TYPERADIO Group Poster Day Project

This was another useful but stressful day project which resulted in moments of team work and moments of formulated arguing!! Our end result was good, but not the best it could have been as we lost our work several times along the way!

Selected Typographer...

CHRISTIAN SCHWARTZ.

Typographic designer, currently based in New York.

Schwartzco Inc.

NEW PROJECT - TYPERADIO

From what we're been told this is due to be our most industry related unit to date. We will be assigned a typographer to study, with the view to transcribe an interview they had on a typographic radio show. We then have to design 4 pages worth of magazine formatted pages that make out that we are the interviewers.

This project should be very interesting, I'm looking forward to really getting into Indesign as it is a very highly regarded software. The work that I will produce for this unit will be great a great addition to my portfolio.

Flashed Out!!

Handed in - done and dusted!! handing this in felt good! working as per usual right up to the deadline, 10mins to spare!! My animation transformed drastically in the last 2 hours, I included aspects which made the overall aesthetics and message stronger.

Overall a good project, despite minor setbacks and cock ups!

Close to Hand in!!!!! AHHH

Time seems to go extra fast when you least want it to I've found!! I've got so much to fit in, in such little time. realistically I need to simplify my concept and only include aspects that a doable and necessary.

I should get it all done, a week of 12 hour stints at uni, a few all nighters, and a hell of a lot of coffee should do the trick!!

More Flash!

I'm beginning to get the hang of Flash, things are starting to fall into place. Like anything that requires new techniques and learning processes it took a turning point to make me understand the concept of keyframes and blank keyframes etc.

Currently I'm working on the voice over for my animation. For this I have chosen my old Advertising lecturer - Cliff Van Wyk. Cliff has a very well pronounced South African accent which will work perfectly with the style of my animation. I am going to have to hire out a Dictaphone and mic to record the voice over that I have already scripted.

Flash Tutorial

had our first lesson on Flash today, dragged on a bit I'll be honest!! Lets hope the lessons pick up as that was a tad dull!

"THAR SHE BLOWS!"

Research stage of project - looking up loads of interesting facts and figures about the Blue Whale. Some I have found are staggering...

• A Blue Whales weight equates to the same collective mass as 25 Male African Bull Elephants.
• Its toungue alone weighs the same as one Elephant and is large enough for 50 people to stand on it.
• The scale of one Elephant to one Blue Whale is the same ratio as a Rabbit to a Human.
• A Blue Whale's heart is the smae size as a Volkswagen beetle.
• A Blue Whales's aorta is so large that a human could crawl through it.

FLAAAASH

New project. until now all my university work has been print based, but I was given the brief for an animation project today. This unit should be interesting as I have never done anything like this before. I intend to jump straight into this project and make an early start of developing my ideas.

I have already decided what the subject matter of my animation will be....

THE BLUE WHALE

amnesty hand-in

as per usual i was working right to the deadline!! I had trouble with the printing as I did not set my photoshop file to CMYK from the start, but worked with an RGB palette. When I went to change it to CMYK some of the colours altered slightly, but this was the beginning of my printing predicament!!

Because my concept was visually dark, how it looked on screen was not representative of how it would be printed. I therefore (after several botched print attempts) lightened the tones and saturation on screen to make the print out similar what was originally on screen.

I finally printed and handed in the best copy i could print, which was still far from the desired result. Note to self - don't let this happen again!!

Amnesty Copy:

several ideas for the copy:

JUSTICE or REVENGE

HUMANE or BARBARIC

NECESSARY or UNJUST

SOLUTION or PROBLEM

RETRIBUTION or VENDETTA

LAWFUL or SADISTIC

ambigram concept

I'm toying with the idea of incorporating an ambigram in my final idea.

An ambigram (also sometimes known as an inversion) is a typographical design that spells out one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another view point, direction or orientation.

Whether this will work is questionable as the words need to be legible for the message to get across to the audience. We shall see if this idea develops or is a dead end concept.

back after xmas

Amnesty project in full swing - subject matter: The Death Penalty. Fascinating project if not a little macabre!!

I toyed with the idea of recreating the amnesty logo with photography. the results were aesthetically good, but did not get across the message. From the crit feedback I think I'm set on a new direction, but it defiantly needs tweaking before its ready for print.

I'm considering basing my visuals around the idea that a set of steps on the bus shelter will give the impression that you're able to walk to the top; representing the height and suggestive shape of the gallows. My copy needs to be strong enough to coincide with the powerful symbolism of the steps. I'm sure it'll all come together!

XMAS - An Unexpected Discovery

For both my own interests and for a subject with which to write about in my PPRD for Anna, i travelled to London with Katt to visit Richard Serra's sculpture exhibition. A near perfect day as we journeyed across the city by foot, stopping only to refuel with coffee and to snap away with our cameras. I wanted to shoot London in a more dirty style to how i have before as i have countless picturesque London shots. time for a more obscure interpretation of the bustling multicultural capital.

As i was immersed in the local street art in Old Street, Katt tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at a building. The Amnesty International - Human Rights Action Centre stood before us!! luck or fate?!! The staff we spoke to were very helpful once we'd explained our brief they were more than happy to let us look around and spend time in the research area. The research we obtained there was priceless!

The photo on the main page of my blog is of me inside of Richard Serra's sculptures in Liverpool Street. (photo by miss Weaver!)

2nd December - Black Box

Compared to the work we produced and the experience of the project with the 'Spend more Save Less' day, I did not enjoy today's session nearly as much. the overall result was far from as strong as the end result of the previous group project also. I shall move on from and learn from the day's events however. Everything learnt in these industry style situations is experience, whether good or bad its something to learn and develop from!!

