Ink Rooms Update

FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2008

James spoke to Chloe this morning, and they have made a change to the name due to legal reasons. There is a bar up north that is called The Ink Bar. So, in order to get round that they want the name to be:

Ink dot bar - we can show the 'dot' part in a way that it doesn't read 'Ink Dot Bar' but looks like 'Ink Bar' but then on closer inspection you can see the 'dot'.

We came into uni this morning (me, Meg, George, Luke and James) and did a page of logos each which we then sent over to chloe as a PDF.

There were variations of Ink. and then Ink.Bar

We showed some in script, serif, sans serif and then both.


She called James shortly after to update us:

She really likes 'ink' in a script font, and then bar in sans serif. To get round the legal issues, it would need to be 'ink' in script, a dot with 'dot' written in it, and then 'bar' in sans serif.

We are now going to work on variations of these and send them over to her so they can choose a final logo to run with.

Its very exciting! They have not only decided not to go with 'The Office' but they love our designs too :o) its all seeming worthwhile now! Exciting!

We are all working well as a team as well - I think we have the relationship where we can be honest with each other and not take offence. We are working with each other to get the job done in a very short amount of time - I think this shows we all have the ability to work well as a team! It can sometimes be difficult working with other people, but we all gel really well so thats great!

The Ink Rooms_Update

THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2008 -

We have had another email from Chloe:


FW: ink bar info.....‏
From: MEGAN CORKHILL
Sent: 30 October 2008 22:42:19
To: vicky_a_martin@hotmail.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Chloe Parmiter
Sent: Thu 10/30/2008 2:18 PM

Subject: ink bar info.....

Hey guys here is a little more information for you.....

Poster/Banner information

Happy hour - but would like to call it something other than 'Happy Hour'
£3 glass champagne - till end of Nov
£15 bottle champagne- till end of Nov
Selected cocktails £3.50
Draught products £1.95


Food served 11- 8
Members receive exclusive food offers via email
Join now to start saving straight away

_____________

Christmas blurb....
_____________
Come party in the most stylish place in town. In the beautiful Art Deco Ink Bar, a delicious buffet will be laid out for you and your party guests to enjoy from only £15 a head. From Tuesday through till Saturday we will have our resident DJ rocking the classics and the latest hits to complete your festive experience - call now to book your buffet

or

Throw your Christmas party at the most stylish place in town the newly refurbished cafe bar. A delicious buffet will be laid out for you and your part guests to enjoy at only £15 per head. Dance the night away to a mixture of old favorites and new hits from our new resident DJ... it'll be a Christmas party to remember!

Call now 01202 789 669

________

Festive treats

Throughout December we are offering you the opportunity to enjoy a mulled wine and a mince pie for just £3.95. What better way to unwind after a busy day shopping.

Come and relax to the mellow sounds
Check out our website for more de
______

Book the Board Room

If business over coffee and a freshly baked croissant is more your style then our boardroom, open access WiFi and fast service will inevitably make your life a little bit easier

Rate card
Half day including tea and coffee £50
Whole day including tea and coffee twice £100
Petit-four and fresh croissants from our onsite bakery available on request

An affordable alternative to catering for your clients, our stylish buffet starts from £10 per head


All the information (example info for the moment) will need a contact details including
Name: Ink Bar /ninety.five
Address: Richmond Hill, bournemouth, BH2 6HH
My email address
website www.inkbar-bournemouth.co.uk

____________

If you need any more information then feel free to drop me a line....

Chloe Parmiter
Events Manager
The Print Room, Ink Bar, Aruba & WestBeach

The Ink Rooms - progress

THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2008 -

Chloe has sent another email over to us. Meg forwarded it onto me:



FW: Ink relaunch‏
From: 3142764 MEGAN CORKHILL (3142764@aib.ac.uk)
Sent: 30 October 2008 12:59:22
To: Vicky_a_martin@hotmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Chloe Parmiter
Sent: Thu 10/30/2008 12:46 PM
To: JAMES MCMORROW; MEGAN CORKHILL; lukebonner GEORGE RUSSELL; JAMES RAMSAY
Cc: Matt Desmier
Subject: Ink relaunch

Hey guys

Right - there was some positive feedback about the brands you have done today - which is great news. The good news is the name The Office has been rejected....! So we are up for a new name again now. So this is an opportunity (if you choose to accept) to develop those branding opportunities alot more.

The two names that are up for consideration are Ninety.five and Ink Bar

The comments about keeping the Ink Bar have been taken onboard, and could potentially be embraced. the main objection is because there is another bar up north with the same name, so we would be infringing trade mark. Maybe think up some brands around it, Bar Ink, Cafe Ink, Ink Cafe Bar, then sub brands like Think Ink, Drink Ink.... If you are willing to do marketing campaigns: ie: Invitation for the launch party on Thursday 20th November, Christmas at Ink, book our board room.

