Creating a GIF using Adobe Photoshop Timeline and Rotascoping

To create a Timeline on Adobe Photoshop I went on 'Window' toolbar Clicked on Animation and made sure it was enabled with a tick. This enables the frame animation at the bottom of the screen. 

Convert frame animation to timeline

I click on the convert toolbar as shown below to convert the frame animation to a timeline. 

Timeline

I used Adobe Photoshop to create a simple GIF. It was quite a easy 
exercise and took me no longer than 10 minutes as it was the first time of me creating a GIF I was quite impressed.

I did this in my own time and used a YouTube tutorial as my guideline for the basics, to show me how to create a GIF.



First I enabled the animation tool by clicking on Windows and making sure the Animation tool was clicked and displayed in the bottom.

Using simple circle tools I Then created several shapes on different layers to produce my movement. 

The same ball repeated to create movement

I had deleted the background layer to make it transparent as the background layer can cause problems while processing the GIF. I then converted all the layers to create separate frame animations. 

Created a Frame Animation Below

I selected all the layers and adjusted the time span to '0.1' second and put the time loop on 'forever' so it reoccurs and replays like a GIF.  

Ball GIF 

Once I had done this I tried to create another GIF using type to see the effect it gives. Writing my name as a simple start of point I was pleased with the outcome.

Name GIF

to try something more complex I created another GIF using shapes to create a outline of another shape. I think I actually enjoy making GIF's now!

Simple outline of a heart

Adding a faded shape to the background.

After Experimenting with shapes and text I decide to put together a Small GIF recreation of a Game layout. 

Game layers all visible in the Photoshop Timeline.

 I Found this quite simple as I enabled the grey base layer visible on all the layers just having the ball frame change to show movement. Using the exact same Steps as the above previous ones. 

Game Layout GIF

I was actually pleased with the outcome the effect it gave and how it turned out. Being easy and enjoyable to make. 

Modernism & Postmodernism

(Research of Modernism and Postmodernism taken from My essay)

"Modernism is more a way of thinking than a style. Modernists believed that the design of an object should be based purely on its purpose - that 'form follows function." ⁽¹⁾ This basically means that this movement believes that the design should be based specifically on the intended function and purpose. Influence of this movement began after the Word war 1 where the change was visible. The modernists were embracing concrete, glass and steel within their design development to extinguish the difference between the new and the old, rejecting styles of the other art movements e.g. the Victorian and Nouveau art movements. Jonathan Glancey (Architecture Editor of the Guardian) summarised that "Modernism was not simply a style: but more of an attitude, a determination to break with the past and free the architect from the stifling rules of convention and etiquette." ⁽²⁾

However although Postmodernism rooted from Modernism in the 20th century it contradicts the modernism movement, it's known to be the most controversial movement in the design history. Postmodernism created its own unique style "It brought a radical freedom to art and design through gestures that were often funny, sometimes confrontational and occasionally absurd." ⁽³⁾ It broke many religious and social boundaries going against the idea of what was seen as normal creating a form of free will into the design industry. "Postmodernism went into high gear. What had begun as a radical fringe movement became the dominant look of the ‘designer decade’. Vivid colour, theatricality and exaggeration: everything was a style statement. Whether surfaces were glossy, faked or deliberately distressed, they reflected the desire to combine subversive statements with commercial appeal." ⁽⁴⁾ Stating that Postmodernism was spreading vastly and escalated over time giving society a newer more modern look than it already was, focusing on being extremely different to what was seen as normal .  Postmodernists dismiss the idea of "natural reality, a reality whose existence and properties are logically independent of human beings—of their minds, their societies, their social practices, or their investigative techniques." ⁽⁵⁾ They view this as a form of naive realism, they perceive reality as a "conceptual construct, an artifact of scientific practice and language." ⁽⁶⁾ Postmodernists also reject the idea of a objective natural reality which descend from scientists and historians, they contradict their statements and believe that there is no such thing as the truth. This art movement can be seen as a form of destruction of the natural reality e.g. earth's natural landscape, portraying itself as a deceptive illusion as it misleads the impression of reality.

Modernism and postmodernism in one perception is seen as movements that deconstruct, neglect and contradict the idea of realism." Modernism is associated with attempts to render human subjectivity in ways more real than realism: to represent consciousness, tunnelling, defamiliarisation, rhythm, irresolution". ⁽⁷⁾ It forms its own 'new' ideas on Literature, architecture, art and society breaking the old forms of realism.

