GDES3003 – Screen Printing

GDES3013 GREEN DESIGN

Screen Printing 3D Artefact

Today I screen printed the design onto my pizza packaging.  I had only screen printed once prior to this and that was a while ago and so I was a little concerned that I may have been too ambitious with my design.  As it turns out, the process is actually quite intuitive and very enjoyable, so I will definitely be experimenting more in the future.

1.   The artwork needs to be prepared in layers, one for each colour which will then have it’s own screen. The artwork has to then all be black and at 300dpi for the highest quality line work.
2. Each layer is then printed onto high quality acetate film that the technicians have on campus.  I’m told it’s a special construction that is actually made up of millions of minuscule tubes that hold the ink perfectly.
3. The screens are prepared using emulsion, which needs time to dry before exposure.
4. The acetate is then exposed to a silk screen using a special machine that vacuum’s all of the air out to ensure there is no light leak.
5. After 120 seconds the screen is exposed.  Then you have to wash the solution of the screen in the water spray booth.  By holding it up to the light you can check that artwork looks correct,and has no marks or solution left on it.  Then the screens are dried off and are ready for use.
6. Any exposed areas, such as the edges of the screen or areas that you don’t want to print are covered with waterproof tape.
7. The ink/paint is a mix of acrylic paint, screen printing solution and water until the consistency is just runny enough to go through the screen.
8. Ink is placed on the screen, along the top of the artwork before being “loaded”.  This is when you pass the ink over the artwork to start the flow.
9. Whatever you are printing onto, in my case my packaging, then needs to be aligned.  This is done using tape and markers.  The screen printing table has suction, so when you are aligned and start to lower the screen, the bed sucks the paper/card onto it.
10. Once the screen is loaded with ink and lowered down onto the bed, you can start printing.  This is done by angling the squeegee to 45 degrees and pressing down firmly until the screen touches the material, then pulling towards you in a fairly swift motion.  As you raise the screen you re-load it by running the squeegee back to the top.
11. At this stage you check the print to admire your handy work.  I printed several copies so that I could choose the best one’s to hand in at the end.
12. This process is then repeated for each colour until complete, making sure to clean the screens after each pass so that the ink doesn’t dry on the screen.
13. The prints are then left to dry on the rack & voila…. done!

 

Artwork printed in solid black onto high quality acetate

Vacuum!

Vacuum machine, for exposing the screens

Washing the solution off after exposure

Screen once solution had been washed off

The screen print table

Securing the screen for the first layer

Screen is “loaded” with white ink for the first time

First test print onto brown paper

Aligning the artwork

First print

Both sides of the printed artwork

Artwork arranged to show how it would come flat packed. Each plate would then be torn off and used

Final printed packaging

Mixing the ink

first layer on the rack

 

 

GDES3003 – Major Brief – Research Part 1

GDES3003 – GREEN DESIGN – MAJOR BRIEF

Initial Research – Part 1 – All about that Cob!

Matthew Lloyd – The Fabulous Cob Oven Company

What is a Cob Oven?

A cob oven is a centuries-old way of baking.  Perfect, then, for the 21st Century foodie.

Cob is a material with a clean conscience. Using the clay from under our feet, mixed with sand and straw, it has been a staple building material to millions across the globe for millennia.
In the Americas they call it adobe. No energy-hungry cement is used in the mix, and no machinery is required for construction. This is a truly accesible and sustainable method of building that connects us to our environment, and nourishes both our soul and our body.

Wood-fired ovens are becoming a foodie must-have.  Your roasts will be succulent and your pizzas will cook in seconds. Nothing beats a cob oven for the centre of attention at a party. Everyone will want to try their hand at baking a pizza, and will gather around the oven long into the night.

Burning wood is a low carbon process. No fossil fuel here. This is sustainable cooking, and if you burn fruit woods you’ll be adding a very special accent to your dishes indeed.

A cob oven isn’t just about pizza. You’ll be baking bread, roasting vegetables, broiling meats – the only limit is your imagination. Learn to embrace this relaxed style of cooking, and you’ve got yourself an evening’s entertainment that will have you heading back to the larder in search of more ingredients to try out.

(Source – the Fabulous Cob Oven – 05/11/15)

• COB refers to the mixture of clay, sand & straw that has been used for thousands of years.  It uses all natural materials and is very easy to build.

Matthew talks passionately about his love of Cob Ovens and after successfully completing a build with a local Primary School, the values inherent in education.

…share the love of cob ovens and show how they have the potential to inform, educate and entertain children as part of their outdoor learning experience.

He even built his own ‘straw bail’ studio, which is an interesting subject that could tie into the overall social space build we are looking at.

I have given talks and workshops on straw bale construction. It’s an amazing system – I followed the simple recipe designedby Barbara Jones of Amazonails for a load bearing structure. It far surpassed my expectations, and I want to do it again, and make it my home.

