This exercise asked me to document the visual world either digitally or in a physical sketchbook. I was asked to focus on things that I find visually stimulating and enjoyable to look at, and then to reflect on what I find.
The focus of this exercise was to get a feel for my visual interests and tastes and to start getting curious about the world around me and notice where design is used in practice. When I initially read the brief, I felt pretty overwhelmed and stressed by what was being asked. I figured this was because I was trying to overachieve and was viewing the task as ‘too big’ to accomplish, and tried to set some more reasonable goals for the visual diary.
I began by reflecting on some research I completed in part two – where I was asked to consider what sort of items I already collect and why. At the time I had made a list of all the places I go to be inspired and how I engage with visual communication and design on a day-to-day basis. I intended to use this as a starting point for creating a visual diary and began working my way through it, collecting things to photograph or add.
First, I went through my studio at home and collected all the books, artwork, and visually inspiring things that I have there. I ended up with a huge stack of stuff and felt like I’d barely scratched the surface. Again I began to feel overwhelmed, so I moved into a different room in my house to photograph things there. Overwhelm, again. I couldn’t figure out why and thought maybe I was just tired and would revisit this the next day.
As I thought more about this exercise, I felt more and more resistance to completing it. I tried to dig deep and understand why it was so hard for me, and I realised that it was because the exercise is aimed at someone who is brand new to design and thinking visually. I was in this place three years ago when I began my degree, and something I commented on throughout my first unit was that I was amazed at how much I didn’t see in the world around me previously – that now, I notice visual design everywhere. I see it first when I look at things around me – even nature I view from a design perspective, taking inspiration from it very easily.
I have a very good idea of my visual interests and tastes. I think it’s obvious in my design work and in my research choices, too. And, in the last three years, I have shifted in how I consume content and how I make purchasing decisions. My social media platforms are full of other artists and inspiring media, I watch TV shows and movies just because they look nice even if I’m not interested in the storyline, I even deleted Twitter and replaced it with Pinterest on my phone just to scroll through visually enjoyable content. I own so many art books and educational books about design, I have magazine subscriptions to inspiring and beautiful magazines, and I have slowly decorated my home with art. Even my clothing and tattoo choices have been in line with my overall visual interests.
The overwhelm I feel in approaching this exercise stems from the fact I don’t know how to document all of this. There is simply so, so much. My life is now completely filled with art, creativity, and things that inspire me. I have actively worked on this in the first year of my degree, and now it is a natural and subconscious part of my everyday life. To document that feels really huge and I don’t know where to start or how to do it without missing out vital things or taking weeks upon weeks photographing and scanning everything. It also feels unnatural to me to document things in this very linear way – I do keep a hold of things that inspire me and that are visually interesting to me, I just don’t necessarily store them in a specific sketchbook, folder, or blog. Whenever I have tried to do this I end up feeling very stressed.
I was asked three questions in this exercise, which I feel I am confidently able to answer without needing to navigate the overwhelm of trying to collate everything in my life to represent my design interests.
Firstly – I was asked if there were dominant themes that emerge in the things I collected. I have explored this question thoroughly in the previous two units. Experimental, abstract, and ambitious design work is appealing to me – be it extremely minimalist or overly maximalist. I like bold colours and clever usage of colour – and clean, functional fonts. Hand-drawn and illustrative typography just doesn’t connect to me in the same way. I’m very heavily inspired by vintage aesthetics – taking various elements from throughout the 1920s-60s and combining them in my own work. I appreciate design most when it’s functional and simultaneously beautiful.
In terms of areas of interest, the areas I am inspired by and the areas I want to work in myself aren’t necessarily always aligned. I find myself inspired by absolutely anything and everything, but I specifically want to progress into advertising/branding, or editorial work. I seem to be drawn to photography and posters often, as well as books and interior design. I don’t really have any desire to work directly in these industries (maybe designing posters!), but I get a lot of my inspiration from the work done within them.
Content-wise, I really enjoy nature, geometric shapes, and silly, nonhuman, minimalist character designs. I also deeply appreciate pattern and surface design, and this was my original goal when I began this degree. My interests have shifted since, but my love still remains. I also really enjoy heavy textures used in design. I often feel like design work without textures feels naked!
Secondly, I was asked What does this tell you about your own visual language and cultural awareness? I think that my own understanding of visual language and my cultural awareness are very developed. I can recall the process of developing this awareness throughout Key Steps in Illustration and my fascination with noticing how almost everything around me is designed by someone at some point. I may not find it easy to organise all of this and display it together – but it definitely is there.
I’m not sure if the visual language used in my own design work is consistent with my inspiration. Sometimes I feel like when I approach a brief, I get stuck in designing what is ‘supposed’ to look good, rather than what I’m actually drawn to and interested in. I’m trying more and more to push myself towards my inspiration and be a little more expressive in my work. I also often feel like I don’t have a consistent style across my work, but other people tell me it’s very recognisable. I just feel I have a lot more to explore and room to grow in establishing a consistent visual style.
Sometimes exercises are not compatible with my brain and way of working, and this happened to be one of them. The underlying goal of establishing my own visual interests and learning how to see the world through the lens of design I feel I already have met – I just do so in a different way. Forcing myself to complete this task would not have inspired me, but would have made me feel reluctant to work.
Learning Log 