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:

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!

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.