OUGD602 - Visiting Professional - Rose Nordin

Art Residencies

Along with her journey to where she is now as a designer, the most inspiring thing that I learned about today was Art Residencies. I had no idea what these were when Rose first mentioned it but after some questioning, she explained. This inspired me to look further into this as a concept and a way of getting work when I'm finished at University.

Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities exist to invite artists, academicians, curators, and all manner of creative people for a time and space away from their usual environment and obligations. They provide a time of reflection, research, presentation, production and immersion into a new culture. 

- They often allow an individual to explore their practice within another community; meeting new people, using new materials, experiencing life in a new location and potentially integrating elements of that experience into their art. 

- Art residencies emphasise the importance of meaningful and multi-layered cultural exchange and immersion into another culture.

- Some residency programs are incorporated within larger institutions. Other organisations exist solely to support residential exchange programs. 

- Residencies can be a part of museums, universities, galleries, studio spaces, theatre, artist-run spaces, municipalities, governmental offices, and even festivals. They can be seasonal, ongoing, or tied to a particular one-time event. 

- They exist in urban spaces, rural villages, container ships and deep in nature. Hundreds of such opportunities and organisations exist throughout the world.

- Operating an artist-in-residence program costs money. 

- Some residency programs cover all costs for the artist, some offering stipends, others don't cover any costs at all. It is not unusual that residential art centres cover the costs only partially, which may make it necessary for the artist to find additional funding. In some countries artists can apply for subsidy at state governed bodies. 

- There are some international beneficiary funding schemes, most important of which is the Unesco-Aschberg residency funding scheme.

I took the time to look up some websites that offered opportuntities like these and found a large variety. This is definitely something I will be looking into more and take further still by applying once I have graduated. This has been a huge learning objective for me as before today I had no idea about this sort of thing.

OUGD602 - Beazley Designs of the Year

Design Museum, London

Now in its 10th year, The exhibition brings together over 60 projects across six categories: Architecture, Digital, Fashion, Graphics, Product and Transport – featuring film, virtual reality, audio and objects representing the breadth and variety of this year’s designs.

See the original Pussyhat, symbolising women’s solidarity in protest of President Donald Trump’s sexist remarks and the Refugee Nation Flag, created to represent stateless athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Be transported to 1920s France with the help of VR goggles, to explore rooms featuring furniture by Pierre Chareau, the great Art Deco architect.

OUGD602 - Visiting Professional

Liv

- Started out not knowing a lot about Graphic Design
- Just trying things out
- Wasn't happy with portfolio even after 3 year course
- Found an interest in what other people were designing, more than her own work
- Got and internship with It's Nice That
- Intern to online editor
- Writing about work she sees suited her interest
- 'in loving memory of Work - Craig Oldham
- Working at INT involved looking behind the scenes with various projects, writing about them etc.
- Decided to quit and go freelance
- Didn't enjoy it at all
- Rough Trade approached her with a music mag
> her dream job
> found her on Linked In
- In charge of running gigs, interviews and running 64 page editorial
> Bruce Usher - look him up
- Liv asked him to help her with the mag as she couldn't on her own
- Spoke in depth about how she went about producing a 64 page mag every 2 weeks
- Demonstrating how to tackle a low budget - DIY
- Look up Monoculture

OUGD602 - Photography Studio Session

Photographing for
Putting Portfolio Together

When contacting studios and designers with the intention of finding an internship, the response I get is to send over some sort of portfolio or PDF that demonstrates my work and where I am at in my progression. This quickly made me realise that I haven't got anything I could send over yet.

When gathering my past projects that I would like employers to see, I realised that last year I was lazy when it came to photographing some of my final resolutions. This led me to set myself the task of booking out a photography studio and retake some final resolution photos that will then make up a portfolio to send to designers.

Katakana

Translation Book

This is one of my most successful projects from level 5. The photos I had of it from last year were inadequate for a portfolio as they looked unprofessional and rushed. This time round I made sure that the white balance was more accurate, I also reprinted the front cover as the original looked old and worn.

Rebrand 

for

Moistifying Garms

OUGD602 - Writing Task

How to
Write About my Work

Quick writing task on how to correctly and concisely describe my own projects for the purpose of portfolios and online presence.

- Pick favourite projects of mine
 > use 'elevator pitch'
- What, How & Why - a sentence answering three things
 > What is the core idea
 > How does it work
 > Why does it work
...

