1 day Brief

1. Environment
2. Read the 2 pieces of writing attached (Georges w, species of spaces and Baker, Nicholson, the mezzanine)
3. Return to college and write up your findings.
On a4. Typeface Zurich Roman. 9 point with 13 point leading. 600-1000 words. Do not edit. Put your name and environment on the paper.
4. check you have followed the above instructions correctly
5. hand in your printed copy by 4pm.

We all had to pick places out of a hat. I think I chose the best..a pub!! So off I went to Whetherspoons in stockport. And here is what my day consisted of....

Hayley Parle Beer Garden - Wetherspoons Stockport 21st April 12:00

Its sunny and very warm. Everybody seems happy, I think its because of the weather. Pints of lager, glass of red wine, people are drinking at this time on a weekday. Names have been scratched into the table. Old man shouts Steven, Steven walks in with a huge Rotweiler, who gets annoyed by a wasp. The wind is picking up as the sun has hidden behind a cloud, everybody still seems happy though. The garden is equipped with palm trees and exotic plants. I think they are trying to make it look like a paradise. Not doing a very good job at it though. Some scally bloke has jus spat on the floor. Ewwww he has just done it again, that is disgusting. Some bloke has just introduced himself to me as “love doctor” this must be the kind of people this place attracts. It must be dinner time as it is getting busier. Oh a pink ball has jus flown over the fence and bounced on a table, luckily it didn’t knock any ones pint over. Oh love doctor is now saying he is spiderman and is attempting to climb over the wall. The ball got kicked back over. The Rotweiler isn’t happy. He is getting shouted at. Chit Chat is all you hear. Think it is time to have something to eat. The menu is quite good, pretty cheap. Hmmmm what should I have?? Stop swearing stupid man. The floor is mouldy, how nice. Oh god scally grandma is bladdered. One of the windows on the door to the pub is smashed. I wonder how that happened? Probably someone drunk and fighting. The beer garden is surrounded by an unstable looking fence. I think if someone leant on it, it would surely just fall down. I think there must be a school near by, you can hear children playing, that must be where the ball came from. Ooo someone has just ordered double cheese burgers, they look well tasty. “Love doctor” is trying to steal them. The waitress isn’t impressed. A god dam hover fly is doing my head in!! Just go away!! Oh my god the bloke who was swearing has just got some brand new nike trainers out of a Matalan bag and put them on, they have still got the security tag hanging off. Blatantly just been robbed. Seriously where are we?? “Eggy is after ya!!!”

Sat inside now, it is a lot quieter in here. The table we are sat at is really untidy. There are mugs and tea bags everywhere. It smells nice in here, its the food. Someone is tidying it up now, about time. The carpet is full of stains and so are the chairs we are sat on. There is no music on, which I think is why it seems very quiet. You can hear the IT box playing, Deal or No Deal. Just ordered some Nachos with chilli, it had best be nice. It isn’t as eventful inside as it was in the beer garden. Auww some old man is struggling carrying his dinner. Food is here, that was fast, these nachos look like they have been sat waiting around for a while. The chilli is nice, not too spicy but also not much heat. These Nachos taste like cardboard. I am really let down. Two women have just come in with new born babies. They are tiny. The television is on sky news channel. It would be more useful if they had the sound up but still all you can here is the IT box, which is strange for a pub because usually its chit chat you can here. The scally bloke who enjoys spitting is on his way to the bar, he is on crutched, this will be fun watching him carry a beer on crutches! I wonder what he has done? I think he has probably been shot. After being let down by the nachos I think I will have a chocolate fudge cake. Cant be let down by the chocolate fudge cake. Hmm i can smell curry that smells nice. The bloke on crutches is back, he is carrying them in one hand and the pint in the other. That is pointless. These fudge cake is beautiful, it is warm and really fudgey. Ice cream. The waitress was a bit rude though. Its not too difficult to smile. I think its time to go now. The weather outside looks nice again woooo.

