Thursday 28th April 2011:

Today I continued with the poster idea sketches in my sketchbook. I added different materials like tippex, masking tape and pen, which I think helps to make them stand out more. Although I want most of my poster to be digital, I could explore taking these materials, etc, further in a digital format to add more depth, etc, to my posters.

I also had another informal peer review. The comments and ideas which I have taken from this were that, perhaps another slightly different alternative idea for the sentence ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’ could be ‘calling me names won’t make me change’. Although this is quite a good idea and gives quite a strong message, it could maybe make the bullies think ‘well if it doesn’t make them change/ they aren’t effected by it, then what’s the harm of me calling them names’, and so perhaps this wouldn’t work as well as some of the other ideas. It was also mentioned that the page in my sketchbook inspired by Ros Rixon works well and is effective as well as the cut out ‘beautiful’ on the page about ‘calling me ugly wont make you beautiful’ and the page ‘what may influence a bully’, which is a page which I wasn’t too sure about. It was also suggested that I could write a poem about bullying to display/use. This is quite a good idea which I may pursue further if I have time. For the page about ‘who will you be today’, they mentioned perhaps putting the options in the opposite order to say bully, victim and then neither to show that you can pass those choices to lead to ‘neither’, I hadn’t thought about this when creating the image, but this probably would’ve worked better. Also, the page about the three different types of bully – perhaps I could visually show these different types using images instead of just words, which is something I had already considered and will explore if I have time. Also, they mentioned how I hadn’t really used the style of Nathan Ford on the page where I explored his style, which I agree with and so for future work I will try harder to be inspired by the artist’s work.

When they looked at the playing card page, I think they thought it was quite effective, but it was also mentioned that it looks quite a bit like a tarot card. Perhaps this is something which I could explore further, and the fact that, for example, the bully can affect the future of the victim. Also, I could look at the famous evolution image (with the apes) and show this as the victim turning into the bully, etc.

They then looked at my photo book. They suggested I slightly change the image of the ‘person’ on the photo of the phone, etc, to turn it into a girl. This is a good idea because it’s usually girls who would act in this way and call someone the names in the image. Also, the ‘negative’ style photos of the paper rings reminded them of wristbands and perhaps I could create images with anti bullying wristbands in or even make my own, etc. To make my eyes sadder in some of the photos, I could perhaps smudge my makeup/make it look like I’m actually crying, etc. This is a good idea and will hopefully work and be useful if I use this image in my final piece. They also liked the image of the shoes and shoelaces spelling out ‘victim’. They felt that it was easy to read and that dots above the ‘i’s’ wouldn’t really be needed. They also liked the ‘ghostly’ blurry, double image version, as it’s quite effective. Overall, the comments were really useful, especially at this stage of the project, and I will take them all into account when continuing with my work.

I also asked for their opinions of the initial digital letterhead/business card ideas. I have started putting a tally next to each design which has positive feedback so that when I develop these further I will know which ones are worth pursuing. It was suggested that I stick with the colours of blue and brown, but to perhaps use different shades of these colours (eg: a lighter blue and a darker brown). Also, a few different ideas were also given to me which I could explore further. It was also suggested that I could make the lines on the business card (where the two lines are joined in each corner of the card) bigger as this may look better. However, so far the people who I have asked agree that as long as the style is similar then the business card and letterhead don’t need to look exactly the same to work well together. I was also reminded that business cards sometimes have the design and logo on one side and the important information on the other side, which is something I hadn’t considered and so will keep this in mind to see if it can improve my designs. Also, there are mixed views on the plaster design for the business card - some really like it and some don’t. I am not too keen on it and feel that I should choose a design, which the majority like, and so probably won’t develop this idea further.

Target for today: Continue with sketching out ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with sketching out ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Wednesday 27th April 2011:

I wanted to think of an easier way to create the 3D type letters for the word ‘ugly’, and came across some blocks of foam, which I thought would work well. Cutting out the letters was much easier and I think that if I covered the edges, etc, with black card they would actually work really well. If I decided to use 3D type on my final piece, I will keep this in mind.

I also completed the toothpaste visual, which I think looks quite effective and unique, which possibly engages the viewer more. Perhaps the writing could have been written onto a drawn twisting line of toothpaste coming out of the tube to make it look more like toothpaste, however, I think that this still works well and makes it easier to read. I also added the words ‘think before you speak!’ down the side of the page to make sure that the message is given out clearly. I don’t think I would use this particular ‘toothpaste’ idea in my final pieces, as it’s quite ‘childish’ and would be hard to relate to bullying from a quick glance. However, I could explore the concept further which could make my posters, etc, more interesting.

