revised outcomes

tsklist mar

visual-mar4

Updated list of project outcomes:

  1. Physical data visualisations of blog archive
  2. Map of growing up in the age of Internet (Timeline), to be mounted on installation wall
  3. FYP report (formal)
  4. FYP report (publication accompanying the artwork)
  5. Process journal

I’m in the process of clearing things that have already been finished, like the 3d data vis and my process journal. Just rearranging them for print. Next week I will begin to make the map. Will share more on that. I’m alternating between report writing and making, as I feel that both will affect each other.

I have already printed out a part of my process journal and am quite satisfied with the outcome. I like the outcome a lot and even though I did this as a test print, I might just use it as the actual. I will bring it in for critique and feedback next Friday to see if there is anything else I can work on to make it better.

Images that are sourced online or are made on the computer are printed on transparency sticker. I kept the doodles and sketches from the notebook black. The paper I chose is called ‘sugar paper’ (what a cute name) from Art Friend. It feels really nice and suited for the nature of the ‘process journal’. It works beautifully to convey the handwritten nature of my text. I up the contrast and amount of black, and the laser print gives it that touch of shine on the paper which really looks like I’ve used my own pen to write in it. I decided to go for laser printing because my inkjet printer is simply unable to replicate that shiny black that I wanted.

In terms of material and paper choice, I wanted to highlight the dual nature of my process. I enjoy both doing work on paper and on computer. Transparency sticker and paper is used throughout the book, as it resembles the glossy nature of the computer screen, in contrast to the textured paper. I also feel that it makes the colour of the images pop, which would otherwise be slightly washed out if I had just printed it on the slightly greyish sugar paper.

Here’s a surprisingly high-res and accurate photo of the paper texture.

sugarpaper

 

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This is one of my favourite spreads.Photo 4-3-16, 10 25 52 AM Photo 4-3-16, 10 25 58 AM Photo 4-3-16, 10 26 07 AM

 

 

refreshed

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I had a chance to visit a really inspiring designer last weekend. A short chat gave me a refreshed perspective on how I can improve my process journal, which I was working on last week. Some updated spreads of my process journal. I really like to listen to creative people talk about their work and their working process, it almost always push my own work just a little further.

process journal

I started work on my process journal. I’ve designed the publication with a couple of key things in mind:

  • to allow for addition of more spreads. This is to accommodate future documentation of the project, especially of the actual output when I begin production next month.
  • to emphasise the “work-in-progress” nature of my project. For design, I am going for an industrial, tactile approach, reflecting the dual, by-hand/digital nature of my working process.
  • images scanned from my notebooks will be printed b&w on newsprint paper, and accompanying screenshots will be printed (colour) on transparency film.

At this point, I’ve settled the materials for the process journal, but I don’t have a fixed outcome of the journal yet. Above points are just some of the main ideas that I want to convey through the design of the process journal. I might have to print everything and then go for a more intuitive outcome for the finishing.

Some spreads and experimentation:

Photo 22-2-16, 11 45 48 AMPhoto 22-2-16, 11 47 42 AM

I will be printing this from my home printer, for convenience and for more opportunities to experiment. Most print shops are not likely to allow me to print on newsprint because it will jam their printers. I’ve found a way to bypass the A4 limitation of my home printer and printing on an A3, although that took quite a few trials and errors that made me reconsider how I will design the publication.

If you’re wondering how that is done: I begin with a folded A3 piece of Advocate Rough (I forgot the gsm, it is the lowest one available from Fancy Paper). Pressed really hard on the crease. Exported InDesign file as Pages. Print as per usual (don’t check the double-side printing), feeding the paper twice. Best results would be on low gsm paper. I’ve changed my pagination to accomodate this printing technique. It is still perfect bind, just that it’s printed on one side and folded in half. There’s probably a name for this style of binding or something, but I honestly don’t know what it’s called…

Photo 22-2-16, 11 46 39 AM

Also tried painting on the sides of the paper. Ran a sponge from a cheap ink set along the edges. I find it works well for the newsprint I’m using, it kind of seeps into the paper in a nice way. Just need to use a more pigmented ink.

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Taking design inspiration from the file that I use to keep my fyp notes.

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InDesign spreads. Adding the screenshots layer in a separate document and sending it for laser printing on transparency film.

Goal for today is to complete this document.

This weekend I will be starting work on visualising my blog entries. Printing it all out on transparency film too.

Trying to get these things out before March, which I’ve designated for production on actual output.

Also writing my report at the same time. Going back and forth between writing and making refreshes my thinking and lessen the chances of feeling stuck at one thing (and then not doing anything).

fyp process journal

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Currently in the process of scanning my physical journals that I kept in the past year, documenting my FYP thoughts. I want to put together a process journal with material from my notebooks, as I feel that a lot of my personal thoughts and reflections about the project (or any ideas relating to the project) are often kept in those books.There are more sketchy, and not so much as polished as the entries that I write on this site. Not that anybody would really read the entire thing, but this journal would reflect more accurately of the process and particularly, the act of active documentation, which is at the core of my whole project. Not that anybody I will be doing a little of each thing (the output, process journal, and the report) as I go along. It probably sounds like a lot of work, but it is mostly shifting around the information and material that are already existing.