Graphic applications projects

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In the graphic applications projects subject each of us has been working on a different country, using it as an inspiration to design a wine label, a poster, a publication and a prototype for an installation or public sculpture.

It has been a great way to approach a project from various fronts: covering multiple formats, experimenting in the school’s prototypes workshop, or using only color, typography or materials. By trial and error we have corrected and re-made our designs once and again, until we unified them at the end. These are some of the results:

 

 

Final assignments for the Graphic Arts subject

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As a final assignment for the Graphic Arts subject each of the students has been working on something, with both a theoretical and an experimental approach, related to the procedures and techniques seen during the sessions. Some of the topics addressed were bindery, screen printing, risography, marbling, printing on silk, or eco-friendly printing.

We made presentations in class, so we could share the conclusions we reached and learn from each other’s experiences. It was truly useful, and very interesting.

Some of the presentations that stood out were:

  • Risography (Happy accidents), by Emily Eldridge.

Emily explores risography visiting workshops and through her own work as an illustrator. She explains what the technique is about, how does the machinery work, what role plays the color in it, and which possibilities it can offer (such as overprinting, or the register errors referred as “happy accidents”).

 

  • Experimentation with the marbling technique, by Laura Magallón.

Laura explains the history behind marbling, a technique for decorating paper in a way that resembles marble, as well as all the steps she goes through to print with this technique. She talks about materials, colors, supports and mediums, and shares the problems and solutions she faced during the process.

 

 

 

– Liquid typography, by Daniel Iglesias.

Daniel experiments with marbling too, but with an intention to use the results to create letters with a liquid effect. He takes examples from Sergi Delgado and Alex Trochut, who work with typography in unconventional ways, and develops his own system, trying different materials to see wich one works best. With the images obtained and some post production he gets impressive results.

 

Lecture with Angel Rocamora, administrator

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On December 13th, as part of the subject “design project and analysis management”, we had the opportunity to enjoy a lecture by Angel Rocamora, Futbol Club Barcelona’s financial manager and associate professor of tax and financial law at the University of Barcelona (UB).

The lecture consisted in a masterclass on a graphic designer’s fiscal and social obligations. Some of the issues covered were basic concepts (such as direct taxes and indirect taxes, or the functions of the Tax Agency and the Social Security), conditions when you are working for a company, circumstances when you work as a freelancer, and advantages and disadvantages of founding a society.

Angel expressed himself clearly and patiently, and he even answered all of our questions by the end of the session. It was a very useful lecture, contributing to a greater mastery of the topic and a much needed orientation towards our professional future.

 

Typography and IT Resources

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Salvador Huertas teaches both basic notions of typography and familiarisation with design-related software such as Indesign, Photoshop or Illustrator.

The “Poster” project was about choosing a typography and playing with it, working on hierarchies and on its expressive potential. The elements worked upon were composition, the tension generated by blank spaces, columns and modules, integration of graphic elements, functionality and legibility.

As a result we got the posters you can see below. Not bad at all!

 

Visit to Morillas and TheRoomRooms

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On November 29th, as part of the “design project and analysis management” subject, we visited two different centres: the Morillas agency and TheRoomRooms’ studio.

Morillas is an international branding agency founded on 1962 in Barcelona by Antoni Morillas. It has offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo and Guatemala, and it specializes in big brands’ public image. From its many departments, distributed in five floors, it can solve a business’ naming, identity, commercial strategy or packaging.

Apart from taking a tour around the company’s facilities and seeing how its employees work, we could there learn a little about its founder and appreciate some of his works of art.

TheRoomRooms, on the other hand, is a small communication and graphic design agency with almost 8 years of experience composed of three women, Blanca, Gemma and Elena. They told us about starting an agency in the middle of the financial crisis, about internal organisation, and about the process behind their projects (for example, stop motion animations for Penguin Random House’s audiobooks).

It was interesting to see such different agencies, each one with its own work methods. Thanks a lot for treating us well!

Check out their instagram and behance accounts:

@morillasbranding  /morillasbranding

@theroomrooms   /theroomrooms

 

 

 

Visit to the Vanguard Gràfic printing house

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In November the students paid a visit to Vanguard Gràfic printing house, one of the most prestigious in the city, with more than 100 years of history.

They had a chance to see the machinery in action, along with offset plates, die cutters and other tools used in this profession. Later they met Josep Amat, who told them about materials, different projects, and tips for being better at solving design-related problems.

It was an opportunity to talk through doubts, to get an idea of how does a printing house work, and to highlight the importance of an understanding between the designer and the printer.

 

 

Visit to the Barra de Ferro workshop

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On Monday, 9th October, the students from the Master in Graphic Design visited the printmaking workshop in EINA Barra de Ferro Arts Centre.

Once there Lluc Massaguer, professor of Graphic Arts, and Esther Aguila, the workshop mistress, taught them step by step the process of screen printing. The screens were coated with photosensitive emulsion, then dried and exposed to light, washed out with a pressure washer, and in the end the students had a chance to print the designs on all kinds of mediums: paper, cardboard, fabric, etc.

Screen printing is a technique full of possibilities: you can use it on many different surfaces, getting very interesting results.

Barra de Ferro is not only a workshop but also an exhibition hall. You can find it in Barra de Ferro Street 2, open Monday – Saturday from 4pm to 8pm.

 

 

 

 

Start of the school year and Rai Llopart’s visit

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On September 26th started a new school year in Eina’s Master in Graphic Design, made up of 26 participants this time.

Shortly after, the students receive a visitor as part of the program of the Graphic Arts subject: it’s no other than Rai Llopart, from the Atlantis company, who came to teach a masterclass on types of paper and printing systems.

Rai talks about both basic concepts of the sector and very specialized procedures. Some of the topics commented are the differences between coated, uncoated and fine papers; the properties of dry and liquid toner; UV inks and varnishes; or techniques like embossing or stamping.

The lecture was filled with examples, some of them being screened and some others being touched thanks to numerous paper samples. The students have now a lot of new options to consider for their forthcoming projects.

If you are interested in Antalis (specialists in paper distribution, packaging solutions and visual communication aid) you can visit their website here.

 

 

Nombres de guerra, Laia Gabriel’s Final Master’s work.

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Women’s literature has its own universe and, beyond the discrimination that women often suffer in several areas of their life, many woman writers have worked to win universal consideration. For this reason, this project aims to show and bring the literature made by women to an audience interested in both literature and editorial design.

In this project can be appreciated a compilation of 8 writers from the late nineteenth century who were forced to change their feminine identity into masculine. These writers, for being able to publish their work, they had to signed with a male pseudonym, and consequently, they were known by this name.

 

Study UX / UI of the experience of reading news online, Jóse Navarro’s Final Master’s work.

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In the present time, humanity has the widest access to the information that has ever been received, nevertheless each time is more frequent to hear voices from diverse areas of the knowledge, talk about the ‘age of disinformation’ or neologisms such as ‘Postruth’ and ‘infoxicación’. Setting aside objective facts to appeal to the emotions, beliefs or wishes of the public has been become the end of the media. This is a global issue and needs to be addressed from all disciplines that intervene in the act of communicating news.

One area that I find relevant is the interaction design, directly related to the emotional in the reception and assimilation of the news. It is a key role of digital design to
clarify the presentation of information in the midst of this chaos, both mediatic and communicative. This research project will focus on the particular experience of reading an online newspaper. Redesigning the interface and information architecture. The conclusions will be applied to an existing product, to show an end result.