Vis Com (B.Crane)

Bath Tram Map

2011-05-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Current proposed map for a Tram network in Bath. Is legible but needs more work, more styling. Am investigating angles and line styling.

D&AD Taschen Brief

2011-03-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Taschen Interactive iPad app from Oli soden on Vimeo.

Putting Back the Face into Typeface

2011-03-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

Erik Spiekermann - Putting Back the Face into Typeface from Gestalten on Vimeo.

Amazing video from Eric Spiekermann. Has really given me some inspiration for my map redesign! The guy is serious full of ideas!

The Future of the book!

2011-02-21T04:29:00.000-08:00

A magazine is born

2011-01-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

Hauschka, crazy video!

2010-12-26T04:11:00.001-08:00

Hauschka at NPR: Improvisation from NPR on Vimeo.

Barleycorn Shoe Sizes

2010-12-18T13:32:00.001-08:00

This poster explains the unknown meanings behind UK shoe sizes and how to figure out what a size ten actually means! It was a short one week project, titled 'Significance of numbers'.

Gastrotypographicalassemblage

2010-11-22T02:53:00.001-08:00

Found a great piece of inspiration for my ISTD brief, great work!

Gastrotypographicalassemblage from christian carlsson on Vimeo.

WOOOW !

2010-11-19T06:46:00.000-08:00

Wooow is the only word I can use to describe this third year! Heres where I am so far with everything this year:

Essay

I have been putting my essay (investigative study) off since the day I received the hand out! I honestly struggle with essay writing and it is something I need to improve on. I organised a tutorial today with Amanda to help create some initial structure to what I have so far (case studies, theories, theorists etc). The tutorial has helped massively in the sense that I know what direction I am heading in, and what needs to be done for when!

Learning agreement

My LG is 90% complete and just needs some theories and methodologies applied to it. This will part of what I will base my visual book on.

ISTD

Yesterday morning I felt I was heading in a solid direction with my typographical restaurant, having created plenty of initial ideas to be used within the restaurant. I then had a group tutorial! The tutorial brought me back down to earth, and I realised I needed to take a step backwards to progress any further. My problem was that I didn't have an 'experience' in the restaurant. I needed to focus on what the problems were, who my target audience was, what food I would be serving and some sort of original service idea.

I pondered on ideas over lunch and put a few concepts together, which I then showed in my afternoon tutorial. The second tutorial went really well, my direction is a lot stronger and plausible. The next step is to get a menu together, sort of service procedure out, create the logo and illustrations/ photos.

Visual book

I haven't started this as yet but intent to over this weekend. This book will represent my journey through the ISTD brief, recording visual research, methods, progression, and a piece of finished work. My aim is to have this professionally printed as an A5 booklet before the 10th December.

Love-ink-me

I received an email from a friend regarding setting up a website and a logo for the sale her products. After weighing up what work I had on at Uni, and what would be the best thing for her, I suggested initially using bigcartel (sales website for creatives) for the sales of the products, and I would be able to create a logo over the Christmas holidays. I waiting a reply to whether she wants to go ahead with the logo design.

Links and images (hopefully) to follow!

Painting

After 3 months, 20 tubes of paint and a lot of hard work, its FINISHED! During Christmas I will take some professional photos for my portfolio and to possibly enter in a competition. I will upload images within the next few weeks.

Painting update

2010-10-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

I travelled home last weekend to get some more of the painting done. This is the most recent photo. I think its going to take one or two more trips home on weekends to get this 'beast' out of the way. It needs to happen soon as I have masses of Uni work to be getting on with!

Flourish

2010-10-27T05:17:00.000-07:00

I have recently signed up to 'Flourish', which is a Creative business course

from the beginning of november to march

Gives an insight to what it takes to start your own business (my case, going freelance??)

Kukui poster!

2010-10-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Great poster advertising a halloween night at Kukui in Bournemouth. The typography and illustration style are amazing!

ISTD- Mutton Quad

2010-10-14T03:52:00.000-07:00

learning agreement

Design Buddies

2010-10-14T03:51:00.000-07:00

Design Buddies is a pilot scheme being started at three universities across the south west of England. Each 'Buddy' is paired up with a relevant industry mentor. In my case, George Beverly from Mind Tank. The purpose and aim of the scheme is to obtain some actual industry advice, wether its feedback on a project, or editing a CV. Its all meant to help us (students) prepare for 'the big bad world'.

The plan is to have four, one hour sessions across the next 6 months with George, all one to one. Work or topics should be prepared before the meetings to help make the most of the hour sessions. All the Design Buddies have had training from Martin Baldwin, who specializes in mentoring, and is doing the scheme at Bath spa.

I really think we will all benefit from the scheme, getting plenty of relevant feedback and advice to take with us in industry. Hopefully something more may come of it (work experience??).

Update

2010-08-30T02:47:00.000-07:00

Painting Update

2010-08-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is todays update. The painting is going much better, I feel as though the deadline I've set myself of next week is looking more realistic. Need to buy the gold and silver leaf this week.

...it's been a while!

2010-08-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Last summer was exactly the same, I just stopped writing my blog; to be fair last summer wasn't very eventful compared to this year. I've been working on a commission since the beginning of the summer (which is starting to feel like forever) recreating a Gustav Klimt classic, "the tree of life". The dimensions are 200cm x 150cm

essay hand in

2010-04-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

How it went

look at the conclusion

summarise

Final critique and final run to deadline

2010-04-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

Final crit:

typefaces, let them flow and blend. The German typefaces were used by the nazi's.

get rid of pop art look. The stroke on the edges of the images should be smaller or similar colour to the object.

need some continuity/think as a set

-Find some pallets on Kuler

Print deadline- find out when, consider booklet.

Back in the Swing of things!

2010-04-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

Essay is going well, had my tutorial on monday, had some good feed back. I've done the majority of the essay, but I need to give it some structure and get a final book out: Reading images, Kress & Gunther R. I'm certainly no tutor but I feel as thought the essay could have been given to us earlier, over christmas for example, when we had a bit more time to focus on it.
I definitely should have done more of my professional project over the easter. I did spend the majority of it doing my essay and I had food poisoning AGAIN from bloody dim sum! Never again! But I got back to Uni on monday and I have re-watched the films again, looked at producer styles etc, and I feel I'm heading in a solid direction. Got some good feedback from people in the crit and I know what to do now. Was advised to look at Jason Munn of Small Stakes who does screen printing for companies in small batches. Also there is a community cinema in christchurch called Regent Centre who I have just contacted about a possible photo-shoot or re-screening. I have left my details and am just waiting a reply now!

Final Body Shop Campaign!

2010-03-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

Final poster for D&AD Body Shop brief!

Other two presentation spreads to follow tomorrow......

Experimental typography

2010-03-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

Body Shop- Photo shoot 2!

2010-03-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

-Make up department

-Model sorted

-book studio

-go to the range

Kari Ojapelto typography workshop

2010-03-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

As two groups we created large mind maps containing different things to do around Bournemouth. We were then appointed an activity to create a experimental typographic post for, I got the casinos in Bournemouth.

Kari said...

