Quick one before starting back at uni.....

Just going to squeeze a last placement in at GOODSTUFF before i head back to uni. Im currently working on a brief for Kensington Palace, which is great fun. There biggest client is Virgin Media, and they also work with Ann summers and Playboy TV, so hopefully get stuck into some other accounts before i have to return to uni.

Nice

A very nice article http://blog.eyemagazine.com/?p=302

ahintofmarksimmonds.co.uk

update...

Just to update everyone, I returned back from New York in June and it was amazing. Really enjoyed the creativity over there and how valued I was. I had lots of meetings with creatives, ranging from a photographer documenting the brothels in america, a fashion designer, to a large ad agency.

I got offered a placement from one of my meetings in Avrett Free Ginsburg, which is a large ad agency in NY. But i didnt take it because it overlaps with me startng back at uni, so maybe after yr3.....

Then i had a three month gap where i have been concentrating on my dissertation. Also been doing some more freelance work, one of which was for TR Luxury a company that runs mainly in NY, and supplies private jets/villas/transport etc to their high flying clients.

Then i went to Cyprus, I have just recently returned. I was working with the promotion companies over there to produce the event flyers for all the events. This has also led to me getting work back in the UK for there events.

Yesterday I was asked to design an event flyer for Adidas as they have an event at a west end club.

For the next month I plan to do my summer project work and finish my dissertation draft.

xx

My Year OUt

Hi All,

I thought I would share what I have been up to over the last year. It has gone by so fast and can't believe we are going back to Uni already.

I started my first placement last August for The Health Protection, where I was designing PowerPoint presentations for my manager who is the Head of Department for the HPA. I also designed informational graphs and charts for their annual report and produced posters for conferences and meetings. This was a six-month placement that I really enjoyed.

My second placement was for Cosmopolitan Magazine, where I worked in the Editorial design team. This placement really helped me develop my InDesign skills as this is the software they use to design pages of the magazine. I produced a series of dummy spreads, which is great for my portfolio.

My final placement is with Dorling Kinderlsey, the book publishing company. I have been with the Science and Nature department for six months now and really do love working here. I have produced illustrations and spreads for live books that are coming out this autumn and am currently working on some new books that hope to be signed off for next year. I really feel like I am part of the team here and everyone is so friendly. This is a great place to work for a placement, would definitely recommend it to others. I have arranged to work one day a week whilst I am at Uni as I feel this would help me keep up the experience and keep in contact with people here.

See you all back at Uni, till them enjoy the rest of the summer!

Weekends have never felt so good!

I've been with Splice/Jackbox for nearly two months now and I can't believe how many exciting projects I've been given the chance to work on. Look out for Sean Paul and Jeremih promos that I designed the concepts and storyboards for, and a government Knife Crime campaign I storyboarded. I really wish I had a TV so I could stay up all night waiting to see them!! We've sent away lots of pitches recently but don't know whether I've won them yet. So, it's really exciting but I'm working hard and by Fridays I usually feel like a zombie.

I finally had time to work on my dissertation this weekend; it will be such a relief to finish a first draft - can't wait!

WERKPLAATS TYPOGRAFIE / ISIA URBINO SUMMER SCHOOL 2009

ahintofmarksimmonds.co.uk

hello everybody.
I hope you're all having a good summer!

I've been doing some freelance webdesign recently and this is the project I have just finished:
http://www.lolaawada.com

I enjoyed the freelance position, although I don't think I'm cut for this - as in, for a permanent job-

Now, bit of holiday time and maybe dissertation time as well?

Howdy

England = yes
Germany = yes
Italy = next week
http://mps-expenses.guardian.co.uk/page/354322/

Robots Exhibtion

Hi everybody ! I am currently on my placement at The Old Sweet shop Gallery in South fields .

We are having a exhibition which myself and a few other LCC people are in as well as other illustrators are in

The private view is on the 9th of July . 6pm-8pm
The exhibition is then on till the 25th of July.
www.theoldsweetshop.org

11 Brookewood road
South fields
London Do you remember when robots were a futuristic fantasy? The Old Sweet Shop gallery's latest exhibition takes a warm-hearted look at these retro-tinged creations through the eyes of up-and coming artists and illustrators, peeking into the inner world of clunking creatures built to make human lives easier. 'Robots' will appeal to all ages, and features a diverse range of talent in many different media.

