Critique of Initial Ideas

I was looking forward to this because I felt that I needed a bit of brainstorming from other peers and I wanted to hear the thoughts of others on my idea to make sure I heading in the right direction. 

I was also very confused as we had received an email from Sally which i felt contradicted what Neil had said, and both of what they were now saying didn't really relate to brief? 

So on clearing up the confusion we are: 

• Selling something - an idea.
  
• We have to convince we are right and that are object is right, it might have sentimental value that only means something to us, but as long as you can convince that is ok.
  
• Can be done in any media.
• It mustn't be left open to interpretation.

So as long as I follow this then I will fine! 

During the Crit we were talking about numbers and the idea came to me that I could produce my poster on making people believe that the number 13 is actually lucky. I'm not superstitious at all, however my house mate won't have her car stereo on 13, she didn't want to live at our house as its no. 13. Does anything bad actually happen on friday 13th more than it would any other day?  I feel this is a stronger idea than my other one and that I could defiantly bring humour into it which is always a good thing. Number 13..Lucky?!! I think this will defiantly make people look twice.

Look Again/Think Again

This is 1st brief that we have been set this year, I'm getting the idea that this is a nice little warm up project to get us back into the swing of things. It is only supposed to be a day project even though we have a week to do it, but still this is good practice for having a quick turn around. 

This project is going to build my skills on making a campaign to solve a problem within a appropriate context. We will be bringing understanding to the viewer, the campaign must do this in order to be successful.

We either had to (a) Choose a social issue that in our opinion has been overlooked and needs addressing, or (b) Choose an object that often carries values that go beyond its intended purpose or everyday use.

As soon as I read through the brief I knew that is was really open and we could pretty much do this on anything we liked, we've been given the freedom to develop what we want into a final piece using tools of our choice. I began looking up social issues and was pretty stumped as I couldn't really find anything that hasn't been addressed, anything that I found on the internet etc has already been addressed otherwise it wouldn't be on there. 

Soo.. i turned to the second option and my first initial idea was to use my name. It doesn't mean anything to anyone else but it is me! I thought about basing this project on typography, by collecting media with my name throughout my life e.g Birth tag, Name badge from inside school uniform etc which then meets the sentiment section of the brief.

What I am going to do differently this year

This year I have come back with a much more positive attitude, last year I did apply myself but I think  when it came down to I didn’t push myself as much as should have. I have always been really keen and found it very easy to get stuck into new briefs but when the going gets tough and deadlines approach, if I’m behind I just seem to lose the will power and just do what I need to to get myself through rather than doing as much as I possibly can to keep and even raise the quality of my work.

Over the summer I have neglected design, its not that I havent kept up with it I just havent really had the time to produce any of my own due to working full time. So because of this I am very excited about the new brief being set tomorrow and being able to get stuck into  it.

I have high expectations of this year and I am really looking forward to all the oppourtunities that I think will be arising. Like I said in my previous blog, you have to make things happen for yourself and this year I  intened to make the most of all oppourtunities coming my way. Last year I didn’t get involved with any extra briefs other than those that have been course related, this year I want to get and identity and get noticed in the industry, by doing live briefs and taking place in competion briefs to gain feedback on my work, build up my portfolio and show other designers the best of my ability. 

I’m not really sure where I want to be at the end of this year, I am going to concentrate on my illustrations as these are definatly my stronger skills, I also love typography and would like to get more involved with that, especially letterpress. Photography is another area which I would like to build up my skills in too.

Over the summer I have looked at a couple of London Univeristys such as Kingston and LCC which have both got me very interested in doing my third year at. I think that having the oppourtunitie of being a designer in the capital would be  great experience and put me in a good situation to build up my career when finishing my degree.

Oh and one more thing… after the first day back and a good talk from Neil I he has stressed the importance of PPRD and givin me the drive to put 100% into it this year!

Viscom Year 2 - The Beginning

So the summer is over and I’m back at the Arts Institute ready for which could be my last year here.

I have been looking forward to this and find myself eager to get back involved with the student life and the briefs that I will soon be getting stuck into. I am very keen to excel myself a lot this year, as I know that this is the year that will either get me into employment or a third year. I know that I have to make things happen for myself so I will be making the most of every opportunity that comes my way.  

I have learnt a lot from last year, and from those lessons I am now confident that I am going to push myself  and get I what I want out of this year.