3rd Year Degree Exhibition

Going to the 3rd year exhibition gave me the opportunity to know how to set an exhibition up and to get inspiration for future design ideas. I really enjoyed attending this event as I got to speak to lots of designers and see a few pieces of work that caught my eye. My top 3 that I loved were designs below:

Lucie De Maid

This was the first design that caught my eye when I walked into the exhibition. It caught my eye because of the florescent colours and the good composition of the cocktail menu. I felt like the layout was very complimenting and I liked how it was portrayed on the wall. It has quite a retro, vintage and psychedelic twist about it. The only advice I would give for this student is to get business cards to hand out to people. Although I got this business card that was specifically designed for her work, I would of preferred to see the details of the student so that readers could contact the designer if wanted. Also it would be good for people to have a business card, so that people know how to contact the student for future commissions. Other than that I believe that it is a strong piece.

Zuzanna El Tanbouli

Zuzanna El Tanbouli who I had met on my travels to China did this piece. Whilst we were on our travels, I could see that at times she would be constructing her work together and I was able to see little bits of what she was going to present. It was nice that I got to see a little bit of her journey throughout the development of her work. Reflecting back on this final piece I can see how it all ties in together, the colours compliment one another and I love the use of images. To improve on the layout of the piece I would just make sure that the magazine is positioned portrait than landscape. As it is would be simpler to see from a far what it is rather than a reader having to turn their heads.

Dan Davies

When I seen this piece I thought that it had a good and strong sense of typography. I could tell this work was very well thought out and experimental. I like how the typography shows a clear pathway to wear the reader should look. What I also liked was that there were cards on the side that asked the readers different questions, for example I picked one up and it said, ‘What was the funniest moment you’ve ever had?’ This was good because it made the piece interactive with the readers and kept them interested.

Elsie Magazine Live

The event I attended to was about a designer named Les Jones, setting up his own magazine brand. I found it very interesting to hear about how he started with a big idea and decided to act on it and make it become real. The concepts and designs he came up with were very creative, I could really see that he was a good visionary designer. I found that he was good at thinking outside the box and producing the work. What I liked about this is that he was very good at interacting with the audience, getting them involved making the audience understand what his ideas are all about. At the start of the event he told us to do a drawing on a post card and he would at the end randomly pick one. I wasn’t sure what to draw, until cheese came to mind and I thought that a light hearted drawing would be the best approach.

I like designer events because they give me more knowledge and avenues I could potentially go down. They also provide me with the confidence to believe in my work. It was actually quite interesting because when I went to go have a look at all the magazines he had designed. I came across one that really shot out to me a while ago and I couldn’t believe that it was his work. It was a very good feeling researching into a book and then getting to meet the person behind the finished product.

This is the book that I came across and spoke about in my past blog. It shot out to me because I love the simplicity of the image, making it look vintage and also the weather giving it that mystical haze to it. It’s almost as if he’s giving the book two styles vintage and modern twist. He has collaborated the modern twist by using a very bold non-serif typeface and reversing the ‘F’ gives it a quirky twist to the book. Making this become such a lively magazine cover.

 

Editorial Design Workshop

For this workshop myself, Izzy and Lily were given the topic of The UK Eurovision Song Contest. When I was first given this I didn’t know what it was where as the girls did, so I had to research my self up on the task being given. We found a lot of information on the 2017 UK contestant Lucie Jones and thought that we would base our editorial design around her. However, we found that it was looking to plain and constricting, we felt as if we weren’t stepping out of our boundaries with this information, so we continued the research.

We agreed as a group that we wanted to come from a complete different angle and wanted to create a cheesy, fun, cringe worthy editorial design. We gathered images of the contestants over the previous years from the Eurovision, which shows how over the top it was. We chose these images because we felt that they were good for a wide range target audience. We were unable to print the design off in colour, but I like how it is black and white because it shows a nice consistency across the pages and it allows us to use the ornge striking colour as the background. We chose this colour because we thought it was the most head turning colour being presented and that’s what we wanted our work to be like.

For this task we chose comic sans because we felt that because we were going for quite a playful article we wanted the text to compliment the effect as well. When we decided on this type we thought we were taking a big risk as comic sans isn’t a type you should normally use as its not sophisticated enough to the level of Helvetica or Gill Sans. However, we were confident in our decision and thought it represented our work in the best possible way. We focused a lot on making sure the hierarchy was clear by using regular and bold fonts, as well as the different point sizes.

