CV

Here's a CV I've done.  I wanted it to be quite fun and not too serious, but also to have a personality that sometimes CV's can lack.  As its a CV for a designer the layout is contemporary and I decided not to include the usual information such as past jobs, experience etc etc.  I felt its not really necessary and that an email and blog address will suffice.  I have another CV that's more formal with the boring information that I could always send if requested.

Things that have inspired me throughout the year

This is probably my last post before my journal gets assessed.  Well hand in is tommorow so yes it will be.. I thought I'd list a few things that have inspired me throughout my last year at university - things that aren't design realated but have somehow influenced me as a person as well as my work...  things that have moved me, motivated me or just made my brain tick.....  Im not including pictures because there would be toooo many.  Google them if you can be bothered.

A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson

Omnipotence

Join me - Danny wallace

Stand by me /River pheanix

The black panther movement

Johnny Cash

Johnny Depp

An endeavor across the pacific ocean

Plans to travel

Oscar wilde

Pete Doherty

Frank Turner

The Dictionary

Consumerism/Capitalism

Creative writing - lots of poetry...

Anything acoustic/ guitar

Sleeping rough

oh so many more I cant think and I'm bored too

Ahh I'll do a CV, I almost forgot - that will be my last post

Last years degree show

Here are some photos I took of last years degree show that I thought were the best pieces there, or at least the most inspirational to me.  I have included a variety of different work to show the diversity of the course but also because I usually tend to be influenced by a range of different disciplines and techniques anyway.  I also liked the pieces that were a bit quirky or had some underlying concept that was unique or interesting (rather than just judging the work on face value).  Even though our degree show will be a bit different this year in that it isn't assessed and we wont have our own individual space I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on how past students have presented their work and so decided to share it.

Jonathan Barnbrook Lecture

Oyunga managed to organize for Jonathan Barnbrook to come and give us a talk.  Although I wasn't so keen on Barnbrooks actual style which was heavily typography based, I was really interested in his personal beliefs and principles.  He was an interesting designer in terms of the way in which his chose what work to take on and what to reject.  I was surprised to hear that Barnbrook had turned down work from the likes of coca cola because he believed it to be unethical.  I really respected some of the decisions he had made throughout his carer and liked how he actually cares about the consequences graphic design can have.  He would much rather take on a brief for a charity campaign with good intentions than a very commercial brief that was against his morality, despite the amount of money involved.  There are so many designers and design company that's main aim is to make money. I believe that Barnbrooks approach is one which more designers should take heed of and it is definitely one that I am trying to apply more and more as a developing designer.  I just feel that if you are a good enough designer it can allow you to pick and choose work in this way.  Much of Barnbrooks design work is heavaly influenced by political issues too.  I think that including things that you are passionate about can add a level of intelligence to your work.

Barnbrook also told us a story of how he had met David Bowie when working along side Damien Hirst and how he been able to bully Bowie into letting him design the album cover for his next album after Bowie had stolen Barnbrooks design in what Bowie described as a "homage" to Barnbrooks work - some story!  I have included the album cover below.

In the afternoon Barnbrook gave us an in depth talk about how to get work and how to get recognised in the industry.  I think the most helpful thing I took away from it was about starting straight off as a freelancer.  He said that if you wanted do go freelance then now is the best time to do it.  He said that after uni is the time in your life when you have no real responsibilities like a mortgage and children and especially if you are still living with your parents then you don't really have any expenses and therefore nothing to lose.  It is also true that because you are used to living like a student with very little money it isn't really much of a change of lifestyle, whereas if you were to set up on your own after working for years in a company then yes, you would have more experience but you would have to give up a steady wage to start up on your own initially.

Steve Smith - Neasdon Control Centre

Steve Smith from Neasdon Control Centre gave a lecture on his work and how he had set up his little company which aims to continue, extend and develop involvement with diverse projects drawn from clients, companies and institutions, and, to initiate and develop non-commercial work, both independently and collaboratively. (biggg breath!!)  The company does illustration, art direction, installation, motion and film for a varied list of clients across a wide range of sectors.  I was mostly impressed with Steve's illustrative style which was individual, interesting and expressive, which for me would be recognisable as Steve's if was I was to see it anywhere else.  Steve talked about how he had set up his company outside out London which I found inspirational as most of the work and design companies in the Uk are in the capital.  It re-emphasized the fact that you can still be successful working for yourself from home but I still think it is important to get out and about to get the most out of things.  I enjoyed it when Steve talked about using found objects as inspiration for work as this is something I often do.  He said to go on a long walk in times of low motivation and inspiration. 

Alex Ostrowski talk

We had a talk from a guy called Alex who was a freelance designer/illustrator and had done some work with YCN.  He had some really good advice about how to go about trying to get a job after finishing uni and how he had done it himself.  He talked about being a genuine, nice guy and also said that the whole "stunt" thing wasn't really a good idea.  He said that he had got work by just calling agencies up and asking if he could meet up with them rater than directly asking for a job interview.  He also said to email people a link to your portfolio and then maybe give them a call a week later to see if they got it, but try not to sound to desperate or nagging.  He gave some good tips about presenting your work to clients too... about being organized and knowing what your going to show and say next, but most of all just that if they like you as a person then half of the battle is already won.

I really liked Alex' work which he showed to us as he talked to us.  A lot of the work he showed us was from when he was at university.  His projects were often experimental and fun and things that he enjoyed to do and I think this was reflected in the quality of his work.  Things like his yellow revolution campaign, warm calling (response to cold calling) and also his happy book about his trip to Denmark which was apparently the happiest place to live in the world, were all experimental briefs that had personality and produced results that were engaging and contemporary.  Some of his more commercial work such as the re-design of signs in a hospital ward to help guide patients with amnesia showed that he was also a good practical and functional designer too.  It was obvious he was a very talented designer.

Si Scott Lecture

The lecture we had from Si Scott really influenced the direction of my logo design project for the techno label "Sa:Fire".  Si's work was mostly illustrative but used in a design context which, as he said, was 90% hand drawn and 10% done on the computer.  I think I was so impressed by his work because it reminded of how I used to do most of my art and design work back at high school and college and how I had somehow lost the element of hand craft in my more recent work.  Si seemed like a genuine and down to earth guy and I think his honesty made him more endearing than some of the other lecturers.  I liked how he took care over his drawing.  His passion for what he did really showed in some of his illustrations, especially the intricate ones that must of been painstaking to get right.  Straight after his lecture I decided to get back to drawing and took my logo designs I had done using letterpress, placed tracing paper over the top and began re-sketching out some ideas.   This helped me in a number of ways.  Not only did it help me come up with a better looking and better composed logo but it taught me that sometimes its better to go back to basics when struggling with a design, stripping it down rather than throwing things at a page, which just tends to over complicate it.