Through research I found there are two main casinos in Bournemouth. I really need to visit the casinos to gain more of an understanding for the environment, and mainly to help my ideas generation. Not sure weather I will have time today as I'm trying to finalise things for my Body Shop project. Hopefully I will be able to get down town tomorrow lunchtime?

My initial ideas are bingo cards,

roulette tables,

interactive typography (puzzles/codes)

Linocuts

2010-03-04T04:51:00.000-08:00

Some really amazing new linocuts from an illustrator called Paul Catherall. His work is influenced by commercial art from the 50's and 60's. The pantone colours and sharp edges of these prints are spot on! Loving it...

Lithography

2010-03-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

Found a great illustration of the lithograph printing process. I'm looking into original printing methods for my poster designs. This really breaks the lithograph printing process right down! Simplicity at it's best!

Last Week...

2010-03-01T04:23:00.000-08:00

My research started off by looking into popular 1960's British films. I searched through film books and also found a great website, IMDB. This website is a movie database that contains pretty much every film; it gives an overview, cast list and loads more additional details about each film!

The first film I watched was The Ipcress File, and was brilliant; ideas were popping into my head throughout the film. I still have a long way to go before my final design but I already think I could create a really nice poster with this film. The film is similar to a James Bond type plot with double agents and mysteries. (colour)

Repulsion was another film on my final list. Its a very strange film about a young Belgian girl who suffers with androphobia (a fear of men). I personally thought the film was really psychological in that the girl ends up going crazy in her apartment, murders two men, has nightmares of being raped and even imagines male hands coming out of the walls! I'm not sure whether I want to use this film as part of my series; but I have taken notes and I will review all the films I have watched. (black and white)

The Servant I found to be a very strange film. I didn't particularly enjoy the film and I don't think it would really appeal to a modern day audience. Again this film is slightly psychotic, with Barrett (the manservant) playing serious mind games with his master, Tony; eventually resulting in the "master" and "servant" roles exchanging. (black and white)

still to watch:

Alfie (original)

Loneliness of the long distance runner

Fahrenheit 451 (get from the library)

Blow up

And the Bonds (not sure yet though as a lot of people have seen them, and my aim is to try and reinstate unwatched/ less well known film to a modern audience):

Dr.No

From Russia with love

Goldfinger

Started creating and finalizing final Body Shop idea. Go round Olis next week, sort out final idea after a crit!

Letterpress Printing!

2010-02-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

Received an email today containing a link to a letterpress video (link). The video was originally posted on ministry of type. I'm loving the processes used here to make some sweet, authentic letter press posters.

I'm really considering using letter press and hopefully lino to create my final posters for my professional project. As well as it looking great, it goes with the theme of my brief/learning agreement. My aim is to create awareness of 1960's British films, and what better way to create the posters than one of the original methods from the 60's!

I'm going to look into having some lesson on letterpress at uni, or hopefully with a company somewhere round uni or London.

Amazing typography: typojar

Learning Agreement

2010-02-19T03:00:00.001-08:00

Finally settled on a title for my learning agreement:

Create a set of typographic/illustrative based film posters to regenerate/promote British film from the 1960's to a modern day audience.

It's the first time I have made a learning agreement, and honestly it wasn't too bad. I new what I wanted to do for my professional project, so I think it was plain sailing from there really. I now just need to get stuck in and work hard on this unit, hopefully resulting in my best work yet.

Defriending is the new friending

2010-02-18T02:49:00.000-08:00

Defriending is the new friending

Busy week!

2010-02-15T03:27:00.001-08:00

Got loads to do this week! Really not looking forward to Anna's essay brief this afternoon! It's only a 2500 word essay, but writing has never been my strongest point. I'm just going to have to get on top of things and stay ahead with it.

Anna's brief today at 1.30...
The pair of final designs for Body Shop D&AD brief.
Professional project- need to start heading in a specific direction
Portfolio presentation on thursday
Learning agreement is in for friday! (need to book a tutorial)

Professional project- presentation

2010-02-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

Didn't have anything together for our presentations this morning. Not because I've been lazy, just really struggling to get something together. Our task is to plan and produce our own industry level brief and complete it to the highest professional standard.

I asked Sally for a short tutorial, to maybe help me find my own direction within this brief. I've mainly struggled to narrow down a specific discipline to target my brief in (i.e. illustration, typography, photography). As I enjoy most aspects within graphic design, I've been struggling. I eventually chose the path of advertising and illustration by looking at my stronger work and obviously the work I most enjoyed designing.

The final outcome of the tutorial was that I wanted to concentrate on types of film posters (very broad, but still at the initial stages) and this is the beginning of my statement of intent:

"Create a set of *something* film posters to promote *something* film festival/genre/period."

I then created a brief 3 minute presentation for 1:30. During the critique I was given feedback about possible directions in which I could take my brief. That maybe I should choose a specific film (my favorite?), look around the local area for old cinemas re-screening classic films.

Both are areas I had already discussed in the morning during the tutorial.

Well plenty of work to be getting on with:

Small local cinemas (contact them?)
Library- film section, have a browse.
Concentrating on a genre.
A Certain direction, so to finish my statement of intent.

Animal farm Illustration!

2010-02-09T08:40:00.001-08:00

Just handed in my Animal farm illustration for the silent auction and exhibition! It's tomorrow from 1pm - 1am at sixty million postcards/ Bournemouth. All the money raised will be going to an end of year show in London (New Designers), in which all our work will be presented to existing top designers and companies.

Heres my final illustration (watercolour and fine line pen)

Animal Farm Website

Twitter!

2010-02-08T03:50:00.001-08:00

Finally got my twitter account up and running! Have always been uncertain about whether is was just another facebook type website; it's really not. My sister who has her own wedding planning business and uses it constantly, has gained lots of great contacts (website).

Its all about following people, and trying to get people to follow you. A large amount of big design companies have twitter pages, as well as small free lance designers!

Starting to get into a bit more now as well. Have set the colour theme to match my website, have a direct link to my website. Going to try and sort an extra blog link!

twitter.com/ben_crane

Body Shop- Photo shoot

2010-02-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Had the photo shoot for one of our final ideas today. There was loads of equipment, was crazy, over £3000's worth! The amazing Nikon D80 (which is a beast), an amazing tripod which came in really handy and some blinding flash guns!

The set up took us quite a while to sort out. I don't really think there is a way to explain how we did it, and I took photos on my film Canon camera and haven't developed them yet,so here is a quick sketch:

...well, not the best sketch in the world but you know! This is what the set up looked like; the flash guns lit the giant piece of white paper to give a glow effect through the fruit (well thats what we planned anyway). The camera was about 1.5 meters above the glass window (which our fruit pattern was on).

All in all the shoot wasn't disastrous, but we had set I aims high, and we didn't manage to meet them. Some of the fruit we used (such as the avocado and bananas) was too thick and the light from the flash guns couldn't penetrate it.

We have managed to edit one of the images and have a rough mock up!

Body Shop tutorial

2010-02-02T14:51:00.000-08:00

Went into see Neil today about what direction we had gone in since our last tutorial. Explained our new ideas our the meanings behind them.

