EVALUATION

Overall I have enjoyed the module and the fact it is a lot more relaxed and not as stressful as the other modules. I think it has opened my eyes to what it’s really like to be a graphic designer and how vital it is to make connections with other designers as soon as possible. At this point in time I’m not sure how to approach this matter and think it is something I will focus on over summer when I have more time. I would love to contact designers but I want to make a gesture which is personal to them in a way so it stands out from the rest of their emails/ letter/ which ever way I decide to contact them.

I found a lot of the sessions such as the time management/ stress session very similar to classes I have had in college previously at A-Level so found it a bit unnecessary, however I think the time management session helped me realise that there are enough hours in a week to factor in some much needed rest and recuperation. At the start of the course I struggled to find time to visit friends at home and lost contact with them a bit but planning my time better helped me find a few hours a week to see them.  

I really like that the work produced for PPP is personal to us, I really enjoyed doing my own self branding as it’s something I’d never really considered or given much thought to. However, I now see the importance of making your branding represent you and your work as it gives clients all the information they need in one small business card.

In terms of presentations I think the last two session presenting in front of the class and presenting in front of a small group of people really helped my confidence. Previously I had done presentations at school but that was over 4 years ago and in that time I have grown a lot as a person, I still got very nervous before presenting but I was proud of myself for being able to speak confidently and clearly and forget about the nerves. I hope that eventually I’ll stop worrying so much about them and be able to talk in front of the class more without being embarrassed/ nervous.

In summary I’m looking forward to developing my presentation skills further and working on making them a bit funnier and quirkier but I think that will come when my confidence grows. I am also looking forward to contacting designers that inspire me which may be both graphic designers and interior designers as I derive inspiration from both areas.  

Daniel Gee - Goat Collective

"Holla, we are A collective of visual artists. Socially aware with a view to instigate change. Youthful and passionate. Professional and driven. We work closely together to provide diverse creative solutions. "

Collage artists that inspire Daniel:

Hort, simplistic collage. Very geometric.

Robert Rauschenberg, lesser known for his collage but it's very interesting to look at.

DR ME blown up in the past 3 years, 365 day of collage brought collage out of the ashes

Ill studio, very open to anything. Don't just specialise in collage. 

Louis Reith, pushing the boundaries of collage. Very minimalistic and geometric. Sticks to only using back and white

Ellery James Roberts, makes his own collages for his own album art work

Mat Maitland, uses lots of colour in his collage. Trades as a fashion photographer

Richard Prince, doesn't really use his own imager. Gets in trouble a lot for stealing other peoples images.

Ventral is Golden, very well known in Leeds and did the branding for Belgrave music hall

John Stezaker, very iconic in the world of collage and many people try to copy him. 

Exhibition 'art from non art'

Collage is the main theme of the exhibition

Submission deadline is the 3rd April

‘Art From Non-Art’ is a collaborative exhibition celebrating appropriation within the arts, specifically the medium of collage. The title of the exhibition refers to the act of appropriating pre-existing objects and images with little or no artistic value and transforming them into an individual piece of art. Applicants are encouraged to use both traditional cut and paste methods and/or digital manipulation along with any other medium they see fit.
There is no set subject matter for the designs, the only criteria is that all designs must incorporate appropriation  in some form. 

Deadline for Submissions: Monday 3rd april

All pieces should be submitted as a4 portrait format digital files (JPEG or PNG)
The designs will all be screen printed and displayed. Each artist will receive a limited edition screen print of their own submission.
A selection of the designs will also be included in a publication investigating appropriation in art & design in the modern day and throughout history.

Salts Mill

"Salts Mill is set in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saltaire. The Grade II Listed historic mill building was built in 1853 by Sir Titus Salt along with the village to house his workers. The whole area is of architectural and historical interest.

1853 Gallery David Hockney 
Salts Mill is home to one of the largest collections of David Hockney’s art. On the ground floor you will find the 1853 Gallery which houses a permanent exhibition of works by David Hockney. 