Would be great to see you

Emilyxx

Making Books

I've been working at Anikst Design for almost two months now and it's been absolutely brilliant; Misha is an amazing person with so much knowledge. He just lets you get on with things so you are really forced into becoming a better designer. My skills and confidence levels have just shot up and I am more than happy to go into work every day. Plus it's also confirmed my ambition to work in book and publication design when I leave LCC.

I should be there at least until August, but I'm looking forward to getting back to college in October and tackling the last year. Now if I could just make a start on my dissertation...

Park Life

Just found this from the LA days.

Really fantastic work there.

Managed to sneak in at the bottom.

http://www.juxtapoz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4441&Itemid=121

X

Goodbye London

My first music video; 'Goodbye London' by Luke Jackson:

I think it looks pretty cool - I did the dog, the waves, the half-shaved-head guy & some comp'ing... I think that's it.

Really enjoying State of Play, although unfortunately I have to leave my monitor there all week & I'm suffering withdrawal without a computer to waste my evenings in front of. :(

Just got a 3 month place with SpliceTV, storyboarding music promos. That's my dream job and it hasn't quite sunk in yet. I think I'm a bit scared. Very scared.

OK, that's it. Enjoy the sun everyone!
xxx

Wieden+Kennedy + Tokyo + Type Tarts

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well, sounds like everyone is!

If you didn't know already I'm in Tokyo at W+K, I've just finished my second week and it's bloody amazing! I'm working on about 7 projects at the moment doing web/mobile/a book/identity/t-shirt/presentation - everyone is amazing in the team and the office is incredible - I need to decide on whether this one or Pentagram's is better haha.

Tokyo itself is OUT OF THIS WORLD, completely different side of the planet, way of life and I am now a chopstick master. I've got plots planned to do but and I've been to some great exhibitions, traditional Japanese theatre, the Pokemon Center, the manga district (very very WRONG some things you can buy there) I've got plans to go and see some Japanese/American football next week, more exhibitions, an antiques market and the Imperial Palace Gardens. As well as a free (via W+K) night on at CLASKA.

I am meeting Graniph on Monday, a t-shirt company based in Tokyo to discuss hopefully some collaboration ideas and projects and hopefully snag a few free t-shirts as well.

I'm taking LOTS of photos on my Flickr page here. And the links for W+K, CLASKA and Graniph are below.

In other news, I took part in the Type Tarts projects run by Wallpaper* magazine, there's a book being made, I need to check the ones featured in the issue and an exhibition at KK Outlet on the 22nd is also happening (they censored my number you know!)

AND W+K London is looking very promising after I return from the Tokyo office, 7 internships potentionally and one hell of year to be honest.

http://www.wktokyo.jp/
http://www.graniph.com/en/
http://www.claska.com/en/

And of course everything is still on my blog - getting great feedback and comments and networking from it with other designers which is great.

Paul x

Le cool BCN

Yay, im here in Barcelona, been here a week now and it really is fantastic. Im working at a company called lecool. The studio is fantastic and the people are brilliant. I'm working on some fantastic projects, including creating a presentation for a digital inflight magazine for virgin airways which is being sent on sunday so no pressure early or anything!!, So so hot here its amazing. I'll keep you posted,
Gracias

Alex

x

Jettblack

I went to a really inspirational talk with animators Joanna Quinn and Erica Russell last night, I see a lot of myself in Joanna, which reassured me a little because she's been successful despite her insecurities.

I'm still recovering from working as a runner on a music promo by Grain Media at the weekend! It was in High Wycombe & I had to get up at 4.30 on Saturday morning and only got home after midnight, to get up again at 6 and finish at 11. Nightmare.
It was awesome though. I got into it because I've been doing freelance graphic work for Universal Music and I begged them to let me see a video shoot. The band, 'Jettblack' were such nice guys. I met lots of interesting people and annoyed everyone by asking loads of questions about cameras and lighting and stuff. The video was looking really cool, I can't wait to see it. It's taught me a lot - I hope I get to do another one soon.

