Monday 26 October 2015

Design How, Manchester

As part of Manchester Design Week, several Graphic Design and Illustration students took part in creative workshops and talks by IDEO, Territory Studio and Ben Terret. Some diverse and thought provoking creativity was discussed and case studies demonstrating cutting edge digital design, web, coding and film graphics were outlined by industry practitioners. An excellent event which offered the students an invaluable insight into how ideas and creativity can be explored....

Design How
Tuesday 20th October
6.00pm - 9.30pm
Royal Northern College of Music
124 Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9RD

In conversation with
IDEO
Territory Studio
Ben Terrett
Clive Grinyer
Angus Montgomery (Design Week)

Clive Grinyer
Angus Montgomery (Design Week)
An evening delving into creative minds and finding out HOW. Underpinning this year’s theme of discovery we host some of the UK’s greatest thinkers, creatives and doers for an evening of discovering how they address complex issues within design.
We are proud to welcome IDEO a a global design company who create impact through design. Steve O’Connor, IDEO’s Executive Design Director will talk about IDEO’s customer-focused approach and how re-thinking design adds value to the world and customers.
Territory Studio are a boutique creative studio specialising in motion, digital and graphic design. They are best known for their immersive UI work on films such as Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, Marvel’s Guardians of The Galaxy and Avengers.
Ben Terrett is Director of Design at the Government Digital Service (GDS) where he leads a multi-disciplinary design team working across government departments on the gov.uk website. He joined the Cabinet Office in 2012 when GDS was set up to deliver the recommendations in Martha Lane Fox’s “Digital by Default” report. Ben will talk about his inspiration and design process in creating gov.uk and changing culture through digital design.
To complement the theme of Design How we welcome Clive Grinyer. Clive founded design consultancy Tangerine with Jonathan Ive in 1989 and has held distinguished design positions at Samsung, Design Council, Orange & Cisco. Clive is now Customer Experience Director in the Design Office of Barclays Bank, where he helps to develop new digital design projects with a specific focus on UX and UI. He brings a wealth of design experience to bear on ensuring technology projects are usable and accessible for all.
A Q&A panel discussion involving all of the speakers will be hosted by Angus Montgomery of Design Week.










Illustration know-how

Fig Taylor, portfolio consultant to the Association of illustrator, visited Staffordshire University again to share her wit, wisdom and expertise to the Illustration students. Once again, the event was a fantastic insight into the 'do's' and 'don't's of getting into the industry and making a successful career.



Portfolio consultant, Association of Illustrators. I have been offering career advice to members on a regular, part-time basis since 1986. My services have also been engaged by The Dots, D&AD and the UK charity NABS. In addition I operate a private consultancy for non-AOI member artists and educational institutions. I cover most aspects of freelancing, including portfolio presentation; self-promotion and targeting; exploring and expanding commercial potential; basic fee negotiation and the pros and cons of agent representation. My clientele is extremely varied. As well as illustration graduates and professionals, I am regularly approached by fine artists, designers and craftspeople wishing to make a career change. I have also worked successfully with many self-taught artists.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Keeping it Fresh


Several Graphic Design and Illustration students were luckily invited by The Chase to attend the coveted Fresh Awards in Manchester recently.
Sam Everill, 3rd year Graphic Design student commented 
"I have to say, it was one of the best experiences I've had. It was full of creative people who just had a load of fun! The night was science themed with lots of test tube shots! The famous scientist from brainiac, Dr. Bunhead hosted the night calling the names of the chosen winners. The people from the industry were really nice, very generous and extremely chatty!"
After the free drinks and gorgeous food the students networked and made some great industry contacts - making the evening a great success!





----- About the Fresh Awards-------
Fresh is an independently owned organisation and has a passion for creativity and innovation in the Creative, Communications, Digital and Media arenas in the UK and Ireland.
Established in 2003, Fresh is now regarded as an important highlight in the industry calendar, with an original approach and a policy of keeping the process of entering awards as transparent and as simple as possible. We have a unique “listen rather than lecture” ethos where we encourage all entrants to help shape the awards and to ensure that the categories, judges and events all meet the approval of our entrants and the wider industry.
Fresh is committed to ensuring the appointments of only the very best people to judge and to deliver spectacular events that showcase the very best work, so you will never find plastic chicken and soggy veg at Fresh – we take our awards seriously and our entrants work very seriously – but we want to offer great value and more importantly make the ceremonies as fun as possible!
We do it because we love it. We don’t make bucket lots of cash from it (if only!) but what we do get is bucket lots of support from the great agencies, consultancies and industry professionals who donate their creative ideas, give their valuable time to judge and continue to help us keep our awards as fresh as possible.

'Fresh is an independent organisation that strives to showcase great creativity and innovation in the Creative, Media, Digital and Public Relations industries'.

If creativity is contagious, pass it on, or so said Albert Einstein.
That’s what the Fresh Creative Awards are all about. Great ideas, fresh thinking and a real platform to showcase only truly innovative ideas. Oh yes, and maybe a gong or two...

Tuesday 6 October 2015

..I love the smell of Helvetica in the morning..........


A taste of type.....

https://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2015/september/a-taste-of-type/







Monday 5 October 2015

VIZ - VIZits Staffordshire!


Simon Donald, one of the original founders, illustrators and creative entrepreneurs of VIZ magazine, dropped by to inform, entertain and expose the myths and legends behind one of the most controversial, yet humorous, publications to come out of the British comic industry over the last 30 years.

From a shed in the North West to world domination (?) - VIZ magazine broke every boundary, celebrated every taboo and changed comic (and youth) culture during the late 70's & 80's, and is still going strong today - challenging convention, embracing contemporary culture but with a twist of irony, honesty and above all - humour.

Graphic Design, Illustration and Cartoon & Comic Arts students were taken on a journey of how a simple idea, knowing your audience and having courage in your conviction can lead to great things....with added magic ingredients, Simon provided a unique, colourful insight into his life, passions and career as a Graphic Artist and publisher.....accompanied by his business associates - Sid the Sexist, Roger Mellie - the man on Tellie, Big Vern, Billie The Fish...to name but a few (without swearing or offending anyone!).













Friday 2 October 2015

CHANNEL 4 NEW IDENT

A confident and creative approach to Channel 4's new on screen and off screen identity......


http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2015/september/channel-4-rebrands-with-help-from-jonathan-glazer-and-neville-brody/