Typo London 2011

This year, London had the great privilege of hosting Typo, usually held in Berlin, a yearly event that invites the industry's most inspiring designers to share their wisdom of type in a series of fantastic lectures. Held for three days last week at UCL's Logan Hall, I was such a lucky girl to acquire a guest pass to the event and get my own seat on the brilliance. And if that wasn't enough, I had the great opportunity to help out at the ISTD stand, meeting and talking to many other inspired designers/ students.


[Highlights]


London Typographica
I've thought I didn't want an iPhone, I wouldn't go over to the dark side, I want a phone to ring and text and that is all. And none of those Apps have ever tempted me, until I went to the London Typographica.


Antony Harrington introduced his fantastic idea of an app that will record a live archive of London's amazing typography, update images to a live map, and evolve. London is full of amazing type. London Typographica aims to share those type treasures we each find every day, whether it be a piece of graffiti admired on the walk to work, a road sign, or a beautiful shop sign. Big or small, amazing or quirky, it's up to us to record and make it known. And what more, it's live!! Typography in the city constantly changes, and London Typograhica records it!


Install the app - take your photo - It's uploaded to the map - TaDa!!!


I can't wait for the launch and to get my very own iPhone!!


Big Shout for Lincoln
I was amazed to discover that many of the guest speakers at typo were familiar faces to me, not only as heros, but as recent guest lecturers at where I studied, The University of Lincoln. It's brilliant and very touching to think that these designers have travelled to the north and generously shared their experiences with the students (and mainly for free), when people are spending £600 on a ticket to this event.

Blackpool's Comedy Carpet

A few weekends ago I visited Blackpool to find that the beach front walkway had been transformed into a mass construction site, not giving second thought that the workers were doing anything other than laying a boring concrete walkway. If I had only looked a little closer, I would have witnessed the construction of this spectacular Comedy Carpet. I could really kick myself for not looking!!

Why not Associates have teamed up with Gordon Young and designed this wonderful piece of typography. Embracing the corny charm of the well known boozy seaside town and at the same time celebrating the history of comedy acts to have performed at Blackpool, the comedy carpet is just hands down fab. It's so nice to see fun and playful design in such a huge scale in such a controversial location. Priceless! There's just the right amount of cheesiness combined with just the right amount of class ( ridiculously 'posh' as Young puts it, the carpet runway being the typical symbol of posh)

I wasn't about to return to Blackpool anytime soon, but now I'm wondering when I can plan my trip to walk the carpet!

Graduation memories | Family Gift [homemade]

Sian Bonnell

Are you one of those who can't chew a wheetabix without instantly being reminded of a kitchen scourer? Think a fried egg would be more use as a rubber mat? That corn on the cob looks (and tastes) strangely like my bathroom loofer? 

Sian Bonnell's witty photography captures and says it all...

The best photography (in my experience) is that which finds that hidden gem, that little bit of humour or sarcasm that most might overlook. A great photo doesn't need a fancy camera, or fancy shot angles; in fact I find the rawness of these images are a rare treat.

I've found myself having a peek at Sian's site whenever I'm struggling to find ideas or in need of a little cheer-me-up, and that is exactly what her photos do, cheer you up, the light playful nature of her shots instantly put a huge smile on your face :)

Enjoy!

Summer Tracks of a Design Intern

Just a little something I whipped up as gift to a very generous studio for making my placement a great experience! 

Becks: The Green Box Project

How do we know when it is right to take one medium, and put it into a whole new medium, without doing it simply for the sake that we can do it? 

THE GREEN BOX PROJECT!

Our finale to Graduate Academy friday evening involved a panel discussion with the very talented people from Mother, joined by a few collaborators, sharing with us the inside know on how they tackled the enormous project for Beck's the beer people.

So what's it all about? Big green 3D boxes in the street? Click on an app? See something cool? 

