Is that Pepsi?

For those of you that haven't noticed there's the new Pepsi logo and typeface. I myself, I'm still unsure of what my opinion of it is. Its a lot more simplistic, perhaps to copy Coca Cola's style that switched not too long ago to a more basic look.

It is perhaps a new style for a new decade. Signalling the end of the eccentric 00's and pathing way for what could be the style for the foreseeable 2010's. From the looks of big companies recent outputs, simplicity is the way forward. Pepsi, Apple etc, all these big world wide companies have gone in favour of this minimalistic approach.

Looking at the new Pepsi logo I think that its an odd change, altering the logo of a big company can always be risky and this one too me looks like it has devalued its brand identity. It look a bit like a cheap brand now or some foreign copy. The change to all lower case seems to try to promote friendliness however it gives off a sense of emptiness and removal of the customer from company.

In my opinion even though it does look perhaps aesthetically better from a graphical point of view, but they may have sacrificed this for a familiarity that customers love and form with brands.

Activity 2E The E.N.D

For the final stage of Activity 2 I added a word to my 4 images to furthermore enhance the message or story it was trying to communicate. I was in fact pleasantly surprised. I am starting to, or at least think I am beginning to see what Barthes was talking about.

I added the word REWARD to my images, I still didn't get a full return on the stories but the majority of them were along the same lines of someone catching cattle to be transported and being rewarded with a glass of milk. I found that if they were rearranged with the glass and the word coming last that this was the way to get the best results.

I believe to a certain extent that this was what was asked of us in the task, however as much as I enjoyed the physical task, I found the whole idea of the Barthes essay baffling. I didn't understand it properly in all honesty on a number of points, even after extensive discussion within my seminar group, although this did shed a bit of light onto it. I feel that the exercise would be on the whole better without Roland Barthes' influence as I feel it slowed the whole process (that I'd imagine would have the same outcome without it) down.

In relation to the picture activity however I do see this as a helpful task especially in Graphic Design, when understanding text and image, as it is a very important part of the subject. The whole idea is that an image has to communicate its message in the most powerful, effective means in a short space of time. When we discussed as a group, Sophie brought up the Diet-Irn Bru adverts where you are to spot the difference in them. We proceeded to have quite a lengthy discussion to what we all felt this advert was meaning. As an advert I think in terms of this task it would have failed as it wasn't immediately clear what the message was. This perhaps enhances the need for strong text and imagery.

Adding Another Picture Activity 2D

For this task as I mentioned before, we were to add another image to try and get the same answer from all people that we asked. I picked the answer that I received from Connor. I added an image of a glass of milk to try get the answer of of captured cows being transported and being rewarded with a glass of milk or better milk. Something along those lines.

These are the three closest matched ones.

There has been a new type of milk found in India that helps cure diseases. It was found in a heard of cows who were captured and are currently in captivity. There have been plans to fly them back to the UK to do further tests on this new wonder milk.

Mhairi 19, Student Primary Teacher

A cattle herd escaped from a farm in the Australian outback. In order to find the herd a cowboy was flown over from U.S.A. The renowned cowboy used his skills of tracking and ropes to catch the stray cattle. Upon the safe return of the herd the cowboy treated himself to a glass of fresh milk.

Brian 20, Student Medic

In the summer I went on a plane to mexico to work on a cattle ranch. The cows were very difficult to catch so i had to tie them up with rope and managed to farm them for there milk. In the end it payed off as i was rewarded with a nice glass of milk from the cows.

Rowan 17, Student

From the outcome of this exercise I can see perhaps a bit more how images can have such a strong effect on viewers. I didn't however get the same answer from all the people I talked too, and the next exercise will probably help me to get a better, more specified result. See you at the E...

The 3 Picture Experiment (Activity 2B+C)

For Activity 2B+C we were to put 3 random images together and asked to gather stories from people to see what they thought linked them together. Here are the 3 pictures...

And here are some of the initial responses...

