Mark Ecob’s blog

Tutorial notes 301025

– BOOK EXAMPLES – expand them out, a couple of slides on the HOW of it – survey, for example, a product, a person, a joke. Emphasise findings on tone of voice, ask the audience, how do I explore that fine line between adult and kids working together on a book? Could it be that it’s interactive in some way?

– Unfolding video of the passport, then all of it own one slide, then ZOOM IN on one section to show mix of facts and fun. (Remember to buy black card as background for this).

– Make it feel ALIVE with the opening of the passport, use AMPLIFICATION.

– INCLUDE resistance examples – Issuu, correspondence with printer. Gives context, the politics of iconography.

– Final iteration of passport – too much going on in terms of the mix of styles, illustrate into it, use guilloche and stamps as basis, then draw over the top, ask the kids to work into it too.

– Make styling of latest iteration more guilloche-based, tracing it with pencil. The green line in Cyprus device.

– Could there be a drawn line connecting it all? Like the final version?

– Overall look to go into more depth on the slides, that are just notes at the moment. Give it detail, consider them in context with the rest.

e.g. go into the books slides more, examples of one of voice, pick out stuf you find interesting, and say “never from a specifically parent and child POV”

– Finesse video and audio elements in there.

– Use kids audio interview in there ‘THANK YOU’ at the end from Ella, for example. Or Do you know what Empire is? “No”.

– Watch out for big claims! Do a check, give samples if you need to expand on something

– “THROUGH TRIANGULATION I REALISED THAT”…  OR “FOUND MY COORDINATES” Emphasise tension between Exhibitionist reference and my project, situate it properly in wider discourse

– How do I stand out? Think about flow, entertain as well as inform

– Go simple, treat the audience as neutral, don’t transfer any assumptions out there. Do they know what colonialism is?

– What are my hopes and desires on how this project will evolve going forward? Interviews with parents, children’s publishers

– What about accessibility? Is that to be considered later in unit 3?

ESSAY

– Zack – audience. Need to evaluate the kids visual language.

– Lots pf testing needed, mention that in the writing.

– Acknowledge internet brainwashing of British colonialism, what we’ve been taught – ‘four centuries of being told that you are ‘superior’ to brown and Black people ‘leave their stain’ Salman Rushdie, quoted p155 Stolen History.

– Exploration: Media and Methods section – look to expand on researching the iconography, and how I interpret that going forward 

– Questions at the end – remove the 2nd one. remove the 2nd one: – ‘Would my kids benefit from a deeper understanding of colonialism and how it is reflected in their everyday lives?’ USE AN EXAMPLE OF ELLA HERE, contrast her statement of ‘No I don’t know what it is’. ti: And ‘I’m learning about the slave triangle at school’. There’s a gap there.

– Next step – first stage, loads of testing. Anything to do with kids requires that. Start with white parents, change it to teacher or publisher or black/brown British families to get their perspective. ETHICS. Think about broader audience testing as a CONTROL to the experiment, professional one. They might say NO this is a bad idea! Pastoral care contact (Sarah)

ETHICS AND AGENCY 1 281025

– Original written from the point of a freelancer

– Interesting how its changed over time

 Reflecting on Rick Poynor’s brief history of the First Things First manifesto and its predecessors, discuss: 

What are the most urgent ethical issues facing graphic designers now?

– AI – fastest changing factor right now. Why? Inspo sources, how we think, basic skills, degradation of skills, moral question, betraying something but I do see the value. Linked to climate change – using it hurst the planet

– Environment/climate change

– Wealth inequality – as the rich get richer, do we need to do more commercial work?

– Trends – less originality? Following trends has no point, or does it?

– Inspiration comes mainly from more digital spaces – makes designers anxious or affected emotionally, TENDENCY TO WORK DIGITALLY and find start online rather than offline.

– Addicted to screens

What would you add to a FTF manifesto for 2025? 

