Module Evaluation

This module was more enjoyable than first anticipated. This is because of chosen subject. Russia has always been a source of interest for me. In first year my first COP module was on Russia as well. Looking back I can see that that essay was more about history rather than design. I think this is because I was new to design but accustomed to history.

In the second year I chose to write about sign painting. Which although is a topic of interest for me, it wasn’t good to write about. The argument was whether or not sign painting is dead; the only answer is purely opinion. So I didn’t do as well as first year because of the subject.

For third year I wanted to make sure that what I was writing about I was genuinely interested in, so that it was easier to read and write about it. I think this module has changed the way I will think about design. I want to create designs that are more important to me. The opportunity is there in third year to be in control of what I design and what topics to look at. However, with competition briefs that is different. I want make the competition briefs interesting to me and work with Constructivism more.

Concept has always been an important part of my design and I think learning about Constructivism and talking to practitioners has helped me understand the power of it more.

Final Designs

These are the final posters insitu. This is to see what they would look like on a wall full of propaganda posters to see if they work well and stand out. 

The final images of the final posters were taken on  a black background because white seemed to light. This is a serious subject and using darker colours demonstrates that.

Practical - Broken Design

I tried to design a poster for ISIS but I couldn't work out what I wanted to say. This was even harder when trying to find an image to relate to this topic.

The style of design followed the rest of the posters but it didn't work with the rest. I couldn't work on it anymore because I don't think I could decide the message.

Practical - Design Decisions

Type - 

This typeface was used as it is a Sans Serif typeface, which is what constructivist would use. The type works well as a capital because of its thickness. It makes a powerful statement and is easy to read.

Colour - 

This is the range of colours used within these posters. They're similar so that the posters look like they belong together but also work alone.

Practical - Designs

Practical - Designs

When reading about the Syrian President I came across a quote for Obama that I thought would work really well with these posters. 

'it is because it is unimaginable that you can stop civil war here when the overwhelming majority of people in Syria consider him to be a brutal, murderous dictator'

It was really important to have this quote in the posters because it sums up what I was trying to communicate. Syrian people don't like him and that why they're fleeing. They're not all ISIS just because a few could be.

The text is off to the right because his eyes are looking that way. It works better that the focus is in the same place. After working out the position of the words with the red shape, it was a case of sorting the lines out. Having the lines at the top created more visuals rather than it being just blank.

Practical - Designs

This poster was simple to create because the slogan was thought up by my friend Catherine. It is strong and having a bit of alliteration helps in a repeated slogan. I wanted to add the details of how many people have been affected by this war because I was so shocked. I want people to know how serious this is and see if they're surprised at the number. 

The use of black and red work well with this topic and using white type over the red makes it easier to read and stand out. The one and two are larger and set to the right so that the image of the young isn't overlooked. They need to be separate as well as work together. Having the large one and two like that works well because it will make people read the smaller type to understand the 12.

Practical - Designs

This poster is based on the beginnings of the Civil War . I want to show people that it was a simple case of people not happy with the government which caused this. So by using the slogan 'FREEDOM OF SPEECH MET WITH DEATH VIOLENCE' hopefully people will understand what happened. Or at least they can look into them selves. With this particular poster I wanted the image in the centre in order to catch peoples eye. There was a lot of moving colour and shapes around. The original colours are from the Syrian flag. However this didn't work as they're not visually appealing colours.

Once the colours and type were decided I applied it to all of the posters so that they work together as well as alone.

Practical - Designs

For the posters, a constructivist design style will be used. This is because it is an affective design style and it will work well for this topic. This also will answer my dissertation question properly.

As I am using a modern day problem and using the early 20th Century Russian graphic design movement to help solve or help answer that problem.

Looking at constructivist designs and Rodchenko as inspiration and direction I was able to start designing these posters.

I began by using images of the topic the poster was based on. Although type is really important within Constructivist design, images were often used a lot. It is an easy way to demonstrate the message and topic more.

So images of the Syrian president, the two main men of Britain, a refugee boy and the war town street of Syria. The images have been set at half tone in order to stop blurring when printed at a1. The choice for black and white is so the design isn't too distracting and the colours will work well with the image.

Practical - Tamman Azzam

It was interesting to read there was a Syrian artist created artwork from the scars of war. He uses the depleted building of the war torn countries as back drops to lay other famous art on top. It's a nice way to use whats happened in the country as art and show that Syria isn't ruined.

Practical - Poster Research

Overall message of these posters - People need to know more about this war.

Individual posters have different messages

The Refugee poster is about the fact these refugees are people, they've gone through something unimaginable and risked their life to get out of it. There are people who don't want to help refugees which I think needs to help because they're innocent civilians. 

The Syrian President poster is trying to make people aware how this whole thing started and who is to blame. He's not been in the news a lot because of the focus on ISIS and refugees, this isn't right because he is the one who could of stopped this. 

The Civil War poster is about how it how it all started. Seeing the change in the country within the years is important because the war has developed into something so different from the starting point.

The British involvement poster is telling people about the fact Britain has decided to get involved. A lot of people weren't happy with this decision. 

Tone of voice is a serious one because of the topic and the importance of teaching people about this war.

