WHAT ARE THE CREATIVE CONSCIENCE AWARDS?

The Creative Conscience Awards is a not-for-profit student awards scheme that accepts entries from around the world. Students can write their own briefs, choosing a cause or issue they are passionate about.

Entry is free, and each year shortlisted entries are judged by a team of industry experts.

The winners of the Creative Conscience Awards will be invited to a networking Awards Ceremony in London. Providing a gateway into the professional world, including other career enhancing opportunities!

THE THEME FOR THE CREATIVE CONSCIENCE AWARDS IS CENTERED AROUND USING CREATIVITY TO MAKE A POSITIVE CHANGE TO A PARTICULAR MORAL, ETHICAL OR WORTHWHILE CAUSE.

For more information click here

The deadline is is March 27 2015

Freefont Lato

Lato is a sanserif typeface family designed in the Summer 2010 by Warsaw-based designer Łukasz Dziedzic (“Lato” means “Summer” in Polish). In December 2010 the Lato family was published under the open-source Open Font License by his foundry tyPoland, with support from Google. In 2013-2014, the family was greatly extended to cover 2300+ glyphs per style. It now supports 100+ Latin-based languages, 50+ Cyrillic-based languages as well as Greek and IPA phonetics. In the process, the metrics and kerning of the family have been revised and four additional weights were created.

In the last ten or so years, during which Łukasz has been designing type, most of his projects were rooted in a particular design task that he needed to solve. With Lato, it was no different. Originally, the family was conceived as a set of corporate fonts for a large client — who in the end decided to go in different stylistic direction, so the family became available for a public release.

When working on Lato, Łukasz tried to carefully balance some potentially conflicting priorities. He wanted to create a typeface that would seem quite “transparent” when used in body text but would display some original traits when used in larger sizes. He used classical proportions (particularly visible in the uppercase) to give the letterforms familiar harmony and elegance. 

Lato consists of nine weights (plus corresponding italics), including a beautiful hairline style.

Download your Copy of Lato Here

Junior Designer - BBD Perfect Storm - London

Junior Designer - Cuco Creative - Bournemouth

We’re hiring! Junior Designers apply within…

Things are getting pretty busy around here… so busy in fact that we are looking to hire a full-time Junior Designer.

CuCo are a fast-paced, ultra-friendly, creatively-led design and digital agency based in Bournemouth.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and talented designer with a genuine desire to do brilliant work. Working as part of the creative team you will be confident in using industry-standard software packages including Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Ideally we would like the candidate to have an understanding of PHP and WordPress or a passion to learn in this area.

Responsibilities:
Print design and artwork
Digital design, artwork + development
Brand Identity
Image manipulation

We’re a fun, energetic bunch so a dynamic personality and a thirst to work pro-actively is essential. You should be confident and passionate. The successful candidate will also be a superb communicator and able to on multiple projects at once and to tight deadlines.

Salary: DOE

We want to hear from you. Send your CV, portfolio and anything else that proves you are the one to: hello@cucocreative.co.uk

Be warned… bland, uninspiring CVs and portfolios need not apply.

Graduate Scheme - Engine Group - London

The Engine Graduate Scheme gives graduates the opportunity to work in a range of best in class agencies at the forefront of the marketing and communications world. Engine is one of the UK’s largest and fastest growing independent communications company, providing a full breadth of services covering advertising, social media, sponsorship, brand reputation, public relations and brand consultancy. Our clients include Sky, Now TV, Santander, Unilever and Samsung, and we work with them in a range of ways, often across several of our agencies. With offices in London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Brussels and Edinburgh, Engine is truly global in its vision and outreach.

Unlike other schemes that offer a rotation of placements in the marketing industry, Engine give you four 3-month placements – that’s just the right amount of time in which to ensure that you get a real feel for the different work that different agencies do, without feeling bored and stuck in a role that isn’t for you. You even get to select the agencies you want to work in, which means that you can choose to go for the ones that match your interest or even take a few risks.

