Flight of the Finch

New Blog

2012-01-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

I've started a new blog for my final year, enjoy x

http://lisa-finch.tumblr.com/

To sum it all up

2011-09-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

My aim for the year was to experience different fields of design, I have always been a open minded designer and wanted to strengthen my knowledge and abilities in other fields so that I could go back to uni even more ambitious.

I began the year interning with surface designer Daniel Heath, he opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of salvaged materials.

Then I interned with textile designer Laura Perryman, I was drawn to her work because she specialises in the innovation of new materials.

My third internship was with one of my favourite London fashion labels - Beyond the Valley, I have always loved their striking illustration style and wanted to learn how they came up with their designs.

My fourth internship was with Nexus. One of my most enjoyed second year projects was a stop frame animation, so I jumped at the chance to assist the stop frame master - Johnny Kelly.

My fifth internship was with my new favourite book publishers Visual Editions. I have caught they're uncontrollable desire to put a twist on everything.

I joined the Picture Book team at Walker Books for my sixth internship. It was really insightful to go from a really experimental publishers to a more traditional one.

I took part in the Barbican's "Do Something Different Weekend" with the Crafternoon Tea Club. I designed their poster and pamphlet.

My seventh internship was with the pop-up gallery Outline Editions. Met lots of interesting graphic artists and illustrators and learned how to run a pop-up shop.

My final internship was with the remarkable paper artist Su Blackwell. Her creations are painstaking and relentless but she never stops, a really inspirational artist.

As well as internships, I've freelanced throughout the year, designing posters and promotional material for several people and events.

For more details of all these projects look back through my blog.

I gained so much from the DPS year, I've grown so much as a designer, I can't wait to put everything I've learned into my final year. See you all soon!

Finchittida Finch

2011-09-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

This is the lookbook, logo and business cards I designed for my sister's new fashion label.

4.3 Miles

2011-08-23T04:02:00.000-07:00

This is a poster I designed with illustrator Kyle Platts. It is for a play called 4.3 Miles from Nowhere, by the theatre company Fine Chisel. It's showing at Edinburgh Fringe festival throughout August.

 We had the chance to go up last week to see it, the play showcases some amazing skills; song writing, puppetry, choreography and acting. And we got to see our posters plastered everywhere! Tres cool

Compositions No.1

2011-08-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Visual Editions third book is out! It's called Compositions No.1 and it's a book in a box! It's been another long journey for the team, and I'm stoked to have played apart! 

A year of my life

2011-06-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

I just handed in my industry report for assessment, i didn't think it would take that long, but turns out writing up a year of your life actually takes a really long time. So here's some spreads from some of my fav placements

ideas worth spreading

2011-05-05T09:53:00.000-07:00

My 100th post and its a gooden, a talk from Sagmeister about sabbaticals - time off to rejuvenate and refresh your creative outlook.

With graduation approaching many of you, a sabbatical could be on
the cards. I consider myself as currently being on sabbatical, undertaking a year out of uni to explore the creative world, I definitely feel like i have a new outlook on design. Really looking forward to going back to uni to vent it!

99th post

2011-05-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

I started my placement at design agency Bunch yesterday, and in two days I've gone from an Adobe Illustrastor novice - to pro! Loves it

another designer in the family

2011-04-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today I was helping my 9 year old cousin with his homework; he had to make a pamphlet about Andy Warhol - loving the freestyle grid system and typography!

Dissertation Time

2011-04-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Still fresh in the memory of the dissertations just completed by my housemates, it is now time for me to start mine! I've decided to write about South-East Asian design, as it is a part of the world that is of great significance to me, although i know very little about it.

I would like to write about Lao design in particular, as my family are from Laos, but there seems to be little information out there. So it looks like I might have to focus on the global giant that is China!

If anyone has any knowledge / books / website / exhibition / video recommendations related to south-east asian design then let me know!

fight the LOL's and OMG's

2011-04-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

I had another chance to work on a Johnny Kelly animation recently, unfortunately I was tied up on placement. So I put forward my friend Will Coutts for the job, who ended up suggesting a few lines ("fight the LOL's and OMG's) and hand modelling in this brilliant commercial for Bacardi.

Bacardi "Manifesto" from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

left overs

2011-04-22T06:20:00.001-07:00

With some left over paper from the VE brochures, I made a card for my friend Emily who is 22 today!

Brochures complete!

2011-04-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Voila! I finished making these babies last night!

A VEry special brochure

2011-04-21T03:22:00.000-07:00

I have been asked to do another project for Visual Editions to promote their new book Composition No.1 by Marc Saporta. It's a book that can be read in any order, and will be the first ever book in a box! VE have set out to make a thought provoking book, making readers question what it is that makes a book a book?

Here's a sneak peek at the brochure I've designed for them - just finished printing, time to get binding!

3 minutes, months or years

2011-04-20T01:59:00.000-07:00

Last Summer I helped Visual Edition's, make their ground breaking book Tree of Codes. Me and a few other LCC students worked together to make the prototype, cutting each page by hand with a scalpel! Although it was a lengthy task for us hand cutting the book, it was an even lengthier task for VE trying to find a print company that would say yes to producing the book, they were repeatedly told “the book you want to make just cannot be made."

But their postive determination found them a printers in Belgium who relished the challenge of making a book with a different die-cut on every page.

This stunning video shows how the book is made, it takes 3 whole months, but here it is in 3 minutes. (Probs would have taken 3 years if we were still making it by hand!)

Pencil Power

2011-04-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last night was the first installment of Pencil Power, at The New Gallery, a drawing night set up by my friend Thomas Slater, to raise money for the disaster in Japan.

