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MAC CLAPPER


is a graphic designer, photographer, and budding 3D artist.
CV. Linkedin.




Methods of IterationCentral Saint Martins01/25/2024Over the course of a month, I
learned how to use Blender as a tool for Graphic Communication Design. I was
tasked with producing as many images as I could, evidencing over time that
through iteration I’ve made progress on the software. 

My goal was not to create pristine, lifelike 3D renders, but to lean into the
low poly, odd look of primitive 3D graphics—think back to the Playstation 2, or
other early 2000’s videogames.

I began going down the path of recreating letterpress in Blender, as I wanted to
explore how that analouge process would look and work like in a virtual space.

The process of digitally replicating an analogue process created its own quirky
leftovers, but instead of being familiar and charming like letterpress, these
artefacts were uncanny, odd, and off-putting. 

This uncharted territory was very exciting for me to explore. I began to wonder,
why do we value film grain? Why do we value vinyls that scratch and skip? Why
are analogue imperfections charming, but, for example, noise from a digital
sensor should be eradicated... 

I am challenging the viewer to value digital imperfections as much as
imperfections from an analogue process. Most digital art is flawless; it’s easy
to correct mistakes, what happens if we embrace them?

Studio Art + Commerce RedesignStudio Art + Commerce04/01/2024
Redesigned website and created new logos for client.

Coded difference effect on website title scroll, as well as the titles for the
different website pages.

Created different modular layouts for different projects. 

Presented work to clients and CEO of company. 

Methods of Contextualising Central Saint Martins02/01/2024
Methods of Contexualising was a collaborative project between a few of my peers
and I, other staff from UAL.

We were briefed on the possible routes we could take, and I selected the path of
creating a more visually engaging version of a climate document. We were
encouraged, via the brief, to take a look at not just legislation from
governments, but also from organisations and higher education institutes, such
as UAL. 

Expecting to find an innovative and creative plan to address climate change, we
were disappointed to find out that the climate action plan had little to no
substance, and the substance that was in the document, was buried deep within. 

The UAL Climate Action Plan unfortunately was a greenwashed document. It was
filled up with stories that were seemingly unrelated to climate change, projects
that didn’t reduce carbon, and overall had no sense of urgency or desire to act
on hard-hitting measures that could mitigate CO2 expulsion.

Instead of pivoting to a more positive document, we decided to be the proverbial
change we wanted to seek with the UAL climate action plan. We thought that if we
could raise awareness of what’s going on within this action plan, we could put
pressure on the powers that be to enact a change. 

The zine “UAL: CLIMATE (RE)ACTION PLAN” is the result.
By isolating key phrases and words we emphasised how empty the language used in
this document can be. 

We included scraps from the swap shop and GCD’s scrap pile and created 6 unique
versions of the zine, emphasising sustainability and evidencing re-usage and
re-imagination of trash. We printed on scrap paper from CSM’s publications
workshop and in black and white, again emphasising that design can be made
interesting when considered in a low-carbon way.
Methods of InvestigationCentral Saint Martins09/30/2023
Methods of Investigation was the first brief I received upon starting at CSM. We
were tasked with experimenting with various methods that could be used to
document a space. I chose to investigate my balcony, as it contained a lot of
interesting juxtapositions not only in its contents but also in the context in
which it exists. It was both decadent and utilitarian; private yet public.
Initially, my experiments were photography, video, LiDAR scans, mapping and
journaling.

Following the initial experiments, I focused further on the minutiae of my
balcony, the textures, the trash, and the objects my flatmates forgot about. I
knew in some way, I wanted to combine, photography, graphic design, and layout
to create a guide to the personality or traits of the textures and objects of
the balcony. For example, I saw the ashtray as very decadent, but the stairs as
very utilitarian. The wood that makes the stairs is intimate and soft, but the
brick that composes the walls of the flat is hard and public.

I ended up creating two maps, with compasses on axes from decadent to
utilitarian and public to private. To create these, I used photography, scans,
and the threshold effect to emphasize the small scale of the objects I was
investigating. I also utilised physical processes, using a lino roller and
water-based ink to lift some of the textures off of the object and onto paper,
which I scanned and transferred into Photoshop. I also exclusively used monotone
throughout the entire process, even with the physical samples I took — I wanted
to remove any distractions by focusing on the textural qualities of the images.
(Was inspired by early [1850s+] photography).

Following that, I refined the concept further by focusing on one trait at a time
and expanding the breadth of the traits I was exploring. The result is a mini
publication that guides the viewer through the balcony and its contents. This
was refined for the final time after submission by printing on textured paper
which represented the contents of each page. 

Jean Paul Gaultier RebrandGeorge Mason UniversitySeptember 2022 – December 2022
As part of a branding class, I developed a new logo and identity for Jean Paul
Gaultier, which I felt did not have a logo that matched with their high fashion
ethos. 

I researched more into the brand, Gaultier’s garments, his signature style—I
realised that above all, the silhoutte was the most common theme. In JPG’s
perfume line, haute coture, and ready to wear lines, the silhoutte, male or
female, is always at the centre of it all.

So for the logo, I took the shape of the iconic Le Male bottle and developed it
into the logo — the J is an interpretation of the Left side of the bottle, and
the P’s bowl is a direct refrence to the bottle itself.

This was further developed into various advertisments, staionery designs, and
branding guidelines. 
Letterpress ProjectsGeorge Mason UniversitySeptember — December 2022
As part of my minor in graphic design at George Mason, I took a letterpress
class. I learned about layout from a physical perspective, working within
restrictions, and most of all, how to be quick on your feet and learn new
systems fast. 

The physicality of letterpress was amazing to be a part of — Letterpress demands
that you are a part of bringing your designs to reality, whereas modern digital
printing is essentially always an external process, you outsource your labour to
your printer.

We were assigned three projects this term, it doesn’t seem like much, but
creating lockups and letterpress designs is a lot of behind-the-scenes labour
and time. 

For the first project, I was asked to create an illustration (an ornament) by
carving an image into a block of wood coated with soft PVC. I carved an image of
my car and then set the type underneath the block. 

For the second project, I was tasked with creating a poem related to an ornament
I was assigned, the typewriter. I created a poem within a few minutes and then
assembled my lockup and printed it that day.

As for the third, a classmate and I were tasked with creating an inspirational
poster using wood type.

Animal name branding projectGeorge Mason UniversityJuly 2022
This project was part of a summer class where we learned about various methods
of applying graphic design to brands, social media, and advertising. For this
project, we were tasked with creating an entire brand and brand identity around
the name of an animal in a foreign language. I chose Hahn, which is rooster or
hen in German. 

I was inspired by Germanic design language, particularly the design language of
Swiss designers, German auto manufacturers, and the Bauhaus movement. However, I
wanted to put my spin on it—if it was too clean it wouldn’t be distinctive. 

To create the logo, I had to imagine what the company would do. As Germany is
known for their engineering prowess, I thought that Hahn could be a fictional
competitor to Siemens. 

I started out with some preliminary ideas on what to do, mainly based on the
idea of the typeface being representative of buildings. It wasn’t really
translating, so I went back to the very start. I warped the text to the shape of
a feather, and it created a nice juxtaposition between the cold sans serif
typeface and the organic form of a feather.

The result is the Hahn brand and identity, which I further extended into
stationery as a part two to this project.


© 2024MAC CLAPPER