EDEXCEL LEVEL 3 BTEC FOUNDATION DIPLOMA in ART and DESIGN
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
Term 1
Stage 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Assignment Title
IV:
IV Date:
Recording and Responding
Media Experimentation
“LONELY HEARTS”
Visual Communication — Specialist Week
Date set
December 6th 2005
Deadline
December 10th 2005
Tutors/Assessors
Rod McKewan, John Ford, Annie Sorrel, Jay
Hargan, Stuart Farmer
Introduction
The project has been designed to give you an insight and taster of the different elements and
forms of Visual Communication and some of its fundamental requirements, ie how to
communicate to a wide and varied audience. The project will be staged with workshops to
help you develop: your research, ideas generation, image making skills, typographical skills as
well as exploring composition and graphical structures.
Project Aims:
 To develop an understanding of visual communication, its role and the opportunities,
touching on different functions and forms
 To develop techniques in how to generate ideas
 To develop techniques in how to communicate original ideas
 To develop an understanding between image and text
 To develop compositional skills with images, text and space
 To develop an understanding of the language of typography (ie the message that one
font gives compared to another)
 To have developed analytical skills
 To introduce deadlines
Project Learning Outcomes:
 To have produced an extensive body of experimental preparatory work: four A1
sheets containing evidence of exploration in image making and typography, generated
through a multitude of media and methods aided by workshops
 To have produced two original magazine layouts with appropriate typography and
containing illustrations from day 1
 To demonstrate methods of how to generate ideas and research
 To demonstrate methods of how to generate images through a multitude of methods
and media, evident in worksheets
 To have demonstrated methods in to convey messages, concepts and meanings from
your initial reference material through the development of work sheets indicating a
variety if ideas
 To demonstrate an understanding of composition, space and form in graphic design,
through the generation of editorial design layouts
 To have learned to produce ideas and final art work in a set time to a deadline
 To demonstrate and indicate analytical skills by expressing and noting strengths and
weaknesses not only in their own work but that of their peers as well. This will be
indicated through a crit of all students work
BRIEF:
You are to develop a body of experimental work that will express, advertise and promote
your partner as a Lonely Heart.
You will need to generate methods to obtain research and information from your partner in
order to create ideas. You will need to explore different methods and forms to convey
messages and concepts to communicate your ideas.
Your final piece will be determined by you. It could be a magazine article, a series of
postcards or posters, storyboards for an animation or film; a piece of advertising that could
be displayed or packaged. You will also determine which media, processes and techniques
best suit your final idea. There are no limitations on size but you must consider will it work:
ie help communicate your ideas in the time you have available. Your approach should be
experimental in the preparatory and final piece.
Note: You will have workshops briefs throughout the project with specific requirements,
tasks and outcomes
Stage 1: Monday am RESEARCH AND IDEAS GENERATION
Develop techniques to obtain information essential for your partner, eg what your partner
thinks they look like? What they believe their attributes are? What are they into? What do
they do? What would their perfect dream date look like? What requirements would this
perfect dream date have to meet? You will have to interview, create questionnaires, record
and tape each other, brainstorm, mind map and storyboard.
Stage 2: Monday pm IMAGE MAKING WORKSHOP
Drawing exercises creating images of each other. You will describe yourselves to each other,
telling your partner what you think you look like while your partner will draw what you are
describing. You will draw each others perfect date. These drawings will be developed through
collage and print — mono print and silk screen workshops.
Stage 3 Tuesday — all day MAGAZINE PROJECT AND WORKSHOP IN COMPOSITION
You will create two magazine double page spreads to develop your understanding of layout
design, typography, composition and structure. Refer to Magazine Brief.
Stage 4 Wednesday IMAGE MAKING AND TYPOGRAPHIC WORKSHOPS IN COMPUTERS AND
PRINT
You will develop your ideas and skills within two workshops during the day. Note the group
will be split into two groups and will rotate through the workshops. The digital workshop will
focus on image making and typographical design in Photoshop. The print workshop will
develop your ideas and image making in mono print, screen print and transfer print. You will
be expected to have generated at least two A1 worksheets and have a final idea to work on
over the following two days.