We are looking for people with a strong academic record, excellent written, oral and presentation skills, creativity, initiative and passion. We are also looking for people who are adaptable and open-minded, those who can face a challenge with excitement and energy. Previous experience in the marketing is not a prerequisite for the application, though you will need to have some awareness of the industry. You will be at the heart of a fast-moving, hard working and lively environment where every day promises to be different and every moment provides you with an opportunity to make an impression on the world around you – we want to be certain that you can take full advantage of this.

Salary

£21,000

Location of job

We are based in Central London, 60 Great Portland Street, W1W 7RT.

How to apply 

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, please find out more by visiting our Graduate Scheme micro site which has been written by our current graduates. You will also find the link to apply. http://enginegrads.theenginegroup.com/

Closing date

14/1/15

1,000-piece CMYK Color Gamut Jigsaw Puzzle by Clemens Habicht

1000 Colours Timelapse - Long from Jacky Winter on Vimeo.

This 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle contains exactly 1,000 different colors arranged in the form of a CMYK gamut. The creator of the 1,000 Colors puzzle, Clemens Habicht, suggests the puzzle is actually easier than traditional image-based puzzles. When faced with a field of color, he says the placement of every piece becomes almost intuitive.

The idea came from enjoying the subtle differences in the blue of a sky in a particularly brutal jigsaw puzzle, I found that without the presence of image detail to help locate a piece I was relying only on an intuitive sense of colour, and this was much more satisfying to do than the areas with image details.

What is strange is that unlike ordinary puzzles where you are in effect redrawing a specific picture from a reference you have a sense of where every piece belongs compared to every other piece. There is a real logic in the doing that is weirdly soothing, therapeutic, it must be the German coming out in me. As each piece clicks perfectly into place, just so, it’s a little win, like a little pat on the back.

For more information visit http://puzzle.lamingtondrive.com

She Makes Comics - screening invitation

The Illustration Society would like to invite you to a screening of 'She Makes Comics' a fantastic documentary about women's roles in the history in comics. Location and time to be confirmed 

TYPE TALKS: Joby Carter

All the fun of the fair: the art of the sign writer

Joby Carter is passionate about painting letters, and for your entertainment will present a lecture on the art and craft of signwriting in Britain. 

Just a few years ago signpainting was so much of a dying art that it was almost impossible to find a practising signwriter who would be prepared to take on a trainee. Vinyl and plastic took over at speed, and the skills that people had been passing on for generations were almost wiped out overnight. Recently, as the virtual world of computer-generated graphics has filled our spaces with anodyne typography, there has been a resurgence in interest in the traditionally painted letter. Joby comes from the now rare position of someone who has been taught by a master signwriter in the old apprentice tradition, and he can trace his painting pedigree back to a signwriter working for the Hovis company at the turn of the century. He is keen that the art lives on and that the skills of the 19th century will still be around in another hundred years or more.

Joby Carter grew up surrounded by bright signs and beautiful letters on his family's vintage funfair, Carters Steam Fair. As a child he admired the work of Stan Wilkinson, the master signwriter working for the fair, and pestered him to teach him the craft. Eventually Stan succumbed to the pleas and Joby became his apprentice, learning everything he could about signwriting and fairground art, lining and coachpainting. Joby is immersed in the fair and its artwork, and spends the winters restoring and painting vintage fairground rides as well as teaching people to signwrite and to paint in the fairground style on his popular 5-day intensive courses.

15 January 2015: 1730-1930: Birmingham City University, P350 Lecture Theatre, Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham B4 7BD

Book a FREE ticket here

http://www.jobycarter.com

The Amazing Pattern Library

The Amazing Pattern Library is a project by Tim Holman and Claudio Guglieri 

This on going project compiles patterns shared by designers from around the world. 

Want to share your own patterns? Send your site url, twitter name and your tileable pattern and your designs will be added to the collection!

Patterns@thepatternlibrary.com

Free Font - Cooper Hewitt

The new typeface, Cooper Hewitt, is a contemporary sans serif, with characters composed of modified-geometric curves and arches. Available in 14 styles and initially commissioned by Pentagram to evolve his Polaris Condensed typeface, Chester Jenkins created a new digital form to support the newly transformed museum. 




