Paul Farrington Lecture (tonne)

Its about time........ (1999-2009)

Paul Farrington's lecture was heavily based on the idea of using music in a abstract way through the use of colour and the movement of linear pieces to create a piece of design work. Which reminded me personally of the art work, of Wassily Kandinsky but however being displayed in a graphic modern way.

The first piece we were shown was that of design for a deaf audience, by using sonic typography in which when someone speaks a letter it can be represented by black wave lengths, I particularly liked this piece of design due to its clean linear forms and how the concept developed from a initial thought to a final piece of graphics.n

The former piece set the tone for the the next set of design pieces that we were shown in which the idea of sound and linear forms was developed through the use of colour, shapes and grid systems in which different colours and line strength can represent changes in the music, this style of design was the most apparent on his Klitekture, Solidified light and Cine city festival. 

After these pieces we were shown how his work has been used of publication in a wide variety of magazines and books. From his real time systems, how long are 24 hours away, brain chat and linked in. My favorite piece of design was that of the sunspots piece for fortune magazine, I particularly liked this design as a part from the illustration being in itself a beautiful design from its simplicity, I also liked the style of the page as whole and how it the type and image worked together. I enjoyed this part of the lecture as I liked how his style of work has progressed in to a info graphic piece of design, in addition how he spoke of the magazine industry and how a artist may get a paragraph or passage to design a piece of work as I have always wanted to explore working in a magazine in either a freelance way or working to the company. In addition to this I also liked how in working for a magazine a artist is not to confined and can still do a piece of design that represents themselves.

After being shown a wide variety of print based images, I liked how some Paul Farrington's work has a interactive feel from the likes of the noisetoy (DJ tool), Time:Tone and that of the spin and grove. My favorite piece was that of the Lana Lara Lata (music sequencer), in which a piece of programming and graphics gives the user a kind of DJ set in which can be used interactively, I felt like the colour and shapes made the piece aesthetically beautiful as well as functionally easy to manipulate. This is something I have never tried within my work as most of my work is generally print based. It is also I want to explore as I feel a interactive piece of work attracts a wider audience and can be more memorable.

The final two pieces which were that of the Kingston navigation wheel and the art walkway in Kingston University, I felt were the most appealing apart from being interactive and in the publication, also in the case of the art walkway dealing with costing and material choices. I found them particularly interesting as I liked how Paul Farrington explained his design process and the ways in which he formed a concept and explored it and tested it to see what it would work. I also liked how from the content he got at a research point he refined the work to produce a style of info graphics.

Finally I liked how Paul Farrington talked about his own personal project which was to do with the Brighton swimming club and the idea of its heritage and nostalgia. In which how looking through, the archive of the club he found old poster designs and photographs. With these old pieces he created exhibitions that were funded and put on in and around Brighton, and people who were apart of the club in the past came, and shared stories or talked about there own experiences. Apart from being memorable as it was something personal, I felt that it was something that possibly should be done more often in different cities and with different groups or societies as I like looking at old photographs and poster, or type design.