Creative Workshop

I've recently purchased a couple more design related books, one of which being Creative Workshop: 80 challenges to sharpen your design skills, by David Sherwin.
As the title suggests, this book is filled with 80 different mini-briefs. I bought this as it would be something for me to get my teeth into and keep my brain ticking over the summer. I'd say the book was well worth the purchase. Each brief is a small challenge, with its own set time-limit and the book also provides ways to take the challenge fruher and really test your design skills.

 There are 7 different sections to the book; Innovation, Interpretation, Foundation, Execution, Materiality, Instruction and Observation. Each section has a range of relating briefs, each challenging in their own way and very interesting. The challenges really encourage you to be individual, think out side the box and approach briefs in different ways, such as including mixed media and steering away from the computer a little.

 As well as providing the briefs, the book also shows examples of how others have tackled the briefs which is of course very helpful and inspiring. As well as this, the book also provides tips on how to tackle new briefs and mind-mapping and how to really find your design potential, as well as a "Designrandomizer". This is a section of the book which has a range of statements which could be said from potential clients. These are to be chosen at random once you finish a brief, to act as potential feedback, these include such statements as "You're just wrong, start over with another concept from your brainstorm" "Use purple as the anchor colour in your design" "Add twenty years to your target audience" "Make things feel more 'edgy'" etc! I thought this book was a pretty good buy, and definitely something to dig out when I'm lacking a bit of creativity, or looking for something to do!

Personal Branding

Personal branding is something I never quite seem to be completely satisfied with, and I am constantly changing or tweaking things. However, I have finally settled, for now, on a particular brand and hopefully this one may stick a little longer that its predecessors! 

Its pretty minimal, which is good for me as theres less to get bored of and want to change, such as particular colour schemes! I quite like the simplistic look and the hint of typography throughout. 

Portfolio Production - Hand in!

Today was my second last ever hand in, Portfolio Production! This consisted of my A3 portfolio, filled with what I feel is my strongest work, as well as a production file and an evaluation of the portfolio its self. 

Thankfully all was done and dusted with time to spare and I am very happy with the outcome of my portfolio. The layout took many attempts to get just right, but I'm finally satisfied! For now anyway. 

I settled with a double page spread for each project, showing the final designs as well as the design in situ. The images in situ really made the portfolio look a lot more professional, as does the little amount of text and overall clean, sleek, layout.

The Point Design - Week 2

I've now finished my two week placement at The Point design! It has been really helpful at giving me a real idea of working within the industry since it was my first ever placement. Although it may have only been for two weeks I have had the chance to learn and improve a whole load of skills and I am very thankful for the experience.

Monday 15th April
Today was spent mainly finishing off my designs for the Valentines POS packs and well as carrying out any cut-outs I was asked to do.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was actually at university interviews so no work was carried out, however I did receive a conditional offer from Salford University!

Thursday 18th April
Back to business today. I began creating some designs for the Christmas edition of the Original Factory Shop's gift ideas catalogue.

Friday 19th April
Today I finalised all work. I put my Christmas ideas into the Quark template and completed all work.

Overall a very informing and inspiring experience of which I recieved some very positive feedback. Also, since I was only able to do 2 weeks I was offered the opportunity to return for a few weeks in summer.

UCAS Experience - Salford University Interview

Today I had my last university interview at the University of Salford. My interview was bright and early at 9AM. We were first all given a short talk about the course and the modules within the course, similarly to my other interviews I had attended. We were also shown a few short videos explaining the course and showing examples of current students' work. This is always a very interesting part of an interview as although I have previously done my research into the particular course, it really helps with helping decide whether I feel it is right for me. There were lots of elements of the course I really liked the sound of, and there is a lot of student and tutor communication. We were also told about a whole range of little events which the students organise, such as 'Speed Dating', where you're given the chance to sit down with a designer in the industry and talk through yourself and your portfolio in a short amount of time, a great way to organise placements and gain contacts within the industry.

