Research Proposal and Essay Plan

Suggested title of research project

• How have developments in technology during the digital age affected the way creative practitioners work?
• Have developments in technology during the digital age negatively affected the creative industry and creative practitioners more than we realise?
• To what extent have developments in technology during the digital age negatively affected the way creative practitioners work?

Significance
It seems that digital media is becoming increasingly popular for practitioners to use as it continues to develop and as a student aspiring to enter the design industry, I feel it is important to understand what effect the digital age is having on creative people. 

Primary and secondary sources

Fletcher, A. (2001) ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’, United Kingdom, Phaidon Press

Glaser, M. - ‘Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.’

Heller, S. (2003) ‘The End of Illustration?’ [Internet] Massachusetts, Illustrators’ Partnership of America. Available from: <http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00073> [Accessed 29 October 2014]

Lanier, J. (2011) ‘You Are Not A Gadget’, London, Penguin

Zeegen, L. (2012) ‘The Fundamentals of Illustration’, Switzerland, AVA Publishing

Skype session with Jack Teagle and Donya Todd (unsure how to reference this)

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look

Methods

To research this topic from a range of sources arguing the point I have proposed in my question but also exploring the opposing view. I will investigate ‘to what extent’ I agree with my question through my analysis of quotes and images giving an opinion on this topic. When looking at how methods of communication have been affected by technology, I will analyse the responses illustrators gave in the book ‘Illustration Next’ when they were asked how the communication part of their collaboration task went. I feel this will give me a good idea of general methods they used and what they found most effective. 

Limitations

• Although I want to investigate the effect that technology is having on how creatives interact and communicate, I don’t want this to cross over too much into a sociological inquiry as I feel the content will start to become irrelevant to my topic. 
• I also don’t want to go off track by just explaining the developments in technology and not exploring their effect on practitioners and the industry. 
• I want to avoid the idea of technology addiction as this will start to become less specific to the creative industry.

Essay plan

Introduction (300 words)

• My thoughts at the beginning of the investigation 
• Outline what I am going to be discussing in the essay
• Although the developments in technology are clearly advancing the creative industry, are we overlooking the negative side effects of these progressions?

Main Body (2400 words)

Present research into technological developments with a particular focus on 2D design, what they allow us to do and has this advanced the discipline of illustration? (300 words)

• The Impact of Technology on Creativity in Design: An Enhancement? by Nathalie Bonnardel and Franck Zenasni
• ‘The computer has opened illustration up to a full range of digital possibilities and placed it on a level with other disciplines.’  (Zeegen, 2012 : 44)
• ‘If it is the pencil that wields the power, then it is the computer that harnesses that power and enables an illustrator to transform the pencil mark into a seemingly never ending array of new marks.’ (Zeegen, 2012 : 44)

Should the discipline feel threatened? Is technology damaging the notion of hand crafted work? (500 words)

• ‘PhotoShop has certainly not replaced illustrators altogether (and many fine illustrators employ PhotoShop as a tool), but this tool is far more threatening than any previous technological development in the history of illustration’ (Heller, 2003)
• Pawel Kyuczynski illustration: Fig.1                                                                                 Kuczynski, P (2007) [illustration] Available from <http://www.boredpanda.com/satirical-illustrations-pawel-kuczynski/?image_id=satirical-art-pawel-kuczynski-13.jpg> [Accessed 29 October 2014]

Does digitally created work have less value? Is a physical artefact favoured more? (300 words)

• http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look
• "Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking." - Milton Glaser
• http://blog.psprint.com/printing/print-design-before-computers/

Does it matter what process you use, is it not more about concept? (100 words)

• Michelangelo: ’One paints with one’s head, not one’s hands.’  p357

Do illustrators feel pressured to use digital media? Is it expected of them? (300 words)
Donya Todd: It is unlikely whether you would get a job if you are not competent using Photoshop. But your images could still all be hand drawn and just scanned in a touched up before sending them off. 

‘Passive’ (fig.3) analysis linking paragraph above and below (200 words)

Self-promotion: do people have a reliance on technology (social media, their blog, work appearing on the internet, emails to companies) to get their work noticed? (300 words)
Big heads - Jack Teagle and Donya Todd

• cutting out the middle man
• illustrators are less reliant on large corporations to publicise their work

Communication and collaboration: it is easier to get in contact with people across the world but does this make work less personal? Could they be missing out on things by not meeting in person? (400 words)

• http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2014/october/made-you-look
• Donya Todd: The internet can sometimes take the meaning and personal touch out of a small scale, local project.
• Illustration Next - Ana Benaroya (asking illustrators about the ways in which they collaborated and how they found it - comments on communicating via the internet as oppose to face to face)
• ‘a postpersonal world’ (Lanier, 2011 : 69)

Conclusion (300 words)

• Summarise all arguments. 
• Has my opinion changed in light of my research?