We finally came to the conclusion of sticking with three ideas and put our efforts into them. They are linked images which create an unconventional brand campaign.

Me and Oli have agreed to get on with some mock ups tomorrow and prepare for a photo shoot some time this week hopefully. We really want this to come out well, as we are putting plenty of effort into this project.

Just as we were finishing the tutorial with Neil, Justin came over and gave us some advice on some photography techniques. The set up and possible positioning of our shoot.

Same again tomorrow- need to go back round Oli's to begin some mock ups and starting trying to expand on our slogans, as they are letting the campaign down a bit at the moment.

D&AD- Body Shop, Oli's

2010-02-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

Started back with The Body Shop brief for the first time since before christmas today. This year is going so quickly is CRAZY! Constantly got work on the go. Am really enjoying it, getting a feel for industry!

Today we've just been looking over our original ideas and are pushing them into a new direction. We are struggling a bit with which idea to go for?! We have a dozen or so ideas and can't decide which one to shed light on.

We've been over the brief again, and are breaking down the initial sentence, so we can narrow down to three final concepts:

"Create an unconventional brand campaign for The Body Shop to reinstate its position as the original pioneer of ethical beauty."

Wordle

2010-01-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

Wordle.net generates word clouds from a certain URL link and all the words on that website. Heres one I created from just sticking the link to my website in the provided box. Pretty sweet.

Screen based communication (2)- Finished

2010-01-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

Handed in my screen based unit on friday; am really pleased with my website, have worked really hard on it. The begging of this unit seemed really daunting; to create a fully working, easily navigated portfolio website to advertise ourselves, using a piece of software that seemed even more complex (dreamweaver)!

Final Crit

2010-01-15T06:53:00.000-08:00

Feed back

I was advised to try and make my logo more dynamic, maybe by using a more modern typeface or different style. Maybe to show more of my personality within the website.
Maybe to try and give myself an identity, some sort of label so potential clients understand straight away what type of designer I am, i.e Graphic Designer, Illustrator etc.
In my "about" section try and talk as a designer and not a student. Clients don't want to employ students, they want professionals.
Lightbox- have been advised not to use lightbox on my website. Justin was talking to me about a three click rule; you don't want anything t be more than 3 clicks away. By having the lightbox involved it would make my website too busy.
Meta tags- need to insert my meta tags; they help get my website found in search engines. VERY IMPORTANT!

As I'm not using lightbox anymore, I will have to have information on the images somewhere. I will experiment on having a dig tag below my slider gallery or possibly above.

I'm really glad I stuck with Dreamweaver and not Flash Catalyst or InDesign. People in my crit who had used other software were having more problems and were getting a lot more constructive criticism from the rest of the group. Dreamweaver is definitely the way to go for me; it just all makes sense, it's easy to edit/change, and things can be done with a click of a button using CSS.

Some great illustration- Blexbolex

2010-01-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some great illustrations I found in this months grafik magazine (jan). The small book was created by a french illustrator, Blexbolex. Its a chilling/ odd sci-fi come crime thriller story that has been published as an artist's book by No Brow Press.

Definitely getting my self a copy of this- No Brow Press!

Screen based communication (2)- new unit

2009-12-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Had the first flash session with Leigh on Friday. He gave us some great advice on creating our websites, and that it wasn’t necessary to use Dreamweaver and HTML. Leigh also explained that it wasn’t necessary to use web safe colours as 95% of computer monitors can now show the entire colour palette; this is massive advantage as the colours I wanted to use were not web safe.

We were advised by Leigh to create our website in Photoshop or Illustrator and then import each page and all its separate layers into Flash Catalyst (a new piece of software which will be in CS5; can be downloaded for free on the adobe website). Flash Catalyst can be used to create our entire website. Leigh explained how we would also be able to use any typeface within our website as Adobe have sold the rights/software to search engines like Google and Yahoo which can read text on any website, even if its in Flash; we don’t need Meta tags!

People asked if this was cheating or going the wrong way about creating our websites; Leigh explained that in industry a designer does not create an entire website by there self. There are web designers who create the layout and make the site aesthetically pleasing; then there are the coders, who create all the code for the website and actually make it work. I know for a fact that I would never want to become a coder.

By Thursday we have to have put together a working site map, showing forwards and backwards steps and our initial design for our entire website, that includes home page, contact page, about page etc.

I feel as though a massive weight has been taken off my shoulders after Leigh’s Flash session. The Dreamweaver sessions we have been having with Neil are good and I’ve understood them, but for the work and effort you put in the results aren’t anywhere near that of Flash catalyst. I don’t want to spend days trying understand and learn Dreamweaver and code to a high standard, when I could be using that time to improve the appearance of my overall website.

Great websites:

lynda.com

960.gs

noupe.com

Brand Identity Complete

2009-12-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

Overall, I felt this section of the unit was the trickiest. In a way I felt a pulled the short straw with George Eliot, the information and history on her was quite limited, and that of which I did manage to find was of some age. I tried reading her novels to get a feel for her personality, but I struggled with this as I'm not the strongest of reader and her writing is pretty intense.

Saying this I have finally managed to create a business identity for George Eliot and have had to deal with it. I don't personally feel branding is one of my strengths and haven't particularly enjoyed this part of the unit.

Here are my final designs portraying what I feel suits Mary Anne Evans' (George Eliot) style if she were to have her own business identity in the present day:

Letter Head

Business Card

Communicating Ideas Complete

2009-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

Finished my communicating ideas brief on Jeff Hawkins today, create a newspaper spread. I originally found choosing a video from TED.com quite difficult as they were in-depth videos with some references I didn't understand, such as scientific meanings etc.

I did eventually decide to go with Jeff Hawkins, who created and found Palm Computing and eventually went on to study neuroscience full time. The video on TED.com talks about how brain science will one day change computing. My brief was to create a means of advertisement for TED.com through this video in an original way.

I began my research looking into puzzles and crossword books. Hawkins talks a lot about how how the brain breaks things down into puzzles and if somethings not right it automatically tries to correct it. I eventually came up with the idea of having a puzzle type advertisement in the gaming/puzzle section of a newspaper. By placing the ad here I would target the correct demograph; people who enjoy puzzles and mind games.

Flickr link to my final piece - Final spread

To start with I wanted this piece of design to be challenging to the reader. "How much can you predict?" is asking the reader can they do the dot to dot and rearrange the brain and football? Thats the simple bit; the reader then reads "intelligence and perdciontn are gained through mmorey". This sentence is deliberately spelt wrong, it gets across Hawkins' message that the brain is continuously deciphering puzzles, even it is a simple spelling mistake (deliberate mistake). My aim was to gain the readers interest, thus linking to the video and further TED.com.

New From Old Complete!

2009-12-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Finished my final paper marquette today. I had it printed on the professional Epson printer at Uni, it's well worth paying the price for high quality. The finish was really nice, especially on the quality card I used.

I created a fully working template in illustrator for the difficult shaped tin (I had previously tested the template with cheap paper before hand, to make sure the marquette would work correctly).

