Placement no. 1

I first met David Jones, Creative Partner at 'Buddy', at the 'Industrial Liaison' day at the University of Plymouth in January when he viewed my portfolio.

Several months on and through keeping in touch I had the opportunity to visit their studio and show my portfolio once again to David and his colleague Mark and as such, secured my first creative work placement. They are a great company producing some fantastic and innovative work and it is really exciting to see what input I can give. 

It was also great to visit Exeter. Whilst having visited the surrounding area many times I had not ventured often into the city. It has a really friendly and welcoming atmosphere (it’s almost as good as Plymouth!) and I really look forward to my two week placement there.

I also visited DNA Advertising in Torquay later that day, again through a contact made at the Industrial Liaison,  Jon Price, where he was joined by Matt and Paul to give me some really fantastic feedback on my portfolio and its overall presentation. Thanks Guys!

Results are finally in!

2.1

OK, so the result came about a month ago but still! 

I feel that my best achievement on grades point of view was receiving a 1st on the dissertation module, documenting and discussing Emigre magazine through its 21 years of being published. Emigre has been a topic I have been very interested in since discovering the magazine in my first year and something I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know more about. 

I have collected several copies of the magazine and type catalogues, travelled to the British Library to view the whole collection and lucky enough to receive some fantastic input and feedback from a range of creatives such as Adrian Shaughnessy - Graphic Designer and writer, John Collins from myfonts.com, Luke Hayman - Partner at Pentagram, Massimo Vignelli - Vignelli Associates, Rick Poynor - Design writer, Rudy VanderLans - Emigre, Steven Heller - Design writer and Stuart Bailey - Founder of Dot Dot Dot magazine.

It is horrible to think that three wonderful years have been brought down to two numbers and a period. Still these have been three very successful years watching projects I have worked on go live, the Designers Society, having a great studio culture and generally helping and watching other students grow too. My passions for the entire world of Graphic Design through from paper stock, typefaces and across all areas of creativity have leaped from strength to strength! Success!

The Designers Society goes abroad!

Slight delay in updating the blog but we finally get back on track!

In February this year I invited Justus Oehler of Pentagram, Berlin to visit Plymouth and the Designers Society as the first lecture of the new academic year in October. Due to no longer being Chairperson at that time he invited myself and a select few to visit his studio in Berlin for a week at the start of July. 

Having already visited the Pentagram office in London where Domenic Lippa discussed the past, present and future of Pentagram our expectations were high. It was refreshing however to have a completely different presentation, not focused on Pentagram and its achievements but this time about Justus’ own thoughts on the design landscape with a focus on branding. A really open, honest and friendly man and with such an engaging and interesting talk, let’s hope when he visits Plymouth in October he discusses more of the same!

During our visit we also visited The Typographic Museum (who opened just for us due to being half way through moving location). This was set up by Barbara Dechant, a Graphic Designer, in 2005 and showcases an extraordinary range of collected type ranging from small 30cm display type to 8ft display letters! 

We also found some exceptionally large letters just around the corner too!

Whilst in Berlin we toured a number of studios. Alex and Ralph at UV2 showed a variety of their work and discussed the different culture and approach to design within Berlin, with a large amount of their work still trying to overcome the east and west divide. 

Daniel and a number of his colleagues at Research Studios discussed the best approach to getting into design studios, the language barrier for an english designer in Berlin and again, the distinct design culture present in Berlin and how it differs to the UK.

Our last stop was with Nadine at Edenspiekermann who discussed their unique structured approach to design. Erik also spared time to come and say hello! 

It was really interesting to find out how the German culture affects design.

We also managed to fit in a few touristy elements too and another highlight to the visit was spotting Audi celebrating the new A1 and being given a car to test drive for an hour. Having never driven on the wrong side of the road or left hand drive it was certainly an experience!

One of my favourite inspirational visits was to the Berlin Zoo which houses one of the largest aquariums in Europe. The patterns created by the jellyfish against the UV lighting really inspired me. 

In all, a successful visit and gives hope for where the Society will go next year and hopefully open to all! :-)

Creative Obsessions

Through the society I am in touch with the Jonny at Shellsuit Zombie on a regular basis. One of the opportunities this gave me was to write an article for their new magazine. 


Teaming up with Jess Walker and Mario Picariello, we wrote and art directed an article based around the numerous extremities we go to in the name of design. 

If you would like to view or buy a copy of the magazine please visit the Shellsuit Zombie website.

Shellsuit Face-offs!

Whilst at New Blood I signed Plymouth University up to Shellsuit Zombie's creative 'Face-Off'. These were a series of design challenges between different 8 universities where the finalists would win placement opportunities at 'Dave'.

Our first 'battle' was against Falmouth where both teams had to pick a service and celebrity out of a hat. The challenge was in effectively advertising 'Apple', our service, with 'Bono' our celebrity. We won.

The final round was between four universities. The brief was to come up with an advertising campaign for the merger between Orange and T-Mobile. Whilst we may have had the best presentation and thought out campaign (or so we were told) Bolton University came up with a simple and effective tagline, winning them the battle.   


Thank you to Shellsuit Zombie for the opportunity and being amazingly cool people and to the Plymouth University team (Catkin Pritchard, Kate Moby, Mario Picariello, Ralph Mannings, Richard Gray and Xander Lee) 

D%AD New Blood

Forget Guns and Roses 'Welcome to the Jungle', I think the official D&AD New Blood song should be 'Welcome to the Greenhouse!' Hopefully not putting off too many creatives but it did get pretty hot up there!