Gallery 2 and the Saltaire Exhibition 
On the second floor beyond Salts Book and Poster Shop is Gallery 2 and the Saltaire Exhibition. Gallery 2 has a collection of work by Henry Marvell Carr R.A entitled “The Textile Process” and Simon Palmer’s collection of Saltaire paintings and drawings. At the rear of the gallery is the Saltaire Exhibition which is a fascinating exhibition which explores Saltaire’s history from 1853 to the present day. "


After hearing John talk about how much he loved salts mill I decided to take a trip there and I was amazed at how beautiful the space was. The fresh lilies that John pointed out as his highlight were a nice thing to see and just walking around taking everything was such a relaxing experience. It's somewhere I had always driven past and seen signs for but never been in but after visiting once I'm already making plans to go back over summer.



I really liked the vases they had on display and find the colours so beautiful and they work so well together. I like to take photos of nice colours that work together so that I can swatch them and use the colours in my work and I think I definitely will be using these colours in the future.

DR ME

For our workshop we were put into pairs and given a random word, from this word we had to create a gif containing 10 stills which related to the word. Our word was 'cabal' which means 'a secret political clique or faction' other definitions described it as a large group or secret group. We found nice imagery in a magazine of a free runner and decided to relate this to our work as free running is usually done in a group/ as part of a little community. We decided to have the figure passing through lots of random towns and villages were you wouldn't usually expect to see a free runner to add a bit of humour to our work. Over all I am pleased with our outcome and thought the task was very fun. I'd never made a gif before and after seeing how easy and fun they are to create this is something I'll keep in mind and try use it again in my work soon. 

OK RM

OK-RM identity for Miami beach art fair 'untitled'


What I like about OK-RM's design for the untitled art fair in Miami is that it it is very minimalistic therefore can easily be applied to any element of branding they'll need to produce such as posters, maps, flyers and business cards. There is no set colour and it is very minimalistic. The only colour is this bright pink splash on their tent which attracts attention rather than being black and white.

The versatility of the design can be seen in their tote bag designs and map design.




I like that once you're inside the branding is muted so that the art work stands out the most whereas outside the tent the branding is vibrant and attracts you to it. I think this works really well for something like the branding for an art exhibition, its very minimalistic and versatile.

Charles & Isla - End of Year Show Presentation

(work in college designed by Peter & Paul)

They were working in collaboration with Peter & Paul (a design company that does the branding for LCA) this created a lot of hurdles and restrictions set by them.
The feedback they received was very brutal and not sugar coated like it is in college
To help them with their design they picked apart the brief and chose what was important to them which they said made it easier for them to create work because they were doing something they enjoyed.



To get some idea of what to produce they looked at previous branding from the LCA end of year shows including last years made here exhibition which was very graphic design based. However they found them too clean and minimal and thought they didn't represent the college well as it is a very expressive place to be.
They had to find a middle ground to work at, something that wasn't too out there but something that wasn't too minimalistic so that the college would like it and approve of it.
Peter & Paul gave them an idea to try which didn't work  so they had to go back to their original idea.
They came up with them name Extaordinary as they think everything in college is a bit 'extra' and needs to be celebrated.
As for colours they stuck to college guidelines but slightly brightened them to be more impactful, however they didn't choose anything too dramatic so that it would still fit in with the college aesthetic.

BUILD TALK !!!!

"Build helps clients to communicate, tell their story or grow their brand with contemporary, thoughtful design.

Utilising graphic design alongside art direction, image making, moving image, and typography, they specialise in creating visual communications for forward-thinking clients in design-led sectors.

Builds’ roster of international clients includes Virgin America, Made.com, Getty Images and Nike, as well as a number of independent businesses, designer-makers, and events both in the UK and abroad."

> 26 years in the industry
> References, talking points > Music shaped his design. If he wasn't a designer he would be a musician
> Fascinated by Iron Maiden and their album covers especially the character Eddy
> Moorhead also influenced/ fascinated him
> His dad was a pig farmer and his mum was a nurse. They lived on a  farm
> GD wasn't a big thing when he was young, it was known as commercial art
> At school his art teacher lent him a rotoring pen (rapidograph) which was a tool used by graphic designers before computers.
> Letraset was also a key marker in terms of design, very DIY and used for zines
> Letraset catalogues, all letters in different typefaces
> Calypso favourite typeface when he was younger
> after school he did a foundation in scarborough and found out GD was what he was good at
> Did OND in graphic design in York
> The face magazine, Nevil Brody inspired his typography.


