Wednesday 19 October 2011

New beginnings

I apologise for how long it has been since my last post on here, but things have gotten a little hectic recently. At the start of this month I packed all my belongings up and made my way back to Manchester, after gaining a position as a graphic designer working at a multimedia design studio called Spoken-Image. I have to be completely honest and say I was massively surprised at how quickly I managed to find a real-life-full-time-paid-job-in-the-city after graduating... I was doubting myself greatly at ever being able to find work that wasn't either a. for free, b. required "1 years industry experience" (UGH) or c. freelance (N.B. freelance is fine - if you can get it. Sadly, things had slowed down dramatically for me by the end of the summer, sigh). You'll be aware that it's a really tough time for graduates of all disciplines currently, and I am so thankful that I have been successful in my hunt for work post university, in a relatively small amount of time.

I'm really excited to be back in the city I love and studied in for the past three years, but it is certainly odd being back and knowing very few people this time round (not to mention early starts everyday, and no student discount anymore...) but I was lucky to find a fantastic house with some lovely housemates, so all is well. 



The team at Spoken-Image have been so accommodating of me in the past few weeks and I love the atmosphere in the studio. Despite being massively helpful and co-operative, they have really pushed me to working on some big briefs, and now I am getting more and more projects that I am completing by myself. This has been great for my confidence! It's also brilliant to be able to complete design work that is for a real-life client, and not just something my university has set me. So far I've done a lot of work for one of the studio's biggest clients - The Historic Royal Palaces (The Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Kew Palace and the Banqueting House). It's been really interesting working to strict brand guidelines, and seeing how a brief develops from conception to presentation for such a large organisation. There is a lot to consider, but it's been a fantastic way to tighten up my skills to suit a professional creative environment.

The most exciting, if a little daunting, part of my job so far has been the responsibility I've been given to re-design the studio's website. The company have been around for 35 years now, so understandably have a lot to do, but their own website seems to have been pushed aside for a bit too long and doesn't really do justice to the brilliant work they want to showcase. I have been given the opportunity to now to inject a bit more life into the site, the brief being to "have fun". I love this sort of task, there's no great pressure on me (other than from myself) so I'm really looking forward to seeing everything fall into place. We've had some exciting ideas about page layouts and show-reel animations, and things are getting really interesting. I'm really chuffed with what I have created so far, but more so pleased that I am able to extend my skills range into web design and animation. These are areas I shied massively away from at uni, so it's great to be able to develop them now. I will keep you all updated on how it goes, and the finished article - hopefully this side of Christmas. 

So yes, it's been really busy lately, but all very positive. I hope to keep you updated more in the next few months, but this could come in the form of another account - I will be writing from Spoken-Image's blog and twitter in the near future, so will cross between the two accounts when I can.

Phew.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Freelancing it.

I recently got contacted by a florists based in Manchester, Verdure Floral Design, asking me if I could help them out with some design work they needed doing. I have to admit, we initially began our communications while drunk on a night out, but the less said about that the better; I was just very lucky to be in the right place (a bar) at the right time (about 2 in the morning). After this encounter with Adi - the director of the company - I wasn't completely sure if I would hear from them again, but fortunately a few days later he contacted me and was really positive about wanting to work with me.

The brief was quite short notice; to re-design their business cards and produce a flyer to be situated against their floral display at  the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show that was being held this week. A fairly simple task, but I really enjoyed communicating with Adi and Kai (the managing director) in order to fulfill what they wanted. What's even better is that they were so happy with how I responded to their requirements, that they've asked me to continue working on more projects with them. There's a lot they want me to do, and I'm chuffed to be able to continue working freelance while I hunt for more permanent jobs. Keep your eyes out for more from me and Verdure! Below are some images of what I have already done.





Visit Verdure Floral Design's site (soon to be updated by myself) to check out what they do: www.verdure.co.uk

Saturday 9 July 2011

Getting myself noticed...

Well after all the excitement of my degree show, things have certainly died down a little, but now is the time to do something to get myself noticed. I'm proud to say I'll be graduating with a First Class Honours degree on the 22nd July - which I am over the moon about - but now it's time for me to crack down to the difficult and daunting task of finding work.