Actually making the marquette was very fiddly and initially I put on the wrong way using double-sided sticky tape! I thought I had completely ruined it, until I was told I could undo it with patients! I ended up breathing on the tape as to warm up the glue; bit weird but it worked in the end! I then triple checked I was fitting the side to the base correctly!

I am really pleased with the final outcome of my rebrand, even though I have changed the design four times! It was worth it in the end though, I'm really pleased with the result!

Template

Final pie

D&AD competition choice

2009-12-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Got together with Oli yesterday to discuss which D&AD brief we were going to choose. We narrowed down three final choices:

The Body Shop- Create an unconventional brand campaign for the body shop to reinstate its position as the original pioneer of ethical beauty.
Metro Live- Create a transport advertising poster campaign and strapline that cuts through the visual noise of the everyday commute to promote metro newspapers.
Quaker Oats Live - Create packaging for Quaker's new "Chilled Creamy Oats" product for young women looking for a truly delicious healthy snack.

We initially both wanted to go for the Metro brief; but after breaking the tasks down and getting an understanding for the brief we crossed it off the list. We didn't want to just dive straight into a brief without any consideration. We both agreed that the Metro live wouldn't have suited our style and that we wanted something slightly more interesting.

Quaker Oats, was a bit more interesting, plus we both had the added bonus of just finishing creating packaging design rebrands for our New From Old Unit.

But after breaking each of the three projects down, we finally went for The Body shop. We were drawn straight into this project after just 5 minutes of research. There is a great deal of history behind the body shop and the brief definitely suited both our styles!

The Body shop has been involved in a lot of charitable campaigns in the past such as sex trafficking, violence in the home and HIV and AIDS. They have very strong opinions on such situations, and have had ever since the opening in the 70's.

From my initial research into past brand campaigns at the body shop, I haven't found anything of great interest and I wasn't impressed. A perfect example of this is the obese type barbie doll on a lounge chair! Really not a fan at all. It's as if the body shop are trying to be someone they aren't (Amnesty?!).

A odd fact about the body shop is that they don't advertise on a large scale; in fact very small actually, only in the shop windows, their goods lorries and plastic bags. I'm yet to find out why this is!??

Louvre!

2009-11-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

Went to paris on the weekend; got to see some really great things. Grand Palais, Champs Elysees etc. What was really great though was getting to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. I've been wanting to visit it face to face for ages now, and finally had my chance. I thought it was great! Much better than starring at it on a screen or small book.

Almost there!

2009-11-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have been given an extension as I was ill with a nasty bug for a good week. Was really in need of this extension, I wouldn't have even got close to finishing all of the work. At the moment I'm working on this first task in the unit, Thank You.

I know what it is I have to do it's just managing my time to complete each section. I have gone back to Thank You and only need to finish off placing the images into flash, and edit some sound.

The second year work load is a lot more intense. We aren't only doing our Uni work, but finding live briefs outside of uni, and we have competitions and Anna's 2500 word essay (not a fan of any type of essay) after christmas! Crazy times!

Thank you - Stop frame animation!

2009-11-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

I told my self after the first time using flash, NEVER AGAIN! But I can't seem to stay away. I've been making small buildings and painting toy cars most of the day; in preparation for the final shooting. I've had to refresh my memory on a few things in flash, spent the last couple of hours watching youtube, there are some great videos. It's all for the good but I'm really starting to get fed up looking at a computer screen all day! My eyes feel like they're going to explode.

The biggest problem that arose today was trying to resize a batch of images in photoshop. I searched everywhere for a half decent video, and eventually found one - How to batch resize photos in photoshop.

Batch images into flash

Opacity in flash

LEA finished!

2009-11-16T04:58:00.000-08:00

Sent away final illustration with the type set in place; just had an email back asking to change the text size, some of the text and the positioning. These were the demands of the of the director at LEA.

LEA were pleased when I sent sent them back the illustrations with the final adjustments, and sent it off to Jack Magazine for print! Hard work definitely pays off.

The Illustration will be in December and Januarys addition of jack magazine. I feel it will appeal to the the specific audience reading Jack Magazine; I was briefed on the the audience, and where the magazine is sold etc.

Really happy with my time management skills as I met my deadline. I met the deadline but it was hard work!

Final final advert

Magazine link (page 33/84)

LEA

2009-11-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

My illustration for LEA is coming along well. I'm trying to target the audience who read this magazine (who's jack) with a simple, but funky illustration. Anything plain or too corporate wouldn't fit with the style of the magazine. I've been sending PDF's of my progression on the illustration and am receiving helpful feedback on exactly what LEA are looking for.

I have been working constantly on this illustration and am looking forward to getting it complete now. I have enjoyed it but, some things just go on a bit sometimes. What I've completed so far, I'm pleased with, LEA it's self are giving me good feedback.

The illustration will be going in December 2009 issue and January 2010 issue. Really pleased with this, need to try and get my self a copy of it when it's out!

Final Illustration

London trip - Paula Scher

2009-11-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

Was really debating going on the trip yesterday morning, feeling rough with a cold. Honestly, I feel that the trip was a waste of time for myself. We missioned it round London in the pouring rain and didn't really gain much from the V&A.

Dropped into Covent Garden and went to the London Graphic Centre, which is heaven for any designer or artist. After that we walked back through Holborn to a stamp shop where I bought a wax letter sealing kit for my Business identity project. Think I can get a good effect on the letter head and business card.

Finally got to Logan Hall for the Paula Scher lecture at around 7pm. Paula Scher explained her opinions on being yourself when in the design world. The fact that she not only thought outside the box, but pursued her creativity and broke rules.

Her map illustrations were fascinating; they were very free hand and rebellious. She spoke about missing entire states out when creating north America.

Other work that was great included one of her recent projects, Bloomberg. The giant numbers on each floor and the split LED screen streaming stock information around the building were great.

Don't get me wrong I had a good day, but I would rather have been getting on top of my work for the hand in next week! Plus the LEA live brief has to be done! Tough Times!

Live Brief (LEA)

2009-11-09T06:16:00.000-08:00

My sister works for a private jet company (London Executive Aviation) who have been contact with me regarding some design work. They are looking to advertise their services in a music magazine (Who's Jack).

I'm buried with work at the moment but can't turn down this opportunity. Have had a few ideas already and am at the starting point. Some serious time management skills are going to have to come in order here.

Deadline: Monday 16th November

Chosen Video-Jeff Hawkins

2009-11-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Jeff Hawkins, a computer designer and neuroscientist

My research has started off looking at ambient campaigning, viral marketing and gorilla advertising. In the video he talks about the there being plenty of data, but no theory in neuroscience. He is aiming to expand on the existing data and eventually create a theory on how the human brain actually works; then develop software that mimics its functionality, creating true artificial intelligence.

Communicating Ideas

2009-11-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

Had the final critique for my New to Old project on friday. Again my ideas have been changed and expanded. My final idea will be influenced by Ale and Whiskey bottles. Have carried out research in supermarkets, taking photos of existing products.

The final brief for this unit is called Communicating ideas. The aim of the brief is to respond to the idea represented in the video by communicating it visually by an appropriate means to the British public. We have be given the choice of seven videos to choose from (below).