The Ninety.five brand is really good too, it is positioned well and an effective brand. Again, it would be good to see some more promotions for this. A banner advert would be good, and invitation, a Christmas flyer.

As you know, our boss has a habit of changing his mind, he is back from holiday on monday and to prevent him from coming up with a random name for the bar like Zebra (!!!!) I would like to deliver a full blow presentation to keep him focused and make sure he chooses one of these two brands of yours - they are both really good and very effective.

The other thing they like is as a strapline:

Eat I Drink I Relax


I will email you with some documents with some information about the rates and xmas so you have some words to use if you choose to push this forward.

It would be great if you can let me know either way so I know what to expect. Just to let you know that if either of your brands are chosen, our company will find some way of showing their appreciation of your time and effort.

I look forward to hearing from you

Many thanks

Chloe Parmiter
Events Manager
The Print Room, Ink Bar, Aruba & WestBeach





I think we are all going to get together tomorrow to discuss what to do to take this forward. We need to wait for the next email detailing their promotion ideas/requirements and then discuss what to do!

I'll post again once we have received the email!

Ink Rooms Re-Brand ... Meeting feedback

THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER 2008 -

I have had a catch up with the rest of the guys in the team for the Ink Bar live brief. They said the meeting went really well on Wednesday and they managed to convince Chloe that 'The Office' wasn't such a good idea, and that The Ink Bar, or ninety.five would be much better. Here is an email that she sent following the meeting:


Hey guys

Thanks for all your work to date, the ideas and the debates are very inspiring. As I mentioned to you I am having a meeting at 10am tomorrow to discuss, I will let you know following that. I do have some other projects on the go, so if you are interested in getting some live briefs to work on, then let me know. These are much more specific with content and far more brand identity and some you maybe able to incorporate into your units for uni.

So keep intouch and catch up soon

Chloe Parmiter


I think we are all feeling much more positive about this now! The concept is much stronger and we can push it a lot further if they want us to!

Ink Rooms Re-Brand

TUESDAY 28TH OCTOBER 2008 -

We came into uni first thing with the aim of producing a presentation of our ideas for the Ink Rooms Re-Brand! Its a shame things were so rushed because it was a good brief to start with. But the fact they changed their minds about what they wanted and then left it until the last minute meant we felt like our ideas and suggestions weren't as strong as they could have been! They have also expressed that they want to use the name 'The Office' - we really can't see this working as well as some of the things we have come up with. After Matt's conversation with us, we are going to run with our ideas and present to them what we think they should be doing.

We produced as much as we could and have put them together as a PDF for Chloe Parmiter to see. I'm not in tomorrow as I have to work, so the others (Megan Corkhill, George Russell, James McMorrow and Luke Bonner) are going to attend the meeting and then I will catch up with them on what happened on Thursday :o)

The PDF consisted of:

- a proposal of what we feel their target audience is
- a type sheet
- the type of imagery we want to use
- business card and menu mock ups
- logo ideas
- final logos

It gives an idea of the route we were heading down, we just didn't have enough time really. I think sometimes you need to be able to step away from the brief for a few hours just to come back to it with fresh eyes, but only having a day meant this wasn't possible!

I will update once I have spoken to the guys to see how it went!

Chema Madoz_Photography

MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2008

I have been looking at David Airey's site/blog today, he has some really interesting things on there, both his own work and what inspires him. On his site is the work of Chema Madoz. She is a Spanish Photographer. I really like her work so wanted to 'blog' her page so I can re-visit!

PAL Session

MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2008

This mornings PAL session went well I think. We spent the hour going through blogs with them. Some people didn't have accounts, some people had accounts but hadn't done anything with them, and some people were all up together and had active blogs.

By the end of the session everyone had a blog and had designed a nice header for their blog - something personal to them as a designer. It worked well because even the people that already had blogs had a few questions about how to add certain things or change fonts etc.

We provided them with a print out of step by step instructions to add a header to the top of their blog.

As far as next weeks session goes, they didn't have anything in particular that they wanted to go through. We told them to email us over the next week if anything does come up. In our meeting with Kit afterwards she advised that they may want to go through some time management methods - as they may not have been told yet, but the deadline for their hand in of Text and Image is on the 18th November - which by the time the next session comes around, will only be 2 weeks away.

We are going to over-plan for next week so we have a few things up our sleeves to do just in case. The week we showed them our work, we got through everything a lot quicker than we had anticipated, so this has made us realise over-planning is the key!!

We have a wicked PAL group though, they are really interested in the course and they have lots of questions which is good as it means we can have discussions as well as do what we have planned - this is a definite plus because all the while they are asking questions it means they are getting what they want out of the sessions! So, its all good! We hope they would tell us if there was something else they wanted to do that would benefit them more!