It's safe to say, that given the time of year, agencies and studios across the country will be inundated with design graduates trying to do exactly the same as me; gain experience with them - or even better a paid job,  but how can you guarantee you'll be noticed? The answer is, you can't, but you can definitely make it easier for yourself by approaching them in the right way. I discovered this helpful site, that gives a brilliant checklist of actions to take when applying for work - http://yoo-hoo.org/  - definitely things to be considered for sure!

The approach I've taken is to produce a document, that will not only contain my CV, but will act as a mini portfolio too. I wanted to make sure it won't be missed, so I've bound it with varying Dayglo card covers, which although slightly blinding, look pretty darn striking, I must say. Here are some images; I'll be sending these off to varying well-researched agencies / studios that I would love to meet, let alone gain some experience with. If anything, they will help spread my name around my local design companies, and will hopefully help direct me to something exciting. Watch this space.




Sunday 19 June 2011

On Your Marks...


Our long-awaited degree show finally opened on Friday night, and I have to say, it was a fantastic evening. Hundreds came to view the work on display - including my own - and plenty of beer and wine was consumed in the process. I was really surprised at the turn out, and excited to see what responses we would get towards our work. 



I was really fortunate to have my work positioned in a brilliant place; right next to the bar, and visible from the corridor on which our show was being held. It was so good to see so many people there and watch them try and decipher what my A1 poster* was saying, needless to say there were a lot of confused and curious faces! My piece is a poster presenting a typeface I have developed, titled AlephBeth. The typeface represents the evolution of our alphabet, and predicts the next generation of written language. Cue cheesy photo of myself next to my work....



So far I've had some awesome feedback about my work; particularly from Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic, and Creative Times; who should be featuring my work in the near future. Also, most of my business cards have been snapped up too, so fingers crossed something good will come out of that as well. Keep your eyes peeled for updates / links soon. 

I just want to say a massive thank you to John McPartland, Kenneth Moore and the tutors for branding and curating such a fabulous show. Check out the website here; www.onyourmarks2011.com and do pay us a visit, we are open until Weds 22nd June, 4th Floor Chatham building, MMU. I also want to say how brilliant an experience uni has been! I'm seriously going to miss the place, and the Design and Art Direction course; it's definitely the end of an era... but also the beginning of something amazing hopefully.

*Poster Definition: "We must explore the dynamic of the typographic engine in a way that steps away from the strictures of our conventional alphabets."

Friday 10 June 2011

I'm back!

Hey folks,

Sorry it's been a very long time since my last post. I had to shut my blog down for a while during the busy deadline period, but I am back now and aim to carry on blogging despite now being finished with Uni. I've had an amazing few years, and have learnt so much. It's a pretty daunting time right now; waiting for results, planning the degree show and then being out in the big wide world! Scary.

For those who can make it to Manchester, our degree show starts on the 17th June, at 5pm. This is the private viewing, with drinks and snacks and lots of chats. It will be running until Weds 22 June, so please do try and have a visit. My work will be there, along with everyone else from the course, and I have to admit, there is some cracking stuff on display! For updates and more info about the show, please follow @OnYourMarks2011 on Twitter, or visit www.onyourmarks2011.com !

So to keep this post interesting, here are some images of what I've been doing for the past few weeks, enjoy:

Saturday 30 April 2011

Eastern Electricity

Back when electrically powered utilities were still a novel idea! I found these adverts from a set of magazines that my dad had been given from the 40s and 50s. They were found in editions of "East Anglian Magazine", which featured many thrilling articles including "East Anglian Humour", "Small Pox in Norfolk" and "Goat Keeping".  Totally spiffing, I'm sure you'll agree.








Thursday 28 April 2011

All Tropic Competition Entry

So here's the design I've entered into All Tropical's latest competition. Based upon one of the nation's favourite ice lollies, 'Like we did last Summer' evokes happy, sunny memories of the seaside, ice cream vans and days out. Please vote for me so I have a chance at wining their brilliant prize (£150, plus the t-shirts printed and sold online)! 


Follow the link here: http://www.alltropical.co.uk/live_html/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=691:rate-qlike-we-did-last-summerq&catid=6:latest-designs-for-vote&Itemid=34

Thanks!

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Kemistry Gallery: Roger That!

