31215a - Progress challenge 01
31215a - Progress challenge 01
Researching your presentation
This challenge will help you
generate new ideas for innovative presentation solutions for your own work,
based on the work of other creative industry experts. Throughout this unit,
each progress challenge will help you build towards the creation of a
professional portfolio that you can use to present your work to future clients
or employers. Write a short response to the following points:
a. Conduct research into the
presentation methods of the leading designers in your chosen industry and
present your top three by writing a short profile of each (100 words each) with
an image/images to support your profile. Highlight the formal design elements
you find inspirational as well as the conceptual themes.
b. Conduct research into the
presentation methods of industry experts in other creative fields, such as fine
art or other fields of design. Create a small profile for two by writing a
short profile of each (100 words each) with an image/images to support your
profile. Highlight the formal design elements you find inspirational, as well
as the conceptual themes.
c. Seek out a creative peer to
discuss your profiles and then list the key points of feedback your discussion
provided.
d. From this discussion,
summarise the emerging trends, formal and conceptual elements of design your
chosen research subjects have demonstrated that you would like to incorporate
into your own presentation. For example, ‘clean lines and a neutral background
colour’ or ‘the way their website used a different transition theme from one
image to another’.
TIP: Navigate to the student
forum to engage in the discussion with your peers.
Now that you have completed the
Progress challenge, you may submit your work for feedback and discussion.
Instructions
• Write 700 words and complete
as a PDF.
• Navigate to the self-check
page to submit.
TIP: If you choose to complete
each progress challenge as you work through the module, the process of
completing your assessment tasks will take a lot less time.
Answer
Research topic – symbols;
Particular symbol – the swastika.
Part A:
Chosen Industry – The media (the press or the screen) via my cartoons
Journalist, artist, art director – Steven Heller
The date of birth for this
‘Design Writer’ is the 7th of July 1950.
He has, by his own admission, a
‘guilty obsession’ with this symbol. I stumbled across this YouTube video
titled ‘Designing Graphic Design History’[1]
you can see a more thorough explanation of Stephen Heller’s ‘obsession’ with
the swastika here at 7.30 (7 minutes into a 14 and a ½ minute YouTube video).
He is an American Jew, whose
parents had survived the Holocaust in WW2, and this probably spurred on his
interest in design history and totalitarian regimes (probably to the point he
began to see swastikas in everything, much like Sarah Silverman did recently
when she thought that roadwork symbols were swastikas, and ‘tweeting’ about it
on Twitter).
As well as YouTube, he uses
Keynote to make presentations:
Steve Heller, Typo2007 Keynote (video): »Das
Auge hört mit«[2]
Steve Heller, Typo2008 Keynote (video): »Iron
graphics: Branding totalitarian states«[3]
Picture: 1 Heller, S (2011): My Guilty
Obsession with Swastikas[4]
Here are the screenshots below
(these are from my iPod Touch) of Sarah Silverman’s tweets:
Picture: 2 'Swastika' Markings -
originally by Sarah Silverman on Twitter[5]
Part B:
B1: Industry – music: Impaled Nazarene – Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz
Musicians – Impaled Nazarene
Impaled Nazarene was a NSBM
(National Socialist Black Metal) band from Finland who formed in the early
1990s, and embraced Finnish Nationalism[8]. The cover features a red on black colour
scheme. It incorporates the Baphomet
goat horns, and inverted crucifix symbols.
The presentation methods this band uses are through social media
(YouTube, MySpace, and Band Camp), online databases (Discog) and e-commerce
(eBay).
Picture: 4 Image c/o eBay[9]
Artist - John Heartfield[10]
John Heartfield is the original
artist whose work the band used for the inner cover of the Tol Cormpt Norz Norz
Norz album[11],
a CD I purchased in 1994. The graphic
below depicts Jesus carrying a cross in the shape of a swastika. Had I not bought that album, would I have
known who he was?
His original name was Helmut
Herzfield (19 June 1891– 26 April 1968), making a name for himself by using art
as a political weapon. Some of his photomontages were anti-Nazi and
anti-fascist statements. He studied at the Royal Bavarian Arts and Crafts School
in Munich , moved to Berlin
and then to the UK (via the Sudeten Mountains
in Czechoslovakia ). He later changed his name to John
Heartfield. His works appear in many
museums in Europe, the UK
and the USA [12].