I then went on to sketch a few final poster ideas in my sketchbook. I wanted to explore the sentence ‘calling me ugly, won’t make you beautiful’ further and so came up with a few alternatives. These were: calling me ugly won’t make you good looking, calling me fat won’t make you thin, calling me stupid won’t make you clever, calling me a geek won’t make you cool and calling me a loner won’t make you popular. These are more ‘unisex’ than ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’, and so may work better, however, I still feel that perhaps this one gives out the strongest message about the un-necessity of bullying. Also, I’m not too sure about the idea of ‘calling me fat won’t make you thin’, as this could give the wrong idea and could lead to promoting eating disorders, etc. The sentence ‘calling me stupid won’t make you clever’ could also work well because this also relates to when someone tries to act ‘clever’ by being mean to others and so could be read and interpreted in more than one way.

I then drew these out as poster ideas, which I will continue with tomorrow. I think they will be more useful and effective if I add different materials to make them more interesting and to explore what different materials I could use.

Target for today: Continue with 3D type and toothpaste illustration, and sketch out lots of ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with sketching out ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Tuesday 26th April 2011:

Today I was able to speak to my tutor about my work after the Easter break. When I spoke about wanting to create 3D type, she suggested looking at ‘Why Not Associates’ (and Wolfgang Weingart) who have, in the past, used 3D type which they would then take photos of and use this in their work. I found this interesting as I had not considered creating it and using the photos within the final poster idea, only actually having the 3D type on the poster (to make it unconventional and interesting). I will consider this when creating further ideas for the final piece. I also spoke about my idea of using one of the photos I had taken where the lighting had made my mouth ‘disappear’ and then to have ‘lost your voice?’. She thought that this was a powerful image and that this could work well, however, the eyes would need to look sadder in the image in order to create an even stronger message. I showed her my most recent piece with the stitching and sewing and how I wanted to relate this to the name tags which are sewn into children’s school clothes, etc. She suggested actually taking close up photos of these nametags or perhaps creating the message, which I am trying to give, digitally on the nametags. I quite like this idea and will try to pursue it if I am able to. I then spoke about my main idea for the bully poster (with the quote ‘calling my ugly won’t make you beautiful’), which although is a strong message, I had realised that this would mainly only appeal to girls. My tutor then suggested thinking of similar phrases that could appeal to boys too and then to choose one after doing this because as least then I would have explored alternatives. It was also suggested that I could have lots of reasons for why people bully and then to pick out a sentence from these sentences to stand out on the poster – I really like this idea and will try this to see if it works well. She also felt that my lino prints could be taken further into these ideas because the different use of digital fonts worked quite well.

I then used black card to start creating the 3D type letters for the word ‘ugly’. I wanted to pursue this from the piece I had done in my sketchbook where I had created the word ‘ugly’ using material and padding, etc. I have created similar 3D type letters twice before for others projects, however, these would have to look ‘perfect’ if I were to use them on my final poster. It was quite hard and time-consuming to make the 3D letters and I was only able to make the ‘U’ and the ‘G’ today. I found it quite hard to get them to stay in shape, etc, and so I will need to think of easier ways to create these 3D letters (or if I still want this effect on my poster), which I will explore further tomorrow.

I also begun creating the visual for the idea of showing toothpaste as an example of once something is out, you can’t take it back (like words). At William Ransom School, the Head teacher told me about how occasionally they have assemblies where one of the teachers squirts toothpaste all over the floor. All of the children are shocked by this, but he then goes on to relate it to bullying, saying about how once it’s out, you can’t take it back, ie: once you’ve said something, you can’t take it back. They seem to understand this well and so I thought it would be interesting to show this in my sketchbook. So far I have drawn out a toothpaste tube, which I will then add colour to and add the words ‘once it’s out, you can’t take it back’, next to this in my sketchbook in the style of toothpaste. I changed the words on the toothpaste tube to say ‘bullying’ and ‘stop’ to make it more relevant and unique, which I think works well so far. Perhaps I could further explore looking at everyday objects and see how they could relate and be manipulated to relate to bullying/ anti-bullying.