It was a really good night, just drawing for the fun of it! Tom's drawing tasks and the happy hour cocktails made the night for me! Make sure your there for the next one!

behind the paper scenes

2011-04-18T02:14:00.000-07:00

This is a glimpse of the sort of magic I'm up to on my current placement with paper extraordinaire, Su Blackwell

Postcards

2011-04-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Been making postcards with my partner in crime Kyle Platts, you will find them for sale at the New Gallery Jumble today in Camberwell.
The New Gallery Jumble happens one saturday a month, it is all about shopping with a free conscience, up-cylcling and recycling so we printed the illustrations on found paper. Head down to get your hands on one. It's open until 11pm tonight.

Bunch

2011-04-11T03:57:00.000-07:00

Just had an interview with the Design Studio - Bunch, I will be starting a placement with them very soon! And I'm really looking forward to it!

Happy Lao New Year

2011-04-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Lao New Year, and being half Lao, I celebrated it with my family at a local Temple. It was a beautiful day and we captured it all on camera - me and my mum have put this little video together quickly! Nexus watch out - my editing skills are on top form today!

Sore thumb

2011-04-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

I've started a placement with the talented Su Blackwell, been hand cutting loads of paper trees - and my fingers are getting sore! But really enjoying it!

At last!

2011-04-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'm finally allowed to show the Johnny Kelly animation that I helped with! It may look digitally rendered, but it is actually a stop frame animation. Every bit of grey was hand painted by yours truly! Enjoy!

Tip Ton from BarberOsgerby on Vimeo.

Font Night

2011-04-02T03:49:00.000-07:00

I went to Font Night at the Design Museum last night, was a really great night of typographic workshops, projections, live sign writing and talks by the brilliant Morag Myerscough, and Vincent Connare - the creator of Comic Sans, who was hilarious! Really enjoyed it! I'm now in love wit Morag Myerscough and her ridiculously oversized typography!

The fanciest contract I've ever seen

2011-03-16T13:51:00.001-07:00

After 10 days of hardcore designing, my project for Visual Editions is complete! The lovely Anna and Britt asked me to specially design a contract for the author of an exciting new book they are planning!

Contracts are usually serious and intimidating black and white word documents, that bare no resemblance with the great union that they celebrate. Visual Editions have made it their mission to have beautifully designed contracts for their authors, that not only reflect this sentiment but also to continue their desire to doing things differently and create new experiences for readers.

The Joys of Spring

2011-03-10T16:22:00.000-08:00

Here at Outline Editions - my current placement, we have just launched our new show 'The Joys of Spring'. These are the pics from our private view with new work from Noma Bar, Kate Moross, Claire Scully, David Foldvari, Emily Forgot, Supermundane and more! Anthony Burrill designed the new window!

VE2

2011-03-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

I made a trip to A&B Towers - the headquaters of Visual Editions to chat about some projects! Got some exciting stuff in the pipeline that I can't really discuss, but one things for sure, its going to involve a lot of ding bats!

fash mashhh

2011-03-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

2 days of crafting as part of the Barbican's Do Something Different Weekend!

 All my pamphlets and posters!

 My type stenciled onto t shirts!  

 Tonnes of kids! 

  Sewing machines at the ready!

Hand made bags 

Customised tshirts 
Portrait Booth 
 
Making faces 
Helping the kids 
Hair accessories
 
This little lady turned up naked so we sorted her our with some new garms! 

Fash Mash Posters

2011-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

Screen printed these for the Fash Mash at the Barbican tomorrow!

Mural!

2011-02-28T03:25:00.000-08:00

A mural that I designed for Beyond the Valley has gone up in the shop Holland & Holland off Oxford Street!

Fash Mash

2011-02-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

This is one of six posters I've designed for the Crafternoon Tea Club's Fash Mash Party at the Barbican's Do Something Different Weekend! They're going to be laser printed but I plan to screen print a few for myself!

Outline Editions

2011-02-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

I've just started a placement at Pop-Up gallery Outline Editions. Their aim is to showcase work by the most outstanding and innovative graphic artists; they specially commission work according to the theme of their shows. 

I'm working alongside the Director Camilla, so I'm learning lots! The main thing I want to get out of this placement is to learn how to run an exhibition / pop up shop because I want to do both at some point this year! 

This is the space decorated by Kate Moross

We're situated in a fascinating location - Berwick Street, just off  Oxford Street, the street is alive with market stalls and all sorts of interesting people! We get creatives, advertisers and art directors popping there heads in. And it's really nice when the artists pop in! We've got work by some big names!

The Perfect Bind

2011-02-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

Week 3 of my internship at Walker Books and I got to use the Perfect Binder! And here she is... it consists of a clamp, paper grater and hot glue. I took the opportunity to make the first edition of the Obverse catalogue!

Walker mock up all their books using this, they've only had it 5 years, before this they used good old fashioned double sided tape to put their books together! As I don't hand one of these at home, I will still have to stick to the tape. 

First you clamp the pages of your book together. Then you use the machine to grate the edge of the pile: this allows the hot glue to seep in between the papers so that it can hold them together, otherwise the glue will just sit on top of the edge of the clean edge and the pages will come apart. 

This is the hot glue roller roler, you roll the hot glue over the edge of the spin a few times until a thick layer covers the spine. Once it has dried, you do it again. 

You have to wrap paper round the book while the glue is drying so that it doesn't get stuck to anything - coz its super strong glue!

Then you tear it off (and the paper gets stuck to the spine!)

These are the two catalogues I've made and perfect binded! Now it's time to put the jackets on!

Sticking the jackets to some backing card 

Steve's strong tape selection! 

Matt laminating the jacket

I hand cut a spot varnish on the cover image

 You can't really see, but the image on the right (front cover) is now shiny and the rest is matt laminated

Then you score the spine (on the reverse of the jacket)

To give it a clean edge that springs up

Then use double sided tape to stick the book to the cover

And trim off the excess! 

Then voila! My first perfect bound book!

http://obverseblog.blogspot.com/

Making a small idea happen

2011-02-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend has been interning at the skate company Love N Skate,and they have a motto: "Drink tea, get rad!"

