'Whitespace, many times referred to as negative space, is the portion of a page left unmarked, the portion that is left blank, or the empty space in a page.'

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous feminist group of 7 who weren't happy with the way in which women were being represented in the art world. In addition to organized protests, stickers, billboards and artwork, and being present at public speaking engagements and research into the unfair conditions of working women artists and artists of color, the also engage in the creation of manifesto posters to communicate their views. This manifesto features a rhetorical question and a statistic to get across their message. I think this is effective because there was no need for them to make a length rant about why the injustices revolving around women should be abolished. This links to the concept of white space because it too coincides with the idea that 'less is more'.

This manifesto is quite a contrast to the one above by the Guerilla girls in the sense that they used the less is more concept to communicate their message as opposed to Kawakubo who has literally just written down her thoughts on a page. I would say that I am a lot more fond of The Guerilla girls' manifesto because of it concise inviting nature. The colours yellow, pink and black have been used on the Guerilla Girls' manifesto which stimulate instant attraction. Contrastingly Kawakubu had only used black and white. While this black and white colour scheme is simple, i would say that the font used isn't very pleasing to the eye. I spend so much energy trying to read the manifesto in my usual speed that I didn't concentrate on the actual message that Kawakubu wanted to convey.

I feel as though the same massage of the manifesto would have been communicated if she had cut out the other part and just left this above. I guess some people have a preference for including a whole background story in their manifesto. I suppose its just down to preference.

Less is more...

This morning we were asked to go out and collect some primary research on WHITE SPACE:

Following this we were given 3 actions:

 I found this task simple because the research I did prior to beginning this project was sufficient. I walked around college and surrounding areas and photographed what I felt could be defined as WHITE SPACE. Through the photos I took I think its clear that I went with the meaning that WHITE SPACE doesn't have to be WHITE; it simply  has to be unused.

ACTION 1

Using your white materials, TRANSLATE some sort of white space examples you have collected into cut abstract shapes.

While the previous task didn't phase me I did owever struggle to get started with the first Action we were given. I think it was because of the vague nature of the instruction. The Action required us to 'Translate' what we had seen. 'Trnslate into what language? How?' were the thoughts that ran through my mind. I thought it would be a good idea at this point to drop trying to figure out exactly what the whole action meant and to take what I did understand and run with it. The word 'Translate' means 'to turn from one language into another or from a foreign language into one's own'. The word translate can also be explained as saying something in an alternate way. Hence I took some of the photos I had and recreated them in an alternate way by  etching them onto one sheet of Card.

ACTION 2

Use these shapes to interrupt or remove existing content

This action was more self explanatory. I followed this task through by cutting out parts of each translated image so that I would see through to the otherside. This created an element of white space because the card was white and there were crucial parts missing from the card leaving areas that had been untouched. The parts that had been cut out however could also more literally be seen as removed content because after the parts of cart had be cut out, the wholes that were left were a result of interruption.

ACTION 3

Consider how ACTION 1 & 2 could be translate into a digital format.

I had seen others begin to make gifs, animations and videos to translate their work into a digital format. At first I was like 'Ahh this is pressure'because gifs and videos etc are not my forte. But I thought rationally and decided a digital format could equally be defined by a Photograph. While the transformation from my work produced from Action 2 to action 3 wasn't overly dramatic, It made sense for me to stick to producing a photographic piece because photography is my background. Below can be found my digital format translations.

At the beginning of this project I had no clue what a manifesto was, I had only heard the word here and there. This made it difficult for me because in essence I didn't know what I was researching.  As a result I thought it would be beneficial to define the word MANIFESTO .

'A Manifesto is a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate'

As a class we further defined the word manifesto:

• A reminder of our intentions
• Keeps us focused
• the start of a change
• enables audience to understand what motivates /influences your work
• acts as a FRAMEWORD - thus reduces overthinking and helps to retain focus

It was then our task to create our own manifesto and presented using the format described.

I wrote my manifesto with ease because breaking rules has always been something I have found fun especially within my photographic background. Prior to my foundation I once did a project on rule breaking and focused on breaking the generic photographic rules for example 'DO NOT shoot into direct sunlight as it will bleach your photograph'. As a result I bought this book entitled 'Never photograph people eating'.

I am very happy with my manifesto because it incorporates humour while putting across a very important point. I began my manifesto with the declarative statement 'Rule are meant to be broken, otherwise there wouldn't be a way to break them' because it was a great way to grab my readers. There is a lot of irony in the first sentence in the sense that a rules legally are not meant to be broken and are instead put in place to install regulation. Interestingly my manifesto could be seen as a regulation because I wrote in quite an authoritative and instructional way. My manifesto about rule breaking is very informative as it gives insight into what rules are and the consequences if they are broken and also gives a range of options and advice if you happen to be caught rule breaking and suggestions for if you are not caught rule breaking. Its almost like I have written a step by step guide to being Lord Rule Breaker, i.e ME.

I had a lot of subconscious feedback given by my peers. The main response when our tutor read out my manifesto was smiling and quiet laughter. This was the reaction I was looking for because I think it is hugely important to include mind humor in your work because first of all you have more fun creating it and you r audience has more fun participating in it. My tutor asked what rules I intened on breaking from now on, in which replied with 'Im not sure'. She suggested I went queue jumping in the lunch queue tomorrow.

I am fond of my choice of fonds to intensify the meanings of different words in my manifesto. I chose to use different fonce rather than the soley 'Helvetica Bold' which we were told we MUST chose because it mirrored the meaning I was trying to get across. The use of diffent fonts I found enhanced the visual aspect of my piece. My work definitely stood out when we all put or work on the wall, so much so that I could many member of my class reading it before our tutor had pointed mine out.