Ink Bar

MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2008

We had a meeting with Matt Desmier again today about the Ink Rooms/Ink Bar brief. He has spoken to Chloe about the brief and told her that we won't be waiting for them to tell us what they want, and that we will be presenting them with ideas that we think they should go with. We have until Wednesday to do everything and they still haven't provided us with any material to go on, so in order to get something completed, we are going to progress our own ideas.

After much discussion we have decided not to go with 'The Ink Rooms' as a name, but with 'The Ink Bar'. It enables the bar to have more separation from The Print Rooms, which can only be a good thing because currently people don't even know it exists and assume when you say 'the ink room' that you actually mean 'the print room'.

Some of the others we came up with as options were:
- Just Off The Square
- Ink
- Bar Ink
- Ink Bar
and the one that the client came up with ... 'The Office' - we personally think they will end up going with this one, however we feel it has all the wrong connotations for a bar that they want people to visit for after work drinks.

We are progressing the concept of ink in water:



We think this is a crisp and clean image that will not only work well on promotional materials, but on menus, business cards and window graphics.

We have decided that because the 'ink in water' is quite ornate as an image, we need to keep the logo simple, so we are just going to work on developing a typographic logo (no image).

We are going to start working on this properly tomorrow so we have a whole day to spend on it. The tasks we need to complete are:

Presentation Board 1 - this needs to contain images and information about the audience we think they are needing to/trying to reach out to. What their lifestyle is like, what clothes they wear, where they shop, what car they drive, what they aspire to be etc. They want to aim their campaigns at the Nationwide employees - mainly the temps etc who are 18/19 upwards. Not the managers - they will be on higher salaries and they do tend to drink at 1812 and places that are a bit more expensive. They do drink in the Ink Room - but this is when they are waiting for their table in The Print Rooms.

- Logo - typographic and simple in comparison to the ink in water images
- Menu, Business Cards, Fliers and other Promotional materials
- Window graphics - in situ
- Interior decor - canvas's

on Presentation Board 2 we need to show what we have come up with after taking information from Presentation Board 1. We then need to come up with our final strong ideas which will be presented on a third presentation board.

We don't have much time to complete this brief, we are working to a tight deadline. We are going to do as much as we can and come up with as strong an idea as possible in the time available.

New Brief_Packaging

FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2008

We are starting our new brief next week_PACKAGING

I have been researching packaging design and here are few websites that might be of use to me:

Design Council
This website gives an introduction to packaging design.

Design Council - A guide to some of the terms used in packaging design

WRAP_Material Change For a Better Environment
Provides ideas, tips and practical tools . Details on the new laws and legislations related to packaging, such as waste. Gives information on what consumers want and don't want from their packaging. Information on materials.

B Smith Packaging Limited/
Packaging Designers (Bags, Bags for Life, Boxes etc)

Envirowise - This website gives information on making packaging more environmentally friendly - in todays world this is very important. People don't like waste - I think packaging needs to be one of two things - either so amazingly beautiful that you will keep it forever because you can't bring yourself to throw it away (I have a few things like that) - or - if it is packaging that isn't likely to be kept then it needs to be recyclable, bio-degradable or re-useable. I might find that this thought is incorrect the further into my research I get, but at the moment I its true.

http://jaqkcellars.com/

http://nickpapageorgia.blogspot.com/2008/10/826-valencia.html

Greetings Cards_My own patterns

FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2008 - I have been experimenting with my own paper pattern designs - I have done some, which work really well I think. However, I have a problem because although the printers at uni are good quality, when I fold the paper the ink rubs off?!? Which makes them look really scruffy which I don't want. I am going to speak to Neil and see why this is. In the meantime, I am really going to focus on my Recycled Range.

Greetings Cards_presented at final crit

FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2008 - Here are some photos of my cards I presented at the final crit:

Greetings Cards_Sourcing Materials

FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2008 - I have been researching materials and where I can source interesting paper stocks from. Here are some websites I have found, however they are based in America and most don't ship to the UK. But they give a good idea of what I am looking at:

http://www.mantofev.com/
http://www.blockheadstamps.com/clearenv.html
http://www.hoohing.com/acatalog/Products__Paper_154.html

I have found several chinese supermarket sites that stock Joss Paper - it is really cheap to buy but, the postage is really expensive for some reason - which is going to make my costs very high. So far postage seems to be between £7 and £10. TOO MUCH!

I can't seem to locate any UK paper stockists. The one in America is brilliant, they sell you pages from foreign books and newspapers - but, again shipping is a problem.

I am going to go to Charminster later today and see what I can find there. Also, I will go to Borders and buy some foreign newspapers and they stock them in there.

