Seasonal veg postcards

 Finally finished these. Just in time to take with me to Roots and Fruits, to show them my work and what the aesthetic of the cookbook will be like. The response was really great, they loved the work and seemed really excited by the whole idea. (More on that later)

The vegetables have taken a while to get right, but now that I have them I almost have a catalogue of endless possibilities. There's so much I can do with these. They will be used throughout the cookbook and then proposed for other things too.

I'm going to print these seasonal veg postcards to sell at a market this Saturday, and also to give out to the folk that are going to help with my primary research as a means of thanks, such as Roots and Fruits. 

Using mono print textures in photoshop has opened a whole new world for me. I think I will be using this process frequently in the future. 

Development- 

Hand-drawn type to maintain the hand made feel, and to add texture
to the type. 

Mono prints used for the vegetables. Will be making more mono prints tomorrow to add to the collection. 

Contextual research- Luba Lukova

Finding lots of interesting work in the 'Graphic Agitation' book, which is really inspiring me and feeding into my practice. Absolutely love the work by Luba Lukova, very simple but with a powerful impact and message. This sort of simple imagery will be really good to use within my infographics, as I was over complicating imagery previously. 

Need to consider the work that inspires me when creating practical work. 

What works well-

-Block colours

-Minimal colour palette

- Graphic imagery that's easy to understand

- Although these images are completely separate, they could work as a series because of their aesthetic. Would look good in an exhibition if multiplied.

I should-

-Consider minimal colour palette

- Create work that could work separately as well as together

- Create imagery thats obvious and easy to understand.

Primary research

Noticeable feedback from today's session was that I was lacking primary research, which I knew. So tonight I decided to change that and emailed some cafes in Leeds that might get on board with offering recipes for the cookbook. Already had a really positive response which has really excited me and I think it will drive my practical forward. 

I would like to have some examples of my work printed out for her to have a look at before I meet with her on Wednesday. I think this will kickstart my practical, and hopefully open some new doors for me, in the way of meeting and networking with the right people.

• Conversation started today
• 

  21:43

  Tilly Catherine Naomi Butters

  Dear Roots and Fruits,

  My name is Tilly and I’m a third year illustration student studying at Leeds College of Art, currently making a vegetarian cookbook as a part of my dissertation. I was wondering if you might have any short recipes you would like to contribute to the book? I will of course reference you, and make you a copy as a means of thanks if you do decide to help.

  Thank you for your time, and for providing fabulous vegetarian meals to the people of Leeds, I absolutely love what you do.

  Hope to hear from you soon,

  Tilly
• 

  22:12

  Roots And Fruits Leeds

  Awww thanks Tilly! We'd love to be part of your dissertation. Can you call in to chat?

  Kay
• 

  22:15

  Tilly Catherine Naomi Butters

  Amazing! Yeah I can call in for a chat for sure, when suits you best and I'll check my timetable.
• 

  22:22

  Roots And Fruits Leeds

  We are normally quiet between 3&5, can you do tomorrow or Wednesday?
• 

  22:27

  Tilly Catherine Naomi Butters

  I can call in on Wednesday around 4, would that be alright? Ah I'm super excited!
• 

  22:32

  Roots And Fruits Leeds

  Wednesday it is.

  See you on Wednesday. Kay

  
  

  
  

  
  

Cop practical workshop and review

Todays workshop was a little different to the usual crit, in that there were two sections, with some practical in-between. Without being able to explain my ideas to my peers made me realise that perhaps my ideas and thought processes aren't being documented well enough. So from today, I need to blog my development and ideas as I go, otherwise I will forget what I have and haven't said. 

Perhaps my design boards weren't fully explanatory either, it is difficult to communicate exactly what you're trying to achieve when it synthesises with such a vast amount of theory. 

This needs to be considered throughout the next few weeks.

This is my weeks plan, which I think its feasible. I really want to spend the whole of wednesday mono printing, but I have start up wednesdays to consider, which will take up 2 hours right in the middle of the day. Slightly annoying but I think I can manage it, as long as I've planned what I want to mono print before getting there I should be fine. 

Things to consider after today's session- 

- I should submit design boards for the proposed outcomes. 

- Design boards are good platforms for communicating visual development in one place, so could make a few for development too.

- How will I present my work? 

- Consider colour palette for the info graphs, keep it limited and aesthetically similar to the other work I create. 

-Lacking primary research- DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. 

Presentation boards and thoughts

I think this is the clearest presentation board I have, but it lacks contextual references so I need to evidence this on my blog a little more than I already have. Need to visit some independent book stores to get an idea of layout and the size I want my book to be, this will make up some primary research too. Where will my book sit in the current market?

Not sure if people will understand how this links to my essay, in which case I will need to thoroughly point out why on my blog, and discuss the reasons behind wanting to create work like this.

This is the only finished image I have in the way of info graphs, even though its wrong and needs to simplified. However it could be used for a front cover of something? Need to go back to my sketchbooks and rough some simpler info graph designs.

