Berlin

We arrived in Berlin late on tuesday evening! It was my first time in Berlin and already I could notice a massive between it, and other european capitals. It seemed extremely quiet and empty for such a massive city.

Wednesday morning we got going early to visit the Jewish museum and the Berlinische Gallery. The Jewish museum was quite surreal with crazy architecture and disturbing stories. I left the museum with a feel for how the jewish people felt and were treated during the war.

The Berlinische Gallery on the other hand was completely different, consisting of modern art in both paintings and sculptures. There was really interesting work done by Dada artists throughout the exhibition; the use of colours and typeface design really caught my eye.

Thursday started off with a visit to the Bauhaus museum. Having learnt and heard so much about Bauhaus throughout my time in art, I was actually really excited to visit the museum. Seeing original pieces of design by the masters themselves was really inspiring. I enjoyed the work of Kandinsky and it is clear how his later work was influenced by the Bauhaus. The simplicity was what blew me away; the general look of chairs, ashtrays, cutlery and paintings was great. Also that day we visited the Sony Centre and Brandenburg gate, both definitely worth visiting. 

Friday was the last day and we could do what ever we wanted really. I went along with the tutors as they were going to the Guggenheim gallery to look at the photorealism exhibition. The work of these artists is outstanding. I have heard about photorealism before, and that is one thing, but actually seeing close up is a different level. These paintings were another level and it felt as though you were actually there, in the painting! Amazing, really glad I went

TypeRadio Poster (group work)

As part of the unit we were required to complete a one-day group project and design a typographic-based poster advertising TypeRadio. Me and my group initially found this task quite difficult, in that coming up with design ideas based only on type were challenging.

In the end we went for a simple looking design, using the colours from the website (dark grey and yellow). At the end of the day the whole first year gave constructive feedback in their groups on the other groups designs. We received some positive feedback and understood how, in the future we could create better designs in such a short space of time.   

(link for poster)

Catherine Griffiths Transcription

Just finished the transcription for Catherine Griffiths' interview on type radio. Me and the 3 other people who pulled Catherine out the hat decided to each transcribe 10 minutes each of the 40 minute of interview. Honestly, haven't really enjoyed transcribing the interview, and I felt like it was a bit of a waste of time. Why couldn't we have just used existing text within or double page spread? 

Hamish muir

Today we had a lecture from a well known and respected graphic designer Hamish Muir.

The beginning of his talk was interesting and ins

pirational; he talked extensively about how he became a graphic designer and has gained success.

His early work inspired me the most. He showed us poster collages that took weeks to design and create as well as the processes required to create one. Back then Hamish wasn't able to design anything on the computer as the Apple Mac hadn't come out yet. Everything had to be designed by hand then photographed before being sent to print.

The image above is of the 8vo team designing a mock up poster for a Manchester night club- Haçienda 4. The poster consisted of making a collage from different materials, including tape, paper, card and paint. 

(website link)

TypeRadio (new unit)

Just been given the new unit, sounds really good; I know I say this at the beginning of every unit, but I think this unit is up my street. We are going to be learning processes within Adobe InDesign as well as gaining an understanding for sending work off for print and the necessary formats.

Our work is to be based on an radio interview from a typography website, TypeRadio. We began by choosing a type designer from a hat, I pulled out Catherine Griffiths(website), a Kiwi type designer. We were then given a web address for the interviews of our designers(link). Catherine Griffiths is being interviewed on her current work and personal life by Liza and Donald.

We were required to transcribe a section of the interview to use within our four-page-spread design. Illustrations and page layout are to be based around information from within the interview. This sort of design really interests me and am looking forward to getting more involved in the unit.

Flash

Just handed in my flash unit. Well, don't know really, I have had mixed opinions about the software throughout the unit and haven't really enjoyed it as much as the previous units. When we were initially given the brief I was really enthusiastic and looking forward to creating my animation; as the unit has progressed I have gained my final view on Adobe Flash- not my thing! I with out doubt prefer the rest of the Adobe software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign).

I am pleased with my final animation and feel I have met the briefs aims and learning outcomes. Parts of the unit I did enjoy were creating the illustrations and storyboard.