Modernism and Postmodernism both can be seen as a form of destruction of reality itself.  Both ideas are challenging not only within architecture but in arts, literature and religion. They break boundaries and challenge existing beliefs and norms "Modernist novels destroy conventions by reversing traditional norms, such as gender and racial roles, notable in F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," for example. They also destroy conventional forms of language by deliberately breaking rules of syntax and structure." ⁽¹³⁾ Modernists are against of  what was seen as reality and try to " 'make it new', to modify if not overturn existing modes of representation" ⁽¹⁴⁾ they do this to basically form a new convention breaking the original boundaries and rules set deconstructing the original reality of literature. In addition to the deconstruction of the reality of literature "Modernism is associated with moves to break from the iambic pentameter as the basic unit of verse, to introduce vers libre, symbolism and other new forms of writing". ⁽¹⁵⁾ To create a new form it is vital that the old form has to be destroyed or deconstructed to some extent which the Modernists aimed for. They were trying to reconstruct the main functions to literature introducing different ways to form a innovative idea of normality, as their way of modifying and making literature a new form than it already was. This therefore deconstructs the reality of literature once again. 

Along with literature Religion was also challenged and deconstructed by Modernists as it is a constituted system which "threatened to destroy not only the Catholic religion but all religion: ‘Modernism leads to atheism and to the annihilation of all religion." ⁽¹⁶⁾ They attempted and also succeeded to some point in destructing the reality of religion and God, challenging the beliefs and creating their new form with the idea of no religion (Atheism). They challenged the reality of religion by stating that it doesn't even exist. In addition to this Modernism was successful in highly influencing and in some form contaminating the mind of the people in power as they were inspired by what modernism had to offer.  The people in power "under the influences of religion, conservative forces in national governments around the world have undermined and corrupted the ideals of modernism, transforming notions of freedom, equality, human rights, and democracy into self–serving excuses for invasion, subjugation, conversion, and exploitation". ⁽¹⁷⁾ This can be seen as a example of the message and it's effect Modernism sent out . As Modernism's ideals were used immorally by the political forces to challenge the realism of society. These effects are shown by the display of the selfish acts in challenging the rights of a man by taking control, abusing authority unethically gaining more power over country and its population. This therefore is a result of the deconstruction of reality in society; as members of the society are deprived of free will, forming new boundaries.

On the Other hand Modernism and Postmodernism movements have made a mark in history they made and still at this very point have made a immense impact on society, music, art, religion, Literature and architecture. This is reality as they both have made many transformations within the western community within the 19th and 20th Century. These transformations have formed new theories and ideas "new ways of looking at the world in art and design that have emerged from Modernism". ⁽¹⁸⁾ This creating new perspectives leading to the development of many industries. This is a advantage that can be drawn from these movements. That it lead to the developing the cityscape i.e. architecture (structure of buildings becoming more modernised)  to improve the aesthetic but also stability and accessibility of the city around us becoming more beneficial and more useful. It lead to the development of technology new artistic approaches "that there needs to be a clear understanding about the relationship between form and content,". ⁽¹⁹⁾ It gave a insight into meaning and relationships creating new methods of working and communication i.e. form follows function of how the building architecture design is solely based upon the function. These movements for that reason can be viewed as reality as they enhanced that within the passage of time styles and movements are revolutionised to become much more useful.                                                                                                                                                              

 

Title sequence

For this workshop we was to create a title sequence with some type and some shapes on different layers on Adobe After effects. I choose to do New Visual Language with some random shapes and lines. Using the 3D tool we then enabled the 3D tool for all the layyers adding effects to each layer to create movement. 

The next step was then to insert a background so getting a copyright free texture we then inserted our background adjusting the the layer style and opacity levels. Here I also edited the colour of my type to contrast it with the textured Background. 
We also had to add some effects to the type or the shapes. I adding a emboss effect onto my type to give it a 3D appearance as well as some shadows on both the type and the shapes.

Finally our last process was insert a texture onto a shape which was quite a complex process at first but then was quite easy. 




new visual language (Converted) from Itba Kauser on Vimeo.

Glossary

To help me in understand the key words mentioned in lectures and seminars I created a glossary of terms I was slightly unsure with. Using the Google dictionary as a source for my definitions 

A

Aesthetic- 

'Concerns with the beauty or the appreciation of beauty'. It is the visual appearance of something.

