Study Task 9: Project Statement

The print making practical project based on ‘Cats in Hats’ is inspired by the second essay ‘Why are handmade techniques still embraced within graphic print practices’. In particular, one of the main print making methods which is discussed throughout the essay: screen print. This inspired me to base my practical work purely on this technique.

I changed my original brief which was based on prints inspired by Cadburys Chocolate as Cadburys was one of the very first brands to use print making throughout their branding. However, I changed my brief to Cats in Hats as the Cadburys brief as I later realised that the idea didn’t interest me enough. Cats in hats is based on personal interest and love for cats, which meant that I enjoyed it a lot more, changing my brief was the right decision.

Before and during creating my screen prints, I researched into collage artists as the imagery for the cats in hats was created using collage, the artists that inspired me were Quentin Jones and Antoine+Manuel. Furthermore, print making  artists were also researched and referenced for the practical work as well as in the second essay: Anthony Burrill and Ben Rider. Anthony Burrill has made more impact on the way graphic design has developed through print making methods, whereas Ben Rider is an artist that I personally love the work of, his work has a more contemporary, wacky and individual look, this is what inspired the playful aesthetic of the screen prints I created.

The technique of screen print was used throughout the practical work in 2 ways; through A3 posters and through A5 postcards. I think I fully explored the technique of screen print because the posters and postcards were different sizes, which meant that scale and layout had been thoroughly experimenting with when creating my screens as well as the actual prints. The technique of screen print was a really interesting and enjoyable method to use once the screens are exposed and ready to print.

I was also extremely happy with the final outcome, particularly the postcards. Furthermore, my initial idea was to just create a set of screen printed posters. However, I felt that the posters weren’t experimental or as fun as I wanted them to look, which is why I decided to create a set of smaller postcards to go with them. The postcards have a much more fun and abstract aesthetic.

However, I think I could have linked my practical work to my brief more maybe if it was inspired by certain artists that I talked about that use screen print, e.g. Anthony Burrill. This could be done by adding typography into my screen prints, instead of just imagery. I also think I could’ve explored the print making topic more through my practical work if I used more than one technique, for example a combination of two techniques in one piece, or just creating separate pieces which both explore a different technique. Screen print combined with letter press would have been a nice contrast to experiment with.

Study Task 8: Postcard Printing and Final Set

Today I have screen printed my postcards for cats in hats, the postcards were made to match the posters that I created. I really enjoyed creating the postcards as the outcome and process was successful and fun, I think I prefer them to the actual original posters. The screen prints consisted of 3 layers; the background, the cat, and the hat, the background and the hat were printed in the same colour, with the cat printed in black.

The final set of postcards work extremely well and look great as an extra to go with the posters, I will continue to create postcards in future projects if suitable. The postcards present the concept of cats in hats successfully in a fun, wacky and cute aesthetic.

The 3 different layers:

The final set of 3 postcards:

Submission Info

A3 submission file containing:

Written essays: 2 x 1250 word academic essays. 12pt Aerial, 1.5 line spacing, MUST include some quotes. MUST use harvard referencing when using information from other sources (not just quotes) MUST include a reference list at the end (bibliography)

• Piece 1: A historical overview of the topic, define
• Piece 2: A critical discussion aiming towards some sort of argument/resolution or overview of that topic.

Practical project brief:

6 x design boards:

• Brief: (elaboration/interpretation of the brief, like a rationale for the brief) present it as a story line, JUST focus on the brief
• Research 1 and Research 2: 1 needs to be research of the sources I've used in my essays (the books, articles etc) and then the other is a normal research design board for practical work
• Idea generation: (3 different potential variations) kind of like initial ideas
• Developments: What initial idea I develop and why and how I did this
• Final Outcome: 

COP 1 project statement and evaluation: Explicitly and clearly explain and justify your project choices in relation to the written pieces... why I've wrote about this, how i'm trying to elaborate those arguments in my practical pieces, how do the practical and written pieces relate?

Blogs: As PDFs

Study Task 8: Artists Influences

In order to create posters that communicated the theme of cats in a funky and abstract way, before creating my collages and during creating them I researched into collage styles and the work of other designers which would influence and relate to my work. The main 2 designers that inspired me when collaging were Quentin Jones and Antoine+Manuel. Both designers/duos produce extremely quirky and fun collage work whilst still both having contrasting overall aesthetics.

Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz are two Paris based artists who have joined together to create Antoine+Manuel. Each of them explores his favourite fields and techniques of working. What I liked about their work was that they combine hand drawing and computer illustration with photography and typographical design, I really like the contrast between handmade and digital that runs throughout. This influenced the my cat collages in terms of first working handmade and then re-creating the collages digitally. The result, although varied, has an evident unity and a unique graphic style. The overall quirky, busy aesthetic also works really well as the pieces are structured, clean and professional at the same time.

Furthermore, the other artist that inspired me when creating my collages was Quentin Jones. Quentin is a is a mixed-media artist known for her short, black and white, surrealist videos. She was born in London and is based in New York. She is an artist who counts photography, animation, painting and filmmaking among the tools of her trade. When creating art, she is keen to play with the combination of layers of accidental and intentional paint combined with collage, which is what inspired by cat collages. Quentins work tends to have quite an abstract, geometric aesthetic combined with shape and handmade, experimental collage, I think this contrast works really well together as it creates a funky aesthetic. Her work which includes collage of two or more people/animals together was found most interesting and influencial when working on the on my designs. This plays on the idea of giving a face/person a new style through collage and scale.

Furthermore, since I based my prints purely on the technique of screen print, I researched into a wide range of different screen printing artists. One that stood out to me most was Ben Rider, I loved the vibrant aesthetic of his work and the bold imagery and messages behind his pieces, this is what inspired the playful aesthetic that I have tried to achieve throughout my screen prints. Ben specialises in rough, raw, punky image making bursting with energy and loud graphics and has worked for clients such as Film 4, 5SOS, Heineken, and Samsung. Ben loves the gratifying nature of print and what it can add to an illustration, he believes that the sense of physically making something with your hands has an honesty.

Study Task 8: Postcard Designs

I have decided to develop my final 3 cats in hats designs by showing them printed in different contexts and different scale; a set of 3 postcards to go with the 3 posters designs.

The same 3 edited cat collages were used within the postcards, but this time I used just the face of the cat instead of the whole body. This was because I wanted to emphasise the idea of the cat wearing a hat even more than the posters did, using the whole body could become too busy and distracting on a smaller scale as the details would be a lot harder to see. The postcards also only use the face of that cat so that the designs don't look the exact same as the posters; playing around with layout.

Also, I have decided to add abstract patterned backgrounds on the postcards designs to continue with the idea of fun and contrast that I wanted to achieve within the cats in hats concept. I think that the simple pattern backgrounds create a nice contrast with the detailed, collaged aesthetic of the cats. A collaged background would have become too distracting and busy.  Furthermore, for the postcards I used the same colour scheme as the posters so that they both link together despite the scale and layout differences. The postcard screen prints use the same colour for the background and the hat, with the cat screen printed in black.

I decided to create the postcards in A6 size rather than A5 as a smaller scale works better for a postcard; a typical postcard is A6 size. A smaller size also helps to give the postcard designs/cats more of a cutesy style.