Thoughts - 25th March 2010

It occurred to me that I need to keep my thoughts about doing my Final Major Project on the ND Photography course somewhere. I always have a notebook by my side and have in fact dedicated a whole notebook to the FMP, but I also thought I should record somewhere the processes I have gone through to achieve the final result. Obviously a lot of this will also appear in my 'sketchbook' but think a diary approach on my blog might also be useful.
To this end I have to do a bit of backtracking to catch up with myself. Although I am writing this on 2nd April I need to go back to 25th March as this is where the FMP started - also please note these entries will ramble and be random:

25th March 2010
Right it all starts here. Had a chat with Chris about the 30 ideas I have for FMP. I have been saving them up since May 2009 when I found out the format of our final project.
We talked though all 30 ideas. I put them into the following categories:
Yes/Possible:
Helvetica
Natural Born Killers
It's a mans world
Holes
Architecture
Star Gazing
Possible with reservations:
Seeing Red
Returning Soliders
Long term/Future project ideas:
Ageing Demographic
She plucked; she ate
Asylum
Holes
Scarecrows

From this 2 rose to the top of the pile that would be enjoyable and achievable in the 8 weeks for this project - these were Helvetica and Star Gazing.

Star Gazing:

How it has, once again, become a hot topic. We have celebrated 40 years since landing on the Moon and this week the UK has announced that is having a Space Agency (one of the last countries that are serious about space to open one). Professor Brian Cox is hot news at the moment presenting marvellous documentaries about the Solar System on BBC as well as being the main spokeperson for all events occurring at CERN. Visit Nottingham Contemporary Gallery to see the 'Star City' exhibit to see if this gives me ideas. I can tie in Rodchenko and Russian Iconography into this. Something I have always enjoyed - perhaps explore the history of the Constructivist movement. My thoughts at this stage would be to photograph The people, or The Machines they've invented, or The Results of their endeavours. How obsessed we are with reaching the stars and understanding our place within the Universe. Blue prints, key figures and their inventions. The photographic outcomes could be experimental / abstract or just stick to traditional photography.

Helvetica:

It's different, there is potential. Can cover the history of design and cover constructivism, Bauhaus, modernists. Helvetica documentary celebrating 50 years - this will be a huge source of information, inspiration and pointers for research. I want to go to Amsterdam - Experimental Jetset are based there and would love to talk to the designers there. I will need to record heveltica at home but it would also be nice to see it used in another language. I enjoyed creating the books for a previous assignment and also for myself and know I would take lots of images doing this. Each set of images would be put into a book. New York, London, Paris, Munich is a bit ambitious. I love the idea of the 4 books being the outcome of the project and the fun I could have with the design on the wall behind.

Talk

Chris gave us a talk about presentation, framing and exhibiting which was very useful. One image really struck a chord with me - rows and rows of books on individual shelves/brackets. My fingers started tingling - this is a good sign for me it is the same feeling I get when I go into a stationery shop and can see how I can use the items to organise my stuff! I know, weird I am.
We will each have 6' x 4' space to exhibit our final FMP piece.
I have decided it will be helvetica. I want to go to Amsterdam - they have lots of helvetica there - urban spaces are good places for helvetica.
I started singing 'Pop Musik' by M ... ... "New York, London, Paris, Munich everyone talk about pop musik" and started to get ideas on how my 6x4 space would work. I cannot afford New York, Paris and Munich - perhaps Moira, Burton and Ashby would suffice and as Amsterdam is in my head perhaps go there for a day trip. I can fly out and back in a day and it'll cost around £75 - sister would come with me too.
Started thinking about the space and using the words on acrylic stuck onto the wall. 1'x1' high letters from top to bottom each in helvetica, obviously. Or perhaps use the negative tear drop shape created in the lower case 'a' as imagery on the wall.

Also need to think about how or where to display/present a business card. I like the idea of people being able to take something away with them. Perhaps it needs new specially design cards to match what I am doing.

History of Design - progression of design of helvetica, other names, other styles.

What happened to helvetica when Macs/PCs developed; how did the changed from hot metal printing to digital affect its use.

BOOKS

Looking at the various merits of Jessops books and Blurb books. The only size that I think will work is the 10" x 8" softcover book - this is only available from Blurb. I will also want it to have a spine with information on it and this means each book will need to contain at least 80 pages.