It is another hot day in a far away foreign country and it is already humid and boiling hot for the ground staff of the airport who have got . The rope is being used to pull the cows into the crate they are being transported, in as part of aid relief in Sub-Saharan Africa. They are going into the holding compartment of the passenger plane set to take off later in the day. The cows are dreading it because they know as soon as they arrive in Africa there due for the feast and they are not good flyers.

Ewan 19, Geography Student

A herd of cattle ( or is that goats ?) getting rounded up by being lasooed ( not sure if thats how u spell it) slaughtered & there meat shipped abroad

Helen 47, NHS Worker

The rope is used in a lasso type roll to tie round the cows necks to act like a lead. These are then used like a lead on a dog to pull the cows onto the plane - I envision a Noah's ark type of scenario....

Donna 22, Events Manager

BREAKING NEWS...

Today it has been confirmed that the reasoning behind the Hudson plane accident was not that of birds in the engine but three texan passengers had actually each tried to ship their "prize bulls" which they had won in an American lasso competition. With the increased weight in the hold the aeroplane finally succumbed to the pressure in the hold as the plane made its way over New york making the plane plummet to the ground landing in the icy water of the hudson river. All cowboys have now be warned that lassos and cows should not be placed in the hold as a manner of shipping.

It is a lesson to be learned by aeroplane charters across the american nation.

Kayleigh 21, Fashion Student

A small herd of cattle have been tied together and somehow attached to an aeroplane with rope so they can try and pull it. don't know why or who has done it but the world is a strange place!!

Mark 21, Business Student

As a plane was taking off from the runway a long piece of rope got caught on the wheel, the end of the rope were tied round the hooves of four cows, and it flew away with them, it was all part of a joke.

Nick 21, Graphic Design Student

Due to new research done by scientists, farmers have begun to throw cows out of aeroplanes and kept in the air by ropes, it is said to improve the taste and creaminess of their milk.

Connor 20, Graphic Design Student

An elderly farmer had the chance of a lifetime - to see his daughter, who now lives in Australia. It has been 10 years. His daughter came into a small sum of money recently and her first purchase was a plane ticket for her father. He would move there in a heartbeat but he couldn't bare to part with his cattle.

Brogan 21, Sales Assistant

I received quite a variety of stories. At the moment I am still quite unsure of what the meaning of polysemy that was talked about by Barthes is. I think that this may become more clear when I add another picture for Activity D or text in Activity E as try to get the stories to match. Till next time...

Roland (Bags of Fun) Barthes

For assignment 2A we were to read Roland Barthes' "Rhetoric of the Image". I'm not going to lie, but on first glance it was probably the hardest, most boring thing I have ever read. Not due to the physical content but more so because of the ridiculously over complicated language used.

Eventually I simply had to find a summary of the text http://mh.cla.umn.edu/ebibld4.html. On reading this thing started to become a bit clearer as the 3 main points of the linguistic message, coded image and non-coded image started to gain some meaning. Here is, as I currently understand it, what Barthes is trying too put across.

When looking at an image there are 3 things that me must pay attention too, if we are to understand the image correctly:

The Linguistic Message - this is the text in the image and how it relates to the feel of the image. In the example given the text on the pasta put across the companies name and the fact that it was meant to be Italian from its appearance.

The Coded Iconic Message - These are the things that we assume from the image (its like reading a code!), such as if there's some some bright attractive fruit or veg then we assume that its ripe even though it doesn't explicitly say "this tomato is ripe". They wouldn't write this as it would imply that they were from it appearance.

The Non Coded Iconic Message - This is simply what you see, if there's a bag of pasta there, then there's a bag of pasta there. Simply there is no code, you don't have to read into the image.

This has lots implication for Graphic Design as the main essence of the subject is text and imagery. Images are defined through the eye of the beholder, and if an image isn't presented correctly then a completely different message could be conveyed. The use of typography can be key to the placing of certain products in certain categories e.g. pasta in an Italian style font. If this was presented using say a font from a western then it could mean something completely different than Italian pasta.