Anyway, you can listen to the band here: http://www.myspace.com/jettblackuk and the single is 'Get Your Hands Dirty', so watch out for the video!

xxx

Emily Evans ROBOTS - Call for submissions

Hi guys I am currently at The Old Sweet Shop , we are having a illustration exhibition and are having a call for submissions have look at the brief would be great to see your work:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
ROBOTS - Exhibition at The Old Sweet Shop
26 June – 25 July 2009

Modern robots create a sense of magical awe, representing
futuristic technology we are often unable to understand.
Old robots on the other hand often represent the charm
and playfulness of the past. We are looking for playful
illustrations/artworks that celebrate modern and past robots
and that will appeal to children and adults a like.

Submission details

Size
The artwork(s) must be one of four sizes:
S 24 x 18 cm
M 40 x 30 cm
L 50 x 40 cm
XL 70 x 50 cm

Materials and techniques
You can use any material and technique but it needs to be 2D,
unframed and follow the above sizes. Please keep in mind that
all work will be framed behind glass.

Deadlines

Delivery: 15th of June either in person or by post

Selection: 17th June all applicants will be notified via email

Exhibition Private View: 25th June

Collecting work: 27th July

Returning work by post
Please attach a self addressed and stamped envelope with the work.
Otherwise you will need collect it from the gallery.
Although The Old Sweet Shop will take great care of your work we cannot
be responsible for work damaged in transit.

Contact details
E info@theoldsweetshop.org
T. +44(0)20 8871 2272

Selection
There will be a selection process for all work submitted and you
will be notified via email by the 17th of June if you have been successful.

Exhibition and sales
All selected work will be for sale during the exhibition.
Prices will be agreedbeforehand with each artist.
The gallery takes a 50% commission.

Limited edition prints
The Old Sweet Shop has facilities to print high quality limited
edition prints from digital files.

The gallery’s commission rises to 75% if you choose this option.

Gallery opening times
Monday to Saturday 09.30 - 17.30 or by appointment
Closed on Sunday

How to get to us
By Tube: Southfields (District Line)
By Bus: number 39
By Car: from London South Circular then A3 from the South West A24 or A3

What a day!

Today was my first day at Time Out. It was great! I am going to be working in the guides section which are small publications of about 250 pages. I started on one today, its on Cape Town. Its needs to be done within a month - so no pressure!

They use Quark, so it's great experience for me as I am an InDesign user. I have picked up a lot already. I have a lot planned for the rest of the summer. In July I will be working for Metaphor - an architects and exhibition design studio, in August I will be working with Heard Creative - a branding company. I have an interview on Thursday with another company but I am unsure where I will be fitting it in, as I want to spend September working on my dissertation! I need an extra month.

The big presentation at Tate Britain on the Young Design Programme is coming up - I'm sure I will be ok, its only 300 people!!! I'm also in the middle of a couple of freelance projects.

I think these last few months are going to be really productive! Talking about all of this I am quite excited, it seems my summer its going to be jam packed with loads of creative learning.

Village Green

Hey,

Just coming to the end of my second week with the london based design studio village green. It's so great to be back in a studio again working with inspirational people. It has definitely proved to me thats this is what I want to be involved in in the future.

Village Green do all of Fabric's art direction and I am helping them out with an up coming exhibition of all the posters as well as working on ideas for the next Fabriclive series. It is a real privilege to go through the entire back catalogue of Fabric artwork (around 250 posters!) and help find rare and forgotten work. A huge inspiration. 

They are all great guys and I couldn't be happier being there.

Hope everyone is doing well.

x

DESIGN BRIEF

Really interesting design brief from Don't Panic which will eventually involve wrapping up a building. Just follow this link for details: http://www.dontpaniconline.com/designbrief/client/glaceauvitaminwater

New York

Hey.
Just to update I have been working for the WE-ARE-FAMILIA exhibition in New York. I have been designing the catologs that are to sell the pieces of art. The founder of the project, Jennifer Garcia is lovely and is a great help with networking.



I have also had meetings with a few artists while over here, also Agent 16 agency and most recently this morning I visited Avrett Free Ginsburg, the advertising agency and got offered an internship with them later on in the year.

New York is great I dont want to leave!

Jonathan Barnbrook / Startas

Saturday 23rd May. 

Berlin. 

Jonathan Barnbrook. 

vj-ing with electro band Startas.

Mark. Sital. and I.

Superfantastisch.

.............................

Friday 29th May. 

London. 

Purple Turtle, Camden.

Worth seeing. 

GO!

