True North (Alan Herron)

Last year I went to visit Alan Herron at True North with my portfolio. He was ok with my work but said he would like me to go back to see him six months later with an improved portfolio. So I did...

Yesterday at 10am I arrived. We sat down in his office and the first piece of work we looked at was the posters me and Jordan produced for the Tolerance brief. Straight away he warmed to the idea of highlighting small, intolerable issues within the community and said we'd executed the imagery well. The only down fall he saw was that the same idea and imagery ran throughout the whole campaign. He said he would have liked "to see a bit of diversity".

The second piece of work we looked at was my 2nd year magazine work which Alan had already seen. However this was one particular piece that he had told me to improve and he was really pleased with what I had done. He asked a lot about the reasons behind decisions this regards to type, placements, imagery, compositions. Said he was conscious of every small detail so I had a lot to say. Overall he was happy with the magazine and really liked the spreads and use of imagery.

We then looked at my promotional work for the Brass Band Museum. First of all he congratulated me for my logo. Said it was "really well thought through and arranged". Only one small issue arose and that was the logo slightly repeated itself by having two trumpets for the 'b' and 'd' in band. And the direct mail he said we're nice and bold, expressive and he would have liked to have seen and bit more risk taking with my ideas. He said he could see the idea but not a thorough execution.

Onto my RAC end sting and all he had to say was "brilliant, i get it, it works even in print, well done"...

Next was my pencil shavings typeface which he didn't really have much to say about. He just said it was nice and that it worked. Applying the typeface in a poster worked well, which I did, and that was that really.

The last piece which is very exciting for me at the minute and one that I couldn't wait to show him was the metro campaign that me and Jordan have worked on. Straight way he said "there's such a clear difference in this piece of work and the first piece (tolerance) from the rest. These two pieces are well executed, clear to understand, and I get them". So that was brilliant! Given these two pieces are this years work it shows that I've improved and come a long way. So in all it was a great visit and he would like me to go back when I finish and said there might be possible placements...  

     

Stanley Donwood

As always I have a very strong love for Stanley's work. His freedom and courageous flare shows immensely! Recently I've been doing a little bit of ink and mark making myself and have been very attached to Donwoods ways of working. His videos are outstanding too!

Donwoods etchings are very inspirational. His mark making his beautiful. Top class.

Bloody love this piece. Really intrigued as to how he achieved the water marks???

Magic Eye

Bloody awesome!  Check out more on Google...

Japanese Barcodes

I came across these really strange but very creative barcodes turned into images...

Issues and Practices

Too many design graduates?

Firstly, from a personal point of view as a current graduate, my opinion is that most students leave university not knowing what to do. Work? Full time/part time? Specialist area of study? Party? Holiday? Gap year? All of these options and more certainly go through my head. Another really worrying aspect is student debt. £18,000 is the average student debt amount. So surely it’s not understandable if those students wanting to go straight into employment after graduating don’t want to wait a year to finally land a design job whilst still mounting up debt!   

"Every year many talented graduates enter challenging, rewarding work from which they enjoy rapid promotion. Unfortunately many others find themselves in very boring, low-paid jobs from which they struggle to progress", (Best Value HE)

I disagree with this quote. Yes those students who are talented designers get far in the industry. But by a long shot it doesn’t mean that other design students end up in crap, low-paid jobs at all! My father was a graphic design student and is now a deputy head master at a secondary school earning £30/40,000 a year! Far more than any designer!  Surely a degree counts for something when trying to get a job. If I have a degree and apply for a non experienced position at British Gas along side someone without a degree who’s going to get it…

"Self belief and courage is the key to success in Graphic Design. Take risks, work hard, and bloody enjoy it", (Vincent. J). 

I agree with what Jamie says. If wanting to go into the industry after leaving college, which some don't, including myself. Then I think to compete with many, many, many other design graduates, as well as professional practitioners, then you do need one hell of a lot of courage and confidence to really sell yourself to land a job. And I believe that is the only key factor to success really. And that works across a wide range of opportunities for work when graduating. Not just in the design industry.

“Being a graphic designer is great. Lots of hard work in the studio certainly pays off when you see your work out there on billboards and add shells. I work for £17,000 a year and wouldn’t work for anything less”, (Sedgwick. D).

So going back to what I said earlier about student debt really relates to what Dave was talking about. Yeah graphic designs great; tough work that pays off, nights out etc. But the pay is quite poor. And sometimes designers get laid off because of the lack of work coming in. So this is one main reason as to why design students may think again about design decreasing the number wanting to go into industry.

"If you want to know how your life is going to turn out, you just have to know where you're heading", (Arden. P)

So what Paul Arden is saying is that you need to know what it is in life that you want to do before you plan ahead. And that applies to any future, any career, any plans, prospects, aims, goals, and propositions…

In conclusion to this topic I sincerely believe that that the amount of design students that exist (and there are too many because it’s an easy course, to get on and succeed at) will not end up in the industry, through choice and discrimination. Many want a degree and many plan their design future. Either way there is no right and wrong in the decision making to be or not to be a Graphic Designer.

"If you want to be interesting, be interested", (Arden. P).

  

Eating Disorder adds

I've been loking at a few eating disorder adds that relate to my final major project but there doesn't appear to be much out there... 

I particularly like these 2 ads because they really grab what eating disorders are and how they're portrayed. The message is very clever through the imagery and idea.

Barnardos

I've been looking very closely at a series of Barnardos campaigns to gather inspiration for two of my projects, one being my final major project. I think the message being portrayed through very strong and powerful yet controversial imagery is a great communication as to just how serious certain matters are. 

Bibliotheque

The London Branch

One and Done Studio

I came across one and done studio whilst browsing the Internet and just absolutely love the various collaborations of type weights and styles in this piece. 

Andrew Almeter (Almeter Design)

Whilst in New York I also visited Almeter Design. Andrew Almeter is a professional designer who centers his practice around logos and illustrative work. One thing that I took away in particular from our visit was that he said the most important thing to do was to keep everything you find. Each year produce a ideas and thoughts board and one day you will use every one of those ideas in some form.

Here is my favourite logos of Andrews for 583 Park Avenue. I love the grand element and use of the typeface.

This is another of Andrews logos for Irving Mill. Again he has used a very clean, precise appeal, combining a generated typeface with a illustrative image. This adds a suitable feel to the purpose of the logo. 

This is a piece that Andrew did for a restaurant front. In my opinion it's very unique in the sense that it has a strong organic feel to it. Really captures the feeling of a restaurant with the use of colour, imagery and composition. 

Potion Design

Potion Design are an interactive design agency. Below is a certain piece of their work that allows customers of Clo Bar to select the wines they would like by simply selecting the wine on the table in front of them via digital projection. 

Below is a piece of work by Potion Design that allows you to see the number of animals that you lift throughout the days, weeks, months and years just by the weight of your foot ware.

Paul @ The London Branch

Lollipop Creative

The design Surgery

Craig Oldham

Scott Artus