To improve I feel we could of been more experimental with the layouts and maybe worked with the open space more. Other than that I feel we worked well as a team and really enjoyed having the chance to work with the compositions and style of this editorial design.

Beijing, China Trip

The China trip that I was chosen for, was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I was selected with fourteen other students to go out and study in Beijing fashion institution and Hebei Academy of Fine arts for eleven days. This was such an amazing opportunity for me to create new contacts and to learn a completely different culture.

Welcoming

It first started with me landing in China at Beijing international airport. We were  welcomed with our buddies with scarfs and flowers. Our buddies were there to help us get around the university whilst studying and were there to translate.

My Designs

Whilst spending my time within the universities, I learned a lot of interesting experiments and techniques on how to make Jewellery in a Textile and Jewellery making workshop. I felt these tasks were very hands on and they were very different to what I study; it was nice being able to experiment outside my discipline. I enjoyed the jewellery making, as I loved forming the different patterns of colours. Seeing the end result of the patterns burning through to the plates was very exciting. It was a long process but it worked out in the end. Whilst I was doing this task, I took quick sketches to remind myself in the future the process. I made little reminders about how long the plate goes in the oven for and the measuring of the powder and water.

We made bobby pins, rings, needle holders and purses. These were some of the successful pieces I did. My favourite design was the purse, I haven’t got the strongest of skills within textiles, but stitching this purse together made me proud of the outcome. I did some sketches on the process of how to do it. It basically explains, that I had to stablelize the purse before stitching and to make sure the metal holder was in place.

Culture

I had the opportunity to go to one of the Beijing museums, where it was filled with beautiful Chinese art. The part I most liked was the calligraphy, the strokes of the writings looked beautiful and it was interesting to learn about. On my travels I have seen some of the most beautiful sculptures and buildings, seeing this kind of culture gave me a wider perspective of how I see the world. Everything was different in little ways for example; the people were so kind and generous. They seemed just as fascinated to see the English, than the English are to see the Chinese. I found everything out in China so fascinating, I’ve taken in so much and learned a lot from it. I was even allowed to go see the makings of the backstage fashion show, which was being hosted in the university. It was always something I had wanted to witness and now I can say I have. It was strange because it didn’t seem that well organized, but I’m sure the final result would of been spectacular.

 

When I went to the Hebei University, I was given the opportunity to learn how to write in Chinese. I wrote phrases such as I love you, Mum, Dad, Sister, Rabbit, Dog, Flower and even my name. The one with my hand in the picture is my Chinese name; I really hope to understand this way of writing because I found it so beautiful to work with. It felt like I was drawing a picture, was a lovely feeling. It was a good way to communicate with to the Chinese. I had many helpers, to teach me this style of calligraphy.

 

 

University Ceremony

In the Hebei University I was honored to be part of a bonding ceremony of Cardiff Met University and Hebei University collaborating together. We had to wear these beautiful gowns and see the grounds of the university with the president of the university. It was such a memorable day and I was shown the most beautiful architecture and pieces of work that the students had designed.

My Thoughts

My overall thought of this trip was the most memorable and amazing experience I have ever had the privilege to study on. I learned some of the best techniques, people, culture and skills to take away with me for the future. I truly found my confidence in areas of subjects I didn’t know I could do and found the passion to want to know another language. I’m so glad a grasped this opportunity and will be forever grateful that I got the chance to go. I will never forget the sights I seen like the Great wall, Forbidden kingdom, towns and the people. I hope to go out to see the friends I made very soon and we’ve even discussed collaborating our disciplines together to create designs, in the nearer future.

Grooming and Radicalisation

Today I visited a lecture, on the techniques used for persuasion and manipulation by
revd Dr Paul Fitzpatrick. Dr Paul Fitzpatrick works in the terrorism unit within the university. He also works in the Home Office and is a Dr in Psychology.

I found this lecture very interesting, because it was all about how people can persuade and manipulate through the change of personalities, what we see, hear, smell and touch. He explains that it’s almost as if we can brainwash minds.

Key words of Abuse pre-determines:

• Vunerability
• Isolation
• Insecurity
• Injustice
• Intolerance

He spoke about how identity is based upon narrative, that we can write our own memories and construct our own truths and lies. We have never been locked into a certain identity, we mold into what we wish to become and are subjective to our own narrative. That even our past memories can be adapted, so our history is effective and not accurate.