“Developing this typeface specifically for Cooper Hewitt has been enormously gratifying,” said Jenkins.

“Instead of building on the Polaris structures, I drew everything from scratch, using the existing forms as a rough guide for letter widths and master-stroke thicknesses.”

Download your free copy here or here

Poster Heroes Competition - FOOD IN THE LOOP

After facing the brief related to food intended as cultural and social topic, this yearPOSTERHEROES talks about the whole food chain in its broader aspect. We believe that environmental sustainability should also involve the entire food’s life cycle and everyone (stakeholders) who takes part in it. That includes food’s production, transformation, conservation, transport and direct sell to the final consumer; making sure that every step is made without loosing resources. The consumer is the one who decides what to eat and consequently what the food system will have to produce. Hence we need to change our diet habits if we want to modify the entire system. The awareness of our personal food and nutritive choice will lead that change.

YOU SHOULD EXPLORE NEW PROPOSALS AND SUGGEST NEW POINTS OF VIEW.

There are 4 categories, Production, Transformation, Distribution and Disposal. To read more on these topics visit here

The competition is free to enter and the deadline is March 1 2015

To enter or to read the rules visit here

Hello I am Erik

Erik Spiekermann is one of the best-known graphic designers in the world. He not only represents German typeface and corporate design like no other,but his work and the companies he has founded have had an unparalleled influence on contemporary graphic design around the globe. The visual biography Hello, I am Erik is the first comprehensive exploration of Spiekermann’s more than 30-year career, his body of work, and his mindset. Contributions by Michael Bierut, Neville Brody, Mirko Borsche, Wally Olins, Stefan Sagmeister, Christian Schwartz, Erik van Blokland, and others round out this insightful publication.

“THE ABILITY TO REDUCE COMPLEX IDEAS TO UNFORGETTABLY SIMPLE FORMS IS A REMARKABLE GIFT. ERIK CAN DO IT WITH TYPEFACES, OR IMAGES, OR WORDS AND – SEEMINGLY – IN ANY LANGUAGE. THAT IS THE MARK OF A GREAT DESIGNER, AND THAT IS WHAT ERIK SPIEKERMANN IS.”
Michael Beirut

The book Hello, I am Erik was edited, written, and designed by Johannes Erler and his office in close cooperation with Erik Spiekermann and is available directly from Gestalten Books.

Grad Scheme - The Marketing Store - London

The Human Truths are what make us...us
Like that feeling you get when you open a packet of headache tablets and you know, you just know, you'll open the end that's got the instructions wrapped around the pills.

That's a Human Truth.

As is a love of fond memories, a desire to share what's important to us, the infectious nature of a yawn and the strangely satisfying feeling of putting clean, fresh socks on.

It means understanding people and at TMS we're in the business of people.

So, if you're fascinated by people, and can't wait to embark on a career in integrated advertising for some of the globe's greatest living brands (that's the likes of Carlsberg, McDonalds, Sainsbury's, adidas, Britvic and Cereal Partners Worldwide, to be more specific), then we'd love to hear from you.

What's next?
Impress, amaze, astound and spell correctly your answers to our questions and submit the form by midnight on 4th January 2015.

Our Graduate Scheme is hugely popular, so bear with us, but if we didn't doze off reading your application, we’ll call to get to know you better.

Then, if we put the phone down buzzing, you'll be invited into the agency so you can show us what you’re all about and what you can do, whilst meeting a load of different people from across the agency. We’ve got this penciled in for 26th March, but we’ll confirm everything you need to know nearer the time.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for live Q&A sessions with our current grads, competitions and hints & tips.

We can’t wait to hear from you. Good luck! to learn more or to apply visit here

Graduate Success - Matt Jones

Congratulations must go to Illustration graduate Matt Jones who is working as a designer for Puffin Fiction.

Matt has been in touch to share some of his work. The Hunted, published in September and shown here, was designed and illustrated by Matt. 

Part of Matt's role at Puffin involves producing designs and working with other illustrators. For Two Weeks with the Queen, Matt has worked with Illustrator Tony Ross.

