WiG? - Place.

DAY 3

Today Rob took me with him to see the new BBC buildings in Salford which was really interesting as it will become the biggest digital facility in the EU as I've been informed.

The buildings themselves are really creatively designed and they make the layout of the offices inside interesting and modern. The building we went to see was for the Children's entertainment department and i noticed a few other signs with other programmes on them that would be aired during the evenings. They had lots of brilliant furniture and a layouts, the overall feel of it was that the place was designed to be communal. All the offices are open planned and there are plenty of places to sit and chat and have meets or conferences. My favourite bit about it was the playfulness of it, the walls and furniture were all really colourful and the windows were big and had a great view which would keep employees happy and unrestricted. The woman who was showing us around took us to measure and discuss these boards that would be used to write on by the staff and Creative Concerns job was to design vinyls to make headers and footers for them to make them look more interesting. She specifically mentioned they had some chairs that when you sit on them your legs don't touch the floor so as to make you feel more like a child. This amused me.

Before we headed back to the studio we made a short trip to the Lowry which is just opposite the BBC buildings. It was very good timing as they had literally just finished putting up the banners and posters for the Warhol exhibition, so we were able to take a few photos before coming back.

During the afternoon I worked more on the icons for the BBC project and I was looking into making patterns from the imagery i had create yesterday. Here's what I produced.

I feel like these are really simple and basic designs which I personally don't find entirely appealing, however, they may be of some use and may be engaging for someone else.

WIG? - Activity.

Doodling.
Planking.
Exercising.
Training.
Eating.
Listening to music.
Surfing.
Travelling.
Talking.

WIG? - Place.

DAY 2

This morning I arrived at the studio and was told not to get comfy as Rob and I were going to be going over to the Whitworth art gallery on Oxford Road to meet the Curator and discuss the placement of some vinyls for a new exhibition that was is under construction there.

I was basically shadowing Rob and the Curator and observing the things that discussed. What I picked up on was that they talked about the visibility of the vinyls and what the viewers typically do when walking around the gallery and how this affects how they will see/notice them. This also covered topics such as lighting as some areas in the gallery would be in darkness or very low, soft lighting. They talk a little bit about the content but not extensively as this I would imagine was already designed before i began my work placement. Measurements of the wall spaces were taken throughout.

Once this was sorted we sat down and they discussed the leaflet for the exhibition making amendments and figuring out how to include the gallery map on the final prints. This was a good time to take notes on some of the things they talked about. The initial things were issues such as colour and legibility of the text, then they went on to more fine details such as the stock tone complimenting the colours of the image and the layout in terms of how the audience will open it up and read it. The one thing that stood out for me though was that they considered the conditions in which the leaflet would be read, for instance the lighting in certain rooms would make it impossible and in others very easy. This wouldn't have crossed my mind before hand.

This all took about 2 hours including travel time and speaking to Rob on the way back he told me that its quite a common thing to go on such visits and meetings.

Once back at the studio I was set to work designing some ideas for icons and symbols that would be suitable for the BBC project. I was given a copy of the brief which provided a lot guide lines what they wanted the work to look and feel like. Here are some of the designs I got done during the afternoon before finishing for the day.

I tried to produce these quite quickly and i found it hard to go straight into it and get designing digitally. I spoke to my desk buddy Neil (designer) as he was working on the project as well and looking at the way he worked helped as I noticed that he has a sketch book open most of the time where he draws very simple little shapes and marks to indicate what he's aiming for. I gave this a try and produced several thumbnails in my own sketchbook and it helped to visualise what i could do. Putting the rough images in my head down on to paper is a good way of clearing your mind and then being able to develop them.

WIG? - Place.

DAY 1

I didn't know what to expect when i first arrived at Creative Concern and although I'm keen to get involved and learn it was quite unnerving.

My first impression was literally 'WOW', the studio is brilliant, it's and open plan studio at the top of a 5 storey warehouse which is situate in a back street of Manchester's northern quarter. The bricks and wooden beams give the place a very warm and comfortable feel and as you walk in you get the feeling that you've entered someones home and not a workplace.

I could actually live here, they have a kitchen a shower a TV (mainly used for pitches and presentations, but a TV nonetheless) and a great view out of the window. I've had to bring in my own computer to work on as the laptops they use when freelancers come in to work are a bit slow. This I found has be a plus as i cant access lots of my work and files etc.

To begin with I was introduce briefly to some of the projects that the company are working on. The first being promotional materials for an exhibition of some of Andy Warhol's work that will be held at the Lowry titled 'Warhol & The Diva'. My task was to trace the original outline of the words '& The Diva' and then scan it to illustrator to the be traced to make a pathway to be used as a window and crop out an image so it would show through the font. This was then sent off to print and it is now featured on the flyers and leaflets for the exhibition.

It's all very exciting and this was all in a mornings work :)

This is the path that i created for the image to be applied to.

I was then shown some of the work a project titled 'Rock and Soul' which was based upon a collection of Beatles memorabilia that is based in Memphis. The work that was already produce was of collaged images cropped, rotated and composed to make interesting visuals that would be used on websites and on the sides of trams. Rob (Creative Director) asked me to look through some other photos and create some more variations and be creative in what i could compose.

Soon after this was done and I'd had a chance to look through some more of the artwork for the other projects that are ongoing, I was allowed to sit in on a briefing for a re branding job for the BBC's business and finance department. It was interesting to see how the briefings worked as I've only every been briefed in a large group on the course the way it works at Creative Concern is similar however they are much more condensed. The only people present apart from myself were the creative director, the financial manager and the designer. They discussed the outlines of the brief and began to define what the key elements the client wanted to be included in the response. I remained quite during this first briefing as I thought it would be best to observe how its carried out and to listen to what sort of points they address. There was a lot of 'consideration' in terms of the time limit, financial restrictions and the overall aim of what the work is trying to do for the client.

Once the briefing was over I was asked to search for photos and source images for the project and to gather visuals that would be both inspiring and useful. They introduced me to the IStock website and showed me how to create a 'lightbox' which is where you can pool all the images that you find into one online folder so you can compare them.

Before I knew it, it was time to head home, although you can stay as long as you need, it was 5 o'clock and I was hungry.

WIG? - Place.

Place.


1. Creative Concern.

2. Bed.

3. Northern Quarter.
4. Anglesey.
5. Hossegor.

WIG? - Briefing.

'GOOD" depends on your perspective, ethics, creative preferences, likes and dislikes (amongst other things). It is a matter of opinion rather than a statement of fact. You need to decide what is 'good' & design something that communicates your opinion, supports your argument or delivers your point of view.

Identify, research and present your opinions of what is 'good'.

TASKS

Select 1 object, 1 place, 1 activity, 1 opinion and 1 concept that you think are good.

Prepare a 3 minute powerpoint / pdf presentation that focuses on 1 of the above subjects and summarises your findings. You should aim to prove that you are right (or wrong). You need to make believers of us all as well as propose methods of informing, persuading or educating others through a range of print formats.

PROVE IT

Gather, select and deliver evidence in order to back up your belief that something is good. You should aim to gather and categorise appropriate facts, figures and statistics that will establish you as an expert in your subject matter.

radical, inventive and exhaustive research methods will help to generate/identify surprising sources of primary and secondary research. Research in order to understand. Select / categorise in order to clarify.