Visual Communication: Studio Brief 3 - Persons of Note

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author born in Leeds. Notable work includes Talking Heads, The History Boys and The Lady in the Van as well as his audio recordings of Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh (which I have listened to throughout my literary journey as someone who cannot read text). My tutor shared a lovely story of him living in the same town as Bennett, and had him knocking on the door of one of his friend's parties to tell them to shut up! He also regularly takes part in sharing his work with his local town - hosting Q and A sessions and viewings.

I have watched The History Boys and The Lady in the Van and enjoy his work; so he is a very real possibly for my Person of Note brief. Initial thoughts include focusing on his trademark glasses, a script font to represent his writing of plays, some of the characters from his work as well as his home town and aspects of Leeds - all presented in an abstract way.

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Jim Henson

Jim Henson was an American puppeteer, artist, cartoonist, inventor, screen writer, film director and producer best known for The Muppets, Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock. His work was a big part of my childhood growing up in the late '80s and early '90s and I really connected with his characters and the morals he presented in his stories. The Jim Henson Foundation was founded and created by him to promote and develop puppetry in the US. His daughter, Cheryl, is now the president of the foundation.

As his legacy is largely based on his characters, it would be impossible not to include them in the final work I produce - if I was to choose Jim as my person of note. I would like to present them in an abstract way though, so that it wasn't as obvious as to what I was alluding to. However, as I focused on character development for my GIFs and in a sense for my sticker design brief, I may want to move away from characters now and tackle something else for conclusion of the visual communication module.

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Zaha Hadid

Dame Zaha Mohammed Hadid DBE (d. 2016) was a British architect and the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize as well as the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. She was known as the 'Queen of the Curve' and the leading female architect in the world. Her works were often described as major figures in architectural Deconstructivism - a movement in Postmodern architecture giving the appearance of fragmentation of a constructed building and an absence of harmony, symmetry or continuity. Hadid's work was also described as an as example of Parametricism (relying on computers, algorithms and programs to manipulate equations for design purposes). Hadid was inspired by fragmented basic forms and shapes, with a desire to not have any 90 degree angles, and an unconventional way of entering and walking around a building. She was influenced by organic forms of nature and placing them onto buildings as a sort of 'skin', looking at complex natural structures such as coral and the underneath of mushrooms.

Zaha Hadid is someone who I am deeply considering undertaking as my person of note. I am very attracted to her achievements as a woman in a male-dominated profession as well as her strong work ethic and design aspirations. I have never done work like hers before, which is very computer driven and precise, so it would be an interesting challenge for me. It's between her and Jim Henson - so I will need to do some further research and initial sketchbook work in order to make my final decision.