Week 3: Lecture – Development
Lecture Introduction
In this lecture we continue to present our creative practitioner interview series, which provides professional insight into developing a self initiated project.
This week the creative practitioners answer the following questions:
- What is your development and reflection process?
- How has production, risk, failure and your own personal ambition affected the outcome?
What is your development and reflection process?
Offshore:
“Get your hands dirty”
They can get carried away with the research but one point hey keep in mind is to try and try out the ideas they have soon after to make sure they work or not, if an idea won’t work then it’s dropped.
There are two complimenting styles of working within their studio; one is accurate, clean and neat right from the start whereas the other is the opposite, preferring to try out the different ideas really quickly.
Take a step back or a break – look at things with fresh eyes. This approach isn’t always suitable for a live brief but for their self-initiated they try and enforce this idea of stepping back, they find it’s a more efficient way to work.
Hey:
Develop simple designs. Bring things down to their minimum content needed to still show the idea. The ideas look easy in their outcome but getting to that point is definitely not easy.
They spend a lot of the time used in the project trying to find that level of simplicity.
Frost:
Sees himself as the client which means there will be a lot of reflection on the project. A favourite method is to print things out and display them, look over things again and again making tweaks wherever they’re needed until it’s just right.
Bompass & Parr:
Doesn’t tend to ‘reflect’ as there usually isn’t the time. Information is simply absorbed…
Werkflow:
Interactive processes – introduced workshops to get outside opinions on their work.
With the games industry it’s not always practical to expand ideas too far as improving the style of the graphics, for example, can lead to a huge rise in costs. They found the best method to be by trial and error, then get together as a group and reflect on how things went.
Documenting each project helps them to be able to take a step back when needed, and see things from their audience’s point of view. Projects in their industry can take much longer than in others, they keep themselves motivated and keep thinks relevant by braking long projects into a set of separate deadlines to keep it moving forwards.
Reflection:
Development tends to be like Offshore; get stuck in.
If something is coming together in scribbles and notes then I tend to try it out on-screen. There might be one or two versions initially and sometimes this grows as new things appear during the process. If things don’t feel right after a while working on it then I’ll leave it for a while, usually overnight, and take a fresh look at it to see if it is right or if it triggers a new response.
I prefer to print things out once it’s looking right on-screen, things always look different when you’re holding them, but this rarely happens either because the work is staying as a just-on-screen project until copies get sold or cost becomes a factor.
How has production, risk, failure and your own personal ambition affected the outcome?
Offshore:
Create an environment where they can test and fail an idea. Testing different directions and finding a way to make things work – narrowing everything down to get the correct answer.
New techniques are a factor, a self initiated project is a good opportunity to try new ways of working and is one of the benefits which comes from them and you need to be prepared to make changes to work right up to the last minute of the process.
Things do go wrong but sometimes that brings unexpected and positive results. An example they gave is the poster shown below: when the brighter inks used where exposed to UV light, they began to slowly fade. All planned as far as the client was aware…
Their summing up: If you’re into a project 100%, that will give you the drive and interest to finish it. If you’re not into it 100% you will always find something else to give you a good enough excuse to stop.
Hey:
Their biggest self initiated project is a shop where they can sell all their other self initiated projects!
Things progressed naturally, from showing projects on social media, to an online shop where things were printed/produced on demand, to opening a physical shop.
Frost:
A lack of funding is frustrating when it stops a project from happening. They’re a very busy studio so any opportunity to ‘blitz’ the live projects is a good thing as it helps to give time for their own work, and when things get busy again these are kept in the background until more time becomes available.
Another source of failure for self initiated work is self-doubt – you think you have a big idea but end up talking yourself out of it because you start to worry if the market will also see it as a big idea…
Frost find it difficult to write a brief for their own projects, they’re so used to working with client briefs and sorting problems for someone else. Client projects make you feel needed, that you’re able to help them. There are also parameters to work to, self initiated work runs the risk of never seeing an end.
Bompass & Parr:
Working on jobs you hate mean you’re grinding through them just to get them done.
Workflow:
Their aim to make games more realistic is always controlled by budget and an ambitious script can make the process of development much longer.
They find a big risk in taking too much time to put into their self initiated projects and so keep a close eye on the production techniques. Finding new processes which allow for more content to be make more quickly is something to aim for both for their own projects and for speeding up client work, resulting in more free studio time.