While in London, I also nipped across to Shoreditch to Kemistry Gallery. I'd heard about a typographic exhibition that was being held there, titled "Roger That!", based upon the phonetic spelling alphabet, developed by The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The work had been created by EatSleepWork/Play, Inventory Studio and Julia. It seemed such an intriguing concept to me; I am very much interested in experimental and exploratory typography, so I was really looking forward to it. 


After getting lost for a while I discovered the gallery, which was a tiny unit down a lovely little cobbled street. I was a little disappointed that it was so small, but the exhibition itself was so charming that I soon overcame my disappointment. Spread across 3 of the walls was a narrative, broken up by the letters of the alphabet, printed on A3 sheets in 2 colours only. Each of the posters portrayed the phonetic spelling of each letter, some in an obvious way, some in more abstract ways. It was a really lovely representation, and certainly brought a smile to my face. It was a great approach to marry a narrative with the phonetic spellings, as it made the experience more interesting and I loved the witty and imaginative tone to their work. It has definitely given me the desire to create work that has more character and fun to it. Here are a coupleof my favourite letters:



C - Charlie > Charlie Chaplin. 



E - Echo > The story of Echo the Greek nymph

Tuesday 26 April 2011

More stamps...

Saw some of Wim Crouwel's designs for postage stamps at his exhibition at the Design Museum in London the other week, they're beautiful. Images  from Iain Follett's flikr collection found here.


Sunday 24 April 2011

Philately

I found this old stamp from 1965 on an old envelope containing a letter to my grandparents. It's not a rare one, but I think it's lovely. This was before they had introduced first and second class postage. I really want to start looking for more stamps, (even if it is a little on the geeky side) and I've been encouraged to do so by Mike from SoMuchPileUp (one of my favourite blogs). They have a great selection of amazing stamp designs from the 1960s-80s, be sure to check them out.

Wim Crouwel: 'A Graphic Odyssey' at London's Design Museum

I'd been hearing about this exhibition for a while on Twitter and via various blogs, so I knew I had to take a trip down to London this Easter so to not miss out.

As I walked across Tower Bridge (which is a breath-taking experience in itself), I could see the Design Museum, with Wim Crouwel's recognisable identity design emblazoned across the exterior walls in the distance, and my excitement grew rapidly.  I've sadly not yet been able to visit the Design Museum, despite it showcasing many amazing design exhibitions in the past, so I was really looking forward to my visit.



The Dutch designer has had a prolific career, and this is evident as soon as you stepped into the exhibition space. I was totally overwhelmed with the size of the display, and the amount of work that was being showcased. Crouwel is regarded as one of the 20th century's leading designers, and you can see why when viewing his work. I was really taken aback with how much he had produced; from posters to brochures, and typefaces to calendars, it really was an inspiring collection of formats and designs. I was particularly drawn to the far wall, which showcased some of the identity designs he had produced, as they were all such simple - yet impressively clever - pieces of design. It surprised me that I was drawn to this particular area of his work, as I really struggle when trying to create identity designs. For some reason, it isn't my strong point, but definitely something I want to push myself into doing more often.

Another area of work that I was really excited by was the work he produced for Stedelijk museum, Amsterdam (with Total Design). He helped create a series of really beautiful posters and brochures, which blew me away. Their bold use of colour and type was expertly considered, helping to produce some incredibly striking pieces of design.


I felt completely in my element while at the exhibition, I probably spent over an hour studying his work and making notes and sketches. I even felt inspired to start generating ideas for one of my projects. It was a really great experience, and has made me want to try and see more exhibitions when I have the chance.



Abram Games: Talk from Naomi Games

I was extremely excited to discover that the daughter (Naomi Games) of one of my all time favourite designers, Abram Games, was coming to present to us the work and story of her father. I've long-appreciated his work, and had already been to see the exhibition that Naomi had curated in Sheffield last year, so was eager to discover more about Abram, especially from someone with such a close connection to him.

Abram Games first learned about being creative from watching his father, who was a photographer, at work. It was here that he was first introduced to the most influential tool of his career - the air brush, which his father would use to touch up and add colour to the slides he had taken. At 15, Games left school with the desire of becoming a poster designer; yet his head teacher dismissed this by saying he would never make it. Little did he know...