Target for today: Create 3D type for the word ‘ugly’ (mini version), to see what this could look like on my poster and create a visual for the idea of showing toothpaste as an example of once something is out, you can’t take it back (like words), which is a visual idea used at William Ransom primary school to prevent bullying.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with 3D type and toothpaste illustration, and sketch out lots of ideas for both the victim and the bully posters, in sketchbook.

Monday 25th April 2011:

Today I was able to get my selected photos developed which I have then put into my ‘photography book’. It was quite a useful process both selecting the photos and deciding which ones to place with each other because this helped me to understand what emotions can come from bullying and how to best show these to the viewer. The black and white photos work especially well, in my opinion, and perhaps my final poster ideas could be black and white, but with some colour in order to catch the eye of my target audience.

I also created some digital versions of my drawn letterhead and business card ideas. These have turned out quite well as initial ideas and I think that once I have designed the final logo design and am able to place this onto the letterhead/business card, then I will be able to just make a few changes to these initial ideas to create the final piece. I still feel that the blue and brown work well together, but I should try a few different colour combinations just to see what they could look like.

I quite like the design with the simple line across the top and down the side, as this looks quite professional, but still unique and keeps it simple. I’m not too sure about the design with the line in the top middle (with the logo above this), and the line down the side as it makes the writing quite ‘trapped’. Although this is how the bully/victim may feel, this isn’t what I want my organisation to have as their main message – I want to give the message of feeling free and better once being helped by my organisation.

In terms of the business cards, I quite like the design with the two joined lines in each corner as this is quite attractive and unique and still leaves enough space to display all of the important information. However, perhaps I should use the design which goes with my choice of letterhead, as this would show a ‘house style’. On the other hand, I still feel that my choice of business card and letterhead work well together as they still have the same colours and the idea of using straight lines as part of the design. I may need to ask for opinions on these to see how others feel about this. I don’t particularly like the idea with the plaster across the top, as this looks quite amateurish and ‘childish’ (when my company is appealing to mainly teenagers, and some adults on the business side). Therefore, although this idea looked quite effective in my sketchbook, it doesn’t work that well when presented digitally and so I probably won’t be using this design for my final business card.

Target for today: Get photos developed and start creating further logo/letterhead/business card ideas digitally.

Target for tomorrow: Create 3D type for the word ‘ugly’ (mini version), to see what this could look like on my poster and create a visual for the idea of showing toothpaste as an example of once something is out, you can’t take it back (like words), which is a visual idea used at William Ransom primary school to prevent bullying.

Sunday 24th April 2011:

Today I completed annotating my sketchbook up to where I have got to so far. This was a useful process because now I know which ideas I could develop further which I have not yet done and I have been able to reflect back on my work and see the progress and development from one piece to another.

Target for today: Annotate sketchbook in detail relating back to research and considering how to develop each piece further.

Target for tomorrow: Get photos developed and start creating further logo/letterhead/business card ideas digitally.

Saturday 23rd April 2011:

I found some ‘scoubiedoo’ strings, which people used to use at school to make bracelets, etc, and thought that these would be quite a unique (and relevant – relating to primary school, etc) material to use. They were quite hard to get used to sewing down into the right shape etc, but I think it’s turned out quite well because of how unique it is. It is quite hard to read though, so if I were to do it again I would consider using a simpler type style (and perhaps capital letters instead), etc, so that the piece of information is able to be given across clearly.

I then completed the rest of the piece using red thread for the ‘physical bullying’ with red beads to add some more tactile qualities to the piece. This has turned out quite well and is easy enough to read. Perhaps the whole piece would’ve looked better if created in a similar style to this section, as it’s still unique but a lot easier to read than some of the others parts.

I think the overall piece has turned out quite well and I tried to make it also resemble the nametags, which get sewn into children’s school clothes, and also to (in some ways) resemble the simple way which a child would sew (eg: small stitches). I could perhaps take photos of sewing like this and use this within my final pieces, however, I’m not too sure if this would look very effective.

Target for today: Continue with sewing piece further using new materials and annotate sketchbook further.

Target for tomorrow: Annotate sketchbook in detail relating back to research and considering how to develop each piece further.

Friday 22nd April 2011:

Today, I continued with the sewing piece using a range of sewing materials. I created the word bullying’ in a way as to make it slightly padded. I wanted this particular word to stand out more than the others, and I think that this has worked out quite well. It may be slightly hard to read, but this may help to engage the viewer more to see what the sentence says.