Observations of the Fabulous Cob Oven website

I noticed a theme to the iconography and graphical style used throughout Matthews website – Earthy tones, hand prints (hands on, hand made, eco), floral & hand drawn style typography, warm, rustic/distressed

Other considerations (for our Cob Oven)

How is the cob oven housed/could it be covered for use in all weather?

How high does it stand/could it stand?

How will the space around it be used?  Could we incorporate storage area’s or seating of some description.  The area is intended to be a social hub, so it could be about more than ‘just’ the Cob Oven.

Think of ways that people interact, socialise, drink, eat & play together

Cob House Documentary

Channel 4 made a short film about our cob house and how we built it. Click here to watch it now on 4OD.

(Source – http://www.cobcourses.com/cob-houses/watch-cob-house-documentary/)

Photo’s of existing designs

I found a number of images online of cob ovens that people have already built.  I selected a variety based on how they had creatively decorated the ovens, considered additional things like storage area’s/facilities, to weather covers and even seated areas.  Lot’s of inspiration to choose from

Other Links

I also found a fantastic board on Pinterest which has loads of inspiration and information on builds, recipes, tips & more – Click here

Ideas for taglines

Matthew uses “Happiness is a Warm Cob Oven”, which I recognise as a reference to a Beatles song title; Happiness is a warm gun.  I like the playful nature of this idea, which is something I could incorporate.  He also references “Soul food” which is another evocative message of warmth, comfort and sharing.

• Let’s get our cob on!
• Food to warm your heart.
• Green living never tasted so good.

Tips/Information for cooking in a Cob Oven

Many hours of cooking …

It takes a morning to fire up the oven, but once it’s up to heat it cooks for many hours, so it’s the perfect party and community activity. With one or two people stoking the fire, the others can work on preparing the food.

If you’re ravenous, the pizzas should be the first to go in as everyone can satisfy their first hunger within minutes. Then you can put in roasting joints, bigger than any one family might consider polite, or heaps of lamb, chicken or vegetables as kebabs or in hunks, on the bone or off.

Flatbreads work brilliantly well in a cob oven, but when it’s fired we also use ours to cook everyday sourdough loaves, baked potatoes and more.

But there’s no need to stick to savouries; sweet pies and tarts and crumbles are great, although you might struggle to make a decent sponge cake. When the oven starts to cool down you could try a tray of meringues. You can also use the last of the heat for drying mushrooms, tomatoes and other vegetables.

Firing the oven

• You’ll need around 30 to 40 kilos of wood in short stick lengths for a day’s cooking.
• Start the fire using paper or cardboard and thin pieces of kindling, keep adding kindling until you have a pile of freely burning material then gradually push it back into the body of the oven.
• Leave the door off so that the fire can get the oxygen it needs, and the smoke can get out. Add sticks every half an hour until the oven has reached cooking heat which can take 3 to 4 hours.

Note: If the fire isn’t getting quite enough air to burn strongly, you can simply drill a few 10mm air holes at the back of the oven near the base to let more in.

• At this point the outside of the dome will still be barely warm. When you (or an oven thermometer) think the oven is hot enough, rake out the ash and embers into a metal container and put safely out of reach. Then leave the over with the door on for 15 minutes to let the heat equalise.
• If you’re going to cook directly on the oven floor and are worried about ash on your food, just wipe the oven floor with a wet rag on a stick.

(Source – http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/2422014/green_cooking_in_a_cob_oven_and_how_to_build_your_own.html)

What materials are used for fuel in a Cob Oven?

(Note this information is for a product called COBB, but the principles appear very similar)

Mostly wood is used, but different types can be used to add flavour/taste when smoking food.

COBB COBBLESTONE: This fuel is specifically manufactured for Cobb. It is manufactured from a renewable source – Coconut shell, Is quick and easy to light, burns hotter than charcoal briquettes and lasts for approx 2 hrs. (Perfect all rounder for both on plate cooking and general roasting).

ULTRA QUICK: This fuel has the same composition as the Cobblestone and burns for approx 1 1/2 hrs. (Perfect for on plate cooking).

GOOD QUALITY CHARCOAL BRIQUETTES: Use between 6 & 15 briquettes. For more heat use up to 15 briquettes. For baking use only 4-8 briquettes and keep the dome shaped lid on at all times in order to keep the heat in. Burns for approx 3 hrs.(Does not burn so hot as the Cobblestone but works well especially for those longer cook times).

RESTUARANT GRADE LUMPWOOD: Is a perfectly acceptable fuel source, a full fire basket will burn for up to 2 hrs.

DO NOT overfill the fire basket or put fuel in the moat. This will cause a fire and damage your Cobb

Lots of useful FAQ’s answered here.

(Source – http://www.cobb-bbq.co.uk/FAQ.aspx)

Simple Recipes

Cobs can be used to cook all manner of recipes, you can roast, braise, bake, simmer and grill just about anything you can think of:

• Bread
• Pizza
• Roast Meats
• Vegetables – e.g. Corn on the cob

Basic White Bread

Makes 3  loaves:

3 cups lukewarm water
1 tbsp granulated yeast (1 packet)
1 1⁄2 tbsp coarse kosher or sea salt
6 1⁄2 cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour
Cornmeal for pizza peel

Preheat oven to 450 f.

