Studio Practice: OUGD405 - Studio Brief 1 - Photo Frame Design Development

I asked myself the question: 'What two things do people usually put in frames?' More often than not, people put either a face (portrait) of someone they know or a photo of a place (a landscape of some description, or any photograph of a place). I know that in my home a lot of the photo frames that we have are full of photographs of family and loved ones (faces). We also frame photos of our travels and of places that mean a lot to us. I liked the idea of using the statement 'Face or Place' as it was short and sweet, witty, linked perfectly the general conventions of photography and leaves the audience wondering and perhaps asking a few questions. I really wanted the designs to be engaging, catch the attention of the audience. It was important for me to make the designs memorable and least disposable.

'Faces or Places' concept:

In this design, I incorporated found imagery for the first time to convey a message. I brainstormed throughout the design process and tried to determine the most likely 'things' to appear in a photo frame. What type of imagery do people like to place behind glass? I know in my house we usually frame photo's of each other (faces) or places we have been on holiday, scenes we admire, we miss etc. We also like to frame art work, but for the purpose of this brief I looked at what we usually put in quite small photo frames. We usually frame a FACE or a PLACE - and this is where the theme grew from. In this initial design, I used burrowed imagery that I found on the internet. I wanted it to be funny and witty, so I used word play. Instead of using just type to convey this concept, I used an image of Plaice, which is a type of fish. I did this to make the design playful, memorable and less disposable. If I were a customer looking to buy a photo frame, and I saw this I personally would keep this design rather than throwing it away after purchasing the frame. It's something a little more special than some of the designs that are out there at the moment

I wanted to use personal photography for this brief. I really love the effects that monochrome filters add to my photography. I converted my photos to black and white and then added a reticulation filter in Photoshop which gave a really nice level of grain and texture to the imagery. Monochrome is stylish, and I wanted my designs to be make an impact. All the images I manipulated were taken by myself on holidays I have been on this year. The concept was to portray 'places' I have been to in a way that distorts and abstracts them.