Design and Media Art Foundation Review 

Over the past 4 weeks I've tasted and explored the 4 pathways that Ravensbourne had to offer on the Design and Media foundation course. I am being completely honest when I say that each course appealed to me and played on different aspects of my own personal strengths in very different ways. What came with this realization was how difficult choosing my final pathway would be. I started the course with an intended open mind and wanted to really explore each path completely objectively. Although having said that, from the forefront I definitely favored graphics and having this particular subject last worked greatly in my benefit. 

Being that before the course I had already gained some life and work experience I felt I had a good starting off point for most of the subjects. But was pleasantly surprised to find myself slotting comfortably back into an educative approach and embracing all the really relevant methods of design that I was discovering. Lens based media was probably the pathway I knew the most about as I have previously worked quite intensely within the television and film industry, and also studied film at a level. What I liked about the classes within lens-based media was how much photography played apart within the pathway, an area I appreciate on a hobby level but not professional. It demonstrated how the dynamic and basic format of photography is centered on story telling. It often relies on an individual trying to convey a message or feeling through a formulated and often decisively structured image. It seemed like a rather simple notion but was in fact something I hadn’t considered.

The fashion and textiles portion of the foundation was probably the subject I had the most fun in and got to let my inhibitions down and emerge self in with no fear of failure essentially. I think I have always felt as though I have very few artistic skills within fashion and textiles, which ended up being a huge benefit with in the classes. Most of the work assigned was practical and allowed us to use materials we perhaps wouldn’t in any other subject. It was the subject I felt overall gave us the most freedom to cut, stick, snap, bend and create with no rules or restrictions that had to be followed.

3DD was probably the pathway I was least looking forward to out of the 4. I believe this was down to my ignorance of the subject matter its self. The start was fast paced and we jumped straight in with a number of tasks to break away from conventional design processes, redesigning simple drawings of bananas into rabbit hutches and such. I naively hadn’t expected any of the pathway introductions to be challenging. I had envisioned pritstiks, safety scissors and inoffensive tasks that would scarcely scratch the surface of the next 7 months ahead of us. So when I found my self scratching my head when a task was set I felt genuine frustration, something I hadn’t anticipated. It was almost puzzle solving, and have the foresight to design and build a structure that physically works. Of course there’s trial and error, but essentially one of the most important elements to 3DD is piecing pieces together, and if you’re really on the money making it look beautiful at the same time. I found this whole pathway so interesting and like I said the most challenging. It makes you think and physically build things, the romance and traditional craftsmanship of this type of design is one of the most satisfying I can imagine. At least that’s how I felt. 

The last and most important subject, for me atleast, was Graphics. I had anticipated this week from the very first day of the course. The style of design and artistic technique within graphics is the one that my own artwork partners best with. The use of grids, precision, correctly replicating the world in the way the human eye replicates the world in our brains. Looking at artists who work in realism and photorealism is something I have appreciated and strived for in my own work from Chuck Close to Gerhard Richter. I found every aspect of the graphics week fitting for myself and I knew it was the path I would be choosing. For me one of the really important aspects of this whole process is to leave feeling like I have accomplished a skill. Even if just the basics, that element is so important and something I feel is relevant within the graphics pathway.

Every subject has been so interesting and so different, I always feel within design so many different elements come into play. If only for a day you get to explore an art medium you knew nothing about you can take that unfamiliar process of design and incorporate it into your own work to build and develop your own individual style.