Tuesday, October 19, 2010

BSBDES403A, BSBDES304A

1. Ethics
Business ethics study- the topics that where related around this discussion where ethical issues and what we think is right. What I got out of this discussion was that many people have different ethical views to each other and it is very important to keep this in mind when designing for a client. We want to be very careful of what and who we are designing for and we need to be aware of what others believe is ethical and right and to perhaps adjusts for that.

2. Style

1.having an open mind helps you to develop a style because if you have an open mind, you are able to adapt to certain situations. If you are given a task, you do not want to be confines to doing tasks a certain type of way. Being open can help you broaden your artistic capability rather than to be confined to doing the same old kind of work that you are comfortable with. Having an open mind can enable us to try new things and to be able to change according to our environment. If we have an open mind we may be able to create something that is unique while looking aesthetically good. It is important to have an open mind to challenge our ideas and thus set us apart from doing work the same way that every body else is doing. It is also important to have an open mind to be able to adapt to problems that might come about that we had not anticipated for. By having an open mind and being willing to learn new tools and try new ways of doing things we are more likely to broaden our horizons.

2. It is important to have unique skills and aesthetic elements in your creative process. Simply put, you want to be unique and look good. This is important because firstly you want your work to look good and be desirable. It is important for your work to be desirable because this is one of the fundamentals of being a graphic designer. We want people to like what we design because this can make our work a success and thus make ourselves a success. Aesthetics are the backbone of our industry; it is vital that our design looks aesthetically pleasing to our market. This is what graphic design is all about. To design for products while looking aesthetically pleasing and portraying a certain message to generate sales for that product. It is also important that we have some unique skills to offer. We want people to be able to recognize our work from other Graphic designers work. We want to have an edge over the competition to give us a high probability of being employed and to have a high reputation. Having skills that separate our work from the competition is crucially important. We want our work to look better and differ from everybody else’s to give us the potential of becoming highly successful.

3. it is important to hold small personal critics of other artists and research other artists work at regular intervals because we can only benefit from what they have to offer. Also it keeps our skills of critiquing up to date and continually teaches us on what we should look for and pays attention to in our own work. Researching of other artists and their work is important to stimulate your creativity. Looking at different artists styles can only benefit our own. We can learn new ways of doing things, we can get inspired to try something new and by looking at other artists work, we don’t just limit our capability to what we can think of. It is also essential to research other peoples work when designing for a business to be able to tap into what the general consensus is using for that particular type of company. Also by researching other artist’s work you broaden yourself to learning many different styles, which can only advance your work. We can also see what is important by looking at other artists work and considering what they did wrong. We can learn from other artist’s mistakes and not have to learn by doing the same mistakes. Holding small critics on other artists work keeps us up to speed on what looks aesthetically pleasing while showing us what’s being used and what is refreshingly new in our work, it is a necessary aspect we must do to advance our work to a high level.

4. The importance of knowing your likes and dislikes and your strengths and your weaknesses cannot be understated. It majorly affects every single piece of design that you do. Naturally you are going to design towards what objects or styles you like and what you are good at. This limits you to reaching your full potential or capability in design. It is imperative that you focus on your weaknesses to maximize your ability and to broaden your span of work. Ways of improving your weaknesses may be to design a object that shapes you are not confident in or to design for a style that you don’t enjoy. It could be to research other people’s work that has a style that is totally alien to you. As Graphic designers it is fundamental to have as much variance of technique as possible. To be able to adapt to any problem or task we have will be easier if we have as wide range of styles and skills as we possibly can.

5. I think that style is both definitive and it does continually evolve for me. When working on a task at a particular time style definitive. If you look at designs set around a same period, I think that you would be able to tell my work apart form other work. However as time goes on and as your abilities advance and your likes and dislikes change your style will change. It is similar to your style of writing, usually pieces written in the same year have the same style, but as time goes on and your vocabulary and maturity changes the style of your writing changes. The same thing happens with design. In my opinion my style does continually change. But it happens at a very slow pace. Therefore my style is definitive and can be recognized as my own but it will advance as my capabilities change as my personality changes.

