Studio Brief 1 - Message & Delivery: Research

News Story and Cycling Research 

BRIEF

Create a body of visual research in response to a story, issue or theme found in the national press tomorrow, Tuesday 23rd October. 

BACKGROUND/CONSIDERATIONS

The willingness and ability to formulate informed opinions about your subject matter. 

In addition to being aware of events, concerns and popualry held opinions of the world around, also to consider the tone of voice with which they are reported. It is important to read the stories thoroughly and research issues that are raised. 

The stories can be serious, humorous, questioning, opinionated, bold or subtle 

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS

The story, issue or theme must come form a newspaper published on Tuesday 23rd October. 

DELIVERABLES 

A body on research into the story, issue or theme of your choice. A physical copy of the newspaper. 

After receiving this brief and i had collected the newspaper there was only one story i wanted to do, being a massive sports fan and cycling fan the Lance Armstrong story was a easy choice. I picked up 2 newspapers to try and see if there was a difference in how they published the story. 



The first newspaper is the Daily Telegraph 

 This is the front page of the sport section in the daily telegraph, so they made it quite a important story. Not only this but it is made to be very serious naming the article 'SCUMBAGS', a term used to describe Lance Armstrong by the head of the UCI Pat McQuaid. So the Daily Telegraph is focusing on the negatives and is the seriousness of the story. 

This was the image and picture on the double page spread after the opening page shown above. The story is about Lance Armstrong who was a professional American cyclist, he had testicular cancer, which after recovering from, then went on to win Tour De France titles form 1999 to 2005. The Tour De France is a road race that is held in France and occasionally passes through neighbouring countries, it is well known for being a extremely gruelling race. This years race (2012) covered a distance of 2,172 miles. 

   Lance Armstrong had always had a perception of being a cheat hanging over him over the years he had raced, the story that has broken is that 7 of his team mates at the time of winning the tour titles have confessed to taking drugs, or blood doping and that they had seen or taken part in doing so with Lance Armstrong. The evidence against him was so convincing that his 7 tour titles have been taken away from him, he also might have to pay back the prize money ( £6.9m ). Armstrong is yet to admit to taking drugs, which is surprising because he claims he is innocent but is not protesting against the outcome of the trial. 

Next i started to collect things that people had said in the newspaper about the story. 

David Millar, a british cyclist and self confessed ex drug cheat himself. Said that this matter should never be forgotten, also saying, 'remove Armstrong's name from the record books, but his story should be retold as a warning to young riders'

These are a few things the head of the UCI Pat McQuaid had to say on Lance Armstrong and other cyclists. 

I next looked at the Independent 

The independent had this small article shown below which was the first section in the newspaper on Lance Armstrong, as you can see it was a very small section on him on the 9th page. This article is basically just explaining why Lance Armstrong has had his 7 tour de france titles stripped away from him. 

When you get to the sport section of the independent it is not the first page like it was in the Daily telegraph, so maybe the story wasn't being taken as seriously in this newspaper. There was however a double page spread on the story, but it was less to do with Lance Armstrong himself and more on peoples opinions, like Bradley Wiggins and then a lot of focus on the UCI president Pat McQuaid. 

Article below 

As you can see the story in the independent isn't focused on Lance Armstrong himself but more to do with other peoples opinions. The first page is about the under pressure UCI president Pat McQuaid, he was questioned about his organisation had covered up a number of Lance Armstrong positive tests that had coincided with a large donation from Armstrong himself to the UCI, a claim he rejects. 

'UCI has nothing to hide. There were no positive tests from him... Its certainly not a resignation issue' 

The next page is all about Bradley Wiggins, very little to do with Lance Armstrong, so unlike  the Daily Telegraph they are trying to turn to a positive of the sport, the british cycling hero Wiggins. The independent also looked back at when Lance Armstrong was the savour of the sport, before the allegations of doping. 

'The 1999 race became the 'Tour of Renewal' with a custom-built saviour, called Lance Armstrong'

After this i started to collect information on what other people had said about the story and other things that are happening around Lance Armstrong. Such as his live strong foundation. 

Mark Cavendish on the sport itself. 

'It doesn't happen in other sports, not because they are clean, but because its not got the structure cycling had'

United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA) on Lance Armstrong 

'a "serial" cheat who led "the most sophisticated, professional and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen"' 

Tillotson on how much Lance Armstrong may have to pay back 

'We paid a $1.5m bonus for the fourth win (in 2002), a $3m bonus for the fifth win (2003) and $5m for the sixth win (2004). Adding that together with costs and interests approaches $11m.' 

Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong 

"You realise as you grow up that Father Christmas doesn't exist. That was always the case with Lance."

Asked whether Armstrong should confess, Wiggins told BBC Sport: "I think so yeah, yeah, definitely.