Alongside his numerous works
appearing in publications and exhibitions, they appear online courtesy of his
grandson, John J Heartfield[13].
Picture: 5: Image c/o John Heartfield
B2: Industry – textiles: Whirling logs (Navajo)
The
Artist – Melissa Cody
Her specialty – weaving,
textiles and folk art; the symbol is called a ‘whirling log’ and in Navajo
(Dine) iconography, it denotes ‘Abundance,
prosperity, healing and luck’[14].
Like many other Navajo women
from previous generations, Ms Cody made her living selling her handicrafts at
local markets. She studied at the Institute of American Indian
Arts at Santa Fe , and exhibited
her works in Museums like the International
Folk Art
Museum in Santa Fe and the National Museum
of the American Indian in Washington
DC Pennsylvania [15].
The presentation methods she
uses are through Social Media: Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn and Facebook[16].
Picture: 6 Melissa Cody - Whirling log textile
(featuring a swastika)
Part C
Peer feedback
The below graphs are for Checkpoint C.
Figure 1: Line graph showing the
numbers of views of my Presentation on SlideShare[17]
(this number peaked on the 25th of March)
Figure 2: Pie chart of the source of
referral
For Checkpoint D, there has not been much of this to date
on LinkedIn[18]
(as of Saturday, 1 April 2017)
Facebook[19], however, tells a different story with Checkpoint D (which is possible, because I know more people on Facebook than on LinkedIn or SlideShare):
Part D
Emerging trends
Historical trends, history of
the swastika – Europe, the Middle East, the Americas
Formal and conceptual elements of design of those chosen research subjects
1.
Use of geometrics e.g. crosses, triangles,
Symmetrical vs. asymmetrical images
2.
Colours – black, red, white, greyscale,
multicoloured; hue/saturation; tone – light and dark, colour combinations.
3.
Repetition, symbolic of history repeating
itself?
4.
Direction – right facing or left facing
swastikas? Is it a move towards
prosperity, supremacy or demise?
5.
Geopolitics perhaps? E.g. the modern day ‘Rez culture’ for Native
Americans – what is it reminiscent of?
a. Neo-fascism in both the UK and Europe ? Do the Natives form gangs like the skinheads and Chavs overseas?
b. How much does the Rez slang sound like other
forms of slang around the world e.g. the Chav[20] words like ‘Innit?’ (The UK ), the use of the word ‘bro’ in New Zealand
by the Maoris or ‘bra’ by surfers?
c. Native Americans taking an interest in punk and
heavy metal?
How can I incorporate them into my presentation?
Present as a historical timeline
1.
Ancient – Finland ;
recent – (versus Russia and Sweden ); modern
– National Socialist Black Metal Movement (the 1990’s Counter Culture, like
British Punk)
2. Ancient – Navajo (USA) – whirling logs (ancient
symbol); recent – association with the Germans and place of the Navajos in WWII
(e.g. Code talkers); modern – reclaiming that symbol and prosperity (e.g.
through the casino).
3. Ancient – Israel
(Promised Land); recent – WWII and Germany ;
modern – prevalence of Judaism in the USA and the media.
4. Ancient – Australia
– Aborigines, European settlement; recent - Australia ’s part in war (esp. WW2);
modern – National Pride and identity, the flag, our attitudes towards new
migrants.
What do these people have in common?
Use Venn diagram to illustrate
the common traits and influences:
1.
Artistic;
2.
Cultural;
3.
Religious;
4.
Geographical;
5.
Political;
6.
Musical tastes
What personal interest may I have in this (and other) symbols?
Contributing factors (Timeline,
correlational, mind map):
1.
Ethnicity
2.
Heritage
3.
Faith
4.
Geography
5.
Linguistic background
6.
Socioeconomic background
7.
Music preference
On the other hand, perhaps I
should be using Marty Two Bulls as an example[21].
Anyway, I have probably
included more political art than I should, but the three main political artists
are art writer Steven Keller, the Finnish band Impaled Nazarene, and textile
artist, Melissa Cody.