– Individual agency to work offline

– Self care and a metal health aspect, it doesn’t talk about looking inwards

– No stealing

Selecting one of these ethical issues, discuss: 

How do the current conditions of the graphic design industry enable or inhibit your ability to address this issue through your practice? “Individual agency to work offline”

– It fails, we’re always online and need a structure for offline

– Human connection – working with people, mentorship professionally in an age of remote working

– Balance and discipline personally, remembering to mix on and offline

– Jonathan Crary, 24-7, Somerset house reference

– https://thedisconnect.co magazine, you can only access it with wifi off

– “Legacy media” – Ben’s definition for the good old days of the Internet

– Survey, interview, co-design – relevant to my project now? I wonder if there is a set of principals I can define for my next stage. 

– Forensic Architecture mentioned, project, Grenfell Tower.

– Book of the Homeless

– Soldiers, Wolfgang Tillmans

– Audience – Waste Age exhibition design, news ways of doing exhibition graphics that is more sustainable. 

ETHICAL CONTEXT – BENEFITS

– Environmental – Is a book the right format? Did they reduce costs by considering colour, printing, format? 

Would it be better as a throwaway format or is the printing, the permanence the idea, to claim space.

THEY COULD HAVE IGNORED ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN FAVOUR OF THE SOCIAL IMPACT

– SOCIAL AND RACIAL. Micro, really goes into detail. You want to meet the people. Does it need to be macro or not? See a wider view?  The specificity is the beauty. Where did the supply chain end and begin? Lack of Bias – you can make up your own mind as wider contexts are not mentioned. Platforming happened, university degrees, Workshops, Education aspect.

– DESIGN AND LANGUAGE.  Therapeutic ends. 

Is there a way to disseminate or franchise this?

‘The workshops, as well as the printing of the book, was entirely crowdfunded. All profits from the sale of the publication will ultimately be shared between the authors and fed back into The Accumulate Art School for the Homeless.’

There is an assumption that people want to get off the street! Some don’t.

– ACADEMIC. The curation of it is minimal.

———————

GROUP EXERCISE

– Could it be a group of homeless artists?

– Make it global, benefit more people in more places

– Syndicate it – get it out there.

– Could it be a pack?

OPENING NIGHT

– EMPTY PRINTED BOOK IS SEN TOUT INTO TEH HOMELSEE COMMUNICTY 

– NETWORK  OF CHARITIES

– ARCHIVE

– THE PUBLIC WOULD COME IN, to really connect with their stories.

– No money would change hands, instead advice, connection, resources, a place to stay.

‘The Homelessness Network is a connected group of creatives who have nowhere to call home. Sketchbooks were sent out to a set of locations globally, to be filled in and shared by the local homeless community. A few pages, a poem, a chapter, whatever the contribution it has been included in these once-empty sketchbooks books to make one unfiltered narrative of lived homeless experience now. Tonight, these books are being exhibited in community spaces around the world. The contributors will all be present to share their stories and connect with you and each other out of mutual respect. 

No money has changed hands in the homeless network, instead contributors and readers can share advice, resources or a roof for the night fort the benefit of everyone.’

(Anna did the design, I wrote the blurb, we call discussed the concept)

Tutorial notes 231025

(Showed latest essay printout, laid up into 8pp A4 booklet)

– Good comments on text and how it has evolved

– Discussed detail of The Exhibitionist’s podcast

– Global versus personal perspective valuable, that’s where the question is

– These subject have been tacked from a global perspective, so much so they are not relatable.

– Generational perspective discussed, questioning what you’re taught and take in subliminally

– How can something like this allow you to learn and grow TOGETHER? Is there a moment when you can learn WITH your parents?

– That could help us talk about the subject more

– Hierarchy at play, confrontation.

– Can the generational gap get narrower if you DECIDE to learn and do it together?

– Interview with kids mentioned, need to reflect on it properly

– My son said ‘I don’t care whether Henry VII farted or whatever, I wanna hear about both sides of the argument’.

– My kids either don’t care or don’t understand, so there is something there. 

– Tone of that needs to be, like Proctor reference, not adversarial, open, true.

– Tutor – kids live the in the present, but how does a history affect what they’re doing NOW. That ay be how to get them to engage. (Blend into narrative in next iteration).

