As part of our Foundation Studio Practice project ' A Sense of Place', we were given the task of researching into different subject areas for our Primary and Secondary research. The categories that I had intended to look at was Grids, Frames, Macro and Micro. I decided to do this because it was a starting point for my research, which I could then expand on. I started with the subject of Grids, which I hadn't really learnt about before apart from using grids to create guides that I could use to structure and layout my work professionally and presentably in the programme Adobe InDesign. When looking at Grids, I firstly decided to look into who created the Grid System and look at their work that they had already created.
I found out that the master of the Grid System was known as Josef Müller-Brockmann, who was a Graphic Designer from Switzerland, who created the Grid System and produced a Grid Systems book that is all about Grids in Graphic Design and why they are so useful and important to us as Graphic Designers. After I had done this I decided to look into some of Josef Müller-Brockmann's work because I found some of his work with inspirational, as the font type that he has used for his Posters are very bold and easy to read, I think that I am going to take inspiration from his work, when producing my own design work. I felt that these two pages went quite well, after I understood what I needed to research because at the start of this project I found it quite hard to understand what I needed to produce when I was researching, however after someone had explained to me what I needed to produce it all fell into place, so the research became a lot easier to understand and complete. I think that if I was to improve these two pages, I would try to add more information about Josef Müller-Brockmann because and analyse some of his work, as this would then allow me to look into his designs in a lot more detail.
After I had looked into Josef Müller-Brockmann and his work, I then decided to look at the book that he had produced in more detail, I found the book that he had written was very inspiring because it allowed to look into grid systems even more. I decided to look at the grid systems book because it gave me more knowledge of the parts that I needed to do when creating my own artwork using Grid Systems. After I had done a page about Josef Müller-Brockmann's book, I then decided to research into Grids systems even further by looking at sources from the internet, where I came across a website called GridSystems.org, I liked this website because it has helped me with looking to grid systems that will help me when I am producing my own work. The website that I found helped me to understand how grids are used and what they are used for. I found out that the grids are mainly used for graphs and grid paper, I also found out that the programme that use grids for design are Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.
Once I had finished looking at the website called gridsystems.org, I then decided to look into what grids systems are used for on the whole. I found out that grid systems were used for Maps, the London Underground, the New York Subway Map, Street Maps, Housing/Floor Plans and the game known as Sims. Whilst I was exploring into what grid systems were used for I decided to create a mood board that would allow me to look into grid systems from a visual aspect. My favourite part about this mood board is the variety of different designs that have been created using a Grid System, the mood board is my favourite part because I feel that the variety of Grid systems allow me to look into different types of grid systems that can be used, I am going to take Grid Systems into consideration when creating my own design work, I want to create a Map for one of my final outcome designs.
I then decided to focus on the topic called Frames because it was another one of the focuses during the first week of research, I felt that this part of the research was quite hard to look at because there is many different ways that you could look into frames. The first part that I decided to look at within the topic of framing is what the topic is about, why we use frames to create a high quality photograph using different objects, such as fences, rocks, people and trees. Whilst researching into framing, I found out that there is different types of frames that could be used to create photographs using frames. My favourite part that use many objects to create high quality photographs that are very engaging as they are high quality and very eye-catching.
After I had focused on the topics of Grids and Frames, I then decided to look at the next topic that was Macro and Micro. The first part that I decided to look at when looking into the topic Macro and Micro photography was to find out what was meant by Macro and Micro photography, I found this quite difficult because I had heard of Macro Photography before, however I was a little confused about what was meant by Micro photography. Furthermore once I had started to research into the topic more the too types of photography became clearer and it was easier to understand as Macro Photography means a photograph that is taken with Macro Lens that catch detail within the photograph. However Micro photography is a photograph that catch even more detail of the object than it is with a Macro Lens. Once I had done this I then decided to look into a photographer that specialises in Macro Photography, the photographer that I decided to look at was Heather Angel. I chose to look at this photographer because I found that her photography was very detailed and high quality, which was very eye-catching, as the detail that was captured in the photograph allowed the people that would be looking at these photographs to understand what is being shown in the photograph that she has taken of.
Once I had done my secondary research, I then moved onto my primary research for the topics that I had research in my secondary, these were Grids, Frames and Macro and Micro. When looking at primary research for these topics, I found it quite hard to do this research, so to start off my primary research, I decided to look at several types of maps to look at the difference between the two and the structure and the gird system that are being used within the map designs. The first map that I decided to look at was the New York Map, I chose this map because I thought that the map was very relevant to the sense of place that I was going to be focusing my design work on. The other map design that I decided to compare with the New York Map was a map of Huddersfield Town, I chose this place because it is were I am attending University here, I also thought that this map design was a different design that I could look against the Map of New York.
Once I had looked at both Map designs, I decided to look at the designs in more detail by looking at the differences and similarities of maps, that I had chosen to look at. I found that the structure of the maps were very different to each other, as the New York Map was structured perfectly and easy for the target audience to understand. However the Huddersfield Town Map was a little harder to understand. Although I did notice that within both of the Map design that most of the attraction based in both places were located quite close together, which I thought was a good point as you wouldn't want tourist visiting the place to get lost. I finally finished off with a summary, by explaining which of the Maps were the best. In my opinion, I found that the New York Map was the best because it was well structured and wouldn't cause many problems with the target audience. The next task that I decided to do after looking at Grids was to look at the topic of frames, where I decided to crop some of my photography from New York to create a new piece of design work. I decided to do this because I wanted to experiment with the different methods that I could use to create a creative and inspiring piece of artwork, that could possibly use within my design work. Once I had cropped parts of my photograph I then used the programme Adobe Photoshop to edit my photograph using different types of effects to see, which of the design would look the best for my design work.
Once I had done this I then chose another photograph from New York to edit using the method of framing. I did this because I wanted to create a new piece of artwork. To crop my photograph, I had to use the programme called Adobe Photoshop, I used this programme because it is the best programme to create a professional and eye catching photograph that the target audience will be attracted too. After I had done this, I then decided to edit the photograph using several different effects, which were Black and White, then the Cross Hatch and Exposure effect. I found that once I had used these effects the photograph that I had edit worked very well and was very effective and would definitely catch the attention of the target audience very easily. The next page that I decided to do in my sketchbook was again frames, however I decided to display pieces of photography that I had captured whilst at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park because I felt that this work would help me quite a lot when it came to frames and how I should capture my design work to make it more effective, so the target audience will become more attracted to the design.
The final task that I had to this week for my primary research was Macro and Micro research, which I decided to use photographs that I had taken whilst I was on a visit to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. For this topic, I found that the topic was quite hard to look at because I wasn't sure how the topic would fit in with my sense of place, so I decided that the photographs at the YSP would work well with this topic and I would be able to take inspiration from these photographs when producing my designs for my sense of place. Overall I am happy with how my research is coming along.