6. Your attitude affects your style and professionals perception of you dramatically. Your attitude towards everything affects your design. It affects our clients, their market and our business itself it is important that you give out a positive attitude of everything that you do. Having a bad attitude can bring down even the best graphic designer. Having a negative attitude can also diminish your motivation. Motivation affects our quality of work that we produce. It is important to have good attitude towards work is important in how people see you. It can make the difference from a person perceiving you as a good person to get along with who is a hard working to someone who is lazy puts minimal amount of work into his projects and doesn’t care about his clients. Having the correct attitude towards who we work for and caring about what we are designing for is important if we are to maximize level of success we are to be. It can make or break our industry.

7.habits are simply different ways that we develop on achieving certain aspects in our lives. E.g. being a messy person is a habit that we may develop in coping with organization. It is important to be aware of habits that we may develop because they can either assist us in achieving our goals set before us or they can limit the class that we are able to obtain in our work and our life and reflects on people’s opinion of us. Bad habits such as being untidy or leaving everything to the last minute limits the ability we are able to obtain. However having good habits such as being a punctual person contributes positively towards people’s perception of us. Ultimately habits define what level of success we can be. It also affects on things such as morale. It is important to have good habits in our lives because they affect how others view us and how we view ourselves.

8. Time management is what a designer lives on every day. Because our job is defined by meeting criteria and deadlines, it is important that we prioritize every job that we do constantly. Time management offers a designer a way of prioritizing through their job. It is important to time manage every job that we do to achieve the best possible result. Weighing up what needs to be done with the amount of time given is essential. Time management offers us a way of sifting through the amount of time given to find the most plausible and easiest way of achieving the task given. It is a ordered way of planning our time to achieve what needs to be done.

9. There are many ways of improving time management to achieve the best possible result. One of the easiest ways of doing this is by keeping a scheduled diary. Diaries offer us a way of viewing the amount of time we have between where we are and our deadlines. It is important to constantly view our diaries so we can keep up to speed on achieving our goals. This way we know if we are falling behind on our set plan. Diaries are ways of keeping ourselves accountable and being aware of the time frame that we have to complete our task. Other ways of improving our time management is to eliminate some activities that are not essential to give us the most amount of time towards a job. We can also capitalize on the amount of time available by getting the certain types of software and thus giving us more time to work. We can also isolate ourselves from any distractions to keep us focused on the job.

10. A conscience is our thought process or our intuition that tells us generally the difference between what is right and what is wrong. It is a personal decision that everyone makes between what is just and what is unjust. This majorly affects whom we design for and what we design. Your conscience also affects your reputation. It’s drawing the line between ethics verses money. E.g. your conscience would come into play if you were asked to design a packet of cigarettes marketed towards children. It also may affect what we are willing to draw. Our conscience affects our style and our professional practice greatly. It is our instinct that tells us on how far we are willing to go to make money.

11.Generally accepted morals and our own moral stance affect design and our professional practice. What the general population believes and what we believe has a huge part to play in our work place. Firstly it affects our clients. Morals have a huge part to play when it comes to the work place because it affects whom we design for and how others see our design. When for our clients our reputation is on the line. If we advertise for a product that is doing something illegal it automatically reflects on us. This is why morals are so important. What you believe in and what you think is just may be completely different to what someone else believes. It will reflect on you. E.g. using the famous “we want you poster” as advertisement may be considered an innovative idea to some but can be considered extremely disrespectful to others. In conclusion it is important to know how the general population feels about all pieces of art that you create. It is important that research is done into if your art could be considered unsuitable to the general population. Moral issues such as these may open your work up for criticism and thus may damage your reputation.