Reflection:
This time I’m with Frost on most of the answers. The project being self-funded usually stops it happening but also self-doubt will kick-in at some point which always shelves a project. It’s the same self-doubt that comes with some stages of a live brief but in those cases there’s someone else to say yes or no, they’re making the decision and not me…
Week 3: Workshop Challenge
This week we expect you to make and produce your self initiated project idea.
- Imagine and make one design response to your self initiated project brief, as outlined on your mood boards. Demonstrate your development. Upload initial ideas and sketches to the Ideas Wall and reflect on them in your blog.
- Make prototypes and experiment with design and production techniques to ensure you engage with your target audience. Do not forget to record all tests, even if they fail, and add them to the Ideas Wall.
- Design and deliver your final outcome, in line with your original aim and objectives.
Output:
I see this week’s output being more text than image. I’m set on writing the manifesto for the festival; the insight, a curatorial statement and tell the theme of the event. The result should be an overview/prospectus style document to be expanded as the project develops.
I’ve been looking into what specifics a curatorial statement should include, is it just a phrase or is it an actual thing?
I looked for examples online and found a guide for content: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5979f27e579fb3cca0a88824/t/59a8a29246c3c499b01e1dfa/1504223890254/curatorial_statement.pdf
Clarity came from this sentence from the guide:
“You want to be specific enough when articulating your agenda to engage the RISD community, but avoid using the kind of art-world jargon that might alienate a general audience.”
“It can be helpful to follow a basic structure—for example, using the first paragraph to establish the overall premise of the exhibit, the second to illustrate the range of artists’ approaches with examples, and the third to suggest the wider significance of your theme. If there’s a particular work that was especially instrumental in the way you thought about the exhibition, it might be interesting to describe that work in depth to draw the viewer into your thought process.”
Another source for examples of statements was: https://www.unboundvisualarts.org/curatorial-statements/
A curatorial statement is actually a thing.
Progress:
I’ve looked at statements from various sites including, on suggestion, those of other festivals and institutions outside of design to get a new perspective on how a festival or event is put across; their approach and their vision for what they want it to be.
Comics Salopia is an inspiring, and bold innovation modelled on Angouleme in France, which is the third largest comic festival in the world, attracting over a quarter of a million visitors to a small town the size of Shrewsbury. We will deliver a truly international arts festival to our beautiful county town on the first weekend in June, Annually.
Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival brings a small army of professional cartoonists from all over the UK and overseas to draw for the public. The event draws a huge audience every year with live drawing of giant cartoons in Shrewsbury Town Square as its centrepiece, alongside live caricaturing by some of the UK’s top professionals.
Our overall aim has remained unchanged since Shrewsbury Bookfest first began – to inspire, enthuse and entertain children through literature and the arts.
For four exciting days, creative and cutting-edge publishers, big and small, transform the Whitechapel Gallery into the London Art Book Fair. Discover a vibrant mix of art books and magazines from around the world.
…The special feature of an ArtNight is the high entertainment factor. Therefore, ArtNights are not only fun, but also provide great opportunities to meet new people or to have a nice evening with friends. The pictures and techniques are taught in beginner friendly way so that anyone can create a great picture on their canvas.
Our main project is the annual IMPAKT Festival, a five-day multimedia event that includes exhibitions, film screenings, lectures, panels, performances, presentations, and artist talks at locations in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
At the heart of transmediale’s activities is the annual festival that has turned into an essential event in the calendar of media art professionals, artists, and students from all over the world. The annually changing themes are being reflected through exhibitions, performances, screenings, and workshops.
(FoR) in its fourth edition, continues to be a showcase for the cinema of the real, investigating the political and aesthetic approaches at its core. Turning our attention to the festival’s founding principles, FoR19 questions the categories, languages, and modes of speech and visibility that define the cinema of the real.
Building community, engaging people. BDF was created to show the world that the city’s design community should be taken seriously. There’s a lot to be proud of in Birmingham, but also a lot of room for growth. We want to spearhead this, engage local communities and businesses, promote designers working out of the city and give the students something to be a part of during & after their study has finished.
Festival statement: Draft
The Shrewsbury Design Festival: Resilience – Bringing Together.
Shropshire is a county full of artists, designers, illustrators, animators, film-makers, cartoonists and comic book illustrators; Shrewsbury serves as a hub to the county peripheries and beyond, it is a place where all these disciplines can be brought together.
The festival is about resilience; ideas get changed or rejected, how do artists and designers deal with competition both from within the industry and from the barriers brought by a play-it-safe client?
Is location a factor when it comes to success?
