[ AGD ]

Having been briefed on Creative Networks the three of us, (Declan, Ashley and myself) Got to work Brainstorming. After looking at AGD's website and doing some background research on what AGD does as a professional in the creative industries, the ideas and designs produced were reflective of what the group had found. 

• He is an Art Critic, Journalist, Tv presenter, Educationalist and Lecturer. 

• He has a Few books out one of them came out very recently

Andrew Graham-Dixon's recent book “Caravaggio A Life Sacred and Profane” was released on 1st July 2010 by Penguin books; it has recently been released in paperback and is now out in the USA, published by Norton. Andrew has spent a decade piecing together the scraps of evidence left of Caravaggio’s life and in this book he answers questions that have long puzzled scholars. (Andrew's website)

Having read this research into Caravaggio seemed like a sensible option and due to the time scale of when this project needed to be proposed to Creative Networks The internet became the main source for all research and inspiration. 

Caravaggio trained as a painter in Milan under Simone Peterzano who had himself trained under Titian. In his twenties Caravaggio moved to Rome where there was a demand for paintings to fill the many huge new churches and palazzos being built at the time. It was also a period when the Church was searching for a stylistic alternative to Mannerism in religious art that was tasked to counter the threat of Protestantism.^[4] Caravaggio's innovation was a radicalnaturalism that combined close physical observation with a dramatic, even theatrical, use ofchiaroscuro which came to be known as tenebrism (the shift from light to dark with little intermediate value). (wikipedia)

reasons for doing such superficial research was that time was a massive issue, having basically a week to do this made the group panic and move onto practical production as soon as possible wich may not have been the best idea as good design is informed by a good knowledge of the subject at hand. If won, the designs the group proposed would have to be reproducible as a concept so whilst baring that in mind the group started to brainstorm not just about ideas for AGD but ideas that could be applied to many visiting speakers. 

This then led to the thinking of a frame, AGD as said before is a man with many professions, this made the group strive to try to capture all of his aspects. we then realised that frames are a massive part of artworks and that it would be nice to have a design, to do with the visiting professional, inside a standard frame. this would then allow the group to produce very different designs for each speaker but link all the ideas together with the use of the frame. 

After this train of thought the group started getting abstract, Ideas about breaking the A3 format of the page to make the posters stand out and engage. at this point the group was not rejecting any ideas, whatever the idea was it was thought of by the whole group and criticised amongst us. After many idea generation procedures and techniques the group settled on the idea of a physical frame that was in the shape of the college logo. The group decided that the ambiguity of the shape and the opportunity for it to be a framed picture of the guest speaker could be replicated for many visitors which could then lead to the creation of a mosaic composition of framed speakers that could be displayed in the college. 

We then took the frame to a photography studio and played around with the idea that the speaker can be framed once they have visited. And before hand the frame is empty and waiting to be filled. Like a coming soon poster. This then lead to the frame becoming mask like. This also opened the opportunity for subjects with the frame as their heads to be different genders and races which encourages diversity at creative network events. 

  




After sending our proposal and concept to the handlers (Josh and Louise) of Creative Networks the group was chosen and given appropriate feedback about the designs.

Josh and Louise told the group that the minimalism used in the daft punk poster was preferable for AGD. Aside from this and making sure we seek their advice for practically doing things such as hanging the frame on the night, the design decisions were left mainly under our control.

The mockups that are shown in this PDF needed to be produced in a week's time so additional research on AGD was not practical but in retrospect would of benefited the project.

There was a lot for the group to organise and produce so tasks were distributed. My personal Job was to create the Laser cut type to fit with the physical frame that would be stuck to the wall behind the bar on the event. The physical wooden frame was produced before we put our proposal together so the remaining jobs were polishing the design work for the AGD poster and the General Creative Networks poster, printing the posters and the photo to go in the frame and finally cutting and sticking the vinyl sticker path around college.

Printing a photo to fit into this frame was a lot more difficult than thought of at first. We had to find a good quality image that could be printed at a2 without losing quality and keeping to the 300dpi print standard. 

spray painting the laser cut type for the wall behind the bar with wilkos own black spray paint. The laser cut type wasn't too much of a task as a lot of experience on the laser cutter came from when we were producing the frame. 

Hanging the frame on the night was a concern as we had to make sure it didn't fall off and hurt anyone so some of the colleges tech guys helped us with the mounting of the frame. 

Looking at this picture it is clear that the concept works and looks professional and engaging however everything is slightly too small and the white posters look a bit underwhelming and dull due to the white wall and their A3 size. This is something that the next project for creative networks can strive to improve.

The laser cut type works well and fits with the 3D frame. The group decided after looking at previous years work on creative networks that although vinyl type behind the bar works nicely and looks professional it wouldn't fit as well as the laser cut wood type. 

The vinyl stickers were a success they differed slightly from what was proposed, this was due to the print resource not having enough pink vinyl. This is something the group needs to think about for the next professional speaker so that in between the mosaic shapes they can have lines that help express the networking nature of the events.

the main posters that were printed bigger and put at the front of the college were great the poster to the left is just the general creative networks poster that helps bring the concept of the vinyls, the frame and the whole project together. 

Mistakes and Experiments

lots of mistakes and designs that didn't feature on the night were part of this project. Lots of aspects from the proposal were improved upon and changed. The type above was an experiment with handwritten type and laser cutting it but this didn't fit with the formal nature of the project. 

There were a lot of issues with the group's experience with flash photography and shutter speeds that made half of all photos black. This was fixed with help off the photography department.