Five

Week one

5.2.1

Brief

Challenged to create awareness of neurodiversity in public spaces using technology, and this is what we came up with:

Through the reflection, I tried to explain how we got to our final idea of an immersive experience with headphones; however, I then considered that this idea would perhaps be better off in an exhibition or art gallery that celebrates and explains neurodiversity to neurotypicals and creates a fun and educational environment.

animation workshop

I enjoyed making this. I found it fun to experiment with using a drawing pad to create illustrations on my laptop and to create quick animations in Photoshop. I found the process tedious, but the hands-on aspect of using the drawing pad and pen made it fun.

I wanted to take this further by looking at the running and walking cycles in animation and specifically in games design - the one that Jon showed us was GRIS, and I looked into how the character was designed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8jyNHK60ME

3d Workshop - adobe after effects

I liked this workshop as I found animating using adobe after effects fun. I experimented with using different music choices that I added and then made sure to add a mask on top of the figure to have an interesting composition.

5.2.2 week two

Media Diet

Animation - Figma

I found this animation and interesting way of working - it wasn't my favourite even though I have used figma in the past I find it difficult to work around from time to time.

However - moving on from the main task I made a small lyric video to try and experiment further with Jitter and animating through figma. I discovered that jitter was much easier to work with to produce fast and simple animations - but difficult for complex group ones - such as animating a group of circles in time with music.

Experimenting in Jitter

Using Jitter in sigma to create a small animation - experimenting with the movements of different objects and considering how this could be used in a website design. To take this star design one step further I would use this for perhaps marketing a merch brand - looking at different

leedsdotgraphicsHannah clapham

Photoshop animation - using drawing board

I got used to how the drawing board worked and experimented further with how my animations could look. I took Jons task in his session to create a 2d motion graphic of a bear waking.

For this I added more experimental pieces in the background - including the buzzing noises of the bees, added texture on the bear and added a picnic table towards the end. I had fun creating this however going forward I know I prefer to not draw frame by frame animations as this was incredibly time consuming.

5.2.3

week 3

Workflow

Work + Flow

Where do you feel most engaged? I feel most engaged in the creative section of the workflow, particularly in the experimenting stage, coming up with ideas and strategies for my design work, I also enjoy the research portion and documentation of my work and showing how this can connect to

leedsdotgraphicsHannah clapham

Overall, I found that I am particularly engaged in the section of designing in the creative process where my ideas flow and I can generate a lot of complex projects and focuses towards a brief. However, I struggle with engaging towards creating a consistent focus level in time management and art-working.

This week I particularly focused on creating smaller animated pieces - more specifically using my drawing board in either adobe after effects or Figma.

Within this week, I experimented further using adobe after effects - with the previous material from Jons session I created another small similar animation to practice technique as I enjoy the outcome of after effects animation but the process to be somewhat confusing at times.

5.2.4

week 4

seminar

I programmed using sketch to create a 6 by 6 row of randomised dots. I found understanding the lines of code interesting and thought about how this could be used further. However, I did not particularly enjoy the coding as it wasn't my favourite ; however did enjoy learning how to read code.

Creative coding

The BA Graphic Design course, at the Leeds School of Arts.

leedsdotgraphicsHannah clapham

lecture

Experimenting with Gradientor - I would use this tool to create backgrounds and fun textures - and this tool is faster than typical tools such as adobe illustrator. I found it fun to experiment with and especially to do different colour variations and techniques for fun shapes.

Animation

Jons workshop - using tracking on adobe after effects to follow a car and create a sequence of type that tracks alongside it. Personally, this was not my favourite project as the timings of each frame and the complex additions of the different paths was confusing however I did learn a lot in the process of the variety of work that adobe after effects can be useful for.

5.2.5

week 5-6

Brief - Taking my specimen document and turning it into an interactive animation for children learning to read

5.2.5 project

Project overview - I am proposing an animation that takes my type specimen project further, exploring how typefaces can shapeshift with different tools, and I will try to use the childlike quality of the type to animate a fun, experimental design. My idea is to take the pages of the

leedsdotgraphicsHannah clapham

Animation

Gecko animation

In Jons workshop I learnt how to create an image from an illustrator file and place into adobe after effects for movement. I thoroughly enjoyed this process and was particularly engaged in the segment where we got to create different pin points for the animal. Having the creative freedom with

leedsdotgraphicsHannah clapham

Reflection

The most significant thing I've learnt about technology in connection to design is that it is constantly evolving; therefore, my design process will be. I've found that learning tools such as After Effects and Figma have really allowed me to express my ideas freely in an easier way than many analogue processes. I've found that in future projects, I would love to take animating my illustrations further and work towards creating lots of animation styles, such as type animation and exploring the direction this takes me - specifically, I am interested in a lot of film title animations and character designs. 

My perspective on using tools to further my design process has changed significantly, as previously I was not aware of the multitude of paths this would open up for me, especially since experimenting further with Jitter and Adobe After Effects. 

However, I do find the consistent use of AI taking over parts of the design practice to be stressful, as it makes my intended future career path as a designer that much more difficult. Despite this, in this module I feel I have learnt further about what I am more interested in as a designer and really pushed my technological capabilities with experimentation.

I have found that my creative identity has fluctuated further than expected in terms of combining animating with other processes. As well as this, I think that my approach to using a wider variety of technological tools in the future is definitely more open-minded and interested.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this module and found it integral in exploring my interests and furthering my techniques in aspects of design I was introduced to.