Keep Working








Had a good day today, my design for my project i talked about before is coming along quite well, got some great feedback today from our tutors so i can push it even further! Also is another project I have been working on on the side along with an illustrator, for a charity called Community Support Its a great organisation aiming to teach children skills and trades so that they can pass them on to the younger children. This is a fold down leaflet to get people wanting to donate. Lastly had a great evening in the pub with great friends and our great tutors Chris Big and Martin Anderson, I think at Brighton we are really lucky and no matter how hard Im finding this year Im enjoying the challenge even more.

Advice

"I think what we’ve found here that yeah we’ve got things to do, we’ve got interviews to transcribe, blogs to write, essays to research, things to design and websites to update, but we’re here, in a city, it’s about balancing the two. I think that’s been a really valuable thing. I think if you can balance your work, your life, and your interests, you’re going to be successful at what you do because you’re going to be enjoying your life. You can’t think I’m going to work solidly for a week and then have a week off, life doesn’t work like that, you’ve just got to take every day as it comes." - Millie

Sometimes you say things that are really true and its not until someone points them out to you that you realise at times you should really listen to your own advice.

Now







I am currently working on a project called 'Boundaries' It has definitely been a slow starter I am now entering my 3rd week out of 3 on the project and am loving it but it hasn't been like this until now! As the brief is so open I wanted to tailor it to something that I was really interested in and my initial thought was looking at us, as people and how we can physically break boundaries within our won bodies. I then spent the last two weeks researching all about amazing feats people have achieved from women lifting cars off of children to a man climbing the dangerous North face or 'Murder Wall' of the Eiger mountain in just over 2 hours and then the traditional Ama translated meaning 'Sea Women' off the East Coast of Japan who can dive up to 100 feet and hold their breath for 3-4 minutes at a time to fish for pearls. I could go on as there is then Usain Bolt who broke the 100m and 200m world records in the same year, or the 17 year old boy who circumnavigated round the world alone, but you get the idea. I have now picked 6 of these remarkable stories to create a physical journal which will fold and change to mirror the activities it visualises and describes. I am excited but its definitely proving harder then I though, but i like a good challenge enjoy the pics of my work in progress ....

Belated Valentines



This was a lovely little present sent to me by Mandy Pattullo, thank you it made my day.

Winter Olympics 2010




To me sport is something really amazing, it shows people pushing their bodies to extreme limits everyday. I used to be part of a running team when I was growing up, it all started from when I was about 14 or 15 and I ran the 100 meters at school in 13 seconds my tutors were amazed even I am now looking back so they asked me to compete for the school at the county athletics where I did the 200 meters and came 2nd and then the 300 meters and came 3rd all with no training so then I started training and loved every second of it. I miss it a lot now but although it will only ever be a hobby am determined to get back into it in someway this year. But for now watching the Winter Olympics quenches my thirst, its simply amazing and we won our First Gold Medal yesterday with Amy Williams in the Skeleton if you want to watch her win check here. Also I hope you like my very own Olympic Scarf found in a thrift store in New York this summer.

Something Funny



It was brought to my attention on Monday by nearly everyone in the class that Martin (my tutor) and I were wearing very similar shirts! Looking at the picture I have to admit they are pretty similar, oh the joys of coincidence.

Typography Talk




Thursday 11th February there was another great talk on Typography mainly by Bruno Maag. He was quite the character expressing his dislike for the typeface Helvetica saying it was boring and plain with no real character to it. He too was very interested in Arabic type. he felt that he had explored the western typography a lot and wanted a challenge, as arabic was such a scripty type that typefaces never really differed for it. He also explored the creation of a typeface, its seemed like a lengthy process with many technical terms like 'hinting' which I had never heard before. But it was really fascinating and my favourite part was when he said '"I don't want stark and austere. Twirlies!" - Bruno Maag. A great talk that opened up my eyes to another area within design.

