FANTASY

The Brief

The BriefI am required to produce a body of work and response that clearly and effectively exploits the concept of ‘hidden meanings’ within folklore. I will use the focus ‘A collection of...’ as my continuous theme for my series of products.

My work should practically and conceptually explore the possible products, ranges and methods of distribution that reflect Fairytales. My main focal disciplines will include Publishing and Editorial as well as Retail & Promotion.

ConceptUsing the idea of a concertina fold across a full range of products. I have decided that I will now create a brand for the series of ‘fairtale’ stories that reflect the traditional stories with the modern day popular variations.

The consistent focus throughout this will be the format, concertina folds, that reflect ‘two sides to the story’. This will occur across my entire range of products.

BackgroundA fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as fairies, goblins,elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, mermaids, or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments.

Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables.

The books will also be produced in a concertina format which will allow me to separate the two stories whilst conecting them together at the same time to reflect the two stories along side oneanother.

My poster designs, and window displays will be used as promotional items, to promote the new series of books, whils the physical books themselves and their boxset packaging will be my main focus.

A Structured BriefGood Is...

ConsiderationsMy tone of voice will need to be considered carefully before producing my publication design, I will need to think about contrasting and opposing tones of voice in order to get across the purpose of my publication effectively.

I will also need to think carefully about whether to incorporate educational, humorous, and interactive tones to communicate with the audience in different ways.

Mandatory RequirmentsResolutions & Products appropriate to your selected brief(s). Presentation boards articulating the selected research development, resolution and contextualisation of your work.

Posts to your Design Practice & Design Context blog demonstrating your ability to effectively record, document and critically evaluate the progress of your work in relation to your own intentions and appropriate areas of contemporary creative practice.

DeliverablesI need to produce a series of products which will include, concertina story books with content and cover designs, promotional posters (A1), window displays, framed artwork (A5), and a boxset case.

Deadline21st May 2013

Target AudienceMy final products will need to be considered carefully throughout the design process in order to relate to my specific target audience. I will aiming my designs at young people aged 16-22 who read these fairytale stories as a child, and can now understand the dark, hidden meanings behind them.

My target audience will also focus on people with an interest in Folklore and Fairytales in general, as well as book enthusiasts and creatives.

Format, Finish, Bind

Format

This project is developed from a set of drop caps which I have created. As the drop caps were inspired from ancient illuminated manuscripts, and old fairytale books I decided to create these two posters of abridged fairytale and legend stories.

This could be a way for me to create a wider range of products and demonstrate my solution in a printed poster format as opposed to a publication.

Pete Adams

Illustrated Fairytales

Format

In this series of sculptures I used old books to illustrate three classic Brothers’ Grimm fairytales: Snow White, Cinderella and Rapunzel.

This format illustrated here by Katy Strutz demonstrates how stories can come to life, this could influence my point of sales for my publication and product series and also any window displays I might produce for Waterstones and other book stores.

Katy Strutz.

Story Books

Format refers to the size, shape and orientation of your paper or canvas. Portrait format means the paper is oriented with the shorter sides horizontal, while landscape describes paper with longer horizontals.

Format is independent of subject: you could have a portrait drawing on landscape-format paper, or you could do a landscape drawing on portrait-format paper.

Non standard formats are occasionally used, such as square, or more rarely, round. However, these formats create compositional challenges so are usually only chosen for a specific reason.

Format

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then there must be volumes inside this tiny booklet by Yusuke Oono. The Germany-based Japanese architect created this incredible 360 degree picture book using a laser cutter. Closed, the piece looks like an everyday book, but once opened, its pages can be splayed revealing a forest, animals, an evil witch, and Snow White with accompanying dwarfs.

Yusuke Oono’s.

Fairytales in 360

Format is something that I want to be a main focus throughout my brief, my focus is around contrasting versions of the fa-mous folktale stories from past which were targetted at adults, and how they have been adapted for children, in a modern day light.

Finishes

Jack is the giant’s saviour and in return the giant shows Jack the market for his business idea – a firm that helps businesses tell their stories more effectively.

The book is 32 pages long, case bound with a hard cover which has a beautifully detailed illustration produced in foil.

I am looking at using foiling as a print finish within my own piblication on the cover of the hard bound casing.

The Allottment.

Jack and the Giant Recession

A special effect that puts an overprint varnish only on specific areas of a printed piece, spot varnish is often used to make a photograph pop off the page, highlight drop caps, or to create texture and subtle images on the page.

The term spot varnish can refer to more than just clear ink or resin varnish but also to the spot application of Ultra-violet (UV) coatings or Aqueous (AQ) finishes.

Sales pack and brochures produced for Royal Mail Specialist Services.