Craig Oldham

Today Craig Oldham came in to talk to us. Craig has only been graduated 3years, he used to work for the Chase but is currently working for Music. Whilst at the chase he did a publication called 12 in 12 (12 things you might learn in your first year as a designer) This publication did win awards.

Craig talked through all 12 of the points. He brought up a good point to Graphic designers, he exaplined you are either a logical designer or an emotional designer. Which one are you? This question really did make me think. Logical designers doing things that have an obvious purpose like toilet signs, no parking signs ect.
Then on the otherhand there is designers who have an emotion eye to thing who would design something with a purpose but with a twist.

Being asked to think what type of designer do you think you are was a really good question. I am still unsure and im sure many people will be, it is always fun to make your designs look emotional and have a great idea behind them, but at the same time you want your idea to work and be obvious. This is something young designers like myself need to consider as this splits up the different companies.

Craig asked us to think about what our strengths and weaknesses were?? He told us that he knew his weaknesses, being he wasn't too good at grids and web designing, a piece of advice he gave us was to try and get better by asking questions and seeing what other people are good at. Don't be embarrassed about telling people your strengths and weaknesses.

Portfolio

As I am currently putting together my portfolio I appreciate feedback and help on portfolios. Craig told us that it is the most subjective thing we will ever design. He shown us his portfolio, it was a very clean layout, very spacious and simply positioned. It makes the pictures do the talking rather than being over fussed with decoration. The way the work is shot is a main important part of a successful portfolio.

Placements

Work placements are a very important part of becoming a graphic designer, when designers come in to talk to us they all say this, they always say the same thing. Thousands of people are in the same boat so to be successful you need to get yourself heard. Craig told us about his journey from placement to placement which was very interesting as he made it obvious that the whole design company world is like a spiders web, everyone knows each other some how. He also gave is a list on reasons we should and reasons we shouldn't do placements.

Should Shouldn't

New expectations Loss money wise
Real work Away for a period of time- more often than not
Meet interesting people Taken advantage of
put you ahead of the competition
improve tea making skills
re assure you of your ability
makes you more confident

The main points I took out of this part of the lecture was to have a hit list and research them. Be punctual, that a little enthusiasm goes a long way and most of all be yourself.

I found this lecture really useful especially at this time of the year whilst trying to organise portfolio visits and creating my portfolio. Craig seems really down to earth and says things how they are. I think this is a great attitude to have while being in this industry.

Here i am

Whilst looking on the internet at different local Graphic Design companies I found a company in Manchester called Here I am. At the time of me searching the website I was working on my logo brief so I was interested with the work as there was a lot of interesting logos.

I particularly liked the logo designed for Reticon a north Manchester based business psychologisy.
I like how the letters T and I have been altered slightly to look like people. When a slight ajustment is made to something which gives it a different look i think that works really well, especially in logos.

Also the use of bright colours is effective, but not in all cases. This logo for Chorlton Family Photography is really bright and eye catching. It is so simple as it only uses circles for the imagery but these also gives the impression of a family sort of portrait.


I emailed Here I am to see if there was chance for me to take my portfolio down to them for some feed back and I got a quick response saying that I could. I am currently just putting the finishing touches to my portfolio and setting up a time.

Zumm creative

I emailed Zumm Creative....


This is the response I got



I then emailed him over my portfolio and he got straight back...



I would have probably preferred a bit more of a response.

Contact report

I emailed my porfolio over to Chris from Mainframe, and here is the response I got..


After this feedback I went through my Porfolio and made a lot of changed. I was happy with the results and glad of the feed back i received.

Story Boards

This is the storyboard for the Heals end sting I created. This is just one of the End stings.

Heals end sting

I have designed a series of end stings for the Furniture company "Heals". I chose to do a series as they would each show a different department in the company. Here is the main End sting.




Here are the other two end stings.