Visual Communication The art of seeing 7th October

The art of seeing 7th October 

Another Tuesday and once again it's the start of a new subject. For the next two weeks it will be Visual Communication.

What is Visual Communication? I think of an image, or selection of images and words (text) that express something without actually speaking and going into great detail. It's a visual message; something that must be looked at to be understood. It could be an ad, poster, piece of artwork, or the cover of a cd or book.

Visual Communication is something we constantly see. It's all around us and we've become very used to it. Today you can't turn on the tv, or look in the paper without seeing an ad, or some form of visual communication trying to grab your interest. With so many things fighting for our attention visually, the hard part for an artist or designer is coming up with an eye catching image that people can't ignore. 'Eye catching' can be simple, like a logo. Take Facebook for example; most people today when shown the icon of the white letter 'F' with a blue background will instantly think of Facebook. That is the power of a good eye catching image. Even a simple logo can become well known and successful as long as the design is appropriate and well thought out.

I was thinking of various designs when I was handed the project brief; 'historical or retro/futurism'. We had to start by writing on a post-it note what first came to mind when we thought of 'historical'. This was difficult because the word has such a broad meaning and associations. 'Knowledge' came to mind. We take what happened from the past and get information from it. We learn from the past. In fact 'past' is another word as history is not about 'now', it's about what has already been. History and change are always happening. What happens today will be considered history tomorrow and in the future. Even though we may not think about it now, but what happens today, what we do, will change the future.

After brainstorming, we were given ideas of what to research and also some artists and styles to consider. "Historical" was such a big theme, I felt a bit swamped. I've never done anything like this before. History, being such a large and broad subject with so many associated ideas and styles, made it even harder to decide on something.

I did a bit of research on some ideas I had. However, trying to put a new twist on a old tale or idea was a hard thing to do. Having done a bit of research previously in 3D on the Celts, I though I could look into something to do with them. It was a topic I enjoyed it and perhaps I could incorporate some eye catching Celtic knots into the design?

After looking up old traditional Celtic designs, I searched for some Celtic and Welsh historical events. One of the first things I found was a story about a woman, Jemima Nicholas and "The last invasion of Britain". Jemima is sometimes called Jemima Fawr, or 'Jemima the Great'. This 'invasion' is not the Norman one in 1066. It refers to a little known invasion by the French in southwest Wales in 1797. Jemima, a then 47 year old women, single-handedly captured twelve of the invading soldiers. She rounded them up with only a pitchfork. This was a spectacular action considering that in 1797 women did not normally get involved anything like fighting, as a woman's place was in the home. Jemima's actions certainly makes her a heroine and a woman not to be taken lightly.

This information got me thinking; could I do a more modern tale of this story? Perhaps I could do something about women and their roles, looking at the gender divide throughout history compared to today? I still have a lot to think about. I also need to consider and decide what style do this in. I have a lot of research and brain storming to do, but I have some interesting ideas to think about and develop.