Cat Townsend

Spot Varnish

Finishes

Finishes

Embossing is a print fiinish that I hope to experiment with within this brief, as I feel it compliments my focus on paper craft and delicate techniques.

Identity, stationery and website styling for contemporary Vancouver artist & curator Zoe Pawlak.

This example here is so simple I feel it would be a new print finish for me to explore and investigate.

Glasfurd and Walker

Embossing

Format, Finish, BindGood Is...

Binding

Most types of papers-handmade, com-mercial or tracing papers, even acetate can be used for Japanese stab binding. If the book will contain writing, the paper must be smooth.

Although the cover for this binding is always soft, it can be single sheets of heavy card-weight paper, single sheets with a turned-in flap, or sheets doubled over. The cover also can be one piece that wraps around the spine to give the pages more protection.

Handmade thematic book about sushi. Japanese bookbinding. Illustrations, collage, prints, transfers, die cuts, and different papers.

Alejandro Grima

Japanese Bind

Format, Finish, BindGood Is...

Binding

Bias tape or bias binding is a narrow strip of fabric, cut on the bias (UK cross-grain).

The strip’s fibers, being at 45 degrees to the length of the strip, makes it stretchier as well as more fluid and more drape-able compared to a strip that is cut on the grain. Many strips can be pieced together into a long “tape.”

The tape’s width varies from about 1/2” to about 3” depending on applications. Bias tape is used in making piping, bind-ing seams, finishing raw edges, etc.

It is often used on the edges of quilts, placemats, and bibs, around armhole and neckline edges instead of a facing, and as a simple strap or tie for casual bags or clothing.

Binding Tape

Format, Finish, BindGood Is...

Format

A concertina fold is a continuous parallel folding of brochures and similar printed material in an accordion-like fashion, that is with folds alternatively made to the front and back in zig zag folds.

Because they do not nest (as in Letter Folds) panels can be the same size. Seen from above, concertina folds resemble a Z or M or series of zigs and zags.

Also known as Zig Zag Fold, Accordion Fold or z-Fold.

Concertina Folds

In bookbinding a leporello binding has its pages concertina-folded, as above, but also has front and back boards so that it can be handled like a normal book.

Sometimes there is a spine too, which provides a normal page-turning experience while eliminating the gutter of normal bookbinding.

Binding

Bias tape or bias binding is a narrow strip of fabric, cut on the bias (UK cross-grain).

The strip’s fibers, being at 45 degrees to the length of the strip, makes it stretchier as well as more fluid and more drapeable compared to a strip that is cut on the grain. Many strips can be pieced together into a long “tape.”

The tape’s width varies from about 1/2” to about 3” depending on applications.

Binding Tape

Bias tape is used in making piping, binding seams, finishing raw edges, etc.

It is often used on the edges of quilts, placemats, and bibs, around armhole and neckline edges instead of a facing, and as a simple strap or tie for casual bags or clothing.

Inspiration

This section will document things that I have been researching into over the course of this module, in relation to the set brief. I wanted to make sure I would enjoy the design process and make sure it was thoroughly executed and so as a result of this decision I decided to complete detailed research into all different area’s and aspects that could influence my design decision.

Stock

A twisted tale of Little Red Riding Hood, adapted from Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhythms. To evoke a sense of gloominess and obscurity to this distorted tale of Little Red Riding Hood, each spread of the book is made up of 2 printed sheets: a full colour print on tracing paper over-layed slightly offset on another print on woodfree paper.

Very similar concept to mine using two different stocks, to represent the two different sides of the story; relating back to my title; “There’s two sides to every story”.

Tay Yiling

Little Red Riding Hood

Pop-Up

An interpretation fairytales, and alternative ways in which they can be told that might send a better, contemporary message. This has been explored by creating a handmade, hand stitched pop-up book, which illustrates the original story of Litte Red Riding Hood, as well as an alternative way for the story to go, which promotes environmental awareness.

The book tells both stories alongside each other, in black, white and red – it is a tactile illustrated experience.

Dearbhla Kelly

Red and The Wolf

FolkloreGood Is...

Cultural

Folklorist William Bascom states that folklore has many cultural aspects, such as allowing for escape from societal consequences. In addition, folklore can also serve to validate a culture (romantic nationalism), as well as transmit a culture’s morals and values.

Folklore can also be the root of many cultural types of music. Country, blues, and bluegrass all originate from American folklore. Examples of artists which have used folkloric themes in their music would be: Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jim Croce, and many others. Folklore can also be used to assert social pressures, or relieve them, for example in the case of humor and carnival.

In addition, folklorists study medical, supernatural, religious, and political belief systems as an essential, often unspoken, part of expressive culture.

Rituals

Many rituals can sometimes be considered folklore, whether formalized in a cultural or religious system (e.g. weddings, baptisms, harvest festivals) or practiced within a family or secular context.

