Cut It Out.

Took a swift trip down to Centenary today before work to take a look at the exhibition of all the other creative courses at Salford. Must admit, it was a lot better than last years effort in the set up and even the work just keeps getting to a higher standard. It’s always interesting to see what the other courses are up to, you’d be surprised where inspiration could come from.

I was most interested to see the Advertising course really, as I always opt for the advertising briefs if I can. Also, I’ve helped out a few times with some of the other halves’ briefs (i.e posing for pictures etc!) so I was pretty interested to see how everything had come out. I was pretty mortified though when I saw the viral I was in on the big screen!! Aside from that, the exhibition was absolutely brilliant; the work was presented beautifully, the ideas were so clever and the sweet little free popcorn pots were a lovely little touch to sweeten the deal! 

Wish I’d taken some photos, but there’s a group on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/createatsalford?ref=ts&sk=wall which shows a snap shot of work from all of the courses on show there. Well worth a look.

I’m not stuck for what to do this summer, honestly. I feel like I’ve yet to rest! As soon as uni finished, I’ve pretty much gone straight in to full time at work and have my eye on another competition brief, to keep the design blood flowing.

What to do though about a placement? - Now this I’m having problems with. I can’t say for definite a day I’d be free & I’d feel a bit of a muppet (not to mention, incredibly unprofessional) sending my portfolio in, then asking, ‘do you offer a day a week placement, where that day could be flexible & some weeks I may not be able to do it?’ I’m sure I’d get a placement instantly with that. Not.

To be honest though, for now, I think I’d rather get some more free lance charity work up my sleeve like last summer. They’re honestly some of the best people to work with & the sense of pride afterwards is great.

On a side note: Any one from motion remember Mark Thomas’ email address at Soup? Really need to give him a shout about this competition brief I’m doing. If you know it could you please message me it either on here or on Facebook! Cheeeers!

Well another uni year is done & dusted & I’m pretty chuffed with what I’ve achieved this year. From HND straight to second year it certainly felt a bit strange having so many constraints, but it’s proved a really steep (but VERY beneficial) learning curve - I’m a little worried that I will have my freedom back again next year as I find I work better when I know what outcome is needed & what constraints there are (as I discussed with Jo) but it will be another fruitful learning curve I’m sure. 

Over the moon at my feedback & mark from my animation/ blog project (a lovely shiny A+) in the scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter what grade it is. But my name under a 1st in that lovely graduation programme would really make me happy. 

In light of this, I’m considering spending a lot of my free time on animation - as already mentioned, I intend to look into the E4 idents and some personal work. Hopefully be a busy bee over summer (already been sucked dry with over time at work) but will definitely make time for design - it’s in my blood.

Anyway for now to relax a little bit, I’ve hit the oven & filled the kitchen with lovely smells. I’d put up the results but ah…….they’re already gone.

Oh sure, the weather’s been lovely.

I’ve enjoyed catching glimpses of  it from inside the shop all weekend, dealing with some extremely fussy women. The only thing that was keeping me going, was the thought of getting my ticket for this wonderful sight:

Too bad it sold out in the 3/4 of an hour I spent on hold.

I wish gutted was a big enough word to cover it, but it’s really not. Only another 2 years wait for the next one…..Fabulous.

Review

I couldn’t possibly not put a review of this up on here, considering that it’s a modern classic and a shocking read. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the story, seeing as it’s an iconic film, but basically the story is narrated by Alex, who along with his droogs live a life of ultra-violence (committing some pretty atrocious crimes, going out drinking and general lazing around).

I must admit, I thought the book was a little short when I looked at it, but because of Alex’s made up slang language throughout, it takes a little longer to read as half the time you’re trying to figure out what the hell he’s on about, but it is indeed a very shocking read. I think what I found most shocking was the nature of the crimes, paired with the fact he’s only supposed to be about 15 in the book (if I’m remembering rightly). The descriptions of the crimes just take your imagination to places the film never can & it’s just so graphic in parts - the made up language takes a little away from the shock I suppose, but nevertheless, it’s still pretty gruesome.

