Visiting Professional / Ian Anderson / BRIEF 1

VISITING PROFESSIONAL
IAN ANDERSON / BRIEF 1.
WORKSHOP.

We were all sent an email explaining that we had to submit some work direct to Ian in response to a brief that he himself had set. We only received this email and brief 2 days before the deadline.


'Brief —give me something i'll want to keep forever.
tip — remember this is primarily a design communication design thinking workshop.
ok, researching me to make informed decisions
lateral thinking — what is it that I (ME) would / could cherish forever.
if it's made / realised then all the better.
if it needs explaining, then you should find a way to explain it in the context of the piece rather than as a note attached to it as an excuse for not putting that thinking into the work.'


Above is the email sent directing the short brief we had to complete in order to be considered for the 2 day workshop.

Due to the short time frame, I started to look through some details on Ian as well as reading and listening to interviews her has given.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc1efLXzeFA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKD22WrT5qg

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/86646831/work-buy-consume-die


Because the aim is to create something for Ian, I liked a couple of the quotes that he had given through some of the interview and promotions he had given, so I decided to look into creating something evolving around this as well in incorporating somethings that I liked and represented myself in a way.

One of the quotes that I liked was - 'When you have a creative thought, the worst thing you can do is to stop.'

Because Ian is from 'Up North' I felt that adding a regional accent would be a good connection to also personalise this rice of work and make it more relatable to Anderson.

To enhance the motion of stopping mid way through something like a thought, I played with the placement or elimination of the word stop so the point isn't only spoken through type but it is also visually interpreted.

 I also played a little with some imagery. These are photographs that i have taken of differing landscapes that are just on my phone and I haven't yet found anything to do with them.

I also played with the image in order to enhance the elimination of type.

 Through my research of In Anderson and his work, it was evident that he enjoyed to push the rules of typography and play with what is seen as the readable and legible. I decided to experiment with this a little to see the different outcomes.

After experimenting after a while I was starting to get fed up because I felt that what I was making looked very generative. The fact that I was trying to do something quickly also didn't help. 

I decided to re-direct my thinking and took up the interest that Ian has in Japanese visuals and culture and related that to my interest in wrestling. Lately I have been looking into Japanese wrestling for another brief and I already have some previous knowledge on the subject.

I used an image of one of Japans most famous and notorious wrestlers in Jushin Thunder Liger. In the Japanese wrestling culture, many of the superstars are almost seen as super-heros and an escape from reality.

I decided to combine this character with another quote that I had collected from researching Ian in - 'If it doesn't work, Don't force it, just try something else'.

I liked this image of the Japanese superstar because of the positioning he is holding and how this suits the quote in a way connecting the word force and the fighting/martial arts stance Liger has. I also like the way in which it looks like liger is looking directly at the type with intensity.

I made some adjustments to the type to make it a little more readable when it is weaved through the characters hands as well as the colour. Because it looks like Liger is interacting with the type, it adds a little humour to the image, maybe even more so to people who have no clue who this guy is. 


I sent this in an email to the address provided.

I think considering the limited time I had to complete this brief, I think the little bit of progress I made through ideas worked well and I feel that what I sent, even though it is far from amazing, is something tat is both relative to Anderson and his influences as well as myself and my interests. I also feel it is something completely different and unique because of this.