For example, in certain parts of the United States (as well as other countries) one places a knife, or a pair of scissors, under the mattress to “cut the birth pains” after giving birth.

Additionally, children’s counting-out games can be defined as behavioral folklore.

Folklore Narratives

Anecdote. An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting account, which may depict a real incident or person.

Fable. A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, & plants.

Fairy tale. A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as fairies, goblins, & elves.

Ghost story. A ghost story may be any piece of fiction, or drama, or an account of an experience, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters’ belief in them.

Myth. In folkloristics, a myth is a sacred narrative usually explaining how the world or humankind came to be in its present form.

FolkloreGood Is...

What is a Fairytale?

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features folkloric fantasy characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants, mermaids, or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicitly moral tales, including beast fables.

In cultures where demons and witches are perceived as real, fairy tales may merge into legends, where the narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics, they usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and actual places, people, and events; they take place once upon a time rather than in actual times.

Where are fairytales?

Fairy tales are found in oral and in literary form. The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms can survive. Still, the evidence of literary works at least indicates that fairy tales have existed for thousands of years, although not perhaps recognized as a genre; the name “fairy tale” was first ascribed to them by Madame d’Aulnoy in the late 17th century. Many of today’s fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world.

Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today. The older fairy tales were intended for an audience of adults, as well as children, but they were associated with children as early as the writings of the précieuses; the Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales, and the link with children has only grown stronger with time.

FolkloreGood Is...

Classification

Although the fairy tale is a distinct genre within the larger category of folktale, the definition that marks a work as a fairy tale is a source of considerable dispute.

One universally agreed-upon matter is that fairy tales do not require fairies. Common parlance conflates fairy tales with beast fables and other folktales, and scholars differ on the degree to which the presence of fairies and/or similarly mythical beings (e.g., elves, goblins, trolls, giants) should be taken as a differentiator.

As Stith Thompson points out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves. However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a tale a fairy tale, especially when the animal is clearly a mask on a human face, as in fables.

History of the Genre

Originally stories, we would now call fairy tales, were not marked out as a sepa-rate genre. The German term “Märchen” stems from the old German word “Mär”, which means story or tale.

The English term “fairy tale” stems from the fact that the French contes often included fairies.Roots of the genre come from different oral stories passed down in European cultures. The genre was first marked out by writers of the Renaissance.

Before the definition of the genre of fantasy, many works that would now be classified as fantasy were termed “fairy tales”. Although fantasy, particularly the sub-genre of fairytale fantasy, draws heavily on fairy tale motifs, the genres are now regarded as distinct.

Association with Children

Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children. Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th cen-turies the fairy tale became associated with children’s literature.

The Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children’s and Household Tales and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children.

In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. The Brothers Grimm concen-trated mostly on sexual references; Rapunzel, in the first edition, revealed the prince’s visits by asking why her clothing had grown tight, thus letting the witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the witch.

Moving ForwardGood Is...

Refining my idea has allowed me to develop my research to more specific and relevent dicplines for my concept requirements. I am very focused and know exactly where I want to go with this brief, the route I want to go down and my ambitions for the module.

Concept

After initially researching into Folklore and later specificying in Fairytales within this broader topic, I decided to think about which route I could take the brief down. I wanted to use stock, and print finishes as a key aspect & I intend to produce a publication, using a strong textured stock to tell the children’s version of “Little Red Riding Hood” and a tracing paper stock placed over the children’s story to tell the adults version of the same tale, and show how Fairytales have evolved over many decades. Aside from this, one requirement is to produce a range of products, for this I would like to produce a window display for a bookshop to promote my publication, a poster series, and packaging for the publication. My focal theme will be “Things you should know about Fairytales”.

Little Red Riding Hood ( Case Study )Good Is...

Brothers Grimm

In the 19th century tale was retold to Jacob Grimm and his younger brother Wilhelm Grimm, known as the Brothers Grimm. The earlier parts of the tale agree so closely with Perrault’s variant that it is almost certainly the source of the tale. However, they modified the ending; this version had the little girl and her grandmother saved by a huntsman who was after the wolf’s skin.

The second part featured the girl and her grandmother trapping and killing another wolf, this time anticipating his moves based on their experience with the previous one. The grandmother had Little Red Riding Hood put a trough under the chimney and fill it with water that sausages had been cooked in; the smell lured the wolf down, and it drowned.

The Brothers further revised the story in later editions and it reached a better known version in the 1857 edition of their work. It is notably tamer than the older stories which contained darker themes.

After the Grimm’s

Numerous authors have rewritten or adapted this tale.

Andrew Lang included a variant called “The True History of Little Goldenhood” in The Red Fairy Book (1890). He derived it from the works of Charles Marelles, in Contes of Charles Marelles.