In a nutshell, Beck's and the guys at Mother have got together with a bunch of fantastic artists all over the world, invited them to submit a piece of artwork. A handful of 3D green boxes are to appear in various cities around the world, and those of you lucky enough to own an iPhone get to see this artwork in context; above the statue of liberty, broadway, urban street etc. Collaborating with and promoting talented artists across the world in a whole new way is phenomenal, no question, however I did leave the presentation with one particular question really burning in my pocket....

How do we know when it is right to take one medium, and put it into a whole new medium, without doing it simply for the sake that we can do it? 

Art for me, for most, is about appreciating the texture, the shape, the angles, the lighting, the tactile beauty that is every reason why we love artwork in the first place; so with the ever emerging technology in the digital world, are we simply forcing every concept into a digital solution? What more, if not less, do we get from viewing artwork randomly on an iPhone, rather than up close? Don't mistake me, I think digital is most definitely an exciting way forward and is already transforming the world of design, for example The Museum of London's Street Museum, probably the best concept of augmented reality I've appreciated so far, where the street context and user selection is crucial to the experience, something the iPhone does beautifully...

The Museum of London: Street Museum

I think Beck's need to look a little further out of the 'green' box and push this concept a lot further, as what they're doing could start a whole new way forward for artists, they just need to make it a little more convincing first!

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!! 

D&AD Graduate Academy {Bootcamp 2011}

Here's finally my slightly late (very late) blog about last weeks ventures to the big smoke, and most importantly, to the D&AD bootcamp! The week was a really fantastic experience; the organisers had really thought about what us newborn design graduates needed, as they had 75 excited and missioned graduates from courses varying graphic design, advertising, product, illustration and so on, they did a bloody good job! 


DAY 1:   DIFFERENT
I suppose I was expecting to be thrown into the deep end and challenged with ultimately brain cracking briefs from the minute we walked through the door; but what would that teach us from what we were already practising? Once all 75 of us entered and the doors were closed behind us, I think each one of us was caught quite unaware of what the week would really entail.


Day 1 was an intense and very unusual day of what I can only imagine an AA therapy session to be like. Confessions, self questioning, guilt tripping, blank reactions, 'neutral poses', generosity, brilliance and a hell of a lot of smiling. A very strange day which left me feeling a little reluctant (I've been lucky enough to have had a great upbringing enabling me to naturally be truthful, generous and positive, feel free to disagree?) therefore I maybe got less of of today than others, but for some I appreciated it was priceless experience. 


Finished off with an entertaining screening from one dot zero.


DAY 2: INTERESTING:
Lesson of today; be truthful to your beliefs. Be a linear kinda person! Therapy over, today we met Kevin Palmer from Kin and Derek Yates who both gave inspiring and exciting presentations based upon identity and communicating a group message which would then fuel our ideas for a following brief which we would be tackling for the remainder of the week. Cascade 2011, form groups and sell an idea that links us all as a group. 


Day 3 & 4: Ideas, Ideas & Discussion!
After lots of discussion about OCD, limbs, and other strange commonalities; our group decided the only way to crack this brief was to get NAKED (mentally)and forget our former inhibitions, forming a solid and focused group. Today was all about inspiration, so where else better to head but Brick Lane?

DAY 5: FINALE!
The day starts at the home of Iris Nation, and after a nerve wracking morning of presentation rehearsals, we finally got to share our ideas with the pros. 20 minutes and a good discussion later, it was time to stuff our faces with buffet lunch and relax!  Next up for a few fun little exercises and then a sit down with the guys from Mother to learn about their green box idea for Becks (I'll save for the next blog).....


After a fantastically exhausting week, before the big sleep, it was time for a well earned few beers with my 75 new friends!! :D

REMIX: Part of a series created by Graphic Nothing.

Guessed this iconic artwork?

Isn't it amazing how we can completely strip back something so iconic, providing minimum information and you can still instantly recognise it? Cool stuff. 

http://www.thedisciplesofdesign.co.uk/2011/08/remix/