Here is my link to this weeks Catalogue project:
https://www.notion.so/Laura-Hawkes-Catalogue-Project-2b4ed789ea5f4f58a26c1a36a2fe2b30
GCD / Stage 01 / Information + Systems (archive)
Unit 4 / Project 03 / Paul Finn & Gary Wallis
Here is my link to this weeks Catalogue project:
https://www.notion.so/Laura-Hawkes-Catalogue-Project-2b4ed789ea5f4f58a26c1a36a2fe2b30
I think this is a great piece of design. The composition is extra minimalistic, and extra efficient. (Maybe i would have done the middle line a tiny bit thiner so it’s not as eye-catching). It is very pleasant to go through and read. I would honestly like to have it as a zine. I wish we could see how you would have printed it. As a concertina, as you drew it in your research? As separated cards? Would you give it a title? The ‘objet 1: …’ is part of the website page, and not of your files, so would you not include it in the final outcome? Your memory hand-writing is nice. Maybe you could have used it? Or is the website the ultimate way you chose to present your methods on/with?
I like your work around patterns and textures, there is a great sense of detail that somehow creates an intimate bond with the objects. You feel as if you’ve seen every aspect of it.
The three items you chose are quite different yet they all work well with the translations you came up with, though they sometimes slightly differ. It actually creates a surprising rhythm, instead of having one recurring order. Some of them are actual pieces of design themselves! Love the packaging info of the Vaseline for instance, or the line drawings.
Looking forward to see what you do next!!
I really like the minimal layout, I think it helps you focus on the images more. Especially with the up close shots, and line art as there’s already a lot of detail within those images, so having a plain background allows the viewer to take it all in. My favourite object has to be the cards! The patterns you’ve made for them are beautiful, pattern 2 especially for me, I love the black and white as well as the illustrative feel to it. The fact you’ve added memories to each object is quite nice too, I like this translation because it kind of gives them a purpose? Like even though they are random objects to be put together, we can see they’re all important to you through these memories so they feel less random. Adding onto the memories comment, I also like how they’re hand-written, it makes us as viewers feel more connected. As an improvement, I think similar to my issue there isn’t really a set layout. I did a similar thing and just put my objects together in a pdf on a white background (which does look good) but perhaps could’ve stated where this information would belong. Even if it isn’t possible for it to be physically made but for example, would you have this on a blog, or in a zine, a holiday brochure, or would you have stuck with the book idea? I think it would ground the information more, even if it is just a small mock up. I realised the same for mine after receiving a comment about it. Other than that, I think that it is really visually pleasing and I love the style of your work!
I love the visual exploration of all the individual objects. The single-colour colour-scheme of each object – although simple it’s very effective in clearly distinguishing items apart and giving them a sense of individuality and character. As for the object exploration – I like that you deconstructed each object and explored essential core properties of theirs – in this case patterns and textures. It made me see the items as patterns on the objects more than the object itself, this is especially true for the cards. I appreciate that you used the same techniques to translate each item, which brings cohesion and unity to the publication. Even though the items are presented separately using the same style, and processes brings the whole presentation together. Only suggestion would be to maybe give more attention in the publication itself – for ex. You could have made the publication in the form of a journal, I think this could have been a natural extension to your handwriting idea. I think putting more work into presenting your findings (using the journal idea or not) would have solidified the theme and could have made it much more immersive for the audience.
Again a good written description of your approach this week. Good that you added process work this week. It would have been better if your publication was separately loaded but it is clear.
All the translations are very good: they are interesting and diverse applied consistently across the chosen objects producing strong individual outcomes that work even better when grouped together. It really feels like you have invested and connected with all the objects. The simple design is effective. It could be interesting to consider arranging the similar translations of different objects next to each other for comparison.
Hey Laura! Your outcome does reflects the concepts you’ve mentioned in the group chat despite the fact that you mentioned you couldn’t do the story book due to time constraints. The pattern close ups clearly reflect the visual narrative aspect of children’s story books and the minimal usage of words could actually be a good thing because it allows us to focus on the meat of the burger: the images themselves. I also like the way you used your own handwriting for the stories: it gives it a very personal image. Your photos are conceptually interesting as well, most people (me too) took photos of the object in different angles but you went outside the box with it, you took it from a wider context; the object in its natural “scenario” along with the object in other contexts (a good example is the vaseline). Henceforth the colour scheme is really coherent which adds to the visual appeal. It’s so nice, what i would suggest (if i had to) would be try add more technical processes as well like it’s size, weight, how and where it’s been manufactured.