"People really like it when you send them something nice..."

Graham Jones- Self Promotion  

Today has been such a long day- found myself sat in the studio at 9am!! Although I was sat there for a while I didn't seem to make much progress hence why I am still working now. Anyway in the afternoon Graham came to talk to us about self-promotion, "self-promotion is one aspect of graphic design which cannot be taught." I really enjoyed this lecture, self-promotion is basically all about marketing yourself within the industry and getting yourself noticed. It seems a little daunting at first but rather exciting regarding the routes good self-promotion can take you down. Graham began by discussing the primary tools of communication needed within the industry, which include an identity, a portfolio, a website and printed literature. Graham then talked about the early stages of his career at VIA before going freelance about 5 years ago. I tried to take some pictures of the identity for VIA but they turned out really blurred. So after discussing the basic points of self promotion we had a look at Grahams work including his identity and the typographic work he produces for many clients. Below are his buisness cards, printed on a variety of stock as clients tend to like something they can see and also touch. I need to think TACTILE!

"Finding clients will be the main battle of your whole career: not only to find clients to start you going, but constantly finding clients to keep you going" It was made very clear to us that attention to detail is very important, Graham's work above is a very good example if this choosing the correct stock to print on, a personal touch to the design and even the odd gifts you could send out to people because "People really like it when you send them something nice." It's very important for us to get established within the industry very early on in our career, to catch clients attention and maintain it further into our career to keep getting jobs. "You have to tell your clients that you are available and willing for more work."

Graham gave a very inspirational lecture, it all seemed a little daunting at first and I must admit I am still felling rather nervous towards the subject of self-promotion and making myself known to complete strangers. I know though its something I have to do and a fear I must overcome in order to become established. Graham made it clear to us each individual point we had to consider when creating our own identites and was definitely really helpful, and a nice break from the ever ongoing silence brief! He rounded off the lecture by showing us some of the work he has done such as logos and the work done for his freelance group 'LooseCollective.' Here are some images of his work

Help Me with my Narrative...pleeease!

I'm currently having an on going problem with the narrative for my silence project so would like a tiny bit of help. I'm not really sure whether anyone actually sits and looks/reads my blog but it's worth a shot I suppose. So if any of you can spare a second just to remeber where you were, what you were doing and any thoughts you remember having when you heard about/saw the footage of the twin towers on 9/11 then please could you comment underneath this post with a few words, as it would be a huge help!

Thanks for your time :)

Silence Photographs

On Thursday I had my tutorial with Sue where we discussed our ongoing Silence projects! We took part in a group crit which I found to be really useful, laying our work out on the desk we then got the chance to gain critical views of our current work. I showed Sue the earlier photographs I had taken of the shadows created from the papercut feathers I had made, we went onto discuss how I might use them in correspondence to part 2 of the silence brief and I rose the issue of my struggle to find a suitable narrative to tie in with the pieces I had created so far. The earlier piece of language I had used was 'Maybe they're just birds honey,' and even though it was found to be a beautiful piece of language relating to 9/11, during previous tutorials we discussed how perhaps it wasn't personal enough to the subject. I've struggled since then to find anything that wasn't a complete memorial/testimonial to the disaster which took place. I explained this to Sue and she told me to consider the more mundane language, and how this might work combined with my images of the feathers and also how I could ask my friends and family (of all ages) to write down a few words which they remember of the event i.e. where they were, what they remember and any thoughts they had. These short pieces of text could then be broken down and used as the narrative for my project.

I felt alot happier after this tutorial, and after being given some direction I felt really motivated to get on with the project. So I sat down and did some more cuttings and played with the shadows they created. I had yet to find any narrative so I used the quote that Sue had given which was 'I need to buy a sleeping bag,' this is what she remembers thinking whilst riding home after watching footage of the twin towers. So here are a few further experiments...

"Always Make Tea"

So on Tuesday afternoon we were introduced to Nicola Rowlands. One of last years first degree graduates (or however you would say it.) Nicola talked about placements, her journal, her life after D&AD and gave us some general top tips to make 3rd year that little bit easier.

*Be nice to your teachers
*Be confident
*Be genuine
*Go out on a limb - but don't be too wacky
*Get your work out there
*Don't put all of your eggs in one basket- Keep an open mind
*Don't blend in
*Be aware - watch TV, read the newspaper
*Be yourself and not someone else
*Keep in touch
*Always make tea

I really enjoyed her light hearted approach to the lecture, there appeared to be light at the end of the tunnel and for a slight moment 3rd year seemed to be not that scary. I have looked at her website and blog (see link) and they are amazing! The blog is jam packed and totally up to date...something which I am working on, I would love to be that organised :) ah well! Nicola's work is brilliant, I loved her hand drawn techniques and all the different elements within her designs. Her creative style is so individual and really reflected in her lovely personality, all of Nicola's hard work has definitely paid off and can be considered to be an creative inspiration for us D&AD'ers!

Keep Calm (well at least try too...)

Some inspirational posters from the guy's at LoveCreative, they may be useful...

Running out of time...ALREADY eeek!

Oh dear, had my 'not so wacky week' tutorial with Sue yesterday and it seems although we're only half way through the first term, we don't have long left and I definitely need to buck my ideas up!! So here I am on a Friday night blogging and being (well trying to be) creative hmmmm...lets see how long I will last. Glad I signed up to chat with Sue and the other girlie's in the tutor group as the feedback has really helped and motivated me....I will DEFINITELY be doing full studio days now for the rest of 3rd year, I guess I've said a sad goodbye to any form of social life, or just life in general for the next 7 months. Oh the joy!

Special Collections at MMU

It seems like every year since I began at uni on the foundation course I have taken an annual trip to the special collections on the 3rd floor in the library. Today was the day I took that trip, but today I went with an actual reason and not because 'I had to for my journal!' After my discussion with Sue regarding my dissertation and being briefed with second part of 'Silence,' I felt it was necessary to visit to especially look at the handmade artist books and the paper sculptures. I began by looking at the work of an artist called Mette-Sofie D. Ambeck, an artist who uses papercut as her main form of illustration in her own books. I can't wait to see more of her collection in a few weeks when she visits for the Manchester Artist Books Fair! I really loved her different approach to each page of her books and the attention to detail in the folding and cutting of the paper. Here are some images of her work:
Her work really inspired me, especially in relation to our current 'silence' brief. Mette, it seems makes considerations for each of the pages before she starts instead of just creating a page at a time, everything corresponds! This is something I also have to do for part 2 of our brief as I want to create a document. I then went onto look at other artists books, particularly the way they were folded and how they were presented rather than the actual themes. I completely forgot to write the names of all of the artist books and the designs...but theses are the ones I liked!

I was fascinated by this 'book in a box' called Letter's Home and the complexity of the folds in the paper, I just need to figure out how it was done.

I also found the concertina books useful to look at, I really need to practice my folding skills so they are perfect for my own books, as I would really like to explore book design especially as a form of communication. Here are a few concertinas from the library.

Finally...if this hasn't bored you enough, I got the chance to see this brilliant paper sculpture, I love the dimensions of the piece and just the general themes of the birds flying out of a book. Quite a haunting piece, seeing a real paper sculpture has furthered my interest into the use of paper which will help me express my views within my dissertation.