After attending for several years, it was great to finally exhibit at New Blood and fantastic to discuss design and the portfolio in a relaxed and friendly environment with many new contacts and friends made. There is a lot of inspiring work to be seen and another benefit was seeing what other, similar minded students had been up to over the year. 


Another positive side was the number of talks and events taking place such as the COG's portfolio sessions, Design Bridge's 'how to be a junior designer' and Patrick's top tips talk at Navyblue.


D&AD is something I would recommend to all, both students and industry, as a great place to meet, network and see the most creative and freshest ideas out there!

Degree Show

The work produced in my last module was for the RNID (the Royal National Institute for Deaf people) based on the experience of being deaf. This featured in the Degree show at the University of Plymouth which runs until 24th June.

Branding of Plymouth unveiled

The project that myself, Iain and Mario have been working on with Lloyd Northover and the Plymouth City Development Company has finally reached its conclusion. A brand framework, or 'brand world' as some would call it, has been developed. 


The tagline 'Positively Plymouth' encourages the numerous aspects of Plymouth, and the hidden ones too, to be celebrated. With so much to offer, Plymouth is an interesting and intriguing place to visit. 

There is a grid that images and text fit into and work around. The dynamic nature of this framework gives a large amount of freedom yet provides a distinct identity and tie between all that is produced. Both books and posters, and whichever company uses it, it all works and fits together and the idea is that the imagery used is found imagery from the public (or at least for council led promotion)

In conclusion, the framework provides the flexibility for the council and companies within plymouth to work with and creates a true, unique and beautiful feel to the place. However for it to work effectively consideration and the keen eye of a designer will be needed to keep the brand consistent.

Talking about opportunities

I will soon be coming to a computer screen near you...


On friday I was filmed for the University talking about the benefits of work experience, my experiences at Adapt Graphics and Company of Designers, and about the Designers Society; how we were formed, what we do and how it can benefit students.


Along with videos of other creative students this will be sent out to 1st year students as they join the university in September.


For a student, and as a creative, it is making the most out of every opportunity that helps you to stand out and develop.

Jigsaw Project under way!

The Jigsaw project. A competition initiated through the Designers Society in partnership with the council to design a signature space within Plymouth. Although presented as a scrap of grass to the city in April, the space is finally being built on. More images and info will come in due course as the space develops...

Student of the Year 2010

At the private view exhibition of the degree show (11/06/10) I was awarded the prestigious 'Student of the Year' award for 2010. 

This was based on 'all-round academic performance and studentship' throughout my three years at university both as a student rep and for my work with the Designers Society. My commitment throughout the three years has been to helping others on my course reach their full potential and this was finally realised through the Designers Society by providing a range of fantastic opportunities not only to my own course, but creatives throughout the university. 

Let us hope for more of the same!

(Regardless of what I have done, I could not have done it without the guidance and help from my tutors, in particular David Smart; Patrick Baglee at Navyblue for being a fountain of inspiration; my friends, in particular Mario Picariello, Iain Rex, Jess Walker, Joseph Wanyoike and Hannah McCaughan; finally the DS committee and members, both in their support and feedback. There are many others too but too many to name.)

Direct mail.

Received a ticket to 'IPEX' through the post this morning. Could there be a better way to make me feel any more special than printing my name on the front in some wacky interesting design. This is reflected through the inside of the flyer and as can be seen at the bottom of the flyer, I also get my own webpage with the personalised design reflected again. Little does it occur that everyone has the same thing but it works. 

For more information on the event visit IPEX.

Rebranding of Plymouth2

Myself, Mario and Iain helped out at the museum over Easter to get kids to think of their 'favourite location/memory of Plymouth'. All that we are collecting is reported back to the council and Lloyd Northover.

'Master of Swirls'

A few months ago I was working late at night, saw a designers work and just knew I had to share this with the world. Luckily, as chair of the Designers Society I could. 


On 5 May 2010 Si Scott, the world famous illustrator, came to present to the Designers Society. An incredibly talented creative; his insight into the realities of work produced and the way the creative industry really is was really great to hear.


One of the other benefits to leading the Designers Society is being able to spend a large amount of time talking directly to these creatives and Si is one of those really passionate individuals who's work shines out above the rest. What a genuine and friendly guy to be around and most definitely stay in touch! 

'Designers on Steroids'

It seems 2009/10 is the year Devon got creative and joined up with the rest of the country. Not only has the Designers Society grown and matured into something beyond my wildest dreams (and keep an eye on it as the plans I have set in motion for next year are going to be amazing) but 'Designed in Devon' has re-established itself as a leading south west networking group, Createxe has been formed by Michael Greenland and now Creative Brkfst has been formed by Nathan Davis of Tee-Design in Tavistock. 

It was nice to find this was in part inspired by what we are doing at the society leading Patrick's influence in full circle back into the industry. 

Anyway-

Today was the first Creative Brkfst and it was a huge success, selling all tickets. Michael Greenland presented a short lecture followed by a mammoth networking session with some amazing contacts made. Really gives inspiration that Devon is fast becoming the place to be for creative individuals!! (See photos of event)


Creative Brkfst runs every first friday of the month and worth visiting to see what they are about.


The video of Michael Greenland's presentation can be found here.  and it is worth listening to even if we can't see anything on screen!