PS. I have removed some of the pictures and diagrams but you will see them in in my slide shows
[1] Heller, S (2011): Designing Graphic
Design History, in Rock Paper Ink, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkFkb1ghwWo
–; accessed Friday, 17 March 2017 at 12:28:22 PM
[2] Font Shop (2007): Stephen Heller –
Keynote: The Eye Listens, in TYPO Berlin Video blog | Oversight | Beitrag, in
Typo Berlin , http://www.typoberlin.de/video/index.php?node_id=9&lang_id=1&ds_target_id=775
[3] Font Shop (2007): Stephen Heller –
Keynote: Iron Graphics, http://www.typoberlin.de/video/index.php?node_id=9&lang_id=1&ds_target_id=847
[4] Heller, S (2011): My Guilty Obsession
with Swastikas, in Salon
http://www.salon.com/2011/07/21/swastika_fascination_imprint/
[5] Silverman, S (2017): Swastika Post https://twitter.com/SarahKSilverman/status/830923187479277568
[6] Watson, P J (2017): These are surveyor’s
markings and you’re a hysterical moron, retrieved from Liberalism is a Mental
Disorder, (c/o Facebook), https://www.facebook.com/groups/394523860751477/
[7] Watson, P J (2017): Paul Joseph Watson
on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71?fref=nf
[8] The Encyclopaedia of Popular Music (2004): Impaled
Nazarene Biography - Music Artist Band Biographies - Artists Bands Bio - FREE
MP3 Downloads in Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20120308003745/http://www.music.us/biography/artist/29205/impaled_nazarene.html[17/03/2017
4:19:15 PM]
[9] Modern Invasion Music (1994): IMPALED
NAZARENE - Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz LTD ED CD NEW COPY! 1994 pressing!, in
eBay,
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/IMPALED-NAZARENE-Tol-Cormpt-Norz-Norz-Norz-LTD-ED-CD-NEW-COPY-1994-pressing-/122041468903?hash=item1c6a3d07e7:g:r34AAOSwYSlXgiqh[17/03/2017
5:15:52 PM]
[10] Heartfield, J (1974): My
Dreams Your Nightmare, in Dirty Harry,
http://www.dirtyharrry.com/1974/08/john-heartfield.html[17/03/2017 5:33:36 PM]
[11]
Nuclear War Now Productions (2014): Impaled Nazarene – Vigorous and Liberating
Death, http://www.nwnprod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=826530&sid=41ddedf5cf867a4b72c077e6a0718ed4
[12] Wikipedia
(2017) John Heartfield, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Heartfield
[13] Heartfield, J (2017): John Heartfield
Biography by Grandson, John J Heartfield,
http://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/political-art-posters/heartfield-posters-aiz/heartfield-aiz-hitler
[14] ICNM Staff (2013): Melissa Cody's
Whirling Logs: Don't You Dare Call Them Swastikas in Indian Country Median
Network, https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/arts-entertainment/melissa-codys-whirling-logs-dont-you-dare-call-them-swastikas/[25/02/2017
9:17:32 AM]; Whirling Log (2017): Whirling Log – The Swastika in Navajo
Textiles, http://www.whirlinglog.com/home.html[25/02/2017
9:26:20 AM]
[15] Lovelace, J (2015): Clear
Focus – Melissa Cody, https://craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/clear-focus
[16] Cody, M (2017): Melissa
Cody on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/melissascody?fref=ts
[17] Sedgwick, C (2017): Analytics
for Checkpoint C, in SlideShare, https://www.slideshare.net/ColleenSedgwick/insight#summary/73619059/%3Frange%3D1m
[18] Sedgwick, C (2017):
Analytics for Checkpoint C, in SlideShare, https://www.slideshare.net/ColleenSedgwick/insight#summary/73843569/%3Frange%3D1m
[19] Sedgwick, C (2017):
Sedgie Art – Insights, on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SedgieArt/insights/
[20] Wikipedia (2017): Chav, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav
[21] Two Bulls, M (2017):
Native American Studies 101 – The Rez Accent, in Indian Country Media Network, https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/author/marty-two-bulls/
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