> Rod Clarke from underground magazine was also one of his biggest influences. Taking swiss graphic design and giving it a punk edge.
> He spent 2 years at  New Castle college
HND Graphic Design
However this was the wrong course for him as the tutors didnt understand why he wanted to design record sleeves as they saw no future in it.
> Von Oliver, 4AD records a very collaged design, not very mainstream.
> He did two internships for ID magazine and Designers Republic in Sheffield.
> He phoned up Trevor Jackson, a music producer and asked him if he had jobs going. He worked for him a bit producing stereo MC's which required more skill as this was a time before computers.
> He was then offered a job by Ian Anderson, growing up he listed to a lot of the music that they made sleeves for.
> 1992, very much influenced collage. A very in your face, corrupt computer sort of style. Fluorescent colours.
> Chevrons began to be used in graphic design, bringing the outside in.
> He went travelling for a year which helped with inspiration, he says without that he would've burnt out.
> When starting up build he worked in a basement in Candem.
> He then moved to Fulham and worked from a dining room table.
> Every time he moved his table space increased
> Then he managed to get his own premises and have his own space
> He then moved to Leeds and is still here
> He believes collaboration is key and not to try do everything on your own, work with others who specialise in different areas.
> Gary Hustrint had him feature in helvetica, he then helped with his design on his next film
> Worked for Virgin in America
> Did the identity for MADE.COM
> Worked with Nike for their track and field campaign
> However despite working for big companies he believes working on smaller projects is more rewarding as it helps small business and people directly.

Design Strategy Presentation

The main thing I have learnt so far is the importance of research, before the course the only research I really did was look at other artists doing a similar thing to me and took inspiration from the work they had done. However now I realise the most important research to do is primary and to look into the history of the project I am doing where possible.



For the current project I am looking at the victory parade that came through Leeds after WW2. To get a feel of the actual celebration I visited the town hall as this was the main focal point of the parade. It was weird to be in the same location were the event happened 70 years ago. I had looked online at pictures taken there at the time and I stood in the exact same place that other people did all this time ago.







My favourite project I have done so far is the type specimen I created for my typeface, I like it because it was one of the first things I created that actually had reasoning for every design decision made. I chose the word satisfying and when I thought of satisfying in relation to text I thought about how nice it is when you write a word by hand and its continuous and you don't have to take your hand off the page. I chose the colour green as this is a satisfying colour and is often used in hospitals to be calming. As for the shape I chose a square because shapes with equal sides are seen as satisfying.





One of my favourite things about living in Leeds is the fact that there is always something going one. Whenever I need a bit of inspiration I can find an event happening soon and attend it. One of my favourites so far is the light night that happened in October last year. It was nice to walk around Leeds, to places I hadn't really been to before and look at the installations and performers. Plus it was free so was worth attending.

Another event I attended which I loved was the Hidden Christmas Market at Kirkstall Abbey. It was such an eventful experience. To enter we had to walk through a wardrobe as though we were entering Narnia or something. Then when we finally got in there was a huge snow machine covering us in fake snow. All the performers were dressed as woodland animals and everything was in keeping with this whimsical theme. It was such a cool and weird experience.




For inspiration I often look outside of Graphic Design as I think it gives me a nice break from the work I see everyday at uni. I like to look at interior design related accounts and follow a lot of them on instagram. One of my favourite accounts is Farrow and Ball, a paint company I like to go on their website to help me choose a good colour for my work. I also really like the names of the paints.




I also really love house of hackney and the patterns they create. I think its nice to see how far a design can go. They print on everything from wallpaper, to lampshades to chairs! I really love seeing the room layouts they do and the patterns they use together.




I think its nice to look at interior design and see how similar disciplines that I apply to my work as a graphic designer are also applied to other areas of design. Grid systems and symmetry is used a lot which I think relates well to GD.



I have really enjoyed using the print room so far, it wasn't something I used much on foundation and kept to more digital work however I'm starting to appreciate it more and like the fact it is a method of producing work without having to sit looking at a screen all day. It is something I want to explore more next year.