Greetings Cards_Final Crit

FRIDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had our final crit this morning for our Greetings Card project with Sally, Neil and Claire. Here are the comments and feedback I received:



PRODUCTION COSTS:

These would be high considering how long it would take to produce the card and the amount of money I could actually charge for it. Claire said the the making of the cards would be outsourced abroad, so they would be less than if I was to do them myself for example - and also, the people that it would be outsourced too would do this kind of thing all day every day and could more than likely produce each folded design a lot quicker than I could. To be honest, the most time consuming part is cutting the paper squares out - you have to get the measurements exactly right otherwise the folding doesn't work. If these cards were to be produced in larger volumes, I could perhaps look at getting various paper stocks cut by machine - so the people making them would be supplied with pre-cut squares of my chosen paper stocks and they would just have to fold them and stick them onto card.

RECYCLED RANGE:

I need to push this concept for a range. Look at:
- Instead of using cellophane wrappers for the cards, I would need to look into using bio-degradable wrappers - which you can now buy.
- Look at all the different paper stocks I can use:
---Newspaper
---Newspapers from different countries
---fruit wrappers (source from the foreign food stores in Charminster?)
---Old receipts
---Chinese Joss Paper (beautiful paper burnt at funerals as part of their rituals)
---Pages from old books
-I would need to look at sourcing recycled card and envelopes as well

NEWSPAPER RANGE:

- There isn't enough contrast in the designs - use pieces of newspaper that contain headings and images - use the financial times etc - different colour newsprint

MY OWN PATTERNED PAPER:

I need to push these further and make up some more pattern designs

FOLDING:

Look at different folding patterns - I have already looked at origami - which is very much 3D designs - I have found a couple that could be stuck on cards but they are very complex and would add a lot more time to the production time and also therefore would increase the cost a lot.

CHRISTMAS RANGE:

- Push forward the concept of the folded design being removable to be used as a decoration
- Look at christmas patterns

INSERT OR PRINT ON REVERSE OF CARD EXPLAINING THE HISTORY OF TEA BAG FOLDING - i can use vegetable inks for this for the recycled range in particular.


So, from all the above there is plenty for me to keep working on and many ways I can further the concept and my designs.

Violette Editions_Independent Book Publishers for the Arts

THURSDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2008

I have been looking at the publishers, Violette Editions. Double Game by Sophie Calle was published by them. It is a beautifully designed book with various paper stocks used and bound with a ribbon. I love books like this - I find it so interesting how they are made.

Greetings Cards - Interim Crit

THURSDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2008

We had our interim crit today (final crit tomorrow). I think it went well, here are the notes I made:

D&AD Student Awards 2009

THURSDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2008 - The D&AD briefs for 2009 are now online at:

http://sa09.dandad.org/studentawards09/index.php

Si Scott _ WOW! I love his work!

TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2008 - I have Si Scotts link on my blog. I LOVE his work. I just had a quick look to see what else he had added recently. The following pieces of his work are particularly stunning...

A Link of Interest ...

TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2008 - I have also just come across this site which could be useful:

Eden Workshops - A Book Binders Resource

Soro Design_Book Designers

TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2008

I have been researching book design and came across this website that has some really lovely things on it. They design book covers and interiors: http://books.sorodesign.com/. There are some really interesting uses of typography on many of the covers as well. On their blog they have made reference to various sites that they love and that inspire them. Two of which I found interesting:

What is Print?
AIGA Book Design Archives

I am going to keep an eye on this blog as they seem to document their design process as they go along as well which is a great insight into how they work.

Final Greetings Cards Designs

TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2008 - I have completed my designs for my greetings cards. I have 6 newspaper print designs - all different folding patterns, mounted on white cards, and I have 6 patterned paper designs - these are all the same folded pattern, but different paper.




I am really happy with how they have turned out. I still need to buy some cream square cards for the patterned designs. We have an interim crit on Thursday so any problems with them I will have to change on Thursday night! Hopefully there won't be any problems though as they take so long to make! We then have a final crit on Friday.

Poppy Appeal 2008

TUESDAY 21ST OCTOBER 2008 - Neil emailed this link over to us: http://www.designweek.co.uk//Articles/140089/Article.html. It is relating to the new Poppy Appeal Campaign. We thought they would stick with the Poppy Man, especially after our meeting and work placement at The Gate.

It is a really effective and emotive campaign, but I do still feel that they need something more in order to reach out to younger generations.

I am going to keep an eye on this, as when we were at The Gate for our work placement, Paul mentioned that they would be releasing new television adverts based on The Poppy Man. I would be really interested to see these.