3.Deadlines

A deadline is a certain time that you must adhere to on finishing a piece of work for another individual or company. It is the time that you must present your work to who-ever will requiring it. Both parties usually agree to the time; the party supplying the work and the party receiving the work. It is the exchange period of the work supplied from the supplier to the receiver and the supplier must meet it. Aspects that affect in meeting a deadline are time management, assessment of work, reworking current work to maximise quality, prioritisation, and having backup plans to use in case of emergency.

Time management- one of the most important issues when dealing with meeting a deadline on time. Time management directly reflects on your quality of work and your reputation.

Assessment of work- it is important to always assess your work to find out problems that the work currently might have. Ways of doing this is to have other people critique or look over your work.

Reworking current work- looking over the work that you have done and being able to fix mistakes needs to be done regularly. It might be needed that you get a fresh pair of eyes to look over your work because they may see something that you cant.

Prioritising your work- this along with time management is a vital key when meeting deadlines to the best of your ability. Prioritising goes hand in hand with managing your time. To reach the optimum amount of quality that you are able to achieve it is imperative that you learn to prioritise your work.

These are some ways that can help you to get the quality of work before you reach your deadline. Deadlines are vital, they must be adhered to. Some of the consequences of not meeting deadlines are:

Reputation damaged or destroyed- if deadlines are not met your reputation automatically gets affected. People may loose respect for you. You might even loose your job.

Reputation of your company- others may get affected by your lack of reliability. The company that you work for ultimately takes the blame for an individual’s mistake. It could end up costing them a lot of client and thus money out of the business.

Loss of morale-if a deadline is not meet. The individual that didn’t meet it losses confidence in himself or herself that might take a long while to retain.

These are all negative results that may happen if deadlines are not meet. There are ways to avoid deadlines not being meet. Certain ways of covering ourselves to give us the best possible chance that our deadlines will be met are:

Prioritise our lives better: it is important to maximise the amount of time spent on important projects. Ways we can do this is by giving more time to important projects and less time on less important issues.

Have an organised plan-being organised and tidy is important. If we are organised it gives us a structural environment and therefore boosts the possibility of us achieving the best possible result.

Have backup plans- it is almost inevitable that at some point in our life something will happen that we are not prepared for leaving us with a problem. Having backup plans to fall back on helps us to have the highest possible chance of meeting deadlines.

Deadlines are important. All of these aspects help to give us the highest possible chance of meeting them. We all need to make sure we meet deadlines. To do this we need to make sure that we do not overload ourselves by giving ourselves to many deadlines. It is important that if we have to many deadlines for clients that we keep the ones that are going to benefit our business the most and leave the ones that are less important.

Deadlines alter the perception people have of individuals or businesses because every deadline that we keep or break we ultimately affects people’s perception of us or our business. When we meet or don’t meet a deadline for the first time or the twenty-second time people’s opinion of our punctuality, how responsible we are and how reliable we are will always be altered. Deadlines are the heart of our business; it is a golden rule that we live by every day. Deadlines define our reputation and as graphic designers our reputation means everything. Our success in this business is defined by our reputation. Deadlines alter the perception people have of our reliability, our reputation and our general business.

Deadlines however differ slightly from our industry to others. Reasons for this are basically our industry only requires small amount of “Physical” manpower while others may require a lot more hard work such as a builder. Builders have deadlines and schedules to keep but unlike us who have to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas daily, they only require to do the same or similar jobs daily but require a lot of people needed to get the job done. Our line of work may require a team environment but to do our job usually the only time that we are working as a team is by critiquing our work. Our deadlines differ from theirs because theirs is based on hard physical labour rather than using creative problem solving to come up with suitable solutions. Our work is similar in some ways though. For example we generally both have to use other industries to achieve our result. E.g. Printeries and electricians. Generally deadlines differ for us because we have to use our creative ability rather than use simple manpower.

Deadlines are vitally important to our industry. They are essential to completing our job to the best of our ability. Doing the best job possible totally depends on how we manage our time to complete our work to the deadline. Without deadlines and a commitment to completing them we cannot survive in our industry.