I also used embroidery thread to create thicker lines. The section ‘can last for life’ is quite hard to read unless you really concentrate so perhaps this could’ve been produced to a higher standard and in a different, simpler, style of type. I will try and keep the rest of the sewing, etc, quite ‘linear’ so that it’s easier to read and perhaps think of unique materials to use to create this.

Target for today: Continue with sewing piece and annotate sketchbook further.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with sewing piece further using new materials and annotate sketchbook further.

Thursday 21st April 2011:

I have now decided which photos I want to get developed, and so have sorted these into the correct sizes (some smaller than others), etc, ready for developing. I also annotated my sketchbook further and in more detail (relating to my research), so that I am (and others are) able to see the links I have made during the development process.

I really wanted to experiment with a material which I am not used to and hardly use to both challenge myself and hopefully create some new effects. Therefore I decided to choose a piece of information from my William Ransom Primary School notes to use to sew onto a piece of material. I decided to choose ‘They agreed that bullying can last for life and that verbal bullying can last longer than physical bullying’, as this is quite an interesting and strong message to received from Year 6’s. I then chose different fonts and type styles for each section and drew this out onto a piece of calico. I think that this will hopefully look quite effective and will make people want to read it. I also sewed the simple sentences using black thread to keep those parts simple, and I will continue to sew the rest of the piece tomorrow.

Target for today: Choose photos for developing and edit sizes, etc. Annotate sketchbook in detail further and begin to sew/stitch a piece as a response to the answers/comments given from the children at the primary school.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with sewing piece and annotate sketchbook further.

Wednesday 20th April 2011:

I looked at the work of Ralph Steadman again today and decided to create a piece inspired by his piece ‘Vintage Syrah’. I liked the idea of having a playing card with the bully on one end and the victim on the other and having them joined together in the middle to show that ones controls/influences the other.

I particularly wanted to focus on the actual image, but I also considered Steadman’s use of black and line detail and tried to incorporate this into my work. I really like the end result of this piece and feel that it’s a strong and unique image.

It was really important to make the victim and the bully almost identical to yet again show how the bully can also be a victim, and that perhaps those being bullied are then influenced to bully. It was therefore also important to have them joined together in the middle to show this connection and how trapped and tied to each other they can become (ie: one doesn’t work without the other). I decided to also illustrate this in a ‘twisted’ design to show how hard it is to break away from this cycle and how complicated bullying can be at times. I think that this message is visually communicated well and that this could be something which I explore further when trying to show this relationship.

I am also quite proud of the actual drawing itself, which I based on some photos I had taken before (representing the bully and the victim). One thing I noticed was that having the victim at the top of the image (when stuck in my book), worked better because when the bully was at the top, the victim actually looked quite ‘mean’ as well upside-down and I therefore decided to place the image in my book this way up to really show the contrast between them. Also, this piece works well with the grey background as it’s neutral but also quite messy and distressed to convey the emotion behind the piece – and it’s also the sort of background which could relate back to the work of Ralph Steadman.

I feel that this piece is quite engaging and would make my target audience want to look at it, however, if seen from far away it may be quite difficult to understand what the image is and what message it is trying to convey, so perhaps this wouldn’t work as part of the poster design. However, it’s an interesting concept which I could consider developing further to perhaps make it easier to see and understand simply.

I also wanted to show in my sketchbook the three main types of bully (which I read about in the ‘Bullying’ book). These are: the aggressive type, the anxious type and the passive type. I thought it would be quite effective to use the left over part from a previous piece and then to write these different types of bully around it. I think that this image works quite well, especially with the grey and white against the black as this helps it to stand out.

It’s quite a simple image which I think works well for the information which I am trying to give. I could perhaps show the meanings and characteristics, etc, of each type of bully on a different page, but for this piece, I just simply wanted to list them to show that there are different types, and therefore perhaps they each need to be dealt with differently to prevent them from bullying.

After looking at the fact that the bully can also be a victim, I wanted to show this through photography (digitally manipulated). I therefore used some of the photos, which I had taken previously of the same person (to show both the bully and the victim), and to combine these into one image to show the bully bullying the victim who was actually themselves. I think that these work quite well and show what I was trying to portray, however, they are very simple, and could be developed further to make them look more realistic. I could also experiment with different poses and situations (eg: the bully tying the shoelaces together of the victim who is the same person). These could be used within my poster ideas to show this side of the bully.

