1. Business Ethics Study
Issues surrounding business ethics in Graphic Design are things that are not against the law but are not morally right. Business Ethics is what an individual believes to be right or wrong such as religion, trust, environment, discrimination issues etc.
An example that I believe to be a bad Business ethics is the advertising for a local business in Wagga, who has used the Uncle Sam poster from the World War to promote its business. I feel that using this poster is inappropriate as it was one of the most well known posters from the World War and a lot of pain and suffering went on around this time.
2. Style Study
1. Having an open mind enables you to develop your style by exploring new ways of thinking, and exploring different styles and methods to do certain things. An example of this is mixing hand painted/drawn etc with digital devices to get different effects that would not be possible to create on a computer.
2. It is good to have some unique skills and aesthetic elements in the creative process as it will make your work different from everyone else’s and your style will become recognisable to other people.
3. I believe it would be a valuable task to research and critique other artists work as it explores what you do and don’t like and what you think works. Looking at other artists could perhaps help of improve your style or gain inspiration to create your own piece using some of the same elements.
4. It is a good idea to be aware of what you do and don’t like as you can examine what it is about something that you do like and how you can incorporate it in your own work, for example you may like pop art as the colour in it are bright therefore you can be inspired by previous artworks to use similar colours in your own work. You should be aware of what your strengths and weaknesses are as you can gradually work on fixing your weaknesses through training and practice and become more comfortable when dealing with things you are not comfortable doing.
5. I defiantly think that style evolves. In relation to personal style I don’t think that you can naturally know what style you have and what style your best at unless you have explored allot of different styles and experimented with them.
6. Attitude is important in any business, you always need to be professional and always have your customers needs meet to the best of your ability. Having good attitude can be the undermining reason for the success or failure of a business, no matter what industry your in. It also reflects others professional perception of you.
7. Habits are routines of behaviour that you do on a regular basis that may be intentional or non intentional, or good or bad. A good habit one might say is brushing your teeth day and night, a bad habit may be smoking for instance.
It is important to be aware of your habits so that you can address them to see if they affect your productivity. Say if you have a bad habit of sleeping in, this is going to affect your productivity as well as others perception of you.
8. Time management offers a designer to be able to complete jobs and tasks on time and be able to organise priorities from most important to least important. Having tasks done on time gives an impression to a client that you are reliable and professional and prompts the client to returns to you for buiness.
9. A way to improve your time management is to write to-do lists at the start of everyday and list tasks from most important to least important. It may take you five minutes at the start of the day but you will be able to allocate time to each task and tick off each task as it has been completed. This ensures no task is forgotten.
There are also training and courses to improve your time management skills.
10. A conscience is something inside you that usually makes you feel bad for your actions that go against ones moral values. Your conscience can come into play, either made by you or made for you. For example you may over charge someone for a job and your conscience makes you regret this and make you feel bad for doing so, or it could be that someone has financial/personal problems that affect them from paying you for a job, your conscience tells you to let them pay you later even though you may have finances of your own.
This can affect your professional practice as people could take advantage of your kind nature and end up not paying you or pay late therefore leaving you perhaps, with not enough money or unorganised paper work and wasted time trying to chase money.
11. If you do not have morals it will end up affecting your practice and your reputation even if you are a good designer. You have to have some form of honesty and integrity, otherwise you wont be trusted and people won’t want to do business with you, in my opinion.
3. Study on Deadlines
What is a deadline?
A deadline is a task that MUST be done on time, we usually think of deadlines as paying bills or submitting assignments or tasks for a job.
What's involved in making a deadline?
To meet a deadline it usually takes organising, for example if you had an assignment due you would have to research the information needed, gather people who can influence or help you. Prepare the material needed and set time aside to get the job completed. If this was not organised you have the risk of not doing the task correctly and ending up with a poor result or an incomplete project.
What are the consequences of breaking a deadline?
The consequences of breaking a deadline means that your image to the person who set the deadline is going to be an image of unreliability, laziness etc this may lead to less tasks being set to you, failing a subject, or getting fired from a job.
How do you prioritise deadlines?
Set them in order of most important to least important.
How do deadlines alter perception of business and individuals?
