Saturday 16 May 2009

Punctuation marks - posters

























































Some poster designs for my credit crunch punctuation marks.

Punctuation Marks














These are the five final punctuation marks I had designed for my theme of the credit crunch.

Platt Hall two - The posters

























































These are final poster designs for The second Platt Hall project - our awareness campaign. I'm really pleased with the overall look of them I think in particular the Cornerhouse one was a big achievement, we were well chuffed!

Monday 6 April 2009

Idioms

Had to put this on my blog just because it's so random and shows how crazy language is sometimes. So for the punctuation mark brief I've been looking at idioms, obviously these English sayings don't directly translate to other languages. However other languages have their own expressions that mean the same but are as completely random as ours. Apparantly idioms are one of the hardest things for a person to learn in the process of learning another language, mainly because we grow up using idioms as if their true meanings actually make sense!!

Idioms
to kick the bucket  = to die

The same expression in Polish is 'kopnąć w kalendarz' (to kick the calendar)
The same expression in Dutch is 'het loodje leggen'  (to lay the piece of lead)

Random, but now I really want to find some more examples!

Friday 3 April 2009

Paul Farrington
















http://www.mobyhotel.com/mobyhotel/






















Eyestorm Gallery.

Paul Farrington is a designer based in Brighton. There he formed 'studio tonne' around ten years ago, which consists of Paul and two other people. The studio usually works with quite open briefs with clients varying from Plymouth Hospital to Moby.


Paul studied at Liverpool where his work became focused around interactive design, especially linked to designing software for music. This lead to work for big music labels and artists such as Moby. The 'Moby Hotel' came from a very open brief simply wanting something to promote the new Moby album over a three month period, Paul and the studio developed this into an online interactive webspace where people could learn more about Moby and his music.


He also creates his own digital and electronic based music, and then visualises it using computer software. The interactive element is created by the software, as it allows the viewer to play with making their own music using the graphics on the web page or CD, therefore the work becomes responsive to the person looking at it. For this he uses programs such as flash to create what he calls interactive 'toys'.

As well as the more digital based work studio tonne are also involved with design for print. One of the really successful pieces he showed was the logo design for eyestorm gallery. The design was really simple but did exactly what it needed to do with out any fuss or frills!


Their work ethic was to step away from the norm and look at more 'random elements' that could then be transferred to the design work. They tend not to use photography as they prefer to see what can be made from text and illustration. I think this is probably much more challenging but in the end produces some really strong interesting work. Again as with Matt Pyke I really like the idea of making the design work interactive and responsive to the viewer as it instantly forms a relationship between the two.

Designing Seeds Exhibition.

After the Matt Pyke talk we decided to go and see the exhibition Designing Seeds by Universal everything in Sheffield.

"Designing Seeds makes the case that through the mechanism of design, scientific advances of the last decade have opened the way to unexpected visual pleasures.  We have now entered an age in which designers and architects are drawing their inspiration from hidden patterns in nature rather than from pretty leaves or snowflakes.  The results reveal a new approach to design and a new kind of beauty."

The exhibition itself was smaller than I'd expected, and we didn't get chance to see the installations on the window as it was too bright outside, however the work itself was really interesting to look it. It was an extension of some of the things he had shown us in his lecture. In particular I liked the lovebytes work with the individual
 monster characters. The title 'Designing Seeds' is derived from the bespoke digital design systems that are used to design the seed, this then independently develops into a suprise result everytime! I think how the i
nteraction and relationship of the work with the viewer is really successful. The work only presents itself to you if you make the your own presence in the room known.

Matt Pyke

Matt Pyke is a 'creative' based in Sheffield. In 2004 he formed 'Universal Everything', a collective consisting of designers, programmers, musicians and artists. I loved this lecture! Again I really like seeing and hearing about work and people that are constantly trying to push the boundaries and change perceptions of design and its purpose. 
  
  He described his office literally as a 'shed' at the bottom of the garden, his 'electronic cottage'. The office simply consists of his mac and him, and then anyone else that is working with him at the time. The idea behind Universal Everything was to creative a 'collective' consisting of a diverse range of people with different skills. Matt explained it as a process that initially started with a strong idea. he would then find the people that could help him turn the 'idea' into a reality. By working with the relevant people the idea then turns into a final concept and 'product' for the client. 
 
 Matt chooses the people he works with depending on what he visualises for the idea, he then uses contacts he already has or simply gets in touch with people via the internet or even blogs. I think this is a really exciting way of working as not only does it mean the work is going to be constantly changing and developing as new people get involved, it also means his contact base is ever growing which will strengthen the final outcomes.
  
  The work itself was mainly digital based. It included a lot of installation work, and particularly interesting was the interactive pieces. Matt and his team work on computer programs that are reactive to sounds or movement, creating constantly changing work dependent on the environment.
  
  Matt also talked about his inspirations in work, what they were and where they came from. The everyone forever site is huge source of inspiration that ranges from new technologies to photography, music and even nature.

  Universal Everything have worked with huge clients such as Nokia, V&A museum and were also involved in designing the logo for London Olympics 2012.



















Installation for the V&A Museum, London.












Nokia 'Beautiful Connections' Art film.