"But everyone knows he's a stubborn man. He has too much to lose, but the evidence speaks for itself. [It] looks overwhelming." 

All these statements were collected on BBC SPORT

After looking at these statements i started to look at some visual research into the Tour de France and cycling in general. I thought the best visual research would be info graphics. Because they provide the most information and some interesting facts. 

 www.lonelyplanet.com/the-netherlands

 http://visual.ly/le-tour-de-france

 jonmhart.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/benefits-of-cycling-inforgrpahics.html 

http://visual.ly/tour-de-france-bradley-wiggins

Interesting cyling facts

There are about a billion bicyles in the world twice as many as cars.

Almost 400 million bicyles are in china

Air filled tyres on bikes were used before they were used on cars

The first 5 seat biycle, the quindem, was built in 1940

Informtaion collected here: Bicycle info


The term "bicycle" was not introduced until the 1860s, when it was coined in France to describe a new kind of two-wheeler with a mechanical drive

Before 1869, bicycle "tires" were largely made of iron

Fred A. Birchmore circled the globe by bicycle in 1935 at age 25. The entire trip, through Europe, Asia and the United States, covered forty thousand miles. He pedaled about 25,000 miles. The rest was traveled by boat. He wore out seven sets of tires.

About 100 million bicycles are manufactured worldwide each year

The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle was 167.043 miles per hour

Americans use their bicycles for less than one percent of all urban trips. Europeans bike in cities a lot more often— 5 percent of all trips in Italy are on bicycle, 30 percent in the Netherlands, and seven out of eight Dutch people over age 15 have a bike.

Cyclists were the highest paid athletes in the U.S. until Babe Ruth joined the Yankees

Cycling was one of the original


This information was gathered: HERE 

• Cyclists contribute £230 each to the economy 
• Typical travel time for a cycle commute is 22minutes
• The average commute is just 4miles 
•  75% of the UK has a journey to work which takes less than 30 minutes 

Context, Chronologies and Analysis

The term modern is not a neutral term, it suggests novelty and improvement. 

Modernity: (1750-1960) - Social and culture experience 

Modernism: The range of ideas and styles that sprung from modernity 

Postmodernism - attitudes of questioning conventions ( especially Modernism ) 

Postmodern aesthetics - multiplicity of styles and approaches

Modernist graphic design

Joseph Muller Brockmann 

I feel this image is modernist because of the simplicity of the design and the clean crisp layout. Unlike the postmodernist designs this piece of work has moved away from the realistic way of depicting Beethoven ie a picture of him or a musical instrument. Instead it relies on using signs and symbols which is very sterotypical of modernism work. I think this poster works really well, despite its simplicity with only 2 colours and the use of a few shapes it is still possible to tell what is being advertised. 

Joseph Muller Brockmann

I feel this work by Joesph Muller Brockmann is modernist because again the simplicity of the design, there is a clean crisp layout. Although there is a extremely small amount of writing on the poster it is still clear what is being advertised. This style is typical of Joseph Muller Brockmann and the typical modernist Swiss designer. Again like the previous poster there is only 2 colours used, contrasting the post modern design where any number of colours can be used. It has been successful because it has used a very small amount of information with both type and image but the message is clear.  

Armin Hofmann

Armin Hofmann is again a Swiss designer, Swiss designers were at the forefront of modernist design producing modern design that wouldn't look out of place in the 21st century. This poster is again very simple, the big bold type takes your eyes from the top of the poster to the bottom, this also then takes the onlooker to the top paragraph and then the bottom paragraphs, giving you all the information need from a simple layout.  

Andrea Gallo

I consider this to be modernist design because the poster is so simple, there is a small amount of writing that tells you what the poster is about. Also the image is of a building that has been extremely simplified, this is very stereotypical of not on Swiss design but also modern day design, an example of this is the simplified sports symbols for the olympics. The poster is very successful because if you look at the image that has been created with a few shapes it represents it perfectly. 

Comparing these 2 magazines covers from modernist and post modernist it is clear to see the difference in the 2 eras. The modernist magazine has a simple layout, only two colours have been used or one colour and stock. The hierarchy of text has also been taken into account, with your eye being taken from the large text at the top to the number one and then on to the content of the magazine. This is in complete contrast to the post modernist where there is a lot going on, there is a huge amount of text that is overlapped and not been considered in terms of readability and legibility. The hierarchy of the type also hasn't been taken into account, this then doesn't allow the viewer to logically follow what the most important information is down to the least important information. The post modernist magazine cover has no simple shapes or type so makes it very confusing unlike the simple clean crisp modernist magazine. 