4. Cultural Relationship on design

1. I think that the Celtic culture has filtered through to Australia and the world in general mostly through the art style they have created. We now see all the time that people have Celtic type symbols styled into graffiti or Celtic style jewellery. I think that we are mostly reminded about them through the style that they have given us. This is the most common way that their style of living has filtered through to our society. People recognise their types of patterns and are mesmerised by it. They spent a lot of time devoting themselves to their art form and it has become a style in today’s society.

2. Aboriginal art is so much more than just a drawing. Often aboriginal art in Australia was used to convey a story or having a tangible way to explain how things came to be like they are. This is the same with a lot of other cultures and art times. The Egyptians used art to write history through hieroglyphics and to boast about their magnificence. They used it to show information about their beliefs. Many other cultures used art to symbolise their dominance of war. Cultural art is usually so much more than just a drawing. Most often it symbolises their history, their beliefs and their existence. Unlike today’s world people didn’t always have material things to gain when designing their drawings? They weren’t looking to make money out of it. They were looking to make a mark that could be seen by others for an extensive period of time. They were looking to tell their own lives.

3. M. C. Escher’s work is highly skilled and his perfection of his geometric objects impresses people everywhere. The way that his objects perfectly align with each other and dedication he puts to his tessellation artwork, that’s what amazes people. You can see in Escher’s work that his first career path as an architect. His precision of his work is what he is famous for. The reason why he is so appreciated is because his art was not just a random style of objects. His drawings are so detailed yet are so perfected to create a piece that is mathematically perfect yet aesthetically pleasing as well.

4.Art of the past is so interesting to look back on because we can see how art has evolved. The introduction of new tools has changed art so much. We have only just recently evolved into computers and you can obviously see how much that has changed the idea of art not to mention who can do art. Now people don’t just rely on drawing things by hand. They can also use applications such as Photoshop and illustrator, which have changed art dramatically. This is just one of the ways that art has changed there are so many other ways that art has changed in form. Another reason why it is interesting to look back into the past art, is that we can see certain ages and cultures. We can see what was socially acceptable in past times, we can even see how advanced a certain culture was through there art e.g. Some would see the pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China as an art form that shows us how advanced their civilization was. These are only two reasons why it is interesting to look back into past art. There are reasons why it is interesting and also beneficial to look to the past and experience a certain culture through their art.

5. It is important to look back into the past at certain art because as graphic designers we have to comply with what our client wants. We need to be able to research what is acceptable in today’s market. We may also need to research other countries style because certain countries have certain styles that we might have to conform to. What looks aesthetically pleasing in one country may mean a completely different thing in another. We also need to take into account that other countries have other styles that we may have to conform to. Looking into the past art will help us to do exactly that. It is also important to look back at past art because it gives us so many styles of art that we can use. It widens our artistic ability.

6. Ancient art has affected my life by through art forms. Viewing those different types of art forms in all their magnificence really brings me back to perspective on the world today. E.g. the great pyramids could be considered an artistic structure, if people had capabilities to build a structure like that what is possible that we are able to design in our days. This really opens my eyes to what is capable to create. Looking back to ancient forms and seeing what they were able to create shows me that the possibilities are endless. We have so many resources to upgrade our skills. And if they were able to reach that potential what are we able to do today.

7. I don’t think that there have been many major cultural influences in my life. I have not been oversees so I have not had any drastic culture changes in my life. However I think that my culture has been affected by being subject to different types of foods. I think that culture will generally be affected by living in a multicultural nation. It is inevitable to be subject to many different styles of living life. I am also subject to many different cultural art forms such as films. These all alter my perception on life itself. I don’t think that I have had quite the cultural change as most people who have gone overseas though. Going an eastern cultural and experiencing life itself there would be a real eye opener for me. I feel that the only minor impact on my life when relating to cultural change would be the narrow view that we see in Australia.

