grad604kaywee

[grad604kaywee]

604 - Course Reflection

Things I have learnt

The importance of research and understanding, the vast history and story that design has gone through to get to what it is today. Researching can be extremely important and more interesting than I originally thought. Knowing the history or origins of items is quite important and can be very useful.

The challenges

Firstly, figuring out what I am interested in and how to research that was an interesting change of work compared to what I normally do. It was very hard to connect the pieces together to show how I have been built to this point, and what my views are. It was and is still hard to understand the different perspective I have compared to NZ because of my South African origins. Grammar at the end was a slight challenge because I am not the best writer, but after working on it and using synonym finders I am happy with the outcome. 

Overcoming the challenges

Finding a topic I was genuinely interested in boosted my motivation a lot and created a more positive environment for me to work in at home. In the later weeks coming to class and having that time to write and receive feedback really moved along my writing progress and allowed me to iterate the poster a few times before submitting. This helped me not to stress about having nothing to submit when the time comes, and also allowed me to refine and improve from there.

The Enjoyment

Exploring my origins and so many new creatives from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. This introduced me to so many studios that I never knew of. All of which could be my potential future job.

The End

I enjoyed this experience and will incorporate more research methods into my future projects to develop stronger arguments and reliable designs. 

[grad604kaywee]

Final Essay

The Final essay has been laid out with correct referencing and imagery added. A few images were chosen to give context to the specific pieces and people that are mentioned. I also included an image of my home town in South Africa because it captures the vibe of Hermanus very well. It just gives that extra context that I don't mention in the text.

I am quite happy with the essay and feel like it captures a lot of my personality and interests in it. It also really describes the work I want to do and what has influenced me a lot.

I added the extra touch of pink headers in the Domaine font to match the poster title.

[grad604kaywee]

Final Poster - Submitted

The final poster was printed as x2 A3s due to the printers available at the university. It was printed on SRA3 to include space for the bleed. I did have an issue with the centre line not printing correctly, so unfortunately the kiwi bird paperweight has been cropped a little bit. I went to print a second round to fix this, but when I put my paper on the tray, it started printing someone else's work. This was right after I just bought the paper and was running out of paper and time to print other things for my other course. The poster printed really beautifully on the 120gsm pure white paper. The colours look so beautiful after I change it to the peachy pink. It makes it feel much more friendly and authentic. The objects also printed so lovely in my opinion. Seeing my final work all put together and all my favourite objects gives a sense of pride for me.

[grad604kaywee]

Essay Feedback:

Under positioning the creative. Use your own voice more, rather than making design statements and talking about what you think design is, talk about your origins and your home country etc.

Include the facts that Hermanus was a whale watching town and this could have affected me a lot with all the seasonal tourists that come here. It is also a coastal town, does this say anything about me?

There are 11 official languages in South Africa and many different communities, surely this affect me somehow, explain it. Explain the Shongololo origins and meaning in this paragraph as well.

Exaplin the change and how that affected you when moving from SA to NZ, what were the cultural shocks etc, what was good and what was bad? What did you notice

[grad604kaywee]

W12: Positioning the Creative Research

Lesley-Ann Noel.

[grad604kaywee]

W12: Poster Changes

After reciveing feedback on the psoter, i have created another iteration of it with minor changes.

I have added a shongololo as my 21st object. This will connect my title to my poster, and explain its relevance.

I changed the pink shade to be slightly more earthy and vibrant. I really love this colour and think it works a lot better with the added shongololos.

I have spaced out the text paragraphs and reduced the larger ones to 70 words. The are positioned in a zigzag so the order is easier to read and matches better with the objects.

I made the text larger as well now that there is more space available. This will make it easier to read. I also changed it to a slightly red hue instead of pure black. This is because there is nothing black on the poster except the text, which makes it stand out and look odd rather than flowing together as one piece.

The title has also been repositioned to remove the cramped space that was in the top left overlapping the body copy before.

The colour coded dots on the text side have also been reduced and created as unique dot shapes. This matches the dots for the objects better and brings more personality and authenticity to the poster.