ISTD Briefs_Initial Meeting

MONDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had a meeting this afternoon with Sally about the ISTD briefs. I really want to do one of these, they sound really good and with an interest in Publishing, I think a typographical project would be great practice for me. There are a couple that are of interest to me. I am going to sit down and work through them and see what initial ideas and thoughts I come up with, then I will chose which one I was to progress. As per my previous post, we are working on the Ink Rooms live brief as well, which is a 2 week deadline! I really want to do the ISTD brief as well and need to focus on my project work as well. I think I will try and do as much on the Ink Rooms brief as possible. Then once that is done, I can focus on ISTD and also focus on looking at the D&AD briefs as well.

Ink Rooms Live Brief

MONDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had our first group meeting for the Ink Rooms Live Brief that Matt Desmier came to talk to us about last week. We came up with loads of ideas, of which a few were chosen and we are going to progress them in small groups. We only have 2 weeks however to produce visuals for them. Chloe, the Marketing Manager for Price Restaurant Group, is coming in on Wednesday afternoon to discuss initial ideas and share her thoughts on them. I won't be in on Wednesday as I have to work which is a real shame, but hopefully I will be able to catch up on what was spoken about. We have separated into smaller groups to tackle the few ideas we had. I am working with Meg, James, George and Luke on the Ink idea. I think we are going to meet tomorrow afternoon to get some ideas and a few visuals together.

Catherine Griffiths_Typeradio

MONDAY 20TH OCTOBER 2008 - During our Typeradio project last year I emailed Catherine Griffiths as it was her interview I was doing the layout for. I knew she was a very busy lady so to be honest I didn't expect a reply from her. She emailed me back saying she had been in Alaska but was now back and she would respond to my email fully as soon as possible. I sent her one back saying Thank You so much for the reply. I explained that we had now finished the project, but I would love to hear from her, however there was no rush, just when she had time. I got an email today from her:


Dear Vicky,

The terrible thing is, that you wrote to me months and months ago. Currently I'm living in Paris for another six weeks, and as you may know, have taken on the huge project of organising a typography symposium for New Zealand http://www.typeshed11.co.nz which has left precious little time for anything else, including all my student requests. You have probably (and quite rightly) given up on me, but here is a folder of articles that may no longer be of any use to you at all. As well, a link to these and more ...
http://www.catherinegriffiths.co.nz/00%203.ARTICLES.html
While it's far too late, you've probably graduated by now, I'll be much more attentive after February, and would be available for portfolio reviews or any other questions you may have.

Again, my apologies.

All the best,
Catherine



How lovely to get a reply! The Typeshed website is really great, I love it!

Catherine also attached a folder with a few documents and publications to do with Typography and also her work which are really interesting.

I am going to forward the email onto Lewis, I think he will be interested in what she has sent me.

I am going to send a reply tomorrow thanking her for taking the time to send me the information.

PAL session 20th October 2008

Monday 20th October 2008 - We had our 2nd PAL session this morning. Last week the group said they wanted to see our sketchbooks from the first year so all three of us brought our work in with us. We had a group discussion about that and also Blogs. We were expecting to spend more time talking about Blogs but everyone seemed to be pretty sure of what they were doing, so we didn't spend much time on that, although by the end of the session they all said they wanted to go over editing the blogs layout and design. So that is what we are going to do next week - go over the HTML and all the little bits and bobs - they all want to make the blogs their own, so I think it will really help them. I know I really struggled to work out how to use the site properly. It just takes someone to show you where all the menus and options are, and then you can crack on. I think we made the mistake of not planning enough to do this week - we underestimated how slowly an hour goes! We are going to plan some extra things to do for next week, so if we end up ahead of time, they won't get bored. They were really chatty again this week which is good. They had lots of questions and they seem to be using the time well.

A Productive Day...

FRIDAY 17TH OCTOBER 2008 - I spent today working on designs for my cards. I am going to produce 2 sets of 6. One set of newspaper print designs and one set of most likely the same design pattern, but using different patterned paper for each one. I am going to produce the 12 greetings cards, and then if I have enough time before Friday, I am going to design some of my own patterned paper to use. I think it would be really great if I could produce my own paper pattern as I can choose my colour pallette and also, as I know what each piece of paper looks like when folded, I should be able to tailor the pattern to show certain ares in particular when folded. It will be very time consuming, but I think it will be worth it. At the moment I am constrained colour wise by the paper I have sourced. It is lovely paper, but there are a few things I would change if it was my design.

I went to the book shop in Winton this afternoon as well with Milla, Lewis and Matt. I was hoping to get some lovely old books, with really nice pages that I could scan in and print off, to use as paper for the origami. I got a few really lovely old leather bound books from between 1898 and 1947. A couple of them have a note written in the front where they have been given as a gift to someone. Incredible! and they were only about £2 or £3 each! I'm so happy with them and you can smell the log fire smell on them. Its my new favourite shop :o)

I need to re-do my CV tonight as I want to apply to go on the day trip to Penguin. I am really interested in publishing and book design so this would be an amazing opportunity for me. Kit is going to look over it before it gets sent off with the application.

