Johnny Hardstaff - Baby Designs

Feedback on my blog led me to look at some of the work by Hardstaff, as he has produced the baby structure from drawings to models expressing the a mechanical interpretation.

The designs give a interesting approach on a designer baby with a doll-like comparison.

Laura Fearn - Illustrator

The simplicity in some of Fearn's work captures a unique approach still capturing the detail in the baby's face's

Marian Bantjes - Illustrator and designer

The overall visual of this piece of work looks quite bright and comically which originally caught my, but then when reading up on the narritve of the design I thought it was quite an intricate but expressive design where the media of paints was used.

In my opinion, the subtle letters inscripted on the grapes, may also apply a symbolic meaning because of the define aspect not being precise and looking like and icon from a longer range view.

Simon Page - Graphic Designer

Researching this designer i was inspired by the use of colour theory and the way complentary colour blend in with each other.

As you can see Simon Page has recently been specialising in futurism, designing thing like CD album-art covers, clipboards, canvas's etc. His style consists of geometric shapes for Cuben Designs in it's new sub set called 'Colour Shambles'.

Colour Theory In Mosaics

Creating a mosaic is a one-way process and very difficult to undo, so when choosing the colour and style it requires alot of thought and planning.

Colour can be regarded as possessing four basic qualities; hue, tone, intensity and temperature.

Hue - is the term given to a colour in its purest form in the colour spectrum (primary colours)

Tone - is the lightness or darkness of the colour. Different hues can have the same tone; for example red and green can have the same level of darkness making them tonally matched. Dark toned tesserae will make it even darker if placed next to light toned tesserae.

Intensity - refers to the relative strength or weakness of a colour, whether it is bright or muted (pastel).

Temperature - appearance of warmth or coolness. Generally reds, oranges and yellows are warm, while blues, greens and violets are cool. A cool colour is warmed up if it contains traces of a warm colour.

Changing the colour of the grout will have a huge effect on the mosaic.

 

White grout can be very harsh - it will draw the eye to gaps rather than colours, giving the mosaic a Mediterranean feel.

Dark grout is very effective for highly coloured mosaics but will dominate pale coloured tesserae.

Tony Cragg - Iconic Montage

Britan seen from the North by Tony Cragg

To build up areas of my final mosaic i intend to use various clip art images to convey a sense of personality.
The artwork displayed (above) has inspired my sense of creativity in the material used to portray various elements. In this composition Cragg has used plastic and mixed media arranged to form a larger image during 1981.

Babak Fakhamzadeh : Visual Art Designer

Browsing through this artist's work, i quite like the example of this mosaic he has designed which he created using a package called Mazaika. His narritive is alike due to all the indivdual tiles consisting of one specific theme.

Photographer : Jacob Butler

Research babies and their body features i found this photographer interesting as characteristics are highlighted from his photoshoot capturing natural form of the body.

Fun games to design a baby

Here i've found two websites where build-a-baby games have been posted, inorder for your personalised approach on a baby to take place.

http://virtual-baby-online.cooking-games.biz/
http://www.y8.com/games/Design_a_Baby

These two games i thought was interesting as it enables a fractural amature aspect of the real thing.

In  thses games it lets you manipulate things like...

• colour
• eyes/eye brows
• hair
• nose
• mouth

and other external garments.

How the process is produced...

EXAMPLE... I Want a daughter with blond hair, green eyes and pale skin.











The procedure is quite an intricate encounter, though very specific in the attributes imposed on the human being.

Designer Baby Build-Up Poster

This is a medical poster i found expressing the idea of how characteristics can be selected for the baby in the womb as it's is being developed.

The diagram shows selection of...

• skin tone
• intelligence
• auditory range
• Eye colour

Though there are more of a range of features that can be manipulated, the poster looks interesting within itself as you see the baby there before its even born

Inspirational Fingerprint

Designer : Gabrielle Naptali


Around 46,000 vitreous glass tiles were used in making the mosaic. It is being displayed on the wall of a police station, as the fingerprints is a reference to a venue of this status. It's also a reminder about the importance of everyone's individuality.

Pros And Cons Of Designer Babies

As you may have noticed from the feedback, there are much more people disagreeing with this case, than for it. However in my research the pros and cons boil down to these main topics.