Add 1 1⁄2 Tbsp. yeast to bowl.  Add 1 1⁄2 Tbsp.  salt.  Add  3 cups water.  Add 6 1⁄2 cups flour.

Stir the mixture until it’s thickened and well combined.  Cover bowl with tea towel.  Allow to rise for 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen divide it into 3.  Form each section into a ball and pull the 4 sides of the dough to the underneath.   This is stretching out the gluten and aligning it.  It also gives you a nice tight top to the bread.

Leave the dough for its final proof on a very well floured couche (the floured, linen mat you see in my video) or tea towel for 45 minutes.  Cover with  couche or gently cover with a light, floured tea towel.

After it’s proved, gently transfer to your peel or baking tray/stone.  Cut several slashes across the top.  This allows the bread to move upwards as opposed to sideways when it bakes.

Bake until the interior temperature of the bread is 200 f.  (around 25 minutes).

*  if you want a crispier crust, when you’re heating your oven add a deep pan.  Right after you put your bread in the oven, throw a cup of water into the empty hot pan.  This will create steam which is GREAT for baking bread.

(Source – http://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/baking-bread-in-the-cob-oven/)

Pizza Recipe

When people come on our pizza oven building courses they often ask for our secret pizza dough recipe. So we thought we’d share it with you. Charlotte Eve has been perfecting it over the past 10 years and over 4000 pizzas later she thinks she’s got it spot on!

Per person:

3oz plain strong flour

1/2 teaspoon fast action dried yeast

A tiny tip of a teaspoon of sugar

1/2 a teaspoon of salt

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Some hand hot water

Method:

Sift the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a mixing bowl. Then add the oil and water.

Mix into a ball and then knead and tear for about 10 minutes. Leave the dough covered in a bowl to rise for an hour and a half.

Then use a sharp knife to cut the dough into individual portions and roll out with a rolling pin. Use plenty of flour to stop your bases sticking. Some people use semolina under the bases to stop them sticking but we find it changes the texture of the pizza so we stick with using flour – we find it does not burn and works well.

Keep your toppings simple. if you want to add veg like peppers and mushrooms roast them first otherwise they release water on top of the pizza and it doesn’t have time to evaporate as your pizza will cook in literally 1 minute in your oven.

Use a pizza peel (you can get these in most cook shops) to slide your pizza into your wood fired outdoor cob oven!

(Source – http://www.cobcourses.com/pizza-ovens/our-pizza-recipe/)

Things related to Cob Ovens/Cooking that could influence 3D artefact

Cooking utensils –

GDES3003 – Green Design – Major Brief – Initial Research

GDES3003 – GREEN DESIGN – MAJOR BRIEF

My notes based on: The Brief

The University of Worcester’s on site student allotment is both a place of retreat – as well as providing a regular supply of fresh, home-grown, produce for student use. Interest in the allotment from students is on the rise and the University’s Sustainability team are looking to help transform part of it into more of a ‘social space’ as well as it’s food-growing role. The aim is to have some of this produce prepared and used in simply-prepared food dishes that are easy for students to achieve (such as pizzas and roasted dishes) some of which is possible next to the place it was grown. In order to achieve this, the Sustainability team have identified a suitable existing concrete floor space within the allotment to build an earthen (Cob) oven – and (ultimately) a small sheltered area surrounding it. The hope is that this will become an additional outdoor social space facility for sustainability students that helps transform local produce into simple, healthy and tasty meals to be enjoyed in a shared, social scenario.

Partnering this facility, your client requires a set of clear, easy to read, e-resources and physical assitive artifacts that can help explain best practices for oven use, maintenance and simple to prepare recipes.

Client

Katy Boom – The sustainability course team, University of Worcester.

http://www.susthingsout.com

Key objectives

• Provide the clients with a set of  informative e-resources, to include;
  • 2 A4 content pages, suitable for individuals who both use and maintain their cob ovens.
  • Should be colour and A4 in format (multi-page .pdf document).
  • Appropriate for audience range :
    • Primary – Sustainability students.
    • Secondary – The Client & UW Sustainability team.
  • Content should be generating from research & investigation.

Submission

1. Multipage .pdf e-document consisting of  front & rear cover plus 2 pages of content from:
   • Intro page
   • About
   • How to use your oven effectively
   • How to prep and cook a simple small pizza
   • 2 other simple (roasted) recipes for Cob Ovens
2. Front cover
3. Rear cover – Acknowledgments, logos etc.
4. 3D Supporting artefact – fold up plate, multi use pizza box etc.
   • Research – recycled board, sustainable packaging & materials (corn starch plastics, vegetable based inks/dyes), glue-less folds, packaging nets.
   • Artefact must be supplied with artwork applied/mocked-up.
5. Separate imagery for final display boards.

