Postcards

I started to cut out the leaflets, it's quite hard to get them to fit perfectly, but it portrays our idea clearly.

When putting the jigsaw pieces together, I realised that the images do not fit together perfectly, they are at least 1cm off and the text doesn't flow to the next piece :(

ring

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O109108/ring/

same ring- but the engraving doesnt look like a smiley face!

Revised Illustrations

Descriptions for Flyers

1- Teapot


Object: Teapot
Place of Origin: Britain, 1951
Museum Number CIRC.18&A-1952
Location: Making Ceramics.
                Room 143, Case 2, Shelf 2


An example of typical bold design and bright
colours popular during the 1950's. This particular
model of teapot was from Heal & Sons LTD,
the leading retailer of domestic style at the time.


2- Cup


Object: Cup
Place of Origin: Tonola, Mexico
Museum Number: 295-1872
Location: World Ceramics
                Room 145, Case 42, Shelf 2

In 1805, Spanish women used to eat fragments from

these Bucaros de Indias believing there to be

gastronomic benefits. Not only used to flavour water,

they were also used to purify polluted water and even

detect poisoned liquids.



3 - Guitar

Object: Guitar (Les Paul)
Museum Number: S.12 - 1978
Location: Theate & Performance
               room 103, case1, shelf A

There was at least one person on drugs at a gig by "The
Who" in 1976 where Pete Townshend smashed his 
guitar live on stage. The lead guitarist and
songwriter for The Who, his guitar is currently on 
display in the Theater & Performing Arts collection.



4- Cello


Object: Cello
Place of origin: Venice, 1700-1800
Museum Number: W.4-1950
Location: Musical Instruments
                Room 40a, Case 55


In the 1750 the cello had all but replaced the bass viola. 
This one belonged Jean Gérardy, a well known Belgian
cellist and accompanied him around his European 
and American tour from 1890 until 1920. 


5- Telephone


Object: Coral Mobile Telephone

Place of Origin: Britain

Museum Number: W.17-2003

Location: National Art Library

                Room 76, Case 21

An example of the first hand portable mobile

telephone from 1985. Although hardly pocket

sized, with a very limited battery capacity,

it sparked a revolution that is still continuing to this day.

6 - Ring

Object: Jewish wedding ring
Place of Origin: Central or Eastern Europe 
Museum Number: 453 - 1873
Location: Sacred Silver & Stained Glass
                  Room 83, Case 8A


The architectural for of this ring is actually
based on Salomon's temple; the ideal Jewish 
home. The ring is supposed to symbolise the 
couple's future together and the inscription 
of Mazel Tov which means good luck.

Revised Copy

• hot water goes in a [teapot]
• another type of [pot]
• is one used by musicians
• who might play [guitars]
• which looks like a [cello]
• this sounds like hello,
• often the first thing you say on the [telephone]
• when it [ring]'s.

The Copy

Right! What do you think?

I need the fact about the yummy vessel! but this what i have thought so far.

• in 1905 spanish women used to eat flakes from water vessels for gastronomic benefits.
• vessels are also referred to as pots,
• this is a slang term for drugs
• there was at least one person on drugs at a gig by 'The Who' in 1976 where Pete Townsend smashed his his guitar live on stage. which is on display in the Theatre and performing arts collection at the V&A.
• another instrument on show in the V&A is a cello (i need some information on the cello??)
• cello sounds like hello.
• hello is commonly used to answer a telephone
• There is the first mobile phone is also on display in the 20th century collection at the V&A
• Phones Ring,
• there is a ring in the jewellery collection at the V&A 

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS??

Print Implimentations

We thought that it would relate to our concept of Linking obejects and would also interest the target audience more if our 'postcards' were in the shape of jigsaws, so they could be collected and put together, creating the journey, and story. It makes the 'tour' of the museum more personal and makes the visitors feel as if they are working out the story them self which makes it more interesting for them. It also connects the pieces in the collections phisically as well as visually.

