Independent Ideation

Today I went and did some more rapid ideation as independent study, focusing on a primary issue, which was the lack of national identity that our flag gives us. I was looking at various ways of targeting the lack of identity such as:

- The flag is too similar to Australia's flag
- The flag 'salutes' to British Imperialism
- The flag appears to represent Britain more than New Zealand

I was looking at these as the issues as the flag should be easily recognisable for our country, rather than causing confusion about whether it's the Australia or New Zealand flag, and we should be proud to have an identity that directly represents us as a nation rather than having the Union Jack on it (symbolic of Britain).

I tried creating these by using various imagery, looking at Aboriginal patterns, Maori patterns, and also iconic symbols for Britain such as the Robin, Bulldog, Telephone Booth, Double Decker Bus, Big Ben etc...

These examples can be found in my physical workbook, which runs hand in hand with this online form of documentation.

Independent Research - 1984 Book Covers

After spending yesterday analysing and breaking down a series of book covers from George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', I was intrigued to head home and look at how it has been done in other ways. Although I hadn't read Animal Farm before, the covers gave me a sense of what it was about, and the pig (in various forms such as silhouettes, illustrated, or collage) was always the focal point of the image. That's why I found it interesting when search for covers of his famous novel '1984'.

I decided to go on Pinterest and search for a whole range of book covers. Amongst all of the covers, there seemed to be an eye as the focal point, or dominant feature in them all. Each cover had a similar Wehi, in a sense that it was meant to make the viewer seem a bit 'creeped out', with an eye looking directly at them. I have pasted four examples below on this blog post, with some brief annotations alongside.

The above image has quite an interesting rhetoric approach, with the design paying homage to the typical war propaganda, which consisted of the rays, and a similar colour scheme to the one used here. As stated prior, the eye is the focal point in this design, however it has been placed central, yet the actual eye itself is slightly off centred, and seems to be looking away. It gives the feel that it's looking slightly to the side, although since it's uncomfortably right in front of you, your every move will be caught. The style that the eye has been created in seems appear as if it's on an olden day TV screen, with the many horizontal lines running across, hinting that everything may be being recorded or watched from somewhere else.

This design, again features an eye on the page, the eye has been created through the slight tweak of the number 8, where the two rings overlap to make an eye shape in the centre. This image, featuring a very simple colour scheme, doesn't give the viewer as much of an idea about what the novel may be about, although there is still some degree of discomfort due to the eye image. The shape that surrounds the text is also in the shape of an eye. 

This design, although in a very different stylistic and rhetoric approach, still manages to make the viewer feel uncomfortable, possibly even more so than the past covers. The extreme distortion of the illustration, along with the contrast between black and white, with a light blue shade mixed in amongst the illustration, is quite strange and off-putting. The duplication of the eyes creates rhythm, and gives an indication that the viewer is being watched, giving an idea of what the book is about. 

Again, as per the previous three book covers, an eye is featured within the cover's design, indicating that a major part of the dystopian novel is about being watched, and possibly having an uncomfortable lack of privacy. The colours used are quite old fashioned, almost army green colours, which could represent something being enforced or ordered, in reference to the public being forced to think how 'Big Brother' wants them to think. This design, much like the second cover, is a very simplistic approach. 

Despite keeping the annotations for these examples relatively brief (compared to the depth we analysed in class), it was interesting to go through and again see the different rhetoric and stylistic approaches, ultimately to portray the same issue or standpoint. Much like in Animal Farm, where the pig was a recurring feature across all of the covers, in this case, the Eye is an ever present. As I continue to ideate and come up with a whole range of ideas that could represent New Zealand's current lack of national identity within our existing flag, this research will help me to see that the stylistic and rhetoric approaches can be completely different. 

Week 3 - Session Two

In today's class, we only had Matt as our teacher as Caroline was unfortunately unwell. At the beginning of class, we met in the presentation suite on E floor and began covering off what we would be doing during the class, and were introduced to De Bono's thinking hats.

We were divided into groups of 6, some groups having 7, and did close analysis' of various book covers for George Orwell's Animal Farm. We were looking to analyse the Ihi and Wehi aspects, along with the use of FADPS to create a certain mood, or feel to the cover. We each picked a 'coloured hat to be', and for example I was the black hat, so I had to give my input on all of the problematic aspects, such as weaknesses and difficulties. I found this exercise very intriguing, as it allowed us to break down each and every cover into a lot of depth, and look far beyond just the face value of each design. It was extremely interesting to see just how many different ways people had designed the cover for one book, to represent one issue or plot, which made me realize just how many ideas I will be able to come with when narrowing down to one 'issue' or 'standpoint' in regards to being pro changing the flag. Each cover baried greatly in how they used line, text, colour, contrast, and even the stylistic approaches to the imagery, some opting for a more silhouette based style, while others were illustrated in the style of a renaissance painting etc. It was particularly interesting in how the various ways each book was approached, evoked a different reaction for the audience (wehi), and how they focused on different rhetoric approaches.