Greetings Cards_Interim Critique

THURSDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had our interim crit today for the greetings cards project. My idea to take forward was to use collage of photographs, magazine cut outs, bits of type and some of the Kaleidoscope Origami that I have done (otherwise known as Tea Bag Folding). I also wanted to include some vector flower patterns which I would have created myself in Illustrator. Claire and Neil led the crit and they think that the origami is very strong on its own and doesn't necessarily need collage etc with it. After thinking about it I can see that the origami is strong enough on its own and collage will only take away from the complexity of the designs. I am going to focus on trying out various patterns with various materials (magazine cuttings, newspaper print, patterned paper etc) to see what works best. I think that mounting them on plain card will work well and they will really stand out. I'm feeling much better about this project now and am really eager to get started on some designs!

Greetings Cards ... stuck!

MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2008 - I spent the day working on the Greetings Cards project. I am stuck. In my research I have also come across some interesting vernacular photography.

www.thefoundphoto.com

www.squareamerica.com

www.accidentalmysteries.com

This means photographs that are created by an amateur or unknown photographer who takes photos of every day life. For example photographs of travel, family snapshots, photos of friends, class portraits and passport photos. Its like accidental art, in that they are usually unintentionally artistic. It is sometimes now called "found photography," which is the recovery of a lost or unclaimed photo. Such as those found at flea markets, thrift stores etc. Vernacular photography has become far more common in recent years as an art technique and is now a widely accepted genre of art photography.

I spoke to Neil about it and he explained the concept to me. I think it would make a lovely set of 6 cards. Because the pictures are old, you know they have a history, and the person or subject in the photo has a history. There is something about seeing an old photo that makes me feel strange, in a good way. It makes you wonder.

It seems a shame to rush this however. I only have until next Friday and this could be such a big project. I think it would be a great final major project maybe. Or I could carry it forward as a personal project. I know my other Nan in Kent has lots more pictures that I would love to look at. I also know that it will take me ages to scan them all in, but it will be well worth it in the end. I am going to sleep on it and try and decide which route to pursue.

I have looked at Kessel Kramer Publishing.

They seem to do a lot of work that involves Vernacular Photography. I really love their work. The subject books are great. I would love to go to some flea markets and pick up some photos. Lewis has said he would come with me. We will look into this! I love photographs and to find some old ones belonging to strangers would be amazing. I am also working on getting hold of all my Nans pictures in Kent.

Neil also showed me his Flickr page and his collection of postcards that are on there. These are really interesting too - especially as he never went to these places, but looking at them you know someone has been on a journey, and so has the postcard itself. Neil Leonard - Postcards.

PAL Session Number 1

MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had our first PAL session this morning for an hour! We think it went really well, unless they were just being polite! We had doughnuts, cakes and squash. We started by introducing ourselves and explaining about PAL as most of them didn't seem to know what it was. They were all very receptive and listened to us, which is good. We did the pass the parcel icebreaker, which I think got everyone joking and talking. There was a question or a task and a sweet in each layer. It was slightly daunting to start with, but like I said, they all listened and seemed really keen to make the most of the sessions going forward. I think I would have been the same had we started the sessions this early - its when PAL leaders are really needed I think, as its when the first years will be finding their feet and wanting to ask questions. They are doing text and image at the moment, so they have asked to see some of our work - which we are happy to show them, but will make sure they know what grade and feedback we got - we don't want them to think that our work is the right answer. I know how they feel though; I would have found it useful, actually, in a way, reassuring to see the second years work last year. Its so hard to know how well you are doing if you can't grasp what’s expected of you. Obviously they will all try their best, but it is still nice to have some idea where you are. I think by next week they will have lots to ask us, which is good. We spoke to them about our Blogs - none of them really seemed keen on doing them, but we explained how much it would help them with their PPRD to do the work as they go along, rather than leaving it until next year and panicking!

Greetings Cards

FRIDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2008 - Today was the start of the second part of our brief, Greetings Cards. Claire Sewell, a greetings cards designer, came in to talk to us and show us her portfolio. It was really interesting. She spent the afternoon with us and spoke to each of us about our ideas and what we thought we would like to do. I spent the afternoon researching. The first thing we were told to decide on was our audience - mine is females around my age, so my range is 21-30 or thereabouts. I have so many birthday cards at home that are so lovely and I would love to keep them up, purely for their design, but they say 'Happy Birthday' on them, or something along those lines, so I take them down. I want my cards to have no greeting on the front. I am still deciding whether to put a greeting inside or not. In a way, this might limit my market. The buyer would be purchasing the card due to the design on the front, it may be as a Thank You card, or a birthday card, and so writing a greeting inside may limit people.

I spent the afternoon researching greetings card designers, current trends and things that I like. I am going to go into town over the weekend and have a look around, see how shops and companies are communicating with people in my a range, what things they are using to appeal to them.