We also thought of the places we could see our adverts being used, the main places we thought we could have them would be anywhere near publich transport as the majority of visitors are from london, and would be travelling on public transport.

We can see our designs in:

• Buses: on the outside oif a bus, inside, in the straps you hold on to (bookmark width strip) bus stops.
• Trains: on the walls of the tunnels, moving adverts, inside the carriages, along the esculators, on the platform.
• Oyster card carriers, maps.

Outlines

Here you are my hard little workers :)

Yummy Vessels!

 

Rux

Final 6 Links of Seperation

Teapot -> Spanish Vessel pots -> Pete Townsend's Guitar -> Cello -> Hello -> First Mobile Telephone -> Ring

Teapot:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O19557/teapot/

Vessel:
Rux has images

Guitar:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O141374/guitar/

Cello:
http://members.shaw.ca/wmacza/cello%20014.jpg 

Mobile:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101208/telephone-coral/

Ring:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/37943-popup.html

These are the images we will be using in the 6 degrees idea that we will be presenting to the V&A.

Third Crit with Jake

Friday 22nd January

2.45

We started off discussing the idea that we had resolved to stick with: 
6 Degrees of Separation/ Links.


Jake thought that the main concept was great, just that the links we had made were not interesting enough, we needed to make the links between the objects more exciting, entertaining, and furthermore appeal to our target audience. This could be achieved by making the links between the objects silly and maybe giving the links a narrative. 


For example, Queen Victoria's knickers can be found in the V&A --> when Queen Victoria first saw the statue of David, she declared that his 'manhood' should be covered up by a fig leaf, that ornamental leaf can be found in the museum. We needed to make these links more lively and appealing.


A way we could do this is by making stories up, ridiculous situations/ scenarios..
for example:
You can find James II spectacles in the V&A --> as can you find Elton John's Glasses --> Elton John is  gay, likes penis --> you can see many in a lot of the statues and so on.
We also thought that we needed to make the facts relate to British Youth cukture more, Jake found taht he related to Elton John's Doc Martins and Pinball Wizard Tommy(?) and these aspects of the V&A were what appealed to him, so we need to focus on what will appeal to our target audience rather than appealing to people who visit the museum already.
(Rolling stones logo, Vivienne Westwood etc.)


Ideas for narratives:
Random Story Generation, words out of a hat.


We also spoke about the format of our leaflets posters, how we thought if would be good if the leaflets could be collectables and they would tessellate to make a big poster. Jake suggested to look at Tangrams.

The shapes of our leaflets would not have to be boring rectangles but made up of different sized triangles and other shapes which could all be put together to invent stories/ narratives about the objects. 
For example, one shape could say: the vases were used by... and another could say Queen Victoria or Elton John or The rolling stones... to store drugs or as herbal remedies and so on. Different arrangements of the shapes could result in different narratives.


Another option would be to have the leaflets postcard shaped and have the paper embossed, textured, coloured to make them more engaging. 


We decided that every element of our project needs to be more relevant and engaging, especially the story element, maybe through the use of humour?
Also, the red and blue that we used in the presentation sheet could be used as the basis of our colour scheme and the colours are bold and bright, representing the national colours of the British flag, yet remaining contemporary. 

Angeli

Illustrations

Here's some illustrations I did today based on the links we've made with a few of what we thought were interesting objects in the V&A. First there's Elton John, then a teapot shaped like an aeroplane and finally a Mochino handbag that kind of looks like an ice cream and therefore links to the tongue in the original Rolling Stones logo kept in the museum.

Rux

Navigation

I thought we could use a similar visual navigation system to the London underground tube maps to help direct visitors to different rooms in the collections.

In response to this idea, I created rough outline drawings and put the following draft leaflet mock up:

Angeli

Statue of David/ Fig Leaf

Just playing around with the idea that Queen Victoria didn't approve of the nudity in this statue? cut and paste idea?

