Inspiration | Graphically Speaking

Collection of sketchbooks and notebooks showing different pictures

Start a scrapbook, sketchbook or use a blog to document the visual world around you. Find examples of visual language that interest you, these could be taken from anywhere (art, film, photography, illustration, design, craft, cinema, hobbies etc. Reflect on what you have been collecting:

Are there dominant themes emerging?
What does your areas of interest tell you about your own visual language and cultural awareness?

Make notes in your learning log.

This is an exercise I have no problem in undertaking, I have been keeping visual diaries and inspiration for many years. They are on my walls, hanging from the ceiling, in books, folders, scrapbooks, and online.

: Notebooks and folders

: Noticeboard

: Bookshelves

: Hanging displays

My areas of interest very much reflect my work and my photography. They focus on concerns I am grappling with such as environmental issues, food production and consumption, and identity. As I have moved through GD1 I think they also pick up on popular culture, identifying and working with messages in art and design and being playful. It is no accident I have a Pinterest board labelled ‘magical.’

I have yet to find the best way to manage all the material I collect but probably the most comprehensive is my Pinterest boards, 51 boards and thousands of pins give me a huge amount of flexibility to collect ideas and inspiration from all fields and genres. My Learning Log now also includes a plugin for my most recent pins so the two are becoming more connected.

I have noticed in recent years I am often more interested in visuals that are clean, clear, stripped back and quite minimal. They don’t have to have an obvious message and I enjoy conceptual work but I do like work that is very crisp and spare.

Interestingly, in the last few months Pop art has also become more of an interest, although it is a movement I was reasonably aware of I had never really connected with it in the past. Having seen the Rauschenberg show and documentary and recently watching the BBC’s ‘Soup Cans and Superstars…’ I am increasingly intrigued by the aspects of activism and political commentary the movement in part contained.

In addition to my Pinterest boards I have also started a visual diary as part of my Learning Log and while this is taking a while to get the hang of, and populate, it is proving useful as a repository of some of the direct influences on my exercises and assignments.

In my photography and design work I am constantly reminded of the Anais Nin quote:

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

I am no longer cautious about seeking feedback, as that is the best way to get a sense of how others see things; I enjoy the fact that other readings of cultural artefacts are different and sometimes surprising. It helps me reflect on my visual awareness and cultural references, and reminds me to be mindful of the assumptions I may be making in my work.

A series of different typefaces - based on 'the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' phrase

Research Point (pg.38 OCA Graphic Design)

What sort of items have you collected so far?

What was it that made you want to keep these items?

My research to date has been broad in terms of getting to know the field a little better, and narrow in terms of the specific exercises and assignments. A core part of my strategy involves using different Pinterest boards extensively to collect visual examples:

I am also following a number of OCA Pinterest boards as that gives me access to more examples and includes things I might not have collected myself. I have a growing pile of books that span practical guides through to theoretical and conceptual approaches. These are particularly useful for weaving into other aspects of my life as I travel!

I am making use of my sketchbook to collect examples of the work of a range of Graphic Designers. This has been very helpful in terms of the HG Wells book cover design exercise. I have also been collecting magazines and online pages to get a feel for different design and layout approaches.

Collecting

The current collecting focus for me is typefaces. I have learnt how to add new typefaces to my apps on the desktop and am making use of lots of free resources. It has been interesting exploring a number of websites that talk about trending typefaces. The Google fonts site is also helpful in that it suggests typeface combinations (this is helping me gain confidence in thinking about what I would use). Typography is the area I probably feel least comfortable with and although it comes later in the course I feel it is something I need to be thinking about as soon as possible.

The reasons for collecting these different materials vary. With some it was purely because I had some form of immediate response to them, approaches I really liked and disliked. Some surprised me or showed an idea I would never have thought of. Some of the illustration based examples made me full of awe – a case of illustration envy! In many cases it is an aesthetic response, something beautiful, ugly, funny or sad. In this process I have also found myself particularly drawn to work with a socio-political message. I am more interested in this field than the commercial ‘selling’ aspects of graphic design although I accept that there can be complex messages in those too and the dividing lines can be fuzzy.

I love research and as such this all feels quite natural to me. I think the thing I need watch is the never-ending data collection syndrome. The collecting bit is easy, it is knowing when to stop and make decisions that is the challenge!

Save