Twitter

I have created an automatic twitter feed for this blog so that any entries posted here will appear on the twitter page too. This should be useful for all the Twitter users amongst you. You can follow at twitter.com/dpslcc.

Pound Force

I recently helped my editor at Don't Panic dig up MP Alan Duncan's grden and put a pound sign into it. It was great fun and totally illegal and if you watch the news everyday you will have seen it on BBC. we filmed the event and it was made into a very funny video which along with some others you can see at http://dontpaniconline.com/. My main job was driving my editor and the camera man to Rutland to find this guys house, once there I donned my wellies and got stuck into helping the gardener (maybe save the tax payer some money) and stick fake £10 notes to a tree outside his house in order for it to look like he had a money tree. The stunt was featured in the Guardian, Independent and the sun. All fun and games with a serious message kids. FRAUD IS BAD!

Hey guys...

I hope you are all getting on ok. I'm just finishing my second week here at Mother & Baby. The people here are very nice but the office is quite quiet, most people lunch at their desk rather than go out together...

I do miss designing books. I think I've found what I want to do when I graduate which, for me, was the whole point of this year out. I think I'd still be happy working for a design agency, branding and doing corporate reports, but books are where my heart is. 

My next focus will be the dreaded dissertation!!! And perhaps squeeze in a few weeks at a book publishers or a design company that has a fantastic print department - if anyone has any contacts it would be much appreciated...or perhaps something quite typographical - any ideas??

Much love,

Danielle

x

Pin-hole

I am attempting a second attempt at using this pin-hole camera, last time LCC lost my film.

Happy Graphic Design Day!

World Graphic Design Day is celebrated on April 27, the anniversary of the founding of icograda, the world body for graphic design in 1963. It is a day to celebrate the profession of graphic design and communication design. The day has been celebrated since 1995.

On this occasion, designers reflect and hope that an international network can contribute to a greater understanding between people and can help build bridges where divides and inequalities exist.

-Wikipedia

How Quaint.

I recently finished a two months placement with Sky Creative, which gave me a great insight into the world of broadcasting. This experience was obviously completely different from the one I had at the National Theatre (the paintframe) and it has really made me think about which direction to go in my future career.

I would like to thank Paul Butler for allowing me to do the placement and the whole team, for being so helpful and encouraging! Some of the highlights were: visiting the building for the transmissions (which looks a bit like a spaceship from inside), going to the audio suite to see how the imagery and sound come together and to learn more about 3D TV.

I have had scheduled talks with people from various departments, joined meetings and followed the progress of several projects. I have also worked on an opening sequence for Movie News, which is a student brief set by the creative design director.

Next in my calendar is a placement with Sky Arts and after that I will spend a few weeks with the guys at DixonBaxi.

It is all very exciting!

~Josefine~

Cool to see that the book lars and designed is featured in the world famous Aethaeneum design book shop in amsterdam. They have done an entire window display based on the WE MAKE MAGAZINES book. Aces.

Screenshot of my work of today... Cascading Style Sheets & HTML fun! YEAH (no sarcasm there, I really enjoy my current internship!!)

I'm working on building the ImovieI website - it's an online film & cinema database (a bit like IMDb or screenrush.co.uk) Really slick and beautiful design from the designers of Lightmaker. 

My department is in charge of making the whole thing work. I'm getting a bit into ColdFusion but it's still like chinese to me! 

Apart from programming fun, I just got a huge pack from G2K Amsterdam where I worked during the summer with the all the finished prints of a visual identity I designed for a Dutch company. I was so happy, my 1st professionally-printed work! Feels great ;-) I don't have proper photos of the prints yet, but to come soon!

New Website/Work

Hey,

Ive been MIA for a bit now. After my last placement at CPB I was determined to finish my year on a high and work with some real high end design companies. Ive got my head down over the last month preparing individually tailored posters and CV's to send to studios that I really admire. I also updated my site. A new design and new work should hopefully give me the best possible chance of scoring a killer placement.

Fingers crossed.

Check out the new site, same address. www.charliehocking.co.uk

Hope everyone's doing well.

x

FROHE OSTERN!

Poster

I think I forgot to post on here that I won a competition with HypTV & Headline in February, and my design is now up in all the major train stations... So look out for it!