Stu, the owner, had the idea to make a teacup skate bowl, and he's the kind of guy that makes things happen. It took Stu and his handyman brother 3 weeks, but they did it! I love people like this: do-ers, they have a good idea, and with a bit of elbow grease and ambition, they make it happen... tea-rrific!

Me & the March Hare 

Bottoms up!

Eat Me Update

2011-01-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

The cake sale was a huge success! So the Chelsea girls have decided to make it a weekly thing, here's my updated poster!

POP UP

2011-01-26T15:32:00.000-08:00

It's the second week of my internship at Walker Books, and today me and fellow intern Chandni ventured into the Pop Up department and discovered a treasure trove of amazing books!

Eat me

2011-01-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

Today I made this poster for the Chelsea Textile girls, I made it all out of icing! if you're near Chelsea College of Art & Design tomorrow, pop in for some delicious treats! All money raised goes towards their degree show!

First Day

2011-01-17T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today was my first day at Walker Books, my first project is to design the cover for a new book they have coming out! 

Mac - check, tablet - check, it's all systems go!

Exhibiton Poster

2011-01-10T16:10:00.000-08:00

I've just designed this poster for the Sound department at LCC, they are having an exhibition next week in the red container outside the uni. Will be an interesting show of installation and performance from the 3rd year Sound Arts students.

Happily Ever After

2010-12-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

I braved the snow and cycled to see Su Blackwell's current exhibition 'Happily Ever After' in the Long & Ryle Gallery! I couldn't feel my hands when I got there but it was worth it. It was brilliant to see her work in the flesh after all these years of admiring it online! 

I was taking it all in, studying the way she constructs her sculptures - I expected a lot of invisible thread and was surprised to see it was mainly wire. What I didn't realise was that the books she sculpts have actual significance to what she is illustrating, so I fell even more in love when I noticed that her Red Riding Hood book sculpture was actually made out of an old copy of Red Riding Hood.

This one was my favourite! I got chatting with the girl working there who treated me to a free copy of the exhibition catalogue! Made my day!

OBVERSE the show

2010-12-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

The show was a hit! We were really worried hardly anyone was going to come because of the snow! But there was a great turn out! And prints were selling like hot cakes! 

Unfortunately due to lack of funding we were unable to reproduce the catalogue at the time of the show, but we have since got the funding we need and so the Obverse Catalogue is coming soon!(It has already had some interest from the V&A, fingers crossed!)

Santa's sack

2010-12-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

A few of us DPS student popped into Nexus last week, I got a sneak peak of the stop frame animation I worked on the week before - I can't wait to upload it, but I'm not allowed until January!

We popped in to see Johnny Kelly, tucked up in the loft, his space is like an amazing den! We found him working at his desk, surrounded by artefacts from his past animations. He said he had more and dug out a box from under his desk full of bits from his animation 'The Seed'. And let us have whatever we wanted - it was like Santa handing out presents from his sack! I got the seed itself and a few other bits, including them Nexus eco friendly DVD showreel! My love for Nexus has grown even more!

Beccy McCray, director of creative development at Nexus Productions,   says about their new DVD packaging: "We wanted to create something  much  more sustainable than the plastic jewel case and came up with the  idea  of a multi-functional and 100% recyclable cardboard box, inspired  by the  visual language and utilitarian functionality of the humble  transit  box."

The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Up & coming

2010-12-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

During my week with Nexus, I met Alejandro Restrepo - my fellow runner! He is a second year Interaction and Moving Image student at LCC, and his work is brilliant! This is his trailer for the amazing documentary he made in South America this summer! Because of this I now have a Wacom Bamboo!

Trailer One With Nature from Alejandro Restrepo Gomez on Vimeo.

I also met Kris Hofmann, a recent graduate of RCA, she originally studied Graphics at Camberwell but has found her strength in the world of stop frame animation!

Frühstück from Kris Hofmann on Vimeo.

Beyond the Valley

2010-12-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

I also had a meeting with Kristjana from Beyond the Valley today! And I am jumping straight into a design brief for them! It's a very exciting project, inspired by their Ink Forest Design from their Spring Summer 2011 collection. Kristjana has given me some amazing books of real and fanciful animals to get me started!

Visual Editons

2010-12-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

I had a meeting today with Anna from Visual Editions (at their teeny office) and some work is in the pipeline! Anna treated me to my first xmas present, a copy of their first book - the life and opinions of tristram shandy! I worked with them back in the summer on the amazing Tree of Codes!

Action!

2010-12-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I was the runner on the shoot of a Johnny Kelly stop frame animationl, produced by Nexus Productions. I can't say or show much of the shoot, but here's a few behind the scenes pics that I won't get in trouble for! 

I helped the production designers to make little gadgets to aid some of the tricks in the animation.

I discovered this, the 'magnetron'! The coolest gadget ever - basically a magnetic broom!

The shoot took place at Clapham Road Studios, this is where most commercials are shot. There were loads of remnants from past shoots lying around the place.

I learnt lots of neat little tricks - like lifting floor boards to install motors to make things move like magic! 

I also learnt of Dragon Stop Motion, for any animators out there - this software is the way forward!

I had a brilliant week, everyone was so warm and friendly, it was like working with one big family! We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together everyday, round a massive table, watching videos on youtube! I laughed loads and ate loads! They made me feel like a really valued member of the team! The director definitely offered me more cups of tea then I offered him! I definitely want to work with them again!

Links:

Production Company: Nexus Productions 
Production Designers: We are the art department
Director: Johnny Kelly
Producer: Beccy McCray

Stop Frame Animator: Matthew Cooper
Animator Assistant: Kris Hofmann
Studio: Clapham Road Studios  

The making of OBVERSE

2010-11-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Limited edition posters available at the show! As well as other prints and zines from Camberwells finest!

OBVERSE

2010-11-27T16:48:00.000-08:00

Everyone come to Obverse on Tuesday! This is Kyle Platts (a final year Illustration student at Camberwell's) show!