– BUT from an educational perspective, UK gov has given responsibilty to local level on teaching colonialism/empire. My research says it is lacking and still under discussion. 

– So, research on kids books is necessary – looked at post conflict kids books in Germany, Japan, handling sensitive subjects. 

– “I don’t give a shit” factor is still there, so if this is to be a kids book, it needs 30% instructional, 70% educational. Horrible Histories mentioned.  Dutiful acknowledgment needed.

– Soft, approachable, relatable, include dates, facts. 

– Current iteration of book discussed, imitation cover, intention to do an illustration. Hide in airport, leave on floor, bookshelf

– Foiling cover this afternoon with Helen from Letterpress

– Should this be under the radar pretending to be a passport or brightly colored and very much say THIS IS A BOOK.

– Faux passport better right now for this.

– Projecting forward, consider multi-edition character-led series of countries.

– Edges discussed, spine brought in, folding, trimming

– Varying colours and bindings, concertina discussed.

– Interview discussed again, described narrative form of poss children books, their perceptions. Guided them through the places we’d been without pushing a dictatorial narrative.

– Continuing landscape across the frames, topography, hints of site specific thing, character led ‘Joe and Ella’. Introduce games. Tutor – worried about audience, they need to owing and connect with the story. Can there be places for them to write in there? Games and adults, something for a family to take on a trip?

(CONSIDER HOW IT MIGHT WORK)

– Be realistic about what’s achievable before sinposium

– Symposium – how can I get the audience to relate to this story? Charlie and Lola mentioned.

– This going towards narrative story, with little bits like a crossword or a puzzle or an area to write

– Consider age that the book would be aimed at?

– 20 Snippets exercise – completed, laid out points of Unit 2 and have started to rough out a skeleton.

NEXT STEPS

– Foiling this afternoon of cover

– Experiment with the internals, some kind of experimentation with narrative form, print it

– Get into the next piece of writing

– Skeleton 5k final summative writing

TUTORIAL NOTES 161025

Student group feedback:

– SIMPLE, straightforward contrast between my work and reference

– Laid out very simply and clearly

– My reference has more direct approach versus more subtle approach of family

– Answers the brief directly

– More context, Zack didn’t understand immediately, explain some elements more clearly – the history etc

– More context/depth, for example the stickers need contextualising, make no assumptions in the audience

– Point out difference of spirit between both of the projects, deconstruct spirit for reference, whilst mine is in tension by being softer like a father figure, gentle in nature, hard v soft in texture. “The black doesn’t always have black in it, and the white doesn’t always have white in it”.

– Balance needs to be struck, colonialisms brought good things too!

– Too easy to whitewash?

– More context to legislative angle, parliamentary debate, the curriculum side if I’m going into my kids. Needs to be fairly general, just a couple of examples.

Tutor feedback:

– Target audiences –  definite it more, talking about it from an early age. Reference is targeting adults only, I’m looking to target both in my potential output

– What does it mean to talk about these things from an early age? This will make a big difference to the content and tone.  Adult preconceptions – you either hate or love by that point, but kids are much more malleable.

(**SIDE NOTE – Tone of kids interview could just be an exploration, don’t lead them, how will that reflect upon MY position as an adult. versus theirs as kids**)

(**DO I NEED TO INTERVIEW KIDS FIRST BEFORE COMPLETING THE AMENDED WRITING – YES**)

– How the kids are taught their point of view

– In my project, I’m doing something that can be shared, reprinted, distributed. Reference is static in that way, specifically the tours. You take the tour, you leave. Its done.

– Ideally make the publication digestible, without assumptions, this piece needs to be neutral or at least true to 

– Expand mediums paragraph, more detail please.

– ‘Where are the missing pieces daddy?’ – that’s rich, explained on it once done interview.

– Pride, object to be projected. Is there something to be expanded on here? WHY? The publication will be reproduced hopefully.

(Look over the interview, this looking like the kids book after all)

– This will be a PROJECTION – put in more detail about what, when, how it could be…

– Look over the notes! Difference between autistics for kids and adults?