Through discussions and lectures, we want to bring people together to share their stories, however light or serious, on how they deal with these barriers. What keeps them motivated, relevant. Workshops and exhibitions to engage the wider public and to help understand the role of a designer, to encourage new generations and new ideas to make a more collaborative and creative environment.
Through discussions and lectures, we want to bring people together to share their stories, however light or serious, on how they deal with these barriers and on what keeps them motivated, and relevant. Our workshops and exhibitions will help the wider public understand the role of a designer, encourage new generations and foster new ideas.
Curatorial Statement – Revised:
The Shrewsbury Design Festival: Resilience – Bringing Together.
Our festival is about resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.
Ideas are changed or rejected, barriers are created by play-it-safe clients and competition within the industry grows. But does our location affect our recovery. Does wellbeing and a better life/work balance draw people away from the cities or are the cities where everything happens?
We are a county full of artists, designers, illustrators, animators, film-makers, cartoonists and comic book illustrators; Shrewsbury serves as a hub through to the peripheries and beyond, it is a place where we can bring people together.
Through discussions and lectures, we want people to share their stories, however light or serious, on how they deal with these barriers and on what keeps them motivated, and relevant. Our workshops and exhibitions will help the wider public understand the role of a designer, encourage new generations and foster new ideas.
More advice:
I contacted some of the events mentioned over the past three weeks. Asking initially for a basic do’s and don’ts list. The event director of the Comics Salopia festival has been in touch and we’re planning a meet-up to talk through in more detail.
I’ve also had an email back from Luke Tonge from The Birmingham festival and GlugBrum with some good advice as a starting point. We’re arranging to meet at Design Manchester in November.
I’ll post the results from those two meetings.
This week’s ‘thing’…
Along with the statement, I’ve been looking into what item/s I can show based on this week’s expectations.
The tangible item is a report-type document showing progress so far: evidence of stages and feedback, etc.. It contains written examples and guidelines we could follow, along with outside suggestions and responses to the surveys and research.
A suggested read popped up on Twitter for a meet up event in Birmingham – would fit in well as an event during the festival. One of the issues which started me off thinking of the festival was the apparent lack of interaction between practitioners. Like the old adage: a rat is never more than a few metres away, there are freelancers everywhere.
The Plymouth Design Forum would like to invite entries for the 400×400 Design Challenge.
The 400×400 Design Challenge is inspired by the number ‘400’, as we look to connect design and creativity with the 400 year anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower, which takes place in 2020.
A monthly ‘theme’ will be unveiled each month via social media and entries should be submitted which creatively express ‘400’ in the relevant ‘theme’.
Entries must be 400mm x 400mm in size, with print and digital/motion artworks accepted. Digital submissions should be 1080px x 1080px with motion submissions kept to under 10 seconds. (Full specifications below)
The 400×400 Design Challenge is open for monthly submissions between 1st April 2019 to 31st July 2020. Entries can be submitted by design professionals, students and non-professionals (i.e. everyone!)
Entry to the 400×400 Design Challenge is free.
Visual References
I think it’s a bit early in the project to nail down a definite visual for the event, there’s too much time for the self-doubt mentioned above to show its face and cancel things out so instead I’m saving visuals I find as I’m going along to build up a stock of examples to refer back to when I need to restart my faith!
What to ask
Are you:
An Agency/Studio
Solo Practice
Design Employee
Freelance
Other
What types of event would you like to find at a design festival?
Talks
Discussions
Workshops
Informal meet-ups
Street-based events
Events for children
Events for general public
Design specific events
Would you describe your location as:
Remote
Rural
Suburbs
Town
City
Have you attended any design/arts focussed events, if so, which?
*Text Field*
Would you attend such an event? Y/N
Would you host an event or workshop? Y/N
Would you allow the use of your premises? Y/N
Would you volunteer? Y/N
Would you present/talk about your work? Y/N
Week 3: Reflection
Finding myself getting bogged-down with things which aren’t necessary at this point. I need to decide on clear action points and stick to them.
The manifesto needs to be revisited, to add in more discussion of location to the theme, and to strengthen that message through the rest of the material – I also need to decide what that material should be. I’m starting to induce fear of the next step by making it seem too big.
What am I trying to solve?
What am I trying to say?
Who am I trying to target?
How can I make my approach more manageable?
The main sticking point is deciding what to ask to gain opinions of what the festival should be, need to get these questions more focussed and reduce the number that I’m imagining there needs to be. If the questionnaire is too long or too intrusive, who’s going to take the time to fill it in?
