End of module Evaluation

End of module evaluation.

At the beginning of this project I was very sceptical about my ideas, my essays theme was on propaganda in art and design, how the image can influence the world of politics. After a discussion on the appropriateness of my writing, my essays content had a significant improvements and the essay seemed to be more succinct. The theme I explored as more the obligation arts and designer feel to respond to a politically or socially driven issue. With these changes in mind I was much more confident in my essay writing and research. On top of this I found an area of design that really fascinated me, this made research and development of ideas much more enjoyable.

After identifying these alterations and completing all the study tasks required I began to do some much more in-depth research into some more academic writing on the Russian constructivist works of Rodchenko and El Lissitzky, these research revealed their knowledge at the time of there work somewhat rewriting the rules of design in Russia. These points seemed to work interestingly in conjunction for my essay. It took a lot of further research to find the sources appropriate to my work. As well as this I looked in detail into the work of American political artist Shepard Fairey, his work for the Obama presidential campaign brought up some very engaging points that played on this idea of a social obligation to act for change. The book Art of Obama included interviews with the artist detailing his involvement in the project and why it was he create the iconic HOPE poster. From these sources I found examples of research not only in physical paintings, and posters but how online means of communication can be used as a tool for promoting and communicating change.

This research for my essay went on to inform my further research that would go on to inform my practical work. The political artist Ai Weiwei's film NEVER SORRY was one of the first in-depth pieces I had seen on his work and not only the form his work to up but the way he spoke about art as a almost political revolution. The film gives an insight into the artists life and practice but also the ongoing oppression and censorship the Chinese government puts the Chinese people under. This was an issue I had very little knowledge on and they way Ai Weiwei spoke about this issue really opened my eye to this theme. Video and film content is a theme I didn't really explore but is possibly the most direct way of communicating a theme in politics due to the clarity of information and that there is no limitations to how much visual stimulus can be communicated. Ai Weiwei's approach to issues around the world I found really inspiring and wanted to know so much more. I looked a a number of books on his work to try and understand how he goes about his work and how I could translate some of his throughs processes and idea into my own designs. He speaks a lot in his work about the popularity of his blog and he had no idea of the power of the internet to reach out to as many people as possible, he describes the web as the greatest art form of the twenty first century and that this is the best for of direct communication to a wide spread audience. He often takes to social media like Instagram and Twitter to promote issues he feels strongly about, recently posting hundreds of photos of the Syrian refugees to try and raise awareness of this issue. Another piece of work that Ai Weiwei had a part in that really stood out was the three art books he printed in China informing the Chinese people on the censored work of modern and contemporary art. The work had to be distributed through word of mouth in a more secretive and underground way this for me was fascinating as well as this different platform for communication of politically driven themes through art and design was very interesting.

 Considering this I began to plan my practice work in response to this. I felt creating an online publication to celebrate all aspects of art and design under this theme seemed an appropriate response. In my research for the content I looked at more classical mural pieces, poster designs, instillation works and more current online means of communication. As well as this I visited the Tate modern and saw first hand the work of the Guerrilla Girls and an piece of Latin American photo books, this work showed me how just simple uses of type and imagery can be combined to make really engaging and throughout provoking designs. Typography I knew would be key in this project as this would be the main part of my designs and layout of the different works doing some additional research into the use of type was something I knew I needed to work on. The magazine Baseline had an article on use of type in somewhat controversial political parties and dictatorships, the article spoke of type being a really tool of expression and using type can denote so many theme that can have a major influence on the communication. Another magazine I looked closely at in my research was the work of Adbusters, this became a major influence into my magazine designs. The kind of communication I was looking at reflected in their work and this abrupt and impacting design was also what I looked to replicate. Taking all my research and transferring it into content gave me a few features that would make up the magazine. Creating the writing for the magazine is something I really struggled with I feel if I was more confident in my own writing ability my work would have been much more engaging. This in a way is true in my essay the writing is something I do not feel totally confident with and getting across my point is a long time consuming process.

 Overall I feel my practical (see Issuu Publication THE ART OF POLITICS on COP Blog) work has stemmed from some interesting themes I looked at in my essay and I feel my knowledge of the subject and why it is useful to look for more academic writing has really improved. I would however have improved my idea generation for this project I feel as if I may have just gone with my first idea and not pushed this enough, as well as this I feel I could have looked to include my works seen in my essay in the online publication. There is clear links in my practical work and my essay both exploring the theme of a obligation to act on issues the artist or design feels strongly on. Context of Practice for me has been one of the most challenging modules to date, initially I found it really hard to start my work but I found leaning to enjoy what I was doing helped me in this. The more detailed writings on graphic design is something I find very interesting and learning more on where the ideas have come from and this further analysis of why it has been done will help me as a design put more reasoning behind my work. There has been a lot of things in COP I found challenging and out of my comfort zones but I am confident now I can push on to really improve on my work in the second and third year.