Not meeting deadlines gives a negative effect on a company because if something is not done on time the person you are doing the project for will not come to you again and your client will loose business themselves if its something like a function that involved posters flyers etc does not get done. A client will then pass it on to not to go to that company and eventually you may go out of business. On a individual level your boss will think less of you and not have a great deal of respect for you and if it is a re occurring thing you could loss your job and gain a bad reputation in the community.
How do general business deadlines differ with Graphic Design deadlines?
In Graphic Design a client gives you a "deadline" as they usually need that piece of work for something they need for their job such as flyer for a upcoming event, if these do not get printed on time then there clients will not be advised of the function which they may lose thousands of dollars for and they can sue you for lose of business.
4. Study on cultural relationships with design
After reading about the Celts and their history, how has their culture filtered through to modern society both in Australia ad the world in general?
The Celts were around long before Rome conquered the known world. They had their own language, customs, art and culture across a vast area. They did not just live in Britain and Ireland, the came from Spain and France to southern Germany and the Alpine lands, Bohemia, and later in Italy, the Balkans and even central Turkey.
The Celts created a variety of arts such as Celtic tattooing and Celtic clip art. Their culture also had their own language, name, letters and Celtic designs. The most famous Celtic designs are the Celtic Knot, Celtic cross Celtic spiral and Celtic animal print. These can all be seen in modern society today through the use of typography, jewelry, ordainments, tattoos, fashion and stationary such as borders, backgrounds etc.
Aboriginal art is defiantly visual. It is also much more to it’s artists and people. Can you comment on what a cultures art might mean to its people and how it can socially affect itself and other cultural groups.
Aboriginal art symbolises the world and the beliefs of the aboriginal people. Traditional aboriginal art represents the dreaming but is often also a vital part of ceremonies. Aboriginals have been around for over 40 000 years and traditionally used materials from nature. This varied the type of Aboriginal art found across Australia depending on the area it came from. In the central desert, ground drawing was a very important style of art and throughout Australia rock art as well as body painting and decoration were common although varying in styles, method, materials and meaning.
Aboriginal groups exchanged natural resources, such as ochre’s, and tools, such as stone axes and boomerangs, thus creating extensive trading networks. Items were traded hundreds of kilometers from their original source. Large gatherings of people came together where they would exchange specialty items among each other.
Aboriginal art affects its own people to maintain traditional representations and styles. The art created by ancestors are passed down and different symbols represented in the artwork mean different things. Concentric circles usually represent campsites, waterholes or places of significance. Curved lines generally represent rain or water traveling underground. Straight lines may be indicative of traveling & when these lines join concentric circles it may show the pathway traveled by the ancestors. A small "U" shaped figure may represent a person; depending on the iconography next to the person determines whether it is male or female.
I believe Aboriginal art can affect anyone who takes interest into it and explores its meaning. It’s fascinating to know each symbol, colour and pattern has meaning to the aboriginal people. Not only that but aboriginal people believe that you must respect the earth and believes nature owns us not the other way around. A lot of people have taken this on board and become more environmentally friendly and found what destruction ‘mother nature’ can do
M.C. Escher's work is highly detailed. Most designers and lay people are highly impressed by his work and dedication to his art. Why?
Escher spent so much time and enthusiasm on his work and added so much detail to each piece. During his lifetime, made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings and over 2000 drawings and sketches. His most famous pieces where Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Dürer and Holbein. I believe most people are fascinated with how Escher creates perfect patterns within his artwork combining different shapes and details to form a perfect piece.
What is so interesting about art and culture of the past?
When looking at the past and the history of art, I find it amazing how each nationality has found so many ways to produce its own original artwork. Usually when you look back on early artist they found natural resources to create beautiful pieces of artwork. In many cultures art was a form of communication and it was a way of passing information through generations. Within different cultures there could be several different languages depending on which area a certain group came from so they may not be able to speak read or write the same. Inspiration can also be given by looking at pieces from the past as most things at some stage have already been done before.
Why look backwards to our history when trying to engage in design solutions for modern society? examples..
In modern society it is sometimes hard to find things that are different in design trends. From looking backwards in history you may gather inspiration from other cultures, eras and patterns. Certain shapes textures and colours may spark an idea in a person’s head to create something similar with a modern touch.
How has ancient art affected your life? examples..
When looking at the history and culture of any art form it has an effect on me. I love each different culture and how they made their unique art works. The material they use and the meaning of the work to them and their people. When gathering inspiration it is always amazing to look at ancient art and see how other people use colours, pattern, shapes etc and bring it into your own work as well.