For pros, genetic screening can reduce the baby’s chances of being born with a terminal illness or serious diseases like Down syndrome.

For cons it would be that the technique is not limited to screening for genetic and hereditary disorder, but is also used for cosmetic diagnosis.

Debate about designer babies

Every parent wants their child to have the best in life. But would this intale picking the best genes for them? Here is a collection of people’s views on the subject.


1, Today, babies with blue eyes and blond hair are all the rage. Ten years down the line, everybody is going to feel pretty silly about it, 'cause there's a new thing now - GREEN eyes! Now what? This'll be like being stuck with '80s hair for the rest of your life, or having had a tattoo done of some one-hit-wonder pop star like Vanilla Ice, who disappeared a few weeks after fame hit.

Regardless of the inherent dangers involved, I think its wrong in the same sense I think tattooing is wrong, albeit not closely as dangerous. Well, I should say I think tattooing is more stupid than wrong, but hey - that's only me spouting trash here.

2, my kid's gonna have four arms! Imagine! The little sucker will be able to mow the lawn and wash the car at the same time!

Wait a minute... that means I'll have to pay him twice his allowance?! Ah heck - I'll just leave it then.

3, There may be an outcry against this manipulation, but that will not stop it from happening. Humans are going to do it. So what are the positive aspects? There must be some.

Possibly to eliminate some or all of the deseases?
Increased intelligence?
Healthier, stronger bodies?
Prettier people? (But that, of course, should remind us that beauty is in the eye of the beholder)

What happens if one nation developes this procedure while the rest of the world bans it. Will that nation eventually rule the rest, by military or economic means?

4, I'm even against pesticides and preservatives. Whether created or evolved, our bodies are structured to intake certain chemicals that nature provides as only she can. I don't think we've realized our full potential even. We should be using science to draw closer to nature not wean ourselves from it.

5, I think the problem with the designer babies will be due to the limitations of genetic theory. One may be able to manipulate superfiscial things fairly easily but the genetic theory of consciousness is more of a joke and will lead to a lot of disappointment and social expense. If one considers the number of neurons and all the branching and synapses, it is going to take more than a few genes to have an progressive impact on that. It would probably requires thousands of genes each being modified and rearranged on the DNA.

6, This concept is sickening. Horrible. I would never "design" my babies. They come out however they are supposed to... and that is that. Nature is a balance... and we need a variety of ugly, beautiful, smart, dumb, hairy, and fat people. Think about what this'll do to our evolution... we'lll eventually be an entire race of beautiful, strong individuals... does this remind you of anything? WWII.... hitler, perhaps? I think somehow, if we start genetically engineering our species to our specifications.... it'll eventually come back around and bite us in the ass... because nature is only succesful when there is an almost perfect balance of concious beings.

Brainstorm

Moodboard

Proposal

Designer babies

Within my final outcome for this project, I intend to produce a mosaic generating an image of a designer baby. The composition will be A0 in size (841x1189) exploiting natural human being, to a desire that is ‘perfect’. My intention of making this mosaic is to construct a baby comprising of immaculate characteristics, shape, personality, interests and style etc. as people do when they grow-up and wish to change what they look like to fit a certain criteria; learn things to be involved and fit in with others and apply labeled clothing and accessories for an approval impression.

In the result of this project, I wish to have an effective mosaic piece consisting of a range of materials and textures to emphasise the baby’s character; a sense of design with patterns and shapes to portray the individuality and style; and small illustrations with a theme of colour in-order to convey qualities and emotion.

To execute my approach on the task I have set myself, I will be doing a lot of development work and experimental techniques using a trial and error method to capture best possible ideas to put together in collaboration.

My approach on designer babies, links in with the theme of DNA, as in the end it all boils down to the individual and how comfortable they are with their inherited status. As all areas of your inheritance is something we cannot choose and is there form you are born, your preference of selective aspects is mixed with heritage in a creative, innovating style in this brief.



Definition

The term “designer baby” refers to a baby whose genetic make-up has been artificially and has been selected by genetic engineering combined with vitro fertilisation to ensure the presence or absence of particular genes or characteristics. It implies that the ultimate commodification of children is therefore used depreciatively to signal the opposition to such of reprogenetics.

DNA ... Final Major Project