Adbusters ads

Design improvement

Thought id start again with this design, because I liked my concept I just didn't execute it well.  This design is much better, and the added element of the animals gives the design more body and a slightly stronger concept. 

Facts and titles to include-

Title-

Rainforests act as the lungs of our planet.

Facts

They give off more than 20% of the world oxygen. 

They subtract millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

110 animal and insect species are lost everyday from rainforest destruction

Roughly 70% of the rainforests have been demolished simply for the raising of livestock.

This will be my first info graph once its finished, and hopefully it will educate others on my topic. Not too text heavy so fingers crossed people will actually read it.

Want the textures to be the coherent link throughout my practical work, from the info graphs through to the cook book.

Rainforests are the lungs of the world

Trying to start an infographic that isn't just a rough but really struggling. Almost struggling with everything actually. 

I haven't worked on anything to a finished standard in a while, and I think this need developing. Was initially trying to add type on photoshop, but that didn't look so good so I need to strip it back and start again, possibly with hand drawn type for the information. 

Synthesis- Once the information is added, it will be an educational piece of information and imagery. The aim would be to hand out the info graphs in order to get the message across about the environment and and my topic in a non pushy way. 

Vegetable collection

Creating a catalogue of vegetables, so that when it comes to making the book I have the imagery ready to go. I now need to work on how the textures generated will be applied for the best visual outcome. 

Any other vegetables I need can be drawn at the time, as I think I'm going to have to draw various utensils too. Feels good to make some refined illustrations though!  

McDonald's culture jamming

I made these the other day, with the potential to play around with some ideas. I wasn't overly happy with the aesthetic outcome (its been a while since I created something that looks finished) so I got Mel to crit me, and asked a few others what they thought. Seeking my own peers feedback seemed to work really well, because I asked those that i knew would be honest. 

The next day I continued with the same design, pushing it forward to make it mean something or make it informative.

Ive been researching culture jamming for dissertation purposes and been finding myself wanting to steer my professional practice in that direction. It really inspires me. I need to find a way to create work like this that is a little more informative, so more like an info graph, but with a hard hitting argument? 

Or maybe this is something I test, and stick to my original ideas. Definitely something I want to discuss with my tutor.

- The McHeart Attack-

You can submit work to Adbusters, which is something I want to consider doing, as Ive had so much fun making these lovely hearts. Definite room for improvement though, so will continue to come up with new concepts and experiment with media.  

Hopefully this sort of work will plant questions in peoples minds though. 

We are living in the clutches of capitalism and this effects our health and our planet. This is my synthesis for this piece.

Adbusters!!!

Within my dissertation, I've been looking at the role of the designer. Because I'm talking about fast food packaging that has been designed by someone that then feeds into a mass marketing, consumerism booming world, its important for me to look at the values of the designer. I referenced Adbusters last year, without really realising what it was, and now I can't stop. 

My essay is taking turns that I hadn't expected, but am thoroughly enjoying. I want to research more into this, and perhaps alter chapter 2 of my essay somewhat, in order to put in new angles of information.

After looking at these I am a little inspired to create some of my own. This sort of stuff gets me really excited, and I would love to have a portfolio that displayed ability to tackle huge corporate companies and politics. Not sure if Im going off on a tangent, but hopefully it will all work out.

Just want to make work that means something to me.

Aesthetics

I really wanted to make the vegetarian cook book with mono print textures used throughout, in order to synthesise with my essay. Textures and colour will be important in order to convey an organic, eco-friendly aesthetic. I thought about mixing this with bold, bright colours like above, in order to show that going organic or veggie is a current thing. So that the book doesn't look dated, but looks stylish. However, I'm not sure I like it. I think I need to play around some more.

Need to play with layouts, colours and imagery a lot more. 

Audience and Context

Who will my audience be?

I want as many people as possible to know what I now know, so when considering my audience I don't want to limit myself. I would like to make something thats suitable for an array of ages. Therefore, I propose making work for an average family. Female, male adults, a young child and then a young adult. 

This means I need to consider various outcomes.

Ive been trying draw through my ideas, in order to visualise what I could do, which has been working really well for me.

So far the plan is -

For adults- Make a vegetarian cook book, thats informative as well as useful. There will be info graphs inserted so that its educational in a non pushy way. 

Synthesis to my essay, would be promoting a healthier, non meat-eating diet in order to save the environment and benefit peoples health, whilst educating on my topic. 

For Children- I want to propose a starter pack for primary schools, which includes everything you need to grow your own vegetables. In my eyes, this is an essential skill, and something we should learn from an early age. The starter pack will be fun, with stickers and calendars to show the progress and to keep the children entertained and excited throughout. Pack could also include posters to help the kids learn etc.

Synthesis- If children learn how to grow their own veg, they will realise the importance of food. Hopefully nutritional values will be taught throughout, which would educate them on my topic. Promoting vegetarian lifestyle through learning.

Really want to get some info graphs done, because these will be useful throughout my practical, with the ability to be used for all age groups depending on the content and language.

 They could be used to inform young adults, because the visual element should help to grab their attention.