This is studio...

Looking on our year 3 blog I noticed a new post Mack had put up and there was something on there that stood out to me so I took a look at the link posted and it was for the website www.thisisstudio.co.uk - a multidisciplinary design studio based in London. There is some really nice print work on the site.

The agency say they are very ideas-led; tailoring to the needs of each individual client, art directing, designing books and record covers, creating music videos, branding, orchestrating campaigns, designing websites and exhibitions, building sets and making art. They collaborate with photographers, animators, illustrators and copywriters. This is something I am looking forward to in industry, being able to work on a brief and bringing in illustrators and photographers to work with. I do really appreciate all different styles of design work and as individuals we all have our own strengths within design so it will be good to be able to work as part of a team with each person bringing a different talent to the table.

Below are some of my favorite pieces...

Above is a website for artist Sam Winston, chronicalling ideas of his work and his use of the english language within it. The whole site was created using extracts and cut paper from his collection of sketchbooks, diaries and notes.

I think this is a really nice idea for a website and something a bit different to what you usually see. The output fits perfectly with the subject and style of work of the artist.

Identity for Camberwell College of Arts - with a theme of 'Make your on own Damn festival' they used a DIY aesthetic based on wallpaper. This is a great idea and again something different with strips of wallpaper appearing around the festival.

A limited edition series of posters in the Nike pop-up store, East London. Using the theme of sport, the imagery on the posters graphically represents the trajectory of a 2 hour game of frisbee. Hand screen printed gloss black onto black Plike paper. I love how the crisp white image stands out on the black background, really drawing you in to discover what the image is.

'& Poster'

Whilst researching creative and experimental typography for the LBi brief I am currently working on, I came across this '& Poster' designed by Conor Nolan and David Wall, designers working on print and interactive projects in Dublin, Ireland. (www.conoranddavid.com)

The image shows a typographic poster celebrating the etymology and form of the ampersand. The image is based on Helvetica Neue 75 bold, made up of 40 helium filled balloons.

This is a great example of type can be creative and experimental and doesn't just have to be a print document. This is how Kathryn and I have approached the LBi brief, trying to be more experimental and steer away from the obvious route of creating a print document, although the final piece may be print it is about the 'creativity' that has gone into making it, and ideas such as creating an installation and photographing it. There is a brief video on their website showing them making the balloon installation and how each balloon had to be precisely placed to create the overall image.

This caught my eye...

Came across these posters the other day for the new THINK! drug driving campaign. I have seen the adverts on television but I think these posters are great with the delicate type at the bottom becoming part of the image. Thought has gone into where the ads are placed to get maximum attention such as the back of the bus so the eye is looking at you. As I am looking into awareness campaigns and 'shock' advertising and marketing for my dissertation I was immediately drawn to this image, it is not a shocking image, it just shows you the truth.

12 IN 12

We had a great talk from designer Craig Oldham today who graduated 3 years ago and has since worked at The Chase and now Music in Manchester. Craig made the talk very interesting, was very honest and made it a bit of fun and also gave us a brilliant fold out document to take away with us.

"12 lessons in 12 months. 12 things you might learn in your first year as a designer."

It was simply a talk about Craig's first 12 months as a graphic designer, stuff he's learnt along the way, ideas, facts and opinions. So this was his advice....

- Understand what graphic design is to you - am I Bunch A (logical) or Bunch B (emotional) - Thinking about it I am probably more of Bunch A creating layouts and type that have a reason behind them and are quite logical, I enjoy creating the final piece more than the ideas stage.

- Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses - I think I am quite honest with myself in terms of my strengths and weaknesses as I know after trying it that I am not very good at producing digital work ie: flash as is just something I find difficult to understand and don't really enjoy working with it. I have a basic knowledge of what can be done on the digital side of things but would much rather leave that side of things to someone else! I think this is what team work and being in an agency will be all about....playing to your strengths and creating a good idea that can work in any medium.

- A portfolio is for life, not just for an interview - a portfolio is never finished, treat it like an ongoing project and update it everytime you do something new.

- Placements matter - "Get stuck in and give em' all a go." - think about contacts who you know and who they know etc etc. Getting your foot in the door is priceless!

- The design industry is small - everyone knows everyone else

- Participate with other people and share your ideas - participate with other people and share your ideas: two heads really are better than one. Discussing ideas gives you more direction and better judgement of an idea, working with others can take you down a different path - try something new. Ask people their opinion it might help!

- Graphic design is just a job, but being a designer is different - design is just a 9-5 job like any other, but you're a designer and your love for design is in every aspect of your life - do you keep stuff that others would throw away? The answer to that is yes - I have a lot of stuff (images, booklets, photos etc) I've found or seen and think "that might come in useful for something," it might not but its worth keeping anyway just in case!

- If you don't fail then you aren't trying - making mistakes is the only way that you will learn

- Life and work exist outside of London - the world is a big place!

- Designing is only about 20% of your job - the rest is spent doing this, meeting with them and answering that.

- Have a life outside of design - let your life inspire your design

and finally....

- Work hard and be nice to people!

and of course...always make tea!

A few images of Craig's work...

Lets make books...

On Friday I went to a tutorial with the lovely Lucy May Schofield and I had a very productive day in terms of defining the style of print document I want to create for silence part 2. I have attended book/print workshops in the past so knew the basics of folding and making simple books but it was good to get a reminder of the 'rules.' Lucy showed us some beautifully made books from her collection of designers and ex students work and a lot of them were quite simple book designs but it was the way they were executed that really made them. As Lucy said 'paper has a personality' and this is true because the choice of stock I have for my final piece will really contribute towards its success.

