Design Mark

On Thursday I represented the University as a student ambassador at a workshop at the Big Bang fair at the GMEX. The workshop was organized by The Design Council and Design Mark.

The Big Bang Fair is mainly a Science fair for primary and secondary schools with walking robots, chocolate structures and a Formula One stand! - I was quite jealous that I never got a chance to go to something like this.

Design Mark is an organization which awards specialist schools a Design Mark status. A school must demonstrate a high level of design teaching to obtain the award. During the day I worked with four girls from a Design Mark school.

Working in a group of four we were given the Design Councils 'Design against Crime' brief to tackle. The designer Andy Walmsley (Creative Director) from Wash design was there throughout the day to help the two groups towards finding a solution to the brief. It was really interesting to meet Andy, his design studio work on many different projects some in the field of architecture, animation, advertising and others. His websites pretty cool too.

I never really thought of teaching or working with children but I found it really inspiring. The girls in my group were really smart and came up with a great range of concepts in response to the brief. Keen product design students they really thought about our 'product' a solar powered roll-up mat which charges and backs up data for a variety of electronic devices (camera, USB, mobile.) The girls chose the name 'The Core' and here were some of their sketches.


and some of my logo ideas!


It was really strange performing this supportive role. I had to really stop myself from leading the ideas and being the designer. I had to really identify the moments where the girls had an idea and then encourage them to develop it, push it and question it. Andy gave me some great advice, being a Creative Director he is leading and pushing his team all the time, keep looking back at your ideas but always move forwards. I was quite proud of the work the girls did and they pitched it at the end of the day.

The design and idea process is really incredible and I felt reassured looking at the result of our conceptual development and the mess which we'd made that we'd really pushed our ideas.


A great opportunity which I enjoyed and I'm glad I said yes to.

Morag (Massive-Type) Myerscough

I'd seen some of Morag's work just last year, this...

playful poster caught my eye and I'd been looking forward to her talk since it was announced last week.

The talk was great, it was fantastic to see such bold, colourful and playful design solutions that considered materials and sustainability to shape the executions. To see a designer who thinks like an architect, actually design in 3 dimensions. Even building her own models over 3D digital visualization.
Morag is so dedicated to her work (the fact that her living room is actually her studio) is inspiring and nerve wrecking at the same time. Could i ever imagine myself to be that committed? Well I guess Morag has a more exciting and creatively unrestrained career compared to many other designers. The projects which see works on are interesting and I would say they'd be the opposite of corporate design.

Morags palette and use of colour has clearly been inspired by the work of her artist mother, really loved her use of bright complementary and clashing colours. Layering of patterns and range of playful fonts.

I enjoyed seeing the studio in which she works. How a first stage presentation may appear to her clients, covering the walls in developing ideas.

"Scale is a really important thing." Massive Type.
Type bigger than I think I've ever seen, all I can say is it's a good job she get's it right!


The Westminster Academy redesign really stood out for me as it was a tough job to do. Through the design the children now respect the building and the property of the school. Design which reduces vandalism, now you don't see that everyday.

I really think Morag has a penchant for reflective surfaces, she's used this to create illusions of space and light and to make exhibition stands appear as if they're floating on air.

Saatchi & Saatchi Summer Internship Programme

So back in January whilst I was sifting through jobs and internships on the net I came remembered Saatchi & Saatchi. I checked to see how to apply for a summer internship for this year. Man was there competition! So in true S&S style a competition bonanza was held to weed out all unworthy applicants....I think there was around

Challenge no.1 was to create a Facebook Group and get as many people to join as possible...well! This was a toughy as I came into the competition a little late but I managed to get a good following.

You can see the group I created here...
I remembered there was around 800/900 groups some about loosing biscuits in your tea, a lot about Cheryl Cole, some claiming to giveaway freebie Uggboots and such and others actually claiming to be the Saatchi & Saatchi Summer 2010 Internship group - well def some genius ideas there!

The group which did the best was 'YOUR OWN LEGO MAN:FREE'(approx. 249,00 members)
The group which came second was 'Secret London' (approx, 201,00 members) This group actually became a start-up business thanks to its success!

O.k so I had like 200 members! o.k so actually 265 current members. However all I needed to do was be in the top 50% which was actually achievable. I resorted to pure creativity and interaction to try and overcome so of these uninspired groups. I managed to wangle myself through to the next round. 800 went down to around 400. Second round....

S&S posted a quiz, a special quiz that had Saatchi specific questions (like what is written on the stairs at the London offices) some Advertising questions and some random ones (like if Facebook was a country where would it sit in terms of population...)

So in result although I did the quiz within the time my score wasn't high enough to put me into the top half....then along came wildcard round....

Are you familiar with the recent 'we can't go on like this' (heavily airbrushed) David Cameron billboard. Well if not here is the original.



The poster was heavily criticized and the online world took it upon themselves to design their own versions, plenty to see available here. BACK TO THE CHALLENGE! So wildcard round posted (meaning if I re-made my own decent witty, funny and brilliant version I could still go through.)

