Monday 4th April 2011:

Today we had group critique, which was combined with the students from the 3D/Fine Art/Fashion groups of the course as well as the visual communication group. We were in groups of about 6 people and we each had to talk about our own projects before the others went on to give suggestions, etc. I feel that the ideas that I gave to others were received well.

When it was my turn to talk about my project, they all seemed to like what I had done so far. They especially liked the piece inspired by Ros Rixon where I used bullying stories and cut them into the shape of hands covering a face. The photo of the makeup/music objects spelling out ‘attention seeking’ was also liked by the group, as well as the oil pastel drawing of the bully shouting at the victim. What I found throughout the crit was that each suggestion which was made, I had already done. Although this meant I ended up with fewer ideas to pursue, this shows that I am thinking along the lines as other creative people (and my target audience of teenagers). They all seemed to really like my work. However, I did make some notes of any suggestions/ comments. These included:

★ Masking tape – looks a bit like hopscotch, which could then relate to school and bullying within schools. Also, instead of using masking tape, I could use real plasters (scars/ ‘fixing’ bullying, pain, etc)

★ Stefan Sagmeister – writing/ cutting words into body

★ Words on face (inspired by Jules Julien) – make some stand out more, different shades of grey

★ Focus on the bully more (not just the victim) – cycle between home à bully à victim, etc, linked, coming through the home, etc.

★ Bully/ victim image – silhouette – scene from home in the head – what’s going on in their head/ mind, and what’s going on in their head when they’re bullying

★ Image of visualisation that bully is also victim (from primary school pupils)

★ Paint, ink

★ Ralph Steadman – scratching, blotchy ink, black and white – anger, emotive

★ Barbed wire spelling out ‘beautiful’ – juxtaposition

★ Bullying films, film4, Waking the Dead – bagman – bullied as a child à lead to fatal effects, etc, adverts – NSPCC, etc

★ Mould – cheese – spelling out beautiful

★ Perception – 3D sculpture, etc – where you view it from – one side ugly, one detailed and beautiful, etc, maybe using clay/ wire

★ Sticks and Stones logo – use actual sticks and stones (like the makeup/ music objects creating ‘attention seeking’)

★ Mirrors and reflections

★ Writing on sticks/ stones, eg: ‘fat’ or ‘depressed’, and taking photos

I really like all of these ideas. But the ideas, which I would definitely like to take further, are: the hopscotch using masking tape idea. I could perhaps write words in the squares and maybe create it in such a way where it represents how one word can lead to another, etc. I also like the idea of using plasters to represent the pain as this is quite literal and could look really effective.

I definitely want to focus more on the bully than I have so far in my sketchbook and I really like the idea of showing the cycle between problems at home affecting the bully who then goes on to bully a victim. Perhaps this could then lead to the victim having problems at home where they then go on to bully someone else at school, etc. I think this would nicely illustrate the effect bullying can have on not only the victim, but those around and involved. I particularly like the idea of having silhouettes containing what’s going on in their minds, etc.

I will look more at using paint and ink as I haven’t really used these materials yet and I feel that I could use these effectively to convey emotion – of both the victim and the bully. I could also maybe look at the emotion of the bystanders, etc, and use these materials to communicate these visually.

I have had a quick look at the work of Ralph Steadman and I think that his work could really inspire mine – especially when focusing more on the bully and their nasty comments and anger. I quite like the pieces, ‘Early Georgian’, and ‘Vintage Syrah’. I could possibly look at playing cards further and have the bully on one end and the victim on the other, but have them joined to show that one controls/ influences the other, etc.

The idea of creating a 3D piece as part of my experimentation is a really good idea because I haven’t really done anything 3D yet and I really liked the idea of creating something which is ‘ugly’ from one view but ‘beautiful’ from another. I also like the idea of juxtaposition. For example creating the word ‘beautiful’ from mouldy cheese – something which was ‘beautiful’ but decayed, etc, or create the word perhaps using barbed wire.

The idea of exploring mirrors and reflections is also a good idea. I could have the bully looking in the mirror and seeing themselves as a victim, and vice versa. The idea of using sticks and stones within my logo is something which I had already considered, and so I will develop this to see how it turns out. The only problem with this and actual sticks and stones don’t really represent anti-bullying and so perhaps it could give out the wrong message to the organisation’s target audience. I also like the idea of writing on sticks and stones and taking this further with photography.

Today I also came up with a few quick ideas for logos, business cards and letterheads. I quite like the idea of having ‘sticks’ in a bold font and ‘stones’ in a more detailed, vulnerable font to show the bully and the victim within my logo. Perhaps I could take this further by combining them together showing that they both need an equal amount of support. I also want to take these further by experimenting with them digitally and I want my final logo to be produced digitally. I think that the business cards could perhaps be more interesting and effective than the ones I have designed in my sketchbook. I will explore these digitally and then maybe go on to think of a few more ideas in my sketchbook. I will also do this with the letterheads. However, I do like the designs with the lines going across the top/ bottom/ side as I think this helps them to stand out in a unique way.

I also continued with my annotations and looked at the designer Michael Ostermann (from the Computer Arts magazine – issue: 185, March 2011). So far I have sketched something similar to a piece of his, where he has explored geometric shapes and bold colours. I want to create something like this but perhaps with words within the shapes and using light, pastel colours (with paint). I also had the idea of having the same face and similar shapes on the page opposite but to make a more aggressive piece where the shapes are smashing together, breaking apart, etc, and having insults within the shapes to represent the bully. I will also use colours such as black and red for this piece to show the contrast between the bully and the victim, although they are made up of similar ‘makeup’.

Target for today: Start coming up with ideas for the logo, letterhead and business card for my organisation and annotate sketchbook.

Target for tomorrow: Continue with pieces inspired by Michael Ostermann and read about Jules Julien in Computer Arts magazine.