This is my final piece, not so strong, but very concentrate on typography and effect. 

I need to get more practice with After Effects, that's for sure, but overall I liked this project.

Doing extensive research on Sagmeister helped me to understand that in order to get better results you have to dare and take risks.

You must think out of the box and investigate every possible avenue of research, even about subjects which are not related with the individual project you're working on, as inspiration could come from anywhere.

This is one of the reasons why having a sketchbook it so important: it allows you to collect nuggets of material that could become invaluable sources of inspiration at any moment, no matter what you are working on.

I changed my approach to work, now I focus more on the general message I want to get through than on the precise outcome of work itself.

For my contextual research on title sequence I decided to look at Saul Bass work's.
In the library I found this book:

It is relevant for my project, because he is famous for his title sequences. He have a clear and recognizable way to communicate. He use simple line or shape, like a series of collage, to create a bigger scene.

In this book I found some work that I love: 

After the last two terms I can see some improvements in my skills, especially in my thinking process.

I pay more attention to research and to other authors, as well as ask for opinions to understand the impact of my work.

I need to work on my sketchbook, to include more thoughts and experiments. I will use the sketchbook in a better way, after the reasearch I did about it. Now that I have seen plenty of sketchbooks from great graphic designers, I have a more clear idea of what the sketchbook should be.

I also need to improve my skills with Illustrator, because I still struggle when trying use it.

In the next term I need to improve my drawing skills. I will do this through more life drawing sessions, at least a few life drawings per week. I discovered that I find it difficult to draw landscapes. I learned how to use a charcoal, and this is good, but still I need to practice.

Finally, I need to manage my time better to be more effective in the delivery of projects: I often find it difficult to plan the work phases and allocate time to them appropriately, and it takes too long for me to make choices (e.g picking an artist to analyse).

I love to use the sketchbook, but I think I understood clearly what the real purpose of this tool is only in the second term, working on projects that were less structured than the ones in the first.

In order to clarify this point, I bought a book which I think is fundamentalç "Graphic: Inside the Sketchbooks of the World's Great Graphic Designers".

It's fantastic to see how the greatest graphic designers' ideas are born. Looking into their sketchbooks is like seeing into their minds.

I realised what my sketchbook shortcomings were, I was inspired by theirs' and I learned a few things about improving my work.

The sketchbook is the first step in idea development. It is used to annotate any sort of idea, even the most rudimentary. Even if it will never become a finished work, it could serve later as an inspiration for other projects or form the basis for another work.

The sketchbook is the perfect place to store half-ideas, bad drawings, to make mistakes, try, experiment, with no shame. It's the tool that helps us the most in developing our thought process more than our technical skills (even if it can surely help our drawing capabilities).

Learning to jot down any idea we have, even the silliest ones, is the best way to become a better graphic designer.

The sketchbook must be an extension of our mind, it must replicate what we think, good and bad ideas both.

My mistake was to not present all the idea development process from the start, including my errors and tries. Now I have researched the subject, and I have a more precise idea of what a great sketchbook is.

Here are some pictures I have taken from the book, showing the sketchbooks that inspired me the most.

This new project was about the concept of Freedom.
We needed to present at least 5 different images from a campaign. My problem at the moment, was understanding how to talk about freedom, without being obvious.
However I needed to decide what type of freedom I wanted to talk about. Freedom of speech? Freedom in a war zone? Freedom to have a job?
I wasn't sure about what kind of outcomes I wanted to present, so I decided to go to the TATE MODERN and try to find inspiration.

One of the exhibitions is called "Conflict . Time . Photography" and it's a gallery of historical photography in conflict zone. It's very harsh to see photos of injured people or an entire city destroyed by the war. It makes you feel very lucky to live now and in a safe place.

Unfortunately taking pictures inside the exhibition wasn't allowed. Et voilá, the first example of restricted freedom: to protect the work of the artists, the curator limited our freedom to take pictures as memories for the future. Not a big deal for most of us, but still it's a freedom limitation.


I decided to take a look at all the rooms, and I found some pieces that inspired me.

Some of these are about the homeworker and gender division, subverting materials generally associated with feminine craft.

It was very interesting, especially the part where they displayed the Jubilee Stamps. A 1000-piece pack cost 30p. It takes one hour to pack 1000 stamps.
This reminds my work I did before about the living wage.

Another part of this work inspired me deeply. The artist put different hand prints on this fabric. Some are red. This reminded me of the blood of poor people who are used as slaves in other people's factories. 

After this, I understood that most of the time when we talk about "not having freedom", we talk about women, children, minorities.

I definitely wante to talk about it. I just was not sure whether to talk about women and children or about the living wage. I needed to think about it and do more research.

For my campaign I used photography from google. I found one that I liked, but I wanted to change the background:

I wanted a black background, to be consistent with the second image on the poster.

So, I selected the "Bezier curves" tool and I started to select around the figure.

I continued around all the figure, until I got back at the starting point. This way, my line was closed, which made it a shape.

To transform from a bezier to a selection I clicked "paths" - > "make selection". Now I had a selection of the man.

To change the background I changed the selection from the man to the background with Control + I. Now I had all my background selected.

I tried to change the color with a brush, but it was taking too long and it wasn't the right tool. So I switched to the "Paint bucket" tool and I chose black as a colour. 

Writing this essay was the most difficult work in this course. It forced me to face my weaknesses. I am not good at time managing, not good at writing in English (I'm in the English level 2 course at the moment, and I need to improve my writing skills, especially the academic ones), also I'm not good at all at managing my anxiety. And writing about my thoughts makes my anxiety level very high.
It was a difficult task, I needed to ask help in different ways. Firstly to Maria, who really helped me in a 1-to-1 session to understand how I can work better, considering my ADHD. She taught me some tips that really work for me. I used a program that she suggested, that helps me to split my work sessions in little parts (20 minutes per part, no more). She told me to work for 20 minutes, take a break, and repeat, because it's a good way to manage my attention difficulties.
It improved my work a lot. So, THANKS MARIA! Thanks a lot!
I also asked my husband to help me with my grammar and give me advice on how to not make the same mistakes again. (He is using this post to "try" to teach me how it all works with the transitive-intransitive thing... no way).

Despite all this I really enjoyed the research part of this essay and learning more about an artist. I think it really helps me to understand other ways of thinking. Sagmeister's works inspire me not just about which media and typography you can use in a project, but most of all, about ways of thinking and how to find the right idea.

After a month during which I didn't draw anything in my personal sketchbook (I was so depressed that it seemed to me that every idea I had, was disappointing), I am finally writing again all my ideas, even the ones that do not really convince me. Just to have them on the sketchbook, maybe one day I will read them again and find inspiration.

I decided that every Monday after the final crit, I will go to museum or do research about an author.