Other examples of Matt's Illustration can be seen here and here.

Look out for his illustrations in Puffin Series,  Watership down, Stuart Little, Trumpet of the Swans, where his work features in the How to draw sections.

Junior Creative Team - Momentum WW- London (via the USA)

Momentum Worldwide (http://www.momentumww.com/) is looking for a junior creative team to help us embark on an exciting new adventure starting in January 2015. 

The lucky creative team who impresses us the most will receive an all expenses paid trip to one of our most innovative offices over in the grand ol’ US-of-A to learn from a truly unique creative team and bring their ideas and lessons learned back to the UK to help us embark on a unique project. 

Intrigued? Email portfolios and info to joinus@momentumww.com to find out more information! 

Sarah Hyndman: Thinking outside the font

Typefaces are both functional and evocative. They trigger memories, evoke associations and prompt multi sensory responses. We readily identify their personalities but, just like other forms of non-verbal communication, they can reveal a great deal about us. Sarah will talk about her interest in typefaces from the type consumer’s point of view; how she combines her experience as a designer of almost 20 years with her own research and the results of studies by neuroscientists. Her research takes the form of games and surveys that are designed to be thought provoking for participants and she is working on collaborative projects with the Crossmodal Research Lab in Oxford. Sarah will review how type is ‘hidden in plain sight’. She will share projects done by a range of people which reveal the typeface considered most ‘believable’ that type can make food more enjoyable and which typefaces look sweet or bitter.

Sarah Hyndman was a graphic designer for several years, working in agencies before setting up her own design company a decade ago with regular clients ranging from the Philharmonia Orchestra to Coutts bank. She studied an MA in Typo/Graphics at the London College of Communication and was subsequently invited back to set up and run the yearlong Experimental Typography evening course, which she did for six years alongside her commercial practice. Sarah launched Type Tasting in February 2013 as a focus for her typographic explorations. Since the launch she has organised and curated a creative typography exhibition at the V&A with the London Design Festival, been interviewed on Radio 4’s Today, spoken at Eye Magazine’s Type Tuesdays and ran a Type Tasting workshop at SXSW earlier this year. She is currently creating a typography workshop with the D&AD, writing a Type Tasting book and will be giving a TEDx talk in November 2014.

11 December 2014: Doors open 1730, Lecture starts 1800
Birmingham City University, Main Lecture Theatre, Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham B4 7B

Book a FREE ticket here <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/type-talk-sarah-hyndman-tickets-12632866243> 

Graphic Designer - Birmingham City Football Club

Graphic Designer

Term: Permanent Full Time

Location: St. Andrew's Stadium, Cattell Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B9 4RL

Application closing date: 07/12/2014

A fantastic opportunity has arisen in the Brand and Marketing department to fulfill the role of graphic designer. The role includes managing and producing all design work along with the following:

SCOPE OF DUTIES

• To assist the Brand & Marketing department with all graphic design projects
• To produce artwork for all projects in line with the brand style for each area of the business including retail, ticketing, memberships, commercial events
• To develop seasonal styles for all areas of the business that are creative and in line with the targeted audience
• To produce artwork for the website include flash banners and buttons, headers and home page takeovers
• To produce email templates for all areas of the business
• Any other duties as reasonably required
• To be the brand guardian for the club, through the creation and enforcement of the Clubs brand guidelines
• Effective time and work load management to ensure all tasks are completed
• Be active in the planning and creation stage of projects
• Confident in pitching and presenting ideas to senior staff
• The scope of these duties may be extended as dictated by the changing requirements of the organisation and relevant regulatory bodies, and therefore, the role may require additional ad-hoc duties as reasonably required
• This job description sets out current duties of the post that may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility 

For more information and to apply click here

Just have to share - MACE

MACE is the Media Archive for Central England and is home to wealth of vintage films on a wide range of topics. Step back in time to the 1950's, 60's, 70's or 80's and take a fascinating glimpse into the society of the day. The film highlighted here dates from 1972 and deals with the 'controversial' topic of eating on buses. It is from ATV Television News and shows John Swallow talking to Birmingham Councillor Gladys Andrews on a double decker bus, re her objections to people eating on buses.