'Picture give the aesthetic pleasure' 

Giving or designed to give pleasure through the beauty

'The law applies to both functional and aesthetic objects'
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Arbitrary-

Based on random choice and personal whim rather than any reason or system 'an arbitrary decision.'

B
 

Bauhaus- 
Staatliches Bauhaus , commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was an art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term Bauhaus —literally "house of construction"—was understood as meaning "School of Building".

Body copy-
The body copy is the main part of a piece of writing such as a advertisement or article, the first sentence should begin after the headline.

C

 Composition-
Is the manner in which some parts are combined or related to form a whole piece.

Consumerism-  

The movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as packaging and advertising, product guarantees, andimproved safety standards.

Conventional-
Based on or in accordance with what is generally done or believed.

Corporate Identity-
A corporate identity is the overall image of a corporation, firm or business in the minds of diverse publics, such as customers, investors and employees.

Culture-

The ideas, customs and social behaviour of a particular group of 

people and society.

D

Denotation- 

The literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.

'The action of indicating or referring to something by means of word, symbol, etc.

The object or concept to which a term refers, to the set of objects of which a predicate is true.

De Stijl-

De stijl a school of art that was founded in the Netherlands in 1917, embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, furniture, and the decorative arts, and was marked especially by the use of black and white with the primary colors, rectangular forms, and asymmetry.

E

Efficiency-
The quality or property of being efficient.

Erogonomics-
The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Also called biotechnology, human engineering, human factors engineering 


F   

Favella-
A brazillian shak or shanty town; a slum.                   
"rapidly growing populations in the favelas of the great urban centres"

Flux-
A conctant or frequent change, the action or process of something flowing out 

Form Follows Function-
Form follows function is a principle associated with modernist architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

Futurism- 
A belief that the meaning of life and one's personal fulfillment lie in the future and not in the present or past.

An artistic movement originating in Italy around 1910 whose aim was to express the energetic, dynamic, and violent quality of contemporary life, especially as embodied in the motion and force of modern machinery.

G

Globalisation-

Ihe process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale.

 

Golden record-  

A golden record is a single, well-defined version of all the data entities in an organizational ecosystem. In this context, a golden record is sometimes called the "single version of the truth," where "truth" is understood to mean the reference to which data users can turn when they want to ensure that they have the correct version of a piece of information. The golden record encompasses all the data in every system of record (SOR) within a particular organization.

I

Icon-

Resembles the sign (Photograph onomatopic word)

A Image of representation.  

Iconography-

the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the study or interpretation of these.

Ideology-

A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.

 

Index-

Direct link between sign and object e.g. smoke index of fire

Innovation- 

The act of introducing something new.

 

Immersion-

Focusing on one thing, your lost in the moment and foget everything else. (artifical) 

K

Kerning-

To adjust the spacing between (characters) in a piece of text to be printed.

Kinetic typography-

Kinetic typography refers to the art and technique of expression with animated text. Similar to the study of traditional typography of designing static typographic forms, kinetic typography focuses on understanding the effect time has on the expression of text.

L

Leading-

The amount of blank space between lines of print. The distance from the bottom of one line of type to the bottom of the next.  

M

Modernism-

A style or movement in the arts that aims to depart significantly from classical and traditional forms.

a movement towards modifying traditional beliefs in accordance with modern ideas, especially in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Moodboard-

An arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept.  

N

Naturism-

The worship of nature or natural objects.
  

P

Perceptive-

Having or showing sensitive insight.

Postmodernism-

A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Psychoanalysis-

A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

R

Realism-

The attitude or practice of accepting a situation as it is and being prepared to deal with it accordingly. 

The quality or fact of representing a person or thing in a way that is accurate and true to life. 

Reference-

The use of a source of information in order to ascertain something.

 

Representation-

The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.

the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way. 

Revolution-

A forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system. 

S

Semiotics-  

The study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation

Seminology-

another word for semiotics, theory of signs and symbols. 

Signifier-

A sign's physical form (such as a sound, printed word, or image) as distinct from its meaning

Signified- 

The meaning or idea expressed by a sign, as distinct from the physical form in which it is expressed.

Surrealism- 

A 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images.

Sustainability-
In more general terms, sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes. The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development, which includes the four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture

Symbolism-

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

An artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind. It originated in late 19th-century France and Belgium, with important figures including Mallarmé, Maeterlinck, Verlaine, Rimbaud, and Redon. 

