24hr Graphic Design with Johnny Hardstaff

24th November 2010
Wednesday 3pm Johnny Hardstaff entered our studio and gave us an industry based brief he had persued himself for 'Toshiba'. This required a concept to capture the publics imagination and position the brand as hi tech and cutting edge in the field of imaging. We had 24 hours to tackle the task. I decided to work on my own and try and get the most out of the opportunity as I could.
It was all abit scary at first. I found the idea of working with such a well known designer daunting, what did he expect from us and what if it wasn't good enough? However, Johnny was very friendly and approachable and ensured the workshop remained fun for all involved. The vibe he gave off was very encouraging; he didn't belittle ideas or thought processes.


My idea was based around what happens to photographs at home as my Mum stores all precious imagery in metal tins and filing cabinets; effectively a time capsule. We discussed the concept of having a safe storage device or achieve that people could upload images to and trust 110%, but people just wouldn't buy into it and it would never quite believe. Instead this lead me to think about having proud imagery on show instead of storing it away. The idea of living rooms and staircases being full of photos for all to see.
Basically my idea would consist of the nation showing proud moments of their life for all to see. Perhaps photos in a mock up living room, recordings of school plays on a tv set all in the middle of the city proving intriguing to look at. Photos up flights of stairs in the office or the tube. Maybe this would encourage people to record more memories in their life through high tech devices...


We put up our work and had a friendly crit at the end of Thursday afternoon. Although my idea wasn't the strongest in the group I felt it was a great chance to tackle something in a short space of time. I really enjoyed the 24hours; it made me feel more confident and was like a little bit of escapism from current projects! 

Homesick

20th November 2010
Today I decide to start a project I'd been thinking about since the summer. I spent ten weeks at a camp in New York working with children aged 7-16. Communication with the real world, for both staff and children, was little and often. The main source of contact with family and friends was via post. Letters and parcels were precious and often withheld to encourage children to do chores and maintain a tidy bunk; they would then be rewarded with this tiny bit of contact from reality. It usually resulted in homesickness and tears. I collected envelopes from the children and staff and plan to make a small book. Watch this space!

Nail Biter

Nail Biter Video

12^th November 2010

Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

This three minute infrared night vision video by Anthony Goicolea sees a young boy sat in bed in what can be only described as a cabin in the middle of a forest. The camera zooms in on the boy who is nervously biting his nails, which continue to rapidly grow. What starts as an innocent boy with an everyday habit turns into a scary portrait of obsessive compulsive behavior showing numerous shards of nail clippings all over a saliva covered boy. 

The fast pace of the video is complemented with a steadier soundtrack of woodland noises and a metronome heartbeat.

I really like the concept of an everyday habit becoming uncontrollable. I found the video really summed up such an addiction even though I found the eerie imagery uncomfortable to watch.

Manchester Artist Book Fair

6^th November 2010
Holden Gallery

I was fortunate enough to work at the fifth Manchester artist book fair and found the experience really inspiring. Speaking to many of the artists, some of which had just graduated from the Design and Direction course, gave me an insight into possibilities post graduation.

I loved a collection of books by Alix Swan. Her books are based on traditional children’s fairytales. She combines old and new ephemera, drawings, collage, photography and bookbinding together with familiar quotations from the stories. I particularly liked the long thin format of the book ‘Rapunzel’, reflecting the princess letting down her long hair from a tower.

A book I purchased was called ‘Pork Party’. The triangular book folds out into a white paper plate showing all the pork based products you used to have at a party; sausage rolls, pork pies, scotch eggs, cocktail sausages and quiche. I thought the concept and execution was really nice!

Paul Gorman Lecture

4^th November 2010

Reasons to be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles

I found the lecture with Paul Gorman very informative and loved the enthusiasm he had for Barney Bubbles life and work. Bubbles embraced ‘general messiness’ in his work creating an innovative style. He was the first artist to incorporate branding and marketing within the music industry inspiring designers such as Peter Saville and Malcolm Garrett. He worked with Hawkwind, Elvis Costello and Ian Dury to produce some of the most iconic covers of all time. However, what stood out for me wasn’t the work he produced for the music industry but a logo for Justin le Blank Provisions Ltd in 1970. The logo was very different to the manic artwork for the music industry. It was refined and controlled reflecting the upper market deli. I guess even the most creative artists have some direction when necessary.

The lecture theatre was full and at the end we had a really nice Q&A session, which was unusual as no-one usually asks the guest speaker questions; I think Gorman’s intriguing passion and relaxed personality made it easy for people to do so.

A Town Called Panic

21st October 2010

Cornerhouse

I went to watch the comical fast moving animation, which sees small plastic toys going about their pretty outrageous ‘day to day’ life in a small town. Horse, cowboy and Indain start by celebrating the birthday of Horse. Cowboy and Indian plan on building him a barbecue but when they order 50 bricks online they end up with 50 million outside their house. This kick-starts their adventure leading them to the center of the Earth, the icy plains of the North Pole and encountering a giant mechanical penguin.

The Belgian animation directed by Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar was presented in French with English subtitles. At first I found the film quite difficult to grasp. The speed of the visuals combined with reading subtitles was quite a strain but after 5 minutes I forgot about it and managed to enjoy! A lot of effort and patience must have gone into the stop frame making of the film and it really paid off. Attention to detail was amazing, my favourite scenes being inside the house. I love the aesthetic of bringing small traditional toys to life in a hand-processed manor. It wasn’t flawless pixar animation but the jumpy quality was really endearing and provided a smile and a giggle throughout. 

Teal Triggs Lecture

14^th October 2010
Teal Triggs – Fanzine: A DIY revolution

I wasn’t very familiar with the term ‘fanzines’ and hadn’t really seen examples of the hand processed form before. The lecture by Teal Triggs was very informative and quite inspiring; the idea of self publishing ‘-zines’ celebrating a theme or topic someone is passionate about is exciting and clearly quite easy to do. We were shown many examples of fanzines ‘Crowdaddy’ by Paul Williams, ‘Sniffin Glue’ by Mark Parry, and ‘Feverzine’ to name a few. All fanzines combine journalism and less conventional design; handwritten type and copy, incorrect grammar and crossing out are all common within the design visually showing tracks of progress.

The fanzines create a community between the producers, whether it be teams or individuals, and the readers. ‘Cut + Paste #2’ shows a real ‘community’ concept; the free radical fanzine includes stencils for the reader to go out and spray artwork on the street. This reiterates the idea of a fanzine being ‘freedom of self publication’. My favourite example was ‘Hey 4 eyes’ a zine celebrating people who wear glasses! 

'D&AD Art House' Poster

27th September 2010
Summer Project


This is my final film poster and set of postcards for the ‘D&AD Art house Fim Night’, which I named ‘OTO’. The poster acts as a teaser and postcards anchor the purpose and details. I was very anxious at first and it took quite a lot of research and trial and error before I ended up with something I was pleased with. I feel the project gave me some confidence before returning to third year. The short time scale I had after returning from a summer camp made me stop worrying and just get stuck in, which is a new thing for me!

The only thing I found difficult was working in Illustrator. I find it very frustrating not being able to execute an image I have in my head and was very tempted to go and complete my work in Photoshop, but practice makes perfect! I’m really pleased with the logo I created. I also like how I could incorporate some hand processed imagery into the final piece.