Just Have to Share - Japanese Flip Books

These flip books made in Japan feature a number of unexpected designs that make use of negative space and secret 'compartments' that gradually reveal as you flip through the books. There are several in the series published by Mou Hitotsu no Kenkyujo that can be bought on Amazon. Here’s the bug one.

Just Have to Share - Yusuke Oono, 360° Laser-Cut Paper Story Books

Japanese graphic designer and architect Yusuke Oono has released a trio of laser-cut storybooks including depictions of ‘Jack in the Beanstalk’ and Mount Fuji. The books made up of 40 images bound together so that they can be fanned out at 360° forming a narrative to be explored from multiple angles. While these pieces are one-off's, Oono has several other folding books and lights available through Artechnica.

The form of the book:printing, publishing and production in the regions

A Book History Research Network Study Day
on print and manuscript culture in British and European towns and cities

The Typographic Hub, Birmingham City University
Friday 5 December 2014

 

Reservations to be made in advance here by 1 December
The first book written by Samuel Johnson, an abridgment and translation of Father Lobo's voyage to Abyssinia, was issued from London in 1735. However, it had been written in Birmingham and printed there two years earlier by Thomas Warren a bookseller, printer, publisher and founder of the town’s first known newspaper, the Birmingham Journal. This brief anecdote serves to highlight the dominance of the capital’s press over its regional counterparts. But whilst the book trade - and its historians - may focus on the productions of the first city, every provincial town also has its own literary and typographic history embedded in its ephemera, pamphlets, newspapers and books; and every regional town has designed, produced, published and printed material of both interest and value. This symposium considers the productions relating to, and of, the regional press.
£10.00 cash on the day for lunch and all refreshments

SPEAKERS

• Caroline Archer (Birmingham City University) Items from the archives: printed in Birmingham

• Rob Banham (University of Reading) William Gye: printer of Bath

• Lucy Collins (University College, Dublin) To Russia with love: a poetry pamphlet from World War II Belfast

• Jenni Dixon (Independent scholar, Birmingham) Dealers in curiosity: how print promoted Birmingham wares

• Mike Dring (Birmingham City University) Projecting the technocratic city

• Andrew Kulman (Birmingham City University) Promoting the new Birmingham, 1964-80

• Persida Lazerivic (Università Chieti-Pescara) From Rome to ‘Little Rome’ all over Rumelia

• Ian Montgomery (University of Ulster) Printing and books on the edge of the Union

• David Osbaldestin (Birmingham City University) Birmingham’s nineteenth century printers and the use of the sanserif

• Ines Vodopivec (Independent scholar) Book culture in [non]existence of printing

• Ian Horton (University of the Arts, London) Where did hard Werken get Rotterdaon?

‘We Few’ by Lisa J. Wilson

Second year Visual Communication student Lisa Wilson has recieved considerable interest in her project 'We Few'. Originally created during her Foundation Course at Wolverhampton University, she chose the theme, World War One. Lisa wanted to create a piece to commemorate the First World War centenary and honour all those who lived, fought and gave their lives; in particular, the unsung heroes and heroines, the anonymous faces in a photograph, the nameless and the forgotten. She wanted to create a piece of work that would portray hope amidst the devastation of war.

The ten subjects of Lisa's piece, The Calpin brothers, have been referred to as the largest ‘Band of Brothers’ ever to go to war. Originally from York, the Calpins fought in the trenches of France and Flanders and with the British Navy. Amazingly all came home alive. When Lisa learned of their remarkable, yet relatively unknown story she chose to depict The Calpins through a series of hand-crafted paper cut portraits.

"Using layers of coloured paper cut with a scalpel, working intimately with each face, bringing life to their eyes, intricately rebuilding and finally reuniting the brothers as one, pays tribute to their patriotism amongst many, and offers viewers an interesting and hopeful insight into a small, yet significant World War One story" says Lisa

"A typographic companion piece, listing each brother’s name and age at the time of the war, adds a personal and informative insight. Paper cut poppies accompany the piece, both in the typography and simply rested on the floor beneath the portraits. Their inclusion gives emphasis to the theme of the piece, as a recognisable symbol of Remembrance and hope." she continues

The film shows Lisa with  Mick Caplin, the grandson of Ernest Caplin at the exhibition of her work at the University.

