Núria Saban de Llos& a Eina

Núria Saban webdeveloper from Llos&

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Núria Saban visited us the 28th of May. Ex-student of Eina, “Web developer, Frontendpadawan, html, css, js”, as she defines herself at his web. she explained us his steps until attaining what she had dreamed: being member at Llos&. At the end her studies, she entered an architecture studio during five years, working on modelling. After, she spend two years freelance for several customers, like the Mies van der Rohe Foundation in Barcelona. Tired of little multitasking, she decided to launch to the programming and the world wide web. That was what she liked more and this is how she entered at Llos&.

Her talk begins with the troubles that arise with graphic designers. She tells us a list of the basic aspects a designer would have to detail from his work to programmers could start correctly without generating a lot of changes after. For the development of a website, the format thr ptoject arrives to the programmer is very important.

She shows us the advantages of the Sketch app for her work. Also she comments that designers never think about the different measures of screen for each device (the media queries, the height and width of screens, very different in each device). “If you know what you can have with media queries and start to play with, you’ll have a very cool website”, says Núria. She explains also that she designs according to the criterion “mobile first”, that is to say, the design is based on the version for mobile. From this point, media queries has to append meanwhile the width of the screen grows.

She explains us that accessibility is very important, no only for those who need it, but for everybody: navigating the web would be much more comfortable for all. She also talks us about typography and she advises that we cannot use typography less of 16 px on a website. If we, it has to be for very secondary things. Also she comments another thing that designers never take into account: there is a lot of units of measure on the web to define the size of the typography: ems, rems, pixels, and point view-port (% of the screen). This one enables typography grow concurrently with the screen width in a much more fluid way. So the design will be much finer.

She reviews mistakes that we have to eschew when designing a web. She talks about contrast, when the links cannot be distinguished, gives us tools to check if our web would pass a test of contrast, like: https://colorable.jxnblk.com. She insists that the outline focus, although we would’t like it, is very important to not be deleted: the navigation with tab or screen readers must be available always. If not, it will be a navigation problem for persons that need these systems. This page explains its importance: http://www.outlinenone.com

Before ending, she talks of colour on the web. she recommends a page: https://www.colorhexa.com. She comments also the interactions and his sense: when a button is active, deactivated, what about the hover function, and she complaints that many of these are never defined by the designer.

We have now a few lessons to learn and take into account to carry out a website design and which are the needs for a programmer

SEO (Searching Engine Optimization)

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Today, we finished the module called SEO  (Search Engine Optimization) with Rubén Alcaraz. Throughout the module, we learned how to improve the positioning of a web page on the search engine results pages. In addition, we learned the importance of elaborating a good SEO, where these techniques can be applied, how search engines work. Moreover, we learned the structure and architecture of SEO in order to understand better and improve our web positioning. Finally, we also tackled the different strategies that we can use and also understand how users search us in order to choose the right keywords in order to be competitive.

Furthermore, in order to implement all the theoretical knowledge received, we realized a practical exercise. The latter consisted in trying to position an image on Google from the website we created before for the module  Content Management System.

In order to do this exercise, we have used a WordPress plugin called Yoast, which has to guide us in order to position our image on Google. During the exercise, we have learned the importance of the SEO-on page, and how to make a good optimization of our page. We learned the SEO-off page as well with the aim to increase the authority of our site through internal and external links.

 

As a final exercise, we learned how to audit a web page, analyzing its content, the density of keywords, how are the information of its architecture, its technical aspects, and efficiency. As a result,  we have been able to analyze and detect the weaknesses and points of improvement of the abovementioned website.

Analysis and Management of Digital Publications

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We have already finished the course of Analysis and Management of Digital Publications taught by Professor Diego Fernández. In it we have made an infographics that has allowed us to learn about the architecture of the information in charge of the study, analysis, organization, disposition and structuring of the information. We have also been able to work on information design, in which we have had to graphically represent the information and structure it efficiently and effectively so that it could be very visual and quickly understood.

The results have been very diverse. They have worked on reports related to the rise of cybercrime or piracy, a comparative of online media sales in black friday, about fake news, the use of apps to find a partner, even wondered if print is dying.