Amy Tan-Creativity

Elizabeth Gilbert-Genius

John Gerzema-The post crisis consumer

Jeff Hawkins-How brain science will change computing

Julian Treasure-Four ways sound effects us

Stefan Sagmeister-the power of time off

Mena Trott-Tours her blog world

Alongside the design work we should clearly detail in a rationale the reasons why we have chosen the specific method of communication.

The final piece can be presented as either: paper based, smaller than A2 and accompanied by full type and print specs OR: screen based, lasting no longer than 30 seconds.

New From Old

2009-10-22T08:48:00.001-07:00

This project consists of researching and rebranding a redundant product. The choices of product are: Tapioca, lard, mushy peas, rice pudding, fondou, tinned pies, luncheon meat and tinned vegetables.

The new context for the item may be in contradiction to its origins (a cheap object may be re-marketed as collectable and expensive) or you may wish to build on the established identity. You should show a clear knowledge of the object and its history as well as its competitors, old and new.

The final designs will be presented as a paper based marquette, thought this should be supplemented by further plans, especially in the case of more detailed and complex objects. Through this process we should consider all aspects of the packaging, from logotypes to materials (sustainability being the key issue).

So far in the project I've decided to go with tinned pies. I've been researching different pies sold in supermarkets; from fresh pies to Fray Bentos tinned pies. I managed to take some good photos from a handful of supermarkets for my research.

This is one of my initial design:

I'm going to start looking at some traditional ale bottles and the design on pub bill boards. From tutorials I've been advised to look more at my target audience and consider there views and requirements.

Live Briefs

2009-10-13T07:30:00.001-07:00

This year we must be finding live briefs and if possible work experience as much as possible. I've just finished a live brief which I began at the end of the summer, (Online Kids Therapy).

I understand how important it is to get involved in live briefs on top of uni work from experience I gained during the "Online Kids Therapy" brief.

Time management is vital when getting involved in these live briefs; to be able to juggle uni as well. Hopefully I'll be getting some more live briefs during this, my second year.

Logo Design - Finished (work experience)

2009-10-13T04:09:00.000-07:00

Finally complete!

Really happy with how the final logo and website are looking. I had done some research before I had begun the project and couldn't find any child therapy websites as aesthetically pleasing or even a similar service. Hopefully the client can now take her new business on head first.

The over communication in the project was not something I had done before. I was only ever communicating via email and the odd telephone call. I found this quite difficult at times as I would create a design in Photoshop and send it to the client, only to have an email back saying they wanted something different. I have learnt that both ends of the project need to be very clear and have an understanding between each other. This is something I have had a brief insight to when I was on my work experience at the end of the first year. Communication is vital!

I personally feel what took 4-5 weeks to finalise and have running could easily have been done in just 1 week if all parts of the project were together. But this is not the way things run in industry, it's just not that easy. I'm glad I initially took on this small job, it's taught me small, but important factors to working in industry.

Final website

Business Identity - George Eliot/aka Mary Anne Evans

2009-10-12T03:12:00.002-07:00

Straight after presenting our thank you ideas we were briefed on our new task -

Business Identity

We all had choose a name from a hat and devise a set of Business Stationary. The assumed style and presentation should clearly reflect your understanding of that person, and what is unique and special about them. The style of the stationary can be transposed to a contemporary feel, or can utilise the style of the time, but should at its core reflect the individual.

You will create -

Business card
Letterhead
Compliment slip

So far I have done some initial research into my person (George Eliot, aka Mary Anne Evans) and business stationary. I've taken out books on corporate identity, novels written by George Eliot and luckily found a biography on the life of George Eliot.

Thank You - First Task

2009-10-12T03:12:00.001-07:00

In this first section of this unit we have the opportunity to say thank you to someone. Foremost we must consider who we want to say thank you to and why, then consider the most appropriate visual means to communicate this technically, and in relation to the message. These considerations should clearly address -

Language (visual & written)
Tone
Context
Process and methods of production

So far I have chosen who I want to say thank you too; and thats my parents for getting me a car. I have also created my first idea which is a fold up paper car that I would give to my parents for THEIR car, it would also have thank message inside.

I have also expanded on that first idea, in creating a stop frame animation and Adobe Flash. I want it to have a humorous side to the thank, as I know my parents would appreciate that.

We had been given one week for the first task in the unit, before we had to present to the tutors and other students. I felt my presentation went well and I gained some constructive criticism to help expand my ideas further. My presenting skills and confidence have with out a doubt grown since day one at Uni. I think presenting to a room full of unknown faces in the first week helped settle my nerves. And ever since then I feel I'm getting better.

2nd Year!

2009-10-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Second day of my second year today and I still can't believe how quickly it's gone. We have been given our first brief of the year -

Visual Communication in Context 2

This unit aims to extend existing knowledge and understanding of the disciplines within the design industry relating to identification and representation.
In order to realise the links between theory and practice, we will be introduced to the subject through historical backgrounds, semiotics and commercial practices.
Will explore the relationship between concept and style in relation to marketing and branded merchandise.
Through a range of practical projects we will strive to produce innovative and creative solutions to problems for print or screen using a range of materials and media, both traditional and digital. Will be encouraged to present work to the highest professional standards and to engage in critical debate.
Will undertake an individual or team-based programme of work set by tutors or professionals or may undertake your own projects.

Task Outlines

Thank You

Business Identity

New From Old

Communicating Ideas

Expectations this year are massive from both tutors and myself. Work standards need to be increased, the work amount feels like it's doubled already and we haven't been back a week yet!

Saying all this doesn't sound too optimistic, but I am. I'm looking forward to the challenge of hard work, a different syllabus, the end of year show and meeting my targets I set myself at the end of the 1st year PPRD.

Online Kids Therapy - Logo Design (work experience)

2009-09-25T06:57:00.000-07:00

I received a phone call regarding some logo design work for a website last week. I had been speaking to a family friend during the summer, who luckily does web design and he has offered me some work/experience.

The logo is for an online kids therapy website that offers parents and their children who would usually struggle getting to a hospital (for example) for therapy the opportunity of one to one sessions via Skype (webcam) in the comfort of their own home.

The website has been up and running for a few weeks, but was in need of a logo. I communicated with Craig Gregory (web designer), and the client via email and telephone to understand what is wanted in the logo and the style.

The client was looking for an cartoon type animation in the style of existing images on the website (bought from iStockPhoto). The child is doing a star jump on a trampoline (above); this represents the therapy the client offers through her website. The image above shows some of the adjustments I have been making. The boy on the left was too gangly and the client wasn't happy with the green t-shirt. I decreased the limbs, changed the t-shirt colour and added a star.

Online Kids Therapy

White Chapel Gallery - Elizabeth Peyton

2009-09-25T05:13:00.000-07:00

Nearing the end of the summer, has been a good one!

Spotted an advertisement for an Elizabeth Peyton Exhibition in London a week or so ago and could definitely not miss the opportunity! After studying her in my final year at school, and adopting her style for my final piece, I've found a great appreciation for her work.

Peyton's exhibition is titled "Live Forever", after an Oasis song from the nineties. The inspiration was clearly taken from her time spend painting Liam Gallager.