Milestone Deadlines

• 5th Nov 15 – Roughs deadline (4x concept sketches & supporting notes).
• 26th Nov 15 – Prototypes dealdine (evidence of final digital artwork).
• 3rd, 4th Dec 15 – Cob oven build (good photo opportunity – Test firing on the 4th).
• 10th Dec 15 – Peer Assessment.
• 14th Jan 16 – Final submission (14.15 – 15.15).

 

GDES3003 – Green Design – Sustainable Packaging

Week 2 Task – Sustainable Design

This week we were asked to source a video that deals with sustainability based on one of a number of core topics.

I decided to look into sustainable packaging,  and found a video based on an initiative by Puma to reduce shoebox wastage.

We then had to note down a number of points (based on the Eco-Design Manifesto, from the Eco-Design Handbook by Alistair Faud-Luke) that the video relates to.

For the purposes of this exercise I will use the Puma shoe-box packaging video.

Ecological footprint.

Put shoeboxes to a better use by not using them, introducing the clever little bag.

• Reduced the amount of cardboard used by 65%
• No assembly required, so cost savings in manufacture meaning savings in energy.
• Removed need for tissue, thus reducing materials and potential waste.
• Canvas bag used, which encourages re-use (multi unction design).
• Energy savings – 8,500 tonnes of paper, 20 million mega-joules of electricity & 1 million litres of water.  Thus reducing carbon dioxide by 10,000 tonnes.

The company who partnered with Puma to come up with this innovative product is, FuseProject.

Further information can be found here  :  FuseProject

I also found this video, which is based on an initiative to use rye grass to create bio-degradable food packaging.  It’s interesting to see how well they were able to refine the packaging from the initial prototypes to the final product.

 

 

 

 

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design – Main Brief Final Concepts

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design

WW1 Children’s Cookery Book Brief

This will be my final entry for this module as the deadline for submission is tomorrow.  I have included pictures of my final artwork for submission.

The Cover

After trying a few different options,  I ended up discarding this design as I felt tit was perhaps too sophisticated for the audience and that it wasn’t fun or engaging enough for your average 9-11 year old.

My final design features the famous ‘V’ for Vistory symbol, but with a twist. I used the carrots to suggest the cookery & home grown theme. I have used the sort of imagery that evokes a feeling of a bygone era. It demonstrates an aged look, patriotic undertones but also child like fun.

The typography originally looked too sterile and I noticed that a lot of children books feature playful type, so I did the same with the word “kitchen”. Private Pigeon also features on the front and rear covers, inviting the reader to don an apron and join him to cook.  Overall I wanted to create a feeling of fun and interest. The colour palette is drawn from the union jack, but aged to look old, but with a modern twist.

The Spread

The first and perhaps most important thing I setup on the spread was the grid an column structure. As I have an interest in publication and layout, I spent a lot of time researching grids and layout techniques, which unltimately informed my design.

I used the left page as an introduction to the recipe, but also to add some background, educational information. I used WW1 related imagery and illustrations throughout, such as the Sopwith Camel bi-plane, with a fun cloud typography treatment. The grid came into it’s own on the right hand page, which shows a sequential recipe to follow. I used medals to show which step you are on and old style postcards for the information, as the soldiers would have sent home from the trenches.

The background elements feature an authentic WW1 map, distressed/grungey textures and poppy fields.

I incorporated user testing here too. The feedback was helpful and actually informed the design somewhat, mostly typographical changes to improve legibility and to support the way children learn at school, i.e. using uppercase first letter and then lower case as opposed to all uppercase titles.  Overall I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out and the user feedback definitely helped refine it further

Activity Sheet

Continuing the ‘egg’ theme from the spread, I decided to create a drawing/colouring worksheet where the reader get’s to decorate their own egg, as the children of WW1 did. Private Pigeon offers some education information, whilst the decorative elements offer a little fun and inspiration to little minds.

Mock ups

I also created a few mock-ups to give a visual representation of how the finished articles may look. I also included the iPad mockup to show how an ePub or ebook may look.

Constructivist inspired book cover. Later discarded as perhaps too sophisticated for the age group?

Final Cover design

Final spread – Recipe – Eggless Sponge

Decorate your own egg activity sheet

Mock-up showing front cover and spine

Book mock-up showing the spread

Info sheet with mock-ups for submission on my mount board

iPad mock-up demonstrating how an epub version of the book may look

iPad mock-up demonstrating how an epub version of the book may look

GDES2014 – London Book Fair 2015

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design

London Book fair – 2015

As part of this module we were offered a trip to London to see visit the book fair. This was an opportunity not to be missed, particularly as this task represents children’s literature which was well represented at the show.

The show was massive, with an overwhelming number of exhibitors, but I took along my camera to take snaps of some of the more interesting or innovative developments within the industry as a whole as well as in children’s book design.