What cultural influence has occurred in your life? Examples.
I think there are probably a lot of cultural influences in my life, I cannot think of any major ones but some I can think of is the food we eat on an everyday basis you have many diverse ranges of food you can buy in the supermarket which comes from around the world such as Chinese, Italian, Thai and much more. Also artwork that is placed within the home has been influenced on cultures and their design. Defiantly as a multicultural society we are open so many different cultures without even realising it such as music, food, drinks, medicines, artwork
6. Study on graphical representation of personal development
7. Study on investigating the GD industry and jobs
1.
Lemonade - Creating and developing a brand, website design and development, website accessibility, search engine marketing, email marketing, content management system,
Corporate Identity, Logo Design, Stationery Systems, POS / Retail Design, Signage / Corporate Environments, Uniforms and Vehicle Livery, Style Guides / Manuals, Marketing Collateral, Corporate Advertising, Annual Reports, Investor Communications, Magazine / Book Design, Photography, Illustration, Printing and production plus more.
EmediaCreative - their services range from design such as websites, stationary, brochures, product packaging plus general graphic design. They do all types of offset printing. They also cater for photography, photocopying etc.
Hopping Mad - logo and identity design through to websites, annual reports, direct marketing campaigns, posters, newsletters and brochures.
Sass Design - Sass services include logos, brochures, annual reports, menus, posters, business cards, invitations, press advertisements, canvas prints, packaging, short run digital printing, offset printing corporate identity, design and print packages and web design.
Blossom graphic and web design - services in logo design, graphic design, website design, e-commerce, chic packaging, illustration and advertising.
DPM creative group - services in graphic design, logo design, web design and print agency.
Buscuit - services in Advertising, Website Design, Graphic Design, Packaging / Signage, Digital Media, 3D / 2D Illustration and logo Design
Aurora Design - services in Logo Design, graphic design, web design and 3d impressions
Spot on Graphic Design - in Logo Design, Business Cards, Letterheads, Stationery Packages, Presentation Folders, Website Design, Magazine Advertising, Brochures, Flyers, Presentation Folders, Newsletters, Posters, Email Stationery, Web Banners, Flash Animation, E-newsletters, Blogs, Shop Signage, Product Packaging, Promotional Items, Point of Sale, Apparel, Vehicle Signage ... and so much more!
Girling Design - Logo design - Brochure design - Web design - Poster design - Illustration - Photography
3.
When researching the role of most graphic design jobs most employees want someone with flare, someone dedicated to producing exceptional work, someone who is energetic, well presented, have excellent written and verbal communication skills.
The roles that some companies state are creating digital ads and print marketing campaigns, responsible for creative design and concepts, cutting edge and eye catching work, involved in customer relations after initial training, design and prepare final artwork for printing, communication with internal and external parties, assisting pre press.
Experience needed to gain employment with most agencies is to have 3 years experience in the design industry, proven previous projects with wide variety of styles, ability to manage multiple jobs and work flow to ensure projects are meet with the best possible results, communication and presentation experience. Extensive knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite and most companies prefer web design experience but it is not essential.
The main location for most companies looking for employees are the cities, especially Sydney, with Salary ranging from an hourly rate of $40.00- 50.00 to a yearly rate up to $100 000.00.
8. Study on the technical challenges of graphic design
What are the technical challenges?
colours (depending on different monitors, RGB-CMYK etc), Harmony, Balance, Programs, Software (not knowing certain tools), Formats for printing.
How do we solve them?
Research, training/courses, experience/practice
What resources are out there?
Short courses, TAFE, Uni, you tube, Internet, books, library, design magazines, Photoshop magazines, DVDs, peers, teachers. All of these resources are out there to help you become a better designer.
What is your annual budget to pay for these resources?
$1 000 - 1 500 maybe more depending on circumstances. Usually if I need something I work out a way to get it.
How could an ABN benefit your financial approach to these resources?
You can claim most of these things back on taxes if you have an ABN such as software charges, computer needs etc.
How do the major platforms affect technical approaches to projects?
•Mac is much more expensive for equipment
•Layout is easier to operate on a Mac (in my opinion)
•Web design is better on a PC and most people in general use a PC
When researching this subject on the net there is a huge debate between Mac and PC but these are some of the issues I found.