There are some good press links and interviews below...

Interview link

Evening standard link

Visual Communication in Context - TypeRadio

2009-04-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

TypeRadio – Reflective evaluation

I wasn’t completely shore what to expect from this unit, I had only talked to some second years briefly about how they found the previous year. I was however looking forward to getting to know InDesign in more detail and learning the professional aspects to the software.

The day after we were given the brief for the new unit, we were asked to pick a designer out of a box; this was then to be our foundation throughout the entire unit. Our work and research was to be based around our individual designer, I picked Catherine Griffiths from the box. Upon researching my designer I found some really exciting and interesting work; she has a strong website with a large portfolio of work upon it. Apart from the Internet, I couldn’t really find any other articles or book to gather research from; this made my development difficult at times.

A crucial part to the unit was the transcription of our designers interview with TypeRadio. The three other students (whose designer was also Catherine Griffiths) and I agreed on specific sections of the interview to transcribe, we each had a ten-minute section each. After everyone in the group had completed their section we swapped documents so we all had an entire interview to work with.

The group poster didn’t go as I had expected it to. I had some family problems right near the deadline and felt I couldn’t offer a great deal of input. I explained with my group the situation I was in, and thankfully they were really understanding. We had a group meeting to discuss size, weights, fonts etc. for our group magazine. We all quickly came to a final conclusion of what our group magazine was going to look like. I personally wasn’t impressed with what I had produced for the group magazine, it was very rushed and not at a professional standard.

This was my favourite unit so far this year. I have enjoyed all aspects, from my design, research techniques, software and working in groups. My planning and organisation was a big doubt at the beginning of the year, but I feel as I hand in each unit I progress and am becoming a better designer for that. My diary and BlogSpot have been the biggest influence on my planning and organisation, keeping me up to date and being able to record relevant information. I feel my self-confidence has increased throughout the year and I give my opinion on work with confidence and don’t hold back. This confidence has shown in my work, I look at design in a broader, more open way, and am not so narrow minded in new techniques or styles.

Evaluation - Work experience

2009-04-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

Over all I had an enjoyable time at Creatiscope. I gained a feel for what the "real world" is like and how design companies go about creating designs for clients. After the first day I felt I had been working there for more than a month, I settled in really quickly and got on with the task at hand.

The brief was explained to me in solid detail and I understood what I was here to do. It was to produce initial ideas for the design of a course booklet aimed at a younger generation, i.e 16-20 year olds/potential students at the college.

Creatiscope is small company that has been designing visual strategies and solutions for charity, education and public sector organizations for over seven years. They specialize in Brand Identity, Design for Print and also Website design.

The office is based in London, near Chancery Lane tube station. There is one good sized office where John and Mark(who are the only members of Creatiscope) complete the design work.

They hire photographers for any photography work and have a good relationship with printers in the area.

Fourth Day - Work Experience

2009-04-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of a lie in this morning, as I didn't need to be in until lunch time. The train to Debden seemed everlasting as it was one of the last stop on the central line.

Eventually, after about 15 minutes of walking round Debden, I found the college. I began taking photos of the college from all different directions to offer a variety of shots to John and Mark. Half way through the shoot, the grounds manager from the college came out and asked me what I was doing on the premises, taking photos. I explained the situation and after five minutes of persuading he gave me permission to carry on.

It wasn't the nest day for taking photo, it was cloudy and raining for a short period of time. I captured a couple of strong images to take back to the office though.

I eventually arrived back at the office just before lunch time with 100 images or so. I presented the photos to John and Mark on the iMac. They were pleased with the photos I had captured and agreed they were perfect for the cover.

As there was no card reader in the office I was asked to get the photos burnt to a disk at boots. When I arrived back from boots I began editing my original front cover designs with higher quality photographs of the college. John and Mark asked for copies of the existing work I had done from the previous three days, so they could also begin editing the designs.

Third Day - Work Experience

2009-04-16T05:36:00.000-07:00

Started today where I finished yesterday. Carried on with the designs for the front cover; had more images to work with today. Have been been asked to include a mix of ethnic people into the design as well as a person in a wheel chair. This clearly is to brand the college open to all races, colours and abilities. My research began on image bank websites such as iStockPhoto.

Just after lunch I presented a few cover ideas to John and Mark. They gave constructive criticism to the designs before giving me a more in depth idea to what they wanted to see. They wanted to experiment with the colour scheme more openly and use stronger imagery.

We were struggling with the small sized images of the college from google and needed larger ones. Toward the end of the day I suggested I could get the tube to the college in Debden(central line) and gather better images of the front of the main building. John and Mark were both happy with the idea, and it was agreed I would be in for lunch time tomorrow(friday).

Second Day - Work experience

2009-04-15T05:35:00.000-07:00

Got straight on finishing off the spread sheets from yesterday, before finally presenting my ideas to John and Mark. The ideas I gathered from within the magazines were relevant to the areas of interest for the individual subjects offered by the college. John and mark were pleased with the spread sheets I had created, and we went on to develop stronger ideas for the booklet. We discussed ideas ranging from colours, styles and typefaces.

After presenting the spread sheets I was asked to move on to the initial design of the front cover; which would also span throughout the insides of the two booklets.

As this cover was only a rough, I used images from the internet to build up a working block within Photoshop to give an initial idea of what the final cover would look like.

This image is of one of the final initial ideas for the front cover. The colours are different as the image is CMYK and not RGB. When I was designing this I took existing ideas from teenage magazines to target potential students. I feel this cover is a lot more appealing to the younger generation and would certainly catch my eye. This was my main when designing for the booklet; to target potential students.

Originally Creatiscope had only offered me the two days of work experience. But at the end of today John asked me if I would like to stay an extra two days, as the project was going well and they felt I was beneficial to the pitch. Really happy with this, as I was just settling into the project today and wanted to offer more to Creatiscope.

First Day - Work Experience

2009-04-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

The first day of my work experience! I had mixed thoughts of what work in the 'real world' was actually going to be like. The early start was no surprise really, so too the sweaty tube to Chancery Lane. I had arrived a good 30 minutes early of when I was scheduled to have arrived. No change there really, am always usually early for most things, not a bad thing I suppose.

Once I had been introduced to the two clients of the small company (John & Mark), I got straight into work. I was introduced to the brief, of which I would be working on for the next week. This pitch was to design a Full time and Part time course booklet for Epping Forest College. We were competing against four other companies for the chance to win the pitch.

Creatiscope had designed the two previous booklets, and had brought me in to help with a new design. They wanted me to come up with fresh ideas to make the new booklets less corporate and formal, and more eye catching to a potential student.

They wanted me to gather research from teenage magazines. I was given some money and sent to WHsmiths. I had taken the previous course booklet with me, as I would be able to find magazines specific to each course taught at the college.

When I arrived back at the office I started ripping pages from magazines that contained any initial ideas, or starting points. I then created spread sheets with the designs or pages to present to John and Mark.

This image is my work space in the office. On the desk are the beginnings of the spread sheets.

Work Experience!

