Sunday 22 March 2015

OUGD602 - PPP3: Annie Atkins

I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel a couple of months ago and absolutely loved it. I loved the way it was filmed and adored all of the props throughout the whole film. Half way through watching the film I had to find out who had designed it all. I found out it was a lady called Annie Atkins. I fell in love with the Mendyl's packaging she designed along with everything else and for ages I contemplated telling her. 

Today I received an email response from her and felt completely flattered! I feel over the moon to have heard from a woman who has turned out to be one of my biggest inspirations. I am going to make sure that I keep in touch with her in the future as it is a fantastic contact to have.



Friday 20 March 2015

OUGD602 - PPP3: Creative Networks

Being a Student Ambassador, I have been fortunate enough to work at most of the Creative Networks events at college. I have helped to curate the evenings and have met the likes of Jamal Edwards (SB.TV), Matt Forsythe (Illustrator for Adventure Time) and Patrick Grant (Fashion Designer). Meeting all of these people has been so much fun and a great break away from doing work. I have gained a lot of confidence and I am going to miss working at college when I graduate.


Wednesday 18 March 2015

OUGD602 - PPP3: Tony Broomhead Work Experience

Today I went and visited the OS31 studio in Sheffield. I have been in touch with Tony ever since he came in and did a workshop with us at college. When I got there he showed me some of their projects they had completed and some that they are currently working on. This was really interesting for me to see! 

Below are some photographs I took while I was there. The model shown below was laser cut and created out of wood as a miniature mock up of one of their projects.


This is their miniature model for the Grand Designs Live Competition which they won and this will actually be built down in London. This prototype was made by hand, using a variety of different card and paper. I was so impressed by the outcome of this to say that it was crafted in this way. It made me want to create something similar.

He then told me what he would like me to do today. He explained that they had recently won a pitch to design an area within the new Sheffield Children's Hospital which is currently being built. They had already come up with a concept for it based around balloons.

Their idea is to have balloons floating up a staircase for the poorly children to be able to follow as they get higher and higher. I loved this idea and it reminded me of the film called UP. He had already made a little model of this idea but wanted me to express it in my own way.

At 2pm we then went for a meeting with about 10 different people who are involved in the process of making it happen. Tony presented the idea so far and I was able to talk about the model I had created to try and persuade them to go ahead with it.

This was a fantastic experience and I feel as though I gained so much from it. There were a bit health and safety queries from the women we presented to, so they are going to review the situation and feed back to Tony. To say that I was involved in such an amazing brief is a fantastic thing to say, and I have also gained more work experience from it.

After the meeting Tony then took me to Sheffield Uni to the Architecture studios and showed me all of the work they produce there. It was fascinating to see, and obviously interesting to me as I am so interested in three dimensional outcomes. 

I didn't create any design boards for this brief, as I didn't feel as though it was substantial enough, and the photographs I received from Tony weren't very high resolution. Instead, I have therefore uploaded three PDF presentations explaining the concept and the development up to present day. I am looking forward to hearing back from Tony about how this project is going as well as all of the others and I am hoping I may be able to go back and visit in a couple of weeks, as he said this would be possible and great for me to see how projects have developed.

This was a fantastic opportunity and proof that graphic design isn't just the stereotypical leaflets, business cards and posters!




Feedback from the meeting:

Concept:

- Floating balloons
- Reflective in the day
- Illuminate at night
- Winding up the staircase

Feedback:

- Are the stairs that open? Safety first
- If it is open it can work if it is closed then it can't work
- Lights could be in the walls rather than inside the balloons as this is easier to maintain
- Cluster at the bottom and a few strays at the top
- Have the stray balloon in the hospital somewhere - The children could find it
- Different sized balloons
- Refer as a bubble as this is more friendly

Sunday 15 March 2015

OUGD602 - PPP3: Filmdoo

Today I was emailed by Filmdoo. They said that I should enter my work into their competition to be featured on their website. I submitted my work straight away and followed them on Facebook. It was a great feeling when I saw my work on my news feed.