I had mixed feelings towards Alex throughout; you feel satisfied he gets sent to prison for his crimes, but you can’t help but think the rehabilitation just takes away all his freedoms and a large chunk of his life - not to mention his one love, Beethoven. 

The ending of the book depends on which version you read, I’ve got the American version, which I thought was a little dismal ending (I don’t really want to give too much away, so I suppose I can’t really say anything here!!) According to wikipedia (not a reliable source, I know!) it explained that the original version actually had 21 chapters, as a nod to 21 being the age of maturation & a nod to the fact that Alex had realised the error of his ways & beliefs. The american version leaves out this last chapter, creating what I thought is a little disappointing ending, although I suppose it has fruits of truths in it - especially if you look at social culture today. 

Definitely a staple classic to have in your collection & much better than the film!

Decided to spend the whole day on my essay & it’s proved fruitful. Managed to get all the research done for it (aside from a few more books) and I’m about 1000 words in now, which I’m pretty happy about, as I tend to find ANYTHING else to do before I can write that first word down of any essay. I don’t know why after that first word is down, everything else just comes flooding out.

Anyway for my actual essay, I’m looking at social & political representation in films - well that will be my dissertation topic, but my essay is looking at the differences in this between a film made in the 80s and a film made now, but about the 80s. It’s been proving quite interesting, I must say. I really quite enjoy film studies essays because it’s easy to write a 2000 word essay on a single facial expression, let alone 2 whole films, so I’m finding I’ve probably got more points ready to go than words permit.

The two films I’m looking at are Jubilee (1978) by Derek Jarman & This is England (2006) by Shane Meadows.

I’ve picked these two as they’re both about youth subcultures, which are often formed because of political perspective - so it’s a good subject to incorporate both political and social representation. Not to mention, I just love watching This Is England!

Bought myself the 100 penguin book covers in postcard form & just spent ages looking at them. I love the design of Penguin books, especially the classic orange/ beige / black ones - they’re just so bold & iconic. The box contains a fair few of these designs, but there’s also some very detailed illustrations that you just wish you’d done yourself.

Having spent ages looking at them, I decided that I really couldn’t keep something so lovely stuck in a box & just had to send some out. I sent an illustrated one to my illustrator friend down in London & it’s nice to hear she’s stuck it up above her desk for a bit of inspiration!

I’d like to thank my mum & dad for giving me a lovely name…but the worst name possible to make a logo for myself out of!! The initials aren’t particularly nice to work with; using all lowercase looks a bit boring when they are put together, but a capital N with a lowercase b looks far too harsh with it’s angular shape, compared to the curves of the b. To top that off, my first name is longer than my last and my last is 3/4 ascenders, meaning there’s no way of putting my first name above my surname.

In short, a total nightmare - of which Tim had hardly any advice for me!! I suppose things could be worse; 3 generations ago, our family name was actually Balls. Nice one great granddad for taking that ‘s’ off!

Luckily there was one ray of hope in one of my previous designs which I’ve gone back to the drawing board with. I’ve decided to use all 3 initials of my name, as I believe the J really helps to break up that harsh step from N to B.

On my previous logos, I liked the use of ascenders forming other letters, so I’ve used this concept here - but not gone too over board as I have on the others. We shall see tomorrow what comes out of these new designs, fingers crossed because I just want to move on now.

Apparently with Pledge, you can.

Review

How would it feel, to really access 100% of your brain?

Went to go see Limitless today & I must admit, I found it really interesting. Aside from the endorsing of drugs, how the fall into drugs can cause you to do things that ‘aren’t you’ and everything that comes with a life on drugs, the thoughts about what you yourself would do on something like that are in themselves Limitless. I think that this is the whole ploy of the movie, rather than the film itself - what would you do? (Hence the concept behind the advert) The movie depicts Bradley Cooper’s choice of what he chooses to do with 100% access to his brain. As a writer, he’s stuck for creative influence & effectively stumbles on the drug. Without giving too much away, he has a career change in order to make lots of money quickly & everything is pretty darned rosey….but things never stay this way in these films, come on.

