Workshop Encounters – an investigation into alternative spaces and forms.

Workshop

“Encounters” is a workshop held at Färgfabriken 3-7 October in collaboration with Beckmans School of Design. The workshop is lead by Sara De Bondt, Hanna Werning and Martin Frostner.

The results will be exhibited in Färgfabriken’s project rooms. Opening and party on October 8, 12-01.

The task:

We are going to do a bit of investigating into alternative spaces and forms that carry messages. Your objective is to find a new space that you wouldn’t usually use as a graphic designer and to leave a suggestion of a story there, for the public to come across naturally, as if by accident. Integrating stories naturally into circumstances of an everyday reality is not an easy task; it involves recognising the visual vocabulary of the space and finding a form or a “vehicle of articulation” in response to its context. It should fit so well into its context that it almost becomes camouflaged. The three elements space, form and content must link in someway. Try to find a space that is as diverse as possible.

The forms that maybe we associate formally with graphic/typographic communication are those that manifest themselves as printed matter, i.e. posters, books, flyers, etc. These forms are often made highly visible, displayed in a whole array of spaces and consumed by many people. The things these forms usually have in common are that you know you are meant to be looking at them and that you know that they are directed at you. We are going to try to do the opposite of this.

• Things that suggest a narrative but don’t give the whole story away.
• Things that demand the attention of passers-by, not because of their scale or volume, but because of there intrigue value.
• Things that carry a message that relates to the space or circumstances they are in, i.e. “complete concepts”. Think about it as if you were a passer-by stumbling upon this message in public space, what would stop you in your tracks for a moment?