Games went on to produce some of Britain's most iconic poster designs and, in 1942, was appointed as the only ever official war poster artist. According to Naomi, his posters told the truth; which hadn't been done before, and yet many couldn't handle these truths. This led to some of his designs being discontinued and banned. A great example of this is his famous "ATS" poster from 1942, more commonly described as the "blonde bombshell". This beautiful poster was banned due to concerns that it was far too risqué for a British audience, and perceived the Auxiliary Territorial Service woman as more of a sexual object than as a persuasive tool. 




It was really lovely to be able to see Games' work from a more personal standpoint, however I was a little disappointed with the overall atmosphere of the talk. Naomi was clearly very proud of her father and his achievements but the talked seemed less of a personal insight than I was anticipating, causing it to feel a little forced and lack-lustre. This was probably due to the fact that she has done countless talks similar to the one we were involved in, but I still felt a little disappointed that she didn't go further in depth into Abram's design approaches.


Despite this, the lecture was still quite inspiring and I discovered a lot more about Abram that I hadn't previously known. His work is truly beautiful and it is clear that a lot of time and skill went into producing his designs. He was definitely passionate about what he did, which was apparent from the advice he would give to his students: Always remember the '3C's': curiosity, concentration, and courage. I find the last two particularly difficult areas to get to grips with when approaching my own work, so it was encouraging to hear it from one of my favourite designers! 

Saturday 23 April 2011

All Tropical


My blog (this thing right here) was selected as All Tropical's favourite blog of the week! Really humbled that they  found it and were impressed by what I have to say. They gave me a lovely write-up:


"Another blog from an All Tropical Member. Gemma is studying Design and Art Direction at Manchester School of Art. There is a lot of interest here for up and coming designers and fans of visual art more generally. Gemma is a brilliant writer and it is very refreshing to see a blog that somebody has put so much care and attention into."


 Thanks guys!

All Tropical is a platform for designers to promote their work by entering designs to be screen-printed on t-shirts. What's more is that there's the opportunity to win £150, as well as your t-shirts being printed and sold if your design is picked as the favourite of the week. Check out what they do here.

I've recently entered a design into their latest competition, to produce an idea based upon your representation of Summer. I will post some images of my design once the voting is open on the 27th April. Keep your eyes peeled!

Hand drawn type

Experimenting with some hand drawn lettering, wanting a more crafted aesthetic for my latest project, (but also because I've wanted to be able to enjoy the sunshine and unfortunately the glare on my screen has limited me from creating anything digital...)

More...


Friday 22 April 2011

punctuation marks

Here are some illustrations I have produced for my latest project. They need a lot more development yet, but looking forward to where this project is heading. I've been looking at punctuation and grammatical errors (as it is one of my biggest pet peeves) and a way in which I can help people to overcome their mistakes in a light-hearted way. NB: I am aware that I too can make mistakes, I'm sure you'll find some on this blog!





Wednesday 20 April 2011

TYPE MATTERS!

A few weeks ago, my tutor John invited me to attend a lecture that was being given to another of the university's courses about Typography. I wasn't told who was speaking, or the purpose of the lecture, but was intrigued to discover more especially as my current project was type-based.

(Images courtesy of Creative Review)

I soon discovered that the session was being given by Jim Williams, a lecturer from Staffordshire University, who is an advocate of good type design. He is also a member of the prestigious New York Type directors club, and has been awarded with many notable design awards. Recently, Jim has completed a small booklet titled "Type Matters!" (a more detailed book format is due to be released next year), which highlights the importance of correct type usage and the common mistakes people, particularly designers, can make when designing with type. It's a lovely little publication, really nicely designed, however not widely available (you have to contact Jim and pay a small fee of £5 to purchase a copy).


Jim's talk was really helpful and interesting. He ran through the main elements of type usage that are often used incorrectly or misunderstood, including sizing, column width, hyphenation and widows and orphans. I've discovered personally, that these elements can be so easily overlooked so it was great to have this refreshed in my mind for when I came back to my projects. 

Jim also talked us through some of his favourite and most influential type designers. These included some of my favourites also, such as Herb Lubalin, El Lissitzky, Jan Tschichold and Fabien Baron as well as many I wasn't as familar with. These included John McConnell, Gene Frederico and Otto Storch, who have all produced some really beautiful type-based design and definitely work that I will refer back to again further on in my studies.

