Some of the issues surrounding business ethics include punctuality, attitude, work ethic and organisation. Being punctual benefits both the designer and the client – it reassures the client that the designer can be relied upon and trusted, thus building a better reputation for the designer. If the designer is punctual and on time, it reflects positively on them. Having a good, positive attitude towards the task at hand is also a good business ethic. If the designer approaches a task with an open mind and positive attitude, they will be able to complete the task effectively and will be more than likely put one hundred percent of their effort into the task. If the designer’s attitude is negative, it will become harder to complete the task on time and effectively. Work ethic can also be tied into this. If you are willing to work hard and whole heartedly, then you will be able to produce a better quality of work than you would if you aren’t willing to work hard. Organisation is something that can really help the designer. For example, if the designer has a plan that enables them to complete a task before the deadline so it can be reviewed and revised until it’s exactly what the client wants, it shows good organisation and time management skills. Time management is a big part of being organised. If you can manage your time well, you’ll be able to complete tasks without dreading the deadline, you’ll be able to arrive to work on time, and it will make everything much easier to handle.
Part Two: Style Study
1. To develop your own style, you have to be able to take criticism on board so you can improve your designs and design practice. Having an open mind enables you to take the criticism you receive and turn it into something positive; a tool you can use to further develop your skills. If your mind is closed you are less likely to become a better designer because, whether you are aware of it or not, you are likely to believe that your designs don’t need improvement and that the criticism you receive is wrong. There is always room for improvement.
2. It is important to have some unique skills and aesthetic elements in your creative process because it will allow you to explore various ways of solving a problem and to come up with more than one solution to a problem. Different people have different ways of perceiving ideas and images so you need to be able to cater to a range of people through your designs, so it is always good to have more than one solution to a problem so you are more like to appeal to anyone.
3. You should research artists and hold small personal critiques at regular intervals because it will help you develop your own style by helping you distinguish what you like and don’t like so you can incorporate the likes into your own designs. Critiquing their work will help your critique other’s works such as your class mate’s.
4. You should be aware of your likes/dislikes because what you like and dislike influences what you design and how you view other people’s designs. Being aware of your likes and dislikes can help you when you critique works as well. For example, if you dislike the Bauhaus typeface or the colour red, you may be inclined to view someone’s work in a slightly negative light despite the work being well done. You should be aware of your strengths and weaknesses because then you can control how both will affect your designs. If you are aware of what your strengths are, you can build on them and work on extending your particular strengths so that you will have more to draw on when it comes to creating a piece. You won’t always be asked to create something that plays only to your strengths, so the more you have of them the better. If you are aware of what your weaknesses are, you can work on turning those weaknesses into possible strengths by working out why they’re a weakness for you. For example, if you have a job that requires making a poster and type is a weakness of yours, you will have to come up with a solution that will help you overcome that particular weakness, such as researching how type has been used in posters beforehand, see what works and what doesn’t work.
5. I find that style can both be definitive and evolutionary. There will always be aspects of the style you first had in future works because that style is a part of you and helped you get to where you are now, but it certainly does evolve, especially as you grow as a person and are exposed to more of what the world has to offer.
6. If you have a negative attitude towards a specific task, you’re not going to give it one hundred percent or produce the best work that you’re capable of. Being negative can degrade your style and when you’re in that negative frame of mind it shows through. When it comes time for others look at the work you produced when you were in that negative frame of mind, they’ll perceive your work as not being up to standard or particularly good. Having a negative attitude will also make you closed-minded and when being critiqued, you won’t take the criticism on board and therefore you won’t be able to improve which will then affect your style. Being positive about the tasks you do will allow you to take criticism on board and you can design things to your fullest potential when you’re in the right mindset. Being positive and open-minded is the best way to improve your style.
7. Habits are actions that have become natural or nearly automatic through deliberate or unconscious repetition. If the habits you have are bad, such as leaving important tasks or assessments until the last minute to complete, you have to be aware of them as a designer so you can start trying to break them because you can’t afford to have a habit that will affect your reputation or your quality of work. A bad habit such as leaving things to until the last minute makes you rush the finished product and it may not be up to the standards others have expected of you or your own expectations of yourself.