– Discussed definition of semantic system of graphical relations (Drucker), see brief. We decided that the form of writing or graphics is inherent with the act itself. 

– Loads of interesting references – Jenny Holzer, Gesture of Writing (Vilem Flusser), A Line Which Forms a Volume 8 (Glasgow zine), Calligams, Street are ref ‘Pref’ (UK artist).

– Group exercise – thewhitepube.co.uk/funding-library – analysed 2 examples of Project Proposals (see image). VERY interesting analysis of a standard form used to get funding, its function, audience, grammatical form and visual/material form. I looked at these in a new way

– Difference between TENDER and PROJECT PROPOSAL – Ben, showed interesting examine which was much more visual than a Project Proposal format. Something about agency within a tender over that format.

– Reference – journal for artistic research, jar-online.net

– Great exercise making own captions, progress made on project in the process, redesigning captions will inform my next writing submission.

TUTORIAL NOTES 091025

(3 x home bound passport mockups presented with large prints made in digital print studio at CSM)

– New passport method presented, versions, cover tests

– Used my personal experience as a narrative to show colonial layering, everyday quality to it

– Infinite rabbit hole of British influence

– Tutor: likes idea of own journey to talk about this, wherever we went there was an impact of the UK. It is really impressive how much influence is there. Interested in conversations with kids, explaining to them.

Repercussions still affecting people today.

– Discussion of education, and its shortcomings in the UK to acknowledge colonialism.

(SIDE NOTE – dig up legislation found last project for education reform)

– Not my job to be a social historian, use my kids’ reactions to it

– Script kids reactions? Could this be a conversation – ‘why do the Egyptians have pounds?’. 

– Could be a good project for new parents, it’s a big, scary subject and important, but can it dealt with in a simple way – use peoples kids.

– Toolkit for a parent to talk about colonial pasts, parent and child together

– A piece about children’s understanding of colonialism, does it have to be a children’s book?

– Could there be different chapters, 10 different chapters in 10 different passports?

– Could this be by country? Colonialism through traveling, memory

– I can set up conversations with my kids about places that they went, but they won’t remember. 

– DIRECTION 1 – a piece about the lack of colonial education in schools? Or DIRECTIONS 2 -TAKE THIS AND LEARN WIT YOUR KIDS, LEARN TOGETHER WITH THEM. This is for both. It’s what has happened for me in this process.

– References brought in – Michael Rosen book (colonial kids book), The exhibitionist / ‘Uncomfortable Art Tours’. “Display it like you stole it” badges

– Make it location specific

– Come up with a narrative style for this, can I use the kids somehow? Get them to pose or have a conversation with them.

– Record some convrerstaisn with them, test the book. Age group? Ella (12) rather than Joseph (15).

– Kids colonial city guides?!! “Colonial Tourism”?!

– Tutor – keep big format? Fun! Make something interactive, disposable, kids can colour it in.

– Poss title – ‘have we been here before?’ Will that work?

– Formatting is interactive and playful, text, content, tone, FUN. When we look at rejects about passports, it’s not fun, it’s serious and adversarial. 

– Maybe there’s a collection in unit 3 of 5 different colours?

– Is the narrative conversation based? Guided tours, visit spots?

– Keep execution simple prior to symposium.

LOOKING AHEAD

– confirm reference for writing component

– Kids book concept, develop alongside – production value, script, illustration, look for references

– approach Publications for advice on binding

(Now booked in to start binding test in publications, 16th October 2pm+)

– Consider bright colours for book cover, ‘lemon’ fan foil substrate ordered 091025

– Foil: Magnesium alloy plate, 8 gauge, advised by Helen for use in machines in Letterpress workshop, quite: ‘65mm x 105mm on 8g would be £29.01 + shipping + VAT.’

Tutorial 2 notes

– Current passport very sterile, tutor shocked by lack of life in current Post-Brexit passport. 

– Dezeen post-brexit reference discovered, past passports discussed, lots of British content.

– Prado guidelines, EU security passport design, discussed, care of Chris Lee talk last year

– There’s definitely something there, broader passport examples discussed, Scandinavian countries. Keshavarz mentioned, fat passport means status symbol.