Once we had been through a whole load of these covers, I returned to working independently and continued coming up with more ideas on how to portray my standpoint on the flag topic. Towards the end of the class I had my one on one session with Matt so he was able to see where I was at. We went over each of my recent ideas that I had produced in time for yesterday's interim, and spoke about what worked about each one and what didn't. Although he liked the "Hope" poster, and the "Ausralia?" parody of the Disney poster, he mentioned that it would be far more ideal to reproduce a parodic version of a well known Australian poster, as that would have more direct relevance, as the other ones seem a bit random portraying the Obama poster and the Disney poster, neither of which is directly relevant to New Zealand's identity issues. We discussed how I was mainly interested in focusing on that we should change the flag as it doesn't represent us as a nation, or our cultures, so I was going to narrow in on the identity aspect of things. Over the next week, I will continue to sketch up some ideas revolving around the identity issue with New Zealand's flag. If I come up with certain ideas that I think may work quite well, I'll have a go at quickly whipping them up on Photoshop to see if they'll work or not. It's important that I make sure the process of producing them digitally is relatively quick however, to avoid wasting a whole bunch of time if it doesn't turn out quite as successful or effective as I had planned.

Week 3 - Interim Presentation

During class today, we divided into small groups of 4, and we then showed each other our 4 different posters. Within these groups, we analysed each one, and then had to present one of them to the class. The four that I presented to the class have been attached below (as well as a slight variation of one of them):

The above poster is looking at how a lot of people have been complaining about the cost of the flag referendums etc, with $5.80 being the price per person in NZ to cover the costs of changing the flag. The poster is looking at how changing the flag will give our country freedom ad independence, rather than the flag directly saluting to British Imperialism, with the Union Jack. Therefore I have used a set of handcuffs, a universally known symbol for being 'locked up' or 'trapped', and attached it to a pricetag/flag shape, with a silver fern. The group quite liked this one, although tomorrow I will show some of these other ideas to the teachers to get their input.

This poster is another take on 'escaping the British Imperialism' and finally becoming our own independent nation, by being 'set free'. I have used a kiwi as the imagery as they are known as flightless birds, although the pair of wings and flying kiwi in the poster symbolise our chance to be free. The group thought this one was quite cool, and made a few comments on what to change in terms of colour, imagery etc.

The above image is a parodic approach, creating a poster similar to the well-known Disney Castle logo. I decided to try this as I thought that it would be quite interesting to have the beehive replace the Disney Castle. This poster was more looking at how we are quite often confused with being Australia or vice versa, so I was trying to take a more humorous approach towards this idea. An idea like this would be far more effective if it was a parodic version of an Australian poster, partly because the inclusion of the Disney theme doesn't have any relevance towards the debate of the New Zealand flag.

The images above were a parodic attempt at creating the 'Obama Hope' poster. The one on the left was my initial creation, with the one on the right being an attempt to show how we quite often get confused with Australia (hence the Australia gold and green colour scheme) and therefore should change the flag. These were the ones which my group wanted me to pin up onto the board for the presentation. However, these posters were the ones I presented, and the class/teachers didn't really think they conveyed a particular message. On hindsight, although I really like how they look, I can see that it is quite difficult to see the meaning and Ihi behind the posters, as the symbolism isn't very strong. As mentioned for my "Australia?" poster above, these "Hope" posters would be better off being a parodic response to a famous Australian poster, as the original Obama Hope poster doesn't tie in with the theme of changing the New Zealand flag.

Following the interim presentation, we continued to think of ways to develop and craft these ideas. Tomorrow in class I will speak to Caroline and Matt and get their opinion on my other ideas, to see which ones they think have the most potential, and which one to carry on and develop. 

Why Change?

After doing some more research into why we should change the flag, I found a site which had some very interesting points. The information below has been pasted from:

http://www.nzflag.com/whychange.cfm

1. A flag is meant to be flown

Flags should be highly visible symbols of a nation’s presence. Because the current Union Jack-based flag does not resonate with New Zealanders, it is comparatively infrequently flown. Its uses are mainly confined to official buildings and occasions. A visit to any town in America or Switzerland, for example, shows what happens when a flag is a potent emotional symbol. The New Zealand flag needs to have emotional and symbolic potency in order for it to be embraced and used by New Zealanders.

