OUGD603 - Youth Culture initial ideas 1

To start off the visual approach to the project, I began by gathering several visual research sources and looked at inspiring works that are similar to how I picture the final production to look. As the themes of the project will involve rebellion against authority, I felt it would be necessary to find imagery that was either dark, thrown together or rough in some way. Therefore, the visual approach can emulate a sense of revolt against values, authority or tradition. One other way this could be shown could be to use a layout grid that is suited to traditional forms of design and create design that does not strictly follow the guides. This way the design could in itself show how it is rebelling against a guide or set of restrictions, much like youth rebellion. 

Here are several examples of existing works by designers on Instagram. I particularly like how the designs are all likely to have a structure in terms of layout, but choose to ignore exact alignment. This gives the work a more thrown together feel but also reflects the consideration of type placement, imagery and colour. One designer on Instagram that stood out to me was 'super.unknown', for his use of religious imagery and how he combines these images with contemporary graphic design trends, such as glitch effects and stretched font.

Starting off the initial ideas for the process, I began by testing different variations of black and white, inverted colour and duplications of layers. These were inspired by trends in contemporary design and aimed to give the imagery a darker tone.

I added the barbed wire vector around the head of the figure, as if it were a halo. This was inspired by the paintings of religious icons and the recurring halos featured in them.

I then thought about how caution/danger signs could be experimented with in a similar way. At this point I found that the project would need to consider the ethical implications of the visual approach. This was because it would be using religious imagery in a way that could be deemed offensive to some.

Completing an ethics form for the project would ensure a way to address the concerns of the project.

I also edited several variations of existing religious images in the same way. This included paintings and stained glass windows, depicting figures from Christianity.

At this point it was necessary to consider what other avenues could be pursued in terms of production. One concern I still have at this point is whether to use religious figures for the visual approach or if it would be wiser to consider authority in general.

This may lead to other visual approaches to be researched, and as a result a change in the visual process.