Theory as Practice, Histories of Animation. (30th September)

The main point to consider, when considering the history our medium, is that the History of Design and Animation is a living thing that exists in the present, and exists within culture, and is constenty reflected from the point of views of the society of the time.

The Wolfman, for example (created in 1999) is a simplistic and rather crudely created 2D animation that exemplifies this notion as a wild and abstract animation created with real materials, when the aims of the industry at large were to push ever closer to photorealistic with 3D Technology.

Animation, is always determined by the animator. Their influences, styles and beliefs will always be a huge part of any animation, no matter the medium or for it's purpose.

Even two of the very first 'Traditional Animators' show this in their work, with the abstractist Emile Cohl producing work that is nonsensical and has a rebelious feel to it in both its production and its content; and Staurt Blackton creating an animation with very rigid methodologies and ideals, but also containing more coherient naratives.

These two 'approaches' to animation can be seen even today, with cartoons such as dipdap using subversions of the audiences' expectations by altering established scenery and its own rules to keep the movement and visuals within the animation fresh and flowing, rather than providing any consistent story telling .

Most contemporary, and especially 3D, animation, however, uses the alternate school of thought, where the main goal is the acurately represent motion and life of a figure, often times to portray a narative or ideal.

Theory As Practice (30th September)

Theory as Practice, above all else, represents our ability to research, to ask meaningful questions and come to a conclusion regarding them.

Research is  process, of asking questions, and then answering them.

When taking on a research project, it is important to consider 3 key elements, to be able to answer a fourth.
What? The theme of your research, the subject that you want to focus on what it is that you create and what you want to create it on.
Why? The context of your project. Why you want to persue this subject and investigation, and how it relates to you.
How? The approach you'll take, How you will be creating your project, what methods you will need and the tools that will help you acomplish it.

Ultimately, this will help you answer What it is you acomplished with the project, what the outcomes were and how this has both impacted you and the medium you were working in.

This method of research and creating project also works when applied in reverse, and helps with disecting projects that have already been created and understand the goals behind a project, as well as the motivations to create it in the first place.

I aim to use this process to disect the medium of, and advertising surrounding, comics and graphic novels, and how their audiences and messages have altered throughout the years and how, ulimately, this has had a huge impact on the content within comics itself.

Business and Theory: Working in the Industry. (26th September)

The Business world of the industry is one whole half of Graphic Design (and now Animation) that I had always been vaguely aware off but hadn't ever acknowledged.

But with this lecture there's been an obviously stark awakening.

As designers, we possess skills that businesses and executives lack, our skills and even our ways of thinking and problem solving can differ wildly from people that will end up commissioning our work, which is why independence and confidence are so vital for working as a designer.

There are many nuances within the economics that govern the business of graphic design, but the broad strokes of the concepts are relatively simple to understand and apply.
  The basic principle is that the economy is always shifting and bulging as factors in the world change with it, and this will always effect the scope and outcomes of your work, with local companies and markets eventually feeding into the national and global economy as a whole.

The biggest effect the economy will have on designers is on the markets we will be creating for, and when a market changes so will the marketing surrounding it.

The basic concepts of Marketing are split into "4 P's"; Price, Product, Promotion and Place.

Price are all the monetary values associated with a marketing campaign. The costs to create and sell a product, including transportation and administration, as well as the actual designing, as well as all the profits associated with a product.
  The practice of "Loss Leading" is also enveloped within this concept, of making less profit on a product to become a "market leader" on it, rather than make an immediate profit.

Product is a description on the actual service or item being delivered to consumers. What the product's main function is and what makes it better and distinct from similar products on the market are both key things to consider when designing for a product.

Promotion will be the element we as designers will be most involved with, which is how the market you are designing for will be made aware of the product. Promotion, whilst being important as it's own concept, is largely defined by the three other "P's".

Finally, the Place in which a product is sold is a very important thing to consider when bringing a product to market, as a product sold purely on the internet will not appeal to an older audience who enjoy a tactile and physical contact with a product, where as teenagers and younger people enjoy that convenience.

Whilst these concepts are all fall under economic and business field, it's important to understand, as a designer, the tangential information of the fields we're working in, beyond the simple design process that we are accustomed to, and knowing more ultimately means that our designs will better fit the world we are making them for.