Trying to dissect what I was able to do for this first step of Unit 2 wouldn’t
be very interesting, given that just for once, I did my best to work instinctively, without trying too hard to know where it would lead me (following the instructions of the task we were meant to be doing).
However, in my opinion, the aspect that stands out once again from this work is the narrative process used. Probably not made in the most
successful way, but at least it is the very principle of the GIF that I’ve made: an element leads us from one image to another, creating a story in an intuitive way. And so, storytelling is for me the way that my ‘100 screengrabs experiment’ is positioned relative to the discipline of graphic commu-nication design. I believe that stories take a big place in graphic design and communication. Very often graphic designers use story through images,
text, layout, writing to convey their message because as Stuart Bailey states it, “Designers can’t rule the world, they can only make it more like it already is.” (Toward a critical faculty, 2006) and if you think about it, most of our lives is made out of stories. We spend our time telling each other anecdotes, reflecting on moments that have passed or will come, reading other people’s stories – real or imagined, watching movies to travel or learn. As I explained it in my last written response, I have always had a great attraction for narrative objects, from which, I realised that what I like most is telling stories, manipulating texts as much in their formatting as through the writing. I would like to continue thinking about how to construct and deconstruct a story, finding new ways to reintroduce writing in my work while exploring the importance of storytelling in graphic design (through the text but also through iconography or layout). To do so, I was encouraged during my midpoint assessment to ask myself questions like: Why is storytelling and writing important in graphic design? How can you use these formats to challenge graphic design?
Trying to reflect on previous work and my approach to GCD, I realised that I am interested in the different ways of appropriating, creating and editing a set of documents of various natures (archive, text, photography, illustration) in order to create narratives. As Prem KRISHNAMURTHY, says it in his P!DF, « Design exists not only as a tool for encouraging consumption, but also as a way to deliver timely ideas to new audiences and generate formats for interaction » (p16). And this interaction plays an important role in my work. I like to make things readable, share ideas with people, intrigue them, communicate information in a more playful way to encourage people to want to know more.
Brief:
Last year, I worked on a conference about communication disorders and more particularly on what are called “tongue-twisters” as a possible remedy for certain disorders. After researching the subject, I decided to invent a fictional story around the subject as it allowed me to refer to historical and scientific facts while integrating many tongue twisters and convey information in an entertaining way. This conference was based on a script conceived as a real ephemeral editorial object, that is to say written and then put into form.
Very much interested in that approach I would like to create a series of small publications/objects that would work in a similar way: take a small subject that interests me, collect a lot of information on it and then think about how to communicate it.
Work steps:
- What do I want to work on? (It can be a specific theme, an idea, an image etc.)
– What is the iconography on which I am leaning?
– What is the form I give to my subject?
– What makes it a collection? What is left from one object to another? What is changing?
• And why not increasing my research within an editorial object.
I want to think of different ways of approaching a subject: I made a fiction about and containing tongue twisters, I could have done something more strict or a series of illustrations …
References: revue faire (https://revue-faire.eu), Il paraît (https://shop.ichetkar.fr/cosaques/524-191-goria-il-parait-editions-cent-pages.html), fond international (http://fondsinternational.com), Vulgaire —podcast by Marine Baousson, the art of looking sideways — alan Fetcher, https://www.instagram.com/matin_queljournal/
+ look for different forms of conferences/way to talk effectively about a subject