Target for today: Look at the work of Ralph Steadman and respond in sketchbook looking at both the bully and the victim, create a page (by using the information from the ‘Bullying’ book) to show the three main different types of bully, and digitally create an image which shows the bully bullying the victim (which is actually the same person), to show that the bully can also be a victim themselves.

Target for tomorrow: Choose photos for developing and edit sizes, etc. Annotate sketchbook in detail further and begin to sew/stitch a piece as a response to the answers/comments given from the children at the primary school.

Tuesday 19th April 2011:

I looked further at the work of Nathan Ford today (who I discovered at the Affordable Art Fair). I really like his use of oil paints, particularly in the pieces ‘Anon’, ‘Fraser’, ‘Painted’, and ‘Reuben’, because they convey the emotion of the subject well. I quite like the ‘distressed’ look which he creates, but I also wanted to just experiment with the medium of oil paint.

I remembered from my peer review that it was suggested that I try to show the realisation that the children from the primary school had when I told them (and they came around to the idea) that the bully can also be a victim. I thought it would therefore be a good idea to paint the bully shouting at the victim, but the victim is actually the same person.

I think that this has turned out quite well. The painting of the ‘victim’ has turned out more in the style of Nathan Ford, than the painting of the ‘bully’. However, this could perhaps be interpreted as the victim feeling more distressed than the bully. Although I don’t particularly want to use oil paint in my final pieces, it was interesting to explore this material as it creates some nice realistic effects, which help to show the reality of bullying. I also hope that it’s easy to tell that the bully and victim are the same person, so I may have to see people’s reactions to this page.

I then wanted to show this realisation with words, but in quite a different way so that it would contrast with the oil paint. Perhaps the idea of using letters from magazines came from the use of collage that Michelle Thompson uses. I think that this works well with the oil paint, but is also different enough to stand out and show this realisation.

This piece also relates well to my idea of having the same person posing as the victim and as the bully in a photo (and perhaps in a poster idea), to show the fact that the bully can also be a victim. As this seems to work quite well in my sketchbook, I will explore this further digitally to see if it works just as well.

I also prepped some more sketchbook pages today, so that I am able to continue developing my ideas and incorporating the background to work well with the image.

Target for today: Look at the work of Nathan Ford and respond in sketchbook to show the realisation that the bully can also be a victim. Prep more sketchbook pages.

Target for tomorrow: Look at the work of Ralph Steadman and respond in sketchbook looking at both the bully and the victim, create a page (by using the information from the ‘Bullying’ book) to show the three main different types of bully, and digitally create an image which shows the bully bullying the victim (which is actually the same person), to show that the bully can also be a victim themselves.

Monday 18th April 2011:

Today I looked at the work of illustrator Michelle Thompson. She was suggested for me to look at in a peer review and so I decided to see how I could respond to her work.

One piece of hers, which is referred to as ‘Portrait - Image selected for the Anti Design Festival’, has ripped pieces of paper around an image of a man, and one piece is covering his mouth. This reminded me of the phrase ‘see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil’, and so I decided to use a photo which I had taken the other day and then to cover the eyes, mouth, and ear and then to have ‘see no evil’, ‘speak to evil’ and ‘hear no evil’ on these pieces of paper. I think that this is really effective and draws the viewer in as it’s quite unexpected. I also created a more distressed background and above the image, the word ‘bullying’ made from masking tape, because I wanted to create the idea of the subject not seeing the evil and distressed situations around her (which could occur from bullying).

I think that perhaps I should add the word ‘Anti’ above bullying because if someone doesn’t hear or see any ‘evil’ (ie bullying), they probably wont speak any evil either (as they won’t have learnt any evil things to do or say, etc). This could perhaps be the anti-bullying campaign within itself, showing that it’s a cycle effect where if no one said or did anything evil, others wouldn’t hear or see this, and so they wouldn’t do or say anything evil.

This would therefore maybe be quite a good idea for a poster design because it not only attracts the viewer, but it gives out a strong message without being too visual, which I think would work well. I will probably explore the phrase/proverb ‘see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil’, further because I find this concept quite interesting.

