OUGD406 Design is about doing: Secret 7"

Secret 7 is an association that helps raise money for a certain charity by getting designers and photographers to proceed sleeves for one of the 7 artists and 700 winners are picked. This year they have joined forces with ART AGAINST KNIVES; a youth-led charity. In association with. Talenthouse we are giving designers, artists, and photographers the chance to design artwork for one of our 7 music artists.working across London to provide creative opportunities designed by young people for young people.

Here are some of last years winning submissions.

Chosen artist:

LAURA MARLING- The Beast

I chose the song The Beast as i could really feel the emotion and passion of the lyrics. I also liked the folksy raw sound of the song.

The Beast Lyrics:

Where did our love go

You will never know

How did you get home

You will never know

Did you catch yourself in the mirror?

It's a sight I understand

You considered it all for a second

And put it down to slight of hand

You know I've been running 'round for hours

Calling my egyptian blood to bear me flowers

Calling sophia, goddess of power

Instead I got the beast

And tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

And here comes to beast

You're okay now, I suppose

You're not pulled by the rope

I'm pulled by the pull on my throat

I'm pulled by the rope

I swing from the trees into the slope

Hold my head high, just by the tip of my toes

And he lies, he lies so sweet that I choke

Tonight I choose the beast

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

And here comes the beast

Put your eyes away 

If you can't bear to see your old lady laying

Down next to the beast

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

And here comes the beast

Look at yourself in the mirror

It's a sight I understand

You consider it all for a second

And put it down to slight of hand

I give you the best, the best that I can

I suggest that you be grateful

That it's your blood on my hands

And assume yourself weaker, the fall of man

And look out for the beast

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

And here comes the beast

Put your eyes away

If you can't bear to see your old lady laying 

Down next to the beast

Tonight he lies with me

Tonight he lies with me

And here comes the beast

LAURA MARLING BACKGROUND INFO:

Laura Beatrice Marling (born 1 February 1990) is an English folk musician from Eversley, Hampshire. Marling became prominent with the London folk scene, she has also toured with a number of well-known indie artists in the UK. Her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim, and her second album I Speak Because I Can were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2008, and 2010 respectively. She won Best Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for the same award at the 2012 Brit Awards.

Interview with Laura Marling about 'The Beast':

http://news.qthemusic.com/2011/12/qa_laura_marling_-_the_singer_explains_all_about_new_poem_and_site_for_the_beast.html

Can you explain how The Beast as a poem came about?
"The first line of the poem was essentially what sparked the idea's behind the album, for one reason or another though, it didn't seem to work as a song. It came from a quote from Thomas Jefferson that I came across in a book called Sisters Of Fortune, talking about the abolition of slavery We have the wolf by the ears and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Blind plagiarism."

Here is a selection of art work from Laura markings. It is very expressive and illustrative. This is the kind of style i plan to use for my vinyl cover.

Vinyl Covers:

OUGD401 Design Context: Politics, Society, Culture and History

In our session we were given four words. one after another after a small period of time POLITICS , SOCIETY, CULTURE & HISTORY. We paired up and had to make an A3 piece of paper into 8 sections. Next to make a list of 20 things 10 each that first come to our head when given a word. 

Politics

• riots
• lies
• news
• unfulfilled promises
• stress
• men
• government
• law 
• society

Society 

• chavs
• alienation
• drinking
• classes
• mess
• culture
• people
• race
• shops
• struggle
• money
• tax
• government
• law police
• dole

Culture

• holiday
• food
• language
• clothes
• fashion
• aeroplane
• destination
• design
• documentation
• tropical
• pop
• religion
• expensive

History

• museum
• nazi
• books
• technology
• lectures
• progress
• architecture
• human evolution
• culture
• war
• wikipedia
• social status
• people
• global

For the second a3 piece of paper we split it up the same but we had to make a list of the positives and negative for each sub category.

Negatives:

• Politics:- stress , riots, decisions , budget, law

• Society:- Chavs , drinking , mess , alienation , drinking , money dole , mess, classes

• Culture:- colour , documentation , religion, expensive

• History:- Nazis , war , social status, people

 What is a manifesto? 

'a written public declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.' Wikipedia

Manifestos are a standard feature of the various movements in the modernist avant-garde and are still written today. Art manifestos are mostly extreme in their rhetoric and intended for shock value to achieve a revolutionary effect. They often address wider issues, such as the political system. 

Manifestos typically consist of a number of statements, which are numbered or in bullet points and which do not necessarily follow logically from one to the next.'
Wikipedia

First things First manifesto:

1964, Ken Garland - a designer
 33 signers

'Its aim was to generate discussion about the graphic design profession's priorities in the design press and at design schools. Some designers welcomed this attempt to reopen the debate, while others rejected the manifesto.' Wikipedia

Incomplete manifesto for growth:

http://www.brucemaudesign.com/4817/112450/work/incomplete-manifesto-for-growth

Bruce Mau 

Hanna Victorsson: Illustrator and graphid designer - posters on the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

 http://hannaviktorsson.com/#an-incomplete-manifesto-for-growth
  

http://99u.com/articles/7005/5-Manifestos-for-Art-Life-Business

'Manifestos are a powerful catalyst. If you want to change the world, even in just a small way, creating a personal or business manifesto is a great place to start.'

