A visual reflective journal is exactly what is says, it is a chance to gather all your ideas and jottings consistently over time and put it all into one place, this allows you to reflect on your work. Drawing is extremely important when it comes to the reflective visual journal as it puts the cogs in movement for ideas and development, which is what the journal is all about. It is a chance to work more privately, so even if you feel you are not good at drawing; it is a chance to get over that fear and to work through it. Granted, some may feel as though drawing is really not for them, you can however still incorporate other things into drawing, whether it's sticking things down or working on different types of material. One illustrator that works in this way is Lizzie Finn:
'I couldn't draw very well so I had to stick stuff down'.
Drawing can be used as problem solving, design speculation, creative play and as a visual organiser; the skills of drawing have been around for many, many decades! One of the earliest artists to work in this way was Leonardo Da Vinci:
Leonardo Da Vinci wasn't only an artist, he was involved in engineering, architecture, sciences, maths, invention, anatomy, botany and writing, amongst others; as you can imagine therefore, Da Vinci would have needed many, many sketchbooks to put all of his ideas and experimentation down on paper.
Reflective visual journals are so important, whether it’s for animation, illustration, photography, graphics, fashion, interior design or architecture, it is necessary to have a constant means in which you can experiment, develop, organise, collect, refine and evaluate, this all includes drawing as a means of channelling these into the journal.
Reflection
Reflecting throughout the reflective visual journal is another important part of the journey, perhaps the most important, as it gives somebody other than you the chance to understand exactly what you have done and why you have done it. In a way this is the most important part of the journal as the processes the visual communicator has used is more important than the final outcome, the reasoning for this is that through the reflective visual journal you develop and your initial ideas may change, all in all the journal will tell an outsider how you managed to get to the final outcome.
The following is a bad example of reflection through a journal, although there are drawings, there is no reflection what so ever, no writing to explain the processes or thoughts of the project. This leaves the reader clueless to what the communicator is actually doing.
The following is a better example of reflection during the visual journal, with explanations during the designing of the flyer along with experimentation and rough designs. In this small 'storyboard' of development, it is obvious what the communicator is trying to accomplish, and an outsider would be able to tell exactly what the communicator is trying to put across. One thing that could be better however is for more colour to be involved to make it slightly more interesting.
Visual language is all about getting attention and provoking emotional engagement, whereas textual language is good at providing detail and specifics, for a good all round reflection in a journal, both of these are necessary.
Reflection
Reflecting throughout the reflective visual journal is another important part of the journey, perhaps the most important, as it gives somebody other than you the chance to understand exactly what you have done and why you have done it. In a way this is the most important part of the journal as the processes the visual communicator has used is more important than the final outcome, the reasoning for this is that through the reflective visual journal you develop and your initial ideas may change, all in all the journal will tell an outsider how you managed to get to the final outcome.
The following is a bad example of reflection through a journal, although there are drawings, there is no reflection what so ever, no writing to explain the processes or thoughts of the project. This leaves the reader clueless to what the communicator is actually doing.
The following is a better example of reflection during the visual journal, with explanations during the designing of the flyer along with experimentation and rough designs. In this small 'storyboard' of development, it is obvious what the communicator is trying to accomplish, and an outsider would be able to tell exactly what the communicator is trying to put across. One thing that could be better however is for more colour to be involved to make it slightly more interesting.
Visual language is all about getting attention and provoking emotional engagement, whereas textual language is good at providing detail and specifics, for a good all round reflection in a journal, both of these are necessary.
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