Lisa's artwork has recently been on display at Qube Gallery, Oswestry as part of their Open Art Exhibiton, from September to November. 

The artwork is about to find a permanent home in York with the granddaughter of John Calpin - the eldest brother.

Junior Designer - Stocks Taylor Benson, Leicester

The role
As a Junior Designer you will:

Be a very creative and intelligent designer, with an exciting portfolio. Have a serious passion for design and a hunger to succeed. Be ambitious and proactive, always using your initiative. Be able to communicate and present your work effectively to our team and our clients. Be able to thrive in a busy commercial environment – able to turn work around to tight deadlines and chop and change between projects. Be a team player and ready to work together to make things happen.

The person We’re looking for a first-class Junior Designer with a folio that’s full of big ideas, ready to bring a big burst of creativity to our studio team. You’ll need to put those ideas down on paper, so it would be great if you were pretty handy with a pencil. And of course your good craft skills will then create the beautiful designs we can all be proud of. We’ll need you to be able to make an impact from day one, so you’ll be hard-working, mature and self-reliant - the kind of person that we’d confidently put in front of a client early on. In return we’ll be on hand to mentor you, help you develop your creativity and hone those design skills along the way. So get ready to work on some of the biggest brands around.

SEND CV AND PORTFOLIO TO recruit@stockstaylorbenson.com

Junior Graphic Design Internship - Shared Experience, London

Junior Graphic Design Internship 

Shared Experience is looking for a zealous young designer to join their hard-working and highly dedicated team. You must be prepared to work long hours on challenging projects, to tight deadlines and have a can-do attitude, alongside this you will need a strong ability to follow directions on a single briefing, attention to detail and a good note-taking proficiency will support this. Above all, we are looking for a team player to support our senior designers and absorb their skill, knowledge and expertise. You will be expected to work on a variety of projects, ranging from exhibition conceptualisation to storyboarding for animation/short films to app design to email marketing. You should have the confidence, maturity and faculty to partake in conference calls and meetings with global clients and the aptness and desire to want to build brilliant relationships with them.

Other particulars:Fundamental Software Knowledge:
- Photoshop CS6
- Illustrator CS6
- Indesign CS6
- Dreamweaver CS6
- Powerpoint

Basic Fundamental Skills:- Textual layout and typographic understanding
- Identity design and branding
- Web design
- Idea generation
- Organisation + Tidy working practice
- Attention to detail
- Multi-tasking
- Airbrushing/photo-manipulation
- Notation
- HTML/CSS (would be beneficial)
- Copywriting (would be beneficial)

In Summary:We’re looking for a star person to work with us, so to get in-touch, send us your portfolio (PDFs are easier), along with a link to your website (if you have one) and a CV. Good luck, don’t send us any ugly MS word CVs, you are designers and we won’t even acknowledge a poorly designed resumé, of course.

For more information and to submit an application send emails to: shared(@)shared-experience(.)com

Note: We do prefer that applicants have a (BA) Hons degree or higher, although we will consider otherwise, all depending on the level of capability that you have.

Global Entrepreneurship week (Mon 17th – Fri 21st Nov)

As part of Global Entrepreneurship week (Mon 17^th – Fri 21^st Nov) we have a packed schedule of events which are open to students, graduates and staff, including our ‘Enterprise Trade Fair’ which will give you the opportunity to peruse and potentially purchase some of the products and services from our SPEED Plus start-up businesses. It will also be a great opportunity to learn more about the project and the opportunities available to students, graduates and staff through the SPEED Plus programme.

Details on the week’s events are below:

Monday 17th November 2014

Workshop: Starting your own Business.

Student Union Boardroom - 10am - 12pm

Tuesday 18th November 2014

Workshop: Setting up a Social Enterprise.

