What Am I Going To Survive On?
Starting Uni/ College can be a daunting experience to begin with. You've left your friends and family at home to live with total strangers, thrown yourself into a completely new environment and signed up to an intensive BA Graphic Design course. From experience, one of the things that I did not prepare for was what I was going to survive on. For a lot of students, instant mash, beans of toast and instant noodles seem to be the way to go. (The rest being thrown on booze and clothes!) There is a sense that student living is all about eating crap all the time, which I personally don't agree with but don't do enough to prevent from happening from time to time.
What am I going to do about it?
Well to start with, I will identify the main areas that relate to this problem: food shopping, budgeting, places to shop for good deals/ fresh produce, recipes, sustaining healthy diet, saving time etc. I've never seen so much food being wasted/ thrown away either being they've gone off or i've cooked too much or because it was disgusting, so I will look into ways to combine left over ingredients, the timing of buying new food and easy student recipes, that share a simple batch of ingredients.
These issues are often caused by:
- People who can't be bothered
- Skint, spent all the money on booze and clothes!
- Don't know how to cook (Or simply too lazy to try)
- Not enough ingredients
- Not enough time
In terms of ways to respond to this, I am thinking of methods to educate, inform, advise or instruct the new first years on how easy it can be to cook good simple food at a low cost while still being able to manage the course and student life.
Although not entirely decided, I intend to produce something that would become a beginners guide to surviving as a student.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Show & Tell
http://www.showandtell.tk
'To lie convincingly'
This was a collaborative project and I got the chance to work with Sam Reynolds for this. We approached the task by looking at different definitions of lying and actually getting some real deep thoughts as to what it is, why people do it, reasons for it, situations etc.
We ended up looking at lying as a fictional thing, the fact that people write in stories in a way that makes it seem realistic. As this brief was received straight after the 'How to...' brief, neither of us wanted to go towards the instructive/informative approach again. Instead we opted for a more creative/ project type of approach. As we also had to demonstrate how 'Communication is a virus', we looked into a way of distribution through the use of the internet, which lead us to the idea of making an interactive website, that would provide a space for creatives to collaborate and network.
Final design boards with concept explained and functioning resolution examples.
Some of the print based resolutions I developed to help advertise and promote the idea of Show & Tell.
Previously developed website layouts that I experimented with, but abandoned due to the lack of time we had left.
'To lie convincingly'
This was a collaborative project and I got the chance to work with Sam Reynolds for this. We approached the task by looking at different definitions of lying and actually getting some real deep thoughts as to what it is, why people do it, reasons for it, situations etc.
We ended up looking at lying as a fictional thing, the fact that people write in stories in a way that makes it seem realistic. As this brief was received straight after the 'How to...' brief, neither of us wanted to go towards the instructive/informative approach again. Instead we opted for a more creative/ project type of approach. As we also had to demonstrate how 'Communication is a virus', we looked into a way of distribution through the use of the internet, which lead us to the idea of making an interactive website, that would provide a space for creatives to collaborate and network.
Final design boards with concept explained and functioning resolution examples.
Some of the print based resolutions I developed to help advertise and promote the idea of Show & Tell.
Previously developed website layouts that I experimented with, but abandoned due to the lack of time we had left.
How to...
... Travel with a laptop!
This week was pretty fun. We started off on Monday by picking a random number between 1-1000. Each number corresponded to a page number from an intriguing book titled 'How to do 1001 things' The one we got would be the one that we'd be working on for the week. I picked the number 73, so I got the exciting subject of 'How to travel with a laptop'.
Again, like the majority of our other briefs we've been working on, this brief was quite restricted due to the subject but also quite broad as we were briefed to 'Respond' to the subject without any particular definition on what they were after at the end. I went straight into a brainstorming different concepts and ideas, considering different formats, target audience, uses, message etc on where i'm going with the assignment. I narrowed things down a bit...
Concept
From my research I gathered that the majority of the people who travel with a laptop regularly, were aware of the safety precautions they would need to consider. Therefore I decided on designing a resolution that would be included with a purchase of a brand new laptop; aiming at the people who are not used to or are new to having a laptop.
Audience
People who have just brought a new laptop, people who are switching from desktop to laptop and not knowing the safety precautions.
Format
Digital print on acetate/ transparent stock
Resolved?
For the final resolution, I designed an instructive/ informative screen protector that would come with a laptop purchase. Aswell as protecting the display, it would be one of the first things the user's see when they open up the laptop. The resolution aims to remind and instruct the users to be more aware of the safety precautions they would need to make with the laptop.
The layout of the design was influenced by comics and instructive flight cards, but carrying a lighter minded approach that would appeal to both younger and more mature users.
This week was pretty fun. We started off on Monday by picking a random number between 1-1000. Each number corresponded to a page number from an intriguing book titled 'How to do 1001 things' The one we got would be the one that we'd be working on for the week. I picked the number 73, so I got the exciting subject of 'How to travel with a laptop'.