2. A flag needs to be instantly recognisable

Test after test shows that the current New Zealand flag is immediately confused with flags of other countries, especially Australia. In many instances, a flag is used in an international context. There is no question that the Silver Fern is the most recognised symbol of New Zealand. For over a century the Silver Fern has been the emblem of our sports men and women. The Silver Fern is used extensively as a symbol by Government, tourism, trade organisations and commercial brands. The Silver Fern says "New Zealand".

3. A flag is a brand

New Zealand competes with other countries, cities, and commercial brands. Countries with the strongest, simplest flags tend to have the most cut-through impact. Today, commercial brands command greater recognition than most flags. As an export country competing on the world stage, we need our flag to be strongly competitive from a brand/ symbol/icon point of view.

4. A flag needs to connect emotionally

The heart needs to beat faster on sighting of our country’s flag. The Silver Fern is etched in the memory of great victories by the All Blacks, our runners Jack Lovelock, Peter Snell and John Walker, the rowing eight from Munich. The Silver Fern conjures up emotions of grit, guts and genius. It says, "take on the world ­ and beat it". These are emotions we need to encourage.

5. A flag should represent great design

The Government is committed to best practice design through the Design Industry Task Force. Great design is a feature of New Zealand’s creativity. From the founder of modern industry design practice, Joseph Sinel, through to Lord Of The Rings, our design standards have been world-leading. Our flag needs to match this standard. In today’s environment the current Union Jack-based flag is simply bad design, poorly composed, a muddle of ideas, thematically derivative and unoriginal. Some leading newspaper editorials have called the current flag "an absurdity."

6. A new flag can honour our past

The Silver Fern has been a feature of our iconography for well over a century. The All Blacks made it their official emblem in 1893. It first appeared on an official New Zealand flag in 1908. The Silver Fern was the predominant badge of our army in World War I, and the official insignia of the 2nd New Zealand Division in World War II. Changing from the Union Jack-based flag does not depreciate the sacrifice of men and women soldiers who fought in two world wars. Their efforts are recognised through permanent memorials in every New Zealand town, and through the commemoration of Anzac Day each year.

7. A new flag should say one thing

The job of a flag is to instantly signal the country of origin in the simplest, quickest, most potent manner. This means utilising a single powerful image rather than several elements and thereby diluting the potency of the symbol. There are many mediums for embroidering the layers and textures of our story ­ from a Coat of Arms through to art and music. The job of the flag is visibility, instant recognition and emotional cut-through. Our belief is that the stylised Silver Fern does the strongest job of satisfying the greatest number of New Zealanders at any one time.

8. The times they are a changin’

Symbolic change has been a feature of the governmental environment, with the scrapping of the Privy Council, the establishment of a New Zealand Supreme Court and the abolition of knighthoods. A new flag is not advocacy for New Zealand to become a republic (many commonwealth countries do not have the Union Jack in their flag). A Silver Fern-based flag blends our past, our present and our future into one emotional symbol. A new flag gives energy and a sense of independence and self determination in this new millennium.

Week Two - Session Two

Today in class we were shown some existing examples of rhetorical approaches to posters, and were asked to break them down and analyze the ihi and wehi behind them. Following that, we went back out into the studio and continued generating ideas for out posters. I continued to use the rapid ideation techniques I had learnt from yesterday's class and started coming up with quite a few ideas.

By next week, in which we are having an interim presentation, we have been asked to come up with four different ideas, all for the same topic but from different standpoints. For example, as I am pro for changing the flag, I could look at how it will show our independence, how the cost is worth the freedom, how our current flag salutes to British Imperialism, and how the flag doesn't acknowledge the Maori or how we don't acknowledge the history of the Treaty of Waitangi, as a few examples. I'll continue to come up with more ideas via the rapid ideation techniques, and then begin to create this digitally.

Rapid Ideation Practice

In today's class, the majority of the time was spent learning rapid ideation techniques, and generating as many ideas as we could in small amounts of time. It was a way of getting all of your ideas out on the table, and it helps to avoid hesitating over a certain idea by just drawing it down to see how it looks.

At first, I started by drawing with a pencil, and found myself trying to perfectly draw out a few ideas, although the ideas were coming through quite slowly. However, Caroline insisted I used a Sharpie marker instead. Once I had the sharpie, and started scribbling down quick ideas that popped to my head, I found that I was beginning to generate ideas a lot quicker, which allowed me to see a whole range of ideas. Even though some weren't as good as others, it allowed me to conceptualize a whole range of ideas and then improve, change, and develop them in the following rapid ideation grids. The words I was given were 'Cup' and 'Balloon', and then the phrases I was given were "Like a pig in muck", "Put your cards on the table", and then as an extra for homework I decided to try out another of the quotes "a dog's breakfast". These rough sketches can be seen in my physical workbook.