8. Time management offers a designer the ability to complete work on time so a deadline can be met. Effective time management can reduce stress and can leave you spare time to relax and not have to worry about getting work completed on time or having a deadline looming over your head. If you manage your time and are always meeting deadlines, this can give you a positive reputation of being reliable and trustworthy.
9. You can improve your time management by making a plan, even if it is as simple as saying that you will work on a task or assessment for an hour each day until it is finished, or aiming to get it done up to a week before it’s due so you have time to revise and to relax. Doing small things like this repeatedly will get you into a good habit of completing your work, and it will improve your time management skills.
10. A conscience is the mental or emotional sense that prompts the individual to do the right thing and it helps them to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong. Conscience affects your style because whilst you seek to be unique in your creations, you don’t want to create anything that may intentionally upset or offend anybody by unintentionally using any symbols or colours or words that may relate to something bad or evil or even religious that may offend a particular group of people. Conscience affects your professional practice because it drives you to either accept or refuse a particular job. For example, if you are offered a large sum of money to design a campaign that supports teenage pregnancy, your conscience will play a huge part in whether you accept to work on the campaign and take the money or refuse the money and have nothing to do with the campaign.
11. I believe that both conscience and morals go hand in hand. If you are offered to take part in a campaign that promotes something such as legal euthanasia for terminally ill people, both your own moral stance and your conscience will determine whether you take part or whether your decline the offer. Whilst a percentage of the population may believe that euthanasia is wrong and that death should be something left to God, another percentage would argue that those who are in pain and suffering should have the right to choose themselves. It is ultimately what you feel is the right thing to do. If you agree with the message the campaign is trying to communicate, and if you truly think it is the right thing to do, your conscience will allow you to be a part of the campaign, but if you agree to be a part of the campaign and you don’t particularly believe that you would want to help in promoting that message and that you don’t agree with the message, your conscience will influence your decision whether you choose to continue or not.
Part Three: Study on Deadlines
1. A deadline is a set time by which something must be completed or submitted.
2. The components involved in meeting a deadline on time are: a clear understanding of what is required for submission; a clear understanding of the exact time the work has to be submitted by; time management; communication and organisation.
3. The consequences of breaking a deadline are: a mark against your good reputation; you may be viewed as somebody who is unreliable or untrustworthy or by not meeting a deadline you could give the business or company you work for a bad reputation; a loss of revenue; you could lose your job if you work for a business or company.
4. To better make deadlines you can do a number of things such as: making sure you understand exactly what is being asked of you so you’ll be able to focus on what you need to do exactly; look at how you manage time and if you don’t think you’re managing your time effectively enough you should revise and make a plan on how you can complete tasks on time including time for revision and changes; plan your time wisely and don’t put things off until the last minute; work on or even plan things as soon as you get them.
5. Prioritising deadlines can be as simple as looking at what needs to be done and planning out exactly what parts of the task/tasks you’re going to complete first. If you were given a task and had a week to finish and submit it, you would focus more on that task as opposed to one that had three or four weeks to finish and submit. If you had a short amount of time before submission, you would dedicate a few hours a day to it to get it done with enough time to review and change things if needed. If you had a longer amount of time before submission, you would allocate perhaps an hour or two to it every day and space it out over time so you had plenty of time to make changes along the way and allow for new ideas to develop. You would probably get the more technical parts of the task out of the way first such as document set up and information sorted before you start anything else.
6. Deadlines alter the perception of businesses and individuals because if a business or individual can make deadlines regularly, they’ll gain a good reputation as being reliable and trustworthy and able to get the job done well and on time, and they’ll more than likely get more business or clients as a result, bringing in more revenue. However, if the opposite occurs and the business or individual breaks deadlines repeatedly, their otherwise good reputation will become bad and they will probably lose clients and revenue due to being unreliable and untrustworthy.
7. What's different about deadlines in Graphic Design is that a client will give the designer a deadline so that they can have a piece of work done for a something specific at a specific time, such as a business may have an upcoming sale which they need catalogued and if the designer does not meet the deadline then people will not be informed of the sale which would cause the business to lose revenue they could have made on the sales, therefore they would be obligated to sue the designer for this loss.