5. timeline of time future




6. Graphic Design jobs

Percept Brand Design
Percept Brand Design is a branding and graphic design agency based in Sydney. They specialize in corporate identity, corporate brochure design, brand packaging, websites and logo design.
http://www.percept.com.au/

Hopping mad designs
They are a boutique graphic design and web design agency based in Sydney and Melbourne, creating brand design, graphic design, web design and website development solutions. They are a creative web and graphic agency providing strategic and creative thinking to help their clients achieve the best results possible.
http://www.hoppingmad.com.au/
Gotham Design Agency
Gotham design agency provides every facet of marketing and advertising collateral delivering authoritive and distinctive visual communicative solutions.
http://www.gotham.com.au/what-we-do.html
Juuce
Juuce is a North Sydney based creative graphic and web design agency that produces superb creative solutions for business branding and promotion. Their aim is to increase your business marketing efficiency through creative Graphic Design, Web design and Multimedia solutions.
http://www.juuce.com/
Stella Design
At Stella Design, we offer many things such as Logo and Brand Development, Logo Design, Brand Development, Stationery Design, Brochure Design, Packaging Design, Exhibition and Signage Design, Advertisement Design, Direct Mail Campaign Design, Publications and Booklet Design, Web Design, Website Content Management Systems and Website Database Development, Web Search Engine Optimization, Electronic Direct Mail Campaigns, Motion Graphics Design, and Training Program Design. Just to name a few.
http://www.stelladesign.com.au/

The Creative Company
They have a range of design skills and previous experience in brand creation, brand development, corporate identity, logo design, web design and web development
http://www.thecreativecompany.com.au/
Cyber design Works
Cyber design Works is an interactive agency located in Sydney, Australia. They design websites, develop websites, create online applications and provide a range of traditional creative services including print design, photography, animation and branding.
http://www.cyberdesignworks.com.au/
Ant Design
They specialize in Graphic Design, Logo Design, Email Marketing, Web Site Design, Product Photography, Identity and Branding Services
http://www.antdesign.com.au/

Sprout media
Sprout media offers web site development and management, flash animation, website banners, email marketing, direct marketing, illustration, corporate identity
http://www.sproutmedia.com.au/
Graphik exposure
They specialize in Design, Logo, Brochure, Packaging, Exhibition Signage, Branding, and Web advertisement.
http://www.graphikexposure.com.au/

What I found through researching jobs available over the Internet I have found that jobs for illustrators are around 30,000 to 50,000 with a few exceptions, they require a degree in illustration or related courses such as graphic design or animation. There are a lot of jobs that require experience of the real world and a lot of jobs that do not specify a salary. The responsibilities generally are being able to use current software to professional level, having a strong attention to detail, having a innovative mind and being able to multitask many projects at one time.

7. Challenges in graphic

1. There are many different Graphic design challenges that we all have either overcome or are continually overcoming in our lives. Some of these challenges are to be able to draw to the best of our ability, to know the software extensively to give us the best possible capability to complete the tasks set before us, knowing what looks aesthetically pleasing and being able to fix it, being able to critique others work and our own work to improve it to the highest possible level, being a unique problem solver, being able to work in a team environment, being able to publicly speak proficiently, being able to argue and defend your work and being able to be a multi-tasker . These are all problems that we have either overcome through hard work or are continually trying to improve to perfect our occupation.

2.one of the easiest ways of solving these problems is to one, work on it continually to perfect that skill. Drawing is one of those skills that you don’t automatically become a brilliant drawer, you have to continually work on it over a extensive period of time. The only way to achieve a better ability in drawing is to continually practice that skill. Other ways that we can achieve better results in our skill to ask for help or receive further teaching in that skill. Receiving teaching to help us better our skills can only benefit our abilities. For example receiving teaching in software such as Photoshop or illustrator can only enhance our capabilities and therefore increase our standard of work, we could also find books of information on beginner to advanced drawing to help us advance into a high level of that skill.

