DCSF why let drink decide?...

Last term I chose to answer the DCSF brief which was to inform children of the dangers of drinking. It stated in the brief that this would be to accompany a televised campaign which would begin this year.

I saw it the other day and as Sarah said...It's rubbish!

I'm really confused by the ad that has recently been aired as it doesn't seem to fit the brief! It stated that the techniques in this campaign should not represent binge drinking, it should merely highlight the dangers of drinking, the complete opposite of the TV ad. It also says that it should "equip young people with the confidence and tactics to effectively manage their own relationship with alcohol" which it does not appear to do.

I think the strangest thing about it though, is that it is only broadcast late at night, when children won't be watching it?! I don't think this campaign makes much sense... see what you think...

Obey the giant...

My dissertation also led to me referring to an old favourite : 'Obey the Giant' by Rick Poynor. I was first introduced to this book, as I'm sure many of us third years were, by Graham in first year.

Rick Poynor is a British writer on graphic design and visual communication. He is also the founder of the brilliant 'Eye' magazine which he edited from 1990-1997. I love his style of writing, it is easy to read and yet hugely analytical.

This time I found it to be particularly interesting due to the section on Barnardo's adverts, which later went on to be a huge part of my dissertation. I was able to back up comments made in my essay with a number of quotes taken from this book.

"Resorting to shock tactics is unsuprising: in an increasingly visually frenetic world, getting a message through the general level of noise becomes more and more difficult."

Poynor, R, 2007.

This is definately a book that every designer should own!

Citizen Designer...

When I began my dissertation which was entitled "Are controversial techniques necessary in advertising in order to successfully raise awareness of a social message or a product?" I started regretting my choice of subject! As interested as I am in this particular topic there was one main problem that confronted me. It had not occurred to me that studying a topic where new examples were constantly being broadcast limited the amount of reading material that was accessible to me. The majority of information was contained within newspaper articles and I was really struggling to find books to help me with my research.

My tutor recommended me 'Citizen Designer' by Stephen Heller. Having read a write up for it online I was sceptical of how useful it would actually be...oh how wrong I was! It addressed the problems with advertising and communicative design as well as analysing problems with campaigns and designers.

"Most designers, I believe, would agree that design has an important social role, and that design practice should be anchored in the very reality of its social consequences."

Heller, S, 2003.

I would definately recommend this book to anyone who is interested in controversial campaigns and the thoughts behind them. I suggested that a friend should read it for her dissertation even though it was on a completely different subject and she found it equally as useful! I think this is definately one to keep!

La Jetee...

I know that we saw this a ridiculously long time ago but for some reason I have never blogged about it so.....

La Jetee -

A 28 minute black and white science fiction film by Chris Marker. I have to say, I'm not really sure what I thought of this film. It was made up almost entirely of still photographs depicting a science experiment to send a prisoner back in time.

It is set in post-nuclear war Paris as scientists attempt to use time travel "to call past and future to the rescue of the present". I found the film to be slightly disturbing as it jumps through time, occasionally returning to the present to show the male prisoner lying lifeless as he is monitored by several scientists. As he jumps through time he repeatedly sees the same woman who he saw as a child at the jetty. He then jumps back to the past again and the audience realises that the event he partially saw as a child was actually his death.

"He ran toward her. And when he recognized the man who'd trailed him from the camp, he realized there was no escape out of time, and that that moment he'd been granted to see as a child, and that had obsessed him forever after... was the moment of his own death."

As I said, I'm not really sure what to think of this film, it was very confusing and depicted a rather complicated story in a fairly short space of time. The lack of speech also adds to the mystery. The only voice that can be heard is that of the narrator, the rest of the film is either silent or you can hear very muffled noises. I had certainly not seen anything like it before. However as interesting as it was I don't think I'll be seeing it again!

Helen Murgatroyd...

Helen Murgatroyd, a D&AD graduate came in to speak to us about her uni course work which was mainly based around drawing and printmaking.

She is currently studying Printmaking at the Royal College of

Art. I was suprised by this at first as it seems quite different from D&AD but when you see her work it begins to make sense...

I distinctly remember seeing a piece of her work when I attended an MMU open day before I began the course. Her year group had all been asked to produce a power-point style presentation but she decided to do something very different. She created a Macbook made out of paper which folded out to contain her hand drawn presentation. I was so inspired by this, it made me realise how creative you an be and that in design rules are there to be played with!

She showed us some examples of her third year work. Again I remembered seeing this when it was on display in the Urbis and I wrote about it in my 1st year journal. Her final project mapped human movement around the house.

Since the lecture I've been keeping an eye on her online portfolio! I love the recent illustrations she has done for the BBC. I really wish I could work in this illustrative way but I don't think it's meant to be!