Part Four: Study on Cultural Relationships with Design
1. The civilisation of the Celtic peoples from Europe is one that has been around for approximately 28,000 years and is a culture that has not disappeared or been broken since c.1000-700 BCE. This was mainly due to the fact that their customs and culture were shared and established orally and were never recorded (written). Because of this, Celtic art is still seen today in tattoos, jewellery and artworks. Another part of Celtic culture that is still very prominent today is the worldwide celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
People that have a Celtic background, such as the Irish, Welsh or Scots, may have tattoos, which include the Celtic knot (used as illuminations for the handwritten Christian Gospels), Celtic cross (a symbol of eternity, emphasising God’s endless love as shown through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross), Celtic spiral (eternal life; life, death and rebirth), patterns or letters, to show their link to/pride in their heritage. Celtic jewellery follows the same symbols and patterns of the tattoos.
One example of Celtic jewellery includes the Claddagh Ring, which has two hands holding on to a heart, which usually has a crown atop it. The hands symbolise friendship, the heart, love, and the crown, loyalty. There are varying ways in which the ring can be worn, and with these ways, there are varying meanings. Traditionally, if one is wearing the ring on the right hand with the heart pointing outward, away from the body, the wearer isn’t attached and may be looking for a relationship. If the wearer has the ring on with the heart pointing inward, it indicates that somebody has “captured their heart”, thus in a relationship. If the wearer has the ring on the left hand, heart pointing inwards, they are married. Rings the same and similar to the Claddagh Ring are still worn today.
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide every year on 17th March, the day it’s supposed that St. Patrick died in 460 CE. St. Patrick is a patronised saint, and one of the most renowned figures in all of Modern Christianity. For twenty years he travelled and established monasteries, schools and churches across Ireland. He was also the creator of the Celtic cross.
2. Art is a form of expression where colour, shapes and patterns are used instead of words to communicate what the artist is feeling, thinking or seeing.
Art isn't only made just to look nice hung in a frame on somebody's wall - it can be made to tell a story and send a message to its viewers.
Art within a specific cultural group can be reflective of their customs, their beliefs and their everyday life. It may not mean a lot to an outsider, to somebody who has no understanding of that specific culture, but it may be very important to people within that culture. However, even to somebody who has no previous idea of that culture, they may be able to create their own meaning from the artwork.
Within Aboriginal art, there are many symbols that communicate specific things such as sites and people and their art can give a visual explanation to their beliefs of the dreamtime. A few symbols used include curved lines that represent flowing water or rain, small “U” shaped figures that represent people and concentric circles that show significant places, campsites or waterholes. Because of the different tribes from all around Australia, these symbols can be varied in different artworks, depending on which region the artwork came from.
Aboriginal art carries on the traditions and the stories from the past, and it can teach modern-day Australians about the culture of the people who lived here many years before the country was colonised.
3. Most designers and lay people are highly impressed by M.C. Escher's work because of its attention to detail and depth. He used a variety of medium, and created 448 lithographs, over 2000 drawings and sketches, wood cuts and engravings. There's a piece of himself in every one of his creations; presenting his thoughts through his images.
When you look at Escher's work, you can see the dedication and the effort that has gone into every single piece to make it captivating and/or realistic, such as the wood carving Oude Kerk Delft 1939 where each brick has been carved to make it look like stone and the stained glass windows look as though they would be bright and brilliant if you saw them in colour.
4,5. What’s so interesting about art and culture of the past is that it gives the people today an insight into the lives of people and the world around them in the past. With art of the past, you can see the progression of technique, method, style and meaning.
The earliest art included pictures or symbols on the ground, on rock and on cave walls, sending out messages such as warnings of danger. The most modern forms of art include art movements such as surrealism and cubism, also digital compositions such as 3D animation, the boundaries being pushed further and further as technology and the world around us changes.
Culture from the past is also interesting because through studying it, you can see what’s different to society today and what’s the same. From exploring cultures of the past, you can find out about art, music, language and food, and how they have similarities and differences from the modern world.
We look backwards to our history when trying to engage in design solutions for modern society because art from the past can provide modern day artists and designers with inspiration and trends. From these, we can develop something new, exciting and ground-breaking.
