TRIANGULATION & REFERENCING

Additional Notes

• Various point of views from each critic or author of the article, all somehow have an background in the creative industry. Most of the arguments are rather forthright, though supported with counter-arguments.

• Most arguments focuses on the idea of consumerism and being the controlled by the business and market. Artists aren't making use of their talents to make 'greater' work that serves meaningful purpose or could somehow change the world. 

Thoughts

• I need to look for more counter arguments towards the purpose of design is simply to 'improve' or 'aid' society. Could people appreciate art or even create art simply because it makes them feel good? Evoke response from the audience (either bad or good).

• The relation to Politics? There is slight office politics. Art could be used as a way to express oneself (e.g. social commentary) and perhaps sway others to believing/agreeing with one's thoughts. 

RESEARCH SOURCES

BA (hons ) Ilustration

Context of Practice 1

Finding research sources

CoP Theme: Politics

Search terms/key words: ‘Form and Function’, ‘Quality’, ‘Content’, ‘Design Thinking’

LCA Library	1: Mesch, Claudia. (2013). Art and Politics, a small history of art for social change since 1945. London: I.B Tauris. 2: Roberts, John. (2007). The Intangibilities of Form. New York: Verso. 3: Heywood, Andrew. Key Concepts in Politics. (2000). Palgrave.
Google Books (preview)	1: Rowe, Peter G. Design Thinking. MIT Press, 1991. 2: Greenough, Horatio & Small, Harold A. Form and Function: Remark on Art, Design and Architecture. University of California Press, 1947 3: Bersson, Robert. Responding to Art: Form, Content and Context. Mc-Graw Hill, 2004
Google Scholar	1: Dorst, K. Design Studies, The Core of Design Thinking and Its Application. 2011. Elsevier.  2: Cross, Nigel. Design Thinking: Understanding How Designers Think and Work. 2011. Berg. 3: Rancière, Jacques. From Politics to Aesthetics? Paragraph Vol. 28, No. 1. 2005. Pp. 12-25.
Websites	1: Cummings, Michael (2009) Good Design. UX Design. Uxdesign.com/design/article/good-design/54. Accessed: 13 October, 2016 2: Foundry Art Centre. ‘Form and Function’ (2016). www.foundryartcentre.org/form-and-function/ 3: Fast Company. Design Thinking…What is that?. www.fastcompany.com/919258/design-thinking-what (2006)
JStor	1: Rim Razzouk, Valerie Shute. (2012). What is Design Thinking and Why is it Important? (Research Study) 2: Elziebta T. Kazmieraczak (2003) Design as Meaning Making. From Making Things to the Design of Thinking. (Journal) 3: Dvora Yanow. (2010). Form Follows Function? (Journal)

During that session we get to find relatable sources for our chosen quote. I honestly think that it was harder than I expected since I had to filter through the relevance and cross-check between different sources for the accuracy of the information given. 

COP LECTURE 3: NON-LINEAR HISTORY OF IMAGE

Today's lecture discusses the general history of image-making and the power of visual communication, which I found very intriguing. Image-making dates back to cave paintings until as of this day. I found that from this lecture, image-making and visual communication could unify and be utilized in various ways.

Richard Long (1989) 'Red Earth Circle'

Article link: http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/magiciens-de-la-terre/

From the lecture, this example of conceptual art intrigued me. Perhaps it was because this piece of work is open to interpretation, depending on the audience. Some say this artwork is controversial (culture appropriating) as a person from a first world country based it off of a culture from a third world country. That may be true to a certain extent, however I think that the continuity of a culture is what brings about unity.  

Nevertheless, I think that images and artworks such as the one above communicates an idea, no matter how obscure it is. In return it generates a (emotional) response from the audience.

I was also introduced to the idea that some form of authority or power plays in image-making and visual communication. An example was addressed regarding the infamous painting of Mona Lisa and how it is considered to be the most famous painting. It made me think what makes it meaningful -is it because of the way it's made, the authorities of art or the fact that it had become commercialised. Galleries and institutions collect artefacts and artworks, giving them a sense of significance.

I find the persuasive power of image-making rather daunting. For instance, propaganda or campaign posters. As simple images could say a lot. The Guerrilla Girls (1985) and their movement clearly utilized visual communication and image-making to make a powerful social comment. They stated '5% Modern Art Section are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.' I find it rather interesting that art could be used as a platform to speak against power. 

INVESTIGATING QUOTES 

'Where is the content? Where is the comment? It’s all about the materials, rather than the message. It’s all about the quantity rather than the quality. It’s all about design doing rather than design thinking. It’s all style over content, function following form. Illustration has withdrawn from the big debates of our society to focus on the chitchat and tittle-tattle of inner sanctum nothingness.' 

(Zeegan, Lawrence. (2012) Where is the content? Where is the comment? Creative Review [Online] Available at: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/whereisthecontentwhereisthecomment/ [Accessed: 8 September 2016])

Findings

• I particularly chose to further analyse this quote since I find it amusing and relatable. I partially agree with the statement 'Illustration has withdrawn from the big debates of our society to focus on the chitchat and tittle-tattle of inner sanctum nothingness.' I think this quote is implying that illustrators nowadays tend to create artworks for commercial use and disregard the process of image making as well as content. 