Headline made me pose for this photo - it wasn't my idea, I swear! I keep seeing it, and now the novelty has worn off. I think it looks a bit amateurish compared to some of the other posters (I've learnt that what looks good on a computer screen translates quite differently when printed at A1) but the publishing guys seem to like it, so I shan't worry about it.


Also, I've been doing the graphics for an independent film for the past month or so, & I got to see the rough cut yesterday. Apparently it's low-budget but I was really impressed, I think it looks terrific. I'm determined that my graphics do it justice.

Goodbye for now, and enjoy the gorgeous sun everybody!!!
Amy.x

It's a dogs life.

Bruno Maag/ Last day at Tira

Fantastic talk last night at This is Real Art.
Bruno Maag, form daltonmaag talking about his work, and just a type bonanza in general. really insightful talk which included a rather convincing rant about why he hates helvetica and how it actually isnt a modernist typeface and is actually incredibly antique.
Today is my last day at TIRA, its been great to come back for a month, had a great time, improved my football skills. Thanks to everyone there.

check out the new tira website, its amazing!!

www.thisisrealart.com

xxx

We Make Magazines

Hi there, 

the book is now on sale, being distributed by Gestalten, so it'll be in magma and all sorts soon, 

Just thought id show a few pics of it.

Most stupid uni course ive ever heard of....

I no we are constantly encouaged to think outside the box.....but really?!?!?!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7953777.stm

MY DESIGN ON TELLY

Hey exciting bit of news today......

My logo design for Baby Official Clothing line was on a hoodie today which Ricky (the MTV news presenter) was wearing when presenting the news and his other MTV show all day yesterday.

Vicky

2009 Panasonic Next Generation Talent competition

Hi all, I have just become LCC's student representative for Panasonic Next Generation Talent competition 2009.

I will be putting posters up and handing out flyers, so i will post all the details up here when I get them so we can all enter.

Vicky

http://www.supersweet.org/index.php?page=shop.browse&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=32

Creative Show+Tell

Hi all,

I'm wanting to collaborate more and more with people, so this is a quick start up with my fine artist friend at CSM, Amy. It's called Creative Show+Tell, basically just getting lots of people to get together once a month initially and just talk about projects, books, blogs, mags, exhibitions - anything creative really. I think it's better to share than keep things to yourselves.

So join the Facebook group and come on the first one on 8th of April! :) Spread the word and invite all.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68808389362&ref=mf

In other news, I've just finished internship no. 4 with THIS IS Studio (so check the blog post) and I've been invited to go back and work on future projects which is great. I'm now taking some time out to work on some personal stuff, whilst still chasing a few internships and few other big plans.

Once I get the details all sorted, I'll let you know all about something BIG that is happening later in the summer for me.

Good luck in the next few months to everyone.

Paul.

Don’t Panic

I have been at Don’t Panic for over a week now,
and so far it’s been good.

I’m a web design intern, but I have been working on a rich picture
for the company layout these days.
It’s been good though, working on a bit of illustration and information design.
After this is finished I’ll have about a week of web training and then I’ll get on
with designing for the new Don’t Panic web page.
Look forward to get started on this.

I’m in a small office with three others, so we are a small team.
They are nice people and I enjoy my time there, even though there are some long days…

It’s good to be back in London.
I have missed so much.

Hello!

So I had my first week at the web & interactive media agency Lightmaker and it seems to be a very promising internship! I feel I have already learned so much in just one week.

I work in their Technical Design department which is a very good opportunity to refine my technical skills. It's challenging and I have lots to learn quickly. I might switch to their Design department for the second half of my internship but so far, I enjoy a lot the technical/coding side of web design.

It's a big discussion about how much technical skills a web designer should have. Two designers at Lightmaker advised me not to go too much in technical if I want to be a designer but then I keep seeing job adverts require so much technical knowledge?! I guess It really depends on the size of the studio. I wanted to quote Steven Heller here but can't find the quote anymore... anyway, I don't really know yet which route I'll take but the internship is definitely the opportunity to figure this out.

Anybody else in the DPS interested in web design?

http://magculture.com/

Portfolios: The Importance of Being Relevant

Design Assembly have written an interesting article on graduate portfolios and what creative directors are looking for. Including interviews with Jonathan Ellery, Michael Johnson and Patrick Cox it's definitely worth a read if you haven't done so already: The Importance of Being Relevant.

Catch up...

