OUGD603 - Brief 3 - Internal Collaborative - YCN Competition Brief - Art Fund - Initial Ideas and Sketches

Initial Ideas 

Key phrases / words and tag lines that could be used within the campaign

Where will you go
What will you see
Discover your journey
Relax take a seat
Relax and Unwind
View Things Differently
Take a new view
Find a new perspective
Found your perspective
Find your inspiration
Escape
See more
Find time
Your time
Make time
Go somewhere
Rewind
Take Time
Local Time
Plan to
What will you discover
Rethink
Refocus
Destress
Confusion
Unwind
Find your local
Passport to seeing more
Take a break with Student Art Pass
Get away with Student Art Pass

Initial Ideas / Sketches 

The idea of destressing or unwinding could be represented through a sliding puzzle which is mixed up. This would then be moved around to form a piece of art. This would create the idea of initial confusion and stress then the problem being resolved with art being linked to this at the end.  

To create the impression of refocussing images of galleries, museums etc could be blurry and initially you wouldn't know what they are, then they would become sharper and the art would be revealed. This would create the impression that people are perhaps lost in whats going on around them and caught up in other things so they need to refocus. The idea would be that only works of art that have caught someones attention would come into focus and therefore distracting them from their worries, making them relax and see the world around them. Markmaking could be used alongside the images to reflect the emotion or reaction the piece of art has had on them to catch their attention. Different viewpoints could be used as a way of showing that someone is engaged and looking at the artwork.

Imagery of lots of doors could be used to reflect all the different places that you could visit with the Student Art Pass. This would represent the idea of doors to new places / worlds and the new possibilities that this holds. This could also be linked to the idea of a journey which is talked about within the ArtFund branding. 

An animation of someone with their worries around them could be animated. These would then rebound into them, creating the impression of their worries going. Pieces of art from galleries and museums would pop up around them creating the impression of getting away from daily activities / life. Things such as coins going down (to represent money worries) , paper stacking up (to represent lots of work) could be animated within this so they increase or decrease.

ArtFund uses the line within their branding to reflect a visual journey which is also used as an underline for words within other elements of their branding. The underscore within the branding could be played upon within designs, with the underscore extending to become a line and physically become the visual journey that it is supposed to reflect and words could then be placed along the line.

The phrase Time to_ works well in reflecting the idea of taking time for yourself and having down time, which was said to be important for everyone within the wellbeing research that Art Fund published. The short and snappy phrase is understandable, with the underscore suggesting there is more to the sentence. Different words from the brief / benefits that they describe in the research could be used after this to show all the positive impacts that taking time out in galleries and museums has for people. 

Typography could be experimented with to reflect each of the key words. Step back could be broken into two words on two lines to create a physical step. Destress could be reflected through a gradual decrease in point size reflecting the idea stress reducing. Reflect could be mirrored below the line to create a physical reflection. Letters within wander could be spread out to create the impression of someone casually walking and stopping to look at things along the way. The extension of the underscore to become a line could also change shape to reflect a journey or the words that would be on the line.

Playing on the idea of Take time and the use of the underscore within ArtFunds branding, the underscore could start off horizontal but gradually rotate like the hand of a clock creating the impression of time ticking on. 

Using the underscore in the ArtFund branding and extending this to a line as a continuation of this idea, it was considered that this line could reflect the different emotions that people feel when they visit galleries and museums. The line could be used in a video as a way of telling the story of people having worries and stresses in their day to day lives, then when they visit museums and galleries they feel much better. Words from the brief and the wellbeing research from ArtFund could be used alongside the line, with the line changing shape to reflect each of the words. The line would continue through the animation guiding you along the journey. Other elements and shapes could be introduced to influence the path of the line and reflect what happens to the line e.g. balance could be reflected by using a triangle under the line to create scales, the line would then give way and raise up again to reflect how scales move up and down until they find their balance. Anxious could be reflected by a squiggly and bunched up line. Stepback could be represented through the line becoming stairs. Uplift could be reflected through part of the line rising up like a lift, then continuing. Reflect could be shown by using the line as a mirror in which the word reflect would be repeated on the opposite side of the line. Time poor could be reflected through part of the line rotating like a clock hand. Oasis of peace and tranquility could be portrayed through the line creating a island with a palm tree on it.

