Blog Assignment 7

The Great Depression was a time when societies had to reinvent themselves and build from the ashes of world war. The pain and hardships of the Great Depression subsided enough for societies to envision idealistic, obtainable, utopias for man-kind. Throughout the 20th century science had made advancements that were thought to be impossible. Industrialization had created the middle man in society with the ability to change culture, science and politics.

A common utopia dreamed up from the pages of comic books and children cartoons was that of exponential scientific evolution, feeding of the common place inventions of the 20th century as a muse for unrealistic and unbelievable inventions. In the 1960's it was widely believed that by the millennium humans would have robotic waiters and hovering cars. These ideas and beliefs are key examples of a symbolic universe. A universe inspired by fictitious and non-fictitious inventions alike. Today's symbolic universe is not much different to back then except our utopia resides in the stars. Colonialization of near and distance worlds is a widely followed utopia for man kind.

Media, science, advertisement and politics have huge implications on the growth of symbolic universes because they inspire belief. Belief in utopia drives creation. If the public believes something is possible then the line between what is possible and what is impossible becomes blurred. Science and politics nowadays have constant reminders that our world is fast becoming over populated and the threat of environmental change pushes our gaze to the stars and planets. Film and literature have huge utopia influences these days.

Symbolic universes are everywhere and in numbers but at the end of the day they are simply ideas that humans clutch onto in hopes of one day achieving them, exploration and creation is what makes us human and utopias are symbols of what we can never attain but will always hope for.

Blog Assignment 6

Walter Benjamin's idea that the ability to easily reproduce art works defeats any meaning of authenticity is one of great interest, especially considering the modern age of digital art and reproduction. But I believe there will always be a place for original copies of art works in the modern age. An art works sugnificance in society is meritted on its time and place. For instance a reproduction of an oil painting, such as the Mona Lisa, will never be considered an authentic or original piece of art in todays day and age because the time and place of the original is the reason for its importance, and such is todays art works. 

For a piece of art to hold any importance in society it must have a direct corrilation and link to the society and constraints in which it is created. Todays generation of computer generated art work, no matter how it is created, always has a relevance to time and place, there will always be an original copy of art. Whether it be an idea or situational factor, and for this reason alone the very time and place of an artworks conception has relevance to its authenticity and creation.

With the modern day of technological advances in the art world there has been countless new methods of creating artworks. In turn it has also created new and more advanced ways of creating identical copies of arts, whether it be photos, furniture or even paintings. But the original creation of artwork will always have relevance to the society in which it was created. The principal that a piece of art work is result of the societal effects on cultures and humanity used to be a slow process of creation. The only difference is that the modern day artist can conceptualise and create art faster and more effectively, this does not mean that the ideas or reflections of the artists mind are not original or authentic.

The way in which art is created will never stand still, processes of creating will always change form. But authentic and original artwork will always exist and for this reason it will always have a place in the time it was created.

Blog Assignment 5

Colour theory has been a long and strenuous experiment over many centuries of art. In the 19th century the theory of "colour vision" was created as a way of directly linking colours to their emotional, physiological and natural ties to the world. It was said that colours have unique wave lengths that could be felt in the body as the colours 'true essence'.It was said that the colour red had the strongest wave length and violet had the weakest.

Through the experimentation of artists such as Matisse and Kandinsky colour has now become more then just a means of making art, it has becoming art in itself. Through the many colour theories equated to describing the impact of colour in art we can understand at a much higher level of perception what the artists intentions were when he/she painted the colour on the canvas.

 Colour was used by Van Gogh as an out let for his deeply complex emotional ties with art. His expression of emotion was shown through his use of colour. He said that colour could be used to represent all human nature and emotion, pain and suffering. The idea that colours could speak louder then the subject of his works is a testiment to the colour theory.

Blog Assignment 4

Adolf Loos argued in 1908 that, “The evolution of
culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament
from objects of daily use.” Do you agree or disagree?
Why?

Adolf Loos argued in 1908 that, "The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use." and from a philosophical mind set I believe that this notion can be considered correct. Adolf says "Every period hase its style: why was it that our period was the only one to be denied a style?" By style he is talking about ornament, and by ornament he is loosely tying in the idea that ornament and intricate design goes hand in hand when defining a style of art. To look at [our] period it is clear to see a regression in ornament. Simplification of ornament was the evolution of our current design aesthetic. Adolf comments on the idea that this evolution of ornament was influenced by economics, the idea that time spent on 'ornamation' should reflect the price and value of an item. He describes that ornamenting an item is it not the purpose for creating anymore, that ornamation is retundant in a way because of the way our economy changes aesthetic values. Simplified design is common place in this period because they are faster and easier to make and over-worked embellishments are pointless if the item is be sold. This includes all common place everyday item such as tables, chairs, beds and literally all furniture found inside ones house.

 As you can see by this item Adolf's theory on the progression of ornament is clear to see. This evolution is most definately present in our society and can be viewed in a multiple of ways. Many people find this progression a forward movement in designing the future, others (such as Adolf) see the change as an unstoppable loss of creation and humanity for ornamenting.