'Needless to say, developing a set of principles that you believe in and constantly strive to stand by is an invaluable tool. '

The Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright 

1. An honest ego in a healthy body.
2. An eye to see nature.

3. A heart to feel nature.

4. Courage to follow nature.

5. The sense of proportion (humor).

6. Appreciation of work as idea and idea as work.

7. Fertility of imagination.
8. Capacity for faith and rebellion.

9. Disregard for commonplace (inorganic) elegance.
10. Instinctive cooperation. 

The Marketer: Seth Godin 
1. The greatest innovations appear to come from those that are self-reliant. Individuals who go right to the edge and do something worth talking about. Not solo, of course, but as instigators of a team. In two words: don’t settle.
2. The greatest marketers do two things: they treat customers with respect and they measure.
3. The greatest salespeople understand that people resist change and that ‘no’ is the single easiest way to do that.
4. The greatest bloggers blog for their readers, not for themselves.
5. There really isn’t much a of ‘short run’. It quickly becomes yesterday. The long run, on the other hand, sticks around for quite a while.
6. The internet doesn’t forget. And sooner or later, the internet finds out.
7. Everyone is a marketer, even people and organizations that don’t market. They’re just marketers who are doing it poorly.
8. Amazing organizations and people receive rewards that more than make up for the effort required to be that good.
9. There is no number 9.
10. Mass taste is rarely good taste. 

The Designer: John Maeda
1. Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
2. Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. Time: Savings in time feel like simplicity.
4. Learn. Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
7. Emotion: More emotions are better than less.
8. Trust: In simplicity we trust.
9. Failure: Some things can never be made simple.
10. The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

The Writer: Leo Tolstoy
1. Get up early (five o'clock).
2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o'clock).
3. Eat little and avoid sweets.
4. Try to do everything by yourself.
5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for every minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater.
6. Keep away from women.
7. Kill desire by work.
8. Be good, but try to let no one know it.
9. Always live less expensively than you might. 
10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer. 

The Company: Apple  
1. We believe that we're on the face of the earth to make great products. 
2. We're constantly focusing on innovating.
3. We believe in the simple, not the complex.
4. We believe we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution.
5. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can focus on the few that are meaningful to us.
6.We believe in deep collaboration and cross pollination in order to innovate in a way others cannot.
7. We don't settle for anything other than excellence in any group in the company.
8. We have the self-honesty to admit when we're wrong and the courage to change.

The Holstee Manifesto

The passive aggressive manifesto
created as a response from the other typography based manifestos

Never Give In Manifesto 

www.rachelcarterdesign.co.uk/Never-Give-In-Manifesto#.URZ6mOiUtsM 

A list of design manifesto's

http://backspace.com/notes/2009/07/design-manifestos.php

POLITICAL

In a Political climate when much seems uncertain, especially in regards to the economy. It seems to me that to be a politician these days, you must be an elite. Many of the most powerful politicians of today come from wealthy backgrounds and are not in touch with the real world, so to speak. I believe that this country should be ran by the people for the people. I find it hard to believe that the politicians of today can truly serve the people when they have never walk in their shoes. I believe that we should have an equal government with people of all races and genders, all cultures and classes in order to truly and powerfully represent the people. 

CULTURE

I openly accept all cultures. Learning from different cultures is the greatest way to discover you self and the world around you. I think that in order to gain a true prospective of of life and its purpose i want to be well travelled and to have experienced different cultures for my self.

HISTORY

History has a massive influence in how we see the world today, and the decisions that are made. It is an extremely powerful tool in which improvements can be formed,  nothing should be left untold about history, so long as the evidence is there. Evidence should be shown and used as a tool to shape the future further. I believe we should continue to use and develop only the successful and positive skills learnt in history.

SOCIETY

In a society where people are often penalised for being different, i believe we should strive for an accepting society, where everyone has equal opportunities, and is viewed as an individual, rather than statistic. Prejudice should be eliminated and we should all be accepting of who we are as individuals as well as those around us. 

OUGD401 Design Context: Beauty, Style and Taste

OUGD401 Lecture Notes: Democratic Lecture.

"Design is not your job. Design is about people, your personality and the ability to make relationships work is a massive factor in your employability"

WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN?

"Identify what your good at 

and what you want to do!"

It has become redundant and exists in a small proportion. 

There are two types of design - Logical and Emotional.

Designers that use logic

Utilise 

Clarify function

Rationalise

The communicative elements beyond any other means to present a formal and precise argument to their audience

Designers that use emotion

Use any and everyday form of communication available

Intelligence

BRAND SPANKING

"The deeper you dig the higher you rise

That's were your brand will come from"

It's ubiquitous + bullshit

Corporation is different to branding

The irritation is that branding is now a catch all term

Fed Ex : Consistency + repetition

AOL: As many logo's + dynamic

Context: What it means in the context you are trying to do

PORTFOLIO

"The portfolio is probably the most subjective piece

 of work you will ever design - not everyone's going to like it."

You can have the best portfolio but it is all down to the individual person

Simple portfolios work best

Don't over complicate it

Don't look at trends, be true to your work as it might come back to haunt you

PLACEMENTS

"Placements are a must. .

 it's all about experience!"

WHY YOU SHOULD 

Agency insight

New expectations

Real work

Hone all of you skills

Build bridges ad meet some interesting folk

Put you ahead of the competition

Improve your tea making

Reassure you of your ability make you more confident

WHY YOU SHOULDN'T

Make a loss money - wise

Away for a period of time more often than not alone 

Taken advantage of

GETTING A PLACEMENT

Have a hit list 

Research everything

Show your work before you call

CV - Experience is the main thing

Talk to people who have been through the experience

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU'RE THERE

Be punctual 

A little enthusiasm goes a long way

Be yourself 

Spell their fucking name right

Play the game . . your taking from them to give something back