See you guys tomorow x

Ferg

Dressing Up

"My Dressing Up Box"?


I don't quite know how to visualise this, maybe a pop up leaflet or phonejacker style animation with them all popping up?


I'm drawing a bit of a blank here, but could do with some thought? 


The idea of dressing up and playing is one of the best ways of interacting with the collection, even for the 16-24 age range (as show by the feedback from when we went to the V&A first Tuesday back).


But would that be at odds with what we've done so far?


How about we make up some drafts/ thumbnails as a group and see if its worth doing or not?

Aneeka

Language/Narrative

One of the elements that will make or break our campaign is the language.
We definately don't need to change our idea at all, we just need to lighten it up a bit with playful narrative.

I know this is ferg's bit (and i dont want to step on any toes but i had an idea when i was washing up! ;) )

IDEA 1
jake mentioned that describing some nonsense story in a enthusiastic way that is really engaging, interesting and draws the viewer in.

 ("...and he had accedently shot him so, you'd never guess, he jumped into the plane and who was sitting next to him? have a guess...go on! go on guess.! Elton John! YES! Elton f***ing john!")

i know, the above story's a bit stupid, but maybe a stream of consciousness is a way to go? like the first thing that pops into your head? or if we say a sentence each and go around the 4 of us a few times to get a paragraph worth of languge. HUMAN EXPRESSIONS like pauses and "umm"s and "ahhh"s would be quite endearing and realistic but definately NO waffle! as that's how we'd lose the viewer.

another idea for this is to get a basic "fill in the blanks" and have the object, some famous people names in a bag/hat/sock (vessel, gun, radio, elton john, mick jagger etc.) and then pick out a word to fit in? again nonsence and playfulness but it might work? probably have to have some amount of control though, so if it doesn't make any sense and sounds ridiculous, then we can change it

IDEA 2
Again that stream of consciousness narrative; so we randomly select, say, 4 of the objects/people we have got so far relating to the v&A- it might be mick jagger, the wine cooler, shag room, keyboard for example.
On the spot, we make up a story linking them- the more ridiculous the better.

I have a voice recorder that would be really helpful in recording each of us as we talk and if ferg gets a laptop out from the central loan store tomorrow? we could immediatly put them on there, listen to it and if there are 1/2 good ones we can make a script of it and then begin putting it onto leaflets/posters/postcards? Probably getting a bit carried away here!

Im starting to finalise what formats we'll use now so we can start running with it tomorrow, and start piecing together images/language/colours for final.


see you all tomorrow!
Aneeka

Response

In response to Ferg's post below, I roughly created this image on illustrator to show a visual path we could possibly take using a varying thickness of lines to give the image depth:

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O18805/radiogram-model-447/

Angeli

Michael Craig-Martin?

I was thinking about the design for the background on our leaflets? Craig-Martin has a bold style that would translate well with the V&A?

Ferg

Initial Ideas for Routes

1 - Confronting Stereotypes
Such as a sophisticated, well dressed lady hammering iron/metal (therefore incorporating object/s from the ironwork gallery) or a butch 'geezer' type sewing- part of a costume/textile/tapestry. For this we would effectively be using objects that contrast drastically from the stereotype that we have shown to suggest that the V&A holds things to interest all kinds of people and that much of it would be a surprise.


2 - Objects Out of Context
Creating campaigns that places an object into a contemporary functional situation.
For example, Ferg found a chain mail glove that reminded him of an oven glove. So to put such an object in context, we may have a series of photographs using the chain- mail glove in a kitchen taking various foods out of the oven, therein making an object that is expected to be displayed in a case an object have a practical use and largely suggesting that the majority of object in the V&A were designed to have a functional use rather than for purely decorational purposes.    


