Chaos - Everything Is Connected - further research

While researching for my project I started with interpreting the word "chaos" define it's meaning, reaching the final conclusion, that chaos can be negative but also a positive word, because chaos is the beginning of everything - starting from the creation of the World as we know it for example. I researched some philosophical, psychological, mathematical and art interpretation of the word.

At first my idea was to create a project, that would show how we as humans create, how our brain works and how we reach a final idea through all the chaos of information that flows through us daily. That was my idea until the point that I talked with a few photographers about my idea, showed them my previous works, and they actually liked my "Dreams" project very much. One proposed me to actually do something about the environmental topic, and more specifically on the way we, the people communicate with the nature in a city environment. How there is less and less nature in the city and we actually forget how specific places looked like because of too much buildings everywhere. And I got interested, because this is a major problem in my country for example - there is too much construction and no nature, less and less parks and if there are some - they don't look like they're supposed to.

Chaos - Everything Is Connected

As I was doing my research on chaos, I came across some very interesting information. First I found a Mandala Design Handbook, and it had some very specific and interesting design, which included nature elements.
I chose to include it's symbols in my project, because despite it's chaotic look it is actually something symbolizing unity, wholeness and connection with the nature.

 As we walk through big cities we see less and less nature, there are many places where beautiful landscapes, nature... are ruined because of human activity, and we have to look for nature in big cities, so my idea is to invert that. For example a landscape of a forest with almost transparent people in it, so you have to look very close to see them. Something like a game. As you have to stare in the picture with the bird to see the eye inside. I will very soon send you ready results, I am just very careful in choosing the right photographs for this purpose.

So my idea is all this photography to be a campaign aiming to gain awareness to the fact, that "everything might seem a chaos, but it is all connected".

Chaos moodboard

I've decided to collect some inspirational images in an album using Pinterest:

Chaos moodboard

Chaos - Definition & Inspirations

Chaos

cha·os/ˈkāäs/

Noun:

1.        Complete disorder and confusion. 2.       Behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions.

The word itself brings is the idea of undefined order.  Despite the common idea : “chaos” taken for a negative word, there are some positive sides as well.

Chaos is the origin of order. Without chaos there is no order. Just like light and darkness or sound and silence.

Major Project Brief

Major Project Idea

I decided to continue including photography in my future projects. This time I decided to include typography and maybe bits of illustration. As I was brainstorming for an idea for my major project, I realized, that the process of brainstorming and thinking itself is a very interesting subject. I came up with so many ideas, that I thought, that this is a complete chaos. And there was my idea - "CHAOS". The process of inventing, creating, thinking...it is all bits and pieces of information, that we collect, and after some time we use, but before we decide how, when and what part of it - it is a chaos in our heads. 

Design Project B: Book Design - DREAMS

So here is the final result of my second design project. I have created a portraiture photography book on Dreams. Here are some snapshots of how my printed book looks like, and Concept Development presentation on how I came up with the idea and how I actually made it.

Critical Debates in Design: 10 Thinks I Have Learned

So for my final task for Critical Debates, I made a little typography experiment with thoughts on what I consider the most important things of being a designer, and what I have learned so far.
I made my presentation a bit humorous, because... hey, design should be fun.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 8 - Sustainable Design

The growing needs of a population exceeding 7 billion people is an issue, that in recent years has become global. The growing number of people living on the Earth requires more sources, produces more garbage and occupies more territory. The last 100 years have developed many fields in different spheres. The economical revolution in the western society have done many things to help mankind and to destroy the Nature. That is why now - the current generations have to work on balancing and fixing all the damage, that has been done.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 7 - Advertising

As seen in the "Czech Dream" movie advertising as a powerful tool.The main purpose of advertising is to inform the public for a certain product, event, service etc. It's role is to grab attention and agitate. Advertising companies use many platforms to reach out to the public - posters, newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV ads, Internet - all kind of media. There are many memorable ads, that do their purpose - either make you happy, sad, angry - the main idea is to move you and make you respond to their message. Nowadays we are literally flood with so many ads, that we cannot get out on the street, watch TV, browse the net without being hit in the face with at least 20 per day. That makes advertising competitive and more and more people are involved in making something really really creative to satisfy a capricious client. And there are some really great ones. Some ads even start to live their own life.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 6 - Product Packaging

