We looked at the work we brought in, the work others brought in, what we liked, what we didnt like, what we wanted to know more about, why they did it, who they did it for, etc etc. Here are the notes from the session.
CRIT?
- Critically evaluating
- Analysing, giving advice, in a professional manner
- Giving feedback and further comments about why you do or do not like it.
- Opinion on said work
- Group discussion
- Looking at a piece of work against different criteria, e.g. does the work fit the brief? does the work have the intended output?
- Discussion of thought process and experimentation to lead to current point of work
WHY ARE CRITS USEFUL TOWARDS YOUR OWN WORK?
- Take away something constructive
- Always good to know other peoples opinions about your work
- It's better to ask for criticism than praise in my opinion
- Helps you refine your work and improve it further
- Your work is out there with loads of people looking at it, intense scrutinization. It's testing it out there in the real world without any other surrounding information or briefs, so it's basically testing if it does the job. Which is the most important thing at the end of the day
- To take away or provide ideas and inspiration
5 REASONS WHY I THINK CRITS ARE A USEFUL WORKING TOOL
- I think it's a really good test of whether it works, sometimes you can get too lost in the project and it only has the required effect you're after - on you. Without you there, showing it to loads of people really tests your work. Either it'll sink or swim.
- It helps provide ideas and inspirations, when you yourself are critting work. It stops you working in isolation, seeing other work always helps and is important, regardless. You'll always take something from it, big or small.
- It'll only help your work, if people like it, good. If things need fixing, you'll know possible solutions to make it work.
- When you crit it really makes you think of the basic aims of the work, things such as if it fulfulls the brief, does it achieve what it intended to, does it work for the target audience? Sometimes you can lose sight of these things and it allows you to give useful feedback to the designer.
D I E T
Describing ------> What is here?
Interpreting ------> What is it about?
Evaluating ------> How good is it?
Theorising ------> Does it solve a problem?
WORK EXAMPLE 1
What is here?
- Logo/badge for postal service (US)
- Rebrand + brand identity
What is it about?
- It's a logo for a proposed rebrand of the postal service
How good is it?
- Very effective
- Nice use of birdies, symbolic imagery
- Makes something normal and mundane, into something bright, attractive and exciting
- Good use of colour
Does it solve a problem?
- Makes post exciting
- Memorable
- Tempts customers due to appeal
- Rebrands the company into something attractive, smart, bright and appealing
WORK EXAMPLE 2
What is here?
- Typography > Depth
What is it about?
- You can interpret it how you want
- 'Destroy The Machines'
- Could be linked to tech
How good is it?
- Very effective in our opinion
- Dripping oil > a big and current world issue
- machinery > big issue
- Technology > big issue
- Powerful message
- Clear and concise in execution
Does it solve a problem?
- Doesn't seem to be set to some sort of brief
- More of a personal expression
- Unsure of intended message and audience etc.
//
QUESTIONS WE WOULD INITIALLY ASK
Name of work: 'Xylophone Jam'
- Why are the xylophone pegs interlinked?
- What made you use that colour scheme?
- Why are the background black and dots white?
- What do the sticks add?
- What is the xylophone jam?
- Why are there different sized keys?
- Why are they aligned left?
- Why is there an uneven distribution of colour?
Name of work: 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright'
- Is it in reference to the popular song?
- Why fancy borders?
- Why 'alright' so big compared to the rest?
- What's with the ranch american western style text choice?
Xylophone Jam
Most interesting question - What is Xylophone Jam?
Most boring question - Why the black background?
Everything's gonna be alright
Most interesting question - What is the purpose of the poster?
Most boring question - Why the western style font?
HOW WOULD WE FIND OUT THESE ANSWERS?
- Follow them on twitter
- Email them
- Send a letter to them
- Track them down
- Phone them
- Look into definitions
- See if you can find out initial research and project brief
- Find out who asked them and why
REASONS WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO LEARN
- Life is all about living and learning!
- Find more of their work
- Inspiration
- You might find affiliated artists that you really like and/or interest you
- Motivation
- To learn key skills and techniques
In the end from all this practice we managed to come up with...
5 GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK! (I clearly can't count)
- What was the intended reaction from your work?
- What research helped influence and produce the work and how did it inform the final product
- Is there any symbolism or meaning behind your work?
- What is the intended representation of the imagery?
- What context would this work be in?
- What problem are you trying to solve with the work and why?
- How did it develop? Has it changed much from the initial stages and how?
Useful pointers I picked up:
www.fromupnorth.com
skinny ships - typography
0 comments:
Post a Comment