Hellooo!

I am a very busy bee at the moment at Anikst Design, currently working on two books simultaneously... (missing you too Shumina!)

I'm here, as you know, until the end of April. Then I start at Mother&Baby magazine for a month, I'm quite excited at the prospect of working on a magazine plus I think i'll be able to be more involved with the whole process - including shoot experience which should be excellent.

After that I am taking a break to make a headstart on my dissertation. 

I also have a placement at Creative Review lined up for over Christmas (the only time they could spare!) Apparently theres quite a queue so I am chuffed! 

I still haven't heard either way from Grafik, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for now...

I would like to work for either a publishers or another graphic design firm before I go back to uni, so if anyone has any ideas or contacts - even from experiences they've had and enjoyed please let me know!

love you lots 

Danielle x

Internship with Timon Botez

I've been having a great time at the Truman Brewery with Timon Botez we have been making this which has been a lot of fun.

Kayleigh

Kinetica Art Fair

Hi, just thought I'd post some pictures of what I've been up to these last couple of weeks. I was part of the exhibit at Kinetica Art Fair(I wore this polygon dress made out of paper with uv light underneath by Ninna Margret Thorarinsdottir -http://www.fiska.co.uk/ )and helped out with the setup, as usual it was fantastic and it was nice to see my favorite Kinetic Artists again.

knowledge is power if applied correctly!

Today was my last day working at Anikst Design. I have been there since September and I can honestly say that I am very glad that I spent a long period of time there. The knowledge, experience and skills I have learned from Misha Anikst is priceless. He truly is someone who has contributed a significant amount to my development as a designer. One thing he said to me when I first started to work with him was that I would leave his studio a different person. He is right. I left the studio today feeling confident and as a professional designer! I am certainly going to miss him, his wife, who has excellent taste in cakes! Oh and of course lovely Danielle!

I start at DK on Monday for 3 months and then will be working for Time Out Magazine in June for a month. I'm trying to also find a placement with an advertising company but am finding it difficult as a lot of my work is editorial & print based. Does anyone have any tips?

Last week I went to the London Transport Museum with my client team as part of the Sorrell Foundation. It was a a great experience, despite my height and being smaller than some of the students they were calling me Miss which I think is quite funny as I am not that much older than them! The trip was great I think the client team understood what we the design team were trying to get across about having a strong identity & navigation system for the school. In the afternoon we made mood boards with the client team to build a visual database so that we can start designing! Our mentor is Ed from Mother, he is great, he has really been aiding myself & my team members, Kate, Selvi & Jamie to help move the project forward.

Hope everyone is learning loads!
x

THE PARTENERS talk at LCC tonight

Tickets are £5 (£3 for UAL students and staff with valid ID cards) cash only on the door – tickets include a beer after the lecture.

6.30-8.30pm
Main Lecture Theatre
London College of Communication

The Partners is one of the UK’s most consistently awarded agencies over the last 25 years, with a fast-growing creative reputation in the US. So far they have won coveted Gold Awards at D&AD, New York Art Directors Club, New York Festivals and Cannes Lions. This company of 50 people have offices in both London and New York.

Jack Renwick, Creative Director, has recently celebrated 10 years with The Partners where she now leads one of the design teams. She is currently working with the BBC on the rebrand of TV Licensing; with European law firm, Wolf Theiss, on a bold repositioning programme and with eBay on a brand refresh. She has also recently worked with Penguin to design the cover of the new James Bond book.

Jack’s other clients have included Vertu, University College London and PowerPlate as well as working with Gucci to launch the Stella McCartney brand. Jack will be presenting on behalf of The Partners.


SEE YOU THERE.x

yyyyyyiiiiiiiipppppppppiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey there,
The book lars and i have designed has finally gone to print!!!!! Absolutely amazing, one of the best experiences of my life. So excited to get it back from printers in 2 weeks. It was quite a daunting prospect designing a 300 page book from concept to production, but the experience was incredible and iv learnt a huge amount. Just wanted to say thanks so much to Jeremy Leslie who's been such a great guy to work for and whos taught me a great deal.
Im currently writing this from my desk back at This is Real Art. The guys have asked me back so thats great, happy to be back, more design, tea and football.
Designing a lookbook at the moment for a fashion designer and now on the look out for barcelona placements.
Hope everyones good.

x

Need a Roof Over Your Head?