A good packaging is very likely to sell better a certain product despite it's content. A good designed package is very important for every self respecting business.
The basic function of packaging is to preserve it's content intact during transportation and distribution, also from climatic effect such as humidity, dryness cold, heat, protect it from hazardous substances and contamination. It should preserve it's content in "factory fresh" condition during the period of storage.
Although the main purpose of it is to protect it's content, if a package is badly designed it is more likely for it to stay on the shelf.
Another function of packaging is identification. On it should be information regarding the manufacturer, the content of the product, it's origin and other essential information for the customer. 
A package must communicate what it sells. When international trade is involved and different languages are spoken, the use of easily understood symbols on the package is essential. It is the interest further that to get appropriate communication to the consumer about the product, how to use it and other utility informations.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 5 - Design + Social Responsibility

In my opinion every designers should stand for a good cause - no matter what. Everyone from the designer guild should understand, that designers are a major part of the idea of creating a better world.
During my research on designers with strong ethics and social responsibility I found artist Mark Langan, who is a US based designer creating logos for several companies using recycled cardboard to help businesses communicate their sustainable values. Langan’s day-to-day job consists of searching around his neighbour for the recyclable material and bringing tons of it to his Ohio studio for an afternoon

Business for Design: Triple Identity Logo Variations

Recenty I worked on some ideas for my Triple Identity project, and here are some logo ideas. My goal is to keep it simple, readable, black&white, but with a feel of handwritten text. I keep getting some more ideas, but for now it seems, that I'm keen on the circle. There still need some more work, but decided to post my progress.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 4 - Corporate Social Responsibility

After seeing the Michael Moore "Fahrenheit 9/11", I made a research on good CSR policies of companies around the world. One of the companies, that caught my attention is one of the biggest manufacturers of sport equipment - Nike. 
According to a site, the company sells approximately to 19 000 US retailers, and approximately in 140 countries around the world. The company manufactures in China, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, and as well in the US and Italy. 
It seems that in the past the company had issues with critics such as Naomi Klein. In her widely read book "No Logo" she deals quite extensively with Nike, accusing them of abandoning countries as they developed better pay and employment rights in favour of countries like China, where these are less of a cost. She points to a photo published in 1996 showing children in Pakistan stitching Nike footballs as an example of the use of child labour. Other critics have suggested that Nike should publicise all of its factories, and allow independent inspection to verify conditions there. Any auditing carried out by Nike should be made public. A lot of focus is given to wage rates paid by the company’s suppliers. By and large, audits have found that wage rates are above the national legal minimum, but critics contend that this does not actually constitute a fair living wage.

Workshop

Some photos from our workshops. Creating letters with 2D and 3D techniques and creating an image using the Fibonacci sequence and different colours of paper.

Design Authorship: Inspiration

 As I decided to create a book on identity I got the idea to start the project using me as a starting point. In order to find where we are and who we are - we must first start with identifying ourselves. Everything matters - from the colour of our eyes to the shape of our hands, from the music we like to the friends we have. We must learn to find a way to ourselves, and show our personality and true self. I think, that this project could be used also as physiological perception of ourselves.
This is a video, I found during my critical debates research of a Spanish design studio called Atipo. They used human face to represent typography. The way they combined typography, make-up and photography is really well done. Here is a video making of the process.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 3 - Title Sequence

After seeing the Kyle Cooper talk about his story of making title sequences, I got inspired by his devotion and work and remembered some movies, that impressed me with their original openings. Interesting how I always pay attention to them, and remember some movie just because it's beginning has caught my eye.

One of them is "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events"  It is designed by  Jamie Caliri  in 2004.




The movie, which is based on a children's book series, tells the story of the three orphans who are sent to live with a distant relative Count Olaf. But the evil and greedy Olaf is after the children's fortune and is secretly concocting a scheme to kill them.  The end credits for this dark Hollywood fairytale - one of the most impressive credit sequences of 2004 - are built around a truly original piece of animation, featuring the animated characters of the children and Olaf.

Critical Debates in Design: Task 2 - Wayfinding System

As we are all familiar with the city, museum and metro sign systems over the world, with small differences in choice of font/colour scheme/positioning, they are all the same. Some are better, than others, probably because certain colours/fonts can interact with people's perception better than others. Nevertheless the environmental sign system, that I found interesting and worthy to present is the system for the Eureka Tower Car Park in Melbourne, Australia. It was created by a Hamburg based designer Axel Peemoeller while working for Emery Studio. 

Inspiration: Minimalistic movie posters

Something interesting, that I found during my research on the internet. Created by MOXYcreative (James Alexander Mathers and Andrew Lau) these unique posters got me inspired with their simplicity and originality. They created 10 posters redesigned according to  different men's style in the movies they chose. The posters actually can be ordered from their website. Moxy Creative House is design agency, specializing in creative direction and development in fashion, and other visually driven industries. Forthermore I got inspired and decided to research a bit more and found some really smart creations. You can find some of them below, and here . 

