Wednesday 30 October 2013

Dynamic composition: the return

Here's the new version, after being given 10 minutes to improve it - I tried to simplify the layout to decrease the mess factor and hopefully add/retain some kind of visual hierarchy. Glad the original was judged to have some dynamism at least though!

Friday 25 October 2013

Warning! One ancient laptop was harmed during the making of this file...

My go at a quick A1 dynamic composition, using last week's photomontages.

My original images were not particularly dynamic, so I cut them and warped them and fiddled with colour and light, using the pics as abstract shapes rather than displaying each image properly. Unfortunately I find the finished product messy and unsophisticated.


Laying this out tested my poor old laptop as much as my (lack of) Photoshop skills. I lacked the RAM to use certain effects, resizing etc took forever and I could have cooked my tea in the time it took to save the psd file. Frustrating! And something to bear in mind.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Mind mapping

We did some group mind mapping in class yesterday, culminating in a quick 10-minute design. I can see how this method can help throw up lots of avenues of thought you might never otherwise come up with, meaning more design ideas can be explored.

Coming up with the mind maps was straightforward enough, but I found turning the concepts into a design really difficult. My brain feels like it's stuck in buffering mode when I try to do this and the design was already half-done by nimbler thinkers by the time I'd worked out how to start! Bit depressing - hopefully this is something that will come in (not too much) time...

I'll try the mapping technique again, anyway.





Saturday 19 October 2013

Métis

I'm attempting a design based on the swirling movements of starling flocks (known as murmurations).

Design attempt 1
My first model (above) shows beds of wavy plants of varying heights and densities, with both wide and very narrow paths for visitors to walk/push through, in an attempt to emulate the patterns formed by the moving flock. Metal fencing and wires above are intended to reference the birds' habit of perching together on urban structures and electricity wires, whilst hopefully adding a bit of vertical interest. Once the model was completed I felt that while some elements have potential (wires, varying space available), on the whole the garden is rather boring and crowded, and could explore the concept more fully. I'm trying not to be too literal, but it's proving difficult!


Second attempt

I've tried to redesign so that the visitor feels like one of the birds, with twists and turns, contrasts of crowdedness/space and being forced to pay attention to the position of their fellow 'birds' and cooperate to move through the garden. I'm also trying to introduce more of a sense of motion.

Paths have been widened and beds made less dominant, but probably too much - the paths are now all quite wide and open, which wasn't the original intention; I abandoned the first design without really testing it with sketches etc.

A focal point towards the centre is intended to draw visitors through, and the sculptures force them to flow around them in a circuitous movement. The fences now have shiny spheres positioned at regular intervals along them, to represent perching birds; their reflective quality should help add a sense of movement too.

The overhead wires now have large Calder-style mobiles attached, both to catch visitors' eyes and bring in a sense of twisting motion, even in a light breeze.

The layout will probably be changed (more twists and turns, less regular positioning of sculptures and mobiles), and the wires may well go back to their original diagonal arrangement. Planting needs some thought as it really needs to impart the idea of motion, airiness and flow with some force.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Early works

 As requested, here are some examples of my 'best' pieces of visual work from last year:


This is my masterplan for Planting Design. I don't think it's a particularly brilliant design, but it was such a difficult birth I can't help but feel pleased to have actually got something halfway decent out! Duncan commented that I should look at professional masterplan submissions and work out how they achieve their rendering effects - which is fair. I had an idea of how I wanted it to look, but didn't really have the Photoshop skills to apply it to the image or the time to work out other methods before I handed it in. The colours were not supposed to be particularly realistic, as they were just showing what was in each area, but looking back at it they are a bit yucky together, which could have been avoided!

Layout-wise, the bottom section with the legend etc is not very well balanced - it all looks as though it's just floating around. I knew that when I did it, but was being pummelled by the hand of time and had to move on.



The sketches above are from the Client & Process module. The sheet itself isn't particularly well laid-out (floating around again) but despite their scratchiness I was pleased with the sketches, having not done many before, and I was happy with the textured plan too, although maybe some shadow would have helped. I also need to remember not to make objects in the distance bolder than objects in the foreground when sketching!

Testing, testing...


A murmuration of starlings...just to see if it'll work.