I am part of the Obverse Team, been liaising with the illustrators and press, designing the catalogue and signage for the show.

Check out the Obverse Blog

2010-11-26T06:20:00.000-08:00

Su Blackwell

I contacted this lovely lady a few weeks ago about doing a placement with her, and I've just got a reply from her today! She's a busy bee at the mo but she said to pop down to her studio in January for a chat about a possible placement! Woo!

call sheet

2010-11-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

I'm very chuffed to have my name amoung these creative geniuses.

Container Plus

2010-11-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

I'm designing the posters for a sound exhibition at LCC in January. The exhibition is called Containment, and all pieces will relate directly to the this theme. These are some initial ideas I'm experimenting with.

A spot of jounalism

2010-11-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Every now and again I contribute to Mint Magazine, my latest article is about the illustrator Kyle Platts, warning the content is not for the faint hearted: bad skin, hotrods and dead people.

http://www.mintmagazine.co.uk/art/kyle-platts-informed-by-bad-skin-hotrods-and-dead-people/

you're keeness has been noted

2010-11-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

I'm helping out at Nexus Productions on a Johnny Kelly stop frame animation!!! So excited!

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Creative Collaboration

2010-11-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

I went to the Creative Collaboration talk, as part of Enterprise Week. This is some of the helpful stuff that was discussed. 

Bracket is a consultancy which encourages skills development around collaborative working, and an agency that brings freelancers together to work collaboratively on commercial projects.

1+1=2        1+1=11

Alison Coward, the creator of Bracket highlighted some of the reasons why it is better to work with others:

- it can be lonely working on your own

- you can save resources working with other people

- it's more economical, as you you can split costs 

She also highlighted how working together you help you tackle big problems within communites, such as environmental issues, homelessness and mental health. Her last words echo what I've been feeling since the last talk,  "Get together to help the community, work on interesting projects." 

******************************************************** 

HOUSE is a collective is a multi-disciplinary creatives, their uniting aim is to foster collaborative thinking and provide a platform that not only showcases innovative art and design, but also creates an environment that enables an exchange of knowledge and skills. 

They embody this through their agency structure where they host events, curate and produce spaces, and provide a retail platform connecting and exposing creative talents of the future to the outside world.

Theo Bridge and Barney Heywood from House came to talk to us. They were very open about how new they are to this, that creating House has been, and continues to be, a huge learning curve for them. They describe themselves as having a "spirit of naivety" and it is something they treasure, they are unaware of the limits and this leads to more exciting ideas,  "Don't be scared of being ambitious."

They say the fact that they have come together opens more doors for them, being able to say 'we' rather then 'I' makes them stronger. 

They held their first event at London Design Week this year, called PopUpHOUSE. It was a huge success, thanks to the great events they had planned, and their accidental location - 1 berwick street.

They originally wanted to be situated in East London as there was lots of events happening there, after further discussion they thought that this could be counteractive, having to compete with these other events could make it harder to attract visitors. So they decided to set up in central, Barney had noticed a vacant space off Shaftesbury Avenue and enquired into it, to their delight the space was available and they were able to use it for free! 

What they hadn't counted on was the footfall this location would attract, situated on the corner of Wardour Street the space had a constant flow of people waling past, the space had huge floor-to-ceiling glass windows which meant passers by had a clear view of the exciting events happening inside, and couldn't resist going in.

They are having a second PopUpHouse in Bristol at Christmas, they say  "it is a smaller event but important to keep embodying what we do."

********************************************************

Creative Capital helps London–based artists and people working in the creative and cultural industries source the latest information on continuing professional development.

They are a network of organisations providing advice and support across a diversity of art forms. Whether you are an artist, practitioner, creative business or arts professional, they can point you in the right direction to continue developing your skills. We share knowledge and promote best practice, keeping a focus on life long learning.

They can help you through a whole process: project vision, timelines, goals, budgets. Whenever you need help, clarity with where your going in your career, Creative Capital is a good place to start.

Former head of D&AD Student Awards - Ian Willingham is behind Creative Capital, his top advice for us: 

1. Make friends with geeks. Make them number one on your hit list.

2. Learn digital, the world is going digital, even if you don't like it you need to adapt, your portfolio needs to include digital if you are going to survive in this day and age.

D.I.Y         D.I.T = DO IT TOGETHER

********************************************************  

Recommeded links:

- Incube8

- Glug London

- ECCA 

- Creative Boom

- Meet Up

- Ecomodo

- Playground Creatives

- Millco

- Universal Everything

Community Work Spaces:

- The Cube

- The Hub

- The Trampery

- Jelly

Crowd Funding:

- Sponsume

Recommended read: 

Raw talent

2010-11-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

One of Camberwell's finest Illustrators Kyle Platts is putting on an exhibition at The Bear on the 30th November showcasing some of the most talented up-and-coming illustrators.

Kyle is executing a really interesting concept that makes the exhibition even more enticing, he has paired up 14 illustrators and asked them to duplicate the work of their pair - the results will be exhibited alongside the original.

I've had a sneak peak at some of the work each pair is going to have to reproduce and there are some tricky illustrations in the mix. Really detailed fine liner drawings that are going to be very labor intensive, and collages which will mean hunting down the exact materials used to make the match. It is going to be a challenge for the illustrators, but an exciting one at that!

Kyle is not looking for exact replicas, but wants to celebrate individual mark making and the result of your own hand through comparison between duplicate and original. His exhibition poster shows Kyle himself attempting to copy his own hand, duplicating the face he first drew on the otherside. 

It's going to be a good show, well worth popping your heads in!

Using your creativity for positive change

2010-11-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Today marked the first day of Enterprise Week, a week full of free talks, practical workshops and guest speakers, it is part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, with 7.5million participants globally.

I attended a talk at Chelsea, 'Using your creativity for positive change'. It has broadened my thinking about the sorts of places I want to work this year.