[grad604kaywee]

W12: Resources

Fact checking my work through multiple sites.

"Millipedes in South Africa

Millipedes play an important role in South African society. In the broader region of southern Africa, millipedes are called shongololo. The word “shongololo” is taken from a Xhosa and Zulu word, which is “ukushonga”. This word means to roll up, or coil up. Therefore, the spiritual message of defense and self preservation could be more important in that particular context."

Storytelling

There are hundreds and hundreds of resources based on storytelling. There are tips and tricks, there are statistics, there are studies and research, there are examples an explanations etc. There are so many resources for storytelling because it is such a deep topic that almost everyone can connect and resonate with. But unfortunately, I only have the time, and a small word count, to very briefly touch this topic.

I want to still have facts and support when I talk about storytelling, so I researched a couple of articles and books tat go into more depth on the subject.

https://librarysearch.aut.ac.nz/vufind/EdsRecord/bth,159246204

https://librarysearch.aut.ac.nz/vufind/EdsRecord/ufh,158704229

Storytelling is a fundamental human activity. We tell stories to entertain, to teach, to share our experiences, and to connect with others. Stories can help us to understand ourselves and the world around us better. They can also help us to build relationships and create communities.

There are many ways that storytelling can help us to connect with people. For example, stories:

Help us to feel seen and heard. When we share our stories, we are opening up to others and letting them into our lives. This can make us feel vulnerable, but it can also be very rewarding. When others listen to our stories and respond with empathy, we feel seen and heard. This can help us to build stronger relationships and feel more connected to the people around us.

Help us to understand different perspectives. Stories can help us to see the world through the eyes of others. This can help us to develop empathy and understanding for people who are different from us. When we can understand different perspectives, we are better able to connect with others and build relationships.

Help us to find common ground. Stories can help us to identify shared experiences and values. This can give us a sense of common ground with others, even if we are different in other ways. When we feel that we have something in common with others, we are more likely to connect with them and build relationships.

Bring people together. Stories can bring people together from all walks of life. When we share stories, we are creating a shared experience. This can help to build connections and create communities.

Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting with people. It can help us to feel seen and heard, understand different perspectives, find common ground, and bring people together.

[grad604kaywee]

Week 12: Presentation & Feedback

After updating my poster descriptions and layout, we came into class for a final presentation of our work.

Sticky notes were used to put feedback and notes on each others pieces without messing them up. The sticky notes on my work had the following feedback in similar words:

What is a Shongololo? Perhaps place a description of some kind to give the audience context.

The curl at the bottom can be made into a Shongololo to have more relevance to the poster and title, and then the description can be placed by that object for context.

Consider using the Shongololo as a feature through the text blocks to guide the viewer through my journey, and through time. This will give a really great hint towards the title and journey idea that flows through my poster.

Make the text point size larger. There are uneven gaps between the paragraphs, and cramped spacing by the header.

The spacing of some of the objects is a bit tight, play around with spacing and scale again now that there is more space on the poster.

Make the colour coded dots on the text, the same scale and personality as the dots by the objects. This will help to relate them better, and will get rid of that issue with the dark colours making the text hard to read.

Play around with the title positioning again. The "time" is taking up a lot of space at the moment, and leaves open that gap next to "in". This might help the text below not feel as cramped as well, and then it can be shifted down further to create more space.

[grad604kaywee]

W11: Objects Update 2 - x10

INSERT MORNING MELODIES

This flyer represents three connections: Music, Printing, and Typography. The typeface drew me to it. It is called Domaine, designed by Klim Type Foundry. The event it promotes features Jazz music, which holds a portion of affection. The paperstock and colour palette feature good examples of printing.

My project based on statistics of dogs and post-lockdown effects featured this poster. When first looking into this topic, it was more shocking than realised. Many dogs were abandoned after the Covid lock-downs ended. This was due to people returning to work or having less comfortable jobs and lifestyles. This affected all household pets, but had the worst impact for dogs resulting in numerous pets being abandoned or handed over to shelters.

