Production of practical work

A5 booklet printed on card

Printed on dark grey. Outside is effective as the colour of the text works well with the colour of the card however the print on the inside isn't effective, making the images less professional and the type less readable.

Printed on a lighter grey. This makes the text more readable and the images clearer and more professional. Is also very similar to the book previously researched on Ceal Floyer.

Close up images showing the text being up to the edge of the booklet making the design less legible, linking to contemporary design.

Could work as two booklets for more variations and interest for the audience.

A3 poster printed

Final poster clearly presents the artist and relevant information required for the poster. The design all links clearly, with the original inspiration for the type on show. The type is readable to an extent, and legible, linking to both the minimalism of her work and contemporary aspect of her work.

Final brief outcome

Poster and final design work well together using the same typeface designed for the exhibition. The colours are minimal, like the aesthetic of Floyers work. The type is readable and legible to an extent. This is relevant for the work as legibility is important for the minimalist aesthetic, whilst lack of legibility is appropriate for the contemporary aspect of her work and the audience attending the exhibition who will be open to lack of legibility due to the kind of work they are expecting to see.

Booklet development & finalising

Initial designs:

This first design uses the perspective grid to place the images in a similar way the letterforms were placed. The text is then in columns fitting on top of the images. This appears quite repetitive and although fitting amongst the contents of the design, the text looks odd in its layout.

This layout is similar to the last but with the images on the left and the text fitting around the grid on the right. The type looks uncomfortable in its placement.

This design turns the grid on its side with three images next to it. The text fits into the grid. This creates amore interesting booklet as a whole with continuity, however there are many issues with the layout. The fold of the paper will disrupt the readability of the text. Also, as Floyers work appears minimalistic with a contemporary idea, the design should have minimalistic appearance. This design is embellished unnecessarily.

In final attempts to use the perspective grid, this design mirrors it in the middle of the page and fits both the text and images into the layout. Again, the fold hasn't be considered, creasing the text. The grid also limits the site of the contents of the page, leaving a lot of empty space.

The final design has the text on the edges of both sides of the paper, testing its readability. The images are simply placed in the middle. This is a much more minimal, functional design, however would also appeal to a contemporary audience with experimentation of readability of the type, and the legibility of the colour choices.

Final design to be tested on card stock

As white is costly to be printed, the design has been made to print the design onto grey or a silver card stock with dark grey type. This will keep the minimalistic nature of the design and limited legibility idea, whilst being cost effective. The artists name and the date of the exhibition has also been placed into the design, spreading over the two sides of the page and over the images. This disrupts the legibility of the images, in order the letterforms the most legible.

Final poster design

The design that uses the image of Floyers work has been chosen as the final post due to it being the best in representing her work. The typeface also has a direct link to the idea behind its design. 

Practical initial ideas

Ideas 

- Grid of 3000

- Written amount of times to the amount of works in exhibition times (similar to Etching)

- Text in white on off white paper

- Photograph projections of text onto wall

- Letters standing upright

- Missing parts of the characters

Sketches

Typefaces

Helvetica typeface relating to modernism. Arial Black relating to BALTIC brand identity and post modernism.

 

Initial poster designs

Type over edges to replicate the hands piece by Floyer. Also tests the legibility of the type. White text on off white background, furthering this idea.

Type layered over image of Floyer's work. Shows the clear relation of the design of the typeface and her work.

Experimenting with layout to incorporate the BALTIC logo more. Grid designed from one of her pieces of multiple frames.

Perspective grid inspired by Hofmann's work creating the illusion of the letters standing upright, similar looking to one of her pieces, and overlaying inspired by David Carson. Tests the legibility of the type.

Layout of text replicating her speaker stair piece -

Written amount of times to number of works on display at exhibition, linking to one of her works as displayed on second layout of poster design -

Crit

- ladder poster for poster - showcases work and is more related to her

- perspective grid thing for booklet

- try removing the grid

- use grid as layout for book

- screen print with silver ink onto white or off white paper

Practical research

Brief

Title: Ceal Floyer at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

Background: Ceal Floyer (b. 1968) is a contemporary visual artist  known for her work that explores a variety of media to convey her outlook on the everyday.

Although her work is contemporary, it has a modernistic approach, conveying her ideas in a minimal way.

This exhibition is held in great anticipation for the appearance at the BALTIC, due to its international reputation, being the UK’s largest dedicated contemporary art institution.

Brief: 1 A3 poster and a two fold brochure to promote and inform Ceal Floyers exhibition at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. They should reflect the status of the BALTIC and present Ceal Floyers work in an informative manner.

Deliverables: 1 A3 poster and a two fold brochure.

Mandatory requirements: Brochure must include the BALTIC logo, website and address, Arts Council England logo and Gateshead Council logo, with the correct date, place and artists name for exhibition. It should display the works exhibited, with the name of piece and year made, with a description of the piece.

Poster should have obvious visual links to artists work through both type and/or image, with the BALTIC logo, website, address and the correct date, place and artists name for exhibition.

