular was the pen prints, with the use of pro markers stood up right on a table with the lids off and a piece of photocopier paper balanced on top he'd create these works of art where the pens would bleed through the paper with a variety of colour he states that "Because i don't make drawings, i wanted to find a way of making marks but without the subjectivity of moving the pen across the page". Below is an example outcome of his pro marker prints. 

after viewing his work I wanted to give the pen print a go myself on a smaller scale due to owning a small amount of markers, as soon as I got home I set up a small table and created a print using A4 copier paper and what markers I had. The following images were taken as I progressed in creating the print.

Here is the set up of the print before removing the lids to the pens and balancing the paper on top. 

Note to self, don't leave work unattended when owning a cat.

An issue that I came across when creating this was that out of the collection of pro markers that I owned they were different types of marker, I had Brush, metallic, neon and normal pro markers. The brush markers proved to be the most effective with bleeding through the paper, however the tips of the marker were much longer so some of the pens didn't even touch the paper. Another issue i came across was that the neon and metallic markers weren't bleeding much if not at all in comparison to the brush and normal pro markers.

To combat this I did attempt to create a print using only normal pro markers but there wasn't enough markers to support the surface area of the paper this also applied to the brush markers. 

As you can closely see the tip of the brush marker in the back left corner is touching the paper whilst the orange pro marker for example was about 1mm out from touching the page. The conclusive print didn't go as planned but the method is still a very interesting way of utilising pro markers. I would like to re-attempt this in the near future with access to a more suitable space and access to more marker pens to work with. This could be achieved in studio at the university.

Here is the outcome of the Daniel Eatock inspired pro marker print experiment

The next blog post will be discussing Eatock's Interpretation of the "first things first" design manifesto, along side will be my own examination of both Eatock's and the "first things first" manifestos including documentation of the relative seminar task of creating a personal design manifesto.