Summary of First Brief

I have enjoyed this project, I have chosen the right graphic design area to specialise in, as my strengths can be put in to more use. By working on something you enjoy, you are able to work consistently, which is important if you are working on a tight deadline and/or juggling more than one brief. As always I believe I could have produced more work if more time was provided, but I am pleased with the quality of my work.

I am looking forward to the next brief when I return to university in the second term- in Jan 2010. I have not been informed yet what the task is, but I wish to involve more techniques such as screen printing and perhaps using the photography facilities available.

Handmade- Birds

For the first handmade brief in the handmade specialism we were required to select a british bird, I chose the waxwing. I began this project by experimenting with spraypaints, so I created a stencil which would involve two colours.

The next stage we moved on to producing a group display using vinyl. From the 3 colours available (white, pale blue and brown) we hand cut our designs and formed a scenery of the birds. It was important that the whole piece merged together, and did not look like individual outcomes. I was involved in incorporating my design in a woodland scene with a mixture of other birds produced by other people. The process of this workshop took longer than we thought it would, because of the consistent development.

Above is a photograph of the planning process.

This is my design of the waxwing

The final outcome

Throughout this project I have involved my textile skills, as it is one of my strengths. My sketchboook reveals a number of small experiments, from painting to delicate hand stitching. I discovered a new method of generating an image, using a needle I pierced paper to make the image visible. This idea came from pointillism- one of my high interests. At the time of doing this the fairy lights in my room shone through the holes of the paper, which then gave me the idea of my final outcome.

Above I chose sections of the waxwing that still made it obvious that it is a bird. This piece is a3 size, and the light is shining through the holes. Photographing handmade work doesnt capture the whole essence of the work. I enjoyed constructing this style because the end result is effective, the time and effort is expressed in the detail, and the sharp texture created by the pin pricks adds more interest.

Above is another piece which slightly differed from the previous pieces, because I have used a range of dots. The larger holes where more difficult to make.

To conclude this project I produced a cover for Vice magazine:

Clothes Show Live 09

The Clothes Show is a 6 day event which takes place every year at the NEC Birmingham. The 45 minute live show is a combination of a catwalk and a dance performance, modelling from winter clothing to underwear. The show was amazing!!! It gets better every year.

Personal Work- Pointillism

I adore japanese illustrations- such as manga, and pointillsim, which is where my style is generated from. I prefer to work on a small scale and focus on tiny detail rather than something large that you have to stand away from. Many of these pieces are no larger than 5x5cm all done by pen. Alot of people will not realise how long it takes me to form each illustration, so another reason why I am incredibly fond of pointillism is because I respect the artist's time and effort.

Professional Studies

Personal Manifesto

Experiments are endless like a ripple, it continues to grow. I enjoy combining a mixture of different materials to increase the level of effectiveness. Having a high interest in fashion, I tend to incorporate my textile skills where possible. Being individual is incredibly important to me, therefore having a unique style in my work is consistently my task. My attention to detail is heavily shown. Drawing a quick sketch would never be seen as a final outcome, this isn’t because I may be a slow worker. Every illustration I have recorded, every garment I have created and every photograph I have taken are like precious valuables to me. Work is produced for a reason otherwise it is a waste of time.

My Ideal Job/ Role
If I was asked this question a month ago I would have said “I am interested in advertising and can see myself working for an organisation, designing for a fashion magazine company.” However after thoroughly studying the other available areas in graphic design and concluding that advertising is not for me, I have swayed towards the handmade graphics. The other specialisms included:

- Graphic Design (Identity)
- Graphic Design (Handmade)
- Illustration
- Motion Graphics
- Typography

- Packaging

Being asked the question now, in five years time I would like to be working independently with my designs. Having contacts in other industries would help me hugely in growing my success. In handmade graphics you never know what the outcome will be.

Finding Out More
My plan of becoming a successful designer would involve some research. Firstly I will continue talking to artists around me, i.e. the tutors and artists who visit the university on a regular basis such as Kid Acne. I would find out:
- What they studied in higher education- if it was graphic designer, or in another design area.
- What the specialised in- did they always know they were going down that route.
- Did they do any placements- with who, when, what kind of project(s).
- What they did after graduating- what activities did they carry out after a year of graduating, did you go back to their placements if they managed to do some, did they find a job, if so was it related to what they set out to do.
- Are they happy with what they are doing now- are they in their dream job.

One of the tutors had previously worked with The Workshop, a company in Sheffield. The visit was incredibly helpful and inspiring, I was quite shocked when I discovered that the director Colin Scott only ever had one interview which took place straight after he graduated. His list of contacts expanded rapidly in his career which is how he become successful.
I will continue adding to this blog, recording my development. Along with a CV, a PDF would be the best method of communicating to companies who I wish to gain work experience from.