These drawings for 'The Vicar of Dibley' appeared as a backdrop when the celebrities were being interviewed as well as being an

imated for a small title sequence.

I am so jealous that she got to create a number of illustrations for 'Blackadder' as well!! These illustrate Blackadder's 'most cunning moments' and were animated to introduce clips of the legendary comedy.

http://www.helenmurgatroyd.co.uk/

Hamish Muir...

I was so glad Hamish Muir came in to uni to give us a lecture on his work. I really like the way he works and I found it really interesting to hear about the techniques he used before the use of computers in the design industry.His love of air-fix models as a child inspired him to go into the design industry. He started off as an amateur photographer and then went on to study visual communication at college. I was suprised to hear that he had a photography background as his work does not appear to use as much of this technique as I'd thought.In 1985 he formed the partnership '8vo' - an abbreviation of the printing term 'Octavo'. He formed this partnership along with Mark Holt and Simon Johnston.

They went on to design a number of album covers for the Durutti Column such as this one for their album 'Circuses and bread.' I like the use of a grid, it makes the collage seem very ordered and yet complicated.

I particularly like this one which was for the album 'Guitars and other Machines.' It was made up of a photo collage separated by several sheets of glass. I love the subtle colours and the shadows that each layer casts on the next.

They designed a number of posters for the Hacienda club in Manchester such as this one which was to advertise their 4th anniversary...

As these were created at a time before computers they were all made by hand. I found it really interesting to see how he made them and I think I really benefitted from hearing about a different method of creating graphic design.

They created the magazine 'Octavo.' There were only 8 issues ever made, the first 4 stuck to a very strict grid system, the last 4 used a diagonal grid...

Again these used their signiature colour scheme and the grid system again makes the imagery seem very ordered and yet complicated.

8vo closed in 2007 as companies were becoming more of an online presence and their style of work was becoming outdated.

There was a book published in 1995 by Lars Muller, entitled 'On the outside.'

Even though this sort of work isn't particularly my style I really enjoyed this lecture. I think it's really useful to see a different way of working as we I think we all can have the tendency to turn to the computer straight away rather than experimenting creating imagery by hand instead.

Homebase...

This is another project from 2nd year which I have recently re-photographed and it looks so much better!

The brief was to design a range of packaging for Homebase's new range of 'Grow your own' fruit and vegetables. I decided to take quite an illustrative approach, not one I've taken before really. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

I began by designing a typeface using natural elements. I took a basic typeface as a template and drew around this to create the desired effect...

(Not really sure why I didn't design 'X'!)

I used this to create a logo for the 'Grow Your Own' range...

In order to advertise the range to Homebase customers I created this leaflet...

The leaflet folded out into your own miniature garden complete with pop-up greenhouse. Inside the greenhouse there would be a small sample of seeds and instructions of how to grow them.

I then went on to design seed packets using the same format...

As much as I enjoyed this project I think if I were to do it again I'd do a lot of things differently. First of all I think that I would stick to the seed packet design as I feel that this element was much more successful than the leaflet. Secondly, I think I would also play around with the use of photography on the seed packet and maybe only use hand drawn illustrations instead. I feel that this would have worked much better.

Book Covers - Jane Austen...

Last year we were asked to produce book covers for classic novels. I have recently printed them off and constructed them so I thought I'd put them on here!

I chose to design some for a Jane Austen collection, I felt that in the past the covers for this particular classic were very generic and nothing out of the ordinary. I therefore decided to re-design them in an attempt to get a younger audience interested.

My designs all took the same format. They were made up of a small collage made up of vintage elements such as pieces of lace and old photographs. I then overlaid them with a small quote from the book to grab the readers interest. I therefore decided to put the title of the book on the back, it was not necessary on the front along with the quote. In order to make them seem luxurious I chose to use a white background with a piece of ribbon tied round.

Sense and Sensibility...

Pride and Prejudice...

Persuasion...

Emma...

The inside back cover...

Central Park...

I LOVE Central Park!...

The city of ambition...

I know a few people bought this book in New York so if you have it, feel free to ignore this post!

I bought this in the Cooper Hewitt, it stood out a mile from the modern design books that surrounded it!

I love old, black and white photography, I think it is so interesting to see how places have changed over the years...

Gorgeous Window Display...

Whilst running around New York a couple of months ago this window display really grabbed the attention of a few of us. The vintage style of it and the mixture of textures and colours really caught my eye and I felt that it really stood out from the generic shop window. It wasn't until I looked at the photo properly that I was really able to appreciate how intricate it is. Even the shoes are lined with maps of the city and the subway. I haven't got a clue what store this was but I think it's irrelevant! It looked like an exhibition at the roadside! I'm just sorry that I didn't get to see the display that followed this one...