laurenkellyillustration

For Unit 1 of our first project in my second year, we were asked to create a mural for Stepping Hill hospital which would possibly be pitched. As this was a collaboration unit I found myself in a group of three; with another illustrator and graphic designer. I’d kind of taken the plunge as I didn’t really know either of them beforehand, but in the end I feel that I’ve really grown as a person because of the experience–the good, and the bad–and I feel that I could more confidently integrate myself into a team of people I didn’t know in order to create something worthwhile.

So, with my two teammates, we decided on mini-deadlines and tasks and delegated roles rather quickly. The first, being:

Concept Brainstorming: We met up in the library the day after the brief to discuss initial ideas. We then went though the brief and decided that we would meet up the next day with three concepts. This gave us an initial idea as to what we were working with and who we would be collaborating with as we weren’t sure of each others strengths or ways of working yet. After discussing the concepts, we discussed them briefly and decided to expand for our next meet-up.

Some of my initial ideas included:

• A social media-based chat log between doctors and patients to reinforce the friendly, close, there-to-help nature of the doctors.
• Portraits of staff and patients with accompanying quotes
• Doctor, Doctor jokes!

Idea Brainstorming: The three concepts were developed visually and we discussed the pros and cons of each idea. We created visual representations of each of our ideas which gave us a better idea of what worked and what didn’t when we narrowed down to three for the pitch.

For my three ideas, I wanted to use mine and my fellow illustrators strength of working with faces, while trying to incorporate a graphical element in order to incorporate our graphic designer. I focused on very decorative, bold ideas and mocked up using stock images to build on this idea visually.

Boards: We decided that using physical boards instead of a presentation could create a very clear and organised representation of what we wanted. These boards were divided up with a mockup at the top to show our idea, with the colours underneath with a strip of blue that matched the colour of the hospital walls we were working with, and then text on the lower left and inspiration on the lower right.

After Pitch: We responded to the feedback – to narrow it down to one idea, the one we thought was strongest and had the most potential. Also to think about how we would present it, the boards were good but they needed to be a higher quality. We were asked to reconsider the wording of the quotes and the way we spoke of the hospital, and also to consider the different ways we could present our ideas.

Experimenting: We decided to break the piece down into separate elements: text, silhouettes and pattern, and then allocated roles depending on each persons strengths. Then we developed these ideas separately before coming back to the main group to discuss and re-work the concepts until we had something that was solid.

We decided that we would work best if we worked together, and decided that we would work better if we only went ahead with something that we all agreed upon and that would also keep up team morale.  However, there was a small disagreement between two parties which actually turned out for the better in the long run, as after the argument there was more openness and honesty and our team was brought closer together because of it. We kept in contact through emails and text messages and sent photos and picture evidence of how each of our element was coming along as we worked so that we could see how everything pulled together and could suggest changes before someone got too deep into something. This worked well as the final piece came along quickly and efficiently and we didn’t waste much time especially considering the quick deadline of the brief.

As we were working with a non-place like the hospital, we wanted to really give it a sense of place and comfort, to be able to take patients away from the hospital for even just a moment of time. Along with the idea of non-place, we really wanted to create a mural that related to the patients though through the use of Relational Aesthetics, so the piece that we chose to use really was inspired by the people in the hospital. We wanted to give them someone to look up to, able to project themselves onto the canvas and see themselves as someone who can heal, just like past patients have done. ‘If they can get better, then why can’t I?’

With all of the initial process done and dusted, it came around to the point where we actually had to put this thing together. To do this, we delegated roles between us (mine being the under patten which the image sits on), and we got to work.

ELEMENT 1: PATTERN

The colours, including the blue of the hospital, all complement each other which gives the pattern a nice colour scheme that is warm and easy on the eyes, all the while being interesting to look at. Along with this, tessellations are repeated patterns that fit together completely.  Tessellations have been used to create decorative motifs since ancient times. We chose a decorative pattern in order to garner attention while not being too distracting or too much of an eye-sore, and also gives the piece something to fit on. The colour allowed the silhouette to stand out, but is decorative enough to stand out on it’s own too, meaning that the elements of the canvases come together in harmony, not detracting from one or the other. Also, with the tessellation pattern reversed, it created a zigzag, linear transition between canvases.

Tesselations & Religion: Also there are religious connotations within the triangular pattern—often, triangles are seen as religious symbols as well as they bring together three main beliefs.

Christianity; the father, the son and the holy spirit.

Roman; Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.

Etruscans; Tinia, Uni, and Menerva

Hindu; Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

Neo-Paganism; Maiden, Mother, and the Crone

ELEMENT 2: SILHOUETTES

Silhouettes kept diverse but vague to go with the idea that ‘A nobody who could be anybody becoming a somebody for everybody’, allowing the patients to project themselves as these people who have healed. Gives the impression that there are people rooting for them and thus encourages them to get better.

Using black and white portrait like the Ladbrooks ad campaign created a bold silhouette that stood out strongly against the patterned background.  layout and portrait profile is more welcoming than the side profile. Originally started as just a blocked, profiled silhouette which gave a formal look and allowed for0 hardly any of the facial features e.g smile, eyes. This leaves the faces ambiguous and up to interpretation. Some came out with not enough negative space, which as a result lost detail or the opposite happened and too much detail came out taking a lot of the focus away. After this went back to redrawing them with more of an angle so its not too formal and could easily add more facial details.

ELEMENT 3: TEXT

Careful consideration of quotes. We wanted to use quotes so there could be a link between the silhouette and the type. The quote is like a short story or experience, rather then a statement, of past patients of the hospital and how they found their experience. The quotes had to be positive because patients would be reading these quotes for motivation or inspiration. We want patients to come and read these ‘stories’ so they can find some motivation as they might be feeling down. Someone to look up to and someone that can inspire them. Things people are going to want to read when they are in the hospital, positivity is key. Art practice to make art based on, or inspired by, human relations and their social context. Art is inspired by the patients.

We wanted a typeface that would be easy to read and one that wasn’t too brash and bold, something discreet. No caps, as people want people to be spoken to rather then shouted at. Creates a more welcoming and calmer mood. To keep a sense of repetition and theme, the colour of the type is similar to the colours of the pattern, a pale and peaceful colour. Fonts we looked at and sizes. Didn’t want the design to be text heavy. Not corporate, standard colours – red, yellow, blue and green. Corridors in a hospital are usually quite clinical and bare – we want it to be welcoming and homely. We mocked up what the final image would look like and then attempted the text with and without a border, and found that the borderless text integrated it with the image much better.

OVERALL

By the time all of the elements were pulled together, the three of us were happy with the outcome. We’d created something unique that we wouldn’t have been able to make if we were working alne, drawing strengths from each person to make, what we thought, was a strong final outcome. We felt that it was bold and effective and we were very proud of the outcome.