We were set the task of finding 3 innovations in children’s book design, which was easy as there was so much to choose from. I will talk a little about some of the things I found below:

The first innovation that caught my eye was this series of “shine a light” books.  The books are designed so that when certain pages are held up to the light, they allow light to shine through in various areas, revealing an otherwise hidden image.  You can see this demonstrated below, and how it works on the following page.

Shine a light books

When the light is behind the page the worms show through

This is the opposite pages and demonstrates how the high contrast print determines where the light passes and what is visible on the other side

Another innovation I was drawn to (partly due to my love of all things Star Wars) was these books and more specifically the special editions that came with really cool cases/displays.  There are 3 books in the series so far – Jedi, Sith & Bounty Hunter, each with it’s own display case.  They are motorised and with sound effects.  They do however make the books rather expensive and so would only really appeal to serious collectors, cool none the less.

The display case is motorised and with light and sound effects. When it’s closed you press the button and it opens to reveal the book.

Other popular franchises, such as Transformers were also included.

Make your own Tie Fighter

These pictures show another two books I found interesting. The first features glow in the dark print so that the illustrations and words glow when the lights are turned down.  Being black an white, it’s very high contrast and so is easily read in the light too… very effective.  The second book features tabs throughout the book that you can lift to get a glimpse into the past, both informative and fun.

Glow in the dark children’s book

Glow in the dark children’s book

Lift the flap to reveal how things looked in tester-year compared to now

Lift the flap to reveal how things looked in tester-year compared to now

I got talking to a guy who ran a publishing print company. After explaining to him that I was studying graphic design and had a real passion for all things print, he went on to show me all manner of wonderful printing methods.  The opportunities to create something wonderful are endless, although unfortunately only possible on large print jobs due to the cost involved in setting up the machinery.

Die cut cover

Heated embossing on textured vinyl cover

Software is used to create colour and texture on the edges of each page to create the image whhen the pages are together

Soft touch matt cover with spot uv

Soft touch matt cover with spot uv

Foiled and embossed cover

Clear dust jacket adds layered text/image

The Imperial War Museum were there and had a nice little display of some of their books relating to World War 1 & 2. I got chatting with the lady who was able to show me the prototype of a Churchill recipe book that is in development, very interesting to see. There were also a few books there that were beautiful, not to mention the old style typewriter.

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Simple but effective patterned cover. Iconic poppies

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The cover is based on a famous WW1 poster

It features beautiful typography throughput

The bi-plane from the cover art was used to create the pattern on the end papers

Pre-ress mockup of a recipe book

There was so much to see and so much to take inspiration from.  A great day out and a good opportunity to get a little insight into the industry and see all of the top publishers under one roof.

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Clear dust jacket adds layered text/image

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GDES2014 – Children’s book design – Main brief part 5

GDES2014 – Children’s book design

WW1 recipe book – Researching children activity sheets

Part of the brief is to produce an activity sheet for children to complete, that ties into the theme of the spread and the book covers.

Puffin Books have a whole section of their website dedicated to children activity sheets, often based on the most well know characters like Willy Wonka or Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Some of the activities include:

• Plan a birthday party, with invites and create your own Willy Wonka top hat.
• Wimpy kid – follow the lines to connect 2 items, spot the difference, suduko, colour in a kids shirt, how many words can you make from the phrase “Summer-Holiday”?
• Charlie & Lola – Design Lolas dress, colour in silly hats, snap.
• Others include colouring sheets, mazes, stickers, certificates, hidden objects etc.

http://www.puffin.co.uk

I like the idea of a certificate or award that the child can personalise.  I think an activity sheet with multiple things to do would be fun.

• Pull the pin from the egg grenade
• Make words from “Victory in the Kitchen”
• Something to do with carrots or vegetables
• Decorate your own egg etc
• Recognise the different nations by plane markings
• A mix of interesting facts and activities?

I found a number of examples of activity sheets that I like or could use in the creation of my own.

 

 

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design – Main brief part 4

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design

WW1 Recipe book brief – Further research

Existing Books

I looked at a number of children books as well as cookery books, Design books and historical references to the First World War.

The Cheeky Monkey book shows a good example of added features with the glove puppet plush toy that goes through the centre of the book.

The Roald Dahl books show very bold colours in the background and type elements, with Quentin Blakes simple illustrations over the top.  This creates a strong divide between the left and right of the cover but is then joined by the book title at the bottom that reads more traditionally (horizontally).

The David Walliams books feature Tony Ross’s amazing illustrations.  Each cover is similarr in that the top banner area is taken up by the authors name and then a large illustration below it.  Again strong colours are used for the backgrounds, but also feature some pattern elements such as stars.  The rosette is a nice touch too, which I may apply to my own design in the form of a medal.

I picked up the other books as they all feature some design elements that I feel may inspire my own cover design.  The Fateful year cover for example, features a lot of semiology to the time period from the type, to the illustration style, washed out colours and patriotic theme (flags, English Rose, Poppies etc).  I like the idea of using silhouettes as featured on “stories of the first world war”, perhaps in the form of a farmer digging, soldiers marching to war, standing over a grave etc.

