Chip Kidd TED Talk

I came across an interesting TED talk by a man names Chip Kidd who creates book covers.

In his talk he talked about his experiences with graphic design and he talks through some of his designs making it funny and engaging. I liked his story of the Jurassic Park dinosaur being part of his book design. I like his passion for book design. He states that a book designer is a interpreter and a translator of what the book is about. He also talks about his hatred of Ebooks which is something that I feel strongly against too. Ted talks are interesting to me as they a short but full of engaging content and can inspire and inform you.

One of my favourite designs which I he talked about in the talk was Dry as he flipped its meaning to make it more interesting and different. I always tend to overcomplicate my designs which is something I need to work on.

Level 4 Fine Art Exhibition

Last Friday I went to an fine art exhibition put on by the Level 4 Art students in out college. I went to support my friends and also because i am interesting in looking at different types of art. I was looking more into the sculptures at the exhibition as that is an area I am more interested in.

This sculpture was created by Jess Cox using metal and the primary colours. She experimented with a metal which she had never used before.

Sonia sat in her sculpture for 2 hours of the exhibition and wrote inside. Her sculpture was about claustrophobia.

Two other works I liked at the exhibition was a butterfly piece made out of wood by Thomas Clayton and a projected piece by Elly Lukoszevieze.

Gift Shop Branding

I was given a brief by two ladies Nicola and Sharron who are opening a gifting shop and needed some branding created for there new shop.
The brief was to work along side them to create a name and logo for the shop which can be used for the shop front and other areas.
After our first meeting I created a mood board of things they said they wanted to start me off on the right track.
We talked about a few initial Name ideas, they said that they wanted colours such as black, grey and pink. They wanted the type to be classy and look high end and the logo to be a gift box with a big bow.

I started by creating some of the names in fonts and adding the chosen colours, I sent them to the clients and they give me feedback on what they liked and didnt like.

 

I started the logos by drawing some gift boxes and adding the chosen colours. They also asked if I could look at text made out of ribbon, when showing them my ideas they said that they do not want very much white included. After a chat  I talked to them about the colour of pink and that it did not portray the classy aspect as well and the agreed to try other shades or no pink at all.

I showed them my final design and they really liked the design with no pink and said the writing fit well. They were happy with the outcome and are now going to use it when they set up there shop in the near future.

Working for a client really helped me to work independently and work on something that has more strict deadlines and is not really a area I am interested in. It also helped me to communicate with the client in a professional way, which is something that I need to work on. Also now this could mean that other people may ask for me to design for them through word of mouth.

Nest Launch

I decided to go to the Nest Magazine Launch Party as one of the interests is publication design. For the event they decorated a building with the works in the magazine, there were the magazines designers there to talk to about the project and making of the magazine. Going to the event helped me to see what can be achieved and also inspired me for my current project of creating a large publication.

Lord Whitney

I went to visit the Lord Whitney studio and listen to a talk by the creative directors Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney. It was very interesting to hear how they got to where they are and where they started from. They were really friendly and open talking about there university experiences and how they got to find out what there style was. By listening to there talked it inspired me to look at university in a different way and also to realise the possibilities of the future.

Photography Lighting

Today I had a workshop on photography lighting. I brought along my books I had made and experimented with how best to light them to make them look professional. I looked at making them have shadows and how that is best for 3d items and that have no shadow by using two lights is good for taking pictures of digital prints. I moved the lights around and changed the brightness of the lamps and flash finding what looked best and experiementing.

I also had a go at other random objects. I found the workshop very beneficial and I now am more confident in using the equipment and I know how best to take professional looking photographs of my work.

Book Binding Workshop

I really enjoy book design and the making of books therefore I found our book binding workshop very interesting. We did three types of traditional binding methods/ folds. They were the saddle stitch, Japanese stab binding and an accordion book. Doing this gave me ideas for my current briefs but also helped me gain knowledge on book design which is an area I am interested in 

Dusk Brief

I have always been wanting to push myself to do smalls briefs out of college to gain experience working for clients. This week a 3rd year Jazz student from Leeds College of Music contacted me asking for my to design them a logotype. They gave me an image that they liked and wanted me to recreate. I used illustrator to create a similar typeface. Small briefs like this have made me gain confident when talking to clients and is helping me start to make a name for myself as an independent  designer. The band really liked my typeface and are using it on cd covers and merchandise. Also due to doing this brief I have been contacted by another band and have been asked to create a logo for them in the next few months. This shows I am putting myself out there as a designer.

Coralie Bickford-Smith

Coralie Bickford-Smith is a designer of books. She went to Reading University to study Typography and Graphic Communication. She currently works in-house at Penguin Books. I enjoy to go into Waterstones and various other bookshops to look at the covers and because I love to read. Coralie Bickford-Smith designs of penguin books really caught by eye due to their repetitive patterns and old textures. The Fox and the Star is her first book that she was the author/illustrator of. It is Hardback and is beautifully illustrated across 64 pages.

I read about her in the book 'New Graphic Design' a book about 'The 100 Best Contemporary Graphic Designers'. In her Philosophy she talked about how 'Good design has to serve the purpose it was intended for. For me the book cover is there to serve the content, so the content has to be taken into consideration. My favourite of my designs are from the Penguin Cloth Bound Classics Series and the Penguin English Library. Coralie Bickford-Smith's work really inspires me due to its beautiful illustrations that are featured in all my favourite book shops.