Markmaking could be used to reflect the different feelings that people have in daily life. Anxiety could be reflected through a squiggly bunched up line, a circle could reflect the sense of going round in circles, a line could reflect boredom etc. However when these lines are placed in the context of a rectangle which would represent a gallery or museum space (from a birds eye view) the lines become the persons journey around the gallery and therefore have a different meaning to what they had before. The anxiety line would become interest because someone is looking at all the objects within the gallery. The line which reflected boredom would now reflect a person wandering through a gallery. The line representing the idea of feeling like you've peaked would then reflect the idea of focus as a person purposefully goes over to look at one item. Illustrations of art would be placed in the gallery scenes to make it more obvious that the line represents someone walking about, whilst the lines on their own which reflect the day to day feelings would have illustrations of everyday scenes which make people feel stressed.  

Using the 'Time to_ ' idea, the key words from the brief and ArtFund research would be placed along the line, with the line reflecting the journey around a gallery or museum. Illustrations would be used to illustrate the different places within the video e.g. a gallery within Leeds Art Gallery, of the landscape from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park etc. The line could adapt to reflect either the words used within video or to follow elements of the illustrated landscape / scenes. Alternatively simple little sets could be created for each of the places which would would be in white to allow the illustrations of the artwork to stand out, whilst creating context to the artwork.

Playing on the phrase from the brief 'passport to seeing more' it was considered that a physical passport could be made which students would get with their Student Art Pass. They would then be able to collect stamps from different galleries, museums and historic houses that ArtFund is associated with. Different stamps would be created for each of the galleries and museums, potentially ones could be created for special exhibitions etc. The campaign could partner with National Rail which provides Rail Cards for students, as students would be encouraged to travel to different places to get their stamps. Designs for digital screens in train station / bus stops and banners for the sides of buses would advertise to people who are using public transport already, and promote the use of public transport to travel to museums and galleries. Each page of the passport could house stamps for an area, with illustrations of key artworks from that place. Imagery could be pixelated slightly to look like the imagery used within passports. Poster designs / Digital screen designs would be place specific e.g. advertise Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool etc, which would allow the breadth and variety of places to visit to be shown. Within cities there would be local promotion of museums and galleries, whilst at train stations and bus stops, there could be wider promotion of other cities as people would be using public transport to go to other places. The illustrated imagery and stamps form the passport could be used within these designs, with the stamps and imagery being reflective of the place the poster is advertising. The use of a line could reflect the type of journey people would take to get to the museum or gallery e.g. bus, walk or train. The phrase Get Away could be a good tag line form the campaign as it would reflect a sense of getting away from day to day life and create the feel of going on holiday.  

The face of a clock could be used as a frame for imagery and link to the idea of 'Take Time'. The frame could be used within GIFs or as a video. The clock hands would change gradually with different images shown each time the clock changes. This would allow the breadth and variety of the galleries and museums available to be seen through imagery. Rather than just using the clock hands over the imagery the area between the hands could be blocked out to reflect an area of time that has passed. Take 30 could be another tagline that could be used within this idea. The wellbeing research suggested that taking 30 minutes a day to do something relaxing is beneficial to everyone. Perhaps the timer could show all the things that could be seen within half an hour. 

Within the brief it describes museums and galleries as a place to get 'fresh perspectives'. Using this idea of perspectives it was considered that different perspective lines could be used as a frame for imagery. Different images of different artworks could be placed between the different lines within the block. The lines could be animated to flex and change between different perspective positions, with the imagery changing each time they change. This would allow the breadth and variety of museums and galleries to be shown. Keeping the amount of lines within the block to a minimum will allow the most to be made of the illustrations created. 

Ways of doing things: 

- Illustrated backgrounds of different galleries, with cut out collages of work
- Make sets for different rooms and move through them - make frames and podiums and works of art
- Stop motion - Type physically moves and changes - same with art work
- Coloured backgrounds? Secondary Colours like branding
- Path through artwork and images - illustrations move with interactive elements