The Line of Fire book is an illustrated diary and features a really nice, rough illustration style, which captures the gritty/dark nature of the time period.

 

Stuffed toy puppet poking through the book. Unique and fun

Tony Ross illustrations, simple compositional tools used to create balance

Simple imagery, again patriotic and iconic

Semitics used effectively to suggest England and the great war

Infographics based on WW1 data

Haynes Great War Tommy manual. Fun twist

Beautiful yet simple illustration style

Beautiful yet simple illustration style

Silhouette and iconic images used to represent WW1

Fun cover illustration

Roald Dahl books, shows unity across all titles and how effective they are together on the shelf. Interest type treatments

WW1 poster found in the Hive, Worcester

WW1 found in the Hive, Worcester

Really like the way the title wraps from the cover, across the spine to the rear cover

Nice use of old typewriter style font, bold title, faded photography

 

GDE2014 – Children’s Book Design – Main brief Part 3

GDE2014 – Childrens Book Design

WW1 recipe book brief – Further research

20th Century Design Movements – Timeline

1850-1914: Arts & Crafts Movement

1880-1910: Art Nouveau

1897-1905: Vienna Secession

Modernism

1907-1935: Deutscher Werkbund

1909-1930: Futurism

1916-1923: Dada

1917-1935: Constructivism

1917-1931: De Stijl

1919-1933: Bauhaus

Economic and Political Influences

The beginning of the twentieth century was fraught with radical political, social, cultural and economic changes. It was a revolutionary time. It was a time of major scientific and technological advances. Life was being forever changed by the invention of the automobile, aeroplane, motion pictures, radio and weapons (tanks, machine guns, chemical and biological warfare). Art Deco was a reaction to the rigours of World War I and was an attempt to develop a more positive and contemporary society.

Indeed the subject matter of a lot of Art Deco posters were designed to celebrate society’s progress in technology. The world wars had a significant impact on graphic design. Poster design during

World War 1 was highly influenced by political views and national pride. Propaganda was used to spread a message to the audience, as the war was the main focus of society.

The poster design sample in Figure 3.29 demonstrates the designer’s attempt to influence the audience by draping a woman in a flag and using provocative language to send a message to the viewers. The period between the world wars saw a society in disarray and economies in ruin.

 

Source – https://visscom.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/20th-century-design-movements/

I then further researched each of these movements individually to see if I could incorporate the design style into my design.  The movements that are of most interest to me from an aesthetic viewpoint are Modernism in general, Dada and Constructivism.  Constructivism lends itself particularly well to the time period as it featured heavily in propaganda of the time, most notable Russian.

Modernism

With the advances of technology Modernism began to break through at the end of the 19th century into the beginning to the 20th century. Western society began to develop new ways to shape human culture and improve the constructed environment.

Modernism covered many creative disciplines from design and art to influencing architecture, music and literature. The power of machines forced artists to strategically re-think their practice, the results were revolutionary and still influences designers to this very day. This new technology provided the opportunity for mass production, and the machine itself became a theme in modernism.

Influential designers of this period range from Walter Gropius from the Bauhaus to the modern architect Le Corbusier, both men were fascinated with all disciplines of design and it reflected greatly in their work.

Modernism is arguably being the most influential movement of the 20th century.

A beautiful poster celebrating the use of sans-serif typography and white space

Graphic Design and Typefaces

Modernism especially changed the thinking process for communications, graphic design and typography, the style of design shifted drastically from the prior 19th century approach. Before the concept of Modernism, graphic design and typography was ‘overly decorated’ and elaborate, every possible inch of a typical poster would be filled with imagery and type.

Designers of the era of Modernism abided to strict, structured grid system with emphasis on negative space, just as important was the use of clean sans-serif type. The idea was to create strong graphics that were against commercialism, greed and cheapness.

Typical typefaces used in the Modernism era include:

Franklin Gothic,

Monotype Grotesque, (cannot find free version)

Futura,

Helvetica Neue.

Dutch artist Theo van Doesburg practiced painting, architecture and poetry – he also influenced graphic design and is considered the ‘ambassador’ of the movement De Stijl. He described Modernism times as: “Art should not deal with the ‘useful’ or the ‘nice’, but with the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘sublime’. The purest art forms do not cause the decorative change of some detail from life, but the inner metamorphosis of life, the revaluation of all values.”

Source – http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/easy-guide-design-movements-modernism-10134971

Jan Tschichold (1902 – 1974 ) was born in Leipzig, Germany. Tschichold moved to the center stage of graphic design as a major champion of the modern typographic style during its infancy. But it is his later work—which had moved on from the exclusive use of asymmetrical design and sans serif typefaces, to a classical approach—that caught the eye of Penguin founder Allen Lane during the late 1940s, leading to three years of Tschichold holding the creative reins of the infamous publishing house.