Both need to represent the artists contemporary work, while continuing the BALTIC brand identity.

Aim: To reflect the contemporary work of Ceal Floyer, utilising postmodern typeface and layouts, with consideration for the legibility of the type.

Research 

Audience considerations:

The audience will be of all ages any gender and any ethnicity. Nationality most likely British, however may include those from other places in the world due to BALTIC’s international reputation. Audience will value the artists work highly; the poster and booklet should be professional looking and the thinking behind the design should reflect the same amount of thinking the work in the exhibition delivers.

Ceal Floyers work:

Monochrome Till Receipt (White) is a till print-out of a list of goods purchased by Floyer at Morrisons, a UK supermarket chain. Despite its title, the paper is in fact yellowish-white in tone and the information is printed in blue ink. The list itself comprises ordinary objects that are all white or have the word ‘white’ in their name, including flour, hand cream, mozzarella cheese, toothpaste, tissues, white chocolate, milk, salt, sugar and cotton wool pads among many other items, amounting to forty-nine purchases in total. When exhibited, the work is attached to a bare wall in a vertical orientation, without any framing device. 

A shopping receipt may seem like a strange thing to put on an art gallery wall. How can this be art? Rather than making a painting or sculpture, there are many artists (like Ceal Floyer here) who create art from everyday things. She would like you to think about the idea behind the art, rather than what it looks like. Take a closer look at the receipt. You will see that it is a list of objects bought from the supermarket that are all white. Imagine the objects and their whiteness and think about why this might be in a display about colour. Is white a colour?

It’s actually a funny process… How many packets I’ve opened to check [the contents are white] and then not bought. But basically it should equal or come close to a picture of white. It is ‘concrete poetry’, suggesting ‘a still life made entirely of white objects.

(from Tate)

Etching (at 45 rpm) shaky lines trace an irregular circular form on off-white card. The print was handmade by the artist drawing directly on to an etching plate with an etching tool. Floyer mimicked the circular movement of a record player spinning at forty-five revolutions per minute, the speed traditionally associated with seven inch single records. The artists drew an overlapping circle made up of forty-five rotations in sixty seconds. The diameter of Floyer’s rough circle approximately corresponds to the middle of song on a typical seven inch record.

Floyer echoed the mechanism of a machine designed to produce sound in order to create a visual artwork. The resulting print was then produced as a multiple like a limited edition disc. Refers to technology that may appear slightly outmoded or nostalgic. 

Light Switch - inconspicuous or unassuming, but make sophisticated use of a number of strategies from such art historical precedents as the readymades of Duchamp and conceptual and minimalist art of the 1960s. Light Switch, one of Floyer’s early works, is a colour photographic slide image of a light switch, projected to scale on a wall at the height one would expect to find a switch in a domestic setting. A slide projector is set up on a stand, near an entrance or doorway, a few feet away from a wall. Only in close proximity to the work does the small area of light projected on the wall become apparent and reveal itself as a projected image – an image of a light switch, existing only as light from the projector. 

Hearing Aid - https://www.303gallery.com/gallery-exhibitions/ceal-floyer4?view=slider#14 

Quote from Floyer: “The more pared down an idea or its presentation, as is quite characteristic of the work I make, the more I think it can apply to another train of thought.”

Her work examines art itself, its processes, display and meaning, and continually contest the distinctions between what is considered art and what is not. Always presents a minimal amount of information.

BALTIC:

http://baltic.art/about/what-is-baltic 

Our mission is to create greater understanding of the world through outstanding, experimental and inspiring contemporary art which has power, relevance and meaning for individuals and communities.

BALTIC has gained an international reputation for its commissioning of cutting-edge temporary exhibitions.

UK’s largest dedicated contemporary art institution.

Situated in Newcastle in a converted flour mill, six floors high with 3000sqm of arts space.

BALTIC brand was designed by Ripe. Bold, industrial font and minimal colour palette to reinforce the industrial building and allow the artwork to shine. The BALTIC brand is now well established. Represents the calibre of work housed in the gallery, without detracting from it.

Carson:

David Carson  is a contemporary graphic designer, known for his illegible, experimental magazine articles and posters. Layering words, cutting off characters, and fitting words around eachother are some exmaples of his techniques of creating design that conveys a message to the reader just through an initial glance. His work is relavant for the context of this brief due to his work being of this postmodern time; questioning the limits of graphic design. This is fitting with the contemporary ideas behind the artists work, which questions art and its versatility.

Hofmann:

Although a postmodern approach should be taken to this brief; meeting the requirements of representing the exhibition, it also should explicitly represent the artist. Floyers work is very minimal, communicating her contemporary ideas behind the work in a functional, minimal way.

Armin Hofmann is a modernist graphic designer who’s approach is similar to Floyers in that he communicates the contents in the clearest way possible, opposing Carsons methods. 

With inspiration drawn from the postmodernist graphic design of Carson, and the modernist functional designs of Hofmann, the brief should be met, communicating the information required clearly, whilst hinting and the contemporary ideas behind the work. This should appeal to the audience expected to visit such an exhibition.