I found one of the most interesting things about this film was the concept that the drug didn’t make you more clever - it just made you access thoughts/ memories/ things you’ve ever learned in your life. In short, it made things clear - hence why the pill was transparent. This is interesting in the fact that everybody’s experience would be different, depending on what you’ve ever seen or learnt in your lifetime. I also felt that I could relate to his creative block; when you get one of these, it’s so hard to get over & you find yourself doing everything that Cooper was doing in the film - anything to AVOID doing the work. Fortunately though, we don’t all end up looking like bums, like he did at the start of the film!

On the bus home, I let my mind wander into what I would do if I had this pill - obviously my first thought was I’d get this essay researched/ done, motion finished & this self promo in the bag. Then I’d go out on monday to use every ounce of knowledge to infiltrate these agencies & bag myself a work placement. But then I thought, I wouldn’t even need to do this, I’d just go out & make myself lots of money to set up my own company or shop. I was only half way through entertaining these ideas when I thought, well isn’t that just cheating? 

Definitely a good little film to go watch, even if it’s just to entertain your own fantasies of what you’d do with a pill that would allow you to access 100% of your brain capacity. It’s very much a case of that old Alice In Wonderland question; would you eat it, or not?

I’ll have to brush up on some pearls of wisdom to share.

Review

Been watching that Lily Allen thing where she opens a shop up with her sister & I just had to post up how much I love the name of the shop. Because of branding it this way, they’ve been able to use it for sections of the shop like Lucy in disguise with diamonds,just thought it was a really lovely name. The logo is a little more to be desired, I do quite like the 60’s inspired font, but it does teeter on the edge of looking a bitLonsdale - which I doubt is the look they’re trying to sell! The shop interior was beautiful, highly stylish with just white walls & clever lighting to add a dash of colour here & there. 

With the very nature of being a designer, you notice every visual aspect around you and I’m beginning to really get into the marketing of shops. It’s amazing what goes into it! I’ve been lucky to pick up a few tips what with working for the same company for over 3 years now and been lucky enough to see the rebranding of the main companyMonsoon. Although the original branding for Monsoon really stayed true to it’s ethnic roots with it’s purple & gold use of colour, the logo always felt a little childish to me - especially for a shop which, let’s face it, is a little more upmarket & aimed at those with a little more loose change than the rest of us.

Now the logo has changed quite significantly and as result, just fits that target market perfectly. It’s upmarket, still friendly/ approachable but it’s grown up abit. I wouldn’t have gone with baby pink - but I think this is just the spring collection logo.

The shop front is having a total revamp too, with the silly purple being replaced with a lovely simple white. The bags/ tags follow suit & the whole brand looks lovely together. 

Perhaps I’m just sick of having to look at it for 3 years, but it’s certainly an improvement. Now I just wish they’d re-do the Accessorize logo & get rid of that TERRIBLE crown I.

I don’t know whether to be over the moon that I never have to fill in that God-forsaken infuriating form again, or absolutely kacking it that the time to enter the real world is fast approaching.

It very much feels like the latter.

Hmmm. What to say about this? Firstly, if I was to say I was pleasantly surprised, it would be a massive lie.

I was pretty disappointed about the Roses if I’m being brutally honest. Looking over people’s work from the seminar’s running up to the Roses, watching them sprout into wonderful, intelligent pieces of work, then not even seeing them get a commendation was very disappointing and a bit disheartening. I found myself wondering half the night after looking at some poor pieces of design, what these designers were looking for. I was incredibly shocked by the presentation of some of the final pieces of work up on the wall - most were rife with spelling errors, typos and down right sloppy arrangement.

Not to say it was all doom & gloom, some of the winners were very deserving indeed, I found myself in stitches at half of the coalitions thought up, ooo-ing at the hero’s brief and wow-ing at the Homelink solutions. Fair play as well to the guy who won my category, the ice brief - his animation was so funny and considering the styling of Dinosaur (who set the brief) I could imagine his work fitting in very well with their style. Well done to the Salford students who won and got commended!