6. Ancient art has affected my life by inspiring the art that I create. Ancient art varies from both intricate and simple, and it’s always helpful to look at some examples to get colour schemes and ideas for patterns. One of my favourite things is to create tattoo-like designs which are inspired by Celtic art. Ancient Chinese and Japanese artworks also inspire these designs because of the way they used ink to create lines and shapes.
7. Cultural influences that have occurred in my life are all around me, such as the places I visit when my family goes on holiday, the people I grew up with and the artwork that I studied in Visual Arts in school. Going to cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, there are many different cultures within them which can be seen by restaurants which serve food from different countries (India and Japan, for example) and stalls that sell bits and pieces of art such as ceramics and jewelry. Two of my friends were Jewish and Sri-Lankan when I was growing up, so I got to learn about Jewish customs and the Sri-Lankan culture such as fashion and food. Studying Visual Arts in high school gave me an insight into art from all around the world and what it represented and the context from which the art was created.
Part Five: Study on Graphical Representation of Personal Development
Part Six: Study on Investigating the Graphic Design Industry and Jobs
1,2. i. Blue Marlin Brand Design – http://www.bluemarlinbranddesign.com.au
-Brand strategy, identity, design, architecture, launching and engagement
-Websites
-Launch videos
-Animation
-Brochures
-Packaging
-TVC
-Bus billboards
-Press advertising
-Portfolio architecture
-Rollout, print and production
ii. Edward James Marketing and Design – http://www.edwardjames.com.au
-identity
-environmental
-corporate literature
-web
-packaging
-installation
iii. Moon Design – http://www.moondesign.com.au
-Branding
-Advertising
-Digital and motion (online, television, motion graphics, video and music.)
iv. The Alternative Advertising and Marketing – http://www.thealternative.com.au
-Corporate design
-Press Advertising
-Television Commercials
v. Staying In Touch Marketing and Design – http://www.stayingintouch.com.au
-Branding and business stationary
-Brochures and advertising material
-Websites and e-newsletters
-Business development consultancy
vi. Zise – http://www.zise.com.au
-Website design
-Brand identity logo
-Advertising marketing
-Interactive media
vii. White Rhino Branding, Design, Strategy and Web Agency – http://www.whiterhino.com.au
-Branding: brand mark and research, corporate identity and style guide, logo design, naming, rollout and management
-Design: annual reports, branded environment, corporate literature, display and point of sale, illustration, packaging, print and communications
-Strategy: advertising, communications, creative, CRM and CSR, marketing
-Web: content and management system, email marketing system, flash animation, interactive and digital media, online software applications, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, web and interface design and website development
viii. Corporate Image Design and Marketing – http://www.cidesign.com.au
-Brand and corporate identity: logo, stationary, signage, name and positioning, story and imagery
-Sales and marketing: online, print, packaging and multimedia
-Strategy: direct marketing, advertising, events
ix. The Room Design Studio – http://www.theroom.com.au
-Annual reports
-Corporate ID
-Branding
-Packaging
-Signage
-Art direction
-Retail
-Catalogues
-Brochures
-Advertising
-Copywriting
-Posters
-Marketing
-Naming
-Web design
-Web hosting
-Media
-Campaigns
x. Digital Ink – http://www.digitalink.com.au
-Print design
-Branding
-Corporate Identity
-Brochures
-Annual reports
-Product packaging
-Product labels
-Advertising
-Event graphics
-Multimedia
-Web development and maintenance
-Flash animation
-Interface design
-Multimedia presentations
-Television commercials
-CD and DVD production
3. After researching many Graphic Design agencies and jobs avaliable to people in the Australian industries, I have noticed that a lot of the bigger, more exciting, full-on and well-paying (at least $100 000 p/a) jobs are in the capital cities such as Sydney and Melbourne. Most agencies are after Web Designers as more and more people are using the World Wide Web to find what they're looking for, and most companies rely on their websites and web-ads for business, which shows just how much technology is growing. Most agencies are looking for people with plenty of flair and creativity who are able to be unique with their designs, and people who can speak and deliver their ideas convincingly. Another essential requirement of potential employees is that they need to be proficient with InDesign.