3 - Ghost of the Past Still Present
Show objects in the display cases as they would appear in the museum, with people looking at objects; in the background echo/ghostlike images effectively reenacting how that object would have been used; for example the display may hold swords and the ghosts in the background would be sword fighting.


4 - Personal Opinions
Interviewing people within the age group of 16-24, talking about their favorite object at the V&A. Most effective as a short film/teaser trailer/viral, the people would be set against a white background (keeping it really clean/simple/sophisticated) with the object exposed over them, and the type running over the clip like an autocue.


5 - 6 Degrees/ Links

Second Crit with Derek

Tuesday 19th January

1.30

Today, we had a crit with Derek discussing our initial ideas and then deciding which concept we would go with over the next couple of weeks.

• Talked about various ideas (chain mail glove/ oven glove, ghost of the past, double exposure, mystery of an idea, 6 degrees of separation.)
• Brainstormed 6 degrees of separation, make it more of a route, thought of the benefits, vehcile for story telling, memorable, introduce other collections, links to Chris Moyles Radio 1 show therefore appeals to market.
• Need to explore our visual language, typography, use Aneeka's handwriting or a fractured font to reflect the idea of the objects connecting. 

• Make a visual brain storm, sheets showing typographic language, imagery, styles of imagery, bring it all together. Backgrounds, textures, patterns, layouts.
• Roll out - implementations, what you will design. Game in the museum. Leaflets =  tours of the museum. Print adverts, moving image? Interactive game? Lines of navigation.

All of the points we have discussed today will need to be explored further, and we will have to visually represent our ideas, decide our final designs for Friday, when we will present to Jake. 

First crit with Dave

Friday 15th January

2.45

From our ideas, the themes that stand out are:

• Discovery (of the building, people, artifacts) "I Found This..."
• Intrigue/Mystery- an object without a story, enabling you to inflict your own upon it, a close up of an object that hints at its origins or what it might be but requires you to work for it- intrigues you to go to V&A, explore, and find it for yourself. 
• Six Degrees of Separation- vehicle for injecting interesting facts/stories, in a format people are familiar with and so may be more likely to remember

Aims:

• Keep in mind 'is it right for the V&A?' at all times so as not to go off on tangents
• Some medias may be more appropriate for ideas than others
• Play to the strengths of the V&A- richness, culture, sophistication

Initial Ideas and Research

Our first impressions of the V&A seem to be very similar: A maze full of interesting artifacts.

things we liked:

• Interactive Pieces - We were all impressed at a replica of a chain-mail mitt. We like the interactive quality, we could pick it up and see how it worked. We were trying to think of ways to make it relevant to a modern audience. The mitt looks like an oven mitt and thought about having a picture of someone wearing it taking a pie out of an oven. 
• History - As we looked at all the pieces we realized that at some point they belonged to people and were used frequently. So we thought about an image of a ghost playing a piano or shooting a gun.
• Layout - We found the layout of the V&A baffling. but quite liked the almost randomness of it. for instance the Iron workings were just up form the  the fashion section. We started to think about the variety of people that come to the V&A; a huge cross section of ages and classes.

Inspiration

When thinking about previous advertising campaigns that have appealed to our target audience of 16-25 year olds, we thought of Cadbury's.

These adverts have no relation to chocolate, but because of their obscurity, they are very memorable and stick in the viewer's mind. However, memorable they may be, did they actually improve the sales of Cadbury's Chocolate?

Cadbury reported that sales of Dairy Milk had increased 9% from the same period in 2006. Market Research firm YouGov showed that 20% more people looked favourably on the brand in the period after the advert's general release than in the previous period, therefore this type of advertising does appeal to the public. It was also widely shared on social networking sites and received over 500 000 hits on youtube during its first week of airing the advert.

Group Roles

We have assigned each member of our group defined roles with things to do:

Angeli: Designer & Technical Overseer

Aneeka: Production Co-Ordinator & Researcher

Ferg: Typographer & PhotographerRux: Illustrator & Copywriter