Stage 5 Thursday PRODUCTION OF FINAL PIECE/S
Open workshops in F Block Digital suite and Print room plus FAD studios
Stage 6 Friday PRODUCTION OF FINALPIECE/S
Open workshops in F Block Digital suite and Print room plus FAD studios
Crit and presentation of final piece/s at 2.30pm followed by briefing of Christmas project
Project Requirements:
 Four A1: preparatory worksheets showing evidence of experimentation, research and
alternative designs
 Two double page spreads: showing at least two images, four columns of text (this
can be your own or reset from a book, article or magazine). Title of article and main
headline of text. The shape, format and media are decided by you
 Finished piece: can be in any form eg poster, magazine article, set of postcards,
storyboards for film or animation, packaging promo or installation or performance
piece. The main requirement is the full communication of your ideas to promote your
partner and their needs in any media best suited to this demand.
References:
Magazine/books
Sleaze Nation, Dazed & Confused, Frieze, Wallpaper, Pop, Vogue, Elle Deco, Tank, Purple,
spark, The Illustrated Ape, Blueprint, Creative Review, Chap, Off Centre, Bordertown, The
End of Print — David Carson, Stencil Graffiti, Skyscrapers — Tomato, Hand to Eye, The
Neasden Control Centre, Pen & Mouse, Postcards from the Edge — David Shrigley, Jimmy
Corrigan, Idea, Graphic, Grafik, Marmalade, Baseline
Artists
Marcel Duchamp, Kurt Schwitters, Fluxus art movement, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns,
Basquiat, Sigmar Polke, Barbara Kruger, Annette Messager, Nancy Spero, Cindy Sherman,
Banksy, Martin Parr
Illustrators
David Shrigley, Dave McKean, David Hughes, Sara Fellini, Michelle Thompson, Gary Larson,
Lizzy Fin, Ingo Giezenbanner, Ian Pollock, Julian House
Typography
El Lissitsky, Jan Tschichold, Rodchenko, Herbert Spencer, Saul Bass, David Carson, Neville
Brody, Jamie Read, Vaughan Oliver, Ed Fella, Attik, Why Not Associates, Tomato, Ray Gun
Illustration Agencies and websites
www.hartagency.com; www.picturemechanic.com; www.peepshow.org.uk
PLUS:
Research using search engines — Ray Gun, Tomato, New Division, Central Illustration Agency,
The Big Orange. Magma Books website and Magnum
AIMS: Unit Assessment Criteria
Work that will go towards achieving Unit 2 must include evidence that you can:
 Record animate and inanimate life, the environment, ideas and creative solutions
 Analyse own experience and given objectives, as a means of stimulating a personal
response
 Create a personal response to observations, feelings, situation, events and others work
and set objectives
 Maintain records of own skills development and working methods
Work that will go towards achieving Unit 3 must include evidence that you can:
 Carry out wide ranging experimentation with traditional and more unusual media and
materials
 Analyse, identify and present the potential and limitations of media for creating ideas
and developing solutions
 Recognise the characteristics, features and uses of a wide range of media
 Manipulate media, tools and technology safely, using suitable techniques and processes
OBJECTIVES: Unit Assessment Evidence and work required for assessment
Work for Unit 2 will typically consist of:
 Records of exploratory work in an appropriate format, eg sketchbooks, notebooks, visual
development sheets, drawings, floppy disks, samples, text pieces, maquettes
 Extended personal responses, eg preparatory and presented work in response to given
stimulus or briefs
 Records of working methods, eg research journal/file, annotations, records from tutorials
and skill workshops
Work for Unit 3 will typically consist of:
 Records of experimentation across a wide range of media in an appropriate format, eg
studies, samples, test pieces, models, film, printouts
 In depth experimental work and presented outcomes, eg single or multi-dimensional,
mixed media or multimedia, static, space, form and time
 Technical information, eg research journal/file, notes, sketchbook, records of discussions
and tutorials
Health and Safety:
It is your responsibility to ensure that your working environment is kept clean, tidy and safe.
Do not block fire routes, leave tools and materials on floors or tables when not in use or trail
electrical leads. Follow the manufacturer’s and studio instructions on the use of any
potentially harmful products such as adhesives etc. Do not use fixative inside the building.
Use knives and scalpels with a safety ruler and cutting board. Do not drink water from the
taps in the studios — drinking water taps are clearly labelled.
Grading:
Work produced for this project will be assessed in week 14. It will be assessed against the
Unit assessment criteria. Although only Units 8 and 9 are formally graded at Pass and above,
we will give your informal grade feedback in order to benchmark your progress.