London Trip

I went to London in order to visit various galleries and exibitions. My friend and I visited the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Photographers' Gallery and various independent galleries. 

In the Photographers' Gallery there was an exibition of Edward Steichen's work for Vogue and other fashion photography. 

His work is very striking and dramatic, which I like because it creates artwork with multiple purposes (to show garments and be interesting photos)

Visual Communications

By the end of the visual communications introduction this week I have become more aware of the different areas that make up visual communications - graphic design, illustration, and animation. I am also more aware of the uses of each different area, e.g. Illustration is used lots for children's books and graphic design is used for creating packaging.

I have been inspired by Sagmeister and Walsh's work which explored how text can be put on the body. I liked how they managed to create the impression of 2D flat text on a 3D surface.

I particularly enjoyed trying out illustration. Thinking about grounds and colour schemes, as well as using single line to draw with was interesting. Also it made me more confident to draw with ink and fine liner without having a pencil line guide first.

These are my finished pieces for the Visual Communications area:

Noma Bar

Noma Bar is an Israeli-born graphic designer, who describes his work as 'visual communication'. Combining the skills of an artist, illustrator and designer to achieve the 'maximum communication with minimum elements'.

I find the way Bar utilises negative space in his images very interesting. At a first glance the viewer sees one main image (e.g. the dog's head) but at closer inspection the viewer sees that multiple images are used to create the whole picture. For example in the second piece the shape that makes up the dog's mouth is the shape of a cat's head, and the shape of the cat's mouth is a mouse's head. These multiple images add extra layers of meaning to the images without overcrowding them.

His Website

Stefan Sagmeister

Stefan Sagmeister is a New York based graphic designer and lettering artist, who co-founded the design firm 'Sagmeister and Walsh'. 

His work often contains photographs that have been manipulated digitally to contain text (the top piece), or the model in the photograph has had the text painted on them with body paint. I like his work because the use of text makes the images eye-catching and unique. The viewer is required to look closer to read the text, which draws them in, but can also be a negative element since the top image is quite difficult to read. 

His website

Illustrators vs. Sexism

In this article by Chris Campe the social issues of gender inequalities, roles and stereotypes are examined in regards of illustrators and their clients.
   I am very interested in this topic because gender inequality is big issue still nowadays, even though many are blissfully unaware of  it. It is the internalised gender stereotypes, gender roles and misogyny that are the causes of modern gender inequality - an idea that Campe highlights here. Campe mentions how the illustrators' attempts to avoid gender stereotypes and promote equality (by swapping the female and male characters' roles) resulted in other stereotypes being reinforced. 
   For example when Stephanie Wunderlich changed her original illustration of a woman cooking to a man cooking, elements of internalised ideas of gender roles became apparent. The woman was portrayed as serious and ordinary, whilst the man conveyed the idea of an artisan, leisurely cook. This supports the idea that cooking is a woman's job but a man's hobby, which is a sexist and misogynistic opinion.
   This article is important because it shows how sexist ideals can infiltrate elements of art and illustration, even if this effect is unintentional. Once artists are more aware of this, they can actively avoid it, and therefore avoid harmful gender roles and stereotypes from being reinforced.