I also looked at a piece which she created for CICA Magazine (use your assets). The one hand choosing one thing from another hand made me think of the subject of choice, and what choices bullies and victims have. This then gave me the idea to have one hand with three options to the question ‘who will you be today?’, with the options being: ‘neither’, ‘victim’ or ‘bully’, and the other hand choosing ‘neither’. I wanted to show that you don’t have to be one or the other, you can be neither the victim or the bully, and that perhaps seeking help (ie: from my anti-bullying organisation), can help this to happen.

I also used green for the ‘neither’ card and red for the ‘victim’ and ‘bully’ option cards, because these colours are well-known and easy to recognise and right and wrong, showing that being ‘neither’ is the right choice to make (if able to).

I think that overall this has turned out fairly well and would maybe be good for a poster idea. However, I want to have one poster to appeal to the victim and one to the bully, whereas this idea would appeal to both. It also seems to be ‘missing something’, and I don’t feel that the message which I wanted to portray is as strong as it should be.

I like Michelle Thompson’s work because it’s unique and uses a variety of materials (ie: collage, which I have used in these two pieces), without losing the simplicity which is needed to visually communicate the correct message. I will keep this in mind when developing and designing my final pieces.

Target for today: Look at the work of Michelle Thompson and respond in sketchbook to show the viewer how they can prevent bullying and that they don’t need to be a bully or a victim.

Target for tomorrow: Look at the work of Nathan Ford and respond in sketchbook to show the realisation that the bully can also be a victim. Prep more sketchbook pages.

Sunday 17th April 2011:

Looking back at my research, I remember coming across the graphic designer, Milton Glaser, who created the ‘I love NY’ symbol. I particularly liked his posters with black silhouettes of faces with colourful hair.

I thought it would be interesting to create a piece in response to this, and as I wanted to look further at the bully rather than the victim, I decided to add the reasons for why someone may bully into the hair of the ‘bully’. I decided that I didn’t particularly use a black silhouette again (as I had recently on a previous page), and so printed out grey question marks to represent the question asking and perhaps mystery and confusion as to why someone may bully. This could also be showing that the bully is anonymous and could really be anybody (it just takes a trigger, etc, to make them start to bully).

I feel that this piece works really well and is quite attractive. The words don’t stand out too much, but are still easy for the viewer to read. I like the use of image and words being used together and will remember this when designing my final pieces.

I have noticed, however, that I have mainly been looking at females (for both the victim and the bully), and that perhaps for future pieces I should also show that males can be bullies and victims too.

I have also included a copy of my questionnaire in my sketchbook as I feel that this is an important part of my research and something which I should keep referring back to.

After taking my own photos, I thought that I should create a page in my sketchbook similar to a page which I created towards the beginning of the project. This is because for this previous page I had used images from the Internet and felt that if I had used my own images, this would be more effective. I used my own photos and cut out and wrote words such as ‘mad’, ‘angry’, ‘unloved, ‘helpless’ and ‘trapped’ to further show the emotions which the victim may feel.

The ‘helpless’ image is quite effective because the word has been cut out from where her mouth would have been, showing her inability to speak up. I could expand on this idea by writing ‘Lost your voice? You’re not alone’, where the mouth would have been. I could use this idea for a final poster aimed at the victim, as this is probably how they would feel – that they have no voice, (and that they’re alone).

I still like the idea of using words within images and the use of cutting the words out, because I think that this really gives out the strong message which I am trying to portray and that this is a unique and attractive way to show this.

Target for today: Look at why people bully and use this in response to the work of Milton Glaser. Add a copy of bullying questionnaire to sketchbook and create a page, using my own photographs, to show how the victim may feel.

Target for tomorrow: Look at the work of Michelle Thompson and respond in sketchbook to show the viewer how they can prevent bullying and that they don’t need to be a bully or a victim.

Saturday 16th April 2011:

I felt that I hadn’t yet explored the bully in my sketchbook as much as I had with the victim, and so wanted to create a double page showing what may influence the bully.

In my peer review, it was suggested that I create a ‘silhouette’ and then fill it with what issues the bully may have. I thought that this was quite a good idea and decided to use the points made in the ‘Bullying’ book to show what could influence a bully. The main things, are: issues at home (and arguing), being bullied themselves and the influences from TV and the media.

Although this image shows what I wanted it to, it’s not as visually attractive as I wanted it to be. I wanted to explore new ways of working and so decided to find images of what I was trying to show and then to draw over them. Perhaps this wasn’t the best piece to experiment with this on, as it seems to be missing the personal aspect which is especially important for a piece like this.