When Jan Tschichold designed his posters he widely expresses the avant-garde ideas of the or New Typography, which were strongly influenced by the Bauhaus.

Source – http://guity-novin.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/history-of-type-face.html#Eleven

Dada

The collage artists, Max Ernst, Man Ray and others taking the clue from Cubism were instrumental to the development of the movement called Dada. Dada was an early 20th-century international movement in art, literature, music, and film, repudiating and mocking artistic and social conventions and emphasizing the illogical and absurd. Dada was launched in Zurich in 1916 by Tristan Tzara and others, soon merging with a similar group in New York. It favored montage, collage, and the ready-made. Leading figures: Jean Arp, André Breton, Max Ernst, Man Ray, and Marcel Duchamp.

Constructivism

A movement with origins in Russia, Constructivism was primarily an art and architectural movement. It rejected the idea of art for arts’ sake and the traditional bourgeois class of society to which previous art had been catered. Instead it favored art as a practise directed towards social change or that would serve a social purpose. Developing after World War I, the movement sought to push people to rebuild society in a Utopian model rather than the one that had led to the war.

The term construction art was first coined by Kasmir Malevich in reference to the work of Aleksander Rodchenko. Graphic Design in the constructivism movement ranged from the production of product packaging to logos, posters, book covers and advertisements. Rodchenko’s graphic design works became an inspiration to many people in the western world including Jan Tschichold and the design motif of the constructivists is still borrowed, and stolen, from in much of graphic design today.

Source – http://www.designishistory.com/1920/constructivism/

De Stijl

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Dutch for The Style, Die Stijl was founded in 1917. The artists most recognized with the movement were the painters Theo van Doesburg, who was also a writer and a critic, and Piet Mondrian, along with the architect Gerrit Reitveld. The movement proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction through which they could express a Utopian idea of harmony and order.

The harmony and order was established through a reduction of elements to pure geometric forms and primary colors. Die Stijl was also the name of a publication discussing the groups theories which was published by van Doesburg. The publication Die Stijl represents the most significant work of graphic design from the movement, but the ideas of reduction of form and color are major influences on the development of graphic design as well.

Source – http://www.designishistory.com/1920/de-stijl/

Futurism

Futurism was not only an art movement but also a social movement that developed in Italy in the early 20th century. Futurists were well versed and practiced in nearly every field of art including painting, ceramics, sculpture, graphic design, interior design, theater, film, literature, music and architecture. It was a movement that particularly despised not just certain aspects of classical antiquity, but everything that was not totally new.

The painters of Futurism were particularly successful but much of the ideas of the movement were generated through writing and several manifestos of futurism were published. They often broke light and color down into a series of dots or geometric forms through a process called divisionism. Futurism influenced many modern art movements of the 20th century which in turn influenced the development of graphic design. The writings, philosophies and aesthetic characteristics of futurism have been particularly influential to designers.

Source – http://www.designishistory.com/1850/futurism/

 

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design – Brief part 2

GDES2014 – Children’s Book Design

Main Brief Research

Eggs & WW1

The National Egg Collection for the wounded was started in August 1915. Its patron was H.M. Queen Alexandra.It aimed at first to collect one million eggs for the wounded. The scheme proved to be very successful actually achieving an average of one million eggs a month. In February 1917 during a special “Children’s Week” 300,000 eggs were collected when the weather was very bad and eggs scarce.

By January 1918 the scheme had sent over seven million eggs to hospitals at home and over twenty five million to hospitals abroad.

Source – http://longstowe.ccan.co.uk/content/catalogue_item/ww1-national-egg-collection

Egg Grenades

WW1 German egg grenade

The ‘egg’ grenade (‘Eierhandgranate’) appeared in the beginning of 1917, as a complement to the other reglementary grenades that were either too heavy (Kugelhandgranate) or too cumersome (Stielhandgranate) for the assault sections. The small size steel cast body (6 cm long, 4.6 cm diameter), took the shape of an egg, therefore giving this grenade its nickname.

Initially entirely smooth, the body was modified in 1917 to receive a fragmented belt (‘Eierhandgranate Neuer Art’ – n/A) to improve its handling. Its size and weight allowed a long range hand launching (up to 50 meters) and as easy transportation in big quantities, even in the battledresses pockets.

Source – http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/decouvertes/english_grenades_all.html

As WWI progressed, there was a need for a smaller grenade, something more portable than the heavy Kugel and less cumbersome than stick types.

Development started in late 1916 which lead to the introduction of the cast iron “Egg” grenade, Mle.1917. It was loaded with black powder, or other explosive fillers. The average soldier could be expected to reach distances of over 40 meters, which meant the Eierhandgranate could be used in an offensive role as well as defensive.

Source – http://inert-ord.net/gerimp/eggs/index.html

How did children help the War Effort?

Between 1914 and 1918, everyone was expected to ‘do their bit’ to help with war work. Many British children were very keen to lend a hand. They wanted to support their fathers and older brothers who were away fighting at the Front.

