The main events in an adult mayflies life.

1. Its born
2. It reproduces
3. It dies

These are the 3 main stages and i'd say most important stages within its 24 hour lifespan. These are the things i want to focus on, but in an edgy way.

Boring Mayfly Shite ( copy and paste )

The common name ‘Mayfly’ is quite misleading because this group of insects can appear throughout the year. In fact, at one point they were called dayflies due to some of the species having an adult life of a single day. The common name comes from the habit of one species,Ephemera danica, which emerge as adults when the Mayflower or Hawthorn is in bloom.


Although some species only live for as single day, or even just a few hours as adults, there are individuals or species that can live a bit longer than that. In fact most of the life of a mayfly is spent out of sight as a nymph.

Mayflies start life as an egg on the bed of the river, before hatching into a nymph. The nymphs feed on algae and other vegetable matter on the bed for up to two years in some species, before emerging from the surface of the water as an adult.

Mayflies are unique as insects in having two winged adult stages. After emerging from the water they fly to the bank where they shelter on the underside of leaves or in the grass. They then moult again, leaving behind their drab ‘dun’ skin to reveal their shiny ‘spinner’ skin. Following this moult they fly back to the water and form mating swarms dancing above the surface.

Mayflies were one of the first winged insects, with fossils dating back over 300 million years – long before the dinosaurs! There are 51 species of mayfly known from the British Isles today and they range in size from less than 5mm to over 20mm.

Mayfly larvae, and the mayfly adults emerging from the water, are a vital source of food for many other freshwater creatures, especially fish such as trout and salmon. Mayflies, and other riverflies, help ensure that our rivers, lakes and streams are home to a rich variety of wildlife.

Populations of mayflies and other riverflies are declining in the UK. As a member of the Riverfly Partnership Buglife is working with other organisations to try and understand the cause of these declines. Once the causes are known action can be taken to reverse the declines and protect beautiful mayflies.

What a load of bull, but in short, i need to know the main events within the life of an adult mayfly.

Idea ( scrapped ) new idea

My original idea for the 24 theme was to create a range of posters based on how many times the heart beats in a minute, but soon decided this was SHIT. Something clicked and i remembered something about an insect that lived for 24 hours, later finding out it was a mayfly. So i thought this would be a pretty nice theme and one i could push and be a bit experimental with. There was 2 roads to go down, infographics or a very arty subjective style and outlook. I wanted to push it at bit and really liked the idea of doing subjective edgy artwork that would provoke a response. This being the case, research into the mayfly itself wasn't really needed, but i did it anyway.

Schwitters

Looking back at early forms of graphic design has always been interesting but ive done it quite a few times now. I always however find myself coming back to looking at the work of Kurt Schwitters, in particular the pieces where he uses photographs. You can see how influential Bauhaus art is upon graphic design today with loads of pieces. The style is robbed, copied, modernised and reproduced all the time in modern design. He also uses a lot of ephemera in his work which gives it a more personal touch. But the main thing i want to look at is the layering of images on top of each other and how all the different components interact to create the end product. Although it looks as if its all been thrown together, careful consideration of composition was used and how different colours interact with each other, something very very important in all design.

Tuve - Photographs

These are gorgeous. Not much more to analyse about them really. Well taken, well composed and very very beautiful photography. 

Why Not Associates - Steel Works

Purely for aesthetic reasons i've looked at these two pages, forgetting about narrative for now and just thinking on the design of the pages. Symmetrical nowadays is boring but it doesn't mean you don't have to use a grid system. These spreads do just that, non-symmetrical yet still adhering to some form of grid. The other thing i personally like is the use of the blocks and how they interact with the text, but the page still has that rugged feel to it. Another thing is how the layout and use of colour compliments the context of the article and book, this being steel works. The blocks of rusty colour are simple, but it does portray this sense of sheets of steel. Simple technique, very effective in backing up the context of the articles and the book.

Mane Attraction - L'AG Magazine

I wanted to broaden my research a bit and not just look at graphic design. Here i wanted to explore the thoughts behind why these photos were taken like this, what they might be trying to portray with the style and how they maybe target a certain audience. These particular photos caught my attention because they aren't exactly advertising a clothing brand or collection. If anything its the models that are being shown in the photos, lack of clothing pretty much backs this up. Loads and loads of mysterious character, thats what these photos give off, and thats the reason they are so successful as pieces of photography. The lack of colour, the light picking up certain shapes of the body and highlighting them against the dark background, these all contribute to the photos creating this mystery and sexiness in a way. I just feel its a breath of fresh air against the boring model against white background thats so overused these days.