Responding to the brief 'BrandNew'

"Is there such a thing as a new idea, to think independently and creatively? Is there really such a thing as originality?"


There is no such thing as a new idea but there is such thing as originality. If you recycle old materials, things that exist, to create a new product, then you are just recycling existing items. For example, you can not create new energy. Energy exists and is already 'there'. Yes, you can transfer energy from potential to kinetic energy, but you are not creating something new; just transferring it.


Items, materials, ideas etc. already exist; if they didn't then you wouldn't have anything to create something from - thus, you are only transferring or recycling existing items into something else but not something new.

On the other hand, originality does exist. As I mentioned, there is no such thing as a new idea; however there is such thing as originality. Originality exists in the form of moments. There are an infinite number of moments and possibilities but each one, are original. Not one single moment can ever be restored; if you were to recreate a moment, then that is all it is, a recreation - not the exact moment. Therefore moments, are in fact, original. 


At first I struggled with how to express this ideology. To create an 'original' final piece or product, as like I mentioned, would be impossible, as I would just psychologically be abstracting or merging images or things that I have encountered before, making it just a transferred idea. So I knew that the product itself couldn't be the focus of my ideology, the idea itself would need the be the outcome. After a lot of thought and research, I came across the idea of 'Conceptual Art', where the 'idea or concept is more important than the final product, if such exists'. 

I found everything that I needed in order to inform my knowledge of Conceptual Art within the Tate's glossary of art terms. Here I found out what the movement really meant, and examples of artists along with their works. I decided that I wanted to create an interactive piece, where I am actually creating unique moments, that could never be recreated. 

As a designer, on a Graphic Design course, I knew that the pure concept in it's Fine Art form would not be enough. Whatever the 'product' was going to be, it needed to be clean, and minimal as this would not be the final outcome, the idea behind it would be. As I enjoy writing and consider it the perfect way to collate my thoughts, I wanted to incorporate language/typography into my piece and I particularly enjoyed Joseph Kosuth's 'Clock (One and Five), English/Latin Version 1965,1997.' and John Baldessari's 'The Pencil Story'.

I wanted to exaggerate the idea that ideas are not original and nor are products, so I chose a direct source of product inspiration: a sample pack of business cards from Moo. The idea of doing this was also inspired by Marcel Duchamp and his use of ready made objects. Using the dimensions of Moo's 'Original Minicard', I decided that I wanted to type 'This is a moment.' on one side, and ask the public to write the same on the back. I would then have a collection of captured moments, by creating original moments.

I chose to use a sans serif font, as I wanted something eligible and aesthetically simple to juxtapose the complex concept, and not stylised. Helvetica was the winning typeface, as the font emerged within the same era as Concept Art, thus I thought that it would be fitting.
I like the use of the full stop as it makes you pause, preserving the original moment for just a fraction of a second longer. It's small, quiet and subtle. 
If I had more time, I would like to have gone out to more public places, and asked a wider audience to interact while recording the process. Overall I am happy with my idea, as Conceptual Art is something that I had never indulged in, and I enjoyed challenging the excepted methods and practices of the traditional design process.