Young people did many jobs. Around the home they would look after younger brothers and sisters. They helped with housework, carrying water and chopping firewood. They also joined long queues for food in the shops. Food was scarce because German U-Boats (submarines) were sinking the ships bringing supplies to Britain. ‘Growing your own’ became very important. Children helped dig and weed vegetable patches and worked in the fields at harvest time.

Flag Days

‘Flag days’ were held to make money for all kinds of wartime projects. Children would sell little flags or badges that people could pin to their coats. This raised money for funding the war effort, for example to build warships, or to help wounded soldiers. There was even a Blue Cross fund to help horses hurt in battle.

Children collected other things that would be useful for the war effort, such as blankets, books and magazines. These were sent to the soldiers at the front.

Animals at war

Even animals were given war work to do. Horses were sent into battle to carry soldiers, or drag wagons and big guns to the front. Homing pigeons carried paper messages, put into little tubes and strapped to their legs. Dogs guarded important places, carried messages and took first aid supplies out to wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

On the Home Front, elephants were taken out of zoos and sent to pull heavy loads on farms.

Source – http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25307613

Evacuation

It seems from my research that evacuation did not take place in large numbers during WW1.  I suspect this due mainly to the fact that although the zeppelins caused a threat and later, the biplane bombers, the numbers were too few to cause the concern that was so apparent during WW2.  The main threat was also focused in the capital.

It would appear that many families took children away from London to places that were safe from bombing threat, but often this was off their own back as opposed to due to government led evacuation.

 Evacuation Plans

In preparation for the war, evacuation plans were put into consideration to avoid possible danger on children. Primary children, toddlers under five and moms were evacuated from predicted danger zones to safer areas. 4 million evacuees were expected to leave, however only 1.5 million left, yet it was still considered a mass migration of many immigrants. Kids held their labeled luggage, waved good-byes to their families and plodded into the unknown.

Source – https://sites.google.com/site/worldwar1class1/life-on-the-home-front/children-during-ww1

Rationing and World War One

Rationing was introduced into Britain at the tail end of World War One – in February 1918. Rationing was introduced in response to an effective U-boat campaign and during World War One, the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was used to ensure that food shortages never occurred.

One of the primary aims of DORA, when it was first introduced, was to prevent food shortages. At the start of the war, food shortages were self-imposed as the German U-boat campaign had yet to start. However, at the start of the war people went around panic buying food and hoarding it at home. Some shops sold out of food in days in August 1914. However, after the initial panic buying, people settled down into a routine and food was not a problem until the end of 1916.

Britain continued to import food during the war. The main exporters to Britain were America and Canada. This meant that merchant ships had to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Up to 1916, these merchant ships could travel in relative safety. However, in 1917, the Germans introduced unrestricted submarine warfare and merchant ships were sunk with great frequency. This had a drastic impact on Britain’s food supply and with great losses in the Atlantic, food had to be rationed so that no-one starved in Britain. In April 1916, Britain only had six weeks of wheat left and bread was a staple part of most diets. 1916 was a bleak year for families – with the news from the Battle of the Somme and with food in short supply, suddenly the war was brought home to most families. Food prices rose and by October 1916, coal was in such short supply that it was rationed by the number of rooms a family had in its house.

The restrictions introduced by DORA failed and the government then tried to introduce a voluntary code of rationing whereby people limited themselves to what they should eat. The standard was set by the Royal Family. However, this did not work. Those who worked in the munitions factories did not have enough food while anyone with money could get more than enough food on the black market. Any area that could grow food was converted to do so – gardens were turned into allotments and chickens etc. were kept in back gardens.

The powers introduced by DORA empowered the government to take over land when it felt that it was necessary to do so. In 1917, the government took over 2.5 million acres of land for farming. By the end of the war, Britain had an extra three million acres of farming land. Those who would have usually worked the land – young men – had been called up, so the work was done by the Women’s Land Army. Conscientious objectors also worked on the land.

Despite the importance of the work done by the Women’s Land Army, the government still felt that it was appropriate to warn them about the standards expected of them and their approach must have seemed very old fashioned to some:

“You are doing a man’s work and so you are dressed rather like a man; but remember that because you wear a smock and trousers you should take care to behave like an English girl who expects chivalry and respect from everyone she meets

Despite the work by the WLA, the impact of the German U-boat campaign made food shortages a serious problem by 1918. Malnutrition was seen in poor communities and as a result the government introduced rationing in 1918. Food products were added to the list as the year progressed. In January 1918, sugar was rationed and by the end of April meat, butter, cheese and margarine were added to the list of rationed food. Ration cards were issued and everyone had to register with a butcher and grocer. Rationing was a clear indication to the British public that all was not well, but it did work. The malnutrition that had been identified in the poorer communities disappeared and as in World War Two, no one actually starved in Britain during the war.

Source – http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/rationing_and_world_war_one.htm