John McConnell

Otto Storch

Gene Frederico

Jim explained that, although his book focuses mainly on type from printed formats, it doesn't have to just be a 2D representation on screen. Designers such as Sagmeister have used more crafted techniques to produce their type pieces. This was really significant for me, as I'd really been struggling to produce more experimental type work; I was too focussed and concerned with producing it digitally, which as I soon discovered is not my strong point. 

I really enjoyed Jim's talk, he was clearly passionate about everything that he did, including teaching the students at Staffordshire Uni. He showed us some of the work they had produced in response to an experimental format brief. The pieces varied from large-scale A0 sized books to books encased in perspex and moulded into shapes. They were really beautiful and incredibly imaginative, and I was highly impressed with the amount of creative skill his students presented. A fascinating session.

Monday 11 April 2011

Graphic Design and the Dotted Line, Russell Hancock

Lecture and Portfolio Discussion.



Russell Hancock is a freelance graphic designer, who came to talk to us about his experiences in the industry, but more importantly about what to expect / how to set up as a freelance designer when leaving university. I was really interested to hear what he had to say about this, as so far this is an area we haven't yet covered while on the course.

Before becoming a freelance designer, Russell worked in a collective called "Soup" that he set up with friends from university. They gained a series of small-name clients, which gained him experience, but his most influential work was the publication they produced for free titled "From Carn to Cove". It was this that gained Russell more work. Although the majority of the work Soup created was small-scale and for free, Russell told us to be very wary of clients expecting free work. Although good "for exposure" this is often just a way of taking advantage of your skills for free.

After a while at home, Russell gained a job at Empire design agency, who create many of the movie posters that we see advertising films today, but sadly lost out to a permanent position there (much to his disgust) and then worked for ASHA (Arthur Steen Horne Adamson) where he found it to be a bit of a pyramid-shaped business and his opinion didn't matter. Despite this, he got to work on some brilliant projects and gained a lot more experience.

Russell's biggest job to date however, happened a lot out of luck - he saw that his local old art-deco cinema was becoming more and more dilapidated, so he wanted to improve it, and try to get the owners to re-open it. He and a friend helped to decorate the exterior of the building for free and he produced a petition to open up the cinema again. The cinema was bought by a new owner and is in the process of being renovated and restored. The owners also have plans to create a franchise, and now Russell has the opportunity to create the branding for a whole series of cinemas.

In terms of freelance, Russell gave us a lot of really helpful hints:

- Get money upfront and a signature
- Be sure of your opinions, but rememeber... it is just an opinion
- Demand respect, but all in all keep learning
- Assess free work carefull
- Act professionally
- Remember people, and be remembered
- Sometimes clients are bad(!)
- Don't be afraid to talk about payments / salary
- Be organised
- Digital portfolios are a MUST

These may seem like common sense, but can be so easily overlooked, so it was really helpful to have someone drill them into us.

I also spent some time talking through my work and portfolio with Russell, which was really helpful. He gave us even more tips on how to create and present a successful portfolio, be it in paper or digital format. I was really pleased that when talking through mine he was very impressed with what I had to show. My portfolio has always been one of those "hazy" areas, where I've never been too sure how to present my work best. I've had quite a lot of contradicting opinions on it so far, mostly less positive from my tutors because they want me to push my presentation further, yet a lot more positive responses from others. I'm a little bit confused at the moment, but I think I want to develop it more as it is a little... generic. Here is an example:




The Value of Design, MDS. 23/3/2011

Forgive me, once again I am incredibly behind on my blog entries!



There was a lot of buzz about the Manchester Design Symposium on various social networking sites and forums, which got me really excited to find out more about the event. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to purchase a ticket, so when I discovered that my university course would be holding a "lucky dip" competition to win one, I leapt at the chance and was very pleased when I discovered I had won one.

Organised by Design Initiative, in partnership with Independent Northern Creatives, Manchester City Council and Manchester Metropolitan University, the symposium focussed on a central theme throughout the day – ‘The Value of Design’. Many speakers were to participate in the symposium, Si Scott (Si Scott Studio), John Walters (Eye Magazine), Bruno Maag (Dalton Maag), Jonathan Barnbrook (Barnbrook) and Tom Dorresteijn (Studio Dunbar). With such an exciting mix of speakers, I couldn't wait for the day to begin.