There were two companies that really stood out to me today, firstly UnLtd - a charity which supports social entrepreneurs, anyone with an idea that could change the world for the better. 

They have a brilliant team who can provide a complete package of funding and support, to help you make your idea a reality. 

They are lottery funded themselves, which enables them to offer grants of up to £5000 to help you start something that will benefit society.

Common Ground are a design agency who's aim is to generate positive social change. Common Ground is run by two CSM graduates.
What was really impressive about them is that they only graduated two years ago and have already started up their own company with an aim for positive change. Bruno from Common Ground was really honest about how hard it is been, they are having to learn how to run their own business whilst also learning how they can help society, and they are not earning any money from it yet.

Common Ground is funded by UnLtd, this has allowed them to work on many different projects in the 7 short months they have been around.


It's always been in my nature to help people, I'm always intrigued by peoples problems and try to help where I can. I'm fascinated by knitty gritty subjects that some people might shy away from.
And I've also always had this inkling that working on big corporate projects, like advertising alcohol for example, didn't quite feel right for me.
I'm only just coming to realise that combining my nature to help people with my design skills would be the perfect job for me. And so I'm going to look into work placements with social enterprises and the public sector.
But I still want to work with design studios that don't specialise in social projects as I feel there is lots to learn from them as a designer. From developing strong design skills I will be able to help social problems more succesfully.

As the designer Michelle Lowe-Holder said today, "Remember you're a designer first, then decide what you want to do with your design skills."

One to One

2010-11-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

So I had my one to one with Kaye, the Camberwell Digital Media Technician, I took the opportunity to ask about a variety of computer related things and she taught me some really good stuff:

- InDesign stuff like style sheets & baselines

- how to save and resize images for the web

- the significance of all those saving formats
(jpeg, png, tiff, gif...)

- how to prepare files to be sent to printers
(very important for my placement at Walker Books)

- And the best thing she showed me is how to make an
interactive PDF. Thanks to Kaye I will now be able
to insert my animation into my PDF Portfolio!

Flying high

2010-11-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

These are some illustrations me & my sister made for our housemate Penny for her birthday! It's the 3 of us attached to hot air balloons, we stuck them to her bedroom wall to surprise her when she got home!

Alternative Fashion

2010-11-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of working with two of my favourite people, the talented Rachel Penn and my very own flesh and blood Tida Finch. The girls had made some stunning garments and wanted to photograph them. I got called into model for Penny whilst Tida modelled a dress her & Penny collectively made.

Tida looking hot to trot.

And here I am below (after almost getting run over on my cycle ride here), in a dress painstakingly knit by Penny. It took a lot of jumps to get this shot.

InDesign

2010-11-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of my UAL card and the fact that I live 5mins away from Camberwell College, and snuck into an InDesign workshop there. I'm not sure if this is allowed (as I am an LCC student), but there was only two other people at the workshop so I figured my attendance was appreciated! For my upcoming placement at Walker Books they said I need to know how to use InDesign, so I was paying full attention! The workshop was really good, I learnt all the basics - especially loving the placeholder text & how easy it is to write along different shapes (after having a lot of trouble doing this on photoshop)!

But I still felt like there was so much more to learn, so I arranged a private tutorial with the teacher for tomorrow so that I can become a bit more of a pro!

pa rum pa pum pum

2010-11-10T17:03:00.000-08:00

Last year Dan (the guy I'm currently interning for) made some really gorgeous xmas decorations, based on illustrations from his victorian wallpapers. They went down a treat.
This year he fancied making a few instrumental pieces. So gave me a selection of trumpets, french horns and tubas to screen print onto wood, the designs would then be laser cut into individual decorations.

Dan gave me the freedom to choose colours; I went for a grape, petrol and maroon colour. At 10am I started a 10hour print-a-thon and enjoyed every minute of it! Radio 6, Dan's sandwiches and chats about the worst jobs kept us going. Here's Dan working away...

He makes me really good sandwiches.

And here are the prints.

The colours came out really nicely on the wood. I did two pulls, in the same direction to maintain the appearance of the grain to give it a slightly aged quality.

Creative Jobsearch Workshop

2010-11-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

14/10/10

I went to the Creative Jobsearch Workshop at The Hub, it was really eye opening. A fact that really stood out to me is that only 10% of creative jobs are actually advertised, and everyone is applying for that 10%.
The workshop made me realise the significance of networking. It wasn't until this moment that I realised that all my placements so far have been found through networking.

DH Logo

2010-11-10T16:16:00.001-08:00

These are some initial ideas, inspired by the Amazing Jumbo wallpaper, a character in Dan's work that really stands out as being quite iconic.

3 installations, 1 day

2010-10-05T06:20:00.002-07:00

So Dan put me in contact with the surface designer Laura Perryman. She design prints graphics, surface solutions and innovative materials. I helped her with several installations she was doing for the Frieze Art Fair.

The installations were inspired by a piece of jewelery from Mimko's upcoming collection. Laura's design reflected the organic shapes within the jewellery, the installation was made up of huge perspex shapes, that varied in opacity, some were completely opaque whilst others were semi-translucent. It had a really interesting visual quality when they were layered against each other.

The pieces that each installation was made up of correlated but an organic & spontaneous approach was taken to create unique arrangement, that maximised the potential of each site.

Daniel Heath

2010-10-05T06:20:00.001-07:00

The second interview was with Daniel Heath, he describes himself as a designer-maker with a long held interest in craftmanship - which definitely shows in his work. A graduate of the RCA, he trained in the traditional process of silk-screen printing, and has since set up his studio to create bespoke, hand-printed fabrics & wallpapers - that are truly stunning.

Dan has a strong interest in reclaimed materials which adds something truly special to his work. The mural above, is made up of several wood panels taken from from the inside of old school desks, and then Dan has laser cut a beautiful design into it to bring it to life.

- My first job is to redesign his logo

I expressed to Dan that I felt the current logo didn't suit him, I want to come up with something that captures the playful and sophisticated intricacies of Dan's designs. This is the current logo, it is a nice design but it is a dull contrast to Dan's work.

