Time to be an ass.

I have created a quick survey on survey monkey in order to get a broad range of thoughts on skateboarding, s naturally its time to share it around Facebook like crazy for a few days. Hopefully it will be enough to get that mural started.

logo

Although I haven't explored it in the way I intended to as of yet. I have come up with what would be a great logo for something similar to this project or personnel branding for myself. The icons I am using to create a pattern I think would also  make a great logo mark. I am currently a bit "meh" on my current branding for myself so this is something I will definitely look into after this project is all set and done. Which if it wasn't for the deadline would feel like an eternity.

 

These are the icons I am currently working on/with and I think there is potential for a nice simple branding there. I may finally crack the case of my self branding after 4 long years. Still not getting my hopes up.

I have mentioned that I have had a severe lack of motivation for this project even though it is about something I love. I have had time to think about why his is like how it is, and I came to a conclusion. The lack of motivation came from the lack of direction I had given myself to the project. As up until recently I have not been 100% or even 50% at some points on what I actually will end up doing for the project.

I can compare this to the wheelscape brief I did for a previous module. For that I had lots of motivation and was keen to get the best work done I can. This brief was also relevant to skating but from the start I knew exactly what I would be doing, so the motivation kept coming.

Now that I am honestly at least only 90% sure of what I am doing with that 10% being things which only minor variables I now I must plan a little more to get to 100%. I have some motivation now as a purpose and end result is known.

Post tutorial thoughts.

I have looked into the possibility of having skateboards printed for the show, and simply put it is not possible. There are only a few places which offer to print skateboards to start off with and even less that does them in such small quantities. Not to mention the turn-around time on these things is 2-3 weeks. Which I do not have enough time for.

This has left me to think that getting blanks skateboards is a possibility as well as something to act as the mural for people to write there thoughts. Now that I have thought about it I think it is vital that a skateboard be present at my show, just to help people initially know what it is about.

After today apart from my workload I am for the first time happy and confidant in the development of my show. And I know now that my goals and message of the project can be achieved.

I have had a tutorial and a lot of information, help and direction on my project were raised, confronted and questioned. However I felt that there were a few points which felt the most important and the best to help my project.

The first was that I'm looking into what skating means to people, however I chose to show quotes from professional skaters. When it became clear I should be targeting real everyday people. That is skaters, skaters mom's, people to hate skateboarding etc. etc. This would be more eye opening to people and allow for a better perspective of what skateboarding means to people. This also lead to a interactive mural at my show, where people could write down there and then what skating means to them and what they think of skaters. I really like this idea as lots of scruffy handwritten scrawling's would fit right in with the aesthetics of skateboarding and street culture.

The second was expanding on this idea of skating is more than just skating and how it becomes more of a way of life to a lot of people. Sure there are some that just skate occasionally but to others it is skating every day its the clothes the language and everything else. So expanding on this in a sense of my deliverables would really help the grind box becomes more relevant. As currently it seems like a prop or afterthought. So having multiple deliverable formats would be good. Such as adding t-shirts and board designs.

A new restriction

I have recently come to realise a restriction on my project I had not previously thought about. At least not consciously anyway. I have realised that another size restriction is in place I will have to think about. This is that I am restricted on transport of goods to and from the gallery since I only own a car, and I do not wish to rent a van, I will have to make sure that regardless of how many pieces I make to skate they will have to fit into my car. However I can possibly imply a jigsaw effect on the pieces should their be multiple.

Construction is also an option in the gallery space however I am sure this is not the best way to go about this, as painting will have to be done there as well. This is a possible last resort option however.

The two things I have previously made for skating are around 5ft give or take, and these fit comfortably into my car. at a guess I think around 7ft would be pushing it to fit in, however 6ft is probably a sweet spot. 6ft is also a potential sweet spot for actually skating something like a ledge or a rail, as its long enough to lock in a full grind and not too long that balancing out the entirety of the ledge or rail is a big issue. Height and width of the structure also comes into factor when considering it for transport, but these when put into perspective are obvious when they are unrealistic for travel. More details soon on these restrictions as my skate-able piece comes closer to construction.

running out of time.

So I have recently come to terms with how little time is left for this project. I believe it has given me a little boost in motivation which I needed greatly. I have for some reason had little motivation for this project over the last few weeks, and work rate has been rather slow compared to what I would normally be.

However time is less than a month so I better change my ways if I am to put on a good show and final get my hands on the prize of a degree. I have however done a vicious amount of planning recently and know exactly what research to do and what ideas to explore. So I guess the last few weeks haven't been a complete waste.

brief disappointment

I have tried writing my own brief for this project for myself. And so far I found it very difficult. I have mostly struggled with getting down and expanding on the core things which should be in the majority of briefs, which I have marked as

• project aim/objective
• project background
• target audience
• work required
• budget
• deadlines

Although some information is set for things like the deadlines, I really have little to put down when it comes to the project and background. I was a little disappointed when all together I had written less than a page. However I really can not currently think of any ways to expand upon what I already have. Which is more or less just the facts.

