Work Placement – CPB (UPDATE)

I know I promised an update each evening, but as the workload is proving quite tricky alongside uni, I’m going to consolidate it and type up my notes in one big batch once I’ve finished at the end of this week!

Filed under: PPD, Work Placement

Work Placement – Coley Porter Bell

I will be starting a work placement at Coley Porter Bell in central London first thing Monday morning. Needless to say I’m incredibly excited and have spent the last few weeks making myself as porous as possible in order to absorb everything I can.

I will be updating this blog with my goings on each day, so if you’re interested, stay tuned!

Filed under: PPD, Work Placement

Experiments – Type as Image

Just a little ditty here inspired by Harry Pearce’s recent release at Pentagram, Conundrums. See if you can guess this:

Click the image to enlarge.

ANSWER BELOW:

…

…

fish out of water

Filed under: Experiments, PPD, Self-Initiated

Experiments – Peace Off

To be completely honest, I’ve been jonesing to make a silly typeface for a while, but haven’t had any ideas. That’s all changed now, though, as I was inspired to make one out of the peace symbol after watching a documentary on Vietnam & the anti-war movement.

It’s completely silly and of no commercial use, but it’s been an interesting experiment for me as I gave myself strict limitations in the fact I couldn’t skew, modify or rotate the symbol at all – only remove lines where they intersect with others. This caused some problems that I’m yet to solve (note the lack of a ‘K’) but made it all the more a challenge.

You can see the evolution from my ‘eureka’ sketchbook moment below. Click the images to enlarge.

Filed under: Experiments, PPD, Self-Initiated, Sketchbooks

John Reynolds – Photography Masterclass

On Thursday we were treated to a visit by photographer John Reynolds who ran a workshop on commissioning photography as a designer. He took us through everything (that’s possible in a day anyway) from how to choose the right person for the job, copyrights and ownership to the importance of communication throughout. It really opened up a world that’s bigger than design, and I can’t wait to start commissioning other like-minded people to work on projects with me.

After this, John was kind enough to have a chat about how to get the best out of photographing your work and I proceeded to learn so much stuff it’s absolutely unreal. Everything from the different types of light/hard light/soft light to aperture settings, shutterspeeds and even the inverse square law(!) I’ve added a photo of one of the spreads I covered in my sketchbook throughout the day.

Click the image for a larger view!

Filed under: PPD, Sketchbooks

In Progress – Business Cards

Over the last couple of days I’ve been working on putting some business cards together for self-promotional purposes.

I decided that I didn’t want the card to be ‘flash’ – It’s got to let people know who I am without them having to use an enigma machine. So the devil – as always – is in the details.

The cards are screenprinted and then duplexed to give a rigid, quality feel that’s engaging & tactile which is something I’m very big on.

Anyway, they’re still in progress, but I thought I’d share a sneak peak at my DIY Duplexing methods and give some results thus far.

Filed under: In Progress, PPD, Self-Initiated

Bexhill Photography

A little while back I spent a day walking around Bexhill in East Sussex experimenting with a Holga camera and a couple of spools of 120 film. The results have been turned into a pack promoting Bexhill as a credible destination for city slickers looking to escape the madness.

The whole set, plus rationale can be found on my portfolio site HERE

Filed under: Photography, PPD, Self-Initiated

Martin O’Neill – Dogs and Dice

I picked up Dogs and Dice last year at an exhibition held at Martin’s studio in St Leonards-on-Sea, and have found myself drawn to it again as I scan for new art to buy and hang on my walls.

It’s a fantastic book, containing illustrations commissioned by clients as well as work based around the unique filing system that Martin has adopted at his studio.

My favourite element is the uncoated, rough-board cover with one-colour print on it. I think this is because it juxtaposes with the colourful, sometimes flamboyant illustrations, but also sits nicely with their hand-made, tactile qualities. I’d like to incorporate something similar into a piece of work, as I love it when design is tactile and engages the reader at a higher level, rather than simply dumping information on them.

Apparently it was put up for multiple awards last year, so well done Martin!

Filed under: Books - Design, PPD

De La Warr – Mind Into Matter

I’ve been meaning to go and have a look at the Mind Into Matter exhibition at the De La Warr for a while now and finally managed to get down and have a look on Thursday.

The basic premise is that Alan Powers, the architectural historian has selected 8 buildings at 25 year intervals since the inception of RIBA in 1834, with the criteria being that they have an ‘intriguing story of patronage’.

The featured buildings are:

1. The Reform Club, Pall Mall, London,
2. The Oxford University of Natural History,
3. Clouds House, East Knoyle, Wiltshire,
4. St Mary, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire,
5. De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea,
6. The Economist Plaza, St James’s Street, London,
7. Royal Mail Mechanised Letter Office, Hemel Hempstead,
8. The British Embassy, Warsaw,

Aside from my obvious interest in the De La Warr (being from Bexhill on Sea), what really caught my eye were the rough sketches for the British Embassy in Warsaw by Tony Fretton:

I find the creative process absolutely fascinating, so it’s great to see the humble beginnings of such an iconic building. I feel it adds a human touch and serves to reinforce the idea that anyone can accomplish anything. (A large, impressive building is one thing, seeing how it got there is another thing entirely).

 

Filed under: Galleries / Exhibitions, PPD

Bexhill Museum

So today I went down to investigate the brand new extension at Bexhill Museum, having been officially unveiled by local legend Eddie Izzard on Thursday (26 Nov). In Bexhill we take what we can get when it comes to this kind of thing, so I was pleasantly surprised to see how excellent the new section looks, to the point that I took some photos:

Very line-y.

Some interesting pieces inside including the original architects model of the De La Warr Pavillion, which was made available to public viewing in 1934. Included in the plans, Mendelsohn & Chermayeff propose a large circular swimming pool and other features which for financial and other reasons unfortunately never saw the light of day.

Filed under: Museums, PPD