After the talk we were then given a tour of the building whilst the tutors looked through our portfolios. Again, this is always important and really helps me decide if it is the right university for me. Once the tour was over each person was called for their interview.

My interview was a little different to what I expected as I had previously spoken to the lecturer who was interviewing me. I had been arranging entering at year 2 or 3 of the course, in order to top up my foundation degree. When I was called in he had actually already made his decision and offered me a place in either year 2 or 3, whichever I felt most comfortable entering at. The lecturer seemed quite keen to see my potential and see how I would cope entering straight into year 3. Although this is a great opportunity for myself,  I personally warmed to year 2 entry, so I would be able to settle into a new city, as well as have a whole extra year getting to know the area and hopefully organising placements and meeting new people.

I decided to firm this offer and now all I have to do is pass my foundation degree!

The Point Design - Week 1

This week was my first week of my first ever work placement at The Point Design. Throughout the week I've actually learned a lot about working within the industry and it has been a really helpful insight and has been a really positive experience overall so far. My weekly tasks have been...

Monday 8th April
Today consisted of getting a feel for the agency in general and settling myself in. I had a brief meeting with Jane, the creative director, where she informed me about their main client The Factory Shop, and introduced me to a brief I would work on throughout my time at the placement. This brief was to design Point of Sale packs (A3 poster, header card, shelf-talker and arm-end) for different holidays throughout the year such as valentines day, christmas, fathers day etc. These were again for their main clients, The Factory Shop.

I was then asked to create some border designs for a mini-catalogue flyer for The Original Factory Shop. I produced a range of flower borders and autumn leaves and sent them to Jane before the end of the day.

Tuesday 9th April
Today I was introduced to a whole new programme, Quark. This is very similar to indesign and I was given a small 'lesson' on each of the different keyboard short cuts to make it easier for me to get to grips with the program. I also learned just how important and convenient it is to know all my short cuts, especially for use within the industry!

I also began work on the POS packs, I was asked to begin creating some designs for Valentines Day.

Wednesday 10th April
Today was spent continuing with my Valentines Day designs. As I was creating my designs Jane was consistently giving me feedback which was very helpful.

I was also asked to do some cut-outs for The Original Factory Shop's catalogue. This involved cutting out product images using a particular process for them  to be later placed in the catalogue.

Thursday 11th April
Today was spent learning how to create shelf-talkers for The Original Factory Shop. It was my first time using Quark properly and I soon got to grips with it due to its many similarities with InDesign. As I was new to this whole process it did take all day, however by the end I was significantly more comfortable with Quark and the particular design process of the shelf-talkers.

Friday 12th April
I was given the chance to contribute with a live brief that The Point had recived this morning from an upcoming fast food restaurant in Newcastle called 'Ninety Nine'. They had asked for their logo to be re-designed to have a modern, stylish, fresh and contemporary feel. I was given a deadline of the end of the day to produce some ideas to put forward. This was an exciting project to work on and I really enjoyed designing the logos.

So far I have enjoyed my week on placement and have already learned a whole new range of skills which I can continue to develop and apply to future projects.

Work Based Learning - Durham Fashion Week

The final design I chose to use was a mixture of all the styles I experimented with. I used a high fashion image and a very stylish logo which I felt met the brief requirements. I added texture and experimented with the levels and effects of the photograph in order to give a slight grungy look to the overall poster, making it stand out and also keeping it in trend. I also cut up the image to create an almost collage-like effect, which also added to the grungy tone, without taking away the high fashion and stylish effect,  I feel the overall poster design is very modern and meets the brief requirements most out of all of my designs. I kept this sleek look throughout the website designs, making the main focus the fashion photography. I also designed two landing pages one male and one female, which again makes the designs more gender neutral, rather than focusing mainly on women. 

During this particular project I learned a lot about time management due to a short time span to complete the work in, As well as this I feel as though I have further improved my design programme skills. In addition, fashion graphics is an area I have yet to complete a brief in therefore I feel as though I have learned a lot about that area in graphic design in particular.