– Passport methods mentioned again, can’t replicate closely

– Foil in letterpress cover studio

– Fold out poster great / tutor

– Size? Should it be bigger? Have to weigh up folding.

– Map split cover setup discussed, or book like passport opening discussed for fold out map.

– Big newsprint mockup from last week discussed, is that right?

– Tutor – current one feels more polite! It closes nicely, of course, but what would happen if it’s bigger. If paper is thinner, it could work

– Sam – thicker passport speaks of amplifying content, loud message

– Keep cover the same size

– May have to just print one size.

– Is folding perfectly possible?

– Interrogate next prototype for next week

– What about the insides? Could it be a timeline? A Colonial past, not a slogan. Single guillcohe illustration.

– Could it be an amplified or contextualized version of my last subverted passport? MY story, accented with context and facts.

– Infographic in there? Data? Time, fact etc

– Maybe a single printed position on the back?

– Current size mockup size is doable in the time, but can we go bigger?

– Sam – people shouldn’t be judged by their mistakes, so can this be more co-design? Apathy about colonialism. Against white guilt. Identity should still have integrity whilst acknowledging the past. He sees people washing the past, good and bad, away.

– ME: I want I share my understanding, not make this adversarial. Probably will end up leaning towards the colonial, but not executed in a sensational way.

– Tutor – Fine balance. Lack of acknowledgement, causes, side effects of colonialism deep, broad, myriad. Universal truth.

– Could there be some co-design going on?

– Danxi – could this be public art? In a space, invite people, react to it by whiting something down? Film the process. LOVE THIS IDEA. 

– Could this be tested or a workshop? Giving to people, film their reaction. Giving it to my mum for example? Give it to a mate from uni? Tendency to make it a white-bash.

CONCLUSION

– Direction is good. Could be educational, understanding the past. Could be much more in your face? Try to avoid big words, like ‘decolonising’. They have been overused and lose power. Borders, etc etc. Don’t use usual parlance to do with colonialism.

– Change of decision aesthetic , paleness, of the new passport. Could I make insides really colourful? Or REALLY sterile. I think it need sot be warm, human, appropriate. Could it be beautiful? Narrate these whole stories through using or reusing iconography of the passports.

JOSE REFERENCE:
https://raulsilvacuevas.com

DANXI REFERENCE:https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/chris-steele-perkins-london-family/

– With the above in mind, could it be an embellished versions of my story already? An amplified up version of my last response.  Use documents but also narrative illustration? Extract elements, pared back, negative space.

Takeaways from X Yr Studio:
– References for criticality, vocational, employment within higher education: H Carasso, R Dearing, J Brown.
– Codification of employability into higher education
– S. Collini: ‘career relevance became a baseline requirement’
– Acknowledging that there is a tension between criticality and the commercial
– Away from ‘atomized individuals to collective practice and solidarity’

Tutorial 1 notes

• Presented Positions through Dialogue essay, file available here: SITE2.pdf
• Essay presented with a series of screens asking for the viewers’ documents and granting permission to view it, mirroring themes within
• Summarized essay and takeaways from 2 references, Laura Knight (UAL) and Daniel Lowe (British Library).

Some example sketches below….

Tutorial notes 250925

– Position prior to tutorial: ‘My passport embodies colonial Legacy that I oppose. In the current climate of immigration debate in the UK, how can I use graphic communication design to enable the same realisation in others?’

– Key moment in dialogue 2 mentioned, where I realized that mirroring the practice(s) of designers in the British Library Exhibition, and my key references Jana Traboulsi, I found MY position for the first time in relation to the work. I saw that the studio practice and subversion of my document, directly changed my position(s) DUE to the practice itself. Indeed, Graphic Design as research, which in turn changed me.