Again, like the majority of our other briefs we've been working on, this brief was quite restricted due to the subject but also quite broad as we were briefed to 'Respond' to the subject without any particular definition on what they were after at the end. I went straight into a brainstorming different concepts and ideas, considering different formats, target audience, uses, message etc on where i'm going with the assignment. I narrowed things down a bit...
Concept
From my research I gathered that the majority of the people who travel with a laptop regularly, were aware of the safety precautions they would need to consider. Therefore I decided on designing a resolution that would be included with a purchase of a brand new laptop; aiming at the people who are not used to or are new to having a laptop.
Audience
People who have just brought a new laptop, people who are switching from desktop to laptop and not knowing the safety precautions.
Format
Digital print on acetate/ transparent stock
Resolved?
For the final resolution, I designed an instructive/ informative screen protector that would come with a laptop purchase. Aswell as protecting the display, it would be one of the first things the user's see when they open up the laptop. The resolution aims to remind and instruct the users to be more aware of the safety precautions they would need to make with the laptop.
The layout of the design was influenced by comics and instructive flight cards, but carrying a lighter minded approach that would appeal to both younger and more mature users.
Recognition Day
One of the first brief's we were given after coming back from our Christmas, we were given a week to work on and submit a resolution that responded to a live brief for either Don't Panic or for Recognition Day. With Don't Panic, we were to design a resolution that reflected/ defined/ visualized/ interpreted the word 'Pure', which would be for an A2 print out. For Recognition, we had to design an A6 postcard design that would helped spread the word and the ethics of Recognition Day.
I decided to design for the Recognition Day brief simply because I was more interested in the theme of recognition and the idea of how it encourages people to spend a moment to thank the small things and the people around them. Especially in a time like this and the way society has been carved out like it is, people really don't spend enough time showing their appreciation of other people and the minor things that make a huge difference.
After exploring a few different directions for this brief, I developed a few resolutions with the emphasis on 'Thanking for the small things that make a difference' and that saying thank you isn't a difficult task. I've always had a fascination with tall buildings, huge flats with tiny windows in them, and inside every tiny window is someone's home, their personal space and probably a place that they spend most their lives in. From this, I also looked into the idea of how it can come from anyone, so a few of my resolutions revolved around images of cityscapes.
Final resolution
This was the final resolution and also the design that I submitted. I wasn't satisfied with it at all really. It might have been due to the fact that I was still in my christmas mood, but the first few weeks of coming back didn't go too well. I was quite excited with the brief from day 1 as it was a live competition and that people from ourside our college would see this. I really wanted to do a good job on this and produce something that both responded to the concept of recognition and also reflected a bit of who I am as a designer so far. Unfortunately, I was a bit stuck with ideas on this, quite a few of my iniital ideas had already been done and I really wanted to push my ideas a lot more.
Looking back, there were a few other ideas I wanted to go with, but was restricted due to the time limit we had to work on it. In the end, I finished with a piece of work that i'm not happy with at all, I don't think the messege is too clear and the piece doesn't really convey the thought that i've put into it. I spent to much time brainstorming different concepts and ideas, which meant that I left the practical side till the last minute, which obviouslt restricted the potential of my final resolution. I have however learnt that I need to be a lot more organised, I need to keep on track with the work load, make decisions alot quicker and move on if they don't work out.
Below are a few examples of the other resoltuions I came up with.
I decided to design for the Recognition Day brief simply because I was more interested in the theme of recognition and the idea of how it encourages people to spend a moment to thank the small things and the people around them. Especially in a time like this and the way society has been carved out like it is, people really don't spend enough time showing their appreciation of other people and the minor things that make a huge difference.
After exploring a few different directions for this brief, I developed a few resolutions with the emphasis on 'Thanking for the small things that make a difference' and that saying thank you isn't a difficult task. I've always had a fascination with tall buildings, huge flats with tiny windows in them, and inside every tiny window is someone's home, their personal space and probably a place that they spend most their lives in. From this, I also looked into the idea of how it can come from anyone, so a few of my resolutions revolved around images of cityscapes.
Final resolution
This was the final resolution and also the design that I submitted. I wasn't satisfied with it at all really. It might have been due to the fact that I was still in my christmas mood, but the first few weeks of coming back didn't go too well. I was quite excited with the brief from day 1 as it was a live competition and that people from ourside our college would see this. I really wanted to do a good job on this and produce something that both responded to the concept of recognition and also reflected a bit of who I am as a designer so far. Unfortunately, I was a bit stuck with ideas on this, quite a few of my iniital ideas had already been done and I really wanted to push my ideas a lot more.
Looking back, there were a few other ideas I wanted to go with, but was restricted due to the time limit we had to work on it. In the end, I finished with a piece of work that i'm not happy with at all, I don't think the messege is too clear and the piece doesn't really convey the thought that i've put into it. I spent to much time brainstorming different concepts and ideas, which meant that I left the practical side till the last minute, which obviouslt restricted the potential of my final resolution. I have however learnt that I need to be a lot more organised, I need to keep on track with the work load, make decisions alot quicker and move on if they don't work out.
Below are a few examples of the other resoltuions I came up with.
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