DOMINIQUE CHOUCHANIAFGANG I VISUAL COMMUNICATIONdocho@student.dkds.dk

PROGRAM 05I03I010

1- THE BERLIN VOICE

2- DEFINING SNAP

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73- DESIGN ARCHEOLOGY

4- BERLIN’S PATTERNS

5- FILTERING BERLIN

6- BERLIN GMT+1

7- BIBLIOGRAPHY & OTHER REFRENCES

8- VISUAL INSPIRATION

1- Graphic Reconstructions2- The Notion of Ephemera: Walter Benjamin & Alfred Döblin3- Further readings: Naomi Klein & Frederic Beigbeder4- Artistic Source Of Inspiration

1- Collecting: Looking for Patterns2- Producing: Interpreting the patterns

1- P1: Topic and background: relevance and motivation

As designers, we are at a crossroad, faced with the challenge to balance opposing notions in order to create designs that are truly relevant and representative of our contemporary societies.Design is a powerful tool and is a testimony to the benefits of cultural exchange, and plays an essential role in visually representing a culture’s identity.

Being half Danish and half Lebanese, I was always exposed to both cultures and with time, I was gaining awareness of their similarities and differences. In constant eager to explore new ways of communication, I decided to base my master project in a foreign city Berlin, Germany. I have visited the city twice, for a short period and have formed my own opinions about its visual culture. I see Berlin as a unique place graphically and would love to extend my research and ask Berliners from a variety of backgrounds [interior designers, graphic designers, visual performers &music producers] how they see the city and what they think of its creative hub.I am hoping that the research will provide me with an interesting perspective on why the city pulse with a unique graphic identity and a multicultural vibe. The city itself has a character unlike any other I have seen in Beirut or Copenhagen; Beirut is a beautiful chaos compared to Copenhagen, meticulous and organized.

Having the opportunity to be a complete outsider in a city that I am not familiar with, I am hop-ing to build a new visual culture in a way that will expand my graphic library as a designer.

In one of my previous projects in the Danish Design School, I tried to redefine Design as a visual blend of two cultures. Blanda was the fruit of this fusion, where I redefined my graphic identity by marrying East and West. I concluded my project by analyzing Banda as a vector of communi-cation between a sender and a receiver, understanding and sharing the same code or language.

I thought I would grab this opportunity to extend my initial idea and create an experimental graphic laboratory in a foreign city, where I do not understand the native language.

By extracting graphic elements that characterizes Berlin, I am hoping to create a sort of visual library that would expand my communicative skills. I am eager to understand the graphic nature of the city, hoping that it will constitute new meaning to me as a designer.

My topic still being broad to define my final “product”, I am looking forward to be on “the field” from the 1rst of March, for a period of three consecutive months. I would like to extend my research to understand the context of Berlin’s hybrid culture.

1- THE BERLIN VOICE

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P2: Problem formulation

In the modern world, information fills our daily life; we are constantly surrounded by a multitude of advertisements in all its forms. Being part of a new city, I would capture information, record it and reinterpret it. This whole process seems to offer me an opportunity to extract cultural mate-rial and establish the city’s identity through my personal interpretations. It would be interesting to define a society through personal “snapshots” that examines identity, language and cultural patterns.The aim of this project is to take outsiders on a visual journey to understand Berlin, a multicul-tural city through its visual elements.

2- DEFINING SNAP7

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What would Berlin look like when it is extracted from its material culture?By collecting artifacts & building personas, can I establish a new form of understanding & analyzing a city? How can I create a reflection back to the “design industry” to inform and inspire?

P3: Theoretical and empirical description of the problem

During my research phase, I look for previous methods by which cultural material could be ana-lyzed to reveal a city’s behavior, culture and patterns.

1- Graphic Reconstructions

Amy Sheppard, Design Director of Johnson and Johnson Global Strategic, conducts in 2008 a project entitled “ Graphic reconstructions of Kreuzberg, Berlin”. She develops a graphic identity, collecting ephemera (receipts, tickets, posters and flyers) from the streets of Kreuzberg, Berlin over a three-week period.The project examines the language of transactions and advertising and its impact on community identity. She introduces the term Design Archeology, where she combines communication de-sign with archeological methods for evaluating material culture to produce new forms of graphic identity.

Amy Sheppard’s approach on using ephemera to study a community is a great source of inspira-tion. It coincides with the nature of my project to create snapshots of Berlin from its material culture.

2- The Notion of Ephemera: Walter Benjamin & Alfred Döblin

Amy Sheppard defines Ephemera as written and printed matter published with a short-intended lifetime. It is the class of published single-sheet or single page documents that are meant to be thrown away after one use. Common Types of Ephemera are postcards, event-oriented posters, transportation and show tickets, baggage stickers, stock certificates, motor vehicle licensing forms, business cards, print-ed wedding invitations, trade cards, and other similar printed materials.

