Museum Archives

On Friday me and Will went down to the museum archives to have a look at some animal anatomy. We photographed a lot of skulls and skeletons. They also had some taxidermy which was interesting to photograph. I really like the variation of horns and antlers we came across, and think that they can be translated into pattern nicely.

Royal Armouries

On Friday we also visited the Royal Armouries, where I came across some really cool Japanese armour. It was also helpful to look at gun parts and machinery, in relation to my collaborative project with Will. There was a presentation on Samurai, their origins and how they fight in battle which was really interesting to watch.

Brief development session

Today I put up my piece of promotional material along with my personal and InPress business cards. I am pleased with how they look displayed together on the wall. Mine wasn't mentioned as one of the designs that stood out the most from afar, but some feedback I got was that when you look closer it's a nice piece of design because of the different stock and detail, but maybe add some colour to make it stand out.

We then got to work on developing our briefs. I have chosen four final briefs to work on, I have merged all of the InPress work into one large brief, which should be manageable as it is a collaboration between four. I have also merged the Japan Matsuri brief with my idea to create a book, as I didn't want to to discard either and think that they would work as one. I am also going to work on the RSA Yorkshire Water brief with Francesca and collaborate with Will on a skills driven brief. 

Overall I think this is a good mix, as I am working both collaboratively and independently. I have a live competition brief, a live events based brief, branding, both screen and print based design and a surface pattern based brief that will hopefully improve my illustration skills.

We were told to list the skills, context, content and products in relation to each brief and then compare them to our prewritten lists of things we want and need to achieve as designers. I am pleased to see that all of my ultimate twenty wants and needs are incorporated into my chosen briefs. I am feeling optimistic and motivated to get the most out of this first semester! 

Business cards// Laser cutting

Yesterday I managed to get my piece of promotional material done, I laser cut my feather illustrations into a scrap piece of wood to try and communicate my sustainable design ethic.

This morning I went straight back to the laser cutter and set out to produce some business cards. The design is an ambigram of my name, which is an extension of a first year project.

I came across a few problems when laser cutting, and had to do a lot of tests. Unfortunately their was no one around to help and I couldn't get the right settings to cut through the wood without burning it. So for now I have etched in the design and cut them out with a scalpel. I had to adjust the point size of the type, which I think has ruined the layout, but they will do for tomorrows session.

Finally, I sanded them down to give them a nice finish and avoid splinters! Not too shabby... the design needs some work though. My plan is to have the ambigram etched into one side and my details screen printed on the back to make them more legible. This mix of media will also reflect my practice.

10 Briefs

I have written out my final ten briefs in preparation to start my third year. Some I am really excited to make a start on, others however I feel I have written just for the sake of having ten. I am definitely looking forward to working more on InPress, and collaborating with Will and Francesca.

Japan Matsuri

I have come across a festival that is to be held in Trafalgar square in London on 6th October this year. The festival celebrates Japan and its culture, arts and crafts. For one of my ten briefs I would like to produce the promotional material for this festival. I have an interest when researching different cultures and think that Japan has a lot to offer aesthetically. The orient has always been a part of the world that I am intrigued by, and I will enjoy exploring their artistic culture.

Collaboration with Francesca

Today me and Francesca met to discuss what type of things we are interested in concerning working on a brief together. We already know that we want to do work on something illustration based, but we decided that it would be best to do a graphic design brief, but work illustration into it, as this is what we are both good at.

We are both writing our dissertations on sustainable related design, so we thought that this would be a great place to start. One of our first ideas was to design something that communicates the value of the printed object, and how we can make print sustainable, as it is one of the worlds largest polluters.

We then stumbled across a RSA live brief, which is all about the value of water and reducing wastage.

We did some brief research together, and our initial idea is to create some design work focusing on a concept based on the idea of 'virtual' or 'embedded' water, which is all the water that has been used or wasted to create the product in question. We thought it would be a good idea to use comparisons through illustrations to highlight our point. An example of this is that the water used to make a hamburger is the same as nearly nine baths.

We decided that it would be appropriate to focus on using sustainable materials and printing/ manufacturing methods to produce any design work

We feel that we are on the right track, and are going to meet again tomorrow to develop our ideas and write the final brief.