•Most viruses are formed for window users hence majority of people use a PC.
•Mac has a more consistent reliability and service record than any of its Windows-centric rivals, as shown by surveys conducted by both PC World and PCMag.com.
•PC offers’ more variety like size blu ray players, HD etc
9. Study on criticism and psychology of the critical process
1. When critiquing Annabel’s' map I found it quite difficult as she had such a fantastic map, her illustration were great they had lots of detail and were very appealing and realistic but still fun. Her map was well proportioned and was atheistically pleasing.
The image as a whole was very harmonious, other than the word 'Australia'. In my opinion it did not stand out much from the ocean and could have been made more dominant.
The cities also blended in closely with the water, which could have been changed.
Overall I believe I done a good job in providing Anni with feedback in what she could improve on her map.
My presentation in front of the class could have been better prepared as I forgot a lot of points when I was up in front of everyone.
2. Annabel gave me a lot of what she liked and what she thought needed fixing. I think she done a great job in telling me what would improve the appearance of my poster.
A lot of what Anni told me. I was aware of the font as I had to change the font when uploading it the gif form on TAFE computers, as it did not have the font I originally used and also I knew that a lot of my illustrations needed to be more detailed and neatened up.
3. It has shown me that I need to have attention to detail because if there is the tiniest thing out of place someone will notice it.
The critique has helped my map become better and more professional with the advice that was given to me.
4. I was advised that it is very obvious the sea (background) is a Gaussian blur on gradient and should be more subtle, I am going to ignore this as it is not as obvious in illustrator and once printed I believe it will look fine.
5. When going into a critique I think a very positive and open-minded attitude is necessary. A critique is only done to help improve ones work and is not anything personal.
6. To prepare to give criticism you must find what you don’t like and put it in a nice way to that person so that it is not personal and is not discriminative, just a reflection on their work and not on them.
7. General guidelines that can help provide criticism are the principals and elements of design such as unity, variety, hierarchy, dominance, proportion and balance.
10. What is critical theory and how do you think some aspects of it relates generally to Graphic Design?
Critical theory looks into and critiques society and culture using knowledge from the social sciences and humanities. Critical theory has had many different aspects and many historical stages of development throughout many generations. Some say that any philosophical approach with similar practical aims could be called a critical theory, including feminism, critical race theory, and some forms of post-colonial criticism. It is difficult to categorise what ‘critical theory’ is, as it has a group of concepts that all fall under the same category.
“Critical theory begins by inquiring into what prevents the realization of this Enlightenment ideal. In doing so, critical theory questions and challenges the seeming obviousness, naturalness, immediacy, and simplicity of the world around us, and, in particular, of what we are able to perceive through our senses and understand through the application of our powers of reason. Critical theory is therefore concerned with discovering and uncovering, and with describing and explaining "mediations" - environmental, ecological, physical, physiological, psychological, intellectual, emotional, historical, social, cultural, economic, political, ideological, linguistic, semiotic, aesthetic, religious, ethical, etc. - between "object" and "subject," "event" and "impression," "impression" and "perception," "perception" and "cognition," "cognition" and "reflection," "reflection" and "response," "response" and "reaction," "reaction" and "action," and "action" and "practice." At the same time, "critical theory" also always involves questioning and challenging the passive acceptance that "the way things are" -- or "the way things seem" -- simply "is" the "natural" way they necessarily "should" or "must" be.” (http://www.uwec.edu/ranowlan/intr_whystudy_crit_thy.htm)
The most well know figures and founders of critical theory were Max Horkheimer, Friedrich Pollock, Theodor Adorno, Erich Fromm, Herbert Marcuse, Franz Neumann, Otto Kirchheimer, Henryk Grossman, Arkadij Gurland and Walter Benjamin.
In 1937 Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt School of sociology defined Critical theory as “adequate only if it meets three criteria: it must be explanatory, practical, and normative, all at the same time. That is, it must explain what is wrong with current social reality, identify the actors to change it, and provide both clear norms for criticism and achievable practical goals for social transformation. Any truly critical theory of society, as Horkheimer further defined it in his writings as Director of the Frankfurt School's Institute for Social Research, “has as its object human beings as producers of their own historical form of life.” (Horkeimer 1993, 21) (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/).