There is so much life and movement in Dan's designs that I want to design something that has the potential to be animated, perhaps move when it appears on the screen - as soon as I learn how to do this.

I will think about how the logo will work on business cards, and as headers on letters and maybe how I could expand it through the website as an overall branding project.

So Dan gave me some images from his series of Victorian inspired wallpapers, and I got busy designing him a new logo. I haven't done any branding before, but the fact that he is new to this too made a lot less intimidating.

Update - Walker Books

2010-10-05T04:54:00.000-07:00

I've spent the summer working my butt off at Love Walk Cafe in Camberwell, attempting to earn half a years rent - as I only get half the loan this year! I'm not quite there yet but I'm itching to get into industry... so I've cut down to weekends so that I can begin placements!
So last week I went for two interviews and landed myself 3 placements! The first interview was with Walker Books, the children books publishers behind the epic Where's Wally, and a childhood favourite of mine We're going on a Bear Hunt. The company appealed to me because they take more risks with kids books than any other publisher and they were looking for someone that likes interactive books - which i do!

The placement is for a month in January and I will be part of their Picture Book team! I am very excited as Book Publishing is something I am very interested in, and I imagine it will be a very good thing to have knowledge of in my career.

Note to self: Must learn how to use InDesign for this placement! Hello Youtube...

Be Brave

2010-06-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Creative Review has featured an article about LCC's Diploma in Professional Studies that I'm embarking on from July... exciting!

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/current-issue/graduate-guide-be-brave

The Tree of Codes

2010-05-22T02:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I worked with the graphic designer Sara De Bondt, her most recognisable piece would be the visuals she designed for Celebrity Big Brother.

She has recently been asked to put together a book called Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer. Foer has taken his favourite book - Tree of Crocodiles and derived a new story from it.

He has created a narrative out of select words from each page, the sentences are poetic and intriguing. We physically cut out all the unwanted text from each page, leaving only the words that Foer had highlighted for the new story. The end piece is a sculptural book that is visually and literally intriguing.

The Great Escape

2010-05-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

This is a project I call 'The Great Escape', I created a narrative where the characters within books came to life when no ones around and make a dash for the outside world.

The End.

[insert name here]

2010-05-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

We were set a project to produce our own 20 page newspaper inspired by a story in any of the main newspapers.
My newspaper is a response to the story of the betting shop - Paddy Powers that had 'sponsored' a church confession box. It lead me to question the intention of their sponsorship, the company had requested to have their name on the front of the confession box if they forked out the money - I saw this gesture as a blatant form of advertising.

My newspaper argues the right advertisers have to invade public space with their messages, while the public is forbidden. We have messages flashed at us everywhere: buy this, watch this, drive this...
But if we want to say something in our public space, it isn't that easy. Put your art in the public space, paint a mural, tag a wall and we're breaking the law. Even though adverting is basically tagging, both want maximum distribution of their names.
Our laws say that we can be bombarded by corporate messages, we can have their words and images shoved in our faces, but if we want to express ourselves then apparently we are criminals

These spreads here are initial ideas, I want to make a more substantial publication then this 20 page mock. I'm going to develop these pages much further, include more hard core info, writing, interviews and case studies. But for some initial ideas I think I'm starting to get my point across, and am pretty pleased with how its looking.

Above is an idea for front/back cover.

The images are a mixture of my own photography, images sourced from books and the internet.

100 Drawings

2010-05-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

We had to do 100 drawings over Easter, they were broken into 5 categories; objects, people, furniture, architecture and vehicles.

One set of my drawings is a kind of portrait of my friends Shen and Dan through objects; I spent a whole day on their sofa drawing everything of theirs around me. For some reason Shen has a barbie, but she was fun to draw.

Penguin Design Awards

2010-05-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Things got serious a week ago, I entered my first Design Competition the Penguin Design Awards.

Students were invited to design a whole new cover look for the  classic,  Alice in Wonderland,  reinventing it for a new generation of  child  readers and ensuring that  it remains an integral part of  childhood. This is my design...

I noticed that Alice in Wonderland covers usually subject Alice,  these covers make you feel like you are observing someone else’s  adventure but I wanted to make you feel as if this was your adventure

The story is all about Alice’s curiosity of this fantasy world, I  thought about arousing curiosity by creating a still life of strange  objects which could draw the viewer in, mirroring the way Alice is drawn  to numerous strange objects throughout the story.

Lewis Carrol pours out word play so I literally played with the text  for the front cover, making my still life pour it out.

I wanted to celebrate this brilliant British story, and what better  way  then with a tea-party, quintessentially English. So the tea-party  still  life functions in two ways - to celebrate Englishness, and to  invite the  viewer into the world of the book with a seemingly  interactive set up  of objects you feel you can reach out to.

the 10 commandments

2010-04-11T14:17:00.001-07:00

We were set a brief to design our own version of the 10 commandments, I wanted to write the commandments I'd learnt as a designer. I decided to use art materials to typographically deliver my text as my commandments were going back to basics; and art materials are the basics of any designers work. I brought them to life, in the same way they bring our work to life.

The Home Poster Project

2009-12-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be one of about 20 people to take part in and represent London College of Communication in the Home International Poster Project. This project promotes dialogue through design by linking design students from schools all over the world to address the universal theme of 'home'. The project comprised of a week long workshop with Graphic Designer Yasha Rozov and Lucy Brown on a travelling exhibition.

My design comes from the idea that home is made up of your possessions; after leaving home 2 years ago, my room in my parents house didn't feel like home anymore, because there
was nothing familiar in it, nothing that physically connected it with me, it was just an empty shell.
As soon as I put my belongings into my new room in London I felt at home, and the same feeling came again this year when I moved into a new house.

The Making of Call Signs

2009-12-10T17:33:00.000-08:00

Stills from my music video as I'm having trouble uploading the actual video.