This is currently what I think that this extract means however I will return after task 2B+C and I will have re read the passage to see how it implicates Graphic Design, that is if I haven't blown my brains out from the over use of unnecessary language.....just kidding.....but maybe not.

Monkeys Typing Shakespeare

A friend of mine recently recommended the documentary To Infinity And Beyond to me, currently available on BBC iPlayer. The documentory is on the concept of infinity. How its used in maths, science and all around us.

A word of warning, its not for the weak minded, currently my heads set to explode, probably just after I finish writing fvns fvugerhklr ;hnnmbhtnlr.tkjh.... just joking.

There is one concept that particularly interested me. Its the notion of the Monkeys typing Shakespeare concept. I probably won't do it justice by trying to explain how it works so you would probably be best looking it up if you're interested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem. The idea is that if a monkey were to hit the keys of a type-writer an infinite amount of times, then it would surely eventually write out the entire works of Shakespeare, as well as every book ever written. It is a concept that I struggle to get my head around but it does make sense.

I recommend that you give it a watch even if you do skip some bits.

Oh and ignore the bald guy, he's a pain in the arse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qszch/b00qsz5w/Horizon_20092010_To_Infinity_and_Beyond/

Alexander McQueen

R.I.P. Lee McQueen

The Big Panic

A lot of people in our class have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the workload that has been presented to us at the moment. Although I do feel like there has been a lot given to us in a short space of time, I believe that the outcome of the next 3 weeks with be a good test of our resolve and also a good piece of character building.

At the moment my personal life may be taking a bit of a back seat due to the late hours in college but by the end of this period I think that we will be stood in better stead for 3rd year, 4th year and the eventual bridge into industry. As when we do no one will care about our personal lives or if we have other projects as people simply want things on time and with no hassle.

In my view its just a way of showing our ability to work under pressure, organise out time management and also show that we can produce the goods no matter what deadline.

I'm sure that when it comes to the day before the 3D Typography exhibition (opens 26th Feb) that I will begin to panic. However for the time being I think that I am just going to knuckle down and try to do the best that I can with the time that we have been allocated.

Thats all really. Just saying.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

I finally completed reading the Watchmen by Alan Moore and David Gibson last week after getting it as a birthday present (September). I subsequently went on to watch the film, as I've have been putting it off since getting it for Christmas preferring to finish the book first.

After you get past the obvious fiction of masked heroes, the book deals with some quite current issues although being written over 20 years ago. It tells of impending war with middle eastern countries (albeit between Russia), the threat of nuclear war and the public's unrest with their government.

The day after watching the film I was at the car park around the back of my flat and I noticed some newly scrawled graffiti along one of the walls. Someone had sprayed "Governments should be afraid of their people" in black paint with an acid house smiley face. I was still in my watchmen state of mind on seeing this so I was waiting at home for the news of mass riots and nuclear warfare breaking out. However it was probably just someone trying to direct a political message to an area that generally doesn't care. I wasn't too sure what the person behind the graffiti was trying to get at, I just found it quite surreal on seeing it as the tag-line of the film "Who Watches The Watchmen" came to mind...

Picture Time - Assignment 1

For this assignment we were set the task of swapping photos with another student who we werent familiar with, in aim towards practising primary research for the upcoming semester. I swapped photos with Kirsty from textiles, we were too look at each others pictures and try and find out what kind of person each other was, what kind of tastes, childhood and families we had.

Kirsty gave me a mixture of pictures, below is the feed back that I gave to her...

You look like you had quite a family orientated childhood and were surrounded by lots of aunties uncles and cousins. You perhaps have a twin brother or one close in age. Either that or you were an only child.

You are alone in most of the pictures, that suggests that although you may have had friends you are very comfortable spending time in your own company. This could be because you lived some distance away from them as seem to be from the country from the looks of the photos. The house that your climbing the fence of suggests that you may have lived on a farm or had family that did. You may have moved house at a young age but continued to live in the countryside in a large house.