3. There are many resources out there to help us to improve our skill level in what ever ability we may need it in. ways of receiving help may be through books, internet, television, classes or one on one help. The Internet is a great way of receiving learning in our skill. It doesn’t cost much and the information is there at our fingertips all of the time. We can suit this type of learning around our schedule, however it is not a interactive type of learning and we can only view what has been produced on certain sources such as you-tube. There is other types of learning such as reading online about your skill, this is however also non interactive. Books are another resource we can use to assist us in our learning, the positive aspects about this type of learning is that it also is available to fit around you schedule however it is not interactive and your learning may be limited on what is written and your capabilities on reading. It also can be quite expensive if you are to purchase the books required. Television is another form of learning. The positive out puts are that it is also cheap and that it also fits around your schedule, the negative aspects are that it is not interactive and it can be limiting on whether you have a television or not. The last type of ways of learning that I have discussed is through classes or by one on one learning. The positive aspects of this are interactive learning to receive the most possible assistance needed. However it can be limiting through costing money and it does not fit around your schedule you have to fit your life around it. These are all ways of improving your set of skills to achieve the best job possible.

3.my annual budget to pay for these resources is complicated. My group certificate this year was eighteen thousand not including tax. Dividing that by fifty-two gives my budget a week to be three hundred and forty six dollars and fifteen cents. We then have to take into count the necessities. We need to take out roughly one hundred dollars a week for food, fifty dollars a week for rent, roughly twenty dollars a week for clothing and thirty dollars a week for petrol. That means the potential for spending money on the resources I need to survive in this industry comes to one hundred and forty six dollars and fifteen cents.

6. The major platforms Mac and pc affect the technical approaches to our projects substantially. Firstly the set up is affected. To start Mac programs if they are not in the desktop is a simple process. All that it is needed is to go down to the doc and open, whereas the pc you must use the start option and search through an endless list to find the application needed. Macs are also different as most of them are usually personalized not needing major password procedures to access the computer itself whereas the pc usually needs a password to access the computer. Security is sacrificed when using the Mac but it helps in accessing the information in the quickest possible amount of time. Mac and pc also differ on where things are and what buttons you must press in order to use the fast way of doing things. They also differ in the general look of the computer. Generally in my experience the type pad are easier to use. The mice also differ. The pc uses two buttons, a left click and a right click whereas the Mac version only has one button and the Mac version only has one button, the click varies depending on the placement of your hand. In conclusion in my experience I have found that the Mac’s that I have used handle the software easier, the Mac’s are easier and quicker to use, the saving files are easier to find and generally over the field the Mac’s portray a lot more class tan the average Joe pc.

8. The critiquing process

1. For the critique process I had sallies map. I felt that I did well in critiquing her map. For her map she displayed a treasure type map with very minimal colour and she used cartoons with unrealistic eyes to give it unity. I thought she did well in presenting her map to target a small child audience however; she had a cross on her map, which to me showed that she was trying to portray a treasure. I thought that this was inappropriate or misleading. You don’t want to give children a false sense of a treasure that isn’t there. Only very small minor details like this let her down. On a whole she did an excellent job. The only real thing I could critique about was the fact that it was a different to do a map styled like a treasure map and that this may not be a positive thing or it may not be well received.


2.the student that critiqued my work was Lea. I thought that she did a good job on critiquing my work. I don’t think she said as much as she wanted to say considering my map was largely underdone due to time constraints. She brought up points such as it lacked unification, the colours were not aesthetically pleasing, and my characters were not to scale. I think she did a good job but I thought that she held back because she new that it was underdone.

3.the critiquing process has improved my map. I knew that my map lacked unification and that the colours were not correct. But I didn’t know what way to approach this to make it correct. The critiquing process has improved my map, rather than making such a bold statement and not making the mark, I have realised that my colours did not have to be so vividly strong and that my map needed to focus on being more aesthetically pleasing rather than portraying a message that I was trying to get across.

