Steven Fry BBC Video. "Spreading the Word."

Writing was invented about 5000 years ago. It was introduced because there were more people around and people wanted to take care of their money. The first examples of writing is all in numbers because that's all they needed at the time but eventually this erupted in to different alphabets across the world.
Reading and writing isn't classes as natural or essential, it is just something we have all picked up over the years. A tribe in North Thailand once had scriptures written on buffalo hides which were heated to keep the ink in place. Unfortunately it smelled so good, the scripts were eaten. Since said many hundred years ago, the tribe have just remebered their history and stories. The man interviewed could hold up to 53 genereations stories just in his head. He was disapointed at this because he felt it wasn't enough. He complains about the school system of writing everything down but he does see that this is a good way of preserving the tribes culture forever.

In the National British Museum, there are parts of the Bible stored away. these parts were all to do with taxing and record keeping. Actual writing began in Ancient Iraq. They began a vague alphabet but didn't realised that any form of literature would eventually formed from this. There is evidence of large blocks of clay that were imprinted on. These are classed as similar to draft books or sketch pads.
By 1200BC reading began to take off. It was around this time that the Rosetta Stone was created and this managed to translate the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

Phenesians were the main reason that writing took off. They created a writing style and showed this to most of Europe and other parts of the world that were interested. In their point of view, the more who could read, the better as this meant that they would be able to trade together.

When this writing took off, it made religion more set in stone. Priests and Rabbis were all educated meaning that they could read, write and also remember stories well. they began writing these stories down which has helped keep them going in circles for the last 2000 years. The Wailing wall is a particularly precious and religious place for Jews. they come here to pray or to leave prayers in the wall. Some people even choose to write out the prayer and leave it in the wall. Only the Rabi is allowed to empty this wall, which occurs twice a year and gets burried in the mount of Olives. The spread of religion and the spread of reading went hand in hand. Peple became hungry for publications but for now these were only available to the rich.

A shrine in Jerusalem called The Shrine of the Book holds the so called "Dead-Sea Scrolls." These scrolls were so precious as they are said to have been hidden for 2000 years until 1946 when a Shepard stumbled across them. There are about 900 parts to this and not all is legible any more but there is a special light technology which flashes different colours of light at different velocities which is slowly helping to decode what the original text said.

The second miracle is printing. Writing was a very long winded way of recording happenings and this could take up to 3 people's life times just to finish off one book. Printing was first seen in China about 400 years before it was discovered by Johannes Gutenburg. The only reason printing didn't take off in China was because of the thousands of symbols that meant it was too difficult to grasp. The Chinese pictograms must all be drawn in a certain way otherwise it would mean something completely different.
Johannes Gutenburg realised the Chinese technique and was able to create the ever newspaper in England for Norwich.
Geoffrey Chaucer was the first person to have his literature printed out. He was very conscious of having his work printed out badly and specifically wrote to make this not happen. The printing would have pleased him.
The more and more books printed meant more demand for libraries. One man, Tita Rose began his mission to create the worlds first encyclopaedia and to have all the knowledge he could possibly get in to this book even if it was completely irrelevant.
Over the years, technology has changed the way we view books. The radio, TV, computer and eventually the internet have been invented but each time not replacing the Book.  We are now living in a time of transition but so far we have proved that one medium does not kill another. if anything, since the Kindle and the iPad have been invented there have been more use for books as people don't want them to disappear. It has been proved that there are different types of reading. This calls for both the eBook and the classic book.
A lady who goes by the name "Belle D'Joux" joined the sex industry but found that talking about this to her friends would be socially unacceptable. From this she said she found it "natural" only to start up a blog to release these feelings that she often wanted to share. Over time people have been taking more and more notice of her blog and find that it is very similar to telling a story.
A new invention called the "3D virtual reality cave" is a totally amazing new way to read books. the word are now interactive and float up on a screen in front of the reader. Although this is a fantastic idea, it is obviously too expensive to achieve at the moment but maybe it will have it's time in the near future.
There is also another new invention called the "never ending reading machine." it is based like a book and even has paper to change the page with although the new technology in it is that the book is projected on to the page via an eBook system. When you are done reading the page, you can just turn the page and this interacts with the video and changes to the next slide. This is a suitable technology for all generations as all you have to do is press a button to turn it on and then turn the pages appropriately.
Another new type of technology that scientists are currently working on is a story telling movement garment. The original person wears this jackets and goes about their daily business. This is then recorded in a lab. Later on maybe thirty years down the line, an ancestor or another person can wear the same jacket but then see what a day that person went through, achieving all their movements as it would carefully guide you. This is still in the Perfection process but hopefully will be available soon.

