Visual communication project 6
Craft lessons introduction [Dumbells]
This was the introduction lesson where my lecturer Graham introduced himself as well as enlightened us on what is expected of us as visual communication learners. My lecturer Graham used an effective analogy of him being a personal trainer at a gym, which is a perfect way to explain his role as an educator and how like a personal trainer guides a work workout he would guide us learners to successfully learn.
- The first craft lesson was also a briefing of assignments that were a yearly ongoing assignment.
- The lesson was informative and insightful as to what was expected of us.
- We also created a contract with the lecturer to produce 3 works within the course of 3 weeks.
- I found this task to be helpful. Graham also stressed the importance of showing up to class.
Ink pen technique and trick and Photoshop
In this craft lessons, the lecturer showed us how to use a Coke can a pen and some tape to create our own ink pens to make our own typography or drawings.
- I found this technique to be quite useful in creating my own unique typography.
- We dipped our makeshift pens into some Ink to create typography.
- The lecturer showed us how to take this typography and put it on to Photoshop and illustrator.
- I realised that creating visual communication content but not exclusive to digital software and drawing but also using these different techniques to create content.
- The lessons were fun and interesting, and I learnt a lot in terms of different techniques.
After experiencing these craft sessions, I knew I would enjoy the core module of visual communication.
Album cover Love is Rage
In this craft lesson, we worked on our executions that we agreed to complete. The lesson entailed getting feedback from peers and Ghram. The lessons allowed us to give constructive feedback to each other. The lecturer offered one on one time with each student to ensure that students received the attention needed and feedback that was required.
- I had created an album cover using photoshop as well as using the physical ink pen technique to create typography.
- The album cover I was redesigning was for a rap album called “luv is rage”. The message and concept I had been going for in the execution was heartbreak.
- The message was strong however the execution needed work.
- This execution was the first few pieces that I had experimented with and was not all that successful.
Iconic sticker lesson
The lecturer though us how to create stickers, what elements the stickers need and how we need to have a cool concept to link the illustration.
The next few lessons we spent refining other executions. We also experimented with developing stickers. The idea was to create quirky quick messages that had meaning. I also learnt that the stickers needed to be iconic. This was an interesting lesson because it allowed me to work with anything, not being restricted to a specific topic. Naturally, I went with the topic of cars, speeding etc.
Another aspect of these lessons we were encouraged to bring in cool techniques we learn from social media or other platforms and share it with class members and our personal trainer Mr Ghram. The techniques that were shown in class was very insightful, I learnt how to make 3d neon light typography, use Pathfinder and create contrast with cool 3-dimensional effects. I learnt a variety of new and exciting techniques.
Mark Colan
In this craft lesson, we had a look at an illustrator, his works and his creative process, the idea of this lesson was to show us how industry influences and individuals can have an influence on us students. This lesson tied in on our project on influencers. I found Mark Colan. The process of Mark Colan was discussed in the lesson in dept among students and the lecturer.
30-day challenge
Hirsch’s Water bottle label
In this craft lesson, we worked on a competition to design a water bottle label for the appliance company called “Hirsch’s”. The competition was to design anything for the water bottle design, we were advised to make the design convey a message.
My message that I aimed to use was a technology reason being that Hirsch’s products and services involve technology and appliances. I tried to use a circuit board design to illustrate that the brand associated with technology. I wanted to have the circuit design to embody a shape of a water droplet to indicate the relation between the two. The label was structured to be transparent to achieve the desired results.
Mielies campaign (corn culture) design jam.
Design jam was an amazing experience, where the class visited ‘Warwick Avenue’, where we had a tour of ‘Warwick market’, the idea was to experience the mielies and have an observation of the process of how mielies were sold. It was interesting to see how mielies started at point A and made it point B in a short period of time and how fresh the mielies were. We also were briefed in on the informal mielie sales that brought in huge yearly revenue.
The briefing mentioned points that the sales were illegal, and the city officials disapproved of these informal mielie vendors trying to make a living. This campaign Corn culture was a drop brief. The brief involved partnering up with random class members and working together on the brief within a short time frame. The concept of our campaign was to target city officials and tourists by making the mielies proudly South African which will improve the tourism industry. The campaign included getting a South African artist to create a mielie artwork which would capture the concept of the campaign.
Card games
This was an in-class task where we had to partner up with gaming students and help them design their assignment which involved making a card game. In the lecture, the gaming students were brought in to pitch their game ideas to the class and at the end of their presentation, we as visual communication students were given an opportunity to choose the game idea we would like to work with.
- I had picked a card game that was a strategy card game that involved battling at war, the name of the game was FIELDS OF BATTLE.
- I had selected this game because of the potential it had in terms of creative aspects.