However, in some ways, this piece is quite successful because it shows quite simply what may influence the bully and so the viewer can quickly understand what may be going on in a bully’s mind. I also quite like the use of the black silhouette and the white writing because this shows that although the bully can be anyone, it tends to be similar things which stand out and influence them to bully. The writing around the image is also quite effective because it’s quiet different and could perhaps invite the viewer to look further into the image to answer the question of ‘what may influence a bully?’

After exploring the words ‘ugly’ and ‘beautiful’ on previous pages, I thought that it would be good to look at the sentence ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’ and to use typographic styles to create this. I wanted to have a contrast between the delicate type style and the bold type style to show the difference between the victim and the bully. I wanted to also use unique ways to create these words, and so decided to cut out the word ‘beautiful’ and to create the word ‘ugly’ from black material, which I then sewed to more material and made it slightly padded.

This is quite effective because the word literally ‘ugly’ stands out. I like how because the background is also black, the image needs to be in a certain light for the word ‘ugly’ to be able to seen clearly. Although this may not work for something like a poster, this is effective and perhaps something to explore further. This could also represent how even though you can’t see something, it’s still there – perhaps like the emotions felt by a victim or even the bully (eg: if they’re the victim’s friend). The material also gives the piece a tactile quality, which could attract the viewer to look further at the image.

The cut out ‘beautiful’ stands out well and perhaps show that when something is taken away, the pieces are still there to create the same thing. This could show that even when a bully calls someone ‘ugly’ out of jealously and takes away the self-esteem from the victim, they are still beautiful and so really the bully hasn’t achieved anything by calling them ugly.

Overall, I really like this piece because it gives out a strong message (mainly to the bully), and is also visually appealing. I am going to consider using something similar for a final poster idea. Perhaps, if for a final piece, for the word ‘ugly’, I could actually create 3D type out of card, etc, so that it stands out from the poster. This would make it unique, and out of the norm, but would also hopefully make it stand out.

Target for today: Create a double page in sketchbook showing what may influence a bully, and another double page in sketchbook using typography in unique ways to express the sentence ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’.

Target for tomorrow: Look at why people bully and use this in response to the work of Milton Glaser. Add a copy of bullying questionnaire to sketchbook and create a page, using my own photographs, to show how the victim may feel.

Friday 15th April 2011:

I wanted to create something really simple, which would still give out the right message. I remembered from my research that I saw a piece which said ‘stop bullying’, and had a handprint as the ‘o’. This was really effective. I thought it would be interesting to try something similar by having a handprint in the centre and then ‘stop’ above it and ‘bullying’ below it. I also wanted to explore typography further and so chose a type style which was bold and created a sense of urgency.

I think that this image is quite effective and really stresses the need to stop bullying. I like how the handprint could represent the victim either saying ‘stop’ or perhaps holding out their hand to protect themselves, and that it could also be the bully, as hands are often used when physical bullying occurs.

Although I wanted this piece to be simple, it seems to be missing something. Perhaps the handprint isn’t strong enough and needs to be slightly darker. This would hopefully make the details of the handprint more visible, and therefore make the piece more personal to the viewer.

I also wanted to look at ‘eyes’ because I feel that the emotion (of both the victim and the bully), can easily be seen just by looking at their eyes. I also had this idea from when I had given out my questionnaires asking which name would be good for my organisation – one person chose ‘victimeyes’ because they thought that some nice images could be created from this. The idea of only needing to see the eyes to know how the person felt was also used when I was taking photos to represent the victim/bully. I had photos where there was a word on paper, covering my face, but the eyes could still be seen above the paper. I thought this was really effective, and so thought I’d pursue the idea of eyes further in my sketchbook work.

I used marker pens, watercolour pencils and water for this piece which I think works well because it makes the eye look ‘teary’. I could perhaps explore the use of materials further and consider what visual image I am trying to communicate and choose materials to suit this.

I wanted to look at the emotions of the victim more and thought that exploring the quote ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ would be an interesting thing to keep in mind when creating this image.

I think that this piece is quite unique and although the words are quite subtle, this maybe makes it more interesting and entices the viewer. I might explore ‘hiding’ words within images further because this could represent that even when the bully stops calling someone names, the emotions felt by the victim may be hard to see but they’re still there.

Target for today: Create a page in sketchbook looking at research and handprint with ‘stop bullying’ and create a double page in sketchbook looking at eyes and words and how ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ to show how emotions can be seen through the eyes, etc.