My Thoughts

Hearing about this today, made me think about how my work as a Graphic designer could make such a massive impact on audiences. Especially the innocent ones such as children, they are so vulnerable and will believe anything, so what I design will forever imprint in their minds. It was a good lecture to remind me about what kind of message I want to put across to the world and how I could go about it.

 

Fact: kafir (arabic)- unbeliever, it is used as a term of abuse. very offence.

Neil Hubbard

Notes:

Neil Hubbard is a Product Designer at Heatherwick studios.

• The brief is all the inspiration you need.
• “Some thoughts on problem solving opportuniy finding.”
• Know your content.
• Create theatre.
• making models work.
• Making it real.
• The importance of making.

 

Listening to this talk it had a massive impact on me because all though it was based on architecture Hubbard spoke about the importance of making your designs work, espically in the environment around you. I thought that he had built some of the most beautiful buildings in the most amazing countries and how they had given the countries a building that all had a unique style to them.

It was actually interesting because when I went to london I went to the Design Muesum and seen one of his designs that was exhibited there.

The design that I had recognised in his powerpoint was the spinning chair. Below is the spinning chair I had seen and another photo of my friend Maris attempting to sit on the chair whilst it span around.

 

Campaign- Learning Disability of Dyslexia

 

Epherma poster Ideas

Here I wanted the photo to be very explicit portraying the type as if it was melting away. Some people with dyslexia find that the text can move in different forms, so that’s exactly what I wanted to create. I quite like how the text is linked together overlapping but falling.

We decided as a group we would base the target audience at students, I thought it would be a good idea to use Cardiff met as an example. I tried it in black and grey, also in the colour scheme that the uni uses.

I did another version of a distorted sentence in black and white and then an inverted one. For this I used a fish effect to create a pattern throughout it. When I was in the process of this my computer crashed and caused the work to glitch. I’m glad it did, because it created a nice vibrant contrast of the original and formed it in a unique way. I found that even when I went wrong and there was a faulty I still could see a good idea within the mist of it.

With this one I was just experimenting with the word ‘Dyslexia’ investigating which ways I could distorted it and be playful with. The one in the left hand corner, has been designed to see the words on a path way line, as if you were reading it in different ways. I was inspired by music when I got this idea, I thought it would look good if the lines started coming out of the words.

This one I was inspired by the game crossword, I liked how words could form in with one another creating a simplistic illusion. The words I used were Dyslexia, writing and reading. I used the colour blue because when I was back in school, I was always asked if I wanted a cover overlay. I always went for the colour blue, which is why I used it.

18th March

China Trip

As I had to go to China with the uni, I was unable to continue with the project. I found it was hard to stay in contact whilst my group continued with the project. However, before I left I tried to help out as much as possible, making sure that everything was going smoothly and that they knew what the mainplan was.

28th March 

Final Posters

These are our final posters designed by Jenny, Dan and Ben. They showed me their range of options, whilst I was in China and I thought that these designs were the strongest out of their other outcomes. These ones looked professional, well constructed and it definitely shows the point of our message towards Dyslexia. When I seen these posters together I was uncertain of the middle one. Not because I didn’t think it was good, but because I felt it was bringing the other two down and wasn’t complimenting them in the same way. I didn’t see a consistency. However it got a lot of compliments so I’m very happy we went with it.

Final Animation

 

I am extremely happy with the outcome of our animation. We all worked well as a team. Dan and Jenny worked well collaborating the work together on after effects, we found that them two played a good role in the making of it and then me and Ben just feeded the information through to how we wanted it to look. When I got back from my China trip, I was thankful to see a well, professional designed animation. We made a lot of improvements, for example we were planning on telling students to go to student services but then decided to aim it to an actual company. We also made the text more minimalistic, to what it originally was. We tried lots of outcomes and now finally I’m pleased to present the work.

Gif 

This is the gif that my team had designed, to be able to get it out through the social media more accesibly. It well suited to the audience as it’s bold and funky which is more intriguing for a younger audience. I also love the boldness to it, I find that the simplicity and structure makes it look professional.

Logo

The logo design was very well collaborated, it fits in with the posters and animation so well. When I first saw this, I didn’t think my group designed it. I thought that it was so well done. I was very proud of the typography they used and how they formed the question mark. It all fits together quite nicely. I can honestly say that I don’t have anything to say, to improve on.