11/11/19
Brainstorming themes within all our manifestos, we drew a vast amount of similarities and interesting links between all three.
We were particularly interested with how people there is such a lack of comfort among humans - we always feel we must shield under a guise of impeccability. Protesting in itself makes many uncomfortable, the receiving end will be constantly on edge, political leaders will have to put on brave faces when actually seeing society turn against you is a powerful thing. Looking into how we could portray the concept of shielding and protecting ones true self through shape/the future garment is a key thought at the moment.
- Uncomfortable clothing? Or looking at how a viewer feels uncomfortable looking at something, shapes, exposure etc.
GROUP MANIFESTO
12/11/19
We decided the most effective way to place lettering would be to allow it to drip off from the shapes, allowing the see through element to be tied in with the relevance of the words. Collectively we began preparing a visual concept for a group critique, this was rushed as we were ultimately still brainstorming but we put something quickly together even though we still felt it didn't quite convey our manifesto.
We were thinking the word 'TRANSPARENT' could be on acetate so highlight the word even further.
Researching simplistic ways of drawing the body in movement, road sign figures played a prominent role in our design:
Sarah's digital replica of our vision solidified to us that our concept visually worked, this was probably because digital design is closer to what a poster/banner will actually look like. Hence why this was such an important step for us.
TYPOGRAPHY
While the others focused on working the pattern out, I began looking into the typography and how we wanted the letters to look, their size, colour etc.
We chose the sentence 'REVEAL YOURSELF' which would be on the yellow fabric in blue writing, we chose this sentence as we felt the world reveal was more applicable to the slow movement towards the open/transparent part of the body. Almost like a gradual reveal into a persons true self.
We all voted for our favourite, and chose NO.4
CONTEXTUAL PRACTISE 13/11
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
KEY WORDS
11/11/19
After discussing our key words and similar themes we came across some pivotal themes that we wanted to explore further and see how we could transform them into visual explorations. Our main areas of interests were the concepts of being:
COMFORTABLE/UNCOMFORTABLE
PROTECTED/SHIELDED
We generally all shared the same views that humanity tend to hide behind expectations and act in a certain way in order for life to be comfortable. (This particularly linked to Ena's research into Japanese restriction within society, and how many go along with the rigid system in order to make life easier, we all believed this must halter creativity and individual growth).
As well as this interest, we also wanted to look at shielding, both physically and metaphorically, we thought this concept in particular would be interesting in a garment/sign form. The link to how the protestors in Hong Kong used umbrellas as physical shields for their safety was an area we thought linked very well and that is truly interesting.
We then started exploring how we could visually unpick elements of the Manifesto, beginning with the concept of: COMFORT/DISCOMFORT.
We were advised to begin 2D, focusing on our main colours: RED, BLUE, YELLOW.
We started cutting out various shapes to collage, but instead of aiming to be perfect, we aimed to make these shapes look awkward and uncomfortable to look at, with circles that were wonky, rigid, choppy sides. This was to create some sort of anxiety for the viewer, when doing so, we imagined how these collages could look in material on the body.
We then moved on to visualising the concept of 'SHIELDING/PROTECTING' and started looking at how we could make a shield, we thought of a shape created by the uncomfortable ones we did before, and making a piece larger than the body so when you walked up to people it became rather sinister. This would be to highlight that it's actually quite terrifying how many people hide under a shield of perfection. The uncomfortable aspect to this (being the shapes) would have various small gaps within the piece, by doing so it highlights how a shield can only go so far.
12/11/2019
We began by collecting all our ideas that we individually brainstormed last night and seeing what visualisations could progress into a banner. Ena did some collaging from the remains from our cut out 'awkward' shapes. I developed the idea of the uncomfortable shapes further, seeing how it could work on the body and trialling hardening the fabric. We all decided that Ena's work was something we wanted to develop, it was visually and conceptually exciting and was something we could imagine on a larger scale.
(Mine on the right, Ena's on the left)
Our group Manifesto focused primarily on how people in the world are dishonest and how this is problematic within society, when looking at Ena's work we started to think of the concept of layering, and how layering these colours could represent the layers of a person. The holes that we began to mistakenly make seemed to fall perfectly within our narrative, and soon we had a general theme.
The layers created by the colours are symbols of ones different personalities, they will gradually lead into multiple holes, these holes are the areas of 'TRANSPARENCY', allowing people to look within those layers and see the true you.
We began testing within our books, seeing how we could collage to create holes in appropriate places, and began thinking if we would need words to make the message more clear as lots of shapes and holes doesn't seem too obvious. The use of words was then confirmed, so we brainstormed what could be short, snappy and punchy, here were some of our thoughts:
BE YOURSELF
BE TRUE
REVEAL YOURSELF
BE COMFORTABLE
EMBRACE YOUR LAYERS
GROUP CRITIQUE
The group critique didn't go too well, most people did not get our concept when looking at our A3 visual presentation, they thought the layering symbolised more geographical notions such as:
MAPS, CONTOUR LINES, MIGRATION, THE WORLD.
This was not our aim, so we decided to do back to the drawing board and think of another way we could re-invent this visually, despite what the tutors were advising, we were all still rooting for the concept of 'LAYERING', as we thought it was visually and conceptually interesting. Collectively, we thought that instead of making the layers more of a pattern, we actually had a figure as the main focal point of the poster and there could be layers within/around or filling it. We began sketching/playing around with coloured card to see if this could work visually. Sarah did some digital trials which in fact solidified our new vision.
This design somewhat reminded me of the GAY PRIDE movement, which I think is such a vital movement which has successfully conveyed a strong and powerful message of self acceptance and self love. There are many movements I have looked at which I think link to our piece, as the issue with self acceptance is so prominent right now. GAY PRIDE particularly sprung to mind when we were designing, probably due to the gradual reveal of colour.
FINAL DESIGN
This is template we will use when cutting into the fabric on a larger scale.
PROCESS OF MAKING THE LETTERS:
I used the wonder web to make the letters easier to cut out with a more crisp edge, as a group we decided it could be nice to zig zag the lettering in a opposite stitch to the colour of the base and the colour of the later, hence why the edging is red.
We then moved the banner onto the body, looking at how it could drape and fall in an effective way. I think when we go out to the public we should try holding out the 'REVEAL YOURSELF' so the message is even clearer. But overall, the product was how we imagined it. The only difficulty was the flimsiness of the material, some parts didn't hold very well, so we had to use cardboard and a lot of stitching to solidify it.