Five Point Action Plan
1. Currently I am updating my blog containing my recent work. This is the first stage of my career, people will see my work and style electronically. This is how I intend to target the employers/ companies along with a CV.
2. I hope to have some work experience before I graduate. I believe carrying out this would be ideal in the summer term.
3. I hope to graduate with a high result. I aim to continue studying after the three years from a BA Hons to the MA.
4. I understand that the process from graduating to finding your dream job can be long, resulting to working in a different industry for the time being. From the placement(s), I hope to go back to working with them.
5. At this stage the slow process will gradually come to an end. And I will be doing something I enjoy involving the skills I learnt in university.

The Consumer

The first module involved working in groups of roughly 3-5. As a group of 4 we were instructed to carry out research on challenging brands (i.e. superdrug), these are companies competing alongside the market leaders (for example Boots).

The task was to to either invent or rebrand a product.

After our primary and secondary research, we decided to design a new product Spring, a natural energy drink containing natural ingrediants. We generated this idea from noticing the Firefly range of natural energy drinks in the health store Holland & Barratt. The product seemed to be successful, however we hadn't ever heard of the company or its products before. It isnt a drink you could easily get hold of which is limiting its sales compared to Vitamin Water.

Spring is targeted at 18-25 year olds of both sexes who has busy lives, this would be ideal for students and young professionals. Similar to Firefly's collection of having 4 drinks with "tasks" such as wake up, our USP was a different quirky flavour drink suitable for a certain day of the week:

Raspberry & Rosemary Boost

Lemon & Lavender Vitalise

Blueberry & Basil Relief

Orange & Oatstraw Lift

Apple & Alfalfa Detox

Strawberry & Cinammon Breather

Cherry & Chamomile Relax

Below is a link to the posters I created to advertise this product:

Below is the stop motion video we made to promote the natural energy drink:

Print to Pixel

I was directed to produce an 20-30 second animation based on the piece of music provided- Concierto De Aranjuez (Part Two Ending). After studying the song, I came up with 3 words / emotions that I would portray in the animation. I wanted to use the middle-end section of the song. The words I generated were weakness, lost, and death. The animation had to contain a mixture of hand made images, photographs and edited images resulting to approximately 100 images in total. The images below are examples of rayograms I made. Rayograms are heavily used in the animation.

Skills Workshops

The title for the first part of this module is Reputition. I produced several sketches before developing this final design.The outcome is 30x30cm. I produced the design on Photoshop which was then transferred to the laser cutter. The vinyl positives were then removed and carefully relocated on the plastic transparent board. This design could be one large piece (i.e. for a shop window), four seperate corner pieces, or a quarter of a design which would make a whole flower.

In this photography project, I have learnt a number of new skills working with a digital SLR.

Depth of field

Depth of field

Framing

Shutterspeed

This is the magazine cover I produced to conclude this project, I was provided with the template, and title which I selected from a list.

Observation and Communication

For this project, we were directed to select a building located in Sheffield to study over 10 weeks, I chose an unused building, on Shoreham Street.

The detailed walls and smashed windows added interest to the overall image. I enjoyed experimenting new methods of recording, different medias, and on different canvases.

I became fond of pointillism and decided to follow this style of painting after I studied Katat0nik's piece Bird's Eye View. I decided to continue the theme of using minimal colours, as shown in the two pieces below.

Beneath is the poster I produced by hand. It contains several styles such as pointillism which makes up the centre piece. The four seperate images in the corners are enlargemnts of the image but shown in a different technique. It was crucial that the poster contained a few details of the building, i.e. the address. The typography is made up of individual styles.

I am pleased with this outcome and have enjoyed this module the most, as I have developed my skills further.

Type, Image, Format

I formed my own lettering by using existing printed typography. Below I formed individual letters.

On the left I collected samples of other peoples work, which I then formed a 5 letter word. In the development I altered the structure to improve image. And on the right I selected three words from a list to form a phrase. The smoothness of the font helped to merge individual letters.

Below is the outcome of the project, advertising a world wide event. Buy Nothing Day took place on the 29th November 2009 where the public where encouraged to take this challenge and not to purchase anything. The result of this day was to remind consumers of the environmental and ethical issues of shopping.

My design is simple in style and limited in colour to provide a clear message to my audience. However this does not show my strengths. If I was to redesign this poster, I would add hand drawn elements to the piece, for example typography by hand or an image. I would want the message to be informal.

This is the book I constructed. At first I had to select a random word from a dictionary, followed by designing and making a book. My word was Shoulder.

The contents of the product relates to the word I chose, which I decided to include a poem Angel On Your Shoulder. This book was fairly easy to esemble, I could have created a more complex design.