From a young age your clothes suggest that you spent a lot of time outdoors and were perhaps not particularly vain in any way or may have been a bit tomboyish growing up? You also seem to be an outdoors person as only one of your pictures is from inside. To me this looks like you are quite adventurous and eager to try new things, and that this started from a young age. You don’t look as if you were ever spoiled when growing up and was always kept quite level headed. Personal possessions don’t seem to feature much as they may not be of particular importance to you which suggest that you may value other things higher than them.

As you grew older it looks like you formed a group of friends but although you fitted in you may have stood out from the crowd as a bit of an individual. Whereas most of your friends clothes are quite similar you look like you developed your own fashion sense perhaps to stand out and be different from others and the norm. You appear to be a bit more girly as you grow older as your hair and jewellery suggests. You like bright bold colours this suggests that you are quite a confident, positive person, also as you are smiling in a lot of the pictures. Your holding a glass of wine in one picture which looks like you like to have a good time...

From what Kirsty has said I was quite close with my description with only a few things being wrong, like her living on a farm and that she has also got an older sister. I found that it was a little bit difficult to describe what she is like now as most of her pictures are from quite a young age.

From the feed back that I received from Kirsty I believe that she may have got quite a good grasp of my personality but may have been a bit unsure of some areas of my personality, this could be due to the lack of pictures of me at an older age which was the same problem that I had.

I enjoyed this assignment as it was a new experience, although it was a bit unnerving at times as I felt that I was being too critical of someone who I don't even know. After this though I feel as though I am a lot more prepared to undertake the primary research required for the rest of this semester.

Ikea Scandal?

I stumbled across a piece of interesting information today, while pursuing my research for a project on visual languages. The term "interesting" would only really applies to a very small number of people, and I'm not particularly sure if I am interested. An apparent outrage has broken out on the internet over the change of the Ikea typeface for the 2010 catalogue. The switch from the iconic Ikea Sands to the free Microsoft typeface Veranda has Ikea fans crying out in rage for it to be changed back.

Now there are a few things wrong with this story. Firstly being the fact that there are actually Ikea "fans". The idea that there are a group of people who are dedicated DIY store fanatics sort of makes their opinion worthless if you ask me. Although from a typographic point of view i can kind of see their view although I would never be bothered. If it was something personal like say a band I was fan of changed their logo I would perhaps be a tad bothered. But not Ikea!

For this project i'm to tell the story of Frankenstein through the use of a visual language. I have decided to tell it through the medium of an Ikea manuel for building a clock. The idea is that if the clock is put it together then it will work perfectly, however if something goes wrong you can create a monster. I am currently going through the process of building a backwards moving clock for the monster, however my clock making skills still have a lot to be desired.

Futuristic Strawberries

This post may possibly relates to the last post in some sense. Today I was drawing up plans for an A2 broadsheet that i'm producing on strawberries. I have been researching them in some length for the last couple of week and have found out some pretty useful information. My main focus will be on white strawberries.

I am quite aware that a lot of people will not have come into contact with these, and I feel that I would be right in saying that most people would not ever choose to eat what looks like an unripened strawberry over the normal red ones that are so popular. It can be quite common for people to be allergic to strawberries however unlike the red, the white strawberry lacks the Fra a1 protein that causes these allergies. My spin will be on would people still be as attracted to strawberry should they lose their red colour for a more allergy friendly white or are we drawn to the aesthetic qualities of our food such as the romantic red heart shape?

While planning the layout for this piece I came up with the image of a red strawberry looking at a white reflection in the mirror. I contemplated drawing this image but instead went to the computer lab and within 10 minutes had a finished piece. This got me thinking about the speed of the modern industry and, like I said in the last blog, that we are now in the golden age where everything is at our finger tips. Nothing is ever more than 10 minutes away from idea to hard copy. From my view as a Graphic Designer this is a dream come true as it means that we are never unable to put our point across and now in a way that people can instantly see.