Hello Again...

It's been a while since my last post, I am afraid I have been a bit lazy with my blog lately. It's been a very busy last month or so, with my mid-term hand in, dissertation hand in and various new projects underway, but from this point on wards I promise I will try and keep up to date with everything that goes on!

So, yes, to fill you in, last month was a stressful one. All of the projects I have completed since September (Summer project, Static, Fleurons, M&S brief, Johnny Hardstaff workshop) had to be handed in for my interim assessment. It was a horrible time finishing everything over Christmas - I encountered too many problems along the way - but it seems that it was worth it as I am really pleased to say I managed to gain a decent first class grade for my work. This has definitely made me realise that I perhaps need to believe a bit more in myself! Let's hope I continue to do well for my final term... scary.

I also managed to complete my dissertation, called "To Have and To Hold: What is the Future of Print in a Digital World?" I really enjoyed exploring this topic, and discovered so much from it which has definitely renewed my love and passion for printed matter. I want to also say thank you to those of you who participated in the study I set up to help me research the topic - 90 people took part and everyone's responses were brilliant and helped me massively! So thank you again!

I'm just cracking into a new brief, which I have set myself. It's a little hazy at the minute if I am completely honest, and I am struggling a little to get into it but fingers crossed once I pick up the pace a bit it will be an interesting one. I want to explore Avant Garde page design, or design in general. A lot of my inspirations come from the early 20th century European Avant Gard designers, for instance El Lissitzky, Kurt Schwitters, A M Cassandre etc. and I often try to incorporate elements of their aesthetic into my own work. But the whole purpose behind what they stood for was to produce work that was different; pushing the boundaries against the norms of society. There are many artists today who try to achieve the same thing, which I don't deny can often be shocking and controversial, but when this philosophy was first explored it was completely radical and new. Can the same thing be achieved in our modern society, or is it less relevant today? It is a mammoth idea to explore, and I am not sure if I will actually achieve the answer or not! More on this later I think.