The Big Idea

Clever little clowns has recently taken a back seat to my last term at UWIC and heres why.. This is my solution to the big idea brief. 

The challenge for this brief was to create a piece that would communicate the word citizen journalism, I created a pull out magazine that would provide readers with information surrounding the topic. The magazine would work as an advertisement for an online platform where the community of readers would be able to get actively involved. 

MMXI Final Show

The final weeks of dangerous stress levels, copious amounts of tears and tantrums have all led to the final show MMXI opening which turned out to be a great success and an all round great day full full of awards, speeches and free wine. 


......(photos on there way)......


My three years in Cardiff School of Art & Design have come to an end and I couldn't have asked for a better university experience. The real world now awaits with some exciting prospects from all around the world. First Stop Ghana.. 

The graduating class of 2011... Handsome bunch (: 

We will BBQ come rain or shine.. 

D&AD Student Awards

We have been working on the D&AD and YCN Student Awards over the last six weeks. We were given this week to refine our concepts for the three different briefs, this is one of my completed solutions to the Body Shop brief.  

                        

The Body Shop brief asked us to create an innovative design that illustrated the Body Shops five core values while keeping the packaging within the premium nature of the brand. 

I created my concept by taking the natural ingredients from each product and re emphasizing where these came from. 

For example, the tea tree product comes from the tea tree. I have used a bark texture on the sleeve of the bottle to illustrate the trunk of a tree protecting the ingredient inside. 

This concept has been adapted to fit in with each product. You can undo the sleeve to read the ingredients and directions, which are placed on the inside of the sleeve.  

This reduces the amount of ink needed in production with there being no need to print onto the bottles, therefore making the outcome more sustainable.

Isotype

Also known as the International System of Typographic Picture Education - this is a method of showing social, biological and historical connections in pictorial form. This Graphic process has been present throughout design since 1930 and is still used within modern day design. 

This process was created by Austrian philosopher and curator Otto Neurath “as a symbolic way of representing quantitative information via easily interpretable icons.” Despite the images above looking almost present day they infact date back to the 1930s. A truly timeless piece of design. 

The creative Process

An interesting look at the creative process, although it has never been this straight forward or quick for me personally..

Trip to the Beach

This lovely photomotion by Mike Matas has got me well and truly in the mood for summer. 


Check out some of his videos: www.mikematas.com 

To - Do list

Yesterday I started my new brief - the student set project.. For this brief we were given complete freedom to select something to study for the next 5 weeks. 

At first this seemed impossible, but after many mind maps I found myself not being able to settle on the topic. I then came home and started researching the short listed topics and discovered the to-do list blog. 

http://www.todolistblog.com/

The to-do list blog is a collection of different to-do lists from all around the world, they range from shopping lists to things to do before you die. This blog has helped me select my brief and left me very excited to start my new project. 

YCN

My week of refining has allowed me to make some changes to my YCN solution..

The concept behind my campaign treats the big issue as cash for the vendors that sell it. The idea will illustrate what the vendors spend the money they earn on… For example if the vendor sells three issues of the magazine they earn £3 and they could pay for public transport allowing them to reach a bigger city/pitch.

The idea will increase with the amounts of big issues they sell, for example: If a vendor sells 10 issues they are able to pay for a hostel, providing them with safety and warmth for a night.

I will illustrate these via web banners, films and a large-scale model in the centre of town. 

Clever little clowns

Little experimentations... 

A Massive Favour

Today I took part in the massive favour lectures, This event is a student run set of lectures from different professionals in the graphic/illustration industries. The theme of the event was life after graduation, being a third year this has obviously been playing on my mind so I hoped this would help and it did..  

The first of the talks was from Ginger Monkey.. 


Ginger Monkey or Tom Lane is a freelance designer/illustrator/typographer. Looking at a variety of his work was truly inspirational, he uses a lot of mixed media, and is constantly experimenting. 

These are some examples of work from Ginger Monkey.


The second talk was from Adam Hayes. 


Adam Hayes is also a freelance designer/illustrator based in London and is best known for his hand rendered typography but for me it was the stunning posters he creates that stood out. I have been on the look out for a very similar poster to brighten up my bedroom wall.. After this talk I am inspired to maybe make my own. 

More of Adam's work is on his Website. 


The final talk was from Ciara Phelan. 


Ciara is also a London based illustrator but works with a different & unique style.. Her work is very much collage based, working with cutting and pasting tactile work. 

These are some examples of her Work. 


Watching these presentations has helped me to stop worrying so much about life after graduation. I have come to realize that not one of these knew their personal style or work method until after university which is exactly the position I currently find myself in..


They all left with the same message - Hard work, ambition and determination will get you far.. Thats a good starting point to leave university with. 

Reulf in Paris

              
Today I have stumbled upon a lovely little video on vimeo.. 
Reulf is a student project directed by Quentin Carnicelli, Charles Klipfel & Jean-François Jégo as part of their graduate program. The video has made an otherwise dull Sunday afternoon a little more exciting, the characters have a similar charm to them as my favourite pixar friend Wall-E. 
I would love to invite them over to work their wonders on this windy and dark Cardiff City. 

5 Months hard work.

After five months working, higher stress levels than ever before and countless library fines the dissertation is complete!