User Centered Design

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In this course taught by Professor Enric Mor, we have learned to have a global vision of all aspects involved in user-centred design (UCD). This can be conceived as “the discipline of person-computer interaction (IPO), usability and user experience”. Through different activities, both theoretical and practical, we have been discovering which processes are key in the UCD. We have placed emphasis on the value of knowing the users to whom our product will be destined, the stages and techniques that configure it, knowing how to apply the DCU in the definition of our projects, how to make a correct analysis of what we want to design, and finally how to implement and evaluate interactive digital products. In our case, the redisseny of a website.

The Ideal Wallet

This activity was the letter of introduction of the subject. Through a practical exercise of design thinking by couples, we designed a wallet from a small briefing that we did to our partner. In this way we stressed the importance of knowing the user for whom our product is intended. Therefore to be able to design to measure and look for real solutions in the problems posed by the user.

Lost & Found

During this activity carried out by groups, we learned to use flowcharts for the design of an app. The objective of this practice was to work collectively on the most logical path to report, search, or find a lost pet.

Spaghetti Marshmallow Challange

This activity was the last  we did. Its purpose was to work the design thinking to practice the prototing in collective being able to test what we build through trial and error in a collective way. The goal of this activity was to create a structure that could withstand with 20 raw spaghetti, 1 meter of tape, 1 meter of string and a Marshmellow at the top. Quite a challenge!

 

Give identity to de festival in Montbau

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In the course of Graphic Identity Projects taught by Xavier Alamany, the students of the Master in Graphic Design have developed a series of tools and resources to generate an identity that connects with the district of Montbau and the festival of reference for it.

Starting with the basics, the definition and analysis of the neighbourhood, its attributes, its strong points and its shortcomings. Discovering what you need and what we can contribute as designers. Subsequently, through dynamic classes, group corrections and small connected commissions, it has been defined what type of festival is appropriate in the neighbourhood, what graphic image is applied and what identity it has, maintaining the very essence of the Montbau neighbourhood.

Some of the final works of the subject are presented below. An identity on a specific festival applied in Montbau.

Gaizka Azketa 

Fontbau. Montbau Typographic Festival

A typographic festival where through various activities appropriate to different audiences will work the field of typography, the festival has been conceptualized through a special element, with importance to Montbau, its water source, where neighbors come for its purity.

 

Sonia Santos 

Set 7th Art

A film festival in the Montbau neighborhood that seeks to capture the attention of the neighborhood and its participation through contests and short films. It takes advantage of the tranquility of the neighborhood’s nightlife and combines the concept of the seventh art of cinema itself to give identity to the festival. The cube is used as the main image. A three-dimensional cube formed by squares, that synthesizes and unifies in a graphic way the concepts of geometry, unevenness, architecture, cinema, projection and focus, concepts typical of the festival and of Montbau.

 

Mònica Sacot 

-isme. Montbau cubism festival

An annual festival aimed at celebrating art in all its manifestations through the union between artistic expression itself and the geometric and rectilinear forms that make up the landscape of the Montbau neighbourhood. This edition is presented with the cubist movement. The festival seeks to encourage civic participation among citizens through recreational activities adapted to all ages.

Paula Terra

Retrospectiva. Festival of architecture and digital arts in Montbau

Retrospectiva is Montbau’s festival of architecture and digital arts. The aim of the festival is to promote and foster the exchange and relationship established between architecture and digital arts as forms of creation and conceptualization. The aim of the festival is to unite these two concepts (architecture + digital arts) to represent the essence of the neighbourhood and the original constructions through architectural representations recreated with digital art, such as mapping or virtual reality.

 

Maiela Zurutuza 

Efímera. Art on ground

A festival of floor muralism, where neighbors and visitors can come and see live several artists painting the floors of the neighborhood as well as participate in activities and contributions to the mural. The element put it by its geometry is used, an element of surface, transportable and combinable that refers to the tiles of Montbau.

 

Andrea Choque 

Recordart. People of Montbau Photographic Exhibition

Conceptualizes the graphic identity for a photographic exhibition where the authors are the neighborhood’s own neighbors. Empowering the historical values, the memories and the life of the neighborhood of Montbau. It seeks to create memory of Montbau, a series of memories through photographs exposed to the streets of the neighborhood, all in a direct, sensitive design that shows the photograph of the people.