Call Signs

2009-12-10T13:21:00.001-08:00

We have just completed our most intense uni project yet; 2 weeks to make a music video (on top of two 1800 word essays and a book cover project).

I had the pleasure of working with Karen Ma, Cong Sang, Olly Gibbs, Julian Camilo & Thomas Hayman. We chose to make our video for the band Breton, a London based band, and their song 'Call Signs'.

We didn't brainstorm a story, we just knew from the vibe of the song that we wanted to be play with light in the pitch black. We found the perfect location in Elephant & Castle...

It was touch and go filming in this burnt out house, firstly the six of us had to climb through a barbed wire fence, which was a bit challenging on a main road with police constantly going by. And secondly, once we were in, we realised junkies were living there; there was needles, fresh food and bedding all in the basement. No one was there when we got in but we didn't know when they would be 'home'.

Here's our music video, hope you like it!

Freakonomics 2

2009-12-04T19:08:00.001-08:00

This is the second set of designs for my Book Cover Project, I think I might have two outcomes as I think this idea is just as strong as the light graffiti concept.

These designs have a completely different concept, picking up on how Freakonomics examines why people do the things they do... so it has a gun to symbolise how it looks at the trigger for peoples actions, and it the gun is dismantled to symbolise how the book examines these trigger.

I wanted to incorporate the financial times into the design to highlight how the book examines economics.

I screen printed the gun design onto the newspaper first, but I didn't think it worked well as a design, so I then made a screen of a newspaper column and printed it as the background to my design. Also part of the symbolism of my design was to show how Freakomics was a reflection of one person's view of our world. So I decided to print my design onto mirror card.

This was my first time screen printing and i loved it! A big thank you has to go to the Chelsea textile design girls for letting me move into their studio for the last couple days to produce this!

rooftops

2009-11-24T17:11:00.000-08:00

my rooftop is my new favourite place in the world, the view is amazing, and you feel so far away from everything, you can see for miles and not hear a thing.

i haven't quite got the aerial shots i wanted as there was gail force winds tonight so going to the edge was not an option. but i'm pretty pleased with the typo, managed to get 'freakonomics' perfectly along the london skyline in one of the pics. my housemate geoff had a go, you'll see his head pop up in the last one.

get your freak on

2009-11-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

Having looked back over my pics, i though i better work on my execution of the word 'freakonomics'...

i think its a bit more legible then the first lot

Freakonomics

2009-11-24T14:31:00.001-08:00

For my Elective: Collaborative Projects in Graphic Design, I have to design a front cover for the book 'Freakonomics'. The book is about everything we and do and the subjects that bedevil us daily: from parenting to crime, sports to politics, health to education, fear to traffic jams. These are the exisiting British and American covers.

In Freakonomics, the author, Levitt turns conventional economics on it's head. He explores the riddles of everyday life and examine topics such as:

How chips are more likely to kill you than a terrorist attack, why sportsmen cheat and how fraud can be spotted, why violent crime can be linked to abortion, why a road is more efficient when everyone travels at 20mph, how the name you give your child can give them an advantage in later life, and what really causes obesity epidemics.

Asking provocative and profound questions about human motivation and contemporary living and reaching some astonishing conclusions, Freakonomics will make you see the familiar world through a completely original lense.

The concept for my book cover designs comes from the idea that this book looks deep into our lives, which is why i have tried to get a view of looking down into a residential scene. But i want to get a higher perspective then this, i plan on going up on my roof tonight to take higher more aerial type shots.
I'm playing with long exposures to capture light to echo how the author, Levitt brings light to new issues and debates. I also feel the illumination of these night time scenes adds to the 'freak' theme of the book and the weird phenomenons he speaks of.

interview with the saudis

2009-11-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

i'm working with a new magazine, called Mint, started up by two friends from home, Jamie Clifton and Ed Schofield. They recently asked me to interview the Saudis, here's what happened...

How did everything start?

Lias: The line up at the moment came together around April, but we were a group of the same name for about two years without any of these guys. Before it was just my brother and I, and a couple of other guys gigging around South London; Deptford and New Cross mostly.

Did the change in line-up change your sound do you think?

Lias: Well yeah, it was pretty rubbish before, no-one could play their instruments properly and we didn’t really know what we were doing! We went away to Algeria to do a tour, which is when Alex joined actually, and when we got back we sort of realized it wasn’t going anywhere and broke up for a bit. Luckily we sort of fluked our way in to finding some really good musicians, like Julian here, and got going again.

There must be quite varied influences between you all, do you all sort of mesh together?
Nathan: Yeah I think so.
Lias: Yeah, we do tend to argue quite a lot though! Not when we’re practicing but…
Julian: I think it’s good to argue actually, it’s better then because you get all your ideas out.
Lias: These two (Alex & Nathan) clash though!
Alex: Haha, you don’t need to commit that to tape, we can have an argument for you now though if you want!

How does the song-writing work within the band?
L: Everybody sort of contributes I guess, me and Alex tend to write the lyrics but there’s no hierarchy or anything, everyone does their own thing.
A: Julian’s the talent though, he can play anything.
N: Yeah he can play Metallica songs!
J: I’m the full talent really.
A: We found him in France, just sitting their on the street and took him back with us, now he lives at our house and sleeps on a fold-out bed next to Nathan. We should have taken you to our house actually, but it smells awful, we didn’t want you to get the wrong idea!

What else do you guys do outside of The Saudis?
N: We’ve all signed on at the moment, except for Bradley who’s at the Slade school of art, I just finished there this summer.
A: What are you talking about? You’re in the Algerian army!
N: That was before art school, my brother and I are half Algerian which is partly why we went and toured there.