I found myself generating pages and pages of ideas, all far quicker and far more successfully than when using a pencil. It's clear to see now that there's no idea spending a whole heap of time creating one initial idea, as there is a chance it won't turn out as effective as first thought and would've spent a lot of time on it, and meanwhile in the design industry, someone in the design industry would've whipped up at least 10 ideas in the same time. I found these ideation practices really fun and enjoyable, and it definitely helped me craft a lot more ideas, and I can see it playing a big role in my design future whenever I'm coming up with new ideas and concepts.

Research and Ideation

Over the past few days, I have continued sourcing articles and information looking at different standpoints for each topic. After the research, I have decided to go for the topic of the NZ Flag, and trying to show that NZ should change the flag. A few articles which I have been reading and found quite convincing have been attached below, there are several key points in there which I feel would be useful to try and show in this poster.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/what-should-be-on-nzs-flag/11760640/Why-voting-on-the-future-of-New-Zealands-flag-matters

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11448793

Since I have now chosen my topic and standpoint, I had begun further looking at the Positives, Negatives and interesting aspects regarding my standpoint, which can be seen in my physical workbook. Along with this, in my physical workbook, are a few quite sketches of my initial basic ideas for the poster design. 

Research - Existing Ihi Wehi

As I was researching existing VCD precedents regarding the possible topics we could choose, I struggled to find any about the 'changing the flag' debate. However, I managed to find some advertising and marketing posters for a few private schools, which I thought would be good to include in my research. Below, I have included a few images with annotations talking about their Ihi and Wehi, along with FADPS.

The above posters were part of a marketing campaign for a public school in Toronto. Their Ihi, intentions, are to express the main values at their school to help attract more students. When I saw these posters, my initial Wehi was that they were quite powerful designs, and I was definitely pulled into these intriguing posters. The imagery in each one is very effective, by utilizing photos of smaller, 'adorable' children. My favourite of the two is the top one, as it's quite funny seeing the small kid standing there learning and figuring out calculus and other algebraic methods. Not only is the imagery humorous, but the FADPS have been used very effectively as well, in particular contrast between the top half and bottom half of the page. Overall each of the two designs are effective in conveying exactly what the school believes in and feels they can teach to it's students.

This poster, is advertising the other standpoint in this topic, a private school over in the United States of America. Again, the author has used photo's of younger kids (suitable for the topic) to help convey a certain message (ihi). As per the past poster, main message being conveyed is focused on the bright future that the kids can have, as this is without a doubt one of the most important aspects to a parent when choosing a school for their children. The tagline down the bottom "A future they can grow into" is quite clever as each of the kids is features wearing an extra large university sweater from some of the most respected universities in the country. Although this poster doesn't seem to be as clean and well considered in terms of the fundamental design principles, the imagery plays a vital role in conveying the intended messages.

Research - Ihi Wehi

Along with reading articles and sourcing material for each varying standpoint, regarding the NZ flag and the public vs private school topic, I have been searching for existing examples which reflect Ihi Wehi in quite a strong way.

In order to look at posters dealing with societal issues, I decided to look up posters about environmental awareness for a bit of inspiration. Below, I have included a few photos of examples I have found online, with some annotations:

In the image above, the Ihi of the author is to alarm the viewer of the negative impacts of electrical pollution, using pathos, and trying to encourage us to turn off the lights when we leave the room. The message in conveyed through the use of photos, with supporting text to give help contextualize the situation. Personally, I felt quite concerned (Wehi) when I saw this image, and immediately felt obliged to go and turn off all of the lights in my flat that I wasn't using or didn't need on. The imagery is quite powerful, with the penguins trying to unplug the power, while the light continues to melt their piece of ice which is keeping them afloat. Not only is the imagery powerful, but the use of other FADPS like balance, visual flow, and contrast are extremely effective as well. There are definitely aspects from this poster which I will use as inspiration for when I create my own rhetoric design.