With the Gallery space being changed to a much much larger one I may be able to go back to my original idea of having a few skate-able objects, to almost make a small skate set up of sorts as space is no longer a real issue I have to be concerned about.

I think a larger set up in general will have more impact than something small, and this is something I would like to capitalize on and get as much attention as possible as it is a public exhibition. This also means shifting the priority of my project back onto the skate object. rather then the backing graphic design materials, which is something I originally wanted to do.

motives

once again I find myself struggling for motivation to do much towards this project. And I am completely unsure why. I have lots of work planned ahead for it as well as lots of creative ideas I want to try out and put to paper properly. Yet really struggling to find the inspiration and motivation to act. I should have the end result and a good public exhibition as a good source of motivation. However its not really doing much for me at the minute.

I am also not 100% sure on my what my end result will be as of yet either. I fear this is what is causing the rather slow development. Without a solid cause I stray a little.

I have tried the method of logo and idea generation mentioned in an earlier post. This was having the inspirational images for the logo on the page serving as a direct influence for it. I have to say it has worked quite well I found that having a constant visual reference helps with generating new ideas. I am keen to try this out for more things and I am also quite surprised by how helpful it is to have a visual reference constantly there. I have obviously used things as visual references before but never had some on the same page I am working on.

ruling out a certain skate-able piece.

I have decided to rule out the possibility of building a set of stairs for a skate-able thing, this was never really on the menu to start with, but I have now officially ruled it out due to things like the amount of space and size even a small 3 set would need. But also the complexity of building one, is much more than I think I am capable of, especially given the time I will be able to spend on it. Even though a stair set is a key and important obstacle within street skating.

I think my best option is to stick to really simple objects and skate pieces, and possibly use them as building blocks for an interesting set-up. I think this would be a simpler and more creative way of going about it, as there is always the potential to re-arrange the pieces to create a new set-up.

Here is pro-skater Paul Rodriguez or P-Rod popping a switch 360 flip down a rather popular triple set within pro-skaters. 

Project tempo.

Now that I have had time to think about the short deadline of the project. I really am for it. I have said before I prefer short deadlines as they force me to work rather than slack off for a long time and then work. I am delighted at the opportunity to have to produce lots of high quality work within such a short deadline.

I have always wanted to work to shorter deadlines doing 1 thing at a time, which is the way I expect things to be while freelancing. If I were freelancing I would be very careful not to give myself too much work, as even though a pass result or bad grade may get you though in education, in real life it is about quality for sure.  So not overloading myself with work will allow me to focus purely on one thing at a time, and not get muddled up. Despite this I expect things to be rather slow when freelancing.

New way of idea generation.

I have started my sketches and ideas for the project officially now, and I want to try a new method of coming up with a log, rather than my usual way of doing things. Which I cannot clarify how i really come up with things.
I came across this http://www.behance.net/gallery/Glasswear-Industries-Identity/7095255 whilst looking for inspiration and on top of being a really good piece of branding I like the images which show the inspiration. So i want to take this method of having images in front of me and possibly drawing directly from them to come up with something. I am hoping this works and can give a good piece but also hoping it will allow things to go smoother and quicker than my usual methods.

early stages.

I am in the early planning stages of the logo and even name for the project. However I know I want to draw directly from skateboarding for the creation of the logo and branding. I think this will be the best way to create a solid campaign thing.

project developments since the last module.

So I have had a 2 week or so break for Easter from this project and I know learned I have little over a month to get this done. So that pretty annoying. Although I did no physical work over the past two weeks I have had time to think and stir over the project and where I think it should go in terms of development. 

I do now know what will be my outcomes for the project in more detail now, I plan to still make the skate-able piece and the branding for the project. But I think the main thing with the branding will be a series of posters which will accompany the project. The poster will have information about the history and key moments for skating. This will hopefully allow people to understand skateboarding more. 

With this development of the project I think that the message of it is slightly changing also. Its original intention was to show that skateboarding and the skate culture is not what it is being stereotyped as which is trouble causing youths etc. but it is in fact quite a creative and passionate culture. This seems to of changed to more of informing people about skateboarding and its culture and history which will hopefully allow people to understand it more. 

I think that the building of a skate-able piece may of lost its meaning a little with this turn, however I would still like to create something. This will hopefully still carry some meaning and intention rather than just being there.  It seems like a little bit of a grey area for me at the moment, however I will continue development of the branding side and think about the possibilities of the skate-able piece. 

Start of the final project.

This is my blog for my Final project module on the Visual Communication and Interactive Media course at Manchester College. This blog picks up where my professional pitch blog left off and will see the continuation and development of the remainder of the project.