One issue  I enountered when creating my manifesto was that I was unfamiliar with indesign, the program in which we where instructed to use. It wasn't too hard however when it came to exporting my file as a PDF (to impove the printed quality) I founf that my desired font for the word 'DIRTY:)' at the end wasn't able to be exported. I overcame this problem by selecting an alternate font.

This morning has been interesting. I feel as though were thrown into the deep blue sea and asked to swim around until we found some treasure. Our task was very vague which meant it was difficult to think of what to create. All we knew is that it had to somehow link to our manifestos but more importantly relate to white space. 
I began this part of the project by taking a read of two books I had with me in my bag. One was entitled: 'Whisky Words and a Shovel II' and the other 'Never Photograph people eating'. I carry these books around with me most days because I find that when I am travelling to and from uni on the tube the only activities you can engage in that don't require internet connection are holding a conversation and reading a book.

My idea for this one week project was sparked by an article I had seen on Twitter a few days earlier about a Comedian who travelled around New York by subway reading books with Fake titles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFxu9dOO4zk

These book titles interested me because the fact that he was going against social norms encouraged people to look and engage in what he was reading. This gave me the Idea of creating a piece that too went against the norms of everyday life. I spoke to Clare about my influences and the root of my idea and she suggested that I thought about how nosey people can be on public transport to the extent that they often lead over or peer onto your screen to see what you are reading or typing. Following this i thought about the irony of someone leaning over to see what you're looking at on your phone or more obviously an Ipad Pro to find that you are scrolling through empty white pages. I visualised this and a few other similar ideas which can be seen below:

I chose to go with the book idea because I felt like it was a lot more interactive than the others, and there would be more of a potential to create an outcome which would positively impact the viewer. Books have a very generic structure and are considered quite a formal way to communicate or display information. Hence I thought it would be interesting to break rules by going against the genetic format of a book. Below is a list of the general characteristics of a book:

• Hard or soft back
• Pages made of opaque paper
• Numbered pages
• Preface
• Read with your eyes open
• Writing on most pages
• Read from front to back 

I chose to take two characteristics from the list above (pages made of opaque paper & read with your eyes open) and adapt them. As a result of the first characteristic I chose for the inside pages to be made of tissue paper this was because of its noisy, translucent and delicate nature. I chose to adapt the 'read with your eyes open' characteristic because unless you are listening to an audio book there is no other way of absorbing the information other than to open your eyes. Im not entirely sure how I will execute the concept of a book that isn't solely based on using your eyes to take in the information on the page but I will sleep on it and find a way tomorrow.

What was the process of finalising your idea?

I used the website bellow as guidance in making the book.I actually didn't find the process of making a book overly difficult, I guess because I have made a hardback book before I had practice. The only thing I found difficult this time compared to last was the fact that the tissue aper was so fragile that lining up all the pages and stapling them neatly was challenging. Also because I didn't have access to a full length ruler I had to improvise and use a normal length stapler with a rubber underneath to staple the middles of the pages together. 

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bind-your-own-Hardback-Book/

How effective are the materials you used in reflecting your idea?

I feel that my book was very effective in terms of the purpose that it was made for. A lot of people tun to books when they are stressed because it takes them away from the real world and allows them to focus on something completely unrelated to everyday life. I have also personally found that if you want to remove yourself from technology but still occupy yourself, the only two activities you can involve yourself in are engaging in conversation with friends or to pick up a book and read. The use of tissue paper for my pages is effective is that because of its delicate nature you are forced to turn the pages slowly and carefully until you come across a smooth page. This means that you have to physically slow your whole thinking process down, by doing this you begin to just focus on the book and thus take your mind away from anything that may be causing you stress. 

What difficulties did you encounter when creating your final outcome?

 Sticking the pages together was actually quite difficult. This was because tissue paper is a very light fragile material meaning any wind blown on it and the pages are blown away. This made it difficult because sometimes when it came to stapling the pages together the would move.

What lessons did you learn from following the process we set out?

I have learned that the amount of time that you have doesn't restrict the quality of your final piece. I feel as though I have successfully incorporated the concept of white space and the meaning behind my manifesto

What effect does formulating a manifesto or statement of intent have on you as a designer? How does having a set of rules or restrictions help you develop your work?

Having a manifesto forms a foundation for you as a designer to work from because it stems from your beliefs and views as a designer. Having a manifesto is also a reminder of our actions and the type of message that we want our work to give off. Additionally having a manifesto is very useful in regards do reducing distractions. For example if you were stuck mid project having a manifesto at hand would provide you with a basis to relate back to. Now that I have my own manifesto, if I was ever stuck my manifesto would provoke me to break a rule and think of a completely opposite way to work in.

What did you hope to achieve with your work and how does it compare to yor peers reactions and feedback?

 I aimed to achieve a piece of work that benefited its audience, I definitely did do this because a number of people who read my book enjoyed reading it and admitted that the book is great at granting white space because of the time it takes to read it and the focus you have put into it.

Where might people encounter it your work? Was this a successful strategy?

My book would probably be found in many book stores, library, wellbeing and pastoral departments in workplaces and schools and Therapy departments. This is because its target audience is those who are in need of a way to take steep back from everyday stresses and focus on something that will grant inner peace.

How might you refine your work further?

I actually plan on getting my book made professionally. I will change the material of the front cover to something more durable because the cotton I used is already starting to get quite dirty which will distract from the title of the book. I will remove the authors title because it is also distracting and place it on the back cover. Finally I will synchronise the font and colour of the text to again minimise distraction