2009-04-10T04:43:00.000-07:00

Got a phone call today about possible work experience in Chancery Lane! One of the original companies I contacted about work experience (CRA design), didn't have anything to offer me, but forwarded my details to another company within the same building (Creatiscope). They contacted me this morning regarding work experience!

They explained that they would not be able to give me work experience on the days I originally required (27th April - 11th May), but to start on the tuesday of next week (14th April 2009). I wasn't really sure what to say or do, as I needed to check with Neil (uni tutor), see if I was up to date with my work and try to stop a pan full of bacon and egg from burning! I eventually said I would get back to them; and after checking through my work and talking to Neil, I took the work!

After excepting the work, John Grover (Creatiscope) explained roughly the work at hand and what the pitch involved. I will be taking part in the design of a full time and part time course college brochures. Am really looking forward to starting some real work and to get a feel for the working environment!

Come on tuesday!

Berlin

2009-03-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

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)

2009-03-16T03:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-10T07:08:00.002-07:00

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)

2009-03-10T07:08:00.001-07:00

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

2009-03-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

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.

Screen printing

2009-02-26T03:43:00.000-08:00

Today was the optional screen printing workshop. I had been waiting ages for this in much anticipation as I had never done it before, but had heard good things about it.

The initial concept within screen printing was quite confusing as I had never done it before. After a strong brief from Jo we got on with oiling our images and using a UV light box to fix them to a thin nylon canvas. After washing off the chemicals with water, we then heated the canvas in a warm oven to preserve our images. My images were of an old school camera and old school VW Beatle.

Overall the day was really productive and it is a strong technique which I will be able to use in the future.

Visual Thinking result & Flash Animation (workshops)

2009-02-23T02:57:00.001-08:00

Just got back my Visual thinking result, am pleased with the mark and am happy with the constructive feedback. There are clearly areas I can improve on and still work to be done.

My flash animation is going smoothly, have done my background illustrations and have almost finished my character design. Although saying that, flash really isn't what I thought it would be; it's more complicated than I thought, the software is so deep and can drive you crazy. I need to be more patient with it and see the tutors if I'm struggling. Overall I'm quite enjoying the unit though.

Another Part of the unit is the ABC qualification in Flash. My workshop is wednesday nights 5-8, which is a bit of a mission actually. The first week was a bit tedious as it was really very simple, but it definitely did get much more difficult. This wednesday will be my fourth session.

Last week we were given a small project to have completed for this wednesday. We have to create an advertising banner for a website using measurements of 468x60 pixels.

Creating CV & Covering letter

2009-02-16T06:42:00.002-08:00

Getting on really well with my final CV, is starting to look really smart. There's a massive difference between my original and current final CV; it's starting to look really professional and smart. Have also had a creative idea to send my CV in a small french fold style book, which firstly shows my current work from this first year; then when opened contains my final CV.

Still having a play round with the idea at the moment but should come out looking good.

Screen based communication- new unit

2009-02-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

The start of another fresh unit today, really am excited for this! Flash (Adobe) is a totally new piece of software for me; but after the introduction to photoshop and illustrator there's nothing I really don't want to do!

The aim of this unit is to create a 30-90 second flash movie, based upon your chosen statistic. After much research into a variety of different statistics, I have chosen to base my short movie clip on newspaper recycling! Ok it doesn't sound overly interesting at first but when Looked in depth at the problems of waste paper, some of the statistics are pretty shocking.

In this first week of the new unit I also started the Flash workshop which was set up for an evening class (5-8), which at first I thought would be a bit of a mission but was brilliant. I really got into the introduction and am excited to see what my final result will be!

Visual Thinking hand in!

2009-01-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

Handed in my the Amnesty unit today; but again I feel like it's been going on a bit too long. Saying that though, I have enjoyed the unit a lot and have improved and gained more skills and knowledge.

I initially found choosing a campaign to focus my ad on difficult. I was to torn between many shocking campaigns, such as "child soldiers" and "violence against women". I finally went with the disturbing campaign of "Rape in Darfur", there were many shocking statistics available to use and I personally thought (and still think) that this individual campaign isn't focussed on enough.

I looked into existing ads and actual testimonies from female victims to gain an understanding and feel for the campaign. I was able to come up with some strong ideas, not only with imagery, but methods of payment as well. After loads of crits and discussions I found my final idea.

I felt unsure at first with the idea of just using text, but after a few changes and different ideas I was able to create a powerful ad.

Final Amnesty Ad

Spend more save less & Black box (Visual thinking)

2008-12-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

As part of this unit we were required to do complete two live projects to help us gain more understanding into encoding and decoding advertisements to a tight deadline. "Spend more save less" was the title of the first project. During this project we had to work in small groups to create an ad to help encourage people to spend more in order to help the declining economy recover. We started off by looking into existing ads and offers within magazines and papers. After discussing and creating some initial ideas we agreed on our final design. We took ideas from Mastercard logos and expanded them for a final, slightly comical ad. (see link above)

Black box was the other live project within the unit. This required more group and was also to a tight deadline of one day. Each group chose an envelope from a box, in which contained an existing logo. Our group ended up with Colgate Total. After much research in the library and ideas discussion we encoded our brand within a semiotic message- "Colgate Total". We then received an encoded message from another group after giving ours away. All the groups were then required to decode there given hidden brand. When decoded we had to create an advertisement; our encoded brand was Gillette Mac 3.

Our design was based on the history of Gillette; we wanted to take the stereotypical view of over the top razor adverts away, and put in more of a trustworthy and traditional aspect to our ad. Final Design

Amnesty talk (Barry Tempest)

2008-11-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

Today we had a talk from a member of Amnesty international (Barry Tempest); he gave us an insight to the wide variety of campaigns the global charity works upon. I found his initially quite slow and not overly interesting; yet after the talk we had time to gather some key questions in small groups, before being able to have a one to one question time.

I found this much more helpful, as I already had a small understanding of the campaigns and was able to have vital questions of my initial chosen campaigns answered in detail.

Overall the day was really useful and has kick started my interests into the project. Really beneficial day, cheers Barry!

Visual Thinking- Amnesty international-new unit

2008-11-18T08:31:00.000-08:00

Just handed in the Text & Image unit, what a relief that was. Although I enjoyed the first unit, I had enough of it in the end, and just felt I wanted to move onto something fresh.

"Visual Thinking" is the title of our new unit, which is solely based on creating an advertisement for an Amnesty International campaign (world wide human rights charity); which should be aimed towards a younger generation (20-30 yrs).

This unit looks exciting and I'm glad to be starting a fresh project. We have a talk from a member of Amnesty international coming in next week; he will be able to give us advice and ideas to help start this new project.

This unit also has two live briefs which sound exciting, and am looking forward to them. They consist of encoding and decoding brand material.

Text and Image

2008-11-17T09:30:00.000-08:00

Oh god! Unit hand in is tomorrow at 4pm! I really need to stay on top of my time management. This is something I am getting better at but there is room to improve. I need to stop leaving the work for another day. Maybe organize a timetable for home?

Anyway I have most of the work done, just a few bits and bobs to complete. On the whole it has been an enjoyable start to the Uni way of life, and I have enjoyed the challenge of new and fresh work. I especially enjoyed the workshops throughout the unit (letterpress and book binding. etc) and feel I have also taken away stronger computer skills (introduction to- Photoshop and Illustrator).

