Ciska Swaak/TOTT
Contents
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Deliverables
- A new 'tool/medium' medium (Bespoke/DIY production technology, critical or speculative artifact)
- An initial working demo as case experiment
- Three 1min short films over your tool/medium focusing on 1) a technical/practical walkthrough, 2) it's raison d'être -- your personal relationship with it and its implications for your practice; and 3) its larger cultural context.
- +/- 4000 word reflection document defining 1) where your specific 'craft' lies in relation newer technologies, 2) new tools for your trade, 3) the implications for your work within both a personal and cultural context
- A packaged project wiki page and oral presentation.
CRAFT
Graphic design
CONCEPT
Digital x physical world
Indesign
Research question: How can the (design/creation/development/exploration) of ........... help (define/create/explain) .............. for ..............
RESEARCH & PROCESS
What tools used a graphic designer before the computer existed?
I came accross a kickstarter project for a film called 'Graphic Means: A History of Graphic Design Production' from Briar Levit [1]
Graphic Means explores the history of graphic design production, before the advent of the desktop computer. [2]
What tools used a graphic designer before QuarkXpress existed?
What was the first design software for the computer?
Or what are the first graphic design software (s)?
What are the pros and cons of this toolkit? What are the pros and cons of the early QuarkXpress? What are the pros and cons of Indesign nowdays?
CUT MAKE PASTE
I made an appointment with Jan Bolle, a former colleague of a internship i did in 2010 at Trichis, to talk about the graphic design production process before the computer exists and about the switch to the digital age.
Jan Bolle work is known by a lot of Rotterdammers. Bazar, Dudok, Cruise Terminal Rotterdam and even the Hoge school Rotterdam Logo are a few where he worked on.
The time you had to come up with a sketch was a week you worked towards it and did the cutting and pasting on fridays. Those where the better days Jan told me. Because you had the time for it. Know you need to come up with a design in a few days, a few hours and sometimes in minutes. Where a lot of experimenting and sketching lost. You can get more out of the project when you have a week to came up with logo design or identity proposals.
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