This was my very first project at uni and to be honest I was a little confused. We had been told to wear only black and white all week (which I found surprisingly difficult) and we didn't have a clue what the final outcome would be, we just had to dive in. Studio time consisted of tutors calling out evocative words and playing music as we found ways to represent these words and sounds on paper, all without a drop of colour. I haven't done a whole lot of expressive work like this before, I'm used to photographs and realistic style drawings not marks and textures that can be interpreted in many different ways, yet I really loved the way that textures and layers built up leaving marks behind as new ones appeared on top. Harsh black lines of a deep bass were met with 'elegant' strokes of white paint, whilst areas were taped off and painted over just to be peeled away revealing the impressions underneath.
I think the hardest part for me was making marks on the page without any real plan for the composition or layout, I like to map everything out attempting some sort of balance and have an idea of that the final piece will look like. Instead I tried to get into the spirit of it and splattered some paint and scrawled all sorts of pastels and pens across the page trying not to think too far ahead. I was sure it would look like a complete mess, but I was actually quite pleased with the outcome. The cropped sections that I photographed really explore the layers and textures that were built up with the different materials and the complete contrast of the black and white enhance that even further. The same exercise done in colour would bring a completely different outcome and I really love the simplicity of black and white without anything to overpower or distract the eye.
Overall I love that this project taught me to take risks and try new things - something we're told to do every day in the studio. Experimenting with mark making in this way made me think more spontaneously, rather than well planned polished outcomes I had to think on my feet to communicate in a visual way. Essentially, graphic design is all about communication, whether it's a thought, an idea, a feeling or emotion, a sound, a movement or a word graphic design is about creating a visual message in a very obvious way or maybe in a way that takes a little time to digest.
Comments