Magazine

These pages are from a Magazine I designed. The brief required you to re-design the New Scientist Magazine containing an article which was 'Creative Thinking'. The theme, tone and image content of the magazine had to based on the article. I found it to be quite a challenging brief as I had done very little editorial work before. However along the way I learned a lot about 'In Design' and enjoyed the professionalism and time it takes to concentrate on the fine detail required to produce a magazine. The magazine was then printed and i was really pleased with the outcome.

Biennial

In November 2008, Thoughtful arranged for our group to visit Liverpool's Biennial exhibition in the Tate gallery and around the city.

First of all we visited the gallery along the docks and found it incredibly inspirational. Thoughtful had worked on the mural that was used to advertise the show and was featured on a large wall in the Tate as well as on the front windows. Having been before, I fully appreciated the work that had been done from the usual exhibitions to the seasonal work.

Afterwards we were lucky enough to be shown around the city by a member of Thoughtful and were in ore by the originality and extremity of the work featured actually in the environment. 'Turning the place over' was a piece done by Richard Wilson. He had cut out a huge circular part of a building in the centre of the city which he had attached to hydraulic mechanisms that rotated the section continuously. It is apparently the 'most daring piece of public art ever commissioned in the UK'.

The big spider that featured on a web which was attached to buildings in a square was another amazing iconic piece. It was bizarre to look up and see the creature outside. It lit up at night too making it much more noticeable.

Throughout the tour there were many more interesting and delightful sights. It felt like going around a zoo. Just the fact that everything was featured in the environment was incredible and it was a really great day out, that ended with a few lectures in Liverpool's town hall by a typographer named and another designer named . Both talks again left me with a lot to think about and gave me great inspiration.

Thoughtful

In comparison to Fake I.D's lecture, in January, Thoughtful, a design agency based in Manchester who worked resently on the 'Biennial Liverpool exhibitions' came to talk to us about pitching. The main purpose was to highlight the downfalls of having to pay to pitch when you start out as a design firm with every intention of getting known, and how easily that investment could be lost. As a fairly new company themselves, they still have to weigh up whether or not their ideas are good enough to impress the client and if they should invest in pitching.

They went on to point out how important it was that when you're pitching to a client, you must always look smart, have confidence, and continue presenting no matter what happens. They said one time they were presenting the three clients had absolutely no expressions throughout the entire presentation, even when they were showing what they considered to be their best ideas. However they continued to finish in exactly the same way they had begun and to their surprise two clients liked some of their work. The work involved were ideas to promote the 'Cream Fields' summer festival. Some of their ideas included poster's, ambient campaigns, mobile phone links via text message and merchandise. Another aspect of pitching that they strongly advised was that whatever you're presenting in whatever form must be shown in different situations, e.g. a poster must be shown on billboards, bus shelters, in shop windows etc.

I found the talk incredibly insightful and quite inspiring to one day be able to pitch my own ideas in front of clients that may really take an interest in my work.

After seeing both presentations, one main contrast is clear. Thoughtful stick to the normal, everyday methods of showing work via a PowerPoint presentation and discussing their work, which is how we have come to expect a lecture to be. Its simple, clear, ordered and makes sense.

On the other hand it was Fake IDs' intention to confuse us with their lecture and make us aware of other senses besides sight. We really had to listen hard to understand it. The images they did use were explained via voice overs very abstractly. Towards the end of their presentation they explain to us that they don't enjoy showing and talking about their work. They said if anyone wanted to look at it then visit their website. The content of the presentation were topics that currently interest them and work that they've collected for a while, assembled in an experimental and challenging way.

I think that I'd like to apply aspects of both presentation methods to my own practice. Allowing people (in particular clients) to see what interests me outside of my work, as Fake I.D. did, will demonstrate that I have a strong knowledge and keen interest in the industry, as well as creating a certain bond, on such a level to be able to perhaps have something in common with a client...
To follow up from presenting research and personal interests, I would then go onto pitch/present my work, as Thoughtful did,