The Kiwi community and location has become my primary design area. Slowly, I am starting to feel that Aotearoa is home. The community is different here, it is much safer, much less sarcastic, and has electricity. But, is quite different is the sense of humour and values. This has been a bit tricky to get accustomed to, but needs to be improved to understand target audiences.

This book holds a collection of typefaces that A2-Type put together. This is a rich resource for any designer to hold. Having the opinion of a well-known and international type foundry is valueable and rare. Typography is an area of expertise I struggle in, this resource will assist me greatly in the future.

BTS is a kpop group that became internationally famous in the recent years. They are genuine, humourous, and unique from western music. They support self-love and truths. Their lyrics are beautifully put together and hold meanings that are often based on their personal experiences. Their passion is obvious. I want the messages and meanings behind design to be genuine like theirs.

These were designed by Dean Poole. They are decision making dices. If you get 2 smileys, its a yes, 2 sad faces is a no, and 1 of each is a maybe. Dean Poole explained that he used these during the Covid lockdowns to make smalls decisions like walking his dog etc. They are humourous, and will assist in future desicion making.

This book contains a valuable behind-the-scenes and journey of the artist, Hiroyuka Asada. Asada was one of the appearing artists during an anime convention I attended. I won the book by chance playing rock paper scissors with him and the crowd. It is a beautiful collection showcasing his skills and character designs from Tegumi.

This concertina marks an interesting change in life. University introduced the world of graphic design, and communication. The concertina, being the introduction project, was a story portraying another major event. Moving to New Zealand. This impacted me greatly, and introduced different cultures such as the Kiwi community.

This lace has been incorporated into experimental design practices and techniques throughout my university journey. It was gifted by family from a leftover teacup collection. It marks a new interest of crochet and traditional making methods like laces into my practice and values.

[grad604kaywee]

W11: Objects Update - x10

I have updated the descriptions of each object on the poster to meet the word count of 50.

My object descriptions are now sitting between 40-80 words each. I need to find out if it is strictly 50 words max, because I cant find it on the brief anywhere. This was quite hard and I had to cut out a lot of information that I thought was relevant. Most of the objects still have their importance come across in just 50. I would like to go deeper into many of them, but I could use the essay for that potentially.

This bottle has been kept for many years, and lies among a collection of jewllery. Its origins unknown. A message in a bottle is the essence of storytelling.  It is innocent, hopeful and mysterious. It is a story without even being opened.  The bottle is repurposed and creates new meaning, but the original story of the remains.  It invokes curiousity and imagination to viewers. What could the message inside be? As designers we connect with this concept by creating work that holds the same qualities.

This beaded necklace was a gift from family. It to portrays the history and interest into African cultures and society.  The necklace resembles the Zulu jewellery. The Zulu are South Africa's largest ethnic group. They have produced craft objects with beads for ritual and other occasions since the early 1700s.

Collected over time, these sheets serve as colour codes and shades. They show the connection to the current design work through printing and paper. Having a colour palette like this to compare printed colours and digital colours is vital for a designer. This is my personal collection and commonly used tool when designing.

My art journey started with sketches and doodles as a child. It eventually moved onto pastel and paintings, resulting in an interest in digital art and design. This reflects the modern era which is digital and social media influenced. I liked BTS at the time and started creating digital fanarts with fantasy themed aesthetics. It greatly improved my art and illustration by practicing with fanarts that I was passionate about.

Threaded magazine is an award-winning design studio from New Zealand. I aquired it through a lecturer at AUT. It is beautifully illustrated and designed, featuring local and international creatives. Their mission is to creative positive change and interaction with local communities.  They love cultural and social contexts which is prevalent in all of their work. This magazine connected me to many amazing designers that are potentially part of my future career.

This represents my culture, origins, and love of stories. There is a humourous story behind this bracelet. In Europe, you will often find people walking around popular tourist locations, with a range of trinkets like jewellery. They attempt to sell things, often in scam-like ways. We paid a very cheap price by handing over South African currency. The bracelet has since gained my affection through this story and my love of Africa.