These are some of the idea's I'd come up with...



My final submission being...



Witty? yes, clever? yes, funny....probably not so i wasn't surprised to find I failed this hurdle. I was surprised however to see the winning ideas (Alistair Campbell chose two himself.) Little disappointed but onwards and upwards.

Alexandra Arts

Jenny (Davies) and I decided to work together on the Alexandra Arts brief. A quick(ish) turnaround of about two and a half weeks, we've just completed it and I'm happy to say its off to print! The brief was to design an identity for Alexandra Arts (An organization which provides accessible arts and crafts workshops for local communities in Alexandra Park.) I think Jenny and I worked really well and didn't quite know each other before it but soon realized we had a similar style and could work well together.

We had to produce on A3 poster along with a double-sided A5 flyer. After seeing some work which Lotte liked (by Miami design)

We also knew that she liked the work of Si Scott. This is the solution we came up with...

We designed this logo which references the historical importance of the park and also by using a circular shape to reflect the unique eco-system of the park and its community.

D&AD Autumn Term Showcase

OK, so I know it was a while ago, but as these Jpegs overflow my screen I thought it time for a little clear-out!
It was quite daunting and exciting sumbitting work and 'putting it out there' but I'm glad I did. I submitted a four minute short film and an A2 poster for the Don't Panic 'Resistance brief'. (Yes I may have desaturated the img a little so you can see it, and it was pretty bright in dayglow pink but I was happy with it.)
I enjoyed seeing the other work around and I think The Holden Cafe is a great little venue. I hope other people related to my little short film, the audio really made the movie make sense and seeing it on those big old tellies was great!

Chemikali

In-between working on the Degree Show Identity project and a live brief my friend asked if I could do him a quick logo which he could use for his mixes, which he wanted to put onto YouTube. A quick few hours on an evening and we came up with this after some experiments which I'm quite pleased with.

Alexandra Arts

One of the projects I am working on involves designing an identity for Alexandra Arts. A creative community group which uses the facilities and space within Alexandra Park to host events, meetings and workshops. This Easter the group will host a series of craft and creative workshops and therefore require an identity, flyers and a poster. I'm working with Jenny Davies on this project and our first thoughts were to take a trip down to the park and connect with the surroundings, identify the community and users of the park and just get a feel for its style, space and the facilities it offers.

The Erasure of Memory

The Jewish Galacia Museum

When in Poland we visited the Jewish Galacia Museum. There was an exhibition called 'Traces of Memory' which featured photographs by Chris Schwarz. I loved how this exhibition was curated, the layout the presentation and display and importantly the content. This photograph really stood out for me. The photography exhibition attempted to piece together the remains of an entire culture and religion almost wiped out. How time has passed and significant buildings, traditions and Jewish memories are slowly erased. The photograph below is a Lion of Judah it appears at the entrance of an abandoned synagogue in Poland. The painting of a lion was a symbol of the ideal that Jews should be as strong as lions. Full of meaning, irony and memory the photograph really communicated this erasure of Jewish culture. There are hundreds of disused and abandoned synagogues across Poland.

From the end of my nose to the tips of my toes...

Valentines Fundraiser Card and Cakes Sale

"From the end of my nose to the tips of my toes" is a quote taken from a card by Stacie who was running the fundraiser. Lots of people had contributed to the sale some of the cards were fantastic I liked Hannah Davies cards they were really beautiful and Emma Browns animals, Stacie had spent quite some time and effort on some cut-out cards. On the confectionery side of things there was a great selection including some home-made bath-bombs and some cupcake works of art. Below are a selection of my collage cards...

Auschwitz- Birkenau

So we had one day going to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I felt this huge apprehension about going as my mother had been and she couldn't go further than the gates. i was surprised at how many tourists there were for such an out of season visit. The three hour tour felt rushed and brief, there are so many stories and information to learn. I was helping my friend take notes and note statistical information which prevented me from being fully reflective about the place I was in.
I've always known that the sacrifice you make as a photographer is withdrawal. As soon as you lift the camera up to take a photograph you then psychologically step outside of the place you are in. You go from active-participant to passive observer in a second, I felt guilty taking the photographs and considering such menial thoughts like light, composition etc.
Besides that I tried at points to put myself in the position of a prisoner. Especially with these two shots - not particularity beautiful in anyway but carry such a heavy metaphor. My friend Nat was questioning chances of survival in Auschwitz, we were discussing how some people who 'gave-up' did not have anything waiting for them on the other side, we compared this situation to those driven to survive to care for others or loved ones. Some were prepared to escaped others didn't even consider it. This is what I was contemplating whilst I took these photographs (both the same photo, just a different focus.)


It seemed strange to see a cat wandering around the gates, I remember distinclty at Birkenau there are no birds, just a few trees but there is just no life. Its so vast as well, you don't really realise the scale of it all.