Katakana Editorial

> A publication that simplifies the sub-category, Katakana, of the Japanese language for English speaking people.
> The design & layout is informed by ease of use, allowing readers to digest and understand the content more easily
> The information being easy to understand allows the reader to learn the Katakana language more comfortably

Parkinson's App

> A smartphone application that helps connect the young-onset community of people living with Parkinson's disease
> The easy-to-use app presents users with various activities and events available for the young-onset community as well as acting as a calendar to help with organisation.
> The app reminds young-onset people with the disease that they are not alone and that there are ample opportunities to meet up with others in the same position; tackling depression and loneliness

Outcome

I found this task relatively easy as I have not struggled with this in the passed and is something I consider myself good at. However, it was a good reminder into the method of writing and has confirmed in my head that I am doing it correctly and concisely.

OUGD602 - Design Manchester

Design Manchester at
The Principal

A group of us made the journey to Manchester to attend a design conference as part of Design Manchester. Now in its 5th year, the day long conference featured influential speakers showing an insight into their work ranging from architecture to film and even typography.

The speakers included:
Ellen Van Loon (OMA)
Sean Perkings (North)
Naresh Ramchandani (Pentagram)
Alex McDowell
& Patrick Burgoyne (Creative Review)


**Missing Notes from Talks**

Orgasm Addict Reframed at
The Principal

To make the most of being in Manchester, I decided to leave the talks early and visit various other exhibitions and points of interest. The first of these was a small scale exhibition that invited designers such as Swifty and Craig Oldham to interpret the sleeve for Buzzcock's 1977 single Orgasm Addict: their own 'reframed' version.

Malcom Garrett's original design featured a montage by the artist Linder Sterling, Malcom turned upside down and rendered in single colour to enhance the graphic impact of the sleeve.

Examples of the interpretations are shown below. This brief reminds me of the Secret 7 brief I entered in my first year at university and was one that I was very fond of. I have not yet found a live brief that I want to enter this year yet but seeing these has given me the idea to find one similar. I will look into whether Secret 7 is running this year as it was not live last year.

Re-imagined Works of
Burgess Book Covers

The next exhibition I visited was located at the InternationalAnthony Burgess Foundation. The small room located in the basement was filled with re-imagined works from some of Burgess iconic and less-seen book covers from all around the world. These novels included A Clockwork Orange & Earthly Powers.

This show was of interest to me as currently one of my strong design interests lies within publication design and so I aim to produce at least one editorial this year as part of my extended practice brief. There is a running theme through these exhibitions that include re-interpretation as well as book/sleeve cover design. One thing I enjoyed most about the book covers was the clear cultural diversity between designs. Some covers were interpreted for international intended audiences such as Japanese and European. The design cultures of the audiences are clearly demonstrated through the use of colour and type.

Look-Book Research around
Manchester

After the Burgess exhibition, I then ventured through Manchester towards the centre to check out the shopping. I came across what I would consider as being a very trendy district with barista cafes and skater shops. Whilst looking round the shops, I came across a number of examples of Look-Books. These are becoming more and more popular within the fashion industry and can now be found at a large number of stores. These books are usually found in clothes stores that match the 'trendy' or 'hipster' style and are a means to communicate a message behind clothes and the culture along side them. I documented these books and took photos as they gave me an idea to produce one for my publication design & fashion brief.

Our Legacy 

Lookbook

LookBook found in

Carhartt Store 

OUGD602 - Exhibition - The One Who Looks

The One Who Looks at

Colours May Vary

A collection of Risograph prints produced by a number of designers

Risograph Printing

Risograph is a brand of digital duplicators manufactured by the Riso Kagaku Corporation, that are designed for high-volume photocopying and printing.

- Released in Japan in 1986

- When printing or copying many duplicates of the same content, it is typically far less expensive per page than a conventional photocopier, laser printer or inkjet printer.

 The examples of prints shown here demonstrate the uniqueness of the aesthetic that is achieved when using a risograph printer.

When looked at closely, you can see the colours layered on top of one another where the colours are just out of line. Although not on purpose, this defect is not all bad and actually adds something to the work in my opinion.

There is a 'small ecologically minded printers' based in Leeds who came to talk to us last year. These guys offer risoprinting and print everything from booklets, zines, newsletters and even stickers.

If I wanted to experiment with this print technique,

Fashion Publication Research

Whilst at Colours May Vary, I took the opportunity to explore the varied selection of publications they have on display. They have an amazing collection of editorials that cover a whole range of subjects. Most, if not all, of them having a strong consideration for the design, layout and production of the publication itself.

I will be revisiting this store when I get round to designing my own publication as it is a great source of inspiration.