26th November - Barry Tempest

Mr Barry Tempest: an intriguing and fascinating man. It was good to get an insight into the ethics and values of Amnesty International, but perhaps a design based visitor would have benefited our prep work more. It was a long day, and it took a while for Barry to get round the whole class, but it was worth the wait.

I shall take alot from the days session, i feel inspired by the commitment and passion that Barry had for his job and cause of Amnesty International. I feel this project push me to produce strong powerful work that is worthy of backing a cause such as Amnesty's

25th November - Spend More/Save Less

Possibly the most successful group project day so far. I enjoyed both the company, contributions, and work mentality of the group I was in. We had a well rounded and multitalented collection of designers in our group which resulted in a strong and successful final piece. Aesthetically we produced a successful piece of work... overall good day

18 November - New project

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Right new project, a chance to be expressive with my interest in advertising! Initial ideas sprung to mind during the brief, so began to visualise some ideas pretty soon. but i can imagine it will take some rigorous conceptual thinking to whittle it down to my final design... we shall see how this one unfolds!!

18th NOV - Night Shoot

little miss weaver, dan from the 2nd year and I gathered up our camera gear and headed out on a shoot at around 11:30 at night. there was a deep mist around bournemouth which reflected the light emanating from streetlights and car headlamps. some of the best shots taken were on the bridges across Wessex Way.

Really really successful shoot, took several im V.happy with!!

5th NOV - Book Binding

i was a tad apprehensive over when I'd honestly ever use this skill, but as the session went on it was really interesting!! i botched a fair few however! i may have a delicate hand when it comes to painting or drawing, but sewing is a no no!! covered it up with a load of tape so think i blagged it!!

4th NOV - QUARK

So Illustrator wasn't nearly confusing enough, lets bring in a programme that confuses the IT dim a lot more. well it wasn't that bad, but it did get tedious at times. like most programmes after a while you get used to the tools and shortcuts and work out little tricks, so it does have its uses, granted!

30rd NOV - PAL

today's topic: time management

today's outcome: waste of time

(again nice people, but no structure)

28th OCT - Photoshop+Illustrator

Ok im not the most technical minded of folks, setting this blog up was tough enough!! so the first session of photoshop was scary at first. but once you grasp the concept of layers you pick it up as you go. we worked with image manipulation and selection tools which will come in handy. So just as im slightly getting to grips with PS Clive brings in Illustrator... two mins in im lost! i argue that i don't see the point in the two software's when one could do the job!! more money for adobe he explains! fair point... doesn't mean i have to like it though.

20th OCT - DRiiiiiiiiiiiiFT

Working on a mini project atmo called 'Drift'. basically working around the concept of a journey, so anything from the actual travelling itself to the senses or emotions of a journey... that sort of thing. Ive come up with the idea of looking at how dense and daunting london can be, especially for a child. My idea is to show a child lost, looking at a map in the middle of london.

(an additional idea ive had is to place boris johnson's head on the child's. not as a political dig, but to add a comic value to the fact that he is mayor of london!)

Should be funny

15th OCT Mr K.Cooper

Had an incredible day! traveled up LDN with the course, camera in hand, and note pad at the ready for Kyle Cooper's 'Prologue Films' lecture at the Peacock Theatre. during the best part of the day i journeyed across london by foot, photographing those i deemed bizarre enough to be in my folder of freaks!! harshly titled, when in fact this collection of photos were merely of people i felt had a story to tell!

14th OCT - Letterpress

had a creative day today, was introduced to a fairly old school medium: the letterpress. i'd used a printing press to produce etchings in my first year of college, but had never experimented with type in the way i did today. came up with a few decent ideas, after i eventually grasped the fact that you ultimately had to work in reverse!!

since my last post i have also had my first theory lesson with the doc. from what ive heard from other guys in the class they're predicting a tough unit ahead, but im fairly comfy! i did rather well at A level at media studies, and from what the doc has said about the unit its pretty much what i learnt and loved in college!!

also had pal for the first time which was fairly uneventful to say the least. nothing against the folks that took us for it, as they all seemed pretty decent, but there seemed to be little to no structure to the sesh. lets hope they pick up in the next few weeks.

9th OCT- TYPE+TAPE

We took part in our first group project of the year today. having not really got to know many people's names this was quite a good way of breaking the ice, even if it was a bit daunting at first!! our brief was to design a typeface using varied colours and thicknesses of tape. we worked pretty well together and came up with a decent end result. we named our typeface DCT, which stood for Defacing Communal Territory, as our type deliberately sort out to distort and manipulate the environment. overall good day.

Poole photo project

I perhaps, in contrast to a Poole Quay virgin; having lived in Poole all last year, had a different perception of the place. I have seen the Quay range from being in sweltering heat packed with holiday makers and bike enthusiasts, to ice ridden in the middle of winter. It has been an occasional drinking destination of mine, as well as the route of numerous midnight walks with friends.

The average account of someone’s experiences at Poole Quay would most likely cover the heritage, architecture and tourist attractions scattered across the waters edge. So will my relationship with the project location alter my ability to capture the Quay in its photographic essence? Or do my experiences give my a certain angle with which to base my project around? I feel the latter is the more constructive way of approaching the task, and therefore I shall utilize my knowledge and previous encounters with the Poole Quay to produce some unique work.

I initially began by photographing every aesthetic shot I could find, including various angles and compositions of shop-fronts. But when in a group of fifty odd classmates who are also capturing the conventional photo-spots I began to broaden my reading of the task itself.

First entry!!

finally into this blogging malarkey! took long enough to set up the account, this better be worth it