Lectures







I decided to go home for a couple of days last week and then to visit Kingston where I have some friends also studying Graphic Design, it is always good to see what other people in other places are doing when it comes to Design. While I was at Kingston I also managed to sneak into a couple of great lectures. First by the Israeli typographer Oded Ezer, he had a really 3D approach to his typography which was really interesting, he also worked with the Hebrew language, which was great to see, he was very expressive and experimental and gave great advice on using simple ideas to communicate strongly. Then in the evening I went to a talk by the well know Jonathan Barnbrook. This guy has achieved a lot and is also very 'morally' driven. He explained in his talk how he wont work for large companies like Coca Cola and Nike out of principle, which is admiring and he spoke well about his reasonings. The talk was very inspirational and made me realise just how much you need to believe in yourself and stand by what you believe in. It was a good two days but Im very happy to be back in Brighton.

More Transatlantic Design

Sam Winston


On Friday 29th january Chloe and I went up to London again to conduct another interview with the great Sam Winston. I have always been a fan of him so it felt great to actually go and meet him. He was a really incredible guy, very inspiring and he also gave us jam doughnuts so what more could we of asked for! Well the interview was great, he had to leave by 5.30 but by 6pm we were all still there getting to see first hand some of his beautiful work. I think Ian Wrights interruption was a big factor in the over running but it was his birthday and hes super cool too and we enjoyed the conversation immensely. Sam being both a designer and a lecturer gave a really interesting perspective on the topic of design education, he also just gave some great advice, like when a tutor criticises something you do and it really bothers you and you get upset or angry about it, well thats because it has an element of truth in it but then when you work on those faults and if someone criticses again and you feel nothing you know its untrue. Simple but such great advice. A down to earth guy with so much to give, he wants to see us again in a years time to see what we are up to so watch this space I will definitely keep him up on that offer.

A New Project








Soon after (the same day actually as our hand in of all our work) we were set the brief to design the Degree Show poster for the entire University Show. These sorts of projects are never easy as somehow you need to visually represent the entire school covering Graphic Design to Fine Art Painting. I wanted to work in a group and so asked Danny and Andy in my class who agreed so the fun started! It was such a great project I found two people that I really loved working with, plus we all had different skills and opinions which made for a great balance when it came to ideas and then later design. We wanted to look at the idea of making a 3D poster, as we are people with depth and a 2D poster just doesn't do us justice. So we started the research looking in to 3d type from loads of beautiful old books in the library, we took loads of photocopies and then did it all the old fashioned way laying all of the letters on the floor and arranging them into a composition we liked combining lots of typefaces and shapes. This was looking really great but we needed to make it all cohesive so after a while stuck to just a couple of typefaces and the title 'Flat Out' which means at full speed, with maximum effort, absolute, thorough and definite. This sums up beautifully how we as a university work, striving to be the best we can in the fields we specialize in. We did not end up winning but we came runners up and we are all really proud of what we have achieved and are excited to make it perfect for our portfolios. Danny and Andy are amazing guys and graphic designers so Im just so glad I got to work with them. Enjoy looking through the pics of the development of the design, pics of 'behind the scenes' to come soon.

Transatlantic Design

Andreas from Six Creative




I have not blogged about Transatlantic Design in a while and since we have had two more interviews. Firstly on Thursday 14th January we went to the very trendy Six Creative Studio to meet the talented Andreas Neophytou.I think we were all feeling a little low on energy with our own work but the interview was really great and gave us all that realisation that we are doing the right thing as well as much needed inspiration for our own work. Andreas reminded us of the importance of ideas in a world that is saturated with design. He also gave us a tour of the studio and let us take a sneaky peak at some of the wonderful projects they have been working on which were really beautiful. I cant wait to listening back to the interview very soon.

Away

It has been a while since I have blogged anything at all, at times I have been struggling this year and not always felt as 'motivated' or 'inspired' as I normally do, that alongside the large work load of 3rd year means it has been my blog that has taken the hit. However I have been doing and seeing many exciting and great things I just haven't been documenting them and so at times I have been forgetting them. So on this wet and rainy Sunday I am sitting in my room very warm and wrapped up ready to share some of the great things that I have neglected to until now so enjoy and apologies. Here is my collection of m's so far its such a lovely letter!

Inspiration

















I am finding it hard to come up with ideas of late, and its amazing how quickly you can become demotivated and uninspired. Sometimes design can be a very superficial place to be. I need to get away for a bit, but for now these Seb Lester new JD Salinger book jacket designs are looking great.

Enough Said
























I think for me this is a little harder and with the stress of assessment and then now back to work Im finding it even harder, but whats the worth in anything if its too easy.