Monday, November 30, 2015

Peter and Paul lecture

Although not solely about way finding, this man's talk, who with his team actually came up with the design concepts of small parts making a big picture (mosaic) for our university, he was extremely helpful in being truthful and to the point on how he got where he is.

Points I took from his talk were:

-You cannot be 100% good at your work with 0% passion and intrigue in the industry if you are to get placements or work for a design company, passion and talent are are an important balance that will get you places.

-Get out there and talk to people, as this is how you are led to exciting opportunities and you need to know professionals who can open doors for you in the industry, not always lucky.

-When working collaboratively, what you are seeking must be the skill or vision you are lacking in as otherwise there is a troublesome overlap which can be unproductive. Expand your team to have the most skills within it as possible.

-Imperfect mockups for helping gather ideas of presentation are fine. Do what you need to do as long as when it is presented to the client it is pretty perfect.

-Don't give up hope on an idea discarded by one team of clients, can be used in the future.

-Either be detail rich or content rich, weight it up as one is the heavy one. Too much of both takes away from them both which isn't worth it at all!

-The idea and context is laying in the history. This is being highlighted ever so much as it is a part people skip. Research!!!

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Magazines of interest based in Leeds

It was suggested at this point to casually start looking for local companies to potentially contact and work with next year, I have found a publication in Leeds called Lippy Magazine from Uni of that seems to be focusing on the kind of stuff I'm interested in and is open to contact! I am blogging these things now incase other people find them later, and I have the date stamp to say no I did!

On their instagram that I have just discovered, they post when they are at events to come meet them, so next time I see this I will jump at the chance to go and talk to them as they were students too it won't be too intimidating.



Also, a magazine called Voir is based in Leeds and just by seeing some images on the website, this looks like the sort of design I would love to try and do. As their magazine is digital, I had a flick through and I adore their editorial style and fluorescent highlights throughout done in a sophisticated way.


After finishing this presentation and feeling more like I know what I want to get in to, this video was posted by Vice about Stefan Sagmeister, who really backs up my love between music and its artwork and how it can define an era

http://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/Noisey-Design/from-lou-reed-to-david-byrne-meet-the-man-responsible-for-musics-most-memorable-album-artwork

Self Branding Studio 2 briefing

Until Christmas I am going to try and gather adjectives that relate to me in order to create concepts and ideas for this brief itself, before knowing how I will produce it. It is difficult having been taught to have this process the other way round up until recent year and to be loose and fun with briefs given so this is an interesting opportunity personally and professionally.

I am reluctantly going to be asking various people in my life what they see relates to me, as I think other people are our biggest sources of inspiration on the planet! Colours they associate with me, adjectives, phrases, everything! This will be an amazing starting point and good to document on a whole load of ideas.

Also, I really need to start taken my inspirations seriously and noting down the designers and its studios and what their styles are actually called. This is something I haven't done before and now at degree, this is essential. I have a few ideas of the styles I mainly am drawn to but don't actually know the name of this art direction so I need to delve in to this headfirst, 'attack' the brief as our tutor says rather than just 'tickle.'

I have an upcoming exhibition this next Sunday I have planned to blog about on here, an exhibit by a fine art student at this institution as it will be really different and will inspire me in many different ways as I'm actually really excited about the installation and who is in attendance as they are people interested in club kids/fine art/drag queen style which is really out there so that will be good for some content and I may discover some new ideas and people to research!

The prospect of having a solid branding identity at this stage of my life in first year will be great to work on now and to get myself out there professionally, and even to look back at in the future. From our stock to likes/dislikes at the current, there is much to think about before coming back next term to progress this.

A month or so ago I purchased 'Damn Good Advice' and 'Whatever you think you know, think the opposite' purely because I feel these are a lot more useful to have by my side wherever I live when creating ideas and concepts, opposed to rule guide books such as Vignellis Canon which you learn then and there. I aim to quote the most useful and inspiring pages on these books, which a few in 'Damn Good Advice' have provoked already! I enjoy the straight to the point points page after page and no bullshit approach of George Lois that put you back in your place and make you think professional.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

10 Years Time Presentation

Despite the stress of presenting today was actually really engaging and a unique insight in to the designers of the future sat around me. Mentally I don't feel nervous but it is just my bodies reaction, which may get better in the future I hope but ah well.

Everyone was very ambitious and although many like myself wanted to be creative directors (its a good aim, and how are we supposed to know?) all the presentations were unique to each person and you got a sense of their style and what their interests were in. For example, I didn't think some people would like certain bands or were in to fashion magazines as much as they talked about, which is really cool. It is also so reassuring that not everyone is 100% aiming to be a graphic design first and foremost, many people want to explore other avenues of design in different sectors of the industry such as myself.

I am extremely interested in working with people revolutionising the fashion world, such people would be people associated with Dazed and Confused magazine. Also, something so exciting and a dream almost would be working with performers and musicians which can be a goal in the next 10 years. Working on their stage, album artwork, styling, art direction for the whole aesthetic. I am so interested in this as musicians come along with a design era typically, the biggest stars from people like David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix to Lady Gaga and Bjork, the whole aesthetics are what makes them unforgettable and I would love to be a part of that. Graphic Design sets the structure for all these options to be possibilities.

Presentations that stood out to me were very visual ones with enticing typography, interesting collages of image that your eyes flow through, and the humorous ones that gets rid of that awkward edge people may have watching or presenting.

As I said in my presentation, which i'm glad to bring forward to my peers, is that I am not really a minimalist person instinctively for personal projects, so personally I find very blank/non visual presentations with no colour whatsoever quite boring, but that is just preference. It was lovely seeing that there were others who loved using colour just as much as I do, just so i don't feel too different and that I won't do well if I'm not minimalist. We need people to do their own thing and be really passionate about it to progress ourselves as designers and get passionate about our interests.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Why Am I Here? Study Task


Why Am I here? Task

5 reasons I chose this course
-Graphic design has the broadest design principles that can be applied to similar fields
-Have always enjoyed and appreciated layout design
-Want to be part of the movements and designers that make the world a better, funner, more visually interesting world
-To meet and be inspired by other creatives
-Interesting post digital era to be doing graphic design and it is very current

5 things I want to learn
-How to build contacts in the industry
-How to use certain methods and programmes
-Gain confidence in myself as a designer and as a person
-To take risks and push myself
-How to put work out the right way and present myself in the right way

5 Strengths
-Am quite quick at coming up with ideas
-Always try to help give people feedback and be a positive influence
-Am not afraid to challenge the ‘rules’
-Versatile
-Tend to be very good at summarising in my writing and being straight to the point

5 things to Improve
-Learn how to use Indesign/Illustrator so my designs are crisp and most legible they can be
-Become confident in presenting as it my biggest fear
-Maybe sometimes not jump to a conclusion as fast as I do as design ideas can develop and change in time
-Learn more about the history of graphic design/read more books
-Remember to do thorough research for briefs as these can be great influences to the design

5 things that inspire me
-Style eras
-Posters/flyers for events
-People around me
-Dazed digital
-Movies

5 examples of Design that demonstrate my creative interest

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