The newest addition to the design collection, is a flyer from AGI-Open; a design conference held in my area. It hosted many famous creatives and designers revealing new names and designs relevant to my career. This community taught many valuable tips and lessons for design. The flyer holds the timetable, logo and speakers list. Using it as an object also hints to connection with papers and printing.

A mousepad like this is few and far between. It was gifted by family and comes from the game, League of Legends. Their character splash arts and story-lines are absolutely amazing. This object represents my gaming interests and love for fantasy-themed creations.

A weave of metals and wools connecting to eco-friendly sustainable work. This is a current project of mine, that hopes to create a new surface and structure by combining two unqiue materials. It contains the experimental and opportunist personality with the unique and abnormal design concepts.

This bottle has been kept for many years, its origins unknown. A message in a bottle is the essence of storytelling. It is innocent, hopeful and mysterious. It is a story without even being opened. It invokes curiousity and imagination to viewers. What could the message inside be? As designers, we connect with this concept by creating work that holds a similar power.

A very badly put together teddy bear was the start of my crochet journey. The pattern and material were gifted from a graduation bag leftover from AUT graduates. I became interested in wool shortly after because of its sustainable qualities compared to the plastic and polyester materials. It holds interesting properties like flame retardant,  good insulation, and soft comfortable textures. Being sustainable and thinking about material qualities is something I hope to hold in regard at all times.

Photography is an assisting of how design became my profession. Photography is an interest that comes in phases, but is a necessary support for design. Even if you are an illustrator, product designer or brand designer etc, you will use photography to capture your inspiration, work in progress. Photography is a necessary skill for design.

[grad604kaywee]

Week 11: Essay Update

Week 11 class we have gone over referencing again, and adding figures. I have yet to add my images, but I have marked where they will be in the images below. There are a few times I refer to projects or specific works. That is the imagery I will show. I have also started to put my reference list together. I do not have too much to reference besides the creatives featured. Most of the writing is from my blog and been written by me.

I printed out my poster and essay for the class. This is so that I can see better where there are issues and adjustments. I marked up the essay a lot with corrections and sentence changes. This was really helpful to get off the digital screen for a change and read it normally.

This time in class was also really helpful to get into a focus mode. I got a lot of good writing done. I am up to 1.7k words and I haven't written the conclusion yet. This text all needs to be rewritten and proofed a lot of course, but since I have it already.

[grad604kaywee]

W10: Poster Draft 2

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W10: Title name - Shongololos :)

(Also known as millipedes)

While thinking about a title for my poster, the word Shongololo popped into my head. This is a word we use for a type of millipede that is quite common in South Africa. I have come across many of them and would play with them, if you touch one, it will curl into a ball like the image below shows.

I was thinking of a playful yet meaningful title for the poster to encapsulate it. After researching the symbolism behind the word I found that it means very positive things in African culture, and the one that stood out to me was "Moving forward with purpose". That is what I believe this course is all about. It is trying to guide us into the industry with a better understanding of ourselves, the industry, and the community.

The symbolism associated with Shongololo includes: 

Strength & protection;

Transformation & growth;

Focus on the present moment;

Moving forward with purpose;

Unity & interconnectedness;

Intuition & inner wisdom;

Flexibility & adaptability;

Appreciation of unique beauty & talents. 

Shongololo is thought to bring positive energy and blessings to the home and individuals who take the time to understand its powerful symbolism.

It can be used as a reminder to remain open to opportunities and embrace change in order to reach one’s fullest potential.

[grad604kaywee]

W10: Objects Redrawn x5

My Work

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W10: Objects Redrawn x5

Books/Publications

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W10: Objects Redrawn x5

Hobbies/Interests

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W10: Objects redrawn. x5

Origins and storys

I wasnt liking the previous lineart style of the objects. It was too empty and falling into the splash design (which also might be changed). I wanted to incorporate more of my style and preference into the illustration, so i have started to draw the objects digitally, with colour and more detail.