Busy, busy, busy.....

After having a nice few days break I am now ready to get back into my work, so the next few weeks leading up to assessment are going to be jam packed....

- Print silence spreads ready for binding my book in the first week back; print the selection of my best photographs on high quality paper.

- Slight alterations to LBi work to be done with Kathryn when we are back at uni - printing postcards and other material to show how versatile our idea is and the many different design contexts it can be placed in.

- Re-work essay - cut down word count and bring in more of my primary research results - the basis of the essay is there but more of a personal interpretation is needed, also bring in more cultural contexts of shock....can we still be shocked? - work on the layout and presentation for February deadline.

- After doing my research for my HG Wells book cover projects I need to turn my ideas into initial designs - I want the project to have a fairly quick turn around and concentrate on ideas and development now rather than research as I have a good start on the research so far. Think contemporary with my designs!

So there's lots to do.....and probably some more I've forgotten!

PDP

I had my PDP with Clinton last week and I was really pleased with how it went.I gave an update of where I am with the briefs at this stage and discussed the recent LBi brief I have been working on. The feedback was good on my working progress so far and I now feel I know what I need to work on over christmas to be ready for assessment in January. Although I feel quite up-to-date with my work so far I still have a lot to do over christmas! For my next project I have chose the HG Wells book covers as I wanted brief with a more direct outcome - I feel the briefs this term have challenged me in a good way because I havn't found them easy but they have forced me to be more experimental and try different things even if they are not all successful. I definitely see myself as more of a commercial designer and much prefer to work on briefs where I know what the final outcome will be rather than the more open experimental briefs, so I am hoping the book covers will be a nice project for me to work on to work with typography and layout. We also discussed my essay which I have been quite worried about since my tutorial as it needs to fit more with my design practice. I chose the topic of shock advertising as at the time we were working on the police campaign and were being told we couldn't do certain things because it might offend people - mainly people who the campaign wasn't aimed at so I have found it interesting to look more into the different aspects of this and also look at something that may not be my main design practice but something that interests me and allows me to look more into other areas of design. After speaking about this at my PDP we talked about having a different take on the essay and looking at it more from a personal interpretation view looking at how different people react to the ads in different ways and a comparison between type and image and which is more successful, I now feel a bit more confident about my essay, I have the basis of it written and have done all the research and reading, I just need to take a fresh look at it and get it finished! I am looking forward to going home for christmas but also doing lots of work!

typography...

Some nice typographic posters I came across...

IKEA ads...

"Play, Live, Create" - IKEA ads by Jung von Matt

Showing how ikea can be creative and playful with your rooms.
Simple but effective?

A piece of advice...

"Make the idea clear and simple, but the design surprising and beautiful." Rafael Esquer

Whilst looking through one of my design books for inspiration for my new brief I came across this quote which I think is perfect for design - the idea should be simple and easy for the viewer to understand but it should also be beautiful and attract peoples attention. I totally agree with this because sometimes I look at a great design and think "thats such a simple idea, why didn't I think of that!?" and because it is so beautifully executed it turns a simple idea into something great to look at visually. I think sometimes I try to over complicate my ideas because I think that if they are simple they aren't as good an idea, but the whole basis of a design is to get the viewer to understand straight away - it could be a billboard they are walking past and just glance at so the message needs to reach them straight away - and also make it pleasing to the eye, something I shall try to achieve with my next brief...

Claim to fame...

Had to post this to show that our police campaign posters have been on coronation street! x

John Lewis christmas campaign...

I came across this beautiful campaign for John Lewis today. Created by illustrator Kate Forrester the paper-cut illustrations are based on their big christmas campaign slogan 'Give the Perfect Gift.' They involved the creation of 10 different typographic images. I really love the attention to detail in these designs - paper cut illustrations are so delicate and intricate and I only wish I had the skill and steady hand to be able to do them! They are currently adorning billboards, buses, underground stations and newspapers all over the UK until Christmas.

There is some other nice typography work on Kate Forrester's website -