post 1
“This is a digression born of enthusiasm.”
(a quote from the Preface of Magazine Design)
Since I found the assignment brief overwhelming (for someone with little initial knowledge of the area) I decided to research some general history of magazines in the library at Bower Ashton. The following are my findings composed as a little summary of notes to myself.
- Arabic, means emporium/warehouse (stocked with goods).
- Invention of industrial revolution – developed along graphic design (mutual relationship).
- Bastard offspring of book and newspaper.
- Picture and text are equal in importance (this due to mass culture).
- It is a whole; has unity, with manyfold ingredients.
- Reader-base is essential to survival; therefore, it must address them; through attitude primarily; way of looking at the World. Also: entertainment (not only “boring facts”) -> Personality
- Often over-looked when discussing culture/history, yet: it has had lots of influence. -> in development of modern design principles and visual expression.
- Changes: due to technological developments & social expectations.
- Some criticisms: The influence of the advertisers (but also their necessity, as they bear the costs – there needs to be a balance); Today: copyright issues (it is easy to steal content from those who invest in gathering them); moral debate: accessibility of news – also issue with enforcement.
- More lasting than a newspaper, but not as much as books -> design problem
- The very earliest “magazines” were literary, political journals, like books, aimed at the elite classes. This reflected in their prices and outlook (more to resemble books in size, shape, etc) – intended for bookshelf (to be bound together when collected). Industrial revolution changed this; educated middle-class readers.
- Prototype: Illustrated London News (1842) Herbert Ingram
- Technological necessity: photographic reproduction, automation of printing.
- In 1930s creative centre became New York.
- Books used:
MacLean (1969) Magazine design. Oxford University Press.
Owen (1991) Magazine design. Laurence King.
Quinn, A. (2016) A history of British magazine design. London: V&A Publishing.
Also:
Can we exemplify the changes in magazine design by the cover of the three books I used? Or am I reading (bad pun) too much into it?
Post 2
1 –Editorial Illustration Ideas and Concepts (what is the idea under pinning the image?)
A, Philosophical/ conceptual
Coat of Arms
of Niels Bohr
The New Philosopher article explains about how Niels Bohr designed his own coat of arms, the motto chosen for it was based on his favourite phrase, the abbreviated version of: “Contraria non contradictoria sed complementa sunt” - Opposites are not contradictory, they are complementary. I chose a very similar image by John Hendrix, with a different meaning - designed for a Christian university, using biblical symbolism of Good and Evil.
More specifically in these examples: lower social classes in the UK.
“It’s been a long six weeks, and I’ve struggled to feed my children. I just hope things get better – they can’t get much worse.” (A quote from The Guardian article which it illustrates.)
Eleanor Bannister
Focus: on their
table and plate (note, the mother’s “meal”) to make a point about her struggles
affording meals. Oppressive feel (colours and angle). As opposed to Olivier Kugler’s
Reportage style illustration, also for The Guardian. Here, the context matters
just as much, we see all the details of the boy’s environment (social and
living) alongside his gestures as self-expression, and the transcribed version
of his thoughts and wishes. The life from the child’s perspective, while in the
previous example, it was from the parent’s.
Rocco Baviera - Bellwether, magazine of University of Pennsylvania
Both of these emphasize a holistic approach (perhaps?), by having a circular element in the composition, in the middle of the image. Despite this sense of unity, there’s an implication of being made of different parts (tying back to my first set of examples). I find it interesting, how this unity includes the human actors (scientists, farmers) as well, also being part of the larger system. In both cases, this is implied by the human figures being relatively small, faceless, and wear the “uniform” of their trade. Normally, the effect could be slightly foreboding (referring to political systems where there is no consideration for individual perspectives), so I think the colour choices and rounded angles mean to give a positive, maybe even naïve feel.
2 – Editorial Image Making Processes (how the
image was made?)
A, Screen-print (look?)
I chose these for their aesthetic quality and composition. Also goes well with the "small humans" theme, see 1/C above.
Luisa Jung- NPR Ethical-Investing
Sam Chivers - Cliff Walk
B, Ink, watercolour
Yet again, based on my taste, and the social/ political message of 1/B, while the Reiser cartoon reminds me of 1/A in a humorous way.
Matt Cook - Care Home
Pat Byrnes – The Two Americas
C, Digital
Referring back to 1/A. Despite the similarities, a very different image in style and meaning.
