The purpose of this exercise was to identify a range of different kinds of texts as potential starting points for Assignment 2.
Key words from the brief:
- Try to find texts that challenge you in some way
Two possible approaches
There are currently two projects that I would like to explore/develop that combine text and image in a way that would meet the requirements in Assignment 2.
Option 1 – Pandemic diary
This project has been developing over the last year. It started as a response to Responding to a brief > Assignment 4 – You are here, and featured as one of the pieces of work in Assignment 1 – Personal statement.
The pandemic diary is a daily journal of words and pictures that traces my experience of the coronavirus pandemic. As well as being a personal response to the situation, it’s also a record of the event. At time of writing I’m completing an entry for Day 356.
The content including text and pictures is currently captured in Microsoft Word. Each diary entry consists of my personal reflections on the day, a news headline and at least one and usually more drawings/paintings/images. In terms of scale, the project consists of over 1,000 images and 355 continuous diary entries.
I started laying out the content in InDesign but decided this visual approach needed a lot more development and testing that could only really be done when I had a clearer idea of the project outcomes.
A key question that I need to answer is how to most effectively present the content, and a large part of this relates to how text and image work together.
Some aspect of the pandemic diary theme is also what I propose to investigate as part of Visual Research.
Option 2 – Book illustration commission
At the time of writing I’ve been approached to create a series of illustrations for a 20,000 word book written by Russell Lewis entitled Agile for Management.
The brief is currently quite loose and I’ll need to develop a more detailed version with the author as I review each chapter. The illustrations range from redrawing existing diagrams to creating new visual solutions.
There are currently no visual guidelines or constraints, so these elements will be proposed and agreed with the author and publisher as part of the process.
An additional learning from this option would be dealing with the contractual side of the work so that rights and usage are clearly defined and understood.
Illustration 