Anyone need a room to rent in London for a few months from the start of April?

My room will be going empty whilst I am in Berlin...

A good sized double room, near Denmark Hill station. £85 per week - sharing with three lovely girls (two Camberwell graphic design final year students, and one working in the city). Two kitchens, two bathrooms, and a lounge - plenty of space!

Good transport links - only 4 minutes by train to Elephant & Castle, 12 minutes to London Bridge or Victoria. Short walk into Camberwell.

Available start of April.

If anyone's interested, or knows of someone who might be, give me a shout!

nicola@nicolaryan.co.uk
07708 212399

So last week I met Ed Warren from mother london. The studio is great with a massive skate boarding ramp going through the space. It is definately not your typical studio!
More about Ed though, he is really great and offered loads of great advice about presentations and how to form a good relationship with clients.

We told him about the project we are doing for the Sorrell Foundation. We showed him the brief that we had put together from our pupil client team at Brampton Manor School and told us we need to really test and stress the brief in order to be able to summarise what exactly the client wants in a sentence rather than a full a4 page which is what we had! We need to present back to the client team our findings and interpretation of the brief.

The client team addressed a lot of problems in their school, this included lack of signage, colour, small canteen, awful toilets, a logo they don't understand.

It seems from the brief though, that the issue that myself and the other students in my group can address is the identity of the school.

How does this sound for summarising a brief:

'we are going to design you an identity formula, a system of visual language for the school which can be implemented in the new building which will communicate Bramton Manor's creative, diverse and enthusiastic reputation to the Newham community'

This week we are taking our client team to the London Transport Museum for a visit as it is a very good example of identity and will hopefully help them understand what they want and what we are hopefully going to help them with!!

Am looking forward to it! x

My Goings On

Hello! 

Just thought that I haven't written an update in a while so......

I'm doing an internship at Jonathan Barnbrook's studio. Really enjoying my time there and learning lots (about design, and about the world - researching for the book has really opened my eyes). Everyone's lovely there; very welcoming, and so knowledgeable. Got to go along on the studio trip the other week. All so fine and dandy!

Alongside that, I'm finishing off some freelance work, and trying to go as many exhibitions as possible - there are so many ones i want to go to just starting! (Rodchenko at the Tate Modern is well worth a look).

Also trying to make plans for Berlin (which I fly off to in 6 weeks time for my Erasmus exchange). The thought of a crit in German somewhat terrifies me - and is what is propelling me to abandon music and listen non-stop to German podcasts!

After the summer term studying there....then who knows! I am contemplating travel/work in India, and going to the Kyoorius conference. But perhaps I shall stay longer in Berlin, or perhaps I will go to New York, or perhaps I will chase up some of the internship offers I've had in London and do one of those. Too many things I want to do and not enough time!!

Hope things are going well for everyone else!

UPDATE

Just to update, being working hard...still...on my dissertation. Also had loadsa of freeance work come in, I have been writing CSS coding for a clothing lines blog and myspace page as well as designing them for him. Also had another person approach me for a flyer design for an event in the West End, so all extra money in the pot!

While having time off a strict 9-6 mon-fri placement I have felt almost out of the brainstorming loop, so-to-speak, so I have arranged to meet up with two girls separately to have a brainstorming sess on some random briefs. One girl is from Bath, and the other is from London and they both are graduates, so will be good to hear of their experiences etc.

Went to the You Tube workshop at Google headquarters, was good to get the heads up on Brand Channels on YouTube.

Also debating taking up an offer for work in LA for 3 months......

SCRATCH 'N' SEE

Scratch 'n' See cinema sensory soiree 17-02-09

UK's first ever Scratch n Sniff screening, at the launch of jotta's pop-up craft fair last Saturday. That and gold foil dipped hot dogs, flavour tripping pills which saw punters sucking whole lemons and tasting sherbert, plus the range of aroma's concocted to compliment Peter Greenaway's The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover.

Updates updates updates

www.ahintofmarksimmonds.co.uk

Hello all!

some update about what I'm up to:

so.. I spent some time learning some programming (Actionscript 3.0) to rebuild my website entirely in Flash. I'm not there yet but I'm hoping to be finished soon with this. 