Postmodernist 

David Carson 

Jamie Reid 

I consider this to be post modern because the harsh colours that have been used and the almost cut and stick aspect to the type and image, this is very typical of the post modern era. The work doesnt tend to take into account the hierarchy of text and there is a lot going on in post modernist design. I feel this poster is okay, although it has a slap dash look to it, like the images have almost been randomly placed, also the colour green doesn't go right to the edges, again contrasting the modernist design which is clean and crisp. 

David Carson 

David Carson is a very influential post modernist designer, he tried to ignore rules and create design that went against the grain of Graphic Design.  

'What David Carson committed himself to was reading culture as it existed in technological frameworks that altered visual communication and short-circuited longstanding traditions of design and typography in order to fuse them to new and indifferent mediums that were no less effective in making their points.' 

This shows how David Carson goes about creating his designs, in some cases he doesn't put much time into creating a design and just randomly places type and image on a page till he sees something he finds visually interesting. As shown above where there is a picture with a lot going on and then some text placed on top, which in some parts is hard to read. 

April Greiman 

This again is a typical post modern graphic design, this is because there is a huge number of bold bright colours used that are placed anywhere on the poster. There is also a lot of layering of different shapes. The poster doesn't fit any kind of natural structure, with the price one side of the image and 2 barcodes both on there sides, most the text is the same size as well, not taking into account the hierarchy of text. I feel this doesn't work very well as there is too much going on, making it very confusing, it is also hard to find information because its randomly placed all over the page. Therefore straying away from a fundamental rule of graphic design, to communicate. 

Terry Jones, Eye  

I consider this to be post modern because there is again a vast amount of bright bold colours that are layered on top of each other, creating a gaudy looking image. Also the layout doesn't follow any grid system, creating a chaotic confusing image. I again don't feel this works very well, because of what i said before, a very confusing chaotic image that has way too many colours that are harsh on the eye, these colours also don't work well with the type making them less legible. 

Graphic Design A Medium For The Masses

LECTURE NOTES 

First signs of graphic design? 

Bisan and horses 
- Cave painting 

Fresco, Arena Chapel, Padva Italy 
- Visual communication 

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William Addison Dwiggins 

- What graphic design is, explanation 

Early Graphic Design consisted a lot of advertising 

• John Everette, Millias - Bubbles, Pears Soap 

• Scottish Musical review - Charles Rennie Mackintosh 

• 13th Secession exhibition 

• Simplified form starting to be established, Austria, Germany  

• Julius Giphens 
• 1925 Kandinsky, Abstract artwork - similar form El Lissitzky 

• FH Stingermore, London Underground Map - Communication - Henry (Harry) Beck 

• Simon Patterson - The Great Bear 

• Oskar Schiemmer, Bauhause - start of Graphic Design 

• Herbert Bayer 

• Piet Zuart (Dutch) Het Boek Van 
• Herbert Matter (Swiss) 

• A.M Cassandre - most important French designer between Wars

• Very different in The UK, Further behind than rest of Europe, more fine art paintings

• Germany was very modern 

• Josep Reau - Propaganda poster, interesting layout 

• V. Deni 

• G. Klucis (Russian) - Long live the USSR 

• Abram Games, Festival of Britain 

• Paul Rand - 1962, 1970, big business 

• Volkswagen adverts 

• Saul Bass 

• Ken Garland, First Things First Manifest 1964 - start of british designers coming to the forth front. 
• F.H.K Henirian, Stop Nuclear Suicide poster 1960

• Seymour Chuast/ Push Pin studio - End Bad Breath 
• Art workers Coalition, Q and babies

    

• Hipgnosis, 10cc. Deceptive Bends sleeve 
• 1977 - simplistic, shocking colours, sleeves becoming more important than music (vinyl covers)
• Peter Saville - The factory club night poster 
• New order, Blue Monday, 1983 
• 1980s, Postmodern design - Neville Brody, The force magazine covers changing type and image, layout
• David Carson 
• Public Image Limited, album sleeve 
• Peter Blake - Band sleeves - Graphic Design Making a point 
• Designers Republic - Pop will eat itself 1994
• Julian House 
• Mark Forrow, Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating in space - interesting packaging
• The Coup, Party Music, Withdrawn CD cover 2001 
• Steven Heller 1991 
• Jonathan Barnbrook, Bastard typeface 1990 - Olympukes 
• Oliviero Toscani, Benetton adverts 1990-92 - shocking image, thought provoking 
• Keep Britain Tidy 
• Stop Racism within Football 
• Nike - sweat shops, Adbusters 

SUMMARY 

Graphic Design is a relatively young discipline 

Links between Graphic Design and different disciplines e.g Fine Art, Advertising are arguably becoming increasingly blurred 

Although born out of consumerist/capitalist interests, Graphic Design is arguably becoming increasingly concerned with social issues