Ben Pritchard - graduate success

Graduate Ben Pritchard has been in touch to share some of his experience of undertaking an internship at Ubiquitous, Manchester.

"I'm having an amazing time and really enjoying myself. I'm learning so much, and have been working on some massive bands like Bacardi, Kiddicare and Bentley." says Ben 

"I'm mainly working on a range of web stuff but also print ads and a solo branding project for a new client".

Find out more about Ubiquitous at:
http://www.ubiquitous.co.uk/

How can great creative ideas make a positive difference in the world?

Creative conscience is a platform for innovative ideas encompassing world changing creativity. This is a visionary concept that uses creativity as a catalyst for positive change to benefit ethical, moral and worthwhile causes. The Creative Conscience Awards: UK calls upon creative students whose conscience has encouraged them to build a passion for a certain ethical, moral and worthwhile cause. This competition is a fantastic opportunity for individuals to utilize their creative talents to make a positive change for a cause they are passionate about.


The competition opens to students on the 10th September 2012 with a carefully considered repertoire of creative experts to judge a multitude of communication and design disciplines. The top 3 winning students from each category will be invited to an exclusive award ceremony, with a one off opportunity to network with highly sought after professionals and award winning judges from the creative industry. In addition, internships, placements and bursaries will be offered to the students of the winning concepts. A vision of a world changed by creative genius is an idea born by the Creative Director of LFH and is endorsed by the Design Council.


Opening date: Monday 10th September 2012

Entry Deadline: Thursday 28th February 2013

creative-conscience@lfh.co.uk

www.creative-conscience.co.uk

@CCAwardsUK

The Gentletude Design Award

The Gentletude Design Award is an international award for typhographic design students. The Award is run by the NGO Gentletude, a not-for-profit organization founded by Cristina Milani. The award aims is to encourage a new generation of designers to be creative and consider a term known but often not used: kindness.

Using the alphabet to create a message, students are asked to elaborate on a message inspired by the term "gentletude" and including the words "Kindness" and "Attitudes". 

The message they design will later be shared via smartphones, so it is important to keep in mind technological constraints when creating your design. The idea is that the recipient of the message will reflect on kindness as an option for a better life.

There is no entry fee.

Eligibility

The Gentletude Design Award is open to students at the university level (or graduates within 4 years after graduation), who study or studied in the following countries: Italy, England, Switzerland, USA, Singapore, Argentina, Japan.

Prize

1 International winner:
• 1,000 Euro per student or team (up to four members)
• Gentletude Award Certificate

2 International runners-up:
• 500 Euro for each
• Gentletude Award Certificate

10 international finalists:
• Gentletude Award Certificate

More details to be found at: 

http://www.graphiccompetitions.com/jump.php?contest=gentletude-design-award-2012

Annie and Lee - Studio opening

Graphics graduate Annie Miles and her fiancé Lee Hughes have been working hard preparing for the launch night of their photography studio at Shelton Enterprise Centre, Bedford Street, Stoke-on-Trent. 

“Our opening celebrations include an exhibit of over 50 pieces of work from areas including portraiture, fine art and many types of commercial work” says Annie

To read testimonials and see a selection of their work visit:

http://www.leewilliamhughes.com/ 

Studio opening takes place on July 20th contact leewilliamhughes@gmail.com for your invitation.

Matthew Jones - E17 Art trail success

MA Student Matthew Jones has been in touch with news of his latest success.
"My work has been selected for the E17 Art Trail Collectconnect HideBird Magnet Exhibition 2012, which is running from 1st to 16th September 2012. The brief was to submit 2 pieces of Artwork based on the theme "BIRDS". says Matthew
"Last years exhibition ran between London, Manchester, Nottingham and Brighton with all art work being in magnet form and exhibited on the city streets for the public to collect plus it was also exhibited as a stand alone show. 
http://collectconnect.blogspot.co.uk/p/history.html

Here is a link showing a list of all the Illustrators chosen to exhibit in the Exhibition including myself."
http://collectconnect.blogspot.co.uk/p/artists.html

http://www.e17arttrail.co.uk/

The 2 images shown are Matthews submissions for E17. 

Congratualtions Matthew

Packaging Designer - internship, WOW London

Packaging Designer (internship)

WOW is a West London based toy company creating the most loveable but durable preschool toys in the world. After a recent rebranding exercise we are now looking to roll out a new style of packaging across our existing range of over 50 products.

We therefore have a very exciting position available to join our design team on a 3-4 month placement starting in September to take part in this process where they will learn how to design packaging using existing brand guidelines that will be sold in over 50 countries across the world. The candidate must have good Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop skills and be confident to take product photos using our in-house photo studio. Please note that this position is only suitable for undergraduates and recent graduate based in London so please do not contact us if this does not apply to you.

If you feel you are the person we are looking for then please send a letter of introduction and a few samples of relevant work (no more than 2Mb) to careers@wowtoys.com.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

MAKE-SHIFT, Ideas to change Wolverhampton

What is MAKE-SHIFT? 

MAKE-SHIFT is a two-day event intended to surface good ideas and to attract mentors and champions who can take these forward.

 

We hope to draw a wide audience, from grass-roots community members and university students to local business leaders, innovators and change-makers. MAKE-SHIFT will be open to anyone who lives in and cares about Wolverhampton. 

Over two days, facilitators will help participants develop project ideas that will build social capital and give communities the confidence that they can change things and make a difference in the city. 

Day 1 will be spent developing concepts in teams. Day 2 will be spent working up projects to take away at the end of the event. 

An important aspect of MAKE-SHIFT will be the sourcing of community ideas in advance, so that no time is wasted in ‘starting from cold’. A marketing campaign prior to the event will stimulate contributions from across the city. In particular, we want to find ideas champions who can source ideas from their individual communities. 