Apart from this, I got a 2-month internship at Lightmaker (web & interactive design studio) in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. I'm really glad about this as it was my 1st choice and I think I'll learn lots of new skills there. And it'll be another view of England for me who after all, doesn't know much about the UK except for London!

I also had an interview at Mook/Nitro Group in London and there are some possibilities for me to work there the next two weeks and/or in May-June. To be confirmed..

Hello dpeepers,

hope everyone is doing well.

My book for jeremy leslie is in its last 5 days so its pretty crazy here, actually left the studio at 11.45 last night, nearly missed the last train which i guess would have meant sleeping on the studio floor. (memo - take sleeping bag to work in future). Its looking great tho, am so pleased with it and everything iv learnt so far, so exciting!!!, had a bit of a boo hoo today tho cos we arent getting the paper stock we originally wanted but hey ho.

Like Danielle i also had an interview at Grafik the other week but havent heard anything back yet. Luckily tho 'This is Real Art' have asked me to come back and i start the day after i finish here so that's really great. Still planning my summer in Barcelona at the moment and am also doing some freelance designing a look book for a fashion designers new womenswear collection.

PS DID ANYONE GO TO THE WIM CROUWEL LECTURE AT LCC??? what a legend, thats a portfolio!!!

x

Talking of exhibitions...

Information

Designs of the Year

It seems last night was an evening of private views! I went to the private view of 'Designs of the Year' at the Design Museum. There were some intriguing pieces; including 'Cloud' by Troika, and 'Green Felt Protest Suit' by Tony Mullin. Worth a look if you're passing by; but to be honest I enjoyed the Hussein Chalayan exhibition downstairs more - so see both if you go! 

Hello girls and boys...

I hope you all enjoyed the snow last week. Travelling into London was impossible so I enjoyed myself building a snowman and sitting in front of the fire! 

Just a quick update on 2009 so far...

I have been asked to stay at Anikst Design until the end of April to try and finish several books I have been working on. I've got to say, anyone stuck for a placement should definitely come here - I have learnt so much.

I had an interview with Grafik 2 weeks ago, though still haven't heard either way whether there is a placement opportunity for me. 

Yesterday I had a fantastic day. I received a phone call from a mother and baby magazine (the company Bauer also owns Heat, GQ, More etc) after sending a pdf of recent work to them the night before following Sarahs email, and they asked me to start as soon as I finish at my current placement - without an interview! Then, later that afternoon, I received an email from Creative Review asking for me to come in for a chat on thursday! 

Sooo... wish me luck guys!

love Danielle

x

Peter Coffin

Kathryn and I were lucky enough to go to the private view of Peter Coffin's exhibition in the Barbican last night. I would recommend a look if you are in the area. There are some wonderful objects which when juxtaposed against the video wall creates a really interesting sensorial experience. There are also directional speakers which provide sound but unfortunately it was a little loud last night to really appreciate. More photos here, here.

the new year so far...

Hi all,

I have secured my next two placements. I had that interview that I attended to early lol. I start in March, its at DK :) its for 3 months and then I go straight to Time Out for a month.

Other than that I have been working a little on my dissertation and have rediscovered my passion for history, there are a couple of exhibitions that I want to visit, Byzantium at the Royal Academy & Tsars at the V & A.

Anyone been to these exhibtions yet? Or have been to one that I definately should not miss?

Oh and for the Young design program I will soon be meeting my mentor, his name is Ed Warren he works for Mother London. Have a look at their website, its really interesting!

www.motherlondon.com/

will be giving an update soon I am sure. x

Hey, just filling you all in.....I have made a good start on my dissertation, not dreading it too much now, and definitely aim to have it done in the next month.  Been visiting the tate modern and st brides and white cube on a regular, especially tates book shop. Book that everyone wanting to do advertising NEEDS.....

ADVERTISING CONCEPTS by Pete Barry

Such an easy read and very useful.....has taught me the basics which everyone should no who is approaching an ad agency and hasnt got taught it on the degree.  

Jade and I are just re-doing out portfolio with big brands via skype and being mentored by Dom+Jon at The Parteners.  They are lovely....and very honest and realistic which is good!

TIP OF THE WEEK (given to me):

"be a sponge"

My classmates

This is what ive been doing for the last week.....I have been mentored by Mr Snowman himself.....and been taught the skill of symmetrical face shaping while keeping warmth in hands!

Slush