4.the only critism I received was that I think I need to ignore was the Cadbury logo. I don’t think that it matters too much using the Cadbury logo in a children’s map if it was ok and I had permission to do so. More than one person backed everything else that was said so I think its fair to say that I need to change it

5. I think that the correct attitude needed to take into a critique is to be realising that your work does not define you. It can be hard when you have worked on a project for so long to be able to recognise that the result might not be what you had hoped for. It is important to remember that your work may always need improvement, that some people may not like your ideas and that your work does not define who you are. Being told that your work is not good enough does not mean that you have failed as a designer; it means that you have learned about what to do and what not to do. I think that it is important to recognise that your work might always need improvement, not everyone will like it and to be prepared to do what is necessary to perfect it.

6. I think that you can prepare to give criticism by realising that someone else cares about what they design. You also need to realise that when you critique someone else’s work you are not critiquing them as a person. It is important to remember that someone else’s work can only get better by being given alternate views.

7.some general guidelines in graphic design that help us to provide criticism are what looks aesthetically pleasing, what has unity and what doesn’t, is there attention to detail and if not what needs to be addressed, is it suited for the target market it was designed for, these are all ways we can give opinions on what we think of other peoples work. It is important to know if something looks good. It is important to know if your product suits the group that you’re aiming it at. It is important to know whether your piece belongs. These are all important ways of guidelines we must adhere to when critiquing other people’s work.

9. Critical theory

Critical theory is the process of evaluating anything or everything possible and drawing some conclusion. It is the process of thinking about what others may not think about. It is analyzing everything and anything. A theory is critical to the point that it seeks human unrestraint, to liberate human beings from circumstances that enslave them. Critical theories differ from others because they usually draw conclusions that are unique and ground breaking in human understanding. They usually give us tremendous breakthrough in understanding certain things. Critical theory provides us with a detailed basis for social inquiry targeted at limiting the denominational gap and increasing freedom in all their forms.

Critical theorists usually spend a lot of time on what ever their specialty is. They are unique because they think outside the box. Famous theorists come up with ways of explaining things that no one had ever done before. They have a higher order of thinking and are always looking to break the barriers of human understanding. They aim to distinguish their aims, methods, and forms of explaining life from a general point of view in both the natural and social sciences. Some famous critical theorists are Albert Einstein, Nicomachus Aristotle, Leo Tolstoy and Abraham Lincoln.

Albert Einstein is one of the greatest critical thinkers of our time. He is known all over the world for the inventions. One of his famous quotes is as written “... knowledge must continually be renewed by ceaseless effort, if it is not to be lost. It resembles a statue of marble, which stands in the desert and is continually threatened with burial by the shifting sand. The hands of service must ever be at work, in order that the marble continue to lastingly shine in the sun. To these serving hands mine shall also belong.”

Albert Einstein is one of, if not the most well known scientist of our time. This is because he continually researched, continually questioned and continually experimented his ideas. We can use this is our own lives today. In our industry we can continually test out new ways of doing things, continually research to gain the highest knowledge obtainable and continually question what needs to be done in our own work to help improve it.


Nicomachus Aristotle was the biggest success that came out of the program devised by Plato. The surviving scripts of Aristotle known as the Organon was to develop a universal method of reasoning by means of which it would be possible to learn everything there is to know about reality. One of the most complete surviving statements is his view on morality. He there considers the natural desire is to achieve happiness, he describes the operation of human violation and moral deliberation, develops a theory of each virtue as the mean between vicious extremes, discussed the value of three kinds of friendship, and defends his conception of an ideal life of intellectual pursuit.

Leo Tolstoy is considered one of the world greatest novelists. He is most famous for his book called war and peace and Anna Karenina. Although he was born as a noble, He spent most of his life popular with the peasant’s class in the field of education. Tolstoy served in the Russian army during the Crimean war, and his next book Nevastopol was well received for his realistic impression of war. After traveling he then devoted himself to a family and writing his greatest novels war and peace and Anna Karenina. He was well known because he was able to articulate his words in an expressive way to affect people. A person who did this through speech was Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s famous presidents. He is well known for being able to motivate people through his famous speeches. He had a way of saying what people needed to here concisely. One of his most famous speeches was the “Gettysburg address”. In this speech people before him spoke for an extensive amount of time where he only spoke for two minutes. He said what people needed to here and addressed the situation with great wisdom. Here is an extract from the Getty’s burg address. “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”. Lincoln was famous for this speech for being able to motivate people in the right way by accessing aspect to focus on. He is famous because he knew how people thought. He is a great theorist of our time because he had a great knowledge about peoples thought process and was able to use that in his speeches. We can also relate critical theory towards thinking critically.