 

Maria Vilajuana 

es[ ] es[ ] Festival of Scenic Arts of Montbau

This is to organize a Festival of Performing Arts in the neighborhood of Montbau. The choice of the type of festival, the naming and its design is not a septum; it refers to the identity of the neighbourhood, to the lack of knowledge of many neighbours and people of Barcelona, to its green spaces and pedestrians, to its architecture and to the name of its streets. The name of the festival therefore refers to its identity and to all that can be Montbau: esmusica esmontbau | esteatre esmontbau | esdansa esmontbau | escirc esmontbau

 

Graphic application projects with Martí Ferré

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In the subject of graphic application projects with Martí Ferré we have projected a country in a bottle and its secondary packaging, a poster, an editorial publication and a volumetric element or material. All of this is conducted through different dynamics such as workshops, presentations and group corrections, mindstorming on graphic elements, brainstorming, etc. And with the previous breakdown and analysis of the parts of a graphic project to treat them individually, understand them and generate better graphic results in their unification.

 

Some of the Projects of the course:

Rosa maria de los Heros – Argentina

The project focuses on interpreting and communicating the country of Argentina through color, typography, image and material. In order to disintegrate the country into these elements it was first necessary to do some research and understand what aspect of the country was to be revealed.

In this case, there are two sources of inspiration. The first, the story about the origin of the name of Argentina. The second engine of this project was the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo as a symbol of struggle against the ravages of the dictatorship. From these two pillars, it was possible to communicate values such as the mirage of expectations and the voice, the opinion, the implication of its people as a “thread” that unites and mobilizes the country. 

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Soraya Alba Marquez- Iceland

The project reflects the concept of solitude in the most isolated areas of Iceland where there are only deserts of lavas, waterfalls, volcanoes and uninhabited areas. The most austere, solitary and at the same time resistant and strong way of life in the small isolated farms lost in nothingness. The intention is to capture the isolation, the long and dark winters, the isolation, and the strength of its inhabitants in front of this other harder and more hostile face of Iceland.

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Paula Terra – Greenland

In the representation of the bottle and its packaging has been represented with the colors the 3 elements that define the climatic conditions of the country and transmit the calm of the population through the composition and proportions. The poster refers to the hunting of the Inuit, with the letter O as the main element it is possible to recreate the ice hole to be able to hunt. The publication consists of 40 images that show the set of 40 words that the Inuit use to express the different stages of snow and ice. Snow is part of the Inuit lifestyle and this proximity is transmitted with a texture that refers to tradition, with a more familiar and close character. The representative volume of Greenland represents the hunting of the Inuit through the use of materials. The sculptural format is due to the construction of large ice sculptures that were used to orient themselves in the landscape and indicate the areas suitable for hunting. In addition, their sharp form represents the hunting tools and the environment in which they were carried out.

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Leo Kulisevsky – Palestine

This project tries to escape from the hegemonic representation of Palestine where it is always represented by fear and war. Starting from the Palestinian tradition of reading the coffee grounds and the forms it leaves, I take the idea to develop the chosen concept: land. These forms help me to represent the forced territorial fragmentation that exists in the country and to speak of the territory as a living place that resists.

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A new guest: Oscar Guayabero

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On January 15 and 24, we received Oscar Guayabero in our classroom, all within the subject of Identity Projects taught by Xavier Alamany.

Oscar Guayabero defines himself as a para-designer. Actually what he does is tell stories, he does it through objects, writing, installations, books, curating exhibitions and also teaching, publishing articles, activating platforms …

The session began with a conference where design was treated as a tool for social change, possible through the sum of the basic elements design + empathy + mediation- All shown with different design examples, their impact on society and your benefit

Then Oscar, along with Xavier, observed and listened to the different project proposals of the students in order to lead them towards a better projection, understanding and visualizing the strengths of each project as well as the weakest aspects to strengthen. It generated a session of debate and collective correction of the most interesting!

We are very grateful.

