Lesson 6

31/07.15

Selecting a style to run with

In class today my partner and I discussed which direction to take our imagery. After comparing our imagery we soon realised we had both taken quite different directions. Collaboratively we decided to go with Emma's blind drawing style as we both agreed that it was expressive and also had links with art therapy techniques which linked in well with our concept. This is the artist model we looked at.

Style Research

30.07.15

Mood Boarding

I looked into the idea of different style directions we could take the illustrations. I liked the idea of animating the seed with human like features to give the aesthetic a youthful feel. This is an example image I found. I feel as though this kind of style could work well by giving our imagery plenty of personality and could be a fun direction we take our work.

Lesson 5

30.07.15

Peer Feedback

Today we joined up with stream D and exchanged feedback on our 8 spreads. I got lots of feedback and it is telling that we need to focus a bit more by perhaps narrowing down our target age group or maybe focusing on a particular area on mental well-being e.g. anxiety/depression rather then focusing on well-being on a whole. We also need to find some more facts that we can use to back up our statements. Today we were also told that we need to sketch up a timeline to keep us on track for hand in. My partner was away today so we will have to work on that together in class tomorrow.

After todays class it is clear the direction we need to move in is narrowing our brief as it is currently too broad. We also need to look into more imagery for our spreads. We need to learn each others artistic strengths and style so that we can flesh out our aesthetic theme for the brief.

8 Spreads

29.07.15

First drafts

Tonight I put together four out of the eight spreads as drafts (my partner did the other four). The main focus was doing some extra research to help write the text and I also found a few images to go along with the text. I like the idea of using images of a seed slowly blooming into a plant to metaphorically show a young persons mind flourishing and maturing into a happy and healthy mind. Below is one of the images I sourced (it's a seed!) and I like the idea of following a style similar to this but perhaps adding a youthful and playful twist.

First EX-CHANGE Meeting

24.07.15

First EX-CHANGE Meeting

We had our first EX-CHANGE meeting after class. Four people from our group showed up, one fashion student, one photography, one spacial and me. It was very interesting to see what they were doing and their take on well-being. They all focused on slightly less heavy topics then mental well-being which was refreshing. It is still so early into the project, so none of us had too much work to show, just ideas at this point. The meeting didn't change my direction at all but was interesting none the less.

Consolidating Topic

24.07.15

Lesson 4

During class today we worked in our small groups through the eight points on the brief. We found this relatively easy as we both had a clear idea of the topic and what we wanted to achieve. One of the more important decisions we made was defining the age group 'youth'. We came to the decision that our brief would be focused on youth aged between 12 and 19 years. We completed the 8 points and will now research the points further and find images that relate for homework.

Idea Sharing

23.07.15

Sharing and Selecting a Topic

Today we spoke in groups about our areas of interest as far as selecting a topic goes. There was a lot of confusion among the class as to how broad our topic choice could or could not be. It was concluded in the end that our topics were be mental health related and kept fairly broad at this stage. We then identified our topics, wrote them down and got into groups with other people that were focusing on a similar area. We then discussed our specific focuses amongst this group and split into pairs with the person with the closest topic match.

Todays class helped clarify many questions I had about choosing a topic. I knew that I was interested in youth well-being but I was unsure on how specific my topic should be. By the end of the class I had decided that I wanted to focus on improving day to day well-being for youth e.g. a pick-me-up on a bad day. This would lead to happier young people growing into happy adults. It would also educate youth on techniques to keep them in a positive and happy head space, preventing the onset of anxiety, stress and depression. The person I have teamed up with on this project is also keen on youth well-being as a topic and has a similar take on it to me. It will be interesting to see how our topic evolves as we collaborate further.