The unit has given me a strong understanding of semiotics and how they are used everywhere in daily life. I used my skills to create my final book, in which contained all my finished work from within the unit.

Britshness

2008-11-15T02:19:00.000-08:00

Today we have been given an extra live project as part of our text and image unit. It is linked with two other Visual Communication courses abroad, one in Kuwait (AND NOT SURE OF OTHER,JOIN GROUP ON FLICKR). We are required to create a piece of design, illustration or photography that best reflects our home town. The brief is really broad and also has the option of creating your design based on your own country.

I'm going to focus on britain, as there are more things to choose from. Our main aim is to get across our view of the country or town we live in. I want to focus on the traditional aspect of britain and create a colourful illustration that reflects my Britain.

After much thinking and doodling on loads of paper I was able to come up with my final idea. I made the choice of keeping the text to a minimum and just have a short piece that relates to the illustration. I kept the Union jack colours (red, white, blue) throughout the illustration for obviously reasons, which I think look strong.

If I were to go back and edit the illustration, I would only make some minor adjustments; I would look at maybe changing the layout, the policeman I think could be slightly higher as the the text above doesn't look right.

I'm happy with the typeface (American typewriter), it looks strong, isn't too powerful yet gets a simple message across to the reader.

Overall I enjoyed designing my Britishness illustration and to me personally it reflects my views of the country I live in.

BRITISHNESS LINK

London Journey (Drift) & Kyle Cooper!

2008-11-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

The day started with a sleepy bus journey up to London. When we arrived we were briefed again on what we were here for (to record and capture a sense of a journey/drift), before then splitting into groups and venturing off into the city. My group and I all agreed on deliberately getting lost to add sense of journey to our visual recordings.

We left the main group and ended up beside the Thames where I did some rough and quick sketching to capture the feel and landscape of London. Shortly afterward we walked up the Thames to the London eye where I captured good and experimental images.(link)

Close to the London eye was an arcade in which I found the inspiration for my vernacular typography.(link) There was a huge range of different typefaces along with individual and unique imagery upon the games; clearly used for luring potential customers in.

After venturing across to the southbank we came across a tunnel/walkway in which there was a smothering of graffiti all over the place. Personally the type of graffiti we saw WAS art and i totally agree with it being there; although recently on the news and papers there has been controversy about an graffiti artist, BANKSY. (banksy link)

Personally I think his work is meaningful and has a strong message of current global matters. Each one has its own message, and it leaves the viewer to their own opinion. What's yours??

After eventually finding our way back to the theatre, having even asked a thomas crown affair styled hotel doorman directions, we still made it on time (JUST) for Kyle Coopers inspirational talk.

Going into Kyle Coopers talk I didn't really have a clue who he was to be totally honest; I came out full of inspiration and ideas. He is probably one of the most inspirational people around and I took a lot in from his talk.

Editorial & paper Illustrations (Poole)

2008-11-07T05:45:00.001-08:00

The day started with an early wake up to catch the bus too Poole. When we arrived in the bleak and miserable Poole bus station I felt like I had just stepped back in time. It was my first time in Poole and it already had a strange impression on me. It seemed the only good thing so far was the KFC I had.

After meeting the tutors and walking to the quay, we were given a short, (but very helpful) talk from Clive on using our cameras properly. We were then given a few hours to go and record visual information such as signs, photos, sounds, drawings etc. I got some really interesting rubbings from benches and signs as well as some drawings and pictures. (see link below)

Later on that week we were given two tasks; using the visual information we had had gathered from Poole we had to create a editorial and paper illustration. The paper illustration brief was given by Neil and we only had one day to complete it, whereas the editorial illustration was a project within the text and image unit and we had until the deadline to hand that in.

For the paper illustration I used influential material from Poole such as a local paper, postcards and photographs from the area to establish some ideas. My personal view of Poole was "Plastic" and "boring" to be honest; and I wanted that to reflect in the paper illustration. I used really simple colours as well as keeping it plain to get my personal opinion across.

With my visual recordings and ideas from the paper illustration I was able to begin on the editorial illustration. I didn't want to solely base the illustrations on "my" personal thoughts of Poole, so I took the idea from another project within the text and image unit to also base them around a poem. (see link)

The finished illustrations reflect Poole both for the poem, and also my personal view of.

Letterpress

2008-10-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Before starting the letter press activity we had to carry out research into the history of woodblock letter press. This was to help us on expanding our ideas and to have a broader view of this effective skill.

Below is an experimental piece I created using wooden block letters, ink and tape. I created a masked type effect by taping segments of individual letters, inking them, then removing the tape before printing. Throughout the letter press unit I experimented not only with tape, but with different combinations and layers of ink, different sized rollers as well as pallet knives. For letter press we were required to choose a piece of published literary that described a sense of place or journey.

Click on links:

I no longer rush life by

Taped letters

Journey poem (Liz Munro)

Vis Com (B.Crane)

2008-10-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Type Face Design

The design brief consisted of small groups researching, developing and creating a type face design using only tape in one day. My group and I first started research from different type face books in the library, we found interesting fonts such as "wood" in Rookledges international typefinder, which later helped us in our design.

The key factor in the design of our type face was the visit to a local skate park. We arrived to find a run down, graffiti covered skate park. There was burnt wooden fences, graffitied skate bowls and ramps; to me it was a type of authority stamp from the day to day users. In the skate park we then as a group discussed possible names for our type face. The vibe and feeling the park gave off was run down, bleak and vandalized. It was also the location of the skate park, it was on the edge of a run down estate.

After gathering research, photos and ideas from the skate park we went back to AIB, and as a group came up with a number of sketches and ideas to include in our type face. The main agreements of our type face where to have the characters all lining, the signature jagged parts upon each character and also the type face name, which is "DEKLINE". A final type was then created; the group then agreed on exhibiting the type face on the burnt wooden fence in the skate park. There was only time to create the word DEKLINE in our type face due to the time limit within the brief.

After much research and dispute, we finally went back to the skate park to create out type face in black tape. This time round the skate park had about 6 BMX riders jumping off ramps, smoking and drinking lager. This put more of a street/urban feel to creating the type face, and we were able to capture some excellent images.

(GRAFFITI)

(DEKLINE SKETCHES)

(SKATE PARK FINAL DESIGN 1)

(SKATE PARK FINAL DESIGN 2)

Book Binding

2008-10-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Part of the text and image unit included a workshop with an introduction into book binding. A specialist lecturer came in for the day, who had vast experience in many different methods of book binding. The main two methods we focussed on were the Circle Accordion and Japanese Stab stitch book binding (see link). Book binding was the first, hands on piece of work we did within the course. After watching the demos (from Hannah, a book binding pro!) we soon had the opportunity of making our own. I was really in my element making the books and thoroughly enjoyed the workshop.

These book binding skills are a great extra to have, and can be used to present pretty much any type of print work. great workshop!

Japanese Stab stitch 1

Japanese Stab stitch 2

Japanese Stab stitch 3

Circle Accordion