Answers to Graphics and Fine Art Questions 19.10.2011

Notes from 19.10.2011

2012 Olympics logo.. What do you think?!

On the London Olympics website (http://www.london2012.com/about-us/our-brand/index.php), they talk about the way this logo was designed and what they were wanting it to look like. they say "the number 2012 has become our brand. We wanted to incorporate the olympic rings but also have a taste of London there too." This image was aiming to be the joining of people from many different countries in all different disabilities or not.
On the BBC website(http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A23431826), they have let people express what they think of the logo. They have also explained what colours the design comes in and how that will be used in the run up to the London Olympics. Some people on the page expressed dis-taste for the design- "Although i understand that designing a logo that is representational and impact provoking is very difficult, this proposed logo is very bland and unimaginative. I have designed one logo that could be used for the sailing, and i would be happy to design a few logos that maybe, in my opinion, would be more acceptable. I just hope that more imagination goes in to the opening and closing ceremonies, thanks for reading, C.J." 
Most other people on the site have also taken this opinion of the logo.
On the Creative Review website, (http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2007/june/2012-logo-lance-wyman-says-give-it-a-chance) the writer has expressed how they thought that some previous years have been much more suitable. eg Mexico in 1968. The American designer took a font that was funky and relevant to the era and then created a whole image like this. It has been said that the new 2012 logo is "Too plain" and that it doesn't look like it represents anything other than a year.
The designer of the logo was chosen a year before the world saw the image. Wolff Olins' work has been criticized by nearly the whole world. Is it time to re-think this image?
The London Metro website let fans describe what they thought of the logo and it's choice of colours. The results they received didn't sounds as positive  as most would have hoped. 'I would say I'm left speechless but it's more muttering and bashing my head against my keyboard… Fear not, should you not like pink though as it comes in a further variety of vomit inducing colours – yes, it's a pick and choose wreck of a logo.' www.diaryofawebsite.com


In my opinion, I feel that the logo is very bland compared to some others from the past, although it's bright colours look punchy and they stand out. Many people seem to be outraged by this logo after having waited a whole year to see it, it is rather disappointing and i would have hoped that the designers would have come up with something better. Maybe it is due to the small budget that is in mega over-draft to the building of the Olympic Stadium that causes cheaper designs to produce? either way.. England does seem dissapointed. 

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/51740-the-london-2012-logo-the-blogosphere-is-angry#ixzz1bEtfcmdV

Response to Vivienne Westwood reading.

Author: Blanchard, T
Extract title: Vivienne Westwood.
Book or Journal Title: Fashion and Graphics.
Pages: 62-67

In this section of the book, the company of Vivienne Westwood is described. It shows how cleverly she has set up the business and how the logos are now so  well recognised that they are practically her signature now.
Over the different ranges you can see how each of them reflect her flamboyant personality but still use the original themes of delicate and pink with gold royalty.  Each different section of her label has its own character with represents the sector. These are good as they show the lifestyle and personality of what the typical person who would be interested in wearing the brand, should be like. Red Label looks very chic and ladylike, whilst the MAN label takes a more caveman and natural feel.

Response to Lecture 12.10.2011

My 4 favourite photographs from this lecture is,
1: Harold Edgarton's Drop of milk splashing in to a saucer of milk because of the way it has been captured so perfectly.
2: Christopher Kane on the catwalk, because he has taken something that has become so taboo in fashion and made it more acceptable. This brings forward a notice that not every one has to look like Twiggy!
3: Santiago Sierra because his idea seemed so outrageous and obscene and why would any one do that, but in the end it proves a very valid point. The way he has taken this to show that you can buy a person no matter what their race of financial situation shows just how much of a commercial age we are in.
4: Finally, the idea of photographic Manipulation. The Picture of Stalin's wingman being completely erased from history is a little scary. I have been fascinated by this idea as it is very similar to a book I studied at A Level- 1984 by George Orwell. This makes it seem like his predictions were more like a premonition.

Lecture notes and task response from 05.10.2011.

In this lecture we looked at the importance of photography and how it can be used in most situations. The presentation showed how there are many issues to do with photography that can show the fine lines between how risky subjects are. We have looked at different styles of photography and how it has changed over the years. The task set was to read the press release on Blackboard and to look at the interview with Sally Mann. The interview was good because it showed Sally's personal views on photography and why she is so interested in doing this as an occupation. She doesn't seem scared what people will think of her work as she has found it interesting enough to turn it in to art work and she isn't copying any one else's work or styles. With regards to the pictures of her children, she claims, "I am just a mother taking pictures of my children doing things that children do."  the response to the press release is in the pictures above.

Responses to Lecture 28.09.2011.

In this lecture we looked at "What is Creative Practises?" and what does it involve. We looked deeper in to each section which was- Visual Culture, Fashion, Graphics and Photography. We have discusses what we will all be looking at over the next year and in to what detail we shall be studying each part of creative practises and the history of each part.

Evidence of Creative Practises! -Graphics, Photography and Fashion.

• Vaseline Tub shows Graphics and also in a way fashion. The tub is fashioned in to a way that makes   females want to buy it. Vaseline have also used colours that women find appealing too! 

• Krave and Lucky Charms cereal boxes show Graphics and editing.

• This DVD case shows all 3  creative practises. Photography of the actresses' on the cover, Fashion frpm the clothes they are wearing and Graphics from the back ground and writing on the cover. 

• This George Forman grill packaging shows Photography and Graphics from his picture and the pictures of the food you can cook with this grill. The Graphics are the different styles of typography and the circles at the bottom which show the customer what they are buying.

Inspiring Website

Kenzo this is an inspiring website I have found.

Inspiring Video

DECO Vintage fashion Lookbook 2011 by Abz36

I found this video on youtube and I found it instantly really interesting.
It's a fun way to create a fashion blog video but also gets the new season
fashion across easily and in a fun way!