Student Union Boardroom - 10am - 12pm

Tuesday 18th November 2014

SPEED Pitching: Pitch your business idea to our panel of judges to win a prize.

Student Union Boardroom - 1pm - 3pm (You must book to take part in this event)

Thursday 20th November 2014

Survival of the Fittest: A 12 hour marathon of enterprising activity

Student Union The Venue - 8.30am - 9pm. (You must book to take part in this event)

Friday 21st November 2014

Enterprise Trade Fair: An opportunity to purchase products and services from SPEED Plus businesses.

Student Union The Venue - 12pm - 2pm

During this event we will be announcing the winners of

SPEED Pitching and The Beer Mat Challenge.

To book onto events and further details: www.speed-plus.org/events

Just Have to Share - Who Are You? Portraiture by Grayson Perry

Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry turns his attention to portraiture and British identity for this display of new works, including a self-portrait and a tapestry, made during his Channel 4 series Who Are You?
Fourteen portraits of diverse individuals who are all trying to define who they are - families and groups, including politician Chris Huhne, a young female-to-male transsexual, Northern Ireland Loyalist marchers and X-Factor contestant Rylan Clark, have been inserted into the National Portrait Gallery’s nineteenth and twentieth century rooms on Floor 1. Admission is Free from 25th October to 15th March 2015.

Grayson Perry: Who Are You? is a series of three sixty-minute films broadcast this autumn on Channel 4. Find out more about the series here.

West Midlands Open - Julie Green Exhibits

Print making by Visual Communication Administrator Julie Green is featured in the 2014 West Midlands Open At Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The show brings together artworks by practising and emerging artists from across the region.

The exhibition showcases a stunning array of work, including painting, sculpture and photography, selected by a panel of judges, including Turner Prize nominee, Roger Hiorns.

Start your own art collection with a piece from the exhibition. Much of the work will be available for sale.

Free entry. The exhibition is in the Gas Hall.
The Gas Hall entrance is on Edmund Street. There is a lift next to this entrance. The exhibition is on Level 1. Last entry is 4.45pm.

More information can be found here

Many congratulations Julie

Greys Blueprint - Entry Level Talent Scheme, Advertising

Blueprint is Grey London's entry level talent scheme for people who want to take charge of their career and break into advertising.
There are 2 routes in, weekly internships and annual opportunity

Applications for our 2015 intake are now open. They close on the 14th November.

There are opportunities in Account Management, Planning and Creative

More information can be found here

Just Have to Share - Peter Dahmen

While studying graphic design, German artist Peter Dahmen had assignment to create a 3D object out of paper. Regardless of what he designed, there was no easy or safe way to transport his creations to class on his daily commute. Instead of risking damage, Dahmen devised a way to make his paper sculpture fold flat like a pop-up book, a decision that changed the course of his life.

He enjoyed the challenge so much that be became obsessed with creating more elaborate designs, eventually leading to a full-time career as a paper engineer.

Filmmaker Christopher Helkey recently filmed Dahmen as he demonstrated some of his more incredible paper sculptures, many more of which you can see on his YouTube channel.

Just Have to Share - One Hundred Patterns

One Hundred Patterns is a site building daily to contain, as it says, 100 patterns - check regularly to view the expanding collection here

Graphic and Digital Design Internship - @blurGroup Exeter

Graphic and Digital Design Internship

blur operates at the intersection of technology, media and innovation as it delivers on its s-­commerce promise and disrupts industries. We think and act differently, celebrating individuality, change, creativity, global reach and diversity: standing up for radical, new and improved methods for business to discover suppliers and partners, trade and collaborate.

We are looking for a sharp-minded creative candidate who would like to join our dynamic Digital Design Team. You need to be passionate, enthusiastic, interested in user interface and have your own portfolio of design and multimedia.

