Conor Oberst

Devendra Banhart

Springhead Plant Lovers' Day

I've recently been working on designing publicity materials for an event at Springhead Garden. I went there today and took a few photos, it was really great to see people wandering around with the brochures that I had designed.
More photos of the event are here

Tann Westlake

For the second half of my work placement I have been working with Tann Westlake based in Sussex on the re-branding for Littlehampton Harbour. This is a really great project to contribute to and a nice change to spend a long time on one project rather than the quickly produced pieces with Tasty marketing.

Simon, who i have been working with has been really supportive guiding me though what I need to do. I've spent time producing logos and advertisements designed to be in magazines promoting Littlehampton Harbour. the harbour is looking to have a completely new image to appeal at a more liesure boat type market rather than it's current industrial, fishing image. I also visited Littlehampton to get an idea of the place, the weather was quite dull so the photos I took are not wonderful but they were a help for inspiration.

More photos can be found here

Tasty Marketing

For my first work placement I worked a week at Tasty Marketing in the Enterprise Pavillion. This was an interesting week doing very varied work from writing press releases to designing advertisements. This was a useful experience, working in an office related environment however I do not want to do this line of work in the future as it seems very limiting and the idea of working on a computer all day would kill me.

I am incredibly grateful for the oportunity to experience a Marketing company and I managed to produce several pieces that I was pleased with, however I would prefer to be more hands on in my approach to solutions.

V&A

Hanging glass sculpture in the entrance of the V&A

I went to the V&A at the weekend to see the Quilts exhibition, quilts from 1700 - 2010. The exhibition was really interesting and varied, the stories that went with each quilt were fascinating and often moving. The below quilt, 'Punctuation' by Sarah Impey was my favourite, she played between constructing the written word and manufacturing the quilt.

Red Dress

Pencil Drawing

Layout PPRD

I have enjoyed this project the most so far, unfortunately not because of the layouts but because it has given me the opportunity to use illustrations.

I was annoyed at the beginning of this project because I was told my illustration was too ‘me’. I understand why I was told this, that is was too early to settle on a design and that the idea of the course was to experiment. However, this did raise a lot of questions for me as to where I would like this course to take me.

I am an organised and methodical person and unfortunately this shows in my work, making it hard to be loose and experimental. However, being pushed by my tutors allowed me to try techniques I would not have ordinarily. I used 3D letters that I had made out of card, placing them in different environments. I also painted a free hand header with ink that I thought worked so well I decided to use.

I gained a lot from the photographer I was looking at, Bruce Connew. To begin with I was worried about being given a photographer as I felt it limited my illustration options. However, I actually felt very inspired by his work, and by his words. I sent him an email at the beginning of the project with a few additional questions, and although he took some chasing, his reply was more than I could have hoped for. He took a lot of time with his answers even though he knew it was just a university project. He also sent a photo from his new, unfinished series which I felt so honoured to have. He also sent me the link to his favourite photograph, I found the reasons behind his choice so interesting. He made the choice not to use text in his books but the clear amount of thought behind each image makes me really wish he had.

I found it difficult to reflect Bruce Connew’s personality visually in the layout, as people are not as simple as they may appear. His work is thoughtful and organised yet his life is spontaneous and dangerous. I used a combination of organised white spaces and neat base text in contrast to the flowing title page and stamp effect sub-heading. I decided to do the whole article in black and white as I felt this simplicity reflected his words better, it also put emphasis on the layout and typography and image choices. I feel that black and white also gives an idea of photography relating to the past, and black and white photography is a technique that Connew often employs.

I was very pleased with my final illustration as I feel the developments I made to it allowed it to work in a much more interesting way. I used photographs I had taken of someone with a camera to paint a black and white, contrasting ink painting. I then wanted to illustrate Connew’s belief that, ‘we are here temporarily, we’re all migrants, from somewhere to somewhere.’ I then used cut out shapes from the body and added small squares as if they were peeling away. I wanted these to represent photographs, drifting away, ‘the photographs will disappear, the books will fall into the ocean in the next major earthquake.’

I found learning InDesign very useful as it is software I have used frequently recently yet I have never actually learnt how to use it. I found it simple to learn and I know it will be very useful in the future.

In the future I would like to attempt a layout that allows me to be much more free in my designs, experimenting with space and illustrations a lot more. Looking at other magazine layouts I found that the most interesting were either the very simplistic or those that tried something very different.

Magazine Layout

This is my final layout illustration. I used the cut out shapes to show how temporary Bruce Connew believes his photos are, and how temporary he believes life is. I also want the image to show how he believes a photographer will put a piece of himself into a photograph he takes, be it past experience, education or opinion.

Bruce Connew

Today I received an email from Bruce Connew. It was a really thought through response and I am so grateful to him for taking the time to respond. His thought provoking answers have not only helped me with my project but made me think more about my own work and look at his in a different way.

Connew also mentioned where his next project would be taking him, mapping his childhood neighbourhood. He sent an early photo from the series, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest when it is finished.

I really feel now, more than ever that I would like to present the article on him in a way he would approve and show his personality in the choice of text and images.

'Design becomes part of the encouragement of the idea ... it must respond to the idea. Very few designers are capable of that response, it takes a fine mind.'

Another Blog...

For my new personal blog follow this link.