Friday 29 October 2010

Rationale

Being a year in industry student, I was lucky enough during placement to become aware of the importance of blogs in a designer’s everyday life. Not only for each individual to note down inspirations and day-to-day findings, but also to use other blogs to critique other’s opinions and inspire our own creations. Having set up my own blog during placement and regularly uploading posts on all aspects of life that I saw to be of interest, I found the transition from posting for fun in my spare time, to posting for a university module, incredibly easy and enjoyable.

By actively seeking new designs and inspirations I have widely increased my awareness of the design world. As a university student it is very easy to become caught up in a bubble where you tend to forget about ‘the bigger picture’. With little contact from the outside world, we begin to think that we will finish our degree as a fully-fledged designer and with a complete understanding of the subject of design. This brief allowed me to question my existing design knowledge, and has given me the confidence to criticise work in a way that I was not capable of before.

Design is purely subjective, and something that I found through blogging and commenting on others blogs was that it was often the case that people’s opinions would differ. Whilst one person found an advert for Cadbury’s to be incredibly stimulating and innovative, another would question its relevance to the product. Thus one would consider it a success, whilst the other would not. From a number of my own posts that focused on rebranding going wrong, and from the different opinions of others in specific posts, it is clear that when designing something it is not necessarily the designer’s opinion that will make the product be a success. It’s important to ask others, your target market. Using social media like blogging is a good way to give your opinions on a design, but you cannot always assume that you will be right, which is the same when creating your own designs.

Although I was aware that the purpose of this brief was to lead me to a rough topic for my independent project, I chose to start this blog with an open mind. I did not want to automatically limit myself to one subject, and therefore chose to see what my natural trail of thoughts would bring to me. My style of blogging was completely sporadic. If I saw something I liked, or visited somewhere of interest then I would post about it. Therefore my posts ranged from a sculpture I found in Norway ‘Telemegaphone”, to the new Argos Christmas advert. Whilst on placement I was also encouraged to regularly visit design sites such as Creative Review and Campaign Live, which I now check everyday out of habit, as well as some lesser-known design blogs from which I have drawn inspiration. This not only benefited me in my day-to-day design work, but also continued to increase my knowledge of the industry.

Being faced with advertising everyday, whether I choose to be or not, it was not entirely surprising that most of my posts were centred around this aspect of design. The diversity of the subject from online to television adverts has not only given me a broader awareness, but also allowed me to begin to think about what type of design I would like to focus my independent project on. From a design point of view I have always swayed towards advertising within module briefs, and having focused on this during placement I have become increasingly aware of its importance to make a brand successful. Without realising we subject ourselves to advertising in our daily lives, and that is something that I have found to very interesting. Advertising is literally everywhere. My blog posts have only strengthened my choice to use advertising within my independent project.

I was initially concerned from looking at the wide range of topics that I had shown interest in that there would be no thought pattern in my posts. However part way through the brief I became aware that I was unintentionally focusing a number of my posts on British culture. Whether this is because I am faced with it every day so it cannot be avoided, or if it is something I am genuinely interested in I was not completely sure, but I would like to believe that it is a mixture of the two. These posts have so far ranged from looking at the ‘This is England 86’ television series featuring British punks, to Cath Kidston’s quintessential English fabric prints, to the culture of Notting Hill Carnival.  The diversity of British culture is clear from these posts, traditional England mixing with a modern multicultural England, something I found particularly interesting in my posts concerning Notting Hill. Without realising it we subject ourselves to British traditions everyday, whether by having a cup of tea or by going on a country walk. From this blog I would be very interested in looking further into the revival of traditional England, or of an area concerning today’s British culture. The subject is expansive, and through further posts I hope to be able to narrow my interests down into a more precise topic.

In conclusion writing a summer blog has been an invaluable experience. Not only has it opened me up to a new way of analysing designs and questioning other’s opinions, but it has also allowed me to develop my interests into a subject that has the possibility to be used for my independent project. Although the brief is now finished I hope to continue this blog in the future to allow me to continue to broaden my design knowledge, and continue to be aware of current issues within industry.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Jack Wills

As I mentioned in a previous post, it definitely seems that old English clothing brands are coming back into fashion. Jack Wills 'the university outfitters', is an English brand for the younger generation that brings these old English styles with a modern twist. I regularly get the Jack Wills Handbook through the post, which is a high quality catalogue for the brand containing a lot of arty lifestyle imagery. The brand has a lot of critics, mainly due to the price of their clothing and the typical 'rah' that would be seen in them, however it has become a lot more commonplace in the past few years and brings with it a quintessential English lifestyle with Polo and manor houses.

I have to admit as a brand I really enjoy Jack Wills. Not just because of the clothing, it's incredibly overpriced, but in the way that it has created such a brand identity for itself and has managed to convert many critics into lovers. English is back in a big way and Jack Wills is making sure that the public know about it. The website is updated regularly and has a lifestyle section which currently holds dates of a university tour. Targeting the market perfectly I think.





Tom Gauld for Diet Coke

Some really nice illustrative work by Tom Gauld for Diet Coke. I've been looking at co-branding for my dissertation and really liked the use of it here. Diet Coke have teamed up with charity 'The Heart Truth' to create these can designs. It looks very feminine, the main audience for Diet Coke, whilst the charity also focuses on women's heart problems.

Dead Star




I really like this piece of sculpture by Michel de Broin which is made from discarded batteries. I don't think I would want it in my own house but the idea that a piece of art can be made from something that you would just normally throw away, and would never consider to be somewhat attractive is really interesting. It looks like a futuristic rock. Maybe this is what the environment will begin to look like in a few centuries time?

English Revival

Old English clothing brands are definitely being revived in todays fashion. I lost count of the number of Hunter wellington boots that I saw at Bestival over the summer, and everyone around campus is wearing Barbour jackets. I like that such brands that are the backbone of English clothing are now coming into fashion.

A year ago many people wouldn't have been seen dead in most of this clothing, mainly because it's main target market are farmers, a not so glamorous profession, however it just shows the influence that the media has on today's fashion. If it wasn't for Kate Moss wearing her Hunter wellington boots to the first festival of the summer, then I very much doubt that so many would have been sold over the past few months. Style icons influence us every day, even when we don't realise it.

The Barbour jacket - how it's meant to be worn

In fashion today

Kate Moss in her Hunter boots - practical, and now thanks to her also fashionable.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Guilty Pleasures...


As a student there are a lot of things that we're not meant to be able to afford, ie. food and such. But one thing I will always have (just) enough money to buy is Cath Kidston. I don't know what it is about her designs but I can't get enough of them. If it was just any old designer who had created the patterns I would probably hate them. They are, afterall, quite grandma/charity shop -esque. Maybe it's just following the trends of everyone else? 




D&AD Annual 2010

Designing a book that will be displaying the best advertising design of the year was always going to be hard but artist Bob & Roberta Smith has done a pretty good job. Introducing a theme of 'Everything is Made' to the book, D&AD President Brazier comments "I love that sentiment. To me, it sums up what being a creative is all about. It's not just coming up with an original idea, it's about crafting it, nurturing it, doing it justice".

The book is a brilliant piece of art in itself. It's bold, bright and exciting. Even more more I agree with Brazier's comment about having to craft design. Currently coming up to the end of a university project, we are constantly taught the importance of development and the potential in every idea. It's not just about the first good idea that pops into your head.