The concept of extracting visual elements of the city is not new.Alfred Döblin (1929), in his novel Berlin “Alexanderplatz” uses ephemera from the city as a method for telling the story. He incorporates brand-specific jingles and slogans from Berlin that capture the essence of its street life. These random phrases appear throughout the novel, and they are used as a way of conveying how much the city and its messages find their way into the minds of its inhabitants.

Walter Benjamin (1999) uses ephemera as an organizing principle in his work, The Arcades Proj-ect, in which he creates a cultural history of 19th century Paris, building a biography of the city. He believes one can use individual moments to draw a larger view of the total event and tell a great story by what people have forgotten or discarded.

I am looking forward to read the two novels in depth and study the mutual interaction between cities and their habitants. Peter Jelavich (2007) states that “Alexanderplatz” is the perfect me-dium to describe the fact that consciousness is not something stable in the mind, that there’s things going around us every day as we walk down the street or turn on the radio.

3- Further readings: Naomi Klein & Frederic Beigbeder

Benjamin and Döblin novels are perfect mediums that explore how we are continuously affected by the “outside world” in diverse forms.I will be conducting further readings regarding Naomi Klein’s book “No Logo” and “99 Francs “from Frédéric Beigbeder; two novels that highlight the dominance of the corporate world. It is a challenge to be out in the streets of Berlin and analyze the city in a subjective point of view, taking in consideration that I would be perpetually affected by my surroundings.

4- Artistic Source Of Inspiration

As for my artistic sources of inspiration, I will be visualizing them in a separate section to set up a basic direction for my visual approach; I selected a limited number of inspirational projects and high-lighted key words to underline the inspiration found.Moreover, I have been collecting material produced my Berliner graphic studios, agencies and festi-vals; as it is important to study the mutual exchange between the various artistic disciplines and their importance in defining an overall visual culture.

I find myself attracted to photographs taken by Noboyushi Araki in “ L’essentiel du quotidien”, Ste-phen Shore’s “American Surfaces” and Stanley Kubrick’s “Drama and Shadows”.All three books, published by Phaidon, reflect the importance to explore a country though the eyes of an everyday tourist; where encountered people and objects remain the centre focus of attention.

3- DESIGN ARCHEOLOGY

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P.4: Method

1- Collecting: Looking for Patterns

The collection of artifacts will take place during my stay in Berlin from the 1rst of March.I will be spending time in different districts of the city. I will be collecting various visual materials ranging from my train ticket to Berlin, receipts, postcards, posters, flyers to photographs and High Definition footage.

I will be collecting artifacts aiming a selective collection and studying personas by interviewing Berliners from different backgrounds; I am hoping to study a restricted number of people and create a personal interpretation of how they see the city and its vibe.

After collecting the artifacts, I will scan and organize them into several categories such as re-ceipts, shops, events and entertainment.I will study the visual language of the content in its form, shape, and color.

At this stage, I would create a complete interpretation that reflects my entire research through visual snapshots; it would be challenging to use Amy Sheppard’s method and produce “a book” with my personal series of investigations based on my collected library.This method will provide me with a “visual framework” from which I could build a new way for my visual identity.

2- Producing: Interpreting the patterns

“What would Berlin look like when it is extracted from its material culture?”I am hoping to find a personalized theme where I can reflect graphically my visual experience in Berlin. I am not certain at this early stage what type of print material I will develop [book, a magazine, posters, postcards, CD packaging etc.]I am studying to create print material that would be translated into video footage. I will be lead-ing more research at this point and online tutorials on advanced programs.

P.5: Expected results: thesis, form of submission and extent

I am looking forward to be part of a new experience, where as a designer I will observe, record and filter all kind of patterns that identify the city.I think the overall approach would provide me with a new method of analyzing a city as a whole brand. I am hoping to learn new forms of communication by adapting Amy Sheppard’s theory.Her methodology introduces a design research titled Design Archeology; where she combines communication design with archaeological methods for evaluating material culture to produce new forms of graphic identity.After collecting information and evaluating it, I would be able to define the city through a per-sonal interpretation; I would include the city’s appearance, people’s experiences, what the city stands for and what kind of people inhabit it.It would be challenging to define Berlin’s distinctive characteristics and enable the city’s “brand”.Branding a city, like commercial products, would be an interesting conclusion for my work.

P.6: Work plan and time schedule

After collecting and looking for patterns, I am hoping that during the first 2 to 3 weeks, I would assemble as much information needed to proceed.I will be using Amy Sheppard’s method and produce “a book” with my personal series of inves-tigations based on my collected library.After a month and a half of preparations, the research phase will be more specific; at this stage I will be studying on a defined subject that will conclude to my final product.For now, it makes it difficult to set a complete time frame; I am waiting to move to the city and study it in depth.