Target for tomorrow: Create a double page in sketchbook showing what may influence a bully, and another double page in sketchbook using typography in unique ways to express the sentence ‘calling me ugly won’t make you beautiful’.

Thursday 14th April 2011:

I wanted to explore photography further and really like the work of David Bailey. I especially like how he captures emotions and I also like the use of black and white. I wanted to look at these aspects further when taking my own photos, and so decided to look at the victim, the bully and the consequences of being bullied (eg: self-harming and drinking). I tried to capture the vulnerability of the victim and how they perceive the bully within my photos.

I also looked further at my research into anti-bullying campaigns, etc, where words had been written onto the victims faces and photos taken of them holding up messages. I wanted to explore this further and so wrote both the insults and then the emotions felt, onto my face. I also wrote words onto pieces of paper and held these in front of me in some of the photos. I think that these worked out well and are quite effective. This may be interesting to explore further. I could perhaps write lots of words onto my face to show the degree of pain and the amount of bullying that is going on and I could also consider using words and photos like these within my final piece.

Some photos had an interesting effect where there was more light creating a larger contrast between the black and white and hiding more of the detail in the image. I think that this is really effective and perhaps shows the contrast between the bully and the victim and also it helps to highlight certain parts of the photo which could represent certain aspects of bullying being more important than others, and that some victims/bullies are more vulnerable to bullying. I also particularly like the images with the hands as the focus of the photo – this also looks effective because they seem really bright in the image, emphasizing the ‘I surrender’, ‘stop’ actions.

There were also some photos where the brightness of the screen (as I took them using my MacBook) would highlight my eyes, but make the rest of my face just white without my other features showing. This was quite effective and gave me the idea of using an image like this and then writing ‘Lost your voice? You’re not alone…’ to be aimed at the victim who can then contact my organisation for help and guidance, etc.

I then looked back at my research where I looked at David Bean’s anti-bullying campaign. I liked how he had used shoes and shoelaces to spell out ‘there is a victim in every bully’. The shoes could either represent ‘being in someone else’s shoes’ or perhaps the shoes and laces could represent the bully tying the victim’s laces together so that they fall over. I also like what he has said as this could represent that the bully is also a victim and that they also need help (which is what I have been really focusing on). However, it could also be representing that for each bully, there is also a victim, which they bully, etc.

As this was only for experimentation, I decided to only use one pair of shoes and to write out just the word ‘victim’. I then took photos (also using different effects). I think that these have turned out well. I feel that the black and white photos look better than the ones in colour (perhaps, because the shoes are pink, which won’t relate to all of my target audience). However, perhaps I should’ve somehow added a dot above the ‘i’s’ to make the word easier to read.

There are some effects which have turned out better than others. I especially like the ‘comic book’ effect, which I also think would attract my target audience well.

I also like the ‘x-ray’ effect because it makes the image stand out. It could also be representing the fact that sometimes you need to look beyond the obvious to see the problem/cause of the problem, etc, and I feel that this image shows this well.

I also tried the ‘mirror’ effect, and experimented with this by trying to create a heart shape out of the shoes, to perhaps show that what the bully says can really hurt the victim and create strong emotions inside them, such as feeling unloved, etc.

I also experimented with shaking the camera so that there would multiple images of the same thing. Although you can’t read this very well, it created an interesting effect which I could perhaps use for something else not containing words.

After experimenting more with photography, I feel that I would like to explore this further and perhaps use it within my final pieces. I like how it makes everything more realistic and you can capture exactly what you want to. This is important for an anti-bullying campaign because it needs to show the reality of this issue.

Also, today someone saw my prepped page with the handprint on it, with the words from the book coming through. They thought that this within itself was effective and that perhaps I could try something similar but have the emotions and insults behind the hand so that these were readable. This sounds like an effective idea which I could experiment with in my sketchbook and perhaps consider as a final piece idea.

Target for today: Take photos of self, inspired by the work of David Bailey and previous anti-bullying campaigns, to represent the victim, the bully, the consequences of bullying and take photos inspired by the work of David Bean and his anti-bullying campaign.

Target for tomorrow: Create a page in sketchbook looking at research and handprint with ‘stop bullying’ and create a double page in sketchbook looking at eyes and words and how ‘eyes are the window to the soul’ to show how emotions can be seen through the eyes, etc.