Is there a noticeable difference between playing shows here compared to Algeria?
N: Oh yeah big time. You don’t play for women in Algeria, they’re not allowed to come to the gigs so there’s like 500 men there. It’s really weird you know, I remember when we first played there it was really shocking when we got on stage, just so many people.
L: There’s a lot of testosterone!
A: None of the electricity is earthed either, so when you plug your guitar in the whole thing is just humming. We had to stand on polystyrene blocks and wear rubber-soled shoes so we didn’t get shocked!
N: The crowds were mad as well, in the smaller towns they were a bit like ‘What the fuck is this?’ but in the cities they just went mental.
A: I think we were one of the first bands to play in some of those places; they’re so passionate about community and the music just brought them together even more, which was cool.

Did your time there inspire you?
A: Yeah definitely there’s no distraction there, it’s completely different from here, you can only do stuff in the morning and at dusk because it’s so hot in the day. We’re going back soon actually, a gig in France first then Algeria. We’re trying to do fewer gigs at the moment because we want to concentrate on writing. We’ve got a residency at The Macbeth but after that, I mean you need a manager to get gigs, constantly out schmoozing people in East London.

Do you guys prefer South London to East then? (They all live in Camberwell)
L: Well, I mean I like East London, I used to live there actually, but it’s a bit like one long party. I remember not doing anything with myself, except working at a pub, getting wrecked the whole time. It was great fun but at the end of it I hadn’t managed to keep my flat, I’d been kicked out of college and I was on the dole living on my mates floor, and it was just like oh fuck man… time to leave.
N: We’re not really connected to any area in the world, I don’t feel like anywhere’s my place, you know?

What prompted the move to London for you guys? (Lias & Nathan)
L: Well we were living in a small town in Northern Ireland and there wasn’t really any sort of music scene. I got in to art because obviously you do it at school, and my big brother went to art school so I was really in to that and wanted to be an artist, until I came to art school and didn’t really enjoy it.

What was your (Julian) plan when you got to London then?
L: Julian didn’t have a plan; he just came with his guitar, ready to rock out! And luckily we found him.
N: It’s true; it was meant to be(!)
J: Let’s have a try of a few gigs without me!
L: Come on Julian! This is what he does whenever we talk about him not paying his way; he goes “fuck you, I fucking won’t play my fucking guitar!” Haha, Julian is the talent though, we’d be nowhere without him.

the Grovers

2009-11-22T19:48:00.001-08:00

i asked my housemates what

they thought illustration was,

these were their replies...

bits of the project

2009-11-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green is an amazing museum. I spent 3 hours there, looking at toys from the current day to way back. Definately worth paying a visit.

In the Museum of Childhood there was a series of cases which displayed artifacts from three London families. Each case built up a picture of the family over three generations. I was struck by the case of the Jalal family, as their possessions symbolised the struggle of an Asian family living in London in the 80's. Their case was full of indoor games & toys, indoor games were significant to their lives during the 80's because they were unable to play outside due to fear of racist attacks.

This is the Jalal Family, Parvin was once the little girl isolated from the world because of racism.

I have chosen to pursue my project n this doll as the quote it was labelled with really got me, it evokes so much sadness.

I have only included a few pages from my sketchbook which i felt were significant in my development of this project. I looked at the artist Sara Fanelli as her work encompasses a childlike feel and my project dealt with voicing a childhood experience.

I was inspired by how powerfully these dolls communicated a message in such a simple and basic way - hand stitch.

These are my doodles for a hand stitched piece, playing with different sizes and typefaces.

I went through a few designs for a doll and finally settled on this one.

So here it is, after raiding my housemates wool, cutting up a tshirt (for the fabric), and 6 hours of spotify my doll is made.

I photographed my doll in an isolated state to evoke the sadness of having to remain indoors. I blurred the edge to give a dream like feel to reinforce how i have manifested a memory from nearly 30 years ago.

What is it?!

2009-11-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

BRIEF:

Choose one museum object that interests, intrigues or inspires you in some way.

You must develop a visual dialogue with your chosen object and communicate its most significant characteristics in an appropriate manner.

"What am i?!"

2009-11-02T07:20:00.001-08:00

With this project I had to show what sort of Illustrator I am.

In my research I asked lots of people what they thought Illustration was. I found that the general opinion was that Illustration was drawings in books, supporting text. This dated impression compelled me to show how Illustration is far from stagnant drawings in books, how Illustration has escaped the world of books.

These are three of my final pieces from a sequence of 10. In my sequence I show 10 potential powers of Illustration; the power to celebrate life, bring things to life, provoke thought, express emotion, take you to other worlds, put a smile on

your face, gives personality, make you feel good, and makes the world a better place. They are all 3D installations, comprised of text and image suspended in the air.

pull the plug

2009-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

These are extracts from a booklet i made for a project called 'Man, Woman, Machine'. In this booklet I encourage you to pull the plug on machines by suggesting machine free alternatives. I wanted people to enjoy real and organic experiences as I am concerned that our lives are sometimes confined by the isolating and unhealthy world of machines.

Shakespeare Posters

2009-10-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

These are ideas for posters advertising the works of Shakespeare...

found things

2009-10-12T08:24:00.000-07:00

one morning whilst wondering around my neighborhood, i found a little note on the pavement... i wanted to put it up here because it's one of the cutest things i've ever found!

The Finches

2009-10-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

I am a twin, we are gonna start up our own Design Studio together when we graduate!

再见

2009-10-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

My best friend Rielly has just left for her year abroad in China. i found this quote about friends which inspired my card.

cult of the squiggly 2

2009-10-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is some more work inspired by Pomme Chan.

cult of the squiggly

2009-10-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

i've been looking at the work of Illustrator Pomme Chan, a graduate from LCC in fact! she is one of my favourite illustrators, i just love the fluidity of her line work. she is thoughtful and delicate with each line, so that they appear to move and grow.

i have created a typeface inspired by her work.

'tada dada'

2009-10-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

I had a massive clear out of all my stuff just before I moved into my new house & came across some old artwork. This is a piece I did for a project inspired by the Dada movement. I jazzed it up with a frame & fancy wallpaper the other day.