Articles for research
Refugee information-

http://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War

http://www.theguardian.com/world/refugees?page=5

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/19/syrian-refugees-in-america-fact-from-fiction-congress


Syrian Civil War information -
http://www.britannica.com/event/Syrian-Civil-War

British involvement information - 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/02/syria-airstrikes-mps-approve-uk-action-against-isis-after-marathon-debate

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/6626148/Our-boys-await-order-to-attack-IS-in-Syria.html

ISIS information -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10338256

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24179084

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/paris-attacks-where-does-isis-get-its-money-and-arms-a6736716.html

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/terrifying-rise-of-isis-iraq-executions

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/terrifying-rise-of-isis-iraq-executions

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/paris-attacks-where-does-isis-get-its-money-and-arms-a6736716.html

Practical - Syrian Research

In order to understand this Syrian situation and create something decent from it, I read a lot of articles about why certain people are involved. 

The points of interest that have been looked at for these posters are, the British involvement in Syria due to the new air strikes that were launched. Refugees and their struggle to survive, as 12 million people have been affected by this war. The president needs to be looked at, as he’s rarely in the news and is one of the main reasons this was happened. Finally, ISIS and why they are involved and how they got involved.

Looking at Rodchenko’s work in more detail, there is a lot of image use a long side the slogans and block colours. This is a useful way to communicate the message of the poster further and easier. 

After reading into ISIS it was clear a poster would not work very well. This is because there wasn’t a clear message that was trying to communicate, the more that was read about them, the more powerful they seem. 

With the decided four sectors, images were used that depicts the topic well enough. With a slogan or some text they will work to get the different messages across. The images are half tone which prevents blurring when printing at large scale but also is the image style from Constructivists.

Practical - Syrian Research

Since changing the idea of the practical is very close to the deadline the research undertaken was all online. However, it was really interesting to find out all the different aspects of the Syrian war, how it started, when and who's involved etc.

http://www.news.com.au/world/simple-points-to-help-you-understand-the-syria-conflict/story-fndir2ev-1226705155146

What?

Syrian Civil War

Began in 2011, when the people of Syria weren't happy with the new president-Bashar Al-assad. 
The family had been in control for 30 years and the people wanted a new government. this is similar to that of 1917 Revolution. However, the president reacted very differently.
After some teenagers graffitied something offensive about the government on  a wall, they were arrested and then later killed.
The unfair killing of these people started unrest and fighting within the country. 

When?

2011 and still ongoing

Who?

Syria mainly - as it began as a Civil war. There was untrained and poorly orgainsed militia that got together to rebel against the government. Later on extremists began to join them as they were well trained, well armed. This meant that the fighting worsened and the reason for the war changed. 

Britain is now involved due to launching air strikes
Russia want to crush ISIS in syria
ISIS are in syria because there is oil and was an easy target to gain power. As towns and cities were escaped there began to be places to control. Syria civil war has given ISIS a good base and more money. 

Where?

Syria

Why?

Unhappy people of Syria
Dictator president
Oil in Syria

Practical - Change of idea

After the christmas break and thinking about the practical element it was clear that the idea I had wasn't working. 

In order to use Russian design to its fullest power the message or topic needs to be important, interesting and powerful.

This is why I have deiced to create a series of posters on the Syria Civil War. 
These will be digitally created and printed because it is a more time affective way of doing things. That is what the constructivists did - they could create 100s posters in a night because of the facilities they had. 

The propaganda of Russia from 1917 and onwards were a result of a very serious political and cultural change. The designs following this dissertation also need to do this. They need to be aware of a massive problem and help the cause of solving it.

The Syrian Civil War has been a large part of the news since the Refugee problems in the summer. This is a very real and serious humanitarian problem that a lot of people aren’t very educated on.

The similarities between Russia and Syria are striking as well, however this is a very different situation to that of 1917. 

There is both dictatorship within in the countries and a war between people and government. However, Syria’s problem has gone global and its affected a lot more people than expected.

Using Constructivist design techniques, this practical will educate and inform people about what is really going on. 

From all aspects of the war such as - 

Refugees

The president of Syria

Britain’s involvement

ISIS

America.

Practical Initial Designs

The original idea was to use the iconic design style from Russia and put them with a slogan or information that is either funny or nonsense. The concept behind this was to see if people would still think the design was important.

The design would use block colours, lines, Russian looking type and a slogan. They would be A1 prints, in order to create impact. They should be hung up and observed, so the viewer’s reaction could be gaged. This is to see if applying a strong design style to nonsense adds value to the design and make it work. 

Within the dissertation, there is a section on OBEY. His style is the same Russian style this practical is concentrating on. So through research, some designs were made. 

The Constructivist movement is a focus on the dissertation. The propaganda from this movement is iconic and still recognised today. The image in the bottom right corner is Alexandsr Rodchenko. He is the biggest designers from the Constructivist era. Looking at OBEY and Rodchenko’s work, the similarities are obvious. 

Looking at these two designers began the ideas for the practical. 

These are the initial designs that were created using ideas from Rodchenko and OBEY.

The process in making these posters will be screen printing and letter press. This is partly because using different techniques is good practice but also it will give it an older look. It is more true to what the designers of those days did. 

After making a few of these colour ways and working the lines I thought the idea wasn't strong enough. The reason Russian propaganda works so well is because of the context it was created in. These posters need to have a strong idea behind them in order for them to work.