I am going to look at the D&AD and ISTD briefs at some point over the weekend too.

Look Again / Think Again Crit

THURSDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had the crit today for Look Again / Think Again. I pinned up what I had so far, and a rough visual of what I wanted it to look like.

The majority of the feedback was that I needed to have some sort of human element in it, a picture of myself that all the memories link back to. I think people thought it was strange to look at things so methodically. I can completely see this, it makes sense. But I felt that the obvious way to approach this could be sentimental, but the point of the poster was to make people realise that memories aren't just memories. The good ones and the bad ones all make you who you are today. I steered away from using photography because I felt that lots of images could look a bit tacky in some ways, and I didn't want to risk that. Neil also mentioned that I should include some more lighthearted memories in there as well. I am going to work on this poster bit by bit now. I think I will take a break from it, as I have been thinking about it too much, and coming back to it with fresh eyes might make me see more clearly what I need to do.

Quick PAL Meeting

THURSDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2008 - This morning we had a quick PAL meeting with Kit to prepare us for Monday mornings session. We (Group 3) will be having the upstairs room, and as it is smaller than the other two rooms, we will be having 15 students. This is a nice number I think. We are well prepared and I think we have a really good ice breaker that should get everyone chatting and laughing ... and ... breaking the ice! We have a pass the parcel prepared. Under each layer is a question/task that the person who opens it has to read out and answer/carry out. They are quite silly so I think everyone will relax and enjoy it - fingers crossed!

St Bride Library Conferences

THURSDAY 9TH OCTOBER - Lewis told me about a couple of conferences that are running at St Bride Library http://stbride.org. There is a Letterpress Conference on Friday 7 November 2008
9.30am–5.00pm - 

"Letterpress is again to be celebrated, or so the growing popularity of the process would certainly suggest. Increasing numbers around the world are setting up their own small studios, looking for tuition, or commissioning letterpress within commercial design work. All this thirty years after the process effectively became commercially obsolete. And in spite of the fact that letterpress can be messy and slow, often requires a lot of space, not to mention the considerable constraints it brings to layout, colour, artwork and type. So why do so many people still want to get involved, and how do they make a success of their efforts?

Join us at St Bride Library to review and discuss the phenomenon of letterpress in the twenty-first century through a packed one-day programme of talks, demonstrations and displays of work. Meet practitioners and exchange stories as we bring together the different communities working with letterpress, from printers and designers to students and general enthusiasts. Be inspired and maybe even find out what you need to set up on your own!

Speakers
Phil Abel – Hand & Eye Letterpress
Claire Bolton – The Alembic Press
Alex Cooper & Rose Gridneff – London College of Communication
Alan Kitching & Celia Stothard – The Typography Workshop
Alan May – Press builder
Harry McIntosh – Compositor and typecaster
John Randle – Whittington Press
Patrick Walker – dust"

I really would love to attend this, there are some great speakers and I think it would be well worth going!

There is another conference in January that I would love to go to even more:

The Form of the Book
Friday 30th January 2009
A one-day conference on book design curated by Sara de Bondt and Fraser Muggeridge

They have still have to add more information about this one.

Sara de Bondt http://www.saradebondt.com
Fraser Muggeridge http://www.pleasedonotbend.co.uk

TRIAL_GOLDUST DESIGN

TUESDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2008 - AFTERNOON - I had my trial with Briony at Goldust Design this afternoon. I think it went really well. I re-formatted some photographs ready for her to put in InDesign and then I did some illustration work, kind of similar to my postcard project I did in year 1. Except I was creating the illustrations from scratch, I was dissecting existing ones. She is going to contact me about hours. I am very aware of how much spare time I have though. Baring in mind it is my second year, which is also likely to be my final year, and I work one day a week already. I am hoping that I can do 4 hours a week for her, or maybe some freelance work and then see what happens from there.

Situation Update

TUESDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2008 - I have so much to do this week, I haven't stopped and am feeling very exhausted and think I am getting a cold ... to top it all off! I think its because I have finally moved house and settled in one place. This has taken so long to sort out, now I have finally sorted it, I am starting to relax more and worry less - which personally, I think has caused my immune system to chill out too - perfect environment for a cold! How annoying! We have the crit for Look Again / Think Again on Thursday. I have spoken to Sally and Neil about everything that has been going on, so they are aware that I have struggled a bit, what with PAL, the job trial, moving house and work commitments. I am going to go home and do lots of work this evening to try and catch up. I have work tomorrow, but will also do some uni work in the evening too. I am starting to sort out all my possessions! Some stuff is having to stay boxed up as it is 'house' stuff rather than clothes etc. I won't be needing it until I move into my own place again. The internet is being connected on Thursday too which will be a great help!