Critical theory tries to find what is not so obvious on the outside but what is hidden. It looks at our exterior reasons for why we make specific decisions such as culture, gender and personal gain for ones self or for a community or group. As a lot of us do not consciously think about these external factors that influence us towards a particular conclusion.
I believe that critical theory focus on different ways that cultural organisations ranging from media religion, scientific and academic work, are used to form what identifies somebody or something. Controlling what is accepted as true, normal or accepted with in a culture. It tries to open up the means of problem solving and bring in different viewpoints to potentially find new solutions. It looks at critique, which involves strengths and weaknesses of something and how and why they arise and be prepared to improve on any weaknesses.
Aspects of critical theory that can generally relate to graphic design is that it looks into both history and theory. An image can undermine ones reality making them believe something that is made up or not really there. It is questioning the idea of how an external image can get inside their inner self and transform their ideas and beliefs without them consciously knowing so.
Art, culture, politics and society can all alter ones perception on what’s aesthetically pleasing, based on their history and experience. Art, culture, politics and society cannot be bought down to one answer such as right or wrong or yes or no. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on what they believe in or what they like, for example as an individual of society your have the freedom of choice on what style of art you prefer, whether it be the arts and crafts movement or something more modern like graffiti.
Having such a complex and diverse society it is hard to know what a particular genre or group of people will like which is why it seems only appropriate that you research on your intended audience to find out what colours, symbols, and what language means to them depending on there race, gender etc. Critical theory comes into play as these elements help our development and improve our ability to connect with each other and be able to question, challenge and contribute towards the way things are today within communities, societies and cultures.
When designing a piece for a client you cannot leap straight into something and do it off the top of your head (in most cases). You need to research what you have been given and come up with a strategy to solve it in the best way possible. If you were designing a wedding invitation for someone with a Chinese heritage you would try not to use much white (which in our culture means brides, purity, cleanliness etc but in China it is the colour for death and mourning. Critical theory re-defines that you need to engage in both theory and research. “The members of the institute were also committed to the idea that to understand contemporary society, you need both empirical research and theory. They opposed those who would just engage in theory without research.” (http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/phi4804/crittheory5.htm)
When designing a piece of work for a client or business you have to ask the questions of consumerism, fashion, style, cultural status etc as these thing are the essentials that drives a governing society. Take for example your designing a poster for a church event that is very traditional in their beliefs and their way of thinking. You are not going to use the elements you would for a nightclub or festival. The design is going to correspond to the style of the church, either by using similar colours’, typefaces and language that they use.
As a graphic designer you must be critical of your own work and be willing to look into every aspect of your design to find any faults and come up with creative ways to solve these issues. You must be able to critique your own work and others work and are able to identify strengths and weaknesses within their work. As part of being a good graphic designer you are able to problem solve and explain why or why not something works or does not work. Critiquing is “the process of discriminating between good and bad and of understanding how and why they arise. It is not itself an act of improvement but it can be a preparation for improvement. At the least, it can help us to deal better with an imperfect situation.” (http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=-JfkFXQLp5wC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=%22Critical+Theory+made+simple&ots=NkCwquNNMH&sig=WpPMHNoYvYKqSaKlhZ_fndxpzf0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
All graphic design projects have obstacles, knowing how to overcome them is crucial. It is important to get others thoughts and opinions of your designs and to be open to criticism both good and bad. Not only to be accepting of others criticism but also to be able to criticise others work and help them develop and improve their skills. Most people are not born with high class designing skills, it usually takes practice and development to become a good designer. Therefore choosing to take on board others opinions and use problem-solving skills to come up solutions to any problems you may face. Using problem solving will help to improve your work and expand your knowledge on concepts of the world.
Problem solving skills are needed with in the graphic design industry as there are so many styles, fashions, trends and cultures that we must adhere to into making sure our end product suits the right market in order for it to succeed. We must deal with the problem of multiple perspectives and how different people view different things. Society creates some common ground between individuals and then bridges the gap, which is created by the fact that each of us sees things slightly different, most of the time.
Graphic design can be a very powerful tool when used correctly. When designing the physical world we can play a part in shaping social relations. Graphic Design brings people together and unites them with things that they have in common. It is based back on the belief that all human beings shape the world, and in doing that they create themselves.
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