Syntax-

The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.

T

Theory-

A supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained. 

Typeface-

A particular design of type 

W 

Whitespace-

In page layout, illustration and sculpture, white space is often referred to as negative space. It is the portion of a page left unmarked: margins, gutters, and space between columns, lines of type, graphics, figures, or objects drawn or depicted. 

 

 

 

 

Character Movement

Once again missing this workshop due to being unwell I caught up with this in my own time. Using the software adobe Illustator to create a character which I would be working with to create a short animation. I chose to create a Robot.

My Robot

Using this as my base I pen-tooled every part of the robot onto a seperate layer which would allow me to move each part seperately. Using the 3D tool on Illustator I moved each part in different ways for 10 seconds to produce a small piece of animation. this was quite easy I thought adding movement effects onto each layer adding keyframes to show when they move and stop. The hardest task I found ws how to Import a Illustator file with all the Robot parts on seperate layers, I once again used a youtube tutorial for this which I found very Helpful. I was thinking of maybe to develop this further to add a funky tune in the background to show the robot's dancing.



character movement from Itba Kauser on Vimeo.

El Lissitzky

A Russian born artist, designer, photographer and typographer who has Inspired my work in many different ways. I love the style of his work which was developed from the Bauhaus movement. The use of the space with the abstract geometric shapes to create his images I feel is a unique and interesting technique of working as it intrigues the viewer. 





Influenced by His technique and style of working I did some experiments for my New Visual Language brief.

Experiment 1 - Simple experiment

Starting of with a basic design using the same composition and layout of Lissitzky's work using his main theme colours, red white and black. I however linked the content of this experiment to my brief.

Experiment 2 - Manipulating the structure of type.

Taking this a step further I do another experiment using again the same colours however this time I play with the structure of the type. Using the Bauhaus font I manipulate the structure of the letter 'N'.  

Experiment 3- Adding 3D effects to Geometric Shapes

 Developing my experiments further I use more geometric shapes and try to make it much more complex than the previous experiments building up on layers adding drop shadow effects to create 3D effects.  I also attempt in creating a 3D effect with the red rectangles in the middle by altering the positioning and the opacity of the shape to create a 3D effect. Another way in how I created a 3D effect is with the grey box at the top using darker and lighter shades as side shadows which I drew using the pen-tool.

Experiment 4 - Building up on Layers

My last experimentation I built up the layers to create a much more sophisticated piece. I added a light background colour. I built up layers using different geometric shapes in colour and altered the opacity levels so all layers can be visually seen. I also inversed linear stripes into the shape of a circle which I duplicated and altered the opacity levels using them into the background. Using more shapes than circle, rectangle and a square Here I create a triangles using the pen-tool. Also I use a curve I created by drawing a normal circle and using the circle marquee tool another circle on top and cut of most of the circle leaving behind this sharp curve. This Last experimentation has got to be my favourite one.


El Lissitzky's work not only inspired some design work for the New visual Language brief but inspired my designs for the Typeface brief.

Typeface 1  - Inspired by El Lissitzky

Looking at the Geometric Shapes I was strongly inspired by El Lissitzky's work. The use of his abstract shapes gave me great ideas and influenced my typeface styles. Influenced by the abstract curves and lines I created the first typeface using one shape per letter. Developing from this to create my second typeface I used the composition of his abstract shapes and combined them to all to form one letter, so I used more than one shape for each letter.

Typeface 2 - Inspired by El Lissitzky

Influenced by El Lissitzky's work

Above is my final Typeface I created on Illustrator which I think looks very effective. It's something different from the normal monotony font styles, it's classy constructive and unique.

Brand Yourself

I wanted to attend the Brand yourself workshop but it was fully booked so looking at the people's work who attended I myself went and had attempt of creating a Branding Icon for myself.

Brand Yourself Experiment

Manipulating type adjusting the kerning to merge both letter's together as one letter, I changed colours, added drop shadow, emboss effects onto the type to give it a 3D effect. To experiment different styles I used a gradient square win which I altered the layer styles to create a gradient shadow effect over the type itself. To that I also experimented with the Hue and Saturation levels to see the different effects of the gradient. I also tried using a circle gradient in the background using bright and light colours to contrast with the black and whit of the type. I really like this experiment and will expand on this to create a logo to represent me.