All of these great theorists were famous because while having extensive knowledge under them, they refused to be confined to what was known. They were able to explore what was unknown rather than being set with the usual. They also were able to come to conclusions about every day life. We can use this in our work place. It is important to know and to be able to research continually information that will only benefit us. But it is also important to think about things that haven’t been done. It is important to be able to see how other people think and what they find appealing. All of these famous theorists had ground breaking thoughts that changed our world forever. They produced an idea that was totally original to change history forever.


Critical theory and critical thinking are very similar. Critical thinking is analyzing and being aware of our thought processes. It is the ability to improve your thought processes through continual self-assessment. There are 6 stages of critical thinking: The unreflective thinker, the challenged thinker, the beginning thinker, the practicing thinker, the advanced thinker and the accomplished thinker

The unreflective thinker is unaware that their thinking process is directly affecting how they view everything around them and how they view themselves. They lack the capability to assess their thought process and improve it thereby.

Challenged thinkers are aware that their thought process directly affects their capabilities and problems in their lives. Challenged thinkers are aware that high quality thinking requires deliberate thinking about their thought processes. They also begin to understand the role of self-deception in the thought process.

The beginning thinker is one who takes up the plan to change the way they think. They have some success but because they lack a plan on how to do this their attempts may not be as successful.

The practicing thinkers are at the stage of having a sense of the habits they need to develop to take charge of their thought process. They while recognizing that problems exist in their thought process, realize the need to face these problems. They actively analyze thought process in a number of ways. However they attack their thought process from a very systematic way and thus have a limited insight into deeper levels of thought.

The advanced thinker- thinkers at this stage have now developed good habits, which pay off. Based on these habits advanced thinkers not only constantly analyze their thinking in all aspects of their lives, but also have insight into deeper levels of thought. They are not yet able to consistently keep track over their egocentric nature.

Accomplished thinkers- accomplished thinkers have taken over their way of thinking. They also continually monitor it, revising and continually rethinking strategies for constant improvement of their thought process. They regularly raise their thought process to the point of a conscious realization of how they think. They are deeply committed to this way of thinking. They also have an almost control over their egocentric nature.

After researching critical theory and critical thinking I have come to the realization that your way of thinking is not something that you have to live with. It can be changed it can be altered. It is not impossible to change the way you think about yourself or about everything that goes on around you. I have also concluded that critical theory has been derived from one individual gathering lots of opinions, evidence and factual information and then drawing conclusions. They also are not confined by what has already been discovered. They are always testing the boundaries physically and learning through error. They base their theories not only on their own knowledge but others knowledge to draw conclusions.

Critical theory and critical thinking relates to design. Constantly we must way up whether our way of doing things is the best possible way. Constantly we have to way up what others believe as well to try and market a product towards what other people think. It is also important to continually test what new ways of doing things that haven’t been done before. To be a successful in this industry it is important to continually test new ways of completing the task. Our job is also similar to Critical theorist because it is important to know the maximum amount of knowledge possible about our industry while coming up with innovate ways of competing our task.

In conclusion graphic design is similar to the way that critical theories think. We have to constantly think about the thought processes of others. We have to appeal to the general thought process. We have to know what others think looks good. We have to know what grabs people’s attention. We also have to keep our own thought process under control. We have to know why we think the way we think, if it is going to lead us down the wrong path. We have to keep a positive mind set. We have to be aware of how others think and how or own thought process can affect our work.


Reference list

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

http://www.criticalthinking.org/articles/ct-development-a-stage-theory.cfm

www.answers.com

www.britannica.com

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

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