PAL Workshop Day 2 / Job Trial

TUESDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had the last section of our PAL training this morning. I think the sessions were really good and I definitely feel more confident about taking the sessions. I am leading a PAL group with Luke and George. I think we worked really well together in the practice session; Kit said so too and suggested we work as a team. We planned our first PAL session today so we know what we are going to be doing. We have our first PAL session on Monday morning at 10am. So we need to be here for 9.30am to prepare. The group size will be 16 so that’s not too bad.

I've got my trial with Goldust Design in 45 minutes - I'm quite nervous. I'm sure I will be fine; I just worry that I won't know how to do what she asks me to do. But I must think positively and try my best. I really like the sound of the job description - its all the sorts of things I enjoy doing - the only thing I am slightly concerned about is Clipping Paths as I haven't really used them much, but I am sure she will show me how she likes it to be done and then I can go from there.

I am concerned that what with working 1 day a week at my current job, that I will run out of time. But it would be good to do the 4 hours a week which is the minimum, and then Lewis can job share with me and do the rest, or as much as he wants to. It will be really good experience for me and will challenge me too.

PAL Workshop Day 1

MONDAY 6TH OCTOBER 2008 - Today was the first day of PAL training. We talked about our fears as PAL leaders - what scared us the most, the issues that concerned us and how we could prepare for these concerns should they arise. It was a really good day and by the end of it I felt like I had a lot more confidence and I definitely feel more relaxed about taking our first session next week. After we had discussed our fears we went through the PAL Leader handbook - this enabled us to identify the key points that we need to remember in order to make our sessions active and useful, most importantly though, beneficial to the students. In the afternoon we did a practice PAL session. To start with I was really worried about doing it - but in the end I just took a deep breath and once I had started it got easier and soon I felt comfortable taking the session. It was a really good day and I learnt a lot. I am slightly concerned that I have a deadline for our first brief which is Thursday. I also have my trial session for the design job in the Enterprise Pavilion tomorrow afternoon, and the last part of PAL in the morning. I feel like in a couple of weeks I will be settled - I have had a lot on at the moment, finding somewhere to live being the most stressful! I have moved for the second time in a couple of weeks, but am in the right place now and can start sorting my stuff out so I feel at home! All in all I am looking forward to getting settled and being able to throw myself into my studies - this year is going to be a good year and I really want to work hard, especially as I don't think I will be taking the third year, this second year is really important for me. I need to build up a strong portfolio to help me find work. I will write again tomorrow with feedback from the last PAL session, and an update on the trial at the EP.

COPY WRITING!!!

FRIDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2008 - I remember from my Royal British Legion Project how hard it can be to write the copy for something. I am trying to write a caption / find a quote for this initial project and am really struggling. I have been looking on lots of quote sitess, and also have been trying to write something myself - I may have to source someone with good copy writing skills to help me. The copy could make or break this poster and make or break my message, so it is important to me that it is right.

Interesting Design

FRIDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2008 - I came across this website/blog today www.whitleymusic.com. I really like the design of the sidebars and header bar - it's interesting and has a lot of depth to it!

PAL Leader

THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2008 (PM) - I forgot to mention earlier, just before the discussion I found out that I was one of the people chosen to be a PAL leader! This is going to be a great learning experience for me. The training to be a PAL leader is Monday all day and Tuesday in the morning. We will be taught everything we need to know to be a PAL leader and trained on how to plan for the sessions.

My ideas so far...

THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2008 (PM) - We had a group discussion this afternoon allowing us to crit our initial ideas. I think I have settled on the idea of My Memory Box. It is very important to me and that, along with my photographs, would be what I would take with me if I was allowed to take only one object from my house. I am going to do some more brainstorming - try to broaden my idea to perhaps be a campaign along the lines of 'what’s is the one thing you would take from your house'. Another idea I am leaning towards is being quite scientific about it - and breaking my memory box down into categories - bag things up into meaningful events in my life ... the first time I fell in love, the first time I experienced the death of a loved one, the first time I had my heart broken etc. All these events are extremely important and shape a person, and have made me who I am today. My campaign could be along the lines of making people aware that all things that happen, good or bad, make you the person you are today, learn from them and grow from them. Tomorrow I am going to focus on these ideas. I think I will use photography and scanning to form the components of my poster.

The Brief

THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2008

We got our first brief this morning. We are going to be doing some short briefs. The first one: LOOK AGAIN / THINK AGAIN. We are spending this morning thinking of ideas. We have to create an A3 poster - either that addresses a social issue that we think has been overlooked, or that has something to do with an object that evokes certain memories, or has sentimental value to us. For example, a key to most people looks like a key, but to someone it might mean a lot more, i.e. a key to someone specials house. I am leaning towards the 'object'. I will write again later with how the ideas generation has gone!