4- BERLIN’S PATTERNS

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5- FILTERING BERLIN

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P.7 Bibliography and other references

Benjamin, W. (1999). The Arcades Project. Cambridge: Belknap Press.Döblin, A. (1929). Alexanderplatz Berlin, The story of Franz Biberkopf. New York:Viking Press.Frye, Ben (2004). Computational Information Design. Retrieved Feb 10, 2007fromhttp://www.heyotwell.com/heyblog/archives/2005/11/ben_fry_phd_dis.htmlHartman, E. (2006, August). The God of Small Things, Nylon, 111 -112.History World International. (2006). Retrieved from http://historyworld.org/archeology.htm.Jelavich, P. (2005). The Berlin Stories. Retrieved March 28, 2007 fromhttp://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=11557.Laurel, B. (2003). Design Research: Methods and Perspectives. Cambridge: MITPress.Lind, M. (2002) All Inside. Kunstverein München Drucksache. Retrieved March15, 2007 from http://www.careyyoung.com/essays/lind.html.Miller, D. (1997). Material Cultures: Why Some Things Matter. London: UCL Press.Neumeier, M. (2003). The Brand Gap. Berkeley, New Riders Press. pp 136Undisciplined! Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference 2008. Sheffield, UK. July2008050/18Noble, I. & Bestley, R. (2005). Visual Research: An Introduction to ResearchMethodologies in Graphic. Lausanne, Switzerland: AVA Publishing.Rathje, W. (2005). The Garbage Project & “The Archeology of the US”.Retrieved November 6, 2006 fromhttp://traumwerk.stanford.edu:3455/symmetry/174.Sterling, B. (2005). Shaping Things (1st ed.). Cambridge: MIT Press.

7- BIBLIOGRAPHY & OTHER REFERENCES

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8-VISUAL INSPIRATION

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PROJECT DESCRIPTIONThese are editorial proposals for the second issue of ILM [Intellectual Lifestyle Magazine].The main focus of this proposal was to showcase a new Arabic, dis-play typeface that the designer had developed.The project shows colors, typography, photographic treatments and graphic elements developed for the new magazine. Abstract typographic fragments are used to illustrate the new approach. A series of large folded posters was also produced, again using typographic fragments to show off the palette of new arabic fonts.

DESIGN Muiz AnwarPROJECT IMLCATEGORY Editorial Design & Arabic TypeDATE 2008

•photographic treatments, folded posters,new approach, abstract typo, color palette •

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Reasearch studios designed various covers, as well as contributing ideas to inside layouts, for Exber-liner, the English-language Berlin newspaper.Shown here (left) new form of type from a series of overlapping diagonal lines and (up) a design concept that features morphed letterforms devel-oped from transparent layers that build up to cre-ate dense forms similar to the gradients shown on contour maps of mountainous regions.

DESIGN Research studiosPROJECT ExberlinerCATEGORY Invite,flyer & Magazine coverDATE 2005

•overlap, lines,morphed, dense forms, contour maps, regions •

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Logo, sleeves and ads for the new record label.

DESIGN BunchPROJECT MurMur RecordsCATEGORY CD & Vinyl PackagingDATE 2008

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Playful applications for the 55DSL 2007 Christmas instore incentive. Tape and posters were designed and sent to each store where the staff were then encouraged to get creative with what they taped up to win 555 GBP worth of prizes.

DESIGN BunchPROJECT 55DSL ChristmasCATEGORY Posters & InstallationsDATE 2007

•overlap, lines,morphed, dense forms, contour maps, regions •

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The designer uses both roman and Hebrew letterforms to create complex biomorphic specimens.By modelling creatures that are half-insect and half-letterform,he ex-plores the graphic extremes of legibility.As well as creating more conventional Hebrew typefac-es, the designer experiments the ways in which charac-ters can be formed from folded paper and various geo-metric shapes.

DESIGN Oded EzerPROJECT TypoArtCATEGORY Sculptures & PostersDATE 2006

•letterforms, graphic extremes,characters, geometric shapes •

•letterforms, graphic extremes,characters, geometric shapes •DESIGN Oded EzerPROJECT TypoArtCATEGORY Sculptures & PostersDATE 2006

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This series of posters for the graduation classes from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Holland illustrates the extraordinary international mix of students at the college,32 countries, 21 different languages.Each poster features text in Dutch plus at least one other language spoken at the college, with each language screen printed in a different color.Some of the posters were overprinted with several different languages creating a very dense noise of language, color and type. The names of all the stu-dents are listed at the foot of the poster, with each one highlighted in the color corresponding to his or her country of origin.Dutch in orange, Arabic in pink etc.

DESIGN Laurenz BrunnerPROJECT Gerrit Rietveld AcademieCATEGORY Poster seriesDATE 2005

• language, overprint, dense, noise, color, type, highlight, origin •