Part Eight: Study on Criticism and Psychology of the Critical Process
1. I don’t think I performed as well as I could have in critiquing my assigned map. I was absent on the day that the class was going through what kinds of things I should have been looking for in critiquing my assigned map, so I wasn’t completely sure of what I was looking out for. I wrote down what I thought needed improving, what needed to be changed, what I liked about the map and what I thought worked well. I think I could have been more thorough and I know that I held back in my criticisms. I think I did this because I know the hard work that went behind creating the maps and I didn’t want to be too harsh or bring anybody down, even though I know that critiques aren’t personal and they’re for the improvement of yourself and others. Next time I do a critique, I will try hard not to hold back and I will be more thorough.
2. The student critiquing my map performed well, but I don’t think they gave me as much feedback as I would have liked. I thought there were more negatives in my map than were pointed out, and I really would have liked to know exactly where I went wrong and how I could have made it better, but at least they did give me some things I could improve on.
3. The process has helped me improve my map by showing me the things that I tend to overlook when I work on something for so long. For example, the leafy sea dragon I had for South Australia: it was the symbol of aquatic fauna for that state in particular so I placed it in the Great Australian Bight, and I was unaware of where it actually inhabited. Others said that it looked like an island, which I didn’t see until it was pointed out which was good. The process helped me look at each element of my map and helped me decide which elements really worked where they were, and if everything fit together and made sense.
4. I’m not going to ignore any of the criticism because I believe that the criticism given will totally improve the overall look of my map, and each piece of criticism is valuable and I can keep it in mind for the next time I do a similar project. None of the criticism I was given was pointless or given to be mean or anything negative, so I don’t see why I should ignore any of it as I am still learning and I like to know what everyone thinks of my work.
5. You should take a positive, open-minded attitude into a critique because otherwise you won’t be willing to take any advice or criticism on board and therefore you won’t be able to improve in the future. There’s no point in being closed minded and negative because people will only critique you to help you, and you won’t be able to get better if you don’t listen to what people have to say. If you are negative, you’ll take people’s comments unnecessarily to heart and you won’t be able to hold your head up and move on, which is why you need to be positive and see it as a learning experience and a good chance to laugh at the silly mistakes you make.
6. To prepare to give criticism, you can familiarise yourself on what you will be critiquing and really study the particular piece until you can’t find anything else to say about it because then you will be giving the designer the best chance of improvement and development. You have to tell yourself that the criticism you’ll be giving is not personal in any way, and you shouldn’t feel bad about telling people that they need to improve on certain things because by giving them honest feedback, you both will be able to improve your designs and work in the future.
7. General guidelines in Graphic Design that can help you provide criticism can be simple things like colours that work and don’t work well together and the appropriate use of type and appropriate typefaces for particular subjects and pieces.
Part Eight: Critical Theory
What is critical theory and how do you think some aspects of it relates generally to Graphic Design?
Critical theory is complex and has a multitude of disciplines incorporated into the one body. Shawn Rosenberg defined this theory as one that ‘can provide the analytical and ethical foundation needed to uncover the structure of underlying social practices and to reveal the possible distortion of social life embodied in them.’(1) This theory seeks to explain consciousness and to challenge what its effects are on society. A much more general idea of what critical theory is all about by is a description of ‘any attempt to understand practices of criticism, interpretation, and historical understanding of social action.’(2)
So in its barest and most minimal form, critical theory can be defined as ‘Why We Do What We Do.’
The idea of attempting to understand criticism, interpretation and historical understanding of social action relates generally to Graphic Design because criticism is an essential part of the study of Graphic design. To critique a piece of work, one needs to know what to look for, such as particular elements working with one another, colour, type, and relevance to the subject. A piece has to work together to have an effect on an audience – if the elements making up a logo, for example, don’t work then it can reflect negatively on the designer and won’t provide the company or business with a good image.
Colour and type are both elements that make up a piece and if they don’t work then the piece isn’t likely to be a success. Colours can evoke emotions within people. In most cultures around the world, the colour red is symbolic of love, passion, anger or danger. One wouldn’t use a soft lilac for a warning sign, nor would one use fire engine red to try and come across as calming. Type, when used correctly, can enhance the meaning of the symbols or colours used in a piece. For example, if a poster for an upcoming Green Day concert was being designed, the typeface Jane Austen or Gigi would be inappropriate because they are more elegant and effeminate typefaces that don’t coordinate with the punk rock genre.
