My final outcome for Studio Brief 3 is encompassed in a 16 page zine based on Agatha Christie's bestselling novel "Midnight on the Orient Express," using a 2-way colour palette of green and black and showing variants of the two through textures. I chose the printed zine / booklet to reflect Christie as the "classic published author."
What went well?
The successful aspect/s of this brief were my continued developmental research into printed processes; pushing my visual ideas in new and exciting directions. Instead of settling for 2 or 3 printed processes, as was mentioned in the brief, I wanted to test a whole host (monoprint, type, screen print, gelli printing) to see what I could achieve in the allocated timeframe. The more work I produced in this developmental research stage, the more speculative I could be and the more I had to choose from and had at my disposal to create a piece of work truly beyond anything I've made before. I managed to tackle my fears of being in the print room as someone with a severe sight impairment, often feeling like I'm in the way of sighted people and the work they are making, and really getting involved in my own choices, decisions and the output so that any imposter syndrome and negative thoughts from my disability melted away as I continued to get stuck in and feel a sense of achievement, Printing onto acetate worked really well, despite it being of a thin stock and sometimes hard to turn the page, it really brings about thoughts of "mystery" and "intrigue" and involving the audience to search for items on the page like their own detective - huge elements to Christie's work. The colour palette of green and black reflects poisons very well with the dark and murky connotations.
What could be improved?
Working in a sketchbook is still very hard for me, especially creating roughs and thumbnails. I'm very much a "doer"and prefer to get stuck in with making as soon as possible - finding what works and doesn't work through a digital means on screen rather than on a small scale in a sketchbook. My planning and preparation certainly needs improvement in terms of creating quick thumbnail sketches (even if on a wacom tablet in photoshop and printing hem off) so I can get a better idea of what can be successful before taking things further to the creating stage.
What did you enjoy? Not enjoy?
I really enjoyed being in the print room, pushing my ideas further and further, creating kaleidoscope imagery with my cutouts and having the final book in my hands after weeks of work! I didn't enjoy selecting 16 final designs as I'm often quite indecisive and it can be a painstaking process going back and forth deceasing what works and doesn't compositionally.
What would I do differently?
If I were to approach this brief again, I would look into other proportions of the zine rather than just a standardised size hat I chose. It was chosen so it would properly display the repeated motifs and designs but how would other configurations interpret this? If I had more time Would have liked to create a belly band for the zine to give it a further sense of professionalism and an added touch of flair. Both the front and back covers are very ominous and bare bones and don't reflect what is inside.
What next?
I would like to continue making zines as I feel a huge sense of accomplishment now. I used to be scared of the printing process, selecting the pages and making final decisions but I found it much more manageable now. I would like to continue to explore printing techniques and how I can marry them with collage and textures to create a unique tone of voice.
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