Upcoming Projects »
My Masters finishes in September, and as such I have already begun to think about what projects I may want to start later this year. It is always fun to make itemised lists to put my life in order :)
Recent Freelance: Jemjabella »
Jem has coded and implemented the layout I made for her personal blog, and it looks great in action! I hand rendered all the illustrations, and did some of the basic front-end bits for a pain-free handover. It seems to be a smash hit :)
My Design Principles »
A while back, I went to the see the Dieter Rams exhibition at the London Design Museum. What interested me the most about him was his simple design principles. I have never given much thought to what it is that I try to personally achieve as a designer. So laying out the things I believe in as a set of principles has great appeal. Great, nerdy, wordy appeal.
Open for Work »
Right now I am open to a large range of work (for which I have designed a mini-site detailing what I can do), as it fits around my university schedule comfortably whilst allowing me to collaborate with other people in the industry. I have a flat rate, but am offering massive discounts to any graduates or students from Portsmouth University, as well as discounts to friends.
Postcard Book from Italy, Circa 1900 »
This was an excellent gift my parents brought back from Spain, given to them by a friend who told them to pass this onto me. It is a souvenir postcard book, collected from Rome containing photographs of the Vatican City and Rome itself. The book dates back to around the 1900’s, and the publisher was amongst the first to provide postcards. I fell in love with the stab binding, the card stock, the letterpress typography and embossing technique on the first page.
Snark is a Lark »
It is Snark Forums birthday this month, and in celebration I am promoting it here and asking that my readers give it a go. To say that the community is amazing would be a massive understatement — Snark and its individual members have given me valuable case studies for my dissertation, led me to several bloggers I have met and will meet in the future, and still provides me with interesting and challenging (as well as inane and terribly fun) banter that continues to inspire and entertain me as I study and engage with online culture and its colourful personalities.
Sevenisms »
This week I opened Sevenisms — a group collaborative between a few friends and I. Every seven days a new theme is posted. Each member will then respond creatively to that theme whether that be through writing, illustrating, designing, painting or making something. Hence each piece of work will be a sevenism, as it was a product of something created in seven days.
Calling all Designers! »
So I need designers. And I need them to talk about their work. The reason being I am creating a new design community to counter the communities which focus on mass-posting design with no justification apart from “we like it”. As such, I am focusing on the design process, how different designers interpret theory, and how designers reflect. It is not as heavy as it sounds and I am looking for all types of creatives who are willing to talk about their work and justify it with more than just “it’s pretty”.
Where It All Started… »
My friends and I keep going back to this one conversation about our old layouts, and how rubbish we were as teenage d3z1gn0rz. Thinking I had since lost screen-shots of my old layouts I became quite sad and nostalgic. Sad no more! For within a folder, within a folder, within a folder, within a folder I found a dusty archive. Enjoy (and by enjoy, I mean point and laugh at will).
Thought Visualisation »
Previously, I wrote a few posts on the subject of my Ma project and current interest — the role of design in education. Since then I have been researching and reflecting on my subject. As such, it has changed. I have been extensively documenting this process of change, however I felt a visualisation would provide a good summary. This is a quick mock-up of my thought process since that initial idea, sans representation for different volumes of research.
Dress Mess »
Dress Mess is a small fashion-related ongoing side-project. It is a documentation of how I dress most days, and ultimately a reflection on my fashion sense when fashion is not something I think about consciously.
What is Successful Design? »
Our task for the Ma this week is to talk about a successful piece of design. What appeared to be an innocent task — how hard can be it be to talk about a piece of design I like? — soon took a turn. I realised two things: that successful design is hard to define, and that I am not inspired by design I can only take at face value. Every time I define a criteria for successful design, it works against what I feel has an interesting process. These are my questions, and though there are no definitive answers I feel that perhaps they will provide my criteria for what makes successful design.
Recognising Word Shapes »
This post is an exercise in recognising word shapes. Word shapes are self-explanatory — they are the shape of words. When we read, we are receptive to the shape of words rather than to the letters individually. This exercise is not a test of who can read best, but an insight into how recognisable word shapes are when little to no letters are present.
An Exercise in Problem Solving »
Throughout the MA we have been asked to question our process and research methods. That questioning covers everything from how we shape problems with questions to how we begin to offer possible solutions through risk-taking. This week, those realisations were put to the test with this seemingly simple task: create a brand for a management consultancy that manages academic spaces in one hour.
The Follow Frenzy »
Having recently purged more than half of who I was following on Twitter in cold-blooded spite (but mostly out of necessity), I began to realise what it was that was turning me off. I had reached a point where all I had was a 140 character information soup that I got no real joy from. All I had in my stream was retweet spam, self-serving blurbs which did not engage nor entertain me, a load of wank from social media “experts” and tweets in languages that did not even utilise the Latin alphabet. Twitter became a scary place for me.
Explaining Design Theory »
Does theory inform design? It is the age old question that arises in so many design-related debates about how we as designers learn, contextualise and research. I have always argued that it is imperative to have theoretical knowledge in order to produce meaningful design. In studying a Masters, I am starting to understand that theory is not necessarily what I have always considered it to be. I also realise now that meaningful design does not necessarily arise from a monster folder of research. In order to link theory to the discourse of design process, I need to define theory first.
Annual Reflection »
It has been a little over a year since I opened lilula and since then so much has happened. Only a few things have remained consistent. For instance, I intended on making this a professional playground where I could be a little more articulate than the generic day-to-day blogger. It also stood as a place-holder for my online alias and identity, so that I could build a strong connection between my social accounts. Another intention I had was to eventually turn lilula into a portfolio, which has since happened. But that is where the list ends.
Colour As a Learning Tool »
I had an interesting conversation about colourfeed with someone who has a specific form of dyslexia. She took a liking to my poster and intrigued me about how schools cater for learning disabilities by using creative methods. Often this is through the use of colour. In her specific case, everything needs to be tinted in blue for her to be able to read the sentence without displacing words.
Designing Violence against Women »
Recently I was browsing Behance and came across a photo shoot which I felt challenged my morals. Whilst I am not doubting the capabilities of the photographer and models, the subject matter seems questionable to me. Its aim is to raise awareness for violence against women – a sensitive subject worldwide, and one that ought to be handled with tact by even the most flamboyant creatives.
Creativity Does Not Need Validation »
It’s unfair to say that my family have not been supportive of my career, however I do remember growing up with the notion that becoming a doctor or lawyer was the ultimate academic achievement and that everything else was simply what awkward, less smart kids did. I always did think that it was slightly unfair, as it implies that the validity of any given subject or career is essentially baseless (being successful in any career is hard work). I would attempt to compare what I’ve learned to what a science student learns, but the irony would be how it shows that I need to validate what I have learned in order to justify myself.