After discussing my idea for silence everyone agreed that the photos should be displayed on their own as we talked about in my review, and they should be left to speak for themselves. I have been experimenting with displaying a photo with a piece of text underneath but we felt it would be nice to just show the photo and let people devise their own narrative as to what the photo is about. We discussed a few different book styles that I am going to experiment with looking at a concertina, a simple pamphlet and then a fold out a2 document to create a sort of collage of my text and images from the house so I have started experimenting with these over the weekend.

Take a look at Lucy's website: www.lucymayschofield.co.uk

Remember...

Artwork by Nick Morley (linocutboy)

A great piece of advise from Lucy May Schofield...don't be afraid if something doesn't work its about experimenting and sometimes the failures can lead onto something much better...

A rainy day in Liverpool...

Yesterday I took a trip to Liverpool to go to the Tate and the Walker Art Gallery. It was very cold and rained all day but we still had a good day out! Our first stop was the walker Art Gallery to look at the Bridget Riley exhibition 'Flashback,' tracking her work over the years. This was a really interesting exhibition, her work is very eye catching and optically vibrant. It was interesting to see photographs of her producing the work and detailed sketches and layouts of the technicality involved in producing the pieces.

I managed to take a few sneaky photos before getting into trouble...

‘Ecclesia’ 1985

I love the vibrant colour's Riley uses in her work, they really catch your attention and the optical illusions draw you in and make you take notice. They are very large scale pieces and must take a long time to produce. I find this style and genre of work much more interesting to look at and even though it is quite abstract, you don't have to try and understand what it is about as you do with a painting, you can just enjoy it. The open space they are exhibited in allows them to speak for themselves and you can truly appreciate the scale of them.

Whilst walking around (a lot of walking!) we came across the 'FACT' gallery and we went to the Open eye gallery but disappointingly this was shut until next year.

We also came across a little book shop/gallery space called 'Milk&sugar' a bit like magma....I love buying new books and have added quite a few to my collection recently so resisted the temptation to buy anymore!

The next stop was the TATE to see the 'Joyous Machines' exhibition - Michael Landy and Jean Tinguely.

"Using the most basic of materials his sculptures made poignant social comment, examined the ever-changing relationship between humankind and the machine, and at the same time sent established notions of art spinning – often quite literally."

I was disappointed that we couldn't take any photographs whilst in the exhibition as some of the pieces created really interesting shadows that would have made great photographs and this cannot be seen with images from the internet but oh well thats the rules of exhibitions! I liked how some of the pieces were interactive as it allowed you to get involved in the exhibition.

The piece below was one of my favorite pieces. Quite simplistic but the positioning of the work in the corner of the canvas makes the piece more interesting and you can see the shadow below it as it stands above the surface of the canvas.

Jean Tinguely, Black and white relief méta-mécanique 1957

Whilst in the TATE we had a look at the other exhibitions that were on and I have to say I didn't enjoy these as much, but the DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture, did have a room where you were given headphones when you went in and were able to listen to music as you looked around the exhibition. I think this was a nice extra touch making the whole process of viewing an exhibition a bit different.

Overall it was an enjoyable and very tiring day despite the rain! x

designs on saying hello...

Being inspired by grahams talk about self promotion I bought the book he recommended 'Business cards 3; designs on saying hello.' Below are a few of the designs that caught my eye...

business card for a beauty salon, making the card into a mirror

foil blocking on a black card stock

making each card a little different...

necessitating audience participation....you have to unwrap the card from gold foil!

Andy Lock

I have took inspiration from a few different sources for my silence project and Andy Lock's work is something that really caught my eye at the beginning of the brief. He is a London based photographer and below is a set of his photographs called 'Lost Horizons' that I have looked at as part of the silence brief...

I love how Andy takes quite inconsequent subjects such as the small toy animals and turns them into dramatic images. The use of shadow and open space create a sense of silence and silent thoughts and have definitely been an inspiration for me.

review time...

So last week I had my mid-term review and although it was something I was a bit nervous about it was really positive and helpful in finding the direction I am going in and reassuring me in the work I have produced so far. I presented my work to Mack and Clinton and got a really positive response which was a relief. They gave me some good pointers in where to head next with my silence project and although I struggled a bit with the brief in the beginning I am now happy with the work I have been producing. I have tried to challenge myself with this brief by taking my own photographs and as this is something I don't usually do I was a bit unsure about whether I was 'doing it right.' I was really pleased with the comments about my photos and having discussed them in my review I am going to pick a few of the best photos and blow them up bigger to have as an extra to my folded poster/book document. So now the review is over its back to working on silence part two....

Manchester artist's book fair...

On saturday afternoon I took a trip to the Manchester Artists books fair in the Holden gallery. It was really great to see handmade work as it is not usually something that I would look at but there were some really beautiful, delicate little books. I did the book making workshop last year and found how difficult it is to get the book perfect with the folds and cuts etc so it was admiring to see work done by artists.

Sarah Morpeth's work in particular stood out to me as she produces very delicate cut out pieces and it is amazing how she can cut in such small detail. Below are some examples of her work and a couple of postacrds I bought from her...

I picked up a few business cards while I was there and it is definitely true what Graham was talking to us about as cards that were a bit different and had had more effort put into definitely caught my eye. Below are the ones I picked up, with various sizes and styles...

The work of Mary Lundquist also caught my eye mainly because of the lovely typography she uses on her books...