Critiquing ultimately provides the opportunity for the development and improvement of the designer. One needs to know how to give criticism in the best way possible. It’s easy to say that to critique you have to be objective, but it’s hard to be completely objective. Colours, typefaces, shapes and patterns you have more partiality towards will slightly hinder you being one hundred percent objective. As human beings, we are subjective and at times selfish, so when we are critiquing something, what we like and dislike can determine how we look at a piece and how we critique it.
Understanding criticism not only means knowing how to critique, but how to take criticism and how to use it to the fullest. Having an open and accepting mind towards being critiqued is a major part of the process of criticism. Being close minded and negative doesn’t benefit anybody and what is said may be taken to heart unnecessarily, which cripples the chances of really improving and developing. Being able to welcome and accept criticism encourages these aspects.
To understand interpretation is relevant to Graphic Design as one has to be able to think about how different people interpret different things. Designers have to be aware of this when designing a particular piece. An example of misunderstanding or misinterpreting something may be the use of upper case letters and someone may interpret that as exclaiming or being forceful or aggressive in the presentation of the information or message when the designer may have not intended it to come across in that way. Another example of misinterpretation was when a class critique was held and a student had made a web skin for a business called “Bespoke” and a student had used a button to replace the ‘O’ and another student said that it looked like a car tire instead of a button, which was interesting because whilst most of the students saw it as a button, it was an indication that not everyone would see it that way. Doing thorough research is a good way to ensure that the message the designer is intending to communicate comes across clearly and is interpreted how they intended it to be.
Interpretation is a great tool to a designer as well. Being able to interpret things in different ways enables the designer to come up with unique ways to solve a problem and gives them a wide scope for multiple designs to appeal to multiple people.
One particular social action that is relevant to Graphic Design is the way we communicate. The ways in which society communicates are numerous and still growing as technology advances. The way people communicate with one another has changed dramatically over the centuries: letters, telephone calls, emails, text messaging and social networking programs such as Facebook and Twitter. We communicate by speaking and can convey how we are feeling by speaking in a particular tone of voice. We also communicate using body language. Inanimate objects such as road signs and labels and packaging communicates to us as well by keeping us out of danger, by convincing us to buy certain products and brands. To design something is to communicate whether it is to inform or to persuade by using certain images, colours, type and language to target multitudes of different people. Graphic Design is about finding the most effective, innovative way to communicate a message visually.
An aspect of critical theory that relates generally to Graphic Design is the social theory branching from the body of critical theory.
The modern social theory of today developed with the emergence of the science of sociology. Modern social theory stresses the importance of free will, individual choice, subjective reasoning, and the importance of unpredictable events as opposed to classic determinism. These ideals of modern social theory relate to Graphic Design, especially subjective reasoning.
Individuals are driven by subjectivity, which relates to form versus function. Packaging, for example, plays a major role in what an individual will purchase. One person may prefer to buy a packet of Black & Gold Scotch Finger biscuits, whilst another individual may prefer to buy the Arnotts brand of Scotch Fingers. Both serve the same function – they’re both made for the purpose of eating a biscuit – but their packaging is different. There are many reasons as to why these two individuals choose the different brands of Scotch Fingers. The buyer of the Black & Gold brand may prefer their taste, or prefer to buy them because they’re cheaper than the Arnott’s brand. The buyer of the Arnott’s brand may want to spend that little bit extra so they don’t seem cheap, or that they’d rather pay for quality, assuming that the more expensive products taste better as opposed to the cheaper products. It all comes down to the individual and their preferences, which relates to individual choice as well. The individual has free will to choose whichever product they desire. A designer’s job is to draw the individual to that particular product and to convince them that they want and need it.
A Graphic Designer needs to know how people think, feel, how they react and communicate with one another. They need to know everything about people because they have to communicate multiple messages and meanings to so many people at the one time and they have to make it as relevant and as convincing as possible. By becoming more in tune with people, by acknowledging and studying some critical theory, a Graphic Designer will be able to keep communicating to people, no matter what age, race or gender.
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