Blog Assignment 3

Owen Jones' theory that 'construction should be decorated and decoration should never be purposely constructed' was a comment on the prior design movement, Rococo. He was essentially saying that a designer should have the functionality and purpose of the object in mind before they start decorating its design. In essence the Rococo design era was one that pushed embellishment and over the top decoration to the edge. Owen wanted it to change, he wanted design to be less about over-exuberance and more about designing for the masses. Industrialisation had changed the way in which production of furniture, fittings and literally every other house hold item could be made. He wanted designers to worry less about making individual and complex design and more about simplicity and functionality.

The console table above was created in the mid 18th century, at the height of the Rococo era. It is a perfect example of everything Owen Jone's hated about Rococo. It is complete "decoration constructed". The table legs are thin and over fancified, especially when the table itself is made of marble. It can be seen very obviously that the functionality of this table was not taken into account when it was designed. The marble table slab would have weighed a huge amount and to think the designer though it would be fitting to put it on top of four thin gold legs is not a smart construction design. This table speaks of the Rococo essentials, where it is more important to make an object beautiful and senuous then to focus on the functionality and essential requirements of the object.

Owen Jone's theory is not one which can really be agreed to or disagreed to either for some simple reasons. First of all his theory came from the industrial revolution, a time when consumerism and mass production came into fruition. Creating objects that are decorated after construction is another way of asking them to be mass produced easier. The problem with his theory is that design should not be muffled and stunted just to increase profits and production. Although the Rococo period broke many design rules it was still a hugely expressive and natural design sense and expressive, unique and evocative design should never be belittled.

Blog Assignment 2

This Rococo gold cast 18th century lounge sweet encompasses the style aesthetics common to the Rococo design revolution. Note the exaggerated senuous curves present in the ornamental styling and decorative flamboyance of the gold casted embellishments. This design sense is a result of popular aesthetic at the time in which it was created, a time when form-follows-function had not been concieved and beauty and decoration came first.

The design is impulsive of the organic natural focus of the Rococo period, studying the natural curves present in nature was the way in which individuality came through innovation. The design and styling of Rococo design was a fundamental mimesis of the natural. This can be seen in the lounge sweet above, it shows the direct mimesis of the natural 'S' shape found in the leafs of plants. 

Rococo style was very much focused on the natural shapes of common fauna, utilising the shapes and through the media of gold and silver casting the forms of these shapes as exact representations with no abstraction or form or shape, and the example above is a perfect example of Rococo styling.

Blog Assignment 1

Important design is everywhere. The advancements of technology and materials over the last 200 years has given birth to countless innovations in design. Architectural design innovation is one of the most important as it effects everyone, everyday.

Architecture is an incredibly important design for many reasons. Not only does it help create a safe and strong structure for living and working, it has made huge advancements in the boundaries of materials and how we can use them. Architecture has, and always will be, a means of historical studies as a representation of society and the fundamental design aesthetic in which it was made.

The Real Open Letter

The Real Poster

Precedent image at top. Final poster file form and in situ. Sweet deal. The cow is hand drawn and then vectorized by myself. The typography is from the real word task, all in all it ties together the other elements of the project and plus the illustration would look cool on a t-shirt. Cool. Enjoy

The Real Word

The word is Milk and the "thread" object was also milk. Note the concept page for links to this design idea. I chose the word milk as I thought it was the one word that could easily and instantly describe Fonterra. Obviously they are a dairy company so it seemed fitting to try and work as close to one of their products as possible. I think this concept really paid off.

The Real Concepts

Here is the initial concepulisation process I took when planning the word, poster and letter for my ideas on Fonterra.

Brand

I have chosen Fonterra for my brand

Brand Research for Final Brand: Fonterra

Collaborative Advertisement Exercise

Here is thte groups advert made by Vanessa, Melanie and myself.

Enjoy

Brainstorm Fonterra

Sketches and pictures to come.

Group Logo

this is my logo design for the group activity. The group hasn't decided on a final design yet.

This is the final product for my stop motion film. The format is 720x480 because upload size was too large the first time. Either way it should be fine.

Project 2 Submission: 'StoryBoard' - Media Design

This is my storyboard showing a few stages of the design process in which I took when making the stop motion film.

Project 2 Submission: 'MindMap' - Media Design

This mindmap shows the process I took to come up with the concept for my stopmotion film on concept drawing for media design.

Draft Video Post

This draft video post shows the KIND of stop motion film I will be making, I'm still researching concepts and the way they are created over time. However they will be created with stop motion to create an almost living design as you watch it grow and unfold.
Everything else from the lighting, camera angle, flash and effects is not including in this sample post. 

Click Image to Enlarge

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Images appear as thumbnails so they don't take up a huge space on the blog. 

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Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Axonometric

Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Sketch

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Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Hatch

Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Draw

Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Typography

Martin Grimmer.dsdn101.P1.Identity

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