The role:

• Working on a range of desktop, tablet and mobile design projects
• UX/UI and Visual Design of blur web pages and trading platforms
• Participating in user experience research and testing processes
• Attending business and scrum meetings in Agile Methodology

The ideal candidate:

• Recently graduated in graphic design or similar - studying or towards one
• Strong knowledge of Mac OS, Photoshop and Illustrator
• Understanding of HTML and CSS is desirable but not essential
• A good eye for detail and work on own initiative
• Understanding of commercial design and able to research creative trends
  Apply here

The World of Ben Kelly

Ben Kelly’s latest show ‘The World of Ben Kelly’ has been one of his most eagerly anticipated exhibitions. He has had four major shows of his work in the last two years and in each case he has sold out weeks before the opening night. This has been Ben’s biggest one-man show to date and as soon as it was announced, he was inundated with interest.  

“In each painting Kelly is able to render the atmosphere evocatively, imparting a strong sense of seasonal shifts and nature sublime that chimes with the moods of life. And in each we get the equanimity of activity and poise, a sense of timelessness and particularity, bustle and solitude. 

Throughout his oeuvre Kelly’s landscapes have progressed in nature and range. They have broadened out both geographically and emotionally. They are commemorative in most cases of the unique appreciation of human encounters, between each other or the poignant moments shared between man and his dog. They are markers of specific events, of the celebratory atmosphere of the Queen’s Jubilee or the dark underside of gang culture.

Kelly’s great gift remains the ability to filter the essence and simplicity of human nature and present it in a contemporary idiom.” Says Dr Rina Arya

Halloween Uncovered

The history and origins of Halloween are explored and explained by Dr Louise Fenton in Halloween Uncovered on the University Expert Opinion and Insight from Academics blog. 

Louise traces the origins of All Hallows Eve from the Celtic festival of Samhain which marked the end of the summer. This was one of the most important times in the Pagan year, when people would have been well fed and the harvests stored, animals were brought in and travellers arrived home. However, there was also the negative side to this time.....

Find out more by reading Halloween Uncovered here

Words amplified by typography - Freda Sack

An observation on the 'typographic link' between designers and their audience – illustrated by The Foundry and commissioned typefaces – with a commentary of quotes from typographic friends and heroes. Typography is our common language – that bond between the arrangement of letterforms on a page and the intended communication. All information is filtered through the medium of typography, curiously its disciplined structure allows endless variations in the expression of ideas and facts – the grid is fundamental – adhered to, or broken. 

Good design often appears effortless in the making – importantly it should be effortless in the using. As designers we need both skill and intelligence to transmit the writer’s words in such a way as to be easily, and correctly perceived. Effective design is the result of a process of simplification and refinement – essentially to make a connection, that 'bridge' or link between the reader and the writer.

Freda Sack has a passion for letterforms and enjoys ‘making things happen typographically’. She studied typography at Maidstone College of Art, School of Printing. An increasing interest in the letterforms themselves led to her career as a type designer – working for various font manufacturers and involved with groundbreaking font technology. Freda co-founded The Foundry in 1990 with David Quay to develop their own range of typefaces. From 2001–2013 with her company Foundry Types, she managed The Foundry™ library, and continued with commissioned fonts. Now The Foundry™ typeface library is licensed exclusively by Monotype. Her bespoke typefaces include: WWF, NatWest Bank, Science Museum, Cossette, Yellow Pages, Swiss Airlines, Brunel UK railways, and Lisbon Metro. Currently Freda lives and works in central London as a design consultant, education advisor and mentor. She is a UCA Board governor (University of the Creative Arts) and ISTD Board director (International Society of Typographic Designers).

6 November 2014: 1730-1930: Birmingham City University, P350 Lecture Theatre, Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham B4 7BD

Book a FREE ticket here

Cities Methodologies - Howard Read

Visual Communication lecturer Howard Read is exhibiting his PhD research at Cities Methodologies the ongoing programme of events and exhibitions dedicated to presenting, sharing and experimenting with new methods of urban research. 

Each iteration takes a new form. Audiences encounter an eclectic array of approaches to the analysis of cities worldwide.
Venue UCL, Slade Research Centre. Previous shows have also travelled further afield, including Bucharest in 2010.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/urbanlab/news/cities-methodologies-2014

The exhibition opens next 28th October at the Slade Research Centre in Woburn Square, London.

The audio guide to Cities Methodologies can be found here