This version explicitly states that the story had been mistold earlier. The girl is saved, but not by the huntsman; when the wolf tries to eat her, its mouth is burned by the golden hood she wears, which is enchanted.

In the 20th century, the popularity of the tale appeared to snowball, with many new versions being written and produced, especially in the wake of Freudian analysis, deconstruction and feminist critical theory.

Interpretations

RitualThe tale has been interpreted as a puberty ritual, stemming from a prehistorical origin (sometimes an origin stemming from a previous matriarchal era). The girl, leaving home, enters a liminal state and by going through the acts of the tale, is transformed into an adult woman by the act of coming out of the wolf’s belly.

RebirthBruno Bettelheim, in The Uses of Enchantment, recast the Little Red Riding Hood motif in terms of classic Freudian analysis, that shows how fairy tales educate, support, and liberate the emotions of children. The motif of the huntsman cutting open the wolf, he interpreted as a “rebirth”; the girl who foolishly listened to the wolf has been reborn as a new person.

Themes of sex-play & Cannibalism

The version you know.

Little Red Riding Hood, on her way to grandmother’s house meets the Big Bad Wolf and stupidly tells him where she’s going. So he gets there first, eats Grandma, puts on her dress and waits for Red.

She gets there, they do the back-and-forth about what big teeth he has, and he eats her. Then, a passing woodsman comes and cuts Red and Grandma out of the wolf, saving the day.

What Got Changed.

Most modern versions of fairy tales come from two sources: The Grimm Brothers and Frenchman Charles Per-rault. The big change they made to this one was the ending. The woodsman was a later addition to the tale. In the early versions of the story, Red and her Grandmother are dead. Also, in most versions the woodsman cuts the pair out of the wolf’s belly.

Much earlier versions also liked to spice up the sexuality angle of the story, by having Red outwit the wolf by performing a striptease for him while he’s lying in bed dressed as her Grandmother, and then running away while he’s “distracted”.

The most horrifying version that got filtered out before the tale reached both the Grimm’s is the version where, the Wolf dissects Grandmother, then invites Red in for a meal of her flesh, presumably with a side of fava beans and a nice Chianti. Then he eats her, too.

OUGD505: DesiGn Practice 2Brief 2: ‘What is GOOD?’

Lisa cOLLierLeveL 5

Ba (GraPhic DesiGn)

Folklore

What is Folklore?

The term folklore is generally used to refer to the traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people which have beem disseminated in an informal manner -- usually via word of mouth, although in modern times the Internet has become a pivotal source for folklore. The term folklore may also be used to define the comparative study of folk knowledge and culture.

The term “folklore” was first coined by William J. Thoms in 1846. Thoms was a Britist antiquarian who wanted a simple term to replace various awkward phrases floating around at the time to discuss the same concept; phrases such as “popular antiquities”, “the lore of the people”, and “the manners, customs, observances, supersitions, ballads, proverbs etc, of the olden times”.

What is Folktale?

A folktale is a story or legend forming part of an oral tradition. Folktales possess many or all of the characteristics listed below.

They are generally part of the oral tradition of a group. They are more frequently told than read They are passed down from one generation to another.They take on the characteristics of the time and place in which they are told. They sometimes take on the personality of the storyteller. They usually speak to universal and timeless themes.

Often they will make sense of our existence, help humans cope with the world in which they live, or explain the origin of something. Generally they are based on the common person. May contain supernatural elements. Function to validate certain aspects of culture.

InspirationGood Is...

Packaging

Thesis project: book design and illustration. Artist book using drawing and papercuts. Featuring myth and legends, Eastern and Western folklore of the Stag and Deer.

This use of laser cutting to create a book cover is really eyecatching, and would be perfect for holding a series of small story books or zines together in a collection.

Naomi Sheik

Laser Cutting

Concept

Little Red Riding Hood, also known as Little Red Cap, is an European fairy tale about a young girl and a big bad Wolf.

The story has changed considerably in its history and subject to numerous modern adaptations and reading.

Leray’s style is startlingly simple – each illustration is a sparse composition of black ink and red crayon and the text is equally pared-down with just a few words on each page. The result is

Little Red Riding Hood for Adults

dramatic and stunningly beautiful. Little Red is depicted with her trademark cape, spindly arms and legs, and a button nose. The wolf is suitably scary with a greedy look in his eye, and menacing fangs and claws.

Leva Kausteklyte

User Interaction

Little Red Riding Hood tunnel book, tells the classic story, with a little twist.

Reading your way through by pulling out the pages and peeking through the cutouts.

Unusual take on interaction, making the user work different in order to be able to read the story, this is something I could consider in my own concept using a different approach to user interaction to bring something new to book stores.

Lama Khayyat.

Tunnel Book