- While working with this task I found some difficulties with trying to adjust text in photoshop, in class I explained the issue to my lecturer, not only did I learn how to adjust the text.
- I also received regular feedback on the task and how to improve which I took heed of and at the end of the project the student was pleased with the results.
Semester 2
Cold start craft session [cold start audio]
In this lesson, the le lecturer Graham welcomed us for the second semester and reminded us of the agreement we had with him to create executions. He also explained how we can create executions daily and have enough for the portfolio we are required to have at the end of the semester. The lecturer Graham introduced us to a real design competition that we could take part in,he helped us create a concept for this competition.
The competition that was introduced was called ‘ The number one Mague’ which is a brand that produces refreshing healthy drinks.
Number One Mague
Number one Mague is a healthy drink that held a competition to design a carton for their banana flavour drink. The prize of the competition was 10 thousand rand. I found out about the competition on Instagram. Later that week in the craft sessions the lecturer introduced us to the competition. In the craft lesson, we had an option of either working with the Mague competition or another competition that he introduced us to.
I selected the Number one Mague competition. The idea of this drop-in brief was to design the carton telling a story. The lecture sparked ideas like using shweshwe texture patterns and so on, the lecture also gave us a technique to generate ideas where we were given the task to create 30 illustrations in 10 seconds getting a variety of ideas and just illustrating the basic concepts. This was a helpful technique to generate ideas and get concepts flowing. Not only were we taught an effective technique we also got a chance to present these ideas that we generated to the class and lecture to get feedback which lead to opening up a dialogue between peers and the lecturers.
The concept that I selected and came up with was to illustrate the different ways which the drink Number one Mague could be perceived as.
Storyboarding craft session
This was an interesting lesson where we had to create a storyboard in six blocks for a video that was played for us in class a few times. This was exciting, watching a video and storyboarding the footage. The idea was to create a storyboard directing the video to get an identical result. This activity was aimed at teaching students how to storyboard. I learnt from the lecturer that when working with storyboards camera angles time periods and footage description important aspects to consider and a key aspect is to consider that the storyboard needs to contain a message and give guidance to directors on how to film according to the story board.
The next activity we engage in was to close our eyes to imagine any footage that comes to mind and to picture all the different outcomes the clip could have played in. The lecturer also asked us to imagine ourselves in the clip and what are the different perspectives. This was an activity aimed at getting an idea of how to storyboard and what are elements to highlight when creating a storyboard. This was a fun activity. After imagining ourselves in the clips and imagining the different outcomes when filming the clip, the lecturer asked how to recreate the clip onto a storyboard. After we created the storyboard we switched places partnering up with different people in the class and discussing Our Storyboard and how we could redirect or edit Our Storyboards and what elements we could have done better.
After all of these creative methods of teaching, we had individual feedback with the lecturer on our progress and how the activity gives us an insight into storyboarding. The lecturer spoke about how storyboarding is crucial to creating any sort of movie, short clip or scene. The lecture also explains how animators are always engaged in storyboarding and finally when they are ready then they start to animate. The about of explaining and teaching about storyboarding and aspects regarding creating storyboards is very insightful and relevant for the current project that students are engaged in.
I learned a lot from the lecturer about storyboarding and what are the key areas to focus on and how to create a successful and detailed storyboard. I learnt that the audio, time frame and description of each scene is important areas of storyboarding.
The art of persuasion
In this lesson, we engaged in a lecture we were enlightened about the art of persuasion in advertising and how brands sell an image which appeals to target audiences. We had discussed and learnt about AIDA. The lecture also entailed demographics, psychographics and discussions on how visuals are key in conveying information and persuading target audiences.
AIDA
- Attraction – content needs to capture the audience’s attention
- Interest – needs to be unique to keep viewers invested
- Desire – appeal to the viewer
- Action – this is what you want the viewer to do
I also learnt that visual element needs to have quick appeal to viewers to take an interest. The visuals need to marry the brand. We learnt that we need to have a simple visual to convey messages.
This lesson took a turn where I learnt something interesting, this was the process of taking a brand and mind mapping attributes related to the brand, product, service etc. With the attributes generated select one and find other similar or unrelated visuals to convey a message. This section falls under the category of art direction.
An Example used in class was Jungle Oats.
The attribute was “filling”
The unrelated metaphors similarities: gas tank gauge, pothole, bank account etc.
The lecturer showed us how to convey the message of filling by using visuals that catch the eye as well as successfully conveys the message. The lecturer took the visual of a bowl of cereal and put a fuel gauge above the bowl to indicate that jungle oats is filling.
The next example he used is the visual of a road with potholes and the jungle oats being used to fill the pothole.
Muqeet Hoque 