In the above image, the imagery is again quite powerful, yet very simple. The author's intentions (ihi) is to use the imagery as a way of expressing just how bad plastic bottle disposal can be on our environment. When I saw this, I was immediately drawn in, mainly because of the stark contrast of the dark smoke, and was intrigued (wehi) to see what was so bad about a plastic bottle. That showed that the FADPS helped to grab my attention. Once I had my attention caught by the poster, I then continued on to read the text, which then informed me on why plastic bottles are so bad for our environment, which then made me realise just how much this is affecting our environment for the worse. Everything is placed quite centrally in terms of a vertical axis, which makes it very easy on the eye for the viewer. The composition of this poster is definitely an aspect which I like an will consider using in the poster of my own.

The above poster uses a different style of imagery to the previous two examples, yet the Ihi remains similar, alerting the audience to the negative affects that our actions are having on the environment. In this poster, I felt quite shocked seeing this, with a whale being killed in the image. It's quite a clever move using the Ying Yang symbol in this way, yet replacing each colour with a whale. The silhouette vector style is very effective, despite being quite simple. I would like to experiment with this style in my own posters when it comes to designing. However, when looking at this poster, after feeling shocked, there wasn't really any text directing me to websites where I can find out more information or what I personally can do to help stop people hunting whales.

In the poster above, the author is still trying to convey the damage we are doing to our environment (Ihi), yet it is done in a different manner, by getting the audience to interact with the poster and answer a series of question, with each question providing strong juxtaposition between imagery showing a healthy environment and a damaged and polluted environment. This design consists of a more illustrative style in comparison to the previous, two of which had photographic imagery while the third was basic silhouettes and vectors. In terms of Wehi, I was initially left quite intrigued by this poster, and was interested to see what it was all about. This curiousness allowed me to have a closer look at the poster and interact with it, answering the questions and getting a realization of just how important trees are to our environment. I quite like the style of this poster, and the method of making someone curious at first and encouraging them to spend a bit more time and interact with it, and I could possibly try incorporating this rhetoric approach into my concepts.

I will continue to upload more research and ideas for Ihi Wehi as I go along. Over the next few days, by Monday's class, I will create some thumbnail sketches of possible rhetoric approaches to the poster, and I'll choose which standpoint I will take for one of the topics.

Week One, Session Two: Debates

The class started off today with our debates over the two topics. The first debate was on whether or not the flag should be changed, while the following debate was public schools vs private schools. Both of the debates were quite interesting to watch, and I definitely found a few key points within the debates which I would be able to use as a basis for a rhetorical approach to a poster, depending on which path I decide to choose for my societal standpoint. It was quite interesting to see the similarities between arguing in a verbal debate, and trying to persuade a viewer on a poster. The most persuasive debaters used a varying tone in their voice, strong body gestures, and showed a lot of passion. In terms of visual design, that's where the FADP's come into place, in order to create a persuasive poster, through the use of contrast, colour, and other design principles.

We gathered back as a class and went over the fundamental design principles again, just to make sure everyone's memories were refreshed following the long mid-year break, and also shared our findings from last night's homework, existing examples of persuasive posters. My examples can be found in my physical workbook, with some annotations alongside them to clarify the authors approach (ihi) and how I reacted to them (wehi) and what caused me to react that way. We were then introduced to a series of different rhetorical approaches that we could take, consisting of satire, parody, dynamism, metonymy, juxtaposition etc. I found it quite intriguing how there were quite a lot of different ways in which you can stylistically and rhetorically approach the posters. Tonight I will research some existing examples, and place these into my physical workbook along with a few annotations to go with them.

By next week, we have been asked to research and investigate both sides to the topics (so that we confidently choose a standpoint), continue to read and source articles, along with creating mind-maps, brainstorms, and looking at existing examples of ihi and wehi. In terms of ideation, we've also been asked to come up with a few basic thumbnail sketches using various rhetoric approaches.

Introduction to Ihi Wehi

Today, we started off by meeting in The Pit, where we were introduced to our brief. We found out that we would focusing on the aspect of 'Ihi Wehi', and we'd be applying this to poster design. The aim is to explore the use of rhetorical approaches to conceptually interpret and communicate a societal issue. Following the introductory lecture, we headed on up to our class, and were introduced to our lecturers.

After further discussing the brief in a bit more depth, we started to brainstorm some key words and points relevant to each of the two topics. Topic one revolving around whether or not the NZ flag should be changed, while topic two was arguing which was a better education system, private schools or public schools. For the rest of the class we had been split up into groups, in which we had to plan arguments for our debates which would take place tomorrow. We stayed behind for an extra half hour or so after class to get in a bit of research and try to decide upon a few strong points that we can use, and how to rebuttal the opposing arguments and statements.

Overnight I'll continue to look for some statistics and key points for tomorrow's debate session, as well as complete the homework, which was find a minimum of three examples of persuasive posters.