"Bee" part of Si Scott's "Airborn" illustration series.


Professor David Crow (Dean of MMU and designer/writer) opened the symposium, and introduced Si Scott, a UK based artist / designer who primarily works with hand-drawn typography and illustration. I felt a little bit sorry for Si, as he seemed a little overwhelmed by the size of the audience (most likely down the fact he was on strong pain-killers for a back injury) but he gave us a great insight into the work that he does. He has such a laid back attitude about what he does, and spent a lot of his session talking down about the work he creates (which is a shame seeing as it is all so beautiful) but he was interesting and his talk was thoroughly enjoyable.  Si gave us insight into the value of originality and his annoyance towards those who try to imitate his very distinctive style - "the whole idea of my work, is that it is my work" he explained. He also described how he dislikes using computers to produce his work. "I'm rubbish at it," computers are too fast for him, and he finds that they have the ability to dilute design too much. Si prefers to be spontaneous, and doesn't like to plan ahead with his ideas - which often causes problems with clients who like to see the development of ideas. Si has even walked out on prospective clients because they wanted to restrict his personal style. A really interesting talk.



Second to talk was John Walters from Eye magazine. A writer, editor and publisher, John isn't necessarily a designer but has always been involved with it. John explained how we should value design in 5 ways: editorially, culturally, functionally, financially and educationally. "There's more to design than just following a brief" - as a graphic design student, I couldn't agree more with this response! John talked us through some of his favourite covers, articles and interviews from eye magazine, which was fascinating.

Current issue (79) of Eye magazine

Next up was Bruno Maag of Dalton Maag, who specialise in type and identity design. For Bruno (and many) type is the fundamental element of design, and fonts are some of the most valuable assets a designer can make use of. I found his talk so interesting, as I am currently developing my own typeface and it is a process that is somewhat overwhelming. "All you need is some black and white gouache," explain Maag, "technology is not a necessity". This was a useful tip - when working on my own designs after the symposium, I closed my laptop and just used a paintbrush and ink. It allowed me to create more interesting free-hand characters than I would have been able to produce using computer software. Bruno talked through Dalton Maag's "Ubuntu project", an open source system that offers free applications and software to the community. Dalton Naag developed a 13 style typeface in order to speak to all of Ubuntu's customers, an example of how fonts can give value to the community.

Example of Dalton Maag's Ubuntu typeface


Jonathan Barnbrook gave a fascinating, and often hilarious, talk about the value of fonts. His talk was structured under various different topics, all of which he linked back to the work that he and Barnbrook and Virus fonts creates. The topics were as follows:

1. A better society through more rational typeforms (in which he talked about his first font, Utopia and one of his more controversial typefaces, Prozac).
2. Appropriate forms for new technology (his font Bastard was created as a response to "legible" commercial letterforms, Barnbrook wanted to created the most illegible, legible font)
3. Appropriate forms from new technology (Shock and Awe was created based on the type found on the side of tomahawk bombs, and Stealth was created from Stealth bomber letterforms)
4. Appropriate forms for new language (Nixon was a typeface to tell lies with, Drone is for text without content)
5. Appropriate forms for showing the parameters of language (Tourette - based on swearing but not aggressive in aesthetics. Expletive, also based on swearing but has the charm of someone who wouldn't)
6. Subverting existing forms to tell a new truth (Olypukes; olympic pictograms changed to represent the more negative side of the event)
7. Creating and utlising beauty to understand the past (Exocet and Infidel, both based upon historical scriptures and lettering).

Again, discovering more about the type designs Barnbrook creates was really helpful for me and my own typeface explorations. Barnbrook's talk really aided me in my research, especially as he is quite experimental and controversial in his approach. A really great talk.

Section of Barbrook's "Expletive" typeface.


Last but not least was Tom Dorresteijn, from Studio Dumbar based in Holland. Tom's views of the value of design, or the "design of value" often linked back to the ability of turning people on; how design should touch the emotional channel of people. As well as taking though some of Studio Dumbar's work, his talk was filled with a lot of very thought provoking statements and pieces of advice, for instance he explained how we "shouldn't try to become someone else, but become who we are. Try to enrich what you do with the broader horizons of design. If you don't you will limit yourself". It was a really insightful talk, especially for those of us in the audience who were students about to embark on careers in the industry.