Another thing I love outside of GD is baking! I hope one day it will become part of my work but in the meantime I want to be able to make more time to actually bake and hope that next year I can find time to bake more!



THE PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE

Overall I am pleased with how confident I was throughout the presentation, I didn't feel as nervous as I had done previously. However because I had a lecture right before my presentation I didnt have time to have a final run through. Because of this it hindered my performance, I ended up been 2 minutes under time which was a little disappointing. I had practiced roughly 10 times the night before and every time I was on or just under 7 minutes!

In future I need to make sure I have time to run through the presentation a few times before actually doing it so I am on time.

Self Branding

SELF BRANDING 

1. Concept

To kick of with some ideas I looked back at the mind map of ideas I had made in our first self branding session. The things that stood out to me from this were baking, photography, seasonal

My ideas were to either focus on the fact I love photography and I'm always taking photos or travel because I like visiting new places and I go home a lot.

 

As for designs I looked at possibly incorporating baking here and thought of making cupcakes to send to people. I also looked at designing my own photo album to send out to people to encourage them to take photos and print. develop them because I don't think many people do this now they rely on storing them digitally. 

 

To design my logo I looked at this idea of travelling to different places therefore wanted to incorporate an arrow to show movement. I wanted to use my initials as I think they are the best thing to represent me.

I did explore other names but I decided just to stick with Lucy Gibson. I find this quite a formal version of my name anyway as most of my friends/ family call me Lu so actually using my full name makes it seem more business like which is what I wanted to achieve. 

 2. Design

The logo design was focusing on the arrow idea I explained earlier, I chose to place the G on a slant so that it looks to be moving in the same direction as the arrow is pointing. As for the circle I thought this was a nice subtle reference to my love of photography and the lens of a camera. 

For a colour palette I swatched a train ticket to again reference my love to travel but I didnt like the colours and didnt think it gave me enough to work with. So I decided to look at some of my favourite photos I had taken and swatch the colours from those. I ended up going with the largest image displayed above.

Here are my business card ideas. The first one is to collage a pattern with cuttings from my own photographs, each business card would have a different arrangement of photos on but be in the same layout. The second idea is to have one of my photographs as the background then the circle logo in the middle of it. The third idea is to have the business card cut out in the shape of a camera. The fourth idea was to have a snippet of an image along side a block of text including my contact details. The final idea was just to have a photo on the front and all the info on the back. I decided to go with the second idea. 

The other thing I wanted to produce was postcards. The designs for these were similar similar to the business cards but on a larger scale.

The final thing I wanted to produce was letter headed paper. I thought this would be useful when sending designers letters because it would be a unique letter.

3. Production

For the business cards and postcards I decided to make them seasonal (relating back to first mind map) I think this would make it exciting for people receiving them to see what my seasonal image would be. I would also change the colour scheme to a colour swatched from the image in use. Here you can see my winter (orange) business cards and postcards and my summer (blue) ones. 

THE PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE

I was really nervous before the presentation as it was in front of so many people and I was scared of messing up. However once I got into it I started to relax so it wasn't too bad,I'm happy now it's out of the way 

Reflective practice

I decided to make my poster up of 16 photos to make up for the lack of photography I have used in my work

 so far. I chose a selection of images ranging from some taken at places I have visited whilst been on the course such as the lake district and Lincoln. I also have many that I have taken whilst exploring Leeds and places I find interesting around the city. 

My poster has no text but the answers to all of the questions are written on the backs of the photos. 

- 2 key things you have learnt

> That if I work really hard through the week I can enjoy my weekends and relax

> Uni halls are awful and the kitchen will never be clean

- 2 key things that have really engaged you

> The briefs and how quick and diverse they are

> Finding new places to eat at in Leeds

- aims and ambitions for level 5 (and beyond...)

> To use more photography in my work

> Look more in-depth into possible careers

- 2 key things that you have not enjoyed

> Design boards

> The cost of printing things




THE PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE

I thought the presentation was pretty casual, I liked the fact it was in a huddle walking around rather than standing up in front of everyone.