Tube Map

Recently the London Underground pocket tube map has had a new cover designed for it, this was designed by Barbara Kruger. The new cover has took away the station names and replaced them with one-word words that relate to that part of the city for the artist.

This is a nice idea to have for instance Embankment has been replaced with Brilliance. This is probably down to the amazing architecture around that part of London . . . that's how I see it anyway.

Overall this is a good idea for a new cover, it could lead to more opportunities. You could get the public sending in their own versions of this and the most popular ones could lead to another new cover.

Ambient Media

These are a collection of some ambient media that I have come across and I think are really powerful.

These are all strong pieces of work, which have made me go . . . 'I wish I was the one who came up with that idea.' The animal piece which looks like that the pole has stabbed the animal to kill it is a very powerful piece of work which gives such a strong message out even if you don't read what the ad is about.

The Vix bus shelter ad is a very clever idea. I like how they've made out that when the the person breathes up/in it's that powerful and clear the whole ad moves.

Graffiti Snake

Recently I was researching into graffiti as this is something what appeals to me.

Upon my search I came across this image of a snake what someone had done in America.

When I stumbled upon this, I was like wow, I really like this. No, it's not the best drawing of a snake or the most detailed, but how many times do you see a snake interacting with a stair case?

I really like how this person has interacted his art into an element what's around everywhere. This makes the piece more fun and creative instead of a simple painting on a wall.

Signature Balloons

Recently for my final major project I purchased some balloons what illuminated in the dark.

Now these was purchased from a company called Signature Balloons.

I've never used this company before never mind hear it so I didn't know what to expect.

Upon arrival of the goods I opened the packaging and found that they had sent me some free chocolate coins. Straight away this put a smile on my face.

It made me feel like they appreciate my custom, it's not like you go out buy something and people will give you a little freebie as a thank you because you've bought something from them.

With my custom feeling appreciated so much I will make sure I use them again in the future.

David Sedgwick Vs. Mike Rigby

In the three years of studying Graphic Design at Stockport College we have some a fair few practitioners come in from the outside to speak to us about different things such as; their work, life after graduation, how important placements are and what it's like working in the industry.

Deciding who to do my last design comparison on wasn't an easy task considering the amount of designers I've seen over the last three years. When thinking about it, I decided to choose two designers who stood out to me more than the rest. One of these designers was Dave Sedgwick, Dave is my favourite designer to date and the other was Mike Rigby, I chose him because of the impact of his talk with us.

Dave is an ex Manchester Metropolitan student during his time there he worked as a freelancer to get a bit of extra money in which is always a bonus. David has been on placements with Flux Magazine in the Northern Quarter, Splinter in Liverpool and Dinosaur.

Mike is an ex Preston University student. Mike has worked for companies such as, Imagination, Chase (Manchester,) Moon Design, Pentagram and Landor Sydney.

When Dave did his talk he spoke about how serious we take things. This to me is something that stood out and was very striking. As we are students the majority of us are very laidback people who don't think that far ahead, but as we are all trying to make it into the design industry this is something that we should do, the people who are more serious about it have that advantage straight away. Dave's tips was that 'we should be more determined to be successful and being more involved.' Certain things Dave did when he realized this was how he researched into design companies so he could try and get portfolio viewings etc.

When Mike did his talk he approached it very differently to how everyone else. Mike did his talk about the good and negative points about being a designer. Some of the good points about working in an industry like that are; easy to work for yourself, easy to work abroad, all the free parties and people in the industry are very helpful. Although as we all know with everything there's bad points to it, the negative points about being a designer are; long hours/unpaid overtime, poor quality of work and the pressure on you.

Overall these two designer's did their talk differently. For instance Dave did his talk in a big lecture theatre, this resulted in there being more people in the talk, more pressure on us to ask questions, whereas Mike did his talk in the classroom which I found was more relaxing and when at the end we asked questions it was a lot more relaxed we didn't feel like the question was going to be daft and embarrass us or something like that.

In the end both designers did their talks very different, but both was very enjoyable. It didn't matter to me where the presentation was because each talk is interesting and their is always something, big or small, that amazes you with what is said in each presentation.

Portfolio Visit

Recently I went on a portfolio visit with a free lancer called Angela Woosey.

I came across Angela through word of mouth and the fact she lives relatively close to me.

Unfortunately Angela doesn't have her own website where she puts her work on.

The feedback I got from Angela was really impressive. She really liked the posters I have created for the British Literature Festival, how I use space and I'm not scared to be minimalistic on my designs.

One thing Angela recommended was, that I should try and further my projects so they well stand out even more, also it allows people to show that I don't just do the brief and think it's finished.

Portfolio Visit

Recently I went on a portfolio visit to Reform Creative in Manchester.

Initially I was suppose to see Paul but unfortunately he had to rush out in the morning due to a business meeting, which meant I had the portfolio visit with Jamie instead. I had no complaints with this because I still got someone to look at my portfolio.

When Jamie was looking through my work he seemed to be really impressed with my final major project (MOSI promotion) the flyer for the Brass Band Museum in Birmingham and some other pieces I've done.

Jamie spoke about how he liked how the idea of each piece of work was there and mentioned how it tied in with a company like Reform.

The feedback was really good from Jamie, his feedback of detail was really impressive and very helpful.

Overall the visit was really good even if it didn't go according to plan.