Critical Debates in Design: Task 1 - Two Typefaces

   

 Usually I don’t stick with only one typeface. I think that a designer should not fall for only one font, but experiment and discover different typefaces all the time. There are fonts suitable for everything, and sticking to only one can become dangerously too much. As I tried to decide which one is my favorite type of font I realized, that I like Art Deco styled typefaces most.

1.Verlag

"Verlag” is the German word for “publisher” or “publishing house”. The font is inspired by the Guggenheim façade designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and it’s iconic Art Deco lettering and is a part of the Sans-Serif family. In 1996, when designing the magazine for the museum, Abbott Miller (Pentagram) approched Jonathan Hoefler (Hoefler & Frere-Jones) to create a custom typeface for the publication. Hoefler referenced Wright's iconic lettering and designed the custom typeface in 30 various weights and italic and bold versions for exclusive use in the magazine.

“Because the fonts would ultimately represent a range of individual artistic voices — from Cézanne to Kandinsky to Matthew Barney — Verlag was carefully planned so that its distinct personality would be checked by a sense of objectivity.

From the rationalist geometric designs of the Bauhaus school, such as Futura (1927) and Erbar (1929), Verlag gets its crispness and its meticulous planning. Verlag’s “fairminded” quality is rooted in the newsier sans serifs designed for linecasting machines, such as Ludlow Tempo and Intertype Vogue (both 1930), both staples of the Midwestern newsroom for much of the century. But unlike any of its forbears, Verlag includes a comprehensive and complete range of styles: five weights, each in three different widths, each including the often-neglected companion italic. ”

RSA Shared Assets: "Have to Give" - Critical Reflection

Sharing means awareness of the fact, that you are not alone. Awareness of the fact, that we are all connected while living on this planet. Giving away what you no longer use seems like the easiest thing, but sometimes it’s not. Making giving reality and knowing, that you have helped someone with something that simple, and you have changed that person’s life for the better feels really good.



As the brief states I should “design a service, that gets better or more useful the more people use it, so that sharing it becomes more attractive or viable.”

The purpose of this project is to encourage people to share their no longer used belongings, because the trash for one is a treasure for another. The purpose is to change peoples perspective on charity sharing, and to inform them about the benefits sharing does for the environment and the world we live in.

After some research I realized, that the best way to make people share their belongings these days is through internet platform. People advertise much more online in recent years - houses, cars, electronics - you name it. This is why they would choose to notify online, about their no longer used sofa, couch, table etc. The furniture will then be transported from people’s homes to a workshop. Then people willing to help, design and art students, practically everyone interested in the cause involved in the process will be able to redesign the donated furniture and then it will be donated to homes for children, old people or families in need for furniture.  In the online platform people would be able to actively participate in the cause – the site will be divided into three sections – people willing to donate, people, who would need furniture, and people willing to volunteer .

After deciding to do the “Shared Assets” brief, I started to research and think about what people share these days – they share information about themselves, photos, news etc. In order to invent something linked with my specialty – photography, at first I decided to think what could benefit the society in that connection, and decided, that giving objects a second life and photographing them would be interesting. I got inspired by the recent visit to the Victoria and Albert museum, and the Postmodernism exhibition. The one object, that stuck in my mind was the “Proust chair” – a design created by Alessandro Mendini in 1978 for Studio Alchimia. Redecorating something from the 18^th century in a modern way is quite inspiring for me. Then I had a conversation with my tutor and he proposed me to contact several charity organizations in connection with my idea for redesign. He gave me directions to make the project more socially engaged and to include people in need.  I did some more research, and my idea became more clear.

RSA: "Have to Give" Final Logo Design

RSA: Shared Assets Timeline

RSA: "Have to Give" Logo and Poster Creation

Logo
At first my idea for the project was to be named "Art of Recycling", so I started to think of the concept of the logo - I decided to create a logo symbolising the idea of a cycle, and a particular object in the middle (in this case furniture), that would present my idea of recycling and reusing, then after a small research in my target group, I understood, that the name I chose is not clear enough, and a person not familiar with the idea would not instantly understand what it is all about, I rethink the concept, and realized, that I should emphasize on the idea of sharing. If you HAVE you can GIVE. I decided to keep the general "recycle" vision, included colour furniture in the middle, so a person can recognize easier the main purpose and also to present the art and refurbish idea.

RSA: Shared Assets "Have to Give"

Brief
Design a service, that gets better or more useful the more people use it, so that sharing it becomes more attractive or viable.

Purpose
The purpose of this project is to encourage people to share their no longer used belongings, because the trash for one is a treasure for another. The purpose is to change peoples perspective on charity sharing, and to inform them about the benefits sharing does for the environment and the world we live in.