Graphic Production

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In the subject of Graphic Production taught by Lluc Massaguer of the Master’s degree, the supports, processes and printing techniques in graphic arts are studied, as well as the preparation of final and original arts to be able to be reproduced. It shows each of the parts that make up the graphic process from conceptualization and ideation to final delivery. These are some of the resulting final projects:

Four-Color — Leo Kulisevsky

The aim of the work is to experiment with different serigraphic techniques, the main one being four-colour. In this work, the original black and white image was converted to colour and the result obtained from the division of invented channels (CMYK) was seen. Will the superimposition of these four inks turn the photograph originally in black and white to color?

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Pantone Organic — Rosa  Maria de los Heros 

Pantone Organic is a research project in which it is proposed to use domestic fruit and vegetable waste generated at home to check whether it is feasible to produce inks for screen printing. He uses the “pantonera” system as a record of the different colours he manages to produce. In this way, it remains as an archive of the possibilities that exist and perhaps as a tool to convince or share the results with others.

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Graphic design with fluid paint — Monica Sacot

The project is based on the deepening of the work with acrylic paint used with the acrylic pouring technique. It consists of preparing a mixture of acrylic paint and medium acrylic to achieve a texture that flows easily through the canvas. The main objective of the project is to create visually attractive images and then use the image generated to apply it in the production of graphic design in the form of background, texture, pattern, and so on.

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Starting a new project in Montbau, Barcelona

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We’ve just started a new project with Xavier Alamany, professor of Graphic Identity Projects. The project is focused on identity design in one of the neighborhoods of Barcelona, ​​in Montbau.

We started it with the masterclass by Albert Crispi, architect with a long professional career, founder of architecture and rehabilitation AC architecture and rehabilitation, and professor of EINA since 2004. During the session he showed us the functioning of the neighborhood since its beginnings til nowadays. How it was raised urbanistically and how people interact with the elements that form it. At the same time within the architectural field, Albert carried out the rehabilitation of one of his buildings in the Montbau plan. Projected in 1960 by the architects Xavier Subias, Guillermo Giráldez and Lopez Íñigo for the Habitatge Municipal Patronat, it is one of the best examples of rationalist concrete architecture in Barcelona. Through the experience of this rehabilitation we were able to understand both the architectural intention and the will of the neighborhood association towards the neighborhood and its connection with it.

To complement the information about Montbau, we wen on tour with Xavier Alamany. We were able to see the distribution of the neighborhood, the functioning of the main squares and the most hidden ones, the existing stores, the architecture and its relationship with the character of Montbau. We went through the most characteristic buildings, we understood their unity despite having been designed by different architects, the green areas that complements the neighborhood and we got an idea about the daily life of the people who live in it.

Understanding the essence of the neighborhood was essential to focus realistically on the identity project.

Students visiting Vanguard Gràfic

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As a final session of Graphic Production subject, students of the Master have visited the Vanguard Gràfic printing company. A printing company located in Sant Adrià del Besòs (Barcelona) with more than 100 years of work and experience, with the objectives of helping its clients, surprising, impacting, seducing, motivating and, above all, communicating. Vanguard Gràfic offers a wide variety of services, such as: editorial production, brochures, exhibitors or displys, packaging, digital publications, among others.

Josep Amat, digital director of the printing press, has shown us all the departments that comprise it, the machines with which they work and their active functioning, their working methodology and the procedures that are carried out to achieve the maximum printing qualities and the best finishes.

We have started the visit through the pre-printing test area, where the communication between the pre-printing staff and the designer is fundamental.

In the printing department, we were able to see the spectacular Offset H-uvi machine and the amazing HP Indigo in operation, capable of making high quality prints.

Next, in the post-production department, we have seen the handling of the dies to make all kinds of cuts and marks, for projects such as business cards, folders, packaging, etc. Later we have been able to visit the machinery where the sheets, stapling and other postproduction services are made.

In addition, Vanguard Gràfic has the ideal space to develop projects in a manner advised by its I+D team. The catalogs of papers, the finishes and all the samples they have made are shown.

To finish the visit Josep Amat has given us a masterclass on colorimetry, conceptualization and identification of the types of papers and impressions that best suit each type of project. As well as practical advice to request a quote from a printing company.

We are very grateful for the opportunity and for all the new knowledge.