We positively encourage contributions from people who would like to hold workshops and other sessions on either or both days of the event. We will also be hosting a market-style skills exchange where people can make informal connections with other individuals and groups. 

What will MAKE-SHIFT do for Wolverhampton? 

We believe that Wolverhampton has uniquely valuable resources to draw on – the strengths, passions, capacity, knowledge and potential of its communities. 

MAKE-SHIFT will unlock this potential, helping local people to take an active role in improving their own lives and communities, re-imagining their own public services and community resources. 

However, it’s not just about empowerment and independence for individual people. By encouraging people to ‘make their own connections’, it will help build greater resilience within communities and across the whole city. 

MAKE-SHIFT – when and where? 

The core MAKE-SHIFT events will be held at The Lighthouse in Wolverhampton city centre on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 September 2012. 

Who should I contact for more information? 

Ring Sam Axtell, Wolverhampton City Council’s Consultation And Community Involvement Officer on 01902 554 918 or e-mail sam.axtell@wolverhampton.gov.uk or visit our website http://maketheshift.org/ - you will be able to submit your ideas online from 13th July.

Jeff and Jess get misty eyed…

Ah….to be a young graphic designer sitting in the design studios at the Poly, leafing through a copy of the latest design inspiration in paper format – the internet was just a twinkle in Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s eye.

Apart from Creative Review, one of the most collectable and eagerly thumbed was U&lc, The International Journal of Typographics, first published in 1974.

It was art directed for ITC by renowned design guru Herb Lubalin and was both trend setting and award winning over it’s 26 year run.

U&lc was a greyscale (mainly) large format tabloid and was released quarterly to a typography hungry design community

The modest 24-page first issue declared:

“U&lc will provide a panoramic window, a showcase for the world of graphic arts – a clearing house for the international exchange of ideas and information.”

Now those friendly folk at blog.fonts.com are re-releasing the magazine.

“Every month, we will make one volume (a year’s worth of publications) available through the Fonts.com blog. There are, however, a couple of caveats. First, the files are big – as in “way big.” The low-resolution files can be as big as 18 MB and the high-resolution files are downright huge at over 85 MB in some cases. Second, they are not perfect. The original documents were sometimes faded, cracked or torn. That combined with a semi-automated scanning process (over 9,000 pages scanned) resulted in some unavoidable “character” traits. The final caveat is that the above plan could change depending on audience interest level (or lack thereof). So, if you love it, let us know.”

So get downloading for a retro treat! And if you see the tutors a bit misty eyed you know they’ve being doing likewise…

http://blog.fonts.com/2010/10/25/ulc-back-issues-to-be-made-available/

Library of Lost Books membership - How it works

We have received a number of enquiries about how the Library of Lost Books membership works. As you may remember from previous posts this arts initiative has been set up to creatively repurpose and reinterpret a number of fascinating, vintage, discarded books . The resulting art works, all produced by artist from around the UK, will be exhibited for the first time within the opening festival that accompanies the inaugural celebrations for the new Library of Birmingham.

“The Library of Lost Books currently receives no cash funding. So, to get our lovely, old and rather decrepit books magically transformed and re-made we need a whole cadre of Fairy Godmothers and Godfathers, also known as Library Members. Our Library Membership levels are named after famous librarians” says Susan Kruse, project founder

The entire initiative is voluntary and is being funded by donations, sponsorship and by selling 4 different levels of membership package. Prices can be found at http://thelibraryoflostbooks.blogspot.co.uk/p/about-project.html

Each level of membership entitles the purchaser to different ‘library’ benefits.

Casanova Members will receive a beautiful membership card, a hand-printed bookmark, and a regular email newsletter, plus your name on the Supporters Page.

Duchamp Members will receive a beautiful membership card, a hand-printed bookmark and a pass to the members only website with regular updates, artist interviews, some sneak previews of the re-worked books and more. Plus your name on the Supporters Page.

Dewey Members will receive a beautiful membership and bookmark, pass to the members' only website, invitation to attend a private members-only Meet the Books Day (when you may handle some of the books), your name on the Supporters page and on the Patrons list in the catalogue.

Pearl Membership will receive a beautiful membership and bookmark, pass to the members' only website, an invitation for you and a partner to attend the Opening Party, a special edition copy of the exhibition catalogue, your name on the Supporters page and on the Patrons list in the catalogue.

Funds raised through the membership scheme will also help to achieve the library ambition of touring the finished project around Britain and beyond, as well as sharing the art and books with communities up and down the UK. http://thelibraryoflostbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

We have previously posted about memberships cards designed and made by visual communication staff and students. If you missed these posts see:

http://www.visualcommunicationwolverhampton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/library-of-lost-books-latest-membership.html

http://www.visualcommunicationwolverhampton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/library-of-lost-books.html

It has been great to hear from delighted recipients of these designs and track membership cards quite literally around the world.

Visit http://itscrowtime.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/the-library-of-lost-books/ To see learn more about one delighted supporter of this initiative.

Why subtle typographic choices make all the difference by Jessica Glaser and Carolyn Knight

A strong understanding of how designers control meaning is essential for anyone interested in graphic design or typography.

In their previous article for Smashing Magazine, Jessica Glaser and Carolyn Knight discussed how sophisticated and complex visual and verbal language can get, examining instances that show how type can be used to effectively take control of meaning. For more information on this article visit:
http://www.visualcommunicationwolverhampton.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/when-typography-speaks-louder-than.html

In this second article they look at the reasons why subtle typographic changes can create considerable effect. Referring to one or two linguistic and semiotic examples, as well as design case studies, They gets to grips with why subtle changes can make all the difference.
This second article can be read at:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/06/05/subtle-typographic-choices-make-difference/