– Barriers and theme of permissions discussed, paper granting permutations to do things.  Interesting quote from Keshavarz reference:

‘Power is not necessarily expressed in the form of mastery or domination but is played out in the field of interactions . . .  the task may reside in identifying those moments and localities in order to rearticulate them’ (Keshavarz, p. 69)

– Intention is not to make the results of this practice adversarial, rather connect using co-design, against immigration debate in the UK at the moment

– Visa system discussed, money, time, competition, jobs, geography

– ‘Love interacting’, tutor approved of interactive element

– Reference supplied: Santiago Sierra, Venice Biennale 2003, where an artist only permitted one nationality, showing passports, to the show:

https://passerporter.weebly.com/passport.html

– Invisibility within the passport discussed, is there a way of continuing the subversion of the passport (re immigration) in a really authentic way, research the METHODS of real passport making?

– Subtly discussed, the absence of something like the George Cross on a flag, neutering the image. 

– Too obvious makes the message less impactful

– Authenticity discussed, passports looking fake

– Authentic subterfuge hard to achieve in this timeframe, but subtlety isn’t.

– Can I take a set of images and the text and just neuter them, removing an element, the sting of it. Ref protestor image from London recent immigration march, covered in far right iconography but eating at a frying food stall.

– Cold War Steve mentioned – satirical collage artist

– Is there a way of taking imagery across the press an swapping it over, or adding something that is unexpected

– Format discussed, to I stay in passports using the guilloché illustrations above, or do I break it out into different medium?

– Different ways to go – really understanding official passport making methods, what are the tools? Perforation discussed. Very obvious that it’s fake. It’s not as clean! If you don’t get to that level of detail. It could look like parody.

– There is a seriousness to it? People need to trust the document, may not believe it.

– This is a serious project, needs authenticity, but that it very hard to achieve in the time that I have

– Either I show that attempt now, or start with one method and explore?

– Stamping mentioned, real ones used but still obvious.

– What if I forget about this shape? 36pp passport, what of oui put them together in an A2 page. How would it look it all of the design is in one place. Maybe that’s where you integrate the elements. Explode it out into ONE PIECE. It could be a narrative or one image. An exhibition piece. Once it’s all big, it becomes something else, not an imitation. I becomes an AMPLIFICATION. Not imitating. It’s something to try!

– Coco Fusco reference supplied: Turista Fronterizo, immigration online boardgame…

https://www.cocofusco.com/turista-fronterizo

– Interested in games? It takes away from the seriousness. This could easily become parody. What if that is intentional?

– Avoid funny or sensational tone of voice

– Is there a way of supersizing this, to lay bare the truth of this?

– Can I gut last term’s piece, and then put it together? Can I overprint?

– Sam – by folding it and all as a big poster will have an interesting effect

– What will happen with the opening up of the passport? What message will that have? Trust the making here, pull it apart again and put it back together!

– Reference supplied: Nolan

THOUGHTS ON NEXT STEPS POST TUTORIAL:

– Could this fold out into a new piece?

– Could that represent the evolution of my positions?

– Could its act as a flag of sorts? This book collaged thing?

– Make the document interactive?

– Amplify the message, what s the intention now?

WHAT IS THE LATEST POSITION OR INTENTION? HOW HAS IT CHANGED?

– How can I amplify the personal discovery of colonial legacy from the subversion of my passport, in order to share that realization with others?

(Thanks to Joy for the pic!)

10am-5pm screening of MAGCD 1 video essays in response to Positions through essaying brief, May-June 2025.

I was little nervous today of showing work amongst the rest of the year, but also very curious to see how my work fits amongst my classmates. Is my enquiry far enough along, have I articulated it?

Broadly speaking, I would say yes. Everyone has the same kind of ongoing nature to their enquiry which develops with discovery of references and studio methods. I feel in a good place for the rest of Unit 2 and into next year.

60+ videos were shown over 7 hours. Having had some experience in Adobe After Effects now, I can start to pick apart the methods by which some videos were produced. There were really interesting techniques but also devices to show work, other students were really receptive when I asked how their videos were done.

Highlights for me included a video using a bed as a canvas on which to project, use of a news program device, gender pay gap in design, corners, reimagining the grid system amongst many others. 

My only feedback would be that the day was too long to get into all of the videos with any depth or discussion, perhaps that will come with the Symposium in the autumn. The video essay has done its job, of forming my enquiry and giving me a solid base to push forward with.