3 – Magazine Design (page layouts, type, photograph and illustration)
I admire these compositions for being so responsive to the
text, not merely accommodating, but representing the meaning. Also, they are
two opposites in sense of how one shows a busy-looking spread, while the other
is airy (aptly, since discussing "empty space").
The idea behind the cover design: "With the large R it all looked extremely stark. We asked Nishant Choksi to join the project because his brushwork and free hand establishes a tension against the geometry of the R." – Jack Self, Rory McGrath & Nishant Choksi. They wanted to represent tension, being the identity of the magazine, which defines itself by that.
"What it means to live today. At one pole is a purely rational description of the cosmos. At the other, a rich cultural soup of narrative."
4 – Magazine Topic/Genre (discovering magazines on your personal interests)
Perfect combination of readable material with illustration that adds to the content, being just as important. Very attractive in every way.
B, FUKT - being dedicated to drawing and illustration, another
“tasty” one. I loved the individual design of the issues, all related to the
topic.
C, Marimo - Two issues (Home; Phantasmagoria) exist of this Kickstarter project; both gorgeous, ideal gift for an illustrator or animation student. The articles are accompanied by illustrations primarily, not only frames from the films.
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Usually understood
as synonymous, a difference can be made, thus: maze refers to a complex
branching multicursal puzzle with choices of path and direction, while a
unicursal labyrinth has only a single path to the centre. The word labyrinth
comes from Greek mythology, although the pattern can be found in many different
cultures. In the medieval times, a version of it was used in gothic cathedrals
(as a pattern on the floor paving inside the building).
"Cover illustration for Publiek Denken on iSociety or rather the digitalization of the government." (description from artist's website)
"Full Page illustration to accompany an article on people in (health)care being increasingly fed up with and protesting against having to work following protocols." (description from artist's website)
Wireframe
To accompany text in printed media (originally, as nowadays will include digital formats). From the reader’s perspective, this type of illustration is ideally eye-catching, thought-provoking, aids understanding, engages attention and incites to read on. From the illustrator's perspective, it might be like a puzzle-game; requiring not only problem solving but creative attitudes also. There’s a brief to be met as well as the primacy of the text promoted, while additional aspects, such as the branding/style and the audience of the magazine, etc.
This has been a completely new kind of research into an area I have not thought much about in the past. For this, and for the sheer amount of visual material available (and the comparative lack of written information) I was overwhelmed at first. Perhaps still am a little.
I was therefore mostly occupied with the idea of complexity, confusion, as if lost in a maze with a poor map in hand. Incidentally, my idea for Part B was also making me thing of mazes, and that has given me direction, a thread to follow, as I would be doing my visual research into that.
I have already posted lots of examples of some of the aspects above. This merely a recap, now with more focus on brains specifically, without the intention to be exhaustive – as, ironically, the whole research has been a rabbit hole.
Man in the Woods - My Friday Walk (in Weird Walk magazine)
Why? Both magazines I have bought at the start of this module, and found the chosen articles to be compatible in an interesting way. I wanted to explore them visually, pointing at their similarities.
Note. The final outcome is planned to be a physically printed booklet (concertina style), to evoke an old fashioned foldable map. On the website, I am posting a version that does not equate to the printable version (due to how it should be folded, and certain parts cut into shapes, a little string added too) - here, I am only demonstrating the whole pieces for each article.
This part of the module excited me, as I have never done this sort of task in my life, therefore a fun challenge for my creativity- I really wanted to see, what I would make of it with no previous experience at all. I went along all the workshops on the way, where I can say I have learned a lot about the style of thinking and methods of an editorial illustrator. I think the pressure to produce something useful in a short period of time especially taught me to focus and not overthink too much, which I tend to do. When we had a look at each-other’s outcomes for these workshops, I felt very nervous at first, then I learned to over-come my general shyness in front of the group by how encouraging the atmosphere was.
I have decided to do my final outcome digitally, as likely that would be my method as an editorial illustrator; software use would be unavoidable either way. Perhaps I was too ambitious with how large I intended to make it, and struggled greatly to finish it in time, which I just about managed. Regardless, I wanted to produce something that I would be proud of at least. I am happy with the final piece and wish I could have it physically made (see if I manage in the next days). I am not sure, on the other hand, how much it meets the brief as an editorial illustration…it feels less editorial in style, and more personal, though I do think the illustrations match the chosen articles (of which there were two).