Our Sheffield
"To uncover ‘Our Sheffield’ looking for engaging inspiring, unusual and unknown facets of the city and/or its ‘Peak District’ borders demonstrating insight".
Mapping
As part of the first proper project that I did at Sheffield Hallam Univeristy, we were asked to chose and uncover something about Sheffield's past, present or future and present this in the form of a map. Through thorough research I chose to use the information that Sheffield is the greenest city in the UK. Through this research I looked at the links between nature, trees and mental health and created a visually stunning publication. During the research into nature effects on metal health I fuond that trees and nature have relaxing qualities. I mapped the best areas in sheffield for the nature and trees and created a "Guide to Relaxation in Sheffield" which feautured all of these locations and meditation exercises and stress relief exercises that took the audeince through a tour of relaxtaion.
As a counterpart to this, we were asked to create an audio visual video to accompany this map and this is availible below. This project was really effective and shows my skills of working to a brief with time contraints, skills working with printed media and my ability to use Premier Pro to edit and create an audiovisual video.
VCLP
"Throughout the year you will attend the Visual Communication Lecture Programme (VCLP). You will be presented with an introduction to history, theory and practice. Your task is to make connections between the people, ideas and objects within the lecture programme and then make a visual map of these connections".
As part of the last module of my first year, I was asked to interpret information on the history of graphic design that we learned through a series of lectures throughout the year. Once I had the information, I had to narrow it down to an area of graphic design I found interesting and lay the information out using the latch theory. I chose the history of typography from 35,000BC to the present day and made connections relating from the early days of typography to the present day and explained why these connections were made, This was really engaging and helped me further my skills in how to interpret information and to lay it out in a playful but effective way. The timeline and G fold layout was a really effective way of after the information through the timeline to read all the information without getting bored.
Change The World.
"You are asked to change the world in a positive way through (graphic) design, and contribute your outcome to a group exhibition/crit".
Change the World in 5 Days.
For the project "Change the World", we were given 5 days to positively change the world through graphic design of any media. One of the issues that I really care about in the world at the moment is Ocean pollution as we are 100% to blame for it and something needs to be done soon to stop this having a lasting impact. I designed a series of posters to raise awareness for the impacts thar out plastic use has and used a visually striking way to provoke the audience think about this. I chose the 3 most loved animals from the ocean, I gained this infomation through doing surveys and the 3 that came out on top were; Sea Turtles, Sea birds (albatross) and Dolphins. I wanted to visulaise the animals consuming this plastic and through the deisgn process I came up with the idea to show these platic items making up the animals.
The first idea was to design a series of posters, then little cards to be handed out when plastic items are purchased such as plastic bottles and displayed them in the exhibition. After this I developed the idea and decided to format this media on the labels of plastic bottles to show the consumer just where this goes once they throw it away.
Sheffilately.
"Each of you will be given a rectangle of Sheffield to explore, research and document. You are then asked to interpret your findings in the form of a postage stamp, ready for an exhibition & crit on Friday."
Sheffilately.
As part of the Sheffilately project with Common Curiosity. I was asked to design a stamp of a given representative of Sheffield. I was given an area in the University of Sheffield area of Sheffield and in the middle of it was the Sir Fredderick Mappin building. Once I found the area I was going to represent in the stamps I Took photos of the building and began researching The parts of the building that stood out to me the most. The 3 things were the architecture, the name, and what was taught in that building. The first stamp is a vectorized illustration of the buildings very unique architecture, the second one is the man who founded the university of Sheffield Sir Fredderick Mappin and the last is an illustration representing computer science, which is taught in the building. These were striking, aesthetically pleasing and was received very well by Common Curiosity.
Unpackaging.
"Over the course of the week you will each be creating an exhibit to add to the exhibition. To do so you will be given one piece of existing packaging as a starting point. You are to research every aspect of your piece of packaging, using primary and secondary methods, to find one killer thing about it. You are to then take that thing and present it conceptually, without words*, as an exhibit in the gallery. This could take the form of a new object, a film, a performance, a proposal: the choice is yours. However, the outcome should be relevant to the thing you’ve discovered".
For this Brief I was given a piece of packaging or an EE sim card and had to find a killer thing about and conceptually present it in an interactive way. I went into the EE store and interviewed a worker their and gained valuable information about their values and mottos "Connecting Everybody". With this motto in mind I wanted to create something that allowed people to connect with each other and to bring people together so I looked at signal hotspots in Sheffield that I found out by looking at cell towers, so that people could not only go there for the best signal but also by going there it brings people together and helps connect people through physical means too. The physical leaflet and a digital map of all the areas were the final outcomes that and was in a conceptual fashion.
EAOT.
"Gather a complete knowledge about one single thing1 and make it accessible for public consumption in the form of a physical publication2. Use your original object from the Unpackaging brief. Building on your original findings, interrogate your thing through primary and secondary research methods to gather a completec understanding of it".
Everything About One Thing.
Everything About One Thing brief which is a book documenting my journey of exploring every number I was given in a week and how it effects us as humans mentally and does this make us any less human?, Also which companies could potentially have a database of our information on hand to anyone who needs it. This project was very successful and I received a lot of positive feedback and was described to be very effective. Overall this was a very successful project and even though there were issues with printing and generating ideas and getting focus from such a broad body of research I really enjoyed this project and it gained a very positive response.
Vectorised Illustrations.
To represent the number that I was given in a week I drew them up on illustrator and started manipulating and moving around the forms, positioning and colours to represent the brand identity of the company, such as the McDonald's colours being Red and yellow. By doing research I found the spot colours for each brand and created a visually striking illustration that represented the brand. These had to be easily recognisable and the form had to do the same, like the McDonald's chips.
RPR File.
"Create a printed, bound and designed document containing your research, process and reflections for the entire GDC module (minimum 120 pages, 3,000 words)".
Research Process Reflecion.
As part of the submission for the first module of my 2nd year we were asked to produce a RPR file which we had to document all of our research process and reflection for all of our projects for the module. Through this I gained valuable experience in how to analyse mine and other people work and how to feed forward to bring everything together. I also learned a lot about layouts, grids and visual hierarchy to create an effective publication.
T&T
"investigate and research a given topic to reveal often hidden questions and perspectives within both quantitative and qualitative data. Represent the information or data in a creative visual form in order to provoke an audience".
Risograph Printing.
As part of the T&T module, We had to pick a political issue that we wanted to protest or praise in a provocative way. I chose climate change and recycling. As part of the module we created infographics that we then printed on the Risograph printer. Above were the outcomes. for the second one we used blender to design a 3d model which we then 3D printed to go with the 2D key. I chose "The Root of the Problem" Where I delved deeper into the reasoning behind the low recycling rates in countries in the EU including the UK.
Interactive book.
For the phase 1 of the 3rd brief In T&T, "Design a provocative piece of design small enough to fit in a pocket. Ideally it will be interactive in some manner. This forms the beginning of brief 3, you will use this to test out design ideas that form part of phase 2", I designed and printed an interactive publication "who are we hurting?" that went through and described all of the affects that our impact on the planet are having on our wildlife. Each page has a vectorised illustration that playfully works together with the text on the page and is covered with stickers that are peeled to reveal the provocative information.
Web Design.
For phase 2 of T&T, "Building on the work in phase 1 you should develop the ideas into a more ambitions piece of work. The final form of this work should be relevant to the subject", I designed a website that was accessable through a qr code printed on a coffee cup sleeve that gave the viewer a more detailed explination of what was happening to the most endagered animals on our planet. This helped me develop skills in web design and using the sofware Mobirise.
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