Illustration by John Holcroft

Additional Thoughts

• An illustrator, whom I found very interesting creates social criticism through illustrations. John Holcroft addresses social issue that are current and makes comment on reality. In relation to this quote, I think that despite working towards commercial needs, some artists still consider meaning and purpose in their work. 

• Also taking in consideration that a company or business would commission an artist or designer based on their demands, disregarding whether the image-making process took months of in depth research or a simple sketch on a napkin.

• In an interview, Holcroft said '...I do prefer to work on the creative process alone unless I know the art editor and have worked with them before. Ocassionally my ideas are mutilated by clients and they've added pointless and daft elements to the image just to satisfy the editor.'

I think that despite working for a client, it doesn't mean that you're taking the thinking out of it. Holcroft still provides thought, process and meaning in his works. I honestly admire John Holcroft's works and I suppose he's an illustrator to look up to.

Article: Grouchnikov, Kirill (2013). Illustrators at work-Interview with John Holcroft [Online] Available at: http://www.pushing-pixels.org/2013/10/21/illustrators-at-work-interview-with-john-holcroft.html [Accessed: 11 October 2016] 

INVESTIGATING QUOTES 

This session, we were introduced to COP in more detail. We had a discussion regarding quotes from practitioners and articles.  

Notes taken during group discussion

In our small group, we chose a quote in relation to history which says: 'The history we read [...] though based on facts, is, strictly speaking, not factual at all, but a series of accepted judgements.' (Carr E. H. 1961. What is history? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Findings

• We looked into certain terms such as 'facts' and 'accepted judgements'. We discussed what are facts, how can facts be defined/proven true and who makes these judgements? Though we came up with ideas such as authorities, power and how people judge based on morals

• We also covered issues such as censorship and media, despite being given 'facts' society isn't given full information (e.g Fox News and the Napalm girl photo banned from Facebook)

'The Napalm Girl'
Photographed by Nick Ut
Article link: http://time.com/4485344/napalm-girl-war-photo-facebook/

'Detention Centre'
Illustration by Kim Kwang-il

'Scale, Airplane, Motorcycle'
Illustration by Kim Kwang-il
Article Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2561992/Shocking-sketches-emerge-life-North-Koreas-gulags-showing-prisoners-resort-eating-mice-snakes-beaten-vomited-blood.html

Additional Thoughts

• When we were introduced to COP, I honestly think that it is a challenging module. There were a lot of things to consider when it comes to critical thinking and analysing. 

• I think that when it comes to researching and looking at supporting evidences, it is always good to balance out our reasoning with counter arguements. For instance, regarding the Napalm girl photo, the article showed Facebook's perception of 'protecting the community by removing'. To an extent, perhaps its a way of 'shielding' the audience, however I still disagree with the company banning the photo. Then again, it all links back to the issue of censorship and authorities.

• Whereas, from the North Korean prison camp illustrations, what I learned was that it is crucial to know the source of information. Also when it comes to art, it is essential to know whether it's the artists' representation of the situation or if it was based on real life experience. In this case, Kim Kwang-il had been in those prison camps for two years and deferred to South Korea

To wrap it off, I am looking forward to more COP sessions and discussions. It interests me how COP covers a wide range of topics from politics, history, society, the arts and more. 

COP LECTURE 2: VISUAL LITERACY - LANGUAGE OF DESIGN

There were quite a lot of information to take in from today's lecture. The key points I gathered from the lecture were:

• meaning of visual literacy 
• main principles 
• visual semantics/syntax
• visual synecdoche/metonym/metaphor (more technical things)

Though what I thought was interesting during the lecture was that visual literacy is similar to literacy narrative. The lecture covered facts about communicating ideas, how to communicate them effectively, the relation to society and the world, etc. 

Some notes + little drawing of Fred

Though what I think was open to discussion was more of how could we effectively use these symbols/images to communicate ideas and to what extent could it convey ideas. This lecture also discussed associations/implications and how these images can change due to society, culture and more. It also made me realize many people nowadays (perhaps the millennials) are visually literate and question why images could effect society so strongly. 

To top it off, this lecture reminded me of an article I read on dailymail.co.uk about the famous 'Eiffel Tower peace sign'. 

Illustration by Jean Jullien.

Article and image link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3319793/When-brush-paper-thing-came-Artist-Eiffel-Tower-peace-symbol-reveals-reactionary-origins-doesn-t-want-fame-it.html

A symbol such as the one above connected people around the world and conveyed a message, an awareness about the terrorist attacks in Paris. Also the peace sign and the Eiffel Tower are something people already know, which might be the first thing they catch on. 

DISCUSSION 

Drawing in context

We just had an introduction to the COP module and I honestly think that it is quite intriguing. "Drawing is Thinking." is a phrase that had been introduced during the module introduction and it had been in my mind ever since. I think the phrase seem to imply that drawing isn't simply about making images. 

We had an activity which involved drawing images based on chosen words. The words I chose happened to be: propaganda and business. I quite like the idea of creating visual responses to topics as I get to further develop and explore the idea/concept.