Scholarship – 2010:
Design (93307)
Examples of Candidate Work
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Outstanding Scholarship
The brief for this Design submission asked the candidate to promote an Indie Music Festival.
‘Lo-Fi’ that was to be held in Wellington and it required a range of printed material; vinyl record
covers, magazine covers, articles for the magazine, and an A1 double-sided festival poster.
The candidate began by building three-dimensional models and drawing decorative patterns.
These were then photographed along with a range of props. When generating and analyzing
ideas, knowledge of established and contemporary practice recognizable from the indie music
industry is evident. The workbook reveals an ongoing investigation into a diverse range of
contemporary models that has informed the aesthetic. The candidate has synthesized ideas from
Nazario Graziano, Estudio Vorko and Lucas Lima. The illustration techniques used are collage
and drop shadows on subtle textured surfaces to build a range of imagery. These drawings have
been centrally placed with the use of minimal type; the candidate declaring that the simplicity
and legibility of Helvetica allows the text to be more easily read.
Within the workbook there has been comprehensive analysis of the graphic language employed
and this in turn supports the critical decisions that have been made. The images have been
refined and regenerated across the portfolio. The work’s communication is clear and confident
despite its very sophisticated visual imagery. A key strength is the editorial restraint shown in the
placement of image and type. There have been a range of graphic ideas used and explored; e.g.
weight of line, scale versus weight, figurative image versus abstract and geometric forms,
centrally placed forms and use of a variety of coloured backgrounds rather than simply a white
field.
What denotes this Design submission as being deserving of an Outstanding Scholarship award is
the highly inventive and playful ideas that appear to be entirely of the candidate’s own devising.
The presentation is very convincing and the design outcomes are beautifully crafted using a
variety of technological processes.
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Scholarship
The brief for this Design submission had the candidate devise the ‘Amplitude Company’ that was
vested in raising funds for children with cancer through the promotion of a skateboarding
competition. The company required graphic material for both their campaign and for the event,
which was called ‘The Amplitude Project’.
What is noteworthy about this submission was the ability of the candidate to draw upon their own
interests and understandings to generate research and material that has subsequently been used
throughout the design proposition. The candidate manufactured a range of photographic reference at
a skate park within the city, and directed teenagers in a photo-shoot within a hospital. When drawing
towards a logo design, the candidate explored similarities between sticking plasters and the shape of
a skateboard. These similarities were developed into the idea of “mending” by placing two
skateboards across one another in a shape reminiscent of the Red Cross symbol and then using two
sticking plasters in the same fashion.
‘Amplitude’ then becomes ‘ampli + tude’, with the first aid symbol standing in for the plus sign.
Colours have been restricted to black; yellow, shocking pink and grey.
Thumbnail compositions have been presented in a grid format and designed for a double page spread.
Utilizing an aesthetic that draws upon fashion sensibilities of ‘street culture’ the candidate has
successfully investigated a range of different scale and type. A child’s face has been projected onto a
skateboard ramp and then a fragile line connects the ramp to the sticking plaster cross, suggesting
both first-aid and the idea of “fixing”.
Having established an overall aesthetic in the use of a graphic language, the subsequent
developments in boards 2 and 3 play out designs for a poster, a flip-video case, a loading sequence
for a website and a home page. In these endeavours, the candidate has been able to successfully
deploy the conventions of design in the use of type and image that clearly and effectively
communicate the substance of the project.
In the workbook the candidate shows evidence of researching artistic models such as Ben Heine, who
used hand drawn illustration over photographs and Fully Sick Rapper who, when in hospital himself,
used drawings to draw attention to the serious situation relevant to children with cancer. The
candidate has discussed how young people with cancer could make their own videos using this
model; photo-mechanical reproduction in conjunction with the hand drawn, opening up interactive
possibilities for children’s own artworks to be incorporated within the design proposition. The
intelligence demonstrated in effectively thinking through a whole design campaign coupled with
insight into target audience and reception is the main attribute of this submission in terms of a
Scholarship award.
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