Dutch Chamber Choir from Studio Dumbar on Vimeo.



Wednesday 30 March 2011

"Computers are a great way of making shit faster"

Brian Cannon, of Microdot, came to talk to us the other week. I was already aware of Microdot's work, so was quite excited to discover more about what they do. Working predominantly in record label / sleeve design, Microdot was set up in 1990 by Brian. He explained how, from an early age, he knew that he wanted to enter the creative industry, and this was encouraged by his father - a coal miner with a taste for art. As Brian grew up, he found himself becoming more and more influenced by music such as The Sex Pistols and their iconic artwork produced by Jamie Reid.

Brian is an advocate of non-computer-based design work. Brian favours working with hand-made collages and photoshoots, which he prepares for weeks in advance, believing the image is king. With this in mind, Brian prefers to use small and simple type when producing his artwork, for he feels too much can interfere with the narrative of the imagery. He was also influenced by the symbolic paintings of Jan van Eyk, which further encouraged him to incorporate more of a narrative in his work. A good example of this is the artwork he produced for Oasis'  Definitely Maybe album. Each of the elements featured in the image were strategically positioned and planned in advance in order to form meaning. Brian also showed us a practice image that was taken weeks prior to the actual photo shoot, featuring himself laid on the floor in the position that Liam was later to take for the official shot.



Brian was a really enthusiastic speaker, and had a clear passion for the work that he does. It was really inspiring to see how far he had come in his career. He admitted to his "big-break" involving himself and Liam Gallagher (from Oasis) in a lift, during which Liam complimented him on his shoe-choice. Soon a relationship with the band had been formed and Brian was to create the majority of their albums' artwork. I questioned Brian on whether he felt he would be doing the same job if he hadn't had that break. "Most definitely," he replied "this is what I always wanted to do, I'd have got there somehow or another but I was just very lucky that day". This determination and pride was really refreshing to hear, as so often we have lectures from people who seem to have become a little too complacent about the work and status that they have achieved. Brian works to the best of his ability even if he isn't keen on the actual project - which is a valuable behaviour to pick up, as I find myself becoming very unmotivated if I don't enjoy the brief I've been set. I guess you have to make it your own though, and it is clear to see this is exactly what he has done. Brilliant.

osa/ MERZEN/

Recently around Manchester, there has been a festival showcasing exhibitions and happenings the have been inspired by Kurt Schwitters. Titled MERZMAN, the festival explores the artist's legacy in modern architecture and contemporary art practice. A month or so ago, I went to view Ingo Gerken's exhibition at Castlefield Gallery as part of the festival, which if I am honest I was completely disappointed by. With this in mind I really wasn't sure what to expect but wanted to experience Cube's event with an open mind.

It was an odd set up - at first I wasn't sure whether I had entered the correct room, as it was filled with planks of wood, old doors, scraps of building materials - and even a broken litter bin - which was curious to see in a gallery space to say the least. It looked like a junk site, however we were soon given a run-down of what the show was about, and there was a lot more material to read which helped explain the idea behind the show. This was already an improvement on the previous Castlefield exhibition, as previously we hadn't been given any explanation of what we were supposed to be viewing. 



osa's installation was a representation of Schwitters' well-known collage technique, which he called Merz. The artist invited the public of Manchester to bring along any found or unwanted items that could be contributed to the installation (hence the "junk" we discovered on entering the building). The idea was to transform the gallery in order to blur the border between existing space and installation, or frame and content. This is exactly what Schwitters' was exploring in his collages - one of which was featured as part of the exhibition. His work has been really highly regarded by me for a very long time and it was amazing to see it on display as I have yet been able to do so. His collages are so intricate and visually stimulating. I loved the fragments of old type and stamps the most.



The exhibition set up, allowed me to view these random fragments of Manchester in a different light; plastic construction fencing cast vivid shadows on the wall and the orange colour contrasted beautifully to some planks of wood that had been hung next to it. Roadwork barriers held from the ceiling formed layers against the gallery's fan. I began taking photographs of what I saw, which themselves became installation collages. Here are some of my favourite snapshots:






I thought this was a much better representation of the Schwitters legacy. It was interactive, dynamic and really made you view the somewhat mundane elements in a different way; a sort of beautiful context displacement.